Hajimemashite

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that any of this is real.  But I tell myself that it is, that I’ve been in Japan for a week, and that I’m not just here on a vacation.  It’ll sink in soon enough.  

After breakfast last Tuesday we made the four-hour drive from Narita to Funehiki.  Upon arrival I was greeted by a crowd of teachers from the kindergarten, a few of my fellow American English teachers, and some others.  After a brief introduction everyone returned to work and I went out to lunch to start meeting some of the other team members.  But before we left Kawai sensei handed me a paper to write down my name, home town, and a few of my interests/hobbies.  I briefly wrote down that I was from Ashland, OH and that I liked saxophone, biking, and snowboarding.  Little did I know, this paper was to be typed up in Japanese and handed out to every person that I would meet for the rest of the week.  

We went to lunch at a restaurant called Gusto, sort of a Japanese attempt at Denny’s.  The rest of the afternoon was spent at my apartment, moving in, getting to know some of the guys on the team.  That evening was team dinner, Japanese curry, where I got to meet the other team members that I had missed earlier in the day.   Honestly much of these first few days is already a blur because of the jet lag, so I won’t be able to give much more description than this.

Wednesday morning I got all dressed up in my new suit jacket and met the Board of Education.  I met Encho sensei on the drive over there.  He’s the guy running the show over here, the reason I was able to come over at all.  (To my friends in Buffalo, imagine him as a sort of Chuck Massey figure, except a little older.)  While in the car I told him how I had been in Japan as a baby, a story which he has already repeated many times as he introduced me to various people in town.  Most of the meeting with the Board of Education consisted of me sitting and smiling as everyone spoke around me in Japanese.  (My time in Japan has already given me a new appreciation for the refugees I worked with in Buffalo and the difficulties they face in trying to learn a new language and culture.)  Someone brought out some cold tea for us to drink.  It was made from roasted barley and tasted delicious.  I understand that it is a summer specialty around here.  I’ll definitely be getting some to have at home.  The board members had a couple of questions for me, which were thankfully translated into English.  One of them asked me how much Japanese I knew, and I responded that I mostly knew kid’s songs from when I was here as a child, which of course prompted a request for a performance.  So I rattled off the first few lines of “Zo-o-san, Zo-o-san” much to the general approval of the audience.  We said our goodbyes, and then it was off to Funehiki Jr. High (Fune-Chu) to meet with the principal before lunch.  Unfortunately the Principal was out of the office, but I was able to meet the Vice Principal.  It was similar to the meeting with the Board of Education, down to another cup of cold barley tea.  I sat and listened to their Japanese as the Vice Principal read my introduction sheet, learning that I like saxophone, biking, and snowboarding.  Lunch that day was out at a different restaurant where we had cold soba and tempura.  And the soba was freshly made.  The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur, that’s when the fog from jet lag starts to set in.  It involved some shopping, a trip to the bank to get money changed, etc.  We did make a special stop at a shop to get some daifuku.  Ever had those bean filled mochi-type balls you can get at Asian markets in the states?  It was like that, except they were filled with cream and fruit and all sorts of other goodies, and they were fresh.  Changed my life.

Thursday was my last big introduction before starting work: the mayor.  Seems like a really great mayor; he was happy to have me in the city.  The intro went pretty similar to my other introductions, except we got a picture and he gave me some of the special water they bottle out of one of the nearby caves. 

Me shaking hands with the mayor.

That afternoon some of the guys on the team took me out to the gorge, a little swimming whole just outside town frequented by us Americans, and no one else, it seems like.  They had just set up a rope swing, and we spent a couple hours swinging and swimming and dodging horseflies (rather unsuccessfully).  I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot more time out there as long as weather permits swimming.  

Friday was a pretty relaxed day with nothing official scheduled for me to do.  A few team members showed me around town, and we went to lunch at the new conveyor belt sushi place in town.  I don’t know when I will cease to be amazed at the food over here, but it will probably be a while.  Let me describe this place.  So there is a constant stream of different sushi plates making their way by the table on a lower conveyor belt.  If you see one that looks appetizing, you just grab it off the line.  If you want anything in particular there is a touch screen to place your order.  When your food is ready, it comes on a little train that runs above the main conveyor.  You take your food off the train, push the button, and send the train back to the kitchen.  When you are ready to go, you tap a button on the screen, and a waitress comes by to count up your plates.  It’s pretty simple: each plate is 100 yen, so however many you grabbed from the line and have sitting next to you empty dictates your bill.  I’ll be back there again soon.

The fast food of Japan.

Koriyama is the closest big city to Tamura.  They’ve got a couple of shopping centers, Starbucks, and an international food store.  So Saturday Celeste and Hope showed me how to use the train and gave me a brief tour of the high points of the city.  We went up a sky scraper called the Big-I next to the train station where we could see the mountain that is right next to Funehiki, so that was neat.  At the sporting goods store I found a bike I will probably buy, but I didn’t have the cash on hand to do it then.  I really really miss my old bike; I hope it is enjoying its new life without me.  On the train ride home Celeste offered her seat to and elderly lady who graciously accepted it.  The lady spoke excellent English, and we talked with her all the way back to Funehiki about her travels around the world, how Japanese schools have declined in the past few years, and the recent Buddhist festival.  Celeste said it was really surprising to run into anyone that spoke that level of English, especially someone that old.  There was one funny miscommunication, though.  She was asking where I lived, and I said just down the street from Celeste.  But she misunderstood, and responded, “Oh, you’re like me, homeless.”  I guess she thought I lived on the street, not down the street.  I will probably never see her again, but I am glad I was able to give her some company on the train and a chance to practice some English. 

Today was my first chance to go to Funehiki Evangelical Church.  I think I counted 10 Japanese in attendance, which meant that all the English teachers present nearly doubled the congregation.  At the end of the service they surprised me with a request to say a few words about myself in front of the group, but I’m starting to get used to being asked to do these sort of things last minute, so it wasn’t so bad.  School starts tomorrow, and it will be a day full of more introductions and who knows what else.  Fingers crossed.