As a student, the week before school begins in September was always one of my favourite times of year. I would put my new crayons in my new art box which would fit perfectly in my new Jansport backpack and I would vow to myself that I was going to shed my unpopular geek-ish image and replace it with one of suave, effortless ‘coolness’. I would do this every year, and within a day I would have undermined this plan by making awkward, tasteless jokes and acting like a tourist in my own home. Well this year I plan to change that by acting like a tourist, but in somebody’s else home. I may even try some awkward, tasty jokes.
Settling in part 2
Actually the past week has been a continuation of the settling in antics of the previous couple weeks except that this time I’ve transformed back in the productive workaholic version of myself which I’d feared was left behind in the UK. Thankfully not! After a coffee with the wonderful and ever so talented Bo-chan I got back into drawing (albeit fast and not particularly well thought out) comics in the form of Jet Peeves – a new webcomic and Jet Peeves – I’m British Really. My desk is finally set up for drawing digitally or analog…ly.
practically needed a 2nd suitcase to get my Tablet over to Japan
As part of ‘settling in’ I’ve decided that I should do as I do back home which is to frantically spend money on Amazon.<insert country domain here>. Of the more useful purchases this includes the bi-lingual version of ‘The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’ which I picked up for something like 1300 yen (£9-£10).
complete with 1980's style monkey island hint decoder
Sadly, even with the book in two languages side by side, it’s still years beyond my current reading level. And that’s not even counting my poor level Japanese!
Sorting out the essentials
Until last week I’d managed to get myself a car, connect to an internet provider, get a bank account and a Gaijin resident’s card, but I was still missing something that no Englishman can live without. An Umbrella A mobile phone! I happened to be passing through Tokyo and after harassing some poor Japanese phone representatives, discovered that a man called Don Quixote could help me find one. Actually it’s a not a man, it’s a shop. And it’s not Don Quixote, it’s ?????? (Don Ki ho~te) which is close enough right? Well, I basically asked for the cheapest pre-paid phone I could get and somehow walked away, for the minimal expenditure of 7000 yen (£50), with a very capable, very cool, white Japanese flip phone with…wait for it…a TV built in!
"Plutonium?! Are you telling me this sucker's nuclear??"
Apart from the lack of predictive text input, this phone is the bee’s knees. The tv is clearer than the shoddy quality of my freeview digital box running my actual tv at the moment.
Get a haircut, get a Japanese lesson
Whilst hanging around Tokyo, I figured I might as well get myself a haircut, and what better a place than the style capital of the world, Harajuku! In fact, I managed to get it for the bargain-ous price of 3200 yen (£20) but the real surprise was how much Japanese language practice I got! The chap doing the haircut was so chatty that even though I had a towel on my face and was unable to listen because of the running water he kept asking my questions! Essentially though it was the most Japanese practice I’ve had so far and I think I’ll be using that as an excuse to get my hair cut more frequently!
Stage 2 – (The i-wanna-go-home-bit)
If there’s one thing in particular that I thought was TOTALLY OVERDONE at the Tokyo Orientation for JETs, it was the ridiculous you-will-feel-like-this-at-this-exact-time-and-in-this-exact-way comments which filled a number of speeches (there were a couple that didn’t, and to you, congratulations). I know that the assistants want to help ease you into the Japanese lifestyle, but seriously, no one really likes a know-it-all. Well anyway, apparently everyone goes through ‘stage 2′ which is the part *after* the euphoria of arriving in a Japan and thinking it’s really cool. Supposedly you’re supposed to become disillusioned with the JET experience and potentially even collapse on the floor in the middle of a supermarkets crying. Not ideal.
Well actually, despite my complaints in the preceding paragraph, I have to say, this ‘stage 2′ malarky is probably true as much as I hate to admit it. I had my first taste of it the other day while cycling away from the centre of town and into the abyss known as the countryside. Essentially my thoughts boiled down to this -
click to read
It’s fine, I have a Clannad glass
Really though, my brush with the imminence of ‘Stage 2′ was only fleeting, and with enough junk food and shopping I reckon it’s possible to steer clear of the worst of it. And anyway, I have this amazing Clannad glass with Nagisa Furukawa on it, so how could I possibly feel down?
Complete with the Dango Daikazoku in the back ^_^
School starts up this week and my job as an ALT will properly begin. Wish me luck 
-Christopher
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