#asij

I was assigned to Shiraishi Island, a small landmass off the coast of Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures down south. Three of us teachers headed out from Tokyo station on Sunday afternoon with a grand total of 32 seniors! Good group of responsible students, but looking over that many high schoolers sure was a handful to say the least! Our day of travel started with a 4-hour Shinkansen ride to Fukuyama, Hiroshima, followed by a short train ride to Masaoka, Okayama and a 30-minute ferry ride to the island. By the time we arrived, everything was pitch black, and we were entrusted to Harada-san, the owner of one of the few minshuku on the island. I stayed there with six students, most of whom I had the pleasure of knowing through my time in the SRC. It was great to be in a house full of musicians and thespians, especially since I'll be working with most of these kids now that One Acts season had commenced. The presence of a piano in the Harada-san's living room was put to good use by one of my students off the bat, and my first night ended with Christmas carols, Disney songs and musical tunes.

Shiraishi greeted me the next morning with a beautiful sunrise diffusing light through the shoji screens of my tatami room. As I opened the screens, I caught the first glimpse of the island in daylight. The air was clean, the sun glistening on the still water, the waves creating a steady musical backdrop to the day's activities. After a delicious Japanese breakfast, we enjoyed sailing with a man from New Zealand who has been living in the area for many years. I even had a chance to steer the boat, which was an awesome experience.

From there, we returned to go kayaking with Harada-san on the main stretch of beach. Most of my students did a wonderful job, despite the capsizing of one kid's boat that seemed straight out of movie.

Returning to the minshuku, my students flooded to the piano for more tunes while I escaped up to my room to call the sunset in with my fue. The serenity in the room was a perfect atmosphere for practicing matsuri-bayashi, and as the room changed to a light shade of pink and a peaceful kamakura emanated from my flute, the students knocked on my door to go watch the sunset on the beach.

The rest of the trip was marked by rain, pizza on and an insider tour of Manabe Island, as well as great times with Amy Chavez, an ex-pat Shiraishi "local" and reporter for the Japan Times...

The thing I ultimately learned from this trip is how I've changed in such a short period of time. I'm a lot more "Japanese" by lifestyle and cultural sensitivity than I ever imagined. My constant worry about the impression we were going to leave the people on the island meant that I became somewhat short-fused when it can to the volume of the students. Case and point: no matter how much you tell an American to be quiet, they'll eventually escalate back to the same or to an even higher volume. うるさい became a more understandable concept to me.

My tobitachi journey has brought me incredible opportunities thus far, and to think that it's already been about 2.5 years since my first blog post! Amazing... August (and September 1) was quite the eventful month. I guess the two major developments are the start of my new job at the American School in Japan (ASIJ) and the beginning of study as a trainee of indra-因陀羅.

My move out to Koganei, a sort-of suburb of metropolitan Tokyo, has been quite an adjustment. Going from the daily hustle-and-bustle of Shinjuku and the penguin suits of Otemachi to the quiet, residential atmosphere in the western suburbs has made me realize that I am a city boy at heart. Strange, since I grew up in suburbs, but I guess the feeling of being surrounded by people despite my slightly introverted nature is an important contributor to my mental comfort. The ASIJ work environment, however, has been awesomely inviting. I've met great friends and colleagues in a wonderful atmosphere for learning, teaching and support.

The unexpected outcome of this shift in lifestyle was undoubtedly the constant cross-culture shock. When I was living in the city, I felt like I was immersed in the Japanese culture and lifestyle. Sure, I was teaching English, but the interactions I had were primarily with Japanese people in very "Japanese" situations. My language was constantly improving (at least my listening and writing), I was making Japanese friends, and of course, I was learning taiko in Japanese. Leaving the city in early August meant leaving this full-immersion behind. I didn't understand the impact of this until I went to ASIJ's new teacher barbecue. I hadn't been surrounded by that many Americans in my five months in Japan, and I just felt out of place. I somehow gravitated to the few Japanese-speaking people in the group to feel at home.

It wasn't until I met and hung out with the other interns that I began to feel more at ease out in Koganei, and getting into the work setting sure helped my "homesickness." So far, things are going well with my chemistry class. A few blips here and there, but I'm finally getting into the groove of things. There's something about teaching in the high school classroom that makes me uneasy, but I think this will diminish with time. Not sure if this is the ultimate career path for me, but it's feeding my passion in more ways than one... I also must give a shout out to Moko-san and ASIJ for allowing me access to drums and space to practice in the evenings during the week...

I had my first trainee class with Yuu-sensei yesterday, and I was surprised to be one of just three people participating: Yuu-sensei, Eri-san (welcome back!!) and myself. It was quite a challenge, but I am so excited about pointed critique, small ensemble work and developing a sense of musicianship at a professional level, not to mention learning a kick-ass repertoire in the process. With every lesson I have with my teacher, I continue to reaffirm my decision to be under his tutelage. I am investing a lot of time, money, travel, and energy into my passion, but in the end, it's why I'm here. Sure, my weekly trips to Saitama, Asakusa, Otsuka, and Koenji are less than desirable, but I wouldn't trade those moments for anything. They make me feel like I'm that even more invested.