Tsushima （対馬）

"We have just learned from Tokyo the area to which you have been assigned. We are pleased to inform you that your assignment and Contracting Organization will be Nagasaki-ken, Tushima-shi ("ken" and "fu" mean prefecture, "shi" means city, "cho" and "machi" mean town, "mura" and "son" mean village)."
--official placement letter from JET, 5/16/06

So. What's this random island called Tsushima all about? First off, a few clarifications. Yes, in the letter, the city is spelled "Tushima" and i generally spell it "Tsushima." Romanization is a tricky thing, so both spellings work. Second, people tend to assume that the word "island" is in the Japanese kanji. That's incorrect. Tsushima's kanji is 対馬 , which breaks down to Tsushi-ma (and not Tsu-shima).

Next, what's the island like? Since I've never been there, I can't tell you. But, from what i've been reading, it's 89% mountains and forests (which i must say, totally enhanced my sense of indignance when i first learned about my placement). Its closest big cities are Pusan in South Korea, and Fukuoka on Kyushu (see a map here: http://www.city.tsushima.nagasaki.jp/foreign/where/english.html). Luckily, I'll be living in Izuhara　（厳原）, which is the southern part of the island and also where one of 2 ports that has ferries and jetfoils heading towards Fukuoka are located. Taking a ferry to Fukuoka is at least 3hrs and 40mins (4.5 hours is there's a stopover at Iki, another island just off the northern coast of Kyushu). By jetfoil, it's just under 2 hours. There's an airport on Tsushima, and it flies out to either Nagasaki-city or Fukuoka. Both flights are only a half hour. As you can guess, though, there are significant jumps in price. The cheapest ferry one-way is already ~$35. The cheapest flight is i think around $73 and upwards of about $100 (i can't really read what the Japanese says, so i may have just made that up). Jetfoil prices are in between airplanes and ferries. I figure 1) prices are so inhibiting that I'll have to stay on the island and get to know the people there, or 2) i'll be desperate to get off and go broke in the process. Meh. We'll see. If you stumble upon someone begging on the streets of Fukuoka for money so she can afford to go back to Tsushima, stop by. Say hi! (btw, all those prices i listed above i pulled off of this website (japanese): http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~kurose/access1.htm)

Temperature-wise, the average summer daytime is about 30 C, or 86 F. Nighttime averages at about 25 C (77 F). And of course, it's humid as all hell. During the winter, daytime is around 5 C (41 F) and nighttime is about 0 C (32 F). Did i mention there's no insulation in Japanese homes (unless you live in Hokkaido, the northernmost island)? Well, there's not. And did i also mention i was born and raised and still am in the Bay Area, hence i've never really experienced the cold? Yes. Tsushima looks like fun, fun, fun ;D

Tsushima also has a population of about 40,000 people (a little less than San Bruno). For my particular situation, i'll be teaching at 11 elementary schools and 4 junior highs as an Assistant Language Teacher. In other words, if i come back after a year and speak in English to you at a relatively slow pace, remember that i'm not trying to patronize you, so please refrain from slapping me right away. ok? thanks=)

Let's see. What else... I can apparently ferry to Korea, but i haven't looked into that yet. oh yeah -- Tsushima is a fishing community, and it looks like my diet is going to be a lot of fish and squid. fish i'm not so crazy about, but squid i like. They also have something called the "Tsushima Yama-neko", or Tsushima Leopard Cat. This cat apparently can only be found in Tsushima, Korea, or China, so the Japanese go to Tsushima to see it. Honestly, it doesn't look all that exciting to me (sort of reminds me of a lynx).


That's about all I can say about my future home / island paradise / island exile. Here are a few more websites in case you're interested:
* The official website of the city (in Japanese, but it's worth it to watch the flash animation on the front page with the pictures): http://www.city.tsushima.nagasaki.jp/index.php
* If you can't read Japanese or just don't feel like it, check out the wikipedia page (looks like it's basically translated from the city website): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsushima%2C_Nagasaki
* An excellent page in English on how to get there, the geography... and it even comes with a map: http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/%7Ejoujou/ec-01-access1.htm

Ja, ne!

-- evelyn