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.