We stayed in the Keio Plaza Hotel for two nights. The Keio Plaza is a very flash and massive hotel and I would only guess that the JET programme would put us in a place as comfortable as the Keio Plaza because there are so many of us, and also to help us recover from jet lag. I didn’t actually do must exploring of Tokyo in those two days I was there, most of the nights were spent not being able to get to sleep, and a significant portion of the afternoons were spent crawling back to bed, unable to sit through the workshops and lectures because, of course, it would be the middle of the night in Britain in the afternoon in Japan.
We attended lectures and speeches trying to give us a helping hand to integrate into our jobs and our lives in Japan. I met some great JET participants, the majority being from the UK and we wandered nearby our hotel for food and drink. From the small distance I explored and the view up in the Skybar in the hotel – Tokyo is completely true to the images we see of it back at home. Loud, bright, full of neon lights, but also very clean and it feels very safe. Buildings are so squashed together, and equally so – restaurants and bars are often very tiny and stacked on top of each other on different floors.
The first night me and my roommate Dave found a nice looking restaurant – unfortunately there were no English speaking waiters, no English menu, no pictures in the menu – and we soon discovered our knowledge of the Japanese language was…useless. We began to panic as we sat down in a corner not quite knowing what to do. Luckily, we were sat next to two American JETs who had met up with some Japanese friends who spoke a little English. We asked them to help us and they invited us to eat with them. In the end it was a great night and we met our first very friendly and helpful Japanese friends! I realised as we were eating and talking together that that night would be the start of many similar situations and experiences – a little scary but overall very enjoyable and satisfying!
The first night in Japan!
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