Tokyo Orientation: Day 1

Boooyakashahh!
I've been in Tokyo for about 28 hours now, and STILL haven't left the hotel. It's kind of depressing when I think about it, but I've been so caught up meeting people, running around to lectures and taking cat naps to really do anything around the city. Actually, I should be at a mind-blowing Basement Jaxx aftershow RIGHT NOW, but I decided to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock about 10 times too many and woke up at 1:30 AM, instead of 9 PM, like I had intended. This jet lag is really messing with my bucket list. OHHHH WELLLLL... (I probably wouldn't be so apathetic if I wasn't so tired).

So, since I really haven't been out in real Japan yet, I can't tell you much about my first impressions. From what I was able to see out the bus windows from the airport and out my hotel room window now, Tokyo is a very big, asian city. Insightful, eh? Fear not, however, because I haven't completely wasted my first day in Japan. Here's a rundown of what's been happening:

-Arrived at Narita Airport at around 5pm, where we slogged through the customs procedure.
After we'd gathered our bags we were greeted by a line of purple-clad Tokyo Orientation Assistants showing us to our buses. There was literally one assistant every five feet halfway through Narita, ensuring that nobody, NOBODY, could ever possibly get lost.

-Took a hour and a half bus ride to the Keio Plaza Hotel in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, where we're having orientation activities. It's really, really nice and there are JETs everywhere. I think there are about 800 new JETs at this orientation, which will be followed by another orientation next week with a smaller number of participants. Bought some noodles of some sort and pizza chips, my first totally blind Japanese purchase! I had no idea what the lady was saying to me, but I said my "arigato's" and chowed down. They were actually pretty good, and when I finished I packed it in for the night. I woke up at 5AM sharp, which seems to be pretty common among people from the states. I guess I'm used to sleeping in until 3PM at home... (not all the time, right Lindsey?) Had a busy day and here's about how it went down.

Timeline of today's orientation activities:
7-8:30 - Breakfast: Delicious, mostly because they served french fries with our eggs and bacon. Just what Americans expect to start out a day in Japan!
9-10 - Prefectural Introduction: We met with an adviser and all the new JETs going to live in our respective prefectures. I met some very cool people, many of whom I will be spending lots of time with over the next year. From what I can tell, I feel pretty lucky about the people I'll be forced to be friends with.
10-11 - Opening Ceremony: Lots of pomp and circumstance, which I guess is pretty typical in Japan, with very little actually said or done. I guess we got a few good pointers about bowing, etc., but I'm pretty sure I could have picked up on the nuiances myself.
11-12 Keynote Address about Culture Shock: Surprisingly hilarious. The guy from the JET intro DVD, Steve, gave the address and really livened up a pretty stuffy room. He kind of creeped me out when he narrated the video (mom, i think you watched it with me), but he did a really great job of giving some quality information while making a lot of people feel a lot more comfortable. I've had the culture shock lecture a few times already, but this was definitely the most entertaining and least likely to induce napping.
12-1:15 Lunch: Again, delicious. This time some vegetarian chickpea curry and soup. The food hasn't really been Japanese yet... maybe they're trying to ease us into this new culture thing
Afternoon: Spent going to various lectures about education and teaching methods, food and cooking information and travel tips for domestic and international travel. I made sure to attend the food and cooking presentation, because eating is probably my favorite thing to do, and here I have absolutely no idea what I'm eating. It was kind of disappointing, unfortunately. All I really learned was that natto (slimy, fermented soy bean strings) is disgusting (noooo, really???) and that Japan has 7-11's, AM/PM's and Circle K's. The teaching methods and travel lectures were a lot more informative, though, so I don't feel too bad about wasting my afternoon inside. We got to look at a typical day in a Japanese high school, which was pretty interesting and pertinent since I'll be going there every day in a short time. I also gleaned alot of travel tips on how to get the best deals on airfare, busfare, ferryfare, etc. I'm going to do as much travelling as I possibly can, hopefully without spending all of my money. I'm working on a list of places to go, which I'll share with you at some point so maybe I can get some feedback.

Evening - Welcome Reception: Pretty much just dinner with no chairs. I think they made us stand up so that we wouldn't fall asleep while eating. We were organized by prefecture, so I got to meet a lot more people from around my area and have some more very tasty food. I didn't stay for long, though, because I was feeling loopy and completely beat and wanted to be rested up for the face-melting show I was planning to go see. I came back to my room, conked out and woke up about 20 minutes ago, pretty disappointed to miss the show but $65 richer and feeling slightly human again. I kinda wish the show had started at 2 AM, because I'm wide awake now.

Here are a few pictures and a video tour of my hotel room I did for you this afternoon. I shot the video without placing any real thought into my approach, so excuse it's poor direction. I just really wanted to show you the toilet!

Welcome sign in the hotel lobby

Main entrance of the Keio Plaza Hotel

Slippers: Size 5. My feet: Size 13

Hotel Lobby

World clock in hotel lobby

Hotel art

Morning welcome/Opening ceremony

My "welcome to Shiga prefecture" package. Who doesnt love a welcome cookie every now and then?

Dinner reception layout. I was pretty delirious at this point and the shiny silver was beckoning.

We're so multicultural

View from my hotel room

Sadly, I still don't know what this building is. It's big though, and it's right outside my window.

Here's the video clip. Hope it works




I guess that's all for now. I have a pretty busy day tomorrow too, but I am determined to go explore Tokyo and take awesome pictures. After that, it's off to Shiga.

Also, I made sure to allow anonymous comments. Sorry if that was a problem for some of you guys. I didn't even realize they were disabled. I'd love some feedback if you get the chance.
I'll update you either tomorrow, or when I get to Shiga.
Much love,
John