Next, finding a phone. Everyone had a phone and it seemed important to get one as soon as possible. In the phone shop, which was enormous, everything was of course written in Japanese, all the prices, plan details and promotions. Everything you wish to buy in Japan comes in every colour you knew existed. My supervisor accompanied me. I now had the added pressure of which phone to get, how much money to spend and how to cause her the least inconvenience. As it turned out, she knew practically nothing about phone shopping. Asking “how much is this one?” turned into a shop assistant coming over, half an hour of quiet tooing and frooing in Japanese and the expectation that I would purchase it. "Which is the cheapest one?" didn’t seem to help either; the choice seemed barely narrowed down. I was simply bewildered. They didn’t seem to give me any information that illuminated the task in any way. Every time I found one that I could envisage owning, it was too expensive. Eventually I found one that I liked, the price was suitable. It was even waterproof, which for me is a creditable bonus feature. It was out of stock. I decided to leave the shop.
Opening a bank account was not much of an easier task; I had to write my address in Chinese characters, which at least created some amusement for my supervisor. We had to go away and come back when my alien registration card had arrived. When I finally received my paying-in book for Kagoshima Bank it had The Moomins on it, which was cheery.
As it got to about Wednesday at work I started to get the feeling there was a strange aura about the dustbin. When applying for my alien registration card at City Hall Harada Sensei picked me up a booklet on recycling. Did this confirm my suspicions? On the Friday my supervisor made me go through the bin so I could pick out all of my rubbish- a cold coffee container, a sushi wrapper, some tissues. She explained everyone takes their rubbish home with them and only school rubbish such as rough paper or broken paper clips can be put in the bins at work.
The Introduction Class
I brought a poster or ‘Life Map’ with me to Japan. It was getting a little moth-eaten. I talked to Tomoko sensei, another English teacher at work, and we thought about laminating it. Being rather large, it required two sheets of laminator plastic. Something went wrong and it came out the other end like I’d been practicing hair crimping in the 90s. So we spent the next hour and a half in the home economics room ironing it out. Actually it turned out to be quite a good opportunity for a chat.
Going into class I was surprisingly un-nervous. This was the only familiar part so far. I gave my presentation using the newly laminated and ironed-out life-map and handed out some pictures. You never quite predict the things that people will be excited about and the things that they won’t. The picture I randomly took of Kings Cross station turned into the highlight piece as whispers of Harry Potter whizzed around the room.
At the end of the class the students had time to ask me questions. After being too shy to answer any of my questions during the presentation- like rabbits in the headlights- the few students who volunteered asked, “Do you have a Boyfriend?”, “Do you like Mr Fukudome?” (who was standing right there) and “If Mr Negama was an animal, what animal would he be?” I was impressed by the correct use of a conditional sentence. I knew of course he would be a hedgehog. But the student answered, “I think a cat”. Mr Negama gave him a pretend swipe across the head.
In the first week I somehow ate in the same Indian restaurant twice, which, in a bemusing way, is called 'Milan'. Once to meet the PA (Prefecture Advisor) in Kagoshima for the JET Programme and the next time with some other ALTs and a few of their Japanese friends. One girl taught us some Japanese onomatopoeia. ‘PECA PECA’ is ‘I’m hungry’, and ‘PAM PAM’ is ‘I’m full’.
On the Thursday I began Japanese class. When I arrived at the Cultural Centre I saw some other people from the JET programme and was a bit taken aback. The man spoke loads of Japanese and everyone started doing things. I was paired with a Japanese volunteer helper who didn’t have a word of English. We managed to work out our names and where we were from. Then everyone started to perform what they’d been asked to one at a time. It was horrible. I must have been pink. Everyone was staring.
Other JETs seem to have wanted to come to Japan their whole lives. They have some comprehension of Japanese or some strong connection, they lived here once when they were 6, or their parents lived here, or they studied Japanese in college, or they’ve always been an anime fanatic and are going to learn kendo. There’s a guy who lives below me from New Jersey, who although has never left the United States, has been planning to come for about 5 or 6 years. I think I need to come up with a better reason. I will say I want to learn taiko- the Japanese drum and how to deliver tea ceremonies.
Saturday was the first time I began to feel comfortable. I also met Sherri. Sherri was a JET 17 years ago. She arrived when she was 23 and stayed two years. When she went back to America her boyfriend here in Kagoshima told her he was in love with her and she came back and has been here ever since. They have two very cute children. Matt and I met Sherri because she saw an advert that Matt posted about needing a bed on the JET webpage. Sherri saw it and offered her van. We got chatting and I said I was looking for a bike. They knew where a cheap complex was, they were going to the hyaku (100) yen store anyway. I bought a purple bicycle with a basket for only £50. We wandered up to the pet shop with the children. There I saw a guinea pig with no fur and contemplated buying a turtle. I bought a miniature pot plant instead.
On the Sunday I decided to visit Sakurajima volcano since it had been eyeing me up all week. Matt and our bikes came too. As soon as we were on the ferry it started throwing ash and raining. Despite the rain, it was beautiful- palm trees along the side of the road, the sea on the right, this green volcano protruding from the earth on the left. I grasped a real sense of where I was living as we relaxed in an outdoor onsen (natural hot-spring) by the sea. Matt pointed out, “Not everyone has a volcano in their back yard”. And then I felt lucky.
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