Shirahama
I feel lucky to have been placed in Wakayama. Although at Tokyo Orientation, 9 out of 10 people I met said they had no idea where it was located, we do have a lot of great sights here. There are two UNESCO world heritage sights here, Koyasan and Kumano Kodo. Koyasan is where the Shingon esoteric sect of Buddhism was founded and Kumano Kodo is a famous pilgrimage. Beyond that the Kii Peninsula boasts a warm climate and some of Japan's best mikans(oranges) and umes (plums). But, one of our best claims to fame is the beautiful white sand beaches of Shirahama. So, this was the perfect setting to welcome the 25 or so new ALTs in the area.
In the Kansai area, this is definitely the resort for the summer. There was a tonne of traffic on the drive down here and many an Osaka and Nara plate were spotted. Shirahama used to have to import the white sand from Hawaii but now it is brought in from Australia. The area does have a lot of attractions such as a fish market, Adventure World that is home to twin pandas and a famous onsen (hot spring) overlooking the beach. All of which I will have to explore on a return visit. With 12 new JETs and lots of returning ones to meet, there was no time for sightseeing. The new JETs are brought over in two groups. Since I was in the Group B Orientation, I still had to meet all of Group A. It was great to finally meet all of the newbies.
One special treat for us JETs was a Subway that had recently opened in Shirahama. I had an excellent bulgogi wrap there. That is definitely NOT on the Canadian subway menu. I hung out there with the fellow Vancouverites in the ken, Wynne and Rei and Wynne's friend, Miki. These second year JETs taught me the most important thing about using cell phones in Japan which is how to send data between the phones using infrared technology. すごい！The ALTs have termed it 'phone sex'. Ahem. After socializing with them for a bit, it was back to the beach to chill out.
In the evening, we headed to a nearby town for a BBQ and more socializing. Of course, more crazy party photos were taken. And as a special treat, the town of Kamitonda's summer hanabi taikai (fireworks display) coincided with our welcome party. Another interesting thing for me was that I finally got to meet my predecessor Lauren. She had provided me with lots of information about my placement and kindly answered all of my questions so it was great to finally see her in person. She had decided to stay in Asia for a bit longer and was back visiting Wakayama.
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