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If you are happy to buy clothes here, then bear this advice in mind (and note this advice is from female JETs, not me! What would I know?) - you may find serious difficulties finding sizes to fit in Japan. Tokyo may be able to supply larger sizes, but Kitakyushu is not Tokyo by any means. Either face buying men's jeans here, buy them mail order from abroad, or get them from home. This includes trousers, underwear, and shoes (anything over 23cm will be a problem - that's about a size 6 US/CAN or 4½ UK/NZ). Speaking of which, you may have heard that staff and students wear different shoes inside schools. If finding a size won't be a problem, then my advice would be to buy them when you get here; you've got a month before school anyway. Don't bring too many business clothes for school - several of us tried to be business-like at first, but it just didn't work. You only have a few ceremonies throughout the year where you'll need a suit, so probably one suit will see you through. At school the smartest you might need is a shirt and tie, and usually the dress code is well below (Japanese teachers are particularly fond of tracksuits).
Teaching materials
The advice regarding this topic is easy: don't bring any. You'll be laden down with so many lesson idea books, workshop handouts, and textbooks etc. once you arrive that you really don't need to bring any with you. Should you find that you need extra teaching materials later in the year, these can be found at any bookshop. Having said that, you probably will find it useful to bring anything illustrative about your home town or culture. Things you'll probably wish you'd brought more of include; stamps, coins, maps, pictures, photos (family, house, famous people), badges, stickers (especially of your flag), souvenir pencils. It goes without saying that you should bring your national flag or students will believe you're really from America for all eternity! Some pictures of favourite or national foods are especially useful for non-Americans (and we're particularly looking at Brits; well... you try explaining a typical British meal to a cold fish eater!). Regarding the infamous tradition of omiyage gifts - by all means bring some, but you'll want to confine it to only the people who are angelically helpful to you, or you'll find yourself handing them out left, right and centre! Possibly the best advice we can give you about teaching is not to worry about it - you've got a long time before you'll need to think about it.
Free time
Well this topic isn't quite so simple as the previous one. Let's start with the helpful comment "bring stuff to do". As an example, just look at me - I've got so much that I've found time to create this homepage. Surely way too much!! Our number one complaint is boredom at school, so you'll have to be imaginative to keep yourself entertained. Books can be found in English at several bookstores or the International Centre's library, and many ALTs here have subscriptions to the Daily Yomiuri newspaper too. Of course there is the Japanese study option, but this does get a little boring. Probably every JET here joined a local video store during their first month here, and these can be rented cheaply, although the range may not be wonderfully expansive if you're into non-English directors. Of course don't bring any with you if you're British - there are ways of converting video to be compatible with Japanese systems (the International Centre has a converter), but they are complicated. One major past-time of numerous JETs here is e-mailing or internet browsing, and if you are considering bringing a computer to Kitakyushu you might find it useful to read the short guide to computing matters.
Final things to do before you leave (maybe?)
Grab an international driver's licence - you never know when you might need one.
Get a check-up with your dentist - because preventative dental treatment isn't covered by our insurance.
Stock up on frightening passport photos - you'll need at least 3 soon after you get to Kitakyushu for paperwork, and photo booths are surprisingly hard to find here!
Drop us a line in the guestbook - and let us know whether this homepage was of any use to you at all, or anything we haven't covered. Please! Admittedly this isn't too urgent, but we can always hope...
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