Things You Should Bring With You to Japan as an ALT

A 6th grade student tries on a Canadian hockey jersey.

Packing for a year (or more) is difficult. There are tons of things to bring and little space to bring them in. I know the last thing new JETs need is a list of MORE things to pack, but here are some things I brought or wished I had.



Yearbooks
Useful during self introductions or for talking about school in your country, yearbooks will surely intrigue your students. I didn't bring any, but I really wish I had! I know suitcase space is precious, but one yearbook wouldn't take up a lot of space.

Photos
Digital or hard copy, photos are a great thing to bring! These will be most useful during your self introduction lessons, but also for lessons about your country, holiday lessons, or lessons about school life in your country. Document your daily life - the students will be interested to see what your hobbies are or what you have for meals. I have some, but I really wish I had brought more, especially of me during my school days.

Videos
If you have any home videos that are relevant to holidays, your life, your country, or your school days, they would be great to bring along. I wish I had some! As it is, I get all that kind of stuff from Youtube, which is fine, but I can tell you the students would be extra thrilled to watch something more personal.

Things That Represent Your Country
I brought a Canadian hockey jersey, a flag, and some money. These were big hits - at elementary school the kids liked to try on the jersey, and everyone was really interested in the plastic money. Later on I also acquired a can of maple syrup. If your school allows it, you could also bring in some food samples.

Student Rewards
Bringing some special stickers, pennies, stationary supplies, or other knick knacks can work well as incentives for students. I brought some Canadian flag stickers to give out during my self introduction lessons.

Books
I brought along a bunch of children's books in English to give to my elementary school. They really appreciated it. I also was able to use them during reading time. I made sure to bring some which represented my country - in this case, books written about Canadian subjects by a famous author from my town.

Makeup and Toiletries
It can be difficult to find makeup that matches your shade. I can't find the brand I use here at all. I brought some with me, but I wish I had brought more. I ended up ordering off of iherb.com and buying the rest at the store. Other things to consider bringing, if you are particular: deodorant, toothpaste, facial cleansers

Food
If you have a favorite food that is safe to bring, I recommend bringing it. I ran out of room, but I had planned to bring peanut butter. They have it here, but its ridiculously expensive. Also, oatmeal, yeast, and chocolate chips, since I like to bake. Of course you can find most things here or order them online, but its expensive and sometimes I can't figure out the Japanese directions. I only recommend bringing food if you have the space available; it should be a low priority.

Medicine and Vitamins
If you have an affinity for particular medicine or vitamins, it may be worth it to bring some along (of course keeping in mind restrictions on amounts and illegal substances). I am fond of Advil as my painkiller of choice, but its impossible to find North American brands here and I feel uncomfortable taking something without being able to read the instructions or ingredients.  I brought along a big bottle and had my mom bring some when she visited. I wish I had brought more. And even though I order vitamins from iherb, I can't get the brand I usually bought back in Canada.

Clothing
If you are anything larger than a North American size M or L, think seriously about bringing a full wardrobe of clothing (including undergarments and shoes if over size 24-28cm!), because choices outside of large cities may be limited. Extremely limited. And while you can buy some clothing online, there's no guarantee that it fits until you try it on. I really wish I had more effectively planned and bought a wardrobe before leaving.

Yana's Language Progress: April 2015

Yana has made a lot of progress lately with her Japanese, so I think its time for a language progress update. Now, she is certainly not fluent and she still has a ways to go. But I think she's probably around a 2 year old equivalent. I also have no idea what her comprehension is like, since I'm not at school with her.

• issha [just a very Japanese sound one makes while doing something, not even sure if I've spelled it correctly]
• happyoukai [recital]
• tabete [eat]
• arigatou gozaimasu [thank you very much]
• sugoi ne [cool, eh?]
• matte! [wait!]
• kore nan deshou? [what's this?]
• gomen nasai [sorry]
• iranai [I don't want it / I don't need it]
• Yana desu [I'm yana]

She has started using some vocabulary in everyday life with me and Justin, too (arigatou, gomen nasai, dame). She even introduces herself now as "[last name] Yana-chan." On a trip to Kyoto, someone offered her a food sample and hilariously she shouted, "Iranai!" at them. She sings a lot in Japanese (although its more of just mumbling random sounds) and she likes to copy short jingles from the TV, too. 

Three Days in Kyoto

With the end of the school year and the students on break for two weeks, I decided it was well past time for a family trip somewhere. Aside from orientation in Tokyo, we had yet to leave Tottori prefecture. So, I planned a trip to Kyoto!

We left on Thursday, April 2nd. We took the 7:08am Super Hakuto, which is a direct train from Chizu to Kyoto, so its pretty handy. The train trip was just under 3 hours. The cherry blossoms have bloomed this past week, so we enjoyed the scenery along the train tracks.

We arrived in Kyoto Station and put our luggage in a coin locker. Then we were back on the train [the first of many uncomfortably packed public transportation rides] for our first stop, Arashiyama! Arashiyama is most famous for the bamboo forest. It was about a 10 or 15 minute walk from the station, but it was easy to find by just following signs and masses of tourists. We strolled through the forest for a little while, but we didn't spend too much time here because we had plenty of other things on the itinerary. We took the train back to Kyoto Station and ate lunch there, at Subway [sorry].

Bamboo Forest

After lunch we took the subway to Nijo Castle. "Castle" is a bit of a misnomer, as it actually refers to the grounds inside the fortifications, which include gardens and two palaces. Only one palace, Ninomaru, is open to the public. We walked through a very specific route and were not allowed to take photos. Everything was dark inside, so we could barely make out the wall paintings which were being protected by the lighting. The paintings were pretty incredible, though. Also, the floor squeaks loudly like a bird when walked on, which gives it the name "nightingale floor". It was to protect the palace occupants from any intruders. We also walked around the outside of the other palace, Honmaru, and through some of the gardens.

Nijo Castle

Next, we caught the bus to Kinkaku-ji, a Kyoto must-see. It was ridiculously busy there, and we had to fight our way through hoards of people, just to get a view of the golden pavillion. Near the end, we stopped to get fortunes. Yana got excellent, I got very good, and Justin got fairly good.

Kinkaku-ji

Then we got on a very full bus and endured an excruciatingly long ride back to the station. We actually missed our planned train, so we had to take one with a connection. Our hotel was actually in Nara, about 45-50 minutes away from Kyoto. It was a great location, though - right across from the station! We checked in and then went and ordered some pizzas from Pizza Hut! We haven't had real pizza since we arrived, so it was quite the treat. Unfortunately, I was so tired that I couldn't even finish!


The next day we headed out early, on the 7:39am train. Even though we arrived in Kyoto pretty early, there was already a huge lineup for the bus. Luckily the bus came every 10 minutes, and we ended up getting cut off at the front of the line, meaning we were one of the first ones on the next bus and we actually got a seat this time. We got off when the bus told us to, but it took a bit of blindly wandering around before we found the way to Kiyomizu Temple. We walked up the hill towards the temple, nearly getting hit by cars several times. We spent some time exploring the temple, as well as Jishu Shrine, which is one of many shrines within the temple grounds. Jishu is famous for two rocks, and if you walk from one to the other with your eyes closed, it is said you'll have good luck in love. Also, the shrine is related to the same legend of the white rabbit, which is famous here in Tottori.

Kiyomizu Temple

After walking around the temple grounds, we headed towards Maiko Experience Studio Shiki. I had booked a photoshoot for myself. Unfortunately, due to the rain, I couldn't take photos outside, as I had planned, though. The whole experience took nearly 4 hours. I first had to go upstairs and change into kimono underwear. Then I waited for a while before they were ready to do my makeup. The makeup took maybe 15 or 20 minutes. It began with some kind of sticky wax which was rubbed all over my face (lips included). Then I had the whitewash applied, again, all over - in my nose, over my eyebrows, on my lips. Next, the makeup was smoothed out with a bit of powder. Light pink powder was also applied around the eyes and chin. I had my eyebrows re-drawn on, eyeliner, mascara, and red applied to my eyes, and bright red lipstick painted on. At the end of it, I felt like I was wearing a plastic face. Then I got to choose my kimono. I decided on a red and black one, because I liked the pattern. I had to wait for a while, but next I had my wig fitted. I chose to wear a half wig, so some front parts of my hair were heavily waxed, smoothed over the wig, pinned into place, and literally painted black with ink. Also, the wig was ridiculously heavy. The last step was to wait to get dressed. I was wrapped up in about million layers of underclothes and collars, then finally the kimono and obi [sash] - all of it held together with about 10 strips of fabric. Although the back support was nice, it was definitely hard to breathe, move, and sit down. I had to wait for a few minutes, but then I was taken down to have my photos taken. At this point they also brought in Justin and Yana, who got to watch and also take a photo with me. Lastly, I had to go and have everything taken off. I then went back to the changing area, where I had to use about 1/2 a cup of baby oil to get the whitewash and makeup off my face and wash my hair three times to get the ink and wax out. There was a bit of a wait to get my photos, but in the end we left a bit earlier than was planned, so all was good!

Maiko Experience

Our last stop of the day was Miyako Odori, a famous dance put on every year in April by maiko and geiko. We bought special tickets, which allowed us to see a tea ceremony performed by two maiko before the show. We also got to drink green tea and eat a traditional sweet [mochi filled with red bean]. We weren't allowed to take photos during the show itself, which was too bad, because it was amazing and gorgeous. The dancers were incredible - especially so when you consider they do this show four times a day for an entire month.

Maiko Tea Ceremony

After the dance, we walked to a bus stop and took the bus back to the station. We ate dinner at the station and then took the train back to our hotel.


On our last day, we arrived in Kyoto Station in the morning and put our luggage in a coin locker to store for the trip home. We also bought our tickets home and stopped at Starbucks for some breakfast [we don't have any in Tottori yet!]. Then we waited in an even longer line for the bus to Heian Shrine. The entrance to the shrine is marked by one of the largest torii gates in Japan. The shrine itself is based on the architecture of an ancient Kyoto palace. Its also a popular place for weddings, and there was one being held when we arrived. We were a bit short on time, so unfortunately we didn't go into the gardens.

Heian Shrine

We were going to take the bus to Nanzen-ji, but a helpful lady told us that we could walk there faster. It was a stroke of luck, really, as we ended up walking along the most beautiful path of cherry blossom trees. When we got to Nanzen-ji, we paid 500 yen to climb to the top of Sanmon, the big gate, but my fear of heights kicked in, so Justin and Yana went alone. Afterwards, we wandered around the grounds until we found the aqueduct. The aqueduct is pretty neat, but really looks a bit odd in the middle of the temple grounds.

Nanzen-ji Aqueduct

Next we headed from Nanzen-ji along the Philosopher's Walk [with a stop for crepes along the way]. The walk follows a canal lined by tons of cherry blossom trees. It was really gorgeous. We didn't walk the whole path, but instead stopped to visit Honen-in. Honen-in is a very serene temple, hidden away in the woods. It really felt like another world.

Honen-in

After Honen-in, we walked back to a bus stop and rode the bus back to Kyoto Station. We had some time, so we looked through some souvenir shops and ate dinner at a katsu restaurant in the station. And then we took the train back home to Chizu!

Graduation and My First Birthday in Japan

March 10th is my birthday. It also happened to be JHS graduation day. It was also a Tuesday.

I go to the ES every Tuesday, but the JHS made a special arrangement so that I could attend the graduation ceremony. So on the morning of March 10th, I went to the JHS instead of the ES.

At school, everyone was rushing around getting last minute things done. We had the graduation ceremony in our new gym! We had spent the day before getting it ready. The ceremony began at 9:30, but I went in a bit early to watch the last minute practice. Then I took my seat along the side, with all the other teachers.

The ceremony was about an hour and a half long. It began with a short opening speech, and then we jumped right in to giving out the diplomas. Each student had their name called by their homeroom teacher as they went on stage, but the whole process of getting up there was quite the sight! The students walked very slowly and made 90 degree turns. There were different points along the way where the students stopped - at the bottom of the stairs, at the top of the stairs, halfway across the stage, in front of the podium to the right, and finally they would move to the left side of the podium, where they received their diplomas from the principal (who was dressed in a tuxedo, I might add). That part took about 25 minutes, for just under 60 students.

JHS Graduation ceremony (from http://www.torikyo.ed.jp/tizu-j/)

After the diplomas, there were lots of speeches, including from the mayor, someone important from the city hall, and the head of the PTA. The students also gave speeches, praising each other for their attitudes and study habits. One important part of student events here is singing, and indeed there were multiple songs song by both the graduating class and the 1st and 2nd year students.

All the graduating students (from http://www.torikyo.ed.jp/tizu-j/)

At the end of the ceremony, the 3rd years walked out, while everyone applauded. After that I helped clean up the gym with the other students. I don't really know what happened after that, because I had to go over to the ES for the rest of the afternoon.

At the ES, the 6th graders were having their graduation buffet school lunch. I had one already last month with the 3rd years at JHS, so I got 2 buffet lunches! I actually enjoyed the one at the ES better, as there was more food I liked. Some of the food we had: mushroom and sausage pizza, broccoli, noodle and meatball soup, gobo salad, karaage, fried potatoes cut like stars, omelets with chili con carne sauce, shrimp gratin, fruit and jelly salad, and cake.

Since it was the graduation, the staff from the JHS had a party planned for that evening. After school I ran home to quickly get ready, and then I met N-sensei and O-sensei, who gave me a ride to the party. I should add that it was freaking BLIZZARDING, so it was a bit of a tricky drive there.

When we arrived at the party, we drew lots to determine seats, as usual. I was sitting with teachers I don't normally talk to very often, but K-sensei, one of my JTEs, sat across from me. The majority of the night was pretty boring, to be honest. I was tired and it was difficult to follow the conversation and speeches. The food wasn't too bad, but it kind of gave me a stomachache. However, I had mentioned to K-sensei that it was my birthday, so when the dessert course came, so did a huge dessert plate with candles and "Happy Birthday アーニャ" written on the plate in chocolate sauce. Everyone sang happy birthday TWICE and made me blow out the candles twice as well! Then I shared my plate with the teachers sitting near me. O-sensei also gave me a gorgeous chocolate cake to bring home. Funnily enough, Justin had made me a cake while I was out, so in total I got FOUR CAKES on my birthday. It was definitely a good night.

My birthday dessert plate

Things & Stuff

January 28th
The 1st graders at the ES had some sort of traditional games day with a bunch of elderly folks from Chizu and the surrounding area. I was at JHS, but K-sensei asked me to attend and I was able to head over for the duration of the program. The elderly people were teaching the kids string games (like cat's cradle), spinning tops, paper airplanes, and some other traditional games. I sat with the string group to begin with. I had some trouble doing some of the more complicated creations, but when it was time to move to the next group, the new group of kids doing string begged me to come with them, so I ended up getting to try everything over again!


February 12th
At the ES, the kids have clubs once a month. I have always attended cooking club, but randomly the teacher in charge of making things club asked me to attend. Turns out the kids were making baskets! There were some elderly folks there to instruct us. I actually got there a bit late, so I was a little lost at first, but then I really started to get the hang of it. The kids were really good, too! I love the look of these kinds of handicrafts, and it was really neat to be able to learn this tradition. So I was glad the teacher randomly asked me to come!

February 23rd
The JHS 3rd graders had a viking kyuushoku, that is, a buffet school lunch. All the teachers were invited and divided up among the two classes. I went to 3-1, and the students presented me with a personal invitation. I was actually really excited because the menu looked alright, but my hopes and dreams were immediately smashed upon sitting down. The students had already made me a tray - which was kind, to be sure, but they had loaded it up with way too much stuff and stuff I didn't want. It was not like a buffet at all! I thought I was going to be able to make my own tray up. And then I felt so guilty about not eating my food that I didn't get up and get any of the fresh fruit and I only just managed to snag a piece of chocolate cake. Anyway, the 6th graders at the ES have the same thing happening in March (it's a graduation celebration thing), and I'm not expecting to be invited or anything, but if I am and if its the same thing at least I'll be prepared.


February 25th
The ES had their "commemorative graduation photo". It was Wednesday, but I was able to leave for an hour to go over for the photo. Actually, it worked out well because I didn't have any classes anyway - the JHS kids all had tests. When I got there everyone was running around in a fluster, getting into their suits. Even though the photo is only for the 6th graders, every single staff member is in the photo - AND! The mayor and head of education, too! I still love how they do photos here; its really amusing to me for some reason. They are so particular - the photographer and his helper were physically arranging the clothing on the teachers in the front row. And at one point he even stopped shooting to come up and tell the lady standing behind me that her hair was sticking up. Anyway, I think I ordered a copy of the photo, so if I get that, I'll be sure to share (student faces blocked out, of course!).

Chizu Snow Festival 2015

Every February, Chizu hosts a yuki matsuri, or snow festival. While we do seem to get a lot of snow all at once here, it melts pretty quickly, because it doesn't actually get very cold. So naturally, we had lots of snow leading up to this weekend, but the day of the festival was snowless and actually sort of warm. I think they ended up having to import snow from the mountains or something.

We had Yana's happyoukai in the morning, and did shopping after that, but around noon we wandered around the festival. They have it spread all throughout the town - restaurants are open, lots of food stands, and some stands selling local wares or just kitschy stuff. They used the snow that was brought in to make sculptures, snow slides, and snow lanterns. There were also various lanterns made of bamboo and paper, but they don't light them up until it gets dark.

A kind of freaky giant Olaf.

Our first stop was to get some food, so Justin got a giant takoyaki thing. Shortly after that we ran into some neighbours whose younger daughter also goes to the hoikuen, although she's in a different class than Yana. The girls were happy to play together, so we stuck around. We were actually waiting around because there was a mochi making demonstration starting in 30 minutes. While we were waiting a kindly old man came and brought us some warm deer jerky and sake to try. I'm still not sure who he was or where he even came from, as he seemed to appear out of nowhere and then disappeared back into the crowd.

At some point the girls decided they wanted to go up to Suwa Jinja, which of course is up a million stairs on the mountainside above the town. So we went up there and Yana insisted we climb to the very top of the shrine. It was actually my first time visiting the shrine, and I've wanted to for a while, so it was nice to go. No one else was there, so it was very peaceful.

Suwa Jinja.

We walked back down and were just in time to catch the end of the mochi making. Unfortunately our short trek caused us to miss most of it.

Making mochi.

After that we split up and continued to wander around the streets, checking out all the stalls. Naturally along the way it seemed like we met just about everyone in town. Whenever I go out to festivals like this I see tons of students or kids from the hoikuen, so about every minute we're waving hello to someone who shouts, "Herro Anje-sensei!" or, "Yana-chan!"

We decided to head home, and on our way we passed a house with a bunch of locally dyed indigo fabrics on display. I really love the color, so I stopped to take a look. In the end I decided to buy a cloth decorated with a design which represents the famous Chizu cedar trees. While I was there I struck up a conversation with the old lady running the shop. Turns out her granddaughter is a first grader at the elementary school.

My gorgeous indigo dyed fabric.

We stayed at home for the rest of the afternoon, but went out again around 6pm, when it was dark and all the lanterns were lit up. It was incredible - every street of the town was lined with lanterns of various kinds; some lit traditionally with candles, others using flashing rainbow lights or battery powdered candles. Either way, it was gorgeous. Even the bridge was lined with lights.

This was the main event; there were no less than 10 guys lined up with their tripods.

We decided to walk a loop around the town, but on the way we were stopped by the fellows running the hot foot bath. Yana wanted to try it, and as we were standing there we met a man from Hungary! Turns out he lives with his family about 20 minutes away. I swear, for such a small town, Chizu sure sees a lot of foreigners! He seemed very excited to speak to someone in English and spent a while telling us all about how wonderful Chizu and Tottori are and how great this area of Japan is.

While we were chatting, Yana's best friend, Shi-chan, and her mother and sister showed up, so the three kids sat at the foot bath together. They had lots of fun playing together, along with a slightly tipsy Japanese man who was sitting with them (they were serving free sake).

Enjoying the warm foot bath.

And then we met some more people we know! Back in August, I believe, we went to a dinner party with some locals, and tonight we finally saw the host again. He is a friendly fellow, who is actually the head of a local oil company. His son was also in town, just for three days. He lives in Tokyo now, and is the same age as me. His English is quite impressive, so we were able to talk with him as well. We ended up staying for a while at the foot bath!

Eventually, though, Yana was completely soaked from water and it was getting late, so we said goodbye and walked home. It was definitely a fun-filled day!

P.S. Check out this video of the festival! Yana and I make a cameo appearance.

Suwa Hoikuen Happyoukai 2015

Here in Japan schools seem to be gearing up for the end of the year, since school runs from April to March (I really can't believe its already February!). Today, Yana had a recital at her preschool. It was similar to the one we saw at the ES back in 2014.

The kids have been practising for this for a while. They even utilized some of the games they play during exercise time in the performance, which is quite clever, because it means the kids are already familiar with it and they don't have to remember as much. And, earlier in the week, we had to bring Yana to school early one day for rehearsal.

On the day of the performance we also had to bring Yana early, so we arrived at the school around 8:20am (she normally arrives at 9:00am). We were ushered into the heated library, while Yana was escorted upstairs to her class. After a little while, they let us into the gym, where we picked out seats and then had to sit and wait for 30 minutes until the program began at 9:00am.

At the preschool, the kids are divided into their classes and also into age groups, like this:

Lower Years
Panda class
Koala class
Bunny class

Middle Years
Dandelion class
Cosmos class

Upper Years
Rainbow class
Star class

Yana is in the panda class, and the three lower year classes did their performance all together. They were also the first on the program, from 9:00am to 9:45am. The whole thing lasted until noon, but the gym is pretty small, so we could only stay for Yana's performance.

The first act was musical. They sang two songs. The first song also included bells and drums. Yana did great at singing and remembering when to do her bells!

Yana standing beside her best friend, Shi-chan.

After that, they did a play act (I'm not really sure what to call it?) rendition of Momotaro, a traditional Japanese fairy tale. This is where they had the kids do lots of things they do during play or gym time. They ran around the gym and used hula hoops and danced in a circle.

Hiding during the Momotaro play.

At the end of the performance the kids were each called by their name and walked to make a lineup. Yana did great, waiting for her name to be called and shouting, "Hai!".

Afterwards the school kindly gave the kids some snacks and we went upstairs to collect Yana. Her teacher was very impressed and said she did great. Yana was pretty excited too - she kept telling the other kids her parents were here...during the recital itself!

All the kids in the panda, koala, and bunny classes.