Hello and welcome to my world! Here I will attempt to document my time in Japan via witty prose, random pictures and general babbling.
On 30 July 2011, I left behind everything and everyone I know and love to come to Japan to teach English to High School students on the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme. I arrived in Japan with no language skills or teaching experience at all. Needless to say, I wanted a challenge and this is the biggest I think I will ever encounter!
It was the scariest leap I’ve ever taken, and took every single reserve of bravery and strength that I have. A hell of a lot of hard work, stress, excitement and terror has gone into getting me here, but here I am!
I live in a town called Satsumasendai, in the beautiful prefecture of Kagoshima. Kagoshima is the southernmost prefecture of the southernmost island of Japan, Kyushu. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve been a southerner! It’s famed for its subtropical climate, lush green mountains, onsen (natural hot springs), volcanic activity courtesy of the volcano Sakurajima (see photo above), shochu (a spirit made from sweet potatoes), chicken sashimi (eek) and for being the ‘holiday’ prefecture of the Japanese people. It’s a VERY long way from the big, famous cities of the Kansai region and is actually nearer to Shanghai than it is to Tokyo.
Satsumasendai, or Sendai as its known to the locals, is a small town of about 100,000 people, nine of whom are me and my fellow foreign ALT friends. Nearly all of us live in the same apartment building, the famed Kanda Howaito Haitsu (Kanda White Heights), affectionately nicknamed Kanda Grey Heights (far more fitting) or the Gaijin Hotel. Sendai is famous for the annual Otsunahiki (giant tug of war) and its mascot the kappa, a mythical Japanese water demon that’s sometimes mischievous and sometimes evil.
There’s not an awful lot to do here in Sendai, but it’s home. It’s 12 minutes by Shinkansen (bullet train) from Kagoshima City, the capital city of the prefecture, so whenever I need Starbucks, real Indian curry or the Body Shop, I’m never too far from civilisation!
I work as an Assistant Language Teacher on the JET Programme, team-teaching English to High School students (age 16 to 18) at two schools. They are the academic Sendai High School in the centre of my town, and Satsuma Chuo High School, a vocational school with courses such as Welfare, Engineering and Agriculture. It’s located in the inaka (countryside) town of Satsuma, about an hour away by bus. The two schools are very different, which means no two days are ever the same.
My blog’s title, From Notts to Nippon, reflects the journey I have made from my hometown of Nottingham, England; to Nippon, one of the Japanese names for Japan (the other is the Nihon).
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy your visit to my world!
fromnottstonippon 