Arrival at Genkai

I was greeted at the airport by K-sensei. Super friendly, and with truly amazing English skills, we drove from Fukuoka International to the school. The 40 minute trip flew by—I was in a daze from my first meeting, and the conversation flowed almost seamlessly from English to Japanese and back.

We arrived at Genkai High School around 2 PM, and I was struck by how like and unlike a “normal” Japanese school this was. There was of course the standard metal gate, familiar to anyone who’s ever seen an anime or show that featured a Japanese school. But instead of the single edifice bisected by a central column with school clock, I encountered a squat U-shaped building surrounding a courtyard. To the left was a large gymnasium, set beside a large dusty field that encompassed both a general sports ground and baseball diamond.

K-sensei led me indoors, where I first met a few of the administrative staffers, and then it was off to meet the Principal, U-sensei. The Principal is a kindly looking man, with an easy smile and a genial demeanour. Yet I will not soon forget the words he said that resonated with me, and revealed to me the steel core that must lie at his centre: “We expect great things from you.” I felt an electric shock run through me with those words. I was truly in uncharted waters. My only guidance was the dim recollections of my own high school days, of little help in a country on the other side of the world, in an education system so radically different from my own. After my meeting, K-sensei led me upstairs to the teacher’s room and showed me desk.

I was still in my suit at this time, nattily dressed if a bit wrinkled looking. The heat was oppressive, but survivable, and soon enough my supervisor, F-sensei appeared. A youngish looking man, I was later genuinely surprised to find out he was over 40. Again, my Japanese confounded him. While some people had known that I could speak some level of Japanese, no one had realized just how well I spoke it. This seemed to be a sort of point of contention. I had the feeling that perhaps it was better if I stuck to English, as that was what was expected. It would take a few days before this feeling went away, and instead I begun to feel solace in speaking in English with my JTEs (Japanese Teacher of English). The ability to use English naturally with people who understand it makes me feel inordinately better. I recall an intense desire to speak English after just a week in Japan during my last visit, so being able to speak it at work serves as an immense stress relief.

Soon after, it was off to my new home. A short 10 minute drive from the school, it actually takes about 40 minutes by the combination of walking, biking, and train-riding that I do. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The apartment was a squat, ugly looking building, 4 floors with two units on each floor. The central staircase split the building in two, and as I climbed to the second story and my front door, I felt a keen sense of déjà vu. The building, built no doubt in the 60s, was starting to show its age. As I followed the gas company representative that had preceded our arrival to set things up for me, I was struck first by the oppressive heat, the first time I had truly felt it, and the dinginess of the place. There was a true sense of feeling that the place had been lived in many times before. In Tokyo, we had been treated to a polished, modern hotel that catered to Western visitors. Here, I was faced by the reality of a Japanese apartment, strangely familiar because it reminded me of my cousin’s home in Fukuoka City.

Having successfully gotten my gas affairs in order, F-sensei then took me to the local Home Wide, a large Walmart-like store that encompassed everything one might need for house and home. I bought a couple of bags worth of groceries, and soon we were on our way back. F-sensei treated me to dinner at a nice, off-the-road steak house. I’ll confess that by this time I was too tired and still suffering from my cold to make much conversation. After a dinner mostly free of any awkward silences, F-sensei drove me home. I of course had to come in the next day—I was already on the company clock and wasn’t getting paid to lounge about. F-sensei explained that he would pick me up tomorrow, but on Friday I would be traveling to school myself. I nodded my thanks, the gravity of his words unable to penetrate the fugue settling into my mind, and I went upstairs, quickly put away my groceries, set my clock and fell into a troubled JET-lagged sleep.