Quick Notes:
Weather: Sunny but still cool in the low 60s
Setup bank account
Immigration office in Tokyo
First train ride in Japan
Started restaurant rating system
Went to an electronic store

For today our plan was to get a bank account and go to immigration office in Tokyo to change our status of residency from a 90 day trip to an extended culture activities trip. I needed to do this because when I flew into Japan I just got a 90 day VISA so I need to change it for the full year. If you stay in Japan for more than 90 days you have to register at the immigration office. I could have done this before coming here but there wasn’t enough time to get all the paper work done. Mainly because while in the US I would have to wait for the Japanese government to issue a certificate of eligibility then send that to me in the US. Once I received it then I would have to send it to the Japan embassy in Denver and wait for them to issue me a VISA. So with all this and only a couple weeks it wasn’t possible to do it before leaving.

Setting up the bank account was pretty simple, well just because Chihiro was with us. If she wasn’t there it would have taken much longer. The bank was amazing. Much more serious and formal than the banks in the US. We got there 5 minutes before they opened and had to wait. We were able to wait indoors but just outside of the large roll-up security door. At 9:00am exactly the door stared going up. There were two women greeters, 8 tellers, and 15 other employees at desks behind the tellers. As the rolling door reached the top all of the employees bowed to the customers waiting to come in and instantly start running around doing business. We had to fill out some forms to open the account and the interesting thing is that Japanese people do not sign their names to endorse things, they use a stamp. Every person has a unique little stamp the size of a nickel or so that they use to endorse documents. Other interesting thing is the registry book is called a passbook and is very important because that is all you need to withdraw money. At the ATM in the bank you just insert the passbook and you gain access to deposit or withdraw money from your account. Once you make your transaction the ATM prints on the passbook your transaction and your new balance. I guess it is pretty cool, I just wondered what would happen if you were to loose your passbook.

After the bank we took the Tsukuba Expressway to Tokyo. The train is only a few years old and is very clean and very smooth (pictured below).

This train ride was about 45 minutes then we got on another train to the Tokyo station. That train was another 20 minutes or so. We still needed to take a bus to the immigration office but we first stopped to get lunch at Yoshinoya. It is a fast-food place that only serves one dish and a couple of sides. The main dish is rice with thinly sliced seasoned beef. It was really good and only 500Y.
Quick note about the cost of food. So far eating out really isn’t that much more expensive than cooking at home. I’ll be keeping track of both to see which is better.

Now to the immigration office. We took our number and we were 524. The problem was that they were only serving number 230ish. So we have almost 300 people in front of us, needless to say it’s going to be a long wait. Watched some Japanese game shows, talked to Chihiro, played on ipod, walked around and 4.5 hours later our number got called. Now here is the good part. The whole time Seth and I didn’t want to hold on to the card with the number on it cause we didn’t want to loose it, so Chihiro kept it. As our number got close Chihiro left to make a call so she gave it to Seth, then Seth needed to go the bathroom so he gave it to me. This is my story for what happens next but Seth has a different one. When Seth came back I gave him the card back, but he said I didn’t. Either way when our number was called we couldn’t find the ticket, not in our pockets, not on the ground, nowhere. We were sweating it but thankfully we walked up there confidently and Chihiro kept the immigration officer busy so she didn’t really ask for it. So the 4.5 hours, actually the whole day, wasn’t wasted. We submitted our paperwork and now we just have to wait a few days for the change.

Now we started our way back to Tsukuba since it was 5:00pm we decided not to stay any longer in Tokyo. When we got to the first train station I talked Seth into going into this seven story electronic mega store. Each floor was about the size of a Best Buy with shelves that were about 6 feet tall full of stuff. One level was just cellphones and accessories, another was TV’s and stereos, then cameras, then music equipment, video games and bikes, DVDs and books, and the top floor was just restaurants. Keep in mind each level was about the size of a Best Buy. It was mind blowing and if you know me at all I could probably be described as a kid in a candy store but this kid also just tried candy for the first time. But I did restrain myself from buying a lot since it turned out that my wallet wasn’t as fat as I thought it was.



Two hours later we finally headed back to Tsukuba. The problem was that now it was during the rush time. Seth and I were the second people in line to board the train so we could get a seat. As the doors opened we walked in then hesitate for just a millisecond and then just got over taken and then all the seats were taken. O well maybe next time. After a few stops the train got really full and yes that is the top of my head on the right side of the picture. I was pretty much hugging Seth. The amazing thing is that with all these people you would still be able to hear a cricket, no one even whispers a word.



After our very long day we went home and just made some noodles for dinner. Blogged and surfed the web for a while then went to bed. Tomorrow is my first day of work and I am very excited. Hopefully our next trip to Tokyo we can actually go see some of it.

Well this is actually my first post. Matt made the first two but I wanted to add a quick one to share my side now that he is gone. I am sure a much more exciting post will be up soon from him with all the details and new pictures of Japan.

As you can see from my title, Matt has been in Japan for two days now. He left on Saturday at 6:30 am. It was a CRAZY weekend. Debbie came in on Thursday night and Friday morning while Matt was finishing up some last minute errands, Debbie and I got him packed. Later that day my parents came in and they really help tend to Reagan so the rest of us could stuff and configure every little item Matt HAD TO HAVE. :) By the time we were all done he had a 70 lb suitcase, a 50 lb duffle bag, a 50 lb carry on, and a 25 lb backpack. Add that to the 150 lbs he weighs and you have him loading the plane with almost 350 lbs. Ha ha. That was a lot of stuff.


Next glitch in the road: At 4:45 am we are all ready to get in the car and get on the road to El Paso when Matt realizes that Reagan's car seat got left in my parents car. Great now we are all pacing waiting for my mom to drive over and give us the car seat. She finally got there and we were on the road by 5:00. Mind you we have an hour drive to the airport and their flight leaves at 6:30 am. Great so we are flying down the interstate, Debbie drops us off at the check in and goes parks, and the boys barely get their luggage checked.

Next glitch in the road: We hurry through security to have to wait because they want to check Matt's carry on. He had packed his PS3 so they pretty much emptied his perfectly packed carry on and sent it through the x-ray machine again. When they hand him back the mess, he frantically tries to put it back together. Everything fit back in but a case of cds that he just carried. We ran down the terminal and took a quick picture and told him goodbye. He loaded the plane 10 minutes before take-off. Oh what a start to our Japan adventure.

Matt then had a LONG day of traveling. He landed in Tokyo at 12 am our time. After that they got to stand in line for 1.5 hours at immigration, get on a 1.5 hr bus ride to Tsukuba, and then finally met up with the lady they have been emailing back and forth with from AIST. Lets just say when I talk to him at 7 am our time the next morning and the poor guy was just getting ready to go to bed for the evening, you could tell he was EXHAUSTED.

Since then, it has been an exciting time. They have checked into our apartments, got their luggage, been to their new job to meet everyone, had some good food, and explored a bit. Now we will just all have to wait for Matt to post a new blog so we can see some of this stuff. Until then, we love you all and goodbye.

Today was my first day in Tsukuba (Scuba). At 9:00am I met with an official of the Ninomiya House to go over some paper work and procedures of the house. It was pretty short and basic. Then Seth and I went with Chihiro to AIST, our new place of work, to meet some people that we will be working with. Everyone that we met was great and extremely friendly. Segawa-san, one of our direct supervisors, seems very nice and it should be great working with him. AIST is a very large campus and has about 10,000 employees. We had lunch in the cafeteria with Chihiro, and two people from the international affairs department. As you walk into the cafeteria they display the different plates that are available and which line to go to. I decided that I wanted noodles and they were in the line B so went to line B. When I got there there were no noodles so I had to choose something else. Nothing really looked that good so I went with the “American” dish. It was a hamburger steak/patty with brown gravy (pretty much salisbury steak), a small palm size of cold spaghetti, one piece of broccoli (cold), and three french fries. I also got a bowl of miso soup and rice. It was all pretty good and it was nice to taste some gravy.

After lunch we spent some more time at AIST then we went and got our bikes. AIST bought brand new bikes for us and our wives. They are basic cruisers and easy to ride. It has an integrated bike lock, a front basket, and a small headlight. I’ll try and post a pick soon. We then rode our new company bikes to our house which is only a 10 minute ride. Here is a short video of part of the ride with Seth and Chihiro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR6DKXe2qY8



Then Seth and I went out for dinner for our first time by ourselves. Two blocks down from the house we found a restaurant, but about half way through dinner we figured out that it was actually a Chinese restaurant ( o well). We had one dish that was like Mongolian beef with green peppers and it was really good. The other dish that we order wasn’t as good. It was breaded fried beef cubes with a sticky, kind of maple tasting sauce. Once we finished we were not sure if we needed to tip or not so we went ahead and left a few coins on the table. As we walked to the counter to pay for our meal the waitress comes running up to us to hand our coins back to us like we forgot them. So we learned from this that they do not tip in Japan.

After dinner we went to the market to buy some food for the house. For the first 30 minutes Seth and I just kind of wandered around in the market like a couple of lost children. There are just so many new and strange foods to see. Finally we pulled ourselves back together and actually started shopping. It is a really good thing that there were pictures on the packages so we could figure out what the items were. We bought a few basic items to make some meals at the house and then we went to the drug store. At the drug store I bought some shampoo, lotion, and some other things for the place. When I got home I went to put some lotion on my hands but it turned out that it was actually body wash, so I still need some lotion. After the two stores we headed home then to bed. It was a great first day.

Well I know Chels talked about my travel day but here is what I have to say about it.

My flight out of El Paso, TX departed at 6:30am on Saturday, March 27th and was scheduled to arrive in Japan at 2:20pm on Sunday, March 28th. To start my long day of traveling I checked in at the airport at 6:00am and the boarding time was 5:55am. So, yes I was late. One of my checked bags weight 68 pounds so I had to pay an overweight fee, and if I had 2 more pounds they wouldn’t have even touched it. Then I run to security and ducked under the ropes to get right to the front and start taking my shoes off and getting my stuff in the bins. Then of course they had to open my carry-on luggage and check it. Then I couldn’t get it repacked so I just had to carry a couple of things. Now again almost running through the airport to get to my gate. I made it in time and said by to Chelsae, Reagan, and my mom. I was the last person on the flight and they shut the door right behind me.

Flew to Houston and had a short layover before I boarded the 777 to Japan. The flight was 13.5 hour flight but actually wasn’t too bad. I slept some and watched Men Who Stare at Goats, Back to the Future, Bourne Ultimatum, episode of Modern Marvels, and some Simpson episodes, so I stayed entertained. After landing we had to go through immigration which ended up taking about 1.5 hours. Then when Seth and I went to get our luggage there wasn’t a carousel with our flight on it. So we asked a guy and he pointed to an area and our bags were already loaded on a push cart for us. We took are luggage and had it shipped to our apartment in Tsukuba for about $25, it was well worth it. Then bought our bus ticket and started our way to Tsukuba. By now it was 5:30pm and we were supposed to be meeting Chihiro (our contact) at this time and we still had a 1.5 hour bus ride. So I emailed her hoping she received email on her phone to let her now that we were late. She did get the email and she continued to wait.

We arrived at the Tsukuba bus center and finally met Chihiro after a 100 emails between each other over the last couple of months. It was nice to finally put a face to her emails. She took us to a restaurant in the shopping center for our first Japanese meal. It was a restaurant that mostly severed Japanese noodles and I ordered a tempura shrimp noodle bowl. It was really good and the shrimp were pretty big. As we were going to the restaurant Chihiro asked if we could use chop sticks since they wouldn’t have any forks at the restaurant and she was surprised when we told her that we could use them.

After dinner we went the Ninomiya House which is to be our new home for the year. I were pleasantly surprise how nice the apartment complex was. My apartment is the corner unit on the 5th floor so about half my walls are windows and I have three balcony’s. Here is a quick picture of the living room, there will be more to come.

This weekend we went to Artesia to see most of our family, and had a wonderful time. Saturday we had breakfast with Chelsae’s parents, sister, and grandparents. It was nice seeing them and had a great breakfast that Shelby cooked. That evening at my dad’s house we had most of my family that lives in Artesia and some friends over and had fajitas, asado, and a lot of other good food. Chels and I requested that we have some good home-cooked mexican food before we leave, and they delivered. Sunday was a beautiful day and we threw the football around some before we left back to Las Cruces.




This weekend I also setup Shelby, Gavin, and Olivia on Skype so we will be able to video chat while we are away. If anyone else would like to Skype or IM with me, my Skype name is mattbhaines, and my AIM is mattbhaines@mac.com.

This coming week will be my last week of work at EBID. Wednesday they are having a small office luncheon for me and making enchiladas. I have really enjoyed working there and have also enjoyed my co-workers. I will be sad to leave but hopefully we can stay in some contact after I leave. Last week we installed the stator blades on the water turbine and plan to test it within the next two weeks. The stator blades were my last design contribution and hopefully it performs like it is predicted to.

Till next time.

Chelsae, Reagan and I will be living in Tsukuba, Japan for a year. Tsukuba (http://www.tsukubainfo.jp/) is about 20 miles NW of Tokyo and is known as the Science City. I am going over there to do research at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Under AIST I will be working for the Energy Technology Research Institute (ETRI) in the Turbomachinery group. One research topic will be Active Separation Flow Control by Using a Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator, and the other will be Combustion Characteristics of Hydrogen/Hydrogen-rich Fuel. The first topic will be applied to the air flow over the blades of a wind turbine, and the second one I’m not quite sure yet. Here is the link to AIST http://www.aist.go.jp/index_en.html and here is the link to ETRI http://unit.aist.go.jp/energy/index_e.htm.

This opportunity came from a joint venture with New Mexico and Japan. They wanted to send ten New Mexicans but Seth and I are the only two going. The internship is expenses paid so we wont really be making any money. We all decided that the chance to go to Japan with some things paid for was definitely worth it. AIST will be providing our apartment and here is a link to it http://www.jsthouse.com/ninomiya/index.htm. Its nothing special but it is only for visiting researchers.

Seth and I are flying out on March 27th, and our girls our flying out the end of May. The part of the trip I not looking forward to is the two months without Chels and Reagan, but there is good reasoning and once they are there it won’t matter.

Well that is our life for the next year in a nutshell.

Well this is my first post to my first blog. Chels and I are going to blog about our time in Japan so the people that care and love us can feel a little closer to us. It will also be like we are talking to you everyday.

I put my two weeks notice in at work last week and now I only have seven more days at EBID. I have really enjoyed working there and all of the people there.

Today Chels and I figured out our schedule for the next three weeks before I leave. This weekend (3/5-3/7) we will be in Artesia, 3/12-3/14 I am going camping, then my grandmother is coming to town 3/15 and 3/16, then we will be back in Artesia from 3/21-3/24, and I will fly out on 3/27. The days are going by very fast and before we know it we will be in Japan.

(Finally something interesting)
So Seth has been selling some stuff off of Craig's List and last night I put my first item up. I posted my old Xbox and got a text an hour later about it. After an hour of texting back and forth trying to make a deal and sell more of my stuff nothing happened. I talked to Seth and it turns out that this lady, single mother of four, had also text Seth about some pots and pans but nothing happened.  Today I text the lady asking about it and she says she has no money but has an ipod and some other things if I wanted to trade. I said no that I need money not more stuff. Finally I agreed to trade my wifi adapter for an ipod shuffle. But I had already decided to just give her the adapter and an older desktop PC, and then Seth said just give her my pots and pans. So I meet the lady to do the exchange and I show her the PC and the adapter, and then she shows me her ipod. After that I told her to just keep her stuff and just have my PC and adapter. She asked, really? I said yes and then she gave me a big hug, remember a stranger that I just met, then I told her that my friend Seth wanted to give her the pots and pans. Needless to say she was very excited and thankful.

Well that is about it.