First Post From Japan

Hey Guys. Its been 3 months since I came to Japan. Sorry for keeping out of touch with everyone. I have been really busy since coming here and I just haven’t really had time to sit down and write emails to people. Anyway in short, things are going really well here.

I am located in Miki-shi, in Hyogo-ken. I am about a 45 minute train ride from central Kobe (one of the biggest and trendiest cities in Japan). My school is like some kind of advanced special gifted Senior High School or something. The level of English is very high. I am teaching students how to debate and read English newspaper articles and stuff like that. These students are fairly gifted. Most of the teachers at my school are fluent in English. They also teach Chinese and French at my school. It is a fairly big school of about 1000 kids, and they need to pass an exam to enter the school. They have heaps of club activities including random stuff like an American football team as well as tradition stuff such as Kendo, Judo, Karate, etc.
The location of my house is good. I have a 2 story house.1 large bedroom, a study, a lounge room and a garden. I am also about a 5-10 minute walk to all the shops, the train station, karaoke bar... basically everything. I dont need a car, I can mountain bike ride everywhere that i need to go. Rent is cheap too. I think I pay about 15800 yen ($158 AUD) per month.

The students are really friendly and they really want to learn English. Like I said the level is very high. For some classes we are using text books that have been written for university students. Some of these students can write essays in English and research essay topics on their own. In the last few weeks the students have become fairly comfortable with me. I guess being the only foreigner also makes me kind of popular. Many students know my name and love saying hello every time they see me. On my way walking to each class, it is not so uncommon to be greeted by at least 10 students. It’s kind of fun.
My social life has become very active. I have Japanese classes twice a week, and I am doing Aikido 1-2 times a week as well. For weekends I am usually traveling or doing Karaoke and usually consuming a lot of alcohol. I have a great time every weekend. There is just so many things to do here in Japan. Aside from being busy at work, my placement is not so bad and I am having a lot of fun out of school. Right now I am thinking that I might re-contract for another year, I’ve made some good friends and I feel I am getting a lot out of being in Japan.

Last week I rode my bike past a group of police officers. They all got excited seeing a foreigner and all started smiling, waving their hands and saying “hello” to me. I cant see this ever happening in Sydney.