Fifteen Years and Five Apartments

As the heading of this post indicates, I have lived in five apartments over a span of fifteen years of stay in Japan. The current one to which we moved in 2018 is the fifth apartment. 

The first apartment was in Kiba, near the office, where I lived for 4 months. The office was just 5 minutes walking-distance away. The apartment was 2 DK type and had enough space when I was alone. There was a shopping mall, Ito Yokado and tall buildings nearby. A lively place called Gatharia, where people gather with their kids. My dining room was so big during those days as I was dining at Mc Donalds, KFC, Japanese restaurants, and Mister Donut.

The second apartment was in Sakura, Chiba prefecture. I lived there for 3 months. I had to walk 10 minutes to reach the nearby supermarket and 22 minutes to the nearest railway station. That was like a village life, but could drop body weight a lot due to walking and running. Silence was the only companion while watching Japanese television programs. The branches of darkness played hide and seek game outside from where the shrilling sound of Cicadas tried to invade the silence. I was inclining towards spirituality, but occasional visits to Tokyo and its neon lit streets helped me to return to the world of ether.

The third apartment was a private apartment in Komatsugawa, near the 7-11 shop. It was one minute walking-distance away from Higashi Ojima station of Toei-Shinjuku line. The size of the apartment was 2DK. When wife and kids came to Japan, we started feeling the importance of moving to a little more larger apartment. Komatsugawa park, with 1000 Sakura trees was an attractive point of that apartment. Our social connections were growing and hence we hesitated to move away from Komatsugawa.

The Park and the growing social interactions with the expatriate community in Komatsugawa were the reasons behind choosing the fourth apartment near the Komatsugawa park itself. There was a thought of moving to an apartment near to the kids' school. Consideration social connections dominated our decision finally and we chose to stay near Komatsugawa park. We contacted Sakuma-san who manages a real-estate agency in Komatsugawa. He proposed some vacant 2LDK apartments  owned by UR housing corporation. The size was 65 sqm.

The 10th building of UR housing complex is a 33 storey building with garbage disposal room and the bicycle parking space at the ground (first) floor. We preferred the second floor since the bicycles would not complain about the footstep sounds. That 2LDK apartment was nice until our kids grew up and demanded separate rooms. 

All those 10 years and 7 months, company had made contract with apartment owners (almost 5 years in Private apartment and 5 years plus in UR apartment)

We started searching for a little more spacious apartment. We approached Sakuma-san (real-estate agent) again. He proposed JKK apartment, which is again in Komatsugawa. The size of the apartment we selected was 3SLDK with 88.8 sqm. JKK has an apartment complex in Komatsugawa 1-chome, near Higashi Ojima railway station. Our current apartment, which is on third floor has a spacious balcony with Arakawa river-view.

Dancing to the tunes of mele music – Edogawa ward festival at Komatsugawa

When the cute and beautiful girls flowed to the rhythm of the Hawaiian music, the stage looked magnificent. The little girls trained by a professional dancer were literally like waves in ocean. The Polynesian dance Hula is one of the most widely performed and popular dance forms in Japan.

Hula dance was performed by kids on the stage built for Edogawa ward festival organized at Komatsugawa park. Our aprtment's doors open to the Komatsugawa park and it was a nice experience watching and mingling with the local community for almost 4 hours. The programs started at around 4:0 in the evening.

The stage was built for the Annual ward festival. The Edogawa ward festival was organized by local leaders of Edogawa ward. Festivals are common in Japan and it helps people to gather at public places, see each other, refreshing relations and chat with each other. The daily life is busy and nobody have time to stop and chat even for a while. People might be seeing each other while travelling in trains or at shopping malls, but there are very few opportunities for them to get mixed up and come to know each other.

There were stalls being built on the Komatsugawa park for selling fast-food. The temporary stalls with tarpaulin were run by people from different apartments. Indians in Komatsugawa are also an influential group of minority. Yesterday there was a bolly-wood style Indian dance performed by Japanese dancers. The influence of India at Higashi Ojima area is much higher like in areas of Nishi Kasai, Ojima etc. Indians groups were also running some stalls for selling Indian food items, cloths etc.

Such festivals are good opportunities for the local Japanese people and other foreigners to know each other and are platforms for cultural exchange. Today also there are Indian classical dance performances by Indians in Higashi Ojima.


Almost all were thrilled by the hula dance performed by Japanese kids. The Hula dance form was originally developed by the Polynesians who first settled in the Hawaiian Islands. The attraction of Hula dance is the flow in the body movements of dance performers. The body becomes waves like the oscillations of ocean waves. The Hula dance style is performed with a chant or a song called a mele. The Hula dance dramatizes the stories sung in the 'mele'. Unique to the Hawaiian Islands there are many variations and styles of Hula dance.



The dance performance by school girls and other groups were also impressive. There was funny games for the elders to build the tallest structure with the empty cool-drink tin-cans. The wind was moderate and still many of the tin-can castles made were collapsed. The scene reminded me of the expected earthquake in Tokyo, which is feared to happen in any of the future years.

One of the Indian stalls was selling Samosa, Fried chicken, Rice and curry. Butter chicken curry and rice also attracted many of the Japanese people which was run another group of Indians. In between there was a stall for Indian cloths. Japanese noodles and tempura stalls also were crowded. Beer is a natural drink during such festivals and not at all considered as an alcoholic beverage.

Gatherings give enough opportunity to mingle and helps remove apprehensions whatever some people may carry in their head during daily living. Japanese people are open minded to accept other cultures. There are many stereotypic misunderstanding about for foreigners both in Japan and outside world. Many of such concerns have roots at some of the books written by western travelers long years back. An Indian view of Japan is much different from the Western view. Festivals are part of Indian society too and almost all of them are associated with temples and religion in India. I do not intend to enter into the differences in Indian view points and Western view points about Japan.

When we judge a society, first we have to be part of the society. Judgment of a person who separates himself from the society he judges and starts seeing from his cultural point may not do any good to anybody except for him to write a book.

Festivals of this kind give opportunities to know the Japanese psyche in more depth, of course by mingling with the local community, not by keeping ourselves away from them!

Katakana writing system in Japanese and interesting pronunciation of English words

One of my friends Tom-san do not like the Katakana. The reason she tells is very simple – why Japanese people change the English? She likes Hiragana. For me too Katakana looked awry at first, confusing till now.

When Morishita sensei started teaching Katakana characters at OVTA, Kahin Makuhari, we were telling jokingly that we will forget the hiragana characters that we learned earlier. That was true to some extent. We felt difficulty in recognizing hiragana characters when katakana characters started occupying the brain!

For the same pronunciation of Hiragana characters, there are equivalent katakana characters. This means Katakana and Hiragana are two parallel systems of writing same sounds. Hiragana is used to write words of indigenous origin, while Katakana is used to write Foreign words.

Identifying a foreign word is thus easier in Japanese language. Hiragana in combination with Kanji makes all the indigenous words in Japan and Katakana stands for foreigners!

The trouble is recognizing the foreign word once it is written in Katakana. It is really a mind boggling experience for many foreigners or at least for me! I take a bit time even to read my name written in Katakana. In Katakana, my name will be twisted as ‘Ja-ya-pu-ra-ka-sho’. Fortunately my name is not much twisted and can be easily recovered back to its original shape.

There are certain words in English that Japanese people use and write in Katakana, reading and recognizing which for many foreigners is a brain teasing game. One such word for me is goruden viku. When I encountered this word last year for the first time in a product advertisement caption, I thought of it for quite some time and then started guessing by connecting it with English words. I related all the coming events in the near future in the attempt to retrieve the Japanized foreign word. Finally I recognized it as ‘Golden week’.

Ra-ji-o is another word that cracked my brain. The funny word ever I heard is ‘Kombini’. It was very funny to hear from our Morishita sensei about the Kombini. Kombinis are really Kombini in Japan. She told about the shortening of long word to smaller ones by Japanese people. Then I remembered the manufacturing concept of Japan to make things smaller. Small is beautiful in Japan. So is what happened to the Kombini. Kombini is the shortened for of ‘Convenient store’ used by Japanese people. Morishita sensei said jokingly that Kombini is her kitchen.

I was also depending on Kombini for food till April of this year. In Japan, convenient stores, particularly the a.m p.m are opened for 24 hours. They are called as ‘am pm’ also and are really helpful to bachelors in Japan.

Hoto kohee (hot coffee) is the one I prefer to drink at Maku donarudo (Mc Donald). After lunch we go to the second floor by Esukareta- (Escalator), though there are Erebe-ta- (elevator). At the second floor of Ito Yokado, there are sutoa (store) of Terebi (TV), pasokon (personal computer) and other electronic items as well as some resutoran (Restaurant). Down stairs have stalls for Nekutai (Neck tie), puresento (present, gift) and have a supa (super market). During December, there will be special sales for Kurisumasu keki (Christmas cake). Items from Supain (spain), Itaria (Italy) etc are also available in the shops.

Why Japanese writing system modifies the foreign words. The answer is simple. Japanese language has simple pronunciation based on 5 different accents. They are;

A (sounds like ‘a’ of a ‘cat’ and the ‘u’ in ‘put’)
E (sounds like ‘pet’, ‘set’, ‘get’ etc.)
I (sounds like ee in ‘keen’ or ‘see’ but somewhere shorten like ‘sit’
O (sounds like the one between ‘taught’ and ‘pot’
U (sounds like the u in ‘put’ but the mouth corners may pull back a bit)

It seems, the Japanese people fit all the words in to the five sounds. Certainly there are many other sounds in foreign languages. In order to write them and fit them to readable and writable in Japanese language, the foreign words must be twisted and forged to make it Japanese! Thus the Japanized version of foreign words becomes very funny to foreigners.

A cake might be tasty to everyone, but how about if some Japanese ask you if you want to eat a keki?

Living with family in Tokyo – Alien registration card

To be frank, I was little bit skeptic before coming to Japan, for conditions of a foreigner to live in Japan with family. This was due to the biased concerns over the cultural differences. Though we have learned about Japan in school books that Asian cultures have similar root and have many things in common, the fear remained in mind till I personally witness the good receptive attitude of Japanese people.

It was on April 10 of this year, more than one month now, wife with two kids and mother moved from India. The first thing to do in Japan once the immigration procedures are completed and reached at the apartment is to apply for Alien card. For foreigners, Japan Government issues Alien Registration card. This card is the identity card for foreigners in Japan.

Called ‘Gaikokujin Toroku Shomeisho’ in Japanese, the Alien registration card is a must to carry along always. Foreigner could be asked to produce it at any time by the law authorities including police at any time during travel in Japan. We have to apply to the respective ward office as early as possible since many other documents required for living in Japan depend on receipt of Alien card. To apply for alien card, the required documents are original passport and two passport size photographs taken with the last 6 months.

In ward offices, called as Kuyakusho in Japanese language, there will be English speaking staff at foreign registration section. The reception at the Kuyakusho will guide you to the proper counter. When I went to the Edogawa kuyakusho to apply for the alien cards for my wife and children, the receptionist guided us to the registration counter. The lady staff at the foreign registration cell could communicate to us in English. She handed over some forms which are written in Japanese and English and explained to us what information is to be written.

Since we went to the ward office with our children, some of the staff at the counter came out to see our kids. One staff gave some toys to my elder daughter to play so that she will not get bored. I filled up the necessary information and submitted at the counter. She told us to wait one hour. Generally foreigners above the age of 16 years will receive the alien card after approximately 20 days. For children below 16 years old, the alien registration card will be issued on the same day. That is the reason she told us to wait and gave toys to the kids for playing.

We talked with other foreigners waiting at the counter. Alien registration card is required to apply for health insurance card and to apply for telephone connection or mobile phone connection. Yahoo BB application also asks for photocopy of alien card.

After almost one hour of waiting, we were called to the counter to receive the alien cards for our kids. They informed, the alien card for wife will be issued after 20 days at the local ward office branch. It can be collected by showing the passport in which a copy of the application for alien card is attached. For kids, the size of alien card is different. It looks more like a folded pass book. For elders, the alien card is similar in size of an ATM card.

Now we realized that our fears before coming to Japan were baseless. Japanese people are warm and pleasant. The staff at that local ward office branch where we went to receive the alien card of my wife were also very kind to direct us with more useful information on how to fill up the application forms for health insurances for kids.

More details about the procedure for application for alien card can be read from; Useful information on Alien card application

Shopping experience at Costco wholesale, Makuhari

This was the fourth time I did purchase at COSTCO WHOLESALE at Makuhari after coming to Japan. When Balasan told about Costco and the economical benefits of purchasing from Costco one year before, I was not fully convinced obviously because I was leading a single life at that time in Japan.

Now with family, purchasing from Costco is an economically beneficial. Membership is mandatory to purchase from Costco. Two individuals can do shopping with one membership card. Balasan has taken the membership card for one year. The one year membership card costs 4000 yen without tax.

When we buy household items in bulk, Costco is a good choice, as far as our experience goes. I could see Ready to eat MTR foods from India, which is an attractive item for Indians and Pakistanis in Japan. The cost of 4 Nos of Palak paneer packs cost 898 Japanese Yen. The average cost of one pack is 224.5 Japanese yen. The same Palak paneer from MTR in other local shops in Tokyo that sells Indian foods costs 480 Japanese yen. There are some Indian shops that sell little bit cheaper than 480 Yen but not very near to the cost at Costco.

Another example is the cost of Olive oil. The one liter Olive oil I bought from a local supermarket cost me around 900 Yen, while the one I did yesterday at Costco cost me around 500 Yen per liter, when purchased a can of 5 liters.

Travelling from our place to Makuhari is the only disadvantage for us to shop at Costco. For me, living at Higashi Ojima, I have to take Toei Shinjuku line up to Motoyawata. From there by changing to JR line to reach Nishi Funabashi. From Nishi Funabashi the frequency of trains directly to Kahin Makuhari is less. Most of the time we have to make one more transfer at Minami Funabashi to reach finally at Kahin Makuhari. From Kahin Makuhari we will board the bus that goes to Costco wholesale, Makuhari. There are two buses in every one hour. We have to plan the travel as per the bus timings to save time.

When we used to go to OVTA for our Japanese lessons, it was easier to shop at Saturdays once the Japanese lessons are finished. Vegetables and Food items are much cheaper compared to shopping at local shops. Costco is a wholesale shop whose history dates back to 1976 when it started first sale in Morena Boulevard in San Diego, CA, U.S.A.

First Costco warehouse was opened in Seattle, WA, U.S.A in 1983, Costco have more than 500 locations worldwide. Best part of Costco is it is open not only to business customers, but to retail customers too can avail the benefit of purchasing the things at whole sale price. Costco operates at nine locations in Japan. The branches in Japan are in Fukuoka (Hisayama), Chiba (Makuhari), Machida City (Tamasakai), Hyogo (Amagasaki), Yokohama (Kanazawa), Kawasaki (Kawasaki), Sapporo (Sapporo) and in Saitama two branches one at Iruma and another at Shinmisato. We can see the Makuhari branch when we go to Kahin Makuhari from Nishi Funabashi on our way to OVTA for Japanese lessons. Click here for Costco website in Japan; Costco.jp

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Makuhari, click here; Costco Makuhari

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Tamsakai, click here; Costco Tamasakai

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Amagasaki, click here; Costco Amagasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Hisayama, click here; Costco Hisayama

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kanazawa seaside, click here; Costco Kanazawa seaside

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kawasaki, click here; Costco Kawasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Sapporo, click here; Costco Sapporo

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Iruma, click here; Costco Iruma

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Shinmisato, click here; Costco Shinmisato

Shopping at Costco is a good option to control the living cost in Tokyo. Living in Tokyo is highly expensive especially with family. Then the options like Costco will make the living somewhat comfortable though not fully. Daily living items, the expiry date of which are more than 6 months can be purchased at once in bulk to save money while we do shopping at Costco. One of the disadvantages is that most of the times we have limited options of brands to choose from. Electronic items do not have many options.

As one of the Japanese friend told, foreigners in Japan spend more money for living as they lack information on places where they can do economical purchasing. Local people and foreigners who have been living in Japan for long know such places and have many options for shopping. They can limit their expenses to their budget, while many of the new comers to Japan spend more unknowingly due to lack of information. Single living does not require many items to be stored in bulk. This also tempts singles to buy from local shops as and when required and that costs them higher making the living expense in Japan further high.