From the 'bo, to the No'.

So here I am, once again back in Japan, and once again preparing to jump headfirst into a life of a foreign educator. Exciting eh?

Actually, by the time I'd woken up at 4AM after a fitful 4 hour 'rest' in bed, said goodbye to my nearest and dearest, transferred through to Sydney, agonized for several hours over which of the anemic selection of airport novels was the best choice to accompany my entertainment and meal-less budget airline flight, sat through said flight, wrangled through all the forms and protocols required by Japanese immigrations and customs, collected my luggage and trekked to my hotel, I was less 'excited' than 'barely cogent'.

Leoplace 21 appears mundane at first glance, but it is secretly home to SHAUN! The English teacher with the karaoke strength of 10 salarymen!

I think a lot of it comes from familiarity; I remember landing in Narita last year and being bombarded with the newness of it all; for weeks I could be entertained just by browsing in supermarkets, but by now the thrill of that observation and experimentation has been replaced by nonchalance. I've eaten at a Mos Burger, I've seen 'Hard Gay' on TV and I know I like 'World Executive Blend' coffee from the vending machines (hot, not cold).

The inside of 'Casa del Shaun' (otherwise known as 'my apartment'). Note the fact that it has light fittings; more than many places come equipped with.

Of course the flip side is that things run a lot more smoothly with the experience; the next morning I jumped through my public transport schedule without a hitch, met the friendly company rep and moved into my new apartment without a single problem... an hour in and I had gas, hot water and my internet all hooked up. Brilliance. For bonus convenience points there's a giant mall over the road from my place, so if I forget to buy milk (or flatscreen TV's, or engrish T-shirts) it means a 2 minute walk back to store rather than an epic car ride.

The view outside my apartment: Nogata AEON mall. When the zombie apocalypse comes, this will be my fortress.

Nogata as a city feels a lot more quiet than Sasebo, the train station and mall ahve a quiet buzz, but not the intensity that I lived with before (then again, maybe I've just been jaded by my time in Tokyo and Oaaka). I like it though; my apartment is a brand new Leopalace kitted out with Ikea-esque storage solutions (I sleep on a luft-bed now... a dream fulfilled!) I miss my bilingual CNN, MTV and Superdrama; but hopefully that'll just mean I'll spend my time doing sometime more productive than watching TV.

Nogata: quiet, pretty, calm and oppressively hot and moist (currently)

This week has been mostly training with the company; it was all very relaxed and amiable, and the people in charge seem to have absolute confidence in us all (if only they knew!). The welcome party was nice, and hopefully we'll all manage to catch up once in a while and trade notes. I got to see some of Kitakyushu too, which was cool; another castle crossed off my list!

Right, so there's still stuff to be done; furnishings to buy, days to plan, plots to scheme... y'know, the usual. I'm a busy, busy man.

But right now I'm going down to the pub for a pint. It *is* Friday after all.

Kampai world,

Shaun.

Blog defrosting.

Right, so it's been forever since I wrote anything on here. In fact I'm pretty sure you could have written a screenplay called 'Kanji for Beginners'; pitched it to some studio execs and singed a bunch of A-listers and made a movie about some guy who was out of his depth in Japan in the time it's been between posts. Come to think of it, why hasn't someone done that?

My official excuse is that my computer melted, I got coerced/seduced into facebook, got a girlfriend and was otherwise too busy having adventures to actually write about them.

Or you could just say I got slack. That's accurate too.

Anyway; since I'm heading back to Japan I figured I'd give this another shot. Maybe this time with a preponderance of free evenings and some zappy 'can-do' spirit (the sort I'm telling myself will be engendered by work in the public education service) I'll manage to stay on top of the chronicle this time around.

Right; so I've got a new layout inspired (read: stolen) by (from) the work of Japanese manga genius Kiyohiko Azuma. I've got a new laptop, a new haircut, a new apartment, a new job and a new town to work in. I also have new anxiety and old foibles. But whatever; I'll deal.

My new job involves teaching high-school kids in a town called Nogata, Fukuoka prefecture. Don't know where that is? Let me help.


Right, so now you all know enough to come and visit, I promise spare futons for all! (crazy random internet people excepted: please apply elsewhere). Not sure if you want to visit? Here are some fun facts to encourage you:

- Nogata used to be a coal mining town.
- There is a coal mining museum in Nogata.
- I will be living in Nogata.

Most importantly:

- Nogata is near Fukuoka.

I have also developed a methodically planned 'to do' list, to maximise my 'Japan time'. Notable aspirations include:

- Spending an entire day in an onsen and seeing if I feel better or worse afterwards.
- Going to a Puffy AmiYumi concert.
- Finding a Japanese person who not only has heard of, but likes 'Azumanga Daioh'
- Devising a plan to somehow get paid to lie on a beach in Okinawa
- Going a week without eating out of a convienience store
- Keeping this blog semi-regular.
- Upholding the ideals of the founders of the United Nations.
- Bringing peace to the Korean pennisula

If anyone has any other suggestions or ideas I'd be very happy to hear them; otherwise, start booking those tickets; I need company!

Shaun(y).

Day of Flight.

four hours until I fly, and the surrealism of this whole adventure is rapidly fading into concrete reality. I'm packed, my teeth are gritted and my resolve is set:

"I will go to Japan and teach the hell out of my native language."

The terror is still there in the background, but I'm offsetting it by keeping busy (why do you think there's been a new entry every two days this week?) I'm kinda dreading the actual flight because it's essentially one long 'chance to think', but hopefully in-flight movies, magazines and my shiny new mp3 playlist should keep me from over-analysing things long enough to get on the ground again.

The night before last I said my final goodbyes to my friends from uni who I am indebted to for their bold efforts to shore up my sanity and spirits during the more 'Lovecraftian' times at good-ol' Adelaide University. No crying on my part (thank Vishnu), but most sad nontheless, ah well I'm sure they'll just hold some sort of Bring It On-esque audition process and replace me soon enough. Mandy made a last-ditch attempt to shore up my language skills with a copy of the Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook (in which she helpfully highlighted the smutty phrases) Now I can find how to say "Do you want a massage?", "You're just using me for sex" or "Are you menstruating?" faster than ever! Thanks Mandy!

Juanita went the 'cultural education' road instead with Tabloid Tokyo which is indescribably hilarious . Seriously, it has to be read to be believed; stories of Salarymen working so much overtime they have to sleep at the office every night, cafe's with panty-less waitresses moving drinks across mirrored floors and mothers who are willing to commit incest with their children to 'improve their concentration' abound. I speed-read through the whole thing in one night and only stopped laughing when my jaw was distended... Many thanks! She gets bonus points for the haiku in the cover too (which is far more elegant than my effort in this entry)

Last night I went out for dinner with my parents then came home to start cramming stuff in suitcases; I haven't even left and I already miss them and the dogs pretty terribly. I know we live in an age of real-time video-communication, but what if I need a hug? I guess this is no worse than leaving home in any other way, but hey, I'm still a little wigged.

Ok, time to go get on a plane and do this thing; I don't know when I'll be able to write again, it's kinda dependant on when I have time and access to an internet connection. In the meantime, remember my phone still works (but watch out for those international charges if you actually call... texting is way more economical).

To end, a haiku:

Today I fly up
With much sorrow for friends
Your writing brings joy

Paperwork and Phraseology

I mailed off my final paperwork to AEON today and dropped down a ridiculous amount of money to fly into another hemisphere (how much can jet fuel, freeze-dried food and those crappy in-flight magazines cost anyway?) So barring some giant problem with my Visa I'm pretty much locked-in... like on one of those rides at theme-parks, the ones that semi-frequently explode spreading mayhem and blood all over the general candy-floss munching populace...

Anyway, 35 days to go (not that I'm counting... much) and I've still got a bunch to organise; finishing up with my visa, cataloging my clothing requirements, buying a years supply of deodorant (I'm not kidding, the manual says that Japanese deodorant is totally weak), setting up my laptop and choosing what CDs to take... not to mention planning my going-away party (suggestions gratefully received).

I'm still vaguely trying to learn Japanese, and I have a grasp of some basic/useful phrases: "Iie! go-ryoshin dewa arimasen! Kaishain desu!" ("No! I'm not your mother! I'm a company employee!") It's the written stuff that I'm finding hardest, having to translate not one but THREE different alphabets into romaji (the English syllabic equivalent) and then translate *that* into English is... confusing. Here's hoping I don't die by accidentally ordering/wolfing down octopus balls. :P

Also in the name of 'research' I started reading this novel by Rob Payne called 'Sushi Days', which is about this Canadian guy who goes to work for a English-school called BIGSUN (a shockingly disguised NOVA variant). It's really good and despite the horror described has actually has made me feel somewhat more confident- after all if some fictional Canadian wannabe-DJ can do the job and survive I can too, right?... right?!

Ok... time for me to quit and go to bed, I've got a big day of buying shirts, drinking coffee, phoning consulates, watching movies and whining to friends tomorrow!

Maps, Maps, Maps....

"Where the *expletive of choice* is Sasebo?" Is one of the more common responses that I get when I mention the place name. Accordingly I submit the following visual aid to clarify the situation:


More specifically:

So now you know.

Sasebo is something of a 'resort town' for the Nagasaki prefecture, famous primarily for being home to large naval bases for both the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the United States Navy. It has a population of about 250,000 people and is about 90 minutes away from both Nagasaki and Fukuoko. That's the basics anyway, I'm just hoping that sailors are nice, I can find a decent cup of coffee and that I don't end up spending every weekend at Japans largest (and only) replica 17th century Dutch-village/themepark that happens to be in town.

Wanna know more? try the tourism boards website or just hit wikipedia.

New job, new country, new shoes, new blog.

Hi everybody! Welcome to Kanji For Beginners; the new and upgraded home for my autobiographical exploits. (Livejournal is soooo 2001 don'tcha think?).

The main reason I created this site is to provide my friends and family with salient information on my upcoming adventure/quest/job teaching English in Japan. I accepted a position with the AEON corporation today, and after I finish the mountain of paperwork that work-related travel involves I'm due to jet off to Sasebo on April 5th to begin my illustrious career as 'Shaun-sensei' (or possibly 'koala-sensei' if 'Shaun' proves to be too hard on the local memory/palate). Of course if you wandered in randomly from some corner of the net then welcome too! Read, laugh comment... 'cause what's the fun of being severely out of your depth if there's no-one to share it with?