9 Days To Go – 変わることを恐れないで

With only nine days to go things still don’t seem real. It doesn’t feel like I’m packing up my life in the UK into two suitcases, saying goodbye to everyone, and beginning a job as a teacher. I’m now going to have to be financially responsible, and act as a role model in my city 24/7. I can see those of you who know me rofling in the back.

Despite the fact I’m about to have another amazing year, at the moment it’s being clouded by serious business and saying goodbye to things! I’m unfortunately having to find another home for my darling gerbils, and in the past few days have waved goodbye to my fingernails. Nervousness is not a good look!

I think I have all of the important and vital stuff sorted. Visa gets!

Instructor Visa

I’m also now legally allowed to drive in a LOT of places! This explains the smugface.

Smugface has an IDP

 In Waterstones the other day, I came across this book. I had some pennies left to spend on a gift card so I picked it up.

Booky Wook

 Apart from this, I seem to have sorted out everything else documenty. I have my flight ticket printed, and my hotel confirmation. I’ve also written down all of the Narita Express and Limousine bus times for when I land.

All I need to do now is start packing… I’ll be taking two suitcases. Bring on dragging two of those behind me through an airport!

In other fantastic news, two of my best mates received their working holiday visas! I’ve been mates with Carly for about 5 years and she’s like my twin sister, I love her to bits. I believe I’ve known Gaby for  3 years, and I love her to bits, too! They’ll both be in Tokyo which is way too far away from me for my liking. In the UK we normally spend our time together being hilarious at anime conventions. And now we can do it in Japan! This is really the only post-able photo I have of us, and it’s from summer 2009!

Me, Carly, Gaby

 One of my fellow Interac-ers, Gwynnie, heard that her placement had changed today. I know that placements can be in flux right up until the training session. I’ve quite come around to living in Agano now, though. So I hope I don’t get changed (again!).  It looks really beautiful and I’ll be very close to Niigata city for the community. I’ve already met an experienced Niigata Interac-er who I hope will take me under his wing and show me the wild side of the mini Honshu!

All I really have left to do now is concentrate on spending time with those I’ll be saying goodbye to soon. I have three days in Tokyo… so any of you Interac-ers who are arriving early (I know there are a couple of you), let’s meet up in Tokyo!

9 Days.

Things I’ll Miss [イギリスの大好きなこと!]

I stole this from Hannah, a girl I met at my interview in Oxford who’s going to be teaching in Yamagata, the prefecture next to me. I thought this was a really cute idea! Most people will know I’m not too positive about England, so let’s see what I’ll miss! This is in NO particular order…

Mmm...

1. CHEESE! Oh God how I love cheese. Cheddar is normally the cheese of choice, being the cheapest and most readily available. Cathedral City being the favoured brand of my household. However, I do love other cheeses, particularly emmental. Cheese is pretty hard to get hold of in Japan, and is ridiculously expensive. Even if you do fork out for a bit of “Australian” cheddar or emmental, you wonder if it was worth the 800Yennies for the tiny 3x2x0.5 inch bit. Probably not…
On top of this, I’m also going to miss all of the ridiculously expensive and plasticy processed childrens’ cheese products.

Tea (with optional Digestive)

2. A proper cup of tea! My Mum is officially the best tea maker I know. After letting the teabag sit for a few minutes, she squeezes the life out of it, ensuring she extracts all the tasty tea-making properties out of it. I also enjoy the tasty digestive in this photo.

Jeremy Kyle

3. The Jeremy Kyle Show (and other quality British TV programmes). One thing the Brits can do is provide pretty good TV, if you’re a student. I have a lot of spare time right now, and TV has been a very good friend! Sad? Definitely. Jeremy Kyle is my daily must see between 1:30 and 3:45. Basically, standard chav scum go on his talk show and air their dirty laundry in public and it’s bloody brilliant. Oh how I shall miss Jezza, Come Dine With Me, Take Me Out, The Inbetweeners, Mock The Week, 8 out of 10 Cats and the Mighty Boosh.

Emo Kitty

4. Emoooo. Okay, so I’m not an expert, and most of the time I’m hardly “alternative”. But I love a good ALTernative night out. I don my eyeliner, backcomb my hair to almost Amy Winehouse height, and rock on down to Subway City or the O2 Academy. I’m not ashamed to say I love emo boys… and also emo bands! I’ll miss that whole scene in Japan. I’ll miss having random hair and being able to show my body mods, too Somehow I don’t think any clubs in Niigata will play anything emo, or even my favourite band – ELLIOT MINOR (nom). 

Finally, I think I’ll miss people the most. Losing Rodg has had two effects. On the one hand, it makes me value the relationships I have, and yet on the other hand, I’ve become more complacent about Japan. Yes, I’m moving 6000+ miles away, but that’s all it is. Putting up photos of all the people I’m going to miss would make this too photo heavy, and who knows if they’d want their photos up here! So the biggest props go to my mummy and daddy and little brother, my boyfriend,the tripod, the iCrew/my UK con friends, and my gerbils Humbug and Nibbler. The rest of you sexual beings I’ll be seeing on the Nihon flipside.

Vince Noir's thought for the day

３月１８日に東京へ帰ります！I’m Going Back to Tokyo!

I received an e-mail this morning from Interac – my position in Agano has been confirmed and I need to arrive into Japan on March 22nd for training at the Narita View Hotel! This is it, it’s all settled, here I go, back to Japan XD

Coventry

 March 18th

I say goodbye to my hometown of Coventry, middle England, and make the journey to London Heathrow airport. I’ll be flying with Virgin Atlantic, so at least it’s a direct flight The flight takes 12 hours from the UK, although sometimes you get a little treat when you get on the plane and the captain says it’s 11 and a half hours. I’ll probably stay up the night before so I pass out and sleep for most of the flight XD Although I’m sure that won’t be hard, I’m already bouncing off the walls!

Narita Airport

March 19th

I land in Narita airport very early in the morning on March 19th. Like many others, when I first landed in Japan I was expecting to be descending down through skyscrapers. I blame Kill Bill. Narita really is out in the middle of nowhere, and it takes a while to get into Tokyo itself! So after landing in Narita, I’ll be getting on board the good old Narita Express or a limousine bus to my hotel.

Shibuya

 So, I have finally made my return to Tokyo. I’m going to be spending this weekend looking at hotels to spend my spare three days/nights, but at the moment I’m looking at central yamanote spots such as Shinagawa, Shibuya and Shinjuku. Once I’ve picked a hotel and settled down, maybe unpacked a little bit and had a shower, where do you think my first stop will be?

That’s right….. SHIBUYA! 渋谷大好き～ For those of you who don’t know (where have you been?) Shibuya is actually my most favourite place on this whole planet. I love Tokyo, I’ve always loved Tokyo and I adored living there. But Shibuya is just something else. Bright lights, big city, people everywhere, amazing shops, millions of karaoke rooms and the best bars with the best bar staff around. I can’t wait to go back

Shibuya O-Lounge

Another essential stop in Shibuya will be the O-Lounge! I used to go here every weekend and sink a fair few tequila shotto with my old friend Kris from Hawaii. We discovered this place when Kaya had her costume birthday party there. We had the VIP room and good old Souza tequila on tap. The staff working at the O-Lounge were all fantastic, although I bet the line-up has changed in the two years I’ve been away. It seems to be quite popular with other gaijin, I met lots of *one night friends* there. If I see any of you in Tokyo before orientation, you can bet this is where I’ll take you.

Another essential and possibly emotional stop for me will be Keio University. I studied from Sept 2007 until July 2008 at Keio, one of the top Universities in Japan. There was an exchange student population of probably just over 100, and they were like my family. This is also where I spent a lot of time chilling out with Rodger. In fact, one of the last videos he filmed was his return to the Keio campus. However, I’d really like to go back and visit my old teacher and mentor, Ikeda-sensei. We’ve kept in contact over the past few years, and I’m going to take her back some treats to say thank you. She really whipped me into shape! I have really American-style “Keio Spirit”. I’m proud to say I studied there, more so than my English alma mater!

Keio University

Other than this? I guess it depends where I end up. I’m currently contemplating hotels in Shinagawa, Shinjuku and Ginza. I don’t think I can handle Akihabara yet, with recent events. Akihabara was always a Rodg event. I definitely want to hit Karaoke and scream Cutie Honey like I used to two years ago.  Hook up with some old Tokyo friends, visit a shrine or two, maybe see if I can catch some cherry blossoms somewhere, and sink a cocktail partner.

What do I have to do before I leave for Japan? EVERYTHING! It’s okay, last minute dot com is for the cool kids, anyway.

東京、東京、東京！ワイ～！

More About My Placement – Agano City, Niigata Prefecture [阿賀野市,新潟県]

Agano city is a baby! It was founded on April 1st 2004 by the merger of the towns Suibara and Yasuda, and the villages of Kyogase and Sasakami.

Agano is the dark pink area in the northeast

Agano is in the northeast of the prefecture, quite a lot closer to the capital of the prefecture than my original position in Sanjo. I have to admit I hope that this doesn’t mean it’s colder >.<

The light purple area next to Agano is Niigata city. So, although Agano looks like it is extremely rural -  I’ll hopefully be close enough to be in my kind of environment. Bright lights, big city, and 飲み放題カラオケ!

In Agano city, there are around 11 Elementary schools and around 4 Junior High schools. Interac said I could be teaching between 2 and 5 schools, so I’m guessing that it will be a couple of Elementary schools and one Junior High. I know a girl who went with Interac in 2009 had 18 schools, I’m relieved I’m not in a situation like that!

Below is a climate graph for Niigata. Niigata seems to have a *lot* of rain. In fact, someone who commented on my last blog post left me the weather reports and a live camera from Agano city. Thank you, whoever you are!  ありがとうございます！Actually, I just checked Aganocam. IT’S TIPPING IT DOWN RIGHT NOW! If any of you want to check out Aganocam, here is a tiny link: http://tinyurl.com/yz67qwv It actually looks really scary. For those of you who can read Japanese, check out this website, you might be able to find weathercam for your own city! http//weathernews.jp

Niigata Climate

Lake Hyoko appears to be the biggest tourist attraction in Agano city. According to the Agano website, as of early this month, there were over 2000 swans at the lake. Every year, the number of swans tops 6000. That’s a lot of swans!

Lake Hyoko

Suntopia World

 Also in Agano is an amusement park (yay!) called Suntopia World. It doesn’t seem to be in the same league as Fuji-Q, but it has all of the theme park standards. There’s various rollercoasters, a carousel, a ferris wheel, trains, a pirate ship etc etc. Looks like it would make a fun day out, and I bet the views from the ferris wheel are so pretty!

 

 

Mt. Gozu

Hiking appears to be one of the main hobbies in Agano, and this photo shows Mt. Gozu [五頭山], a mountain with five peaks. I always said I wanted to climb Mt. Fuji, but I am a weak and feeble thing. I don’t suppose I’ll get out of hiking in Agano, though! This photo also shows how rural Agano is, you can see the rice fields (and the frost)…

 

 

 

Murasugi Onsen

Hot springs, or onsen [温泉] are very popular in Japan, and seemingly the most famous hot spring in Agano is Murasugi Onsen [村杉温泉]. Now, although I lived in Japan for a year, even opposite a public bath in Kawasaki, I have never been to a hot spring. I know that you can get private rooms in onsen, so I think that’s something I’m going to aim for while I’m in Japan.

Murasugi onsen is apparently in a quiet (read rural) atmosphere, and is surrounded by 100 year old cedar trees. The magic ingredient in the water is radium, and visiting the hot spring is said to relieve the symptoms of diabetes, rheumatism, nerve pain and “women’s chronic ailments”.  If I ever want to get rid of a man, I know where to go.

So, in the next few days I’ll be looking at booking my trip to London. Now I have my certificate of eligibility and a *tentative* departure date, I can take everything to the Japanese embassy in order to get my Instructor visa.

Ta ta for now x

Certificate of Eligibility

In other news, Fedex delivered my Certificate of Eligibility today. It’s a little A5 sized piece of card with my mugshot on. I need to take it to the Japanese embassy in London with lots of other little things in order to get my working visa. I’ll be on a one year Instructor visa, but I’m obviously looking to extend that if I once again enjoy living in Japan. This is what it looks like

So, once I get that all important departure date from Interac, I can go down to the embassy. I have to admit I’m starting to get nervous about the big move now. When I went to Japan before, I was under the wing of Keio University, would be living in a big city, in an international dorm full of other students I’d been chatting to on facebook before. Oh, and with a huge scholarship and a student loan from the UK!

Now, I’m all on my own. There will be 3 foreigners in my tiny hometown of Agano, and we’ll all be working different schools. It’s my own responsibility to sort out my wages, including paying off overdrafts and my student loan back in the UK. I lost my best friend in Japan very suddenly two weeks ago, so I’m without my senpai’s love and advice. There are also more people back here in the UK for me to miss this time around.

You’re all welcome in Japan guys. Come visit, see my house surrounded by rice fields. Then we’ll go to Tokyo for nomihoudai karaoke.

Finally, today is the funeral of my friend most of you knew, but if not, you do now. I’m absolutely gutted and very frustrated to not be American today. Or at least in Michigan. This isn’t goodbye, Rodger Swan. I’ll see you next time.

x

6:15am Birthday Call. Goodbye Sanjo, Hello Agano! [阿賀野市, 新潟県]

So, after falling asleep at around 4:30am, I was woken up on my 24th birthday by a phonecall from Interac at 6:15am.

The moment I heard a Scottish accent, I know it was David in recruitment and my heart sank. I’d read about placements changing quite often on ALT forums, and I knew what the phone call would be about. David told me that the ALT I was meant to be replacing in Interac had decided to stay on, and that I wouldn’t be able to go to Sanjo. But, they had a new placement offer for me.

Imagine my relief to find out that I won’t have to prepare myself for a big change all over again! I’ll be in exactly the same style of placement -rural, driving, teaching JHS and ES, in a city called Agano, in the same prefecture of Niigata. Of course, I accepted. So now, here is a crash course on what I could find out about Agano!

Agano is a pretty small place with a population of around 48,000 people. It’s slightly North-East of Sanjo, but borders the huge Niigata city, with a population of 800,000! Niigata city is only 30 minutes drive away from where I will be. So, although Agano is half the size of Sanjo, I have the biggest city in the prefecture right next to me!

The city flower is the Cosmos [コスモス]

The city tree is the sakura [桜]

The city bird is the swan [白鳥] – When researching my original placement of Sanjo, I’d just heard about the death of my very good friend Rodger Swan. I kept seeing the Swan Lake near Sanjo popping up and deliberately ignored it. I’d like to think my change of placement wasn’t a coincidence.
A beautiful and famous part of Agano is called Hyoko Lake [瓢湖]. So looks like I’ll be surrounded by Swans

On top of all this… Agano is only a 30 minutes drive away from Niigata city! There are other ALTs in Agano, apparently one is a British guy. So hopefully I’ll have some friends to play with in Niigata!

But for now… it’s my birthday! I’m off to eat birthday cake. Let’s hope it’s second time lucky with the placement