Burento in Japan

k, i haven’t posted alot….it’s cuz I haven’t done alot. I sit at my desk wait till the weekend and snowboard like crazy. Last weekend I went to Hawaiians..an indoor waterpark…it had onsens, waterslides, outdoor pools, indoor pools. It was ok…to be honest I was hungover and I just wanted to snowboard. But it is not pretty much assumed that Shaun and I are going to take over FuJET in April…which is exciting! But i’m trying to get the website used a bit more now and am already running into conflicts between JETs which is fun to deal with. But anyway, the point of this post is not to actually post, it’s to just copy and paste. LOL. Ryan McDonald, my predecessor’s predecessor is still in Japan and did 3 years at Higashi (my hellish base school). Anyway, he’s extremely well known in Fukushima as he wrote a huge website called yes I can do chopsticks that started as a blog just like this one and then turned into rants etc about what it was to be a JET and how to deal with things etc. He ran FuJET 3 years ago. He currently works for a private school in Koriyama (about an hour south of Fukushima). He sent Shaun and I this email about running FuJET…looks like fun….enjoy the read…..oh and I call him the Godfather…not “the Don”

If I am legendary it’s because I am the guy that won’t leave. I am 35 and
have had a few “real” jobs before this. I know from experience, even at its
worse, this job is better than any I’ve had. Any other legendary status
probably comes from Brent calling me “the Don”.

Actually I haven’t done anything recently to maintain said status. When I
was running FuJET, I had a vision that it should be more than just a party
group. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an anti-partier, but I felt FuJET was
something that people should remember as benefiting their Japan experience.
I wanted to have cooking classes, sake/wine tasting seminars, things that
the media would eat up like the clean-the-river-day, trips to unknown and/or
really cultural places, etc. But I learned over and over, people will drive
100 miles for a free ski day, but won’t go 50 feet to help FuJET at an
international festival. They’ll cancel plans to fly home and see their sick
mother if they can go to a beer garden, but won’t donate $10 to a charity.
Call me bitter, but it’s how I feel. It’s really hard to avoid the sad pouty
faces of the ladies who really want to go to the party/trip/beer garden/etc,
but weren’t able to reply before the deadline. That really means they
ignored all the FuJET emails and then some friend asked why they weren’t
going the night before the event and then they realized they were late.

I ran FuJET for one year and assisted for another (in reverse order). That
doesn’t make me some FuJET God, just that no one else wanted it and for me
at Higashi (as Brent will confirm) it was something to do. I did enjoy it,
but it teaches you about how stupid and greedy people can be. Deadlines don’t
mean anything (oh Brent and Shaun will let me slide in the hour before the
reserved event.), show-up deadlines are flexible even when they are not (you
must be here by 9am = 11am is ok if you call), even though there are X
number of seats and they were all reserved months in advance people will
bring a friend to the event hoping you can make room, maps get thrown away
since it’s easier to call you and get step by step directions, and
instructions go ignored since the FuJET people will take care of anything we
break or steal, events that you personally organize and put your name on the
line will involve someone sneaking in some whisky and people getting loud
and drunk and throwing food and yelling obscene things around kids. Actually
for these events I wouldn’t drink much at all since there was always some
problem I had to deal with.

As I told Chris, I served my time and will be happy to offer advice when
asked, but I won’t tell you how things are done or criticize anything you
do. The only difference between us is I did this before you. I didn’t major
in running JET organizations or have more than 2 years experience. I made
plenty of mistakes and got burned. The best way to learn is getting burned,
but sometimes that costs you a lot of money (i.e. ALWAYS collect money for
karaoke in advance since people seem to leave during it and you get the
bill, also always round up to cover things ordered, but not included in the
plan. I round up from 2300 to 2500, it also make it easier to pay) (same for
Beer Gardens, much easier to collect sober and sitting there drinking with
$2,000 in your pocket makes you feel like a pimp—but it’s more about not
getting screwed (over)).

There are several cool aspects of FuJET that should be thoroughly enjoyed.
The big one is you get to go to Tokyo Orientation and meet all the new
people as well as take them out for their first party in Japan. When these
new innocent faces arrive they are met with someone who knows his way around
Tokyo. Wow. Someone who can speak (fluent) Japanese and reserve us a booth
at the Karaoke place. Awesome. (Go down to Tokyo before the conference and
get your bearings on what’s around Keio Plaza, also find a good Karaoke
place nearby.) Someone who can give us inside tips about what will happen
and how things work. Someone who has a list of all the kick ass things we
are going to do during the year.beer gardens, Sapporo Trips, Festivals,
Beach Parties, Sumo trips, Canyoning Trip, soccer teams, etc.(list anything
you are planning even if you can’t do it, people remember you had a whole
list of cool things, not the specific things.) And most of all someone who
knows how to look sober on the ride back to Koriyama with a massive hangover
(who is technically still drunk since we stopped partying at 6am and caught
the bus at 9am). In their eyes you are the cool all knowing senpai and they
will look up to you all year. Plus you get to meet everyone and learn their
names and faces which makes parties much easier after that.

You also get to take part in the Fukushima Orientation and plan the party. I
recommend the Big Apple, even though it sucks. It’s a big open space for
talking and dancing, plus it’s 3,000 for 4 hours of drinking. It’s also
close to both hotels. Don’t announce there is a drunken orgy at the FO, just
say there is a small gathering after the official festivities end. The big
thing to remember here, is if you are a Fukushima Orientation Assistant, DON’T
BE LATE OR HUNGOVER. You can help other people drink and laugh when they are
late (especially Brent), but if you are an FOA, you will get reamed if you
are hung over and late. I know from experience, I was hardcore hung over and
hurled a few times. Somebody will always be uncomfortable that you are hung
over and will politely complain to someone official.

One year we had a stupid icebreaker and gave away an iPod. It caused
everyone to run around talking to each other and made that group of people
much tighter than previous groups. There’s always that Group A - Group B
separation. Overall it was great, but one girl misunderstood the rules and
thought she won by turning her sheet in first. It was a drawing and she didn’t
win so from then on she had anti-FuJET parties and wrote me hate messages
(from different fake email accounts). As stupid as icebreakers are, they
promote conversation later. At parties people can approach others and say
“remember that stupid game we played..yea…wanna make out”. Sadly that
works sometimes.

To be honest, FuJET really changed me. It caused me, sometimes painfully, to
see things differently and argue against things I previously believed. I had
to be the sober face of reason when I wanted to be drunk. I had to pay for
things out of my own pocket when other people left/didn’t show up/ordered
more/didn’t want to pay. I started out offering every option possible, and
quickly learned to offer as few as possible and make things rigid. I didn’t
want to, but people (some I thought were friends) would take advantage of
FuJET at the drop of a hat.

Wow, more than I thought I had to say.

Ryan

P.S. Three summers ago I organized a bus to Mt Fuji. We all climbed it and
then go on the bus and rode back, which was 100 times better than waiting
for the public bus to Shinjuku, getting a train to Tokyo, catching a shink
back. Plus the bus was 8,000 yen for 30+ people and picked people up at
Fukushima station, Koriyama station, and then Iwaki station. It would stop
whenever we wanted and took us directly there and back. We did it in late
July and it’s something to think about. Plus you’d need to start planning it
now and it would sound really good to say that at Tokyo Orientation “Yea
FuJET just planned a Fuji hike, here’s the group picture (taken before since
you look like a zombie afterwards)”.