Officially Resident of Japan

Today I wanted to get up earlier than I did, but still it wasn't bad. If I would have gotten up earlier, I would have been able to finish everything today. But I walked to Sakae Ward office to pick up my Alien Resident Card, which was actually a really fast and painless process. Then I hopped onto the Keihin-Tohoku line to get to Konandai Station, which is the next station up to go to the bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

I wanted to open up a bank account so I can finally get paid. The process wasn't that easy. When I walked in, the security guard, acting as a front clerk, was talking to me only in Japanese, as he should. But I didn't understand anything he was talking about. But he gave me a number and told me to fill out a form, which turned out to be the wrong form.

When I got to the counter, the lady there made me fill out a new one, which wasn't bad. She made copies of my passport and Alien Resident Card. I had all the paperwork done, and then she asked me for my personal signature stamp, and I'm like what the hell are you talking about? So she told me, go buy one right now. So I walk out the door because I couldn't open a much needed bank account because I didn't have a personal signature stamp. I've read on the internet that a personal signature would be fine, but they didn't accept it. They wanted the stamp. So I go wondering around the Konandai area to find one, but there wasn't any.

So I hop back on the train to go to Ofuna station because I know there is a little shop that does do that. I walk in and niether one of the two people speak even the slightest English. So communication was a tad difficult. But I managed to get by. The personal signature stamp costed me about $30. A little on the expensive side, but then again, it's pretty cool to have. I used my Japanese Kanji Name, which is now my official name in Japanese, since the people working there called the bank and got it approved. But I'm not too sure till I get to the bank and try it out.

I had lunch today at Yoshinoya, I love it there. It was only ok today, but at least I was full. I was walking around Yamada Denki all day to check out all the DVD's and CD's that they have. They have a really cool Utada Hikaru collection for half the price as usual, so as soon as I get paid, I know what I'm doing. But hopefully it'll still be there when I go again. The DVD's and CD's are really expensive here. It's at least double the price than America, but Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. So I knew what I was getting myself into when I was moving here.

The pay isn't that great either, people are just surviving here, but I'll be able to manage, I hope.I got home and then relaxed a bit. Downloading songs and such and chatting with people. I think I'll go make dinner soon and get some rest because I'll be going on a field trip with my school to Universal Studios Japan tomorrow. I've got to get up at 4:30 in the freakin' morning just to get my ass to Tokyo Station on time. I've got to get on the first bus available and the first train. That's freakin' ridiculous. But I'll enjoy myself, I'm sure.