Intermission: Introduction to Iida I

I think it wise to take a break before getting into my days in Iida and introduce this great city as it was seen through the eyes of foreign students. Unlike most of my fellow students, I was afforded the opportunity to live in the heart of the city with the Shimodas. Their home was a short 10 minute walk from the train station, which would serve as our central landmark.

As you might guess, with our language skills being what they were, we primarily had to use landmarks like specialty shops and statues to navigate the city over a street map. So forgive me if my directions aren’t as precise as some would like, but I think it’s how everyone familiarizes themselves with a new city.

So I’ll start with our lifeline, the train station. This was an easy location we all knew and so we used it extensively as the meeting place for activities. The station also provided us with the most important resource of all

– the Internet. It was uncommon for family homes in Japan to have internet let alone wireless access, and while for the most part we were too busy enjoying ourselves to need it, having access to skype and email (and obviously facebook) was a vice we all needed and shared.

We never did figure out where the hotspot was originating from, but we decided it best not to question this gift. It must’ve been quite a site to walk by the station and just see a group of foreign students huddled around a tree on their phones and laptops. (Yes, we carried our laptops to the magical Internet tree at the station). (Photo courtesy of Kelly Washatka)

Perhaps equally as important as the wi-fi access at the train station was the Piago department store that stood caddy corner to the station. This was another of life’s little gifts as it was not only home to a cheap grocer, but also a 100 yen shop, a small restaurant and a small bakery with cheap bread snacks that frequently constituted our lunches. I don’t think there was a day that went by that summer where someone from our group didn’t patronize that bakery. The only times I didn’t eat there myself were the occasional days host families invited us for meals at lunch or a good bento was on sale.

One block over from Piago was the main street in Iida, home to a variety of bars (of all and I do mean all varieties), restaurants and small shops. Walking down this street for a couple blocks, one will eventually cross an avenue filled with apple trees. Iida’s nickname is Ringomachi or “Apple City” famous for its delicious apples and apple products. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the fresh-brewed apple juice made right there in the city.

Just further down the street filled with apple trees was another one of our favorite destinations in the city, Metropolis. This fine establishment was a karaoke bar, but not in the western sense of the concept. Japanese karaoke bars are an entirely different experience from the American idea of drunkenly singing AC/DC in a room of equally drunken strangers. Well, the drinking idea is still there, along with what is usually some pretty good food, but rather than one big room with one karaoke machine, you and your group of friends are able to rent out rooms for your own personal use.

Each room was soundproof, replacing singing in front of strangers with singing in front of your friends, creating a much for comfortable environment. I’m sure my compatriots will agree that some of our best memories are the nights we spent at Metropolis enjoying good drink, food and company, belting out Sum41 and System of a Down, all of us reveling in some of our high school favorites.

Modern karaoke bars in Japan, especially those in the larger cities and towns, are likely to have a good selection of English songs, so its still a great experience for anyone visiting the country, even if they don’t speak Japanese. They might not have some more obscure artists, but for karaoke, we never ran out of songs we wanted to try.

I’m of the opinion that Iida is too fantastic a city for its greatness to be encapsulated in one post, and so while next week I will be continuing my chronicle of our first days in Iida, I will be periodically sprinkling in a few posts further detailing why I fell in love with this city.

Useful phrases in this week’s post:

Bento – べんとう – 弁当

Meaning: boxed lunch. These are sold often at convenience stores and markets and come in a variety of types from fried chicken with rice to fried tempura to sushi.

Ringomachi – りんごまち – リンゴ町

Meaning: Apple Town