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Homesickness, Culture Shock, and Living Alone After the madness of Tokyo Orientation, your life in Niigata can be quite a shock. Some JETs are overwhelmed by their school's constant looking after of them, while others are dropped off at their apartments and told, "See you in September". Moving to another country is scary -- especially if you do not speak the language. At first you might feel lost and alone, and August can be a long month, but it is a great chance to get settled in, learn your way around the area, and meet your JET neighbors. Here are some tips for keeping the post-arrival blues away:
・ Ring up one of the PA's (Prefectural Advisors) or find out where other JETs in your area live.
・ Familiarize yourself with your town. If you know where things are, where other JETs live, and how to get around, you will feel more in control.
・ Make your apartment homely (posters and pictures from home help a lot!). It should become a haven, not a prison.
・ Get out of the house. There is a lot to do when you arrive. School is out, so some JETs have free time. Go mountain climbing, head for the beach, visit another JET, keep active! Once school starts, free time will be sacred.
・ Do the Japanese thing. Go out with your JTEs, visit your office, sing karaoke until you drop. The more you get to know the people you work with, the more you will feel at home.
・ Do not be afraid to panic. Do not be afraid to admit you are homesick, suffering from culture shock, or lonely. Take comfort in the fact that a lot of people around you are feeling, or have felt, the same way. Do not be afraid to call up a PA or another JET to talk things out or blow off steam.
The Rural JET Being the only JET in your area presents a special set of challenges. The best thing for you to do if your new home is inaka (back country) is to get involved in your community. Otherwise, you may very well find yourself becoming lonely in your free time or having to foot an expensive phone bill.
Wherever you are, no matter how small the town, there will always be some kind of meeting place, usually in the form of a community center. Get there as soon as possible and ask/gesture, bring a JTL, or do whatever it takes to find out what activities are going on in the area. In most places, a booklet of these activities is produced and printed at the start of the fiscal year in April. You will be surprised at the range of activities put on - flower arranging, calligraphy, wood-block carving, many different sports - and may even find yourself teaching one of the evening English classes.
When you join one of these clubs, you may well find people thanking you for taking an interest in your community. However, you will be the real one to benefit, and in getting to know your fellow townspeople, you will invite involvement in other areas. Have you ever planted rice seedlings by hand, knee deep in mud? Have you ever gone picking various grasses, ferns, and flowers in the mountains and then learned to cook them into delicious meals? Now is your chance to seize those opportunities. Relax and have fun, rural Niigata-ken is really a great place to live.
The Married/Accompanied JET Accompanied JETs have several advantages over single JETs when it comes to settling into their new homes. They have an instant safety net in place when the pressures of culture shock, language, and teaching reach stressful levels. Making your new apartment 'home' is a lot easier when you have your best friend with you. Niigata-ken has always been very good about placing JET couples together, and when both spouses are JET participants, the combined salary approaches the extravagant. If just one of you is a JET participant, you can live carefully, but comfortably on one salary. Finding 'side' jobs, such as tutoring, for your non-JET partner can sometimes be difficult in more rural areas. By all means it is quite possible, but is not a sure thing. The most important thing at the beginning is to network and let people know you are looking, including other JETs. It is best to come prepared with books or hobbies that can take up plentiful free time. There are several JET couples renewing that can give you advice either before or after your arrival in Japan. If you have specific questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact one of your PAs and they will put you in touch.
Nihongo: Learning Japanese If you have not studied Japanese before and the Japanese for JETs (sent by CLAIR) book and tapes are causing you major stress, do not despair! After arriving here and learning a bit about pronunciation and how the language sounds, the book may prove quite useful. Even if you only know 'sayonara' and 'arigato' when you arrive, you will manage to stumble through the first few weeks here quite painlessly. You will pick up basic/survival Japanese quickly - with a little effort.
If you have the time or opportunity to enroll in some kind of Japanese or language culture class before you leave, do it! If not, try to learn kana (the Japanese characters that are used to sound out words). Most people recommend memorizing katakana before hiragana, as katakana is used for words that are not indigenous to Japan (such as foreign names, different foods, etc.). If you can do this, things will seem a bit less overwhelming when you arrive (you will be able to 'read' if not understand, some signs, packages, etc.).
There are lots of different ways to go about learning and studying Japanese once you arrive in Niigata. Once you get here, you will be in the best Japanese classroom in the world - just step out your front door and walk in any direction. You will be surprised at how quickly you pick up the language with some dedication to it.
NiigataJET maintains some useful links and online study aids here.
Finding a Japanese Tutor
Contact the Niigata International Association (NIA). They will match you up with a volunteer teacher. If the teacher comes to your home, all you pay is the transportation fee. Otherwise, there is no charge. It's the best deal going in Japan.
Another option is to “exchange language” with someone interested in learning English. Just be sure to negotiate how you will split English and Japanese time to everyone’s satisfaction.
Finding Japanese Classes
There are a few places to look for Japanese classes; your local community center, City Hall, and, if you live near Niigata City, The Friendship Center and Niigata International Association offer classes on site. Ask around, you may find someone who wants to practice their English and will teach you Japanese, in turn. Also, there is a Japanese teacher at your school. They are usually very busy, and their English might not be very good, but they might enjoy teaching you if you ask.
Recommended language books
・ For learning kana and kanji:
Remembering the Hiragana, Remembering the Katakana and Remembering the Kanji They are all by James W. Heisig, Japan Publications Trading Co., Ltd.
・ For learning vocabulary and grammar:
Japanese for Busy People I, II & III, plus the accompanying workbooks. These publications are by far the most popular. Published by the Association for Japanese-Language Teaching.
Shin Nihongo no Kiso, and the accompanying grammatical notes in English. Published by the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS).
And, of course, The JET Programme Japanese Language Course, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Levels, published by our very own CLAIR. These are really good books with great vocabulary lists and clear grammatical explanations.
Food Sometimes Japan is known as the land of fish and rice... and as far as Niigata goes, that description is not too far off. It is widely contended that Niigata produces the best rice in Japan, and with its long coastline, you can be sure to always find fresh, delicious sushi and sashimi here. While some dishes may be served that you are not used to, take comfort in the fact that most of what is on the menu is oishii (yummy!) and healthy.
Your first trip to the supermarket may come as somewhat of a shock - lots of strange vegetables and fish. But, most grocery stores, both local, family-run stores, and the big chain supermarkets have just about everything to satisfy your food shopping needs. Rice, noodles, gratin, curries, and a variety of snack type foods are available. Though fruit and vegetables are quite expensive, our salaries are more than adequate to keep us healthily fed, and you will get used to paying 150 yen for an apple, or a small head of broccoli. Even then, weekly sales, expiring item discounts, and sticking to what’s in season are great ways to lighten the expense of eating fresh produce. There are bi-monthly produce markets in most areas where you can buy fresh vegetables cheaper than in the shops, and family-run stores usually have better produce prices than large supermarkets.
Bread and cheese are becoming more widely available in Niigata. You can count on being able to get at least sliced bread at any grocery store. Most towns and large supermarkets have their own bakeries where you will be able to choose from a wide selection of baked treats (some even make bagels!) - beware though: Japanese bakers like to hide anko (sweet red bean paste) or tuna and mayonnaise in otherwise innocuous looking breads. Japanese white cheese is available in most stores too - it's not the finest cheese but better than none at all. Some large supermarkets (e.g. Jusco), liquor outlets (e.g. Yamaya), and foreign food stores stock cheddar and other cheeses, but be warned you may be dismayed at the selection, portions and price.
If you crave western tastes, you should be able to find something in most towns, and if not there, then most certainly in one of the cities. All grocery stores will have a wide selection of munchies, and at many you can find Pringles, Snickers, Kit Kats and Haagen Daaz ice cream. Fast food chains can also be found in the form of MacDonalds, Mos Burger, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Mister Donut. Delivery pizza is one foreign food that Japan has really made into its own -- with such toppings offered as tuna, corn, squid, potatoes and mayonnaise, however expect to pay more than you would at home for delivery service. Convenience stores -- 7-11, Lawson, Daily Yamazaki, Family Mart, Save-On -- seem to be everywhere along well-traveled roads. In the last couple of years, konbini (as they are called) have started selling corn dogs, burritos and calzone. They might not be entirely authentic but they're pretty good! And Starbucks has landed and taken off in Niigata City and Nagaoka!
In the end, eating here is quite easy. You might have to adjust your eating habits somewhat... but once you do, you may even find yourself loving your new diet. If none of Niigata's stores stock the food that you are looking for, you can always order it from the Foreign Buyer's Club or Tengu Natural Foods - see the Shopping section for contact information. They are catalogue companies that import food from the U.S. and you can get virtually anything you want from them.
Volunteering: Getting Involved Volunteering is a wonderful way to feel like you are a part of your new community. And, it is becoming more and more popular in Japan. There are many different ways for you to volunteer. Some ideas include teaching at the local elementary school, volunteering at a special needs school, teaching an adult English class, organizing a beach/river clean-up or putting a special talent that you have to good use. Speak to the ALTs in your area and ask your host teacher about available volunteer opportunities. If at first you find nothing, start something. Be creative.
Additionally, Niigata JETs will be organizing volunteer activities. For the past several years, a large group of Niigata ALTs and CIRs has traveled abroad to help build houses with Habitat for Humanity. The money for the houses has been raised by performance of musicals such as West Side Story, The Little Shop of Horrors, and Bye Bye Birdie throughout the ken. These easy-English musicals were huge ventures combining the performing, artistic, and technical talents of more than 70 JETs. In the last three years alone, more than 45,000 USD has been raised for Habitat for Humanity and over 60 Niigata JETs have helped to build 12 houses.
In short, keep on the lookout, and you will find a rewarding cause to dedicate your energy, free time and skills to.
Niigata City Niigata is not Tokyo or Osaka, but neither is it some small fishing village without modern amenities or nightlife. The largest city on the Sea of Japan coast, Niigata has a population of around 500,000 (before the latest merger). It has most of the conveniences of a large city but without all the people.
If you are in the mood for shopping or entertainment, then you can find it in the Bandai City and Furumachi sections of Niigata City. These two areas house movie theatres, video arcades, restaurants (Italian, Indian, Asian, and more), bars, shops, a couple of dance clubs, and of course, karaoke boxes.
Billboard place, in Bandai, is an American-style shopping mall with Virgin Records, Eddie Bauer, Timberland, The Disney Store, etc.
Lovela, also in Bandai, sports a Loft, Gap, Kinokuniya Books, Uniqlo and a variety of other home goods and apparel stores.
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