First day at the university. And, of course, we got lost on our way. First, we did not know how to transfer to Hankyu line at Kobe-Sannomiya and then missed our stop on the bus. Still, the Japanese where really helpful when asked for directions, even if their ability to answer in English was very limited. As we set off early we still made it on time and had some time to look around the campus which turned out to be really charming, green and with a breathtaking view of the whole city. After the orientation session organized by the faculty, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the cafeteria with our tutors – Kazuki and Kim.

Today’s challenge was opening the bank account. Again, the staff was super friendly, the lady at the counter said “thank you” to me around 50 times but could not speak any English. Luckily, Kazuki was there and interpreted for us. After about half an hour I thought we were done but the lady looked at the application form with horror – it turned out that I wrote one Katakana character in my surname incorrectly. Instead of just correcting the mistake, I had to fill out the whole form again. No place in Japan for such mistakes.

In the evening, we went food shopping with Johannes. We were thrilled to find out that around 19:00-20:00 prices of many products are reduced and the later it is, the higher the reduction. Thanks to that, I had a delicious sushi-sashimi dinner for around JPY 350 (3 EUR). After the meal and some drinks, we went for a stroll around the harbour. The night was still quite warm and the view of the Kobe port skyline simply amazing.