HAJET Central Welcome Party at Lake Shikotsuko, Hokkaido, August 21, 2011.

Sup. This is a party review I wrote for the "Polestar", the monthly magazine for HAJET members. The 'official' version only had two pictures though, so I thought I'd put it up here. It's not as laden with obscure vernacular, in jokes, and random tangential outbursts as a usual post, and it's written in third person also. But it did allow me to indulge in some mild HAJET propaganda. Thanks to Andy Suvoltos (the dude who wins the stocking battle) for taking photos when everyone else was too crunk to do it! Not that he wasn't crunk. Anyway, enjoy:

During the July 2011 Tokyo orientation, keynote speaker Stephen Woerner spoke about the “stage one euphoria” that new JET programme participants experience in their first few months in Japan. After this, Woerner asserted that “stage two culture shock” sets in as fresh faced participants become aware of the cultural differences ‒ rather than similarities ‒ present in their new living and working environment. Indeed, euphoric karaoke driven nights out in Tokyo and all you can eat (and drink) affairs in Sapporo are undeniably awesome experiences, especially if you’ve only been in Japan for a few weeks. The HAJET Central Welcome Party at the sublime Lake Shikotsu however, promised to be a different affair. One that would begin to acclimatise JET’s to Hokkaido, providing the information, friendships and networks that would be necessary to navigate the year ahead. Most significantly, for the inevitable onset of the Hokkaido winter, the ultimate “stage two” experience.

Essentially, the party can broken down into two segments. The first being an abundance of lakeside revelry and cheer on Saturday night. The second being a brutal Sunday morning downpour that soaked the tents, sleeping-bags and socks of many a hung-over camper. As a general rule however, most participants left Lake Shikotsu with the view that being placed in Hokkaido ‒ and the subsequent isolation from the rest of Japan ‒ will be an overwhelmingly positive opportunity. One that offers a wealth of people to meet, events to attend and activities to partake in, as long as you’re willing to travel the distance to get to the necessary location.

The ever enthusiastic Kyle Joregnson’s initiative of “Lakeside Olympics” provided an official start to the evening frivolities. Whilst his proposal was initially met with a wall of slightly tipsy apathy, his prevailing enthusiasm ensured that there were four teams ready for action when he opened the first bag of marshmallows for a game of “Chubby Bunny”, and hilarity ensued. To the delight of onlookers, participants had to shove as many marshmallows in their mouth as they could, whilst saying “Chubby Bunny”.

Round two was a slightly more civilised affair as contestants battled it out in a bubble blowing contest in front of a swarm of jeering assistant language teachers.

The third round was unambiguously vicious as Kyle whipped out a tarpaulin for sock wrestling. All four contestants had to dislodge the socks from their opponents using any means necessary, which was made more interesting as one of the participants was a Judo master.

The final round was again brutal, as contestants attempted to rip stockings off each other’s heads without using their hands.

By the time the sun had set several helpful members of the HAJET Council had barbequed yakotori and vegetables for the team, unanimously popular Prefectural Advisor John Shigeo McNie had made a fashionably late entrance and some outrageous bids had flown in for the HAJET bake-auction.

The camp manager was forced to politely nudge the increasingly merry revellers down to a more isolated part of the lakefront, and it was here that party attendees got stuck into the serious matter of drunkenly stumbling around the lakefront in the dark, making those introductions and conversations that just couldn’t be made in the sober light of day.

By the time the early hours of the morning came around several sizable beer-wands had been formed by the more passionate attendees, and liquor was being passed around freely.

Several revellers took to the lake for more whisky chugging and a verse or two of patriotic Canadian / American / British / New Zealand / Australian drinking-song. Most swimmers returned to the shore only to remember that that their one and only towel in Japan was situated in their apartment three hours drive away, and so promptly stumbled to bed. It was roughly around this point in the evening that the rather unfortunate event of someone being pushed into the lake with an I-phone in their pocket occurred, perhaps the only significant blight on an otherwise merry evening.

The rain on Sunday morning was so utterly ruthless that many a hung-over and soaked camper had packed and bailed to the camp shelter by 8am. The rain, which quickly turned small puddles into medium sized ponds, made for an atrocious companion to the hangover that was being collectively experienced by the campers. Again, HAJET members (you know who you are) proved invaluable as they cleaned up lakeside rubbish, tents and shepherded the slightly deranged campers of to the necessary public transportation outlets to get them back in time for Monday morning team-teaching. 

Many thanks must go out to all the HAJET members involved in organising such a sweet and easy-going event. With the friendships and networks forged, new ALT’s now have the tools to successfully navigate the year ahead and avoid the “stage two disillusionment” which was mentioned in the Tokyo orientation. We can only hope for more of the same in the coming weeks!

Chur, 


Tim.