My first week back in Japan is drawing to completion. Here is what I have learned.
I was happy to be back when I landed and rode to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where JET Orientation was held. Not my favorite area of the capital, but a thriving district nonetheless: delicious sushi was a very short walk from my hotel, as were bars, shopping, and young people.
I remember the bus ride from Kansai Internation Airport to my hotel in Osaka in September, 2008. Namely, that the ride itself, through a mundane business district of the city, was exciting. I saw “SEGA” on the side of a boring low-rise, and it made sense: I had arrived to the nation I’ve heard so much about. I had actually made it.
This time, the bus ride from Narita Airport to Shinjuku was too easy. Nothing around me caught my interest in a gripping way. It all seemed too familiar, too normal. I walked out into the streets that night to search for dinner and toiletries afterwards with no fear like in 2008. Though I still couldn’t grasp the bits of conversation passing my ears all around me, and I couldn’t read many of the restaurant advertisements on the stands outside the entrances telling me what was delicious and what was on sale, I wasn’t nervous. I looked for food, simply, straight-faced; I entered; I grabbed plates of tuna and salmon and other fish from the conveyor; I was chatted up by a guy who lived in Australia (but was Japanese); I paid; I left.
The comfort was weird. I can’t understand it, and I am the one experiencing it. Why wasn’t I excited by the simple fact that I was here?
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During the very long drive from Kansai Airport to Wakayama prefecture, Tanabe city, Hongu, feelings of excitement and fear had me wondering what I had gotten into when I accepted this job two months ago. Just like the current JETs said, on the way to Hongu, the houses slowly disappear. Just like they told me, many people say they live in the Japan countryside, but I really live in the countryside.
I stared at the beautiful green mountains; there isn’t much else to see. I saw the small stream creeping through the massive carved path that used to hold a huge rushing river (and regretted the dam, regretted progress that steals idyllic scenery). I held the handle in the car as it wound left and right and left and right. I’m surrounded by mountains.
My luggage arrived safely to my new home. It’s a very old building, but definitely comparatively spacious. I love the sliding doors and the tatami-mat floors. The bath is old, grimy, and not fully functional. The restroom has an odorous, odious pit toilet. The kitchen is big but aging. I’m not even sure how to use the stove, but I did see that it is battery-operated.
This place has unique and fun ups, and unexpected, perhaps unacceptable downs.
The schools (six of them) have seemingly nice staff and nice kids (who were at school during summer break for club activities—a bonkers idea to me).
For now, I am car-less. I walk to the local education office and create activities to keep myself busy, or else browse the internet or nearby teaching materials in drawers. I really have no obligations until school begins in September. I will use my time to read and study…I hope.
What will become of this year? What will become of me? My idea to use these wildly different circumstances as a learning opportunity to find out about myself remains at the fore. But for now, I am in the doldrums of a stranger in the mountains. A location in Japan with no train access reachable without a car summarizes the type of life these people live: a secluded, somewhat underdeveloped, one.
Music is saving my sanity these days. (The bridge on my guitar melted off. It is unplayable until I get some materials to jury-rig it. But I have speakers for my laptop. Subwoofers mean a lot!) That, and the comfort of kind people talking with me over the internet. I appreciate you all so much.
Here are a few of the better viewpoints from my 6+ km hike on the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage path yesterday.
So cool man! i enjoyed the read. I hope the transition isn’t terribly mundane over the next month.
Awe so nice to hear you are adjusting to your surroundings.I’m sure this will be a great story for many to read.Thanks for sharing your adventure with us. The pics are sooo cool. You kow I love them.Love you bunches,Aunt Pam
It was really good to hear from you, Brother!!!! I’m so very proud of you and also very sorry ’bout the bathroom…HAHA! (sorry, couldn’t resist!!!) I’ll hopefully “skype” ya soon! : )
Chris, interesting blog post. I appreciate the pictures you uploaded too. Just remember that life gets easier with adjustment. At first I was naturally stressed and uncertain about living in the Japanese inaka without a car, just like you probably are now. But soon enough I acquired a car, learned my way around and became comfortable using the things in my apartment and buying groceries and whatnot. Before you know it you will be doing things here you never thought you could do. There’s pretty much no way you could fail to grow as a person living here, even for only a year.
Also, you may feel familiar to be back in Japan, and confident that you can do some basic, everyday things that people with no Japanese skills would not be able to do, but you will still have many surprises this time around. You will encounter situations you don’t understand even with your prior experience and you will face challenges for sure. I am continually learning things about Japan and the Japanese people. Nevertheless, of course you will become more familiar with things in time. And while a sense of familiarity can lead to feelings of blase, it can also be quite fulfilling because it means that you can survive and operate in a society vastly different from your own. Once one gets to that point, I think that says a lot about one’s adaptability and openness.
I look forward to reading more of your blog posts and seeing how you change in your time here. Japan changes us all in some way or another. I wish you the best of luck. You have an exciting, albeit sometimes difficult journey ahead of you and I’m excited for you. If you any questions about life in the inaka, please do ask. I’m not an expert, but I do have some experience under my belt now and I know to a certain extent what you’re experiencing now because I went through it myself.
Well, try to keep busy at work and make the most of your time here!
Jonathon
A good read, I’ve always enjoyed your writing style. I wish you the best of luck and hopefully you’ll meet some doap people soon. A pit toilet, is that like the ones you were telling me about? The pics remind me of where I lived in P.R. Go buy a car!
Chris,
So good to hear you are settling in, somewhat. Do you have a liason contact to help with the stove, guitar parts, toilet drain, etc.? How far away from the earthquake and sunami sites are you? Your surroundings are very beautiful and peaceful. Use your time to get living space functioning and knowledge usable. Hope is trying to roll-over and is pushing her knees underneath when on stomach. If you need anything, let us know and we will send. God speed and stay in touch.