Putting the F.U. in Funabashi

A mid-sized industrial city on the northern shore of Tokyo Bay, Funabashi, which means "Land of 1,000 Pontoon Bridges" in Japanese, is the city where I will be spending the next 10 months of my life. From what I gather, there's nothing really special about it; another commuter city, home to throngs of office workers whom I assume battle their way onto trains headed for Tokyo every morning. The kind of place where people live arbitrarily. Ala yours truly.

This housing was arranged by my university. My roommate is a 21 year old Japanese guy who has just graduated and is actually starting his first big job on the day I arrive. He told me that the house I'm going to be living in was his grandfather's before he died and that it's "old", though I'm not sure in which sense of the word he means. Hole in the floor for a toilet old (seriously, I would not be surprised), or just not new?

The home is located in Higashi-Funabashi (West Funabashi) and is, from what I've been told, about a 40 minute ride, by train, to my university which is in the center of Tokyo. A commute of this distance is considered pretty good, as even though I'll be living in another prefecture, it will take me less time to get to Tokyo city than it does many people who actually live in the western end of Tokyo prefecture, much like a resident of Bridgeport CT lives much closer to New York City than someone who lives in Buffalo, NY - but on a much smaller scale.

Funabashi seems like a nice place, though I may have to venture to points due East or West for more culturally substantive experiences. Funabashi's most noted points of interest are: Japan's first IKEA, a race track, the country's largest shopping mall, and the site of a 400 million dollar indoor ski slope that went bankrupt and has since been demolished. Way to go, indoor ski slope inventor guy.

But honestly, I can't complain. I'm happy to be living someplace low-key and unassuming. The prefecture of Chiba, which Funabashi is in, is a peninsula that is made so by the waters of Tokyo Bay to the West and the Pacific Ocean to the East. It seems like a pretty nice place, and I've already got ideas for a few day trips down to the shore and the country side in the works.
Also, Chiba city, with a population of about a million, is just a 20 minute train ride to the East and is, I'm sure, worth a visit or two.