I remembered, recently, that when I was planning on becoming a JET one of the things I did is search the web for places which mentioned the JET program, and read what they had to say. In that spirit, I am posting random tidbits, thoughts, etc.

Yesterday was a Saturday. I woke up late, with no real plans for the day. I rang a friend in a nearby city which had a Toys 'r' Us in it. I had been saying I would visit the place someday, and it seemed to be a someday. Although Gillian had cleaning to do before her friend arrived, she agreed to meet me and give me the grand tour of her fair city (Tosu - population 80,000).

The day was interesting, having coffee with Jets I don't see very often, shopping at a store which for the life of me is indistinguishable from the store in the US, and dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant just across the river in Kurume. We then headed for a drink at a place called 'The Flying Monkey', and went to pick up Gillian's friend from Nagasaki Ken. And here is where the fun truly got interesting.

We headed to a local bar in Tosu, and lo and behold, there was a guest DJ. Two, in fact - Tentacles and Cunta nani vooo or something. And there were Japanese people there. Probably the kids I teach, and most certainly not much older. There was crazy dancing, people acting stupid, and all sorts of random interaction. There are now at least two ladies in Tosu with photos of them (and their friends) and I. Who they were? Not a clue.

The young woman from Nagasaki was trying to figure out if they were copying our dancing because it was cool, or because it was funny to them. I don't think we ever really decided. And in many ways, it was unimportant. Because one way or the other, it sure as hell was a better mix than with us at the front of a classroom trying to get kids to ask where the bathroom is.

At one point, on person commented being in this club was like when we were young and it was our first time in a nightclub - we just watched people in a mixture of amusement and awe. The place even had a couple of local rappers doing their thing. We had trouble getting much more than 'Tosu' out of their rap, but what the heck?

I don't suppose there's much else to say about it. It was a moment, and maybe you had to be there. But if you ever get the chance, by all means take it!