First day without Mike

Oh no no no, nothing happened to us...We didn't break up or anything! It's just today was Mike's first day at work here in Tokyo. I, on the other hand, had my first day alone! Yay!! (j/k, Mike) =P

It was nice in some ways (especially watching him leave at 7:50am and had the luxury to go back to sleep until 10!! haha). Though at the same time, I kinda wish we can start working at the same time - can compare and contrast the two different companies sooner!! Well... I am sure we'll have our talks later!

First day by myself, starting a bit slow, but picking up the speed immediately.. make lots of phone calls using Skype (yea, still no proper cell phones in Japan yet... sadly) to sort out my work visa stuff, new employee application stuff, bank inqury, etc. Busy busy talking (in Japanese, hehe!!!).

Nose was still stuffy due to the stupid cold. My cure was - wasabi beans - as breakfast!! hehe... I dunno if it cures it or not, the yummy taste in my mouth certainly made me feel like it did!!! ^_____^

Main mission outdoor today was to go to the City Hall at Daimon (大門) which is 3 subway stations away to re-apply for my Alien Registration Card (外国人登録証明書). Applied that when we first arrived Tokyo; however, since we went to Hong Kong (departing Japan) before we waited for the 3 weeks period to obtain the actual registration card, we need to re-apply and submit everything (and PAID) again!!! Seems a bit ridiculous to me, but oh well... it's Japan, where people LOVE their processes, so...

Due to the Golden Week long holiday last week, it was SUPERB busy at the City Hall office today. I arrived around 1pm and didn't get out until 3pm (comparing to last time when I was there, it only took about half an hour!). But I was being a good gal, waited, waited and waited... (yea, was amazed at my own patience as well!!!) =P

Took some pictures while I was there at the City Hall and had a little (visual) adventure as well... sharing with you all... starting from the beginning...


You'll pass by this "Big Gate" (大門) on your way to the City Hall. Feels a bit like some places in main land China.






Minato City Hall at Daimon, where all the foreigners intending to stay more than 90 days have to come to apply for the Alien Registration Card. And very "luckily", it was crowded with people after the Golden Week holiday, and I ended up waiting for almost 2 hours to complete the whole process... -___-




Counter for applying for the annoying Alien Registration Card. Why annoying? You can't do anything without it if you are not a Japanese national. As a result, I can't get a cell phone, a bank account or anything useful yet... ANNOYING!!!





The procedures go like these: you walk to the front counter and pull a ticket from this machine. The number on top says the current calling number, and the number on the actual thing tells you how many people you have to wait before your turn. So you can guess, how much "fun" i have waiting for the EIGHTEEN people in front of me >_<










Fortunately, I was being smart and brought a book to study in case of times like this ;) yea yea yea, I am geeky... so what, I like studying Japanese!! =)













But guess what I saw?!?! ---> A little kid at the far corner trying to climb to get the public phone!!!
hehe... my bad habit again - watching and following (visually only, dun worry, no action taken) little kids. Took some quick snaps of the kid, witnessing his ordeal - trying to pick up a phone that is way taller than him.










Failed to pick up the one on the far left, now he's switching target, trying to aim at the one at the right...















Mission accomplished!! Look, he's talking on the phone now (or he "thinks" he is)! ha!













Target #2 -- Usually you don't get to see to many kids in places like a City Hall. Guess I was lucky... this one is even cuter. He was stretching on the floor, or looking for stuff?






As you can see, I was no less curious than he is (he was curious about what was on the floor, and I was curious about what he was curious about...) And yes, I was taking the picture from behind the seats. I am sure some people have seen me and were thinking, "geez... what's wrong with this strange gal holding a camera taking pictures of a little kid on the other side?" I know i know... bad hobby (kids watching)... =P



Oh no, he got up!!!







And sat back down... so CUUUTEEEEEEE!!! Kawaii !!! (Okay, need to control myself, I start sounding like some kid-liking frecks now, haha..)






Apart from the time I spent watching little kids or studying while waiting for applying for the registration card, I also noticed there was some sort of sales by a group of mid-age women, probably for some charity thing. Kinda weird to happen at a City Hall though.





Oh, in my abundant waiting time, I also realized that you can spot the Tokyo Tower from inside the City Hall. Honestly though, the Tokyo Tower is quite ugly!!












After 2 hours of waiting, I was so glad that I could finally walk out from the City Hall building. Rainny rainny (as you can see from the last pic, the sky was pretty dark already). Wandering around streets in Tokyo a little bit, did a lot of information gathering about which cell phone to get and about what documents are required. Hopefully we can get a cell phone tomorrow!!! (Especialy after finding out from Mike that the network at work will be locked down so tightly) So sad... that means that I can't use IM or icq so freely like I used to in the States anymore during work! -__-... Can't even check my personal email.... >_<... いやだ!! (help!!!)