At the end of July I’m finishing my Day Job teaching English in Japan with the JET Program, and the transition has given me a lot to think about. This is the last post in my series about working on JET, what it’s brought me, how I feel about it, and where I’m headed in the future. If you missed the beginning you can get start with Part 1 here.
The cover photo shows decorations for a festival on a street in my town of Namerikawa, Toyama, sometime in the early- to mid-twentieth century.
Today I had my last day of work, and it was really sad.
There were a lot of goodbyes, a lot of farewell cards, a few presents, a last-day lunch, and one of my old supervisors even came from a different school to say goodbye and thank me for my service. For Japanese-style goodbyes, coworkers will usually gather at the door to wave to someone as they leave for the last time, and that was really nice too.
I also gave a speech during my main school’s end-of-semester ceremony, which was really meaningful as well. I talked about the shock of working in a Japanese elementary school for the first time, how I always Continue reading