What a Whirlwind

Wake up Saturday morning, and head to the Airport around noon. My flight wasn’t until three but I wanted to be there early. It’s a good thing that I did, since I thought the line was a little large when I got there, but by the time I had checked my baggage the line was over 3 times as long. I was also luck for a few other reasons. I wasn’t charged extra for the walking stick I took, and best of all I had a window seat.

After some teary goodbyes it was off to the departure lounge. There were many other Vancouver JETs there, and also some from Winnipeg. When I finally took my seat on the plane I was pleased to find that I was sitting with 2 other Vancouver JETs. I won’t bore you with the details of the 9.5 hour flight, just that there was good sake and bad food. JAL has great service, but they make the most disgusting ham sandwich that has ever been known to this universe. The other great thing about JAL is the TV screens in the back of the chair in front of you. Not only do you get a remote that controls 9 movies in repetition, but the controller turns sideways and you can play video games. All in all the flight wasn’t bad at all.

Upon landing we exited the plane straight on to the tarmac after walking through the wall of humidity. A shuttle bus took us to the terminal where a short escalator revealed the queue for immigration. I was one of the first JETs to line up (mostly due to the fact that I didn’t stand around gawking) so I made it through in about 20 min. Then we got our luggage and went to customs. After stepping through the last door into the arrivals area I was greeted by a dude in an orange shirt and a JET PROGRAMME sing. He told me to keep moving down the hall. There was another orange shirted person every 40 feet or so. The hilarity of the situation is that they all kept telling us to keep walking to the next orange shirted persons, but we could see the next 5 or 6, so it wasn’t as if we couldn’t infer that that was the direction to head in. I mean, we are all university graduates with at least a 3.0 GPA to get accepted.

After we were ushered (or herded) outside it was time to line up again, this time to choose which of our bags were going to go straight to our homes, and which would accompany us to Tokyo. It was at this point that I discovered that our flight was not the only flight that had just landed with JETs. I don’t know why I didn’t think that would be the case, since there were almost 1500 of us in that training group, but at the time I hadn’t thought of it yet. The way I found out that there were other JETs there was from some loud, funny accented, swearing. Kiwi’s, go figure. Once we ditched some of our stuff, we lined up again, this time for the bus that would take us to Tokyo. The bus ride was cool, but I think our driver was a snail in his last life, because every vehicle on the road was passing him. I am not exaggerating when I say every vehicle. Finally we started to enter the looming towers; finally we were in the worlds largest city; finally we were in Tokyo.

When I though the ushering at the airport was a little ridiculous, it was nothing compared to the Hotel. Nearly all of the 1500 JETs were staying in the Keio Plaza Hotel, and since we all arrived that day we were pretty much sheep. So dripping wet from the 15 seconds off the air conditioned bus, toting my laptop case, carry on back pack, and the walking stick, I entered the lobby to the familiar and smiling faces of the Yamaguchi Family. (For those of you who may not know, I tutored the 3 Yamaguchi kids for 3 years while they lived in Vancouver). After a quick hi, it was back to the ushering:

Through the lobby, up the escalator, turn right, go down the hall, turn right, find your name tag, get a book bag stuffed with books and sheets, get a invitation to an night at the Embassy (more on this later), pick up room key, out the door, find your suitcase in the growing pile, get to the elevator, wait for the growing queue to file on, cram into elevator, up to the 24th floor, find the room, go in, drop shit, fall on to bed.

I really wanted to spend the rest of the night there, but that was the only time I was going to have for the Yamaguchi Family. I went back down and then we went for dinner. We actually went to the building next to the hotel. We went to a restaurant on the 49th floor that had the most beautiful view of Tokyo at night. It was great to see the Yamaguchis. The kids were a little shy to speak English, because they have lost a little since they left, but Taiki, the eldest and one I worked the longest with, has actually just taken the English Proficiency test and scored higher than Japanese High School Graduates. He will continue to study and test…he is going to do really really well. After dinner it was back to the hotel, as I was feeling that fact that it was almost morning at home.

The next morning I woke up and went to breakfast. It was western style and buffet. There is really nothing quite like mass produced scrambled eggs…and I mean that in the worst possible way. There was some fruit and juice to go along with it all, and some black swill that was meant to be an excuse for coffee. After scarfing down some food, it was back to the room for a shower and to get into my suit for the conference. We met in our Prefectures for the opening ceremonies. Most of the people in my group were pretty cool. The day was filled with speakers and lectures. Some were good, some weren’t so hot, but all in all they were good, save for the fact that if you listened at the pre-departure orientation and read all the paper work that you already knew everything they said that day.

That night we had a Nagano night out. First we went deeper into Shinjyuku, the area of Tokyo we were in. We found the flashing neon and packed streets! We hit up a super cool bar that was full of kitch in the automated way. We had to ring a gong 3 times for a robotic face to appear in the door, then we had to ask his permission to enter. Once inside it was time for booze. The Nagano peeps really are awesome, and we polished off about ¾ of a pitcher each. At about 12:30am we all left the bar. We were going in the direction of the hotel, but we weren’t done yet! The group leader wanted to hit up some Karaoke in Tokyo. I was hesitant, being a little drunk already, and the fact that we had to be up for a 9am conference start in the morning. But damn those Kiwis can pressure people, and in the end the majority of the people who were going to sleep ended up hitting up Karaoke. I also felt that being the only Canadian still there that I had to defend our National Pride, since we weren’t going to any Karaoke, we were going to a Nomihodai. For those of you our of touch with Japanese, Nomihodai means ‘all you can drink.’ Drink we did, with plenty of drunken singing. We were there for about 2 hours. I believe I sufficiently defended our pride, as in the end (at about 3:30am) I had drunk the Kiwis under the table. Not only that, but when I got up for breakfast at 7am, I wasn’t even hung-over. The Kiwis on the other hand, had as much trouble avoiding a hangover, as they did standing up the night before!

Day 2 consisted of more specific workgroups. The one on Team Teaching was very well done. We got lots of ideas for activities and games, and the first real feel for what the hell it is that we are actually being paid to do. The other good meeting that day was our official Prefectural meeting, where we got more Nagano specific info. I had to skip an optional seminar spot to make sure I got my suitcase in order, since we had to have our stow away luggage packed and checked in that evening between 6 and 8 pm, in preparation for departure in the morning. I had to do a shit load of re-arranging since all the conference seemed to be was a way for JET to give us ‘reformatted trees.’ I think I had an entire juvenile tree in my suitcase by the time it was all said and done. The reason I was in such a rush to pack my bag was that the Canadian Embassy was hosting a reception for the new Canadian JETs that night, and we had to meet at 6:20pm in the lobby.

We took the subway to the Embassy, and my gawd what a building it is! Not only is it right next to the Imperial Palace, but it is simply beautiful. Before the festivities inside kicked off we were greeted by an open bar that was serving juice, wine, and Moosehead lager. It was great to have some real Canadian beer…don’t get me wrong, Japanese beer is good, but really I wouldn’t trust Canadian Sake if I could have Japanese. Some Embassy dude (who I had a great conversation with later) greeted us. He told us what they did and didn’t do for Canadians Abroad, and introduced the staff. The best part of it all is that he was a JET himself. Not only that, he was in the first year that Canada participated (the second year of the Programme, 1988). He was actually the first Canadian JET to step foot on Japan! Not only that, but he was stationed in Northern Nagano!!!!! That is why he and I had such a great chat.

After the food and beer at the Embassy, it was back to the hotel. A quick change out of the tie, and then our for a final night with some of the Canucks (no not the freaking hockey team…) We hit us “Sega Land,” a three story arcade. After a couple hours it was back to the hotel for my last sleep in Tokyo.

Wednesday morning was another rush. Up, showered, dressed, and carry on’s packed and in tow, for break fast at 7:30am. At 8:15 we met in our Nagano group again, and shortly headed for the bus. We had a lot of room on the bus so we all had some room to stretch out a bit. The bus ride to Nagano Prefecture is simply beautiful. It is through the mountains, which are full of rivers and small towns. After a few hours we made it into Nagano, and shortly after stopped for lunch at Lake Suwa. Suwa is one of the most famous lakes in Japan. It is very large (I think it might be the largest in the country) and is surrounded by mountains that get covered in snow in the winter. It is also the site of the largest fireworks (hanabi) display in the country…which just happens to be in a few weeks! Kick ass! After an extended break (apparently we are the most on time JETs Nagano has had in a few years) we were on the road again. About an hour and a half down the road we were in Matsumoto, the first drop off point. I watched as half the group, and many of my new friends, met their new Supervisors and headed off to their new homes. The rest of us got to relax for a little while, because we were a little ahead of schedule.

About another hour and a bit down the road we finally hit Nagano city, the second (and final) drop off point. When I was called, I left the bus and met my new supervisor: Takeshi Kobayashi. My new neighbour, Brandon, was also there. Kobayashi-san is a super cool supervisor…I think it helps that Brandon has broken him in a little. Kobayashi likes rock music, like Green Day! We were rocking out in the car on the 30 min drive to Nakano, my new home! Before going to our new homes (another new JET Devin is in Nakano as well) we went to the local municipal hall. This houses the driving office, the alien registration centre, the city council, and the Board of Education…my employers. We were taken to the BOE and introduced to the Superintendent of Schools here in Nakano. We also met his assistant, and also Kobayashi-san’s direct supervisor. They were all really nice, but the Superintendent was a little stodgy…I guess it comes with the job. After that we went to the main floor where we applied for our Alien Registration Cards, more commonly called Gaijin (foreigners) Cards. Finally after all of that we were off to our new houses. We hit Devin’s house first. His place is quite new, but if you can imagine living in a shoe box, then you are still thinking too big. After making sure Devin was ok, we were off around the corner to my new pad!

My place is a sweet (though definitely NOT new) house. It is a duplex, and as I mentioned, Brandon has an identical suite beside me. There are three large rooms, each larger than my bedroom was in Vancouver! One has wood flooring, the others have tatami floors. There is also a bathroom, a kitchen, and a shower/bath/laundry room. I bought a bed and a table from my predecessor, and the rest of the house has the basics. Like I said it is kinda old, but quite nice. There is a fairly large (but overgrown) yard that we are going to clear out and make a little nicer. I have a view of the mountains from my back porch. I live in a neighbourhood called Nanguu, and my house is on the corner of a curve in the road on a little side street. I say side street, but imagine an alley, then make it a little more narrow…but hey that’s Japan! On the other side of the road are some train tracks for the commuter trains. The trains only run until the late evening so they are not a bother to sleep, and they are also quite short and quiet so they aren’t really a bother at all. I will post photos when I get the chance.

Still on Wednesday (the day we left Tokyo, the day after the Embassy, 3 days after landing) all the local JETs got together. There were 8 of us in total, and we first went to Yakiniku…bbq meat! We ordered 4, count ‘em 4 family platters of raw meat to cook on the bbq’s in our table. After gorging ourselves it was off for more Karaoke. Again, 2 hours of Nomihodai and singing were in order. My voice was still a little shot from the other night of belting it out, and the dehydration from the heat (did I forget to mention that Nakano is so fucking hot!) It was home time after that, and thankfully this was before midnight because I was in need of some sleep.

That brings us to today. Up and ready to go for 8. That was no problem since I had no food to make for breakfast anyways. We went to the City Hall again, this time we signed our contracts, were officially sworn in by the superintendent, and introduced ourselves to the whole Board of Education. The BOE wanted us all to say a few words in Japanese. Brandon is an old card at that since he was a Japanese Major. One of the other new JETs, Rich, doesn’t speak a lick of Japanese and he was so embarrassed. Devin did a 50/50 Japanese English intro. I managed to stumble my way through a 5 or 6 line introduction which appeared well received. Oh, I forgot to mention that a reporter for the local rag was also taking photos and recording the whole thing…how embarrassing! After that it was down a level to the Mayors office. We all sat with him, the Superintendent, the Assistant Sup, and Kobayashi-san and chatted about where we were from. The mayor gave us words of encouragement and asked some questions, all through Brandon’s Translation.

After that, we got temporary papers for our Gaijin Cards, and then headed to the bank. We applied for accounts, which incidentally takes just as long in Japan as it does in Canada. We stopped for lunch then made a trip to Devin’s School. It is only 4 years old and is very beautiful. He met some of the teachers and we took off. This time we were headed for Kousha, my school! If Devin;s school is beautiful, mine is a work of art. It was just finished being built in May. It is absolutely stunning. I cannot believe the luck I have had with the JET programme! I met 2 teachers, but the Principal was not there, but apparently he was excited about meeting me.

When we finally finished the duties of the day, Kobayashi-san took us to the supermarket upon request. I could go into detail about it, but I think I have written enough to keep everyone happy, and my fingers are also getting a little tired. I cooked my own dinner in my new kitchen tonight. It was very satisfying…the act of cooking it, the food itself was ok. I need a rice cooker…and some rice.

I took a little bike ride around my neighbourhood tonight. I met some people, spoke some poor Japanese, and bought a map (in Japanese of course) of Nakano. I have so much more to share, and I am sure I will have more as the next few weeks unfold.

The ultimate part of why Kobayashi-san kicks ass (as if being a Green Day fan isn’t enough) he feels that when the students aren’t in school, that we shouldn’t have to be there. So while the teachers are sitting in an empty school right now planning the next year, we get to be on vacation…paid! And, it is on top of our vacation days! I don’t have to start going to school until August 22nd!!!!!!! I have one day of training on the 19th, and probably a meeting before then, but I might actually get to check out the Expo before I have to work! I might go do a Mount Fuji Climb too. That is why Kobayashi kicks-ass!

Well, that really is all I am going to write for now. Please feel free to email me. I am still checking my shaw account. If I haven’t hit you back yet it is because I have been living all the insanity of the last five days.

I hope everyone is doing well, and will someone please email me and tell me what happened with that plane in Toronto! Well keep looking for updates and if it is hot there, just think it is 35 here, and it got to 100% humidity this afternoon!

Kampai!

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