Arrival
On the 30th of June woke up ridiculously early and made our way to T5 Heathrow. We were quite lucky with traffic as the M25 was mostly clear which meant we arrived early. Once bag drop opened we dropped 4 out of 6 of our bags. Yes, 6!Next, security which was strangely busy and congested even in fast track. Talking of fast track, during the arduous queue I bumped into Arsene Wenger. This is incredibly exciting for me and my family, because we are all Arsenal fans. So I had a mini fan girl moment.
The plane took off at 13.30 which seems to be the only time planes leave for Tokyo. I got to fly business class, which was really cool, they give you champagne on arrival and velvet slippers. Flying to Japan from the UK is a 12 hour flight so you get 2 meals and unlimited snacks. The chair also turns into a bed which is really useful because if you don't sleep on the plane, and watch movies all the time, then jet lag is ridiculous (guilty). We landed early, wind on our side, at 8.45 ahead of schedule. Now for the harder part, going through immigration and customs, not normally difficult but becoming a resident and stuff. However I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it actually was. You have to wait until immigration is empty which is slightly annoying but when you get to the counter you give them your passport with visa and eligibility letter, they take your picture and your fingerprints, and then they return to you a residents card. We then went to collect our baggage which was patiently waiting seeing as we were sometime in immigration and then we had to go through customs. Customs is pretty basic, although you have to get a form stamped for your unaccompanied baggage. We then hopped on a bus to Utsunomiya.
Settling in
When we arrived it was raining and because our apartment isn't ready yet we have been put in a hotel. the first two nights were a disaster, the nice hotel was fully booked for the first two days and therefore we had to temporarily be there for a while. The hotel was Disgusting, the hotel was a smoking hotel and in dire need of attention from the interior design fairy godmother. Everything smelt of smoke, the curtains which were once white were yellow and the walls oozed stench. Not to mention that the pillows, instead of having fluff in them had plastic beads in them; like who's idea was that and whoever it was needs to be shot (I'm kidding, kinda). And don't get me started on the 'Massage service'. Lets just say we were so relieved to be moved.Once jet lag wore off, we had to meet with Yoko, who works with the Martyn. It turns out you are not actually a resident until you've gone to the government office and registered which involved learning on the spot how to write your name in Japanese. So we did that and then we went to the bank to set up a bank account. If you are a 'foreigner' you only have two choices for you bank; Citi Bank or Shinsei Bank, so that is a bit rubbish. I was mostly excited because I got to choose what colour the card was, from 34 different colours.
So now I'm a resident, how exciting kinda scary and now its time to have fun before I go to school. My cousins coming in a few weeks which is super exciting. So before then I shall be exploring and sorting out stuff. Hopefully we be moving into the apartment on the 24th.
Thank you
Maria xx
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