Hey guys
As some of you might know, I’m now in tokyo beginning my year long journey of trying to survive as a worker in Japan. Imabari-shi (city), Ehime-ken (state), Shikoku (the island) is my final destination and place of residence for at least a year. All JETS are flown in to Tokyo and put up in a swanky hotel right in the heart of this ultra-super-megalopolis for orientation, starting on Monday morning going to Wednesday afternoon. After that, we all get shipped to our individual cities.

List of people’s native countries I’ve met in the past two days (in no particular order):
South Africa
Jamaica
England
Scotland
Ireland
Australia
USA

Unlike private companies, JET (Japanese Exchange and Teaching – government-run) requires no TESL certification. Their focus is more on cultural exchange rather than strictly teaching English. Because of this, I’ve been fortunate to meet a wide array of people.
some were married and some even had families

A ridiculously small sample of people’s backgrounds:
mechanical engineering
ceramics
economics
international Business
english literature
asian Studies

Yesterday was ultimately fatiguing, for i was facing the deadly “being jet lagged/being incredibly busy for most of the day” combo. I will face that again today, for more lectures/presentations start in half-an-hour. mmm….the breakfast buffet is awesome here… Oh, JET threw us a very formal welcome reception in which the toast was initiated by several government ministers of education. They were very regal, but at the same time, humble, in their disposition and I could sense the pride they took in their work.

now for an attempt to get 10 minutes of rest~ I’ll post pictures and provide more detailed info later on…for those that are remotely (no pun intended) interested.