July
I
arrive in Japan. A few nights at the classy Keio Plaza hotel for the Jet
orientation conference, from where I steal the indoor slippers that I still use
today. I make a few new friends, and hang out with Hide, a Japanese friend
I know from Nottingham university. He shows me Shinjuku (photo), the Soho
area of Tokyo.
Sadly, we don't have enough time to get the city fully.
The conference is a bit of a waste of time in retrospect, but it seemed
important back then. I speak my first Japanese to this woman at a
restaurant, where I try to explain that I am vegetarian. I'm only there
for three days, then I leave for Fukue, in Nagasaki-ken and my new home.
August
My
first month in Japan is all about getting to know the Island and meeting new
people. It's just me on my own for the first week, then I meet some new
people. I walk around a lot, find the library, a computer lab and join the
Badminton club.
Later I get to know all of the Gaijin in the place, Ros &
Grant were ALT's the last year, Jen is a new ALT who arrives a week after me,
Craig is a wanderer guy who just ended up here and there is Gavin who used to be
an ALT at the high school and married here. Then there is Michael and his
family who were incredibly nice to me. He showed me the Island, which
is
gorgeous in the Summer and we celebrated the Obon festival, where a party is
thrown for the spirits of your dead ancestors.
There is also a conference in Nagasaki where I hang out with
Patrick and Brendan (photo). Get to see Nagasaki, which is great city, and
meet a ton of new people too. Oh yeah, I bought a scooter, ran a half
marathon and went windsurfing too.
September
We have a new girl arrive called Amy, and her boyfriend
Spencer gets here a few weeks later - that makes it 9 Gaijin
(foreigners) on the island altogether. I start doing a lot of sport, the
Island is famous for a triathlon which I'm interested in doing. I go to
Don-Don Buchi, a rock pool place with crystal clear water, some small waterfalls
and a rock that you can jump off (photo).
I get
ADSL, which is a life saver! I can now watch English TV, loads of movies,
Angel, 24 & Smallville as well as talk to my friends in England over the
internet. There is also a beach party in Narao - loads of fun, and its
good to not have to speak any Japanese at all for a while, but I twist my ankle
in a Sumo fight. Oh yeah, and I finish fourth in the Fukue Petanque
(photo) tournament on my first ever attempt, I play with my bosses & I win an
oven grill thing.
