So You're Moving to Japan....

I'm starting to get really excited about the new JETs coming to Towada (and Shichinohe)! (Thanks for the comments, Bryan. I've fixed the old photo links, by the way!) It's really too bad that I'm going to be gone for the first two and a half weeks of August, so I won't be able to help them as much as I'd like, but hopefully I'll be able to prepare things and/or answer questions for them beforehand.

Anyway, all the preparations for the incoming JETs made me think about my own experiences preparing for Japan and my first few days/weeks/months here. There's a lot of stuff that JET/CLAIR tells JET participants, but this is the stuff that I personally thought was important (or regretted not taking care of).

Pre-departure preparations:

Vaccinations: If you're thinking about traveling to Thailand, other Asian countries, or Indian from Japan, it's best if you get your hepatitis A/B and/or malaria shots before coming to Japan, as it can be rather expensive and troublesome to get it done here.

Documentation: If you're planning on driving in Japan, make sure you get an International Driver's Permit before you leave! Also, you should bring proof (old passports, original university transcripts, pay stubs, etc.) that you were in the country for at least three months after your driver's license was issued. If you stay a second year, you will need this in order to get a Japanese license.

Will/Power of Attorney: Just in case, get this done before you leave.

Credit Card/Banking Information: Make sure you inform your bank/credit card companies that you will be moving to Japan. Some companies may even mail your statements to you in Japan! Also make sure that you have the international contact information for your accounts, as well as your account information (especially if you want to transfer money home through a service like Go Lloyds).

Airline Rewards: Find out what airline you will be using to get to Japan. If you don't already have an airline reward card for that airline, inquire about getting one. For Canadians, you can get Aeroplan miles from Air Canada for your flight to Japan. You can also get Aeroplan miles from ANA and various other airlines that are part of the Star Alliance. (I flew to Singapore for free this May thanks to points accumulated from flying to and from Japan, plus a flight to Europe before I left for Japan.)

Join your local JET community (list serve, forum, MSN group, Facebook group, etc.; e.g. aomorilist): It's a good way to learn about what goes on in your local JET community, and you can find lots of stuff going on sale right now (cars, snowboards, etc.) from departing JETs.


In terms of packing, here's the short list (in no particular order) of what I'd bring, leave, limit and consider:

Bring
- laptop: you may or may not have a computer to use in your office/school
- sturdy backpack: you'll likely have lots of lesson materials to carry around; also good for trips
- cereal: Japanese cereal is too sweet for my tastes and North American brands are expensive (800 yen for a small box of Cheerios!)
- North American/ethnic spices (e.g. garlic powder)
- medication (e.g. cough syrup, Tylenol, Advil, Neo Citron, etc.) : you work with children, so there's a good chance you'll get sick, particularly in the winter, and if you get a local prescription, you will get five different types of medicines, most of which will be considerably less potent than North American non-prescription medicines
- toothpaste: Japanese toothpaste doesn't have fluoride and often doesn't foam in the same way North American toothpaste does; travel size ones are good to bring to school, since all students and teachers brush their teeth after lunch (up to junior high, at least)
- flat sheet: you never know what type of bedding your predecessor has left you
- battery-operated alarm clock: it'll take a bit of time before you get a cell, and plug in clocks will run slow due to the voltage difference; punctuality is important in Japan, so the alarm clock is vital!
- long underwear (top and bottom): winters are COLD, especially in old houses
- sports wear: all schools have sports days, so if you want to join in...
- indoor shoes (dress & sports): you *can* wear visitor slippers at your school(s), but I always feel like they'll slip off, especially on the stairs!
- ONE good black suit: for various school ceremonies and to make a good first impression with co-workers, city officials, etc. (for guys, I've heard it's hard to find dress shirts with the proper collar size and/or sleeve length, so you may want to make sure you bring a week's supply of dress shirts for work)
- lots of polo T-shirts: comfortable (especially in the summer) but (usually) formal enough for the office; can be layered with v-neck long-sleeved tees or sweaters in the winter
- mummy sleeping bag: use in the winter and save on heating costs!
- sanitary products (obviously, girls only): it's nice to not have to worry about such things; I brought a one-year supply and I don't regret it at all
- ONE towel: again, you don't know what your predecessor has left, but you can easily buy more in the 100 yen store, so just one is sufficient
- ONE bar of soap: North American brands are available in Japan (e.g. Dove), but it's good to have something to start with
- ONE toothbrush: you can always buy more at the 100 yen store!
- sunscreen: I know lots of ALTs who have gotten pretty bad sunburns (you also have to remember to apply it!)
- moisturizer: I've had allergic reactions (even in Canada), so it's a good idea to bring tried and tested skincare products
- USB key/external hard drive: good for printing things off a school/office computer and for sharing files with other ALTs
- 300,000 yen cash: I used the cash I brought to pay for my trip back to Canada (for a wedding) and most of my car in October
- layering pieces (v-neck long sleeve T’s/sweaters, etc.): outside, inside your home, and in school corridors it may be freezing, but in classrooms it may be boiling, so layering is the best way to ensure comfort in all situations!
- nice cardigan/blazer: again, layering is important, and a nice cardigan/blazer is good for dressing up a more casual sweater/shirt
- stickers (SpongeBob, Winnie the Pooh, Canadian/American, etc.): even up to third grade in junior high school, students love "seals"
- Japanese text/reference books: the first month--before school visits, before you have much real office work, before you have a car to get around with--is a great time to work on your Japanese!
- country/hometown specific food stuffs (for souvenirs: small bottles of wine/alcohol, local sweets, teas, etc.): the most appreciated omiyage for co-workers, and good for giving other nice/helpful people (English-speaking travel agent, eikaiwa students, etc.) you meet
- letter-size photo of your family: for your self introduction
- a few books you can read over and over and over again: English books are hard to come by in smaller cities/towns

Leave
- random souvenirs (pens, key chains, bookmarks, pins, etc.): I've got a bunch just taking up storage space
- Costco-sized shampoo: Japan has North American brands like Herbal Essences and Dove anyway
- bags that close with magnets: BEWARE! bank passbooks and some membership cards are easily de-magnetized
- stationary: Japan is the land of excellent stationary, and most of it can be found at the 100 yen store!

Limit
- T-shirts (five is plenty): unless you change everyday after coming home from school, you'll only really wear them on the weekends
- socks (a week’s supply is sufficient): Japanese washing machines are small, and few people have dryers, so you'll be doing laundry at least once every week, if not every couple of days (for girls, though, make sure you bring a pair or two of good pantyhose, since your office may not approve of bare legs!)
- jeans (two pairs are sufficient): again, you'll only really wear them on weekends

Consider
- English manga (if you’re a fan): students are always impressed to see manga in English; Bleach is still popular right now
- laptop backpack (I love the one I bought from Mec!)
- mittens: hard to find in Japan; gloves are not a problem, though
- reminders of home (favourite stuffed friend, a flag signed by your friends, etc.): comforting in your first few days/weeks
- favourite movies: it's fairly easy to find cheap DVD players that play North American DVDs
- baking supplies (vanilla, measuring spoons/cups): Japanese measurements of "cups" etc. are slightly less than North American ones (about 20mL off)
- swimsuit: especially for girls, you may find buying a bathing suit hard on your wallet and your self-esteem (Japanese sizing for swimsuits is a lot smaller than North American sizing!)
- hand-cranking emergency flashlight/radio (you can keep it as part of your earthquake preparation kit!)
- small first aid kit: maybe I just don't know where to look, but I haven't found an actual first aid kit (I'd like one for the car, and one for my earthquake preparation kit--because I'm cautious like that)

Other things you should know about packing:

When you arrive in Tokyo Airport, you will ship one piece of luggage to your contracting organization. You get the bill for the shipping fees later. What you should keep in mind when deciding which bag you'll send ahead and which you'll keep (assuming you bring as much luggage as you're allowed) is that you may be taking a plane from Tokyo to your city/town/village.

The domestic checked baggage allowance for JAL is 15kg per piece, with dimensions of 50 x 60 x 120 cm, up to a maximum of 3 pieces(?). The weight allowance for unchecked baggage (1 piece only) is 10kg. If you have heavier luggage, you will need to ship it the night before you leave Tokyo, and you will have to pay for the shipping costs on the spot. In order to receive your luggage the next day, you have to bring your luggage before 6pm (or thereabouts--make sure you listen to the time your Prefectural Advisor tells you!), otherwise it will take 2 days before it's delivered!!

Even if you're taking a train, you'll probably want to keep your Tokyo bag fairly small, since you'll have to put any large pieces of luggage in the racks by the exiting doors of the train (separated from the seating areas by doors). You may also have a fairly long walk to your train platform, so if you've got a massive bag, it could be quite difficult.

It starts to get cold in northern Japan (Aomori Prefecture, Hokkaido) in mid-September, so if you decide to send your winter clothes by seamail, you may want to bring at least one zip up hoody or something in case it gets cold before your package arrives.

When you're entering Japan, if you've sent things by seamail or you know that your parents or friends will be sending packages to you after your arrival, you should make sure to declare those items on the customs/immigration form to avoid having to pay duty on them later ("unaccompanied articles" or something like that on the form).

Anyway, if there are actually other incoming JETs reading this, please feel free to comment or ask a question!

Lazy Days

I've been really lazy since moving into the apartment. I finally finished cleaning late on Thursday night, so Friday I spent pretty much the entire day (I got home from school around 4:30pm after hitting the bank and the 100 yen store) on the internet and reading scanlated manga. I was too lazy to even make pizza toast for dinner, so I had a bah hu (shredded pork floss) sandwich, plus Cadbury Mini Eggs.

I slept in until about 12pm today then hooked up the phone, did laundry, and looked up various Jane Austen spin-off books (sequels to her novels, completions of her fragments, etc.). I was so lazy I didn't even eat cereal (I think the milk expired yesterday anyway!), just the remainder of the Mini Eggs bag I opened yesterday. Luckily Allie sent me a message to invite to dinner with her, Juliet, Teresa, and Kelly and Ron or I probably would've skipped out on dinner too. ^^;;

Just before heading out for dinner, Crystal called to say that they were in the area, so she and Weldon and some other ALTs (they had gone out to Lake Towada) came by to pick up the intermediate Japanese course books (provided through the JET Programme) I had barely used and to view the apartment.

After dinner, everyone came over to hang out until about 11 something.

I really think that for the next couple of weeks I could be quite happy just staying at home reading manga and watching movies. (I also suspect I wouldn't eat much more than cereal and pizza, though, so it's good that I get school lunches!)

Even though I don't have the excuse of moving into/cleaning the apartment anymore, I don't think I'm going to go to church tomorrow.

It's sad to admit, but it's been over a month since I last went and I don't have any feelings of missing it at all. I do have the occasional pang of guilt for not calling and at least giving them my new contact info, but not strong enough that I'm actually planning on doing so in the near future.

Since I started thinking seriously about Christianity (i.e. junior high/high school), I've always believed in the importance of going to church, but I guess my conviction wasn't as strong as I thought it was. I hate to say it, but I'm really thinking that I prefer to not go to church rather than dragging myself to and through it every week. But since I've also been negligent in personal devos/Bible study, not going to church would probably turn me into a in-name-only Christian.

*sigh* I've always had problems with determining when the action is more important than the accompanying feelings/motivations and when the right motivations/feelings are more important than the action. Does God want me to go to church even when I'm unhappy being there, or do my negative feelings render the act (of going to church) meaningless?

It's harder than my university days because it's not simply a matter of laziness: I've tried churches here and am simply unsatisfied by them. But I don't know how much of it is real dissatisfaction and how much is me inflating the negative points to justify not going. @_@ It's all really a tangle.

But on a happier note, I finally got the official OK to go on the school trip with the ninensei in October!! I'll have to take nenkyuu (vacation) and pay for myself, and I won't be able to watch the Lion King with them (I've already seen it anyway), but I get to go!!! They were saying that it would probably be OK for a long time, but I was still a little worried that something would come up to prevent my going, so it's a relief to finally get things settled.

I am a little worried about being a burden on the teachers (they have a lot of work to do for the trip) but I really do want to do my best to be helpful and to find ways to get the students practicing their English on the trip. ^_____^

I'm also going to the big regional (?) JHS sports festival in Tohoku Machi next weekend!! It'll be a long weekend (starting at 6:50am on Saturday!), but if my students win on Sunday, I'll be able to go cheer for them on Monday (instead of going in for an office day). ^_^

One of the most meaningful compliments I've gotten from the other teachers at Kirita is that I'm like a regular teacher, and I really hope that this year I can continue improving as a teacher and increasing my role as a member of the staff at Kirita.

Admittedly, with all the moving stuff I've gotten a little lazy and less pro-active about lesson planning, but I did have some really good jishu gakushu (extra English) classes with every grade this week (everyone seemed to have fun and get the grammar points I was teaching/reviewing), so hopefully I'll be back on track next week.

So yeah, I guess that's it for today's rambling post. If you're interested, I posted five new photos of my now CLEAN apartment on Facebook here.

Settling In

Moving is really tiring, not to mention expensive.

On top of the 100,000 yen I paid to cover the first month's rent, plus various fees (real estate agent fee, "key money", etc.) I've probably shelled out between 300,000 and 400,000 yen on appliances, furniture, cleaning supplies, dishes, etc. @_@

But I think it's worth it to have a place that truly feels like it's my own (even though at most I'll only be spending another 4 years here).

I didn't realize how much work packing and unpacking would be, however. Well, the packing wasn't so bad. I got all of the stuff from the old house moved into the apartment in about 6 car loads (remember, my car is very small!). The unpacking and organizing, however, is insane. I can see now that I was being hopelessly optimistic in thinking I'd get it done within the weekend.

And of course, the place is so small that as soon as I buy anything, it'll become messy again. ^^;;

Oh well. I'm teaching tomorrow, so it's time for me to go to bed!

Check out the pictures of my apartment (through various stages of moving in) on Facebook here.

End of April Photos Up

So I still haven't had time to write about the end of April (when mom, dad, Cecilia and Brenda visited), but I have posted some pictures on Facebook, so check them out!

- Quarter of a Century (22-23 Apr - birthday pics)
- Oirase Gorge (22 Apr - not many pics since I've been there so many times)
- Hirosaki (24 Apr - the most famous sakura in Aomori Prefecture, probably)
- Homecooked Dinner (24 Apr - quiet dinner at home since everyone was pooped)
- Kanchogai Dori & Sakagami's (25 Apr - the last day for everyone to be in Towada)