pirikura, yukata and gaijin problems

It’s the start of a lovely week in Miyakonojo. It’s a little cooler today and the sun is bright so the mountains are clear and stunning, rather than shrouded in mist. I’ve met a bunch of great, warm people and tried many new things (all of which I’ve taken great pleasure in documenting on my kawaii hello kitty iPhone). However, I don’t want this blog to just be a carefully edited collection of Kodak moments. I’d hope that if a future JET stumbles on it, they might actually find it useful to hear what the experience is really like. And honestly, hearing about people’s mistakes and difficulties is way more interesting than just instagram-worthy exploits. 

That’s not to say that I’ve had any real difficulties! It’s more a matter of adjusting, which I expect will take months, if not the whole year here. I’ve enjoyed every day here and, while I miss everyone very much, haven’t had any unbearable pangs of homesickness. (That said, I’ve been consciously avoiding music since a taiko drum performance brought tears to my eyes! Except reggae, which for some reason has become my go-to musical crutch). 

There have been a few unexpected times, like when I had a minor crash with another cyclist, where the culture shock has come through as a physical rather than mental reaction – like a hiccup or sneeze of momentary panic and despondency. Today I tried to go to a bakery to write, thinking all I’d need would be I’d like a coffee please. However, being effectively deaf, mute and illiterate resulted in not being able to understand closing time, the complex café recycling system, how to work the machine, and whether one paid for extra drinks or not. I fled with a cake I didn’t want, disproportionate woe and many sumimasens! 

The only other thing is how much attention one attracts just by walking down the street or shopping aisle. Normally I have zero problem with staring, catcalls, etc – heck, I even quite enjoy it mostly – but being stared out by 15 people/ cars in a row is a new sensation. Sometimes, the novelty does wear off and the behaviour simply feels rude. But mostly I try to smile, keep my sense of humour and remember that it’s harmless curiosity. 

I genuinely think studying anthropology has made a difference to the way I approach these new encounters and attitudes and I’m grateful for it. Having been trained to look for the structures and reasons behind social behaviours means that all these new things generally feel interesting rather than strange. I hope that my default setting of seeing things relatively and being open-minded and understanding – often to a fault – will serve me well here. In any case, the experience of being in a total minority – the population of Japan is over 99% Japanese – is probably a valuable, or at least enlightening, experience. 

But, I know what sets me on the right track (namely, half an hour somewhere natural and green, a list and a piece of cake) and aside from these small and inevitable moments of faltering (and some mysterious bites – maybe futon bugs?!), this weekend has been fantastic. 

I had a date on Friday with a new friend, Hana, who very kindly messaged me out of the blue and suggested we go out for dinner. First though, to my delight, we drove to the mall and indulged in the very Japanese pastime of pirikura…

Ta da! You enter a large photobooth equiped with bright lights and takea  bunch of selfies – so far so simple. However, the machine then edits the pictures automatically to redden your lips, bleach and photoshop your skin and somehow enlarge your eyes and perfect your hair! 

You then proceed to the other side of the booth where you sit in front of a masive screen with e-pens and edit to your hearts’ content. Kawaii! (I’ll write more on that word another day). Hana was a pro but my pirikura skills need sharpening... this could fast become a habit/ addiction... 

Pictures in hand, we went on to have an amazing Italian/ Japanese fusion meal of tomato and chicken ramen with parmesan and aubergine, and cold China tea on the side. Perfect.

Later on in the evening we met a bunch of other ALTs, teachers and their friends, many of whom were at the yukata party I attended last night. I drove with Hana and another ALT, Jo, who I shared a room with in Toyko, to our hostess’ house in the neighbouring prefecture Kagoshima, with no idea what to expect and a small gift of fruit in my lap. We were welcomed to a beautiful Japanese garden wooden house near a shrine and ushered inside to put on our yukatas!

As far as I can tell, a yukata is a casual summer kimono, generally made of cotton. What followed was my idea of heaven – we picked out yukata and matching obi (sashes) to match and got dressed up, with extensive folding and bow-tying. 

Suitably garbed, we enjoyed a wonderfully chilled evening of good chat, pot luck food, beers and a strange drink that tastes of sherbet dib-dab and has a floating glass marble in the bottle. The garden was cool and dark and buzzing with crickets and cicadas. 

To top it off, we played with sparklers. My cup runneth over! 

 

 

 

It was such a beautiful sultry evening that when the rain came we just sheltered under the eaves, listening to Brazilian music and sipping sweet plum wine. It was a pretty good moment. 

living in the 'jo

One week into living in my new hometown Miyakonojo, and I’m starting to fall into a new mode of living. My students won’t be back in school until the 19th, but till then I’ll be going into school to plan lessons and activities, study Japanese and help with some high schoolers with their speech contest entries (which seem to be mainly concerning noodles). Even though it's a cliche, the students do seem to work extremely hard. Generally they choose just one or two club activities and practice for hours every day, including the holidays. Already I've heard some amazing band practice and seen them play table tennis, basketball and badminton, and it's pretty impressive how good they are. 

After our last night in Tokyo, our party split into prefectural groups, and us Miyazaki-ites excitedly boarded a domestic flight early the next morning. This is what greeted us at the other end! 

Miyazaki is one of the hottest, most sunny places in Japan. I knew this but wasn’t prepared for the humidity – the 38 degree heat is completely solid and even the small breezes are hot! I’m still working out tactics (they include strategically placed fans and a sweat towel. Yes. Not even kidding) to deal with it and avoid looking like a red-faced gaijin the whole time. 

Before another mini-orientation over lunch, we indulged in some last touristic behaviour on the airport deck.

My first few days were taken up with going around town with the other ALT at my school, who is from Jamaica, and my supervisor, setting up bank accounts, phones, residence cards and the like. My apartment is pretty basic but is on the large side as they go here, and is less than a quarter of the rent I paid in St Andrews, so I’m pretty happy. Since then, I’ve been going to school and slowly exploring this little city with the other JETs, as far as the heat and my little bike will allow.

BUT I thought I’d just share some everyday pictures with you to give a feel for how a typical day goes as an ALT in Miyazaki! I always find it’s so much easier to keep up with faraway friends when you have a mental image of their surroundings, so hopefully this will do the trick. 

First things first: I wake up to the sound of my neighbours in the park at 6.30ish each morning as they do exercises to music and instructions on the national radio every day. This is the view of the park from my room! 

At first I slept in my Western bed. Pepe fans, the bad boy can be spotted here. 

but I quickly realised the heat was too much and relocated to a Japanese futon in the tatami room with air con! It is rolled up and put into the cupboards during the day. 

I then take a shower, which is different too – you change into bathroom slippers and either fill up the little sitting bath or use the hose, brushing the water away when you’re done. 

My toilet is a little different also – a flush will fill up the sink, which drains down into the cistern. 

I make breakfast in the kitchen…

and eat it in one of the two tatami rooms

depending on which view I want to look at! 

I then change my indoor slipper for outdoor shoes in the hall. The tiled area is kind of regarded as public space in Japan - post men and other visitors will start talking to you from there when they visit! - so JETs are advised to keep the door locked unless they like surprises!

I make my way down the stairwell to the bike shed, swinging something in front of me to scare off the spiders – this guy is a prime example.

I pass this interestingly named second-hand shop on my way

and arrive at school! 

Before going in you change your shoes for indoor slippers. 

This is the view from my desk in the staff room. As you can see it's pretty empty for now, but sometimes I get a chance to chat to teachers, rephrase or edit English for them, or even hear them read in their spare moments to discuss pronunciation. 

I love the school building with its covered walkways. 

 

Here’s what a typical classroom looks like.

These dragonflies can be found in most rooms at any given time – they’re about the size of your palm. 

I won’t be posting any photos of students, but here’s what they wear! 

You can have a delicious lunch delivered for 450 yen – about 3 quid. 

This is a school toilet. That’s all I have to say about that. 

After school I visit other JETs and try to get my bearings by cycling around somewhere different each day. 

The city, Miyakonojo, has a population of about 168,000 and is quite spread out, with little fields appearing between houses, malls, barbers and cafes. 

When I get home I make some poor attempts to decorate the apartment

and cook something simple for dinner. 

This is what I have to work with: the rectangle in the middle is a grill - enough to do maybe one rasher of bacon?! - and the hot water hasn’t functioned for years, so my forays have been pretty tame thus far.

Thus far I’ve been pretty healthy. A tomato resembles a tomato in any language. I’ve had very few instances of panic thus far – my one meltdown arrived, as I was warned it would, on my first visit alone to the supermarket. I’ve seen one non-JET gaijin since I got here – and she rushed up to me looking surprised – and so you can imagine how many stares one gets in the soy sauce aisle. This, combined with 100 different bottles, none of which I could read, proved to be my undoing!

Apart from this, I’m faring well. JETs are well versed in the stages of culture shock by the end of orientation. I’m pretty sure I’m still in the honeymoon phase (Stage One) and plan to hold on to it for as long as possible before the dreaded Stage Two hits..! And when it does, I'll still have the sunsets to look at.

Hopefully that's all that will be routine about the next year. I hope to travel as much as a I can, visit a different place every weekend, and come back with many stories.