Helloooo Japan

05/08/09 (Wednesday)
Hey Everyone :-)

Well, as I sit down to write this I’ve just begun the process of moving into my new apartment. I arrived in Awa City this afternoon, and have since been running around with a couple of my supervisors making some initial preparations for my stay. This marks the first point since I arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon that I’ve had a chance to stop and take a breath. I’m currently sitting in the huge (by Japanese standards) living room of my new apartment and attempting to process all that’s occurred since my new life in Japan began. I'm here to become an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. This program, run through the Japanese government, recruits English speakers from all over the world (except India, apparently) to live in Japan and act as supplements to the English as a Second Language education of primary, middle, and high-school students. JET's are primarily placed in rural areas, and typically rotate between multiple schools. I am fortunate in that I will have one base school (a middle school), where I work four days a week, and two elementary schools that I'll rotate between every Wednesday. I think there are something upwards of 4,400 JETs in Japan at any one time, and there are a ton of different wonderful resources (and a huge network) available to us.

Initial thoughts:
Japan is a lot more hot/humid than I remembered- this could be because I am living slightly farther south, or that this summer in DC so far has been so temperate that I'd forgotten what humid places like DC/Houston were supposed to feel like during the summer. Japan's summer weather is basically the same all over the country.

A lot is the same as I’d remembered from before- wonderful food, tons of people, sensory overload in the city (such as the halogen and strobe ligths of the huge Yodobashi Camera electronics store wth its constantly blaring theme song to the Battle Hymn of the Republic), interesting fashion choices wherever you go (I feel like some trendsetters get dressed in the dark here- though sometimes I feel the same way back home), and various pop culture icons splattered all over advertisements and commercials- in Japan, the music/acting/advertising worlds are all so closely linked, that you'll have the same person starring in a Japanese TV show, singing its theme song, and selling you a beer during the commercial break.

Different from before: this time I’m on the job, not a student. Though I haven't had the chance to get up in front of a classroom yet (that'll be the first week of September), next week I'll be participating in an English camp with all of the rest of the new ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) in my prefecture- should be fun. The pop culture has changed so far as the music and faces are different, but it's the same general idea as before- now to watch enough Japanese TV to get an idea of who's popular now to be able to speak about them with my students.
This marks the first time that I'll be living by myself- no family, host family, or roommates around to actively participate in my home life. It's a little strange (and quiet), but hopefully before long I'll make some friends and eliminate the quietness of my apartment.

Departure and Tokyo Orientation (Friday-Tuesday)

After a brief pre-departure orientation and some last-minute packing we were good to go on Sunday morning. My friend Jeff and I were a little late to the airport because of a last night out with a few of the roomies, but we made it with plenty of time to spare (about 2 hrs). After a quick 2 hour flight to Chicago, we boarded the flight for Tokyo. Though American Airlines doesn't have quite the movie selection of Air France (flew to Europe to hang out with Kate for a week last month), every other guy in our group (as well as myself) made sure to watch the new Star Trek movie and X-men: wolverine at some point during the flight.

I'm a big fan of the other ALT's that came over from DC with me. There were 66 of us total, and we all got along pretty well. It was great having nice people around to make the trip more relaxed, and Tokyo orientation more enjoyable.

After arriving in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon, we were bused to our hotel. The Keio Plaza Hotel is a beautiful (and huge- 47 floors!) hotel in the downtown Tokyo area of Shinjuku. We were placed in rooms with two other ALT's from our departure cities, and left to roam around the city (though most people were too exhausted to go far). I ended up going out to dinner at a local izakaya (basically a bar with private seating and better food) before heading back to the hotel for bed.

The two days of Tokyo Orientation were a blur of constant activity- we had breakfast starting at 7:30 (though we usually woke up sometime after sunrise at 5:00), then meetings from 9 am-5 pm or later. Monday, the 13 new ALT's from our prefecture that arrived in our orientation group (Group A had gotten to Tokyo a week earlier, we were part of the 640-person Group B orientation) with an older JET from our prefecture, Remco from Holland. He was very entertaining, and it was interesting hearing the perspective of a JET who doesn't spend a great deal of time with other JETs in the area. After that, I ran into a few other friends and decided to wander around Shinjuku for a bit longer before heading up to bed.

A note on Japan: it is the safest country in the world. Not only are its big cities very well lit-up at night, they literally never sleep. Petty theft and violent crime are virtually unheard of in the country of 130 million people, and they generally shudder at the idea of having a similar right to the US' second amendment and the right to bear arms. Thus, when I say "I wandered the city at night with a couple of friends," it was usually with a great deal of people around, no matter the time.

Tuesday night I spent with a few of the other DC JET's before we had to go our separate ways the next morning. It was really surprising how close we got in just a couple of days- I guess going through a veritable paradigm shift in one's life draws you closer to ones around you in a very short amount of time- no matter what one's experience with living in Japan and living in Japan more specifically, every one of us was leaving family and loved ones behind to embark on an exciting new path. Tuesday night we all went out to Shibuya (basically Tokyo's version of Times Square) and wandered around a bit before returning to our hotel and making it up to the 47th floor to take pictures of the Tokyo cityscape. I'm not sure if I was really able to capture how truly vast the city is in pictures, but it's incredible how it seems to stretch on forever.

Today, Wednesday, I arrived in Tokushima City (250,000 people, East coast of Shikoku island, farthest east in our prefecture, and biggest city in the prefecture) and was met by Yoshimoto-san, Hayashi-san, and John, two of my supervisors from my local board of education and a 2nd-year JET in my city, respectively. John was extremely helpful in answering my questions, and Hayashi-san and Yoshimoto-san are very nice and helpful as well.

The Apartment
I'll upload the video as soon as I figure out how (disclaimer: I apologize for the 3 seconds of man-legs- didn’t realize there was a reflection haha )
Before coming to Japan, I had logically assumed that I would be living in an apartment approximately the size of a shoebox. Though my host family in Kobe had lived in a pretty big house (by Japanese standards), I assumed that a JET living alone would warrant a very small space. Fortunately, today I found out that not only would I be living in the largest apartment of any of the area JET’s, but also that this meant that it was a pretty good size. I’m having a hard time reconciling the fact that this place is all mine for the foreseeable future. Is it sad that I’ve wandered around the new place several times marveling at the fact that not only is it beautifully clean and Japanese style (complete with tatami mats in the bedroom), but also it’s all mine? I’ll keep y’all posted on how this whole “living alone” thing goes for me. At this very moment, it feels a bit isolated, as I’m yet to get a cell phone (that’ll be tomorrow), I don’t have a land-line, I have no internet, and I don’t know anyone’s phone number, haha. So, upon getting a couple hours off after shopping for the basics at the local grocery store, I spent the next 20 minutes or so just sitting on the balcony and staring at the rice paddies and surrounding mountains, trying to get my bearings (and of course having the beer that my predecessor had left me).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m ecstatic to be here. I’m just a little bit jet-lagged and tired from orientation, so getting my head straight shouldn’t take too long after a night’s rest.

The rest of this week looks to be pretty busy- getting a cell phone, car insurance, my “gaijin card” (gaikokujintoorokushou- or foreign resident’s card), and meeting people in the middle school and two elementary schools that I’ll be teaching in will probably keep me on my toes. I’ll also get to meet and go out with the 2 other ALT’s in the area that will be teaching nearby this year.

Well, that's all for now- hope everyone's well, and please don't hesitate to shoot me a message by e-mail or facebook, I'd love to hear from you!

p.s.- I'll get my mailing/phone info up soon- I also have skype: john.i.dougherty

Ja ne