What is Tokyo orientation like for CIRs？

Some things like the big opening speeches and regional meetings are together, but most of the job-related training is separate. If it's the same as it has been in years past, the CIRs are up on a higher floor for most of the day doing lots of workshops and getting lots of paper.

I attended in 2014, ad there were 翻訳・通訳・ビジネスマナー講座s, including a seminar to help you answer phones in a Japanese office, how to aisatsu, as well as - if I recall correctly - a panel discussion/Q&A session by existing CIRs?
As others mentioned above, the views were fantastic, especially from the bathroom.

Then there was me, who ran out of the 2nd session and then missed the entire afternoon of the first day due to Jet-Lag related nausea.

Also I dunno if I would say Mid-Year Chaos was useful...

Oh. I feel like I got pretty much nothing out of Mid-Year Chaos, except maybe some good interpreting advice from the ERAI HITO NO TAIOU presentation, but even then I only do interpretation like 3 times a year ._.

And there was absolutely NOTHING on events which is what I do the most of.

it was worth it for the bants.

I think I was actually in a worse state during Mid-Year Chaos from staying up until 2:00 am both nights than from jetlag.

The difference between TO and Mid-Year Chaos is that you will have a better grasp of what might be useful for your personal workplace come November.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, maybe try to talk to the people giving presentations, especially if they are CIRs, afterwards.

I liked TO a lot more than Mid-Year Chaos. I had just arrived and was absolutely exhausted at all times from trying to understand all of the Japanese, but I felt like I learned a lot. Almost all of the sessions were really good imo (Group A 2015). Mid-Year Chaos last year was just...boring and kinda pointless aside from getting to hang out with the other CIRs. The only sessions I felt were useful were the ones conducted by that group The Management Center (they did a session at my TO as well that I liked).

Anyway, you might be a bit overwhelmed at TO, but just try to get enough sleep and learn as much as you can. Totally agree with quail that you shouldn't compare yourself to other people, also. Everyone is at different levels of Japanese skill (and general being alive, considering the jet lag), but it mostly evens out after a couple months on the job.

Also: you will be taught keigo 1238127489 times. You will still probably eff up the keigo when you get to work at first. This is normal.

The only real reason for having Mid-Year Chaos in the first place.

Except that sweet lecture on how to use powerpoint effectively.  Probably one of the best lectures I have ever seen.

Also, this may seem very obvious, but all sessions for CIRs only are held entirely in Japanese. (It's our common language as 非英語圏 CIRs are also there.) The joint sessions with ALTs (the opening ceremony, your prefecture/designated city meeting) are bilingual or entirely in English.

When I was at my own TO, I wasn't necessarily surprised by this, but my state of jetlag would've impeded my language processing in any language, so I definitely felt overwhelmed most of the time I was there. I did think a good chunk of the training was helpful and relevant to my placement, especially the parts where I could talk with current/former CIRs. (My TO was back in 2013 where there were still current JETs as orientation assistants, but the PCs and the CIRs on the panel should still be around to talk with you if you'd like!) I appreciated being taught ビジネスマナー and 通訳 stuff a gazillion times, mostly so I could use the reference materials they passed out later to actually study since my state of jetlag made it so that hardly anything was sinking in.

I confess that I missed one of the sessions because I felt nauseated and accidentally fell asleep in my room during a break time. But I really needed that nap; I was able to get through the rest of the day okay. I'd say go to as many sessions as possible (ideally all of them), but if you're feeling really ill/exhausted, have a short nap. (If you can get in contact with your pred and they tell you what kinds of things are relevant for your placement, try to plan your emergency nap for a session that won't be as relevant to your work. ...I mean my own emergency nap was entirely unplanned buuuuuuuut.)

Also, being a CIR and a smoker was quite hard, because you would have to get down to the outside of the hotel in the limited time between sessions.

This thread has got me pretty excited.

Thanks  

I am trying to take advantage of seeing family and hulemdos, and more importantly using my oven, as much as possible. 

Thanks for all the information! Are the TO and Mid-Year Chaos the only times we will get information or seminars with interpreting and translating? Or will there be other resources for us? The more time passes, the more I question my abilities now, while waiting for the placement.