Arrived in Yokohama 🇯🇵

Hello,

As some of you know, I am spending this semester in Yokohama, Japan. During this time, I thought it would be nice to post small updates here in the form of blog entries at regular intervals, making my journey a bit accessible for everyone who is interested.

I don't want to make any promises regarding the timing, but I will try to write posts regularly. In this first entry, I will share about my journey and my arrival in Yokohama.

As is customary for any journey, the final packing was planned for the afternoon before departure. Together with my mother, I packed my backpack and carry-on full to the brim after some repacking and adjustments due to weight.

Of course, the carrying check was also part of it, where it needed to be tested whether the weight was suitable for carrying and, above all, for walking.

Once that was out of the way, the last preparations for the travel day the next day were made, and small gifts were exchanged before I went to bed for three hours one last time.

At 1:45 AM, we started our journey from Dresden towards Berlin, together with Mom and Dad, who brought me to the airport and accompanied me through check-in until the security check.

But before heading to the security check, we had a small booster drink at Starbucks and after saying our goodbyes, off we went.

I passed the security check after a thorough pat-down and nearly losing my phone on the conveyor belt without any issues, and I arrived at my gate just in time for boarding.

At sunrise, my flight took off precisely at 6:45 AM, taking me from Berlin to Istanbul. The flight passed quickly with a relaxed atmosphere and a modest breakfast, and then came the five-hour wait in Istanbul.

Fortunately, there was free Wi-Fi, so time passed quickly, and I was soon on my way to Gate B15. Here, I encountered Japanese characters for the first time, but thankfully they were alternated with Latin characters, so I managed to find the right flight without much trouble.

As on my flight to Istanbul, I was lucky enough to have a window seat, which allowed me to witness both the takeoff and especially the landing in Tokyo. Even though there’s a seven-hour time difference between Japan and Germany, resulting in a landing time of 8:55 AM in Tokyo and only 1:55 AM in Germany, I was fortunate to get about six hours of decent sleep on the flight, so I didn't suffer from significant jetlag.

After we landed safely, it was time for me to go through visa control. Unfortunately, the digital entry QR code did not work for me, so I had to fill out a paper form the old-fashioned way. After queuing and a brief moment of confusion about which was the correct counter for me, I submitted it to an employee along with my visa. The subsequent process went very smoothly, and then I received my official Residence Card, which will serve as my identification document for the next few months.

After that, I headed to the baggage claim and quickly made my way to the JR Train, which was to take me to my destination, Yokohama. As my attempt to book the online ticket in Istanbul had failed, I was a bit nervous when only 15 minutes were left for the reservation. But fortunately, I managed to sort everything out without any problems, and I was off to Yokohama.

With the train, I then traveled for 100 minutes through, among other places, Tokyo to Totsuka Station in Yokohama, from where I just had to walk 8 minutes to my dormitory. Upon arrival, I was warmly welcomed by three young students who showed me my room for the next few months and generally around the dormitory. Unfortunately, I don't speak Japanese, and they only spoke very broken English, so we had to get a bit creative during the process.  Overall, I felt very warmly welcomed and at the end, I knew all the important information for the first few days.

So, that's it for my first blog entry. If you want to know how my first days here in Japan went, you'll have to wait a little bit longer, as otherwise, the format of this entry will be stretched.

Warm greetings from Yokohama 🇯🇵

Karo