Welcome to Japan!
Since it's a rainy Sunday here, I decided to write my first post about my experiences living and teaching in Japan.
I live in Machida, Tokyo, which is basically a western suburb of Tokyo. It takes me about an hour on the metro to get to famous places that are closer to central Tokyo, like Shinjuku and Shibuya. I live near Naruse Station, and my neighborhood is thoroughly quiet and sleepy. It's not totally unlike the area I lived in in South Korea. However, I don't mind it too much because we're one stop away from Machida Station, which is a more happenin' spot with lots of restaurants, bars, and shops.
I teach at a university in Yokohama which is about 30 minutes away from where I live. I haven't actually started teaching yet, but I have been there a few times for orientation days and lesson planning/prepping. The university itself is tucked deep into an urban area just outside of the main Yokohoma area. It's apparently one of the largest universities in Japan in terms of student population. I teach with 18 other native English-speaking teachers from a variety of countries. I think all of my colleagues have had several years of experience teaching English abroad.
I've done a bit of exploring around the greater Tokyo area thus far. I went hiking on Takaosan, which is a popular weekend getaway from city dwellers. It was a steeper climb than what I was expecting, but it was incredibly accessible (the metro station is right at the foot of the mountain) and the views were marvelous. On another day, I visited the Meiji Shrine/Yoyogi Park in Shibuya and I walked around the entertainment area of Shinjuku. I have spent two evenings in Yokohama, the aforementioned port city where I'll be teaching. Yokohama is famous for its jazz music and its craft beer. They have a beer fest this weekend (unfortunately, the weather hasn't really been cooperating), and they will have their annual Oktoberfest starting September 29th. Just yesterday we went to Kamakura, which was having an annual festival featuring horseback archers. We wondered around a famous Shinto shrine before camping out for the horse archers. There was a lot of buildup before the horseback archers did their thing, and that sort of took away from the performance as a whole, but it was still pretty cool to see! Kamakura is one of the cultural/historical capitals Japan (literally in one sense, as it was where Minamoto no Yoritomo ruled as shogun starting in 1192). I'll probably go back there once the leaves turn this fall because there is supposedly some great hiking there.
My first impressions of Japan are that there are many similarities to Korea in terms of the culture and the ways people interact with each other. For example, people use indirect ways of communicating and often rely on subtle cues and context clues to communicate. However, there are definitely some differences between the Japanese and Korean cultures. For one thing, I've noticed how much more art there is here. Whether it is music, physical art, or anime, there just seems to be more of it here, and it also seems to be more widely valued.
Since I've only been here for two weeks, I'm sure I'll notice quite a few more differences as time goes on.
I live in Machida, Tokyo, which is basically a western suburb of Tokyo. It takes me about an hour on the metro to get to famous places that are closer to central Tokyo, like Shinjuku and Shibuya. I live near Naruse Station, and my neighborhood is thoroughly quiet and sleepy. It's not totally unlike the area I lived in in South Korea. However, I don't mind it too much because we're one stop away from Machida Station, which is a more happenin' spot with lots of restaurants, bars, and shops.
I teach at a university in Yokohama which is about 30 minutes away from where I live. I haven't actually started teaching yet, but I have been there a few times for orientation days and lesson planning/prepping. The university itself is tucked deep into an urban area just outside of the main Yokohoma area. It's apparently one of the largest universities in Japan in terms of student population. I teach with 18 other native English-speaking teachers from a variety of countries. I think all of my colleagues have had several years of experience teaching English abroad.
I've done a bit of exploring around the greater Tokyo area thus far. I went hiking on Takaosan, which is a popular weekend getaway from city dwellers. It was a steeper climb than what I was expecting, but it was incredibly accessible (the metro station is right at the foot of the mountain) and the views were marvelous. On another day, I visited the Meiji Shrine/Yoyogi Park in Shibuya and I walked around the entertainment area of Shinjuku. I have spent two evenings in Yokohama, the aforementioned port city where I'll be teaching. Yokohama is famous for its jazz music and its craft beer. They have a beer fest this weekend (unfortunately, the weather hasn't really been cooperating), and they will have their annual Oktoberfest starting September 29th. Just yesterday we went to Kamakura, which was having an annual festival featuring horseback archers. We wondered around a famous Shinto shrine before camping out for the horse archers. There was a lot of buildup before the horseback archers did their thing, and that sort of took away from the performance as a whole, but it was still pretty cool to see! Kamakura is one of the cultural/historical capitals Japan (literally in one sense, as it was where Minamoto no Yoritomo ruled as shogun starting in 1192). I'll probably go back there once the leaves turn this fall because there is supposedly some great hiking there.
My first impressions of Japan are that there are many similarities to Korea in terms of the culture and the ways people interact with each other. For example, people use indirect ways of communicating and often rely on subtle cues and context clues to communicate. However, there are definitely some differences between the Japanese and Korean cultures. For one thing, I've noticed how much more art there is here. Whether it is music, physical art, or anime, there just seems to be more of it here, and it also seems to be more widely valued.
Since I've only been here for two weeks, I'm sure I'll notice quite a few more differences as time goes on.
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