Friday last week was the move up here so I have now been in the wilderness for just over a week and I can confirm it is... a bit out there.
I came up here twice before moving, once for 3 days in August to help out with some events and then for a construction site visit for a day in October. When you visit it gives you a reasonable perspective on the place as a tourist but it doesn't prepare you for what it is like to live there and, after a week, I'm beginning to realise how much of a challenge this is going to be. No, already is.
There is just nothing here! It doesn't help that I don't have a car yet (lease has been approved but no idea when delivery will be at the moment) so I am rather stuck as this is a place you really need a car. There is essentially one road from the temporary office (in a golf course clubhouse of all places) to my house, it's about 4km and if I walk that road I will pass:
The school (a building site)
Appikogen station (a waiting room and a toilet, no ticket machines or people)
A convenience store (the social and cultural hub of Appikogen)
A ramen shop
Nothing for about 2km
Other houses and B&Bs
That's it. So when head office asks your colleague to "buy a shredder and a lockable strong box on the way home" you do begin to scratch your head...
Still, here we are. It is undeniably beautiful up here, the views are pretty stunning and I can't wait to be able to explore a little more once the car arrives so I can do some photography and the like. It hasn't started snowing yet but that will be here next week apparently. There is certainly a sense of hatches being battened down and preparations being made. Of the few people I've seen one couple were changing their car tyres the other day, obviously the stud less tyres going on for the winter.
The local pub has been found and experienced. It is tacked on the side of a local B&B, the White Rose Inn, run, if somewhat obviously because of the name, by a Yorkshireman (we haven't broached the question of the YCCC imbroglio yet, too early). He brews his own beer which is pretty good and is very much looking forward to the school opening and it will increase his potential client base by several hundred percent (for the bar, not the B&B), so much so that he is opening a brewery/bar proper in anticipation.
Registration at the local city hall (new, huge, appears that half of Iwate prefecture work there) was an interesting experience - the place I'm living is essentially a holiday home on a private resort so when the city office peeps tried to find it all they could get was the general address for the 180-odd homes here, the system couldn't really cope with the idea that this would be someone's permanent home (even though it looks like my neighbours in #59 are here all the time), cue much head scratching (lots of that this week) and questions along the lines of 'are you sure that's where you are living...?'. But it was done so I am officially a resident of Hachimantai City, Iwate (not words I ever thought I would say/write). Luckily while we were there we met a guy who we had met in the pub the night before and he very graciously gave us a lift back to Appikogen, otherwise it would have been a taxi or a 3 hour wait for the next train (I say we, this week a colleague has been staying with me, he's back in Tokyo next week before coming back up next weekend, so this week could get a bit lonely. However the good thing is that next weekend I'll be back in Tokyo for a student/parent event so will get the experience the delights of family and civilisation after a 2 week absence).
All this going on against the backdrop of work, the main sticking point of which this week was the information that the computers meant to be delivered next Monday will not be delivered then or for the foreseeable future, meaning I am still trying to do everything on a little Chromebook/tablet which though doing sterling service is not really cut out for this heavy lifting. Oh well...
Anyway, here are some photos from last week, including my not-so-humble abode
