IwanaitilIdie

I'll get into 'cultural learnings' and proper first impressions another day, but the first thing to realise when you reach Japan: it's really not as scary to navigate as you might think.

My trip from London looked something like this: fourteen hours flying to Singapore, six hours to Tokyo Haneda, two hours to New Chitose, an airport express train and just shy of three hours on a bus. Plus about seven hours of transfers tying it all together. It's a long journey, and by the time I hit Japan 'proper' my brain was pretty fried. But a few things will save the first-time visitor. Firstly, almost everything's double signposted in Japanese and English, and not just in airports. Secondly, the Japanese bloody love an infographic map. Look around a bit and you'll find one almost everywhere from shopping centres to temples. The only time I felt really lost and nearly panicked was at Sapporo bus station, but one handy wall map (and helpful ticket counter lady) later I was on the right track. It seems obvious but the onrushing kanji and kawaii can be pretty overwhelming and hard to look past in the post-flight haze of cheap Singapore Airlines red wine.

Useful phrases to practice before you even get off the plane:

'Konichiwa' - It's rude not to say hello wherever you are.

'Arigato' - Because Japanese people love being thanked more than anyone.

'Sumimasen' - The Willy Wonka Golden Ticket of tourist lingo. It's an all-purpose 'excuse me/please help/pardon me/I'm sorry I trod on your toes'. Say this to any passing attendant or driver and they'll (usually) feel compelled to help in any way they can.

So we're here. After months of waiting we've arrived. Where the fuck am I? Iwanai. Google tells me it's a town of about 14,000 people, a port town in the north-west of Japan's northern island Hokkaido, a land of bears, sushi and whiskey. I grew up on the north Essex coast so I immediately feel at home with the overall look - it's a town with plenty of bars, a few restaurants, one or two kitsch tourist attractions and a lot of fairly bleak, shuttered, industrial-looking buildings. Grey, crashing sea to one side and rolling mountains surrounding the bay. It's a snow town, so of course I chose to come here in the warm season.

I picked Iwanai for a few reasons. Primarily because I think if you're going to travel to a country like Japan for a long stay there's no use sticking to the cities. Go off the grid, be the unlikely visitor. Also because the Workaway advert appealed. I'll be living with an American guy called Danny, we chatted a bit online before I left and it sounded like a good set up. Fair work for a room to sleep in and a fridge to put beer in.

This is home for September.

This is our motley crew. Danny (USA), Jonas (German), John (USA), me, Pieter (Belgian), Josh and Lara (German). Although due to a Japanese clerical error Lara will forever be 'Rara'.

Not pictured: Danny's girlfriend Saya and John's wife Aki.

Plus Kombou the dog, an integral member of the team.

And this is what we call 'The Hutte'. It's a beast of a project, stripping out and renovating a hardly used building to make a ski lodge. The photo is just the main room, there's an upstairs bar, offices, areas that'll become ski-hire shops. John and Danny are aiming to make a new destination resort, trying to steer some trade away from the foreigner-saturated pistes at nearby Niseko. A lot of work had already been done but it'll be a month of painting ceilings, sanding down woodwork and laying concrete to get the skeleton ready for tarting up. Better get to it.

#travel #japan #Workaway #iwanai #hokkaido