Tsukuba (つくば)

So I am living in a Hitachi Chemical owned dorm (turns out it is male-only for Hitachi Chemical’s single men, but they can only reside here until the age of 35, after that they have to move out or get married and move into Hitachi Chemical’s family “dorm”, but it’s a nice deal since rent is a cheap ¥10,000/month) in the part of Tsukuba called Hanabatake. I live close to several convenience stores “konbini” such as Sunkusu, 7-11, and Lawson. These konbinis are used for purchasing cheap food/drinks, the latest manga, ATMs, paying bills, and a bunch of other truly convenient things. There’s a grocery store called Kasumi also nearby and a hyaku-en store, which means 100 yen, so like a dollar store. I live 1 block away from the main road, Higashi-oodori (East Big Street), south of work, and north of Tsukuba Daigaku and Tsukuba center. There are many restaurants within walking distance, from soba to sushi to McD to raamen to an “Italian” place. Also the McD does not have free wi-fi, come on Tsukuba get on the free wi-fi bandwagon already.

There are three major shopping areas/malls in Tsukuba, I’ve been told. At Tsukuba center is the bus station and the Tsukuba Express (TX) station which goes to Tokyo in about 40 minutes (for around ¥1,100 one way). Also at the center there is large second-hand store, which is still too expensive in my opinion. I went to try and find some traditional Japanese wear for men, but it was rather hard for me to distinguish between the different kinds of robes; next time I should go with a Japanese person. There is even one hotel that might be my home away from dorm, since they have free wi-fi in their lobby! However, it’s rather far from my place so I probably cannot go there with frequency, plus I don’t want them to kick me out for abusing their internet without renting a room.

The houses near my dorm usually have large plots (huge tracts of land if you will) for farming. It is interesting to see this mix of rural and urban lifestyles; I think I want something similar when I eventually settle down, if ever.

A popular place to visit in Tsukuba is Mt. Tsukuba (Tsukuba-san). My boss (Takane-san) took me and some of my coworkers (Yamaura-san and Kamo-san) up to the summit. We did not actually hike all the way up since they said it took too long, so we took the cable car instead. On Tsukuba-san there is a very old Shinto shrine. We went up to it and they showed me how to do the praying ritual. First one must wash their hands and mouth at a nearby fountain. Next you walk up to the front of the shrine and toss in some money into the offering box. After that you bow twice, clap twice, and bow once more (if I remember correctly). While doing this, you can say a prayer or a wish if you so desire. At the top of the mountain there are many omiyage-ya (souvenir stores). One thing I noticed was that the picture of the frog is representative of Tsukuba for some reason, similar to Guanajuato.

Frog in Japanese is kaeru.