Into Tokyo

Spiders killed since last entry: 4


MONDAY, JULY 26

A lot has happened since the last time I managed to update. This is being written off-line and I'll post it once I get internet in my apartment.

I woke up early on my first morning in Japan. Well, early by my standards. I was up at 7am, although my alarm was set to go off at 7:30. One of my roommates was already up (and was a factor in my early rising, although not the main one.) I got dressed in my suit and checked my e-mail before my other two roommates could finish their make up. It was a relaxing morning, for me at least. All of my waiting meant that we suddenly realized that breakfast was ending in 15 minutes, so we hurried down.

Breakfast was an odd assortment that would be commented on for the rest of orientation. We had your basic corn flakes (which I hadn't had in years but scarfed down eagerly with the Japanese whole milk) and (cold) toast, and scrambled eggs (with a kind of odd grainy-soupy consistency that turned many JETs off, and an odd ham labeled “bacon.” Then there were the slightly odd items, like salad and french fries, particularly the french fries that had the place abuzz.

All of us JETs gathered in a huge room under shining chandeliers for the open ceremonies. The Japanese are BIG on ceremony. While us JETs stood, the big honchos from the major ministries sponsoring the JET program progressed in to applause. They were lead to the stage by a “helper” who at every turn (for example, from the main isle, to the side of the stage) stepped aside to point the way, as though the ministry representatives couldn't otherwise navigate to the stage. Others were waiting by the four chairs set out for the representatives to pull out their chairs when they sat (these later walked off stage afterward) and the original “guide” stayed and sat on his heals behind the representatives during the entire procedure jumping up or shuffling over to pull out the chair of each representative when they stood (either to speak or bow.) He would also accompany them to the podium when they spoke, to adjust it to just the right height.

Several of the speeches were form former JETs now working with various ministries, as well as a few from the representatives themselves. Some by the representatives were in English while others were translated every paragraph or so. In fact, everything was bilingual, which gave me my first taste of being utterly lost listening to Japanese around me. I had been told that the Japanese love seasons. Their clothing changes and their foods change with the weather around them. Even letters will start with a paragraph about the weather. While we may discuss the weather here, the Japanese live for it. So, having taken that with a grain of salt, I stared as the first Japanese representative spoke first about the weather before welcoming us to Japan (a phrase I'm sick of hearing.)

I ended up accidentally missing lunch. Here's how. I went with one of my roommates to go buy books from AJET (the JET alumni association) which took longer than it should have. By signing up for AJET, I got a pretty hefty discount, too. All of the books are written by and designed by JETs. I purchased “Planet Eigo” (A book of lesson plans that got stellar reviews at orientation), Foxy Phonics (a phonics book that was discounted when you got Planet Eigo), The Kanji Survival Guide (more on this later) and Veg Out (the JET vegetarian handbook, for which I would have paid anything, but it ended up being huge and cheap.) All of these somehow, later managed to fit into my (okay, not) small carry-on bag.

We still had 25 minutes before we needed to be at afternoon obligations, so we headed down to lunch only to find the doors CLOSED and no admittance allowed. Nice... We went upstairs and snacked on whatever we had in the room. I ate the bagel mom had packed as my lunch on the drive to Chicago a few days earlier, figuring it wouldn't get much better with age and a granola bar I'd nicked from the VIP lounge in Chicago. I was okay with missing lunch (yes, I was shocked they wouldn't let us in, but Japan is big on bureaucracy and it doesn't always make sense. For example, half the group had to re-write their customs forms because they had to be in BLACK ink.) But my roommate was in quite a huff about it.

In the afternoon, we went to more speeches, then broke off and could choose which classes we wanted to attend. My first was for vegetarian/vegan JETs, which didn't tell me anything more helpful than my own research had already turned up, but did point out that MANY more foods than I'd thought aren't vegetarian. So, this lovely session succeeded in making me paranoid. After that, I attended a session on grocery shopping and cooking, but all I remember from it is a basic idea of how to cook rice in Japan. Apparently, if you buy brown rice, you need to soak it for over 12 hours before cooking it. My third was on self-introductions, which wasn't quite what I'd originally guessed, but ended up being interesting and helpful none the less. In Japan, self-introductions are huge. It's essentially a formal speech the first time you meet someone filled with ceremony. This session ended up being on your self-introduction to your class when you have your first lesson and talk about yourself. It made me want to run and immediately start a powerpoint.

The dinner reception that night was formal business and was standing only, which made it very hard to eat. The buffet line, again, was nicely labeled, although some of the labels were questionable. My highlight was a delicious chocolate brownie with walnuts and pistachios. I also discovered that I know enough Japanese to say, “I'm sorry. I don't speak Japanese” when approached by some big-wig. This has the unfortunate result of making them completely ignore me (like I don't exist) for the rest of the evening.

I got to chatting with some people in the area. One, an Australian guy, was chatting with Elizabeth, who I found out that morning would be living in the same city as me. Elizabeth is also Australian. I mentioned to him that I still hadn't left the hotel and he asked if I wanted to come along on a cigarette run. I detest smoking, but figured that leaving the hotel with a big guy would be safer than alone, especially as it was now dark, I accepted his offer.

Outside the hotel, it was raining and the bell-hop quickly went inside to grab us an umbrella. We then crossed the streets and entered Tokyo. Tokyo, in this section, was narrow, small streets with big lights and lots of Kanji. Not being able to read Kanji, walking these streets was very overwhelming. Finding cigarettes was overwhelming for my companion. Little convenience stores are all over, but the first two didn't sell cigarettes. We eventually passed a cigarette vending machine, but it wasn't working properly. My companion asked a passing stranger, who in good English explained that you need a special card to prove that you're old enough to make it work, but he directed us to a store that did sell cigarettes. I should mention, my companion spoke no Japanese and was not very good about gesturing or doing anything to make his English any more understandable. Eventually, he left with two boxes, although he had only wanted one.

We separated and I headed back to my room, where I did some reading, was feeling sleepy, set an alarm for a nap, fell asleep, woke up, and realized that I may as well just sleep. So I showered and crashed for the night.