Live from Japan

Atsui des ne’! The heat sapped my energy today. Mat and I are in a new area of Kyoto now. Actually, we are outside of Kyoto in Japanese suburbia, near Uji. This is the fourth place we’ve stayed since arriving in Kyoto. I’m in the common room of the guesthouse now. Mat is at the Kyoto International Community House meeting a prospective student, and I find myself with time to update you on our journey.

At the very beginning of this trip I found it providential that we were given free food everywhere. Mat’s mom took us out for dinner before our flight from Denver to Houston. Then since our plane arrived late in Houston we were given free meal vouchers for the airport, which was quite nice since we were spending the night there. After being guided to the cushiest seats in the airport (couches near Starbucks) we were offered a free dinner of pizza by a fellow traveler also sleeping at Houston. In the morning I went to buy orange juice at Starbucks for a little morning cocktail and the girl hadn’t prepared her drawer yet, so she gave it to me for free. Then we had free breakfast with our airport vouchers. It was a lovely fare-thee-well from America.

Yesterday while riding the subway here after dinner at our favorite street restaurant I referred to us as poor fools. Mat suggested I try foolish poors or some other title that emphasized how really foolish we were to come to Japan without $3,000 apiece saved up. Instead, we arrived with about $1,500 (Thank you, Mom for one third of that. We could not have made it without that gift!) to share and it’s no exaggeration that Japan is expensive.

Here in Japan, for the first week we lived on bread and coffee in the morning (free at the hostels), a rice ball or triangle each for lunch (105 yen each), and a Japanese kind of pancake/omelet and noodles for dinner (150 yen each). We then ended the day with a shared beer or sake cup by the river (197 or 155 yen each). In this way we’ve averaged spending 700 – 1000 yen ($7.50-$11) a day on food. However, some days we go crazy and spend more. For example, while couchsurfing we cooked our hosts dinner on the last evening there and spent more than 2,000 yen. Or some nights we spend 700-900 yen at our cheap and delicious restaurant. While couchsurfing, since we weren’t paying for a room, my stomach got used to eating well. We had rice and vegetables every night. One night we even had a Mexican dinner! Today Mat and I shared a fluffy loaf of raisin bread (Japanese bread has very little substance) and drank a can of coffee each (300 and some yen). I had another iced coffee a few hours later (free) and then ate a shoyu and sesame covered rice ball (105 yen) for lunch. Right now I’m very hungry, but will try to wait for Mat for dinner.

As for housing, we stayed in hostels for our first week here, but after the slow search of finding jobs and more permanent housing, we tried couchsurfing in Kyoto. We were incredibly lucky and were able to stay with four guys for about a week. A boy from Germany was also surfing with them, so we got to spend time with some fabulous people. Shingo, the main host, has traveled around the world playing didgeridoo and practices reiki healings with didgeridoo. He’s very interested in creating and living in a sustainable community one day. All around, he’s a laid back and generous man. We were lucky to meet him. His roommates are a hilarious trio. One is a DJ and bartender, one is a hairsylist and radio show host, and the other is an artist and gardener. Every night they dance together and laugh and wrestle and ultimately provide slapstick comedy for us all. We were thankful for our time there. Now we’re in a new guesthouse near Uji. It just opened on the 6th of August. The rooms are super cheap, only 1,000 yen/night or 6,000/week or 20,000/month. The couple that runs it is adorable and kind and asked Mat or I to teach English on the weekends. I’m quite excited to help them in their dream of having a guesthouse and café since that is our dream also. One of their regular customers speaks English quite well and said he’d teach us Japanese and the Zen lifestyle.

At this moment, we’re okay and making it in Japan. On Wednesday I have an interview for a job. and if I get that job they are able to sponsor me for a working visa. Right now, I think that’s the only way we can stay here much longer. So please pray or send positive thoughts or cast magical spells for us. We want to stay in Japan. We like it here even though it hasn’t been easy. There have been so many days where we thought something was going our way and then we didn’t hear back from people or people we thought were all right seemed sketchy and untrustworthy. We’ve walked so many, many miles in shoes that should not walk many miles. For only being in Japan two weeks, I think we’re making progress, but other days I think it’s not enough. But ultimately, we are in Japan! We are living here and barely making it and meeting excellent people. We’re weary and hopeful and hot and thrilled and hungry. We’re alive.