Unique Japan!

Streets of Nagoya, May 2004


comical facecloth!

Well, here's a couple of pictures I took today while out and about in Nagoya (with my new camera, very pleased with it!). The van I think is from a kindergarten, and is just the cutest thing I have ever seen! Cute is very big in Japan, you always hear "kawaii" ("cute") all the time, mostly from women. Anyway, just had to include this picture, I have seen this van driving around town before, but I never had my camera with me. Today I got lucky, it was right outside my house!
The other picture is of a facecloth I bought at Nagashima Spa land, it just made me laugh out loud when I saw it! Apparently the character is quite famous in Japan, but as I can't read the comics or understand the tv, it's one I'm not familiar with. The picture is so funny, especially the little guy looking over the wall at the women's side of the hotsprings!!
While I was at Nagashima, I also saw a photo album with pictures of Gloomy Bear all over it. Gloomy Bear is the anti-cute teddy bear - he has blood all down his front from ripping small children to pieces. Charming! Seems a lot of things here are nauseatingly cute, or the total opposite!!
Slowly getting accustomed to teaching in Japan. I did a little teaching before I left Canada, but only adult private students. Luckily, all my classes are small (no more than 6 in a class), which is easier than teaching the 40 or so if you work for a public high school or kindergarten here. Still, some of my classes are certainly "challenging" - five-year olds who think it's funny to do the exact opposite of what I say, and 10 year olds who are too cool to do anything at all. Sigh. I know I have it easy because I have small classes, and most of my classes are lovely, but for the few that are little terrors ... let's just say you better get good at lying to the mothers when they ask you how their child is doing in the class!! Because I work in a small private school, there's not a lot you can do to discipline the children without pissing off the mothers. Studying English is a prestigious "hobby" here, so half the time the parents don't really care if the kids are behaving or learning, they just want to be able to tell their friends "My little girl is studying English, and she's only two!". Image is everything here, so you have to do your job with that in mind.
Having said that, this job is great. The hours and pay are fabulous compared to anything I could do in Canada or New Zealand - I figured out I would have to work 87 hours a week at my last job in Canada (retail) to earn the same amount I do here! Also, the work is usually interesting and stimulating. Depending on your school and their methods, you can really get into planning good lessons for your students if you want. If you can get a job in a smaller school rather than one of the bigger ones, it seems to allow for more flexibility in how you teach. Do ask lots of questions, and make sure you talk to current teachers when the boss isn't hanging over your shoulder - one of my friends took a job that was just shit, and it turns out that all the teachers were unhappy, and the company had a very high turnover rate. I'm really lucky, my boss is nice, and all the teachers have been there at least one year - one of the teachers has been there for about 8 years. So, do your homework, and don't be afraid to ask questions. If they have nothing to hide, they won't mind you asking as many questions as you want. If you want any more info, please feel free to ask questions in the comments section, and I will address your questions in a subsequent posting. Nan demo ii (anything's ok!)!
All in all, teaching in Japan is a great way to learn about the culture, language, and break into the teaching industry if that is what you want to do. Even if you don't want to be a professional teacher, or are only doing it for a short time, please remember that you are getting paid very well for your work, so do take it a little seriously. Your students will appreciate it, and your boss will definitely appreciate it. Just because you are a native speaker doesn't mean that you can rock up to work unprepared and smelling of sake (and yes, I have seen one teacher slam a can of sake just before walking into his class). Even if you don't want to be, you are representing your country, and the western way of life in general, and it pays to keep that in mind when you go about your day. The better we represent ourselves to Japan, the easier it will be for us to live here, and it will make it easier for those who follow.

Hanami party, anyone?

Nagoya Castle during hanami, Nagoya, Japan

Well, even though hanami was a month ago, it was such a neat experience that I just had to write about it. For about 2 weeks in Japan, in early April (depending on where you live), all the cherry trees bloom (of which there are more than you realize!). Seeing the trees bloom was such a lovely uplifing experience, after suffering through a damp Japanese winter. It was the first time for me that Japan really looked like Japan, and not just a big crowded city that could be anywhere. It was the first time I could see the grace and beauty of old Japan, not the hustling bustling new Japan that I was trying to cope with.
The blooming period is called "hanami" in Japan, when everyone drops everything they are doing to go sit under the trees and have a huge party. It's legal to drink outside in Japan, so everyone sits on blue plastic tarps under the trees, with enough food and alcohol to kill a small elephant. It's amazing to be part of, people who you work with who are normally reserved and polite suddenly turn into public exhibitionists, singing songs and generally being really raucous. I even saw one guy at Tsurumai Park climbing a lamp post, sitting on the top, and then screaming and singing to his friends who were sitting nearby. I'm amazed he didn't fall off! My friends told me that it is quite common for people to get alcohol poisoning during hanami, it's very easy to get caught up in the spirit of it and go way overboard.
The closest I can relate it to was being in Wellington, New Zealand on the night of the millenium celebrations. Everyone there was so happy to be a part of it, and you could feel the excitement of the crowds. Hanami is the same, except that it is every night for about 2 weeks! Another friend did cleaning in the parks last year during hanami, and he said that there were still lots of people in the parks every night at 3 and 4 in the morning! And as far as I can tell, this is the season where the normally completely honest Japanese salaryman will lie to his boss to get time off, to go to one or more hanami parties! Apparently, if you are a new staff member of a Japanese company (maybe straight out of high school), you are expected to go to the local park at 6am with your tarp, and reserve a space for your office party. Then, just hang out until noon until some of your staff starts to arrive! Nice job if you can get it! But totally necessary - all the parks I went to were insanely crowded, you couldn't even see any dirt or grass for all the people sitting on it! Nagoya Castle was a little more restrained, but that kind of suited the location - the castle looked lovely surrounded by thousands of cherry trees in bloom.
If you get a chance to be in Japan during hanami, grab it. Kyoto is the favorite place to be for many Japanese during hanami, but anywhere is okay. Nagoya was very fun, and I can't wait until next year!!! (Especially now that I have my new digital camera, a Pentax Optio S40. Way cute and awesome little camera!)

Another Day in Paradise

Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan

Again, apologies for the quality of the photo, but you get the general idea. This was taken in January, when I was living in Kyoto (where I first lived when I came to Japan). It's a beautiful city, lots of history, culture, and beautiful temples. It also has a lot of contrasts, which I found a little difficult to live with. It had old temples next to offices, and there's even a temple right in the middle of a popular shopping arcade downtown! Also, if you want to take your life into your own hands and ride a bike downtown on a Friday night, it's certainly a good way to appreciate walking! Not that walking is much safer, you constantly hear the "ching ching" of bike bells behind you as little old ladies and gaggles of schoolkids go screaming past you with only inches to spare! Don't walk around the streets if you have high blood pressure!! Kyoto is not the quiet peaceful town you imagine it to be before you arrive. It's a bustling, active little city, and like all Japanese cities (the ones I have visited anyway), very noisy - vans with loud speakers promoting politicians driving around screaming their message at you on the street, trucks that have songs that play to advertise they are in your area (apparently they sell kerosene, or deliver groceries), crosswalks that play a tinny electronic song when the lights change, and everyone everywhere talking on their cell phones, with the accompanying irritating musical rings. But, there are lots of nice temples and parks to escape to, which is what I did most of the time I was there.
Oh, if you are able, do not stay in any gaijin (foreigner) houses outside of the downtown area in Kyoto. There are 2 in the north end of the city that will make you seriously want to turn around and go back home if you decide to stay there. I won't say the names of these houses (one of them is named after a worldwide environmental organization though!!), because I don't want to get sued or tossed out of the country. Nasty nasty nasty is all I can say. Mouldy kitchens, the only heating in your room is overpriced smelly kerosene, and super crazy landlady (who lives in the house with you and her 3 cats, which is not mentioned on her website). If you don't mind someone pounding on your door at midnight asking "Is this your cup in the sink, you didn't wash it" and charming notes in the bathrooms like "Do not flush this toilet after midnight, except for big shit" (complete with a handdrawn illustration!!), then maybe you will like it! A friend stayed at a hostel downtown, and didn't have any problems. Stay away from the gaijin houses unless you want to seriously question why you came to Japan in the first place!!! It certainly doesn't make for a good first impression of Japan!!

Life in Japan

Geisha in Gion district, Kyoto, Japan

First of all, I would like to apologize for the garbage quality of the photo - I think the humidity in Japan has gotten into my camera and messed up the lens a bit. At least I'm in Japan, and the options for getting a new camera are pretty much endless! I'm looking into getting a digital camera, there are some amazing options on the market now. Some are even as flexible as a standard manual SLR camera, with added bonuses like built-in filters and the ability to switch to B&W, sepia, etc. Very cool!
I have been in Japan for 4 months, and am still finding it a bit of a struggle. The language is amazingly complex (3 separate writing systems plus roman characters), and many different levels of formality, which makes it like learning 6 languages in one! I try to study whenever I can, but as with any language, it's very difficult. It doesn't help that the grammar is completely different from English (or French or Italian, of which I know a tiny bit). Very frustrating, I think I am doing well, and then I can't even understand the 3 year olds that I teach. Oh well, all part of going to a totally different culture.
There are a lot of things in Japan that irritate me, confuse me, and generally make me shake my head, but I am trying to focus on finding things that I find interesting and funny. It's too easy to go "I'm right, they're wrong", and I don't want to be like that. I see too many foreigners in Japan with terrible attitudes, and I don't want to be one of them. I also see people who have lived here for 10 years, and still find the country fascinating. I don't plan on staying that long (maybe 2-3 years), but that's the kind of attitude I would like to have.