      The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, the taikos are drumming, and a brand new batch of ZINEs are arriving. The fall season is in full swing! This month’s edition of the maga(ZINE) highlights everything we love about this time of year and all the spooky goodness that comes with it 
. Speaking of arriving, we sat down with Emma, Zev, and Erick to discuss how their first year (and first Halloween season) has been on JET!Â
Ireland —> Uwajima City, Uwajima
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery.” – Grand Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda
Portland, Oregon —> Iyo-shi, Ehime
“For of this world one never sees enough and to dine in harmony with nature is one of the gentlest and loveliest things we can do.” – James A. Michener, Iberia
Miami, FL —> Sakawa, Kochi
“How will you know if you never try” – COIN
Iâm from Ireland originally, but Iâve been living abroad since I was 18. So, when I moved home for a few
months, it didnât take long before I decided it was time to try somewhere new. Iâve always been into art,
history, languages, and food, and I always want to experience those things from new perspectives. As
such, Japan has been a bucket list destination for me since I was a teenager. Itâs very cool to finally be
here đ
Not to fit the stereotype, but it is potatoes. More specifically, Shepardâs Pie or stew, though itâs still too hot
out for either one. However, everywhere Iâve lived, Iâve added a new comfort food to my list. I know Iâm
settling in now that onigiri is making its way on there.
Honestly, I didnât notice it really until I was in Kyoto experiencing reverse culture shock. Someone at a
cafĂ© was speaking English to me and I was so confused why they werenât speaking Japanese, and then
it kind of hit me. Itâs something that comes at random. For the most part though, my brain is used to this
so it just adapts. With the exception of the insane time difference, I think my brain is treating Uwajima like
itâs just another town in Ireland (yes, even with the language barrier).
Personally, building a social calendar. I canât engage in a lot of my more social hobbies here, either because I donât have time or they arenât accessible in Uwajima. Iâve taken to grabbing any opportunity for them with both hands, even if it means travelling for hours to do something I used to walk to. That being said, I’m so lucky that Nanyo A has a small but close network of ALTs, so there’s always some get-together, festival, or dinner on the calendar. Almost all the photos I’ve put in the ZINE are from days out with different Nanyo A people. It’s been great to try so many new things and really get immersed in the lifestyle here in Ehime.
Professionally, the dedication people have to work has been difficult to adapt to. Iâm a staunch believer in work-life balance and that so long as you’ve done your job well, you should leave work at work and go and live your life. While I admire my colleaguesâ hard work and dedication, I miss my 25 days of holiday
leave and unlimited sick leave. I also think that there is a need to always be âonâ here, especially as someone who works with so many students. My path home crosses by one of my elementary schools so my kids often spot me after school, and occasionally theyâll catch me on an after-dinner konbini run. I donât mind it, but itâs been an adjustment all the same.
Itâs been a while since I was at home for Halloween so I think Iâve shaken off most of the cravings by
now. That being said, thereâs a type of bread that we eat in Ireland around Halloween called bairin braic
(or barmbrack). Itâs a sweet bread (not quite Japanese sweet) filled with sultanas and raisins. Historically,
it was used for fortune telling around Halloween, since the Irish traditions around Halloween are some of
the oldest in the world. Nowadays, the only remnants of the fortune telling tradition is the ring hidden in
the braic. Itâs said whoever cuts the slice with the ring in it will marry in the next year. Personally, I think
we should start hiding coins in there again; give us some good luck with money for the coming year.
I am from Portland, Oregon, USA. My mom was an ALT in Iwate-ken back in the day, and enrolled me in Japanese immersion elementary school as a kid. Ever since then, Iâve been studying Japanese off and on (emphasis on the off and on, as my Japanese is not great). In some ways, because of my mom, I feel like I was always going to do JET – like it was destiny.
Witty, tasteful, and strongly opinionated
I am, in the words of my coworker ALT Adelaide, a âmusic freakâ (meaning I really enjoy and have strong opinions about music, not that I can play an instrument or anything).
Spaghetti carbonara – a childhood favorite courtesy of the great Ruth Reichl. No cream, ever!
While I had been to Japan a few times, it had been six years since my last visit. My first impression was that it was very hot and humid. I honestly felt very overwhelmed by Tokyo during orientation, and I was glad to retreat to the more relaxed vibe of Ehime.
I was pouring sweat, since I decided to wear a real dress shirt instead of a polo. I did a self-introduction presentation for all my classes that was way too long and had way too much information and words that my students wouldnât be familiar with. I was definitely nervous.
My school has had a long succession of ALTs, so the concept of a foreign teacher wasnât new. The kids are pretty funny. Sometimes they try to make me say things in Japanese that I am unfamiliar with but I am sure are inappropriate (something I totally would have done at their age in their shoes) and I have to deflect and laugh it off.
Definitely the Japanese style of communication – ç©șæ°ăèȘă – (Kuki wo yomu) which is not only totally foreign to me as an American, but directly contradicts my personal ethos of always being direct and honest (sometimes to a fault).
I was concerned about teaching given my lack of teaching experience, but luckily, Iâm strictly T2-ing. While I was worried before I got here, now itâs light work.
I think just a few months in it has made me more patient, which is not a strong suit of mine.
I was never the biggest fan of Halloween, even as a kid. Halloween is a big deal in college as well, but I wasnât super into it. Sorry for being lame!
My low-effort costume last year was a union organizer (my previous job back home, and I have a lot of union swag) which is just barely more effortful than the standard straight-male costume of just wearing a sports jersey.
One time I was sneaking back into my room at home late at night, and I was absolutely startled by a deer and it scared the bejesus out of me.
When I occasionally consume Halloween candy, my favorites are Reeseâs, Butterfingers (Iâm a big peanut butter + chocolate guy), Junior Mints, and the ultimate guilty pleasure, the Nerds Cluster.
No, but when I was doing self-introductions, a few classes worth of students gave me their recommendations for places to visit, and some of them recommended Oya Pond, which is allegedly haunted. As someone who doesnât believe in the supernatural, I would like to check this pond out.
Iâm from Miami, FL but my parents are originally from Colombia. I always had a passing interest in Japan thanks to my stepdad that introduced me to anime like Dragon Ball Z and video games like MegaMan and PokĂ©mon but it was never much more than a passing interest. Moving to Japan was never in my plans until I decided to take my first Japanese class in College and it became my dream thanks to my first Japanese professor. He would tell us stories about our time abroad and I had so much fun learning Japanese that I wanted to give it a try as well, but not only that, I wanted to be an inspiration to others the same way that he was to me. After that I decided to change my major to Asian studies, took my first step by studying abroad and then I realized that Japan was the country I wanted to live in which led me to JET.
As I mentioned before I majored in Asian studies focused on Japan after taking my first Japanese class in college which I took because of my love for Japanese music and because a friend of mine wanted to take it too. From there I studied abroad for a month in Kyoto as part of a program in my university where I partook in many cultural activities such as meditation, taiko, and tea ceremony, as well as regular language studies every day. During that trip I befriended many Japanese students attending the university and even travelled a bit to get to know more of Japan. My greatest memory was getting to Tokyo when the program ended and stumbling across a nearby music festival which I decided to go to on a whim and ended up seeing many artists live which were the reason I even started this journey. I vividly remember crying for hours during the concert when I saw them on stage.
Charismatic, nerdy, persistent.
Definitely a Big Mac combo from McDonaldâs. I get it way more often than Iâd like to admit.
I was nervous beyond belief. The days leading up to it were pretty busy as I was preparing my intro lesson and brushing up my Japanese to communicate with my coworkers but that did not prepare me for the absolute culture shock I was feeling. I vividly remember standing in the music room with all the students and the staff for the opening ceremony of the semester and not understanding a word while they asked me to give a welcome speech for the whole class which I was not prepared for. I felt lost and confused but once I gave my speech everything seemed to calm down aside from the embarrassment of having the collar of my suit all messed up which the principal fixed for me. The kids looked at me like a different being, they seemed nervous but excited and all I could think about was how to nail this intro lesson and make them like me. Despite all this, once I was introduced to the class and began giving my intro lesson everything seemed to flow perfectly, kids were laughing, they were engaged and I felt good being in front of the classroom. After the day was done I felt relieved and realized how much fun I had, and felt more prepared than ever to tackle whatever came next.
This might be more specific to the region I live in but when I first arrived in my town I was picked up by members of the board of education here in Sakawa. Despite feeling somewhat confident about my Japanese despite my lack of practice I suddenly came to realize how difficult it would be to understand the local dialect called Tosa-Ben which I never even knew existed. Everybody was really friendly but I felt as though they were speaking in a completely different language. Iâm slowly getting the hang of it but I definitely wasnât expecting it.Â
Thankfully it was much more relaxed than what I had expected. Before coming here I was incredibly nervous because I did not have much teaching experience and the idea of planning classes and making up games for kids was making me incredibly nervous. However, once I began working in the classroom I realized that my job was more to support and assist than actually lead which was a relief. The teachers were all incredibly kind and understanding which made all my worries go away, and although I do lead classes and come up with games from time to time, I feel much more prepared now than at first.
Itâs a bit strange but the layout of my house and the products used to clean it are something I still canât get used to. Back at home we just buy bleach and wipes and clean everything but here things feel different, I donât know how to use the space, how to organize, there are a ton of different cleaning products for each individual thing in the house that I still canât get used to. And in the workplace I never know how to respond or if Iâm doing things correctly just by the amount of unspoken rules there seem to be but Iâm still trying my best.
More clothes for the cold! I lived in a city with absolutely no winter so I had no need for any winter clothes, but now that Iâm starting to feel the cold I understand the need now.
Simply being in my Japanese apartment alone in the dead of night and randomly hearing things crash into my window is terrifying. Not to mention going out for walks late at night with the complete lack of street lights in my town. I like the atmosphere but itâs definitely still scary.
Hey, Mikans!
We hope you’re enjoying this month’s ZINE. If you have a story to tell, an idea to share, or just want to contribute we’d love to hear from you!Â
Weâll have a new maga(ZINE) post for you on the first of each month, so keep an eye out!
Interested in having your own ZINE? Reach out to us at themikanblog@gmail.com!