Hiromi’s Blog

Yesterday was fun, and I got to see a cool part of Tokyo where a lot of creative people live and many hideouts are there. I met up with my friend and he showed me around in his neighborhood. While I was having a lunch with him, Lakshmi called from India!! Harper and I often talk about her and we both miss her, so it was really nice to talk to her. Thank you, Lakshmi!!

There is the oldest park in Tokyo in Kichijoji, and we had lunch at a Thai restaurant in the park. We walked around and around and started drinking around 5. I was supposed to go to a birthday party/ dancing all night with some of my friends from work, but I couldn’t make it there. I was exhausted and kind of drunk..ahhhh.. the b-day girl is so nice and sweet and I wanted to hang out with her, but I physically couldn’t.. I even missed the last train.. I made it to Ikebukuro by train, but it was 12:50 when I got to Ikebukuro, and all trains were done… I thought I had to take a cab, but somehow I found “later night bus” and found the one which goes to my neighborhood. Actually, the bus stop when I got off was much closer than the train station. I am glad I found the bus by accident. I just followed the crowd and waited on a long line for a cab ride, and then I saw the sign of “late night bus.” I should do more research on this, so I might be able to go out until late but not until the first train at 5 am. I could go out probably until 2 or 3, but 5 is a little too much for me.

Anyhow, I made it home all right. Kichijoji is an amazing place, and it got many thing, like hippy things, street fashion type things, arty things, and brand shops, and Gap and Jcrew. umm….it is hard to describe it. There are also big department stores as well, and sooooo many bars and restaurants. There are some colleges too. It was like a maze and I had no idea where I was all the time, but fun. We ended up going to 3 bars…hahahaaa… I tried to stick with beer only, but I had a few sips of yummy brown sugar Shochu… dangerous.

oh well.. I needed to loosen up, so it was perfect..

It has been raining in Tokyo for a few days, and this weekend was a little longer than usual because of a national holiday on Mon. However, I just had two days off. I used one day off for my vacation earlier. I had Fri and Sat off, which is a sort of new thing for me, because Thu and Fri were my day off before. It is nice to have one weekend off, so I can see my friends who have a regular Mon-Fri job.
On Friday, I went to Tokyo British Clinic to have medical check up for my visa. My insurance/ any insurance doesn’t cover it and I had to take immunization shots which were expensive. I spent 49,000 yen total which is about $420. I’ve had measles, mumps, and rubella shots… scary…. I went to a nice macrobiotic cafe in Ebisu and had a sweet as a treat. I slept a lot on the day.

On sat I cleaned my room, cooked a lot, and read Catch 22 which I really enjoy reading on train everyday. It was a calm weekend and a lot of rain.

Since I started reading Catch 22, I see it everywhere, and I can’t help thinking about visa application process. As Harper mentioned this in his blog, the application forms on PDF were updated and, I had a different version from his. He was supposed to submit all of the tax information in the past 3 years, but at the interview, we were told that the only latest was needed. A huge difference between Catch 22 and our experience is that we weren’t tricked completely, and our request was accepted. phew… I should compile the visa application process and what we did and what happened and write them in my entry some time. There are always some small things, even though we thought we prepared everything perfectly.

For example, at the clinic, I brought my immunization record, which my grad school keeps and I had Harper get for me, but a nurse asked me to show my Japanese health record with my birth information. I had to have my parents send it to the clinic by fax while I was taking the med exam. I wish they had told me that I needed the health record when I made an appointment.

Regardless of all of the efforts from my family, the nurse told me that I still need to get immunization shots. ahhhh…. well, I don’t have to worry about getting measles and those yucky diseases at least good 10 years, so that’s good. I had those diseases when I was baby though. I guess it has been more than 10 years since then. They could have checked my blood if I was still immune to those, but it would cost over $100, and I might have to take those shots if the result was negative. I chose not to waste $100 and had shots. ouch.. I will pick up the result this Friday and make an appointment for the last interview. I am almost there..yes..almost…

Luckily, my work has been good, and I have been able to get off work on time. I hope it stayed like this.

ok..it’s time to take a bath and relax..

I had been so good with not having coffee for a while, but I started it again and cannot stop it.� It started a few weeks ago right after my marriage paper document/ interview event.� I was so tired and wanted to have a cup of coffee to make it though the hot and tiring day.� I was like, “sure, just one cup a day is not a big deal” and had one.� I felt great.� Coffee does something different from other caffeinated drinks.

I drink grain coffee as a substitute and love it, but still want caffeine boost.� I am drinking a cup of grain coffee now and thinking that I had a lot of caffeine today (soy latte and americano)� I know that I didn’t have too much, but I have had coffee everyday since the day when I started it.� I physically want it and feel great after a cup of coffee.� I guess I feel guilty that I am putting caffeine into my cleansed body…hahaha….� I also feel so tired when I wake up in the morning.

I don’t do drugs, but I kind of understand what substitute addiction is like. I went to a coffee shops twice today with my co-workers.� I had a good time with them, of course, and had a lot of caffeine.

I hope I can sleep well tonight.� well, I am getting sleepy though…

Where should I start?? Well… Harper and I got married !! on the paper and applied my visa so that we can live together. We want to have a wedding/party at some point. I had so much fun with him and his dad, Steve, and my parents love both of them. Harper suggested on the phone that we should marry right after my Chicago trip, but this time he proposed to me in person in a beautiful park near the hotel where Steve stayed. He surprised me with a diamond ring which he told me he couldn’t get.
It was not easy for me to find a jewelry shop which can fix my ring in a few days, but my friend Kumi told me this nice place and Harper and I had nice chat with a lady who took care of us. Now I can wear this beautiful precious ring all the time. I saw Harper off at the airport today and got sad, but this time I was ok and didn’t cry…. In fact, I am so happy and I don’t know how to describe it!!
We did so many things, mostly visa things and marriage at the beginning. I had to work on the weekend, but Harper and Steve had a wonderful adventure without me and after my work we had a great time at a pub near my house. On Monday we had to go to the U.S. embassy to get an affidavit of competency to marry which we needed to get married at a local city hall. Steve came along with us, and it wasn’t difficult, but we were so glad that he came with us because we were sort of nervous.

My friends, Kumi, Dai, Miki and we had a wonderful dinner at a Ninja restaurant in Akasaka. It was like a maze and everything was so hidden, and I almost couldn’t get out from the bathroom… My friends are so nice and they all loved Harper and Steve. We talked about music a lot since they work for a music magazine in Tokyo. Thank you so much, my friends!! Steve and Harper are great and they can hang out with anyone!! We had a great time with older ladies at the pub too!!

Tuesday was a long day, but fun. we submitted our marriage application at a local city hall. They had never filed a marriage certificate for a non-Japanese spouse (Harper), so they were super cautious and I was a little bit? frustrated. Harper tamed me (hahahah) and we found out that my parents’ names are not listed on the original family registry. It was not a big deal, and they can still use the address, but now they are thinking about making their own registry. I still don’t know what’s up, but I’ve got an address for me and Harper near my dad’s birth place.

Reed’s family and Nakazawa family had lunch together and we all went to my parents’ farms and rice paddies. Steve and Harper enjoyed a country scenery and my parents were happy to get to know them. After saying good bye to my parents, we went back to Kofu and hang out with my friend, Yurie at my favorite cafe owned by a wonderful woman, Shiho and had a local noodle dish and took an express train back to tokyo. Wow…busy..

However, the Wed was the biggest day for Harper and me. We had a nice lunch with Steve and Steve went to the airport to go back to the States, and we headed to the U.S. emabssy for the interview. I was nervous for sure, and so was Harper, but we had no problem at all and everything went so well… we had a light meal at an organic cafe and went back to my place and took a long nap. yeah..like several hours. We were exhausted.
After this interview, we just hang out and took it easy. We slept in on thursday and watched a movie called “Hustle & Flow” and we checked out some stores in Omotesando and had a nice Italian dinner, and yesterday/ the last day before Harper left, we went shopping at the tokyo station and a nice Sashimi dinner/ Harper’s favorite! in Azabujuban. We were catching up the time we missed each other. It was like a nice weekend.
I had 7 days off and got married, and I am soooooooooooooooooo happy!! Thank you so much, Harper, Harper’s family, my family, his friends, and my friends. We are so happy because of all of you!!