明治神宮 -- Meiji Shrine

Meiji Shrine was built to enshrine the deified Emperor Meiji and his wife, the Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji is one of the most famous emperors in Japanese history. He was in power during the opening of Japan following Matthew Perry's contact and during the Meiji Restoration, which was the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and a time when Japan rapidly westernized and adopted new technologies.

The Imperial Line is fabled to be descended from the goddess Amaterasu. Since the start of Japanese recorded history the Emperor has been seen as a god and the Empress as a goddess. Even now many people think of their monarchs as gods and goddesses on earth.

As for the Shrine itself, it was the favorite part of my day. In the midst of the busy orientation schedule, and the insanely busy city of Tokyo, it is like a distant forest totally removed from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Adrianne and I basically walked around for an hour going "Oo, ahh, I feel so nice to be here."

See some more pictures from my trip to Meiji Shrine

Morning in Japan

After a seemingly interminable and hellish flight, I slept like a baby in Tokyo.



View from my hotel room.

2 checked bags, 1 carry-on, and 1 small personal item.

Ernie the cat helps me close my overstuffed suitcases.

All my eggs in one basket.

I first heard about JET in high school, as my high school Japanese teacher had been a part of it. However, I didn't give it much thought again until well into my junior year of college.

My first two years of college I spent totally convicted that I was going to be a college professor/scholar. While I've not totally ruled out such an end for myself, by junior year I was more and more burning out on the school thing.

Spring '06, I attended an "information session" hosted by a former JET and SUNY Albany alum. Then it all began.

Becoming part of the JET Program is virtually a year-long process.

Beginning in September I checked the site over and over, watching and waiting for the application to be posted.

Once that was posted I set to work on all the paticulars: letters of reference, assembling proof of enrollment, copies of my passport, the whole nine yards. Then a week before it was due, I got started on all those little things.

You know, like the two page Statement of Purpose, practically the most important thing on the application. (written in about 3 hours total, mostly on the day I mailed it, by the way) Oh, fun footnote, the first paragraph of my Statement of Purpose is a sentence fragment.

Finally, close to the wire, I paid waaay too much to overnight it since I worried it wouldn't make it in time. It made it in time!

Then, I waited. And waited. Until sometime in mid-January I found out I had cleared the first hurdle and was being invited to an interview in NYC at the consulate. Then more waiting, and some shoe shopping (for the interview, of course).

The interview was somewhat intimidating, and I arrived there nearly an hour early. I spent the hour mentally preparing myself and conversing with the other interviewees as well as some former JET participants who were there to "calm" us.

The interview itself went fairly well. The interview panel consisted of a man from CLAIR (the overseeing body of the JET Program), a Japanese literature professor from the College of New Jersey, and a former JET/current employee of the NY Consulate. The first question wasn't even a question, "I see you have a very high GPA!"

To which I nervously responded, "Oh? I didn't think it was very high."

After the interview I realized during it I kept messing with my shoes during the interview. I hoped the panel hadn't noticed.

The next wait was the worst. See, I kept intending to put in applications for other positions, finding other jobs.

I didn't. My eggs were all sitting in the JET basket, and I was begging them to hatch. Finally, in early April, as I slowly went insane, I found out that I had made the "short list." As long as it didn't turn out that I was secretly a criminal (FBI background check) or failing to graduate, I would be going to Japan on July 26, 2008.

However I wouldn't find out where in Japan I was going, or what my working situation would be, until the end of May.

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting. Now, 10 months after I first started this process, I'm about to start the actual job. I think it's been worth it, but I'm glad I'm almost done waiting.

Jikoshokai - Self Introduction

In Japan, it's customary to give a self-introduction to your new friends. Now, most of the people reading this blog (especially at first) are my friends and family, but just for fun, let me introduce myself.

My name is Jessica. I come from many places, but I like to think of Shreveport, Louisiana as my "hometown." I was born there, and went to high school there. This whole "Japan" thing started with an interest in the language and some Japanese culture (namely the pocket monster collecting culture) when I was in 7th grade. I went on to take the language in high school.

When I went to college, I wasn't set on the "Japan" thing but I knew I wanted to learn more. I chose a school with a small but robust Japanese program, SUNY Albany. When I first went there I planned to double-major in Economics and Japanese, then I dropped Economics. Then there was this misadventure into Computer Science...which I also dropped.

Following that nightmare detour, I happened to take an introductory Linguistics class. I finally picked Japanese as my major, and Linguistics as my minor, met my dear boyfriend, and thoroughly enjoyed the final 2 years of my undergraduate career.

Now, I'm about to set off on my second trip to Japan. Last time I stayed 4 months, studying at Kansai Gaidai University in urban Hirakata, Osaka. This time I'll be going somewhere entirely different--to teach at a couple junior highs and elementary schools in rural Nambu, Tottori. Nambu has a population of 12,000 people. So, it's like Brenham, TX, but smaller and without a Blue Bell ice cream factory. Or like Smallville sans Superman.

What Nambu does have is yummy fruit, rice with ducks swimming in it (more on that another day), a number of beautiful mountains, shrines, and temples, and a truly awesome, cheap apartment I will have to tell you all about.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu! (Nice to meet you)