Before arriving, I had heard how crazy and exhausting Post-Arrival Orientation in Tokyo could be, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. It was mostly exhausting because I was jet lagged and they were giving us so much information. However, the fact that the JET Programme had everything organized and provided our breakfast and lunch every day made it much better. The orientation was scheduled to last two days, from around 9 a.m. until around 5 p.m. There were a variety of sessions, from teaching seminars to general safety information. I really enjoyed the teaching seminars because they gave us many ideas of how we could teach. Some of the other sessions were more difficult because they gave a lot of information in a short time. It made it very difficult for people to stay awake because of jet lag, but I actually did pretty well. And the meals they provided us with were pretty yummy, so that gave me the fuel to get through it.
At the end of the first day they had a welcome reception for us, which was pretty nice. They grouped us at the start at tables with people that were placed in the same prefectures (their version of states), so I got to meet people in Nagano like me. I think I was the only one from the Chicago departure group who was placed in Nagano, so I was itching to meet the others. The reception began with the kanpai, or the toast. Some people from important government offices or embassies gave short speeches; one of them was from the US Embassy and had been a JET participant. I think it was the Minister of Education maybe who led us in the kanpai. In Japanese culture, you are not supposed to eat or drink anything until they do the toast, but they didn’t start pouring beer for us until the later part of the speeches. After the kanpai they unleashed us onto the food buffet, which was pretty nice. The desserts were pretty yummy, especially the nice tiramisu they had. I spent much of the reception chatting with Monique, an Aussie placed in my prefecture. We got along really well and I was happy that I probably made a friend who would be close to me geographically.
After the recpetion, my friend Emily from the flight and I went in search of ice cream. For the past five years I worked at Cold Stone Creamery, and I discovered that Japan actually has some Cold Stones. I wanted to see the difference, so we ventured out in the evening in search of the ice cream. After getting temporarily misplaced in the large train station there, we finally found it. Their menu had many of the usual signatures like in the US, but with some different ones, like matcha ice cream (yuck in my opinion). I got one of my favorite signatures, the Founder’s Favorite, which was good, but definitely different. Their Sweet Cream ice cream is a bit different in flavor, but it was still yummy. I probably will go to another Cold Stone here whenever I find one.
That adventure concluded our first day of orientation. The next day was mostly focused on teaching seminars. It was also tiring, but not as bad as the first day because I was less jet lagged. At the end of the day we had prefectural meetings, so we got to meet our PA’s (prefectural advisors). At this meeting they invited us to go with them to get dinner in Tokyo, which I gladly signed up for. We went to get okonomiyaki, which is kind of like a savory pancake and basically translates to mean “how you like”. You can choose from a variety of flavors, from pork, shrimp, to kimchi, and you cook it yourself on a griddle built into the table. It was pretty nifty, but unfortunately I did not like it. My only problem with it was the cabbage in it. I really don’t like cabbage, so that ruined it for me. I am proud of myself for trying it though, because as some of my readers know, I am a very picky eater. If I go visit Hiroshima I want to try their version of okonomiyaki, which is made with noodles instead of cabbage.
This dinner pretty much served as the conclusion for orientation, as the next day was the day we would get sent off to our placements. Orientation was tiring and I was super excited to finally get to the place I would be living in for the next year. Stay tuned for my next post, where I’ll talk about my arrival in Ikusaka! 🙂
Gitta Across the Globe 