Pikachu in Tokyo

---

The flight to Tokyo was only 11 hours and passed by soon enough. Luckily I was sat next to another friendly JET called Susi, which helped pass the time. We arrived at about 9am Sunday morning.
I managed to get through customs without a hiccup, despite a scary moment when they asked to view my contraceptive pills just to make sure they were legit and I had to scrabble around in my bag to find them.
My large bag arrived, hurrah, we were met by the JET organisers and ushered to the coaches bound for Shinjuku in Tokyo (Nairita airport is over an hour away). They were checking all our passports when we got to the buses and sods law the girl looking at mine frowned and said they’d got mine wrong. I was whisked back to customs and after many conversations on the phone in Japanese, a customs rep came out, took my passport off to change. They’d only authorised my stay for a couple of months rather than until 2014. After another twenty minute wait it was all sorted, phew! I was one of the last to board the bus though.
Amazingly, although we’d be warned to expect up to 39 degrees, it was only 23 and raining! A typhoon was hitting the country and the weather was unusually cool. We weren’t complaining and it has certainly warmed up since then.
The Keio Plaza Hotel was home for the next few days. Quite the grandest hotel I think I’ve ever stayed in! All marble floors and chandeliers. As well as the two hundred Jets from the UK, the hotel was full of hundreds of JETs from the USA, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa – you name it, if they spoke English they were there. I even spoke to a fluent English speaker from Russia.
I shared a very posh room with Susi. A group of us went out to explore the local area for a few hours and grab some lunch. I had no idea what I was eating (some sort of noodle soup), which unfortunately for me came with meaty bits I picked out. On the way back to the hotel we passed a phone shop with a giant Pikachu, so we took the opportunity to pose for a photo and grab a free hat. That evening we ventured out to find a traditional Akachochin (pub restaurant). This time we shared a selection of dishes rather like a Japanese tapas, and most of it was delicious.
The next two days were packed with speeches, lectures and workshops covering all manner of topics from driving in Japan to surviving the minefield of etiquette rules. Monday I got to meet the 13 other new teachers bound for the Nagano, although being such a huge area, only four of them are near me. They seem a nice bunch – mainly American with two other Brits and two Kiwis. We went out for beer and Karaoke – and whilst warbling to the strains of Dolly Parton’s 9-5, I experienced my first small earthquake (I thought it was either too much beer at the time).
We had a trip to the very grand British Embassy on Tuesday night, with a fine amount of free wine, but disappointingly small amounts of food. They put on a traditional Japanese Taiko drumming display which was superb. I had a go but it confirmed I have no rhythm in my bones whatsoever as I flailed wildly at the drum like Animal from the Muppets. I’m not sure a local group would appreciate my efforts.

---