Tokyo

I just got back from a conference in Tokyo yesterday and today I'm back in school. It's been a long week, but I had a really good time! After posting last Saturday from my hotel I went out for dinner to a place called Wired Cafe. It was near my hotel and the food was great. After dinner I hopped on the train to Shinjuku to go see the show at the Robot Restaurant. It was incredibly flashy, very loud, and a lot of fun! There were assigned seats and I ended up next two three other Americans. They were really nice and invited me out with them afterwards. I ended up going out with them to Shibuya for a while and had a blast. We went to a few different bars and to me it was reminiscent of the last time I was in Tokyo. Patrick and I had gone out in the same area last year. I was really happy to make some new friends and I had a great night!

I was up early the next morning to Skype with Reid. He recently moved out to California and we hadn't gotten a chance to talk since then, so we were able to Skype for an hour or so. I was really excited to get to talk with him and a bit. By the time I got of Skype it was time for lunch. I took the train to Harajuku to get lunch and do a little shopping. I got a nice lunch, but it started to rain pretty hard so I decided to forgo shopping and head back to my hotel. Thankfully the rain let up a bit when I left soon after to go to the Ghibli museum. I had a great time even just walking to the museum from the station though the park. The museum is a beautiful building that Hayao Miyazaki designed and walking in really does feel like your stepping into a movie or a fairy tale. They have a short movie that you can only see at the museum that changes every few months. Even the tickets for the museum are made from real 35mm film prints that had previously been used in theaters. I explored every part of the museum and stayed until it closed at 6:00 PM. I headed back to my hotel, but stopped in Shibuya for dinner. I wasn't very hungry yet, but I knew once I went back to my hotel I'd have to start packing up for Chiba. Because I wasn't hungry, I ended up walking up and down the streets for over an hour just looking at everything. I explored the a bunch of smaller side streets and walking around with no real destination was kind of relaxing. I did eventually find a small Pokemon Cafe and decided to eat there. After dinner I packed and prepared for my conference the next day.

I was up early again on Monday to catch a train out to Chiba. I had a quick breakfast at my hotel before leaving. The commute was well over an hour, but I still ended up getting to the conference too early to check in. I ended up meeting Lisa there, another JET from Kitakyushu. I though I was the only Kitakyushu JET coming, so I was really excited to see her! We checked in as soon as we could and got lunch at a pizza place before the conference started. The conference started with two speakers that were not incredibly interesting. They spoke for about three before before we changed rooms to a career fair with companies looking to hire ex-JETs. It was a bit strange because none of us will be available to work for six more months, but it was a great networking opportunity. Sixty three companies were represented and only two were hiring for positions outside of Japan, so it was incredibly helpful for me. Still, I talked to some companies, gave out business cards and resumes, and it was nice getting to meet different people from all around Japan. When the career fair ended I went to my new hotel to check in. I was really lucky and got a hotel very near the convention center. For dinner I met up with Lisa, the Kitakyushu JET, and Nick. We had a nice dinner and it was really nice to talk with them, because we don't often see each other. Nick left after dinner to meet some of his other friends. Lisa and I stuck together and found a small place to grab a drink and some dessert before turning in for the night.

We all met up again the next morning for the conference to continue. Again, the morning was two speakers, but I found this talk more helpful. We learned how to put our JET experience on a resume and skills we can now market, even if we end up not going into educated or Japan-related fields. The afternoon was made up of four smaller lectures that were broken up into different categories. I went to the "Career in Education" panel, but nothing else really applied to me. After the conference finished, I headed back into Tokyo for my last night. I checked back into the hotel I had stayed at the first two nights before catching a train to meet Lisa, who had also gone back to Tokyo after the conference. We met in Asakusa and did a bit of sight-seeing before grabbing dinner. We walked through Sensouji, the oldest temple in Tokyo. You can easily see Tokyo Sky Tree from Asakusa and the seeing the shimmering tower while standing in the old temple is a cool juxtaposition. Lisa and I decided to get dinner in the area and ended up getting yakiniku. After dinner we found a cute little bar down the street and stopped in for some more time together. I'm really glad she was there and I had the chance to hang out with her. We have plans to hang out more before we both go home!

Wednesday was a national holiday in Japan, so I used it as a travel day for coming back home. I slept in for the first time on the vacation and checked out of the hotel as late as possible. There's a nice cafe that serves really good Thai food next to the station that I had lunch at and killed time until my train. I caught a Nozomi shinkansen a little after 12:30 PM and settled in for the five hour ride back to Kokura. I got really lucky and the day was very clear, so I had a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji on the way back! It was a nice way to end my trip. I settled in back home and Leah and Caol came over to welcome me back. I told them all about my trip and they told me all the KitaQ drama I'd missed being away. After my trip and the conference it was really nice to just sit around with my friends in my apartment and have a low-key night.

I'm back at work now, but my adventures are still continuing! Tomorrow I have to re-pack my little suitcase because I'm heading to Okinawa on Saturday for a long weekend and my birthday! I'll be staying home for only six weeks because I'll be back in Tokyo with Mike and my parents at the beginning of April. I'm doing my best to make the most of my last six months living in Japan!