Seeing my desk for the first time in a large hall/room of teachers and desks and realising I would be returning to it every weekday for the next year made me want to faint. I was told to put my suit jacket on and hurried into the headmasters’ office. I went through the meeting like in a dream. He spoke to me in Japanese. I could only respond with “hajimemashite” (how do you do). He then delivered a speech to me. Yanagita sensai took my bag from my shoulder and positioned me directly in front of him. Much pre-talk at the various inductions had pressed how first impressions are incredibly important in Japan. Afterwards I was given the certificate from which he had read, which had a translation. He welcomed me to the school and had revealed my monthly remuneration to everyone present!
That evening I met Matt, a guy from New Jersey who lives below me, and some other JETs who’d arrived in earlier groups. Most people have been here 3 weeks already. I didn’t have a phone number to give anyone. I spent the weekend alone figuring out my new life. A man came to the door. I just stood frozen. I had no idea what he was trying to say to me…
Despite being completely overwhelmed I could tell I’ve been lucky with my placement. I’m in an amazing location. In fact it’s impossible to imagine an apartment better situated. From my miniature balcony I can see into a Japanese garden. I’m by a park and 5 minutes from Amu Plaza, a huge shopping mall with a cinema, shops, gym, food hall and a Ferris wheel! It’s also an easy walk from the docks and Dolphin Port and there’s a French bakery nearby. I’m right in the heart of Kagoshima City.
My apartment is lovely. My predecessor evidently had quite good taste: earthenware crockery, vintagey chairs and bed sheets, an interesting character judging by the collection of books on the shelves, entitled, ‘Destructive Emotions- A scientific dialogue with the Dalai Lama’, ‘The Art of Happiness’, ‘Excuse me, your life is waiting’ and ‘The Heart and Soul of Sex’. I have also inherited Japanese study books, ‘250 Essential Kanji for Everyday Use’ and ‘An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese’.
It was a Monday morning start at work. I had been told to prepare a speech for the teachers and students. Yanagita checked it. The staff meeting commenced and I was immediately shoved in front of a microphone in front of 60 new Japanese colleagues and had to talk for 4 or 5 minutes in Japanese (reading from my little book). It was so out of this world that I didn’t have the energy to be nervous. I am the only foreigner in the entire school.
I could already tell from the height of the people in the staffroom that I was going to be the tallest person in the school, apart from the headmaster who stands out like a lighthouse beacon. We then had a school assembly in the gym (everyone takes their shoes off outside). The children all look so neat in matching uniforms and shoes, which are colour coded according to what year they are in. I had to go up on the stage and introduce myself to 900 students.
Exhausted and still suffering from jetlag I started teaching the next day. I felt a sense of being pushed into the deep end in classes of 40 students, but at the same time it was more funny than just sitting in the teachers’ room, like many other JETs. And since I’ve done it before, it came as a welcome relief.
