Initiations

I'm sorry I'm way behind with blogging, I've just been too busy. So I'm gonna sum up the larger part of a month in a couple of lines. Probably that's a good thing too as I know I tend to start waffling....like I do right now for example.

At the Tokyo orientation seminar they told us that ceremonies are taken very seriously in Japan. I can't really confirm that since most ceremonies I've experienced here have been connected with orientation seminars. Instead I'd like to dedicate this chapter to the different kinds of initiation you are put through when arriving in a new environment, some of which are probably not even intended as initiations.

So I left off feeling shite in a pension. The next morning I woke up after 1.5 hours of sleep, had a rather nice breakfast and was taken to town hall by the owner of the pension. Since I'd arrived early, I thought I'd march straight up into my office, the tourism division, and have a look at my desk. As I have already mentioned, I didn't understand a single thing anybody was saying to me at that point, so I probably misunderstood something since a guy in the office (my kakaricho as it turned out later) came storming towards me and started to gesticulate me out of the room while speaking very rapidly in.....Mongolian....as far as I'm concerned. Fortunately my supervisor came to the rescue and started to calm him down in the same alien tongue, which -I suddenly realised- was Japanese.
Apparently the mistake I had made was that I hadn't received my contract yet, so I shouldn't start working until the next day. Instead I should meet the mayor for real this time, be issued with my contract and then go shopping (!?). The new ALT had also come to meet the mayor, so we got our contracts, bowed multiple times and then had some smalltalk with the mayor. He didn't expect us to be able to speak Japanese at all, not even me, so there was very little pressure.

Afterwards I went to Otaru with K-san from the planning department to buy some furniture. Otaru is about an hour from here by car, but it's the closest town with a furniture shop. I felt lucky to get to go there on a weekday. I felt lucky anyway, because I was taken by people from WORK to get my own PRIVATE stuff. In other places I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have turned out this way. It took an eternity, but K-san was extremely patient and helpful and even took me for sushi for which Otaru is famous. Since it was the running variety, we took turns picking really obscure stuff for me to try since I said I wanted to try everything I hadn't known before. Most of it was very yummy until I accidentally reached for the natto. In case anyone doesn't know yet what natto is, it's fermented beans with a very strong smell and an even stronger taste that's reminiscent of French mould cheese, just ten times stronger. Natto is an acquired taste they say, at least it is kind of seen as the last culinary frontier that foreigners haven't crossed yet ("they even eat raw fish now, but let's see how they like the rotted veg!"). Unfortunately I hated it, but I wasn't gonna show it! I tried very very hard to keep chewing and keep a straight face, but I think I might actually have had tears in my eyes, let's hope nobody saw it and that the story of my triumph has been passed on.

The story was indeed passed on at my welcome party a week later. This was kinda like the "official" initiation (like the third in a row), but in a more relaxed atmosphere. In Japan, these sort of nomikais (drinking parties with colleagues) are almost compulsory, at least some times a year, for example when a new colleague has arrived. We all went to a restaurant and had lots of food and drink.
For some reason everybody was always giving a speech during the enkai. My boss, vice-boss, the mayor and myself. I royally messed up my own speech of course and also still couldn't understand most of what the other people were saying. That's a shame cause at some point everyone was asked to give me some advice for my future life in town, and I was really curious about what people would say. I think I got the gist of it, but didn't get most of the more interesting details.
The party also included some other Japanese cultural initiations. I'd come to this place pretty much with a "oh what the hell, I'll just try EVERYTHING at least once" attitude. Surviving the next five minutes was (and to some extent still is) all that matters. I ate all sorts of weird sea creatures, lots of sashimi (best I've ever had btw), drank some sake and had people praise my chopstick skills (it happens MUCH more often than I thought). Afterwards we all went for karaoke and I roared a Lady Gaga song into my boss' ear. Nobody found it in the least bit strange and next day at work everybody was extremely serious and dignified again, if a little more relaxed. It's interesting to see people change like that depending on which environment they're in. I think you do it naturally to some degree, but I've never seen it in that extreme.