JET Programme Series: Best part of Japan has to be the people - Alana Ramdeen

Forget the beautiful architecture, the quirky shopping finds (the poo shaped cushion or the tons of new Kitkat flavours), the new ways to use a toilet (6 and counting), the excellent entertainment possibilities (nomihodai/tabehodai (all you can eat/drink) is awesome); the best part of Japan has to be the people.
 

JET loves to say that everyone’s experience is different but mine, so far, at Akashi Nishi High School in Nishi Futami, Akashi, has to be the best.
 

Nishi Futami is pretty small but it’s filled with great people. I’ve found that politeness seems to be the general default for the Japanese people. As a slightly ditsy person, I’m always a bit lost but their patience with my inarticulate fumbling is truly mind-blowing. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the customer service here.
 

However, my favourite groups of people have to be the elderly and the little kids. I made friends with an elderly lady who spoke practically no English (and my Japanese is deplorable at best) simply because she saw me around and was curious. As for the little kids, they might give me curious side glances, and if they’re cheeky enough, a smiling, ‘Hello’.
 

I doubt I’m as well travelled as my fellow Trini JETs (because I’m so lazy) but I don’t think my experience is any less rich. I love talking to the people here: from my coworkers to my students to the people I meet daily. I love learning the various ways that our cultures might be different but still so similar. The grandmothers who complain they don’t see their grandkids enough, the kids who complain about the amount of homework and whose lives revolve around their smartphones and friends, the husbands who think the best vacations are the ones spent sleeping instead of travelling here and there.
 

I’ve managed to find glimpses of home in the most unusual places.
 

From the hibiscus trees around the corner from the rice field or the Canna flowers on the way to the shrine, it’s the little things that make me laugh to myself and just love this experience.


JET Series: Best part of Japan has to be the people (Japanese Embassy's Facebook)


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