Japanese School Lunch

For school lunches in the UK, I remember there being a cafeteria where you could pick your own meals. So much freedom, but at what cost? Most kids don't have the kind of restraint necessary to go for healthy over delicious. Of course there was salad, but what 15 year old CHOOSES salad? I'm pretty sure my friends and I had pasta, cheese, and beans every day for two years straight. Bliss.*

While the same cannot be said about English education, the Japanese take kyuushoku (school lunch) very seriously.There is one set meal a day, and everyone (barring allergies) has to eat it. Each middle school has a Jamie-Oliver-esque employee, whose only job it seems is to make the menu for the month and collect the lunch money.

My fellow ALTs and I have a passionate love-hate relationship with kyuushoku. When it's bad, its almost inedible. A good 70% of the time there's questionable fish, natto is pretty regular, and oh my god, the salads. Seaweed, Cabbage, mandarin orange slices, and miniature dried fish is not a salad. It's torture.

When it's good though, it's the best. I could be having the shittest week imaginable, but when I turn the corner towards the lunch room and can smell curry, everything turns to sunshine. Curry day is best day. Fact.

How to Not Lose Weight in Japan

Before I came to Japan, everyone was always telling me that Japanese food is super healthy. And in the beginning it seemed to be that way. So much so that I was in danger of losing weight. Or even worse, becoming slim and attractive. The horror.

Now if you find yourself in this predicament, never fear. I have spent the last 3 years researching in secret. Let Licha-do sensei tell you one weird trick to keep your arms flabby and muffin tops protruding.

Rice. White rice. Every day. Loads of it.

It started off innocent enough. 'Mottainai' is the Japanese cultural tradition of "waste not, want not". It comes from the Shinto belief that even the smallest objects have souls. Every grain of rice, every sesame seed, every weird little dried fish thing in my salad. As a result, kids are generally forced to eat all of their school lunch, especially in Elementary school (Even if they are absolutely stuffed, or don't like the food).

After everyone receives their nutritionally allotted amount, there is always left over soup, salad, and rice. It is the responsibility of the class to eat these too. Teachers wander around, cajoling the kids to take just a little bit more, desperate to get rid of that ethical weight hanging round everyone's neck.

One day I was feeling a little hungry, so I took some extra rice to help out. Suddenly I have a reputation for being a big rice-eater. I'm getting seconds every day, and there's no stopping it. More rice at the end? Why not give Ri-Chan thirds? He loves rice. Can't get enough. Thank you so much Richa-do.

Now it feels rude to say no. They are so happy to be rid of it that I just let it happen. What started as a carefully balanced meal has become a daily, non-stop, empty-carb, endurance challenge. The worst part is, I've gotten used to it. If I haven't eaten two or three bowls of rice in a day, my stomach starts grumbling.

2nd Dessert

Last week I hit the Jackpot. Its lunch time, and everything is fantastic. The salad looks edible, gyoza instead of fish, and for a special treat, strawberry tart.

One kid is out ill, so their meal is to be divvied up amongst the other students. I am inevitably given double rice. Dessert though is different. Its a highly prized commodity. Like Jackals circling for the kill, almost every boy (and myself) get up to Janken for 2nd dessert.**

15 becomes 10, then 5, then 1.
Ive done it.

After almost 3 years of losing every lunchtime, I finally win. With glee I clutch my prize to my chest. A small part of me feels guilty for stealing dessert from my own students mouths. A much larger part thinks that after all the mushy potatoes and bony fish Ive put up with, Ive earned this.

I sit back down with the kids. Everyone is clearly envious, which makes it all the better. After tackling my mountain of fluffy whites, Its time to savor my victory. As the awe-filled children look on in disbelief, I slowly unwrap my second strawberry tart, and jam the whole thing into my mouth all in one go.

Victory is sweet. So sweet in fact that Ive basically written the last 800 words purely so I could brag about it.
Delicious.

-

*If you swap out pasta and beans for rice and beer, you've basically described my current diet outside of school. Not much changes. Old dogs, new tricks, all that jazz.

**Janken is the most ancient Japanese art of conflict resolution. Whenever anything in Japan must be decided fairly, opponents are pitted in the ultimate game of wits. Whether its choosing teams, deciding who goes first, or who gets the extra milk, Janken is the all-powerful arbiter. In the west it is more commonly know by another name: "Rock-Paper-Scissors."

Drinking Your Way Into Japanese Culture

Hisashiburi. It's been over half a year. I guess I just kinda forgot I had a blog. And it probably would have stayed that way too, except a tall, handsome, southern gent from the states asked me to write a piece for the AJET Connect magazine. If you haven't heard of it, I don't blame you - It's basically an online publication for people just like me, written by people just like me: JET program English Teachers.

So over Christmas I sharpened my favorite pencil, took out a fresh new pad of paper, then put them away. No one writes on paper anymore. So clunky. On my laptop I can edit again and again and again and again... days of fun.

I eventually got round to submitting the article. After a wrestling match with the Connect editor, we reached a version that is suitable for the general public. It may be in an obscure online magazine for Assistant Language Teachers in Japan, but I've been published, and I'm counting it.

My friend Ashuu-Chan did the layout for it, making me look far more professional than I deserve. It's on page 20 Please go and take a look, if only to see her artwork.

Below is the article converted to blog form (minus most of the editor's edits). I had so much fun putting it together that I'm gonna try and write one a month for the rest of the year. The first is only 2 days past the deadline. Clearly a good omen.

Drinking your way into Japanese Culture

Last month at the end-of-year work party, I had one of those glorious moments of belonging that make the whole Japan adventure worthwhile. The food is all but finished. Everyone is beginning to get those tell-tale pink cheeks. I can see a glint in the school Principal's eyes. Kocho-Sensei is clearly gearing himself up to leap across the cultural gap.

K: Licha-do sensei... Can you drink Japanese sake?

Classic. Why don't you ask me about sashimi and natto, too? Maybe  even finish off by complimenting my chopstick skills.

R: Of course! I love nihonshu. I went to Sake no Jin last year.

The magic words. It's as if I've gained a whole new dimension that Kocho-Sensei is seeing for the first time. But, maybe it's a trick. He has to make sure.

K: Really...? What do you like?

I don't wanna come across too keen. "Licha-do sensei, the alcoholic" is hardly the tag I want, but this is a chance to change Kocho-Sensei's perspective on foreign folk forever. I might actually manage to fit in.

R: Recently, I've been drinking Katafune (a local brewery which just won an award), but my real favorite is Nigorizake. Do you know Bishamon?

Kocho-Sensei only just catches his surprise before his eyes pop out, then breaks into the biggest cheeky grin I've ever seen this steely man pull.

K: So, you'll drink some with me tonight, right? What's your recommendation?

He hands me a list of incomprehensible names, all in kanji.

R: Ah... chotto... I can't read...

So close. So very close. Next time.

Nomyu-nication

The longer you stay in Japan, the more you want to prove you aren't the typical Naruto fan foreigner, trying to buy a samurai sword, before going home to brag about your unique experiences in glorious sunrise land. Not that there's anything wrong with anime and history. Its just I don't want to be put into a little gaijin-shaped-box like that. After you've been here for two or three years, it becomes a compulsion. We long time sufferers desperately try to break expectations so that people engage with us, not as gaijin, but as real flesh and blood human beings.

If you're looking to be taken seriously in Japan, my first recommendation is to become fluent in Japanese. How enlightening. Almost like saying "All you need to do to become a pro footballer... is kick the football like a pro." And after studying for 10 years or more, you'll still slip up. It's almost enough to drive you to drinking.

Which is where my second recommendation comes in. Why drink thin, tasteless Asahi* when you can sample the real pinnacle of Japanese drinking culture: sake, otherwise known as nihonshu. For most, it's something you regret drinking with the sociology teacher at the nijikai, right before you butcher "Hey Jude" on the karaoke box. However, sake can, and should, be so much more. It's a chance to connect cultures without the social barriers that soberness creates. So much so that the concept has  entered many Japanese dictionaries:  ノミュニケーション (nomyu-nication).

Shameless Event Plugging 101

Now at this point in the Connect article, I go into advertisement mode and start gushing about how great Niigata's huge two day sake-tasting festival is. If you like the sound of that, and happen to live in Japan please check out the details. In fact, ill put the ending of the article as a footnote. For everyone else, don't read it. I totally sold out. It wasn't even subtle.**

The Day After the Enkai

Everyone in Japan sings the praises of nomyunication. And its true. Drinking parties are an incredible chance to break down social awkwardness and professional pretenses. A chance to actually get to know your enigmatic co-workers. A chance to actually talk like normal people about normal people things. Turns out the secretary at my main school is married with 3 kids. Found that out a month ago after 2 years of knowing her. Who knew.

Next day it's back to work. I look deep into my coworkers' eyes for a glimmer of the warm closeness I felt the night before. But I look in vain. The maths teacher will never bring up those super cool Japanese rock bands we spoke about together. Kocho-Sensei will never mention the 4 flasks of sake we shared. The secretary may as well not have a family. Its as if I dreamed the whole thing. They all follow the unspoken rule: What happens at enkai stays at enkai.***

Until finally on the way to class after lunch, the only young English teacher turns to me, and almost in a whisper says,

"Licha-do sensei... I heard that you can drink nihonshu."

A small smile creeps into the corner of his mouth. He knows what he's doing. Breaking the number one rule of enaki. But he doesn't care. Because we are more than co-workers. We are kinda-sorta friends. Everything is gonna be fine. His smile is contagious. I think I'm finally starting to fit in.

-

* This is of course all hyperbole. I actually do love Japanese Lager, as is obvious from the rotund beer belly Ive been carrying around recently.

 **"The Rest of the Article

I am of course extremely biased. I live in Niigata, which is famous for being an utterly boring prefecture full of rice fields.  We use that rice to make over 65% of Japan's nihonshu. As a result, there's a huge sake culture here. Living in Niigata, you quickly realize that nihonshu is the craft beer of Japan. Every city has its own local specialty. The variety is endless.

If you wanna become fluent in nomyu-nication but don't know where to start, look no further. Niigata's Sake no Jin (にいがた酒の陣) is being held this year on the 11th and 12th of March. If sake is the craft beer of Japan, then going to Sake no Jin is like hitting up Munich during Oktoberfest. 90 local breweries offer more than 500 different varieties to make it the biggest Japanese rice wine tasting event of the year. In exchange for your 2000-3000 yen entry fee, they arm you with a sake cup, and send you out into the stalls to try whatever you like the look of. I've gone every year since coming to Japan, and every year I leave with a new favorite.

Due to its fierce popularity, Sake no Jin has been designated this year's official Niigata AJET block event. We're grabbing a ryokan (complete with an onsen) for people who'd like to spend the night, and buses will be arranged to and from the event. If you're interested in joining us, you can RSVP here. There's loads more information on the AJET Block 2 Facebook group, or at Sake no Jin's website.

Richard is from Grimsby, U.K. and now lives in Joetsu, Niigata. He doesn’t drink as heavily as this article implies."

*** enkai  is usually translated to work party, although sometimes used for sports team drinking parties etc.

Ryo Makes Me Hungry - Spring Holidays pt. 1

At first I thought I was just getting used to the cold, but there is now no doubt that we have crossed over from the hibernation of winter to the groggy hangover of spring. The birds are chirping, the snow is melting, and the rice fields - well they aren't green yet but they are a very promising shade of brown. Japanese schools run from April to March, so we are currently in the transition period between academic years. I say transition period rather than holiday because Japan is allergic to free time.

Spring Transition Period

In the UK, I used to wander about with my friends, play video games, and watch way too much day-time TV. In Japan, holidays are not days off. They are an opportunity to train. To contribute to society. To develop oneself. The students come in everyday at 8am for 4 hours of club activities. It's basically government run daycare.

On rainy days, they cant go out onto the field, so the Baseball and Athletics clubs run laps around the corridors, chanting over the sound of the Brass band practicing scales. 　I imagine an army barracks has a similar feel to it, except soldiers occasionally have some down time. And they aren't children. Everyone loves it because at least they aren't studying, which is what the large majority will be doing when they get home.

The teachers of course have no holiday at all and are expected to work regular hours. So when I leave at 4pm after a day of studying Japanese* and browsing text-heavy websites, everyone is still in the office toiling away, and will continue to toil until gone 7pm. Thank god I'm not a real teacher. One has to wonder what they are doing with all that time. I'm thinking of writing a post about it and calling it either "The Ancient Japanese Art of Pretending to Do Work", or "Boredom: A treatise on Japanese Work Culture."

Watch this space.

Homage to the 3rd Grade

Spring is also the season for change in the Japanese education system. I have mentioned before the unavoidable heartbreak of letting students go. Earlier this month the 3rd grade left to make room for the swarm of brand new seito that will descend on the school in April.  After a painful 2 hour ceremony, the students walked out the front door for the last time. The gathered crowd cheered. Tears were cried, photos were taken, and heartfelt words were exchanged. Not with me of course. I stood awkwardly in the corner trying to look like I fit in.

To top it all off, a flock of white cranes flew by in formation. The symbolism was not lost on the Japanese, who love a vague unexplained metaphor.** Something to do with moving on to new rice fields.

In all the hustle and bustle, the strange foreigner that played badly planned out English games with them once a week was not particularly the first thought on the graduates minds. I left the crowds to watch on from a distance and grieve in private.

Most of the students will be forgotten, melding together into the Japanese stereo types. The baseball boys. The class clown. The noisy obnoxious girl that is too cool to do the worksheet. The moral saint that gets visibly annoyed when other students are talking over the teacher. The quiet girl with two pigtails and glasses that is hardly paying attention because she's halfway through her book and cant wait to get back to it as soon and the bell rings.

However, two boys have done enough to separate themselves from the crowd. Writing about them here will hopefully give me the kind of closure the closing ceremony could not.

Japanese names are superbly difficult to remember, but I know Daiki's name - mainly because he was constantly being told off for talking at the back. Some classrooms in Japan are quiet because everyone is afraid to speak and look like an idiot. Daiki made a career of it, and as a result gave the class a relaxed atmosphere I am yet to recreate elsewhere. In one exercise he shouted out "Ryo makes me hungry" (Ryo being the coolest boy in class). When I tried to explain his mistake, he said "nonono", got up, walked across to Ryo, and mimed eating his arm. I taught Daiki the word "Cannibal" and he taught me that although Japanese 15 year olds seem very serious, they are in fact still children. And occasionally hilarious.

The second is a boy from up in the mountains, which was fitting because Riku towered over the other boys. I saw him at the elementary school one day helping the youngsters dig up yams from the school field  (you know you live in the inaka when there is an actual field full of crops attached to the school.) He had the rare habit of trying to genuinely communicate with me, rather than do the bare minimum to finish the exercise. Quick to smile, he always greeted me in the hallways, and knew how to say "We call it <Insert Japanese Word Here>", which effectively turned him into a walking dictionary. All the students wrote fair-well advice for the remaining students. Most copied directly from the model they were given, but he wrote

.

Which is so funny I don't need to write any more jokes. 

March 25th also happens to be when I was born. I told my teachers last week and no one remembered, so it meant a lot to get happy birthday messages throughout the day. Thank you to the center.

I didn't have room to talk about the teachers that are leaving or the end of term drinking parties, so stay tuned for part 2.  If the amount of actual work keeps up at this rate, I might just beat my usual post output of once in a blue moon. Remember to eat.

-

* In other Japanese Language news - I was translating an Elementary school lesson plan into English when I stumbled upon an extremely dangerous Kanji mix up. Turns out "sex maniac" (shikiki) and colour tag (a Japanese children's game iro oni) are written with exactly the same kanji -色鬼. The Japanese are truly a fearless breed.

**For instance, the Japanese adage
"見ぬが花" (minu ga hana) - Not seeing is a flower

I much prefer the straightforward
"猿も木から落ちる" (saru mo ki kara ochiru) - Even monkeys fall from trees.

**-Disclaimer-**
So yeah, spring vacation ended about one month ago and I still haven't gotten round to writing a pt.2 - sue me. The lack of work did not in fact keep up at all, and I predictably kept to my usual tactic of writing only when absolutely necessary to chase off boredom. C'est la vie. You will never hear about the social studies teacher glued to his camera that I said goodbye to, or that funny thing that happened at the work party. Trust me, it was really funny.

Leave it to Richard Teacher

Yesterday began like any other day at elementary school. I was inevitably 5 minutes late, stuck at a red light, and desperately wishing I knew what I was supposed to be teaching in a matter of minutes. I was especially anxious, as the night before I received the most cryptic email from a teacher to date (although I have a sneaking suspicion that if you put the email into google translate you get perfect Japanese out the other side):

"I'm sorry Richard teacher, reply becomes slow.
 Game of grade 3 and 4, and then leave it to Richard teacher. 3 grade, thank you to the center (at the school card) how to pronounce the game and story, of the alphabet about the culture of Halloween. When the time left over, I will or "Mission Game", the "Alphabet Song". In fifth grade, in charge has changed. It is Miss. M

Thank you
Miss. T"

The Culture of Halloween

I`m not complaining. I truly do appreciate being somewhat kept in the loop. It shows how hard the elementary school teachers try to communicate with us. They could have sent an email in Japanese, or no email at all. Ill take what I can get. My favourite bit is "thank you to the center." The Japanese can be so unintentionally earnest in their phrasing. I'm gonna start using that all the time.

Turns out that the usual fifth grade teacher was ill. Miss. M is a brand new support teacher that doesn't speak any English or particularly know the children in the class. So what the email translates to in practice is,

"Please teach the whole of the first three lessons on Halloween, countries, and the alphabet. You will do this alone with minimal aid. Thanks a bunch."

The panic sets in. I try to remember my training. I remember I've had no training. I look for resources. There are predictably only flashcards. That's OK, there`s only ever flashcards. I chug a cup of coffee. What is Halloween about anyway? And why do we dress up as spooky things? Is it to scare away ghosts? Surely ghosts like spooky things. If we really want to scare them we should dress as comforting things like duvets or the smell of freshly cut grass. Suddenly I hear a small child`s voice at the door of the teacher`s room. "Lichaado Sensei....Eigo.."

It's time.

Teaching Japanese Elementary School Children

This is not an isolated event. Before I came to Japan I imagined teaching would be about planing lessons, making worksheets, keeping organised, and well... remembering how to speak English. While this is partly true of Junior High School, Elementary school is a whole different ball game.

The main stumbling block is there are only a few teachers in each school that talk enough English to even let me know what's going on. Not that it's their fault. Most of the staff became teachers before English was on the Elementary School curriculum, so they are having to teach a class they`ve never had training for. Just like me. Add to that some foreign guy who can only say "Ohayo gozaimasu", "Wakarimasen", and "Toire wa doko desu ka?", and you`ve got a real party.

                                          A general morning conversation:

Lichaado-Sensei: "Ohayo gozaimasu"

(the morning greeting that literally means... it is early. Very efficient. Very Japanese)

JTE: "Ohayo gozaimasu, '&#%!)#$="!#'"&!%$=...etc"

(Some apparently random collection of Japanese syllables.)

Lichaado-Sensei: "Gomennasai, Wakarimasen."
(Sorry, I for some reason thought it wouldn't be an issue coming to japan with next to no Japanese)

JTE: "Colar gaamu preasu."
(Please teach a 45 minute class on colours. Thanks a bunch)

Winning at Japan

The Japanese 8 year olds and I still have no idea what Halloween is actually about, but they had fun pretending to be ghosts, witches, and Frankenstein. The lessons went well in the end, in large part because the senpai ALTs are kind enough to share their wealth of experience. Thank you to the center.

Turns out teaching in Elementary schools is about three  things: have a bunch of flashcard games, give simple graduated explanations, and smile till your face falls off. You have to be careful playing games with definite winners and losers. It all gets a bit too much for some of the kids, who tend to break down into tears. Which is strange, because I don`t remember crying at all at school. Guess I must have ALWAYS BEEN A WINNER.

When Friends Eat Together God Smiles

It’s taken a while but things have started happening again, which is convenient because I’d run out of things to write about. I go to Japan in less than a month now. When I applied about eight months ago it was a kind of abstract “how cool would it be to live in Japan?”, but now it’s getting closer I am at some point going to have to come to terms with the fact that this really is going to happen. The problem is I can’t particularly imagine myself in this foreign place full of foreign things going about my life as normal.

How Low is Too Low?- a beginners guide to bowing


Help is on the way! This week I go down to London for my pre-departure orientation. Two days training and then I’m supposedly ready to be unleashed on a classroom of children who can’t understand what I’m saying. The itinerary looks to have a singular one hour workshop on how to teach, a whole bunch of introductions from people we will never hear from again, and a short course on how to avoid insulting Japanese people by putting your hands in your pockets. I'm pumped. To be honest though I'm more looking forward to meeting all the other ALTs in exactly the same situation as me. Charging into the unknown is fun as long as there is a bunch of you doing it. Otherwise it’s just me sat in a flat trying to get the wi-fi to work with nothing to help me but a manual in Japanese. This may still happen, but at least now it will become a witty anecdote I can tell my ALT friends at the local sake bar. Which is presumably a thing.

"I am in trouble now"

I have also received more news on both the housing situation and the schools I will be working at. I received a hilarious if not slightly worrying email from my supervisor on the Japan side in broken english which contained the line “I am in trouble now.” Turns out my predecessors building is being destroyed and they don't know where to put me. I have been given the option of either living in a private apartment in Joetsu City or living in Yasuzuka – a very small village that gets heavy snow in the winter, and is 45 minutes away from anything of note. I’m all for immersion, but have chickened out and taken the swanky bachelor pad in the slightly bigger city.

As for schools, I am based at Itakura Junior High School (12-15 year olds) as well as visits to four elementary schools (6-12 year olds) and another junior high School. I am tentative about the elementary schools, especially as I haven’t spoken to anyone under the age of 15 in about 5 years. I tried to do some scouting of Itakura JHS, but all I managed to find was this website that I can't read,

http://www.itakura-j.jorne.ed.jp/

and this Google maps image of children outside the school. I think they are running because they love their school and their teachers and are well behaved and love to learn English. Everything is going to be fine.

Fish Egg Curry

On a side note, I have finished my volunteering. A strange part of teaching I had never thought about before is getting to know and befriend students who you are never going to meet again a term later. After my final lesson, my favourite Bangladeshi man invited me round for lunch – which turned out to be a banquet for one including a satkora curry, a fish egg curry, lentil soup, spicy side salad and all the rice I could eat. I had no option but to have seconds of everything. I then had to find a hole for two different desserts. The wife was very pleased with herself. To top it all off at the end of the meal he said something adorable like “In my religion, when friends eat together God smiles”. Stomach bulging, tears barely contained, we shook hands for the final time and hugged like men. His wife looked on disapprovingly.

The Joys of Adult Learners - Zoos, Division, and Long Baths

As the whole JET thing doesn't really get going till July, I'm going to talk about what I am doing to pass the time. One day soon I will be faced with a sea of Japanese school children, the names of which I will have no hope of remembering. For now I'm making do with teaching adults. I don't remember half their names either - not because I don’t care – I'm just really bad with names.

Zoos

So I started as a volunteer teaching assistant in January, which coincidentally gave me some experience to talk about in my JET interview. At first my motivation was purely selfish, but I've stayed on after getting a placement because I'm really starting to enjoy it. The focus is less on grammar and more on 'life skills', so I spend the first hour of each lesson just chatting to people about their week. I am now excellent at small talk. The students are incredibly motivated immigrants who are trying to either get out of factory work or be able to talk to their children in English. The majority come straight from the fish factory to learn English for two hours in evening classes, or are on the night shift and get one or two hours sleep before dragging themselves to day classes. Which makes me feel even guiltier when I show up five minutes late for a 12:30 class because I overslept.

I have begun to develop favorites - the grey-haired Bangladeshi man in my Tuesday class takes top spot. He was the only male in a class of 20, so when I arrived he was overjoyed at having some backup. The first time I met him he tried to bribe me with home cooked curry into giving him some private tutoring. He always calls me sir, and is willing to interrupt any conversation with his opinion about the decreasing fish stocks in the rivers of Bangladesh. His wife is also in the class. They regularly argue in Bengali while the class continues around them. He cannot pronounce 'Z's, which led to the most awkward teaching moment to date when he announced that he hated Jews.

Division

I have also picked up a real paying job that pays real money. It's two days a week for minimum wage, but I'm not picky. I was lured in with promises of English tutoring, but spend almost all my time marking maths papers. The learners are job seekers trying to get GCSE Maths and English equivalents. Sometimes (for instance when a student cannot conceptualize division or negative numbers) it is possibly the hardest job in the world. Because although you can make 12 little bits of paper and split them up into 4 piles of three, it becomes a bit more difficult with 1000 ÷ 5. There just isn't enough time or paper.

As for my leisure time I have managed to 'borrow' someone else's Netflix account, and Season 2 of Orange is the New Black just got added. Who needs weekend plans? Might take a bath. I don't know if I'll have one in Japan, so I've been taking long ones daily just in case.

Going to Japan

So I've found out where I have been placed in Japan, which has made the whole "teaching English abroad" thing seem very real and scary. I've decided to write a blog because that's what people do when they go abroad, and maybe it will calm me down a little. A Little introduction: I'm from Grimsby, and I am going on the JET programme to teach English. They have placed me in Joetsu City.

Why I Was Freaking Out

a) The Wikipedia page for Joetsu City is worryingly sparse. Even Grimsby (which deserves its grim title) has a larger one. All I can gather is that Uesugi Kenshin was based there in the 1500's. People used to think that he was a reincarnation of the Buddhist god of war Bishamonten, so at least there is some good news.

b) The population density is 211.15 people per km². To put that in perspective, there are 828 people per km² in North East Lincolnshire. So although there are 205,521 people there, its all very spread out. It doesn't sound like the monstrous blade-runner-esque cities I had always assumed Japan was made up of. 

c) I've read a lot of blogs recently about living in Japan, and all of them agree on one thing. I am and always will be treated as a foreigner who cant speak Japanese, eat with chopsticks, or order food for themselves. Just because two of these things happen to be completely true doesn't mean I'm looking forward to always being 'White Richard from England'. However this is just the tip of a much larger iceberg. I worry I am going to be extremely lonely. In a miniature room. A miniature but extremely messy room.

Why I Calmed Down

I don't want this to all be doom and gloom - there's plenty of time for that later. Although I am a little nervous about the whole thing, I am also extremely excited.

a) England sometimes gets a bit cold and sometimes gets a bit hot, but on the whole there are few places in the world that are so temperate. Japan is not like that. Summer is so hot you have to bring a towel with you to wipe your face, winter is so cold that it wont be weird if I wear a woolly hat everywhere, and spring is full of cherry blossoms. I'm not sure about Autumn. In summary, I'm really looking forward to a climate that isn't grey with a chance of light rainfall 90% of the time. My main worry right now is whether there truly is such a thing as a cool ski jacket. I have yet to see one.

b) The extreme seasons are complemented by a beach for the summer and mountains (with lots and lots of snowboarding!) for the winter. I cannot ask for more. As long as I am not alone doing these things. No where is more depressing than a beach if you are on your bill, and Snowboarding alone would probably lead to me being found frozen to death weeks later  because I took a wrong turn.

c) Something like 100 JET participants are placed in the Niigata prefecture, so at least we can all be alone together. Of that 100 over 50 will be from the US, but I'll take what I can get.