Brian’s Japan Adventure

Japan TEFL.Com Glossary

I’ve been here seemingly forever now, and I often reference people and places that I have described in the past. Not everyone here has been with me since the beginning, so I think it’s high time I posted a “Glossary” of all the things, people, and places I discuss in the Japantefl.com blog. As always, I have abbreviated (K-Sensei, etc.) or “euphemized” proper names (Home University, The Company).  Here goes:

Big Boy: It’s got the same fat character in his red-and-white overalls, but beyond that, the similarity between American Big Boy and Japanese Big Boy end. Japanese Big Boy has, steak, chicken, and all kinds of great “American Style” dinners. No burgers or hot fudge cake or anything American Big Boy has, but it’s great. Best American food in town.

Big Station, The: See Okayama Station.

Bitchu-Takahashi: A train station about an hour away from here to the northwest. For a long time, I thought the town itself was Bitchu-Takahashi, but I was wrong. Only the train station carries the name Bitchu-Takahashi. See Takahashi for a description of the city itself.

Brian: That’s me. Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. Bachelor’s Degree in Religion Studies, Masters in English Composition and Rhetoric. Currently teaching English in and around Okayama, Japan.

Brian-Sensei: That’s me too. This is how many students refer to me. Some also call me “Mr. Brian.” No one here actually uses my last name. I think may have introduced myself to some of them wrongly in the beginning, but it doesn’t really matter to me. It probably doesn’t help that my last name is hard for them to pronounce.

Carryout: See Honke Kamodoya

Co Co Ichiban: Also known as Co Co Ichibanya or just Co Co. A place downtown that is convenient to both the Tenmaya Station, Okayama Train Station and the Okayama Library. They serve curry in various ways. Curry is immensely popular in Japan. Thick brown sauce over rice with vegetable, meat or “other” mixed in. You can order it in various sizes and “levels” of spiciness.

Cred: One of the big department stores in downtown Okayama. I haven’t actually bought anything there, but I have looked in there a few times. They have a small selection of books in English in the fifth-floor bookstore.

Fukuyama: Fukuyama is a town about halfway between Okayama and Hiroshima. I’d estimate Fukuyama is about half the size of Okayama. They have an elementary school that I visit about once a month on Fridays. The school is an “immersion” experiment, meaning that the children there are taught in ONLY English. Their math, science, phys-ed, etc are all taught be people who speak English.

Happy Town: A large store about two miles away. The first floor has a McDonalds in it as well as a full grocery store. The second floor has housewares and clothing (that won’t fit me). The third floor has a toy department, stationary department, books (all Japanese), and a 100 Yen store, the equivalent of a “dollar store” back home. I do most of my shopping and get most supplies from here.

Hiroshima: The biggest city that I visit regularly. I spend every Wednesday there. I teach three kindergarten classes in the morning, then an adult class in the afternoon and another adult class of mostly really old people in the evening. I take the Shinkansen to get there and back, and I have a long three-hour break in the middle of the day to explore or play.

Hokaiin Station:  This train station is about a mile and a half away, and takes about five minutes to get to by bicycle or ten minutes by foot. Almost every one of my trips involves this station in one way or another. I almost always park my bicycle here when taking the bus downtown, and of course, any trip on the trains begins here. I buy tickets here, ride the train to Okayama Station, and the transfer to the correct train to wherever I am ultimately going. It’s three minutes to Okayama Station and costs 140Y each way.

Home University: I have recently graduated with my M.A., but my trip to Japan is basically an Internship arrange through “my” University in Ohio, USA. I am still in regular contact with the university, as I am still officially with them through this internship.

Honke Kamodoya: An obento carryout located very near the Hokaiin station. They serve obento, but they make it up fresh for you when you order it, and it comes hot and fresh. They’re pretty cheap too, most meals are between 500-600 yen.

K-Sensei:  K-Sensei teaches an “English in the Sciences” on Thursdays. I come to class for 30-45 minutes and talk about some article that he gives me the previous week. Sometimes I talk about the subject and content of the article; sometimes I talk about interesting English features that are used in the Article. It’s fun, but I get absolutely zero involvement from the students. It’s basically a straight lecture from my point of view. I suspect K-Sensei explains what I said to them after I leave.

Kinderphobia: I have a bit of a problem with the Kindergarten in Hiroshima once in a while. I just cannot plan for those classes the way I can the others. Sometimes I can take a really simple idea and stretch it for a full class period; sometimes I can plan two or three things and burn through them in ten minutes.  The problem is that I cannot plan as well as I’d like and that worries me. I just have to go to class and “wing it,” and that really goes against my way of doing things. I have, from time to time, lost sleep over this, and I have termed the problem “kinderphobia.”

Korukuen Garden: The largest garden in Japan, and often considered the best. After the Castle, this is the second largest tourist attraction in Okayama. It’s nice, but a little too large and open-air for me. I prefer Hiroshima’s Shukkeien garden.

Library: The Okayama Prefectural Library. I go here at least once a week. I got a library card early in my stay here, and always have at least one English-language book checked out. More importantly, they offer Internet access for free f you bring your laptop. I do most of my research and class preparation here.

Little Station: See Hokaiin Station.

Loft, The: Another big store downtown.

Marc: My roommate in Okayama. We took TEFL courses together over last summer as well. He’s a very large guy, both tall and fat (bigger than me in both directions). He also has a large bushy beard that is getting bigger every day. When people see Marc coming, they get out of the way.  A girl in a store the other day nearly screamed when she saw him turn a corner; I am not kidding.  People are really freaked out when they see him. I guess it’s the beard, since he’s not especially frightening; no one in America would look twice at him. Little kids like him, since they see “Santa Claus.”

Maruzen: Maruzen is a bookstore located near Tenmaya, inside the Okayama Symphony Hall. They have a large selection of English books, and also a large selection of book about teaching English; teaching supplies. They are quite expensive, but it you want to buy books, this is the best English bookstore in town.

McDonalds: Just like in the States. Big Mac, Cheeseburger, Fries. Also McPork, Teriyaki burger, and shrimp sandwich. Despite what you hear the portions and food are exactly the same as in America. They’re not that much more expensive than America either.  The places are everywhere, but the two I use most frequently are inside Happy Town and halfway between the Tenmaya Station and the Okayama Library.

Megalo: An Internet café located near the Tenmaya Station, They charge around $10 for three hours of access in a little private room. It’s kind of scummy, with a lot of porn hanging on the walls, but it’s a useful place to go on holidays or other times when the library is closed.

Mr. Kindergarten: The principal of the kindergarten in Hiroshima. He speaks painfully little English, so it’s always a challenge communicating with him, but he’s still more advanced than anyone else at the school. He accompanies me to my classes there and interprets some things. He also keeps the very active children in line.

Mrs. Y: See Y-San. I called her “Mrs. Y” for ages, because that’s how they always referred to her in the States. I decided more recently that it just wasn’t really appropriate, and should change her name in my mind before I used the wrong term in front of her.  So from now on, she’s Y-san, which is the appropriate way to reference someone in her position.

N-Sensei: Teaches a Conversational English course on Mondays. I teach the first half of the course, while he teaches the second half. There is very little overlap between the two halves, so I am fairly free to do what I want in this class. The students are painfully quiet.

Obento: A meal in a box. They come in a box with little dividers like a TV dinner. Some obento are served hot, some come cold. They always have rice, but other than that, the contents vary. You get some kind of meat, a vegetable, maybe potato salad, and some kind of pickled thing. They are found everywhere, from Happy Town to kiosks in the train stations and little shops on every street corner. I have tried the cold ones from Happy Town, but I prefer the hot, fresh ones from the carryout, Honke Kamodoya. Sushi obento are extremely common and popular, and they are very colorful.

Okayama: My “home” city while I’m here. This is Okayama City, which is located within Okayama Prefecture (that’s like New York, New York, Japan-style).  It’s a medium-sized city located halfway between Osaka and Hiroshima on the southern part of the Honshu, the main island of Japan.  This is not a particularly foreigner-friendly city; you don’t see many westerners in Okayama and few people here speak English at all.

Okayama Castle: The main tourist attraction for Okayama. It’s really cool, but there are plenty of descriptions of the castle itself. Check out Wikipedia.

Okayama Station: The big train station. This is the largest train station in the area, and one of the big rail hubs of western Japan. Okayama station can get you anywhere, and just about everyone going anywhere in west Japan passes through Okayama.

Sami Beach: A swimming beach located in Shin-Kurashki, about and hour away by train and bus. It was voted one of Japan’s “most beautiful beaches” and I’d have to agree. I went there twice early in my time here, after beach-season was over. No one was there, so I had the place to myself. It was an unusually warm September/October, so I was perfectly comfortable.

Shinkansen: This is the world-famous “bullet train” of Japan. These things are like airplanes that ride on rails. They go up to 150 kph, which is really, really fast.

Shukkeien Garden: A compact garden in Hiroshima. It was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt just as it was. It has many different types of garden all very near each other, which gives the impression of crowded. Between this garden and Korukuen, this one is smaller, but in my opinion, nicer.

Slackass: See Marc.

Squishies: Octopus and Squid. These are both very popular and inexpensive here. They are very tough and chewy, and I don’t like them. I actually tried octopus once, and I don’t like squid just by reputation.

Takahashi: Takahashi is a city northwest of here, which I visit every Tuesday. I go on the train, and it takes about an hour each way.  It’s a classic little “mountain town.”  It’s very scenic with mountains, trees, and old temples. This is a VERY old town, and some of the buildings go back hundreds of years. The university here is quite new, and sits up on a mountain overlooking it all.  The problem with this town is that other than scenery, there is nothing at all to do. I’ve only spotted one restaurant in the entire town (and it’s not good).

Tenmaya: One of the big department stores in downtown Okayama. I haven’t actually bought anything there, but I have looked in there a few times.

Tenmaya Station: The main bus station in Okayama. It’s next door to the Tenmaya store, so it’s named after it. This is located right in the middle of the biggest shopping district in Okayama.

The Company: I don’t work for a particular school. The company I work for owns a large number of educational institutions, and they have an agreement with the Home University to send over two people at a time to travel between their schools and teach various levels of English classes.

Toyonari Pool: A public pool located about a half-hour away by bus. Y-San told me about this place the first week I was here. I visited there once, and it was a unique experience. I have gone a second time, but they were closed for repairs. I keep telling myself I should go again for the exercise, but it was just a little too uncomfortable. People always stare at me here, and I am used to that now, but it’s different with very few clothes one.

University Up The Hill / On The Mountain / “Upstairs”: The main university that we are attached to here in Okayama. It sits up on top of a small mountain. My apartment sits right at the base of the mountain, and I can see some of the buildings from down here. Y-San has an office up there. I teach classes here on Monday and Thursday.

Y-San: This is my main contact within “The Company.” She translates stuff for us, manages our schedules and basically is our boss while in Japan. She moved around a lot as a child in both Japan and America, so she has a flawless accent. Have you ever heard the “Kim Komando” radio show? Y-San sounds exactly like Kim Komando.

Y-Sensei: Y-Sensei is the teacher in charge of our Japanese Class. On Mondays, we have class at the university on the mountain, while on Thursdays we have it at a language school near the little station.

Yen: Money in Japan. I’m sure you know that already, but since I often quite prices in the blog, it might help to discuss the exchange rate. 100 yen costs about 85 cents of American money. In practice, it gets very easy to think of a yen as a penny. The most common coin here is the 100-yen coin, which is worth about a dollar. There are a lot of different coins: Single yen (aluminum), 5 yen (brass with a hole in the middle), 10 yen (brass with no hole), 50 yen (silver with a hole), 100 yen (silver with no hole), and 500 yen (gold or brighter brass) coins. There are three bills; the 1000, 5000, and 10,000 yen bills, which mentally translate to $10, $50, and $100 bills. I have umpteen zillion single and 5 yen coins lying around, since you can’t do much with them. Larger coins work in the many vending machines.

The Japanese students are still with their host families, so for today I will give an update on just about all the other behind-the-scenes stuff::

I’ve been busy for a while with the exchange students, but in the background things are still moving forward on my trip. The visa is ready in Japan, so I had to fill out an application to get that and supply yet another picture. If you ever try teaching overseas, plan on getting at least 6 copies of your passport photo just to save time later.  I hope they hurry up and get it sent over here soon. I’m not especially worried, but I see no reason to cut it too close. I also had to provide proof of insurance for the time I’d be there too. If you are under 30, the insurance is $7.50 a week, which isn’t bad. For a 40-year-old geezer like me, it’s closer to $21 a week. Still not bad, but paying in advance in a lump sum was not fun.  The insurance is also only good for a six-month maximum trip. That’s fine for this trip, but I wonder how it would work for a longer-term assignment?
The last I heard my Japan partner had not signed his paperwork so his visa wasn’t being processed yet nor had he turned in anything for insurance.  He wasn’t answering the teacher’s emails either. I am just not sure what to think about him at this point. I know he really really wanted to go, but he’s just not making any real effort.  I know he bought a ticket on the same flight as me, but I bet I wind up going alone.  For a long time I thought it would be good to have an American go along, especially one that I know, but I have gotten to the stage where I am completely ambivalent about it. Whatever happens, happens.

Grades for the summer are mostly in. I got three A’s for sure (two from TEFL classes and one from the Memoir class) but two more classes are still waiting for grades. One of those two (the practicum) I won’t actually get a grade until November.

As far as my own preparation goes, I finally bought some suitcases, two big 26″ wheeled monstrosities and a carry-on bag. They’re nice, but I probably paid too much.  Maybe not- safety is important, and they do have a long way to go.  I was able to find my baggage requirements at the United Airlines site. I also found this neat site, seatguru.com, which shows “maps” of various styles of airplanes. I can look at my e-ticket to read my seat numbers and see on the map where I am going to be seated.

My laptop’s wireless functions are extremely flaky and I think the internal wireless card is wearing out. I’m told the apartment in Japan does have a weak wireless signal, so I want to be able to use it. After a week or two of worrying and indecision, I just ordered a new laptop. I had a hard time deciding whether to go with a sub-$500 “cheapie” laptop that I wouldn’t have to worry about much, or get a good reliable laptop that I really wanted, but would have to watch like a hawk over there. I went with the latter, and my new Apple Macbook should be here later in the week.  I’ve used Apple before, and I know their service, even worldwide, is excellent. Plus I got a student discount and a free iPod (it’s still expensive though).

Laptop. Plane Tickets. Luggage. Insurance. Ouch! This affordable educational trip has snowballed into quite an expensive little move, but I wanted a new laptop anyway and the luggage should last practically forever.  Without the laptop, what I’m getting paid for working with the exchange students this month would have covered it all, but the laptop put it over the top. Argh!

On the small side, I bought a bunch of clothes, and a couple of neat books, Dirty Japanese and Survival Japanese. The Survival book is a tiny little phrasebook that I can easily carry in my pocket. I had hoped to learn enough Japanese over the summer that it wouldn’t be necessary, but that hasn’t happened. As far as describing the “Dirty Japanese” book, I’ll let you check the link yourself. heh-heh. Actually the book has some very simple grammar instructions, so it will be useful.

I still have to verify my mailing address over there and print up mailing labels for the folks back here. I have to figure out what to do about my prescriptions. I still need to pick up some supplies. I have to verify my return date and buy a return ticket. I’m sure there are plenty of other things to do, but it’s all coming together so quickly I’m getting lost.  The Japanese students are going home next Friday morning so that leaves me half a day on Friday, plus 5 days after that to get everything together and tie up ALL my loose ends.

It finally arrived. That wasn’t too bad, although it took several phone calls and quite a bit of begging. Now the Visa process begins. This is handled by the school, so I don’t know any of the details other than it takes about 10 weeks.

I’m still cutting it close.

So there’s one worry out of the way. Whew!

But now there’s a whole NEW worry! The friend who is going with me has a very low GPA. Lower than I even knew was possible.  Dr. M. says there is a good chance that the people in Japan may reject him. This kinda stinks because no one ever mentioned a GPA requirement before, or even the idea that rejection was even possible.  We both thought it was a done deal. Probably no one mentioned it to me because mine is very high.

I’ll ALMOST certainly go without him if necessary, but life would be a LOT easier on me if he could go too. This whole thing stinks for him because it may be several weeks before he even knows one way or the other.

Don’t get me wrong, this has not been a complicated procedure, except for the begging, pleading, and outright lying to the Passport people.

Overall, everything has gone smoothly and easily. Today’s adventure is a little more paperwork related, but since it’s part of the process, I’m going to include it here. Since my Passport still might not arrive in time to get a visa, the Professor (Who I am now going to call “Dr. M.” from now on, just so we can keep our characters straight), asked me for some things to forward to her contact person in Japan. Hopefully this will shave off some of the time for the visa.  There really isn’t anything unexpected here, so I assume everyone has to submit the same things, I guess I am just doing it a little early.

• 500 Word essay on “Why I want to participate in the Japan TESOL Internship Program.”
• A resume including all the usual stuff, focusing on my academic and teaching experiences.
• University transcripts
• A “Statement of Understanding” containing lots of disclaimers, but nothing unusual or oppressive.
• Personal information sheet with lots of questions, including medical history, next of kin, etc.
• 4 Photographs of me.

OK, this is all pretty straightforward stuff. The four photos were a little inconvenient, since the post office took my passport photos and kept everything. Basically I did this batch of photos myself with my digital camera and had them developed at Walgreens. They look acceptable in my opinion, and not a bad shot of me if I do say so myself.

Actually the hardest thing for me was the essay on why I want to do this. I will paraphrase:  “I’ve always been fascintated with Japan and this is the perfect opportunity to go for an extended time as well as gain valuable working experience for a potential career as an overseas English teacher.” Which I then extended into a 500 word word essay. Ouch.

So anyway, the day after talking to the professor in charge of the program, I rushed right out and applied for my Passport. I’ve never traveled overseas, so I never bothered getting one before. That was on May 18th. The clerk at the post office said that passports usually take about 2-3 weeks if I paid extra to have it expedited (another $60) and 4-6 weeks without the expediting. Since I am not leaving till September, I figured why waste the extra money and went with the slower, cheaper option. Strike Two!

Well, that may have been a big mistake. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the Japan folks need my passport information to get me a visa. That can take up to TEN weeks. So here I am three months away from the trip itself and I’m already in a time crunch. I learned this about a DAY after applying for the passport. So I immediately called the passport agency and they say there isn’t anything they can do until the paperwork gets entered into their system, which could take up to three weeks. Finally, this Friday (June 1st), the online tracking system showed me that they finally have entered the paperwork. That was only two weeks to the day since I applied, and they predicted three, so I can’t complain too much about that. Next, I spent the entire weekend trying to get through their incredibly backed-up phone support hotline. Today, Sunday, I finally got through and was able to “upgrade” the application to expedited. Yes, I ended up paying the $60 anyway.

Overall, it looks like I lost two weeks, probably less really, since it would have taken some time to process the thing even if I had chosen expedited from the beginning. The two weeks probably won’t hurt anything in the long run, but it would have been worth the $60 several times over not to have to worry about it. They tell me I should have it in about another two weeks. My professor won’t be happy to hear that, but at this point, I think I’ve done about all that there is that can be done. It’s wait-and-see time. Oh Joy.

Bottom line: if you don’t have a passport, just go with the expedited option regardless of what the clerks tell you or what you think you need. Just do it.

Next time: More applications, essays, and paperwork.