I’ve been living in Japan for sometime now; it I was an expecting mother, I would have a newborn by now. Even after all these months I still find Japan fascinating and enjoy the daily cultural exchanges. I’ve noticed many things are internationally appreciated. The grocery store, for example, is something that developed countries across the globe take advantage of every day. Mine, fortunately, is a mere twenty second walk from my apartment door. The layout of the grocery store is identical to any Food Lion or Harris Teeter back home.

Another concept that is internationally shared – despite having been busted by those Mythbuster guys — is the three second rule. I know, I know, some of you live by the five second rule, but the basic idea is the same: something falls on the floor, and you have 3-5 seconds to pick it up before it’s gross and inedible. Yesterday my JTE dropped a hard candy on the ground, but rather than accepting defeat she quickly reached for the fallen candy and said “Ahh, three second rule; it’s ok.” Everyone in the staff room was focused on the JTE because she had announced her victory in saving the candy. I then said that we too have the three second rule, but I usually go by five seconds. Everyone then had a good laugh and thought it was amazing that I knew about the sacred three second rule.

Despite universal ideas like grocery stores and the three second rule, different countries usual are governed by different customs and cultures. The diversity of cultures is what makes living in a foreign country so much fun (but frustrating at the same time). One thing I’ve noticed in Japan is that the schools never have any fire or earthquake drills. For a country that is prone to literally every natural disaster, it’s surprising that there are no drills performed at school. Back home I recall fire drills being conducted even as late as college. I’m not sure why the Japanese (at least those in my town) don’t have fire or earthquake drills. Perhaps it is because the students and staff alike have been trained from birth how to react during a natural disaster. Whatever the case may be, the idea of safety drills in school is not a shared international custom.

Lastly–somewhat related to the topic–I just got a little portable grill in the mail. I’m excited because the weather is warming up and the days are growing longer. The day I got the grill I quickly put it together and got some charcoal started. I’m positive the Japanese know about grilling and that it is an international concept; however, when I was starting the grill outside of my apartment EVERYONE in viewing distance stared and me or did a double-take. One woman driving out of the grocery store parking lot actually did about a quadruple-take! She was lucky not to drift into oncoming traffic the way she was staring. Once the charcoal was ready and I brought out the chicken and vegetables, the stares were out of interest rather than shock.

Below is a video (I will post it once I get home) of the change in attitude once I started grilling. Once one little boy comes over, more and more people start to crowd around the grill. Once two of my foreign ALT friends show up though, my Japanese neighbors scattered!

The school year in Japan begins in April, which might make more sense the beginning in the fall like many of us are used to. After all, April is right at the beginning of spring when nature starts it’s cycle again; Sakura trees are blooming and in feels right that school is starting again.

The new school year has brought a lot of changes to my daily life thus far and classes haven’t even started yet. First, all the teachers moved their desks. I found the day of the move and thought I would be immune since I was an ALT and my job wasn’t changing. Nope. I too had to move desks. I had a decent seat in the middle of the office that faced big, tall windows. Not to complain, but desk now faces a wall and is right by any traffic to the phone, copier, and break room. The day I moved my desk I had two people comment on whatever I was doing on my computer. So, my new desk leaves my computer use open to commentary by any passerby.

The desk moving was because the teachers who didn’t leave were shuffled around to different grades. Last school year I sat with the ni-nen-sei teachers but now we all moved to the san-nen-sei block. The move made way for the new staff who started just last week. There are eight new staff members, but I haven’t tried talking with any of them in English. It’s always a hope of mine that a staff member is just gonna bust out perfect English and be interested in talking about things in English. Hey, an ALT can dream.

The best part about the new school year is also somewhat sad. My amazing JTE was the coach of the Table Tennis club last year, but the emphasis is on “was.” She was moved to Kendo club for this school year. She loves the students in the Table Tennis club and has devoted herself to their improvement. Sadly, the Kendo coach was one of the teachers who was transferred so my JTE had to take over since she played Kendo in school. Though I genuinly feel sorry for my JTE, I must admit that I’m excited that she, more than anyone else, took over Kendo. I’m interested in learning Kendo and my Kocho-sensei has yet again asked me to join. Now that my JTE is the coach I will be able to communicate during practice and hopefully be able to learn Kendo.

That’s all for this ramble.

Bushidō is essentially the “way of the warrior” and governed the life of Samurai in old Japan. Part of the idea behind bushidō is perseverence and a strong will to fight through. This concept is awesome if you’re on the field of battle and about to take on a bunch of bad guys. This concept is decidely not awesome if you’re a Junior High School teacher in the 21st Century.

Today is the first day of spring break here in Osato and yet I’m writing this blog from my desk in the staff room. For some reason, only the students are given a two week vacation; the teachers must come to work everyday or use nenkyu (paid vacation) if they want a break.

It seems the idea of bushidō has persisted beyond the days of the Samurai and into our modern era. The teachers here likely don’t want to come into work during spring break any more than I do, but they’re not complaining on their blogs because they possess the bushidō mindset.

Well, here I say boo for bushidō. The teacher’s deserve a spring break and should take some time off from work. Even though the teachers are here today I bet the majority will only do a few hours of work the whole day. The requirement to come in seems to be only out of honorary duty not because of a real need to do any work. It’s the same reason that teachers stay late into the evening during the school year. Efficiency and work are not the main reason, but rather a cultural pressure that requires the teachers to stay and show their dedication to the job…even if they play mah jong on the computer; their mere presence is enough.

What’s crazier is that the students–who have the spring break and can do what they want for two weeks–still came to school today! The arrived this morning all dressed in their club uniforms to practice their respective activity. The kids are being trained for later in life when they too will have to stay late after school and won’t be given a spring break.

 

On a completely different note, eight of my colleagues are leaving the school. It’s not that Osato Junior High School is a bad school or that we are cutting back because of the economy, but rather because it’s normal in the Japanese education system. Teachers regularly switch schools and stay at one location for only one to five years. At the end of the school year, the kocho-sensei (principal) announces who is leaving during a staff meeting and the respective teachers stands up, says a host of humble phrases, and bows.

In the newspaper this morning, all the teacher transfers across Miyagi were posted. Hundreds of teachers around the prefecture are being shuffled around the different schools. None of the new teachers are from schools that where I know the JET so I”m not sure what they will be like. I must say, though, that I’m anxiously awaiting the new staff. I’ll likely write a post about the new teachers when they come.

This past weekend was a three day weekend because of a national holiday, Vernal Equinox Day, on the Friday. Two of my friends and I decided to take advantage of the break and head to Tokyo. The main reason was to visit the 2009 Tokyo International Anime Fair in Odaiba, an island in Tokyo. Behemoth, the company that makes a favorite game of ours, was going to be there in addition to countless other companies and anime groups. I’ve only really watched Naruto and some Full Metal Alchemist so I’m not that into anime; however, the event was a blast.

The venue, Tokyo Big Sight, was packed with fanatics from all over the world, but mainly Japanese. Cosplay was not permitted so we didn’t expect to see anybody dressed up as anime characters; nevertheless, some die-hard fans arrived in full costume.

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting famous places around Tokyo such as Asakusa’s Sensou-ji Shrine and Yoyogi Park. It was great to get out of Miyagi for a while and take a short vacation. Below are some pictures from the weekend:

Where have I been? Why haven’t a posted? What’s the world coming to?

Well, to be honest, I just got out of the routine of posting every Monday and Thursday. I won’t attribute any one cause for this but will leave it at my communication skills have diminished recently.

But here I am, back again and ready to post on a regular basis. I was always particular about posting on Monday and Thursday and wouldn’t post on any other day. This habit was helpful in that it forced me to constantly update the blog; however, it was dangerous because when I broke the habit–about four weeks ago–it was hard to start it back up and I didn’t want to post on any day other than Monday or Thursday. Also, sometimes cool things happen other times during the week, and waiting to recount them a few days later means the story won’t be as detailed.

So, hereafter I will post whenver something worthing of posting happens. I won’t hold meself to a schedule, but I will hold myself to posting regularly. Plenty of fun stuff happened the last month but I’m not going to write about it. Instead, I’m going to start clean and write about new stuff.

I’m headed to Tokyo with two of my friends soon so look out for a post about our trip. Thanks for reading.

I was sitting at work two week ago when I realized that Friday the 13th was approaching. Having just seen an advertisement for the remake of the horror film Friday the 13th, I got the idea of throwing a horror movie party at my apartment. First things first I got on Facebook and made an official event page and invited the ALTs of Northern Miyagi. Well, most of them at least. My apartment is only so big which means I can’t have everyone over at once.

There ended up being 12 people who said they were coming. Luckily there were no more because I can’t fit the many people in my apartment for the night. That and no one wants to have 13 guests, especially on Friday the 13th.

The Night of Horror began quite innocently with a game of Pass the Pigs while we waited for all the guests the arrive. If you haven’t heard of Pass the Pigs then open up a new tab and google it; the game is quite fun.

Once everyone showed up we packed into my living room and started watching the scary movies. First up was The Strangers, a thriller from 2008 that got poor reviews but looked good. The second was Friday the 13th, the original, and the third was A Nightmare on Elm Street, also the orginial. The Strangers would have been a lot better had it not been for constant “commentary” from a few of my friends. Why do people think it’s ok to talk through movies anyway?

This title has a double meaning:

 The first is in reference to the vitamin, vitamin C, which has become a good friend of mine this past week. The Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (snow festival) was tons of fun, however, below freezing weather plus drinking and going to multiple night spots isn’t great for the body. The good news is I did get anything more than a little cold. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a friend of mine that caught some kind of virus. With the help of Vitamin C and plenty of rest I am now back to 100%. Thanks Vitamin C.

The other Vitamin C is someone you probably have forgotten about or passed over to begin with. Try to think back to the year 2000 (no Conan reference). I was graduating from Stuart Hall middle school and there was a super poppy hit song released right around that time. You guessed it: Graduation by the singer Vitamin C. It has become the essence of cliche and is still played every May/June at countless middle and high schools. I bring this up not because I’ve rediscovered a lost talent, but rather because graduation is in the near future for the san-nen-sei (9th graders). A few of the san-nens came to me with a request to help them think of a title for their year book. They wanted something along the lines of “My Heart Will go On” (straight from Titanic). I told them to come back later and I would have a list for them. I felt the cheezy, cliche title is what the students wanted so I left nothing off the list. By the end of the day, I had a list with great titles like ”One Heart Beat” and ”Lasting Memories.” The students came to my desk and I gave them the list and read the titles. The giggled a lot and ran off. Now, let’s wait and see what title they choose.

This weekend I went to Sapporo for the 60th Anniversary Snow Festival. It was a great three day trip to the capital of Hokkaido (Japan’s northern most island) and was full of some good stories and great times. Instead, I’ll just show some pictures:

focus…

Ice Whale vs. Sushi

Tokyo: Candidate City

So last time I went to Kasukawa Elementary School, I noticed a kid wearing a Mario costume. This was way past Halloween so I ruled that out. What then explained the gamer get-up and mustache taped to his upper lip? I’m not sure but all the kids loved him and told me he was Mario. I took a picture with my phone and still get a kick out of it to this day.

I just had another visit to the same school and the same kid was wearing a costume. This time: Luigi. I mean, he had the entire costume from head to toe. This time the kids ran up to me and said: Luigi! Ok, I couldn’t understand because last time Mario didn’t show up in any of the classes. I looked for Luigi every class I went to but I never saw him.

At recess I went outside to play with the kids and noticed an 8-bit character running towards me. Good thing I wasn’t a gumba because I would have been toast, literally. The kid had changed and turned into FIRE MARIO!

So, I’m convinced this kid must be in a special needs class that I don’t visit OR he somehow changes into the costume during play breaks outside. Either way, I’m very curious as to who I’ll see next time.

Awesome