Day 7: Music-Making with the Amami Orchestra

For lunch with the Amami orchestra today, FJ-san picked me up at 10:30, and we drove to Naze (an area of Amami city, in the northern half of the island). His English is good, so on the way, we talked about various things and we taught each other some of our respective languages. The lunch was at Yagijima Hotel (Goat island), which actually keeps some goats in a small enclosure outside of the hotel, across the parking lot. I first met SA-san, whose English, along with FJ-san’s, is the best in the orchestra. She introduced me to the principal of the cello section. I was allowed to borrow an absent orchestra member's cello for the time being because its owner is not currently playing with the group. 

Lunch consisted of a small appetizer (pictured), salad, soup, a main course (fish, shrimp, vegetables, bacon-wrapped something), and dessert (fruit and a small piece of cheesecake) – all for 2000 yen! Portions were small, but it was delicious. Before the meal, I and a couple other newer members introduced themselves. I gave a longer jikoshoukai (self introduction) than I was used to – I said my name, my job/school, where I come from, and what my studies were in college. While people were eating, members would play various fun pieces in chamber-sized groups. At the request of the other members, I played first (Bach solo cello suite no.1, prelude) and sight-read many things with the others (I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables, Habanera from Carmen, the Mission Impossible theme, the Jurassic Park theme, some traditional island songs, the Addams family theme, a Mozart horn quintet, a Joe Hisaishi piece, etc.). The violins played a selection from Pirates of the Caribbean, and a viola duet played karaoke "Let it Go."

Before leaving the city, FJ-san showed me the orchestra’s usual rehearsal spaces in Naze, On the drive back, we stopped to see a mangrove forest (pictured). Mangroves are plants that grow in brackish water (a mix of freshwater and seawater). A nearby establishment offers tour-it-yourself canoe rentals that you can use to admire the greenery up close. 

When we arrived back in Koniya, FJ-san invited me to his house, where I met his wife (piano teacher and amateur soprano) and the local eikaiwa (English conversation school) teacher who stopped by to say hello. They showed me a DVD of Amami Orchestra from 2014 performing the fourth movement of Beethoven’s ninth, under the baton of a conductor from Tokyo. (I was told that the given the amateur level of Amami orchestra, they had some backup from more experienced players from the Kagoshima mainland.)

Before long one of Koniya HS's students showed up for his piano lesson, but it sort of turned into an impromptu cello lesson instead. One of the nice things about arriving during summer vacation is the chance to meet a few students outside of the classroom, which makes eventual interactions inside the classroom a tad less awkward. 

Anyway, even though the overall level of the Amami orchestra is not very high, I'm going to have fun making music with them as they attempt to tackle the third and fourth movements of the beast that is Beethoven's ninth.

Day 4-6: First few days on Amami Oshima

After breakfast, the new Kagoshima JETs and three representatives from the Kagoshima BoE met dressed in suits at 7:10. It hit a few of these others that we were actually in Japan getting shipped out to their final destinations. The bus left at 7:50 for Haneda airport. When we stepped outside, we were once again expecting an awful wall of humidity, but surprisingly, the weather was a brisk 27°C with a light breeze. We arrived in Haneda at 8:40 and checked in. I was the only person who wasn’t meeting their supervisor at Kagoshima airport or the Kagoshima BoE, so with some assistance, I took a connecting flight on my own to Amami Oshima.

The plane itself was a tiny commuter plane that wasn’t big enough to be boarded via the usual gate tunnel. Instead, everyone got on a bus, which drove maybe 500 feet before dropping us off at the plane door. At the baggage claim, one of the differences between America and Japan presented itself: because Amami airport is so small, the bags are hand-loaded onto the belt. Every single bag was placed so the handle(s) faced the outside, and was easy for the guests to grab. This detailed attention to customer convenience would be unheard of in the States.

After picking up my bag, the three English teachers of Koniya HS, F-sensei, K-sensei, and Ko-sensei, were waiting for me with a lovely handmade sign. I did my first aisatsu (greeting), accompanied with a lot of bowing, and was immediately told to take off my suit jacket, which I took as a sign of the more relaxed island life. We loaded my bags into Ko-sensei’s car and drove to a large (about the size of a small Walmart) supermarket called Big II, where I bought curtains for my apartment, shampoo, soap, dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, toilet paper, and other essentials, as well as food for dinner and breakfast (¥11,799). Afterwards, we said goodbye to F-sensei who lives in Naze, and K-sensei, Ko-sensei, and I drove to Koniya to set up my apartment and meet the principal.

We left school to go buy some forgotten necessities (cooking oil, seasoning, etc.) and set up my apartment. Before I arrived, some students and teachers helped move the large items into my apartment, so I was spared the heavy lifting. I’m very grateful to them! I spent the rest of the day setting up my new place with the help of Ko-sensei and Fs-san, who also works at Koniya HS and lives two floors above me.

Most Japanese people don’t have full beds and instead use a thin floor mattress called a futon, which is usually laid on tatami, or bamboo mats. My apartment doesn’t have tatami, so I improvised by laying the futon on top of a fold-down floor couch left to me by my predecessor. The futon folds away during the day, so it’s an economic use of space.

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The next day, F-sensei helped me register my address at city hall (pictured), open a bank account, and get a cell phone. After school, Nathaniel (Nat), the other Koniya ALT, came over to see the apartment and chat before giving me a tour of Koniya. Before we left, I met FJ-san, a gentleman who lives in Koniya and is also a violinist in the Amami orchestra. He has generously agreed to give me a ride to Naze (an area of Amami city in the north) to have lunch with the orchestra. The drive takes an hour, so he’ll pick me up tomorrow at 10:30 for lunch at 11:30.

 It was a little strange to wrap my head around the fact that the only two foreigners in Amami were chatting it up in English in the street. But we stopped by various shops, and Nat pointed out good eateries, hotels, karaoke places, snack bars (read: bar), local landmarks like a giant bluefin tuna statue, and other important places like the bank, post office, and city hall. We ran into a few of Koniya HS’s students playing Pokemon Go near the only gym and Pokestop in town. For dinner, we went to Kamitaka, a sit-on-the-floor style restaurant. He had tonkatsu teishoku (a meal set) and I had a chicken nanba teishoku.

Though we didn’t drink, Nat told me that this restaurant has a particular service: guests who order a bottle of shochu (liquor distilled from a variety of sources, including wheat, potatoes, brown cane sugar, etc.) but don’t finish it can have the restaurant keep it for next time they visit. Each of the bottles is numbered and labeled with a name so they know which bottle belongs to whom!

It was dark when we made our way back, and apparently folks on Amami don’t walk on the sidewalk if there are trees or grass, since habu (poisonous snakes found on some islands) might be hiding in them! We also saw a few cockroaches scuttling in our path. You can also hear a surprisingly loud symphony of bug chips, which at first I thought was machinery. Nat walked me to city hall, from which I tried finding my way back to my apartment and was successful in doing so.












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Note: To protect the privacy of the students and teachers of Koniya HS, I will not include many photos of the day-to-day workings of the school.

The next day (7/29) was a special day at Koniya HS: the junior high students visited for a special “trial day,” where they could tour the school and take some sample classes. I haven’t started teaching yet, but I still had to be at school, and upon arriving I greeted everyone my first loud “Ohayo gozaimasu!” I spent the day working on my self-introduction class, which will mark the beginning of my teaching duties, to begin in September. The atmosphere in the teachers’ room was very relaxed, because there wasn’t too much to do.

The structure of Japanese schools is very different from American schools. Instead of students moving between classes, students (for the most part) stay in one room while the teachers move around. Thus, when students need to see a particular teacher, they don’t visit the teacher’s classroom like they do in the US, but instead stand at the entrance of the teachers’ room and ask permission to enter from the teacher they wish to see. Right before lunch, there is a time set aside for cleaning the school. Everyone from the students to the teachers to even the vice principal helps out.

K-sensei was to teach a sample English class to the visiting JHS students, so I asked permission to sit in and watch. The topic was “Rules of English,” which covered L vs R, B and P pronunciation, and grammar differences between English and Japanese.

My working day ends at 4, so I met up with Nat who showed me around Setouchi, beyond Koniya. We drove through Seisui, Katetsu, Yadorihama (a nice swimming/beach spot), Honohoshi (a non-swimming beach with rocks - pictured), and Agina.

We went to Banmeshiya for dinner, which is owned and run by a single gentleman who by day is a turtle researcher, and by night is an amazing cook. Everything we ate was made from scratch by him: rice and miso soup accompanied garlic chicken and Fuu champloo. He speaks Japanese, English, and a little Spanish. Some of Nat’s friends also showed up, and we started talking about Pokemon Go and how pokemon have different names in the US. Nat taught me some Shimaguchi (island dialect): “thank you” is arigasamaryota, and if you mess up, you say “age!” (ah-GEHHHHhhhh!).

After dinner we wanted to explore town some more, but when we went outside, it started drizzling. According to Nat, when it drizzles on Amami, in about 2 minutes one of two things will happen: either it will stop, or it will POUR. Unfortunately our drizzle decided to choose the latter option, so we ran back to his place to grab umbrellas before heading out to Goku for my first karaoke experience! Goku is a box karaoke place, which means there are a bunch of soundproof rooms, each with a karaoke machine, mics, a portable song selector, and some benches around a table for drinks and such. It was 1500¥/hr for the two of us. We did some Disney, classic rock, Eagles, Beatles, and ended with Adele. I went home after, but Nat found a friend who wanted to sing another hour across the street at the other karaoke place, so we parted for the evening.

Day 3: End of Tokyo Orientation and the best pork cutlet I’ve ever had

The second and final day of Tokyo Orientation was held on Tuesday, 7/26. Breakfast was the same as yesterday, with a few changes – among them was an “omelet” consisting of steamed, not scrambled eggs, in which pieces broccoli and carrots were embedded, and cut into bite-sized squares (think size and shape of tofu). After breakfast we were split into 6 groups, 2 for each school level (Elememtary, JHS, SHS), in which we sat through four seminars designed to teach us how to approach speaking, grammar, writing, and vocabulary for our respective grade levels. The biggest take-away for me was to remember to tailor my activities to the ability of the students with the primary goal of getting them to communicate in English. Whether or not the English is 100% correct is not too important. Each seminar gave examples of specific activities we could implement in the classroom to accomplish this goal, and a discussion on how and why these activities can be successful and how they might be applied to different lessons. 

Lunch was unremarkable (rice with curry and Japanese-style vegetable soup), except for the fact that the tables were set with forks and … knives? When does a meal of curry and soup ever require a knife?

Dinner, however, was a different story. Tuesday’s dinner was not provided by the Orientation, so we were on our own. I met up with Antony, my iaido sempai who lives and works in Tokyo, who took me to a place called Suzuya for tonkatsu (pork cutlet). Suzuya is within walking distance of Keio Plaza, although I couldn’t tell you how to get there due to my poor sense of direction, unfamiliarity with the area, and getting a bit distracted by the light rain.

I ordered the house special tonkatsu, which comes with white rice, and a small dish of pickled vegetables that serves as a palette cleanser. To eat this special tonkatsu, you first have about half of the pork and cabbage accompanying rice as usual. When you get to this point, you put the remaining pork and cabbage into your bowl of rice and are given a pot of hot tea to pour over the contents. Lesson of the day: tonkatsu isn’t proper tonkatsu unless it comes with a giant mound of cabbage.

Day 2: Tokyo Orientation, part 1

I'm finally here! The room which, before today, I've only ever seen in photos!

Walking into the hall and seeing the giant "JET Programme Post-Arrival Orientation" banner, was the moment I realized "wow, I'm actually here, in Japan, on JET." During the Opening Ceremony, everyone was required to keep their suit jackets on while four representatives from CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations), and various Japanese ministries gave talks in Japanese and/or English. After that, we could relax a little bit and switch to "cool biz" attire (i.e. no jackets, no ties) if we wanted to.

But before any of that happened, we were provided a lovely buffet-style breakfast, so I got a little of everything. The eggs were sort of like a grit texture, the bacon wasn't crispy at all, but it was absolutely delicious. Other offerings included steamed veggies and a Japanese-style vegetable soup, as well as more western-style items like potatoes, toast, and muffins.



After breakfast and the opening ceremonies, we attend a full day's worth of talks, which included: "Expectations of you as a JET Participant," "The Structure of Japanese Education," a team-teaching demonstration, and even a "Japanese Workplace Manners for ALTs" lecture/etiquette lesson. Lunch was provided between the talks, and consisted of marinara pasta with a creamy vegetable soup.

After the final talk ended at 5:15, we had a break before the mandatory evening reception and dinner. Several Very Important People, including embassy representatives and Japanese government representatives, welcomed all the new JETs before giving a traditional kampai toast. Then we were free to eat!

Offerings included: salmon with dill, fish (I forget what kind) with greenpea sauce, baked pasta, veggies, Japanese-style bbq pork, smoked salmon, and other goodies. Dessert included various cakes, and I had an egg custard that is very similar to the inside of the Hong Kong-style egg tarts.

They even had fruit. Fruit is very expensive in Japan, so I was surprised by the hotel's generosity. All of it was good, but the honeydew was particularly sweet.



At the end of the reception, I went straight to bed. I didn't have the energy to go out, and we had a full day of workshops on Tuesday to get through...

Day 1: Arriving in Narita and first night in Tokyo

With pre-departure orientation complete, it was time to fly to Japan! Before airport check in, we were given special red luggage tags that identified our bags as JET belongings. My family drove 2 hours to come see me off at the airport, which was great because we could say goodbye in person.

Our flight landed in Narita at about 14:20 local time, but we didn't get there without first spending upwards of ten hours stuck in a flying metal tube. It wasn't terrible - we got dinner (chicken and rice with a strange salad) and breakfast (spinach and cheese omelette with potatoes and a sausage), I slept for about 3 hours, and learned the cello part of movements 3 and 4 of Beethoven's ninth symphony as well as one can without an actual instrument.

The aircraft also had these really cool, automatically dimming windows that darkened gradually as you pushed a button. The darkness can be controlled manually or by the flight crew, so nobody's sleep would be disturbed by an inconsiderate passenger keeping his or her window at full brightness.

When we disembarked, the JET group was herded together like sheep towards immigration, but we were asked to wait elsewhere until it cleared up a bit. Apparently, it was very やばい (yabai, meaning "awful, crap, terrible"). We probably waited over 2 hours before groups of about 20 at a time were led downstairs to stand in a special line they set up specifically for us. Upon completion of immigration check-in procedures, we made our way to the baggage claim, which was also very やばい. Because immigration took so long, our bags were long off the carousel, having been sorted into three piles of red-tagged luggage, each in a different area of the baggage claim.

After finding my two bags (in different piles) and proceeding through customs with little trouble, we finally got outside of the airport to hit the awful Japanese wall of summer humidity! surprisingly good weather, actually. It wasn't too hot, and we had a nice breeze blowing as we made our way to the bus and bag drop-off.

The bus ride to Keio Plaza hotel was about an hour long, though I slept for some of it so I'm not exactly sure. There was a lot more green on the road than I was accustomed to at home. We passed a delivery truck that had as its English slogan "Delivery the life by ability and faithful." (That's how you know you're in Japan.)

We got in to Keio at about 19:20 local time, 5 hours after getting off the plane. But it's our first night in Tokyo, so we had to go explore Shinjuku (and get dinner, since we hadn't eaten since disembarking).

We went to a vending machine ramen place, where you put in money and hit the button for the ramen you want, and the machine prints a ticket that you give to the cooks. I had a white miso ramen with egg, and while it wasn't amazing, it was still better than the stuff you get in the states.

With that, we settled in for the night to prep for Day 1 of Tokyo Orientation!

Pre-departure preparations

We are now about 2 hours away from the flight to Tokyo, and pre-departure preparations are complete! Yesterday July 22, the Group A pre-departure orientations were held for passport pick-up and last minute questions, but before that, I've been busy packing and deciding what to bring, while also spending time with family and friends.