TYPHOON AHOY!

Last Thursday (October 8), Typoon/Hurricane Melor charged into town. Or into Japan's main island of Honshu. It looked for a day or so that it was headed right for our Kansai region, but it veered a bit east in the end and made landfall well outside Osaka Bay and charged northward towards Hokkaido.

We were all gossiping at the office Wednesday wondering what the university would do if the storm hit during classes Thursday. How will we know if they cancel? "It'll be on the college website." "No, they'll call each faculty home telephone." "No, you should call into the college Thursday morning." Obviously, a well-organized emergency disaster plan is in effect and well known to all. (Not.)

Since I had my once a week grad class in Osaka Thursday, I decided to take no chances and headed for Osaka by train Wednesday night before the eye hit to stay at a hotel near the downtown campus. It was blowy and rainy, a foreshadow of what was to come around dawn, but there still were a few brave souls out on the train platform waiting to get home - and me. (Did we have any choice?) My Osaka hotel room was tiny (basically room for a bed and a walking space between it and the desk) and the one window looked out at another apartment building, so that I couldn't really see much of the outside weather that night. But in the morning, the rain had almost ended (just sputters) and it was oddly normal outside. Maybe a bit more yard waste blowing around than usual, that's all. I checked the TV, and it was clear that the eye had completely missed our Osaka-Kobe area and was safely north of us.

So, I went into the Osaka office (14th floor of the Hankyu Hotel) and prepped in the middle of the day for my 6 pm class. Back at the Umeda campus in Nishinomiya, my fellow teachers were disappointed that it had turned out so blandly. No cancellations. No dramatic weather. (We're a dedicated lot in our teaching, I hasten to point out, but it still hurts to have a perfect 'act of God' excuse frittered away to nothing! What a let-down!)

APARTMENT HUNTING

Meanwhile, I have been apartment hunting - last Tuesday in a little end-of-the-railway line town near campus (Koyoen) and this Sunday around the main Nishinomiya train station (Kitaguchi). The Koyoen apartments were a bit of a let-down. Reasonable rents, but kind of run-down buildings that looked 30 years old and well worn by residents. And the views and neighborhood were underwhelming, as well. The agent had been recommended by an American pastor in Nishinomiya as friendly to expats and someone who doesn't ask for all the up-front fees that normal Japanese realtors do, just first-and-last month's rent. But for all that, the apartment still has to be something I'd consider living in.

Today's tour of apartments closer to the main railway hub (15 minute walk away most of them) with another realtor showed me three spacious and light-filled apartments I could see myself living in. Make no mistake. It's quite pricy to come up with the first month move-in fee here, but once you're there, the monthly rents were all between $800 and $1000. (Of which the university will help with about $250 a month.) All the apartments have at least one 'wa-shitsu' or Japanese-style bedroom with tatami mats on the floor to put bedding on and big box-shaped cupboard space with sliding doors to put the bedding away in. I kind of like it. My own personal ryokan (Japanese inn)!

One of the main issues is access to transportation. No matter where I live, I still have my job to get to on a daily basis. Proximity to shopping also helps. I don't want to have to call a cab to buy groceries! The goal right now is to find something by the end of this week. I'll look in one more location, then decide.