“Do you still notice when people stare?”

Upon meeting a new coworker I was asked: “So, are you still at the stage where you notice being stared at?”.  This is a really good way to measure how used you are to living in Japan. For me, during the culture shock stage it either evokes feelings of pure paranoia or the true Coventrian response of “what you lookin’ at?!”. Since I last lived in Japan there are noticeably more foreigners here which is awesome of course, but sometimes  we still get stared at.

So, on my travels around Tokyo do I notice being stared at? Not anymore. Speaking of travels, here’s some stuff I’ve seen

Pagoda at Asakusa

Sky Tree from Asakusa

Kitty Bus at Shinjuku Station

Shinjuku (I work here!)

This makes me laugh every time (it's really a Pachinko parlour)

Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills

Work is still going well, I’m really enjoying myself at GABA! The best part of course are the students I teach. Due to client data protection I can’t really talk about the kind of people I teach, but I have the opportunity to meet some really interesting people. Over the past few weeks I’ve taught some lessons where I thought afterwards “I can’t believe I just got paid for 40 minutes of awesome conversation!”. Examples of fun lessons I’ve taught are: creating a list of the top 5 videogames of all time, dating differences between the UK and Japan, and the stereotypes between the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish. Of course, the caveat here is that you can forget you’re actually an English teacher. No matter how fun the conversation is, you need to make sure that you correct the student’s use of English and teach them new words and phrases that are relevant to their goals.

Apart from work, I’ve been spending my time chilling out in Tokyo, seeing my friends and furnishing my flat! Montage time.

I'm too loud for my neighbours

Spotted this beauty in Shinjuku

'British Trad Mix' is apparently in this Winter

Awesome band stickers

Standard.

Over the past week or so the following video has been gaining popularity on facebook – it’s a video message from the Tohoku region. You should definitely check it out. There are a lot of tourism campaigns for the Tohoku region in Japan, I’m happy to say I’ll be visiting in Spring of next year!

Finally I want to say a biiiiiiig thank you to my friends and family who have been sending me cards and presents from the UK. In Japan Christmas is a dating holiday – you usually go for a date on Christmas Eve and then everyone goes to KFC on Christmas Day. Seriously. The little reminders of home have been really sweet and I have been good and haven’t opened any of the presents yet! It’s very much appreciated. My Christmas plans are taking shape and I’m looking forward to my first Christmas living abroad, even if I will miss my family millions. Merry Christmas everyone!