Well luckily I am able to do a little report so far, I leave at 10, so before then I’m going across the street to the observation tower which opens at 9:30 to take some photos…

This is from just landing in Dallas. The focus is supposed to be the little red sign in the middle, which reads: “No Parking or Driving under bridge” You can see the irony.

Castle-like structure in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

Large-scale multi-coloured glass structure, also in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

First in-flight meal on the 13-hour flight to Tokyo. Consisting of…: Caramel Brownie (bottom left), Sushi (top left), Crackers (mid left), Chicken and Rice with Vegetables (mid bottom), Soy Sauce (mid mid), Salad (mid top), Water and Dressing which I forget the kind (top right), Gruyère Cheese and Butter (mid right), Roll (bottom right). Actually I wish I had the vegetarian meal on the flight…

The mid-flight meal was not worth taking a picture of, it was a meat sandwich with a chocolate biscotti, very boring, again, wish I had the vegetarian option. I think on flights from now on I’ll get the vegetarian meals.

Last in-flight meal, this one was quite enjoyable. Cheese Pizza, Pineapple Slices and Strawberry Slices, Water, and Milano Cookies.

Disneyland Tokyo, it was on the way to the hotel.

Huge ferris wheel, it was also on the way to the hotel.

Tokyo first night out, with some Atlanta JETs, just a pic of the neon signs.

First meal in Japan. Gyuudon (Beef Rice Bowl), with Miso Soup, Pickled Vegetables, and Mugicha (Barley Tea).

Continuation of the first night out, Burger King! (We didn’t eat there).

Street singers, these are everywhere in Shinjuku, most are actually pretty good.

More neon signs, first night out.

First morning in Tokyo, view from the hotel room.

Second view from the hotel room. That building on the left is where the observation towers are.

Japanese toilet!

Zoom-in on the control panel of the Japanese toilet. I love these, the bidet is awesome!

Tokyo second night out with 2 more Atlanta JETs, well technically one is from Charleston,the famous waiting dog statue in front of Shibuya Station.

Kirin Beer Hall in Shibuya.

Second morning in Tokyo, my hotel room.

A view of the amenities in the hotel room.

Third night out in Tokyo, an izakaya (tapas place with tons of food items you order and share with friends). Too bad I didn’t think to take the picture until after we had finished eating. Ate out with Tohoku JETs (JETs being sent to the north part of the main island, myself included). We had a cheese risotto hotpot, salad with tofu, ramen salad, takoyaki (fried pastry with octopus), cucumber with rice noodles, fish cutlets, tomato and avocado caprese, gyoza (fried dumplings), I think that is all, tons of food.

Hello all!

Currently we have the internet in our hotel room in Tokyo, but tomorrow is my last day here in Tokyo, and I’m not sure when I am leaving for Sendai (whether it is in the morning or afternoon). Right now, we are having a lunch break (I finished a bit early) between our sessions. The set up of the orientation for JET here in Tokyo is quite like a convention. Jet lag status, I seem to be really unaffected. I have woken up at 5 am every morning which is a bit of jet lag happening there due to not being used to the time schedule here yet, and I get tired around 9 in the morning (during our first event) but my energy picks up at lunch. But to wrap up for now, it may be 3 weeks to a month before I can actively report on how I’m doing, what’s going on. I hope to be able to have time tomorrow to upload all of the pictures I have taken so far here in Tokyo, but sadly no guarantees.

Obligatory money shot. (Yes, I did just phrase it that way…)

All my bags are packed and within their respective weight limits, so I’m ready to go!

As I mentioned earlier on this thing, I didn’t really get into Japanese culture and wanting to learn the language and about the people and the country until high school. Yes, I had some anime exposure, typical childhood shows on Cartoon Network, but I credit my real interest all sparking from one lovely lady in the music business, Nakamori Akina （中森明菜）. So, as today being July 13th, it is her 46th birthday, I’d figure I’d put up a small thing in her favour. So for those of you who don’t know who she is (which I suspect is a lot of whoever does read and follow this), here is a little background and whatnot…

Actress…Model…But most of all Timeless Singing Idol.

This…is Akina.

Akina began her main career as a singer in 1982 (yes quite a blast from the past), on the famed Japanese TV programme “Star Tanjou” (スター誕生). A show akin to American Idol, where contestants sing songs and hope to win and acquire a record label.

But, she tried out 3 times total, only acquiring her fame on the 3rd time (it’s a charm right?)

The 1st time the judges claimed that the song she sang was too mature for someone her age.
The 2nd time the judges said she had such a baby face that she couldn’t be an idol.
Finally, Akina still not downhearted, tried again for her 3rd time and subsequently received the highest score ever recorded in Star Tanjou history! All at the tender age of 16.

You can see here, Akina’s score way overpowers the other contestants’ scores by more than 100 points with a 392!

Akina then made her debut with her first song, Slow Motion (スローモーション).
This is Akina at her first concert, look at that meek smile on her face. Slow Motion was a moderate success, the song is quite girly pop which is unlike her style, but Akina then really hit it off with her 2nd single, Shoujo A (少女A), and from there she had consecutive hit after hit. 1983 landed her a spot on the famed New Year’s Eve TV Programme, Kouhaku Utagassen (紅白歌合戦) (which still airs year after year to this date). She then starred consecutively for 6 years (from 1983 to 1988) on the famed programme every New Year’s Eve. She also appeared on the show many years later after her era of limelight in 2002. Here are some shots from her performances (sorry for the quality of some of them, it has been 20+ years for some of these)…

1983’s performance of Kinku (禁区), meaning ‘Forbidden Zone’

1984’s performance of Jukkai (十戒), meaning ‘Ten Commandments’

1985’s performance of Mi Amore (ミ・アモーレ), Italian for ‘My Love’

1986’s performance of DESIRE

1987’s performance of Nanpasen (難破船), meaning ‘Shipwreck’

1988’s performance of I Missed ‘The Shock’

2002’s performance of Kazari ja nai no yo, namida wa (飾りじゃないのよ、涙わ), meaning ‘These tears aren’t just for show’

Akina’s musical style is definitely Pop, but a very edgy type of pop which sings of love with an independent attitude and rebellion, she also is quite the ballad singer, singing songs of lost and forlorn love, she sings jazz, rock, and also enka, she can sing about any genre I should think. Known for her deep feminine sultry powerhouse voice, she is elegant, versatile, and beautiful no doubt. Her accomplishments amount to many awards, a very successful singing career (her Christmas dinner shows are always sold-out), additionally a decent acting and modelling career, and tallied up she has 23 number one hits, and 29 songs in the top-ten on music charts. Akina was honoured by the Japanese Music critics as the ‘5th’ best voice in the country’s recording history, even ahead of Matsuda Seiko (松田聖子) who could be considered the Madonna of Japan, who ranked at ‘7th’ place.

Now to wrap up this shout out for her, some random shots of her throughout the years.

Lastly, Happy Birthday Akina! (お誕生日おめでとうございます、明菜さん。) Here’s to hoping for continued success in whatever you do and wherever life takes you. Thank you from me personally to sparking my desire to learn and discover a culture other than my own.

I covered some ideas of what places I want to visit a little while ago. It’s 13 days until I go, getting more excited day by day. Heard from my predecessors, which are the people who you are taking over the posts for and moving into their old apartment whilst they vacate and leave the program or relocate. I’ve got most info I need from my school predecessor, I’ll be mainly stationed with a junior high school, but I will be visiting 3 elementary schools multiple times throughout each month, sounds like a lot of work, eh?

But my apartment predecessor has been quite busy so I haven’t gained all I want to know from him just yet, however good news came yesterday with him emailing me pics of my apartment and offering to sell me a great bundle of essentials at a good and fair price. He’s offered me to pay 300 bucks for the following:
A microwave oven/stove combo
A toaster oven
Storage units (plastic compartments, metal shelving unit, a wooden bookshelf, and a wooden entertainment centre)
Cookware and dishware/utensils
A kerosene heater with a free 15 litres of kerosene
A kotatsu (so excited about this)
A sleeper-sofa (read: American definition of a futon, this is the thing I’m most excited about, as much as I want to embrace Japanese culture, sleeping on the floor is something I’ve done here and it’s not comfy, and the apartment has wood floors, so an actual bed is exciting)
An electric fan
And a surround sound speaker system for a computer. 
So with all of that news and the price, I’m very excited, as I will be having no car when I get to Japan, hauling those sorts of items (especially the sleeper sofa) on a train would be nightmarish.

So I’ve thought up some events I’d like to participate in, really there are too many and I don’t even know how many things exist, I’m sure the possible amount of events is likely endless.

The Tanabata (七夕) Festival, this will be happening in the beginning August shortly after I arrive in Japan. Sendai has the biggest festival for it, it’s a festival that celebrates the reuniting of the deities Orihime (織姫) and Hikoboshi (彦星) who are lovers and are separated by the Milky Way, but they are allowed to reunite every year on the 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese calendar. There are seven traditional decorations that are seen throughout the festival which symbolise different fortunate things: paper strips called Tanzaku (短冊) representing wishes for good studies and handwriting, paper kimonos or Kamigoromo (紙衣) representing wishes for good sewing and warding off accidents and bad health, paper cranes or Oridzuru (折り鶴) representing wishes for safety of family and health and longevity, big paper purses called Kinchaku (巾着) representing wishes for good business, paper nets called Toami (投網) representing wishes for good harvests and fishing, paper-made trash bags or Kuzukago (くずかご) representing wishes for cleanliness and thriftiness/saving money, and lastly paper strings which are called Fukinagashi (吹き流し) which are representative of the strings with which Orihime uses to weave. You can see tons of Fukinagashi in the picture. Overall, looks like and exciting and colourful festival.

Of course I want to do karaoke, especially the style common to hear about in Japan with large groups and drinking.

I definitely can’t wait to see Sendai in the wintertime, especially with this, the Pageant of Starlight. Where Jouzenji and Aoba streets, the famous streets lined with tons of Zelkova trees that I mentioned earlier, have all of their trees strung up with lights.

Last of this listing, the Dontosai (どんと祭) Festival, the oldest festival in Miyagi (宮城県). In this festival men brave the January cold, wearing the traditional white outfits seen in the picture and march to the Osaki Hachiman Shrine (mentioned previously) where they welcome the New Year by throwing last year’s winter decorations into a large bonfire, then drinking home-made sake (酒), and finally going to a public bath to soak with their fellow men and warm up from the cold. I’m really excited about this festival, representing a New Year and facing the elements to show-off masculinity, I’ll have to make sure I really shape up for this haha.

A little background to me. I just graduated college here in Georgia, USA, with a bachelors in Linguistics and EFL. Been interested in Japan for years now, since high school. Of course I’d come into anime as an introductory factor ones like Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo!, Dirty Pair, Noir, X/1999, Azumanga Daioh!, and Ayashi no Ceres, but my real anchor stone into being interested into Japanese culture came in its music, some recent-ish such as big names like Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎あゆみ) and Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル), but really I dove into the music and culture through its 70s 80s and 90s music, artists like Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百恵), Akina Nakamori (中森明菜), Checkers, Matchy, etc, that being said I must be an old soul. Those things aside, language has always been a huge interest point and enjoyable subject for me, with French in middle through high school, Japanese on self-study from 8th grade until the beginning of college when I finally took formally taught classes, and German from the end of high school to the first two years of college.  So how Japanese ties into this and how I came to self-study and ultimately end up going to Japan to teach English, well I started self-studying by romanising lyrics, which means to take written Japanese with its characters and to put them into Roman alphabet aka the letters we use in writing English, I did that because I love to sing along with songs. So I learned how to read many kanji (the complex characters) and their regular alphabets that way. I finally chose to take formal classes in college because after all the years of self-study I had no grasp of grammar and syntax at all, meaning I couldn’t formulate a sentence if I tried.

So for the now, I got accepted into the JET Programme after a rigourous and competitive application and interviewing process, JET which stands for Japan Exchange and Teaching, is a programme which sends English-speaking participants into Japan to assist in teaching English on a grassroots level in elementary, junior high and high schools and to exchange culturally within the local community. I was chosen for placement in the city of Sendai (仙台市), but for privacy matters I won’t give the address of where I’ll be staying or the schools at which I’ll be teaching. I’m ecstatic to have gotten placed in Sendai, as it is in the vicinity of where I had originally wanted to be placed, Tohoku, which is the northern part of Japan’s main island Honshu. As for the great earthquake which occurred in March and devastated the areas of Sendai and Miyagi prefecture, Iwate prefecture, and Fukushima prefecture, in addition to some other areas outside of those prefectures, I have heard many stories regarding the restoration efforts. Am I worried about Sendai being in disrepair and the destruction it has sustained, as well as the possibility of future disasters and earthquakes, yes, but my ideology is that something of that magnitude is not a common thing, also what the media portrays here is not the most accurate display of what is happening and has happened over there. So for that, expect a report when I get over there of how things really are.

My luggage for the trip has finally arrived today, so expect an eventual packing report later on, that shall be interesting, to see how much I can pack in and take with me without going over the airline’s luggage weight limit.

So while I anxiously wait for my departure in a little over 2 weeks, what better than an idea to set out some sightseeing ideas within my city?

The statue of Dai-Kannon (大観音), who is the Buddhist goddess of mercy, located in the Nakayama-minami (中山南) neighbourhood.

Aoba Castle (青葉城), which is in the Kawauchi (川内) neighbourhood, and not too far from my apartment.

The famous statue of Date Masamune (伊達政宗), the samurai who founded Sendai, which is at Aoba Castle.

Jozenji-dori (定禅寺通り) and Aoba-dori (青葉通り), two famous streets in Sendai, lined with Zelkova trees.

The Osaki Hachiman Shrine (大崎八幡宮), which is over 500 years old, in the neighbourhood with the same name.

Of course, these are just sightseeing ideas. When I actually go to them I’ll be doing a full report with pictures that are my own. Also, later on before I depart for Japan, I’ll do a ‘things I want to participate in/events I want to go to’ report. Hope the blog style of reading is decent enough.

Starting up this idea I’ve had for a long time, to chronicle my experiences as I depart to go overseas to Japan to teach English. This is how I’ll share my sights, wonders, and learning for my time abroad, coupled with my hopes to gain much wisdom and self-discovery whilst embarking fresh into my chosen career in EFL having just graduated from college. It/this blog is fledgling now, but other than saying how excited I am and how much I can’t wait to go, the blogging won’t hit full speed until after I leave for Japan in 17 days, and even after then, not until I get hooked up to the internet. But in the meantime, I do plan on reporting about packing for my departure, and whatever else comes to mind. Until then, sorry for the wait on the good stuff, but welcome.