Tokyo Orientation 2014, Day Three

Today wa our last full day in Tokyo! I really wish we got more time here, especially more free time. I'm not sure when or if we'll be able to come back since we live so far away in Tottori.

I went up to the 43rd floor this morning to try and get photos of the sunrise over Tokyo. It didn't quite turn out as I wanted, because the bathrooms which supposedly have a great view were closed (it was 5am). There was a big window in the hallway though.

View of Tokyo from the 43rd floor of Keio.

View of Tokyo from the 43rd floor of Keio.

7:00am-8:30am Breakfast
Same fare as yesterday, but with the addition of french fries.

Our breakfast spread this morning.

9:00am-10:30am Life in Japan as an ALT panel discussion
There were 3 current JETs who answered a variety of questions. It was nice to actually hear from more JETs. That said, a lot of information is placement specific, so it was all kind of useless.

10:30am-10:45am Break

10:45am-11:35am Meaningful speaking activities
This workshop was about speaking activities, so we learned a few games, how to adapt activities to other levels, and how to balance fluency and accuracy. I felt like it could have been a little more in depth.

11:35am-12:50pm Lunch
Today we had vegetable curry, minestrone soup, and salad. It seems like they are making sure that meals are vegetarian, which is thoughtful.

12:50pm-1:40pm Reviewing vocabulary through games
This seminar was about teaching vocabulary in different ways, like charades or pictionary.

1:40pm-1:55pm Break

1:55pm-2:45pm Improving your language awareness
This seminar was focused on grammar and how to approach it in the classroom.

2:45pm-3:00pm Break

3:00pm-3:50pm Helping students with writing
The last seminar of the day was about teaching writing. I was really tired by then, so I kind of zoned out.

3:50pm-4:05pm Break

4:05pm-4:55pm Host prefecture/designated city meetings
I was really looking forward to finally meeting people going to my prefecture! There aren't very many of us, but there is 1 other Canadian, so I'm not completely alone! I still can't believe there are only 2 new Canadian JETs coming to Tottori, though. Here we found out some information on travelling to Tottori tomorrow, what to expect on our first day, and Tottori orientation.

4:55pm-5:05pm Survey completion and submission
We had to complete and submit a survey about all the seminars across the entire orientation.

5:15pm-8:00pm Luggage collection
We actually missed this, but its just for loading the bus before we go to the airport, so it should be fine I hope!

We missed luggage collection because this evening we met up with Asumi and went to Sweets Paradise, a dessert buffet! It took a while for us to find it and we even had to go ask at an information desk inside a department store, but we got there! The food was really amazing and there was a huge variety - not just sweets either. I completely gorged myself on all sorts of delicious cakes, as well as kakigori (flavoured shaved ice), one of my favourite Japanese foods.

My first dessert plate. The brown one is chocolate, the tart is a yogurt tart, the jelly is ramune jelly, and I'm not sure about the flavours of the two cakes in the foreground, but they were also delicious.

Chocolate fountain at Sweets Paradise.

Just part of the dessert buffet at Sweets Paradise.

Afterwards, when we were walking back to our hotel, we ended up going down this narrow, winding street. It was a traditional Japanese pub street, lined with restaurants. Interestingly, many of them seemed to be run by women. One woman and her 5 year-old daughter caught our attention and we chatted with them for a moment...er, well I guess it was more like awkwardly smiled and tried to get two shy girls to talk without success. The lady was very kind and gave Yana some candy. I wish we could go back there again, it smelled delicious!

If you look closely, you can spot the woman and her daughter peeking out of their restaurant on the right.

I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow because its probably when this will all sink in. Being mostly confined to the hotel over the past few days has really sheltered us from a lot of the realities of living here. I also hope I get my voice back by tomorrow, because otherwise I am going to sound completely ridiculous when I try to speak!

Tokyo Orientation 2014, Day Two

I woke up around 2am this morning to Yana kicking me in the side. I was so NOT thrilled at the prospect of her being up so early, but luckily she went back to sleep eventually and is still snoozing at nearly 6am - hooray! However, after that I slept fitfully and woke up a lot. I left the curtains open and the sun starts rising really early here (around 4am), so that didn't help either. Tonight I will close the curtains! I feel tired, but mostly just like I didn't sleep well.

Before breakfast we went down to the convenience store in the south tower, mostly to get things for Justin and Yana's lunch. There were a ton of Frozen things for sale! Yana was going crazy at all the cute things. I got some pure gummies, a favourite from when I was here in 2008.


Here was our schedule for the first day of orientation:

7:00am-8:30am Breakfast
I was a bit worried about Justin and Yana getting in, but there was no one at the doors, so it went alright after all. Breakfast was pretty good. Lots of fruit, which I was happy about.

9:00am-10:00am Opening ceremony and essential information
I went directly to the room for the opening ceremony after breakfast, as we had to be seated by 8:45. I ended up with a bunch of the folks from Toronto, so that was a happy accident.

At the opening ceremony.

10:00am-10:15am Break

10:15am-11:15am Expectations of you as a JET
This presentation was mainly about tips to keep in mind. I kind of blanked out a bit during this one.

11:15am-11:30am Break
We ended a bit early, so we actually took a 1/2 hour break and went outside to a convenience store for coffee. We were going to go for donuts (so Canadian), but couldn't find the place and had to get back to the hotel for the next presentation.

11:30am-12:15pm Foreign language education in Japan
This was actually one of the most amusing presentations of the day. The speaker was really funny and he also showed us some great scenery of Japan. This presentation was about government mandates on how foreign languages should be taught in Japan. There is a fairly new suggestion that classes should be taught in English only.

12:15pm-1:30pm Lunch
We went and had lunch in the south tower, since it seemed less busy. We had penne with vegetable sauce, some kind of vegetable soup, and coffee.

Lunch was served on giant lazy susans!

1:30pm-2:20pm Team teaching demonstration and effective lesson planning, part 1 (Junior high)
We split into a bunch of groups for information about teaching at our respective levels. I was in the D group for junior high school. It was pretty informative. We learned about the school system, schedules, how to team teach, etc.

2:20pm-2:35pm Break

2:35pm-3:25pm Team teaching demonstration and effective lesson planning, part 2 (Junior high)
The second part of the teaching presentation.

3:25pm-3:40pm Break

3:40pm-4:30pm Characteristics of Japanese and self study techniques
This presentation was kind of boring and all over the place. It was really random and unfortunately the presenter didn't do a great job. It was supposed to be a kind of introduction to the language and basic Japanese.

4:30pm-4:45pm Break

4:45pm-5:35pm Workplace etiquette
Our last seminar of the day was about etiquette, so we covered things like bowing, greetings, and posture. Honestly by this point I was getting really drained, but thankfully the hours go by fairly quickly.

5:35pm-6:30pm Break

6:30pm-8:00pm Welcome reception
We actually ended up skipping out on this. I was so done with work stuff and I didn't feel like being in a suit and listening to speeches and dealing with forced social interaction. It was optional, so it was okay.

Instead we decided to go out and explore Tokyo, since we don't have much other time to do that.

Yana in Shinjuku!

We were trying to find our way to Don Quijote, but got a bit lost on the way. So first we ended up stopping at 7-11 to get a snack for Yana. She got some blueberry yogurt. Then we consulted some maps and after a bit of a walk we made it to Don Quijote, where we bought an umbrella and some 3-prong to 2-prong converters. After that we stopped by McDonald's because Yana likes their hamburgers. I attempted to order the food, but it went a bit wrong...instead of getting the #3 double quarter pounder set for Justin I instead ordered three double quarter pounders on their own. Which explains why they had us wait for 5 minutes for the food. Oops.

View of Shinjuku.

Oddly I don't think I've really been hit by jet lag at all! I felt tired after the flight, but that was because I hadn't really slept in 2 days. I've felt pretty great all day as far as that goes. Unfortunately I've become sick, which puts a damper on things. I felt it in my throat the day we left, but now I sound like an old man. I'm hoping it clears up at least a bit before I have to meet my supervisor!

Departure for Japan and Tokyo Orientation 2014, Day One

Our flight today was scheduled for 2:05pm, so we left the house around 9:30am and drove to the airport. We were supposed to be there for 10:30am, and it was a good thing because there was some issue with the self check-in machine not printing baggage stickers and we ended up in this huge messy line for ages. Finally we got our 5 suitcases checked. We said goodbye to my mom and then went through security.

Yana was super excited to see all the airplanes.

We still had a while before boarding, so we ate some lunch and played around on the iPads that are free to use! Toronto airport certainly got an upgrade since the last time I was there!

Yana in front of our airplane.

We finally started boarding, in a very confused manner, but we were able to get seated a bit early since Yana was with us. Justin and Yana were in a 2-seat row (25), while I was behind the bathrooms and one row at 32. Unfortunately I was in a middle seat between two guys, so I ended up staying in my seat the whole time. It seems like Yana did great and was amused by watching The Aristocats on repeat.

Overall, the flight went by pretty quickly. Between 6 and 3 hours left until arrival was the slowest period. I had a plan to sleep as soon as we got on the plane (since it was 3am Japan time), but that didn't end up working at all and I mostly drifted in and out of terribly uncomfortable sleep. This was partially due to some guy who felt the need to stand in front of the row in front of us and chat loudly with the people sitting there for hours on end. We were served a lunch (stirfry with rice, bread, salad, and a brownie), a dinner (beef sandwich, biscuits, and cup noodles), and breakfast (omelette/rice pudding, fruit, and bread with jam). I watched a few movies and before I knew it we were landing! There was a bit of turbulence near the end, but overall it was a really good flight and the landing was actually amazingly smooth.

After we landed we went through immigration, where we had our fingerprints scanned and our photos taken for our residence card. Last time I was here it took a few weeks to have the resident card printed, so I found it was a nice change. However, I struggled with the fingerprinting machine just like last time. Next we picked up our massive amount of suitcases, went through customs, and were ushered through halls and up and down escalators until we got outside. There we lined up and shipped off our suitcases (we're just keeping carry-ons) and boarded the bus for the hotel in Tokyo.

Waiting to ship luggage. Somehow we got separated from the Canadians and ended up with a bunch of Americans and Kiwis.

I have no idea how long the bus ride was, because I was drifting in and out of a slightly more comfortable sleep and at this point I had no idea what time it was. I'd say it was probably close to the estimated 2 hours. We were shown into the hotel, where we had a quick lecture, submitted insurance forms, and picked up various things like schedules, room keys, and name tags. I also had to pay for Justin and Yana's various expenses for coming along. 

Currently we're in our room on the 22nd floor of the hotel. It gets dark pretty early here. Its hot, but actually not too bad, but perhaps thats because we didn't leave the airport until after 5:30pm. Justin and Yana are both conked out on their beds. I actually feel pretty good right now. Tired, but not overly exhausted. Actually, I'm starving but I have no idea where to go for food and I don't want to leave the two of them alone. 

The view from our hotel room window.

Bringing Dependents to Tokyo Orientation

"Tokyo Orientation" by chrysanta

One of the biggest concerns I had immediately after finding out I was shortlisted was whether or not my dependents would come along with me to Tokyo Orientation.

JET's official recommendation is that dependents wait 1-2 weeks before coming over. Their reasons are:

1. The orientation begins right after you arrive in Tokyo and you will not have time to look after your family.
2. Spouses and children may not participate in workshops and lectures at Post-Arrival Orientation or the prefectural orientation, and CLAIR cannot make arrangements for family members. 
3. Babysitting services at the hotel may not be available and the cost can be very high. 
4. Post-Arrival Orientation provides an opportunity for you to meet other JET participants residing in your area. This is a good opportunity to network, and not having to care for your family during orientation will ultimately be an opportunity for you to meet more people with whom you and your family may interact with once you arrive in your prefecture/designated city. 

JET also notes that participants are very busy getting settled in for the first few weeks.

To help me make a decision I decided to make a pros and cons list. I love writing things out like this when making decisions; I find it really helps.

Pros for Travelling Together

• Support from my spouse during a stressful period
• Could be less confusing for Yana if we're all together. She's never been away from me overnight.
• Simpler in terms of booking transportation and accommodation as we can just do it all through JET
• Any decisions about housing and other contracts can be made together and any help I get with setting up phones, bank accounts, etc. can include my spouse
• We'll be together, so no worries about me not having internet or phone service for a while
• Justin has only been out of the country once before, a while ago, so he doesn't feel comfortable travelling alone with a preschooler
• JET will book a suite for your family for Tokyo Orientation, so no sharing rooms
• If we arrive separately, I might have to take leave to pick them up and get them settled and do it all on my own (as opposed to when I arrive I will have help from my BOE)

Cons for Travelling Together

• The hotel in Tokyo would be expensive, plus paying for extra food
• It may be cheaper to book dependent flights if they have flexible departure dates
• The housing may be unfurnished, which could be a problem if there's no beds
• I would be busy with work stuff, so Justin and Yana would be on their own all day. That means a tired, jet-lagged adult watching a cranky, jet-lagged kid
• Going alone would give me time to network and meet people on my own

Expanding upon travel arrangements for dependents, it is your responsibility to ensure travel arrangements are made for your dependents, but JET will help you out. The JET travel agent can book tickets for your dependents, they can make travel arrangements from the airport to the hotel (for a fee), can arrange hotel accommodation in Tokyo, and can arrange travel from Tokyo to your contracting organization. Just make sure that your entire family has been included for all legs of travel.

When making my decision, I asked on the JET couples and families group on Facebook for opinions. I got all kinds of opinions. Some said waiting was best for helping children make the smoothest transition. Others said their spouse had waited, but if they had to do it over they would go together. Several people said they traveled together, which surprised me, as I thought more people would have gone separately. People also noted that I would be very busy for the first little while. Ultimately, the best advice I got was "Whatever your decision, just smile, don't justify it to anyone, and when anyone at your school or BOE comments simply stare at them like you think they are crazy for suggesting you should have left them behind."