Sorry all this is in one big message, but I have been very busy and have little time to get adjusted and ready. On August 1 my family drove up to Washington D.C. for the JET program orientation. My whole family went since Paul is in the JET program also, even though he is in another prefecture. There was a pre-departure orientation where we learned some information about our time in Japan, and picked up our passports and plane tickets for the next day. After the orientation (around 6pm) there was a reception, which my family came to. It was pretty crowded and there wasn't much food available, so we went to a really noisy Italian restaurant for dinner afterwards.

The next day I left on one flight and Paul left on another. I was lucky enough to have the nicer airline, and a direct flight. We had personal TV sets with Nintendo games on them and stuff like that, while Paul's flight just had a couple TVs in the aisles. It was a pretty enjoyable flight overall, and it didn�ft seem like the 14 hours that it was. The funniest thing about the flight is that it started 30 minutes late, and the Japanese hate being late. So while people were still loading stuff in the overhead compartments, the pilot turned on the safety video and started taxiing to the runway! People were losing there balance and having a really difficult time. Also, no one saw the safety video, so thankfully we didn�ft crash. We even arrived 5 minutes early!

In Tokyo airport, there was an hour line at the passport control center, but almost no line at customs. I arrived with other people from DC, but there were other flights arriving at the same time from London and places like that. I ended up racing through customs while other people who hadn�ft traveled internationally tried to figure out what to declare. Then the JET program had staff members in blue shirts pointing you in the right direction in the terminal. Basically you just had to keep going right until the end of the terminal. However, there was a blue shirt person every two meters, just in case you couldn�ft see the long line of blue shirts! It was overkill, but I guess it worked since no one got lost. When I got to the line to send your luggage to your new home, I realized there were no US people near me! There were a bunch of Brits and Canadians instead. I think I just kind of sped past everyone. Then we boarded buses and went to Tokyo. Narita airport is about two hours away from Tokyo, but I slept through most of the bus ride. We were staying at Keio Plaza Hotel in downtown Tokyo, so it was really nice. They had free internet in the rooms and stuff like that. Oh yeah, we arrived at 3pm on the 4th since we crossed the international date line.

The orientation lasted two days, and was a great chance to meet people going to your prefecture and other people nearby. Paul and I ate together most of the time, which was nice since we�fll be so far away during the year. I estimate the distance between our prefectures to be about 6-7 hours on a train. I think it is considerably less when driving, though. I may get a group of people together to rent a car and drive there. Driving is a little strange since it is all in Japanese and they drive on the left side of the road. I can legally drive, but I am a little concerned about the safety of doing so. Hopefully once I�fm on the highway, things will feel the same.

After the orientation ended, we split up into our prefectures and took different modes of transportation to get to each. My prefecture has a convenient airport, so we were lucky enough to fly into it. After a slightly nerve racking flight (the plane shook while taking off and landing), we arrived in Toyama. There were over a hundred people from our schools waiting to talk with us. My school had several students, 5 English teachers, and a vice-principal all waiting for me, with two banners. I was so stunned. I figured there would be one person waiting there for me. Two of the teachers and the vice principal drove me into town. We went to the city hall first to register as alien residents, to get a bank account, and I had to pay 80,000 yen for my apartment. Normally my rent is 42,000, however I get a subsidy later in the month for 25,000 yen. The first month I had to pay extra because of fees to set up the apartment. I was really lucky however, because it costs tons in Japan to rent an apartment. You have to pay lots of deposits, including a nonrefundable �ggift�h for the landlord allowing you to stay there. This gift is often 2-6 months worth of rent! Thankfully the school system pays for these costs. I also got my official hanko while I was there. A hanko is a seal that contains your kanji name. In my case, my name is Irwin (A, Ri, Na) spelled in katakana, a phonetic character alphabet for foreign words. Note that everyone else�fs is in kanji, so mine tends to stand out at lot. I doubt a Japanese person could get away with stealing it and using it. This seal is used everywhere instead of your signature. I hope I don�ft lose mine, or I�fm screwed.

Next the teachers drove me to the school (Horikawa Chugakko, a junior high school that is actually one of the largest in Japan) to meet the principal and the vice-principals, along with some of the other teachers. Waiting for me at the entrance way to the school was a pair of slippers for me to wear around the school. I think they brought out their largest pair, but it was way to small. I was trotting around with about 3 inches of my foot hanging out the back. At the end, I just gave up and took off my slippers for the stairs. It turns out that school is out until September 2nd, so many of the teachers are taking vacations. It is a little weird, but teachers are still obligated to go to work during the summer vacation. Most of them only come in for a couple hours and rarely do any real work, as far as I can tell. I�fve taken to studying Japanese, sending email, and looking through my predecessor�fs materials.

After a couple hours at the school, they took me to my apartment. I walked with one teacher while another drove my luggage there. They wanted to make sure I could walk to school the next day for work. I discovered that the other three teachers who were at the airport had been waiting at my apartment for the gas man to turn on the gas. That was a big help, so I had hot water when I arrived. The teachers and I sat around my new apartment and drank some juice boxes. One weird moment was when we were all standing around, and they encouraged me to sit down. I sat down, but no one else did. They just stood around me talking in Japanese for awhile. I may have mentioned that these were all English teachers. Well, they barely said anything in English to me at all. I think their English level is not that strong, or else I imagine they would�fve talked to me more. In the next couple days at work, I got to talk to many of them. Their English is not horrible, but I think they lack good practice and confidence. One of them mentioned to me how much she liked Harry Potter, so I asked her if she read it in English, and she said no. I couldn�ft help but think it would be a good type of practice thing for her to read it in English. Hopefully through our working together, their English will improve.

I stayed in my apartment and unpacked that afternoon. Later on, I ventured next door to meet my neighbor, Elita. Everyone in Toyama City has at least one JET in their apartment building, as far as I can tell. There�fs also one building with about 15 JETs in it. It is kind of the party building. Elita is my neighbor, and she is a second year JET. This is great for me since she can show me around the neighborhood. She is from Toronto, and is really nice. We got along almost instantly, so that is great. That evening I went out to dinner with Sekihara-sensei, a 24 year old English teacher, and his friend Mikuni-sensei, a Japanese teacher. They took me to a nearby sushi bar for dinner. It was much cheaper there than in the US. There were some more expensive sushi plates for 700 yen ($6.00) however most of the plates were 110 yen-220 yen. I had a really nice time with them, even though Mikuni doesn�ft speak much English.

After dinner, Elita and I went to the supermarket to buy some food. It is amazing how much different things cost. Fruit is horribly expensive. Watermelons are $50-100, and peaches are $2-5. At the store we went to, a bunch of bananas was $3. I found a cheaper bunch today (8 bananas for $1) at a different store, though. Milk and juice are more expensive too. Other things, like noodles, rice, and tofu are cheaper. I bought a package of tofu for 30 cents today. That is pretty much unheard of in the US. I also found a similar product to peanut butter. It is called peanut cream. It wasn�ft too expensive, but when I opened it, I discovered it was really runny. After I put it in the fridge, it turned into a more solid product. It tastes like peanut butter, so I just use it the same way.

Oh yeah, I forgot to describe my apartment. It is pretty tiny, but not bad for one person (Especially for only $200/month). My living room is about 9 feet by 15 feet. My kitchen is 6 by 5. The bathroom is 4 by 5, and the entrance way area is abut 3 by 10. I think the whole apartment is about 9 by 25. I think it feels bigger than that though. All the furniture is low to the ground. The sofa and bed are on the floor, and the table only goes 1 foot off the floor. I think I will have back problems after too long in Japan. I almost hit my head when I walk through my doorways, and frequently do in other people's apartments. My dad and older brother will have a fun time here, since they are 3 inches taller than I am.

I have a group of friends I've already made. There's Sarah from Michigan, Marcus from Toronto, and Victoria from some small town in England (Norfolk). We've decided that the biggest culture shock is not coming to Japan, but instead trying to understand our accents (especially Victoria's).

I'll try to write more at a later time.

Funny English phrase of the week:
�gThis is the most comfortable loose leaf you have ever run into. You will feel like writing with it all the time�h - on some loose leaf paper I bought.