
cue music:
♫ Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside. ♫
Yep. Okay, so I made it! It was a long and arduous journey from Austin to my new home of Wajima, but I've had worse. It was mainly the jet lag that kicked my ass. I figured that if I stayed up all night packing before I left, I would sleep like a baby on the plane and wake up chipper and rearing to go for our 3 day orientation in Tokyo. This did not work. Instead, I started getting sick (which was not helped by general stress and trans-pacific airplane A/C), I couldn't sleep on the plane, and I was completely out of it in Tokyo, probably talked gibberish to the plants in the hotel lobby but it's all so hazy I can't really say for sure. Who needs drugs when you can just cross the international dateline?
The schedule in Tokyo was pretty jam-packed, 2 full days of informative seminars taught by current JETs with titles ranging from "Driving in Japan" to "What is that on my plate and why is it moving?" and "How to keep your tatami mat sparkling!". (Okay I made that last one up.) If I could remember anything I learned during these sessions I would be more than happy to share them here, unfortunately my brain was like a sieve. I had several former JETs recommend skipping these seminars altogether and just going out to explore the city. Ah, that would've been fun. Once again, non-functioning everything kept me indoors for the most part. I actually slept through the official Welcome dinner (and then some--went to my room for a power nap and ended up sleeping from 4pm - 230am...whoops. I was awake then so I went outside for a walk and stumbled onto a dozen or so JETs getting sauced in front of the 7/11 across the street, including a classy fellow from Northern Ireland who ran around shirtless until someone informed him that he could get arrested for it.)
On the last night in Tokyo there was an all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner with the other JETs from my prefecture (state), Ishikawa, which would've been a lot more fun if I could've kept my eyes open.

Pics from Tokyo Orientation
The next morning we were up early for checkout. After throwing away the 20 pounds of paper I was given during orientation, including several books from the U.S. Embassy on American History and Economics (I'm an English teacher, not a propaganda tool?), it was off to the Noto!
The Noto is a peninsula sticking off the northwestern coast of the main island, Honshu. Looks kinda like a lobster claw (if you can come up with something more inventive I'd be glad to hear it).
I live on the knuckle, in a city called Wajima (Wajima-shi in Japanese). Here is a map I made:

(the map sort of makes it look like an island, but it's not. definitely a peninsula.)
and google maps
View Larger MapI'm not sure the exact population of Wajima, but it is something like 30,000. and it is very much in the
inaka. This is a Japanese word I will probably be using a lot on this blog. It means "rural" aka "the countryside", "way the eff out there", "BFE", "non-existent nightlife", etc., and it is one of the many interesting perks that comes with being a member of the JET program.
Just to give you a little info on how I ended up here, on the JET application you have the option of requesting your "placement". You can put down a specific city, or a region, somewhere cold/hot, even urban/rural. However, getting placed where you requested seems to be a pretty big roll of the dice. At orientation I talked to JETs who requested Big City and got placed in a town of 500 in Hokkaido, the snowy sparsely-populated northern island. Others got exactly what they wanted. I didn't put down anything, because I didn't really care and I wanted to leave it in the hands of fate, cuz she's been pretty good to me so far.
And once again, fate appears to have thrown me a tasty curveball.

(Pictures of Wajima)
While I am not jump up and down high five everyone in the room excited about my placement, I am very, very happy and optimistic, and I think I will really love it here. Why? Several reasons.
+ Nature! It is absolutely gorgeous here. Lush and green like few places I have ever been. I have yet to fully explore the peninsula, but the few drives we have taken to other towns have been incredibly scenic. The air is clean and fresh and filled with these huge wild hawks that screech in a most awesome way. Apparently some of the best hiking, camping, and birdwatching in the whole country is all within easy reach.
+ I can walk to the ocean in five minutes.
+ Obviously, there are many advantages that come with living in a small town that big city JETs don't have. I look forward to getting to know the people in my community, maybe joining some clubs (taiko drumming perhaps?), and just immersing myself in daily Japanese small town life. Which leads me to...
+ Learning Japanese. A huge goal for me here. And pretty much a necessity since I am 1 of 4 foreigners in this whole town, and hardly anybody in my Board of Education office speaks English. Obviously this is a much better learning environment than hanging out with lots of foreigners in a big city, which I know I would do if I lived in one.
+ Festivals! Lots and lots of festivals. In the past week I've already been to one and missed one b/c of jet lag. More on this later.
+ I get a car! I have freedom. It does not come cheaply, but that is definitely an overall plus in my book.
+ My predecessors have all told me that the kids here are really awesome. Can't wait to start teaching. Too bad I have to sit in this stupid office for the next 3 weeks with nothing to do until school starts.
+ I live two hours from the capital, Kanazawa, which is supposed to really, really nice, they call it 'Little Kyoto'. for the record, I think Kyoto is the most beautiful city I've visited in all my travels, so that bodes well. I'm going to Kanazawa for the first time later today and again next weekend, so expect some pics.
+ and last but not least, my apartment! its not too terrible! it's about 4 times as big as the coffin I lived in in Korea! it has tatami mats!
okay, for the sake of Fairness and Balance and just generally getting it off my chest, I am NOT happy/looking forward to the following things:
- WINTER. SNOW. LOTS OF IT. NO CENTRAL HEATING. gonna be rough for this Texas boy. real rough. it is also the rainiest part of Japan. All that green lushness comes with a price. trying not to think about either of these things right now, because ain't shit I can do about it. plus the sun finally came out today.
- time and expense of traveling into civilization. I'm going to Osaka this weekend, 7 hours by bus and even the buses aren't that cheap here.
- did I mention the lack of central heating?
- I will be teaching at 8 different Jr. Highs and Elementary schools, traveling to a different one every day. This means I won't be able to get to know my kids as well as, say, a high school JET who works at the same school all the time.
So there it is. The pros and cons, as I see them currently. I'm sure both columns will have things added or removed day by day.
Now it's time to head home (using school internet until I get it hooked up at home). I think today has been a productive day at work, considering I spent most of it writing this post. You're welcome, Gramma.