Continued

My brother and I left Hokkaido for Tokyo, where there was a lot to see. We never made it to Akihabara, the world capital of awkward and mildly unnerving shops, but we got to Odaiba, an artificial island that was home for the temporary exhibition of the life-size Gundam, an 18 meter tall statue with a movable head and light-up capabilities. There were a lot of grown men who came to the site and repeatedly remarked about how awesome it was. We also traveled very close to the location of the school I did study abroad at in order to go watch a baseball game. The game was enjoyable, though as it was about to end, I did something rather unsavory yet entertaining in the end. There was a group of businessmen sitting in front of us, and they were all very drunkenly cheering. I began to explain the dynamics of the group as I perceived it to my brother. I think he thought they were related in some way. I mentioned that they sat down according to hierarchy, with the highest guy at one end and the youngest, newest guy at the other. The two higher-ups conversed the whole time and paid for all the drinks, while the younger guys generally kept to themselves. As I explained, I (also a bit intoxicated) did not hesitate to speak in loud English and point directly to the men's faces. One eventually noticed and asked me a couple questions about my country of origin and so forth. I answered, and my brother mentioned something about it being embarrassing that I had just been caught pointing right at them. I laughed it off and mentioned that I could probably get them to buy me a drink quite easily. This was never my actual intent, just a cultural observation that I thought was fairly true. The men initiated conversation yet again, and I mentioned that I studied abroad in the area and considered myself a fan of the home team. They lauded me, shouted a few words at their superior, and within a couple minutes, a fresh drink was in my hands. After the game ended in a disappointing 9th inning come-from-behind (there is a single Japanese word to express this, which is convenient) loss, we wandered outside. We walked through the parking lot and passed the best exit. I spotted a path that would take us out and started heading in that direction, but my brother wasn't having it. There were other people going there, but it was in reality a dark path leading into a group of trees. In no way did it appear to lead somewhere good. I got annoyed because I claimed to know the area well (read: alcohol) and we eventually got back to where we should have gone. Sorry about that.

After that, we went to Kansai, a region that includes Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kobe, and other important spots. We hit Kobe while on our way out of the region just to see a few things. For example, there is an area of the harbor left in the same state it was after the Kanto earthquake. We also had a small discussion about the potential differences between Kobe beef and Japanese beef. I still believe that the American concept of "Kobe beef" is really just Japanese beef that we decided to stamp a particular city name on. Kobe beef is indeed slightly famous, but not very. Similarly, there is a restaurant in my American hometown that advertises Kumamoto oysters. Kumamoto is just north of Kagoshima, and they are famous for horse meat, not oysters. Hiroshima is famous for oysters. Osaka was really nothing particularly notable when compared to Tokyo. I found it to be much like any other big city. Nara is a sort of miniature Kyoto. It is a short distance from Kyoto, the most famous city in Japan for viewing temples. But it also houses a lot of temples and shrines that make for a good day trip. It also has the deer park. In Nara and a few other places in Japan, there are wild, tame deer that roam free in the city but typically do not wander very far. They are encouraged to stay by the tourists that buy food for them on a daily basis. When they spot you, however, they get somewhat violent. They immediately recognize the food you are carrying to be rice crackers specially formulated for deer and helpful for urinary tract health. The last part may not be accurate. Either way, they come at you and bump you with their heads. The females come off as merely impatient and unfriendly, whereas the males with antlers are frightening. They can easily achieve the perfect swinging angle to ram you in the crotch, so the crackers quickly turn from food into bait. I had to throw well-timed crackers away from me in order to make them leave. Fortunately, after you run out, showing them your empty hands calms them down, and they go back to pooping everywhere. Kyoto is Kyoto. It has temples. I went to Kiyomizu-dera for the first time and wrote an ema, which is a wooden tablet that you write a wish on and has a picture of some animal on the back (originally a horse).

I'm doing all of this writing while at work, so I will do it in little installments over the next while. There's a lot to catch up on. As for current little news: I hit my first thing in my car! I was doing a three-point turn hurriedly to let a guy into a parking lot and misjudged the distance between my front tire and a wooden sign post. I pulled the thing down and had to straighten it, but it was easy and there was no damage to the car. The post had a little chunk missing. Oh well. I learned that I should take my time no matter what and also trust myself when I'm thinking, "Hey, I'm probably gonna hit that." Bye, America!

Hey, America. You Still There?

To be quite frank, it's hard for me to know where to begin. A full season has passed since I last wrote anything here, and while a lot has stayed the same, a lot has changed, too. In this post, I plan to cover the experiences I've had over the last several months, my progress in cultural and language learning, and any quirky tidbits I feel like sharing along the way. I can't be sure that my prose was ever eloquent, but if it was, it has certainly lost that touch. I have not been writing much at all in English, and my English speaking isn't particularly common either. I will do my best to keep this entertaining.

Let's start at the beginning, where I left off: July. At the end of July, my brother came to visit for three weeks and we spent a very interesting time together. The dynamic of the vacation was fundamentally different than any other I had been on in the past. There were moments of good fortune, getting lost, delicious food, and mild anger. First of all, spending three consecutive weeks with only one person would, I imagine, start to wear on one's patience. That said, I guess I'm not really cut out for marriage. Right now, that's definitely true. I can't fathom how I would react if my girlfriend moved in with me. Anyway, it was probably worse from my brother's perspective. I had the option of talking to random people if I really wanted to, whereas he had to typically depend on me for translation. So if I pissed him off enough, that would have gotten weird. Fortunately, those moments were limited. There was stubbornness at some point almost daily, but I chalk that up to our being siblings and possibly my being younger. The main issues came up when I was trying to get us to our next destination and didn't know exactly how to do so. I'm familiar with Japan as a whole, but I was also traveling to most locations for the first time. Kagoshima and Tokyo were more comfortable, as I trusted myself to not get lost. However, I felt responsible for the trip's success or failure, so when my interpretation of street signs or maps or what to anticipate around the next corner wasn't clear, it was time to resort to other people or a guide book. And I confess that it hurt me a little inside to concede to the advice of a guide book. After I recovered my pride, we had a good time everywhere. The worst moments were when we were lost and hungry. We did manage to walk around Osaka streets for over an hour while searching for a hotel extremely tired and hungry and carrying suitcases, only to finally hail a taxi. I also booked a hotel in East Hiroshima, thinking that it was a short train ride from central Hiroshima (most cities are laid out in this way, having cardinal direction + city name as an indicator for nearby areas). It was a very, very isolated area. In fact, there was a free shuttle service provided by the hotel because without a car, there was absolutely nothing to do. I asked the woman in the lobby (what do you call them?! I forget English!) about tourism, and she just kind of smirked and said, "Nah, not around here."

Oh, right, so the content of the trip? Unbelievably, it wasn't all getting lost and stubborn. We started out with a few days in Kagoshima, mainly because it's in the countryside and can demonstrate a lot of what Japan has to offer. There's a city of decent proportions, but not far away are rice fields extending to the horizon (which is separated into two words in Japanese: one meaning land horizon and one meaning land horizon. Learned that last night). I was able to bring us to some of the more interesting spots, like the sand baths in Ibusuki. These are a variation on the more traditional hot springs baths in Japan. Hot springs are often heated with a combination of modern technology and geothermal heat, but I believe that these use more of the former. A hole is dug for you in the sand of a beach, you climb in and are covered up to your neck in heavy sand. You can feel your pulse throb in your extremities, and it is a very unusual but therapeutic feeling.

After Kagoshima, we went to Miyazaki to the north to check out some ancient burial mounds. I was unaware that these were not used only in Mesopotamian civilizations. In the evening, we went to Kumamoto and tried to find some good dinner. Before doing that, we stopped at some famous sites, including some good temples and shrines. Our luck was good, as a seemingly popular summer festival was being held at one. It involved children carrying small portable shrines and being doused by the local equivalent of holy water. It was also raining very hard, so though it was redundant, it was interesting to see. The dinner in Kumamoto was a chance to showcase some famous food I knew a bit about: raw horse meat. It's like beef but a little chewier, and I was ready to share. Kumamoto is perhaps the most famous prefecture for the food, but the restaurant we went to served meat that came directly from my home prefecture, Kagoshima. Kind of a waste, but oh well. After Kumamoto, we headed up to Fukuoka and stopped at one of the country's best national history museums. The night was spent eating ramen, one of Fukuoka's specialties. All of Kyushu is known for its tonkotsu ramen, a ramen that uses a pork bone stock and turns out a very rich broth. It is easily my favorite style of ramen, though many others exist. If you've eaten Maruchan, a legitimate Japanese company, you need to forget about it and try real ramen. It's often a worthwhile meal and ideal as a soup substitute in winter.

We flew out of Kyushu for Hokkaido, which is the northernmost and coldest part of Japan. It was still midsummer, but wearing shorts and a T-shirt wasn't as obvious a choice as in Kyushu. We went to a massive national park and spent a few hours there on two consecutive days. First was a hike through the rain on foot. Second, we bucked up and paid the cable car fee to get near the top of the mountain in the center of the park. We were rewarded with some pretty splendid sights, many of which my brother has on his webpage dedicated to the trip. If I get his permission, I'll post the link to it here. We also had a crab dinner, which was slightly expensive and took a little compromising to have. Hokkaido's seafood is one of its best features, and I was pretty dead-set on eating crab. I dropped around $60 for a meal that is still fresh in my memory. Shabu-shabu, for those unfamiliar, is a meal where you are given a pot of broth brought to a rolling boil and then a plate full of vegetables and meat. You cook the food at your leisure and also choose just how raw you wish to consume it. I have eaten Hokkaido crab meat that was frozen. It's good. But when you pull a large chunk of raw meat out of a leg and plunge it into boiling broth for 10 seconds and then consume it immediately, the taste and consistency is unreal. It was likely the best meal I've had in Japan. Second best in taste wins first place in giving me food poisoning, unfortunately.

Wow, I'm definitely going to have to split this up. I've got four months to catch up on, and I haven't finished the first three weeks. Here's a synopsis up until November though: I got a car; pictures to follow. Talk to you soon, America!

Well, another postless month has passed, and I feel fairly guilty about that. At the same time, nobody left a comment on the last post, so I felt fairly confident that after the last hiatus, a number of people gave up on checking for updates.

So, I'm just going to put this short post up as a bit of an appeal. Like I mentioned before, life has become life here. That is, I've essentially stopped viewing this as a job I have away from home, as it has become my job and my home for the time being. It's increasingly difficult to view this as something separate from my life. That said, I really don't know what I can post that will be interesting. So please, please ask questions. I can respond in-depth to questions, but if I just draw from current events, my descriptions may end up kind of shallow.

I'm quickly approaching the end of my first year here, and the wonderful events have mixed with frustrations. There's plenty of positives that make life here worthwhile and rewarding, and there's plenty of things I will never become accustomed to. This has led me to begin questioning why I am here, especially in terms of the job that I have. Now that I have friends and a life outside of my job, what truly is the most important aspect of my life here? I've concluded that while I came here for the teaching job, it was more likely than not an opportunity for a gateway. I wanted to come back to Japan, and this program is clearly one of the best options for a college graduate. I work hard at school and will still stay late for the sake of the kids and do exactly that quite often. But still, I know that teaching high school is not my dream and that I am potentially building for my future here. It would be nice to achieve fluency in the language and let that open doors down the line for government jobs or something like that, but my hobbies like stand-up and writing just have too much of a pull. I like to tell stories, and my command of English is absoutely invaluable to me. The ability to express my ideas with carefully selected words, intonations, and timing is something I cherish. And even if I can become fluent, I have no delusions about being able to do the same in Japanese.

In the present, I am happy. Every day here is good, and there are plenty of moments with friends or even strangers that are truly quite touching. The humanity of people here is something that is sometimes almost baffling. The job security is solid, and I am able to pay off student loans and save money quite comfortably. But there's a nagging sensation that these benefits may lead me to procrastinate. After the next year here, I think I may be ready to come home. Even if I can't find a job easily and live with the same comforts as right now, time passes, and I am confident that I can only pursue my passions when I am back home. I yearn to sit at a table and tell a story to a group of smiling friends or family or to put a mic in my hand.

So that's that. If I think about the present, it's wonderful. But if I think about the future, I know what I have to do, and I just don't think Japan is there. That's fine. In the meantime, ask me questions.

Oh! My main school had the "culture festival" recently. This is a day where the students who will graduate this year get to be themselves and put on small, student-written performances. Each class has a homeroom teacher who gradually becomes their mentor and builds a relationship with them, so these teachers generally participate, too. Other teachers who just have a good sense of humor get in on it as well. Now, the students love the opportunity to get on stage and open their mouths for once in their high school careers, but this seems to translate into a massive desire for cross-dressing. The girls typically had subdued, tame roles in all the performances, whereas the boys got wigs, tights, and dresses and had a ball. Considering this is deemed the festival of culture, it's a little comical. There's a good chance that through the festival and this blog, they have successfully conveyed to my readers a perverted sense of what Japanese culture is. It was very interesting to see the students who most represent to me a diversion from the typical Japanese student. The performances were absolutely packed with choreographed dances, but this usually translates to a dozen or so girls standing on stage and moving their limbs in a very lifeless fashion. They are carrying out all the pre-determined dance moves, but it's done with no emotion whatsoever. Suddenly, in one dance, a few girls started busting out really impressive dance moves. One girl had a smile on her face the whole time, clearly enjoyed it, and moved around in a really fluid way. I don't intend to stereotype, but when I see this, I instantly think of such a girl as likely to not be very "Japanese". To have fun is human, but to let your inhibitions go on stage is something that I think Japanese have particular trouble training themselves to do. It's interesting to see students who break that mold.

Another moment I occasionally have here is when I suddenly enter a somewhat surreal state of mind and begin to see those around me simply as people. It sounds troubling to state that I might look at a Japanese person and first see them as Japanese and then second as a human, but that's something we can't readily control. We see someone and we instantly and unconsciously register things in our mind based on sight. But when I can dig through that and consider that no matter what food we eat or language we speak, we are all human and share certain common traits and desires, it's an interesting and profound feeling. It happened recently at karaoke, of all places:

I was at karaoke with a friend, my girlfriend, and her friend. Her friend was singing a song and my girlfriend was paying no attention to the screen. She was searching for a new song in the song book. But she was singing along to the song from memory. I suddenly began to think about how for me to know that song is a huge endeavor: I'd have to memorize it and hear it dozens of times to be able to recite it from memory. And even then it's just memory. I realized that she not only knows the song in a language I merely have a basic command of, but there also history, her childhood and upbringing, and cultural elements embedded in it that I will never know. The opposite is true as well: even if she became fluent in English, she wouldn't feel the same way as I do when singing "The Star Spangled Banner" from memory. And all of these differences between what I know and what she knows all arose simply because we were born in two different spots on the globe. It's a strange thing to consider. Similarly, there's something about the birds here. Many are species that exist in North America, too. I smile to myself when I think that these birds don't know that they are in Japan. They just eat, fly away, and go to bed. For some reason, that intrigues me. Well, that's all for now. I started this out feeling very homesick, but writing more reminded me of why I'm glad to be here. Cool.

Later, America!

It has been an insane amount of time since I last posted, and I apologize for that. I probably lost a good number of my consistent visitors (if I had any to begin with). Anyway, I have clearly been quite busy, but I will try to relate some of the recent events here in the time I have. My schedule has been packed with classes recently, and the blogging opportunities have been scarce compared to last year.

This is a major difference. Back in March, the third year students graduated, the staff changed around, and everything went bonkers. First of all, the way that being employed in Japan is very different than many of us might imagine. Were I not a foreigner working here and instead subject to the same rules as everybody else, I would undoubtedly leave the country quickly. Why? A very large contingent of Japan's full-time workers, especially teachers, are on a rotation schedule. That is, they stay employed at one location for a certain period of time, often not longer than three years, and then they are moved to a new location. Note the passive construction; this is not a choice for workers. The new location, depending on the job, will either be a couple hours or the length of the country away from one's current home. This inevitably means that one's social groups and, moreover, home, must be left behind on a frequent basis. It is simply part of the system, and one that I could never live with.

So with the new influx of teachers and the changing of what classes certain teachers will teach, I was in the situation of suddenly teaching with 4 teachers who I had never taught with before. The adjustment period was fairly long, and I'm not 100% pleased with the way it turned out. That's partly my fault, I'm sure, for lacking flexibility. Either that, or I perceive inflexibility in me because my mindset is gradually converging with a more Japanese one. And that's not necessarily a good thing. Being here for over a year (10 months + 4 months homestay) allows you a fairly deep perspective. Though I've only seen the tip of the iceberg and may never actually see the rest, I still feel qualified to make certain claims. One is that anime nerds back home are idiots. Blind infatuation with a country, any country, is foolish. Just like wielding a gun and screaming "God loves the USA" seems a little outlandish, so does becoming enamored with a nation one knows nothing about. There is still a great deal I love about this country: the general sense of social harmony, people who look out for one another with what seems to be pure selflessness and no ulterior motives, and the food, for example. But recently I have been consistently reminded of the ignorance that is rampant in Japanese culture. That word carries some heavy connotations, but be glad that I'm not labeling the country racist, as many before me have. The problem (which is not a problem at all, depending on perspective) is that Japan is still, to a large extent, a fairly closed country. Foreign travel is popular, but in towns like mine, lots of people have never been abroad. And like many of us, even if they do go abroad, such an opportunity doesn't make them understand the country. For my fellow recent graduates, try to recall if you ever saw an exchange student drinking with others. Chances are that the kid got pelted with stereotypical questions the entire night by rowdy, drunken students. The whole situation is comical for everyone involved. But after that student hears the same questions 1000 times, especially ones that implicitly demean his home country, he's going to become a little frustrated. I have heard countless times from Japanese how they fear the dangers of the US. Part of this has some solid logical foundation: the crime rate is flat out worse. But still, if you're not involved with drugs or gangs, you typically don't worry about getting shot or stabbed on a daily basis. Half of me can't blame people because they simply don't know a lot about foreign countries, but sometimes it's hard to stifle a gut reaction to things that seem to border on hostility or racism. I make it sound like a crisis, but this is merely an observation that I have had a chance to learn more about.

That's enough of that. My life has been fairly dominated by recent events, including school. Yet the primary factor is undoubtedly the fact that I now have a girlfriend. This began about a week after my last post, so it's clear to me that the lack of posts is directly related. My Japanese vocabulary has increased at a steady pace, but my confidence and ability to engage in smooth, unhindered conversation has made leaps and bounds. Two of yesterdays conversations included laser eye surgery and the benefits of unsaturated fats. Granted, there are hiccups in communication when I don't know specific words (surgery was a problem), but it generally goes quite well. I recently realized that one's vocabulary increases via study for a certain amount of time, and then it increases based on necessity. For recent conversations, I have ended up learning the words for polyunsaturated fat and urethra. The two were not related, and I won't summarize why they needed to be used. Anyway, things are going well. I bought a massive TV for no good reason, but I am still paying more than the minimum on my student loans, so finances must be decent. In July, a three week excursion around the country with my brother, Eric, is coming, so there should plenty of pictures from that. I'll try to update again soon with some more specific stories or interesting tidbits from recently, but it's mostly been a steady progression. I'm just living life; but I'm in Japan. All in all, everything is good, the weather is becoming great, and I am quite pleased. Time to go to class. Recently, I'm constantly in class, it seems. Oh well. Talk to you later, America!

You Asked For It (Seventy Three Times)

Hello all,

This post mainly serves the purpose of appeasing my parents' weekly requests to see my apartment.  I have spoken to them just about every weekend since I got here almost eight months ago, and I don't think they failed to ask about those gosh darn pictures.  Unfortunately, my place hits its peak of disrepair on the weekends; I then talk to my parents, clean the place the next day, and forget to photo it.  This cycle repeated dozens of times, and I recently told them that if I put photos up, it would mean that I had a girlfriend.  This is indeed not the case at the moment, but the more tangible prospect for that of late is undoubtedly a factor in my desire to not live like I typically would.  So, there's some good stories that have surfaced recently, but not all of them should be posted on here.  Feel free to inquire.  In the meantime, take a look at my place and ask questions about any peculiar items you may notice in the place.  I'm not going to make a running inventory of the apartment just yet.  Finally, the last picture is a bonus to illustrate some of my frustrations while driving.  Since when is it OK to blatantly cut across three lanes of a shopping center entrance BEHIND A CAR that is waiting to leave and IN FRONT OF A CAR (moped) that is pulling up behind it?

Edit: I should note that I am not an ideal driver, either.  Jonathan left a comment a few posts back, so here's a chance to reply to it.  He saw the picture of all the students with the identical helmets.  The helmets are in fact made by a variety of companies, but the students are required to get full-face white helmets to which they then apply colored stickers that indicate their grade.  They are easily identifiable when out in public.  My helmet is also white, but I don't need any fancy racing-stripe-like decoration.  This is my second helmet; my first one was cool and black.  Bike helmets are designed to take some hits, but once they do, the integrity is compromised and a new one is advisable.  So, yes, I have had one accident.  I was getting into the swing of driving and was mildly lost looking for a convenience store.  I pulled into a wide, empty intersection and decided to take the chance to look around for signs of a store.  I took my eyes off the road for a full two or three seconds.  When you drive something that turns based on how you distribute your weight, turning your head and shoulders leads your body in the opposite direction.  I looked back to the road, and realized I was a half second from hitting the curved part where a curb begins.  I may have been able to swerve out of the way.  Instead, I literally thought to myself, "it's like a video game; ramp it".  I indeed ramped it.  I then crashed to the ground and collapsed.  I was scratched a little and my headlight was busted, and that was all.  The noise was formidable and I decided to take the opportunity to make some locals feel a little off-put.  Some gas station attendants witnessed the whole thing, and it turned out I needed some gas.  So I walked my unskilled self over, and they stared at me.  I said "fill it up, please!", to which they could only say, "OK...uh...but...are you OK?"  So that's that.

Bye, America!

This One's About Food Again

  So there is a local chain restaurant, Hotto Motto (more hot), that provides some decent ready-made lunches.  The name is kind of a silly story.  There was an original food chain, Hokka Hokka Tei (I believe hokka is a way of saying "hot" and I don't know how to translate tei).  So this restaurant had a distribution company in its franchise that recently declared independence.  The company broke off and supplied the new restaurant, Hotto Motto, claiming in its humorous name that it is hotter than its competitor.  Notably, the menus are almost identical, and while Hotto Motto introduces new items more frequently, Hokka Hokka Tei is generally better.  My main school has a Hotto Motto near it, so I only eat Hokka Hokka Tei once a week.  Also, since the latter is older, its name found its way into lunch parlance.  Hokkaben (an amalgamation of hokka and bentou) is a way of explaining that your lunch is not homemade but take-out.

Most of you have probably heard the term bentou before, given that the popularity of Japanese food is on the rise.  A bentou is your quintessential lunch box.  Homemade bentou will usually consist of several layered dishes: one with veggies and meat, one with rice, and possibly a bowl for soup.  When you buy one out, you get a big styrofoam box, basically, with everything inside.  For people with large appetites, you can buy a manpuku bentou, which essentially means "full stomach lunch".  I think of it as Japan's Hungry Man, especially since it's a MANpuku bentou (though still pronounced mAWn-poo-koo).  That is a common item that I tried once.  

Recently, they introduced the sports bentou, which allegedly packs in the protein and calories that are needed by athletes.  Mind you, a lot of protein here is 30g or so, about the same you would get from a single quarter pounder.  At first glance, it looks like a smorgasbord of foods that are basically not good for you, but each is presented in moderation.  So, I bought it, and I need to hit the gym later.  My American appetite put down the meal quite handily, but I looked online and discovered the specific breakdown of nutrition.  I basically did eat a quarter pounder; the fat and protein I took in were comparable, but the weight of the meal was far greater and consisted of twice the calories and way more sugars (rice and pasta aplenty).  I was pleased with the variety of tastes, and it overall had a very Western, fried goodness to it.  The components of the meal are not unusual at all for Japan.

I have been frequenting the gym and trying to adjust my diet accordingly.  This does mean a greater intake of calories, protein, and vitamins.  So my meat and veggies are a staple.  This meal lived up to its name for the most part, but I would have definitely sacrificed some of the flavor for lower fat content if it were up to me.  I will enumerate its contents, starting in the upper left hand corner and moving clockwise.  First up is an oily mix of pasta, pork, and veggies.  The next corner is a piece of sausage, a small croquette of potato and veggies, some cabbage (termed salad), a bit of scrambled egg, and a piece of fried chicken, the first three hidden from view by my environmentally friendly two-tone chopsticks.  Next is the world's smallest hamburger, and, finally, you guessed it, a heap of rice coated with some nice, salty furikake for flavor.  Let's not forget the decorative fake seaweed that is used in America, as well, and equally useless.  Finally, a picture of me sitting in the office yesterday, sporting some argyle and wondering if I should play golf.  Bye, America!

Random Thoughts - The Ideal Blog Post

I recently Googled my blog and discovered that some random quote of mine from an older post has been thrown onto a website providing info on Japanese language schools.  Apparently the site posts just about any blog entry that provides hits on the search query "communication in Japanese language" (not as an exact phrase).  So I've really hit the big time with this blog, it seems.  Anyway, the weekend came and went, and I didn't do anything particularly exciting.  For the past two months, I have had Jehovah's witnesses show up at my door every weekend.  The first time they came, I was quite startled; I was in the middle of an international Rock Band session and they were the second visitors of the day in a place where nobody ever visits.  The first was a local cop who came to introduce himself as a new guy but nonetheless made me very paranoid about my music.  Then the witnesses showed up and read sections of the Bible to me in Japanese.  I was cordial but uninterested.  Still, I acted interested, and from that and perhaps my being a foreigner from a primarily Christian country, they latched on.  The next day, the woman showed up with a man and they thanked me and talked to me more.  They make me generally uncomfortable and I want them to simply stop coming to my house.  This is where I make an epic mistake.  On one Sunday, I decided to play Rock Band with friends from home and have a couple drinks.  The witnesses showed up, as usual.  I was concerned that the doorbell was again a cop, so I checked the peephole and saw nothing.  I opened the door, and to my dismay, there they were.  My spirits were just high enough to not be outright rude to them, but I gradually grew more cheerful.  When they invited me to dinner, I was dumbfounded and did not have the presence of mind to say NO.  So I will meet them next weekend, and after that, I truly never want to see them again.

There is also a party next weekend with fellow teachers that promises to be a good time.  Before that, I have arranged for a dinner date on Wednesday, and it's an interesting predicament.  When I go out somewhere with a friend, particularly a ladyfriend, in America, I typically go out to a restaurant.  I let my personality carry over here, so I do the same.  However, I don't think I've actually had a 1-on-1 dinner ever before, and though my Japanese is good, it's a little intimidating.  I should make a new MTV show called intim-i-date that shows me, flustered, trying to act cool.

Meanwhile, I am at school and promise to let you all in on the upcoming festivities.  High school graduation happened recently.  I took a number of videos but no pictures.  I can pull some screen captures from the videos if I feel like it, however.  The ceremony is quite formal; I went to the rehearsal and the ceremony itself.  A couple teachers put on hakama, a very formal piece of clothing that is put over a kimono.  Most people wear suits and the students wear their uniforms.  The principal makes a speech, the students are called by name, and then a representative from each class comes forward to receive the packet of diplomas.  Imagine homeroom classes from America never separating; instead, the students form a close bond with the homeroom teacher and sit through all subjects with the same students.  That's how these classes work; they each acquire a collective personality of their own.  After the diplomas are distributed, a couple more speeches are made by the student council president, the graduating class representative, and so on.  The whole ceremony is very quiet and lasted a little under two hours.

Last weekend, many students received the results from their college entrance examinations.  A few did not pass and will have to try again or go to a different school.  One student who passed brought back a souvenir (read: food) for me, and I will share it with you now.  First, for any unfamiliar with omiyage, omiyage is the compulsory souvenir that you bring back for people after visiting a different area.  You were able to go somewhere that you friends, family, and co-workers didn't, so you should bring back some token of the experience.  Manjuu, which is mochi (pounded rice) filled with bean paste, is a very common omiyage.  The student went to Miyazaki, a local prefecture, and brought back nanjagora manjuu.  "Nanjagora" is a phrase used in local dialect that means "nani kore?" or "what is that?!".  So, basically, I received a "what is that?!" manjuu that is uncharacteristically filled with a bunch of stuff.  I'm pretty sure that within the mochi, there was bean paste, something like cream cheese, possibly a small potato, and a whole strawberry.  It was very good.  The first three pictures are of this monstrous food in various states of my mouth having disassembled it.  The next pictures are of some textbooks the students use as supplements.  The first one is troubling to me: it says "1800 English words and phrases to remember via sample sentences".  The one that says "600 Basic English Sentences" is similar.  They are both very well-written and edited, but the concept troubles me.  Students are taught certain words and phrases but only remember them by hammering into their heads a specific sentence that often sees little real-world practicality.  They can memorize these sentences, but this usually means that they learn the usage of the sentence as a whole and simply can't apply the words it contains to other situations.  The third book is more practical, I think, as it is a simple vocabulary text with sample phrases.  Lastly, two pictures of me with some recent graduates.

Bye, America!

A Little Glimpse

Well, there's not a whole lot to go into this post.  I have a brief story, and then I will unload some basic pictures that, until now, I have failed to take.  First, the story: last weekend, I spent a night out in the city.  I just got my paycheck (we are paid once a month, so this is a really big deal) and I was ready to blow some of it.  It started in a bar where many JETs were participating in a pub quiz.  I arrived too late because I was at work until about 6, talking to students and helping them correct essays in preparation for college entrance examinations.  This is an interesting note: American students fear the SATs but have some succor in knowing that the score is not the only factor in their ability to attend college.  Imagine if the SATs were, in fact, the only thing that mattered.  You are now a Japanese high school student.  They take one test, and if I'm not mistaken, they only get one shot at it, and this is done for each school they apply to.  To be fair, the test is more comprehensive than the SATs and is designed by individual schools.  So, there is an interview involved that is similar to ours; but the thought of everything falling on one day is daunting.  Anyway, I was sipping on a nice, stupidly priced Belgian beer and spectating the pub quiz before another JET and I decided to head out for some karaoke with a pair of Japanese women who teach English.  On the way to the place, one of the women decided to make me try on her hat, which was one of those fuzzy round semi-orbs that plops over your head and has two fuzzy balls hanging from it.  I don't have a picture yet.  Everyone thought, for some reason, that it looked good on me.  So in the street, we began the Japanese pasttime of a cell phone photo shoot.  In keeping with my personality, I failed to smile for any pictures and instead made weird, pretending-to-be-but-completely-aware-that-its-not-sexy faces.  Despite the hat and faces, I would contest that I was pretty well-dressed.  So, potentially because of that and definitely because of the nature of the scene, two foreigners posing with Japanese women for pictures, another Japanese couple approached.

"Will you take a picture with me?" the boy asked in perfect Japanese.

"Yes," I answered in perfect Japanese.

We took two pictures.  Several other people now started crowding around, asking who I was and if I was some celebrity.  I did not have the presence of mind to say yes, so the moment quickly dissipated.  That was my first ever feeling of celebrity, and I dealt with it gracefully.  Now, back to daily life.  Here's some pictures of the school that I go to four days a week.

1: A view of my desk while it is covered with exams to be graded.

2: The view from my desk, looking at the door to the principal's office and the communal sink to the left of it where teachers brush their teeth after lunch.

3: The teachers' office at a very empty moment.

4: This is the "Seminar House", a building with a small teachers' office and a couple study rooms for after school.

5: The main building where my desk and most of the second and third grader classes are.

6: The entrance gate to the school grounds.

7: My beast of a moped, Shannon.

8: The parking shelter for the first and second grade students' mopeds.  I used to park Shannon here.  You cannot run your moped on school grounds, probably because of the noise.  So, it is a bit of a hassle to walk it all the way to the shelter.  However, I now have a special spot reserved for me right next to the main building.  And by special spot, I mean a spot that was made solely because we need more room in the shelter for incoming students.

9: They also need to keep their bicycles dry; this is where they do it.

10: Rakes against a bush; see next picture.

11: It's warm enough for some things to start blooming.  Also, on the right, you can vaguely make out a sign saying "2-4".  This is a class number; each class is assigned a part of school grounds to maintain during cleaning time, which is after lunch.

12: A hallway on the third floor of the main building where third graders have their class.  "Third graders" means "third year high school students".  Posted outside of each classroom is a room number sign.  The visible one is for the first class of third grade.  The classes stick together all through the day and stay in the same room.  The teachers move to them, in much the opposite fashion of that in America.

13: A typical classroom.  Typical in that it is incredibly quiet.  These kids are horribly silent sometimes.

Later, America!

I recently heard a troubling story from a student.  She wanted to learn about World War II, so she interviewed her grandmother, who lived through it.  I do not know whether the incident involved Americans in any way, and the student didn't gather enough details for me to write much.  Still, apparently her grandmother was running away from some kind of disaster and saw a horse that had been struck in its leg, I believe, by an arrow.  The actually essay described it as "a burning horse", and I was convinced that the student meant to say "a burning house".  She explained that no, arrows and horses were both plentiful even then.  If I am not mistaken, the arrows were used in flaming form, and the horse was affected by this.  Whether it was burned or incinerated, I'm not sure, but it's eerie to imagine.  This reminded me a bit of PETA, which has been up to its usual antics recently.  I'm an animal lover, and I support many of their campaigns, such as the fight against animal abuse in fast food production.  However, the stigma of PETA being a bunch of semi-insane, excessive activists is, I think, fully warranted.  They do things that just don't make sense.  For example, there are reports (which PETA spokespeople deny) that members have threateningly contacted people involved in the recent brutal chimpanzee attack.  Another example?  Diego Luna, an actor from Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, appears in an advertisement that is a nice homage to Bob Barker.  In order to help control the pet population, we should spay and neuter our animals.  However, the main wording is this: "Animals need to have safe sex, too!"  Well, first of all, that's simplifying things a bit, isn't it?  They're worried about procreation, but "safe sex" connotes a lot more, especially the avoidance of disease transmission.  Next, "safe sex" usually means sex with some kind of protection, and if I'm not mistaken, most animals that are spayed or neutered simply cease to have sex altogether.  Oh well, I can't always agree with you, PETA, not while your methodology is so strange.

Anyway, I'm getting a bit more down-to-earth of late, and so along with basic videos (working on efficient uploads), I'll have some pictures of the realities of everyday life here.  You know, just to get a feel of the nature, the architecture, and so on.  I took your requests from the last post to heart and I appreciate them.  I will see if I can record myself in a lesson sometime.  The weekend is coming up, so I should have some more stories after that.  There may be some interesting trips in the works.  Bye, America!

Japanese Life is Still Life

And I don't mean that in the artistic sense.  It has occurred to me recently that I've abandoned my initial intent for this blog in the name of trying to connect myself back to American politics.  It felt nice to follow the news and feel that I have a tangible tie to the current American mindset, but the fact of the matter is that I'm an American but I'm simply not living an American life right now.  And, moreover, nobody likely wants to read my singular opinion that just piles on top of the heaps of rhetoric that are around now.  I've got more interesting things to say. 

Recently, I've been experimenting with my new, wonderful video camera.  The HD videos look great, and I am researching the best way to upload these videos for you in a time-efficient way.  This means that the pictures are far fewer than they used to be; I also don't have many photo opportunities that seem worthwhile.  However, I could probably take photos of the street, the gym, or anything to give a general picture of my surroundings, not just the breathtaking sights I visit.  How does that sound?  I can do that.  You can Google beautiful pictures.  But I am the connection you have to everyday life in Kagoshima, so I should help out on that front.

So, though I've been busy at work and the gym lately, I do have some stories to share.  Most of them are quirky facets of everyday life that I forgot to share until now.  First, I find it interesting that almost every Japanese worker immediately brushes his teeth upon finishing lunch.  It's a healthy practice, no doubt, but they tend to do it in a very public way.  For example, the teacher's office here features two communal sinks into which people can spit, and most people will migrate over after sitting at their desks and brushing.  I'm fairly sure that I've spotted a few people who brush without any kind of paste, and one man finishes his session with grotesquely obnoxious hocking.  It's just an odd phenomenon, and a number of people find it strange that I don't brush my teeth.  Difference in everyday life create interesting situations, and for this reason, I have to hope that I am a positive representation of America.  People who know no other Americans tend to assume that I am the apotheosis of the West.  Normal things I do quickly become perceived tokens of American lifestyle, and such perceptions are often reflected back against me.  I have been asked numerous times if I own a gun or if I eat, perhaps, an extra meal to slake my insatiable American appetite.  This last assumption is not entirely unfair; the amount of fluids most people take in is appalling to me.  Westerners, comparatively, drink a ton.

Let's flip it around!  How many of our stereotypes ("images", in the words of Japanese (yes, they use the English)) are typically true?  I won't comment on some of them, but a lot of them hold fairly well.  Are people here typically shorter?  Yes, but not to the extent that they likely used to be.  This may, in part, be due to diet and lifestyle change.  Are they usually thin?  Yes, and this is undoubtedly due to diet and lifestyle.  Are they poor drivers?  This is wholly subjective, but from my perspective, yes.  I have been a licensed driver for only a few months, but there are habits that I spot that are just unsafe; to be fair, being a Japanese driver seems to imply that you are aware of the following threats and take measures to avoid them.  First, stopping on the side of the road to make a phone call, check a map, or just about anything is fine, even if the shoulder on the road is about a foot wide.  If you throw your hazard lights on, you can force drivers behind you to avoid you by driving into oncoming traffic.  Maybe it's better not to drive while on the phone, but it's unsavory to come around a curve and find a truck waiting for you.  This is especially dangerous when, like me, you drive a moped and are required by law to keep within a meter of the shoulder and must make serious effort to avoid the car.  Also, I have had to slam my brakes too many times because a car comes to a sudden stop and turns without using the signal.  Oh well, that's life.

For the most part, the ways in which life is significantly different here are generally pleasant.  People tend to be very kind, and while it is sometimes difficult to interpret people's true intentions or feelings (due to masked language and the antecedent cultural compulsion to avoid confrontation), I feel that these relationships are typically genuine.  People are either impressed, relieved, or appreciative of my ability to communicate in their language, and this makes many people eager to converse.  Everyday interactions are made complex by a delicate interchange of expectations.  Most foreigners in Japan have distinct interest in the country, and the opposite is often true.  I occasionally get what I interpret as xenophobic stares, but there's often a lot going on in people's minds before they open their mouths to speak.  Imagine being in a supermarket and seeing an Asian or Hispanic person who looks terribly confused.  You may feel compelled to help them, but you will probably hesitate and wonder about a possible language barrier.  That feeling is magnified a great deal here.  The Japanese in Tokyo deal with tourists all the time and have no reason to expect that any foreigner will be apt at communicating in Japanese.  In Kyushu, the outsiders are few and far between, so it's a bit more clear why we're here and plausible to assume that we can communicate.  Many people introduce themselves to me and immediately know what my job is solely based on my location in the isolated countryside.  These introductions are not uncommon, as many people are interested in learning a bit about foreign countries.  And I may be one of the few chances they have for learning in a direct way.

There's more to say!  I have more stories and will post the things I think may be interesting.  In the meantime, what do you want?  What do you want to SEE?  What do you want to HEAR?  Stories and pictures are much easier to post if you ask.  See you next time, America.

Chris

Looking at Politics from Across the Ocean

This blog's intent is to relay information that I gather in Japan, but I occasionally have to weigh in on what's happening at home, because I'm still American and I still care.  Reading news articles keeps me refreshed, but reading the musings of any given Joe the Commenter keeps me cynical about how intelligently our populace can approach the new administration.

I have a wish list.  On the top of that list sits the hope that those blinded by their pre-election ideologies can peer into politics with a little more clarity.  Internet posts with the terms "Messiah" or "Marxist" in relation to Obama should probably be filtered.  His fledgling presidency is still very fresh, and while his move of going to Congress to confront a bi-partisan approach to his plans may stink to some as posturing, it is the earnest responses of all involved that stands at the forefront of my mind.  Obama wants civil dealings but expects no radical overturns in voting.  Senate Republicans appreciate and are impressed by his maneuver but are unlikely to budge.  That sounds fairly ideal as far as these kinds of decisions are concerned.

Next, I sincerely hope that people of any race, creed, or, moreover, political leaning, can recognize with a modicum of perspective the state that our country is in.  I doubt there are many out there who can even conceive of eight hundred and twenty-five billion dollars beyond knowing that it is a lot of money.  What we do know, however, is that on the personal level, some Americans want a tax cut, and some Americans might want another tax incentive, but there are Americans turning out in the tens of thousands that want little more than to have their jobs back.  Instead of zooming out and becoming enamored with the buzz words, the pork, and the trillions, let's zoom in and take a hard look at our neighbors, friends, and cousins who got canned, need desperately to sell their houses and can't.

In the spirit of international perspective, it's not so different in Japan.  I can find newspapers in the teacher's office every day keeping a hawk's eye on the American economy's trends.  And they have every reason to be concerned.  For me, an American citizen who is paid in yen and transfers money home to pay off student loans, the timing is just right to capitalize on currency exchange.  But the ailing economy spells disaster for the industrial sector in Japan, because they need to export to countries where the profits reaped are shrinking and the buyers are reluctant.  And, in an unsurprising parallel, the direct result of this is a drop in production and job loss.

My final hope is that people re-consider the expectations they invest in politicians and that the politicians follow suit.  We all know that Governor Blagojevich had methods of keeping himself financially stocked, but others involved in high office are presumably in the upper echelon of our society.  It is not unreasonable to expect that a good number of them have cause for investing confidence in plans that will secure the well-being of them and their ilk.  I would be much more at ease if I could truly believe that all politicians had only the interest of the country as a whole in their agendas.

With that in mind, I find that if we look more at the personal reality of what is at stake in our country, we may be more apt to grasp the implications of various policies.  I firmly think that what is good for certain parts of the country will be good for all of the country.  The dumping of hundreds of thousands of retail jobs is a bad signal of class gaps, and I regretfully feel that Obama's calls for some amount of sacrifice will be necessary.  For those who live comfortably and have more money than they truly need, I doubt anyone will deny that your money is your own and has been earned.  But a little mindfulness for Joe the Was Doing Fine and Is Suddenly Homeless or Joe the Future Generations can help us work together towards the future of our country.  

I have no intent to be an ideologue.  I will not endorse socialism, primarily because I felt it was injected into modern jargon by the McCain campaign for fearmongering about anything perceived to fiscally injure a certain demographic, but also because the definition of the system does not seem a propos to 2009 America.  But do I believe that certain parts of America need more help than others?  Yes.  Do I believe that helping them may be an essential part of rebuilding our country?  Yes.  Do I believe that this implicitly involves taking money directly from one person's hands and placing it into another's?  Of course not.  

So let's not simplify the terms like that.  We hear the words "recession" and "crisis" tossed around, and if Obama's inauguration speech didn't alert us to it, the fact remains: those words are a reality.  There is no simple solution.  The current administration has a lot of wounds to nurture on our reputation in the international community.  Wars that we started, civil wars, epidemics, and all demand our attention.  Equally if not more urgent, still, are our domestic issues.  And living here keeps me confident that mending our domestic ills will aid in our position on the world stage as well.  

When it comes down to it, neither I nor anyone else can pinpoint an objective solution.  Whether we support or oppose a bill, no individual has more foresight than those in office.  And for those who oppose the current administration, fine.  That's your right.  Yet recognize that we, the people, voted for it.  In the midst of current crises, we are now called upon to work diligently, to make sacrifices, to help uphold the foundation of what makes America great, and it may be easy to lose our way in these efforts.  So let's carry out our duties, and should the administration's abstract definition of what those are be insufficient, let's carry out another duty, to hold the elected government's feet to the fire until they inform us on how we, individual Americans, can improve the lives of our peers, individual Americans.

So This Took Forever

Hi, everyone.

I still don't know how many actually read this, but given the comments (written and spoken) that I've received, I need to be more diligent.  So I apologize that it's been over a month...For those who don't know, I went home to America for two weeks for Christmas and New Year's, which was a refreshing vacation for a number of reasons.  Before I left, things in Japan were very festive.  Allow me to explain.  Winter in Japan brings a strange mix of international celebration.  Even out here in relatively remote areas, Christmas decorations abounded.  My local gym set up a large blow-up Santa Claus inside a chimney by the reception desk, and Kagoshima city was well-decorated with bright trees in different shopping centers and other lights, wreaths, and such scattered around.  And strangest of all, or most expected of all, depending on how you look at it, lots of the decorations included holiday messages in English.  All of this gave me a general feeling of being at home, and it was comforting but also a little confusing because of the degree to which it felt familiar.  Everyone around me became gradually more lively and talkative as December got underway, and I soon realized the reason: in terms of national importance, New Year's in Japan is analogous to an American Christmas.  Before the day, there are parties, literally "forget the year" parties, and there are also "new year" parties.  But on New Year's day, there are many special events.  Many people visit shrines and temples, eat soba and other traditional New Year's meals, draw what I translate as lottery fortunes (random fortunes), young people receive money, stores have "luck bags" that resemble grab bags in America but might actually contain something you want, and other things.  It is a major holiday for family.  Christmas Eve in Japan is typically a day for lovers, and Christmas day is a day for perhaps a party and some cake, but it is a day for school and work nonetheless.  There was an Open Mic for JETs in Kagoshima prefecture, and I have been itching to keep working on standup because I have a little flare of passion for performing and I love doing comedy.  So I did a bit, and I learned my lesson on venue choice.  It was kind of a throwback to Lafayette Open Mic days: the audience is small, and most of them are expecting art in a more recognizable form like poetry or acoustic guitar.  Mix that with the fact that half the audience doesn't understand English, and it is a very unwelcome feeling.  The upside to the event was that I really got to test myself.  I knew it was kind of a mistake after the first 30 seconds, but I stayed up for several minutes, got my jokes out, pushed through for some decent laughs, and got some helpful comments afterwards telling me that I handled it well and had good stage presence and poise.  Nonetheless, everyone was drunk and lost their attention spans, so my only other option was to get angry and give up.  Since I've been back, there has not been much action, quite literally.  I want to calculate the amount of work I've done (in the physics sense of the term) because I have avoided movement whenever possible.  I drive a moped.  It is relatively warm for late January, but 45 degress is still cold on a moped.  Many kids share the exact same woe.  Students come to school by a variety of means, usually school bus, moped, or bicycle.  And there are students who probably travel about 20 minutes or so in each direction on the moped, every day, at 7 in the morning.  It must be miserable.  Students who take the bus do so because every other mode of transportation is implausible.  Some students probably wake up at 5 so that they can then ride the bus for close to an hour.  Remember, these kids apply to high school, so they aren't always in the neighborhood.  On top of this, insulation is, to my knowledge, non-existent in Japanese homes.  I wonder if it has to do with climate, because the country is surely modern enough to be capable of equipping homes with it.  No lie, I often wake up in the morning and go outside to discover that the inside of my apartment is actually colder than outside.  It's a motivation killer, so my more adventurous sightseeing will be postponed for a while.  Still, there are some good nearby places to visit, so I'll try to do it FOR YOU...and me.  At school, I have been working relatively hard and my Japanese is coming along pretty nicely.  In class, when it is necessary, I am able to explain things in Japanese pretty smoothly and without thinking about it first.  I won't even touch the word fluency, though; my vocabulary and kanji reading are not where they should be.  As for pictures, I will post some and explanations of them soon.  I unloaded all of my files onto the external hard drive I received for Christmas in order to keep my laptop happy and I didn't bring the drive to work.  I think I have some pictures of Japanese beef and a couple other things.  My house will be clean this weekend, so look forward to some pictures of how I live in my hallway, err, apartment.  Bye!