Friday November 27 2015
Another busy week has passed and it's been hard to think about my trip when i'm so busy. But it's all worth it on payday. I made an extra $200 in savings in the last two weeks and have almost reached my savings goal. I think its less than 6 weeks now till Christmas - Wow, Christmas! Where has the time gone...
Christchurch had a few really high temperatures this week. It's a pretty hard slog through the day. Yesterday I got to have dinner with my friends and on Tuesday we went to see the last of the hunger games movies. Well worth it to be a bit knackered for the weekend. Sorry this post is a little late but please do enjoy this weeks ramblings...
Part of my down-time in the past few months has been spent researching apartments in major Japanese cities. When first planning my trip, I intended to stay with friends, to get a real feel for Japan in daily life, but as a measure of security and placement, it was better to look for long-term accommodation. I thought I would split up my stay three ways; first month in Tokyo, second month in Osaka and then back to Tokyo for a month. Then it was mentioned to me by several highly reliable sources that Kyoto is in fact the best place in Japan, and would be a lot cheaper to stay. The annoying thing is that all the international online accommodation services are based around Tokyo, as it is more common to stay there as a foreigner. I did however find some pretty cool apartments in Kyoto via Kyoto-Apartment.com.
I always thought it would be amazing to live in one of those one room apartments, with a small kitchenette and closet sized bathrooms, that sit in a stack of about 20. The kind that Saitama, from One Punch Man, lives in, or Tomoya from Clannad or...I could keep going all day on references, but I won't. It's been a total dream come true (and a little bit of a let down) to find many of these on sites such as Kimiwillbe and Sakura House. The let down is that they're a little over my budget... and what you get is what you see- It's very small, most of them are unfurnished and there are hidden costs. The good thing about researching though, is that I get to sit on it and think about it before I go ahead. As much as it would be so awesome to live in my (shitty) dream-come-true-Japanese apartment, I don't think it'll be practical during my three month visit.
The reason that self contained apartments cost more, compared to that of shared houses or guest houses, is that they're private and you can do your own thing. Which, don't get me wrong, is what I want to be able to do, but that said, I don't think the cost of it on my budget is worth it. I will probably get very lonely and I don't want to miss out on friendships and social opportunities (and possible job opportunities...), it will be very likely that I will go with a shared house or guest house where it will be a lot cheaper. I have lived in a hall of residence and a 7 person flat, so I know what i'm getting myself into.
A really good site that i looked into, was Oakhouse.com. They have heaps of different options inside and outside of Tokyo. They have really big share-houses/dormitories (we call them Halls of residence here in NZ) with awesome facilities and all sorts of people. I can imagine I will be put in one of these for a little while. One of the residencies that I looked at was based in a small suburban city (basically a place where people, who work in the city, live because it's cheaper and the commute is still not too far).
In a few weeks time i'll be heading home for a weekend to sort out most of my trip with my parents. My step dad, when he was a little older than me, found himself traveling the world, mostly Europe and South East Asia (from what I know). I can trust that his experience will come in handy when making some decisions.
My goal this weekend is to read through the last of my Lonely Planet book and make some notes on the stuff I've already tabbed. More than anything i will be resting and spending time with JJ.
Enjoy the weekend, guys!
Emily
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