Tamba/Tanba

Answer:

            The “Shinkansen,” is the bullet train. Supposedly it goes at 200 mph.

It looks like Dad and Katrina get credit for correct answers this week!

            Our journey from Tokyo to Hyogo Prefecture was rather exciting. I had shipped my last big bag to Hyogo because we knew that we would not have a lot of room for extra bags on our trip, and it was definitely easier only having two small bags. All 52 of the Hyogo ALTs took two buses from the Keio Plaza Hotel to Tokyo Train Station. It made for quite an interesting sight when we left the buses and started to walk through the train station in a long line. We boarded the Shinkansen (bullet train) at about 10:00 and headed for Osaka. The Shinkansen is a great way to travel, there is lots of leg room, and comfortable seats, but to me it didn’t really feel like we were going as fast as we were. In any case we made it to Osaka in about 3 hours and then boarded two more buses to travel to Yashiro which contains the Prefectural Education Center. We arrived in Yashiro and were split into two groups, senior high school and junior high school/elementary school. I went with the senior high school teachers into a large room in which were also many Japanese people. These were the representatives of all the schools that we were travelling to. We waited as the lady in charge read off each of our names and our school name and then looked around until some Japanese person started waving at us. It was all rather awkward, but it was pretty effective at getting us connected with the right school. The person I met was an English teacher named Ms. Onishi, or Onishi-sensei in Japanese (sensei means teacher. We got in her car and headed out for the one hour ride to Tanba (the spelling of Tanba is a little bit ambiguous in English, technically it is spelled Tamba, but the Japanese people seem to interchange the names, so I probably will too!) Unfortunately Onishi-sensei had not driven in Yashiro very much, and we got lost. L The good part about being lost is that you get to see a lot more of Japan, and Japan really is a beautiful. The bad part is that you are in a foreign country, and there is absolutely nothing you can do except pray. Fortunately we were not lost for very long, and after about an hour and a half we arrived in Tanba.

As soon as we got to Hikami high school I was taken in to see the Kocho-sensei, and the Kyoto-sensei (principal and vice principal). They are both very nice men and they were very excited to meet me. We drank green tea (it wasn’t very good), and talked as much as we could, in their minimal English and my nonexistent Japanese.

Japanese Culture Break!

All Japanese people study English in school, and have done so for quite a long time, so probably anyone who has been in school in at least the last 50 years has some knowledge of English. The problem they face is that they learn English grammar and writing, but very little speaking. The reason Japan introduced the JET program 26 years ago was mainly to improve Japanese speaking ability. The Kocho and Kyoto-sensei both have a decent grasp of English, it is just difficult for them to speak it.

At the end of this meeting I was introduced to Kido-sensei, another Japanese English teacher who was supposed to take care of me, and help me adjust to life in Japan. She is a new teacher herself, only having started this year, so she has been a little bit stressed out, but she did a great job helping me get adjusted to life in Japan. I spent the rest of the week getting settled in, and figuring out what my work would be like. The Japanese use the yen, and it definitely takes some getting used to, to switch to a different currency. There was also the fact that I couldn’t really speak to anyone except for the English teachers. However, I was invited to have lunch with some of the teachers one day, and they introduced me to the wonders of Donburi. Donburi is a Japanese food that comes in a packet. You put the packet in boiling water for a few minutes, and then dump it onto rice. There are many different kinds of Donburi, but they usually contain some sort of meat and vegetables in addition to yummy sauce. There were many things to get used to in Tanba, and while it wasn’t really an easy time, I have been having a lot of fun in a new place.

Coming soon: Which side of the Mountain?, Drink till you drop, and The Most Interesting Man in the World!

Quiz: “Genki,” is a word that is often used to describe Japanese students. Some of them are “Genki,” and some are not. What does “Genki” mean?

Remember: no looking up the answer, and respond via email or Facebook.