From Shepshed to Kokubunji: Coming to terms with living in a small community.

| | comments(0) | trackback(0)

I arrived in Kokubunji in the summer feeling hot, tired, nervous and depressed. This seemingly quaint town was to be my home for a year; these interesting people who would not look me in the eye and who treated me like some kind of V.I.P. were to be my colleagues, companions, and neighbours. What was I doing here?

Throughout my settling-in period I was shown extraordinary kindness and generosity, which was somewhat overwhelming but appreciated. However, during the traumas of formal introductions in my town, the first visit to a bank and the initial, soul-destroying trips around the supermarket, I realised that it would be so easy for me to remain the far-distanced celebrity of my town. I didn’t want this. I knew that I needed to be part of things. This was the only way to really get the most out of a unique opportunity. School was my job and only one part, albeit an important part, of my life in Japan. It was up to me. Nobody could do this.

My response initially was to make an effort and find out what was happening in Kokubunji, and to get involved wherever possible: a town volleyball match, going to concerts, joining a jazz dance class and establishing an English conversation class. People quickly realized that I wanted to be involved in the community and responded very positively. I soon found myself receiving social invitations, being invited to sing in concerts, joining the local badminton club, taking ikebana classes, and occaisionally, koto lessons. This was all independent of my work at my school.

Cycling through Kokubunji became a pleasure as the greetings became less formal and more naturally friendly. Trips to the supermarket were a delight as I started to meet people and I knew who would stop and speak. Now people looked me in the eye when they spoke!

I now find myself with many very close friendships, which go far beyond the very polite but surface friendships so prevalent in Japan. At school there were many people around me that were friendly, but I outside of school I made friends. Through these relationships I had many valuable experiences in Japan. I shared very sad times with people, including an extremely emotional funeral; I shared immensely happy times, like the birth of a baby, and dancing with my town in the Kokubunji festival. I learned so much about this country, the people and culture, and consider myself to be very lucky.

By Angela Watret (Former ALT from the UK)

-->

i-palog index

i-pal website

about this entry

This page was written by i-pal for 11, 2008 3:54 .

The Previous content is "My first impression of Japan"

Tne next content is "The Aki Matsuri in a small town"

You can see recent contents on the index page


i-pal