So, I’m in Japan and I’m alive. I’ve been here for about a week now, and I’m been in my town in Miyagi-ken for a couple of days. I guess I have a few updates to give, so I’ll do it by memory (if you want to skip the random rants, jump ahead a bit):

Orientation Problem

This was from August 5-7 in the sweltering heat of Tokyo. The day started off with me just narrowly getting all my crap checked onto the plane (and in the case of my over-sized backpack, sneaked onto the plane). But no, I had not tricked the system because as soon as I got to my first flight from DC to Newark, I realized that the overhead bins were dangerously full, save the first few rows. Now, see, common sense would tell me to put my luggage up before the other people arrive, but no, I didn’t want them to suffer the ‘inconvenience’, so rather, I waited till I got to my row to first it completely full and asked the flight attendant what to do. The last thing I remember as she swiftly spirited my bag off the plane was “Don’t worry, we won’t lose your bag *saccharine smile*”.

Fast forward to Tokyo, “Excuse me, Mr. Grant? Your bag got delayed it should be coming in tomorrow… or the day after... perhaps *smile*” (meanwhile, I’m in a long sleeved, very warm polo shirt and jeans) “But I NEED that bag, it has everything I need in it!” Reply: blank stare. So, knowing that a losing battle was imminent I continued on with the clothing on my back. And, the best remedy for this situation was to spill booze on myself at karaoke later that night, and have the winning smell of tobacco seep in (I wasn’t smoking btw).

So, the first day of orientation, everyone is in suits, and I look a mess. One would think this situation does not warrant interrogation? Nope, I had this exchange every couple of hours: “So, you do know this is a formal event, correct?” they would say, followed by my retort “I don’t have anymore bloody clothes! They were lost!” followed by a sympathetic nod (repeated ad naseum). So, come midday, and I’m entirely expecting a report on my bag, where I get “Um, Mr. Grant, we don’t…know… where your bag is…” The sad thing is that I couldn’t even get mad at anyone because this came about 3-4 people down the chain of command. Anywho, I spent the rest of the day roaming the streets with Nat (and some other guy whose name we had trouble remembering) looking for a Uniqlo (aka, the place that sells fat foreigner-friendly clothes). And, after buying a set of clothing so I could get by, my luggage greets me as I arrive * sigh *. Better late than never.

Orientation Itself

Having frequented boards on the subject of the JET orientation, I was at least fairly certain what to expect. So, for those of you who have you eyes set on JET, let me say one thing, MOST OF ORIENTATION IS A WASTE OF TIME. Honestly, just go to the opening ceremony and your prefectural meeting and you’ll be fine. I went to two workshops, the team teaching at elementary school one and the driving in Japan one, and I find that the second did not apply to me in various ways or that I knew most of it already. Also, the ‘panel’ of learned guests was just awful, but I was unfortunately between two people and thus couldn’t leave. I luckily did not suffer any jet lag, but I could see the other JETs dropping like flies when the lights were dimmed. It was Astronomy class all over again.

What I found most impt about orientation was the social networking aspects and the exploring aspects. I got a good amount of DrumMania in, and I found a couple of Traders where I purchased Kingdom Heart 2 Final Mix (plus limited edition book!), Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, and I big box of JLPT 2kyuu flash cards. (I also looked for a TV, but I then realized that Japan uses something called D端子 for its HDTV needs (unlike our component cables) and then I proceeded to buy $200 worth of cables on Amazon.co.jp.) Anywho, I met a lot of interesting people and wouldn’t mind partying with them down the road.

Home

After Orientation, all the JETs are shipped out via train, bus, car, boat, or plane to their final destinations. I, and two other lucky people, were off to a little town in Miyagi-ken. When they said Inaka, they weren’t kidding. While our area is ,without a doubt, picturesque, it is definitely a sudden shift of lifestyle. I was a little wary at first as we passed the 90^th acre of rice field and pulled up to our Stalin-esque apartment complex, but I’ve become pretty excited about what the town offers. The people are great, the onsen are plentiful, rent is nothing, the food is cheap, and I get a good chance to improve my Japanese daily. There may not be any bars or game centers or large book stores… but I can always drive to the next town for that.

My apartment was pretty spacious, although the mess I was welcomed to took about a week to clear. Also, for some reason the faucet mechanism befuddled me for the first few days, where, you pull down on the level to get water. Easy enough, although the water tends to get everywhere if you pull the fountain a little too far. Furthermore, my natural inclination to stop an oncoming deluge of water (as trained by my faucet in America) is to pull down. So, this ended up with me being doused with water the first few days (which wasn’t so bad, considering it’s hot as hell here).

I had more, but this went on way too long.