Kayaking Through the Mangroves

Amami is home to a rather large growth of mangroves, and a popular tourist attraction is to kayak down the river and enjoy the view. The Amami and Kikai ALTs got together this weekend to try it for ourselves. Luckily the weather was perfect, with blue skies and not a cloud in sight. 

The Friday night before, we all met up at Shimatofu for dinner.

I got the mabo tofu set. The restaurant also offers complimentary mikki, a sweet drink.

On Saturday morning Nat and I drove up to Naze to meet with Mario and the Naze/Kasari ladies (because it wasn't possible for all 5 of them to fit in Julia's car) and then back down to Sumiyo where the park is located. We paid the 1500 yen per person fee and drove down to the bank where a bunch of kayaks and life jackets were waiting. After a quick paddling lesson we hopped in and set off. 

L-R: Mario, me, Sarah, Nat, Julia, Dineo, Tember

Mario and me in our kayak

The mangroves. 

The surrounding view is beautiful too.

After we finished we went to Noa Noa, a local curry place and one of the few that offers Indian-style curry. Our ALT friend Vijay (works in Uken through Interac) frequents this place often enough that they remember him...and he always goes for the max spiciness level. (I'll just stick with level 1, thanks.) Even though they didn't have enough naan bread for all of us, we left with our stomachs happy to go hang out at Julia's apartment until we said goodbye for the night.

Summer Festival Season (2017)

With summer comes the humidity and stifling heat, but also a handful of summer festivals. The photos pretty much speak for themselves, so here they are.

Naze Hanabi Taikai, August 10, 2017

Fireworks in the Naze port.
Our friend Seido found us a nice spot to eat and watch the show.

Kasarinchu, a famous local band from northern Amami, played at the festival!

Me with the new ALTs and our Japanese friends.

 Kasari Matsuri, August 13, 2017

Grilled squid - one of my favorite matsuri snacks.
I waited in line for a half hour, but it was totally worth it.

Koniya Minato Matsuri, August 19, 2017

My friend Minori (right) singing shimauta the night before.
After her performance we went off and bought lots of food.

Saturday afternoon was the Minato Matsuri parade.
I didn't dance in it this year, opting to watch the procession instead.

My students! (They said it was ok to post this photo)

The Koniya High School truck. It carries tea and water for the students.

The city hall's display.
Nathaniel helped hoist this thing with the rest of the city hall staff.

Koniya at night, after the parade, lit by festival lanterns.

Snorkeling, fishing, and beaches, oh my!

With the arrival of spring I got a few opportunities to enjoy the beautiful beaches and marine life here in Setouchi. On Wednesday, April 5th, some friends, some friends of friends, and I gathered on the Koniya dock and waited for our guide for the day. The plan was to eventually make our way to the backside of Kakeroma, fishing and snorkeling along the way, before coming back to Koniya.

As we sailed west out of Oshima Strait separating Amami from Kakeroma we tried to go whale watching, but since peak season is in the winter, we didn't end up seeing any, although we did hear a few sing through the underwater mic we had on board.

Soon it was time for lunch. Some of the more skilled fishermen and women among our group caught a bucketfull of various fish, keeping the bigger ones and letting the smaller ones go. Our guide docked the boat on Yoro (the island west of Ukejima on the map above), and we all got out to get a bit of solid land under our feet again.

Miso Soup!

Mizuno-san preparing sashimi

My friend Mizuno-san, who runs an amazing restaurant in Koniya, got to work making miso soup with the fish we caught, and put another one of our group members to work de-scaling the fish. The biggest one was to be prepared as sashimi, and the others tossed into the soup. Paired with some pre-made onigiri, it was the freshest meal I've ever had in my life.

When we were finished, we changed into wetsuits for snorkeling. The water temperature was still too cold to go in with only swimsuits, and was cold even with wetsuits, but everyone got used to it quickly. The clouds were clearing around this time too, so having the sun out helped.

Hanmya island

Our last main stop was Hanmya island, a tiny uninhabited island between Ukejima and Yoroshima whose main attraction is a large sandy slope, about 60 meters from bottom to top. The island has no dock, so we had to swim to shore. Apparently climbing the sand slope is a must for visitors, but it was particularly challenging because the sand was completely dry and difficult to get a purchase on. It also didn't help that the slope itself was about 40 degrees, so because of the angle and the loose sand, with each step you took you slid down about half of it. But all of us made it up eventually, where we sat and enjoyed the sunshine before running back down and swimming back to the boat.

On the way back to Koniya I saw a flying fish, but I was unable to snap a picture of it before it disappeared under the surface again.

Barbecue over a campfire. Delicious!

Setting off sparklers at night

That evening the same group (plus/minus a few people) went to a small campsite in Sumiyo town to barbecue, set off sparklers, and stay the night. Mr. Mizuno had prepared a lot of food and by the time we finished everyone was stuffed! Thus a long day ended with good company.

Minato Matsuri - Koniya's local festival

On Friday, August 19 I had just finished cooking dinner when I heard the unmistakable sound of Shima Uta, traditional island songs, emanating from the nearby park. I ate as quickly as I could and headed over, where I found a stage, several stands of matsuri food, and the source of the music.

A shima uta performance, featuring a singer (main singer in the middle and a second singer on the left) and a shamisen player (seated, right). 

The final performance of the night was an island dance, similar to the ones we participated in during the Amami matsuri. 

The next morning I headed down to the park by Umi no Eki, where a sumo tournament was being held for boys representing their schools from all around Setouchi to compete against each other. A sumo ring is a raised, square-shaped mound of dirt on which a round rope ring is secured. Sumo rings often have a wooden roof-like structure built above them. Judges in white are stationed on all four sides of the mound, and from time to time toss some salt to ritually purify the ring. Nathaniel, Setouchi's ALT was roped into competing as well...

Nat (right) lost both bouts, but fought admirably.

First up were the middle schoolers. Two wrestlers entered the ring from opposite sides (referred to as "east" and "west") and got ready on their marks. They would then both stand down before getting ready again, and at this point the bout was on. The loser is the first wrestler to touch any part of his body other than the soles of his feet to the ground, or to step out of the rope ring. When a winner is determined, the loser steps off, and the winner crouches by the ringside, waits for the judges to point in his direction, before stepping off himself. Matches are quick, often as fast as 15 seconds.

Next were the high schoolers (and Nat). Nat got a special round of applause for his bravery (wearing nothing but a sumo mawashi takes guts) acknowledging his participation as a foreigner in Japan's national sport.

In the afternoon, the Minato Matsuri parade was held. Various local groups dressed in matching outfits and performed a dance around the two main streets of Koniya. I ran into the Koniya High School group, comprised of both students and teachers, who asked me to join them! I didn't know the dance, so a few of the students taught me quickly before the parade started.

It took a full 2 hours to make one full loop, but in true Japanese fashion, a water/snack/beer break was announced every 30 minutes over the same city-wide PA loudspeaker system that played the music we danced to. To give an idea of just how slowly we were moving, it takes maybe 20 minutes to walk the loop at a normal pace. Those water breaks were a welcome relief under the hot sun.

After the parade I ran into a friend and some former ALTs who were back on Amami for vacation, so we went to a nearby sushi place for dinner. Then, it was off to the park from yesterday for more singing and festival food! Nat got swarmed with his students, and I stuffed my face with kakigori and the freshest yakitori I've ever had.

We both had to call an early night, as he was to participate in the next day's boat race while I had to leave early in the morning to fly to Kagoshima for a business trip.

Local pastimes: traditional fabric and ...shrimp fishing?

Thursday, August 11 was Mountain Day, a new national holiday. I had the day off so I decided to explore town and see what was on the second floor of Umi no Eki (Seaside station). Turns out there is a small tsumugi shop, run by a kind lady who I ended up chatting with for the better part of an hour.

Tsumugi is a traditional handwoven silk fabric from Amami Oshima. The threads are hand-dyed alternately in a dye made from boiled tree roots and a mud dye before being woven on a traditional loom. Going back and forth between the two dyes 40 times (with dry time in between) yields brown thread, while a whopping 80 times yields black. The shop owner let me try my hand a weaving for a little bit!

The loom as viewed from the weaver's perspective. The weaver sits on the wooden bar (visible in the foreground). She presses on the foot pedals to raise every other warp thread up, and sends a shuttle across. A switch of the pedals in turn switches which warp threads are up, and the shuttle is sent back through. The weaver uses a wooden bar to pack the threads into place before repeating the process. 

Another view of the weaver's area.

Afterwards, the shop owner invited me to go to rowing practice with her friends (all 50 and older) by the pier on the west side of town. Being seriously out of shape, I could barely keep up with all these older folks who could go for a couple laps no problem. Like most Japanese social gatherings, the members brought snacks to share, and they graciously pushed several pieces of watermelon into my hands.


On Saturday, August 13, I was invited by a friend (who owns and is the sole chef for a restaurant in town specializing in local island fare) to go shrimp fishing with him and other restaurant regulars. He drove me and a few others to a small river in the nearby town of Katoku, which was completely unmarked (the fishing spot, not the town) save for a locked shack on the side of the road. We cut down a few bamboo stalks to serve as fishing poles before heading to the water. After attaching some fishing line and bait to the poles, we went at it.

The fishing (or should I say "shrimping") spot

The total catch! I contributed a measly two shrimp.

Later that evening, after we'd all had a chance to wash up and dry off, we were asked to the restaurant to enjoy the catch as part of dinner. For only 1000 yen (about $10) we had shrimp cooked two ways, Italian-style (right) and tossed in salt (left), along with rice, taro, fried egg with a house special sauce, miso soup, rice, chicken and eggplant, beef and goya, and some mango for dessert.

I went home very happy.

Amami Matsuri weekend, part 1 - Fireworks in the rain

I was alone in the office yet again this morning, but at lunchtime, Carson (my predecessor) visited the school to take me to lunch at a lovely café called Bossanova. The décor was a mixture between French, American, and Japanese, and it had a quaint atmosphere that made me feel like I was in an old European home and not on a rural, tropical Japanese island. I had the house special: the “Siciliano,” a salad-like dish with lettuce, tomatoes, ground beef, egg, corn, and butter rice, all topped with mayo.

After work, Nat drove Carson and me up to Naze for the Amami matsuri (summer festival). I met the other Amami ALTs: Megan, Dina, Ching, and Jacob. Becca, Jacob’s predecessor, was also there, so it was a rare occurrence for so many ALTs to be in the same place at once. Check out Becca’s JET blog at beccamayhem.wordpress.com. Nat went to find parking (difficult with everyone coming into the city from all over the island) while Carson and I went to Dina’s to help them get dressed in yukata (summer kimono). Dina has some mad yukata-fitting skills, so she dressed herself, Carson, and Becca. We made our way to the waterfront, where the fireworks were scheduled to begin at 8 pm. The sky was dark, but the streets were lit by lanterns and the light of festival vendors selling food, shaved ice, and toys. Carson and I each got some yakitori and fried squid. In addition, she got an ear of corn while I got yakisoba. 

The fireworks began while we were still in line, but unluckily for everyone, it began to rain! It began as a small drizzle, but I now know that when it drizzles on Amami, it will either stop or POUR. Well, it poured. Hard. Usually, fireworks will continue if the rain isn’t too bad, and I guess the firework-setters were optimistic that the weather would change, since the show continued for a while despite the downpour. Carson and I got separated and wound up with each other’s food, and I found three other ALTs with whom I huddled under shared umbrellas on the bridge, enjoying the fireworks (which we could see through one of our clear umbrellas) as best we could while simultaneously shivering as we got more and more drenched. 

After maybe five minutes of this, we decided to make for shelter, since it didn’t look like the rain was letting up at all, and other people on the bridge were already in the middle of a mass exodus towards the city center. The firework-setters apparently were of the same mind, because the show was cancelled soon after we decided to leave. Eventually the four of us entered a Family Mart convenience store for a few minutes of shelter before walking back to Dina’s place in the unrelenting rain. At this point everyone was drenched from head to toe and no taxis would take us, so we walked for a while.

After getting changed and waiting for the rain to lighten up from a heavy downpour to a light shower, we met up with the others at a restaurant called Tsubohachi for some food, since Carson and I were in the minority of our group who decided to buy food before the show. Eager to make the most of the night we sang karaoke for two hours. I didn’t drink, and neither did Nat (he was to drive back to Koniya tonight and join us again tomorrow) but the others had a handful (or two) of beers each. Becca was by far the best of all of us – she could sing every song at the top of her lungs and not lose her voice! Sugoi (amazing)!! Jacob and Megan sang a few songs in Japanese, and everyone partook in Adele and Disney favorites. To commemorate Becca and Carson’s last karaoke in Japan, we ended with “Hello, Goodbye” by the Beatles and “The Scientist” by Coldplay, and tried with varying degrees of success to blink back our tears. 

It was 2 am by the time we finished singing, so Ching, Carson, and I stayed at Megan’s place for the night to prepare for another day of festive activities tomorrow. Carson was exhausted and passed out on the couch, while I, with nothing but hard wood floors back in my Koniya apartment, had my first proper Japanese sleep on a futon and tatami since arriving.

Week 2: Alone in the office

Monday: Until 8/17, I only have to go to school between 10 am and 3 pm since it’s currently summer vacation. There are no students except those who show up for soccer, baseball, etc. practice. I spent the day working with my supervisor to book tickets for my first business trip to Kagoshima City. New and returning prefectural ALTs go to the prefectural office once a year for a contract signing ceremony held towards the end of August. New ALTs also attend a Japanese language and culture training camp.

Travel is done through the town’s travel agency, located inside Umi no Eki (seaside station). Also located inside are a few snack stands where you can buy food goodies unique to Setouchi: among the offerings are seaweed, brown sugar candy, mango sauce, and pickled papayas. The station has a small restaurant and stand that sells sashimi, but they were closed today.

Before heading out to the travel agency, the landlord of my apartment came to school to collect my deposit, key money, and rent for the last few days of July. "Key money" is a strange thing that Japan does, where new tenants give a gift of money to the landlord upon moving in.

Today was Nat’s birthday, so we had a birthday party with the Eikaiwa (English conversation) members to celebrate. Some Koniya HS students came and made him a Pokemon cake, and another member made a giant hamburger that was easily 6” in diameter!

Tuesday: After work today (which consisted of me studying Japanese), Nat showed me a ramen place not far from my apartment, where I ate the most delicious chashu ramen I’ve ever had. We went to the convenience store for ice cream and ate it by Umi no Eki, near the only Pokestop and pokemon gym in Koniya. Pokemon GO is quite big in Japan, but less so in Koniya since there are few people and only a small town in which to play.

We then went to a real-life gym to play badminton. Nat knows all of the regulars, and among them are middle school and high school students, and some other Koniya citizens. There was no AC inside, and combined with the 30°C heat and unrelenting humidity, you’re literally dripping with sweat after about 10 minutes of light playing. The sweat towel is your best friend, but as soon as you wipe some away, more appears, so you could call it a futile exercise. I ran out of water after about an hour, so I went home first.

I’ve been taking cold showers ever since I arrived in Koniya, but they never felt as good as the one I took tonight.

Wednesday: Most of the teachers are on summer vacation, so for the better part of the day I was alone in the teachers’ room studying Japanese. At 3 pm, I went up to the music room (across the school and on the fourth floor – getting up there is quite a bit of exercise) to practice cello. Yesterday I obtained permission from H-sensei, the music teacher, to use the room after school so I could prepare my part for Amami Orchestra’s upcoming performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (mvmts 3 and 4) in December. The cello I’ve generously been allowed to use is a well-set-up beginner’s cello, so it’s not nearly as responsive as the instruments I have owned in the past, especially in the upper reaches of the A string, fourth position and above. Even so, it’s decent and will serve me well during my time on Amami.

I went out to the town’s only Pokestop to restock on my virtual pokemon-catching supplies and while I was there I met a few other people playing. They were also young adults who landed a job in town. Together we marveled at the level 20 player controlling the gym (the game’s only been out for 1 week in Japan!) One girl knew a bit of English and could help me out when I didn’t understand a question directed at me, but I managed to get through an extremely simple conversation with the help of gestures and google translate. (Baby steps…!)

Next post(s): Amami summer festival!!

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...