Tokyo

The first few hours in Japan were surreal really. We were ushered through the airport to a huge immigration/customs area. August is a big tourist season for most of the world and Asia is no different. So we waited along with a huge group of Chinese and Korean tourists. Customs was a breeze, the agents were polite and helpful.

After working our way through customs we were greeted and welcomed by JET people from all over Japan. We were then bused from Narita (where the Tokyo Airport is) into Tokyo, specifically Shinjuku, a really famous part of Tokyo. We were put up in a huge hotel called the Keiko Plaza. It was quite swanky. So immediately after settling into the hotel, I noticed that the building in general was pretty warm. It turns out that in general, japanese businesses and buildings are a little warmer than american buildings. The halls of the hotel were not air conditioned. With over 45 floors, the hotel would have trouble trying to cool all those hallways, also, what's the point really?

So after some seminars we were let loose on the city. We stopped into a conveyor belt sushi place for dinner.



The food was really good and it was quite cheap. After that we walked around a bit and eventually ended up in Shibuya, which really impressed me. Shibuya is a really hip area of Tokyo, lots of shops and cool stuff. I tried to stay awake to help my body adjust to the new times. Jet lag got the best of me at around 11:30 or midnight and I crashed.

The second night we had a night out with the people from our prefecture. We went to a Karaoke place. Japanese karaoke is much more comfortable than the american karaoke that I am familiar with. You pay a fee for a certain number of hours and you get a private room where you can act a fool and not worry about anyone but your friends watching you. The american karaoke that I know is in front of everyone at a bar or something.

This is where we sang our hearts out. Well, not me, but some people did.



This is Allan, he is a riot.

The next night we met up with Marc's friends and ate at an all-you-can-eat-and-drink place. It was like 3000 yen for tons of food and alcohol. This is where the picture from the previous post comes from.

So when we finally departed Tokyo, I was left with a sense that the city never really slowed. Every night of the week. Sunday through Saturday, people were partying and running around. The city is incredibly crowded and has grown upward to compensate for lack of space. In the end, it was a fun city to hang out in for a bit, in fact I wish I had a few more days, but I was eager to settle into my new place in Kazusa.

CONNECTED.....FINALLY

Hello, internet, my name is paul, we haven't spoken in a while, I have missed you.

So finally I have returned to the internet and I will be posting semi-regularly with pictures and such. For now I have an Enkai, a drinking and eating party, with my teachers from Kazusa Junior High. So I'll leave you with a photo.


The Maehama (Mae Beach)


Tokyo Restaurant, ALL YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK FOR LIKE 30 BUCKS!

The Quiet America

As I prepare myself for immersion into another culture, I thought I'd reflect on my tiny insight into the American Deaf Culture and share a story. As a hearing person I can only imagine what its like to be deaf. I consider ASL [amercan sign language] a separate langauge from English and I think many deaf people, CoDA's [children of deaf adults] and audiologists agree. This alone is enough to separate deaf people from hearing people culturally.
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I took one "Manual Communication" class in college. We learned Signed English and studied a few different forms of sign language. ONe assignment had us pretend to be deaf in a public situation that required some kind of interaction with hearing people. I took my friend, a CoDA, to CVS Pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions. As my hands jogged around in broken ASL to my friend, an employee behind the counter blatantly stared at us. I walked up to the counter and smiled, the pharmacy tech looked at me and sort of started to speak. I just kept smiling politely and pointed to my ear and shook my head in an attempt to communicate my fake deafness. The employee who continued staring at us yelled "Ooo he deaf!" The tech looked slightly agitated and I handed over my license. She took it and began to locate the prescription. It was going too easy, I decided to mix it up a little. When it came time to pay I tried sliding my debit card the wrong way. The tech who had given me the prescription saw I putting the card in the wrong way and leaned over the counter and jerked the card out of my had and slid the card the correct way. I looked up at her, smiling, but less politely, and she sighed and stared down at her computer. I took my bag of medicine and waved in reluctant appreciation and walked out.

I thought, what the hell, if I had been a spanish speaker or some none native english speaker, the tech would have at least made some attempt to communicate with me. I felt like I was just written off by the tech, I felt like I was being treated like a child, incapable and stupid.

I also work with a deaf man. The other people in my office are just now attempting to learn sign. Since I started working with him my sign has improved unbelievably. I can now carry on simple conversations with him and talk to him about work and his life. Often I had to relay details of what he was saying to the hearing people in the office. For the most part they communicate by writing but the nuances of conversation are lost on paper. I started noticing that in situations where everyone in the office was talking in an impromptu meeting the deaf man just stood or sat around, not uncomfortably but definitely isolated from us. I wanted to remember what it was like for me and him in that group. When I am in Japan, I am going to be somewhat like him in that meeting. I don't speak japanese enough to participate in any kind of conversation so I'll be pretty isolated in Japan. I think I'll find out what those meetings were like for him as an American in Japan.

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Contract

My contract was recently sent to me. I'm starting to get nervous now, I'm realizing the language will be a big problem. I don't know what the top of this says....

Nerdness

I might disappoint the Japanese I meet because I'm pretty geeky, though not quite wapanese...

I just took this quiz, my uncle is 79% geek.

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