Kawagoe is a city in the north of Tokyo in Saitama. From Shinjuku it takes about 50 minutes by train (Saikyo-sen) to get there. They call this city little Kyoto because it is built in a traditional way.
I finally found the time to go visit it. As I arrived at the station, it
was full with people. I thought it might be because it's the last
station of the train and because it's Sunday.
For my surprise the day I went there they were having a fall festival. The festival was held during the entire weekend.
There was a parade with traditional music and the people were wearing traditional clothes.
They had lots of foodstands and souvenir stands spread all over the city.
Since there were soo many people I didn't get to take a lot of pictures from the buildings.
Eighter way it's true that there were many old buildings and what I personally liked
was to take a look at the traditional shops. There were many tea shops
and also traditional japanese clothing stores. I had a lot of fun just
checking them out.
In a few days I'll be leaving for Japan again!! I actually should have been there already, but something went wrong with the visa application.
This time I'll be there with a student visa that expires in 1 year.
Extending Tourist Visa for 3 months
The first time I went with a tourist-visa that originally expired in 3 months, but as a swiss passport owner, I could extend the visa for other 3 months. I could do this while I was already in Japan at the immigration office. It's actually really simple and it doesn't take long. You only have to fill in a paper on where you are explaining why you want to stay longer.
It might be that not all nationalities can extend the tourist visa. So inform yourself before going to Japan.
Certificate of Eligibility
Through my school in Tokyo I requested a student visa called "CoE".
It requires 3 months to get that visa and you have to fill in quite some papers. Because my tourist visa was almost expired at that time, I had to leave Japan and go back to my country to wait for the results.
This visa permits me to work and study in Japan. The Work-and Holiday Visa doesn't exist for my country, so I had no choice than requesting this type of visa. The difference between these two visas is that with the CoE I have limited working hours, while with the work- and holiday visa you don't have a limit on working hours.
Attention!!
I had a few Swiss friends with the same visa and they both requested the visa while they where already in Japan, they didn't had to do anything in Switzerland.
When I received the accepted visa documents from my school per mail, I thought that I had to go to the immigration office in Japan.
Only 1 day before my departure I realised that I had to go to thejapanese embassy here in my countryto get the permission for my visa. This requires 1 week until it's done!!!
It never accured to me that I had to go there!!! It was kind of written in the papers that I got from my school, but I misunderstood it totally! That was quite a shock actually but in the end everything went well.
Actually I had to fill in some other documents at the japanese embassy. Kind of the same again as I had to fill in in Japan.
Working with the CoE
With the student visa I'll be able to work for 28 hr per week, which is quite a lot since I'm also going to school.
It's not necessary to work. If you don't need it you can also only go to school.
I received from my school a document that I have to submit at the airport. There I get the permission to work in Japan.
Actually you can also do it a the immigration office when you have already left the airport, but I guess it's easier to do it right from the beginning.
Kai Japanese School
A few friends asked me, if I was planning to change the school. I never thought about it and I don't see a reason why I should change school. I really like the school and their concept. All my friends are there and this is why I don't see a reason to change my school.
If you are interested in the school, here is the link to their website: Kai School
Guesthouse Hippo House Kita-Toda
I actually didn't want to go back to the same place where I was before. I still decided to go there again, because I know the people that are living there and it's not a start-over again.
I wrote a separate post about the guesthouse. Click here to know more about it.
If there is a possibility to change and find a new place that is closer to my school and cheaper, I will take the opportunity.
I'm actually thinking of gathering some friends and rent an appartment. But well I still haven't figured it out.
I will let you know if something has changed.
Before I came to Japan, I booked through an travel agency the place where I would live. At first I planned to stay in a guesthouse. The travel agency proposed me different possibilities and I saw that staying in a sharehouse would be less expensive.
I couldn't really imagine how it looked like.
I thought maybe a lot of foreigners would live there. At the agency they told me, that not only students would live there, but also other people.
First Impression
The day I arrived at the sharehouse, the housekeeper showed me around. It actually is an entire house with about 50 rooms divided in 4 floors. At the ground there is a big kitchen and dining room. The laudry and washing room are also down there.
My room is in the 3. floor. This floor is only for women. The 4. floor is only for men. The other floors are mixed. I don't really know why they separate some floors.
On each floor there is a bathroom.
My room
I was really surprised about my room. Since Japan is known for their really small rooms, I thought I would receive a small room too. Actually it was pretty big. There was a single bed, a desk, a chair, a mirror and plenty of space for clothes. I even got a small balcony. It was really nice.
There is also internet available in the rooms, but only with cable.
I was a bit disappointed about the wall color. It's brown and it makes my room soo dark at daytime. Also the curtains aren't really darkening, so the light penetrates really easily. (Really annoying since in Japan the sun rises really early in the morning)
House situation
My sharehouse is situated in Kita-Toda,Saitama. It's outside from Tokyo. It's accessible by train with the JR Seikyo-line. It's about 30 minutes away from Shinjuku.
The last train in the evening is running around 23:30 everyday. If you don't want to stay out the whole night or pay for an expensive taxi, you always have to hurry to the last train.
This train is one of the most used trains. In the mornings and evenings it's always crowded.
My Housemates
The people in my house are all really nice. I'm often in the living room, because it's the only room where WiFi is available.
At the living room they are more or less always the same persons there. Most of them are Japanese. There are more Japanese here then foreigners. There are some people, who come to the same school as me. It's actually pretty funny with those people around. House surroundings
We have a lot of Conbini's around our house. My house is only 5 minutes from the train station away.
I can see the station from my balcony.
About 15 minutes from the house, there is a big shopping mall.
There is everything you need near my place. ... it could be better
I have lived almost 6 months in this sharehouse and there were many moments that I thought about moving out.
I don't know what's up with those girls on my floor. The bathroom are always a mess. It's disgusting. There is no other word to describe it. There are hair everywhere and other disgusting things. There is personal who cleans the bathrooms, but they don't come everyday. This is for me the biggest problem.
I refuse to cook in the kitchen. It looks not clean at all. There are cockroaches running around. There are people that don't clean their mess. You can see the kitchen from the living room and I don't really like if people watch you while cooking.
For some reason they always turn the lights on at night on the floor. I can see the light through my door and it's really annoying.
If somebody walks on the floor you can hear everything.
It's sooo far away from Tokyo. Even if it's only 30 minutes to Shinjuku, it still feels like forever. Going home from partying or from a long day and getting stucked in a full train. It is sooo depressing.
I wish they had Wifi in the rooms too.
Because of the washing machine I had to throw away a lot of my clothes. That washing machine didn't wash properly and it also rip my clothes.
You might wonder why I never moved from there... That's because I got sooo affected to the people there. It was hard for me to leave.
Why I never complained?... I really don't know about that. I actually never thought about it before. I always accepted everything.
Soon I'm leaving this place and going back to my home. I'm definitely missing my roo back home. Can't wait to cook in my kitchen and to use my own bathroom again. =)
Still I'll miss this place too.... was definitely a great experiance. =)
