The First Day on the Job

The Flight

The flight duration from The San Francisco International Airport to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan was nine hours and fifty-nine minutes long. I can get used to both flights that are short and long. Short flights, to me, are anywhere between one to six hours and long flights are anything above twelve hours. But this flight specifically was somewhere in the middle and my mind and body couldn’t figure out whether to sleep or stay awake throughout the flight, as apparently, doing both was near impossible.

Like the flights to Yerevan from New York City back in March 2023, all of the San Francisco JET Program participants were seated together. I was assigned a middle seat between two guys that easily towered over me with their ‘six-feet plus’ frames. Our conversations spontaneously jumped between travels, hopes & ambitions, to more nuance topics like Japanese aesthetics and prefecture placements.

Arrival

Upon arrival to Narita International Airport, we were immediately directed by staff members and volunteers from the JET Program. Navigating through the airport terminal from customs & immigration to baggage claim to ground transportation felt like a participant in the TV-show The Amazing Race or going through a corridor maze surrounded by glass panels, TV screens, and white tiles.

After the hectic push through the airport, one of many bus limousines pulled us in and drove us to the famous Keio Plaza Hotel. This hotel has served as the designated accomodation hotel for the orientation that the JET Program participants had participated in for decades. By the evening, a handful led to dozens, then hundreds all in a matter of hours. The San Francisco JETs were now walking or sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with others from Miami, Detroit, Canada, and eventually, the rest of the international JETs.

From Here On Out

From here on out, half of the orientation has concluded. The sessions ranged from Japanese laws and customs to managing mental health to short team-teaching exercises. These sessions and keynote speeches has definitely been both enriching and exhausting. Over 1,200 first year JETs like myself have arrived to Japan. As part of the group B orientation, sitting down in endless rows of chairs felt chaotic and calming. With over 600 JETs all sitting in the large auditorium, it can be chaotic sifting through people to use the restroom or the water station, but it can also be calming as I am surrounded by so many like-minded individuals who share the same level of interest in Japan and teaching.

Today, August 4th 2025, marks the third day of the orientation and tomorrow, I will be flying to Hiroshima to begin my real first day on the job.