arriving in kofu city

It's about a 2-hour bus ride from Tokyo to my hometown, Kofu City. I talked with some the other new JET's on the bus and also two guys that have been living in Japan for a few years, Fred and Kim. They really like to party and came to Tokyo just to meet the new teachers. The views out the window were amazing. I thought Pennsylvania was hilly. But the mountains and hill here make the ones in PA look like bumps.

We arrived at the international center and I met two of my Japanese partner teachers, or as they are called here JTE's (Japanese Teachers of English), Tetsuka Sensei (teacher) and Yoda Sensei. They took me to City Hall to to apply for my Alien Registration Card, but everybody says Gaijin (foreigner) Card, and they also helped me set up a bank account. They were really nice and I was surprised how much they already knew about me from my application. After that we went to the school where I was introduced to the Principal and Vice Principal of my school. We sat down and had some tea and I did my best to introduce myself in Japanese. I think he was just as nervous of the thought of having to speak English as I was about speaking Japanese. So a few sips and several uncomfortable silences later, I headed out to see my apartment.

I live on the third floor of an old apartment building with about 18 apartments total. It's about 4 km. from the school to my place. I was surprised at the size, there are three tatami mat rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. However I soon realized I'd be doing a lot of ducking through the doorways. All of the doorways in my house come about to my neck. I think I'll be instinctively ducking through doorways for the rest of my life after living here. It's very traditional and there is even a squat toilet which luckily for me had a western style sitting toilet converter over it already. And because my washer is in a closet, I have to run tubes across the room and connect them to the sink and the drain. It's pretty comical to watch the whole process.

The Japanese teachers helped me get set up and turned my electric and gas on and they were even vacuuming and scrubbing the floors. After we all finished cleaning up a little they took me to the grocery store to buy some food for the night. I didn't know what to buy especially while being followed around so I just bought some yogurt, juice and a bento, so I wouldn't have to cook.

The views from my balcony are really breathtaking. On most days I can see Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, right out my back window. There are many rice fields and gardens in the peoples yards around where I live. There isn't enough space to have a yard just for looks, every square inch is used. I also took a picture of a Mini Cooper, like my mom's car at a nearby house. Mini's along with any kind of small car are really popular in Japan. Supposedly they pay less tax if they have a smaller engine.

My first night I laid down on the new Japanese-style futon the school had purchased for me and went to sleep thinking about all that had just happened and all the things I had ahead of me.

During the next few days I walked around and explored the area. I hiked a nearby mountain and took some photos of my town.