Kobe Re-contracting Confrence

I just got back from spending 4 days in Kobe for the JET recontracting conference. Every 1^st year JET that has committed to a second year gets a paid trip to Kobe. The conference consisted of 2 days of workshops with lots of speeches from Japanese ministry people and fellow JETs. Masato and I left Tuesday for Kobe as we wanted to see a bit more of the city before the confrence was to begin. We spent the day walking around Kobe and ate dinner in “Chinatown.” The food was better then most of the Chinese food I’ve eaten here so far, but nothing even remotely close to the food I get back home. All the Chinese food here is a weird Japanese/Chinese hybrid, that ends up costing three times more then back home.

We spent the night walking around the busy district of Kobe and found a place called-I kid you not-Boob park where they had a live band playing and a bunch of concrete seats. We sat down and had a few beers (drinking in public is legal in Japan) and just listened to a sweet cover band that played old Beatles, Eagles and Santana tunes. It’s always fun to people watch in Japan as you see some pretty crazy stuff. We saw this pretty big Japanese dude decked out in Winnie the Pooh paraphernalia and a bunch of Japanese boys started screaming. “Pooh san ga iru” or “There is Mr. Pooh.” There were also these two girls who sat in front of us and for about 2 hours we saw about 10 different guys try to hit on them and get shot down. They actually started to chat with us when they wanted to get rid of these two boys who wouldn’t leave them alone. ( Picture below: These two guys spent a good hour trying to hit on these two girls)

The next morning we checked into our four star hotel called Portopia, on a man-made island within Kobe. It was a really nice hotel and we had gorgeous rooms. You really get some sweet perks going on this programme. After checking in, we had an opening ceremony with a few speeches and then I attended two workshops that ended up being pretty interesting and helpful.

At night is when Kobe got invaded by about 1000 foreigners. Every where you went you ran into fellow JETs. I was lucky enough to meet back up with my friend Kiyoko who I hung around with in Tokyo. I ended up having an awesome night, as Kiyoko and her friend Andy and I grabbed dinner at an Italian place, then spent the night visiting a few bars in Kobe listening to live music that included a Japanese man singing Bob Marley. It was a fun night.

The next day, when most JETs have hangovers, is when we had an avalanche of workshops. There were 6 workshop blocks you can attend and there were a few topics that were quite helpful in improving either your life in Japan or your teaching skills. I found most of it informative, but I was glad when the day ended. Night time came around again and I met up with Kiyoko and a few more JETs from her prefecture in Kyushu, called Oita. By chance we were walking around Kobe and came upon the exact same chain that Kiyoko and I had visited in Tokyo. The restaurant/ lounge called Arabian Rock, it had the exact same décor with the same Arabian nights theme. If you remember from my first post, all the girls wore like belly dancer outfits and they played the Aladdin soundtrack on a continuous loop. Our eating area was sweet as all the booths were made to look like little huts. (Picture below: Jeffery checking out the waitresses)

After dinner, we met up with packs of fellow JETs, as it really seemed like all of Kobe was littered with foreigners. We had a few more drinks and ended up stumbling back to the hotel at 3am, where Jeffery and I decided it would be wise to go the convenience store and get a few more drinks. We spent another two hours chatting in the lounge at the Hotel before I finally stumbled upstairs and slept for a few hours before the closing ceremony. Needless to say, I had a bit of a hangover and I was glad when the conference closed. Though I must say the speech and demonstration was excellent and very informative. (Picture below: Our wrap up picture outside the hotel)

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and it is the last time I’ll be with so many foreigners for a meeting of this size. I was lucky to meet up with a few friends and had a great time with some new ones. I didn’t get a chance to try Kobe Beef, so that is definitely on my list to do the next time I make my way to Kobe.

Japanese factoid #23: Well as anyone who knows me well, I really love chocolate. The stuff here in Japan is pretty good, nothing like a Big Turk bar, but good. One brand that is really big here in Japan is Kit-Kat. In Japan there are many different types of special Kit-Kat’s that get released every few weeks. I’ve tried most of them. Some of the flavours I’ve had are: Blueberry cheesecake, Bitter Chocolate, Green Tea, Fruit Parfait, Sweet Tofu, Café-Latte, Maple, Cherry Blossom, Red Bean and countless others.