I made it to Tokyo!
Trip Start
Jun 27, 2009
1
47
Trip End
Jun 25, 2011
Loading Map
Tokyo,
Japan
Monday, August 7, 2006
The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was only like 12 hours or something - they had great movies playing which made the time go by faster. The whole plane was basically JET's, we were also on the flight with Denver JET's.
When we got to Tokyo we went through immigration, then waited for luggage - all of mine made it which I was shocked about. Then went through customs which was also really quick. Then we were greeted by TONS of JET Orientation people wearing bright colored shirts, guiding us with bright signs all the way through the airport, outside and to the busses. They were all really friendly, and helpful. I couldn't be more impressed with how organized this whole program is. Waited in a line of about 400+ JET's to board the busses to Tokyo.
01 luggage
The weather was warm but there was a really nice breeze so it wasn't too bad. Got on the busses and our driver said it was going to take 2-3 hours because of an accident (a trip that normally takes an hour). The drive was pretty, and as we got closer to Tokyo we passed Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea (we're thinking its kind of like Sea World?) Our hotel is really nice, they lead us through a huge ballroom where picked up huge books of orientation information, maps of Shinjuku, mealcards, nametags, room keys, etc...Went up to my room, my roommate is from Gettysburg, PA. She's in the prefecture next to mine. Our room is really nice with a great view of the city. There are slippers provided for use in the bathroom and a crazy toilet with lots of buttons for different things. There are also these robes to wear when you get out of the bathroom.
We met up with some other girls and went to eat at a little Japanese place nearby. I had my first taste of Japanese noodles and Japanese "sea tangle" which I think is their way of saying seaweed. The food was really cheap, for my HUGE bowl of noodles, egg and salmon it was only $7. After that we went to a little 7-11 type store called, obviously "AM/PM" and bought some stuff. The store was so clean and colorful - like everyone has said the packaging on products is so bright and different than anything in the US. I was looking at candy and next to the Snickers bars was some kind of dried OCTOPUS, next to it was like dried prawn/crayfish, and next to that was this huge dried beetle!
This morning we had breakfast in one of 4 ballrooms, breakfast was pretty good: soupy eggs, this 'egg cube' which was like a compressed square quiche/omlette thing, corn flakes/rice krispies, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, rolls, cheese, yogurt and fresh fruit.
02 Martin
After breakfast we headed to the opening ceremonies where all these government officials came to welcome us, and congratulate us on being accepted into the JET program. The ballroom is huge and we were seated by our prefectures. I was so excited to finally meet people who are actually going to be living near me. There are 12 new JET's in my prefecture at this orientation, and about 15 that were in group A so they are already in their towns. We have one canadian from Vancouver, one guy from New Zealand, and one girl from the UK. The rest of us are from the US: 3 from California, 1 from Indiana, and 1 from Oregon. We all live along the coast, so it will be easy to take the train to visit each other.
The morning speeches were really boring, but we broke for lunch and we chose to eat on the 44th floor with panoramic views of the city, and Fuji. It's a really clear day today so we could see really far. I sat with a few people from my prefecture, a girl who I met that went to MWC, and I sat next to a guy from Israel...I was asking him if he was happy to get away and he said yes. It was amazing because he was smiling and laughing the whole time when he was talking about how his family has been just living in the shelter in their basement for the past few weeks. He said they were going to try and go south, but now there is bombing there too....he said you're not safe anywhere so they're just going to stay in their own house.
We've been bombarded with free stuff from cell phone companies, internet service providers, travel agencies, newspaper and magazine people - all of course wanting you to sign up to use their services. Right now there are mini seminars being held in different smaller rooms around the hotel on things like: Travel as a JET, Getting the most for your YEN, Cooking in Japan, Older JET's - how to fit in, Being a vegetarian in Japan, Experienced Teachers...
Tonight we have a welcome reception hosted by the Japanese government and CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities and International Relations) and then everyone is goign out with their prefectures. Since mine is small our Prefectural Advisor (she went to Duke and is from Texas) is going to break the rules and take us a few stops away on the subway to do some karaoke at a more local place.
More to come!
