First Stop -- Okayama

This is a little late, but I'd like to make a couple of separate posts about my experiences so far in Japan, so first I'll talk about my training in Okayama City.

After arriving in KIX airport in Osaka-Kansai and meeting my fellow trainees, the lot of us were herded onto the train platforms and bound for Okayama. The train stations here by the airport were much more confusing than the ones at the Airport, and it didn't help that Japanese people at the stations always seem to be walking at about a thousand miles per hour faster than me and my luggage. In total, the trip would be about an hour and a half trip on two different trains. This was my first experience with the train systems and the Shinkansen, or Bullet Train, which for most of the way traveled at over 150 miles per hour.

After arriving in Okayama, with Jansen, Aubrey, Chelsea, Aaron, and my roommate Jason, we were free to explore the town for a few days before our week-long training. The city itself was great, and our location couldn't have been better. We were only a few minutes walk from the station, which is basically a huge hub of underground stores and international eateries including, among other notables, a French-styled bread shop, two McDonald's, and an underground mall that seemed to only have clothes for girls.

Later, we would explore the DoReMi mall, play Taiko Drum Master at the shopping Arcade, and eat at a super traditional Japanese Sushi restaurant. At no time during these events was I able to communicate with any local without the help of the Chelsae, Jansen, or Jason, who speak Japanese incredibly well.

Perhaps the most touristy thing we did was visit Okayama-Jo, also known as the "Crow Castle" because of it's black walls. While the real Okayama Castle was destroyed in WWII, the atmosphere was really cool and there were courtyards that had showed the outlines of how the castle used to be set up. There is even some of the original foundation left to see and explore. Inside, Chelsae, Aaron, and Aubrey were dressed up like traditional Japanese lords and ladies, however even though the attendant wasn't off duty until 5 pm, when my turn came she pointed to a sign that was supposed to inform us that she only has to dress 5 people per hour and that I would have had to wait 45 minutes for her to cooperate. Needless to say, we left. I don't have any pictures of the rest of the weekend, but we experienced some awesome Japanese drinking at a restaurant where we had to kneel on tatami mats while we ate fish, eggs, and other awesomely stereotypical food and chanted "Kampai"  with some elderly Japanese salary-men at the table behind us. This was definitely the highlight of the week.

Training was hard, but the trainers and the other trainees made it a pretty great experience. I don't really want to go into a lot of detail about it, but it is here we all learned that for most of our work at Amity will have us acting like an over-the-top kid's TV show host like Steve from Blues Clues (before he killed himself, of course). I'll go into more detail on that later, and my experiences in Mito so far. Later!