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!