Hello My Life

久しぶり. About Me.

2010-11-03T03:04:00.005+09:00

Hi everyone. It's been a while since I last posted here. I was actually going to start a new blog, but I thought I may as well continue with this one, despite the fact I am no longer 'NagoyaLauren'! I'm now back in the UK to complete the final year of my degree. As for what will happen after I graduate, I don't know yet. I have applied for a few jobs, one of which in Tokyo, however I think I am going to go with the flow and mainly concentrate on my studies for now.

Quick introduction should anyone new be reading ;)

My name is Lauren and I'm 22 years old. I was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, but now I live in Cheshire, England. I am in my final year of International Business Studies & Japanese at University. I spent last year at Kinjo Gakuin University in Nagoya, Japan. This of course is why my name on here is NagoyaLauren. I am engaged to Mike as of 27/12/2009 when he proposed on a romantic trip to Chester.

In this blog I will be posting about my daily observations as well as reviews and rants about products/services I use. I also hope to write about my time in Japan for anyone who is looking to visit in the future.

#10: Muse Live @ Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium

2010-05-16T23:11:00.004+09:00

This was a while back now (January 11th 2010) but better late than never ;) I have been a fan of Muse since around 2003, but this was my first time seeing them. Tickets were expensive, but the show was absolutely amazing and totally worth it!

It was also my first concert experience in Japan. It was held at a large all-purpose gymnasium within the secondary enclosure of Nagoya Castle. I was shocked that there was no bar there, and that although we were standing, it wasn't just one big free for all like it is in Britain. We were organised into what I can only describe as little 'pens' of about 15m squared with about 1m between each. I felt like livestock or something, it was... odd. The concert started precisely on time with no support bands, and the set list was at follows (via Setlist.fm⁾
Uprising
Map of the Problematique
Supermassive Black Hole
New Born
Interlude
Hysteria
Citizen Erased
MK Ultra
Nishe
United States Of Eurasia
Cave
Helsinki Jam
Undisclosed Desires
Resistance
Starlight
Time Is Running Out
Unnatural Selection
--------
Plug In Baby
Knights of Cydonia

During the concert the band didn't talk much but Matthew Bellamy looked super cool *fangirl*. For a lot of the songs, the lyrics to the chorus came up on the big screen, karaoke style. Very Japanese right? I loved this as I must admit I don't know most of the lyrics! The audience seemed to be most enthusiastic about the tracks off of The Resistance.

During the encore, several giant balloons were released from the top balcony. It did look pretty cool, but actually I have a phobia of balloons haha so I spent that entire period of time worrying that one was going to pop near me. They were bloody loud when they did though. The performance was immaculate and I wish I could go and watch it all over again, minus the balloons! Muse are playing in Manchester this September, so I just might be seeing them sooner than I think.

#9: Nine months already?

2010-05-16T21:10:00.002+09:00

I think that I'm actually getting quite nervous about going home now. My return flight is on 8th June, which is just over 3 weeks away. I've become more attached to Japan than I expected to, and I can see myself coming back one day. Just as long as it's with Mike this time! I'll probably cry at the airport when I have to leave Nagoya behind...

Some of the main things I will miss are a bit silly but I will miss them nonetheless. These include:

♥ All the lovely new people that I have met, from all over the world
♥ Karaoke
♥ Cute characters & gothic lolita shops, and everything being cute in general
♥ Online shopping, especially Rakuten
♥ Baumkuchen, cause it's only the best cake EVER & iced coffee
♥ This lovely warm summer weather
♥ Pretty gardens with tortoises in ponds and lakes
♥ Onsen/hot springs
♥ Easy access to Tokyo
♥ Ability to practice my Japanese a little more every day
♥ Seeing bands in smaller venues (Placebo was just amazing)

There are of course things I won't miss, but I won't share on here in case I offend anyone ;)

I'm worried that I've turned a bit Japanese now and I'll go back and bow at people and say 'arigatou gozaimashita' in shops instead of thanks etc. Haha. I was thinking about when I went home at Christmas and even then I felt a little bit of reverse culture shock. Even just little silly things like when I got to Manchester and was queuing up to go through passport control. The guy was like 'desk one please sir', 'desk three please madam' *my turn* 'desk four love'. I felt like saying LOVE?? I've probably been called love a billion times, but it was only then that I realised that it's pretty unflattering. It's so different to here where I'd be bowed at and referred to as 'okyaku-sama' (roughly translates as 'valued/honourable customer'). Haha so I guess in that respect Japan really does treat people with more respect.

It's been longer this time and I feel as though I've really integrated into a Japanese lifestyle more. I'm not exactly losing sleep worrying, I just wanted to write down my thoughts about it all.

In all honesty. I didn't get off to a great start. I had never been to Japan before and being rushed straight to my little old boarding house in a very residential area meant that it didn't live up to my expectations at first. I was really homesick and regretted my choice in coming, so I thought I was going to end up coming home after 2 months or so. The only thing that made me stay is the great friends I have. I also was lucky to be able to go home for Christmas, and have Mike come and visit me for 3 months Feb - April. I was worried that my bad start had ruined Japan forever for me, but that's not the case.

I'm really glad that I did stay, cause I have really had an amazing time and I think it's changed me as a person. I feel more mature, independent and open minded. I also feel more like me again. I've got back into gothic lolita and I'm just not ashamed to admit I like what I like. I think it's so easy to live in a little world where it just feels like Britain is the centre of the universe, but it's not at all. I was never interested in seeing the world really, but now there are so many other countries I want to visit to learn about their culture too. India for example. It's also easy to be influenced by the media in Britain and turn to magazines to tell you what you should and shouldn't wear/like/buy/do! People here literally just indulge in what they want to - some stranger than others, but whatever floats your boat. I'm just me again now, and that's probably what I'm most grateful for.

I'm looking forward to going home and seeing my friends, family and Mike. I'm still really bad at dealing with living without them all, I don't know that will ever change... so I can't say for sure what the future holds for me and Japan lol. I'm not overly excited, which is a good thing I think. I'd probably be disappointed otherwise. Well see you soon Blighty, my teeny little country. I wonder how much you've changed!

#8: Review of Leopalace & Freebell Apartments, Nagoya

2010-05-03T15:10:00.025+09:00

A guide to short term lets in Nagoya, Japan.

I've been meaning to write this for a while, and I hope it comes in useful for those of you that are looking for short term accommodation in Nagoya. In case you don't already read my blog, I'm a British girl studying at University here for a year. I live in an all girls boarding house, so when my fiance decided he wanted to come and visit for 3 months I started to look for an apartment for him.

After flicking through google for a while, I came up with a few options that supposedly have English speaking staff. If anyone could suggest more I can add here, please let me know via the comments section or twitter.

Apartments

- Freebell Apartments (Nagoya station/Meieki)
- Leopalace (Shinsakae)
- Japan Residence (Higashi-Sakura & Fushimi)
- Apollo Properties I have been told this company has a few fully furnished apartments in Nagoya. They have no information on their website at the time of writing this, but maybe you could try e-mailing them.
- Sumaino Ichiban Again, I don't know much about this company, and a lot of their website seems to be in Japanese, but it looks as though they have a fair few properties and it may be worth contacting them for further assistance in English.

Guest Houses

- Freebell Guest House (Horita)
- Otohaya Guest House (near Nagoya station/Meieki)
- Hostel Ann (Kanayama)

I contacted a few estate agencies too but unfortunately they weren't able to help me for just 3 months. It may be a good idea to try this if you are staying longer though.

We moved to Leopalace first, but then moved to Freebell after the first month. You can read my story below, but I will say now that I wholly recommend Freebell. It was very hassle free, convenient and we got more space than an average Japanese apartment.

My first step was to go and view both Leopalace (Shinsakae) and Freebell, as those were the two that matched our requirements best. There was only one English speaking staff member at Leopalace. She was really lovely and friendly, but unfortunately her English was quite poor, so we communicated in a mix of broken English and Japanese. The flats were quite small, but had a lot of storage space. It had a main room with a semi-double bed, TV and table. Off this there was a hall with a very small kitchen unit, a washing machine and a bathroom. The building and the flats are very clean and new, and the location is perfect - just a few minutes bike or subway ride to the downtown area of Sakae.

As for Freebell, the flats are not as attractive or as new as Leopalace, but they are still clean and much larger. They typically have 2 bedrooms (each with a semi-double bed), a bathroom/washing machine and a large kitchen with a dining table, sofa and wide screen TV. The location of Freebell is also very convenient, it is situated next to the Lucent Tower in the Nagoya station/Meieki area.

So both had their merits but for me the main factor was cost. I got a price quote from both companies on my visits, and was under the impression that Leopalace was much cheaper. So I went with them. I went to their office about 3 weeks before the move in date to sign the paperwork. I ended up being there for 2 hours as the English speaker could not put what she needed to say into words. We communicated through a native speaker at their Tokyo branch over the phone (passing back and forth) and through typing into an internet translator tool. When I got to the final forms, it was only then I realised that they had added on a lot of extra fees and charges, including internet fee and a large deposit. It was very foolish of me but I went ahead with it anyway, just wanting something to be sorted out. Besides it was still a little bit cheaper than Freebell.

Apart from the initial problems, there wasn't a much else I could really fault about the place. Nothing came with the flat apart from bedding (one pillow for us both). We had to buy kitchenware and towels. We didn't even have anywhere to hang our wet clothes, so we had to create a makeshift washing line on our veranda. I noticed the cancellation policy said we can cancel after 4 weeks if we wanted to and get our deposits/remaining 2 months rent back (minus a small charge). We kept this in mind in case we wanted to have more space. Just as I thought, after a month we were a little bit fed up with being cramped. We were also quite worried about something happening and them keeping all of our large deposit. So we took the risk and moved over to Freebell. We got all of our money back from Leopalace, but it took them a month. It didn't feel like an apartment there, but like a hotel room, and so I don't think the hassle was worth it.

We visited the Freebell office and the staff were very friendly with perfect English. To obtain our flat, we literally had to sign one form. There was no hidden fees or costs, no deposit. It was all included in the rent. We paid upfront and moved across from Leopalace. Straight away we were delighted and I wished that I'd just gone with them from the start. They included everything we needed in our rent; bedding, kitchenware, towels, dish washing supplies, shampoo, conditioner, toilet roll and soap. The flat was nice and roomy and we enjoyed cuddling up on our sofa infront of the huge TV. My fiance has gone home now and I miss our time there very much, we had such a lovely time.

I'm sorry that was quite lengthy but hopefully I've helped if you are considering Leopalace or Freebell. I'm sorry that I couldn't be more specific about costs in this entry - I both can't remember them all and don't really want to reveal any details publicly over how much we spent. If anyone would like to ask me a question please go ahead, again comments section or twitter is fine. I will also try and provide a link to some photos soon.

#7: Am I weird taking photos of food?

2010-05-02T23:42:00.002+09:00

My din dins earlier this evening. It was so tasty. I want to eat it again.

Rice bowl with kara age chicken from scratch, brocolli (successfully cooked in my rice cooker 8D) and tonkatsu sauce.

#6: さくら

2010-03-10T15:56:00.012+09:00

Every spring, whole towns in Japan become pink with the beautiful flowering sakura that blossoms. I heard someone on TV say "When the wind blows, little pink petals are blown off and they dance in the air. Like when it's snowing hard, only the snow is pink." I can't wait to see it for myself. According to the Japan meterology agency, it is due in Nagoya towards the end of the month. Yay!

The cherry blossoms may not have arrived yet, but for the past few weeks shops have been going crazy with sakura themed merchandise, and I have been fully buying into the madness :D There is a lot of scented bath/shower gels, pink prints on fabrics etc, but what surprised me the most was all the food and drinks. For example - cakes, tea, milkshakes and candy. If you're in Japan and want to try something Sakura flavoured, the best bet would probably be to head to Starbucks. They have a hot and cold drink, and several varieties of cakes. The taste is very unusual, but enjoyable. It has a slight fruity sweetness, but it's also a little salty! I'm guessing that the flower gives the salty taste and the sweetness is artificial. I really don't know. So lately I find that despite my caffiene addiction, I crave for the sakura steamed milk every time we pass a Starbucks! I also picked up a cute themed mug there, which you can see in the picture at the bottom of this post.

The Sakura tea I am drinking is from the shop Muji/無印良品. I was a bit unsure of it when I first poured the hot water in, it smelled like pot pourri, but it ended up being very much drinkable and tasty. I drank it without sugar or milk, and with my cute pink cupcake from one of Nagoya's famous take-away cake shops.

Please click for the larger image, or if you're viewing away from Blogger, click here.

#5: Placebo Live @ Nagoya Club Quattro

2010-03-10T11:51:00.005+09:00

Last night (9th March 2010) Placebo played live at Nagoya Club Quattro. It was my third time seeing them (first being Wembley Arena in 2004 & second Birmingham Carling Academy in 2006) but I have to say it was probably the most enjoyable and entertaining. This was mainly because of the intimate venue... it was very strange actually. We were on the 8th floor of a department store, in a club which only fits 500 people. The gig wasn't sold out either. My friend who purchased his ticket the day before was ticket #320ish. I don't think there was many more people than that there at all. It felt so surreal to see such an amazing band in such a teeny place.

The concert was due to start at 7pm... so of course in true Japan style it started at 7pm on the dot. The set was just short of 2 hours. According to http://asm.jugem.cc/, this is the set list from Tokyo and I'm pretty sure that Nagoya was identical.

For What It's Worth
Ashtray Heart
Battle For The Sun
Soulmates
Speak In Tongues
Cops
Every You
Special Needs
Breathe Underwater
Julien
Neverending Why
Come Undone
Devil In The Details
Meds
Song To Say Goodbye
Special K
Bitter End
--------
Bright Light
Trigger Happy
Infra-red
Taste In Men

All the way through a lot of girls were shouting "Brian!" He seemed amused by this, and at one point started to introduce the other members of the band by saying "do you know this guy here?" audience: "here!" aww.

It was great to hear the new drummer in action. He has a slightly different style I think, harder/bassier and a lot of dance beats. I love it. So a lot of the older songs, like Every Me & Every You were played differently, as well as the fantastic new material.

So overall, definitely really enjoyed it and hope they come again before I go back to the UK :D thanks Placebo for an awesome show as always.

#4: Happy New Year

2010-01-17T15:58:00.011+09:00

Happy 2010! I haven't updated here for absoloutely ages. I'll be honest... my first semester being here hasn't been all that exciting on a day to day basis. It's been mostly about adjusting to my surroundings and trying hard to improve my Japanese at Uni. Nevertheless, it's been fun. I've met a lot of nice people, and seen a lot of interesting things here in Nagoya.

Japan related news aside, I went home to England for Christmas and well.... I am now an engaged lady! My boyfriend of nearly 3 years proposed to me in the city of Chester, Cheshire. We went shopping for a ring together the next day and this was our choice. I love it to bits, we both thought it was gorgeous the second we saw it in the shop window. We went for some lunch then came back to purchase. The guy was really professional and lovely, and the ring fit perfectly. Once we had purchased it, Mike placed the ring onto my finger and we walked outside into the lovely little arcade. As we walked down the steps and out into the street, a busking violinist started to play 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' by The Beatles, so we stood there watching for a while. It was so lovely and romantic, I will treasure those moments forever and I'm so happy to be engaged to such a wonderful man. So TAKE THAT anyone who says long distance relationships don't work! For us, it only made us stronger.

So my wonderful fiance is coming to join me here at the end of the month when my spring break begins. He will stay for 3 months and during that time we hope to go to Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Gifu (Ryokan) and Okinawa. So stay tuned for more posts in what I hope is going to be a wonderful start to the year!

#3: Initial Thoughts

2009-09-27T16:05:00.007+09:00

I really thought I would update this blog more, but life has just been so hectic! Just as I was starting to settle down, University started and I have classes every day. I love it here but at the same time, some things are a bit tough to adjust to. I'm sure that this is just natural though and I will be fine soon :)

Also, I got my mobile phone sorted. If anyone would like to send me an e-mail (which comes to my phone like a text message), my address is LAURENC@DISNEY.NE.JP

Things I like about Japan so far

♥ Iced coffee is cheap and available everywhere, even from vending machines on the street
♥ No litter or vandalism anywhere
♥ My phone is amazing, I love being able to send e-mails whenever I want
♥ It's not cold
♥ There's lots of shops, and everything is generally cool/cute
♥ The recycling system, once you get used to it, is really effective. I wish the UK would take on a similar project
♥ I feel safe in the Boarding House and everyone is really nice
♥ The staff at Uni are really helpful and are very protective of us :)
♥ I'm learning to be more independent
♥ Ice cream mochi = yum
♥ I might be going to see Franz Ferdinand

#2: よこそう

2009-09-14T21:10:00.008+09:00

So after all the months of planning and hard work, I am finally in Japan! My flights were fine, I had no problems and managed to get enough sleep for my body clock to adjust to Japan time.

When I first saw my empty room, my initial thoughts were 'oh god, why have I come halfway accross the world by myself, away from the people I love most?' but once I got unpacked and decorated my room with photos and cards I felt a little better. The girls that live here are all very nice and welcoming too. I love the street that we live on. It's just like I expected it to be.

I have also been to the supermarket. I had no idea what most things were :( except Tuna onigiri. I should have bought more than one though I guess as I'm hungry now! Tomorrow we are having a tour of the area and also going to apply for our "alien registration cards". So hopefully someone can help me out with the food shopping too and I'll start to feel more settled.

I will also post soon with photos of my room! All I'll say for now is that it's very Japanese, with an entrance hall for me to take my shoes off, and a low dining table.

#1: Eleven days to go!

2009-09-01T21:15:00.009+09:00

Around a week and a half now until I leave for Nagoya! I am excited, but also feeling quite nervous. I've been studying Japanese for three years but I've heard people in the same situation as me say that once they arrived, it felt as though a whole different language was being spoken. I'm also quite sad about having to say goodbye to my family, friends and boyfriend Mike (of 2.5 years) but it's only 3 months till I will be back at Christmas. So I'm sure it's all going to be fine.

I've started my packing but I have a feeling I'm going to run out of space very soon. I have too many clothes that I wanted to take. So I'm trying to devise a 'capsule wardrobe' right now. I wish Gok Wan could come help me.

I'm finally going to Japan after being obsessed with the place for years & years! I will post again when I'm on the other side of the world :)