Quickie

I have arrived in the place where I will be spending quite a while. After three nights in Tokyo, where we did much drinking and sight seeing (if anyone can find a kitten sushi place in Chicago, go check it out - its the one with the conveyor belt) and were dipped in this pool of luxury, I arrived in Houdatsushimizu Town. I am very lucky because I was met by my predescesor, who is here another week, and by another third year JET who lives in the same town. They have shown me around and of course, it all still has not settled in yet. I do not have much time right now to write extensively. But I will say that I am being shuffled around quite a bit right now because my house will not be ready for another week or so, but at least I am getting a chance to meet some of the people I will be working with. (Damn, there is so much to say) Like last night, I went out with the vice-principal of my school. He drove me around the town (its main natural attractions are the highest mountain in the prefecture (only about 800 meters) and a long road on the beach (literally on the sand on the beach on the Sea of Japan). I thought we would staying with his family, but we went to a hotel instead. (Separate rooms, you sick people). He took me out to an izikaya, a small Japanese family restaurant and had me try all kinds of Japanese food and even showed me how to use chopsticks, because obviously I do not know how. We also drank a bit of sake and lots of beer. Meanwhile, the man speaks like two words of English and I apparently do not know any Japanese (so all that studying at home is a big mystery to me). In any case, it was a pretty good time, and I certainly understand why the Japanese drink so much. Today, I met some more of the teachers and even some of the students...for them, its summer vacation, but they are still at school, doing their club activities and what not) Next week, there will be an all-school assembly, where I have to give a speech to the whole frigging school. Also, it will be a farewell assembly for my predescesor, so I think that it will be somewhat unfair (in two years, he has learned to speak Japanese quite well.) Anyhoot, like I said, there is a lot more I would like to post, but do not have the time. Tonight, I am staying with another teacher, but she is a teacher of English, so hopefully that means something. Anyway, when I get settled in and have a little more time, I will write a better post. I will also get a phone and stuff and we can talk. I miss everyone. Take care.

Inexperience

I am sitting in cubicle number 116. There is a computer here, a TV, a food service, free beverages, smoking, and a slew of words that I do not understant. It is an internet cafe, but unlike any I have ever seen. It is located in the heart of Shinjuku, which in itself is one of the most thriving neighborhoods of Tokyo, one that you have likely seen in pictures of the city (think ubiqituous neon lights). Thus far, there are few words to describe what I have gone through. After a torturous 13 hour flight, and then a two hour bus ride to the center of the city (during which I got to see the vast expanse that is Tokyo and to understand exactly how they manage to fit 100,000 people into a single city block) I checked into the hotel, and along with a slew of other wide-eyed Jets from all over the world descended on the heart of this city. Literally, it is a feeling of awe, of a pure and perhaps even infantile awe. Surrounded by people whom I cannot yet understand, neither literally nor culturally, I walk and I gawk and I take pictures of the vending machines and get stares from onlookers who cannot for the life of them figure out why I am doing what I am doing. Mind you, after close to 30 hours without any sleep, I have not lost the capacity to marvel. Simply walking down a street that is littered with all sorts of shops, signs, etc., I feel like I have stepped out into the world for the first time. I have been told that this experience is quite often and hits most people upon their first exposure to all of this. I have been told to prepare myself for the true shock that comes after the marvel. But that has not yet arrived. I really do need to learn the language and to try to fit into the life more. But again, that is in the future. For now, let me just say that, vse eto snogshebatelnoe. (The damn mirror in the bathroom has a special section that does not fog up, right around where your face would be if you were looking into it after your shower...)

Ok. That is all for now. On my way to get some food, again for the first time. End thought is a brief encounter that took place at the airport. We were standing outside, waiting to ship our luggage on to our hometowns, when a a white guy with a Japanese daughter in his arms was walking by. He asked us where we from and we told him we were on the Jet program. His response - I did the Jet program fifteen years ago and this is what happens because of it, pointing at the child in his arms. I wanted to share that, and of course it is bound to get all sorts of negative responses and predictions, but lets not do any of that now. That is simply what happened. Ok, take care everyone, let us keep in touch...

Basic Principles

At the risk of sounding like an apologist, I feel like this is an appropriate place to display my thoughts on the reasons behind this trip that I am taking. I am not sure that I have told people about them in direct terms nor necessarily have I been asked about them, but I feel like its something I should do for at least my own piece of mind. Primarily and most bluntly, it is about the elimination of old habits, based on the hope that either habits in general will become less dominant or, at the very least, new, healthier habits will be taken on. My life up to this point, and especially so for the last few years, has been dominated by certain things (and it is not necessary to mention them here) and some time ago, I came to the conclusion that that dominance could be affected significantly by a major shift in my life situation. A literal example would be a static system that requires a shock to get it back on the road of motion, of some sort of forward, progressive development. In large part, this has to do with an insurmountable inertia caused by an utterly paralyzing laziness. My ass is lazy, bar none. And I simply did not have the will or energy necessary to change that particular aspect of my life. And so, I decided to put myself in a situation where it was all sink or swim, where the kickstart would come or I would simply float to the bottom of a very uncomfortable shit bucket. I have some amount of faith that these new conditions will provide the proper impetus. Its not that I don't see myself as capable of overcoming it, rather its me relying too much on the comfort of my environment here to bring the effort into being. In addition to that general need, of course there is also a worldly impetus at play here. I have a substantially strong desire to learn all about a different culture and society, where interaction between people (which is, after all, a bed-rock of any society) is governed by a wholly different set of rules and regulations. To submerge myself in it would not only lead me to question and re-evaluate my own assumptions about the subject, but also provide this whole new model with which to compare (something that is a rarity in life). Furthermore, I am going to do something that carries a lot of weight within my outlook anyways, and that is teaching. To inspire and influence a future generation, in my eyes, is trully a way of impacting the environment around us, and here I am given this opportunity to do so on the other side of the world. Its a great one. Writing about this stuff now makes me realize that I can keep going with the list for quite some time, but there's no real need for it now, because the main points have been made. Let me end on just this last one. Starting with my primitive interest in Buddhism in high school, continuing through my formal education in college, and in combination with an absolutely amazing Japanese author, I have become convinced that in the East lie answers to many great questions that we Westerners have either answered through science (or some branch thereof, such as philosophy) or simply left as unanswerable (except maybe by science a few years down the road). I believe I have an opportunity here to seek out those answers, or at least be in closer proximity to them. Ok. There it was. My excuse.

To all those close and dear to me, please take care of yourselves. I will surely miss you. Thank you for everything. And I hope that our friendships could only grow and mature with this test of time, simply time. My greatest love and admiration. Poma.

Justify

I'm not exactly sure how these things work, nor have I been an active participant in the blogger hysteria that has swept the world wide web in the past few years, but I thought this would be a convenient way for me to communicate and interact with you guys (by guys, I mean my friends and acquaintances) and to create a forum where our ideas and experiences could be shared. I've always been somewhat ambivalent about things like this - on the one hand is the introverted me, who likes to keep a nice wall between myself and the outside world, and on the other is the me who sucks up attention like no other (even more so than Ellen). So, bear with me and lets try to make this work. Of course, for all I know, this could simply turn into an online diary for myself with all of about one reader...

Anyway, lets see how it goes. There will be a farewell posting soon...