We had a long flight. Arriving at the hotel in Tokyo around 5:00 PM
Tokyo time, I've been traveling for close to a full 24 hours--we had
to turn up at the airport at 5:00 AM Boston time for an 8:00 departure
(there's a 13 hour time difference between Tokyo and Boston, so that's
6:00 PM Tokyo time). Being a travel day with several groups showing
up throughout the day, we get the evening free--I was fortunate enough
to connect with another Dartmouth alum doing JET (Margaret Fitchet
'08--Dartmouth folk might recognize her as one of the class
valedictorians) before leaving, so we've been keeping each other
company in travel so far which has been a big help.
There are about a thousand of us here for Tokyo orientation, which
takes place primarily over the next two days here in the hotel.
There're a lot of talks and seminars, some of which will be useful
(going through our job duties in depth and offering advice and ideas
for lesson plans) and some of which is more of the formal,
must-be-said-but-isn't-that-useful variety. The days are likely to be
hectic, but hopefully not too overwhelming.
As an aside, this is the first time I've ever had to wear business
attire. Already a reminder that this is a job, and we're expected to
treat it as such. When we first arrived at the hotel they gave us a
couple pounds of materials for reference, both from JET (Japan
Exchange Teaching, the program that set me up with the prefecture I'll
be working for) about our job and from the US embassy with information
about America (as de facto ambassadors for the country, I guess they
want us to have some reference material).
On the bright side, I found out on the ride from the airport that the
students don't start back to class until September 1 (they're on
vacation right now), so I'll hopefully get to ease in to my job
slowly--I'm working at a few junior high schools and a couple
elementary schools, so I'm sure to have a lot of staff and coworkers
to meet and greet once I get to my home in Yazu on Wednesday.
aa, Tokyo. Hisashiburi da nee.
The hotel we stayed in was veeery big, very posh. This is the view from the 42nd floor, with the Shinjuku tower staring back at us.
They crammed about 800 of us into a rather small (relatively speaking) room for most of the general proceedings--their regular banquet hall was closed for construction.
One evening we ventured from Shinjuku to Shibuya. You might recognize the name/sights from Lost in Translation.
A blurry shot of Shibuya taken on the walk--the Tottori folks went to get Mexican near here. Apparently it's impossible to find in Tottori...
The Tokyo Tower, taken from a bus heading towards the airport...
zya, Tokyo. Mata desu ne.
