Work, Orientaiton, and the Apple Park!

Hello everybody! I'm sorry that it has been a little while since my last post! I've been very busy with my first week of school, visited Hirosaki's Apple Park, as well as my final, prefectural orientation. So I have quite a little bit to talk about!

Work

I started work last Monday, August 19th. I originally wasn't supposed to be starting until Tuesday but one of my JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) requested that I come in for an hour on Monday to help with coaching for the upcoming English contest. I went in an ended up being there for four hours instead of one and our student actually didn't end up showing up! However, this can be common in Japan because the kids not only have school but also club activities. Even though classes hadn't started at this time, our student was already participating in club activities. My JTE felt so bad that she ended up taking me out for tea! It was very nice to get to know her but she will be on medical leave starting tomorrow so I won't see her for at least a month so I'm very sad! 

On Tuesday I fully started work. I met my other 3 JTEs, all of whom are very helpful and welcoming! The other teachers in the teacher's room do not speak English and my Japanese is still very basic so it is a bit difficult to speak with them. But I have also been studying Japanese and will be taking an online course offered by CLAIR so hopefully I will be talking with them more soon! Even though we cannot converse with detailed conversations though, they still talk to me in simple sentences and ask about me, my life, and offer me treats. They are all very welcoming and understanding, I got very lucky with my school!

Unfortunately, all of last week had me desk warming. This means I just sat at my desk and studied Japanese. After school I meet with three students (a first, second, and third year) to coach them for the English contest. We work on things such as pronunciation, tone, emotion, etc. I also was able to begin grading spelling on Friday! I return tomorrow from orientation and will have my very first class so I will update on how that goes this weekend!

Aomori Orientation

Now, on to my final orientation! I do have to say, I am a bit excited to finally have no more orientations! We stayed in Aomori City, which is about 45 minutes north of us via train. It is a beautiful city and we had a lot of fun exploring every night. I even had the best bowl of torikatsudon (a breaded chicken cutlet dish with rice) at a small, out of the way family restaurant!

As a side note, we did have to pay for the hotel out of our pocket for this orientation. It was about $160 USD and we will be reimbursed by our BOE in September's pay. HOWEVER, we have recently found out that we WILL be responsible (with no reimbursement) for Tokyo orientation! This was not conveyed to us but we have been told that it depends on your BOE and their budget. So it does make a bit of sense seeing as there were 10 of us coming in and we were staying at an expensive hotel. The reason I am even posting this here is so future JET participants think to ask their BOE and/or supervisor if they will be responsible for the costs at a later date.

As for the orientation itself, I won't go into too much detail. It went over a lot of what the previous orientations have but gave more demonstrations of in-class games and lesson planning. It was useful in terms of teaching me games to use for junior high school and what to expect from my JTEs in terms of my use in the classroom! Below is a picture of our venue lit up at night! It's a triangular building and was very nice!

Hirosaki Apple Park

Now I saved the best for last! A friend and I visited the Hirosaki Apple Park on Sunday. It was about a 25 minute walk from our apartments but it was the perfect day for the walk! Below are some pictures:

Walking into the park, you go under these cute little signs! Hirosaki is very proud of its apples and the Aomori prefecture is very well known for those and scallops!

The apple girl statue stands outside of the House of Apple and the park's café.

There were also a lot of very small trees bearing apples!

Some of the apples are already in season and being harvested! I am hoping to go back in a couple of weeks to participate in harvesting.

There was also an observation deck up on a hill in the center of the park. There were these apple shaped holes cut out in the wood! The park also has two separate sets of playground equipment for children to play in.

The view from the observation deck was absolutely beautiful as well! Iwaki-san was quite visible that day and she was beautiful as always! You can also see the rows upon rows of apple trees.

Inside of the House of Apples was a small archway with all of the parks types of apples. I didn't get a photo of the entire thing but this apple really stood out! It was absolutely huge and I am very tempted to try one of these bad boys some day!

Finally, we made a stop in the gift shop and café for some souvenirs and dessert. I had an apple pie and apple juice (Aomori prefecture has the BEST apple juice I've ever had!!) and my friend had a different pie, made with different apples, and some coffee. I also bought a beautiful bottle of Hirosaki Castle Apple Hard Cider. I will be saving this bottle when I'm done and taking it back home with me for sure!

Alright guys, that's all I have for you today! I apologize if this post seems a bit of a rant or kind of disjointed. It's been a long three days and this girl is ready for some sleep. But I will update again when I get the chance! Thanks again everyone and I hope you enjoy my photos!

Goshogawara Tachineputa

Hello again everybody! I apologize for the delay in posting and suddenly having so many in a row! I've finally settled in and gotten almost everything settled. Arriving in Japan in August really has its perks, especially in Aomori prefecture. I, along with my fellow Hirosaki JETs, was able to catch the final Neputa festival of the summer in Goshogawara (also known as the Goshogawara city Tachineputa Festival). This festival is a summer festival held each August and, along with Aomori Nebuta, Hirosaki Neputa, and Kuroishi Yosare, it is one of the four largest festivals in the Tsugara region.

Tachineputa are massive 23-meter (75 feet) tall, 19-ton (38,000 lbs) parade floats that are conveyed through the city by float carriers as everybody chants "Yattemare! Yattemare!". This means "beat them" and originates from the beginning of the festival in the early 1900s. Origianlly, this festival was a way for sponsors, businesses, and the wealthy to see who could make the tallest, largest float. The parade also includes dancers, taikos, flautists, and more. These floats are all made of wood, wire, and paper and I took some pictures to share with you below!




This was a children's float. They made it and their handprints were all over it, it was adorable!

I'm sorry I don't have many more pictures but I was so excited and awestruck that I was just watching it all! Please look forward to my next post!

Hirosaki Park

Hello again everybody! I come to you today with some pictures from being out and about in Hirosaki! I've made it my top priority to see as much of my new home as possible and decided I should start at one of themost obvious places.

Hirosaki Park and Hirosaki Castle

The park and castle are one of the major attractions in Hirosaki. There are over 2500 cherry trees surrounding the castle on the grounds and they make for some of Japan's best flower viewing during the season! There are also moats around the castle and you can rent row boats to go out on the water for a better view.

I was able to visit the castle briefly just yesterday and it wasn't nearly enough time to appreciate the beauty! I plan to go back regularly when I can, especially during cherry blossom season in April or May!


The bridge leading into the castle park.


This is called the Heart of Hirosaki. It is in the park and, as you can see, it takes the shape of a heart! It's beautiful and pink during cherry blossom season so look forward to see it!


The castle itself. I was able to take this from a raised platform they have nearby. It was beautiful to look at and Japanese architecture is just gorgeous.


The view from the top of the castle.



This one is not from Hirosaki park but it's on the way home. This is Mount Iwaki (or Iwaki-san) and she is our resident mountain. And by mountain I mean dormant volcano! She hasn't erupted in a long time and she is being monitored closely by specialists and scientists for any activity. For now, she is our pride and joy and she even has a matsuri (festival) dedicated to her in August. This isn't the clearest photo since there's some cloud cover.

Since moving here I've really loved being surrounded and more immersed in nature. I'll be back with even more photos as the seasons change!

My Hirosaki Apartment!

こんにちは 皆さん, お元気ですか? Hello everybody, how are you all doing? Welcome back! In today's post, I'm going to be doing a brief overview/tour of my apartment here in Hirosaki! Now when you think about living in Japan, most people think of tiny apartments and crowded cities. While this may be true in some aspects (usually due to Japan's high population and limited living space), if you aren't claustrophobic or don't have a family trying to live together, it's actually not all that bad!

Usually on the JET Program, your BOE or contracting organization is responsible for finding your apartment for you or assisting you in making arrangements for your housing. Now I say usually because there are placements that require the participant to find their own apartment. They will often hook you up with a real estate agent though so you aren't completely on your own. However, you can imagine how intimidating this is when you're already picking your life up to move to a foreign country. This seems to be most common around the Tokyo area from what I've seen.

It is most common though, that you will just take over the apartment that your pred was living in or receive a newer apartment. Many times your rent will be subsidized as well, which is nice. In some cases, JETs may actually get houses instead of apartments but this is a bit more rare from what I've seen because JETs are responsible for paying rent and utilities out of their monthly salary. So even with subsidized rent, this is a bit more expensive and the program tends to avoid this. This will vary by location though.

Different Japanese Apartments

When looking at Japanese apartments, you'll often see abbreviations such as DK and LDK. These letters stand for "Living", "Dining", and "Kitchen". So these abbreviations and the number in front of them will tell you what type of apartment you are looking at. If there is no number in front of the letters, you do not have any separate rooms and it is all one living space. If there is a number before the letters, it means you have that number of rooms that are separate from the main living space.

LDK

If you have an LDK apartment, this means you have a living, dining, and kitchen area. If there is a number in fron tof the letters, such as 1LDK or 2LDK, this means you have 1 or 2 rooms branching off of the main living area that are separate. If there is no number, you have an open floor plane with no separate rooms.

DK

DK stands for "Dining" and "Kitchen". These are usually found in larger cities and have no living space, just a dining/kitchen area. The "dining" area will serve as your living area but the kitchen is separated from the main room a bit, usually tucked away near the entrance leading to the main room of the apartment. Again, if there is a number in front of the DK, you will have 1 or 2 rooms separate from the main room.

1SLDK

The S stands for "storage room", "service room", or "free room" and usualyl indicates a small area that serves as a walk-in closet or storage closet. The sizes of these rooms vary and there is no standard. They can range from a narrow storage space, to the size of a small spare bedroom. If you have a 1SLDK and the storage room is large enough, you may actually be able to refer to it as a 2LDK, meaning you can view it as a living, dining, kitchen layout with 2 rooms.

Room/Apartment Measurements

Apartments and rooms are often measured in Jo (J), which is the size of one traditional tatami mat. This is approximately 180 x 90 cm (about 71 x 25 inches) but may vary by region. If a room's measurements are given as 5.5J, this means the room is the size of 5 and a half tatami mats. A standard sized bedroom in Japan is about 6J. Nowadays, most apartments are built without tatami in order to modernize them and they are easier to clean/care for but these measurements are still used to give people an idea about size.

My Apartment

Now on to what you all are probably reading this post for to begin with. MY apartment! Obviously the above information is just me attempting to provide some insight on Japanese apartment living and each JET experience will differ but here is my own situation:

My BOE places almost all of us in the same apartments so we are all together and my apartment (because they do differ between us depending on the building) is a 1LDK apartment. My bedroom has 6 tatami mats so it's a decent size as well with a closet. The apartments my BOE sets us up in are all at least partially furnished and I receives a futon, stove with 2 burners, washer/dryer, vacuum, and fridge. I also have a balcony but I am on the ground floor so it opens up to the apartment property.

Below you will find pictures of it. It's pretty sparse right now but over the next few weeks I will be putting my own touch on it, buying things to make it more comfortable for myself, etc.


My entry hall with my washer and dryer.


My shower/ofuru, which is off the entry hall.


My toilet room. In Japan, the toilet is separated from the bathing room for cleanliness purposes. Please ignore the mat, as it was left for me and I need to get a new one!


My kitchen/dining area. My apartment came with a fridge, microwave/toaster, rice cooker, and small crockpot. I was lucky enough to also have some plates, cups, and bowls let for me as well (I washed them obviously).


My living room and futon. The futon's seat is actually covered in a good chunk of duct tape but you can't complain when you don't have to buy it! You can see my balcony doors to the left and my room is to the right.


My room! Please pardon the luggage and packed away futon. I hadn't unpacked before I took these photos. The floor is tatami and I do sleep on a futon, which is much more comfortable than I had expected.


My closet. There's an additional futon and decent storage space. I was able to store both of my large suitcases and my carry-on on the top shelf as well as hang my work clothes and put bins in to hold everything else!

So that's where I'm living now! Keep your eyes peeled for updated pictures. I've already updated the apartment a bit and made if more personal but I also just got my Wi-Fi so I wanted to make a few posts to let everybody know I hadn't forgotten about this blog!

Tokyo Orientation!

こんにちは 皆さん! Hello everybody!

It has finally happened! Tokyo orientation has come and gone and I am finally in Japan, a country I have loved and dreamed of for years. As I type this, I am sitting in my new apartment in Hirosaki. But that's for my next post! This one will be all about Tokyo Orientation, so let's get started!

Arrival

We arrived in Tokyo on Sunday, August 4th around 2pm. Sunday was a full free day. However, after landing, we had a 30 minute bus ride to the hotel we were staying at and we had to sit through some brief information before checking into our rooms.

My first ever view of Japan!

The inside of our hotel!

The building across from my room.

By the time we all got settled, it was getting later and most of us were tired. Now, I do know some JETs went out for a night on the town. Karaoke, bars, ramen, etc. As good of an opportunity as Tokyo is, I myself am slightly less interested in late nights and parties so I walked to the Shinjuku Central park and wandered around for a bit. 

The very next day we were off and running with orientation!

Orientation

Monday officially started our two-day post-arrival JET orientation. The purpose of this orientation is to provide a basic introduction to life on the JET Program. A basic outline is as follows:

• An introduction to the significance of the program, presented by Japanese Government officials
• An introduction to the JET Program positions and related conditions in Japan
• Workshops that introduce jobs skills participants will need to fulfill their positions, conducted by reappointed ALTs, CIRS, CLAIR, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.
• A forum for meeting other JET participants from all around Japan as well as reappointed JETs representing their host prefectures/designated cities. Participants can ask specific questions about their placements and positions that will be answered by representatives that have first-hand experience in working in Japanese schools or local government offices.
• A Q & A session for the prefecture representatives in which contracting organizations can ask questions and share information about participating in the program.

As somebody that does not have a background in teaching or education, I found this orientation to be very informative and reassuring. After being accepted, I was surprised by just how many ALTs actually didn't have a teaching background but it really did make me feel much better knowing that they were coming from a similar place and were still able to be successful. If you're afraid of applying to JET or have been selected and are getting nervous, I hope this makes you feel a bit better too! My direct pred came from a similar background as me (international/East Asian studies, Japanese, etc.) with no teaching and she was still able to give a lot of good advice and had thrived in Hirosaki! Just like with any job, you learn as you go and you will have a support system to help you.

This is good because, if I am being completely honest, I got homesick the second day of orientation and it lasted through the 3rd day when we departed for our placement. I wanted to immediately get back on a plane and go home to where I was comfortable. To my family, friends, and (perhaps the hardest!) my dogs! However, because of this support system, I was able to reach out to my Prefectural Advisor, who got me in touch with my Regional Representatives. Once I got to Hirosaki though, it was like a weight was lifted!

All in all, even though orientation is only a 2-day affair, I believe JET, CLAIR, and the Japanese government did a decent job putting together an informational set of seminars. My next post will be about my apartment so stay tuned to get an idea of Japanese living!