Last day in Tokyo

A look into the bedroom

Because my flight leaves early tomorrow, I have to move out today. But before moving out comes the “inspector”, someone from the household agency who checks if everything is ok. Basically the same procedure as in every flat in Germany. Of course one spends much more time getting the rooms as clean as possible so I didn’t sleep very much and put the last bits of recycable trash outside.The inspection was quite quick and the guy who came mainly counted every piece of furniture and whatever else was in the room. When I moved in in April, I was given a list, so I knew which things are supposed to be in the room. The Lonely Planet book, left behind by one of the former tenants wasn’t on the list, so it was ok to take it with me. There wasn’t a name in that book so giving it back was not an option.

Learning, learning and walking around

Currently I always crossed the bridge to the other ward when I left home but today I decided to walk into the opposite direction. I also had another reason for a walk outside – I heard  loud voices outside. It turned out that there is currently some sort of local election and the candidates drive around together with a small group of supporters wish all people good look and bow if someone leaves the house. One day they were waiting at Tabata station, another day they were patrolling the pavement (and they are narrow so no chance to escape ;). I think it’s quite funny, because election times in Germany are quieter in my opinion but you see the candidates on the streets too – and they are never to be seen again once they are elected…
Anyway, the path of the ward I was walking was very boring so I returned after a short while. The rest of the day was spent with work, learning and more learning.

I wonder if this UFO is burnable…

The Japanese take recycling as serious as the Germans. In Germany we have containers in every neigbourhood for glas (brown, white and green are seperated) and paper. There is also the “green garbage bin” which is for every good that has a “green point” on them – which is virtually every product you could buy at the supermarket. The ordinary garbage, the recycling containers and the “green” garbage are collected by different cars. Now in Japan they have different garbage days – Wednesday/Saturday are the days for burnable garbage (like kitchen wastes, cloths), Thursday for the non-burnable garbage (light bulbs, batteries, PET bottles) and Monday is the day for “resources”: newspapers, magazines, cans. There is a designated place in the neighbourhood where you should put your garbage in special plastic bags (except paper of course). I think I’ve found this special place today.

Looking for my school

The next thing on my to-do-list was the location of my school (Naganuma). During my train tip to Shibuya I did my good deed of the day and offered an elderly my place. She was part of a group of heavy chatting ladies. Arriving at Shibuya, I took the west exit and crossed the street. The way to the school is pretty straightforward since it involves only following the big road. The school itself doesn’t stand out as much as the leaflet suggested but it’s still easy to find if you don’t walk with your eyes closed.
Going back to the station, I decided to explore Shibuya a bit. The Hachiko exit (named after the faithful dog whose statue was stolen a while ago) was very crowded.
After a while I took the train back to Tabata station where I bought two Mac magazines for research purposes (Mac Fan and Mac Power) 😉