So I'm back in Japan and this time I've decided to try and keep some documentation of my experiences and observations. I had planned on setting up a blog before I arrived but it's now been almost 3 weeks since I got here so I'll have to back track a little.
I'm back in Japan on a 3 month contract teaching English at a university in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. It's fairly close to Tokyo. It's a lot different from my previou
s little town in Ehime on Shikoku. When I first arrived I was really missing the sights (mikan-orange covered mountains), sounds(cicadas and rice paddy-dwelling-frogs), smells (mikan blossoms, tatami) and of course friends of Ehime but I'm getting used to my new surroundings and although it may be lacking in the beautiful nature of Ehime, my students more than make up for it with their eagerness and enthusiasm. Another redeeming quality of my new residence is the fact that I get to live in an apartment building called Leopalace Twinkle:) I think it must be called Twinkle because it's practically touching the stars - you have to trek up a hill of unending stairs to get to it.
Some observations in Japan:
Although at rush hour Japanese people push and shove to fit into the trains, I noticed the other day as the train was arriving at the station and I began to step over the yellow line that not one other person stepped over the line until the train came to a complete stop.
The other day I bought one item from the 99 yen shop (99 cent shop) and payed with a 10,000 yen bill ($100 bill) without problem.
When I walked into the local Family Mart convenience store for the first time I was instantly transported back in time to my former apartment in Ehime as the chime that sounds when you enter and exit the store is the same my old doorbell.
At an Italian restaurant with some colleagues we had to go through 2 translations to interpret the menu - sounding out the names of the dishes in Japanese katakana to the actual Italian pronuciation to the English explanation.
Always read food labels closely. I bought a bag of popcorn thinking it said "bataa shio"(butter and salt) and after opening it, tasting some, and realizing the butter taste was a little off, I checked the label again and noticed it was "bataa shoyu"(butter and soy sauce)!
s little town in Ehime on Shikoku. When I first arrived I was really missing the sights (mikan-orange covered mountains), sounds(cicadas and rice paddy-dwelling-frogs), smells (mikan blossoms, tatami) and of course friends of Ehime but I'm getting used to my new surroundings and although it may be lacking in the beautiful nature of Ehime, my students more than make up for it with their eagerness and enthusiasm. Another redeeming quality of my new residence is the fact that I get to live in an apartment building called Leopalace Twinkle:) I think it must be called Twinkle because it's practically touching the stars - you have to trek up a hill of unending stairs to get to it.
