Bits and Pieces.

After the official KCP opening ceremony, I decided to wend my way around the city a bit. I headed in the direction of the Hanazono shrine, a Shinto establishment located in the edges of the Kabuchi-cho section of Shinjuku ward. Hanazono was on my list of places to go last year when I was studying at KCP, and somehow or other I never made it to the site. I decided that this was not going to happen again.

The shrine itself is not tiny (though not huge), and it is fabulously nestled in between the skyscraping office buildings that proliferate in Shinjuku. There was an excess of fox imagery at this shrine, something I’d heard about but not really seen until now. The foxes at the entrance to the fox shrine, as well as the guardian dogs at the entrance of Hanazono, had kanji characters on the base of their pillars. On the left, the kanji for enter and on the right, the kanji for offer--also something I haven’t noticed before. I’ll have to keep my eye out for these in the future.

After touring Hanazono, I took the metro home and popped into the local Internet café. I’d been there a few days ago, and I guess they recognized me because this time they offered me a regular customer card. If I buy eight drinks, I get a free small beverage of my choice. This is cool on a number of levels. In the first place, I’m sure I can net at least one free drink while I’m here. In the second place, it’s just awesome to be a regular at a little coffee shop in Tokyo. In the third place, the English on the frequent customer card is delightful.

Anyway, I spent a couple hours going over email business and updating the blog with missives I’d penned in the early days. (I’m still catching up.) When I was done, I still felt like rambling, so I began to wander the streets of Nakameguro. In the process, I found a cute little toddler park, a ferreted away Buddhist temple, and a tiny fruit market--among other things. And I didn’t even get lost.

In other news, I added unlimited email functions to my cell phone today and have been cheerfully texting (in Japanese and English) to friends. I have no idea what my cell phone email is, but I’m going to email myself and see if I can find out. It’d be hilarious to get emails from home on my keitai.

A Classic KCP Pastime: Drinking Beer in the Park.

Levels were announced today, and I made it into level four! (Dance of joy.)

The orientation process was as excruciating as it ever is, and in the aftermath some friends and I decided to unwind with beer and park lounging. At first we thought of quiet repose in the Shinjuku Gyoen, but they don’t allow alcohol on the premises (the fiends), so we found a little corner park instead.

Our motive for choosing this particular place was two-fold. First, we came across it fairly quickly after the confusion of Shinjuku Gyoen. Second, it had a swing set. Myself, and a number of the other girls, indulged in a little beer-and-swings mayhem, while Japanese blue-collar workers looked on in amusement, periodically sending flirtatious greetings over to us in broken English.

Much random conversation transpired, along with laconic joking, beer quaffing, and general chillin’.

Tomorrow, the daily grind begins in earnest, and I suspect I will have cause to look back on this afternoon with nostalgia.