In Kawasaki

I was going to say that this blog shouldn't really be called 'In Kawasaki' any longer, because it's become more of an 'in (random city around the world)' blog. However, as it happens, I am actually right now in Kawasaki.

So, to update you on my week, I am living in Nagoya now. I was met at the airport and took the shinkansen into Nagoya, and the day after arriving was a day off. Then we sorted out a few requirements like alien registration, and took the shinkansen back to Tokyo. I am not actually starting work until Tuesday, so I took advantage of the free shinkansen ticket to delay my return a little and stay in Kawasaki for the night. I'm gonna meet a few friends, from Kawasaki and then from the ship, tomorrow. Yay!

My neighbourhood is very, very quiet and residential. I thought I lived in a quiet suburb in Yokohama, but I now realise that wasn't so. I think it's at least a 10 minute walk to even get to a restaurant or conveience store. In my neighbourhood in Yokohama, I had two convenience stores, three supermarkets and at least 20 restaurants within a five-minute walk.

I did a bit of an explore of Nagoya. You know before I was complaining that my commute was long. Well, I still think it is - it's longer than that any other teacher in the city - but there are two perks. One is that I'm in the same apartment building as several other new teachers, and they are lovely. The other is that my commute - and therefore the commuter's pass my company provides me with - covers quite a bit of the city, meaning I can travel to lots of places for free. Every day I'll be travelling through the city centre and hub of activity, so that will be nice.

My apartment is quite good. It's probably slightly smaller than my previous one in Yokohama (those who have been there will hardly think it possible) but the use of space is better so it feels more spacious.

I don't think much of Nagoya at the moment, to be honest, but I expect it'll grow on me.

I was gonna post more about Nagoya, but this keyboard is not very good. The keys keep sticking, so I'll leave it at that.