by Jen Ruhl
In a survey of leaving JETs, thirteen of you shared your best experiences in Japan, and what you wish you would have done while you were here. Thanks to all of you who responded!
It seems that most leaving JETs would agree that the best part of this experience was having the opportunity to travel, or getting involved in their local communities. If you're staying in Japan, Ryan Coon recommends that you "see what the rest of the country is like." He visited Kyoto and Hiroshima. Yuri Narula also took time to travel a lot, and says the best place she visited was Koya-san. She urges you to "look it up in the Lonely Planet ... you know you have one!"
Other great domestic destinations were the Earth Festival (Arse Festival!) on Sado Island and the Yuki Matsuri in Hirosaki, as recommended by Ciaran MacCormaic. In her nearly 30 years as a Kanagawa resident (haha) Jo Bretherton will remember her Mount Fuji climb and spending Christmas in the mountains of Fukushima.
Jo and Marian Antony also referred to international travels. (See Marian's article on Korea!) Many JETs have taken opportunities to explore other parts of Asia while on the Programme.
Other JETs mentioned their community involvement as being most memorable. Mike Brevet reports that he "had the awesome experience of ministering to and playing with Japanese kids at an orphanage down in Oiso." He said the kids were amazing and fun to spend time with! Chloe Harkness-Pierre got involved in some cultural activities - she joined an ikebana class with some Japanese women, and says it was the "best exposure possible" to Japanese culture! Ursula Owen volunteered her free time to a local community center. She also donated her cactus garden to the women's bathroom at her school. How's that for internationalization?!
Some other great experiences were:
- "Became an FBC member!" - Carin O'Neill
- "Met people with different backgrounds ... from different countries." - Mina Patterson
- "Karaoke my arse away!" - Tamra Cocks
- "Learned to be more tolerant of other people." - Carin
- "Made some fantastic friends!" - Larissa Skuce
- "Encouraged my students to be different and not to be afraid to talk to foreigners." - Tamra.
So, that leaves the wishes, the regrets. What should us staying JETs make sure to do while we're in Japan?
Lots of leavers had one (or 2) specific places they wanted to go, but never got around to it. Carin, Mina, and Sonya Holdway agree that they would have liked to visit more places in Japan and the rest of Asia. Ryan never got around to climbing Mount Fuji - hey, there's still time! Chloe wanted to visit all of Japan's main islands, and Mike said he wanted to go to Okinawa. Ciaran's wish was to see the Miyako Islands. Tamra will have to come back this winter to fulfill her wish - to sit in an onsen in Gunma surrounded by snow.
Other stuff was culture-related. Larissa never made it to a sumo tournament. Marian wishes she had "taken up something Japanese - judo, taiko, tea ceremony ... something." Ursula wanted to learn calligraphy - and start "a brief but no doubt successful pop music career." No doubt!
Yuri and Jo thought about money. Yuri wished she had saved more. Jo wanted to tell the BOE <censored>.
In summary, the thirteen JETs each chose one word to represent their Japan experience. (Well, Ciaran said it was impossible to do!) They are:
gaijin
interesting
mind-boggling
doshiokana
play-time
grace
supercalifragilistic-sometimesgrinandbearit-expiallidocious
adventure
enkai-o-rama
rewarding
loved-it