Arrival in Japan Part 2: First Days In Ehime

When getting off the plane in Matsuyama, the capital of Ehime prefecture, the first thing that struck me was the heat and humidity. All the new Ehime JETs were met by a gaggle of excited supervisors waving large welcome signs around, before being whisked away to their towns.

When we arrived at Yawatahama, me, the other new JET, a current JET, my supervisor and my coordinator all went for lunch at what felt like an overwhelmingly traditional Japanese restaurant. It was all shoes off and sitting down around the low table. We were told that we should try cold noodles. I hesitantly agreed, thinking it sounded a bit off-putting, but not wanting to offend my bosses. And to my surprise, it was really great and refreshing. Basically you pick the noodles up with your chopsticks, dip them in a tub of soy sauce and other bits and pieces and slurp them up. Apparently slurping here in Japan is not rude in the slightest, but instead shows your appreciation for a meal. However, being a stoic British person, I can’t yet quite bring myself to do that yet.  We also had okonomiyaki, which is basically a savoury pancake type thing with vegetables and things mixed in. I had this once before, but to my surprise my coordinator suddenly took the top off the table to reveal a hotplate underneath, and starting pouring the mixture onto the hotplate and making the pancake himself in the middle of the restaurant. Needless to say, it was very tasty.

I was then shown to my apartment, which to my delight is very much Japanese style. I have a kitchen, and then a bedroom and living room, both of the latter having traditional Japanese tatami mats on the floor. Although I’ve been told they can be a bit of a hindrance to maintain. Here is my tatami mat living room which has a lack of furniture.

 I don’t have an oven, or rather I have a mini oven thing, even smaller than a microwave. I also have a gas stove, which alarms me as it looks like it could blow up any minute. The biggest surprise of all was my shower though. I have what is essentially a wetroom, with a swimming pool type floor with tiles and a drain in the middle. The shower itself is a deep box that you climb into and stand in (about double the height of a normal bath), with a handheld showerhead. Basically, there is a hole in this box and the water drains out and goes down the drain in the floor. Rather odd. At first I thought my box was leaking when water appeared on the floor, until I realised this is what is meant to happen. The ability to add pictures has mysteriously disappeared, so I'm afraid I can't add anymore pictures right now.

The next couple of days were basically a blur of me and the other new JET being taken round by the supervisor to visit the Board of Education and some of our schools we will be teaching in once the summer holidays are over. This consisted in us giving out omiyage to all the teachers and co-workers, which are little souvenirs from our hometown. So for me this is generally things like shortbread, tablet and little Highland cow key rings and the like.  Never have I bowed so much in my life as I did in those past 2 days. And never have I said “Arigato gozaimasu” and “onegaishimasu” so often for lack of any better vocabulary.

One thing I noticed is people’s utter enthusiasm towards foreigners. Whilst in the UK we wouldn’t even blink at the sight of a foreigner, we are such a novelty to the Japanese due to their complete lack of racial diversity. This can be both a good and a bad thing as I have quickly come to realise. Whilst people are very eager to make you feel welcome, it also means that you get a lot of stares when walking around outside and in the supermarket. One little girl practically banged into a door because she was staring at me. And just this afternoon a group of Japanese schoolgirls exclaimed “Kawaii!” when they saw me in a shop. I really feel it won’t be long until everyone in the town knows about the two new blonde gaijin girls simply from everyone talking about us "newcomers".

While most adults generally try to hide their curiosity when they see me walking around, the kids really can’t help themselves. At the first school I visited they literally swarmed round us like a bunch of flies to some leftover meat. It was very endearing for me, the way in which they were both eager and shy at the same time. They would yell out the few English phrases they knew like “Nice to meet you” and rather amusingly “This is a pen!”. But when I actually tried to speak to any of them directly, particularly the girls, they would dissolve into a fit of giggles and hide behind their friends. I suppose this is my first small taste of what teaching will be like. Sometimes frustrating, yet always amusing.

I’ve had a great first week so far, being shepherded around by our coordinator and sampling many different restaurants. The food has been great, although I know that in a couple of weeks I’ll be craving some fresh mozzarella and a big bag of McCoy’s Salt &Vin. The surrounding countryside is beautiful, although the sheer humidity makes me reluctant to go outside for long periods of time.

Our coordinator has been very much a mama bear to us, doing everything from helping us open bank accounts, to making sure we don’t get lost, to taking us shopping and most amusingly, trying to set us up with some of her younger friends. Yesterday we were initially told that we would be going shopping, then we would meet some of her friends to go out and eat with and then to the beach, gender unspecified. In Japan people tend to hang out in same sex groups, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume they would be females. Later in the day it comes to light that these friends are actually male. Then she starts telling us their ages saying “Oh, they’re too young for me”. I have to applaud the way in which she was so sly about introducing this idea of gallivanting around the beach in the dark with some of her young male friends, originally leading us to believe they would be female without actually saying that. Although in the end the beach never happened as everyone was too tired and full from good food. Anyway they were all lovely guys, and we will probably meet them again for some kind of language exchange, even if this is a little bit different from our coordinator’s original hope of us gallivanting around the beach in the dark with them. 

Today being the only day without work or plans, I decided to do a little exploring of my own in the afternoon sun. To my surprise I stumbled upon a sprawling hillside graveyard with several beautiful shrines in the entrance way. I think I’ve used the phrase “to my surprise” far too often in this blog, but I think this really sums up living in Japan.

So all in all, a great first week and hopefully many more to come!