July 26-27, 2011

The first morning I awoke around 4:15. The sun was already rising! This really is the land of the rising sun! I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I located the hotel gym on the 7^th floor. I hopped on a treadmill that looked like it was made in the 1990’s. After finally figuring out how to use it (buttons were all in Japanese) I had a nice run with a view of some buildings in downtown Tokyo. I definitely needed the workout after many hours of sitting down on the 13-hour flight. For breakfast, the hotel had French fries, salad, steamed vegetables, ham, fruit and cereal. A strange assortment but I was happy to get some food in my stomach.  At another station they had milk, orange juice, tea and coffee. The orange juice and milk were in little glasses. I drank six or seven glasses of orange juice and wondered if the Japanese hotel staff thought anything of it...The orientation was full of seminars on everything from “Japanese etiquette” to “Driving and living in rural Japan”. After the opening ceremony (there’s always some form of opening and closing ceremony in Japan for everything) they even had a short lesson on how to bow. There’s more to it than you would think!

The morning of the 26^th I decided to go for a jog outside the hotel. I made sure to stay fairly close, as I figured it could be easy to get lost in Tokyo. In-between sessions, I ran into Nathan, from the first flight to Dallas. It was good to see a friendly face. We decided to take a walk outside and explore. I have to say it ranks as one of the most exciting walks I’ve ever taken…the infrastructure is on a smaller scale, the Japanese characters, the different smells as we walked by restaurants, the styles of the people (I saw one girl who looked like a giant toy doll. Kinda scary.) and the little shops. That evening the U.S. Ambassador, John Roos, came and talked to all of the American JETs. His key point was that we were all ambassadors and that we should strive to represent the US well, especially during this crucial time for Japan. Later that night I went out with a couple guys and explored. We decided on a curry place to eat, called C&C. My first Japanese restaurant! This little curry cafe had a vending machine-looking box as we walked in. I couldn’t read what it said, but it had pictures. I inserted 500 yen and pushed the button for chicken and curry. I sat down at the counter and handed one of the young girls the ticket from the ticket box. She held up a sign with different spiciness levels and I picked the hottest one. Only a few minutes later and my food was ready, and it was delicious! A fried chicken cutlet over steamed white rice and curry on the side. Pleasantly surprised! The two guys I was with had studied in Japan together a couple years back, but I felt like a little kid, taking everything in and mesmerized by all the lights, people, food and shops. I also couldn’t help but shake the feeling that it was incredible, yet a little random, to find myself in the heart of Tokyo—a place I can’t say I ever expected to visit at this point in my life. Let the adventure begin!

July 23-24, 2011

Victor and I had a wake-up call set for 4:30 am. I think the ringer on the phone for the wake-up call is made to be louder than regular calls, at least that’s the way it seemed! We made it downstairs by 5 and caught the next shuttle bus to the airport. From Atlanta we flew to Dallas. I sat in an aisle seat and had a great conversation with Nathan and Frank, two JET Participants who sat next to me. On the next flight to Japan, I sat next to another JET Participant, but he didn’t seem too keen on having much conversation. He seemed more interested in listening to Japanese music (which the flight offered) or reading his Japanese novel. The first flight seemed short and I had fun talking with my two new friends. It seemed there would be no good conversation on the much longer flight to Japan. But I wasn’t totally out of luck. At the beginning of the flight, one of the flight attendants rolled by with a cart full of national and international newspapers—for free. That’s when I knew the flight would be ok. I gladly helped myself to an International Herald Tribune. To break up the long trip, the American Airlines flight had a TV on every seat, with games, music and movies. The flight also had three meals, snacks and drinks.

The flight arrived at Narita International Airport July 24. I left Dallas with daylight and arrived in Japan during daylight. Let the jetlag begin! Standing in the long immigration line, with English, Australians, Chinese and other citizens from around the world, I was both excited and exhausted. Immigration was painless and the officials at the airport were pretty helpful. Orientation volunteers from the JET Program had on pink t-shirts and greeted us after we picked up our luggage. From the airport, all JET Participants took buses downtown Tokyo to the Keio Plaza Hotel. I checked in with the JET Program in a large room on the second floor, grabbed my orientation bag, room key and other documents and headed to my room for some much needed sleep.

July 22, 2011

On July 22 I drove to Atlanta in a rental car. It was a brand new Ford Focus and I thought it was fun to drive. A little less than six hours later I dropped it off at the Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport and then took a shuttle bus to the hotel where the new JET Participants would soon meet for orientation and a reception. I shared a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel with Victor Pope, who would also be placed in Chiba Prefecture…coincidence? The orientation was chalk full of information on just about anything you can imagine about living and working in Japan. I tried to take good notes. Before the reception, the Consulate General of the Japanese Consulate in Atlanta spoke. He thanked all JET Participants for deciding to travel to Japan, considering the awful earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the Tohoku region just a few months prior. He was not only thankful that we still wanted to promote internationalization, teach English and build friendships in Japan, but graciously expressed to us that the spirits would be raised of his fellow Japanese when they see that Americans still want to travel and live in Japan and help the Japanese people in any way we could.