Welcome to Matsusaka

The busy streets of Tokyo.

On the 1st August 2012, Taryn and I left Tokyo for the relatively rural city of Matsusaka.

In order to get to Matsusaka, we left our hotel and walked to Shinjuku station (which we were pleased to recognised from our Pimsleur course in Japanese). From Shinjuku we took a normal train to Tokyo station at which we boarded the Shinkansen, Japan's high speed "bullet train". Embarassingly I can't remember whether we transitted off the Shinkansen at Nagoya or Kyoto :(. Either way the train we took, took us down to Matsusaka via Tsu.

Taryn and I thought that when we arrived at Matsusaka we would have to split up, but we were relieved to discover that our supervisors had coordinated the activities of the day somewhat; which meant that our first day was pretty much spent together.

The first order of business was to register our residence at the City Office. This is part of a process that requires the registration of the place of residence of every foreigner living in Japan. This has to be maintained throughout one's stay here and although it may seem like an imposition, it may also be quite practical when living in a disaster prone country like Japan. For instance, I can imagine it being handy to know the whereabouts of foreign citizens when trying to reassure foreign embassy's of the safely of their citizens during times of emergency.

Once this was done, I was taken to my school where I met some of my co-workers, including another ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), my principal, vice principal and other members of the administrative team. I also got to meet some of my future students (as it's currently their vacation). They were all girls and seemed quite excited to meet me. Taryn was with me at the time, and when she was introduced as my wife, this seemed to reignite the excitement as students chatted to one another and gestured at virtual rings on their fingers.

Our new favourite restaurant in Matsusaka

The first week of us staying in Matsusaka is blur of administrative tasks, authentic Japanese food, some interaction with students and generally trying to make our new nest feel like home. Mostly the time was spent trying to acclimatise to the many names, faces, essential Japanese vocabulary and other nuances of daily life that one is presented with when trying to harmonize with the pulse of Japan. Add to this the lingering Jetlag and the effect of being put on slow-motion by having to travel by bicycle instead of having a car, and one's disposable time is quickly found to be insufficient for any but the most essential tasks.

Having been in Matsusaka now for a week and a half, I can feel my perception of time starting to normalize a little. For one, I have time to write a blog entry today. Hopefully there will be plenty more of this to follow :D.

We have our bank account all set up, our car should hopefully be here next week, or the next week at the latest! Cell phones will hopefully arrive this week as well. The timing of these things is complicated by the fact that this week the Japanese people will be celebrating Obon, which I'll endeavour to write about in a subsequent blog. Because of this, many teachers will not be at work, including our supervisors (who often act as intermediaries between ourselves and officials), and subsequently our ability to deal with complicated matters will be greatly diminished. Nevertheless we are hopeful that this week we will finally be plugged in to the internet, not just at home, but while we are at work as well as when we are on adventure!

To close off this blog I will include a few photos we've taken while exploring Matsusaka.

The skyline from just outside our new home. No kidding :D.

The "pond " about 100m from our apartment.

Rich and poor live side-by-side, all under the canopy of the electric wires above.

Taryn defiantly straddles a Gaijin-("foreigner ")-trap!

A look down a residential street.

There are a surprising number of creepy crawlies around!

Matsusaka has many beautiful rice fields distributed throughout the city.

After witnessing the rain last night, it's quite clear why Matsusaka has these!

Please check my blog later this week as I hope to add posts about the Japanese festival of Obon, Nara's lantern festival, and about our fishing trip last weekend!