week one in nihon land

The first week in Japan was a bit odd to be honest. Orientation in Tokyo was a good way to meet people but after many conversations of 'who are you? where are you from? where are you going to be living?' things started to get a bit tedious and i wanted to get into real Japan with natives and experience Japan rather than the inside of a very nice hotel. But i had the chance to meet some other JETS from the UK and from other parts of the globe which was well worth it, including some lovely ladies and a gent from Fukishima :) who i would love to venture out to see, and a couple of mad ones from Hokkaido.

During the three days in Tokyo i also got to meet some of the people i will be living near in Fukui. My first experience of Karaoke took place which was suprisingly fun! It was a tiny little room that we sat in by ourselves with a TV and microphones, and away we went. It was all very relaxed and informal. The best part of the Karaoke was using the telephone in the room to place orders for drinks and also the amazingly cheesey music videos with japanese actors.

We then took an 8hr bus ride to Fukui which is in west Japan right across from Tokyo. Luckily the journey went pretty quickly coz i got to sit next to a rather funky monkey who was quite a laff! When we arrived in Tokyo the temperature was a lot higher and really sticky...mmm. We stayed in another hotel and had a few days orientation about what it is like to live in Fukui etc etc, this orientation was a lot more useful, and it was good to finally get a chance to talk to and socialise with some of the new and old JETs in the area. The meal on the first night was amazing, with tonnes of different japanese dishes. The raw fish was especially amazing.

The final day of orientation involved meeting my supervisor. This is the guy who will be my first port of call for any problems and so it was a pretty important and scary meeting! Mura sensei is a thirty something very quiet guy but with good English. He took me from the orientation to sort out bank accounts and lots of odds and ends before heading to my new pad...!