Hi everyone!
I am back again with another post about my placement location. It is May 29, 2018 as of the time I am writing this and I still have not had direct contact from my school in Japan yet. Besides, the placement location, there has been no official contact. I have infiltrated all of the possible JET Facebook groups though such as the Incoming JETs 2018 page, the local KUMAJETs page for Kumamoto JETs, and other pages such as JET Food and Hawaii JETs. I have also scoured the net for any and all resources that could tell me more specific information about my placement location, JET life, what to pack, how the Tokyo Orientation goes, and also who my predecessors might be. I was able to connect with a previous JET in Asagiri who was there in 2009 and we have made plans to Skype on June 16th so I am excited for that!
I was also able to connect with the other incoming JETs who are going to the same town as I am. I heard that our town is a bit unique because we have 4 JETs. One each at the Junior and Senior High School and then two at the elementary school. I still do not know which level I will be teaching at yet but I know that there are 3 new JETs as only one is continuing on.
As for more information about the placement itself, Kumamoto as a prefecture is pretty rural and the town that I am going to seems to be so small that it does not have much. To get to pretty much anywhere seems like it might take over a two hour drive. The closest place with things to see, do, and eat would probably be in neighboring Hitoyoshi Town which might be a 30 minute or so drive. But this is all speculation since I haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone who is there about the place yet. To get to the town it is about a 2 hour drive from the Kumamoto Airport.
I have been cycling through phases of anxiety and fear and also excitement about my placement for the JET Program. Right now I am in the point of being excited again. Excited for all of the nature that I am going to enjoy and the new adventures that I am going to have. The anxiety part stems from the necessity of needing to drive and the isolation of my placement and it’s distance from all of the people I know and the places I am familiar with. However, I know that even if it is difficult, I am going to grow so much and really learn to be independent.
Anyways, I think that’s all the additional information that I know as of now. I will also share these maps of where my location is in relation to the rest of Japan as well as some local sightseeing places that people have told me about. I decided to use my graduation money to buy the new iPad which will hopefully replace my mid-2013 laptop and be something that I can utilize at school. Excited to continue to try it out!
Until next time!
❤ Kira
kiraannjapan 