Into the Inaka

The Inaka is the countryside of Japan - rural Japan. It exists all over the country in the mountainous interior I expect. But also definitely present in Ibaraki - outside of the main towns. Most of Ibaraki lies upon the flat Kanto plain so unlike those interior prefectures Ibaraki`s inaka landscape is the rice fields - many, many, many rice fields stretching across the land. I had not appreciated this aspect of Ibaraki existed at all at first. On finding out I would be living in Hitachi I assumed all of Ibaraki to be much of the same - urban areas of industrial development maerging into each other to cover the whole prefectural area. (As it goes Hitachi is a much nicer town than just an area of industry - although lacking in a significant town centre which is my particular little gripe).
But, Hitachi isn`t the norm here - Hitachi is one of the few big urban centres, like Mito and Tskuba. Much of Ibaraki is small towns, smaller towns - and TINY, insignificant little habitations (if that is even a word).

And JETs get placed in places like this. I feel incredulous to imagine this, particularly after my visit to the Inaka this weekend.

Daigo is a town in northwest Ibaraki. Fukuroda (town?) is nearby. It is hard to work out what counts as separate settlements in Japan as things tend to be rather spread. The North West of this prefecture is lovely. In the mountains, which are beautiful to see, with the leaves just beginning to turn different into their varying colours of red and orange and brown. Just lovely. But, to live here Would. Be. Damn. Hard. Typically, in these small towns only one JET is placed. So, for starters there are no foreigners friends here to introduce to the town and their life. Secondly, the youth of 21 + age tends to leave these types of areas as whenever they can. I hear the Ibaraki JETs from these towns often complain that the population of their town is only young children and the elderly. So, even if you can speak Japanese it would seem to be a near impossible task to make any friends of your own age. So, it might be that you become reliant on the other JETs elsewhere in Ibaraki for a social life/ sanity maintenance through human interaction. But, then there is the issue of transport. These inaka towns have bad transport connections. Infrequent trains, the last train which stops at 8 o`clock in the evening. And that`s even if you have a train station. JETs live in towns which don`t. I honestly don`t know how these people are staying sane. I certainly feel very lucky to be placed in Hitachi considering that I could have been rural.

Aspiring JETs do not think about these realities when applying. With a view of rural Japan as living in a Japanese styled house atop of a mountain perhaps with a stream running down, and a temple next door. What a fairytale. And how lucky I was that I did not request a rural placement. (Though nor did Daigo-based Tina who had asked for city. JET is pot-luck, in every aspect).

To live in the Inaka is certainly a different experience from the one I am having. And perhaps it is one of those where the rewards and positive aspects of living in the place come much later on in the year – through the slow development of relationships with the people in your town. I have heard from an ALT living in a small community that she is looked after by everybody in her town – because obviously everybody knows her. So, that may be a positive. (But even I stand out in my big town!).

But it`s the day to day aspect which is problematic for me. To not be able to go out with friends because you cannot go home after 7 pm. To have no supermarket in your town. (Tina eats from the combini everyday). To have no restaurants in your town. (When we visited Daigo we were looking for a restaurant to eat at 7.30 pm. My mouth dropped open in shock to hear the man say that it would be difficult to find a restaurant open at THIS time of night!!). It is like a different world, the countryside of Japan – is English countryside as remote, and out-there as this?? I`m not so sure.

We were starving, and after driving around in car full of hungry JETs I was thinking that the combini was our only option. There was a the whole issue of the last train to contend with so some people didn`t get any supper that night. For, those of us who were staying in the hotel we did eventually find one open okonomiyake restaurant. Of course, full of people (being the only one open in the town at this late hour of 8pm). Thwarted, we were there, because too many of us, and they couldn’t possibly deal with us as it was just TOO LATE.
Evetually we did find a place. Moody and hungry we crowded in and eventually got fed. I was certainly frustrated with the Inaka life. Lovely to visit, beautiful mountains, fantastic onsen, waterfall. But, what a nightmare to live there!! I was happy to come back to my less pretty, urban, industrial, sprawling town.