Japan - 2 Months In - Part 1
I have now been in Japan for 60 days, and with internet finally reaching my apartment, I feel like I have become settled in. There are still things that need to be done, such as buy a car and figure out how to throw away my garbage(I get 10 bags stacked in my kitchen), but for the most part I am able to move around the area with some autonomy and I have developed somethign of a routine. I am sure that future challenges await, but for the time being, things are going well. For this reason, I finally feel ready to make a major post covering many of the things happening here. It should be noted that besides photos posted in on flikr, I have now been able to upload large numbers of high quality photos to the CoRE server:
core.binghamton.edu/~animekamee/japan/
There are so many things to talk about, and I could fill pages just on something simple like how people drive or the unintentionally funny things the students write in their journals. After this post, I plan to highlight such things in a humorous fashion, but first I would like to give a general idea of what has happened to me since I got here. Think of it as my State of the Union address.
I arrived at the end of July after an exhausting flight. To avoid jet lag, I did not sleep at all on the plane. It was kinda nice, talking to people around me. But, eventually everyone went to sleep. The few of us who were awake congragated to certain areas of the plane every 20-30 mintues to stretch out a bit. I came to Japan with only American money, and it was around 9 PM when I started looking for dinner. Fortunately, a girl I met on the plane bumped into me at the hotel, and she was a Japan veteran. She took me out to eat, showed me what to do, and talked with me for a few hours. I never saw her again. The only other thing I remember that night was leaving a message with my freind James to tell my parents that I was alright.
Most of orientation was a blur. After realizing how boring the opening meeting was, I skipped everything except the final meeting. Those of you who know me know that it is not my nature to be very irresponsible, but I was in a strange mood. I made many friends at orientation, almost none of which I have spoken to since. I also met someone who knew about CoRE, Stea's brother. Small world. It's mostly a blur, but I remember getting massively drunk one night, and staying out until 5 AM. This basically created jetlag for me. I also woke up with a sore foot the first morning there, and the pain would come and go during the day. Up to four weeks later, I was sometimes having to limp. Now I am fine, though. The people in Tokyo are quite rude, and often they were downright racist to us foriegners. From what I hear though, many foriegners do things to cause a very bad reputation. In Kagawa, the people are extrodinarily nice.
Coming to Kagawa was nice. I got to meet people that I would actually have a chance to be friends with later. Some people I got along well with, and other I didn't like at all. However, there are so few of us, that you kinda put aside those things you don't like because there aren't enough foriegners to be hating some of them. When we landed at Takamatsu airport, the three of us going to my city(which is made of 7 towns, 4 of which have JETs) were met by three teachers and our Board of Education supervisor. Each of the teachers was from our respective school. Unfortunately, I had not yet realized how much younger Japanese people look, and at first I asked my teacher what grade she was in. She is a little older than me, I later found out.
The day was a whirlwind of sorts. We were driven from place to place, to fill out forms, take pictures, meet important people, etc. Finally, I was dropped off with the English teacher who is my school supervisor. He brought me to my apartment, and showed me a couple of basic things. Checked the lights, phone, water, gas, and pointed out the rooms. He told me to take my shoes off in the special area just in my door. I still don't normally do that. My apartment isn't great, but good enough for me and much more than what some people in the city get. It has a bedroom, kitchen, study, and bathroom. It also has a balcony and comes with a TV, phone, furniture, bike, rice cooker, microwave, and basic amenities(cups, silverwear, etc). I also have a parking space with it, I have discovered.
After seeing the apartment, my supervisor told me to lie down on this dinky...thing(think a chair without legs or armrest). He also turned the fan on, since the heat this day(and the next couple weeks) was oppresive. He told me to sleep, but instead I ran inventory and unpacked. I showered, changed, and after several days of temporary living, I got to stop and settle down a bit. He came back two hours later to take me out to eat, which resulted in myself making a mess all over the table and myself as I tried to eat Udon. Udon is a prefectural favorite and is also on of the hardest foods to eat with chopsticks. I would get better with time, but I still make splashes. I also was chastized for being too quiet while eating, since Udon is supposed to have slurping noises involved.
My supervisor showed me the market where I got some butter rolls, a yogurt, and some mikan juice for tomorrow`s breakfast. Slowly over the next few weeks, I discovered more food items and have greatly expanded my diet at home. The next few days were basically things to help me get settled. The other 2 JETs and I would be taken to places like the bank, video, and phone store to get signed up for things. I was given a tour of the school and had things explained to me. I managed to study a little Japanese, but the gap between my limited knowledge and actual speaking/listening comprehension was staggering. Trying to talk just made things worse. Some days there was very little to do(school didn't start until September), so I would visit clubs or try to do something worthwhile. The first day of Prefectural Orientation was in the middle of August, so until then I tried to explore my area a bit.
Prefecture: Kagawa
City: Mitoyo
Town: Mino
Population: Around 7000-8000, I think.
Demographics: Mostly young children and older people. The people around 18-30 goto college elsewhere or move to cities. Some come back to start families.
Mino is a beautiful farm town. Everywhere you look, there are majestic moutains, lakes, rice fields, and temples. It is also a very small town. Even for the rural area I am in, it is pretty rural. There is one 24hr convience store in town, and one or two small grocery stores. For serious shopping, videos, resturaunts besides Udon shops, and other amenities, I have to bike to one of the nearby towns. The closest real city, Marugame, has about 80,000 people and something that resembles a night life. Unfortunately the trains stop running at 11:50pm, and don't start up again until 5:00am. I am still trying to figure a solution to that problem.
The people of Mino are very nice, exceedingly so. I am the only Westerner in the town, and I am also a teacher for their children. Teachers are highly respected in Japan. This amounts to me being treated very well by the townsfolk. The conbini shop workers welcome me as sensei(respectful title for teachers). At the antiques shop, called "Antiques Shop", in Takase, I get welcomed in and served tea. I was once at a house warming party for a friend and a child there wanted some OJ. I ran to the conbini across the street, but they didn't have any when I asked. But another customer heard me, took me outside, went through some recently bought groceries in his car, and gave me a quart of OJ he had there. He refused to accept money, and said it was because I was a teacher.
The only problem with small towns is that they talk. I don't like vegetables, and said so at lunch in school. Now, every student, all the young kids at town, and most of the adults know I don't like vegetables. I get asked all the time by store owners and little kids who are in disbelief. Hating squid and octopus(which I've started to like) is one thing, but hating vegetables is jsut crazy. This also means I can't run red lights on my bike, hit on the local girls, or do anything that would look bad while in town. Word would get around.
Anyways, I gotta go now. Part 2 will be posted soon. Ja ne!
core.binghamton.edu/~animekamee/japan/
There are so many things to talk about, and I could fill pages just on something simple like how people drive or the unintentionally funny things the students write in their journals. After this post, I plan to highlight such things in a humorous fashion, but first I would like to give a general idea of what has happened to me since I got here. Think of it as my State of the Union address.
I arrived at the end of July after an exhausting flight. To avoid jet lag, I did not sleep at all on the plane. It was kinda nice, talking to people around me. But, eventually everyone went to sleep. The few of us who were awake congragated to certain areas of the plane every 20-30 mintues to stretch out a bit. I came to Japan with only American money, and it was around 9 PM when I started looking for dinner. Fortunately, a girl I met on the plane bumped into me at the hotel, and she was a Japan veteran. She took me out to eat, showed me what to do, and talked with me for a few hours. I never saw her again. The only other thing I remember that night was leaving a message with my freind James to tell my parents that I was alright.
Most of orientation was a blur. After realizing how boring the opening meeting was, I skipped everything except the final meeting. Those of you who know me know that it is not my nature to be very irresponsible, but I was in a strange mood. I made many friends at orientation, almost none of which I have spoken to since. I also met someone who knew about CoRE, Stea's brother. Small world. It's mostly a blur, but I remember getting massively drunk one night, and staying out until 5 AM. This basically created jetlag for me. I also woke up with a sore foot the first morning there, and the pain would come and go during the day. Up to four weeks later, I was sometimes having to limp. Now I am fine, though. The people in Tokyo are quite rude, and often they were downright racist to us foriegners. From what I hear though, many foriegners do things to cause a very bad reputation. In Kagawa, the people are extrodinarily nice.
Coming to Kagawa was nice. I got to meet people that I would actually have a chance to be friends with later. Some people I got along well with, and other I didn't like at all. However, there are so few of us, that you kinda put aside those things you don't like because there aren't enough foriegners to be hating some of them. When we landed at Takamatsu airport, the three of us going to my city(which is made of 7 towns, 4 of which have JETs) were met by three teachers and our Board of Education supervisor. Each of the teachers was from our respective school. Unfortunately, I had not yet realized how much younger Japanese people look, and at first I asked my teacher what grade she was in. She is a little older than me, I later found out.
The day was a whirlwind of sorts. We were driven from place to place, to fill out forms, take pictures, meet important people, etc. Finally, I was dropped off with the English teacher who is my school supervisor. He brought me to my apartment, and showed me a couple of basic things. Checked the lights, phone, water, gas, and pointed out the rooms. He told me to take my shoes off in the special area just in my door. I still don't normally do that. My apartment isn't great, but good enough for me and much more than what some people in the city get. It has a bedroom, kitchen, study, and bathroom. It also has a balcony and comes with a TV, phone, furniture, bike, rice cooker, microwave, and basic amenities(cups, silverwear, etc). I also have a parking space with it, I have discovered.
After seeing the apartment, my supervisor told me to lie down on this dinky...thing(think a chair without legs or armrest). He also turned the fan on, since the heat this day(and the next couple weeks) was oppresive. He told me to sleep, but instead I ran inventory and unpacked. I showered, changed, and after several days of temporary living, I got to stop and settle down a bit. He came back two hours later to take me out to eat, which resulted in myself making a mess all over the table and myself as I tried to eat Udon. Udon is a prefectural favorite and is also on of the hardest foods to eat with chopsticks. I would get better with time, but I still make splashes. I also was chastized for being too quiet while eating, since Udon is supposed to have slurping noises involved.
My supervisor showed me the market where I got some butter rolls, a yogurt, and some mikan juice for tomorrow`s breakfast. Slowly over the next few weeks, I discovered more food items and have greatly expanded my diet at home. The next few days were basically things to help me get settled. The other 2 JETs and I would be taken to places like the bank, video, and phone store to get signed up for things. I was given a tour of the school and had things explained to me. I managed to study a little Japanese, but the gap between my limited knowledge and actual speaking/listening comprehension was staggering. Trying to talk just made things worse. Some days there was very little to do(school didn't start until September), so I would visit clubs or try to do something worthwhile. The first day of Prefectural Orientation was in the middle of August, so until then I tried to explore my area a bit.
Prefecture: Kagawa
City: Mitoyo
Town: Mino
Population: Around 7000-8000, I think.
Demographics: Mostly young children and older people. The people around 18-30 goto college elsewhere or move to cities. Some come back to start families.
Mino is a beautiful farm town. Everywhere you look, there are majestic moutains, lakes, rice fields, and temples. It is also a very small town. Even for the rural area I am in, it is pretty rural. There is one 24hr convience store in town, and one or two small grocery stores. For serious shopping, videos, resturaunts besides Udon shops, and other amenities, I have to bike to one of the nearby towns. The closest real city, Marugame, has about 80,000 people and something that resembles a night life. Unfortunately the trains stop running at 11:50pm, and don't start up again until 5:00am. I am still trying to figure a solution to that problem.
The people of Mino are very nice, exceedingly so. I am the only Westerner in the town, and I am also a teacher for their children. Teachers are highly respected in Japan. This amounts to me being treated very well by the townsfolk. The conbini shop workers welcome me as sensei(respectful title for teachers). At the antiques shop, called "Antiques Shop", in Takase, I get welcomed in and served tea. I was once at a house warming party for a friend and a child there wanted some OJ. I ran to the conbini across the street, but they didn't have any when I asked. But another customer heard me, took me outside, went through some recently bought groceries in his car, and gave me a quart of OJ he had there. He refused to accept money, and said it was because I was a teacher.
The only problem with small towns is that they talk. I don't like vegetables, and said so at lunch in school. Now, every student, all the young kids at town, and most of the adults know I don't like vegetables. I get asked all the time by store owners and little kids who are in disbelief. Hating squid and octopus(which I've started to like) is one thing, but hating vegetables is jsut crazy. This also means I can't run red lights on my bike, hit on the local girls, or do anything that would look bad while in town. Word would get around.
Anyways, I gotta go now. Part 2 will be posted soon. Ja ne!
posted by Omega037 @ 10:25 PM
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