Recently a group of 16 JETs and extras gleefully set off to experience the wonder that is Fuji. We left early on Saturday morning for a long bus ride. Our spirits were high. We laughed, we joked, we bought our Onigiri and Pocky's at the truck stops. Life was looking swell.

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When I boarded the plane at Heathrow back in July 1999, I knew I was leaving Britain for good. And now it's official...

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"One of the biggest obstacles I, and the foreigners around me faced while living in Japan was the inability to be recognized as part of the Japanese society. Regardless of how much we studied the language and culture, regardless of how hard we tried to conform to the Japanese way of life, regardless of how well we adhered to Japanese etiquette and manners, regardless of how "Japanese" we became, we were always assigned a position "outside" of the Japanese population....

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I remember the orientation in Tokyo. A newly found British friend and I, brought closer by several G&Ts at the British Consul, where discussing the merits of the Japanese....

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I have a great deal of problems with these bloody loud erection (sic) vans. However, vengence is mine.

The weekend before last I was up in inaka for a round of golf and drinking with my buddy who's gone local. We had a few cans around the course and were pretty well gone by the 18th hole. We get back to town on the bus and an election van and their posse of supporters are parked near the eki. So we sidle up for a chat which after some introductory paff goes like this...

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I recently experienced the leisurely delights of a Japanese style 'Love Hotel'. I assure you, my main purpose for the visit was strictly an investigative one, after hearing many stories from fellow foreigners and of course after perusing the mass of literature on the curious phenomenon that is the Japanese 'Love Hotel'...

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Quick summary: I'm a first-year JET in a big city. I was arrested on a false charge of shoplifting and put in jail for six days. I was advised/ordered to sign a confession, which I eventually did; then I was released. Though they knew the truth (I am innocent) the Board of Education fired me, for reasons no one knows, but it's likely that it was to save face in one way or another....

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The desk that I was given, when I first arrived, was, as I was told it would be, off in the far corner, with the desks of the part-time and temporary teachers. "In Siberia," I would joke; but actually, I kind of liked it. It was close to both the computers and the tiny little lounge/sofa area, so if I didn't feel like working, it was easy to discreetly do something else. I was out of the way of the bustle and activity of the shokuin, part of the group and yet blessed with a bit of privacy. "My corner." Yeah, I liked it...

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When I first came to Japan as an ALT on JET I was bright and enthusiastic. Unlike some other JETs I had some experience of life in Japan after having studied for a year or so at a Japanese university and majoring in Law and Japanese back home in the UK...

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The year: 1988. The place: Japan. The cast: the largest invasion of Gaijin since 1945.

About 20 to 30 of us arrive at Narita - we are by far the largest group of JET arrivees from the US. We unfold our selves out of the economy seats, I say good bye to cute flight attendant (stewardesses back then). I am one of the very few who actually knows Narita, but we've arrived at a different terminal - and it's night. Sudden confusion - all eyes look to me - I know in my heart some of us will not make it through the experience... we burst through the doors...

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Other useful discussion on a day in the life of an ALT