Mars One

Ohayoo gozaimasu! Seven days, two hotels and a disturbing number of bowls of ramen after landing in Tokyo, I felt that my first update on my Japanese adventures was long overdue. I’m currently in downtown Hiroshima, a stone’s throw from the A-bomb dome, after a pretty clichéd day of Japanese travel. Bullet train, Fuji, ramen… I may as well come home now.

Unfortunately for the few remaining people in England that can stomach me, home is not on the agenda for the near future. A few months ago, I made the decision to book a one-way flight to Japan and take up a position as an English language teacher. Despite it being common knowledge back home that I’ve lived here before, telling people this tends to earn me the raised eyebrows usually reserved for intergalactic colonisers and tin-foil hat models. I thought it might be a good idea to clarify a few things for the benefit of these people right at the beginning, since I haven’t really done anything noteworthy this week apart from attempting not to die. Here we go:

Japan!?

Yes.

Oh right, do you like it then?

I assume that people ask this to give themselves breathing space to think of more questions, but since they’ve been kind enough to ask, no. I am so thoroughly sick of Japan that I decided to go out of my way to spend a frightening amount of money on flights here. Conquer your fears and all that.

What are you going to be doing?

Interesting one, this. The truth is that until last Monday, I had a job title and a vague idea of what it was going to be like, but not much else. I’m going to be working as an Assistant Language Teacher in at least one Japanese public school. I could be in primary or secondary, but I’m still waiting for final confirmation of my schools. The job largely involves helping children to learn and practice English in lessons, around the school and in the community, while also being a cultural ambassador in the area. Britons, I am your mouthpiece. Beg for mercy.

So can you speak Japanese, then?

Aha. That would make things easy.

Where are you going to be living?

This was another unknown until a few days ago. I’m going to be living in Saga Prefecture in the far west of Japan. It’s on the island of Kyushu, about an hour and a half from Nagasaki and Fukuoka. I’ve been led to believe that it’s pretty quiet, laidback and rural. That’s all I know. Hopefully over the next few months this blog will paint a better picture of what it’s like to live in a fairly forgotten part of Japan. At the very least it will be an adventure. For now, if you planned to crash on my couch in central Tokyo, cancel your reservations.

What are you doing right now?

This one I can answer! Right now I’m sitting in my hotel, drinking orange juice and praying that the scary old lady in the corridor doesn’t figure out how to use a fire axe. If my imminent death might put a dampener on your evening, just pretend that Pikachu and I are going to hit up a maid café and sing some karaoke afterwards. Beyond that, I have a second week of some sort of training in Hiroshima before moving onto my final location. I’m not being vague. I just have no idea what’s going on.

So that’s it. Unless I’m missing something major, that is the extent of my knowledge. I appreciate that this sort of thing raises more questions than it answers. For those concerned or amused by the amount of unknowns in my life, please know that I’m being well looked after. I’m also incredibly busy, so until a few more pieces fall into place I can’t promise regular updates. The only thing I know for sure is that this is going to be an entirely different experience to my life in Kyoto a year and a half ago. But that’s what I came for. I hope that you’ll join me for the ride.