So it begins...

I love Japan, and like any good love story this one starts with a chance encounter...of sorts.

While Japan had always been on my traveler's radar, it wasn't yet on the horizon back in 2013. Back then I'd recently moved back to New Zealand from Australia and had some vague notions of the UK being my next foreign port of call.

Meanwhile Josie, a school friend of mine was already long involved in something called the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program over in Japan. She'd gone over there to become an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) of English, which had come as no surprise to any of us as Josie had been proficient in Japanese since high school and gone on to study it at university. Josie had come back for a visit and we'd caught up over a coffee in Dunedin. She told me lots of crazy things about life in Japan and then she said something that stuck in my mind: something along the lines of "I'm coming home at the end of the next school year so if you want to come and visit you had better do it soon". Visit Josie in Japan? Hells yes!

It is one of my life-rules-to-live-by that if someone based in a foreign country invites you to visit, if at all possible, you do! Experiencing a country through the eyes of a local (or even a pseudo-local) is always more engaging than simply being a tourist. In short, it is an opportunity not to be missed. Unfortunately, as with anything in life, there's only so much travel time and money will allow. As much as I love catching up with any and all of my friends anywhere, anytime, by virtue of my own track record I have to own to the fact that their stock is definitely higher if they're based in a country I've never been to before, and higher still if they don't intend to stay there very long (I like to think I'll get around to visiting everyone eventually so it only makes sense to visit those with a definite deadline first right?). I'll freely admit that this is a very selfish approach, but its one everyone seems to adopt so I don't feel so bad.

It wasn't long after that inspiring chat with Josie that our mutual friend Kyla and I began making plans. In March 2014 we flew out to spend two weeks with Josie in Japan.

Our trip started in Tokyo. As you may imagine this was an onslaught on the senses at first, with the sheer number of people, the beautiful but to my western eyes unusual architecture of the temples, shrines and Imperial Palace, and of course the prevalence of non-western food (yay!). I reveled in it, and these things were the attraction of Tokyo for me, because underneath all of that, Tokyo is a modern city and functions much the same as most other modern cities all over the world. While parts of it are distinctly Japanese (such as the Meiji Shrine and the Harajuku District--starkly contrasting Japanese experiences!), it has city blocks lined with office buildings which feel the same as parts of big cities in the western world. Fortunately, just as it was starting to feel familiar, we jumped on the shinkansen [bullet train] to go and explore more of Japan.

In the course of two weeks we took in Kyoto (the heartland of Japanese traditional culture, with more castles, temples and shrines than its possible to see in one visit), Nara (where sacred deer roam freely around the grounds of Todai-ji, home of the largest wooden building in the world), Hiroshima (a thriving city rebuilt around the solemn relic of Genbaku Domu [the A-Bomb Dome]), Itsukushima Island (home to the famous Miyajima Shinto Shrine and its iconic "floating" torii gate), Fukuoka (Josie's home base), Nagasaki (another A-bomb decimated but now thriving city with curious historic western influences preserved or rebuilt, including Deijima, the old Dutch merchant trading hub), Beppu (a town full of multi-coloured hotsprings, and pachenko (gambling) parlours), and Kagoshima (where I got to see Mt Sakurajima and my first volcanic eruption!).

Here's a look at some of my favourite memories from Japan...

Tokyo

Meiji Shrine torii gate, Tokyo

Tokyo by night

Kyoto

Entrance to Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto

Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto

Reflective garden at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto

The famous rock garden at Ryoanji

Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto

Ginkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Shrine torii gate walkway, Kyoto

Tranquil gardens at Nanzen-ji

Nijo Castle Gate, Kyoto

Deer roam the streets in Nara

Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), Todai-ji Temple, Nara

Genbaku Domu (A-Bomb Dome), Hiroshima

Hiroshima

Going out for okonomiyaki!

The "floating" torii gate, Itsukushima Shrine

Nagasaki

Cosplay at Glover Garden, Nagasaki

Macaques at Takasakiyama, Beppu

Chinoike-jigoku hot spring, Beppu

Mt Sakurajima overlooks Kagoshima City

Public dolphin show, Kagoshima

Sakurajima puts on a show!

Sakura (cherry blossoms) in Fukuoka

All in all (apart from a truly monumental bout of food poisoning) it was a phenomenal trip and even as I am writing this I feel the need to thank Josie once again for organising it! Is it any wonder I fell so in love with Japan and vowed to go back? But I don't want to go back to do the same trip again. As phenomenal as the trip was, by virtue of our short time there and the fact that the trip was a holiday, I felt that I was missing something. I don't think any westerner could visit Japan without feeling like they were only scratching the surface. There was obviously so much more to see, and more importantly to experience and understand. So much just washed over me during my short time there, particularly as I don't speak or read a word of Japanese. Josie to her credit did a fine job of translating, but understandably got sick of all my questions. The solution then seemed to me to return one day myself, spend the time, learn the language and get to know the place and its people. The more I listened to Josie talk about life as a JET the less scary and alien it seemed, and almost by the time I'd got home I'd resolved to apply to the JET program as soon as I was able. Those who know me will understand the irony of this; having vowed my entire life not to become a teacher (like almost everyone else in my family), here I was contemplating going to teach (well, assist-teach) English in Japan. But the more I thought about it the more I thought I could do it, and the more I wanted to do it.

So, enough contemplating! In October 2015 I submitted my application to become a JET...shortly before setting out on Te Araroa and walking the length of New Zealand (for an account of this adventure see my blog Two Feet And A Heartbeat). While hiking through the central North Island I received word I'd got through to the interview stage and in January (while on a Christmas break from the trail) I flew up to Wellington to have an interview at the Japanese Embassy. It was a little nerve racking as I've previously only had one other job interview, but I'd done my homework and I felt well prepared. I got a little nervous once again as I was sitting waiting for the interview and chatting to other applicants. Most of them seemed to have studied Japanese since school. I had to remind myself that speaking Japanese was not a pre-requisite for JET. Unlike most of the others present I'd actually been to Japan and knew I liked it, and besides, I've got plenty of other things to offer...I had about six years on most of the other applicants around me for a start. That additional life experience has got to count for something, right?

My hiking buddy Brandon and I at the end of our 3000km trek from Cape Reinga to Bluff

Apparently it does. Back on trail I emerged out of the wilderness at Arthur's Pass to find urgent messages saying I'd been accepted for JET, but needed to get medical clearance. One whirlwind trip back to Dunedin later I'd sent off the required medical certificate and cleared chest x-ray. I had done it. I was in! I was going to go back to Japan, this time to live and work there for a minimum of 12 months. I was stoked, about going to Japan, about the challenges ahead, about learning how to be a good teacher, and about the fact that for the first time in my life I'll have a contract guaranteeing work for more than a few weeks at a time! Unreal!

So here I am, enjoying a couple of months down time between the end of my last adventure and the start of my next one. After attending the JET Q&A session in Wellington from June 10-11th (more on that in another post) myself and the other JETS received our E-tickets. Come July 31st we'll be boarding the plane, bound for our new lives in Japan!