Another busy day in Japan. We met in the lobby of the hotel and then boarded a bus to the Tokyo Shinkansen station. The station was pretty old, and I think the sight of 80 foreigners walking through the station caused a bit of a stir. We walked down the train station and got aboard the bullet train. The train itself was very clean and modern, and we had almost an entire car to ourselves. Our prefecture even sprang for lunch, which consisted of a couple of vegetarian sandwiches and a box of orange juice.
The train moved pretty fast – I think it goes between 150 and 250 miles per hour. We moved quite quickly through the countryside – and the variation from the flat city terrain that we saw in Tokyo was dramatic. There were very steep hillsides shrouded in fog, little fishing villages near the ocean, towns nestled into mountainsides, and large towns like Kyoto and Nagoya. The ride itself was fairly long, but before we knew it we were getting off in Osaka. Our guide warned us that we had less than one minute to get off the train – they don’t wait around too long here in Japan.
At Osaka station we boarded two large buses, and headed to Yashiro. The drive was about an hour long, and the everyone on the bus was starting to get nervous. Many would be meeting their bosses for the first time. I had already talked to not only my boss but also my predecessor, so I wasn’t quite so worried. Still, there was a bit of tension as we got off in Yashiro.
We were marched single file into a large conference room and lined up to face a large group of somewhat stern looking Japanese people. Withing a few seconds I had identified my predecessor, and he was accompanied by my Master Teacher, Mr. Hayashi. One by one, each JET’s name was called, and then a Japanese person would get up, conduct awkward introductions in English, and claim the JET and take them out to their car. Once they finally called my name, I was able to introduce myself to Andrew and Mr. Hayashi and head out. My luggage was waiting for me outside in the sun – I picked it up, and we were off.
We first drove to Akashi-shi, where Mr. Hayashi lives. He pointed out the sights as we went, and it was my first up close and personal look at the Japanese countryside. Rice paddies, pachinko parlors, they’ve got it all. I couldn’t believe how many udon noodle places there were!
We stopped at Mr. Hayashi’s house first, and dropped him off. From there Andrew and I went to to the nearest convenience store – we were both starving. We grabbed some sushi to go, and then went back to his/my apartment in Futami.
The apartment was better than I could have hoped. It’s very large, with a great setup. It clean, and in great condition. There are four main rooms, with a shower/bath and a bathroom adjoining the dining room/kitchen. There is a nice patio, and some well placed windows that ventilate the place nicely. I’m not sure how I’m going to use all the space – I’ve got my bedroom staked out, and the kitchen/dining room is obvious enough, but that still leaves me with two rooms to spare.
I’m going to be living out of my suitcase the next couple of days – I’m going to wait to spread out until Andrew moves out officially on the 12th of August.
After hauling my 140 pounds of luggage upstairs to the apartment, Andrew and I relaxed a bit, and then we left for Mr. Hayashi’s house to pick him up. We stopped by to pick up another teacher, Kuniko Kageyama, who is a part-time English teacher at my high school. Together we went to a restaurant that specialized in Andrew’s favorite dish – okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a combination of a pancake, and pizza – it’s texture is that of a pancake, but it has bacon cooked across the top, and then bits of octopus and other seafood baked into it. It’s topped with a slightly sweet sauce, fish flakes, and some Japanese mayonnaise. It’s served hot on a burner that is built into your table. The okonomiyaki was great – we had a couple of beers with it, and it was a great way to end a long day.
We returned home to the apartment, and I hit the sack and promptly fell asleep.
