Tokyo Disneyland!

So, as promised at the end of my last entry, here is my blog about the rather last minute trip to Disneyland. Jess wrongly thought I was working this week and mentioned how she was going to Disneyland with her friend Emma on Tuesday, so naturally it didn’t take much persuading to get my non-working self to go also (despite not really being able to afford it, but it’s Disney damnit! and I had never been to any Disney theme park before. It was long overdue!)

So we arrived there for bang on 10am like we planned – miracles! My inner child immediately came out, as did my camera!

Emma and Jess on the approach to Disneyland!

The Disney Monorail! – we didn’t go on it 😦

I guiltily parted with my cash and we headed into the park. As you can see from the above photos it was a beautiful day and my coat did not stay on for long, I can tell you. We dashed straight to Splash Mountain hoping to score fastpass tickets but the next eligible ones were for like after 7pm, so we dashed across to Space Mountain instead and got fastpass for about 3pm, which was better. Then we headed back to Splash Mountain and joined a rather eye-watering 2 hour queue! Where Jess decided to spend her time wisely by polishing her leather jacket, using me as a coat stand in the process, haha. I also took some photos.

Jess taking a break from jacket polishing

When we eventually got on the ride it was totally worth it! Jess and I got thoroughly soaked, shielding Emma in the process as I don’t believe she got wet at all. In case anyone doesn’t know, Splash Mountain is a rather awesome log flume ride. I can’t remember exactly what we did after this as the day was a bit of a blur of awesome fun! So I shall just list some stuff we did below, interspersed with some photos.

We checked out a few of the shops over the course of the day and were very tempted by the various headgear on sale, which many other people were sporting throughout the park, but we couldn’t justify the prices for them in the end. We just posed for a couple of photos instead.

We tried out some themed food stuffs!

Lightsaber churro – melon flavoured and really yummy!

We went on many many rides throughout the day. There were the other two big roller-coasters, Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain; the latter being my favourite! The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s A Small World, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Pinocchio and Snow White rides that were very similar but like 5 min queues, the Star Wars simulator, which was awesome! and Buzz Lightyear Blasters, which I was terrible at. I maintain my laser gun wasn’t working properly, haha. Also the carousel, of course!

And the absolute last ride of the night we went on, which wasn’t really a ride but yeah, was the Stitch Encounter. Now it was 9:55pm and I was very tired so what happened next seems very unfair to me. So basically you go into this room and sit in front of this big screen. They then have a movie play with Stitch on it and it interacts in real time with the audience. Naturally, I got picked on, and first to boot! So I had zero idea what was going on as my Japanese is terrible! But basically I said my name into the microphone and Stitch started talking to me in Japanese (thank god for Jess hurriedly translating in my ear) but yeah I was totally clueless and the rest of the people in the room found it hilarious. And the worst thing was the photo of me looking clueless and just so done being on view outside the room afterwards. I posed with it anyways because I am a good sport!

We also watched the day parade and some of the night parade, which were both really good, as you would expect. Then they also had a fireworks display at about 8:40pm, which was done to some good Disney music! Overall it was an amazing day and I bought a t-shirt as a souvenir, which I haven’t taken a photo of yet, but it is black with ‘Tokyo Disneyland’ written in Katakana in white on the front.

I shall just leave you with some more random photos from the day. My next blog will be up in a day or two covering my trip to Kamakura.

Hanami and staying up all night for football!

I have been very busy over the past few days and have a few blogs to write to catch up, so expect maybe 3 or 4 over the next few days.

Today’s blog is about last weekend, which saw me attend my first ever Hanami! So just a little bit of background on Hanami first. It literally means ‘flower viewing’ and is a traditional Japanese custom at this time of year. Cherry Blossom (Sakura) trees spring into bloom at this time of year and basically the entire population of Japan will attend at least one Hanami party. Essentially it is a big (or small) get together in a park that has some Sakura trees. Much eating and drinking is done and hopefully at least some flower viewing, haha.

So, on Saturday I attended Quidditch practice, as is my usual routine now. This session went much better than the last one, as the week before I had managed to accidentally cut deeply into my thumb with a kitchen knife so was basically playing one-handed (I have since managed to burn my finger on a frying pan quite badly and also scratch my hand to pieces on a thorny bush, so clearly need some adult supervision, haha). But yes, we started actual tackling, which is basically rugby tackling, and I paid for it the next day. Here’s hoping I get better at falling safely!

So after Quidditch most of us then headed to Kasai Rinkai Park together to partake in Hanami! It was my first ever Hanami but, more importantly, it was a special goodbye Hanami for Junna as she will soon be leaving us for a new adventure in America. Before leaving for the park we gave her a card:

So on the way to the park we stocked up on a lot of snacks and drinks and then went to join the throng of people in the park, just about finding a little spot to spread our sheet and settle in for Hanami!

After we had demolished (mostly) everything, we decided to walk some of it off and wandered off towards the sea. The weather had really got out by this point and it was absolutely gorgeous!

Then at about 4:45pm ish a rude loud speaker announced in Japanese, English, and Chinese that the park was closing and we had to leave, boo. Just in time really though as not too much later it started to rain really hard. All in all it was an excellent day!

Which then takes us to Sunday. So one of my best friends from sixth form college lives in Osaka, having done so for the past 6 years. As is usually the way, just as I finally get myself to Japan, she is actually heading back to England next month, bah. But she was heading out for a week long cruise today from Yokohama so she came up a few days earlier to hang out! So on Sunday morning I went to meet Jess off the shinkansen (bullet train). Many hugs were had as we hadn’t seen each other in many many years!

We spent the afternoon eating some nice food at a place local to me (Jess has very good Japanese so I took full advantage!), having a look round some shops, and then settling in at mine to watch a couple of films and just generally relax. This was because we planned to stay out in Tokyo all night so that we could watch the Liverpool v Spurs match in a pub owned by a Liverpool fan!

So, we headed into Tokyo (Ebisu, to be exact) and arrived at the pub just after midnight. The match kicked off at 00:30 local time. There weren’t too many people there as it was a Sunday night (Monday morning) but it was a nice atmosphere just the same.

It was really fun and made even better by Liverpool’s last minute winner. Hooray! But then we had to leave the pub just before 3am and the first train back to Yokohama wasn’t until 4:52am, and so commenced nearly 2 hours of killing time alternately in McDonalds and just randomly walking around in the cold to try and stay awake. It was definitely worth it though! We did end up only getting about 3 hours sleep when we got back though. Oh well, haha.

And that was a fairly long blog. Many thanks to Miyu for the Hanami photos! Next time… Tokyo Disneyland!

Karaoke and Cinema fun times!

So I have had a request for continual reports on my karaoke exploits and who am I to deny that request? Haha.

So basically on Monday evening I met up with my Sepro group (as a reminder, this is the group of teachers I taught with at two different JHS during my substitute teaching stint) plus a few other people, to celebrate the end of the school year. We all met at a TGI Fridays (of all places, haha) in a place called Machida, which is about 30 mins on the train from here. Happy Hour cocktails were had, as well as some rather overpriced food and then we moved on to karaoke!

Now my first karaoke experience here was with three other people and no alcohol, whereas this time there were 13 of us and the alcohol was rather free-flowing. They had a deal where after you’d spent a certain amount you could then order certain drinks for only 100 yen each. Very dangerous!

What I bought to qualify for 100 yen drinks!

Totally engrossed but cannot remember what we were singing

So we stayed in this room singing and drinking for about 3-4 hours, I think. Reckon we could have kept going but we decided to leave in time to catch our last trains before they finished for the night (which is just after midnight here). There is a video of us all singing Bohemian Rhapsody but it is 100% not kind to anybody’s ears, haha. All in all though it was an awesomely fun night with some brilliant people! 😀

Then on Wednesday evening I had my very first experience of going to the cinema in Japan. I met a couple of the guys from Quidditch, Junna and Stephen, in Hibiya (which is in Tokyo) by the Godzilla statue, haha. We went to see Captain Marvel, which I was very excited about! The ticket prices were similar to that of the Odeon prices, although they were discounted because of it being a Wednesday, so I think full priced it is very expensive to go to the cinema here.

The film was awesome! I won’t go into it too much because spoilers, but I really enjoyed it and Goose the cat was my fave! Bring on Avengers: End Game next! Oh and the seats at this cinema were the comfiest I have ever experienced, although I’m pretty sure the ads/trailers at the start went on for the longest time ever too, haha.

Anyways, I shall leave it there for now. I have Quidditch practice number 3 coming up tomorrow and, if the weather holds out, my first Hanami afterwards! (Hanami = Cherry Blossom viewing party – i.e. a good excuse to drink alcohol in the park during the day, haha).

[NB. this entry makes it sound like I have turned into some sort of alcoholic, rest assured I have not, haha]

Spring Equinox trip to Harajuku

So Thursday was my first experience of one of the many public holidays that Japan has throughout the year. It’s called Vernal Equinox Day and celebrates the beginning of spring! Shyam and I had planned to go to Tokyo for the day and we started off in Harajuku. In case anyone doesn’t know, Harajuku is one of those big name places in Tokyo and is a real tourist trap. We took in two very different sides of it.

First off we went to the Meiji Shrine, which was absolutely beautiful! I was utterly gobsmacked that something so picturesque and peaceful was right next to a major shopping area.

I washed my hands in this well and it is really really ancient, so pretty cool.

There was also a gift shop and outside that a little stall selling Dango, which is a traditional Japanese sweet dumpling. I had to try some of course and they were very nice!

After the shrine we headed into the shopping and restaurant part of Harajuku for a look round. It was crazy busy and full of families/young people, as you would expect. I definitely preferred the calm of the shrine, haha.

Then we headed to Akihabara to have a bit of a geek out in the shops and get some food. We ended up in a place that was basically an all you can eat buffet but with a nice twist on what we’re used to back in England. So each table had two shallow fryers in the centre and you grabbed your meat/veg, dipped it in batter, then in the panko breadcrumbs, and then you fried it yourself. Very novel! Also on offer was a salad bar and noodle and curry stations. Not to mention unlimited soft drinks and a strawberry themed dessert bar. All for abut £13, I think. Was great!

So yes, all in all, an extremely good day where I ate far too much food but did a lot of walking. So I guess pretty balanced really, haha.

Quidditch and other adventures in Tokyo

So I had a fairly action-packed weekend!

On Friday afternoon I took a train to Shinjuku and met Shyam and, originally, we were going to get ‘the best Mac n Cheese in Tokyo’, but this place was actually closed, um… so we went and got curry. I will never ever say no to Chicken Katsu Curry! Then we parted ways and I took the train a couple of stops to Takadanobaba. There was an event being held here by an organisation called Peace Boat, who arrange cruises around the world to promote peace, human rights, sustainable development, and just generally cultural exchange. They were looking to hire people to be interpreters and language teachers. I went along just to find out about it and meet new people (and I had been invited by Camila, who organises the Quidditch, haha).

So there was an hour presentation, which was very interesting, and then a Q&A. Then it was basically just a social get together with Peace Boat alumnae, including Camila, which was supposed to last an hour but went on until nearly 11pm, haha.

A lady I was chatting to called Aly, me, and Camila at Peace Boat

So when we left the Peace Boat Center, Camila, a nice guy called Louis, and I went back to Camila’s and had pizza and snacks (I know, I’m gonna pop with all this food I’m eating!) And took a crazy photo:

Then we said ‘bye for now’ to Louis (he was rejoining us in the morning for Quidditch!) and Camila and I tried to get a few hours sleep in ready for an action-packed Saturday.

Breakfast! Camila and I shared it (Shyam bought it for me – thank you again!! 😀 )

So, Quidditch! I got super interested in getting the chance to have go at playing this after I watched The Internship for the first time. (Obviously I wanted to play it when I read Harry Potter, but seeing a version muggles can play piqued my interest for real!) So Camila and I arrived at the venue at about 10:30am, just in time to join the warm-up. A nice, thorough warm-up, reminiscent of the warm-ups I did for football/rugby at college.

There were about 15 or so of us and we did some drills to introduce those of us new to Quidditch to the positions and how to play and stuff. Then we played a game, wherein the first meaningful thing I did was simultaneously catch the quaffle and drop my ‘broom’ (you have to keep your ‘broom’ in-situ at all times and this proved to be extremely difficult!). We then did some more drills and then another game and didn’t actually end up finishing until, I think, 2pm. So a long practice!

I promise I am there! I’m just hidden behind someone who can jump higher than me ^^;

So Quidditch was great fun and I will be going again despite the extensive bruising on my legs, haha. After this, Camila, Louis, another guy called Garrett, and I went for some much needed late lunch at this really nice Indian place. The waiter there was really friendly and they served up some giant sized naan!

Then, as if we hadn’t already had tons of awesome fun, we decided to go do some karaoke. For those that don’t know, karaoke is massive in Japan and they have places to rent out booths just about everywhere! So we had a good hour and a half session, singing a nice eclectic mix of Western and Japanese music. My favourite part was singing Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung Fu Generation and me trying but failing to keep up with reading the Japanese lyrics in their kana form. I think I did pretty well though cause that song is fast!

And after that I said bye to my new friends and headed on the train home to Yokohama. It was a brilliant, action-packed 24 hours or so.

(credit for all the photos go to Camila as I fail at remembering to take my own photos)

First trip to Tokyo

So, just before I hit the 2 week anniversary of my arrival in Japan, I went to Tokyo for the first time. It was, admittedly, only a very fleeting visit that served mostly to meet up with a school friend who now lives in Tokyo. But fleeting visit or no, it was my first official visit and I managed to see a little bit of Akihabara and Ueno.

I took the train to Ueno, which took about 40 minutes, so not a bad distance to live from the capital! My expectations when I applied to come work over here were that I would be sent to live in some far away rural town, so over the moon really to be located where I am. I met TJ at the station and mega hugs happened (it had been a few years since we last saw each other!) and then wandered down some shopping streets and she helped me finally buy a bag! Then we went and got an early lunch.

Orange marmalade chicken with mixed rice, salad, mashed potato, tofu, and miso soup

As you can see you get a nice assortment of food in a Japanese lunch. It was very nice and only about £7.50 ish, I believe.

After lunch we went to Akihabara. For anyone that doesn’t know, Akihabara is also known as ‘Electric Town’ as it is a hub for buying electronic goods. It is also the centre for everything anime and manga, so of course I was in my element, haha. Right near the station is the Gundam Cafe. I unabashedly got TJ to take my photo:

Apparently inside the food is all themed, but not very good and over-priced. Maybe I’ll try it for myself one day anyway though. I do like to form my own opinions after all. We headed off deeper into the melee after this and found some Gashapon, or capsule, machines. I was rather in awe of the fact they had basically whole buildings devoted to them, reminiscent of our penny arcades.

This was a smaller one. We went in a much larger one afterwards

We then also went into a huge shop, which reminded me a bit of Affleck’s Palace in Manchester, where they sold loads of pristine, pre-owned anime figures sorted in glass cabinets. And then a little sit down in a Mister Donut to have some dessert and do some people watching (we snagged a perfect position at the window for this), before we had to part ways at the train station (with many promises to hang out loads and loads over the next year! :D).

Then I headed back to Ueno as it was a really nice sunny day and there is a big park there. There is also a zoo there that has pandas, but unfortunately I was feeling a bit tired by the time I got there, so it is on my list to do next time! I got a couple of nice photos though.

Part of the big lake and the food market leading to more shrines

And so finished my quick first visit to Tokyo. It is definitely one of those cities that is going to take a lot of exploring, so it is lucky I have a year to do it in!

Until next time! 🙂

First experiences in Japanese schools

Okay, so just some really quick context here. The only prior teaching experience I have had consists of my week-long work experience in my old primary school when I was 15 and some sporadic reading practice/assistant football coaching at my brother’s primary school over 10 years ago. Since then I have completed an 120 hour TEFL course and, of course, my three days of training here in Japan last week. But nothing really prepares you for stepping foot in a classroom for real.

So, on Monday, just over a week after having arrived in Japan for the first time ever, I got suited and booted and headed off to my first assignment. It was to be a very gentle introduction as I was to meet 6 other teachers at the train station, where we would then all walk to the school together. This was a special get together that is only done in Junior High schools here in Yokohama, I believe. Each teacher within the group hosts lessons at their own schools, in turn, so the kids get a chance to meet some other English teachers and experience different people/cultures, etc.

The other teachers were all lovely and very welcoming. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to teaching in Junior High to be honest. Over the course of the Monday and Tuesday we taught 5 classes. They were grade 2’s, so around 14 years old, and had a very good grasp of English. Certainly a lot better than my French was at that age, which I guess is the best equivalent I can compare it with. There was a Japanese Quiz where the kids quizzed us teachers (I was terrible!). Then we rotated round 6 groups of students answering their questions to us (What food do you like? What sports do you like? etc.) and they played Jenga alongside this. A lot of noisy fun!

Wednesday and Thursday were days off, which was nice! (the beauty of super subbing, I guess) Then today was my first day in Elementary School and, perhaps more importantly, my first day going to a school completely by myself and having to navigate everything with little to no Japanese when the staff there have little to no English. I survived though!

So, the school was up a rather steep hill (like most places round here; it is very hilly!). My first introduction to some of the kids I would later teach was me huffing and puffing up the hill beside them. Fab! I was met by a teacher in the kids’ genkan (that’s where they switch to their inside shoes) and shown to the staff genkan. My inside shoes are the most comfortable things ever and I love them! (Thanks, Skechers). Then he led me to the staffroom.

So the staffroom is a bit different to what I remember the staffrooms at my schools as a kid. The main difference is the kids can wander in and out quite freely (although they always announce themselves very politely in that oh-so-stereotypically Japanese way). I would spend a good deal of my day in here, but I did have 5 classes today, which was quite full on for someone with no elementary experience.

My first class was with a special education group. There were about 10 kids, 3 extra support staff in there, and it was a really nice start to the day. 4 of the 5 classes from today were the same lesson plan about fruit. We started with the ‘hello song’, which was really cute, although I imagine I will eventually get sick of it, haha. Then introduced the 8 fruit flashcards, and then played a couple of games that the kids absolutely loved. Then finished with the ‘goodbye song’. The other three times I did this lesson was with the three grade 1 classes (6-7), who were absolutely adorable, but extremely energetic!

Then we broke for lunch and I got my first taste of a Japanese school lunch. I had it in the staffroom, but there will be circumstances in the future where I’ll eat in the classroom with the kids. I was told that it was a Korean lunch. All I can really say was there was a tofu and mixed onion soup, a bowl of rice, a bowl of pork, noodles and veg, a nice tasting pudding, and a carton of milk. A little bit different to a typical British school lunch, haha. It was okay tasting.

Then after lunch was my last class with the slightly older grade 3’s (8-9). Their topic was ‘who are you?’ and focusing on animals. The homeroom teacher did the majority of this lesson and I just pronounced vocab really, but I have to say I was extremely impressed with the kids’ grasp of English. They started off guessing where I came from and were producing countries like ‘Israel, Morocco, Russia, India, Philippines, etc.’ and I was just like ‘wow! Imagine knowing that many countries in a second language at such a young age!’

So yeah, overall I am extremely impressed by the high standard of English amongst the kids I’ve met this week. The majority of them are very outgoing and inquisitive and seem very excited about having native English teachers in their school. Oh and something else I noticed today: they seemed absolutely fascinated with my blue eyes. Guess the smaller ones haven’t seen many tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed females.

I will try and write more on different aspects of Japanese schools in the future because I think it is absolutely fascinating how different they are compared to English schools.

First week in Japan

Hiya! Welcome to my blog! I know it is really generic and obvious to keep a blog when teaching in Japan for a year but I promised friends back home I would, so let’s see how this goes.

So, a year and a few months ago I decided I wanted to come to Japan for a year to teach English to school kids. It is something I have semi-considered doing since I was at university but just never got around to doing anything about it. But then I finally did! 😀

The interview process was very easy. I interviewed in London in August last year, got offered a position a few weeks later, was given my placement (Yokohama!) another few weeks later, and then finally, after much document to-ing and fo-ing, got confirmed to be leaving on February 23rd. There were a few issues, which meant I left 2/3 weeks later than planned, which resulted in me having to train solo when I arrived.

So, the training! It was very concise and a bit information overload. 3 days of intense training on company policies, Japanese etiquette, and the basics of lesson flow in Elementary Schools. I was absolutely flummoxed by it all, to be honest, and there were a few low points for me in those first few days, but… I did meet a really nice guy called Shyam after shouting out on a Facebook group and he took me to an Okonomiyaki restaurant in Yokohama.

Cooking the okonomiyaki on the hot plates that were at each table

It’s long been a goal of mine to a) eat okonomiyaki (which is like a pancake but made with cabbage and eggs, among other things), and b) eat at a restaurant where you cook your own food at your table, so I was very impressed to manage this only 2 days into my year long adventure.

I moved into my apartment last Thursday (I had spent the first 4 nights in a tiny hotel room). It is 15 minutes from the train station up a rather calf-busting hill, and the train station is two stops up from Yokohama. So a very good location really, even with the added hill climbing. Photos of my apartment will follow in a later entry as it currently looks very bare and messy.

The next few days were spent trying to buy stuff for my apartment and just generally exploring and working out how to live in Japan! Yokohama is beautiful though, here have some photos!

This entry brings me up to the end of Sunday and so the end of my first week of my year in Japan. Next entry will be about my first experiences in Japanese schools. I also hope to write some random entries on my thoughts about different things I am experiencing out here. I knew it would be very different to home but I vastly underestimated just how much so!

Thanks for reading! Until next time! 🙂