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.