Summer Hol's I ("the big mikan")
Next week classes start again. I can't wait for them to start, I've been sitting at my desk trying to study Japanese and wasting hours on the internet. I'm much more organized and efficient when I'm ridiculously busy.
The Internship
In some ways it was really difficult coming back to Kagoshima. I really enjoyed my internship at the embassy. It was a good taste of what a diplomatic career would be like. I spent 3 weeks there, 1 week in the Defence section and the other 2 weeks doing projects in Political. The latter was much better suited to my background and interests. I thought a lot about my future career goals and life goals while I was working there. I guess it shifted me out of neutral and into drive as far as my big plans are concerned. I don't want to teach English for the rest of my life. I like it right now and the entire experience of living in a tiny town in southern Japan is invaluable, but 2 years will be enough. And it will be time to move on.
During the internship I met other Canadian JETs from across the country, some staying in Japan another year, some heading home. We were in different sections around the embassy but we sometimes went out together for lunch and after work. They were a colourful group and I enjoyed hanging out with them. The staff at the embassy were amazing. They were incredibly helpful and welcoming. Some invited us into their homes for meals, others took us out for lunch and they all let us pick their brains with our never ending questions about diplomatic life. I was interested in my work in a way that I will never be interested in English lesson planning.
With a background mostly NGO related it was a little different being in a government work environment. I think I prefer smaller private company work because there's less bureaucracy. Then again, I'm seriously thinking of applying for the foreign service so a life based out of Ottawa and working for the government isn't on my list of "absolutely never". I guess the best way to go about it is to apply for everything that is appealing and let the rest work itself out.
Tokyo (aka "the big mikan")
A mikan is an orange, so "the big orange", and no, I have no idea why. Why is New York "the big apple" and (apparently) Bangkok "the big mango"? What would Vancouver be?
It was awesome drinking Canadian beer (La Fin du Monde!!), eating cheese and other food hard to get in Kagoshima. I went out to eat every day while I was in Tokyo! I ate Thai, Indian, Malaysian and Mexican food. I had Subway subs and Pizza Hut pizza and other things that make my mouth water right now. I definitely got my fix of foreign foods this summer. Tokyo did not feel like Japan to me, it was just another big (really big) (somewhat) cosmopolitan city. My idea of Japan is my small town in Kagoshima. It was mind-stretching to see Tokyo and try to think of it as Japan.
The Subway
When I first saw a map of all of Tokyo's subway and train lines my heart skipped a beat (not in the good way). Tokyo maps. I managed to find my work on the map and then my guesthouse and luck be it, I found out I only had to take 1 train to get between the two. How lucky is that?! VERY. I am fine getting from one station to another, that's the easiest part. The most difficult part of the Tokyo subway system was finding my way around INSIDE a station! The main ones have different levels, many platforms, stairwells, gates, SHOPPING MALLS, art galleries, restaurants and people (people! everywhere! people!) I could get lost for hours, maybe days, inside a station. I guess I'd be fine cause I could eat, buy a change of clothes and look at art to pass time, but honestly, it got pretty ridiculous when I had to make transfers. In the end, thankfully, I made it out of the city without seriously getting lost in Tokyo's underground.
I participated in the lovely experience that is "the daily commute". I saw the men with the white gloves ready to squish people into the train to make room for the doors to close. I have never felt more intimate with as many people before than on those morning subway rides. I never had to worry about falling over as the train sped up or slowed down because the bodies squished up around me held me in one position. You get on that train and stick your hand up to hold onto a pole, that arm is staying in that one position for the entire ride. There is no way you're gonna get a chance to move it. Getting off the train is spectacle (as far as I am concerned), I kinda fall out, hair astray, skirt skewed, and my shirt untucked. ("What were you doing on that train, Lucky?!") Everyone else steps off nicely, suits perfectly aligned and hair in place. I guess it takes years of practice?! After a few days of kissing strange men's backs, accidentally holding onto other women's purses and awkwardly trying not to hug the person my arms happened to be stuck around... I decided to try the women only train carriage.
During morning rush house, the last couple carriages of all trains are women only. This is due to groping incidents that occur on trains. The women only section is a little less crowded than the rest and I found it much easier a commute. I could breath! Women are generally smaller so my face was never in someones back and there was enough space that I could hold a book up (right in front of me face, but still up) and read. After checking it out the first time, I made the mad dash down to the end of the platform every morning to the women only section.
My guesthouse
I paid an arm and a leg for a shoebox to stay in during my internship. It was not bad, I had my own room and my roommates were all really sweet. I had quite a few roommates, young guys from the Cameroon, Australia, England, 5 young Japanese guys (one from Kagoshima!), an old Japanese man (also from Kagoshima!) and one other Japanese girl who I saw once the entire time I lived there. Two of the Japanese guys met in Australia sometime in the past and learned how to play the didgeridoo. They beatboxed into their didgeridoos! It was rad! I went to a couple shows and saw them play, I'd never seen beatboxing didgeridoos before! I also saw a woman bellydance to a didgeridoo! Seeing live music was amazing! It's something I really miss here.
Exploring
After work and during the weekends, I ran about Tokyo (and it's subway stations) exploring and getting (happily) lost.
Refugee Film Festival
During my first week there was a Refugee Film Festival on, so I checked that out for a few nights. I saw some really interesting films about the situation in Darfur, which is mind-numbingly and heart-stopping serious. There's one section of the embassy I wish I got to know more about, Immigration and Visas; it would be increadibly interesting to work in such a field. It was difficult to watch some films and then take quiet subway ride and walk home at night and not have anyone to debrief the film with. Sometimes after the films the group would stay and discuss and this was definitely a highlight of the festival. After seeing some short films made by a few refugees from the Darfur region, we had a webcam conversation with them at their refugee camp. The connection was crap but it was rad talking to them! It was really interesting to see what it is like for them living in a refugee camp. One guy said he's happy, he's got food and a place to sleep. It makes sense doesn't it?
Different Parts of Town
I went to Harajuku on Sunday and saw all the folks that dress up in wild fashions. Some are young and some are old. Really old. It was strange seeing some who looked close to my mother's age dressed in a goth outfit. It was packed and everyone was shopping and all in all it's something to see once and then it's not as exciting (in my opinion).
At some point during my stay in the big city I started yearning to see some green and so I headed up to the Northeast part of Tokyo to go park hunting. I found a huge market (I think it's called America Town) that reminded me more of Southeast Asia than Japan. It was busy, not as neat as Japan usually is and huge! You could buy jewellery, clothes, music, food, and so on... nowhere near are lively as markets in some other countries I've visited (weekend market in Bangkok?!), but a nice change of pace from the sterile subway station shopping centers. From there I headed to a park nearby where I almost passed out from heatstroke (walking in the sun all day) and got bitten my many little insect creatures. I scratched all the way to Hokkaido.
I could keep writing about other parts of town I visited but this could go on and on! Tokyo is HUGE> there's so much to it. So I'll stop here, if you're still with me, and next time I'll tell a bit about Hokkaido.
The Internship
In some ways it was really difficult coming back to Kagoshima. I really enjoyed my internship at the embassy. It was a good taste of what a diplomatic career would be like. I spent 3 weeks there, 1 week in the Defence section and the other 2 weeks doing projects in Political. The latter was much better suited to my background and interests. I thought a lot about my future career goals and life goals while I was working there. I guess it shifted me out of neutral and into drive as far as my big plans are concerned. I don't want to teach English for the rest of my life. I like it right now and the entire experience of living in a tiny town in southern Japan is invaluable, but 2 years will be enough. And it will be time to move on.
During the internship I met other Canadian JETs from across the country, some staying in Japan another year, some heading home. We were in different sections around the embassy but we sometimes went out together for lunch and after work. They were a colourful group and I enjoyed hanging out with them. The staff at the embassy were amazing. They were incredibly helpful and welcoming. Some invited us into their homes for meals, others took us out for lunch and they all let us pick their brains with our never ending questions about diplomatic life. I was interested in my work in a way that I will never be interested in English lesson planning.
With a background mostly NGO related it was a little different being in a government work environment. I think I prefer smaller private company work because there's less bureaucracy. Then again, I'm seriously thinking of applying for the foreign service so a life based out of Ottawa and working for the government isn't on my list of "absolutely never". I guess the best way to go about it is to apply for everything that is appealing and let the rest work itself out.
Tokyo (aka "the big mikan")
A mikan is an orange, so "the big orange", and no, I have no idea why. Why is New York "the big apple" and (apparently) Bangkok "the big mango"? What would Vancouver be?
It was awesome drinking Canadian beer (La Fin du Monde!!), eating cheese and other food hard to get in Kagoshima. I went out to eat every day while I was in Tokyo! I ate Thai, Indian, Malaysian and Mexican food. I had Subway subs and Pizza Hut pizza and other things that make my mouth water right now. I definitely got my fix of foreign foods this summer. Tokyo did not feel like Japan to me, it was just another big (really big) (somewhat) cosmopolitan city. My idea of Japan is my small town in Kagoshima. It was mind-stretching to see Tokyo and try to think of it as Japan.
The Subway
When I first saw a map of all of Tokyo's subway and train lines my heart skipped a beat (not in the good way). Tokyo maps. I managed to find my work on the map and then my guesthouse and luck be it, I found out I only had to take 1 train to get between the two. How lucky is that?! VERY. I am fine getting from one station to another, that's the easiest part. The most difficult part of the Tokyo subway system was finding my way around INSIDE a station! The main ones have different levels, many platforms, stairwells, gates, SHOPPING MALLS, art galleries, restaurants and people (people! everywhere! people!) I could get lost for hours, maybe days, inside a station. I guess I'd be fine cause I could eat, buy a change of clothes and look at art to pass time, but honestly, it got pretty ridiculous when I had to make transfers. In the end, thankfully, I made it out of the city without seriously getting lost in Tokyo's underground.
I participated in the lovely experience that is "the daily commute". I saw the men with the white gloves ready to squish people into the train to make room for the doors to close. I have never felt more intimate with as many people before than on those morning subway rides. I never had to worry about falling over as the train sped up or slowed down because the bodies squished up around me held me in one position. You get on that train and stick your hand up to hold onto a pole, that arm is staying in that one position for the entire ride. There is no way you're gonna get a chance to move it. Getting off the train is spectacle (as far as I am concerned), I kinda fall out, hair astray, skirt skewed, and my shirt untucked. ("What were you doing on that train, Lucky?!") Everyone else steps off nicely, suits perfectly aligned and hair in place. I guess it takes years of practice?! After a few days of kissing strange men's backs, accidentally holding onto other women's purses and awkwardly trying not to hug the person my arms happened to be stuck around... I decided to try the women only train carriage.
During morning rush house, the last couple carriages of all trains are women only. This is due to groping incidents that occur on trains. The women only section is a little less crowded than the rest and I found it much easier a commute. I could breath! Women are generally smaller so my face was never in someones back and there was enough space that I could hold a book up (right in front of me face, but still up) and read. After checking it out the first time, I made the mad dash down to the end of the platform every morning to the women only section.
My guesthouse
I paid an arm and a leg for a shoebox to stay in during my internship. It was not bad, I had my own room and my roommates were all really sweet. I had quite a few roommates, young guys from the Cameroon, Australia, England, 5 young Japanese guys (one from Kagoshima!), an old Japanese man (also from Kagoshima!) and one other Japanese girl who I saw once the entire time I lived there. Two of the Japanese guys met in Australia sometime in the past and learned how to play the didgeridoo. They beatboxed into their didgeridoos! It was rad! I went to a couple shows and saw them play, I'd never seen beatboxing didgeridoos before! I also saw a woman bellydance to a didgeridoo! Seeing live music was amazing! It's something I really miss here.
Exploring
After work and during the weekends, I ran about Tokyo (and it's subway stations) exploring and getting (happily) lost.
Refugee Film Festival
During my first week there was a Refugee Film Festival on, so I checked that out for a few nights. I saw some really interesting films about the situation in Darfur, which is mind-numbingly and heart-stopping serious. There's one section of the embassy I wish I got to know more about, Immigration and Visas; it would be increadibly interesting to work in such a field. It was difficult to watch some films and then take quiet subway ride and walk home at night and not have anyone to debrief the film with. Sometimes after the films the group would stay and discuss and this was definitely a highlight of the festival. After seeing some short films made by a few refugees from the Darfur region, we had a webcam conversation with them at their refugee camp. The connection was crap but it was rad talking to them! It was really interesting to see what it is like for them living in a refugee camp. One guy said he's happy, he's got food and a place to sleep. It makes sense doesn't it?
Different Parts of Town
I went to Harajuku on Sunday and saw all the folks that dress up in wild fashions. Some are young and some are old. Really old. It was strange seeing some who looked close to my mother's age dressed in a goth outfit. It was packed and everyone was shopping and all in all it's something to see once and then it's not as exciting (in my opinion).
At some point during my stay in the big city I started yearning to see some green and so I headed up to the Northeast part of Tokyo to go park hunting. I found a huge market (I think it's called America Town) that reminded me more of Southeast Asia than Japan. It was busy, not as neat as Japan usually is and huge! You could buy jewellery, clothes, music, food, and so on... nowhere near are lively as markets in some other countries I've visited (weekend market in Bangkok?!), but a nice change of pace from the sterile subway station shopping centers. From there I headed to a park nearby where I almost passed out from heatstroke (walking in the sun all day) and got bitten my many little insect creatures. I scratched all the way to Hokkaido.
I could keep writing about other parts of town I visited but this could go on and on! Tokyo is HUGE> there's so much to it. So I'll stop here, if you're still with me, and next time I'll tell a bit about Hokkaido.
posted by lucky at
2:22 pm
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