I have a minor thyroid condition. However, it means that I need to have check up every year or so. The Japanese system here is sort of similar to the German system in that your General Practitioner doesn’t do everything for you and usually you need to find the doctor who specialises in the field of your illness.
So on Saturday, I went to the famous thyroid hospital here. About 6 hours later, I emerge with $300 AUD less in my wallet and a sore arse from sitting down all morning. Talk about a great way to spend the first day of the weekend. (The same procedure took less than an hour and around 5 Euros in Germany…I guess that’s why I paid such high taxes there!)
There were literally hundreds of people at the hospital. The waiting room was packed and it was standing room only if you didn’t fight for a seat. Lucky for me, I had anticipated some sort of a wait and had brought a book. However, the queuing system was a bit out of whack too because although I had a number (508 and I was there at 9am!) the order that the patients were called was not in numeric order so after each paragraph, I had to look up for 10 seconds to see if I had been called.
However, I found another way to entertain myself. If you’re familiar with thyroid conditions, you know that there are particular physical traits that go with too much or too little thyroid hormone. Having studied Pathology at university, I remembered some of these and amused myself by counting how many people had signs of their illness.
Actually, there wasn’t anyone with a huge goiter but moving my way around the hospital, I thought I was being stared at by a lot of people who had the “intense staring” eye condition.
Unfortunately, I have to go back in 2 weeks for my results. If this kind of costs continue, I think it would be worth flying home for the tests. It would essentially be a $300 discount on my airfare.
Matt and I have finally arrived in Tokyo. We left Lausanne in different directions on Thursday (Me via Frankfurt and Matt via London) and we met again in our new apartment on Friday. The journey was long and arduous but we made it without paying an extra cent for excess luggage. The trick is to have a bag so fat that it doesn’t fit on the conveyor belt properly.
The weather in Tokyo has been hot, hot, hot and the humidity must be in the high 90’s. We would not have survived these last few days had it not been for the department stores and convenience stores which are simply everywhere in this giant city. The sights, smells and sounds can be overwhelming at times but most of the time they excite us with a new experience.
Japan is a small person’s place. Matt has found this out the hard way when he forgets to duck under doorways and corridors. When sitting down, his knees are almost at his chest. Me, I think everything is just perfect.
Today we went to Shibuya for a stroll and found our favourite store so far. It’s called Tokyo Hands and it sells everything from power tools to quirky Japanese toys. We loved the R2D2 soy sauce bottle and waste paper basket and are seriously considering it for our new apartment.
For all the geeks out there, we found these silly dogs which attach to your USB port. Hey, if you’re in front of the computer like me and not exercising, these dogs might as well do it.
One of the best things Matt and I have enjoyed so far is the food. Not only is it really goooooooooooood, it is much cheaper than we thought. Tonight, Matt and I had a sashimi dinner at home and it cost us less than 15AUD from the supermarket. Lunch at a simple restaurant was the same and we had so much food we couldn’t finish it. PLUS, Tim Tams are available at the local supermarket so life is all good.
Well, jetlag is still in my life at the moment so I’m logging off. Hope the beginning of the school year goes smoothly for everyone. Send us lots of messages and photos!
Welcome to Tokyo Trouble! We hope that you enjoy our stories about the adventures we have in our new home of Japan. Please post comments if you have any requests, suggestions or anecdotes to add.
We don’t arrive in Tokyo on August 1st, 2008 so you will have to be a little patient for the Tokyo stories. However, this summer we will be riding our bikes along the Danube from Donuaeschingen to Vienna so you can keep up to date with those adventures here as well.
Posted by tokyotrouble 
Posted by tokyotrouble 
Posted by tokyotrouble 
