JET Program CIR Report
CIR Report from Kanazawa (1)
By Sophie Bocklandt
(Coordinator for International Relations)When I first heard that I was elected for the JET programme, I started screaming and jumping in the street! Going back to Japan, the land I had been studying about for several years and that I appreciated so much during previous stays. And going there for a whole year to work in a Japanese office environment in order to promote my own Belgian culture. It really sounded like a wonderful opportunity, so I didn’t have to think about it twice. The months before my departure passed by fast, trying to arrange all the administrative forms that pile up when you move to another country. It only truly hit me that I was going back to Japan the moment that I received my plane ticket and I had to say goodbye to my family…
As soon as I got on the plane I was in the company of other JETs. No other Belgian people though, I was the only lucky one! Arriving in Tokyo I must say I was overwhelmed by the greatness of the JET programme. More than a thousand candidates gathered in the luxurious Keio Plaza Hotel right in the center of Tokyo! The organization really wanted to give everybody a good starting ground, so we were overstelped by information and workshops, all very interesting. At night they took us out for food and drinks in order to make everybody feel comfortable and welcome in Japan. I myself had the opportunity to meet up with my predecessor and the Belgian Embassador’s secretary. Always nice to speak your own mothertongue in a foreign country, something I would have to miss the coming months…
After a few days of bustling Tokyo finally the big move to peaceful and beautiful Kanazawa! I was picked up at the airport by some of my colleagues, which made me feel welcome immediately. The first days were very tiring though, arranging a lot of administration, meeting a lot of new people, getting worked in at the office, getting installed at my appartment…
Every weekday I cross the Saigawa-river to go to work at the City Hall of Kanazawa. My desk is situated on the fourth floor, right in front of the elevator, at the Cultural Affairs and International Communication Section. My official title is Coordinator for the International Relations or CIR. It’s a nice title to put on my namecard, but it may seem a bit vague. My job actually exists out of two main parts: I am responsible for maintaining contact between the City of Kanazawa and their sister cities of Ghent (Belgium) and Nancy (France). This means that a lot of my time goes into translating emails and other information from Dutch, French and English into Japanese and vice versa.
In fact I arrived in the middle of the preparation for the “Life and Fashion Kanazawa Week”, a big event during October that wanted to promote the traditional and modern craft industries in Kanazawa. Delegations from all over the world came around and one of them was the delegation of Nancy, presided by their Mayor. I don’t have to tell you that an official visit like that asked a lot of preparation, meetings, sending mails, phoning, working long days… During the visit I had to guide the delegation from morning till night, which gave me the opportunity to do my very first interpreting. It didn’t go that great yet, but it was a good experience and a stimulation to study more of the Japanese language!
The second part of my job is to participate regularly in events to spread the Belgian culture around the citizens of Kanazawa. Since Belgium is most famous for food and drinks - especially our beer, chocolate and waffles are well known in Japan - my first event of course had to be a cooking class. A group of senior Japanese men and women invited me to teach them how to prepare Belgian oignonsoup, applepie and café liègeois. We prepared delicious Belgian-style dishes together, so for once I had a rice and noodle free lunch in Japan!
The last weekend of September there was the International Exchange Festival 2006 at the City Hall of Kanazawa. People could watch international dancing and singing performances on stage, participate in several workshops, enjoy international food and drinks and buy traditional gifts at the many international booths. Particularly interesting was the collaboration between Korean drumming and Japanese taiko drumming. And as a dance lover I really enjoyed the Japanese bon-odori performance, the Hawaian hula dance workshop and the Arabic bellydance. My CIR colleagues and I were given the honour to present the whole event on stage, in traditional costumes (the first day I wore a nice golden Chinese dress and the second day a rather short Austrian outfit!). It was tiring, but a really fun experience! And it brought back some nice memories from the World Exhibition in Aichi last year…
Only last weekend I did a children’s event together with my American colleague. We thought a Dutch and an English song with dancemoves to little Japanese children, we entertained them with a French story and we ended by a Japanese puppet play version of the “Three little pigs”. Again a tiring Sunday, but the kids were so adorable, that we did it with a very big smile!
That’s what I like the most about my job: it offers me the possibility to do things I would normally never do. Like giving interviews for Japanese television, radio and newspapers or meeting interesting people like the Mayor or go to museums for free such as the recently opened No-museum.
Of course there is more in life than just work, even in Japan! In theory as a JET I have the luxury of working only 35 hours a week, which means I can enjoy long weekends from Friday afternoon until Sunday night. At those times Kanazawa is a great place to be. What I appreciate the most about Kanazawa is the double character of the city. On one hand it’s a very modern, lively, bustling town. There is the ultramodern railway station, the 21st Century Museum, shopping malls of all sizes, same for restaurants, cafes, clubs, karaokebars, game halls… Of course all open seven days on seven!
But on the other hand Kanazawa is a very traditional and cultural town. There is hardly any industry, everything is concentrated around the traditional crafts like silkdyeing, goldleaf, pottery, ikebana, sadou… Since I love to just wander around town, walking and discovering on the way, I can really recommend Kenrokuen garden. It is said to be one of the three most beautiful landscape gardens in Japan. It is definitely the biggest garden I have visited so far! And in the middle of it you can find the two-legged lantern that has become the symbol of Kanazawa. The park around the Kanazawa castle is the ideal place to get lost in a green oasis. I can tell, it once made me appear at work too late! And if you want to go back in time, you should definitely visit the samurai and geisha districts. Especially the beautiful Shima geisha house gives a nice impression of what the working place of a geisha was about. Right behind my house you can find the temple district, ideal for peaceful wanderings. Or you can visit the Omicho market for a lively Japanese market atmosphere. There is really so much to do and see here in Kanazawa, still so much to discover, but that will be for a next report!
Greetings from Kanazawa to everyone in Belgium!!
(Photo by Sophie Bocklandt)