Later that day I also met a Malaysian-British girl living on my floor and we became best friends after chatting. Because my dorm also organized a few holiday events and field trips to help the students bond together, I also made a few more friends along the way.
Besides getting familiar with my dorm facilities, I also familiarized myself with the surrounding neighborhood. Although in Japan it is said “if there are hundreds of konbinis, there are a thousand more shrines and temples,” a konbini is really the epitome of convenience. Around my dorm were three major konbini chain stores: 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawsons. In America we often see “convenience stores” located in gas stations and we tend to think that they serve overpriced goods and mediocre junk food. However, konbini in Japan are great because they have reasonably priced tasty and healthy-looking bento (single-portion meal sets), some fresh grocery items, basic toiletries, a copy machine to print documents, a machine to purchase event tickets, and an A.T.M. If my classes ended mid-day, I would often go to the konbini to buy a bento or a stuffed onigiri (Japanese rice ball) like all the other students.
The second most convenient type of store was the ￥100 and ￥300 marts.
