I came to Oita as an Assistant English Teacher (AET) on the Japan Exchange in Teaching Program (JET Program) in 1988. I knew that I was going to work at a school called Oita Technical High School (大分工業高校) and another place called the Oita Education Center (大分教育センター). The English teachers at the high school had already found an apartment for me. It was in a cute white building on a hill. It had two stories (２階健). On the first floor (１階) was a kindergarten. On the second floor, there were several apartments.
I had to walk past the kindergarten's outside play area to get to the stairs that went up to my apartment. There were often many children playing there. Whenever I walked past the children, they all stopped playing, grew silent, and stared (じっと見る) at me. It was as if a space alien had suddenly appeared. Then they always started shouting, “Haro! Haro, Gaijin-san! Gaijin-san!!!! Haro!!!!!” They were very cute, but I had never had so much attention （注目) before in my life. That was 34 years ago, so those little children must be middle-aged (中高年) now.
In my apartment, there was a 6 tatami mat room, a small hallway with a kitchen sink and one electric burner to cook on. Directly across from the hallway kitchen, there was a unit bath, with a toilet, sink, and shower/bath. The apartment was so, so tiny! But I loved it! It was new and clean and cute. There was a balcony (ベランだ) with a space for a washing machine. I was so happy to have my own place to live in Japan!
That was the beginning of my new adventure.