First month working in Japan

Working in Japan has been a confusing, strange, and wonderful experience. I started working at the Kikuyo Board of Education as soon as our plane from Tokyo landed in Kumamoto. My supervisor, my boss, an English-speaking Japanese coworker, and the other JET ALT met me at the airport. We had a delightful lunch where we spoke extensively about food (my predecessor did not like fish!), the weather, my family, and the wedding. After lunch, it was straight to work! The Kikuyo Board of Education is not like an American board of education. 

First of all, it is not elected. It is a bureaucratic arm of the local government that coordinates between the schools in there town and the government. The BOE builds and renovates schools, manages finances, and spends a great deal of time keeping the matters of the school district in sync.

While I was at the BOE, I was scheduled time for"Japanese study." That mostly consisted of learning about the process if becoming a Japanese resident, filling out forms, and preparing for Jessica's arrival. I did not do much formal studying of Japanese. I did, however, get the water and gas turned on at the apartment, and I wrote my name just as it appears in my passport (IN ALL CAPS, LAST FIRST MIDDLE) and used my name stamp (inkan) many times.

I also had the opportunity to meet the mayor and the heads of all of the offices AND make formal self-introduction (jikosyokai) in front of the whole crowd! Interspersed between all of the studying and stamping, I made many self-introductions, but none were as stressful as the one in front of the mayor. All of them were in Japanese. The Japanese put great value into their self-introductions.

 

The G-ma section (all about food):
At the BOE, nobody leaves for lunch, except on very special occasions. Most of the staff bring their own lunch from home. For those that do not, the local take-out places deliver. I tried to eat something different every day, but ended up eating curry and katsudon (fried pork cutlet with egg on top, over rice in a bowl) more than once. The food was all delicious. Yes, G-ma, I am eating.

-Rob