Waking Up in Tokorozawa

Here I am, in this Japanese room, mostly relieved of my successful arrival, as an uncanny thought enters me: “And now what?” You see, I had been so focused on hastily reaching my goal that I had completely foregone making an actual to-do list. While it was a purposeful decision not to make any hard travel plans, this was definitely the period when I regret it the most. This development was furthermore coupled with “The Rise of The Virus”, which later really discouraged me regarding my starting time. Naturally, I still had to do some miscellaneous tasks, which kept me busy and allowed me to experience new things, regardless. Since you are likely curious about my first living situation, Maki-san’s AirBnB, here goes a picture:

While the entire guest floor is definitely past it’s prime and also not the cleanest, I would still recommend Maki’s place to backpackers and adventurous people. There’s all necessary amenities, Maki is a heartwarming and open-minded grandma who also prepares delicious breakfast, and the location is quite good for people who prefer a more relaxed and less noisy atmosphere! Since most people had cancelled their travel plans due to the virus, all three guest rooms were empty when I arrived. Maki was nice enough to upgrade my room free of charge, since it wasn’t going to be used anyway. She also took me along to the closest super market and helped me whenever I had a question or bureaucratic trouble.

For every foreigner (外人 / gaijin) on a non-tourist visa there comes a point when resident (re-)registration is required, unless one intends to change places every 2 weeks. For me it was the city hall (市役所) of Tokorozawa. I paid the town hall three visits in total, mostly because of confusions on my end. While I intend to write a short article on the process of registration (住民登録) sometime in the future, I’d like to commend the Japanese bureaucrats for their efficiency, patience, and overall kindness. Despite the registration of gaijins being a somewhat rare case, there will be people waiting there just to help you get through the registration process or in fact any municipal matter. I communicated my special issues and everything was resolved. Overall it’s not too difficult. Just filling out some forms, getting the new address printed on your residence card and et voilà you are now a resident of a city (with all it’s rights and responsibilities).

Apart from the serene walks through the famous and very close aviation park （空港公園）, which will be a topic of the next post, I want to leave you with an impression of the shopping area outside Tokorozawa station. This is where I would end up buying a lot of my groceries whenever I returned from my day trips. Have a blessed day and hopefully you’re curious what happened next.