Tokyo Orientation and Hedgehog Cafe
Tokyo Orientation was a gradual progression of boring and formal to less boring and less formal. The first day, after complimentary breakfast, was a LOT of speeches, by Japanese people and Western people alike, just telling us that what we're doing is an important mission in cross-cultural relations. I was talking with L, another San Francisco JET, about how crazy it was to actually finally be here in Japan. It was such a long process to get here, and to think that we made it out of all the people who applied was humbling.
The second half of the day, after all the speeches, was more useful. We learned about team teaching and had a great example from a second-year JET and her JTE (Japanese Teacher of English). I was really impressed by the JET since she had had no teaching experience prior to entering the program, and she was very composed and explained things well.
In the evening, we had a very intense session on Japanese manners. The session presenter was a former ANA flight attendant who does seminars for foreigners all over, about Japanese manners. She taught us the right way to bow (and how many seconds to count while bowing for formal, standard and casual bows!). She had one volunteer come up and have his bow critiqued, and we practiced with partners, both bowing and handing over business cards. We don't have business cards yet, but we practiced with our name badges. One intimidating thing happened during the presentation, when the presenter stopped her lecture to call out someone who was drifting off. She was very stern, but I guess with good reason, since we'd be integrating ourselves into Japanese workplaces very soon. Still, we were all exhausted from flying in and attending seminars all day, so I could sympathize with the guy.
After the day of seminars, we had a welcome dinner reception where I finally got to meet some of the people who would be in my area in Kyushu. I didn't stay very long though, because I was dead tired. I think I went to sleep around 8:30 or 9 that night!
The second day, we started bright and early with another complimentary breakfast, and then we attended panels according to the school level we'd be teaching — so I went to the high school panel. There was some good information about how to start off with our self-introduction lessons and such. Then it was a full day of speaking, vocabulary, writing and grammar workshops with current JETs. I thought they were run really well — very interactive, and I think they were planned in conjunction with the British Council, whose methods I really admire. So that made it even better.
We set about choosing the one we wanted to hold and play with. I wanted a small one! Almost all of them were sleeping, so I felt a little bad waking them up... But K and I each got one, and the shop staff took them out of the terrariums to put them in little boxes in front of us. We could pick them up and feel their spiky backs! It sometimes surprised them to be touched unexpectedly, but even when they bristled up, it didn't hurt us. We fed them a few mealworms (more like a snack for them than real food), but JR insisted it was murder so he didn't contribute. (!) K made some great faces for pictures, while holding the little creatures. We learned from the shop staff that the hedgehogs live for about five years. After our time was up, we headed out. We had some pasta in a nearby restaurant and had a nice chat, then made our way to ice cream. The place, Hobson's, was originally started in Santa Barbara!
After that, JR showed us his swanky Roppongi apartment and insisted he is the JR that owns the Japanese Rail company. Not hard to believe, since he lives in such a rich neighborhood... We had some tea and watched a little Japanese TV, before I headed back to the hotel and K went home. It was a great day in Tokyo, and I was exhausted! The next morning, I would fly down to Oita prefecture with the other JETs in my area.
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