Japan Day 7: Settling into Chuo Dorm Life

Day 7 was all about getting Nicole settled in to her dorm. Our first stop was a department store called Seyu which is basically Wal-Mart with a different name over in Japan. The store had canvas bags with the Wal-Mart Logo and the logos were also on the cash registers. 

We bought some extra storage for her in her room so she wouldn’t be living out of her suitcase. We grabbed hangers for her clothes, and a bunch of other little necessities for her room like a mini dresser that she could use as a night stand. We were joined on this trip by two other students studying abroad, both from California and also were in need of some items for their dorm rooms.

We dropped off the items we had purchased and then made our way to a Daiso two stations away from Toyoda station. I did not write down the name of the city but we made it and located the train that took us to Daiso.

After finishing up our shopping, we stopped near a 7-Eleven and Peter (on the left) had lunch. Tessa and my sister were craving some noodles so we decided to search for a restaurant after we dropped off our purchases in our rooms.

While we waited for our train, there was a vending machine that sold ice cream, and it was what we needed to beat the summer heat! They were so cool because it was like eating a bit of the cone with your ice cream with every bite!

We experienced a bit of a culture shock since we entered a restaurant where their menus didn’t have photos. It was almost difficult ordering especially when we didn’t know what else was coming with the noodles. I thought I had photos of our meal, but I cannot find them! I had delicious tempura soba.

We spent most of the afternoon fixing up Nicole’s room and most people were recovering from the jet lag, but after we were done we made our way to the lounge. It turns out a group of the Japanese students were inviting the newcomers out for a drink, so we made our way to a Yakitori bar with drinks and most food under 300 yen. (Yakitori is grilled meat, usually chicken, on a skewer.) We had a blast mingling with more people and trying Japanese liquor for cheap!

It was such a fun day and a nice change of pace from all the walking we did while we were sight-seeing in Tokyo. I can’t wait to share more of the adventure we had while at the dorm! See you for Day 8!