Train to Toba

I'm presently sitting on a bullet train headed for my new home in Toba-Shi, Mie-Ken (that means Toba city, Mie province). It's nice to be relaxing and listening to some tunes as Japan rushes by outside my window. This morning I said goodbye to Tokyo and my fellow JET participants and embarked on my journey. Everyone met in the lobby of the hotel and split into our prefectural (provincial) groups. Luckily Katie and I are heading to the same prefecture, so we will be making the trip together. It will be about 5 hours of travelling to get to the Mie board of education (BOE) and then we head in separate directions to travel to our respective cities. Upon departing from the hotel, employees from the Mie board of education led the Mie-ken group onto the subway at Shinjuku station. It was INSANE! I took a couple of pictures, but they really don't do it justice. It was absolutely packed and I had a bunch of luggage with me...again. Not much fun, but I didn't let the inconvenience ruin the experience. As we got onto the subway platform the group crowded onto the first commuter train that came by. However, by the time that Katie and I reached the train it was so packed that not a single person could get on. Two of the BOE employees quickly hopped off the train to accompany us and one other JET on the next available train. The next train came and we hopped on. As we entered the car, the other JET that we were travelling with nudged me and pointed to a sign that was right above our heads. It had half-naked women all over it and I can only imagine what the writing said. He laughed and said:

“Man, we ended up in the red light district last night. It was CRAZY. You're walking down the street and these guys keep coming up to you and tug on your sleeve and say, 'Japanese brow-job, japanese brow-job.”

Now, keep in mind that we're standing on the train with two employees from the board of education, which EMPLOYS US!?!?! I couldn't believe it. Not to mention that you're on a PACKED subway car and there are people who understand english and even if they don't understand english, they probably understand that much. I just turned my back and pretended that I didn't know him. Yet another instance of my fellow JETs being absolute idiots. Sometimes I wonder how they got the job and whether or not I want to call myself a JET if it means associating myself with them.

Yesterday there was another instance of ignorance while I was riding an elevator from one of the conference sessions to my room. We're standing in a packed elevator. There are four JET members and the rest of the riders are Japanese people who were staying at the hotel. Two of the JETs were conversing and one of them said, “Yeah, I've been practicing my Japanese responses...ooooooooohhhhhh, yeeeeeessss, yeeeeeessss,” as he nodded his head profusely and smiled cluelessly. I guess he thought that he was mimicking the typical Japanese response to English speakers. As soon as he said it everyone went deathly silent. He then looked around and realized that he was surrounded by Japanese people and proceeded to akwardly pronounce, “hey...it reaaaly hot out today...isn't it?” People like this are really beginning to get on my nerves. We're in Japan and they're making fun of the Japanese people, who have been absolutely hospitable to us in every way. If you ask someone on the street a question in English, they do their best to answer and if they don't know English they look genuinely upset that they were not able to help and apologize profusely in Japanese. The people here have been incredibly friendly so far, but it really makes you wonder if it's warranted when you witness displays of disrespect like the two preceeding accounts. I genuinely hope that I can avoid falling into one of these negative attitudes while I'm here.

As I've been typing, I've also been looking out the window as we travel south. It is incredibly beautiful! The region that we have been travelling through is alot more mountainous than the Tokyo area which is relatively flat. I wish that I could describe it adequately, but I don't feel as though I can do it justice. I've been taking pictures and videos, so I'll post a few on my blog and then figure out how to post them all online somewhere.

When we departed from Tokyo, there was some concern that a typhoon was headed for the area that we are travelling to. It was really dark and rainy in Tokyo and for the beginning of the train ride, but the sun has broken through the clouds and it's a perfect day now. I keep staring out the window and I'm just amazed how different and beautiful the scenery is. Right now nothing can stop me from thinking about how incredible this experience is going to be and from smiling ear to ear.

These pics show Tokyo in the afternoon...the highrises go on as far as the eye can see




































These pics are night shots of the Tokyo skyline. Believe it or not, you can photograph most of Tokyo at night using the daytime settings on your camera because there is so much light emitted from the city.

















































Here's a pic of some school girls who wanted their picture taken with Katie and I.