The AET Meeting in Hiroshima 

My First Days In Japan

I flew to Japan from Seattle, Washington. I met the three exchange students from Bremerton who were part of the same program that I went with over seven years ago. Melody, Monica, and Josh. Josh looked very exhausted. Monica looked frazzled. Melody looked calm and ready. After I assured the parents that their children were in good hands, we went through security and on to our terminal.
The plane ride was uneventful. I sat in business class, which was extremely comfortable. I got a chance to check out the seats that the students were sitting in and boy, would that have been too uncomfortable for me. We arrived and got through immigration without much difficulty. At the baggage claim, I discovered that one of my suitcases had been knocked around and bent out of shape and would no longer close. I had to bind it with packing tape as a quick fix. My Sonicare toothbrush was also missing.
After an incredibly easy jaunt through customs, we met up with Masato Miyaoka, who works as a liaison at the International Exchange Square and was to be our guide until we got to Kure. He looked about 25, though he's actually 33. My first impression was that he felt out of his element and possibly in over his head – this feeling didn’t really go away until we got into Hiroshima. He seemed confused and flustered trying to navigate us through Osaka station, Kyoto station, and Kyoto itself.
At that point I wasn't sure how I felt about being back in Japan. I was really tired from the trip and I'm not sure if the pressure in my head was purely physical or a combination of that and the nagging feeling that possibly I shouldn’t be here. It was nice to hear Japanese again, though my Chinese quickly found it’s way into even my basic sentences.
The next day we spent touring around Kyoto. Fortunately for both Mr. Miyaoka and us, we contracted out the tour guide duties to a young med-student named Eri with tremendous English (albeit New Zealand accented). Kyoto was beautiful and the temples were lovely. Mostly, however, I was concerned with the heat and the massive amount of sweating I was doing while walking here and there.
In the evening, I had some delicious eel. It was the first time I was actually excited to be in Japan. Good food always does that to me. Melody and Monica are shopaholics, Josh frequently wandered off solo (sending Miyaoka into quiet conniption fits), and Eri reminded me a lot of Sabrina (great English from movies, lots of Western male friends). This day reminded me that I prefer traveling alone or with people with similar interests. Oh, how I hate shopping, hiking, sightseeing etc at someone else’s pace.
We left Kyoto in the morning, bound for Kure. Kyoto station is absolutely beautiful - it reminds me of a giant, indoor mountain valley. Check it out if you get the chance. We caught the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. When we arrived in Hiroshima, we had some delicious okonomiyaki – my first real okonomiyaki since I left Kure 7 years ago. It was a big hit with all three exchange students, the first such Japanese dish to inspire a positive reaction from all of them. After lunch, we met Yuko, one of Miyaoka’s coworkers. She accompanied us in the city’s van on the final leg of our trip to Kure.
When we arrived in Kure, we were met with the customary welcoming ceremony – almost exactly like it was when I was an exchange student. Josh made a short and painful speech in Japanese, reminiscent of one of my fellow exchange student's speech. Oh well. I also made a very brief speech and received flowers. Only the second time in my life I’ve been given flowers.
I got to meet Jennifer and some of the other ALT’s, including Rome. Jennifer, Rome, and Christen took me on an abbreviated tour of Kure and I got to see my soon-to-be apartment. Jennifer seemed nice enough, but did indeed put off a lot of the negative energy I thought she would, given the tenor of her emails. Rome seems like a nice guy and is fairly knowledgeable about the city and its various amenities.
At 6pm, the official welcoming party began. The tables were covered with delicious-looking food but there weren’t any chairs. Jennifer told me this was to encourage mingling. The party was fun and rather breezy. Jennifer, Melody, and I all made speeches, as well as the mayor (still the same mayor), the local MP, and a couple others. I met a few new people as well as some old ones. Of note, Miki Tomari, one of the exchange students to Bremerton from the same year as me. Now, she’s graduated from the university and is going to grad school. She looked great. I also met Mrs. Orimoto, Dustin’s host mother. Of all the people I met, I was happiest to meet Noriko, a woman Miyaoka described as “a very powerful woman.” She is in her fifties but has a tremendous presence. Everyone I’ve talked to that knows her speaks very highly of her. We chatted mostly in English, though she impressed me with a few sentences in Chinese and excellent Spanish. She is now my Japanese teacher.
I spent the weekend adjusting to the climate and sorting through my odds and ends. I stayed in a hotel for the first 6 days while waiting for Jennifer to depart. On Monday, I met Mr. Kyoichi Sakata, my supervisor at the Board of Education. He is a very nice man. We had lunch and chatted about the job and about my various responsibilities. He is quite busy (he has 17 other JETs to take care of) and often works until 11 or 12 at night. All this, and he has a 1 year old daughter to take care of.
His explanation of the job left me feeling like I would be bored. Here in Kure, I am an Assistant English Teacher (AET from here on out) and that means I'm pretty much just that, an assistant. Unlike last year in Taiwan where I had my own classes and my own curriculum, in Kure I'm basically an extremely well-paid tape recorder. Realizing this has solidified my plans to leave after a year, despite everyone here expecting me to stay three like the last two AETs from Bremerton. We'll see how it goes.

Pete At Karaoke 

My First Blog

Hello Everyone,

This is my new blog to tell the story of my year in Japan. I created it so that my friends and family can keep track of me and know what I'm up to. I'll try to post something new every week with pictures aplenty, so please check it often. Please post any comments because I'd love to hear from you.

As Always,
Pete