JapanNewbie

Company Dorm

Posted on 04. Mar, 2004 @ 5:27 pm by harvey in Culture Views: 90

Hey Guys! Finally a semi-interesting update huh? Last week I moved to the Kansai area, and am now living in a company dorm.

I was dreading it at first, because there are all kinds of crazy rules. For example, no girls, no visitors after 7pm, shared bathroom, shared toilets, room size is only about 6 tatami mats (六畳) big… However, I did have a choice. I could have chosen to be in a weekly mansion. However, the dorm only costs 5000 yen a month, while I would have to pay 20 percent of the weekly, which would have been, I dunno, more expensive. Also, when else am I going to have a chance to live in a company dorm in Japan??

After my luggage arrived, I was feeling the squeeze. It cleaned up pretty nice though after I unpacked…

Anyway, after the most insane few days of my life, I finally arrived at the dorm. I was imagining a dungeon like cell filled with life-drained salary men, but actually… it’s not so bad! There are a few ladies working there who clean up and stuff, and they’re -really- like kansai obaasan, so it’s really funny talking with them. Their accents are strong, and they’re really friendly. I was almost exceptionally late to work one time because one of the ladies kept going on and on about when the best time was to get hot water out of the the bathroom upstairs. The hot water can take a while to get going in the morning, cause apparently the boiler is in the basement. Anyway…

The place is interesting. You have to take your shoes off when you enter the main facility, and put them into a box labeled with your room number. You can get dinner out of the kitchen as well, for 550 yen! But, I tried it the first night, and it was pretty bad. They prepare it early, and you have to microwave it to heat it up again. Lame. The only really good thing is the rice and the miso soup… The rest of it is like half-effort home made stuff. The next day I had dinner at KFC, hehe.

I was most surprised with the bathroom. The place literally looks like one of those indoor onsen places! I’m sure the water in the ofuro is just like regular water and not quality onsen stuff, but still, it’s huge. The room is all steamy… they have like 4 standup showers, 8 sit down showers, and the giant ofuro. We have lockers (well, cubby holes, no door, no key) down there to keep our bath stuff in. No worries though. It’s Japan. Hah. I’ll borrow the others soap when I run out ;-)

The room also isn’t bad, it’s -very- clean, I was surprised. Also, even though it’s only like 6 tatami mats big, or maybe 8… There is tons of storage space. Nooo problem.

I am not living in the city though, technically, my address is in Nara! But go under a mountain every morning on the train to work in girigiri Osaka. Heh. The work environment is alright… No partitions, so everyone can see everyone else all day, that’s kinda strange. It’s loud with everyone talking so I drown out the noise with headphones in the afternoon. Also people stay at work for freakin ever. They usually arrive at like 10 or 11am though, which is late for me, then leave at like 11pm. I think I’ll adjust to them and start coming in late, while waking up early to get my private stuff done. I won’t stay at the office past 8pm though. No way.

I still don’t have a permanent place to be online all the time though… Grr….. No ADSL in apartment, dial up available but it’s 33k and like 10 yen a minute… there is wireless all around the train station I use, but it’s too cold to sit out there just yet. I’ll figure it out eventually.