Trip to the Doctor's!

It's past midnight and the yakuza have broken their promise.
Every night since the second they have portrayed uncharacteristic Japanese behavior by making a ruckus in the dorm across from mine.

Well, they aren't actually the yakuza, just new students.

In Japan, the school term starts in April.  In Japan there is a hardcore custom for everything, and new student cannot properly adapt to the dorm without a rigorous (I assume) initiation procedure, which includes questionable running, bowing, and chanting among the darkened hallways of the so-called "anonymous dorm." Naturally, the American girls directly facing the dorm are startled.
The first night, after threatening to call the cops, we were informed that the police are already aware and that this procedure lasts until midnight and takes place for 5 days.

This begins shortly after we receive a notice apologizing for the barely audible, day-time shuffling of new international students moving in.

  Noisy, five-night-long screaming sessions were not mentioned in Chiba University's International Student Guidebook.  It would have been courteous to elucidate to confused foreigners living in their proximity.  But we are in a remote location, away from the University.  I get the strong feeling that this is another one of those "don't ask don't tell" scenarios.  It really is a mysterious place, this country.

Then again, as my American neighbor and I observe these arcane behaviors, scrutinizing for veiled behind cherry blossoms from our balcony, we draw comparisons between this and slightly less-ritualized American customs.  Certainly this annual event is little price to pay for the year-round partying and bizarre events of fraternities.  This seems to be the rough equivalent of a fraternity, as there are no girls either.  After my friend somewhat clarified this event for me, he then ammended that he was happy to not have lived in a dorm.

So that's what the outstanding majority of Chiba students commute from home about an hour away each day(冗談）

Strangeness aside, I've had a pretty uneventful week.  I've mainly spent it accompanying my friend who injured his ankle and is trying to stave off boredom from lack of activity (although he still attends part-time training via crutches).  Today we went to the doctor's--he to have his barely slowly recovering ankle looked at and me to have my mysterious knee malady examined (and just to have an idea of what Japanese medical procedures are).

My hypochrondriac self loves to explore the internet and discover illnesses that I think I might have.  Prior to visiting the doctor, I decided that I might have medial meniscus tears, medial collateral ligament injuries/arthritis of the joint.  Nevertheless, when I went there was nothing evidently wrong.

Japanese medical procedures are, as everything else, very efficient.  The forms are basically the same as American ones, asking for various aspects of medical history, allergies, pregnancy, etc.  Afterwards I met with the doctor, was pleased to not have to give a detailed description of my pain in Japanese, and had an X-ray taken.  While nothing evidently is wrong, they nonetheless gave me several sets of treatment cooling pads and an elastic supporter.   And told me to come back in a week if it doesn't improve.

My assesment of the Japanese medical care system is that it differs little from America.  Granted, in America I may not enjoy the same service or sense of improvement of my condition by receiving an x-ray and supporter.  But it probably costed a little more unnecessarily.  Alas, the supporter actually seemed to make the feeling in my knee more pronounced.

Hopefully I will have more exciting things to talk about in my next post, including a visit to Ueno an indoor plant-farm and potentially the Museum of Science and Natural History.