Your first month on the job starts basically the day after you arrive. Don't stress out though, because you are put-up in one of the nicest
hotels in town, and surrounded by hundreds of people in the exact same situation as you: feeling overwhelmed and excited, and ready to
take on Tokyo! It's an incredible experience! Everything at the orientation is taken care of for you, so you can just concentrate on
"getting oriented" and having a good time with your new life in the Land of the Rising Sun.
This is what to expect: when you arrive in Tokyo, you'll be whisked through customs, dazzled by hundreds of renewing JETs wearing zany colored T-shirts, shouting words of welcome, and hopefully pointing you in the right direction. Eventually you'll make it to an area lined with bus after bus waiting to take you to the hotel. At this point you'll give up the majority of your luggage, which will be forwarded to our office. The bag you keep is your life-support until you arrive in Nagoya where you are reunited with the things you sent ahead. You keep one suitcase, bag, whatever, for the Tokyo orientation. All you need is enough stuff to get through three days of meetings and your trip to Nagoya on the last day. You'll then board a bus and after about two hours, arrive at the hotel. The hotel is well air-conditioned, but the streets aren't. For speeches and workshops you're expected to look respectable, so bring some "grown-up" clothes. There's a huge welcome party on the second evening -- you'll need something a bit on the dressy side for that. Also, pack some cool, casual wear for those nights on the town and to wear on the bullet train on Wednesday. Send the rest from Narita! You'll find the less you bring, the easier travel will be the final day.
The next few days are filled with speeches and workshops given by renewing JETs, CLAIR representatives, and other governmental ministries. One night is "Embassy Night", which you may wish to attend (unless you're American, since the Americans make up more than half of all JETs, there are unfortunately too many for an embassy to handle). If you're an Aussie however, definitely go, it's the last BBQ and VB you'll have for a while. If you are British: free drinks. They also gave a Taiko (drum) demonstration last year, which was excellent.
On the last day, we depart for Nagoya on the Shinkansen (bullet train). After arriving at the Kyouikukan, you will drop off the things you brought down from Tokyo and go to a nearby restaurant for a "Welcome to Nagoya" lunch with our supervisors and some other JETs. After that, it's back to the Kyouikukan to meet your host family. You'll go into a room to be adopted by your new host family, who are usually more scared than you. After introductions and a photo-op or two, they'll cart you off to their homes. You'll feel like a lost puppy going home from the local pound, but it's all good, and definitely a good way to help get acquainted with Japan.