Taking off - My first week in Japan

Pretoria – Johannesburg – Hong Kong – Narita - Tokyo – Shizuoka City – Kakegawa.

Finally after more than 15 hours on a plane, we arrived in Tokyo, beginning to feel the strains of unnatural sleeping positions,  dry, recycled air and crossing 7 time zones.  And then the excitement kicks in! Upon arrival at the airport in Narita, all JETs were escorted to a separate area in customs to receive our brand new residence cards (which used to be the old “gaijin” cards – at least we’re not branded as “foreigners” anymore but rather as “temporary residents”). Soon after, all the South African JETs were off to Shibuya in Tokyo city - then we entered an ants’ nest of JET Programme Participants at the Keio Plaza Hotel. Some more baka gaijin than other…

Oh Tokyo, how I've missed you!

Only when I walked into our beautiful hotel room, it hit me – I am in Japan, there is no turning back now!

The Tokyo Orientation consisted of various introductions, seminars and workshops. Some were interesting, some weren’t. But to see some of the representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Sport, Science and Education does make you realise that the JET Programme truly is an honourable opportunity. We spent some of our free time wandering around Shibuya (and we ate a fantastic Japanese meal on Sunday), Singing Karaoke with the Irish JETs or just trying to overcome horrible Jet lag (No pun intended).

 

Shinjuku in all its glory

The bright lights of Tokyo

Armand enjoying his Japanese dinner

Our Japanese-style dinner

Fisherman's Style Tako (Octopus)

Fisherman's Style fried Taco (octopus)

Singing Kareoke with the Irish (and some other random people)

Wednesday morning all the JETs placed in Shizuoka travelled together to Shizuoka city where we introduced ourselves to representatives of our schools. From there we finally travelled to and arrived in Kakegawa! Our new home!

View of Shizuoka City

View of Shizuoka City

We arrived in our apartment which was completely empty except for a bed, an old kitchen table and two chairs, a washing machine, an empty refrigerator and aircons (which we had to pay a highly overpriced amount for) as well as a dead rat waiting under our bed! That evening, however, we went to a traditional Japanese okonomiyake restaurant where we met two very nice Japanese people and some of the other JETs in the area. It definitely brightened the mood somewhat after seeing our very empty apartment!  

Okonomiyaki

A fun dinner with new friends!

Gradually we’ve been getting a few things for our apartment and making it a bit more like home. It is nice to know who our (Western) neighbours are and that I am getting along well with my new colleagues.

So far I have been well received with a lot of curiosity as well as animosity. Most of my colleagues were very intrigued by the omiyage I gave. Many of the staff will take a curious look at the fizzers and South African sweets I left for all the staff before they come back to look at it again. And then they take some a while later. It is really as if they are testing the waters well before trying out something completely new. At least most of the sweets are gone already! I just know this new life in Japan is going to be a big adventure and I am going to learn a lot, not only about the language and culture, but a bit more about people in general as well.

Have you ever experienced the ritual of omiyage? How did the people receive your gifts?