Tenth Anniversary of My Arrival in Japan

Today is a very special day. On the twenty-first of August, nineteen ninety-seven I came to Japan. I arrived at Narita airport and took the Narita Express to Shinjuku. At Shinjuku, I was met by Ogasawara-san. She took me to my new home, the Folute Building in Mizuhodai.



At the Folute Building we met Jim, my first room-mate and my first friend in Japan. Ogasawara-san took us for dinner at Fujiya.


My first meal in Japan was negitorodon (ネギトロ丼). It was delicious.


My room was on the third floor. On a clear day I could see Mount Fuji. I was very happy when I saw Mount Fuji. Mizuhodai is in Fujimi City (富士見市). "Fujimi" means Fuji view. Fujimi City is in Saitama prefecture, just north of Tokyo.　


The first sentence I learned in Japan was "みずほ台駅はどこですか？”, which means "Where is Mizuhodai Station?" Mizuhodai station was the railway station nearest to my apartment. While I lived in Mizuhodai, I used Mizuhodai Station almost every day.

Many of the stores I went to were in the station building, including the Tobu Store. I usually bought my groceries at the Tobu Store.

My favourite place in Mizuhodai was also near the station. My favourite place in Mizuhodai was "Big".


"Big" is a yakitori restaurant (焼き鳥屋). However, "Big" also serves sashimi and other Japanese food as well. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of my arrival in Japan I went to "Big" today and took some pictures.


This is one of Japan's famous red lanterns at the entrance to a Japanese tavern (居酒屋).

Amazing! Yakitori is still only ¥80!!! Many people think that Japan is expensive but this is an example of zero inflation (インフレ) in Japan over the past ten years.




I'll write another post about my first days in Japan tomorrow.