Welcome to Japan

So, I’ve been in Japan for the JET program for just over 2 weeks now. I’m settling into my small town, and learning just how little Japanese I actually know! I hope to use this website to keep you up to date on my experiences here as well as to provide a platform in which my English lessons can be readily accessible.

To give you an idea of how it’s been since I’ve gotten here, I just want you to imagine living in a country side town with one small grocery store and no one speaks your language. Add into the equation that you don’t have a car! That’s where I’m at. But it’s beautiful here and I’ve been loving every moment of it! Since school is currently on break, I’ve been spending my days making lesson plans! Oh, and filling out forms. I swear, Japan is the land of forms! They love forms more than anyone else, and none of the forms have any English support so that makes it super fun… But in all honesty, I’ve gotten pretty proficient at writing my address in Japanese, I’ve memorized my cell phone number, and I don’t even hesitate to write my full name in English and in Japanese. It’s probably actually really good for me to be honest.

This is just a glimpse of what my town looks like. It’s beautiful and abundant with nature and traditional Japanese architecture. Sure, I seem like an old man with my love for the traditional when compared to the young people of Japan, but the traditional is what we all fall in love with when learning about a new country. What’s so interesting about the modern day architecture that we have in literally every country of the world? Nothing! That’s what.

Well, I figure this should be a good introduction of my life here so far!

 

Until next time! xx

 

Yoroshiku, Hiroshima

So, I as mentioned in a previous post, I left Kochi at the end of March. It was a hard decision to leave because I loved my life and the people there. But I moved to Hiroshima to take the next step in my career and my relationship.

A New Neighborhood

I moved from the countryside of Kochi to a suburbesque area of Hiroshima City. A few things have changed in my life as a result. For one, I sold my car. I bought a bicycle and now travel by foot, bike, or train. It depends on the day and also where I’m going to some extent.

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My apartment is significantly smaller than before. In Kochi, I had a kitchen, a living room, 3 bedrooms, a large shower room, a toilet room, and a washing area. Now, I have a bedroom/living space, a kitchen, a small shower room, and a toilet room.

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I don’t have a washing machine…so I either haul my laundry to my boyfriend’s house, or use a laundromat. That also depends on the day and my plans. Today I’m at the laundromat.

Work

I still work as an English teacher, but I’m no longer an ALT (assistant language teacher). Now I’m a full on teacher. It’s nice because I feel more fulfilled and have more freedom, but I also have more responsibilities…

For example, I now have to chaperone field trips, I have a regular role in school wide events, and the students rely on me fully when it comes to anything that a regular full time teacher could and would do. As a result, I’ve taken care of quite a few kids who came to the nurse’s office while the nurse was out.

I still have a lot to learn, but I’m loving it so far.

Adventure

I’m honestly so tired all the time because I’m not used to my life or my job yet, but I still try to have some adventures and explore Hiroshima when I have the time. I’ve been here so many times, so I’m trying to discover some places I’ve never been! With the suggestions of my coworkers, I’ve had some pretty fun times already.

I went with one of my coworkers to an American food restaurant called Morgan. She had never been either, but it was recommended to me by two other coworkers. It’s run by a Japanese couple who lived in New York for a while. They missed some of the foods they would eat while living in America, and decided that if they couldn’t find a restaurant that served what they liked, they should make the restaurant themselves. It was so good and I’ll definitely be going back!

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I also climbed Mitaki Mountain! It wasn’t that high but it had an amazing view of the city…and it was a nice little hike.

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I can’t wait to explore Hiroshima even more and learn all of the best local spots.

Until next time!! Xx

Mount Ishizuchi

Disclaimer: This post is super old – like from before COVID. Sorry I never got around to posting it! I hope you enjoy it and that it’s not confusing or boring!

So, everyone knows about Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan. Did you actually know that Fuji is technically an active volcano? It just hasn’t erupted for a very long time. I’m sure that if it were to erupt, the results would be disastrous. I don’t think I want to be around for that…

Well, while Mount Ishizuchi is only about half the height of Mount Fuji, it’s a very interesting climb, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in nature and challenging themselves.

The First Climb

The first time I climbed this mountain, I started from the bottom at about 6 am. It took much longer than expected to get to the top than expected. About 4 to 5 hours in total. Once I finally made it up, I learned that I had somehow missed the actual trail and that’s why the climb was so time consuming and challenging. It was fun, though, and a major learning experience.

The Chains

There are 3 sets of chains plus a “trial” chain on this mountain. Because I missed the actual course, I came out at a different point and missed the trial chain, but I was able to climb the other three!

I’m not going to lie, these chains are the reason I wanted to climb the mountain in the first place.

After the first one, I had decided that climbing chains was so much more fun and less tiring than climbing up on foot. Of course, that was likely because I was able to use different muscles than the ones I had been using for the rest of the climb before that point. I was ready to take on the second chain.

Once I thought I had cleared the second chain, I quickly realized that I was indeed not done with that section. There was another bit of free climb before the chain continued. This one was probably the longest of the three chains due to it being split in two, but it wasn’t that bad. There was one spot which was wet and a bit slick, making it hard to get your grip and move up, but aside from that one point, it was just about doing it more than anything.

Finally I had made it to the third chain. Looking around, I noticed that the rest of the women who were climbing had decided to walk up the rest of the way in lieu of attempting the third chain. Everyone aside from me was a man. I was honestly surprised, but looking at the final cliff which faced me, I could see how it could be intimidating for some. For me, it was exciting more than anything, though. I quickly started up the last chain, and the view which awaited me at the top was incredible.

The Mountain Top

As soon as I finished the final chain, there was a clearing where you could see the surrounding mountains. If you skirted around the structures, you would quickly find a small shrine and a much bigger clearing where other climbers were gathered. Many people were eating hot cup noodles to celebrate the end of their climb, and others were admiring the view. It was cold at the top now that there was nothing to block the breeze which inevitably swept through, but it felt good to me after such a climb. I was happy to spend my time at the top in a t-shirt with my sweatshirt tied around my waist.

The Final Summit

Just beyond the clearing, I saw a crag which had a steep drop off on either side. That was the final step to truly reach the highest point of the mountain. I was ready to make my final climb, and started on my way.

As I skirted along the rugged terrain, keeping my hands and feet on a surface at all times, it slowly became apparent to me that I could die if I made a mistake. I looked at the people decending the summit coming towards me, and many of them were wearing hardhats. Oh, I thought, this really is a life or death type of situation, huh?

Reaching the final point of the mountain was so satisfying, and the view was great!

Going Down

On the way down, I was tired and it was getting late, so I walked about 2 hours to the cable car station and took it down to where I had started. It was definitely much easier than climbing all the way down…

The Second Climb

My second time climbing the mountain, I climbed with an ALT who lives near me. She’s a total city girl, and this is not the sort of thing she normally does, so it was definitely an experience.

Going Up

We decided to take the cable car to the top, and climb the final 2 hours or so from there. It was definitely the right decision, and it allowed us to take our time on our hike. We brought some food and took a break to eat partway through.

The Trial Chain

This time, I was actually able to climb the trial chain! I was so excited because I hadn’t been able to climb it last time. But given the name, I was a bit worried about the chain not actually having a destination…so I asked my friend to hold my bag while I ran up the chain partway with nothing holding me back. It was much easier to climb with no luggage, and I practically sprinted about a third of the way up to check the condition of the climb. We were good to go as I could see that there was a destination.

Once we got to the top, though, we realized we had to climb back down the other side. It was nice as it cut out a lot of the hiking portion of the climb, but climbing down chains with no safety can be a lot…especially for someone who has never climbed a mountain. Sorry Dani!

Chains 1 through 3

We climbed all of the chains together, and I was so happy to have another woman with me on that third and final chain that only men usually climb. When my friend didn’t know where to put her feet, I was able to guide her until she got the hang of it. She’s a quick learner and also very determined.

The Final Summit

We decided to go to the final summit. It was a bit of a process to get there because of the danger of the final climb, but I’m confident when I say that we were both glad that we decided to go all the way to the end. It would have felt like an incomplete climb had we not.

My friend called her mom at the top and showed her what she was looking at. I wonder how my mom would feel about that.

The Third Climb

At this point in time, I have only climbed this mountain a total of 3 times, so this was my final climb. I hope to climb it again!

This time I went with 3 people my friend is hosting, two from Europe and one from South America. One of them was seriously afraid of heights, so this was definitely an interesting experience…

Fatigue

Unfortunately, I was not well rested, well hydrated, or in the best shape for this climb, so I quickly got lightheaded on the first stretch of the climb. I felt bad because I was the only one of the group with experience on this climb. Luckily I was able to rest and quickly recovered. But I will not climb a mountain again when I’m not in good enough condition.

The Chains

I was able to convince everyone to climb the trial chain and the first chain with me, but I ended up climbing the other two alone. In a way, it was actually a bit relaxing to climb some on my own. I think I needed some me time, so things worked out quite well for me.

The Summit

We didn’t end up climbing the final stretch for a few reasons. One of them was that it was December, so there was more ice on the path than usual, resulting in a more dangerous climb. Another reason was that we had one member who wouldn’t want to climb it, so we would have to leave him behind even if we went. We decided that we shouldn’t go if all of the members weren’t going.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve climbed this mountain 3 separate times, and each time it was a totally different experience. I think I’d like to go again sometime and climb from the bottom without getting lost. I never thought that I’d be into mountain climbing, and I still don’t think that I necessarily enjoy climbing mountains just to climb them. I like mountains which have something interesting about them, like the chains on Ishizuchi or the various waterfalls in Hodono.

Hopefully I can start climbing again, soon!

Until next time!! xx

Sayonara Kochi

I came to Kochi prefecture about 3 and a half years ago to teach English in a small village in the mountainside. I have learned so much and really enjoyed my time here. But now it’s time to say goodbye.

I decided back in November that I need to push myself to move forward and move on with my life. I had a really hard time making that decision because I love my town and the people in it. But I also need to start finding a more concrete plan for the future.

Next Stop, Hiroshima

I plan on moving to Hiroshima in April. Unfortunately, I don’t have a job in place yet. Hopefully I’ll get one lined up soon so that I can start making more concrete plans.

Hiroshima is a history rich city in Japan. One of my favorite things about it is that it’s not too big of a city, but it’s still extremely convenient. It’ll definitely be a change of pace from my village in the mountains!

Another great thing about Hiroshima is the modernness. The old is mixed with the new in a very pleasing way.

Career Goals

My next job will likely also be a teaching job. I enjoy teaching and feel that I could still learn so much from the career. I’d love to surround myself with new people at a new school and learn new things from all of them as well.

In the future, however, I’d like to have a job involving translation and interpretation. At least, that’s what I’m currently thinking. I have concrete goals with steps to reach those goals at any given point in my life, but I’m also very adaptable and ready to try new things, even if it’s not what I was originally planning.

I hope that I can live a fulfilled life, and my biggest goal of all is to not regret anything.

Until next time!! xx

First Snowboarding Experience

So, I have always wanted to try snowboarding. Okay, that’s not exactly true. I hate winter and I hate the cold and I hate snow, so I wasn’t actually that interested in the sport at first. I love trying different sports and just moving my body in general. I tend to be best at the sports that don’t require too many extensions of my body, which is why I thrived most when I was on the track and field team.

When I was younger, I used to love playing SSX Tricky, which is a snowboarding game, with my siblings. We were all into it so much and had a blast playing it together. Obviously video games like that only show you extreme versions of a sport to the extent where you’re like “I can’t do a 180 jump while sliding down snow…snowboarding is impossible.” My view of snowboarding for so long was (1) super cold and (2) way too difficult.

Then, I met my boyfriend. He snowboards with his friends every year. I thought it was so cool! And I wanted to go with him sometime. For years, we never planned out a trip. I also wasn’t as serious about trying it until in November of 2020, when I met a girl who goes snowboarding with her friends often. She told me stories of her snowboarding trips, and I was all in. I wanted to go and try it so badly! She invited me a few times, but our timing never worked out.

Finally, this past Saturday, my boyfriend and I planned to go snowboarding. We went to a place called Osorakan Snow Park. I’m so glad that I went with him for the first time. He taught me so patiently and thoroughly. I was surprised that one of the hardest parts of snowboarding is literally just standing up. He showed me and told me to try, but I didn’t get it. He explained in words and I understood but my body still didn’t get it. You have to put all of your weight into your heels, balance your weight between your feet, and stand straight up while on the side of a mountain.

After many failed attempts, I finally stood up without his help! And then he said “great, now sit back down.” He kept telling me over and over, “if you can’t stand up, you don’t know how to balance your weight. If you can’t balance your weight, you can’t snowboard.” He wasn’t wrong, but I was so tired.

It was only after about an hour of practicing that I was able to stand up and could do it pretty smoothly and on command. After that, it was time to start actually moving. Luckily I caught onto this much faster than standing up. We worked our way down the mountain a little at a time, practicing different techniques the whole way. I fell down A LOT. Then we finally got to the end, and it was time to ride the lift.

Ski lift at Osorakan

So, the lift feels so good when you’re sitting on it and looking down at the skiers and snowboarders below, but getting off of it is the other hardest part of snowboarding… I fell 3 out of the 5 times I used it. It was not fun… but starting from a higher place and having so much more mountain to ride down was worth it I suppose. That’s something I still need to work on though…

After taking the lift up the first time, we went about a quarter of the way down the mountain to the food court to get some lunch. I wasn’t very hungry from all of the working out – I rarely get hungry when I do sports. But we ate and then went back out to snowboard some more.

After about 3 more times in the afternoon, my legs started to give out from all of the falling and standing back up. I had to call it quits and rode the lift one last time to get back to the parking area. My boyfriend was so kind and stayed with me at my pace all day, so I sent him off to ride some by himself. In the meantime, I returned my rental gear, changed, and got a hot matcha latte.

I definitely want to go again! I had an awesome time and feel like I could actually handle myself a bit more this next time.

The weirdest bit was all of the other foreigners there speaking English. I was probably the only foreigner speaking Japanese. Because of this, someone thought I was trying to talk to their friend just because I was foreign. But I was actually just trying to get past them…

Spring is just around the corner, so I’m sure I won’t get any more opportunities until next year…but I can’t wait to go again!

Until next time!!

Setsubun

Have you ever heard of setsubun? It’s a Japanese celebration on the day before the first day of spring in the old Japanese calendar. The word setsubun 節分 translates to seasonal division in English.

What do you do?

People cast out demons on setsubun. They throw beans and say “demons out, happiness (good fortune) in.” There are other things that people do, such as eating ehoumaki, but the casting out of demons is the most important bit.

Many people also consider which of their own inner demons they hope to cast out. For some people, it’s the demon of sleepiness, for others it may be the demon of overeating. For me, it’s the demon of procrastination. I tend to put off important things because they overwhelm me. My goal is to reassess my priorities and try not to procrastinate on the important things.

How about you? What are your demons that you hope to cast out?

Until next time!! xx

Long Overdue Update

Okay, so I know that I just said that I’d try to be better about posting in my last post, and then proceeded to not post for almost 2 whole months. Sorry about that. Not much has really happened since then with COVID standing in the way of most things fun, but I have done a few things since then!

Christmas Camp

I went winter camping for the first time in December 2020. It was so cold, but it was definitely fun. Now that I’ve experienced it, I think that I could have a much better time next time with some improvements to how I do it. Have you ever been camping in winter?

Kure, Hiroshima

Unfortunately, I don’t have a winter use sleeping bag, so I couldn’t very well sleep in a tent. Instead I slept in a small cabin. I realize that this makes it more of a glamping experience than a camping experience…but it was still a lot of fun.

Portable wood burning stove

One of my favorite things about camping is sipping on a warm drink and looking up at the stars. Well, in summer the drink may be less warm. Anyway, the stars are usually so much easier to see in the winter due to the lower levels of humidity. Winter stars are the most beautiful, and I definitely recommend stargazing in the winter to anyone who hasn’t done it.

Happy New Year

For the new year, I celebrated small with one of my friends. We made food – some Western like steak and chocolate covered strawberries, and some Japanese like soba and mochi – and chatted all night long. We went to bed shortly after midnight because we had early plans the next morning.

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New Years dinner

In the morning, we ate some breakfast and chatted, and then drove to the ocean to watch the first sunrise of the year. There were some clouds on the horizon, but that arguably made for an even more beautiful sunrise. It was my first time going to see the first sunrise of a year, and while I was cold and tired, I had a good time and felt a sense of accomplishment for going.

First Sunrise 2021

On January 2nd, I did hatsumoude, or my first shrine visit of the year with my coworker and her family. We were 8 people in total…my coworker and her husband, her son and his girlfriend, her elder daughter and her husband, her younger daughter, and me. After hatsumoude, we played some traditional Japanese games like koma (Japanese tops), kendama, and hagoita. After that we went to have lunch, and after coming back to the house we played some board and card games like hyakunin isshu and Ubongo.

Women playing hagoita in kimono.

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Hatsumoude 2021

And Now…

So, now that the holidays are over, it’s time to start looking toward the future. I’m currently trying to figure out what to do with mine, so I’ll let you know when I know. Until then, I’m having a great time doing my job and interacting with my students, no matter how exhausting it may be at times. I’m really looking forward to the arrival of the new ALTs, which was meant to happen sometime in 2020 but is still being pushed off. I even heard that they likely won’t arrive until after April. My short term arrangement to cover some schools while we waited for new ALTs has become my new normal.

Hopefully I’ll have some more interesting updates for you soon.

Until next time!! xx

One of Those Days

Do you ever just have one of those days? Well, that’s today for me. I woke up in plenty of time to catch the train to the airport. I went to the station via Uber, and everything was going well and to plan! Except that I made a mistake and was dropped off by the wrong station…so I had to walk 5-10 minutes with all of my luggage. Then I arrived at the underground station! I couldn’t find the elevator anywhere and the escalator was coming up, not going down. I carried my bags halfway down by myself when someone offered to help me. He was a lifesaver! Then I got on the train and went to Narita.

At Narita, I had to go from the 2nd terminal to the 3rd. There were no seats on the bus so I swayed and nearly fell over as the bus weaved through the winding road to the 3rd terminal. Upon arrival, I found out that my flight was cancelled! Wow…now what? So I went to the second terminal to see if any of the other airlines had flights back to Kochi. They didn’t.

Next step, off to Haneda. I’m currently riding the train to Haneda airport from Narita. There, they have 3 flights back to Kochi. I called my boyfriend and he booked me a flight for the afternoon. Without him, I don’t know what I would have done. He’s seriously a lifesaver.

My fingers are crossed that this is the last of my misfortune… I just want to go home! Is that so much to ask?

Anyway, sorry for not updating in so long! I’ll try to be better!

Until next time!! xx

Learning English with Videos

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of English learning resources online. As I teach English in Japan, these are super useful for me and my students. Some of them are entirely in English, and some of them have Japanese explanations.

English Only English Lessons

What I like about English only lessons is that the students are immersed in the language. It’s easy to throw in short comments in Japanese if they’re really confused, but because they’re learning via video it’s usually quite easy for them to follow along.

A recent find that I’ve really been into lately is Bob the Canadian! His English is clear and easy to understand, he lets us know what he’s going to talk about before saying it, and he often includes important phrases as text on the screen. The lesson I taught recently using one of his videos was ordering food at a fast food restaurant. He visited 4 different places and taught us different ways to order food.

Of course, English channels geared at kids can be fun too! My students love the Singing Walrus, especially the Hello Song, and Super Simple Songs. Our favorites are the “do you like…?” series!

 

Japanese Explanation

The nice things about lessons with Japanese explanations are that they’re easy for my students to follow, they make for great self-study material since you won’t need any further explanation, and they help me buff up my own vocabulary for teaching students. My absolute favorite channel like this is あいうえおフォニックス, which is a channel run by two kids and their mom living in America. The kids are native English speakers, and also have a strong command of the Japanese language. They teach pronunciation as well as grammar.

Another channel I like is Ichiro English. I don’t really use this one much, but he’s really good at what he does, and I know many people who really highly recommend his videos. I would say that he’s a good teacher to learn from!

There are other channels that I like of course! But these two should give you an idea of what I spend my time watching…

Other Media

While textbooks and lessons are good for building a foundation, it’s important that we experience a lot of natural usages of the language we’re trying to learn. For me, that’s Japanese. I often watch Japanese dramas and movies. It’s great to watch them at home and pause the video to look up the things I don’t understand. You could even take notes of new unknown phrases and words!

One TV show that I love in English is Good Witch. It also happens to be really good for studying English. Why? Well, the characters speak in a clear manner at a slow pace while still speaking naturally. Also, this is a slice of life sort of drama, meaning that you encounter many situations that you’d actually encounter in real life. This makes the English in this drama really useful for second language learners. Action and suspense may be fun to watch, but slice of life is the way to go when studying.

As for Japanese? The first media I used to study Japanese was Ghibli films. They have both English and Japanese versions, making them perfect for studying English from Japanese or Japanese from English. I watched them once in English, and then again in Japanese. Knowing the story in my native language first made it much easier to follow along.

How to Study with Video

Of course just watching movies and dramas in your target language is great! It gets you used to listening to the language. But you have to actually use it to remember it.

However, we’re in a pandemic! Where will you get the opportunity to use it? How are you supposed to meet native speakers?

Honestly, you don’t have to do that. It’s good to have a speaking partner, but shadowing is a great option for practicing pronunciation and correct word usage on your own. Basically you just repeat after the person in the video you’re watching with a one second lag. Listen while you speak. Or if that’s too difficult, listen to the whole sentence and then repeat it.

Beyond Videos

It should be obvious that reading and writing are important too. But if you can’t speak and understand a language, you can’t truly use it. That doesn’t stop me from reading the news in Japanese, though…easy Japanese.

Easy English news is also an option…it can be good for native speakers who are younger or not so good at reading, too!

But I digress…

 

Until next time!!

Travel Inflation

Considering how few people are travelling and how risky it is to do so, you might assume that travelling would be cheaper now. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. Very wrong. But why? It’s not like plane tickets have changed in price. Let’s take a look.

Infection Risk

For those of us who would normally take any cheap flight home, we now have to think twice before doing so. Why? Well, we need to avoid too many layovers to reduce our risk of infection. The more people we interact with, the higher are chances of infection are. We also need to avoid laying over in other countries. When travelling between countries, things become more complicated the more countries you land in. If you do have any layovers, it’s best that they’re in your country of departure or in your country of arrival.

Quarantine and Tests

For entry or re-entry into many countries, PCR tests and 2 week quarantines are mandatory. This costs money. You have to pay for the test out of pocket, and then you have to quarantine yourself – usually in a hotel room – for two weeks while monitoring your health. This is just another extra expense. Not to mention all of the vacation time you’ll likely have to take…

Traveller’s Insurance

Maybe you didn’t get traveller’s health insurance up until now. Or maybe you did and it was somewhat low coverage. With a global pandemic on our hands, you’re going to have to rethink that decision…

What does that mean for me?

Well, for me personally, this means that I’ll be spending 3 times what I normally spend to visit home. And that’s only if I’m actually permitted to do so! With my sister’s wedding coming up in October, I’m really hoping for the best.

I need to be honest though…the cost of this trip is really going to affect me a lot. I actually set up a Go Fund Me because of how much it’s costing. I’ve had a lot of really generous donations, but I’m unfortunately still only about a tenth of the way to my goal.

I also learned about all of the paperwork and permissions I need just to be allowed back into Japan. Wish me luck…

 

Until next time!! xx

Travel Restrictions – Japan

In April, Japan placed a travel ban on over 100 countries. This means that even if you are from one of the countries on the list, you couldn’t visit home and come back to Japan. Yes, even foreign residents.

I’m an American citizen who is a Japanese resident. This means that while maintaining my status as an American, I’m given permission to live and work in Japan. I’m currently on a 3 year visa (my second 3 year visa, which renewed in July).

Why is this bad?

Japan is one of the few countries that treated its foreign residents differently from its nationals. America has also done this to some extent, so I’m actually involved in two different countries which discriminated against non-nationals. You may be thinking “how is that discrimination? If you aren’t a citizen of that country, you shouldn’t have the same rights.” But is that true? I live and work in Japan. My life is here. I pay taxes. My health insurance is through the Japanese government. I arguably have more benefits from and responsibilities to the Japanese government than I do to the American government. So why should I be treated any differently from a Japanese person who does the same things I do in this country?

The biggest downside to this for Japan is that they hurt their international reputation. Foreign residents now feel less confident that the government they are paying taxes to has their best interests in mind…or has them in mind at all, for that matter. Foreign owned companies are now more wary to do business with and in Japan due to the fear of another pandemic costing them billions of dollars. And the list goes on…

What is Japan doing now?

About a week ago, though, an announcement was made that Japan was finally going to ease travel restrictions on foreign residents. Starting in September, they are to be treated the same as Japanese nationals. They’ll be required to take a PCR test upon arrival, and if they test negative, they’ll be required to self-quarantine for 2 weeks and monitor their health.

This sounds great! But there will definitely be a lot of paperwork involved. And you have to get permission before leaving the country, leaving a lot of grey area and room for manipulation. As for the re-entry requirements, the biggest downside is that if you don’t pass the test, you won’t be allowed re-entry into the country. Not even to go to a hospital. The problem I find with this is that I only have health insurance in Japan…if I need a hospital, I need a Japanese one. I guess I’ll have to as immigration about that, too.

The verdict?

Everything is still so unclear and confusing. And there are still a lot of things to be concerned and wary about. All in all, it’s a step in the right direction. I understand the need for caution in this global pandemic, but I think that treating nationals and foreign residents differently was a mistake that I hope Japan learns from and doesn’t repeat in the future.

I’m still trying to figure out exactly what all of this means, but for now I’m hopeful that I’ll actually be able to see my family again sometime soon.

 

Until next time!! xx