First days in Japan

The past week has been so ridiculously eventful that it's really not even funny. In the span of a week I've packed up and left Oakland, California, where I was doing the Middlebury Japanese School at Mills College, spent a few days in Southern California with my relatives (went to the beach and Disneyland/California Adventure), finally came home to Texas for the first time in 9+ weeks but could only be there for two days and a night before I had to leave again, this time for Japan. My time in Texas was absolutely jam-packed and I can already think of several things I forgot to bring that I really should have, but oh well.

I arrived in Japan around 4 p.m. Tokyo time Saturday August 18, passed through immigration (receiving my new alien registration card there as per the new system--you used to have to apply for it at your local city office) and customs successfully, got my baggage and loaded it onto a cart, and once I emerged into the airport promptly sent off the biggest bag to the hotel in Hiroshima where I'd be undergoing teacher training. Delivery services like that in Japan are fantastic and very commonly used. From there it was time to make my way to Tokyo via trains while hauling my other two bags stacked on top of each other, which made for a very heavy thing to pull along behind me as I maneuvered through numerous train stations! This was also the first time I'd done this, as the previous two times I'd been to Japan, I was with a group or meeting a group and we all took the bus in together, and I didn't have to mind any bags.

So this was a new adventure! Took the Keisei Skyliner from the airport to Nippori Station, bought my bullet train ticket for the next day at the JR office there, rode the Yamanote Line one stop down to Nishi-Nippori Station, got onto the Chiyoda Line, and rode that quite a ways until Yoyogi-kouen Station, where Will was waiting for me. Yay! All of those things involved communication with various Japanese workers, and fortunately it all went well. I don't know why I thought it might be like people in shops or on the street and stuff, who will sometimes (in total shock at the sight of a foreigner) respond to your Japanese with English, but the station and delivery people were all ultra-professional and as soon as they heard my Japanese, (were probably relieved and) ran with it and just treated me normally. Probably hauling my stuff around was harder than that, really. I'm not sure I'd recommend making two train transfers while pulling a heavy weight behind you, but I also didn't have any good alternatives! Once I met up with Will we divided the bags and had a nice walk through his quiet neighborhood to reach his apartment, which is pretty great. He's renting it from an owner, which means it's better than direct rent places, and even has a specially added FULL kitchen with real countertops, which is super rare in Japan and especially in Tokyo. I met his girlfriend Mio there and after I took a quick shower (had gotten all sweaty with that journey) we went out to dinner. We had burgers in a cute little place nearby and it was fun. Then we walked through the neighborhood; a drunk salaryman attempted English with us! I let Will handle that one. After that though my energy started to flag fast and I passed out pretty quickly after that.

Of course, I woke up around 3:30 am. Will had left his iPad out for me to use, so I played around on it for a while, updating people, and then it started to get light outside so I sat on the balcony and took pictures, and once it got light I started to feel excited about being in Tokyo, in Japan, and about the day ahead of me.

View from Will's balcony. The tall tower in the background is in Shinjuku.

Then I started watching TV and found an amazing program that was literally just footage of various birds and animals in nature, annotated only with their name at the beginning of each segment, set to classical music. It - was - fantastic. Then I repacked my suitcases. I did fall back asleep but not until 6 or so. Got up again around 7:30 and Will escorted me to the station. Will was really the best host and I am so happy he let me stay with him! YES to old Japanese 101 classmates who now live in Tokyo.

From Yoyogi-kouen Station it was Chiyoda Line to Kokkai-gijidou-mae Station, transferring there to the Marunouchi Line which took me to Tokyo Station. I walked just a short distance to the first bullet train entrance I found and located a coin locker that could fit my bags. I left them there and went to ride the Keiyou Line to Shin-Urayasu Station, where my host mom and sister would be waiting in their car to pick me up and take me back to their house for breakfast! Ahhh, it was so wonderful to see them again!!! And to see the house again! Ahhhhhh, memories!! My host mom is now 42 (instead of 36) and my host sister is now 13 (instead of 7) so things have changed! They also have a Chihuahua now (named Milk) in addition to the Pomeranian, Koron, I knew before. We had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon (cut up into pieces, not strips), toast (also cut up into pieces), toasted (?) tortillas, and lettuce and tomatoes for salad. Definitely a western style breakfast, unfortunately my host mom knows all too well how picky I am...

My host mom thinks my Japanese has improved by leaps and bounds since the last time I saw them, and she's probably right. It's funny though that in that time period during which the Japanese improvement took place, I hadn't been to Japan once! But it was actually really nice because I feel like our communication has just opened up immensely. Before, I probably couldn't communicate a vast majority of the things I wanted to say. Now, I feel like I can say just about anything as long as the topic isn't too complicated (like economics, etc), even though I'm sure I'm making small mistakes. I like to think that if I could know how my Japanese sounds to native Japanese speakers, it probably sounds like how my friends' immigrant parents' English sounds to me. Which is to say, obviously not perfect but not bad or irritating by any means. I hope that's the case, anyway. So it's like the world has just opened up and I can be much more honest with them and have more real conversations about true feelings than I could in the past. I felt like I was finally letting a lot of my personality shine through, more than I ever had before with them, and it was wonderful. Of course, there were times when my host mom thought my Japanese was better than it was and she said some things I couldn't follow (which actually happens fairly often with me, with a lot of Japanese people...), and a few times when my pride wouldn't let me ask her to repeat them and instead I nodded along, but overall it went really well.

After breakfast my host mom drove me and my host sister around on a tour of Shin-Urayasu, mostly to all the places I used to go! It was so great, I feel so grateful that she indulged me in that wish. First we went to a park that was right on the ocean...

Host mom and sister on the Chiba coastline!

...then we went to Ito Yokado, a supermarket/department store with a food court on the ground floor. I had forgotten this completely, but since that place is right by Meikai University where my study abroad classes were held, I went to that food court with the other students several times. Before we got there I had told my host mom "Hmm, maybe I went here once..." and then once we got there and everything looked so familiar I had to revise that: "Wait, never mind, I've actually been here countless times!!" Then I noticed that there was shaved ice sold at a traditional Japanese food place, and my host mom decided to buy us all some. She got strawberry milk flavor, Na-chan (host sister) got grape, and I got melon. Yes! I love melon flavor in Japan! This was actually my first time eating Japanese shaved ice... well, unless you count the self-serve stuff at the Y's all-you-can-eat/drink place we used to go to. But I don't think that counts! Anyway, it was really good.

So we walked around the Meikai campus while eating shaved ice, which really helped with the heat and sun! We walked over to where the IES classes were held, and the building is still the same; we couldn't go in but we could see the signs. As always, it remains totally isolated from the rest of campus! Whyyyy? But, whatever!

The building where I had Japanese classes from Sept-Dec 2006.

At some point during the tour, we drove close to by the route I used to take to get from where I lived to the train station (which I'd ride one stop to Shin-Urayasu), and my host mom was like "Look! That's right near by where you fell off your bike!!" and I was just like "......I had hoped you'd forgotten about that..." haha. After that, my host mom dropped me and Na-chan off at the station, while she took the car back to the house since my host dad needed it, and rode the bus back to the station to meet us. In the meantime Na-chan and I visited the food court in the Daiei building by the station (which is where we all usually ate lunch after class--something that seems sooooo strange to me now, eating out for lunch EVERY DAY!! That was back when I cared a lot less about what I ate--so it was super nostalgic! Some places have changed, like the yakisoba place is replaced with something else, but a lot is still the same!). We also went to the 300 yen shop inside the station building, which I am so glad is still there! I loved that place, but it's a bit different now. The socks and accessories sections are smaller, while the home goods sections are much larger. There's also a big focus on "natural" type products (things that look simple, earthy, etc), which is a trend I'm noticing everywhere in Japan now as compared to six years ago. Then we went back to the Daiei building since Na-chan wanted to go to the pet store there. Kanako-san (host mom) found us there, and we got on the train and rode it one stop over to Maihama, which is the Tokyo Disney Resort station, since I wanted to go to Ikspiari, another place my host family took me to a lot. Ikspiari is like the equivalent of Downtown Disney, a shopping center right outside the parks. We went to the big Disney store there, and my host mom ended up buying us all these little wet towel things that absorb water but don't feel dripping wet, and you can use them to cool off in the heat. Mine is Minnie Mouse! Again, getting super spoiled by my host family...

From there it was time to head to Tokyo Station. I was fine going alone but my host mom said she and Na-chan would come along to see me off. In the end, I am glad they did. Because things got crazy from this point on. While we were on the platform waiting for the train, I pulled out my wallet thinking I'd show them my alien registration card. Only--it wasn't in my wallet. And it wasn't in my bag, anywhere. And I had no reason to think it would be anywhere else than where I'd put it, in a slot in my wallet. Then I realized what must have happened. When I got the card, I put it into the one empty card slot in my wallet, the one on the edge, which I had previously stuffed full of all kinds of reward cards, which I had emptied knowing I wouldn't need them in Japan. But because it had been stuffed with like 5-10 cards, it had gotten stretched out, so if you put just one card in it, that card would be likely to fall out. I had forgotten that, so I put the card in there anyway. (What's frustrating is that if I hadn't put a car insurance card into my wallet just in case I needed it while I was at home driving for those two days, and if I had remembered to take it out before I left, I would have put the alien registration card in that pocket instead, and it probably wouldn't have fallen out. Ugh! But I was so busy getting stuff ready and packing right up until the last minute, I forgot at least three things including to take out the car insurance card. Really, losing this card is a sign of how incredibly busy and stressed I've been and how forgetful that's made me.) Anyway, since that card pocket is right on the edge of the wallet--which can double as a clutch--a card in it could fall right out onto the ground. And that's exactly what happened the night before, walking around with Will and Mio, carrying only my wallet. Uuugghhhhh.

So, this is VERY BAD. As a foreigner in Japan you are supposed to have that card on you at all times and it's the one thing aside from my passport and money I should NOT have lost. But I did. So, on the train my host mom called the police for that neighborhood (probably--I'm not certain, but I think that she called the right one) and notified them; of course they didn't have it. And of course I didn't have time to go back and look for it, I had my bullet train to Hiroshima to catch. And THEN we got to Tokyo Station and it was crazy and nothing looked familiar, so it was impossible to find the locker where I'd stowed my luggage! Finally, I found it, but that meant I only barely made my train. We seriously had moments of running through the station, dodging people, first without the luggage and then with it, and after I said goodbye to them (in disbelief that my situation had gotten that bad and they'd had to help me out so much!) and passed through the gates alone I went up to the wrong platform and there was no down escalator to get back to where I could get up to the right one. By the time I FINALLY got to my train, it was minutes away from leaving, and I had emerged near car 7 and needed to be in car 15. I had to board it right there and begin walking through all the cars with all my stuff, sweaty and dehydrated, and before I got to my seat the train started moving. I was also quite possibly the only foreigner on the entire train; at least I didn't see anyone else, so standing out when I was already having a bad time was another unpleasant thing. Let's just say I was fairly miserable for the first half an hour of the journey... but I got water and a bit of food (I had planned to buy a lunch at the station but thanks to the locker search had no time), I rehydrated, I changed out of my sweat-soaked jeans, I calmed down... but I still just couldn't relax the entire time, which sucks because I had really been looking forward to taking the bullet train and having a long stretch of time to enjoy myself.

Then I got to Hiroshima Station and didn't see anyone from the company waiting outside the gates! I walked around for 10 minutes, again carrying the heavy luggage, and finally saw someone, and met up with a small group, and we got back on the trains to ride 45 minutes, and then a car ride, to this training facility out in Higashi-Hiroshima (east Hiroshima). It is like the middle of nowhere out here, but I guess it doesn't really matter.

Today was the first day of training, and it was all right. For some reason I was really panicky all morning, I think I've just been wearing myself too thin and the shocks of yesterday (losing an important thing, almost missing my train) really did a number on me. I had recovered by the afternoon, which is good because that's when we divided into groups and did a 5-minute lesson. I wasn't nervous, but I knew since it was only my second time teaching something it wasn't going to go very well, and I did get a lot of critiques. Basically, I need to smile more and appear more confident/comfortable up at the front, but I think that last bit can only come from experience and until then I have to fake it. In short I have to try and be a very good actor. Acting like an extrovert though I am not, acting comfortable with 30 pairs of eyes on me when I am not, etc. Before I tried the lesson I had been even a little excited to get up and give it a go, but now I'm just aware of all my shortcomings and how hard this is for me. I'm going to keep trying but it's just not something that comes naturally. I have no idea what the rest of the week holds (except that Friday is our "final exam" where we will each give a full 45/50-minute lesson in front of everyone else) but I'm sure it will only get worse from here, but I guess my teaching can only get better. Well, with any luck.

As for the alien registration card, I told the company about it immediately and it should be fine, but I'll have to go to city hall first thing upon arriving in my new home next week and hopefully be able to obtain a document saying my new card is being processed, and then use that document to do things like open a bank account and get a cell phone that I would have needed the actual card for. As you can see, the card is pretty important!! And I lost it! Ugghhh. This is the year of losing really important, really valuable things for me. It's like the third or fourth thing I've lost. I am sick of it!

Anyway, it's been a whirlwind. I'm doing fine jet lag wise, but I can't wait for things to calm down, and for teaching to be less stressful. Use simple English without rambling... control your gestures... smile... appear excited... get the kids engaged... so much to remember...

Back to Japan...

I guess I've been waiting a long time to be able to write this entry (backdated to the day/time of my arrival in Japan this third time around). I always knew I'd resurrect this blog the next time I came back to Japan, but I didn't know it would take me six years to do so. A brief recap is probably in order. I started studying Japanese in college, after wanting to study it for a long time and picking up random words over the course of adolescence. That desire was thanks to a teenage obsession with anime and manga I'll blame on the bad influences friends who got our whole group into it. This coincided with the discovery that I might have a knack for foreign languages, and after I added French to Spanish in high school it only made sense to add Japanese too once I could since I'd been exposed to it for a while by that point. Thus, I chose a college that had a Japanese program over one that did not, and I forced my way into Japanese 101 after the course had already closed. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved learning Japanese almost immediately and had a great time with all my classmates, so much so that I ignored my declared French major to apply to live in the Japanese wing of my school's language house. I was accepted and spent a wonderful sophomore year in the Japanese house, punctuated by a January term to Japan that was my first trip abroad; I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship that paid for it. As part of the course/trip, I stayed with a host family in Chiba (near Tokyo) for one week and spent two more weeks traveling around Japan. Some of my fellow travelers/classmates were not my ideal people to spend 2-3 weeks with, and some parts of the itinerary were not quite aligned with my interests, so it was an uneven trip overall but the impressions of Japan stayed with me. It had been such a different experience from anything I'd ever known, and it was such a trip to be in the place with the language and cultural exports I'd been familiar with for about six years by that point, since a formative time in my youth. I thought it might be a fun one-off adventure, but upon my return I started to almost miss it more and more. Then more and more people I knew from the language house decided to study abroad in Japan the next fall, and our native-Japanese-speaker TA who lived in the house with us announced she was taking a job with the study abroad program everyone was doing, and would be working in their office. Hearing all that, I couldn't resist deciding to join them, which meant disrupting plans of a full year in Paris. It was a fantastic decision; I had the time of my life, made amazing friends, and got to live where I could see my old host family once a month and go into Tokyo anytime I wanted. After that experience, doing exactly what I loved, Paris was truly a disappointment (as nauseatingly entitled as that sounds--obviously, the city itself wasn't, because it's freaking Paris, but the program and people were). But that's another story...

My senior year of college, naturally, I started to think more and more about careers. I wanted to pursue a path that would allow me to use Japanese professionally (becoming a translator), but couldn't see how to make it happen. I'd apply for local Japanese-using jobs, but would always get rejected because I wasn't a native speaker or close enough. Same for the wonderful grad school with a translation program I found--my Japanese wasn't good enough to be accepted to it. So, since my Japanese needed to be better: move to Japan. But--I had just gotten into my first real relationship, and I wasn't willing to cut it short by departing for Japan as soon as I could upon graduation. We agreed that when he graduated, we'd move to Japan and teach English together, and in the meantime I would wait for him and look for jobs in a field that utilized my English degree and publishing internship experience. Four years later... haha. Four years later, I was working as an editor (/writer/proofreader) at a small coffee table book publisher, he had graduated and gone into digital forensics almost immediately, and it looked like I was on my own for this whole Japan thing. So, there were some twists and turns along the way, but finally I was able to do what I knew I'd needed to for years, and make moving to Japan a reality. And now here I am!

Before arriving in Japan, I quit my job at the beginning of the summer and spent the summer doing an intensive Japanese language program: Middlebury. We all had to sign a pledge swearing not to use English all summer, for two months/eight weeks, and we attended four hours of classes every weekday morning. We lived on a college campus in Northern California. I was sorted into the second-highest level there, a class of 10 people with four teachers, and ate meals in the cafeteria every day with other Japanese school students. It was fantastic. It was seriously one of the best experiences of my life. It's that feeling when you're doing EXACTLY what you want and need to be doing, and it feels so right. There were (many) stressful times too, and I had to do things I don't like (and would never have to do as a pro translator) such as writing Japanese and kanji by hand, but overall, it was a fantastic fabulous experience, I was lucky enough to make great friends and have largely amazing classmates, across-the-board awesome teachers, and it was just one of the best times of my life that prepared and primed me perfectly for coming to Japan. I'm convinced that it's one of the best ways to progress your Japanese--even more so that simply living in Japan. I recommend it to anyone, for any language. I miss it so much!

I'm going to live in Japan, teach English, and try to parlay my Japanese abilities (which right now are right on the cusp between intermediate and advanced) into a non-teaching job, and/or try to get a bunch of freelance translating assignments and start to build a portfolio. Eventually I want to go to that grad school with a translation program, but we'll see how everything plays out. I definitely don't plan to live in Japan forever, or indefinitely. It's hard being separated from my boyfriend, friends, family, and pet cat, and teaching isn't a natural fit for me (I'm an introvert), but I get to live in the place where they speak the language I love, and hear it and speak it myself just about every day. I'm going to make the most out of my time here and hope it all works out for the best in the end! I hope you enjoy following along on my adventures.

P.S. I'd also like to note that Audrey, one of my closest friend during my time studying abroad with IES Tokyo who was mentioned often in my fall 2006 posts, was killed on April 21, 2011. She was struck by a turning truck as she rode her bike around downtown Minneapolis. The news came as a complete shock to me and it's absolutely one of the worst tragedies I know. Audrey loved Japanese like I did, had so much promise ahead of her, and we had so much fun together during study abroad. We hadn't been in regular contact when she died, which I'll always regret, but she had been in my thoughts often, and now even more so. Audrey was a wonderful, fun person, and I'm so sad her life was cut short and she's gone.