I talked a lot about the seedier side of Tokyo in my last journal. Today, I want to talk more on how I managed to actually have a living out there. When I originally visited, I knew almost nothing about Japan nor Tokyo outside of whatever TV show I would watch on the weekends or perhaps from something a friend would tell me. Most of it went over my head and seemed more abstract. Once you’re out there, the intensity of the city really hits you and you feel constantly overwhelmed. But there were a few immediate pressing concerns:

• I needed a new job since the tech industry had fallen in America
• I needed to find a place I could rent/stay longer term than the New Koyo
• I had to uncover jobs that would forgive my low level of Japanese
• I needed to network better

The one good thing that the Hotel New Koyo provided was a small sense of community. You could meet a wide array of characters from school teachers, to the aforementioned Bob with his past shady life, tech workers on vacation or those that were laid off, etc. But some of these people were incredibly useful in helping me navigate my way around Tokyo/Japan. Someone introduced me to the infinitely useful Tokyo Classifieds, which was a small magazine of ads and ongoings for the area, like a Tokyo version of Craigslist. You could pick one up for free over at Tower Records.

In the Tokyo Classifieds, you could find a variety of services, goods, people moving out, moving in, help wanted, job postings and foreign friendly rentals. I used this service for a variety of things like picking up cheap items from people leaving the country and meeting some friends who wanted to speak English. I do think that this guide might’ve been the thing to help guide me to finding a place outside of the New Koyo which didn’t require as much paperwork nor a sponsor if you weren’t a permanent resident nor citizen. Also, it might’ve introduced me to the Tokyo Linux Users Group or the Tokyo PC Group.

If you managed to stumble across the Tokyo PC Group, it was a very helpful organization that would have meetups at least once a month in Harajuku/Ometasando. There was a guy out there named Ken Cotton, who practically everyone knew because of this group or that he knew all the foreigners in town involved in some form of tech. Through him, I think I managed to make additional connections that would eventually lead me to the Tokyo Linux Users Group (TLUG) which was smaller but more focused.

Along the way, I recall going to a job fair/recruiting event. Since the English teacher thing went up in smoke in my face, I was a little wary about attending these but I might’ve went with someone who was graduating from college. Since I already had been working, I might’ve felt out of place. But one spot wanted to hire me for a position in Okinawa. The pay was abysmal (30k which was lower than my pay at the race parts company and the shady ad tech company) and I’d have to travel out there. Maybe it would’ve turned out okay in the end just because Okinawa is a beautiful spot with wonderful people. But at that time, my heart was set on living in Tokyo.

Afterwards, I came into contact with another person running a meishi (business card) printing service that used some PHP code on a linux server. He was willing to sponsor my visa as I had found a place over in Ebisu which was near his office. There was a major problem though: I had no idea what he wanted me to do. His English wasn’t very good and my Japanese was poor so I didn’t even know how much he was intending to pay me. But I tried to go to the place a few times where I had been given a key card and could use the internet (which I didn’t have at my flat). Also, around the hall was a very pretty girl named Kana, who was doing web development. I’ve wondered if that was the same Kana as the WWE’s Asuka just because I remember hearing how Kana early on had been a web designer. I never managed to find out though.

At any rate, I stayed on with this guy for about a week and went to a few meetings where he spoke exclusively in Japanese. But I was struggling hard and he came down on me one day. Since I couldn’t understand what he was mad at, his voice changed to a softer one once he switched to English. But it was clear that I wouldn’t last so I continued my job search.

At some point, I might’ve been posting to the TLUG’s Usenet group or some board because I recall getting a message from someone at the bank I eventually would work at saying that they wanted to meet with me. As it was early in January, things were slow and very cold. I believe I was getting over a horrible cold too but met up with these guys. They were over in Akasaka and I got interviewed for the job at the English pub called The Hobgoblin (which was a favorite of the gaijin from the bank at that time; good nachos and fish n chips btw). There might’ve been at least 3-4 people, three of which would be my managers. It was a good interview for me because it was casual and mostly asked about my background. When I told them I built my own home router using FreeBSD over an iDSL line to serve out a shoddy website, they were pretty impressed and figured I was legitimate, despite not having a great deal of experience.

One of the guys was a clear joker though and gave me the most “technical” questions of the bunch. He asked me stuff like, “What do you do when a user complains their cupholder is broken?” Of course, those were the days when CDRoms were a thing. But Andrew was always a bit of a wise ass. Probably, one of the more down to earth guys actually who gave me some great advice. Either way, I got a free meal out of that, which was nice because my money was slowly being drained by the trip. At the end of the night, my eventual boss talked about Linux and how if they did their jobs right they could “win”. I had no idea what he meant at the time but it translated to his group expanding Linux into the company as the “win” since he was a hater of Microsoft and ran the Unix servers.

But I managed to get an offer from that which would require a lot of paperwork and waiting. Before I get into any of that, I wanted to return to the apartment. Oh boy, this place was comparable to the graffiti laden, random syringe in the shower, knife-as-the-key, punk kid/transient art co-op at UC Berkeley that I nearly signed up for back around late ’98. The difference is that I had no choice at this stage and it was one of the few spots in Tokyo that I could rent out as a foreigner that did not have the typical reikin (key money) deal. Let me tell you about this hell hole. It was an actual Japanese apato (apartment), which technically meant it was only two stories maximum and made from wood rather than something sturdier like concrete. As a result, it wasn’t well insulated and had rickety steps as you climbed to the 2nd story.

The bathroom was super tiny with one of those high level tubs that you couldn’t really relax and spread out in. Instead, it was meant to be crouched inside while you dunk your head under the faucet. The toilet was probably one of the few modern appliances inside having a Japanese style faucet built above the rear where you normally would have a cover. I never quite understood the purpose of those and didn’t bother using it while I was there. The kitchen itself was something I never touched besides possibly washing my hands. But the kicker was this half sized refrigerator with a microwave on top. This refrigerator was horribly ghetto in every way but it had cockroaches living inside! It was so disgusted that I’m sure if I had stayed until summer, I would’ve gone completely batshit crazy. But when they showed me the place, they didn’t reveal the cockroach issue. These things only came out at night and I only really started encountering them once I began working for the bank. Symbolism perhaps?

In addition, because money was tight, I didn’t know what to do about furnishing this spot. I think I bought a sleeping bag and a pillow and just crashed on the floor. My meals mostly were Matsuya or bento. But that didn’t go full force until I started working there.

Around that time, a university friend had decided to visit Tokyo. We worked together at that race parts spot and continued to keep in contact once I moved to Japan. He knew that I was over there and we hung out maybe once or twice. I think he was with some friends and/or visiting friends. But it was his first time out there and his Japanese was minimal at best (mostly through anime/food). He’s what I would consider the prototypical gaijin Japanese fetishist who goes over there for the otaku aspects.

Anyway, at one point, around New Years, he was returning back to the states. So we talked briefly the previous night and I thought, off you go. Instead, a few hours later at night, I get this call on my keitai (which btw I was using via prepaid cards) and it was Joseph. I was like, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be flying home?” His response was, “No, I missed the flight and I need some place to stay.”

So Joseph had taken the train and completely missed his stop because he was on one of the express trains that passed Narita. And if anyone feels this is familiar, it’s because some of Japan’s trains have express lines, which, if you’re paying attention or know the schedule, might take you to another destination (happened to me a few times). Either way, I told him to meet me at Ebisu so he could put stuff away at my new spot. Even though the apartment was a wreck, it was serendipitous that I had just got it since I was able to help my friend out.

We ended up hanging around Tokyo and walked around that night. I remember it being exceptionally cold too, possibly raining. We hit up a ramen spot that was along the street heading towards Shibuya. Can’t recall the shop’s name but I may have discovered it beforehand and really liked it because I ended up going back periodically. My friend ordered cold ramen though without knowing it. I forget how much longer we stayed out but it was fairly late before returning. Maybe I didn’t want to go back to the roach infested spot but I eventually had to sleep.

Fortunately, Joseph was able to reschedule his flight and took off the next day. Also, I think the other guy from the New Koyo, Kris, had left the New Koyo and found himself a spot with his latest girlfriend over in Shinjuku. That might’ve prompted me to find my own place. I think he was doing small contract work to keep himself afloat out there while his girlfriend also tried to help support them. But I might’ve lost contact briefly during the later half of my trip during that run.

I do remember going to a bunch of clubs with them, one being the infamous Gas Panic. I believe there might be multiple Gas Panic clubs in Tokyo but the one we attended was over in Shibuya. If you want to find the worst of the worst, the sleeziest spot with the cheapest, shittiest liquor, go here. It’s basically a meat market, maybe a younger crowd trying to be hip. Very gaijin friendly but awful music and vibe, at least to me. But I think because Kris was a foreigner, it was one of those spots he’d hang out because it was easy to get in and had a familiar, comfortable vibe. He did really like those shady spots though.

Regardless, my time on my passport was slowly running out and I needed to have a work visa to stay longer. Once the job was approved, I had to deal with a variety of bureaucratic things to get setup. It’s a complete nightmare in producing all the artifacts for procuring a work visa in Japan but one of the problems is that you can’t be in the country while your visa/stamp is being processed. Some people just hop over to Korea but the safest bet was for me to return back home to LA.

That meant having this apartment I just got lying around. As with my luck at the time, I met someone one of the computer events that became my friend for a while out there. He was seeking a spot to stay and would pay the rent while I was gone. So I gave him the keys and kept in contact while waiting for my papers to be processed. It was a horribly stressful period because I had no idea what to expect. Each day was radio silence and I got nervous that nothing was happening. I think the expected time was around 5 weeks though and I might’ve left sometime in early February back to the states. But I do know that I didn’t start working officially in Tokyo until April. So the time period might’ve been a lot longer.

Once I got the stamp, I had to go to the embassy downtown and turn in other documents. I believe I might’ve had to get my university diploma and send it over as well, which was equally stomach curdling. But that shows the amount of paperwork required to get a work visa. From there, I still could use my password but they would add a different stamp to it to indicate you were an employee of the country with a stamp that was good for a few years. You still needed to get a card you had to carry around much like a driver’s license in the states. But with that card, you could leave your passport at home. Also, as an employee with this card, you could take a different line when you were at the airport in Narita, a much shorter one.

I will continue a bit more later since the first actual working month of living in Tokyo was some of the best times of my life.

The post The First Month of Moving/Living in Tokyo Continued appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.