I got to work early this Monday morning, and for some reason, the girls were giggling more than usual today. The whole day had some kind of strange vibe, and I was asked some unusual questions in class. Usually kids are too scared to ask questions at all, but some kids in my first year class asked me my age, where I bought my shirt, if I had a girlfriend, and my favorite question of the day, if my hair color was real (it is).

One of the exercises I had the students do was come to the front of the room with a partner and talk about their name, hobbies, and favorite food. I had grown used to the same one word answers like “baseball” “television” and “movies”, until a student today said his hobby was “collecting Japanese Mafia goods”. I asked him about it later, and it turned out he was talking about swords, weapons, and other items used by the yakuza, the Japanese mafia. I had this mental image of him riding around a bike extorting 80-year old shopkeepers. Go figure.

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful, but while I walked home I was smiling at everyone and I got a few smiles back, which is unusual.

For dinner I cooked up tacos and quesadillas with the somewhat bland cheese I have available to me. The flour tortillas that I had bought here turned out to be quite good, and the meal turned out great. It was a simpler version of tacos as I don’t have access to beans here, so it was ground beef, cheese, lettuce, onions, and Tapatio hot sauce. I’m taking my leftovers into work tomorrow and I can’t wait to see their reaction to that meal.

Melanie had bought an English language newspaper, the Daily Yomiuri, and had left it in my mailbox for me to read. As I settled down with the first newspaper I had read in more than a month, some kids started to scream across the street. It was not an alarming scream, more like some kids fooling around. For the next 45 minutes, they just kind of screamed at random intervals. I think the parents probably had just said, “Fine, go ahead and scream. See if I care”. After about a half hour, I was cracking up. I wanted to join in, just for fun, but what would my neighbors think?

We woke up at Nel’s place around seven in the morning, and decided to go out and do a little hiking. The area around his apartment is really nice, with lots of trails that lead all over the mountainside. I was pretty envious of his set up.

Below his apartment complex is a small lake, and as we stood on the bridge looking down, about 15 turtles swam up and waited expectantly for us to drop food down to them. Since we didn’t have anything to give them, we walked around a bit more, and then gathered up our gear and went into town.

Near Nel’s train station is a place that has “Morning Service”. Depending on who you talk to, this can mean a lot of things, but in Japan, it means a light breakfast. We ordered some iced coffees, and with your drink you get a giant slice of buttered toast and a banana. The good news is that the food is free, you just pay for the drink. We got out of there for just a couple of bucks.

Next we took the train one station over and went to the beach. The weather was perfect, and although I didn’t bring a suit or a towel, I kicked off my shoes and walked around in the waves a bit. The water temperature was warmer than what I’m used to, and it was fun to walk around a bit and watch the locals. The girls swam with their clothes on – there were no bikinis in sight. The guys were wearing bathing suits, and people were just kind of lounging around. There was a lot of trash laying around, and I was surprised that they didn’t really take care of the beach.

After having a Zen moment at the beach we went back to the train station and went our separate ways. It was good visiting these guys, and I’m looking forward to our next visit.

I relaxed around the house, doing laundry and taking care of chores. In the evening Melanie came down with some beers and we compared notes on our weekends. I was getting ready to cook up some udon soup with pork, so I invited her to stick around. She brought down some frozen gyoza (pot stickers) and so I cooked up the lot and we had a couple more beers. The udon soup turned out nicely, and it was fun to cook for someone. The only downside was that we were eating hot soup on a hot day, but overall it was nice.

After dinner Mel took off and I made my weekly pilgrimage to the local 7-11. The 7-11 is not the closest convenience store, and not even really that convenient. The big attraction in this store is one of the employees, and she always works on Sundays. I usually take the 20 minute walk to the store for an ice cream on Sundays. The employee speaks in the most incredibly high, squeaky voice I have ever heard. You really must hear it to appreciate it, but it is amazing. It is worth a 20 minute walk, and 100 yen for an ice cream. She gives you great service, and finishes with an extra deep bow and the strangest, squeakiest “arigatoo gozaimashitaaaaaaa” you’ll ever get.

Yesterday I went to Kobe to meet up with a couple of JETs that I had met in Los Angeles. They both come from the LA area, and are really fun to hang out with. We had a miscommunication on where we were going to meet, and ended up spending several hours looking for each other all over Kobe. Only one of us had a cellphone, so that made it pretty difficult to track each other down. Eventually we got it figured out, and went into the Kitano area of Kobe.

We were pretty starved, so we went into a ramen shop and had some quick noodles. While I was walking around I found a bookstore that had an English section, and ended up paying hardcover prices for some paperback books. I got Stephen King’s The Stand, and Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo. They were almost $20 each, but they are both huge books that I will probably read more than once, so I think it was worth it.

We walked around and found ourselves in a British pub drinking Guinness and sharing a shot of Ballantines. The staff were kind of snobby, though, and I think they get a lot of foreigners in there. The vibe was OK, but not that great. They also charged a 10% “service charge” for no apparent reason.

Afterwards, we hopped through a few bars, and a cafe for iced coffee. The cafe was interesting because it was part of the Motomachi shopping area. Among tiny shops full of toys, junk, antiques, and electronics, the cafe was a refreshing change. We walked in and removed our shoes, then sat on tatami mats and ordered up some iced coffees. It was nice to sit for a while and relax – the decor was very traditional Japanese, with some original artwork by the owner. She came out and talked with us a little bit, and Nel decided that he was going to come back quite often. Nel’s fiance is kind of an artist herself, so it looks like a good place for them to bring out some creative energy.

We kept walking through Motomachi towards the Kobe train station, and stopped in here and there. The guys weren’t too adventurous – nobody wanted to go into a bar that they couldn’t see inside, and so we had to really be picky. We did try a Japanese Jamaican Rasta bar, but they weren’t open yet. I just wanted to see a Japanese guy with dreadlocks. We went into one karaoke type bar and after sitting down, they explained to us that we needed to pay 3000 yen ($25) each just to be in the place, and that beers were 1000 yen ($8) each. We got the hell out of there and down the street found a two story bar called “Like, Like”. We sat down in the bar on the first floor, and instantly liked the place. The staff were very friendly, and they talked about baseball and strange Japanese habits with us. They had Bass in bottles for 600 yen ($5) each and even Corona in bottles. Nel and Antoine were drinking red wine, and we proceeded to get pretty drunk, joking with the staff and other customers. The place is owned by a big surfing fan, so there were Hawaiian things all over.

After having a great time at Like, Like, we checked the time and realized that although I could probably get home, Antoine would probably miss the last train. Nel offered to let us stay in his apartment. His fiance is still in Tokyo, so he has the place to himself for a while. We staggered over to the station, with the staff from Like, Like coming out to wave goodbye to us.

Nel led us to his hometown, which was very close by. We hiked up the hillside to his apartment, with Antoine trying to figure out how he could have picked up on some of the girls in the bar. Finally we arrived at the top of the hill, and fairly quickly crashed out.

Due to a strange scheduling quirk, I had no classes to teach today. I spent the day organizing handouts and worksheets for my classes next week – normally I have a busy schedule each week. I’ve heard from some JETs that they have just a few classes each week. Melanie shares her school with two other JETs, so she only teaches about 10-15 minutes during each class. I think I prefer to be as busy as possible to make the time go by. There are still breaks in my day, so I can wander the hallways and chat with kids. They speak a lot more with me in an informal setting.

One of the part time teachers who helps coach volleyball and teaches home economics has always walked around the staff room, but has never looked me in the eye. When I walk by people I smile and nod or say hello, but she has been pretty shy. Today I made a breakthrough – we were both in the copier room making copies, and I asked her in Japanese if I could look at a recipe book she had. She lit up and I got the impression that the whole time she was just waiting for me to talk to her, rather than introducing herself. We got to talking, and she does speak some English – her accent was better than some of the English teachers. She invited me to visit the Home Economics class sometime and sample some of the food they cook – excellent! Now I’ve got to figure out a way to take her shopping with me.

In the afternoon I taught my teacher’s class, and it went fairly well. We talked about what we wanted to learn, and talked about some shopping terms in English. The difference between the word “expensive” and the word “inexpensive” was a tough concept for them – they sound very much the same. We spent about an hour, and then adjourned for the week. Next week we will be reading and ordering from menus. Some of the ladies in the club offered to teach me Japanese cooking, so I’m hoping that I can arrange something soon.

After school ended, I went over to watch the Kendo club in action. Kendo is sometimes called Japanese fencing, but it looks a lot like a samurai movie with wooden swords rather than the real thing. There is also a lot of screaming and yelling, and it is played by both boys and girls. The temperature has been super hot, and so the kids get in these big padded outfits and beat the crap out of each other for more than an hour, with screams of “Aiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!”. No wonder everyone is so thin around here.

On the way home I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some thin sliced pork to add to my curried rice for dinner. Even just dropping into the store to pick up pork caused a scene. While I was in line, an old lady asked loudly in Japanese where I was from, and everybody in the checkout lines turned to listen to my answer. After saying that I was from America, the lady nodded wisely like she had known the whole time. I turned around as I left and everyone was watching me go. At times like this I find myself checking my fly to make sure I remembered to zip it up. Talk about being under scrutiny.

After dinner I was sitting around and listening to everyone outside running around enjoying their Friday night. My big plans involved laundry and memorizing Japanese verbs. After doing my laundry, I decided to learn Japanese in a more fun, interactive way, and went down to the Yakitori place with my translated menu in my pocket.

As soon as I walked in the door, everyone hushed up and turned around. Somebody said something that sounded like “Hupp!”, which to my ears sounded like the Japanese equivalent of “There goes the neighborhood”. It was quiet for a bit, but as I sat down, the master of the restaurant came out and said something, and everyone relaxed and started talking again. I ordered a beer and some chicken and mushrooms from my menu, and then talked with some of the people there. Everyone was very curious, and I started talking with a guy that had lived in Ireland for six months almost nine years ago. His English was much better than my Japanese, but I did my best to keep my end of the conversation in Japanese.

The Hanshin Tigers were on TV, and they hit a homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning to come from behind and win the game. Everyone was whooping and hollering and chanting strange Japanese songs. I just went with it. The guy that had visited Ireland and his group kept buying me drinks, and we reviewed my English menu for accuracy. The master presented examples of each one. I tried pronouncing some of them, much to the amusement of the group. There were about four guys in their group, and two of them had brought their wives. Eventually they got me to join the group, and the guys wanted me to sit next to their wives and freak them out a little bit. The wives were drunk, shy, and curious all at the same time. Around midnight we called it a night, and I walked home, very satisfied with my Friday. Tomorrow I am going to Kobe to meet up with some friends in the late afternoon.

Today I had a couple of classes, and they both went fairly well. The students were for the most part enthusiastic. A couple of them could care less about the lesson, but it seems like they all know more English than I expected. It looks like I can ratchet up the difficulty of the classes a bit next time we meet.

I caused quite a stir in the staff room today when I heated up my leftovers from last night – I had teriyaki beef with rice, which is nothing too special, but the idea that I had cooked it was pretty impressive. Many teachers stopped by to check it out, and even the vice principal stopped by to inspect it. I’m missing some key piece of information here, but I think they are just surprised that I know how to cook. Weird.

I offered to teach a teacher’s English course on Fridays, and I already have four teachers committed to attending during sixth period. They speak almost no English, so it will be a tough class for me to teach. They have a lot more patience and motivation than my high school students, so I think it will even out nicely. Everyone is really excited, and I’m also looking forward to our first class tomorrow.

I am serving as president of the English Speaking Society (ESS) club in our school. Today, we met after school and we had a party to welcome me to the school. Mrs. Tsutsumi came along to smooth things over translation-wise, and it went very well. There was plenty of soda and snacks, and we talked about movies, music, and the club for almost an hour. I brought my photo album, and that was a big hit – everyone enjoyed seeing my family and friends, and some of the places I’ve visited.

There are five 3rd year ESS members, and they will graduate after next term. These students are ones that I have met already through Andy, and so I’ll be sad to see them go. That will leave me with just five members, so I’m hoping to recruit some first years during next term – it will be more fun with more people. Unfortunately, there are no boys in the club – it’s considered to be a girl’s thing.

I got out of school late because of the club meeting, so I stopped in at my local Yakitori place for dinner. The owner was in there and he remembered me from last time. We tried again to have a conversation, but it was pretty tough. I had bacon wrapped cheese on skewers, pork, beef, and chicken. With a couple of beers, the total came out to about $20. He actually has a large menu, but since it is in kanji characters, I can’t read it. I asked him if I could make a copy of the menu to take into my teachers and translate it, but he insisted on copying it by hand for me right there in the restaurant. He’s a really nice guy, and we watched the Hanshin Tigers play baseball on the TV while I ate and drank.

Afterwards, I walked home about two blocks, and walked by two Japanese girls standing on the sidewalk waiting for someone to pick them up. They were staring at me the whole time I walked towards them, so just before I passed I smiled and said “Konbanwa” (good evening) to them in Japanese. Both their jaws dropped, and one said “Eeeeehhhhyyy?” loudly, which is the Japanese equivalent of “What the hell?” They just watched me finish my walk to my apartment without saying another word. Another international experience in the books.

Today I had three classes in school, and one of them was without a teacher to help me out. Strictly speaking, that’s against the rules of the JET program, so don’t tell anyone. The students were third year students, and their English skills were quite good. The lesson was great because it made me think carefully about what I said – I didn’t have a Japanese teacher of English around to bail me out if there was something that was not understood. The timing turned out much better, and the students were a bit more enthusiastic, which helped a lot.

My other two classes were with first year students, one with Mr. Hayashi, and one with Miss Yamamoto. They both went pretty well, and were big improvements over the class yesterday. I was very happy with the results – I could tell that things were going to get better as I get more comfortable in the classroom.

I forgot my lunch today, so I took advantage of a service for the teachers of the school. Teachers can write their name on a list at the beginning of the day, and then the school cafeteria staff will prepare a special meal for you, deliver it to the teachers room promptly at 11:00 a.m., and bill your monthly paycheck for about 300 yen ($2.50). That’s a hell of a deal – there is a lot of food in the bento box, and it’s fresh and hot. Unfortunately, the food is on the deep fried side, and probably not a good healthy choice for every day. I’ll continue to bring my own lunches for the time being, but it’s nice to know that something like that is around in case something comes up.

Melanie came down tonight to bring back some of the gear I loaned her for the party last night. She brought a cream puff pastry that one of her friends had brought for her – it was excellent. We looked at the pictures I took from Himeji and Akashi, and she also mentioned that one of the teachers that she works with had a friend that had seen me around and was very impressed. That is all the information she had, so now apparently I have a stalker. I guess I’m going to have to make sure to remember the curtains every night.

Today was my first day actually team teaching, and it was a pretty interesting class. I had only one class the whole day, so I was able to focus. My teacher, Miss Kageyama, said she was very nervous on the way to the class, and I couldn’t help but think that if she was nervous, how about me? I’m teaching a class for the first time in a foreign country, teaching a foreign language, with virtually no experience.

I had planned enough work for a 50 minute class, and as I got started, I realized that things were happening much faster than I expected. As I started, all of the kids gave me blank stares and when I asked for volunteers, they stared even harder at their desks, trying to avoid eye contact. I got off to a rocky start – I talked too fast, and my voice was too quiet for the students to hear. Miss Kageyama let me know when I was doing something wrong, and I was impressed with her poise given the situation.

I finished all of my presentation, and then realized that there was no clock in the room, so I didn’t know how much time was left to kill. I asked Miss Kageyama, and she said that we had almost twenty minutes left! I couldn’t believe how quickly the activities had been finished. It wasn’t really that the students were that sharp, it was that I was talking fast, and I hadn’t planned well. I had planned on time for the students to respond and ask questions, and that never really happened. Miss Kageyama did some quick thinking on her feet, and we had the students begin their homework assignment in class. They were quietly working, and when I approached, they giggled or talked with their friends.

Once the bell rang, the students left, and I was left with a feeling of disorientation – it felt like I really hashed up the class. Miss Kageyama tried to help by telling me how well it went, but I think it was a very Japanese way of saying that I should hang in there and things would get better.

The rest of the day was spent preparing my lessons for Wednesday, and trying to learn from my mistakes in the first class. In retrospect, it was great to have the time to refine the lesson and get back on track.

At about 4 o’clock, one of the English teachers brought the table tennis coach over and introduced me. In my speech in front of the teachers I had mentioned that ping pong was one of my hobbies, and the teacher was curious to see if I wanted to play with them – the school has a table tennis club. I didn’t have gym clothes, so I went to the gym and played in my nice clothes – this opportunity was too good to miss.

I’ll cut right to the chase and tell you that I got my ass kicked. Several times, as a matter of fact. They had a paddle for me that bounced the ball across the room if I even tapped it, and the style of play was incredibly different than anything I’ve ever seen before. I was able to slam it a couple of times, and I made some returns that made the whole table tennis club oooohhh and aaaaahh. Other than that, I was a merely a speed bump for the coach and their top player. The coach was highly amused, and offered to teach me some of the moves sometime – I’m an honorary member of the ping pong club. I returned to the teacher’s room a sweaty mess, but I was pretty happy. It was a great experience to play someone with that kind of skill.

Mel was hosting a small party upstairs and so when I got home, I went up to help out a bit. Melanie made some homemade salsa, and then we laid out some salty snacks for everyone. The party went pretty well, and we compared notes on our first days teaching. It was a actually a birthday party for one of the Japanese guys that hosted a BBQ a while back – he was turning 20 years old. At 20 years old, you are allowed to drink, and so it was kind of cool that he chose to spend a milestone birthday with a bunch of foreigners. His English isn’t very strong, about the same as my Japanese. We switched back and forth while talking, and it was great communicating with someone with such a different background. We adjourned the party fairly early, and I was in bed early to get ready for the next day.

Today was the first day of school back for the entire student body, and my first really full day at work. I didn’t have any classes to teach, but I was expected to make a brief self-introduction in English and Japanese to all of the students and staff in the gymnasium. It worked out to about 1100 people.

There was an opening ceremony, and a brief awards ceremony, and then they called me up to the stage. Mr. Hayashi came up with me, and I was grateful for the company. Standing in front of a thousand silent high school students was pretty unnerving. Before I started, all the students rose from their sitting position on the floor and bowed to me, and I bowed back. The moment was perfect for a photo, but it probably would have been awkward. Maybe I’ll take one at the start of next term.

I jumped into my speech in English. I cut it short because of the heat and the idea that only a few people in the room could understand me. Then I jumped to Japanese and kept it short because of the heat and the idea that I cannot speak Japanese well.

Afterwards, one of the members of the student council rose and read me a short paragraph in English welcoming me to the school, and then Mr. Hayashi and I tried to explain where California was by referencing famous Japanese baseball stars in the major leagues. I am not sure how well that went over. Afterwards, we left, and all of the students were smiling and saying hello (“konnichi wa”) in the hallways. Apparently I was a hit, and many students were lining up outside of the teacher’s room to stare, point, and if it was a girl student, giggle. I would say hello and set them off – their giggles and laughter would echo down the halls. I wonder how long the novelty lasts?

Some of the students that I had already met through Andy or at the summer sessions came in and congratulated me on my speech, and so it was great to talk to them a bit. Tomorrow is my first class, and it is actually with Miss Kageyama, so I’ll be at least familiar with the teacher a bit.

This evening I sauteed some calamari in garlic and butter, and had that with rice and hot sauce. Afterwards I ran down to the store to buy some ingredients for future meals, and to get ready for the party upstairs tomorrow night. Mel and I had a drink together and talked about the big fiesta tomorrow. She is throwing a birthday party for the guy that threw the BBQ the other night in the next town. She is really nervous about it, and isn’t sure how the neighbors are going to react. I’m just glad it’s in her apartment, and not mine.

After you complete the interview in the middle of February, the waiting begins. If you started in September like I did, you’ve already had your fingers crossed for six months. At the end of the interview, they said that I would hear something by the end of April. Another two and a half months of waiting! This is a tough time – you’ve got a real good shot at going to Japan this year, but it’s not guaranteed so you have to live your life and try to forget about it. The closer I got to April, the more I had to consider two paths. Bracing yourself for disappointment, hoping for some good news, all the mental games that you have to play to keep yourself sane. There is so much at stake, but the more you dwell on that, the more disappointed you are likely to be. In March and April I visited the mailbox every day. It was like torture.

Finally after reading on an online bulletin board that some folks from Los Angeles had received word, I drove to the post office, and inside was a regular business sized envelope from the Consulate of Japan. It seemed heavier than normal, so that’s a good sign, right? I took the envelope, threw it in my backpack and drove out to the desert, where I hiked deep into Horsethief Canyon. I finally opened the letter in front of a waterfall at the basin of the canyon. And I was in!

The sense of relief is amazing! Now you know what you are going to do with your life for the next year. You can start planning so many things. Ah, sweet relief. I’m going to Japan!

So after two months of waiting to see how things went with my application, I get a very thin letter that congratulates me on reaching the “next stage”. I did some research, and it seemed like if you got to the interview stage, your chances are pretty good. They’ve weeded out most of the “undesirable” folks with the application, and now it’s time to meet who is left. My interview was in Los Angeles. I called in sick to work, and then made the drive from San Diego to LA. I got there several hours early, changed into my suit in a nearby hotel bathroom, and then went inside. I get the impression that it’s OK to be nervous at the interview; it’s just a matter of hiding it well. I was glad I got there early – I was able to listen to some ex-JETs recall their experiences, and watch them eat lunch. Finally, they called me in and I was on the hot seat.

I understand that the interview format varies depending on where you interview – in Los Angeles I interviewed with a panel of three people. You walk in, make eye contact, smile, say hello, try to remember to breathe, sit down, adjust your clothes, deep breath, smile again, remember all the things you want to say…

The interview went pretty well overall – I stumbled a few times on some basic stuff, but what felt like a colossal failure on my part evidently looked like a little trip to them. The panel members didn’t really smile or react to what I said. A couple of head nods, and some tough follow-up questions were about all the feedback I got. One of the situations they put me in was to teach them about an American holiday, and they would mimic the behavior of Japanese students. During my lesson, I mentioned that Thanksgiving was in November, and one of the interviewers asked “What’s November?” My mind clicked through a bunch of possible answers� what do you mean? Are you kidding? It’s after October! All of the sudden, I remembered the Japanese word for November – “juuichigatsu”. Yes! The interviewer smiled when I said it, and that was about all the feedback I was going to get. After 20 long minutes, they let me go. I walked out of the building feeling great that I had survived, and even gave a homeless guy five bucks before I jumped back on the freeway to San Diego. What a relief to be done with it!

Now, I just had to wait for the results.

If you want to go to Japan, there’s a couple of different ways to do it, and every way has its own advantages and disadvantages. You can just fly out there and visit Japan as a tourist, taking a couple of weeks to see the sights. I wanted to live there, and to do that, I was going to need a job. Teaching English in Japan is a big business, and there are several different firms that bring native-English speakers to Japan. After a great deal of investigation, I found a program that seemed like it was the right one for me. The JET program is a solid, well-funded, government-sponsored program that has been around since the 80’s. After cruising the message boards, reading the literature, and talking to friends, it looked like the perfect fit. The only problem – it’s highly competitive. There are some people that have applied to the JET program several times, interviewed several times, and were rejected several times. Ouch. The big hurdle in getting to Japan was making this program. I had no backup. I had no contingency plans.

I downloaded the application from the JET website. It’s a large packet full of detailed instructions. I would need letters of recommendation, proof of graduation, a two page original essay, and DNA samples. Well, maybe not the DNA samples. I printed out the application and instructions and there was a serious stack of paper. My best advice here is to read it a couple of times – everything doesn’t sink in right away. The thing to do first is to get your letters of recommendation going, because they are going to be completed by someone else, and you’ll be depending on their schedule and good graces.

Once you gather all your information, you need to have it at the Japanese embassy in Washington DC by the beginning of December. You get about two and a half months to finish the application and send it off – make sure to do as much as you can as early as you can. While there is no advantage to getting it there early, there is a peace of mind issue – you’ll need the extra inner tranquility later on, as you shall see.

Next, the interview.

Way back when I was in elementary school, I remember seeing a washed out old movie (on a reel to reel projector) documenting life in Japan. I think it painted a pretty bleak picture of overcrowding, a strict social order, and a whole bunch of people on bicycles. For some reason, I was really interested. When the opportunity came up to travel there, I took it. It’s been a long time since I sat in that class dreaming of visiting Japan, but now I’m going to do it.

The first thing I did was enroll in a Japanese language class at the local community college. In July of 2002, I read about the JET program – a program that brings young people from all over the world to Japan to teach English to students in their schools. I knew then that this was the chance I was looking for. I was “between careers” at the time, and so I made the decision to pursue it. At the end of July 2003, I’m headed to Japan to see how reality compares with the dream. What follows is a little bit about how I got where I am, and some of the flaming hoops I had to jump through to get there.

I put together this journal to keep people up to date with what I’m doing, but also for my own interest. I look forward to reading back on these notes and writings when I’m older. I thought it would be fun to share this with you, so dig in and enjoy. If you do enjoy reading about what I’m doing, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Next, check out applying for JET.

Today I got up reasonably early and did some chores around the house. My folks called, so I had a nice long conversation with them, and then after I hung my clothes out to dry, I went into Befu to do some shopping.

I picked up some T-shirts at a place called Uniqlo. The shirts were very cheap, about $4 each. They aren’t exactly high quality, but they will work. Their XL size is about a Large in the US. I also picked up a few things at the local superstore to make props for my first class on Tuesday.

Miss Kageyama came by and picked me up around five to go catch a movie. Since she is single, and I am single, there is a certain protocol that we have to observe. I’m just kind of figuring this out. She called me from her car outside, and then I went down to meet her and we left from there. It would be really bad news if she came up to my apartment alone. I am learning on the fly, but basically treating this situation like you are being followed around by a jealous husband seems to be the best way to handle it.

We went out for 100 yen sushi, kind of an inexpensive sushi boat type arrangement, except instead of boats they have a conveyor belt. Miss Kageyama powered down some sushi, and gave me some pointers on how to eat some of the tricky ones. Afterwards, we went into the grocery store on the bottom floor and she helped me identify some tricky grocery items that I had been wondering about for a while.

On the sixth floor was the megaplex. It is owned by Warner Brothers, and the introduction clip about refreshments, no talking, and trash was given by Warner Brothers characters speaking Japanese. The previews were great, but almost none were in English. There was one in Spanish with Japanese subtitles, so I was able to follow it using my Spanish language skills, which are suffering greatly here in Japan.

As for the main attraction, it was in English, with Japanese subtitles, and it was no problem for me to enjoy the movie. I laughed out loud at a couple parts, and I did notice I was the only one doing it – but that may be a function of the subtitles or the culture difference. The price of a large soda was 400 yen (about $3.50) but their large size is much smaller than the same thing in America. The popcorn large size was 500 yen (about $4.25) and it was the same big tub of popcorn that you see in most theaters. The price of admission was quite high, with regular price at 1800 yen (about $15). Miss Kageyama had a discount card that got us in for 1500 yen each ($12.50), but still it was expensive. There are some discounts available – if it’s your birthday, or the first day of the month, it only costs 1000 yen. Also, there are “ladies nights” where women get in for 1000 yen. One interesting thing was that this movie theater had assigned seating, so you could request a certain area at the ticket counter, and then your tickets had a seat number where you are required to sit. Miss Kageyama said that not all theaters do this.

It was a fun night, and I’m back here relatively early drinking a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon that I found at a local store for $5. It’s not too bad.

Tomorrow I’m making props, and relaxing around the house. I’m trying to take it easy this weekend as it’s so hot lately. The temptation is to go traveling around the countryside, but it is expensive to do that every weekend. I’m hoping to visit some JETs in the Kobe area next weekend, but we’ll see how that goes. I’m sure everybody’s first week will be tough, but maybe it would be good to compare notes together next weekend.

I was pretty nervous getting ready for today. It is the last day before classes start, and I had to introduce myself to all of the teachers by making a speech in front of them. Traditionally, as you might imagine, this speech is done in Japanese, and despite taking classes and some training in this area, I was a bit apprehensive. A speech in front of a hundred people in any language is difficult.

On my way up to the meeting, the principal pulled me aside and was curious where Spring Valley was in America. He had my address from my application, and the PO Box I happened to get while in San Diego was in Spring Valley. When he introduced me, he said that I hail from Spring Valley, USA. So weird that a small little town like that gets a mention in Japan by a school principal. I’m sure all the teachers were thinking, “Where the hell is Spring Valley?”

I got up and did my introduction in English, and the teachers watched carefully – the ones I knew were smiling, but most were just curious. After the introduction in English, the principal announced that I was going to do the same thing in Japanese. The looks that came over everyone’s faces were amazing. It was as if the principal announced that I was getting on board the space shuttle that afternoon and flying to Mars. I hashed up my introduction a bit in Japanese, but got through it OK. There was a big round of applause, and I think I made some new friends in the crowd.

After school we went back to Akashi to pick up my alien registration card. I’ve had to haul around my passport everywhere I went to prove I am who I am, but now with the card I can leave my big bulky passport at home.

On the way back Mr. Komuri, one of the Japanese language teachers, invited us to eat at his favorite takoyaki restaurant. I’ve had takoyaki at a couple of places, and it really doesn’t do a lot for me. This was served in a different style, and even though we’re in just the next town, it is supposedly a “regional variation”. You actually dip each piece in a soup broth, with hot chili pepper flakes floating on top. It was really awesome – great flavor and a little easier to eat.

When I got home, I was so tired that I passed out on the couch and woke up stuck to it about an hour later. After extracting myself, I decided to go out and check out a yakitori restaurant near my place. I ducked into the restaurant and sat at the bar to watch the end of the Hanshin Tigers game. After ordering some beef, chicken and a couple of beers, I attracted the attention of two drunk guys about my age at the end of the bar. We ended up trying to talk in Japanese and then English, and they insisted I looked like Tom Cruise. I told them that Tom Cruise doesn’t walk around with all the weight I’m carrying, but they insisted on buying a drink for me. They wanted me to try what they were drinking, a drink called Shuu-Cho. It was a clear beverage with a slice of lemon in it. I took a drink and it tasted like slightly alcoholic water, not too exciting. They were a bit disappointed to hear my review, but maybe too drunk to take offense. I have a feeling I’ll run into these guys again – the food was great and cheap. For six meat skewers and three beers it only cost me $17.50.

Tomorrow I’m doing laundry and hanging out around the house. In the evening I’m going to catch a movie, and then on Sunday I’m going to work on some of the props for my school lessons starting next week.

Today we bagged out of work early and went for Indian food in Kobe. Mr. Hayashi drove Miss Kageyama and myself all the way out to Kobe, and then treated us to a big Indian lunch. The food was fantastic, probably the best Indian food I’ve had anywhere. The weather was rainy on the way into Kobe, but once we were there, it was just fine.

After a big lunch we drove around Kobe a bit to see the sights, and then they took me home. Not exactly the toughest day I’ve ever worked, but I’m not complaining. Mr. Hayashi’s weakness seems to be expensive restaurants, and he sees me as an opportunity to share what he has learned. So far, I’m having a great time enjoying all this interesting food. Other JETs I’ve talked to haven’t had nearly as much opportunity to try new things, and are really left to fend for themselves. I’m pretty lucky that my master teacher is taking care of me like this!

The rest of the day I spent organizing my thoughts for my speech on Friday, and doing some Japanese language study. Dinner tonight was a bit of an experiment – Coconut Milk Curry over noodles with spicy tofu. It turned out OK, but the sauce was a bit runny – my cooking continues to be an experiment in progress.