Tokyo Orientation Finale

Last day of Tokyo Orientation woo!!!! The tiredness definitely hits you hard on the 2nd day – I think the first 2 days you arrive in Tokyo you’re still running on the adrenaline, but on the 3rd day you’re just beat. Because of the tiredness I slept in all the way till my alarm rang at 7:00am! We were a lot more tired this morning so we headed to breakfast a bit later, but still in time before it closed at 8:30am. We had a bit of time so we went up to the 43rd floor to enjoy the Tokyo view before orientation workshops. The workshops today were definitely a lot more interesting, relevant, and practical. The first session of the day was the ALT panel discussion, which was probably my favourite session out of the whole Tokyo Orientation. I just wish it was a bit longer! And that the other workshops could then be in turn shorter cause they weren’t as helpful or interesting as the panel discussion.

After the panel discussion, we separated into our respective school levels, and had a series of workshops on teaching methods. For elementary schools the workshops were on using picture books in lessons, phonics, literacy, and incorporating arts and crafts into your lessons. The workshops were nice and short, but I still feel like the panel discussion was more useful.

Lunch today was a bit funny because we headed in to the room a bit late and seating was sparse. So in the end we decided to just buy food from the convenience store and went up to our rooms to relax. That ended up being a really good decision because the fatigue can really get to you if you don't take care of yourself!

After lunch the workshops continued, with the final one being about disasters and what to do if one happens. Then we went to our prefectural meeting where we met our PAs (prefectural advisors) from Gunma, and got more information about our departure from Tokyo to Gunma tomorrow. Here I was a bit annoyed though because it turned out all along that we were allowed our suitcases with us at Tokyo Orientation. I have no idea why the original email the Gunma PAs sent us said we were only allowed carry-ons in the Tokyo hotel, and when I double checked by asking different people again and again they still said yes you’re only allowed your carry-on with you at Tokyo. Then it comes to today and SURPRISE you didn't have to send your luggage ahead at Narita airport! I wasn’t unhappy about not having my suitcase with me at Tokyo because it was honestly fine, but the main thing that bugged me was that I had to spend unnecessary money sending the suitcase from Narita airport, because we have to pay for that, whilst the luggage transported from the hotel in Tokyo to Gunma is of course covered by the BOE. So that was a bit of a cloud on my day. My money!!!

A cool thing though was that I met two of my friends from back when I was on exchange! And we all didn’t know each other was doing JET, so that was a super nice surprise!

My roommates and I decided to go to eat yakitori for our last night in Tokyo! We originally intended to eat at 鳥貴族, a popular yakitori chain – but it was too packed so we went to another one in the same building on the 4th floor! It was just as good and it was nice because we had a private little booth table. I also tried omusoba for the first time! It was really nice and I liked it a lot – can definitely see myself making it at home in the future! My roommates then got McDonalds for dessert because they were doing a special limited edition Pikachu choco banana soft serve! I went and bought a few more things from Uniqlo (their Airism undershirts are just SO GOOD!) before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.