one more week

today the parcels I shipped from Manchester arrived. I knew the vessel had arrived in Hong Kong last week, but I thought it'd take longer to go through customs etc., apparently not. So £130 and 7 weeks later, 45kg of my stuff arrived.

I had decided to ship things to HK first, rather than directly to Japan, because of 2 reasons:

1. I still haven't got a Japanese address. I had considered using one of my parents' Japanese friend's address, but that will incur debt in favours (= Japanese social currency?).
2. I couldn't find a shipping company that would ship parcels from Manchester to Osaka by sea. I used Seven Seas to ship things from Manchester to HK (door to door) and it was £130; whereas it would cost over £600 to send parcels from Manchester to Osaka by air.
   

spent most of the afternoon unpacking things from the tattered boxes, and now trying to sort out which things I need most urgently when I arrive in Japan, and those that I probably won't need 'till the winter. my mother is already planning her next trips (note the plurality) to Japan so she can "bring me stuff" (in reality: sightseeing the places she hasn't already been).

my parents are actually going to Japan this week, but I won't see them when I arrive in Osaka next Wednesday. they are going to the Tohoku region of Honshu, Sendai to be exact. they'll stop by Tokyo and drop a couple of boxes of mine at a friend's place, then the Japanese friend will send it to my dormitory by 宅急便 (available at コンビニ) once I have the exact address. this way I can save some shipping costs, as takkyuubin is not very expensive.

my parents think I have way too much stuff to bring with me. but I don't want to spend all my scholarship money buying things that I already have in Britain. and as I only have 20kg luggage allowance, I have to find ways to get my stuff there. I had thought about using my mileage to get an extra 10kg, but my mother told me to save the mileage for flights, so I'm saving them for my North Korea trip (return flight from Kansai to Beijing).

right now I'm also trying to plan how much money I'll have to spend in my first month. my parents have only given me a bit of cash to survive for the first month, until I get the first scholarship payment. obvious expenses will include rent, utilities, mobile phone, food, transport, toiletries... a Japanese rice cooker (I left mine in Manchester - plus I've always wanted a fancy Japanese rice cooker with hi-tech functions and buttons :P). ooh and one night accommodation at the Kansai Washington Hotel.

hopefully I won't come to a point where I have to survive on eating なっとう on rice three times a day, as much as I love natto, that'd be quite miserable.