My Job

I teach English at a Senior High School in Sendai, Japan. I currently have 16 classes of students in the 1st and 2nd years of high school (there are only 3 years of high school in Japan). I am absolutely loving my classes and the students are all so sweet.
So far I am assisting students with speeches, as many are currently working on a project in which they have to memorize a speech introducing themselves. Others in their 3rd year are working on memorizing a much more complicated speech for the city speech contest which takes place in October.
Because I have come to the school in the middle of term (school begins in April), they are general already busy with projects. I've therefore only given a brief introduction of myself to the classes and talked a little but about Canada, my family and myself. I also posted a Canadian display on the English board outside of the classroom.

Once this project has been completed, I will be giving a much larger introduction and giving each of the classes a lecture about Canada. After that, I am given much more responsibility and have already begun planning the lessons for October. We will be working on introducing and speaking about your community. I'll also be giving a lesson about pronunciation, as I've noticed many students struggle with this.

Here is a picture of the English classroom. I've already mentioned before that I am quite lucky to be the only ALT in Sendai with air conditioning, but I'm also lucky to have a dedicated English room. Most ALT's tour around to each home room to teach, but because my school is so big, the students come to me.

Crazy English teacher. 

There is a comment section below all of these posts, so feel free to ask me any questions you have!

Japanese Food

My main goal since touching down here has been to eat as many different kinds of food as possible, some of which I've been able to snap photos of. Without further ado, here are some of my favourite dishes that I've had so far.

This is a pancake, topped with egg, asparagus, ham, and cheese. Delicious!

The dish came with sides of hot onion soup, daikon radish, potato salad, and green salad. The cafe where this was served was themed with hundreds of small rubber duckies. So cute!

A few of the ALT's are vegan, so we visited a place which specialized in vegan ramen. This one tasted like peanuts. 

Of course, sushi. I've eaten quite a bit of sushi since coming here. 

I make my own lunches for school, and pack them in a bento box. I've made much better lunches, but this is the one I happened to make the day I remembered to take a picture. Stiry-fried broccoli, beans, and beef with garlic and ginger, garlic mashed potatoes, two pre-made sushi rolls, and sliced kiwi. 

This is a popular way to serve sushi in Japan; on conveyor belts. You use a screen located at your table to make selections, and the chefs place your order on the converyor belt. When your order is about to reach you, a song plays on your screen. Each table has a specific plate colour so that you know which is yours. You are also free to take any of the "for grabbing" sushi as it passes you. Your bill is calculated by how many plates you have your table. 

Grilled salmon and cheese sushi.

Roast beef and garlic sauce (totally still sushi, right?).

Shrimp tempura sushi. 

Cold soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) served with sesame seeds, green onions, and a cold dipping sauce.

A cheap (about $0.10) snack I had been on the hunt for in Japan. They are called "umaibo" and are basically over-sized cheetos, and they come in dozens of flavours.

Fancy sashimi. The fish was set above a bed of dry ice, so it smoked at the table! 

Not sure what the name for this was, but it was minced fish meat inside a mochi (pounded rice) cake. It was served with a hot grill so that you able to toast it yourself. 

Hot udon noodles in a soy-sauce broth topped with tempura flakes, green onions, and ginger. I also purchased sides of karage (fried chicken), and eggplant tempura. 

Yukata

As promised, here is a post devoted to my new yukata.

Yukata are summer kimono's worn by people in Japan during the festival season. Throughout July and August, there are many festivals for all different reasons, some more spiritual, and some entirely meant for entertainment. I came to Japan at the end of the festival season, and therefore was only able to attend 3 festivals, but each had amazing food, entertainment, and all had evening fireworks after the festivities. The fireworks in Japan are legendary.

Here is a very poor video of the legendary fireworks in Japan. I considered not posting this since, while the quality of the original video is great, uploading it here destroys the video quality. But, nonetheless, I thought I'd give at least a taste. This was even a very tame portion of the show, as the finales are amazing. 

First Experiences and Impressions

The past week has been incredible. Here are some highlights:

I attended a festival called Obon, where the Japanese people honour their dead ancestors by lighting lanterns and setting them out to sea. We watched as the local monks chanted and burned tokens in a large bon fire and it was absolutely beautiful. I was also able to witness a genuine fan dance by a woman dressed in a kimono, which was equally as stunning. Did I mention it was pouring rain? As you’ll see, this becomes a theme.

Beautiful fan dance.

The pathway to a shrine. Each one of the 1000's of lanterns was hand drawn by a local elementary school student.

I climbed a mountain! The mountain is called Izumigatake and it nearly killed me. It began easy, if not physically demanding, but then progressed to the point that it was more bouldering than hiking. We had to use our hands to help us climb over the large rocks which someone had seen fit to call a trail. During the whole process it was also pouring rain. Pouring pouring rain. I'’ve never been so drenched in my life. I’m also not sure if I'’ve ever had so much fun outdoors. While we were soaked through, and everything in our backpacks was ruined, there was nothing you could do but laugh. Everyone fell multiple times and we hiked all the way to the top of the mountain for a view of absolutely nothing thanks to the heavy heavy rain. But the people I was with were all fantastic and we had a spectacular time helping each other out the whole way. Sometimes we were up to our shins in muddy water, and more than one pair of shoes was destroyed, but we all went home with huge smiles on our faces. And I went home having been successful at one of the hardest things I’ve ever put my body through. Its been two days since I climbed, but my legs are still almost too sore to walk. And that’s an oddly satisfying feeling.

We had just been told that we weren't even half way. Needless to say, this was upsetting.

Laughing at the rain. At this point we were on our way down and were so thoroughly drenched that we couldn't possibly be any wetter. All you can do is laugh.

One of the many beautiful views while we climbed the mountain.

Having hiked a mountain, I decided that wasn’t quite enough for one day and donned my yukata (Traditional Japanese festival attire meant to be worn in the summer. It looks quite similar to a kimono) and attended a local fireworks festival held at the park next to my apartment. The fireworks were out of this world, and the food was too. I ate some miso fried chicken on a stick and tried to hide and drink a beer without any of my students seeing.

Happily eating fried chicken. I will upload an entire post devoted to my new yukata.

My impression of Japan so far can really just be summed up in one word; efficiency. Everything in japan is made to be as convenient as possible. The convenience stores aren’t just for snacks and forgotten toiletries, they also act as a post office and bank. All modes of transportation in the city use the same pass card so that with just the one card, you can travel anywhere. When you buy pancake mix, upon opening the bag you’ll notice that inside are portioned out bags of mix so that you don’t have to measure it yourself. And the Japanese recycling system in legendary, so you don’t even have to feel bad about the extra plastic. Take-away bento boxes are equipped with magic pull strings that use the power of the sun god to heat your food when you’re ready to eat it (seriously its some chemical wizardry that blew my mind). All deliveries are made right to your door, and if you’re not there to receive it, they leave you a notice and you can either call them or go online to schedule a time when you will be in for them to drop it off.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg though. It seems to be ingrained in to Japanese culture that as a customer you are to be treated as royalty. At a restaurant they will call you “-sama”, equivalent to “Master” in English. When you purchase something, they will hold the bag with both hands in such a way that the handle is facing you and easy to grab. And the bows. Lordy loo the bows. They will literally do a 90-degree-bend-from-the-waist bow if you even talk to an employee of a shop. It feels incredibly awkward at first, but you quickly get used to it and start to bob your head like a chicken at them as you compete for most bows. I’m going to return home with a superiority complex.
Even outside of the customer relationship, people seem to just genuinely need to make sure they are doing everything they can to both help and respect others. If someone approaches your desk, you stand, because heaven forbid they feel alone in standing. When you leave the office, you MUST say “osaki ni shitsureshimasu” which means “please excuse me for leaving before you”, and they MUST respond with, “thank-you for all your hard work”. Everything is a ritual.

I have much more to say about Japan, including my very first couple of experiences with earthquakes, but I will have to save that for another time! I’m off to eat sushi with friends! Never mind that there’s a typhoon. Food is calling.

The Ninth Day

This will be the last day that I write a full account of, as after this things fell into a pretty reasonable routine.
On the Monday which officially marked one week in Japan, I went to work and again spent the morning looking like I was working away. In truth I really was as I was planning a huge bulletin board by the English room and practicing my speech (once again in Japanese) for an important ceremony in the afternoon. After leaving work at lunch I ate some cup ramen before getting dressed in a suit again and hopping on the subway to downtown.
The ceremony was even more official than the last as we arrived two hours early so that the Board of Education representatives could teach us just how to perform the ceremony. Listen for your name, say “hai!”, stand up, hands clasped in front, step around the table, bow low to all the important people there, walk past them, turn, bow again as you leave their ‘area’, approach podium, man reads your name and school and hands you certificate, grasp certificate first with left hand, then right, bow very very low to this man, stand, turn, take a few steps, bow to important people, turn, return to seat. I’m not even exaggerating, It was so stressful. Then after they had one through everyone, we each in turn made our Japanese speeches again. Once that was over, a few of the important people made speeches and they closed the ceremony, We could all breathe again! We bonded as we discussed how we almost passed out from stress.
After the very formal ceremony we all walked to central Sendai to the British Pub where some of the ALTs had been making a habbit of visiting. I grabbed some pretty decent fish and chips before having a drink and shortly after hopping on the subway home.
Following this day, I began a routine of getting to school by 8:15 am every day, working on various English-related things, and going home around 4:30 pm. Every night I usually find something to do with some of the other ALTs, whether it’s just dinner and shopping or a festival or other culturally significant event. That first week was both amazing and an absolute mind-numbing whirlwind. Here’s to discovering Japan at my own pace!

The Eighth Day

Happy day! A sleep in! After enjoying a much needed sleep in I decided to walk around the park right next to my apartment. It was absolutely stunning. It beats any park I’ve been to, and this one was practically in my backyard.

The main entrance to the park.

Some of the beautiful flowers there.

After my walk I met up with some other ALTs on the othe side of the city to go furniture shopping at a store called Nitori, I still needed a dresser to put my clothes is, a toaster oven (there’s no such thing as an oven in Japan- all apartments are outfitted with just a stove top and a microwave if you’re lucky-I wasn’t), and a chair for my desk. For some strange reason I had also made it my do or die mission to find some decorative pillows for my couch, as I hadn’'t been able to find any anywhere (I thought I had a couple days earlier but the pillows themselves are just oversized beanbags and are highly uncomfortable- now I just use them as weights to hold my blanket in place on my bed). Nitori was a huge success though and I left having ordered everything I needed and bought just about everything I wanted. We all went to yet another ramen shop on the way home and oh. my. goodness. This ramen even topped the last one. It was also spicy, but where it got the edge was with the noodles. They were the best noodles I’ve ever tasted. I would post a picture, but this bowl was devoured far too quickly to even catch a photo of it.
I spent my evening decorating my apartment and finally getting around to unpacking my suitcases. By the time that was done, I was hungry but too tired to go out to buy food so I once again crashed after finishing my third load of laundry.

The Seventh Day

On Saturday morning we were rounded up for a tour of Sendai city. We met at the main subway station in Sendai and fell into the crowds during the biggest festival Sendai has to offer; Tanabata. Tanabata celebrates the yearly meeting of the two gods Orihime and Hikoboshi. The story, to keep it brief, basically featured two gods; a weaver and shepherd who fell in love. However, because they were so involved with each other, they neglected their duties, and the gods were forced to separate them on either side of the Milky Way. Now they are only permitted to see each other once a year, and on that day the people of Sendai (and many other cities) celebrate their union with elaborate decorations, and by making wishes for the coming year and hanging them along with the traditional streamers hung at Tanabata.

The famous Tanabata decorations of Sendai

We sampled one of Sendai’s many specialty dishes, which was like a pancake cooked in a fish-shaped mold and filled with chocolate or other stuffings. It was so delicious. I broke off with a smaller group which ended up enjoying the absolute best ramen I had ever had. It was called something like “Joan of Arc Ramen” and was meant for women-somehow. But it was so good with a spicy broth and ground pork and a large leek (maybe?). I still dream about that ramen.

The best ramen I've ever had.

Later in the day we went shopping for a couple of things different people wanted, including foreign foods, purses, and, my favourite, the Sendai Pokemon center. Each area of Japan has a designated Pokemon center, and no more are permitted other than that one central store. Tohoku, the region where I live, was not permitted to have a Pokemon center until 2011 after the great earthquake and tsunami of Japan. At that time, Sendai was awarded a Pokemon center as a way to cheer up the children of Sendai.

So many pokemon!

I was able to pick up a Bulbasaur plushie and some pokemon cards.

In the evening, after saying goodbye to everyone, I went to shop some more at a local dollar store to try and stock my apartment with necessities like scrubbies and cutlery. After a very busy day I fell asleep on the couch and had to force myself to move to the proper bed in the middle of the night.

The Sixth Day

On the sixth day, a Friday, I was able to have my first real day at school! After getting dressed and ready (still didn'’t have any food other than what I had carefully rationed for breakfast from my late night dinner the day before, and I had to use the face wash I brought for the whole shower routine since I didn'’t have any soap either!), I met my supervisor outside my apartment and she walked me to school. My apartment is extremely conveniently located. It’s directly next to the subway station and only a 10-minute walk from my school. I was very lucky as many ALTs have to commute for 40 minutes to an hour just to get to school. Once I was at school I was subjected to so. many. introductions. I had practiced a few short phrases to introduce myself and found I was using them about every 30 seconds. Felt a little bit like a show horse, but everyone could not have been more id or more welcoming. I was shown my desk in the main teachers’ room, and my other desk in the English Teachers’ office. My supervisor had a meeting so she plopped me down in the library for a bit with a “baby’s first Kanji’ book (no joke) so that I could study Japanese while she was away. After she came back we went out to lunch with one of the other English teachers. While I had just a normal person’s sandwich with fried pork and veggies, the teachers both had some abomination of egg salad sandwich with pizza topping and cheese melted on top. I won’t lie, it looked delicious, but it was no something I would have ever thought to put together myself.
After lunch I spent the day at my desk, pretending to be very hard at work as I read through English text books and stared at Japanese writing I couldn'’t possibly read. At one point a travelling yogurt saleswoman came in the office (this was such a week of firsts!) and the Kyoto-sensei (vice-principal) bought me some blueberry yoghurt as a welcoming gift. Don’t know how he guessed it, but he found the perfect way to win me over!
All throughout the day I also came across students who would stare at me with wide eyes. If it were a group of girls, I would say hello and they would all jump and scream “"kawaiiiiiii"” (cute!). If it were a group of boys, I would say hello and they would immediately go into a crazy deep bow and say whatever was the appropriate Japanese greeting for that time of day. If any girl ever wants to feel like a princess, go to Japan. I even had one brave girl run up to me and say “"You-…look-…like-…a-doll!"”. They were all very sweet.
After school I was given the sweet sweet time I needed to go shopping for the necessities- shampoo, some food, dish soap, glasses, plates, chop sticks, and a hand fan (the tradition of Japanese fans lives on- Japan is damn hot and just about everyone has one). For the first time I was able to breathe a little bit, and I went to bed finally letting it sink in that I was really here.

The Fifth Day

The 5th day, Thursday, was considered by many to be our first real day on the job. We all had to wear our formal business suits and prepare to meet our supervisors and accountants (the accountant in Japanese schools seems to be awarded far more responsibility than those in Canada, and I met with her often over the next couple of weeks). We all sat down in the lobby area of the venue and practiced our speeches in Japanese. Mine was something along the lines of “Good morning, everyone. My name is Christine and I am from Canada. I will be working as an ALT at Sendai Commercial High School. In Canada I studied Greek History for 6 years. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu” (a set phrase in Japanese with no real translation, the best maybe being “I look forward to our future relationship, or please be kind to me”). Most speeches were along the same lines or even simpler. Once we had practiced, we proceeded to a large room with one table for each of us, and told to wait quietly until the representatives from our schools arrived. Once they had, we quietly spoke as they asked me if I spoke any Japanese, was enjoying Sendai etc.. After this there was a couple of formal speeches made by members of he Board of Education. Then we were each introduced one by one and we made our brief speech. Luckily I didn'’t really mess it up!
After some logistics of the day were discussed, we were all dismissed with a long list of errands to do. Our first stop was the Ward office, where we would official register as a resident of Sendai. I drove with my supervisor and accountant to the Izumi Ward office, since I would be living in the Northern ward of Sendai, Izumi. This process took about an hour and we passed the time chatting about the city and looking through Sendai city guidebooks. After the ward office we were all starving so we decided to stop for lunch. I was finally able to have my first taste of Japanese sushi! I'’ve never been a huge fan of fish, but over the past few months I had been trying to force myself to try different kinds of fish since I knew opportunities like this would happen. I have to say- the fish in Japan are amazing, I had always associated fish in Canada with a unique “fishy” taste, but this sushi didn’'t have this taste at all. I actually really enjoyed it! I still wasn’t able to finish all of it which was becoming a pattern in Japan since I’d failed to finished any of the dishes I’d ordered in restaurants (they’re such big portions!).
After lunch, our day was really only just getting started as we then head to the bank to set up my own Japanese bank account. We were lucky and the bank wasn't to busy, so after about 15 minutes of setting things up they told us to come back in an hour to finalize things. My supervisor thought it would be a good idea to use this time to go shopping for some things I would need in my new apartment.
We picked up some towels and detergent and made our way back to the bank. A few hankos later (a hanko acts as a signature in Japan and is basically a personalized stamp- mine says “da-bi-do-so-n”) and I was all set with a bank account. Next we drove out to my school where I was finally able to see where I would be working over the next year. My school is a Commercial Senior High School, one of only 4 Senior High schools with an ALT in Sendai. Its huge, about 950 students, and very high-tech compared to many of the other schools. Most ALTs will have anywhere from about 3-15 schools that they work for, rotating daily between each of them. I am extremely lucky and only have one school. The school is also the only school (or so I’m told) with air conditioning, and I have yet to find another ALT who has it. As I was picking up my luggage which had been shipped to the school, a few students were walking in a skywalk above me (one of those glass walkways between buildings). They were all pressed against the glass starring and as I looked up, one of them waved. I waved back and they went CRAZY, jumping up and down and all waving ecstatically. That has to have been the best part of my entire day.
After we picked up my things we drove over to my new apartment! I finally had a permanent place to live! The inside was completely cleared except for a few things that I had requested be left from my predecessor (a couch, tv, some pots and pans, bookshelf etc.). While it wasn’t the cleanest place, I quickly fell in love with it and over the next couple weeks I diligently bought decorations and extra furniture to really turn it into my new home.
The day was not near done, yet though, my supervisor told me that I was free to get changed before we left again (keep in mind- I had been wearing a full black suit in 30+ degrees all day long and was surely very very smelly at this point). I got into some cooler clothes and we left on another adventure- this time to get me a phone. Up until this point I had been using my phone from Canada with a portable wifi box, something I ordered to be delivered to my hotel in Tokyo. It was working great, but it only had wifi and my work required me to have a phone number. Plus, I had only rented the wifi for three weeks. Rather go into the excruciating details of the next four hours, (it would take too long), I will sum up (that was for you, Mom). My wonderful supervisor and predecessor had already arranged a perfect plan for me at a phone company. After getting there, they denied me the plan because I did not have a Japanese credit card. We then applied to get a Japanese credit card and was denied because my name was to long (or something like that- they just couldn’t get my name to work in the system). So we moved to another phone company where I was able to get a great phone for under $120.00 and a half-decent monthly phone plan. By the time we had done at this, waking all over central Sendai, it was about 9pm. My poor supervisor needed to get home so she plopped me on the Subway and drew me a quick map of how to get to my apartment from the correct subway stop. Once I was at the right stop, I ran into the nearby convenience store to buy a premade meal since I hadn’t eaten since about noon that day. Exhausted, I walked home, came in the door and didn’t even bother to unpack a single thing before collapsing on the futon I had been provided by my Board of Education. But its okay! I could sleep in until 6:30am. Suffice it to say the first couple weeks in Japan featured very little sleep.

The Fourth Day

My fourth day in Japan was spent mostly travelling. We had our last breakfast in Tokyo and I was able to chat with a couple more ALTs before we would all finally separate to all different areas of Japan. I then met up with the rest of the group who was headed towards Sendai and we travelled together, along with a couple officials from the Sendai Board of Education to the Shinkansen. The Shinkansen is a famous Japanese bullet train which runs from the North to the South of Japan (although I believe there is a newer one which also runs East to West). It can travel up to speeds reaching 400 km/h and was definitely one of the things I had been looking forward to. Oddly enough the most impressive thing I witnessed about the train was the fact that the seats all automatically rotate depending on which direction the Shinkansen is travelling. So cool!
I picked up a bento box at the train station (another Japanese tradition I had read about) and took it with me to enjoy on the train. 

Bento boxed lunch. This dish is called tonkatsu- fried pork with a sweet and savoury sauce. 

The train ride was beautiful. I was able to see much of the Japanese countryside and many of the mountains. I also installed an app on my phone which clocked my current speed at nearly 300km/h. Again, so cool!

The Shinkansen ride lasted about an hour and a half and we were directed to our hotel in Sendai once we arrived. Before heading out to explore Sendai city, I used a precious hour to write out a speech in Japanese that I would have to make the following morning in front of my new bosses. I practiced it a few times before leaving the hotel with a small group to explore Sendai station. One of our party was able to find some shoes, having forgotten to pack hers, and we were all given small samples of gyutan, or “beef tongue”, a Sendai specialty. We also happened to find a beautiful shrine with a pagoda and graveyard right in the center of the city. 

One part of the surprisingly large shrine. 

Graveyard photo taken specifically to send Dad!

After we returned form our adventure we all quickly showered and got ready for a welcome party being hosted for us by current ALTs already living in Sendai. We ate loads of pizza and fries and talked with them about what there is to do in the city, and what to expect when we met our bosses the next morning. After leaving the party we went back to our hotels to get ready for bed (and shower again- Japan has notoriously muggy weather with temperatures usually staying at about 30 degrees accompanied by 80-90% humidity). The next day was a big one, so I did my best to get some sleep!

The Third Day

On Tuesday, my third day in Japan, we woke up for another Western-style breakfast. After which we were separated into groups more specific to our future jobs. I was placed with many other Senior High School ALTs and we spent the day in various workshops discussing reading, writing, speaking, and otherwise communicating in English with High School kids.
For lunch we had a Japanese-style curry and salad before returning to our workshops. Just before closing for the day, we were asked to use a shipping service set up in the hotel to send ahead the majority of our luggage to our respective schools. This was to avoid having to carry large suitcases onto the Shinkansen (bullet train) the next day where there would be very limited space. However, it turns out that my luggage was feeling particularly moody that day because it suddenly broke open in the front. It made for some minor stress but luckily the shipping company agreed to ship it anyway.
Following the orientation activities, we were once again unleashed onto the mad streets of Tokyo.

 At the insistence of one of the other ALTs, we journeyed via subway to my first authentic Japanese ramen restaurant. It was pretty delicious, but absolutely massive and I didn’t even come close to finishing it. 

Massive ramen bowl.

After ramen we head out to find a particular ice cream place, recommended by yet another ALT. It featured about 6 or 7 different flavours, all layered on top of each other and it took about 5 of us to finish it.
Having sufficiently filled our bellies to bursting we set out for the Japanese government buildings. These are two identical buildings which provide a beautiful view of Tokyo from the top floor. 

View from the Tokyo government buildings.

We were able to souvenir shop for quite a while while we were there, but I heroically resisted temptation and didn’t buy anything. We had made plans to continue the evening in the wee hours, but at this point we were exhausted from our long day (jet lag still had many of us waking up before 5am) and generous amount of walking so we shuffled back to the hotel and called in a night.

The Second Day

The second day began early, even if I didn't want it to. Jet lag woke me up around 5 am, leaving me lots of time to dress my hair up nice, suit up, and head to breakfast. The breakfast was a Western style breakfast with eggs, bacon, ham, and fruit but the eggs and tomatoes were by far the most delicious!

Some of the friends I made!

After breakfast we all gathered for the official opening ceremonies which featured speeches from a few important figures in the Japanese teaching system about the logistics of grade levels and how important education is in Japan. Apparently being a teacher is one of the most respected positions in Japan. After a series of general sessions we were directed to lunch; a semi-buffet style meal of pasta and soup. Where was all of this wonderful Japanese food I've been waiting for?! Regardless, it was a great opportunity to bond with some of the other ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) from around the world. I met people from Singapore, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, America, and so many other countries. They were all wonderful people.

After lunch we were separated into more specific sessions geared towards the grade level we would each be teaching. While most were teaching Junior High School and Elementary Schools, I was in sessions along with about 200 others who were teaching at the Senior High School level. I've been told now that these positions are usually reserved for those with previous teaching experience and are therefore a bit more selective (don't know how I slipped in). 

Most of these sessions were generally about how to approach teaching English with students, but one session in particular was terrifying. We were drilled in Japanese manners by the most strict manners teacher I've ever seen. We're talking Professor Umbridge level strict. She told us how we would basically lose our jobs and offend everyone in the country if our bows weren't 45 degrees, we took a business card from someone with the wrong hand, or if we dared to remain seated when someone of higher status approached our desks. We all left assured that we would only last a week if we were lucky.

After the copious workshops, we were finally released. As I had fallen in with a group of rebels, we decided to skip out early on the welcome reception being held for us at the hotel and instead spend our evening discovering the shops of Tokyo. We had fancy drinks at a fancy restaurant where they require that you take off your shoes before sitting down (I thought they were going to kick me out for not having socks on, but I lived another day).

Fancy Restaurant

We found a shop which was packed on all three floors with cheap dollar-store type goods and bumped into another group of JETs exploring the area. We all made our way to an arcade, which are apparently still very popular in Japan. We tried (and failed) to get pokemon from a claw machine, played Dance Dance Revolution, and use a classic Japanese photo booth which effectively turns Westerners into aliens. We stumbled back into the hotel after dancing our hearts out and slept very deeply.

The First Day

Even before setting out for the airport, there were a couple days beforehand of orientation, tearful goodbyes, and frantic packing. I was so nervous the day before we left that I couldn't eat a thing. The night before leaving I was put up in a hotel next to the Toronto airport and stayed with a few other JETs (the nickname for those in the Japan Exchange and Teaching program). I was the lucky one out of about 15 who got a room to myself.
The next morning we met for breakfast, and then proceeded as a group to the Toronto airport. There we met a representative from the JET program who directed us to the baggage drop off. With crossed fingers I watched them load up my enormous suitcase and duffel-bag and saw that I had come within mere pounds of being overweight. Safe! Before the flight we chatted together and I picked up a weird neck pillow thing for the long 13-hour flight.
Once on board the plane we played some of the games installed on the screens we each had. Mostly trivia against each other. I watched several movies, drank several mini bottles of wine and ate typical airplane food. Finally, FINALLY we arrived in Tokyo. I hadn't slept more than 20 minutes and was already tired, but this had been my plan from the beginning to get a jump start on recovering from jet lag.
From the plane, all the way to immigration were representatives from CLAIR, the program responsible for hiring us in Japan. At immigration we met with our first bump in the road as they had apparently not received our photos for our residence cards. That, or there was an issue with our visas, we weren't sure. In any case, it look about an extra hour and a half for us to all get new photos taken at the limited stations with cameras installed. Finally we were able to collect our baggage and make our way to the buses which would take us to our hotel in Tokyo. We all sent the majority of our luggage with a shipping service which would deliver our bags to our schools, all except a suitcase and carry-on which we were allowed to take with us to the hotel. Once we arrived at Keio Plaza, it was about 7 or 8 pm Japan time. We were so so tired. And also hungry. None of us had eaten since our last meal on the flight around 1 pm Japan time. We dropped off our bags in our hotel rooms and made out on our first adventure in Japan to find food.

The street just outside our hotel.

I was able to find, along with several others, a very cute omurice restaurant not far from the hotel. Omurice is a Japanese dish in which rice appears to be stuffed inside an omlette (in reality the omlette is usually just laid on top and cut in such a way that it falls to cover the rice). Its then spruced up with different fillings and sauces. I had omurice with chicken and camembert and it was to die for.

Delicious Omurice

The waitresses were all dressed in adorable checkered outfits and the whole place was very cute. After dinner we wandered briefly around the area, visiting a convenience store (Japanese convenience stores are famous from being very well stocked, cheap, and well...convenient!), and taking lots of pictures. Once we stumbled back to our hotel around 10 pm, none of us had any energy at all. I fell into bed, shut off the lights and tried to stay somewhat awake until my roommates at the hotel returned for their dinner. I failed, and remember waking up at one point to tell them that they didn't need to whisper, I would sleep through anything! 

And that was the first day in Japan. It was crazy, but also a hell of a lot of fun. The next day, we would all be starting the real work and attending workshops! 

Welcome!

Since arriving in Japan it has been an absolute whirlwind. I've done my best to take some notes in order to write about my time so far, but I'm afraid I may have already forgotten some parts of my amazing week. I'll do my best, and I hope friends and family back home don't mind sifting through the sappy posts and pictures! Here Goes!