Ready for Tokyo Orientation?

Woke up bright and early this morning at 4:00am but lazed around in bed till my alarm time of 7:00am, then got up properly to get ready! The dress code for the whole of Tokyo Orientation is business attire – meaning full suit. You are allowed to take off your suit jacket as the day progresses, cause it is hot and there are a lot of people! Most people were dressed in the standard white shirt black suit, but there were a few variations of colours, so it didn’t seem to be too insanely strict, as long as you were in some kind of nice suit.

The buffet breakfast was so good! After finishing getting dressed and everything we headed down to breakfast on the 4th floor at around 7:30am. The tables were set out like a yumcha place, so it almost felt like I was back in Hong Kong for a second! There was a wide selection of breads (with Hokkaido butter!), fruits (watermelon, green melon, orange, grapefruit), scrambled eggs and bacon, baked sliced potatoes, salads, cornflakes, and yoghurt. Also a wide selection of drinks ranging from coffee and teas, to milk, and orange juice and grapefruit juice! Everything was really fresh and delicious and it was a truly great breakfast (perks of staying in fancy hotels wow).

After breakfast was the opening ceremony at 9:00am sharp. Everyone had to be ready and seated by 8:45am and you have to make sure you’re on time for every schedule on this orientation because they DO take attendance and scold you if you’re late!!

The opening ceremony was very grand and they specifically told people not to take photos during the ceremony (it was quite cute – she said “Please refrain from taking photos during the ceremony, so if you would like to take one, please take one now” then everyone whipped out their phones and cameras to snap a quick shot of the stage with all the flags). I actually really liked the ceremony because all the speeches by the heads of the different ministries were all very short and clear to the point! Very nice and succinct.

After the opening ceremony, the ALTs and CIRs were split off into respective information sessions, with the ALT session having various different speakers. I think the only good speech from this block was the one done by a BOE staff and their PA (prefectural advisor for ALTs) who was a Kiwi! It was cute cause when she said she was from New Zealand all the Kiwis in the crowd cheered – very heartwarming! The other talks were nice I guess but I started drifting off in the 3rd one, partly because the speaker’s voice was extremely soothing and gentle which didn’t make it easy to stay awake and focus.

Lunchtime at 12:00!!! I loved today’s lunch menu – it was all vegetarian, with an Asian vegetable stew(?) mix of tofu, mushrooms, carrot, etc. and a vege yuzu soup, and I was really happy cause I truly love yuzu. One funny happening was I poured a cup of coffee for myself accidentally cause I thought it was tea! I don’t normally drink coffee because I don't like the bitter taste but I ended up drinking it (after adding a TON of sugar and cream) and it helped me stop feeling so sleepy for the rest of the afternoon talks so I guess that was a good mistake! The lunch break was actually 1 hour 15 minutes so we went up to our hotel room to rest up a little bit before going back down for the afternoon information sessions. These were a lot more helpful cause they were more specific and practical, with a senior ALT presenting useful tips and general advice for work life and work schedules, and just a lot of miscellaneous ALT information. We then split off into our respective school levels (elementary, junior high, and senior high) for demonstrations and presentations on team-teaching. It was quite a nice workshop and nice to get some ideas for lessons. Teaching at elementary school is really starting to look like a breeze – at least from what they presented at the workshop. Picture books are going to be every elementary school ALT’s best friend! After that workshop (which was a bit of a long 2.5 hours!) it was a “manners and professionalism” workshop covering work behavior and manners in the Japanese workforce. I thought this workshop would be boring and that I would drift off but I actually didn’t surprisingly! The presenter presented it interestingly enough, and also relevantly enough I think, which was very nice.

After that final workshop it was an hour break ish before the welcome dinner reception. This particular break felt extremely short because it took a long time (15 minutes) to get back up to the room – long elevator queues! Plus you’re not actually allowed to use the stairs to go back up to your rooms, which was quite sad.

The dinner reception was also very grand, in the main hall as the opening ceremony. We were separated by prefecture, with each prefecture grouped around a standing table. It was quite funny because Gunma has a LOT of new JETs this year, so our standing table was way too small for all of us! It was really nice to meet all the other JETs going to the same place as you – and there were a lot of us Takasaki JETs! We had to wait for a few speeches by the AJET leader, and consulate people to be done first before we made a toast (かんぱい!!) and were finally able to start eating! It was a buffet style dinner, with long tables lined with food – but again, long lines. The food was all really nice, and again quite funny because it was mainly Chinese food, so again – felt like I was back in Hong Kong!

After the dinner reception officially ended at 20:00 (and they actually had to ask us all to leave the hall!) we went back up to our room to change and then went back out into the Shinjuku shopping district to buy a duffle bag (my carry-on luggage is all over the place!), a power bank, and take Tokyo Orientation commemorative sticker photos! I find it so nice and adorable how you can become so close with your roommates (go room 2504!). Then we bought some drinks to cool down from the convenience store, and despite originally planning to go up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building for the free night view, we somehow keep running super late and were too late for the last 22:30 closing entry time. Will just have to remember to go for our last night in Tokyo tomorrow!