A quick whinge before I head south.

One common element of culture shock is for the individual to lose their sense of independence and self-worth. It’s very easy to see how this can happen to participants of the JET Programme. From the moment we arrived in Japan, our every action was planned out for us. At Tokyo airport, you are met by a greeting party who ensure you get the correct visa, help you post your luggage to your prefecture and then guide you onto a coach. From there you are taken to the Keio Plaza Hotel where you have two days of occasionally useful training. You are provided with a map of the local area, from which Kabukicho has been entirely removed, so as to discourage you from visiting such a seedy part of the city. Your travel to your prefecture is also arranged by the local board of education. On arrival, your JTE will spend a day or two taking you round the city to help you get settled with utilities, phones etc. You will be told where to catch your local buses from, how to take out your rubbish, how to pay on a local tram and anything else that might cause you stress or trouble.

So for several days, you are basically managed like a campaigning politician. You live in a bubble where you don’t have to do anything for yourself. This pattern continues throughout the year. My Japanese is pretty basic, though I’ve reached a level where I can have simple conversations and survive on a day to day basis. Last week, I asked some teachers to recommend a local restaurant to visit with my parents. They were surprised when I insisted on phoning to make the booking myself as they assumed that they would need to do this for me. Even afterwards, when I told them that I had made the reservation, they looked doubtful that I had done it properly. I was a bit put out by this as I know my Japanese isn’t that great, but I would have thought it was obvious I was capable of doing such a basic task as making a restaurant booking.

A similar situation occurred yesterday. A part on my washing machine has broken so I asked a colleague where I could buy a replacement. They insisted on coming with me to the store as they were clearly doubtful I would be able to go to the shop, find the part and buy it by myself. Of course, that’s what I did, actually having to order it as it wasn’t in stock. It wasn’t really very difficult and I probably could have done it even if I spoke no Japanese whatsoever as there’s a lot that you can communicate in sign language anyway.

I’m extremely grateful for how helpful people have been here. It has surpassed anything I’ve experienced elsewhere and I’ll never forget how kind people here can be on a day to day basis. However, I do sometimes feel that the expectation is that I’m not capable of doing anything by myself. I can order in a restaurant, use chopsticks, buy a train ticket and know what an izakaya is-I don’t need to have these things explained to me every time I encounter them.

Equally, I didn’t like the way our arrival at Narita airport was so closely managed. On arrival in a foreign country, getting from the airport to your hotel is part of the experience as it is your first opportunity to try and master the local transport system, get used to the local sounds and smells, talk to random tourists you meet on the way and maybe even get lost. All those things are part of settling in. Now I can absolutely see why JET might think it’s easier to ensure that everyone gets to the hotel without a hitch, as planned, but I felt a bit too old to be bussed around in that way.

I hope the above doesn’t sound as if I don’t appreciate how kind people have been. But the truth is that coping with all things Japanese isn’t actually all that difficult. Obviously there are situations where you really do need the help and advice of a local person-such as signing up to a phone contract or opening a bank account. But I don’t need someone’s help to order a drink in a bar and don’t actually appreciate being offered a fork when I sit down in a ramen restaurant. All these things are symptomatic of people’s incredible willingness to help others here, but it also sometimes feels like there’s an expectation that, as a gaijin, I’m incapable and that everything Japanese is too complex and foreign for me to understand. Which is annoying.

A very European-looking church in Nagasaki.

So tomorrow evening, I will be heading south to Nagasaki prefecture in Kyushu. It will be nice to be in a region with a slightly warmer climate as spring has not quite reached Okayama yet. I will have to buy some Castella cake for my work colleagues as they keep mentioning how delicious it is. This will be the first big trip that I have done in Japan on my own, as K-chan is staying in Okayama. In some ways, it will be nice to be an independent traveler for a few days, as I haven’t actually done a solo holiday for over 3 years. This month has been full of fun and adventures.