EhimeAJET.com - Settling In

Your School / Your Home / Your Neighborhood / Personal Administration / Spare time

Make an office plan These are the people your going to work with for at least the next year, so wouldn't it be nice to know who they are?
Many doors will open faster if you can preface your questions with, "Sumimasen, [insert name]-sensei, how/ where/ when/ why do I . . .?"
For very simple things like the office plan, speaking English very slowly will usually work.

One technique to learn names is to draw a mud map of your office, and then ask each teacher to write his or her name in English and Japanese (Kanji and Hiragana) on it in the appropriate place.
This can also double as an icebreaker for introducing yourself, and might even be your first experience with meeting a new friend.
Remember that teachers are often busy, so pick the right moment before disturbing them, but other than that, go for it.

Introduce Yourself to as Many Teachers as Possible
Your first meeting with teachers will probably involve you standing up in the staff room and making a short speech about who you are and where you come from. Don't be worried about this. Nobody expects you to speak Japanese. Just speak English VERY slowly and VERY clearly. One thing you will learn about using English here is that many Japanese can speak a little, as most people did at least six years of it at school. If you speak slowly and clearly you will often be rewarded with nods of understanding (this can deceive you into believing that you're actually being understood, but I'll leave you to discover that on your own). And don't forget to say how happy you are to be here. It may well be a fiction, but it's a fiction that will ingratiate you to your co-workers.

So now that you're all introduced, that's all you have to do? Well, unless you want to spend your school hours sitting by yourself, you're going to have to get off your butt and start networking. Can't speak the language, well that doesn't matter. Later on you'll need to articulate your demands, but for now if you nod, smile, appear interested in what is going on, nod, then smile some more, you'll be pushing the barrow of internationalization lemming-like towards its final destination.

Carry photos from home, and talk about what it's like. If someone asks you to have a cup of coffee, go for a drink, or even attend one of those interminable ceremonies you'll become so adept at sleeping while sitting upright in. Say yes as often as you can! Don't underestimate the influence of having a positive attitude and trying to communicate with your peers. Meeting new people with a different outlook on life was, after all, one of the reasons you've ventured here, right?

Make a Poster about Yourself and/or Your Country

Your first weeks of the school year may well be reminiscent of Princess Diana and the Paparazzi, although hopefully not as fatal. Everyone at school will want to know everything about you - Who are you? Where do you come from? What's it like there? What did you do there? How tall are you? What's your favorite Japanese food? Then, inevitably questions will drift into - Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/both? For a short time you may well have celebrity status. Don't worry, however, this will wear off. You will be treated like a star until it's realized that you're just as boring as everyone else. One way to hasten the demise of these gentle enquiries, and to pad a slow day made even slower by pointless busy work, is to put the information up on the wall for all to see.

Get together as many pictures of yourself and your home as you can. A quick trip to a colour photocopier, the brightest marking pens you can find, a large piece of card, a little imagination, and hey presto! You've got yourself a poster. If you ask for the pens and stuff the school will probably give them to you if you say that you want to make a poster.

When making the poster consider, only include information you are comfortable sharing with strangers.

If you don't want people to know it, don't write it up. While the poster is probably not the best place to out yourself, you should still be able to produce a fun and informative expurgated autobiography.

Also, consider the timing of when to put the poster up. You don't want to shoot your self-introductions in the foot by having everyone know everything about you before they've met you. What fun is that self-introduction standard - the "Guess my age" game - if everyone is under whelmed by the fact that you're actually only twenty-three when a lifestyle of Marlboro blues and vodka shots has given you the appearance of an over-the-hill thirty-something?

In Your Home

A. Get your Phone Connected.
B. Get your Internet Connection.
C. Get to Know the Appliances in Your Apartment.
D. Find Out What Trash Goes Out When.

Trash is divided into seven different categories, and woe betides the foolish mortal who should attempt to commit the sin of placing the wrong trash out on the wrong day. Hopefully your predecessor has left the trash calendar on the wall, but if not then just look at what other people are putting out and on what days. Most of the categories are only collected fortnightly, so washing the plastic and cans keeps the smell down. Paper and cardboard should be sorted and tied up with string.

Turn Your House Into a Home!!!
Superman had his Fortress of Solitude. Dr. Strange, his Sanctum Sanctorum. You've got an LDK1.

In Your Neighborhood

A. Find a Liquor Store.
B. Find a Convenience Store: You'll never know when you'll have the late night munchies. Those who are in the back of beyond may not have much choice, but there you go. Look for the ubiquitous Lawson, Circle K, Fuji , or for the city slickers, Jusco.
C. Find the Nearest Bus and/or Train Station: Again you mightn't have much choice. All timetables are in 24-hour time.
D. Find the Nearest Koban (police station).

Phone 110 FOR THE POLICE IN AN EMERGENCY

Personal Administration

A. Open a Bank Account: You'll definitely need your supervisor's help with this one. You'll need your gaijin card or passport and hanko (stamp). Whenever you make any transactions using a teller, you'll need your hanko.
B. Learn How to Use the Automatic Tellers.
C. Organize How You Want to Pay Those Regular Bills: Two options are most popular. One is to pay cash for the bills that are sent to you. Usually the convenience store or post office will accept payment for bills. This is a good method for those Luddites who enjoy the old fashioned joy of handing over cold hard cash. Also you can arrange to have your regular bills automatically deducted from your monthly salary. This is the convenient way of having those regular bills automatically paid. The business will then send you a receipt for the amount you have paid. This will require the filling out of a form that you will probably have to hanko. Get your supervisor's help.
C. Learn How to Send Money Home.

In Your Spare Time

A. Start Learning Japanese NOW! EPIC can help out there.
B. Read the ALT Handbook.
C. Make Contact with Family and Friends Back Home: It'll probably amaze you how quickly you're forgotten by those people you thought were your lifelong bosom buddies. Even in this age of the Internet, you'll find that after the first month, unless YOU make the effort to keep in contact with family and friends you could find that while for you it's a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder, for everyone back home it's, out of sight, out of mind. Beat those feelings of homesickness and loneliness by beginning contact early and maintaining it regularly.
1. Snail Mail: A handwritten letter is time consuming, but it can reap the greatest rewards. After six months in Japan you'll be amazed at how happy one letter from home will make you feel. But unless you give, don't expect to receive. You can ease the task by writing one letter that you photocopy, or do it up on the computer and send it as a mail merge. A fun alternative can be to make up a newspaper of your exploits.
2. Email: While this usually, (and I do stress usually) keeps the contact regular, email can be a little superficial. Avoid this by writing meaningful letters, and not just shooting off the old, "I'm fine, how about you?". You probably wouldn't bother to answer it, so why should they?
D. Make Contact with JETs in Your Vicinity: Find another JET who is close to you and swap contact details. Remember though that other JET ' s are under no obligation to make friends with you. Don't take it personally if this is the case. Just because you're both foreigners doesn't mean that you have to be friends. If the other JET is reluctant to be on closer terms you'll just have to look elsewhere.