Orientation

[sandy]

Hey guys

I wanted to know a few things about orientation. Apparently we arnt allowed to take our suitcases with us to our hotel in Tokyo. We have to send them to our designated prefectures upon arrival at Narita airport. I was suggested to take whatever I need for those few days of Tokyo orientation with me in my carry on. What about all the things you're not allowed to have in your carry on but you need in Tokyo like your toothpaste, shampoo, face cream etc? Will you be given the opportunity to take whatever you need out of your suitcase to put into your carry on before they ship it or how does it work?

Also apparently you have to pay for the orientation in your designated prefecture/city upon arrival and then only get reimbursed later by the BOE? How much does this usually cost?

How much did you guys find yourself spending in Tokyo and on what?

Any other JETs that want to know anything about the Tokyo orientation and their city orientation.. the stage is yours.. =)

[Mothy]

My memories of orientation are a bit of a blur but as best as I can remember...

Yes we were briefly reunited with our things, so you should be able to grab some things from your bag.

Pay for the orientation? If this is the case it must be new. I sure didn't pay any orientation money.

What you spend in Tokyo will be almost entirely up to you. It seems like there was a few meals provided. I have a memory of sitting with other JETs at the hotel eating. But I also remember going out and buying my own meals as well... So maybe there was a special welcome meal and then we were on our own? Or lunches were provided but we were on our own for dinner? Really hazy memories on the meals. But I imagine you'll want to go out into the city and have some eats a few times. If you drink I imagine you'll find someone to have some drinks with as well. So it really just depends on what you like. For a decent meal you're talking 500 yen and up.

[sine_qua_non]

My memory is blurry, too. I feel like breakfast was provided, possibly lunch (not sure on that), but definitely not dinner. How much you spend depends on what you do. I didn't do much beyond hang out in my room trying to recover from the jet lag, but some people went out on the town. You probably won't have a GREAT deal of time to be sight-seeing or anything, but you may do some stuff so you'll want some money.

As far as the luggage... are you sure you're not allowed to take a suitcase? From what I recall, you're technically allowed to bring one large suitcase and one carry-on to the hotel, but they highly encouraged you to stick with a carry-on. I did and it actually became quite a pain. It's hot, and carrying a heavy bag around is a lot more annoying than a rolling one. Plus, you'll get a lot of crap at orientation you may or may not want to keep. On top of that, you're supposed to pack clothes not only for the several days you're in Tokyo, but also for a few days after just in case your other luggage takes awhile to get to your placement (most of the time it'll arrive before you though). In short, they're asking you to take a lot of stuff in a tiny space. This is just me personally, but if I had the chance again, I would have probably taken the smaller of my large rolling suitcases for orientation + laptop (free interwebs in the hotel, if I recall) and shipped everything else instead of trying to cram things into my carry-on and having to carry it on my shoulder all over the place.

Also keep in mind, though, that you'll probably be sharing your hotel room with two other people, so it's not especially roomy. They will also provide some shipping labels and such so if you need to mail anything from the hotel (very easy to do) you can.

I don't remember having to pay anything for orientation. In fact, I'm sure I didn't. Ask your CO about that, though, as it's likely another ESID thing.

[JackAttack]

Hey guys

I wanted to know a few things about orientation. Apparently we arnt allowed to take our suitcases with us to our hotel in Tokyo. We have to send them to our designated prefectures upon arrival at Narita airport. I was suggested to take whatever I need for those few days of Tokyo orientation with me in my carry on. What about all the things you're not allowed to have in your carry on but you need in Tokyo like your toothpaste, shampoo, face cream etc? Will you be given the opportunity to take whatever you need out of your suitcase to put into your carry on before they ship it or how does it work?

Umm... I was allowed to bring one checked bag to the hotel with me along with my carry-on. I sent my other checked bag from Narita and once at the hotel, on my last night I sent my other checked bag ahead of me (most prefectures offer this service I think). Who told you that you can only have your carry-on?!

Also apparently you have to pay for the orientation in your designated prefecture/city upon arrival and then only get reimbursed later by the BOE? How much does this usually cost?

Kinda. I had to pay this sometime in October, I think, and was reimbursed by the BoE later. I forget how much it was. I think it was about $300? Can't remember....

How much did you guys find yourself spending in Tokyo and on what?

Not much because if I wasn't in the orientation, I was sleeping.

Oh and breakfast (complete with french fries!) and vegan lunch are provided, but technically not dinner. There was some kind of welcome party thingy with food one night and a prefecture night for dinner the next.

[SuperZan]

My memory pretty much matched with Jack Attack. One checked bag was taken at the airport, leaving you to go the hotel with your other bag and your hand luggage. The night before you leave the hotel you have to take your bag to a room in the hotel and they'll ship it to your prefecture so you don't have luggage on the shink/however you're getting to the prefecture, leaving you with a handbag/backpack/whatever for the train. It kind of sucked because people from the UK only get 20kg total, so splitting it into other bags meant I lost some of the weight to the cases themselves when I would have preferred to have it all in one bag.

A word of warning, when they say 'bring your bag to us for shipping by XYZ time', they're really strict about it! I was closing up my bag in my room to send it and it split, meaning I had to go downstairs to the lobby, borrow some gaffa tape, and literally wrap my bag up in it so it didn't come open. Because of the delay I go to the room by 18:30 (the deadline) but wasn't at the front of the queue so they tried to refuse top ship it because I was late, even though the pile of bags was directly behind him and they were just starting to fill the big container with them. At this point I was running on very little sleep and quite stressed out from spending 20 minutes running round trying to find a way to piece my bag back together, and literally had to burst into tears for them to let me ship it.

I never had to pay for the orientation, that must depend on the BOE. Be aware that reimbursment might take a while? There's usually some red tape to fight through, but I have no experience with this so couldn't give you an estimate.

[Latrine]

My school gave me a bill for Tokyo O too and I politely (but firmly) refused to pay it saying that the BOE was supposed to cover it. They took the bill back and I never saw it again. The only thing you should have to pay for is the cost of shipping your luggage (which will be < ￥5000). So yeah, you can refuse to pay for Tokyo O. Really, if the BOE is going to end up "reimbursing" you anyway, why should you be out that money for any length of time in the first place?

[mrfahrenheit]

My school gave me a bill for Tokyo O too and I politely (but firmly) refused to pay it saying that the BOE was supposed to cover it. They took the bill back and I never saw it again. The only thing you should have to pay for is the cost of shipping your luggage (which will be < ￥5000). So yeah, you can refuse to pay for Tokyo O. Really, if the BOE is going to end up "reimbursing" you anyway, why should you be out that money for any length of time in the first place?

A bill for Tokyo orientation? Was it like, the cost of your room in the hotel or something?

I'll definitely use your approach if they come at me with a bill like that, haha.

[Tarquin]

Hey guys
I wanted to know a few things about orientation. Apparently we arnt allowed to take our suitcases with us to our hotel in Tokyo. We have to send them to our designated prefectures upon arrival at Narita airport. I was suggested to take whatever I need for those few days of Tokyo orientation with me in my carry on. What about all the things you're not allowed to have in your carry on but you need in Tokyo like your toothpaste, shampoo, face cream etc? Will you be given the opportunity to take whatever you need out of your suitcase to put into your carry on before they ship it or how does it work?

You get your bags back at the airport, then you send your large luggage to your prefecture. I had one medium sized case and one cabin sized case which I checked in, I took the cabin bag with me (along with my carry-on stuff) and posted the suitcase to my prefecture.

Note that domestic flights in Japan have a weight limit of 15KGs for checked bags so if you're flying to your prefecture you'll need to allow for this. You get given a lot of crap in Tokyo, just ditch as much as you feel you can.

The hotel will have toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo and towels etc. (if you don't mind using the crappy disposable toothbrushes for a day or two)

Also apparently you have to pay for the orientation in your designated prefecture/city upon arrival and then only get reimbursed later by the BOE? How much does this usually cost?

ESID, I didn't have to do anything, but then other people received extra cash in their first paycheck and had to use that to pay for the orientation. The bill will be for the hotel and your transportation to your prefecture. your Contracting Organisation WILL pay it, as it's in the contract, however how they go about this is up to them.

How much did you guys find yourself spending in Tokyo and on what?

The evenings are yours to do with as you wish, I went and partied with old friends when I arrived, had a prefecture night out the next, and a British embassy event thing the other. I can guarantee one night your prefecture will have some sort of event, be it just dinner or whatever. Can't remember how much I spent, I would budget 30,000 for the Orientation period though. that's more than enough but better to be safe than sorry.

[psychohistoric]

A bill for Tokyo orientation? Was it like, the cost of your room in the hotel or something?

I'll definitely use your approach if they come at me with a bill like that, haha.

Just a heads up, many BoEs (almost all in fact) run business trips on a reimbursement system; you pay first and they pay you back. It's how the accounting is managed. TO is tricky because you can't really pay beforehand because you're not employed yet. Asking JETs to pay first only to be reimbursed later is a (admittedly bizarre) round about way of adhering to the rule and making the paperwork look normal. Refusing to pay is not possible in some cases, and if you try to do that with a lot of BoEs there's a good chance of pissing off someone in your office. Could be starting you off on the wrong foot at your work place. If you straight up don't have the money at first that's one thing, you can negotiate with that, but flat refusal wouldn't be my recommended course of action.

[mrfahrenheit]

I'm not sure I work for a BOE. I'm prefectural. I don't really know who I work for. The prefecture? My school? idk.

But I'll tread lightly. I don't want to be out a few hundred dollars (assuming the bill is above 10,000en, I don't even know what sort of costs they charge you for)...if I don't have to be. My apartment is going to be bare bones and I already know I'm going to need all the yennies I can get to buy necessities for the first month or two + the three months worth of rent they want up front.

[psychohistoric]

Unless you're a CIR you'll work for a BoE. You're prefectural, so it'll be the prefectural BoE. I understand that the up front cost can be a bit daunting (Keio Hotel and a flight to Kumamoto is roughly 65,000 yen), but our prefectural JETs do not have the option of opting out of payment. Like I said, if you simply do not have the money they will probably work with you to find a solution. I just wanted to point out that the previous suggestion of politely saying no may not be applicable to everyone's situation.

[mrfahrenheit]

I got ya. ty for your help.

[Latrine]

I'm not sure I work for a BOE. I'm prefectural. I don't really know who I work for. The prefecture? My school? idk.

But I'll tread lightly. I don't want to be out a few hundred dollars (assuming the bill is above 10,000en, I don't even know what sort of costs they charge you for)...if I don't have to be. My apartment is going to be bare bones and I already know I'm going to need all the yennies I can get to buy necessities for the first month or two + the three months worth of rent they want up front.

My bill was around $400 for the Keio and cost of the Shinkansen. If you're worried about pissing someone off, my advice is to cry poor and let them deal with the paperwork. The reimbursement system is bullshit anyway since you have no guarantee of WHEN they will pay you. In my case I didn't have the money anyway so it was a non-issue.

[krampus]

My Tokyo Orientation bill was ￥60,000 or thereabouts but I am in Kyushu.

You are allowed I believe one carry on and one checked bag, but you'd honestly have to be a bit stupid to bring that much stuff for 3 days. Depending on what you want to do you can spend any amount of money in Tokyo. Unless you're too jet lagged to party which I doubt many people are, you'll probably go out to dinner and drinks and maybe karaoke with random strangers you won't meet again. I went shopping for clothes and took walks and drank overpriced coffee and didn't pinch pennies, and I'm glad that's how it went.

Pack the stuff you'll want in your carry-on originally. I used my carry-on as my Tokyo bag, with a suit and some play clothes and my necessities, and put the "reserve" stuff in my checked bags.