Going into my second week here in Japan and I have to say it’s been hella busy so far!
There was a hiccup at the onset of the trip, actually, when my luggage didn’t arrive in Ottawa from Chicago, which I’d flown in from on the 25th of July. I was flying with United, so it didn’t come as a huge surprise or anything, but it wasn’t opportune. So the following morning I spent a nervous couple of hours tracking down my bags at the airport, but thankfully I got them back after threatening to show up to business seminars sporting shorts and a mickey mouse t-shirt, and managed to do a quick clothes change in the loo before checking in. I would like to add a quick bit of praise for Air Canada: one of my suitcases was overweight by a couple of kgs, but the lady who was processing fees took one look at my stress-ridden, on-the-verge-of-tears visage, and decided against her better instincts to generously wave the $100 charge. For that, I am eternally grateful. Who says all North American flights suck? Well, me…but not that day!
Anyway, after flying the 14 hours from Toronto to Tokyo, the Ottawa and Montreal JETs at last arrived in Narita Airport to the welcome greeting of several thousand yellow-clad JET staff and volunteers who made our journey to the buses and luggage depot truly idiot-proof. We weren’t allowed to bring all of our luggage with us to the hotel, so we sent our larger bags directly to our contracting organizations—in my case the Kaga City Board of Education.
An hour later, we arrived at the Keio Plaza Hotel in downtown Shinjuku—Tokyo is massive! I don’t think I’ve ever been in such an enormous, freakishly clean city, nor one with such a confusing maze of winding highways and criss-crossed streets. Besides that, I found that even the suburbs of Tokyo boasted skyscrapers, despite being over an hour away from the actual city center. I was lucky to see the sky in some spots. We ended up arriving a couple of hours later than expected, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to meet up with some of the friends that I had promised to see. However, by some miracle and a few urgent phone calls, an hour later I was happily enjoying dinner at an izakaya (Japanese-style restaurant/bar) with Takashi, a friend from Osaka who did an exchange at Queen’s this past year and with whom I went to Mexico; Akiko, who was at Queen’s the year before and is now a math teacher in the Tokyo area; Daisuke, a buddy from my exchange at Kyushu University who also came to visit in Kingston; Tim, a friend I know through Josh and Geoff from Vancouver who was also at Queen’s; and Maki, who was one of my host sisters in Fukuoka two years back and who’s now finishing up school in Tokyo.
The following days were packed with orientation events, which equated to us getting up at 7am and cheerfully returning to bed at god knows when. The three day orientation was littered with comedic speeches, lengthy seminars, sub-par breakfasts and lunches (although the first breakfast featured McDonalds-style French fries, undoubtedly for those Americans in the group who regularly begin their days with a greasy bang), and workshops that featured mostly common-sense knowledge. At night there were generally receptions or nights out with people from our same prefecture. On the eve of our departure to our new hometowns, the Canadian embassy hosted an event at which we Canadian JETs received lotsa fun books and materials about Canada to brag about and share with our Japanese friends and colleagues--things that the locals here will be dying to know, like how the Canadian mining industry served as the backbone of Canadian industrial development. Overall, however, we were well received and I definitely had the chance to meet a lot of cool people during orientation, including yanks (the far majority), other canucks, brits, scots, irish, kiwis, aussies, and even a few south Africans. If they spoke English, or some distant variant, they were present.
The next morning was pretty exciting. Everyone was nervous at the thought of finally heading off to their respective towns and cities and meeting their supervisors and co-workers. Anna, my buddy at the Kaga City BOE and I were somewhat comforted by the fact that we at least had each other to rely on if it did indeed come as a shock. We were joined by Daniel, an American from Arkansas who is also newly posted to the same town, bringing our soaring immigration tally to three.
After a brief flight to Komatsu Airport (which is about 25 minutes from our town by car), Anna and I were met by our supervisor and Anna’s predecessor, Amy. They took us to our new town of Daishoji, in the greater Kaga City area, where we were immediately marched into the board of education office and introduced to the staff. The senior staff all gave us their business cards with their names and positions, which we of course could neither read nor remember, but it didn’t matter, because before we knew it we were whisked away to the Mayor’s office, but he was out, so I suppose we’ll meet him at some point in the future. The rest of the work day was spent tending to administrative things, like applying for our foreign registration cards, which will allow us to set up internet and phone lines, apply for re-entry permits and health cards, etc. In the meantime, however, we can do none of these things, so work is where I catch up on the outside world.
That night we had a formal party at an izakaya, honouring both our arrival and the departure of our two predecessors, Keith and Amy. I have to say, having Keith and Amy around for the first couple of days after we arrived was incomparably helpful. I understand it’s generally quite rare to meet your predecessor, so getting the ins-and-outs of our workplace, apartments, staff, schools and whatnot was so incredibly helpful. Anyways, after a couple of nights in a local hotel, I moved into my new apartment, which is located about 3-4 minutes away from work on foot. Directly in front is a massive temple, and to the left is a snack bar and a place where mostly elderly people come to take karaoke lessons. I find this interesting considering the fact that karaoke is sort of meant to invoke an amateur connotation to begin with, so it comes as somewhat of a surprise to see people (well, hear more than see) this sort of outside practice taking place. I look forward to hearing the vocal progression of the ‘students’ next door. Slightly further around the corner lives my landlord, who seems very personable and has had no hesitations talking to me. In the other direction, approximately two minutes from my apartment, is a conveniently located grocery store, sporting everything from products I don’t recognize to full isles of yet more things I can’t read.
The apartment itself is quite large and relatively traditional. Save for a small strip of kitchen linoleum and the bathroom tiles, the floor is virtually entirely composed of tatami mats. I have a main living room area, a ‘study’, as well as a bedroom. All said, it’s large enough to house a couple or small family and I think a combination of good luck and relatively rural placement account for this. While the size is great, it’s nothing like back home. Central heating and air conditioning is completely nonexistent in my area and I think in most places in Japan. Instead, one room will have a local air conditioning unit that works by remote control and puffs out cool air. The key to not passing out from heat exhaustion in this brutal western Japanese summer is to stay holed up in this one room as much as possible, with the machine blasting its heavenly breath and several fans pointed straight at you. The reality, though, is that with the exception of this room, the majority of the apartment ends up being hotter inside than out, which means you’re gonna sweat. As a result, at night I move my futon out into the living room and sleep where the temperature’s more bearable. In summer, instead of smothering yourself in a duvet or some other sort of cover, people use towels in the place of blankets. Clothes while indoors are generally discouraged—at least in my case.
Apart from generally just settling in, I’ve been trying to get familiar with my environment and figure out what’s what—Slowly and not at all surely, I think I’m starting to get it. The other day I took the train to the neighbouring town of Kaga Onsen and bought myself a little ironing board and made an afternoon of ironing my shirts. Sounds fun, right? It was, in fact, surprisingly enjoyable. I guess, while initially disconcerting, it’s probably a sign that I’m acclimatizing to my environment more quickly than expected. I’ll probably pencil in cow tipping tomorrow and chewing blades of grass while playing the banjo on Thursday. For now, I’m going to take my lunch break, go home, and heat up some curry. Or maybe throw in ice cubes.
