I first arrived in Tokyo and all the NY JETS (not
the football team my
programme The Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme)
met up with all the
B phase JETS from such countries as Canada, Great
Britain, New Zealand,
Austrailia, and also from all over the states.
The place of the
orientation and where I stayed, the Keio Plaza was
one of the best in Japan
so they didn't really spare any cost.
During the 3 day orientation I met all sorts of people
from all over and TV
crews were there to tape the new foreign Japanese
government workers. In
case you didn't know I actually work for the Japanese
government to help
its citizens connect with another culture and perfect
their English (some
of us even said that we are helping Japan to take
over the US quicker
haha). The events for those 3 days are too much
to go into; basically we
were given a general overview of everything about
our positions and living
in Japan.
My first
night a few of us went into north Tokyo to the Hard
Cafe...so that was different since I've never been
one in the US and there
wasn't even a line to get in...imagine that!!!!
Our last day we were all
divided into our separate prefectures (it's like different
states in Japan)
and we headed out for them.
My prefecture,
Gunma, is located about an hour north of Tokyo. On
the way we stop at a rest station/grocery and though
most of the food was
the Japanese equivalent of Western food I was surprised
by the couple of
packages of turtle (still in the shell) and snake.
When we arrived in the
town of Maebashi we met our various supervisors; mostly
Board of Education
Superintendents. It was REALLY formal...and
everyone, as you can imagine
was nervous. Then afterwards each went with
their bosses to their various
villages and towns; off to Nakanojo!!
What
a stop? Yes my superintendent, who actually gave the formal
speech, decided to stop at a local restaurant and
have a drink with my
direct boss and me. My direct boss, Mr. Koike
knows a few English words,
so I was relieved to hear that my Superintendent,
Mr. Nakazawa knew much
more. The communication was slow but we got
by. The best part was when he
pulled out a American Folk music book out and asked
if I knew any...Down in
the Valley and Home On the Range came to mind...well
we both started
singing them in the restaurant...that was corny but,
hey a connection was
made...he reminds me of a grandfather type..so I feel
really comfortable
with him.
We made
it to the Board of Education in Nakanojo and I met all my
co workers...a few know a few words in English, the
rest just nod and
smile. Eventually I made it back to my new place,
which is small but has
all the fixings, even a clothes dryer, which I heard
was a rareity for an
AET (Assistant English Teacher). I moved in
quite well. The next couple
of days consisted of just the basic meeting everyone
in the town office;
the mayor is the brother of the new Prime Minister,
so that was cool (maybe
I could meet the PM..hmmmm). Got my email set
up and I am officially
in...yippee.
On Friday
we left to a nearby place called Shimma to partipate in a
weekend exchange with students from Tokyo. The
annual exchange is in
rememberance of the Tokyo residents who fled Tokyo
during its bombing in
WWII to the hills of Nakanojo. The weekend was
filled with various country
activities such as: fishing (they cooked and at the
whole fish right off
the cooking rod), a tea tasting contest, and potato
picking (the last two I
did). The one big thing from this was my teaching
the kids as well as some
of the teachers and principals a whistle I can create
with my hands that my
grandmother taught me when I was 12. It was
funny because I saw one kid
trying before I intervened and I taught him and then
EVERYONE wanted to
learn...it was the event of the day. Sometimes
you never know just how you
are going to connect with people until you try anything.
I got back
on Sunday afternoon and was doing something with my
computer, bebopping to the Temptations when an old
man, that I bowed to on
my first day here and hadn't seen since, reached into
my screenless window
with my mail in a bag. Surprised I bowed and
smiled while saying thank
you, which he didn't understand. Then he pointed
to the house across the
street and did a drinking motion. Okay I guess
he wanted me to go up there
to get a drink...well he left and I put on my shoes,
which are next to the
outside door since wearing outside shoes indoors is
a no-no. Grabbed a
prewrapped gift (called omiyage here...it is traditional
to give a present
to your host), it was just a bag of wagonwheeled pasta
(here it is the
thought that really does count) and I made my way
up to the house. The old
man led me in, introduced me to a woman, and left.
We bowed to each other.
She gestured to sit down to a table that had
some food on it and she went
into the kitchen. Out came a man and come to
find out he didn't know
English and we both had our pocket translators.
We wound up sitting there
and eating making one or two word conversation for
a little over an hour.
He introduced me to his daughter who is pretty good
in English and gave me
a bottle of wine bottled by a friend of his.
The bottle's label, which is
a famous Japanese painting from the 1920' s was incredible.
Come to find out this man is my landlord!!! Nice guy,
and nice family...I
really need to learn Japanese!!
The next
day I was off back to Maebushi for another 3 day
orientation. THis one would bring both session
A (who arrived a week
earlier than we the B's did) and B together for the
Gunma Prefecture
orientation. It was okay...again I met more
people, but the workshops were
a lot like Tokyo. Still getting to talk with
some English speakers was
good. The big thing for me was the first
night when a traditional
Japanese drum corps came in and played...it was really
awesome...kinda made
me want to grab a bamboo shoot and attack the enemy..haha.
I just got
back from that and that pretty much sums everything
in the last couple
weeks.
A few observations
thus far. Japan's known for technology but you
don't really see it often. They are big on things
little (no pun intended)
but their watches are huge. You can find a drink
vending machine
practically anywhere. You could be broken down
on some country road and
not have a phone, but a vending machine could very
well be right there!!