First Days in Tokyo

It’s been about a week since I arrived in Japan, and it’s the first moment where I can take the time to write. Everything has been jam-packed, from the JET Post-arrival Orientation in Tokyo, to getting my apartment set up.

Arrival

I arrived in Japan with the JET group on Sunday, August 4th. After what felt like hours of immigration, customs, and baggage claim, we all boarded a bus which took us to the Keio Plaza Hotel in downtown Tokyo. The entire way, I was marveling at finally being in Japan and sharing it with my seat partner. There were so many amazing people buzzing with excitement, so striking up a conversation was easy.

The night ended pretty quickly after our welcoming. Everyone was exhausted, and the heat and humidity did not help. Dinner ended up being a group konbini (convenient store) run, but if you know anything about Japanese convenient stores, it was amazing! It was probably one of the things I was most looking forward to and I got to experience it immediately. My roommate and I (who had an unspoken consensus that we would attack these first few days attached at the hip) returned from the konbini run after a very quick walk down a street in Shinjuku. I was out the second my head hit the pillow.

Orientation Days

Unfortunately, the next couple days were incredibly boring (activities-wise, not orientation-wise!). Orientation started the day right after we landed and ended at five. It was extremely difficult. By lunch, I was exhausted, hungry, nauseous, and the forty-degree heat was suffocating. Luckily my roommate noticed my discomfort and suggested we head up to our room to lie down and freshen up. I relaxed, changed from a long-sleeve button-up to a short-sleeve blouse, and already felt so much better. The afternoon was still a little harder than I had hoped it would be – it’s really hard to pay attention when you can barely keep your eyes open – but I did it!

There was a reception-like meeting that night where different prefectural placements were placed in different rooms so that everyone was able to find other JETs in their prefecture. Here I was able to meet the other JETs who had been placed in my city, along with some others who are in my prefecture. As lovely as the people were, I was so tired and left after about an hour.

The next day my roommate and I were discussing how some people were able to go out each night so far while we’d been playing grandma by going to bed at 8:30 and waking up at four. Together with our other roommate, we decided that we’d go to Shibuya Crossing that night after our meeting at the Canadian Embassy. We had our plan: pack a change of clothes and shoes, take the train to the Embassy, stay for about an hour (about the length of the presentation if it wasn’t shorter), then head to Shibuya!

Shibuya

We left with a group of Canadians and figuring out the Tokyo transit was hectic to say the least! I’m so thankful for my one roommate who’d been to Tokyo before and somewhat understood what to do. Without her, we’d still probably be stuck in Shinjuku Station. After the Embassy meeting, there was a quick change into our casual clothes and we were off to Shibuya!

This is where it all settled for me. I was finally in Japan, watching hundreds, thousands of people bustling about the crossing. My roommate and I walked with a flood of people to the opposite end of the crossing before we realized that we had no idea what to do or where to go. We simply kept walking. I was watching everyone walk around, taking in what they wore, what they did. Being from a small town, I was so enthralled by the amount of people.

We spent maybe an hour in Shibuya, just mesmerized by everything we saw. Finding our way back to the hotel was just as chaotic as getting to the Embassy, if not a little more so. It definitely proved that my navigational skills are subpar and I should probably just follow a leader when I’m dealing with public transport.

The next day, we all left to head to our placements. Despite the excitement, I was a little bummed that I had to split from the friends I had made. I’d like to say that being in such a difficult experience was quite a topic to bond over. But now I know some pretty good people all over Japan.