As many of you know by now, I\u2019ll be returning home shortly for the first time since I moved to Japan a year ago. The first things I want to eat when I get back include Five Guys and Buddy\u2019s pizza. I haven\u2019t decided what my second meal will be, yet. Either way, I\u2019m gonna find all that weight I\u2019ve lost in the past year. I know many people will ask me, \u201cHow\u2019s Japan?\u201d and I will say, \u201c\u697d\u3057\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3088\u201d to mess with them, then I\u2019ll say \u201cGood.\u201d Not because I\u2019m trying to be an asshole, but because how was the last whole year of your life? If the question is vague, the answer is vague. That\u2019s how it goes. Also I\u2019ll be tired. However, feel free to ask more specific questions, and I will be glad to answer them. Unless there\u2019s a Pok\u00e9mon nearby, in which case I\u2019ll ask you to wait. Also, if I hear someone complain about humidity, I might impulsively slap them in the mouth. See you soon!<\/p>\n
As I end my first year in Japan on JET, I\u2019ve been looking back on the past year. A year ago I knew only what my predecessor had told me, a few pages that became my bible when I came here. A brief summary of what my schools were like and how to get there, as well as a little bit of information about where I\u2019d live. I had a long list of people whose names I knew, but not much else. There was really no way to expect anything.<\/p>\n
Once I got here, everything was different. I was thrown into my new life. The excitement of all the new things helped me push through all the uncertainty. We had orientation, and within the week went to our new schools, where most of us could hardly speak to anyone. I moved into my new apartment, and learned that not all countries have central heating\/cooling. It\u2019s strange moving into a new place. You know that this is where you\u2019ll be for the next year or few years, but at first it\u2019s just a hotel, or someone else\u2019s house that you just happen to be staying at. One of the main ways that I know I consider a place home is when I can make it from my bed to my bathroom blindfolded (which I often do when it\u2019s too bright in the morning and I wake up too early), and even navigate around everything on the floor (only those who have seen one of my rooms understand this challenge. Like a reverse \u201cthe floor is lava\u201d). Hopefully I\u2019ll have a video of it soon. Even my eating habits completely changed (though not necessarily improved health-wise) due to what was and wasn\u2019t available here. I never thought I\u2019d willingly eat white rice, let alone have it a few days a week (admittedly usually with gyudon sauce).<\/p>\n
As I\u2019ve mentioned before (I think), my brain tends to completely shift modes when I move to a new place or start something new. There\u2019s an almost immediate acceptance of \u201cthis is how it is now\u201d that I\u2019ve built up over the years now. It\u2019s like a dream. You just kind of accept the circumstances you\u2019re in as if it\u2019s always been that way. \u201cOf course it\u2019s normal that I have telekinetic powers and hang out with Jon Snow while living in my childhood house that\u2019s filled with Pok\u00e9mon.\u201d In kindergarten, when asked what wish I would want granted by a genie, I just wanted the furniture to go back to how it was. It would sicken me to know how many times I\u2019ve rearranged my new room, trying to find the perfect feng shui (read: optimal space for playing Smash). While I still hate things changing, I seem to have altered what constitutes as real change. Moving to Japan wasn\u2019t everything changing, it was playing a different game. While playing this new game, the old one only exists as small Easter eggs and cameos. One day I\u2019m sure there will be a sequel to the first game, but it\u2019s hard to tell which characters from the original will show up. (Do you understand now why video games are perfect analogies for everything?)<\/p>\n
Which brings me to my trip back home. If we continue with my video game analogy, my trip home is DLC (Downloadable content): an expansion for a previous game. The strange part will be realizing that the game kept going even though I wasn\u2019t playing. I told a friend here that they basically won\u2019t exist while I\u2019m away because they\u2019re in a different game. At first mildly offended, they understood what I meant, and possibly wondered if I\u2019m autistic as people do from time to time. The most interesting thing about my return home is that while I\u2019m gone, there will be a big reset here. At least a dozen or so people that I know throughout Mie will die<\/span> return to their countries, and be replaced with identical androids<\/span> new people. Most of them I don\u2019t care about, but some I\u2019ll miss. Or not. Who knows. (If you\u2019re reading this and leaving, I\u2019ll totally miss you. \ud83d\ude09 ) My role will evolve from a newbie to a senpai (upperclassman), and I\u2019ll be partly responsible for passing down the teachings that my senpais taught me (such as to never go to that shadowy place). I remember when I first got here, wondering how they seemed to know so much. I now understand that they had the basics down, but were just good at faking everything else. Then in a year, the cycle will repeat. People will leave, tears will be shed, parties will be had, new people will come, then more parties, then repeat. One day I will leave, and my successor will be trained by someone I trained. It\u2019s the circle of JET, and obviously it moves us all.<\/p>\n Luckily, my schools won\u2019t change, and my students will return for their second semester in September, so at least that will stay consistent. Until then, I\u2019ll either be on vacation, or sitting at my desk doing nothing while trying my best not to lose my will to live.<\/p>\n What will I do in America? Am I gonna have to be a different man? How\u2019s Japan? Find out on the next episode of the\u00a0Gaijin Chronicles!\u00a0Dah dahh dadahhh da dahh duuhhh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As many of you know by now, I\u2019ll be returning home shortly for the first time since I moved to Japan a year ago. The first things I want to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A look at some of the changes coming up, as well as a short look back at my first year teaching in Japan.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home","category-jet","tag-jet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}