A very important lesson.

Never ever go buggering anywhere in Japan without your Tokyo underground map. Thank God for ex-pats.

Oh, the faffery

Whumph! landed in Japan on friday, & what a week it`s been. I`ve found out that I`m now going to be living in Kawasaki City, which suits me just fine, as I know as much about Kawasaki as I do about Soka...it`s shafted a few of the other blokes who were supposed to be going to Soka as they`ve made arrangements with partners & the like.

I`m not sure how I feel about the company I`m working for. Maybe I`m just tired (I`m certainly feeling testy), but the last hour of "training" was taken up by us being filmed running through these tests (which we are to refer to as assessments) to chart the progress of the students. All well & good, but we weren`t told about this at all. This was really for the benefit of the company, rather than the teachers. One of the Presidents made an appearance, presumably to deliver the eloquent sales pitch he gave after the end of the demonstration in response to a question from one of the teachers. Gah, I need a day off.

　　I`m going to Yokohama tomorrow with...someone, to investigate my flat (woo-hoo!), sort out my finances in terms of ￥and maybe sign a contract or something. Don`t really care at the moment. For now I`m done with all things work related for the day...except for the lesson I`ve got to plan tonight...what the hell am I doing in this Internet cafe?

Still in Bristol...

...but not for much longer. I seem to be leaving with something of a bang. The shockwaves of saturdays bang (well, more of a bash really) are still resonating. Thankfully I'm in St Pauls Library this afternoon (right now in fact) & everything's quiet.

I've been directed to the website for Soka University, courtesy of the lovely Hayley, with a great picture that's too big to fit on this entry without shafting my precious profile & links layout. It says it's based in Hachioji, a suburb of Tokyo, so I'm not sure how close to Soka it actually is...lush picture though.

My illustrious employers have sent me a CD full of useful stuff to know about the company & dealing with kids, do's & don'ts (musn't touch the children). Don't know when I'm going to get the chance to read it all, apart from the fifteen & a half hour flight I've got to take.

It makes the experience seem a bit more daunting than it was yesterday (and it was pretty scary then). I suddenly have a position of pseudo-responsibility in a culture where punctuality (!) and professionalism are taken much more seriously than I've done in the past...I won't be able to rock up five minutes late, still reeking of the night before. Maybe that's a good thing. They recommend being about ten minutes early for work. I don't think I've ever done that...

The Boy and The Apple Tree

The_Boy_and_The_Apple_Tree_苹果树_18
Originally uploaded by KusTa02.

Experimenting with picture host www.flickr.com. Easier than html? quite probably. What a nice tree.

Posting pictures

Here's a picture from the good people at b3ta




Does that work?

Where I'm at

Frantic couple of days, thinking I was going to be up a mountain teaching english to about five people - not neccessarily a bad thing. Amazing what a simple spelling mistake can do...

...I now know that I'm going to be living here, in Saitama prefecture, lightly stroking the northern edge of Tokyo. A less informative, but brain-wrenchingly colourful and active Japanese website can be viewed thus.

They seem to be fighting the tide of urbanisation, if their pledge to create a "town of greenery and water based on history and the natural features of the area" is anything to go by. Sounds lush.