Himeji Castle and Gardens

I recently took a trip to Himeji Castle and it's nearby gardens, and it truly was a stunning experience. The castle was impressive, and could be seen from miles away. From the top, the view was breathtaking. On the inside was a museum chronicling the history of the castle. I'm really glad I made it there when I did, because they have since commenced a multi-year renovation project that will mar the picturesque view for quite some time.



After touring the castle, we headed next-door to the Himeji Gardens (姫路好古園 - Himeji Kōkoen). I have to admit, I'm far more awed by the beauty of nature than the beauty of the works of man (which are still awe inspiring), and so the Gardens were definitely the high point of my day. I put my footage of the Gardens to music, so I hope you like it. Make sure to watch in HD if you can!

Fireworks Festival....The Movie!

You may remember a post I made a couple months back about my reaction to the Takarazuka Summer Fireworks Festival, but if you need a refresher, click here. It truly was amazing, and I managed to capture all 45 minutes of its beauty on video. Here is a look at some of the highlights of that show:



I hope you enjoy!

Answering Questions

Today is a Q&A post, discussing some elements of teaching. Thanks go to Michelle for these great questions:

"How are classes going?"
Classes are going well. I've finally gotten into the swing of things...for the most part. There are some things you just can't ever be truly prepared for, which makes this job excellent for developing ad libbing, improv, think-on-your-feet skills. For example, one class that is usually very strong could wind up getting more tripped up on a lesson topic that the other classes had no problem with, and I have to quickly conjure up some new way of explaining myself, drawing on the board, pantomiming, cross-referencing a different concept, customized to the problem that this group is having.

I try really hard to involve as many elements of learning as possible into the lesson. I know that some students are audio-learners, some are visual, some are hands-on, some are logical, some need other ideas to connect to, and some just have to manage through a brick wall in their brain. So, my lessons are designed to cater to as many of those as possible, featuring worksheets, fill in the blank, progressively increased challenge, response to audio queues, student oral response, illustration, mathematical/logic based grammar equations, and cross-reference-able memory queues, to name a few.

"What is your biggest hurdle at school so far?"
One of my biggest challenges is the need for patience. I have been learning that slowly and painfully, but have made leaps of progress. Another major obstacle is thinking of meaningful content for my oral conversation class. I teach seven 1st-year English grammar classes a week, and those are easy to prepare for because there are a million grammar points to cover, and a million ways to cover them. However, I teach a single 2nd-year Oral Conversation class, which has no text, no syllabus, no curriculum, and no clearly defined set of goals other than "to encourage communication." On top of that, this particular class is especially difficult to reign in and get to focus, despite the fact that it is only 11 students. I have to prepare extremely interesting, engaging topics, while maintaining a relatively low level of English. Some of the more simplistic/"childish" subject matter that works for 1st-year students just doesn't interest the 2nd-years, yet their English skills aren't quite developed enough to discuss things like politics, history, and more intellectual culture, despite the fact that those topics would probably appeal to them more on the intellectual level.

"What level is your highschool - meaning what percentage of your students will go on to University?"
Well, it depends how you define University. If you mean 4-year college (四年制大学 - Private, National, and Public), then the answer is ~61%. If you throw in vocational schools and such, that number goes higher. More than 50% go to 4-year Private University. I'm not sure how that ranks my school nationally.

************************************************************************************

That's about it for today. Also, I had reservations about even mentioning it on this blog, but I recently posted a video to my YouTube channel about the progress I've had in terms of getting in shape since coming to Japan. I've chosen not to embed the video on here, as dieting really isn't relevant to this blog. If, however, you would like to see the video (warning, it is 7:20 long), you can click here. In the future, I won't be mentioning YouTube videos that I've chosen not to embed, so if you are interested in other video content I might be posting, then:

You can check out my YouTube channel to see all of my videos, subscribe to my channel, post rating and comments, etc. by clicking here. (Note: you'll need to register for YouTube to post comments there, subscribe, and rate videos).

Learning Japanese

I made a regular video blog, embedded below. Here, I discuss the different elements I am using to further my Japanese language education. As many of you know, my goal is complete fluency, so really getting the most out of this immersion experience is a high priority for me.



Edit: I apologize to anyone who saw the original posted video. Its audio ended up going way out of sync when it actually uploaded to YouTube. I've since fixed the problem and re-uploaded. Let me know if there are still any problems with it. Thanks!

Arriving in Japan - A Video Montage

I finally got around to making a video. No talking in this one, just some video I took of my journey here, a meet-up with my old Tokyo friends, and my prefectural orientation. Hope you enjoy!

First Weeks - First Drop in the Bucket

So, I've been promising photos and video for some time now, and I've finally got the first mini-gallery going. I assure you, this is only a drop in the bucket. I'm really excited about getting some of this video content I have edited, but that's going to require a hefty bit more of sitting at the computer. In the meantime, please enjoy some of these pictures of my departure and first couple days in Japan by clicking here.

I'm Alive, I Promise!

I'm really sorry for having not posted in a while. Classes started, as you heard, and then life got really really busy. I teach 17 lessons every week, 7 of which are unique lessons, meaning they require completely different subject matter, lesson plans, worksheets, etc. Then add the fact that I don't have a book to teach out of, don't have a curriculum to follow, and don't have any experience teaching English. Oh, and I'm pretty much 100% responsible for generating this content on my own.

1. That means I first have to think up a topic to teach that is of appropriate difficult level, which is not even consistent among students of the same grade level.
2. I then have to outline a 50 minute lesson plan and run it by my Japanese-English teachers.
3. I then must generate worksheets (almost always from scratch) that are dynamic and engaging enough to capture students attention while being sufficiently well laid out so as to not require significant explanation. These worksheets must also anticipate student confusion points and clarify them appropriately.
4. I must devise activities that incorporate the lesson material, including new vocab, new grammar, and new sentence structure, and integrate these activities into the lesson.

All of this has to be done in such a way that it won't put students to sleep, which is hard to avoid when some of their heads are down before I even enter the room. Then, once I get to the classroom, I have a huge burden on myself. I have to fluidly adapt to both the students AND the teachers. Each teacher has a different style, so some will translate what I say word-for-word, some will only translate when prompted by me, some will walk around and keep the students in line, and some will walk around and help students one-on-one with trouble points. As for the students, ability levels can vary within a single grade level, as a mentioned, but also vary widely in the same classroom. So, while some students have finished the worksheet a couple minutes after they get it, others are a struggle to get to even write their name at the top. Then there are the points that I assumed would be easily learned, and end up being extremely difficult, and the things I anticipated to be difficult that end up being quite easy. Then, I have to keep things moving at relatively the same pace so that classes doing the same lesson as each other progress at the same rate.

In addition to work, I try to make it to the gym 3-4 times a week. On Thursday evenings, I have a one-on-one Japanese language/conversation lesson with a sweet older woman at the local International Friendship Society. On weekends, I am usually tied up with traveling with friends, new acquaintances, etc as I explore the different elements of this new world. During the time that I'm actually at home, which rarely exceeds more than two or three waking hours in a day, I'm usually pretty tied up with house chores like laundry, vacuuming, cleaning, trash organizing, yard work (haven't made much progress here), etc. I really feel like I have lived more in this past 2 months than I did in the past 2 years.

So there, I just managed to combine a recap of my past few weeks with an excuse for why it's been a few weeks since my last recap. I also wasn't lying when I said I had a load of pictures and videos to share, and the content is only building so I really gotta purge it out to you on cyberspace ASAP. No joke, I have several hours of HD video alone (which I'll obviously have to parse through as I can't be posting that much onto the internet).

*EDIT: And a reminder, I love comments! Comment me, let me know what you think of all this stuff I talk about, let me know what you want to hear more about or see more of, and feel free to ask questions! The more I know that people are reading this stuff, the more I want to keep up with postings!*

First Classes

My first classes have finally begun. Last night was my one night school. I very badly misjudged the student's abilities at that school. I thought I was going way way out of my way to be overly simplified and slow in my speech, however, it turns out even simple sentences like "I like cooking" were going over some students' heads. I'm going to have to really change my game plan for the night schools if I'm going to have any hope of being successful with them.

Today, I had my first classes at my base school. I used some of what I learned last night to fix some of the more mechanics-based problems with the lesson, improved my visuals, and prepared my wording a little bit better. However, when I pitched the lesson to the co-teacher, I was met with great concern about the difficulty of the lesson even after my improvements. Despite that, I went ahead with the lesson as-planned, and it turned out to be a perfect success! It was just challenging enough without being misunderstood. We had just enough time to go through all of the content I prepared. The student interaction was as good as I could have hoped for and was positive. Many of the students even took initiative to relate later parts of the lesson to earlier parts. I was really surprised that my translation game, which was designed to be overly difficult and make the students realize that participation and effort were often more important than rigid grammatical perfection, was met with great accomplishment. Some of their final sentences matched my answer key exactly!

I absolutely love the feeling I get when I see that the work I've done has made real progress toward a student's education. I hope this continues!

Chilling with the Band

Last weekend, I went to a monthly party held at the local okonomiyaki shop. It was my first chance to meet young Japanese people in my area (where most everyone is highschool age and younger, or 30+). Everyone was really nice, and I managed to keep contact with a couple of the people I met there throughout the week. One girl, who works at the shops near my station, plays in a band called Brownsugar, and she invited me to see their performance last night.

I headed to Suma Beach, near Kobe, around 3 o'clock. The venue was a beachside grill and bar, with a stage for DJ'ing and nightly live performances. When I first arrived, I was introduced to the band and several other friends of the girl who invited me. Throughout the evening I met probably 30 different people. The performances started around 5 and were pretty eclectic and...well....weird at first. However, they got better as the evening went on, and I have to say that Brownsugar was by far the best act of the night.

There were small fireworks getting set off on the beach throughout the evening, and the whole beach was pretty alive with young people. After things wound down there (which happens really early in Japan, although things start early too), I was invited to join the band and friends at an izakaya that took us well past last train. From there, we went and bought fireworks and set them off at a nearby park. It was a really fun time hanging out with them, and they were all great people. I'm not going to lie though, managing the language barrier was really really hard. Admittedly, the biggest challenge was starting/joining a conversation and showing that I could somewhat understand and communicate. I have to imagine I'm a huge pain, as conversations can sometimes slow to a crawl with me as we attempt to simplify somewhat complicated concepts enough to mutually understand each other.

In any event, I had a really good time, and it was a really wild experience. It's also totally not like anything I've ever done before.

One of the most interesting people I met throughout the evening was a Brazilian Japanese guy named Fabio. (For those who don't know, Brazil has the largest population of Japanese emmigrants of any country in the world. Over the last couple generations, there was a flow of people migrating back into Japan, the country of their parents and grandparents. As a result, Brazilians make up the 3rd largest foreign resident population in Japan, after Korea and China.) Anyway, he has been living in Japan for a while, and I would say he's probably the kind of fluent I hope to be in a year or so. However, because Japanese is his second language, and not his home country, we ended up having a LOT in common, and he was very capable of speaking my level of Japanese, so that we pretty much 100% understood each other. It was also really interesting because unlike any other foreigners I've met here, English isn't our common language, Japanese is. In that way, I almost see him as one of the most valuable friends I've met so far, as we are very close in linguistic ability, and yet forced to communicate in Japanese and not fall back on our native tongue.

Linguistic Burnout

I have been being really harsh on myself over the past few weeks for not being more fluent at Japanese than I am. Truth be told, I have a lot more Japanese experience than a lot of others in my situation, putting me at a huge advantage, but I'm not standing next to those people on a daily basis when I'm failing to communicate in my everyday life.

Truth be told, even in just the last 3 weeks, I can already see improvements in my confidence, vocab, and listening recognition. I guess I'm expecting myself to go from "advanced japanese" to truly fluent overnight, when in reality it took me 4 years of studying in college to get where I am now. What's more, my studying in college was for about an hour a day, 4 days a week, plus a little homework here-and-there. The rest of my time was devoted to other academics that were more time consuming, or to my personal/social life. There also weren't really many opportunities for practice, as there are very few fluent Japanese speakers walking around in America. Here, very nearly every minute of every day is Japanese practice of some kind. I wake up and use Japanese to work my cell phone and air conditioner. I attempt to read the label of my yogurt in the morning to see if I'm getting any nutrients out of it besides calcium. I have to read and listen to location names on the bus on my way to school. I hear Japanese spoken around me by coworkers throughout the day, and occasionally, I get the chance to attempt participation in those conversations. When I'm not busy doing some kind of work at school, I'm studying Japanese. After school, I use Japanese to navigate public transportation, the supermarket, household goods store, clothing store, etc. I use Japanese to get a form I need from the government office. Even when I'm out with English-speaking friends, I'm often the one translating the menu or asking for directions, as I'm often the de-facto Japanese speaker of the group. When I'm at home, the TV is always on, even when I'm not watching, so that I can hear it spoken as much as possible. While watching TV, I try to vary the subject matter I watch: educational, foreign language education, travel, cooking, local and international news, high-school drama, adult drama, comedy, game shows, trivia shows, variety shows, etc. I try to take notes in Japanese when making diary entries, etc. If I open a bank account, I write up a list of every vocab word I can think of ever needing to use related to banking and attempt to memorize it.

So, whereas in America I was probably getting maximum of 8 hours of Japanese practice per week, 9 months out of the year, here I'm getting about 15+ hours of Japanese per DAY, every day. That means that I could potentially get 4 times more functional Japanese language experience in this one year than I got in the last 4 years of college combined.

Basically, my head is about to explode from new Japanese vocab that I've been being force-fed. Sorry, in hindsight this was a really pointless rant. I had free time....correction, I was bored out of my mind.

The Story Continues - Traditional Book Binding

So, picking up where the last story left off, about the home-ec teacher and her son, today I was working away on my kanji studies when the pair walks up again. This time, in Japanese, they ask if I would like to work with her son in the creation of a "book". Having nothing more exciting to do, I happily joined them up in one of the classrooms. What we were creating was a real hardcover book from scratch. It was myself, the home-ec teacher, her son, and the school nurse.

Building these books included a number of steps. We cut a ream of paper to size, then punched pin holes through it and wove fine thread through the holes as binding. We then took construction paper and mounted it onto the front and back, then sealed the binding with special paper and adhesive.

Next, to work on the exterior, we took thick fiberboard and cut it slightly larger than the book interior: two exterior slices and a spine piece. We then took colored cloth and used spray adhesive to adhere it to Japanese paper. We used an iron to evaporate the adhesive through the cloth, making it stiff and perfectly flat. From there, we put a textured paper along the exterior spine, and proceeded to adhere the interior book to the exterior hardcover. We even put those little cloth ribbons that appear along the spine of a professionally bound book (check one and you'll probably see what I'm talking about). They ended up turning out really good. Mine looks a little messy cause I put a little too much adhesive on my exterior cloth binding, so it has a dark spot, but other than that, it's pretty cool.

It took the whole day, and was a lot of fun. We also went out to lunch at a great soba shop. The whole day was Japanese too! I learned to do the book binding using Japanese and gestures. I even taught a few English words to them. When I get internet, I'll post a pic of the book, along with all the other pictures I've been saving up to post on here.

Two Small Stories

In the last couple days, two small encounters took place.

1) The home-ec teacher, a very nice woman, brought her 10 y/o son into work the other day. She brings him over to me and proceeds to rock/paper/scissors with him for who has to talk to me first. He lost, and had to introduce himself to me in English. So cute! I complimented him on a job well done and returned my own introduction. Then his mom took a golden moment to make her son sweat and told him to wait there and talk to me while she hurried off to do something. So, I let him sweat a little longer til he exhausted his English ability, and then broke out into my Japanese. I LOVE talking to kids! I can so totally understand everything they say!!! Not to mention they probably have a lot more in common with me, what with the types of music I listen to and shows on tv I watch, compared to some of the older teachers.

As soon as he realized I could speak Japanese, he majorly relaxed, and we were able to chat for a while about pop culture, sports, etc. A great exchange in general. His mom is delightfully cruel for making him panic like that, but I think it was good for him to get some real-world use out of what he's learning in school.

2) The next story starts with me walking down my mountain toward the station.
From my initial perspective: I see a young (upper high school or younger college age) guy walking up the hill, and I've never seen him before. We have these big area maps posted at various intersections throughout my town, and he walks up to one and starts looking at it with a look of great seriousness. I subconsciously notice him, but I'm really not paying him much heed. Just as I pass by, he quickly whips around and says "Hello?!" in what sounds very much like a question. Stunned like I'd just been by a truck hearing someone use English, not to mention with the lightning-fast approach, I stutter for a second and say hi, then reflexively ask, "do you need some help? are you lost?" because of the look on his face, his quizzical greeting, that he'd been looking at the map, and that I'd never seen him before. Judging from the panic in his eyes at my reply, I quickly realize that his "hello" was quite possibly his own English words, and he was really just trying to be friendly. I quickly follow up with a more amicable hello and slight bow, which eases his face and he quickly turns around to bolt. Suddenly he turns and yells perhaps his only other English phrase, "See you!" I smile and and return his farewell.

Now, here's what really happened, with 20/20 hindsight: He sees me coming down the street, Mr. very-obviously-foreigner. He wants to be friendly, but he's nervous and doesn't know how to make an approach. So, he stalls by turning to the map while he gathers up his courage and sorts out his words. He waits like that til I'm close enough, then turns, thinking he's just made the perfect greeting. Minus the poor approach and interrogative intonation, he was indeed a perfect success. I'm very happy he took the time to initiate even such a simple engagement, and I wish I'd been more on-the-ball so as not to freak him out with my English inquiry.

I'm fascinated by the little things, the insignificant engagements we have with our surrounding society on a daily basis. I probably don't go far enough out of my way to make similar engagements to those around me, and I probably should. 頑張りましょう！

A Universe Expanding

This past week was phenomenally busy. It featured efforts to get a lot of paperwork done, get my application for internet through, 3 days of prefectural orientation training, and a weekend of travel to Kobe. Paperwork is finished, I'm scheduled to have internet installed on August 30th, orientation was good in that it was a chance to establish a contact network amongst other new English teachers nearby, and with all the traveling I did to places outside my town on the side of a mountain, my world has really expanded.

I now have a pretty strong mastery of the surrounding transportation systems, and how to get from point A to point B (and back again). I know the places to shop for household goods, clothing, food, etc. I know good places to eat, hang out, or drink. I even became a member of a gym. More and more every day, I feel like I can handle the world around me, and like I'm digging my own little niche into this new environment.

One thing that I have to make sure to keep myself from doing is creating a foreigner bubble around myself. Now that I know the foreigners in range of me, it would be all too easy to spend all my free time with only them. I want to maintain close relationships with these people because having people I can relate to, and speak my native tongue with is important. They're going through the same things as me, their interested in traveling and seeing and experiencing new things like me. However, it is equally important that I develop relationships with native Japanese people as well. This is important functionally, so that I continue to develop my language skills, but also extremely critical if I am going to ever truly fit in here. My greatest experiences in Tokyo came once I had made friends with native Japanese, for innumerable reasons, and I fully believe that will prove true here as well. That being said, it is MUCH more easy to say than to put into practice. In Tokyo, I went to a school, I was surrounded by people my age, many of whom were in the same classes, who had so many connections to me that forming friendships was almost natural.

Here, I don't really have any connections at this point. I can communicate, somewhat, with fellow coworkers, but they are ALL older than me, and most of them have their own lives/families/etc to occupy themselves outside of work. Most of my community/neighbors are either significantly older or younger. There are very very few young-twenty-somethings around. And, even if I went into the city, which is easy enough, I still don't have any connections to work to meet people. In Japan, for the most part, you really can't just walk up to someone on the street and strike up a conversation -- and for the situations where that DOES work, it's often not the type of person you want to be building relationships with in the first place. To meet someone in Japan, they often need a connection such as friend of a friend, coworker, member of your school cohort, common home town, membership at the same gym, etc. Without that kind of established tie, it's extremely difficult to transcend social formalities.

Obviously, these things will take time to evolve and develop, and I'm not letting the obstacles get me down. Things are going very well, my mood is very positive, and each day gets easier. I'm looking at a trip to Himeji Castle next weekend. Still 2 more weeks without internet though :-(

#############################
Edit: By popular demand, I opened up the comment permissions so that anyone can post comments, without need of a blog account or signing up for internet ID. I strongly encourage everyone to post comments, let me know your thoughts, etc. You can technically now post anonymously. However, I do ask that you identify yourself in some way (not necessarily with your real name - any username/handle in the field provided would be fine), so that I know who is saying what. If I don't know you, send me a message and introduce yourself! I'd love to know who's reading my posts. I do remind everyone to use discretion in what you post, as this is a public blog, and all comments and posts are viewable to anyone. I will delete any inappropriate comments, but please don't make me play moderator. Hope to hear from you!
#############################

Takarazuka Fireworks Festival

This post was handwritten two days ago, and I'm transcribing it here now that I have access to a computer/internet.

Today is the second day of the Takarazuka Summer Fireworks Festival, and the night for the climactic main event show. I wasn't able to attend last night because I had night school until after 9pm. Because I don't have internet, I wasn't even able to get info on where or when this event was happening. I had only heard people talking about it at work throughout the week. So, at around 5pm, I headed to my local station and essentially followed the yukata/kimono. Those took me to Takarazuka Station (no big surprise there) and then to a large parking area in front of the Muko River. Here, families, couples, and groups of friends gather in groups with their festival foods to sit and enjoy the fireworks show. There are a LOT of people here. It's about 7pm and they are playing music over loudspeakers. It is just starting to get dark out. It is a little bit sad to be here alone; virtually everyone else is here as part of a group. This would make for such a great date!

It is really a shock to live in Takarazuka where you can see a member of the Review just walking around doing everyday things. Between the 5 troupes at the theater and the school associated with it, there are enough of them to be seen often enough. They really are shocking because they are women who walk a fine line between looking like beautiful women and dashingly handsome men. It seems as though they must get their hair professionally done every morning, and their attire is always a very well groomed masculine blend.

The show is scheduled to begin at 7:45 and end at 8:45pm. Supposedly there are going to be a lot of fireworks because a fireworks show scheduled for earlier in the year was canceled due to swine flu concerns. They basically just added those stocks to the ones they already had for this show. Quoting the Takarazuka Website: "August beginning of month Takarazuka Gala Fireworks Festival on Mukogawa River around Kanko Dam - one of the oldest fireworks festivals in Japan." The event takes place in coordination with a very very long list of sponsors.

The show is over, and I actually managed to get the entire show recorded on my video camera. It really lasted the full 45 minutes, and it was BY FAR the grandest, most elaborate, best orchestrated fireworks show I've ever seen. I was sitting a mere 100 yards or so from the launch site, and every firework shot off shook you on the inside. There were fireworks doing things I had never even heard of, and the entire thing was perfectly timed to some very beautiful music. It could easily bring you to tears. The show was done in several movements, much like a visual play, and together with the narration, told a very pretty story. I am very very glad I came to this event. It started to drizzle at about 8:00 and a few people left, but the rain held off just long enough for the show to complete, which I'm sure everyone greatly appreciated.

First Week

Well, I haven't posted in a while, but I proudly announce that it wasn't for not wanting to. I have very limited internet at this point, as I have not yet gotten a cell phone and my internet won't be set up at my house for at least a couple weeks. My internet access is limited to work, and therefore, my freedom to make posts is limited.

Being here is phenomenally overwhelming. When I was studying abroad, there is absolutely no denying that they held our hands tremendously. We were essentially put into a little foreigner bubble in the middle of Japan, and were then able to venture out into the real Japan in small, controlled bursts to test the water. Now, it is as though I dove straight into the deep end in the middle of winter, and the shock of such a dramatic change is really really hard to deal with.

I have been blessed to have a wonderful predecessor who has been coaching me through the entire startup since my arrival in my new home. I can rely very little on English to do anything. At work, I speak anywhere from 70 to 100% Japanese in pretty much everything I do. There is no humility here, I'm really not fluent enough to manage that, but it is the only option. Having coworkers speak to me in Japanese and me having to grasp at as much understanding as I can muster, and then grasp at every ounce of my own Japanese in an effort to reply, I have certainly been challenged. However, there is also absolutely no doubt that this environment will ensure that my linguistic skills improve exponentially.

Initially, working at my main base school was difficult because there was a tangible barrier between myself and my coworkers. I'm pretty sure that barrier was simply a mutual lack of confidence in the ability to communicate. However, last night, the office hosted a farewell party for my predecessor and a welcome party for myself. A large majority of the school staff attended, more than 30 people, ranging from the principle and vice principle to the master gardener. That event convinced me, unquestioningly, of the value of Japanese enkai. All of a sudden, I was able to really express who I was, and get to know who everyone else was. Within a matter of hours, I felt like I had gone from an isolated stranger to a welcomed coworker. Everyone was eager to speak with me, in both English and Japanese, and to let me know that they look forward to working with me.

At the event, I was asked to provide a self introduction speech, or 自己紹介. I gave this entirely in Japanese, which was daunting in itself. The food was amazing, the comraderie was amazing, the setting was amazing, it was just an all around great time. Afterwards, a portion of the original group headed to karaoke, which again turned out to be a wonderfully fun time. It was especially great being able to see everyone in a relaxed, informal state.

Today is my first work day at one of the two night high-schools I have been assigned to. The students range from approximately 18 and up I believe. For all of the schools I will be working for, classes don't begin until September 1st, so the month of August will be limited mostly to getting accustomed to the work environment, getting to know my coworkers, setting up my basic living needs, and preparing for classes. I have been asked to make a few small presentations about my home culture during a senior high school open house for junior high school students next week. I also have a training seminar to attend in 2 weeks.

Alright, I've rambled long enough. Not sure when I'll be able to post again, but I definitely have a lot more to share. Please, feel free to ask questions or make suggestions of what I should talk about if you want to know more.

Tokyo Orientation

This is my last day at the Tokyo Orientation before I ship off to my new home in Takarazuka, Hyogo. The last couple days have been a whirlwind. Traveling here went smoothly, although I suffered a pretty rough bout of exhaustion once I first made it into Tokyo. I went out on Sunday night with another friend in the program and some old friends from our time studying abroad in Japan. We had yakiniku, and then wandered around near the school we went to.

I have been very surprised but also proud how well I remember everything here. It's almost like my memory is a video, as I have absolutely no problem navigating the streets of this city. My Japanese has dramatically improved since my last time here as well, and the ability to communicate and read my surroundings has had a major level-up.

I have several pictures and some short clips that I've taken since I arrived, but it's a little too much for me to sort through now. When I do get around to that, I'll definitely post them on here.

My Return to Japan

Apologies for this getting posted late. I wrote the following two nights ago from New York, but I didn't have the chance to get online and post it until now. I'm now in Tokyo, Japan attending the orientation events. I'll post more about how that is going tomorrow.

Today I traveled to New York City to have our final pre-departure meeting with the consulate. Afterwards, I enjoyed dinner with my parents at the Atlantic Grill in the city. Tomorrow morning, I'll be taking the 13.5 hour flight that will bring me into Narita Japan. My old classmates from my semester abroad in Tokyo are meeting myself and another JET friend at our hotel for a welcome back party. The plan is karaoke, which I've been missing a lot since I returned home. I have to imagine it will be pretty rough though, with jet-lag combined with an immediately busy evening. On Monday, meetings begin bright and early at 9am. I'm anticipating being a zombie for those meetings....

The Final Countdown

In one week, I will be back in Tokyo, Japan. I apologize for having not updated sooner, but I quite literally had received no new information about my new job. They told me I would be working in Hyogo Prefecture teaching high school, and that was it. That's like being told you'll be working in Oklahoma. Okay....Oklahoma City, Oklahoma or nowheresville Bushyhead, Oklahoma? To this day, 6 days before my flight, I still have no official info on what town I'll be in, what schools I'll teach at, what my housing situation will be, what my rent and upfront costs will be, etc. The list of things that they haven't told me yet goes on and on. But, I'm not alone, this is apparently pretty standard for a lot of people on the program.

Luckily, I know some things unofficially, and I'll be glad to share them once they do become official. Thanks to this info I have, my concerns have been largely relieved, and it sounds like I'm going to be in a wonderful placement.

My rough itinerary for the next week or so:
Fri. July 24th - Pre-departure meeting in NYC. Spend time with family afterward
Sat. July 25th - Depart NY to Japan. 13 1/2 hour flight into Narita
Sun. July 26th - Welcome back party with old friends from Japan
Mon. July 27 - Day 1 of Tokyo Orientation
Tue. July 28 - Day 2 of Tokyo Orientation
Wed. July 29 - Departure from Tokyo to my new residence in Hyogo via shinkansen

In the meantime, here's what I've been up to back home. Packing is an adventure, as I'm limited to two 50lb bags plus my carry-on. Clearly, I'm going to have to leave behind a lot of things. The process of going through everything I own and determining what I absolutely need, as well as what I want that is actually feasible to pack, has taken days. I'm also making it a point to document what I'm leaving behind, so I know what's there, where it is, and how to instruct someone to find it should I need it shipped to Japan for whatever reason.

I've also had a host of other things to clear up back home. I have gotten an International Driver's Permit in case I ever need to drive in Japan. Because my first payday won't be until the middle of August, I need to bring some startup money to pay for initial expenses for the first couple weeks. I ordered Japanese yen to be sent to my local bank to make an exchange for this purpose. I also squared away all my other banking needs in anticipation for my time abroad.

Lastly, I've been doing things to prepare for my first few days on the job. I'll be expected to give numerous introductions of myself, both formally to coworkers as well as more informally to students on the first day of my classes. For this, doing things like taking pictures of my home town and old university will give me visuals to accompany my talks, and allow the people I meet to see what things were like for me back in America.

Pre-Departure Seminar

Yesterday was the pre-departure seminar in NYC for JETs leaving out of New York. I had to wake up at 4:45 to make it to the bus station in time for a 6am bus into the city. Ended up sitting around in a Starbucks from 8-9:30 waiting for registration. Survived the rest of the day on a caffeine high....

I ended up really enjoying the event, but not as much for the reasons intended by the coordinators. While the event was designed as one big, repetitive Q&A, I personally found it most rewarding to attend because it was a chance to put faces to the personalities I've been talking to on forums and such. It was also a chance to talk with other people in the same boat as me, putting the waiting and anxiousness into perspective and driving home that I'm not in that boat alone.

It was especially great getting to know some of the people who will be in the same prefecture, who I'll probably be seeing a lot more of in the future. They say that having a strong support network in Japan is important for maintaining sanity when culture shock and depression are at their worst, and I can really see how that could be the case. I'm really looking forward to getting to know the people I've already met as well as the others in my prefecture from around the world within the coming months.

At this point in time, I'm very restless, anxiously awaiting the beginning of this next chapter of my life. I received my contract in the mail, and I'll be signing and mailing it back this week. I should also hear details regarding my specific placement, travel itinerary, etc. in the next week or so. I'll definitely be updating once I've found out some of that info.

Blue means go???

I'm waiting at an intersection in Tokyo a couple years ago, speaking with a friend. She looks up, and says "Oh, it's blue, let's go!" referring to the pedestrian traffic light. "Don't you mean green?" I say as we hurry to cross the street, double checking to confirm that I haven't missed a major difference in Japanese traffic signals. The light is in fact the exact same shade of green I'd expect from back home in the U.S. "No, no, street lights are blue; red, yellow, blue." From this exchange, I wondered, do Japanese people have some unique sensory perception where in specific contexts only, they perceive the world in a different color than everyone else?

Well, the reality is, in the Japanese language, traffic lights are 赤 (red), 黄 (yellow), 青 (blue) while their actual physical colors remain rather consistent with international standards (in English: red, yellow, and green). This especially came as a surprise to me because I knew that there existed a word for green in Japanese, 緑 (green).

As it turns out, there are a number of languages around the world that do not distinguish between green and blue. To speakers of these languages, you would use the same word to describe the color of a leaf and the color of the sky, or else you would qualify it as "leaf blue/green" or "sky blue/green". Linguists use the attractive word "grue" to describe this unspecified blue/green color designation.

For Japan, this very phenomenon was the case, only having the word 青 (read "ao") which today is used effectively as blue. Prior to World War II, this word was used to describe everything we would regard in the realm of blue and green, and it was not until the occupation following the war that linguistic distinguishment between green and blue arose. It is from this era that the word 緑 (read "midori") arose as more than just a shade of "ao" and instead came to distinguish green colors as different from blue ones....for the most part.

There remain a few culturally lasting exceptions where the traditional term "ao" is still used to describe what would technically/perceptually fall under the category of green. These exceptions include traffic signals, grass, leaves, as well as a few others. So, when a Japanese person says that a traffic light is "red, yellow, and blue", they are literally translating a culturally lingering linguistic vestige, not indicating a unique sensory perception.

For more information regarding linguistic distinctions of color, as well as descriptions of various languages that have their own versions of "grue", click here.

懐かしい思い出 - Fond Memories

I was looking through and organizing all of my old photos from the last time I visited Japan, and ended up digging up a lot of great memories and nostalgic feelings. You can take a look at a slide show I made of some of my favorites here.

During the spring semester of 2007, my sophomore year of college, I studied abroad in Tokyo. While I was there, I took numerous classes related to Asian Studies, mostly because they didn't offer any courses that would count toward my Physics major. It was during that semester that I discovered my true passion for the Social Sciences. As a result, I graduated with a double major in Asian Studies and Physics. Now I have a job I'll be starting in Japan. The direction of my life definitely did a 180° as a result of my experiences there, and I really can't say I have any regrets.

While there, I did the big touristy thing and saw various shrines and other historical locales. I took a trip up to Sapporo, Hokkaido and had the awe-inspiring experience of seeing the annual Snow Festival (雪祭り). However, the greatest experiences I had in Japan involved going out of my comfort zone and befriending native Japanese schoolmates. It was through those friendships that I really found the Japan beneath the surface, the elements of Japan that tourists just don't get a real feel for. The deepest and most meaningful memories are the ones made through relationships with others, through adventures off the beaten path, to the world that's not set up for advertisements on a billboard or in a travel guide.

The best advice I can give to anyone who travels to another country, another culture, hoping to get a feel for a whole new world, the best advice I can give is this: Find people, not just buildings, landmarks, and museums; they have a lot more to say. Communicate with them as best you can, whether you're fluent or not. You'd be surprised how many emotions, sentiments, and basic human behaviors are universal. Be open to new ideas, which includes a realization that the way you might be used to doing things is not necessarily the only way or the best way. Lastly, realize that no matter how much you study, research, and experience, your comprehension and appreciation for a foreign culture will never reach the thoroughness or depth that a native has. Be sensitive to the fact that you are student in this world and qualify yourself accordingly.

1 month, 16 days to launch!

First Post! Introductions & 1st Vlog

This is my first blog on this website. To everyone reading this, welcome.

From my profile:

I am E, and yes, that is my real, complete, original, unabbreviated first name. I've attempted blogs in the past, but this is something a little bit different. First, I plan to integrate various mediums of content. There will be regular textual blogs, posting of pictures, etc. as well as videos I generate which will include video blogs (vlogs). The other big change is that I have graduated college, and I hope to capture a little bit of my life and experiences here as I enter into the real world.

I am participating in an English teaching program in Japan known as the JET Program. This program is an opportunity to bring a native speaker of English into the classrooms of Japan, as well as affording the opportunity for exchange of culture. For me, this is an opportunity to obtain training and experience in teaching while also giving me the immersion experience necessary for mastery of the Japanese language.

That being said, my experiences, observations, and adventures in Japan will likely dominate the content here. I welcome all who happen to visit this blog, and look forward to your comments, questions, advice, and constructive criticism.

I will be leaving for Japan on July 25th, and until then, I'm anxiously awaiting this momentous next chapter in my life.