Late Post

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I posted, but I've been busy. The one bit of good news that I can offer is that finally, at long last, my trials and tribulations with the banking situation have come to an end. I do still have my bank account with the Post Office (which my scholarship goes into, because it's from the Japanese government), but as I had suspected, the Post Office Bank (aka the JP Post), does NOT accept international transfers/wires. So, that sucks. My advisor at the school went with me to Mitsubishi UFJ, whom she had called a week ago and who had told her I could make an account without living here six months. After a sizeable blowout between them and my advisor, we stormed out in a rage and next went to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., which gave me an account without batting an eyelash. With them, the only time the 6 month rule entered into account, was that I can't do online banking or use convenience store ATMs until I've been here six months, but I still have an account. And just FYI, to wire money you need the banks name, address (not the corporate address), a SWIFT code, a BIC number (I think it's called), and your name and account #. So, that was an ordeal.

In other news, I went with a friend to a local talent show, which turned out to be the place to be on Saturday nights for the older crowd. Even so, there was an amateur magician, an accordian player, and a bunch of Rokugo (traditional storytelling comedy) people there, though I hardly understood one word of the Rokugo. Afterwards, my friend and I went to the Setagaya park and watched some guys playing baseball, cheered for them until her team (the blue team) won, and then listened behind some bushes to two guys playing guitar and singing. It was a lot of fun, but it's starting to get chilly here, so I hope I have enough sweaters. Btw, there's a FrancFranc store in Shibuya that is a must see. They have such awesome homewares and stuff. It was really cool and I highly recommend visiting, just to browse. Well, I'm off. Oguri Shun's new drama, 'Tokyo Dogs' starts soon and I want to be sure to catch it. Talk to you guys later!