JapanNewbie.com: Company Dorm

March 04, 2004

Company Dorm

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.

Posted by Harvey at March 04, 2004 05:27 PM

Comments

Hey, sounds like a nice sumai. What if you did all your personal internet stuff at work? That is what I did when I was on the JET Programme. Assuming your company and the JET Programme are the same thing, you should have no problem.

Posted by: Eric Kosinski on March 5, 2004 01:22 PM

"no girls, no visitors after 7pm, shared bathroom, shared toilets" Ouch, that basically sounds like a Guest House. Are the savings really worth it? The main question now is: how long do you have to endure these conditions? Is it for a set time (short/long)? Can you opt out at any time? This reminds me of that movie "The Firm" where the bright young new employ is set up in the house/town the company paid for only to find out that the entire place is bugged and filled with hidden cameras to monitor employee behaviour. Be careful! ;^)

Posted by: RIO on March 6, 2004 01:40 AM

On the up side, I have to say that those pictures of the room, building, food and bathroom look nice. Does look safe and cozy.

Posted by: RIO on March 6, 2004 01:44 AM

RE: kansai info - welcome to the best city in japan!
Kansai - as in Osaka - Tennoji - some places that are quite popular for expats namely english teachers are - Tin's Hall (happy hour 6-8pm)- very friendly crowd and live bands on Thursday, and the Greenleaf - both bars sell beer for 500yen but the green offers pitchers for 1500 which is decent for the size...of course you will also find some great 250yen izakayas too!

The Kansai Flea market has quite a few of the bars and current bands that are played weekly in these bars and a few more, a few maps etc, you can get this mag online at www.kfm.com or pick it up from kinokuniya bookstore in umeda (near hankyu line) or kyobashi or any place really - like bars etc..
Otherwise Namba just needs to be explored - so you shold head in there one day/night and check it out - many more bars there for expats and the like, eg cinquento, hub, and quite a few irish pubs which of course have a more jovial and friendly crowd than the hub etc

International house in Uehommachi is a good place for some cultural contact - exposure to cultural events and more expat information - find some japanese mates to hang out with there too!
cheers, goodluck - dorm looks like it will be interesting!

Posted by: boeki on March 6, 2004 01:54 AM

One more thing to add... this is another thing I like about Japan, even the moving boxes are cute!

Posted by: RIO on March 6, 2004 08:24 AM

I'm rich bitch

Posted by: David Chappelle on March 6, 2004 11:50 AM

Actually I had a choice as to stay in this dorm, or in a weekly mansion. I woudl have had to pay more for the weekly mansion, but it would have been all private and stuff. I decided on the dorm mainly because I know it's the only chance in my life I'll ever be able to experience something like this. I mean, come on, a Japanese company dorm? How many foreigners can say they have done that?

Second of all the price. Actually though, I was expecting much much worse before I moved in here. I was imagining something like a college dorm in the states. Actually though it's quite nice. Quite. There -are- rules to follow, but in some ways it's easier than an apartment. Trash for example, I just have to take it into a trash room and separated it, and I can do that any day. In an apartment, in Yokohama anyway, the trash was only Mon Wed Fri before like 10am or something and I had to walk out of the way to do it. Anyway, as you can see, I'm satisfied :-)

Also, I can leave anytime and move into a weekly, but... no way. Moving sucks!

Basically though, the whole idea of 'rules' for company employees living in a building is something unimaginable in the states. I mean, they're freakin adults... That's why it's a 独身寮 how can you meet anyone with all those rules!?

ではでは。

Posted by: Harvey on March 6, 2004 12:05 PM

奈良の田舎に住んだのか～。
雪降ってるんやないの？

部屋の広さは、日本じゃそんなもんやから、我慢せんとなぁ～。

うちは、さらに狭いし・・・。

Posted by: Tane on March 8, 2004 05:00 PM

Hi Harvey,

thank you for that interesting blog update and the nice photos. This is a really unique inside info on Japanese daily live. You are lucky you get to experience that beeing a gaijin.

You really get around! Last time I commented, you were in France. Now you are in Kansai... I was thinking of you when I was in Tokyo in Dec./Jan. and went on a short excursion to Tachikawa (Big Camera store and foodcourt in Shopping Mall) I remember you were living in that area in the beginning. Anyway, any info on how much longer you are going to stay in Japan and where you'll be headed next?

I do have some photos uploaded from my Japan trip. Squeezed a few Tachikawa pics in, too. If you care to take a look here is the link www.HamburgCam.com/Japan

Posted by: Marco on March 8, 2004 07:37 PM

Hey, your pad is actually a lot better than I was expecting. And housing for 60,000 yen a year! You sure can't beat that!

Now all you have to do is sublet it to some gaijin for 6,000 a day when you go on vacation and the place pays for itself! ;-)

Posted by: joepet on March 11, 2004 07:37 AM

I've been thinking a lot about this quote from Will on a recent post of his. Now maybe I'm a dreamer and things like this won't work in high schools but maybe if we took a risk and opened up the conversations we could learn a lot. Parameters could be set for responsible input. If the students believed that input was wanted and faculty would listen, we could begin a true dialogue. Schools could act on suggestions where possible and have a place to explain why they could not implement some suggestions.

Posted by: sophia on January 7, 2005 02:23 PM

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