A Rising Sun

7/28/08

This is the first day of our orientation, and we are currently on our lunch break. I finished lunch early, and don’t have long, but wanted to blog really quick about my experience so far. Really quickly, the flight here was uneventful. We got into Tokyo about an hour early. It was a 12 hour flight, and there is a 13 hour time difference between here and Atlanta. I slept for about half the flight, and the rest of it I spent watching season 1 of “Dead Like Me” on my iPod. Cute show, never seen it before, but it’s frequently funny, dramatic, and sad.

Fortunately, customs was incredibly easy. I was not searched. In fact, he saw my JET sticker and just waved me through. The Keio Plaza Hotel that I am staying at in Shinjuku (an even more foreigner friendly part of Tokyo) is beautiful, and my room is immaculate. My roommate’s name is Jonathan, and he used to live in Tokyo, so last night we went out and around looking at everything. He is fluent in Japanese, but I went out of my way to try not to lean on him for help with ordering food, drinks, and asking for directions. The Japanese are very polite so far, and even if you struggle with Japanese, they really seem to appreciate you trying to speak it. Like most major cities, no one is stopping you on the street to ask you your life story, but everyone has been polite and helpful when asked.

About the JET program… We were just crammed into a room with about 500 people. There was not enough space to accommodate us, but the presentations were good. The best was the culture shock presentation. It was very funny when he talked about his experiences of culture shock. They graphed (yay graphs! The Virgo in me couldn't have been happier) out how your mood is going to go up and down during your tenure in Japan. It was very detailed, complete with alternating scales of mood elevation, depression, adaptation, and some variations for other people's possible experience. I just met all the people going to Nagasaki-ken (my “ken”, or prefecture describes the geographic area in which I will be living).

I just finished having an all bean lunch with beans prepared to look like meet. FYI, it’s shockingly convincing how much it looked and tasted like beef :). I think what’s so spectacular about this is the breadth the cultural experience and richness of people I have met. I had breakfast at a table full of people from London, my roommate speaks Japanese and worked at a fast food restaurant in Tokyo, I just had lunch with people from all over The States (some of them are also dancers), my bus driver was from the UK, and I shared an elevator with a guy who has spent a good chunk of his life in South America working on the logistics of getting beef from one side of Columbia to the other. Most of these people are under 30 and collectively have some of the most spectacular life stories. In fact, some of the most interesting people are some who have spent little time traveling. In fact, I sat in front of a guy who’s first time ever being on an airplane was this trip. Nothing like starting out with a bang.

Just as a quick aside… the Japanese totally have toilets figured out. The seats are heated, they wash you, they dry you. You don’t just use the restroom, you have an experience. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a little violating at first, but you’re never the same after!

See the pictures that go with this blog here!