my new home could not be any more different than my last. so long, cushy 21st-century boston studio apartment. hello backwoods built-long-before-i-was-born japanese house. thats not to say this place is awful; its just going to take an awful lot of adjustment for me to feel at home here.

my neighborhood looks pretty awesome. i am ridiculously close to the greenest mountains i've ever seen in my whole life. the streets and houses next to me look as quaint as can be. it seriously feels like nothing in this town has changed in the last few hundred years. here's a video of what my neighborhood looks like:


my new house has definitely not been easy to get used to. my toilet, for example, is a non-flush toilet. this means that when you open the lid, instead of seeing a little pool of water just waiting to wash everything you might put in it down the drain, you see a hole. just a stupid hole. ugh. my shower is another source of conflict for me. i have to go outside my house to get to the shower. though the only things i have to worry about right now is getting my feet dirty and avoiding the spiders, this will be a big pain when winter comes. i am not looking forward to walking outside in the frigid cold just to soap myself down.


i suppose my house is fairly typical, if not maybe a bit bigger, than a normal rural japanese home. i'll be sleeping on the floor, on top of a futon (布団). to be clear, a japanese futon is a glorified comforter; it should not be confused with an american-style futon where a chair or couch folds out into a bed. lets see here.. every room is separated by traditional-looking sliding doors. ive got a room decked out in tatami (たたみ) mats. theres a lowered section in front of the front door where guests and i take off our shoes before entering the rest of the house. theres no central AC or central heating. its pretty rough in the summer so far, but im sure itll get much worse when the weather drops this winter.

im still living out of my suitcases. i have yet to make this place feel like its actually MY home.

after a 4 hour train ride and a 1 hour car ride, i arrived in my new town, kihoku-cho (紀北町). i met my supervisor, kawaguchi-san (川口さん), who is so freaking nice. over the last few days, he has gone waaaaay out of his way to help me get situated. basic things like getting gas and internet hooked up or opening a bank account are overwhelmingly difficult for me. though the language barrier is the main culprit, it also has a lot to do with the fact that the bureaucratic red tape is intense and the procedures here are quite complicated.

one side of kihoku-cho (紀北町)

since 99.9% of the people in my town dont speak english, the board of education actually brought in a JET from the next town over (30 minutes away by train) everyday for the last 3 days. his name is rob (ロバと) and he has been a tremendous help to both me and all of the people and companies i've had to interact with so far. i would not have gotten anywhere without rob's help. thanks dude.

when i arrived i was told that the mayor wanted to meet me the next day. the freaking mayor. so the next day, i put back on the same suit i have worn since i arrived in japan and went to the town hall. meeting the mayor was really awkward for both of us. after we did our introductions (in japanese, of course), we tried to talk about our hobbies and our past. he seemed pretty stoked to hear about my love for guitar and how i used to be in punk rock bands. all of the towns journalists (all 3 of them) kept taking pictures of the two of us, and later asked me a lot of questions about my education.

an article about me meeting the mayor in the town paper

could i look any more awkward?!

i got to see a proof for the article about me in the town paper that should be coming out next week. i can only assume the journalist choose this particular picture either out of humor or callousness.

even though the article makes me look like the most awkward person on the planet, i must say that i have been treated with an astonishingly amount of respect, patience, and kindness from every single person and kid that i have been fortunate enough to meet so far.

flying from boston to tokyo (東京) was an adventure in itself. it was a 16 hour exercise in self entertainment and a constant struggle to remain semi-comfortable, multiplied 30 times over by the other JET's around me who were just as nervous, fidgety, and uncomfortable.

a view of shinjuku (新宿区) from my hotel

when the flight that seemed to never end actually touched down and docked at narita airport (成田国際空港), we were all herded through customs and put into buses headed for keio plaza hotel. the hotel was ginormous and beautiful. the rooms started out clean but deteriorated quickly with three JET's sharing a room.

dressed up to meet my new bosses

we had two looooong days of orientation in tokyo. i didnt know at the time, but i was to spend the next 4 days dressed up in my finest (also my ONLY) suit and tie. i went to workshops that taught me how to not hate life while living in a rural town, the basics to proper japanese etiquette, and other things which i already forgot. i also had the chance to finally meet all the new jets in my prefecture, mie (三重). people ran the gambit from shy and quiet to talkative and personable. one common trait we all seemed to share, besides being hopelessly lost and nervous, was an instant sense of camaraderie and friendship. im betting that these new friends will become extremely important to my sanity during this major transition.

the first morning of orientation

after the long days of orientations, i spent the evenings fighting overwhelming jet-lag by walking around shinjuku (新宿区) with fellow JET's doing things like singing karaoke (カラオケ), drinking japanese beer (ビール), and eating conveyor-belt sushi (回転寿司) and cold soba (そば) noodles.

my first dinner in japan: cold soba (そば) noodles

i also spent about 10 minutes in an arcade near the hotel. after inspecting all of the crazy games everyone was playing, i decided to put a 100円 coin into a claw game. with an unfamiliar sense of luck, i actually won what i aimed for: a family size pack of cookies called koala no machi (コアラのマーチ). im sure i made even more friends when i decided to share the box with fellow JET's.

i totally won this family size pack of koala no machi (コアラのマーチ) from a claw game on my first try