The Time Traveling Bike Ride

I live in an area of Japan that was pretty heavily bombed during WWII. Actually, pretty much all of Japan was heavily bombed during the war. All the urban centers anyway, save for Kyoto and a few culturally important cities that were preserved. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also kept intact until the end. But I live near Tokyo, relatively, on the kanto plain, which is essentially one giant city. It received a lot of attention during the war. So most of the buildings were built post 1945. But then every once in a while I’ll come across a house that was obviously constructed in a different century. I stumbled upon one such neighborhood today and the contrast shocked me. I was biking through some random streets in Kashiwa or Abiko or somewhere in between and then suddenly the houses changed. No longer were they closely packed, rectangular blocks with flat roofs and dull paint jobs. Instead they were placed far apart with gardens in between. The entrances were set back from the road instead of kissing it. The roofs were sloped and spectacular with elegant tiles and carefully decorated posts. The transformation was incredible. It made me think. Who lived here before? When was it built? Has it always been in the same family? What kinds of things did the people living there see? The houses not fifty feet away were built very recently. Was that previously farmland? Or maybe there used to be old houses there too until a flood, fire, or a bomb? This is why I like biking around my city.

The past few days off of school I’ve taken to spending the mornings in the house and then escaping for the afternoon on my bike. I’m determined to see as much of my surroundings as possible. I just wander around the side streets with a general direction in mind but not really worrying about time or details like where I am. I’ve found the streets around Abiko are very fun to bike. There are lots of roads completely devoid of cars and tons of hills to bike up and down. Japanese city planning is very different from Chicago’s. It is very obvious that these streets just sort of evolved without much concern as to efficiency or neatness. Kyoto is actually laid out in a grid and there’s a good bit of interesting history behind that but most Japanese cities are a complete mess. This is good news for me though because I hate sharing the road with cars and I often don’t have to as long as I stick to the side streets. In Chicago if traffic gets bad on the main roads you can always turn down a little street and navigate around the blockage. Here that logic will get you lost very quickly, so cars stay away from the confusing tangles of roads that aren't theirs. It’s been a very informative week.

I think the best way to see any city is by bicycle. My family took a trip to see my brother in San Francisco last year over winter break. The whole trip was fun but my favorite part was the day we spent touring the city on bikes. You get so much more of the flavor of the land. You can stop wherever, aim for whatever, and see everything. I never would have found those old houses had I been in a car or train. Only on a bike can I explore the trails through random patches of forest that are scattered all over the place, as well as race down streets and keep pace with traffic when I have to hit the main roads. Plus I’m learning to do a wheelie. It’s something I always wanted to know how to do and it's hard. I haven't fallen yet. Err… I’ve only fallen once.

So today I biked to Kashiwa to check out the bookstores there. They have a small collection of English books and I spent several hours reading one of them. I show up at that place a lot, read, and then leave without buying anything. I figure one of these days I’m going to get kicked out but it hasn’t happened yet. Plus with my move coming soon I’m not sure I’ll be visiting Kashiwa much in the future.

Oh, did I mention I’m changing families? Yes, it is in the works. I decided that while everything was going very very well with the Ibarakis I wanted a change. See this house after living in my last one was probably the most interesting time I’ve had here. I always see more of the culture and come closer to comprehending all things Japanese when I’m in the midst of a change. Compare and contrast, that is the way to do it. So I talked to my host family and they were very understanding. They understood my mindset but were a bit surprised that I did want to move. My host mom suggested that it would go over smoother if she initiated things so I left it up to her. Sure enough, things are moving along with much more ease than last time. I practically fought my way out of the Watanabe household. I hear they have a family for me already but I haven’t seen any paperwork. I know that they live in Toride, which is closer to my school but not too far from Abiko, the husband is a sarariman (salary-man), or business man. There are a young family, and have kids (or kid) in middle school or high school. But I haven’t seen any paperwork so I could be mistaken on any or all fronts. I move soon, like the end of March of early April. Not sure about that yet either. I have to work that out with CIEE.

I don’t know if I’ve said this before but CIEE is a very bad organization. Everyone should stay away from CIEE and encourage friends and family to do the same. If you want to do a study or work abroad program, there are lots of good organizations out there. CIEE is not one of them. They have been, by far, my biggest obstacle in adjusting to Japan. Not just unhelpful, but anti-helpful. And it’s not just the Japanese side; the American side has proved equally awful. That might be a bit too harsh. The Japanese side has been more awful. But the American side is also awful. They’re both awful. It’s like a game of survivor over here. And then there were three. THREE! We came here with seven students. Now they’ve kicked out or otherwise removed three students. Nile was only here on a half year. So only Marianne, John, and I are left. And John would be gone if he wasn’t threatening CIEE with a lawsuit. It’s crazy. At this point I avoid contact with them as much as possible. I handle all emails from them with plenty of care and suspicion much the same way I would handle a mysterious package tied up with string and emitting a strange ticking noise. So moral of the story: stay away from CIEE like it's a highly contagious and deadly disease. Ebola. Think Ebola.

I feel much better now that I’ve had my little rant. In all honesty I know very little about the circumstances surrounding the departures of any of the students. I intend to find out though. The only person I’ve had regular contact with is Marianne. We’re in the midst of planning an excursion over spring break to Niigata. It’s across the island. Honshu (the main island of Japan) is roughly an isosceles right triangle. Tokyo is about at the 90° angle. Niigata prefecture would be about opposite of that point on the hypotenuse. You can go look it up online. I’m sure it’s much faster than listening to me. Anyway, the school we visiting last year and our old host families are up there. I’m hoping that Marianne will be free the first few days of April and we can dash up there via one of the many fast trains Japan has. That’s the idea anyway. All of the logistics have yet to be worked out.

I’m looking forward to this spring break. It should be a lot of fun. I’m going skiing with some friends from school, my current family is planning to travel and take me with; I’m changing families, and then this trip with Marianne. Lots of contact with people. I enjoy that a lot, but I have to say I’m getting used to the long periods on my own. A day like today would have bothered me back in September. I would’ve hated a whole day with nothing planned and hours alone on my bike. But today I enjoyed it. I relished the solitude and complete freedom. It’s funny what seven months can change.