Spring Holidays and Spring Changes
Before you get all excited for me, it is not what you think. Classes have stopped, but unless you want to take your paid leave days, you have to come to school. So I have named this week: “The Week of Boredom”. I have almost nothing to do (more so than usual), apart from sitting at my desk for 8 hours (I will have earned a few meals at McDonalds by the end of this entry). It’s not quiet at school though. In fact, a lot of students come to practice their instruments at school so as not to annoy their family at home. That makes the 8 hours pass by much faster.
I have been told by my English teacher to prepare a little bit, for THE REST OF THE YEAR! She gave me a helpful list of things I needed to keep in mind. The mission statement was very long, and in Japanese, but one of the aims was: To make the students think for themselves. Japanese adults can’t even do this, so I don’t see how this is even possible. Basically, they want me to concentrate less on teaching English, and more about “internationalising”, and teaching the students about the world beyond Japan. (“There is a world beyond Japan?” many students accidentally say out loud.). However, I am supposed to teach them this, in English. Great. Simply put, all I have to do, is teach the children about a world they will likely never go and see, while teaching them how to think for themselves, through the medium of a language they can’t understand.
This is going to be fun.
This is not the only thing that will change when the new school year starts in a few weeks. (Actually, when does the new school year start? Someone? Anyone?). From sometime next month, I will be teaching at a third primary (for all you Americans: “elementary”) school. This will be another half day per week. The problem is, this has replaced my weekly Nursery School visits, which I can be quoted as saying was “the highlight of my professional week” [December]. At first, I had no idea what to do with kids from 5 to 2 years old.
Anyways, the ladies working there would always ply me with coffee and sweets, and then I’d go and play with the kids, trying to teach them some English words in the process. After a few months, I really got the hang of it, and I was told that on the mornings of my visit, when they were told I would come, they’d get very excited. One time, as soon as I walked into the classroom, one 4 year-old girl threw her hands into the air, “ルーベン先生とけっこんしたい”. (“I want to marry Ruben sensei”).
Every month, I would come with a new talent to show. I became an “amusagician”. On top of being a human jungle gym, I played guitar, showed my card tricks, juggling routine, kendama, and on my final lessons, I brought my ukulele. Yes, a ukulele is an absolute must-have for thelazy ALT. The Japanese love all things small- cars, shoe sizes and serving sizes are but a few examples. I bought my uke very cheaply, and I play it like-wise. See, that is the beauty of a ukulele. Whenever you see one, you can’t help but smile. The mere sight of it makes everybody happy. And what’s more, nobody expects you to play it well. I quickly learnt a few chords, and now I have a new substitute for actually teaching, which I am a fan of. I have seen the potential of the ukulele, and this will not be the last you hear of it.
There were some sad farewells from all four nursery schools. One school didn’t actual tell them until home-time. The chimes of 40 kids’disappointment was both chilling and heart warming. The Board of Education obviously thought that teaching another primary school was more important than this. I politely disagree, and not just because of the snacks and coffee and milk and all the fun we had. It can be argued that the kids don’t really learn any English from my visits, but then, neither do most of the kids at any of the primary schools. Here, at least, I made a huge difference to everyone’s day, and showed the children from a very early age that foreigners really aren’t so different from anyone else. (Except for that they all do magic, juggling, play guitar, kendama and ukulele.)
Or maybe, just maybe, my work at nursery schools is done. Meanwhile, the Week of Boredom continues.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
So my brother finally came up to Toyama to visit. I don’t blame him for taking his time in coming up. Never mind that he was very busy, but it makes more sense, entertainment-wise, to go to Osaka. Still, it turned out to be a very eventful weekend. Maybe I’m being the over-adulating younger brother, but this guy really knows how to party. I hadn’t been drinking while the sun was up, since summer. Anyways, we got to work on a beer can pyramid. This seems to have become a family tradition. For the afternoon and early hours of the night, we made like Egyptians. (Drinking beer and building pyramids).
In order to show my brother a good time in Toyama, we left Toyama. Kanazawa city, over the hill, just under an hours’ drive away. It literally means “gold-a-plenty”, and compared to any city in Toyama, it really is. Our ride was waiting outside, and I wanted to get a picture of the beer pyramid before leaving. “Just take one in the morning”, he told me.
It was a pretty good night out, yada yada, we came home at 6am. It was fair to say I was ready for a good long sleep. I mean, I actually fell asleep at an eatery in Kanazawa before leaving.
9:42. Rude awakening.
In order to show my brother a good time in Toyama, we left Toyama. Kanazawa city, over the hill, just under an hours’ drive away. It literally means “gold-a-plenty”, and compared to any city in Toyama, it really is. Our ride was waiting outside, and I wanted to get a picture of the beer pyramid before leaving. “Just take one in the morning”, he told me.
It was a pretty good night out, yada yada, we came home at 6am. It was fair to say I was ready for a good long sleep. I mean, I actually fell asleep at an eatery in Kanazawa before leaving.
9:42. Rude awakening.
My 3rd floor apartment began shaking like crazy. I’m from New Zealand, so I am used to it. But this was a relatively large earthquake. Things started falling., and I was now fully awake. So much for taking the picture of the beer can pyramid... It turned out to be a large earthquake. Maybe it was in the news overseas (if so, thanks for your email and phone-calls of concern...) There was considerable damage to some villages in the next prefecture.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6492473.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6492931.stm
In Toyama, the quake was about a 5 on the Richter scale. Apart from the tragedy of our beer can pyramid, my DVD player fell off my TV. But that was a piece of crap anyway.
Later on that day, I drove my brother back to Kanazawa to drop him off at the train station there. We had a quick thought that the trains might be delayed by the quake, but again, I was assured “the trains won’t be cancelled all day”. It was that kind of weekend. I dropped him off, and drove back home. Once I was on the outskirts of the city, I got an email saying the trains were in-fact cancelled. He wasn’t able to call me, and I couldn’t call him, because of the chaos of the earthquake. Disaster zone communication breakdown....
Luckily, the trains were restored early that night, and my brother was able to get home that night without missing work. But this is just another example of my bad luck with trains and transport in Japan. Just a quick reminder
¨ A catastrophic power failure of my car at a relatively busy intersection.
¨ Missing the last train in Osaka, having to ‘sleep’ at an internet café until the first train.
¨ Going to Tokyo, when someone throws themselves in front of our train.
¨ Being unable to go home from Tokyo by train, due to “heavy wind”.
So, in conclusion, the causes of my misfortune with transport are: Mechanical Error, Human Error, Terrorism/Tragedy, Extreme Weather, and now Natural Disaster. All I need now is “dangerous animals” and “act of God”, and I will have achieved complete Transport Incompetence.
Later on that day, I drove my brother back to Kanazawa to drop him off at the train station there. We had a quick thought that the trains might be delayed by the quake, but again, I was assured “the trains won’t be cancelled all day”. It was that kind of weekend. I dropped him off, and drove back home. Once I was on the outskirts of the city, I got an email saying the trains were in-fact cancelled. He wasn’t able to call me, and I couldn’t call him, because of the chaos of the earthquake. Disaster zone communication breakdown....
Luckily, the trains were restored early that night, and my brother was able to get home that night without missing work. But this is just another example of my bad luck with trains and transport in Japan. Just a quick reminder
¨ A catastrophic power failure of my car at a relatively busy intersection.
¨ Missing the last train in Osaka, having to ‘sleep’ at an internet café until the first train.
¨ Going to Tokyo, when someone throws themselves in front of our train.
¨ Being unable to go home from Tokyo by train, due to “heavy wind”.
So, in conclusion, the causes of my misfortune with transport are: Mechanical Error, Human Error, Terrorism/Tragedy, Extreme Weather, and now Natural Disaster. All I need now is “dangerous animals” and “act of God”, and I will have achieved complete Transport Incompetence.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Getting Some Wear.
I mentioned a while back that I had joined the local basketball team. This amounted to a very expensive home and away uniform set, one of which I never used, as I apparently joined at the end of the season. Well, I am pleased to report that the uniform is finally getting some wear. 4 weeks back our team traveled to the far reaches of our prefecture to play 2 games in one day. I still don't know whether these are practice games, or a competition, or a sudden death match where the loser is beheaded and sacrificed afterwards. No-one tells me these things; I just play basketball.
These two games were a good measure of me and my team. We had 8 of us for the games, of which, one was severely hung-over from drinking until 4AM, one has the fitness level of a wet rag, and another felt sick and sat out the 2nd game altogether. Then there is me. I'm at least 5 years younger than all other members, and as the only non-smoker I was denied a sub for the whole 2 games. I was a good 4 months out from the last game, and the only regular excercise I was getting was changing shoes.
I, personally, still had a good game, twice. I don't mean to brag, because I've never bragged in my life. Not even when I scored 59 points in one game, did I brag. But I am a decent player. I know, it is very easy to get big headed when playing basketball in Japan. The skill level is lower, they play with the strength and agression that I would expect in a mixed gender social grade for the elderly, and of course, the average height is much smaller. So much so, that I, who usually plays small forward, spent a lot of time playing centre. (this basically means that I get pushed around by the opposition's biggest player for the whole game. It was quite annoying.)
Both games I played pretty well, getting just over 20 points and pulling down a lot of rebounds. It's funny that most opposition (and referees) seem intimidated by me, as a foreigner. Maybe it is more just in Toyama, as there are only 2 other (western) foreigners playing in our entire league. If you have ever seen a basketball game, you might have observed that a disproportionally large amount of the players appear to be of African-American descent. It is to the point, that being called "white boy" is a basketball insult. White men can't jump, yada yada... Yeah, well now I kindof know what being black is like...
Anyhow, the white boy had two good games, without getting a rest. Afterwards, I was completely dead. I have never felt that tired before. I slept the whole trip back to our corner of the prefecture, I nearly fell asleep in the shower (lucky I wasn't taking a bath), and collapsed to bed. Somewhere in that sleepy hazy memory, I decided that enough was enough. For the next 4 days, I couldn't so much as cough without collapsing in pain. I could not go through this again.
Once that wore off, I began my montage hitting the treadmill at the gym. It paid off. This weekend, we had another game. I wasn't told much; only that the opponent was probably strong. Well, we quickly proved that theory wrong. Not to brag, because as you know, I have never bragged in my life, but I was a complete animal. I scored 14 in the 1st quater, and ate rebounds like they were fat-free. I ended up with just over 30 points and an estimated 30 rebounds. Not since a guy called "Moses" did people get 30 rebounds in a game. MOSES! It was ridiculous. Now everyone really was afraid of me. Its good to be black.
What was nice about this game, was some ALT friends came to watch. It's odd, but I almost become a different person when I play basketball. (I used to have the Alias "Mad Dog"). When I play basketball, I'm confident. I'm strong. I'm good at what I do. People respect me. None of of these qualities are ones I posess in real life, so it was nice to put these on display, if only for a little while.
The reward for winning the game, was a 2nd game, versus the Grouses B team. The Grouses is the new professional team in Toyama. They are rubbish, but that's not the point. Their B team plays in the same grade as us, and is easily the best team. For one, they have a coach, and regular practices that all members attend. So, we got blown out, losing by 40 points. Even so, I had a good run around, and I wasn't wrecked afterwards. It's great to finally give my uniform some game-time.
I mentioned a while back that I had joined the local basketball team. This amounted to a very expensive home and away uniform set, one of which I never used, as I apparently joined at the end of the season. Well, I am pleased to report that the uniform is finally getting some wear. 4 weeks back our team traveled to the far reaches of our prefecture to play 2 games in one day. I still don't know whether these are practice games, or a competition, or a sudden death match where the loser is beheaded and sacrificed afterwards. No-one tells me these things; I just play basketball.
These two games were a good measure of me and my team. We had 8 of us for the games, of which, one was severely hung-over from drinking until 4AM, one has the fitness level of a wet rag, and another felt sick and sat out the 2nd game altogether. Then there is me. I'm at least 5 years younger than all other members, and as the only non-smoker I was denied a sub for the whole 2 games. I was a good 4 months out from the last game, and the only regular excercise I was getting was changing shoes.
I, personally, still had a good game, twice. I don't mean to brag, because I've never bragged in my life. Not even when I scored 59 points in one game, did I brag. But I am a decent player. I know, it is very easy to get big headed when playing basketball in Japan. The skill level is lower, they play with the strength and agression that I would expect in a mixed gender social grade for the elderly, and of course, the average height is much smaller. So much so, that I, who usually plays small forward, spent a lot of time playing centre. (this basically means that I get pushed around by the opposition's biggest player for the whole game. It was quite annoying.)
Both games I played pretty well, getting just over 20 points and pulling down a lot of rebounds. It's funny that most opposition (and referees) seem intimidated by me, as a foreigner. Maybe it is more just in Toyama, as there are only 2 other (western) foreigners playing in our entire league. If you have ever seen a basketball game, you might have observed that a disproportionally large amount of the players appear to be of African-American descent. It is to the point, that being called "white boy" is a basketball insult. White men can't jump, yada yada... Yeah, well now I kindof know what being black is like...
Anyhow, the white boy had two good games, without getting a rest. Afterwards, I was completely dead. I have never felt that tired before. I slept the whole trip back to our corner of the prefecture, I nearly fell asleep in the shower (lucky I wasn't taking a bath), and collapsed to bed. Somewhere in that sleepy hazy memory, I decided that enough was enough. For the next 4 days, I couldn't so much as cough without collapsing in pain. I could not go through this again.
Once that wore off, I began my montage hitting the treadmill at the gym. It paid off. This weekend, we had another game. I wasn't told much; only that the opponent was probably strong. Well, we quickly proved that theory wrong. Not to brag, because as you know, I have never bragged in my life, but I was a complete animal. I scored 14 in the 1st quater, and ate rebounds like they were fat-free. I ended up with just over 30 points and an estimated 30 rebounds. Not since a guy called "Moses" did people get 30 rebounds in a game. MOSES! It was ridiculous. Now everyone really was afraid of me. Its good to be black.
What was nice about this game, was some ALT friends came to watch. It's odd, but I almost become a different person when I play basketball. (I used to have the Alias "Mad Dog"). When I play basketball, I'm confident. I'm strong. I'm good at what I do. People respect me. None of of these qualities are ones I posess in real life, so it was nice to put these on display, if only for a little while.
The reward for winning the game, was a 2nd game, versus the Grouses B team. The Grouses is the new professional team in Toyama. They are rubbish, but that's not the point. Their B team plays in the same grade as us, and is easily the best team. For one, they have a coach, and regular practices that all members attend. So, we got blown out, losing by 40 points. Even so, I had a good run around, and I wasn't wrecked afterwards. It's great to finally give my uniform some game-time.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Back to School.
The last month, every weekend has been crazy busy. Weekends were not a time of rest. I have been surprising successful in finding things to do in Toyama (and once at a skifield in Nagano- of the '98 olympic). This is good, but I felt I might be starting to burn out when I spent a friday afternoon at school where my eyes were blinking longer than I could keep them open. Being awake is often not needed as an ALT, but it is relatively low on the professionalism scale.
This weekend, I went back to visit my host families above Tokyo again. It's a long, expensive and stressful trip, whether you choose to go by night bus or by train. It didn't help how I chose to attend basketball practice before leaving. The bus leaves at 11pm, and arrived in central Tokyo at 5:25, well before the first trains. The wise option was to go to an internet cafe. In Japan, this is usually a place where people go to get a terrible sleep after a night's drinking. I wasn't drinking, but I wanted a few hours of terrible sleep.
My host family is like an oasis. It could feel my body repairing itself. The month of post- Shanghai unrest melted away. It sounds stupid, but I travelled all this way to do absolutely nothing. It was great.
The next day I went to visit another host family that I hadn't seen since I left their place 3 1/2 years ago. They are the nicest people. Whereas my real family (in NZ) took just a few weeks to tear apart and redocrate my bedroom, coming back to this host family reminded me how nice it is to know some things don't change. Everything about them, my old town, my old home... The sun had just gone around the earth a few times, is all.
Today, Monday.
This was a big day for me. If i thought yesterday was a day for reminiscing... well (-please insert some witty remark yourself). I should have done this a long time ago... Go back to my old high school in Japan. I requested a paid holiday for today, so i could go to my old school to talk to the students and join their classes. I know, it sounds stupid in retrospect. "isn't that what you usually do?". It also meant I would miss out on my lucrative English Conversation class on Monday nights. Still, felt I owed it to my old School. This was truly, a trip with the Ghost of Christmas Past.
I used to always go to school with my host brother. This time, my younger host sister is at the school. Nothing had changed. Only the faces in the uniforms I, and my friends used to wear were different. The same buses. Same driver. Same route. Same everything... Suddenly it appeared before me... the school I left behind just over 3 years ago. It was hard to accept that I was 3 years older.
A lot of the same teachers were there also. A few I still knew by name, a few others needed reintroducing. One of my favourite teachers, my old home economics teacer, Mrs. Big Tree (大木) walked into the room, saw me, and stopped short. She looked like she had seena ghost. (I'm not that white, i thought). Her reaction was priceless. She just couldn't place me. I guess, that is understandable. Most years, this school has taken in an Exchange student, and I am the first to have come back.
Since 3 full years had passed, none of the students were at the school when I was, but all 1600 of them had seen me before. This is a shameful secret I will share with you all... When I was here, I was a model for the school prospectus. It is a private school, loaded with cash, so no expense was spared. A spent a whole 2 days with a professional photographer, goin all over the town for ideal locations. Eventually, it was decided that i would pose infront of an artificial romanesque cornice. The other photo made the cover, and these prospecuses were dispersed all throught the region. Apparently, the same photos were used for the next three prospectuses.
Throughout the day, I was frequently called "pamplet boy", once they realised where they'd seen me before.
I clearly remember the day I left. There was a meeting/byebye/sayonara party for me. I was asked to do a speech. I really didnt know what to say. It was a complicated time. The only thing that truly made sense to me then, was cards. If you are unaware, I am an amateur magician. I won't go into it now, but I have the ability to make people look like they have seen a ghost, or swear that they will never play against me in a game of poker. I wanted to have a memorable goodbye, so I decided to brink out my A-game. A card trick people would remember. To cut the story short, and to save me the torture or recalling every detail, it ended up completely wrong... I basically played a game of "pick up 52" by myself to an audience of 100 people. Memorable for the wrong reasons.
Today was an opportunity to remedy this. I joined some classes with my old ALT teacher, with my host sister, and one of my old English teachers. The highschool level of English is much easier to be able to talk to them. I guess, apart from being an unfortunate celebrity, I am very interesting to them. There are no foriegn students here currently. I was then asked to show a few card tricks... It was like confronting the bully who haunted your childhood. I called up a volunteer. She nervously picked her card. I nervously shuffled. She asked if she could shuffle. What kind of magicial would I be if i said no? I could start to feel the wedgie, and me losing my lunch money... But you have to stand up to your bullies... It was almost slow motion, as I threw the entire deck into the air. Several students screamed in fright (the front 3 rows will get wet!), yet I was calm. As the cards settled and fluttered to the ground, I was standing strong with a single card in my hand... It was a dirct match.
I did various other performances throughout the day. A very special day. I know I was duped into taking a paid days leave, and i missed my weekly extra income, but it was well worthwhile. But I needed to get home. It wasn't worthwhile catching the night bus home. That would mean I need to sleep on the bus, and go directly to work... The bullet train, and limited express train would get me home on time to get a good night sleep, and I could still catch my favourite program on TV. However, when I tried to buy my ticket, I discovered the trains were cancelled for the rest of the night... (This was the same line when I was delayed going to Tokyo and someone threw themselves infront of our train)
Question: What was on the tracks to stop all trains from passing?
A) Bears, out from hibernation unseasonably early due to the warm winter.
B) Wind, from across the Japan sea.
C) A colony of protected seabirds.
D) Incompetent Japan Railway employees repairing a section of the line.
All seem pretty ridiculous to me. The answer, was B) wind. It still doesnt make much sense to me. But that is what it was. My options were limited. I could go the really long way around the Japanese Alps, costing twice as much. I could take another day of paid leave, sleep at an internet cafe and go home in the morning. Or I could train the 2 hours back into tokyo and hope there is still a seat on that damn night bus. That is what I decided. It turns out, no. there was no seats left. There were seats to the neighbouring prefecture. I'm now in an internet cafe waiting for that bus. Now, I will need to train to my town, including a stopover. I will most likely arrive to school late, and completley exhausted... The cycle of tiredness continues. This weekend of rest was wasted... because of wind... However, the flooding of re-memories will remain for a long long time.
The last month, every weekend has been crazy busy. Weekends were not a time of rest. I have been surprising successful in finding things to do in Toyama (and once at a skifield in Nagano- of the '98 olympic). This is good, but I felt I might be starting to burn out when I spent a friday afternoon at school where my eyes were blinking longer than I could keep them open. Being awake is often not needed as an ALT, but it is relatively low on the professionalism scale.
This weekend, I went back to visit my host families above Tokyo again. It's a long, expensive and stressful trip, whether you choose to go by night bus or by train. It didn't help how I chose to attend basketball practice before leaving. The bus leaves at 11pm, and arrived in central Tokyo at 5:25, well before the first trains. The wise option was to go to an internet cafe. In Japan, this is usually a place where people go to get a terrible sleep after a night's drinking. I wasn't drinking, but I wanted a few hours of terrible sleep.
My host family is like an oasis. It could feel my body repairing itself. The month of post- Shanghai unrest melted away. It sounds stupid, but I travelled all this way to do absolutely nothing. It was great.
The next day I went to visit another host family that I hadn't seen since I left their place 3 1/2 years ago. They are the nicest people. Whereas my real family (in NZ) took just a few weeks to tear apart and redocrate my bedroom, coming back to this host family reminded me how nice it is to know some things don't change. Everything about them, my old town, my old home... The sun had just gone around the earth a few times, is all.
Today, Monday.
This was a big day for me. If i thought yesterday was a day for reminiscing... well (-please insert some witty remark yourself). I should have done this a long time ago... Go back to my old high school in Japan. I requested a paid holiday for today, so i could go to my old school to talk to the students and join their classes. I know, it sounds stupid in retrospect. "isn't that what you usually do?". It also meant I would miss out on my lucrative English Conversation class on Monday nights. Still, felt I owed it to my old School. This was truly, a trip with the Ghost of Christmas Past.
I used to always go to school with my host brother. This time, my younger host sister is at the school. Nothing had changed. Only the faces in the uniforms I, and my friends used to wear were different. The same buses. Same driver. Same route. Same everything... Suddenly it appeared before me... the school I left behind just over 3 years ago. It was hard to accept that I was 3 years older.
A lot of the same teachers were there also. A few I still knew by name, a few others needed reintroducing. One of my favourite teachers, my old home economics teacer, Mrs. Big Tree (大木) walked into the room, saw me, and stopped short. She looked like she had seena ghost. (I'm not that white, i thought). Her reaction was priceless. She just couldn't place me. I guess, that is understandable. Most years, this school has taken in an Exchange student, and I am the first to have come back.
Since 3 full years had passed, none of the students were at the school when I was, but all 1600 of them had seen me before. This is a shameful secret I will share with you all... When I was here, I was a model for the school prospectus. It is a private school, loaded with cash, so no expense was spared. A spent a whole 2 days with a professional photographer, goin all over the town for ideal locations. Eventually, it was decided that i would pose infront of an artificial romanesque cornice. The other photo made the cover, and these prospecuses were dispersed all throught the region. Apparently, the same photos were used for the next three prospectuses.
Throughout the day, I was frequently called "pamplet boy", once they realised where they'd seen me before.
I clearly remember the day I left. There was a meeting/byebye/sayonara party for me. I was asked to do a speech. I really didnt know what to say. It was a complicated time. The only thing that truly made sense to me then, was cards. If you are unaware, I am an amateur magician. I won't go into it now, but I have the ability to make people look like they have seen a ghost, or swear that they will never play against me in a game of poker. I wanted to have a memorable goodbye, so I decided to brink out my A-game. A card trick people would remember. To cut the story short, and to save me the torture or recalling every detail, it ended up completely wrong... I basically played a game of "pick up 52" by myself to an audience of 100 people. Memorable for the wrong reasons.
Today was an opportunity to remedy this. I joined some classes with my old ALT teacher, with my host sister, and one of my old English teachers. The highschool level of English is much easier to be able to talk to them. I guess, apart from being an unfortunate celebrity, I am very interesting to them. There are no foriegn students here currently. I was then asked to show a few card tricks... It was like confronting the bully who haunted your childhood. I called up a volunteer. She nervously picked her card. I nervously shuffled. She asked if she could shuffle. What kind of magicial would I be if i said no? I could start to feel the wedgie, and me losing my lunch money... But you have to stand up to your bullies... It was almost slow motion, as I threw the entire deck into the air. Several students screamed in fright (the front 3 rows will get wet!), yet I was calm. As the cards settled and fluttered to the ground, I was standing strong with a single card in my hand... It was a dirct match.
I did various other performances throughout the day. A very special day. I know I was duped into taking a paid days leave, and i missed my weekly extra income, but it was well worthwhile. But I needed to get home. It wasn't worthwhile catching the night bus home. That would mean I need to sleep on the bus, and go directly to work... The bullet train, and limited express train would get me home on time to get a good night sleep, and I could still catch my favourite program on TV. However, when I tried to buy my ticket, I discovered the trains were cancelled for the rest of the night... (This was the same line when I was delayed going to Tokyo and someone threw themselves infront of our train)
Question: What was on the tracks to stop all trains from passing?
A) Bears, out from hibernation unseasonably early due to the warm winter.
B) Wind, from across the Japan sea.
C) A colony of protected seabirds.
D) Incompetent Japan Railway employees repairing a section of the line.
All seem pretty ridiculous to me. The answer, was B) wind. It still doesnt make much sense to me. But that is what it was. My options were limited. I could go the really long way around the Japanese Alps, costing twice as much. I could take another day of paid leave, sleep at an internet cafe and go home in the morning. Or I could train the 2 hours back into tokyo and hope there is still a seat on that damn night bus. That is what I decided. It turns out, no. there was no seats left. There were seats to the neighbouring prefecture. I'm now in an internet cafe waiting for that bus. Now, I will need to train to my town, including a stopover. I will most likely arrive to school late, and completley exhausted... The cycle of tiredness continues. This weekend of rest was wasted... because of wind... However, the flooding of re-memories will remain for a long long time.
Friday, March 02, 2007
"Internationalism"
in·ter·na·tion·al·ism ( n t r-n sh -n -l z m) n.
1. The condition or quality of being international in character, principles, concern, or attitude.
2. A policy or practice of cooperation among nations, especially in politics and economic matters.
3. The doctrine that nations should cooperate because their common interests are more important than their differences.internationalist - a member of a socialist or communist international .
It is such a mighty-sounding word, one that gets thrown around in Japan often. But very confusing. The slogan for the Jet Programme even goes: "Grass roots international Exchange". I will try to explain the meaning of this word as I have come to understand it.
I don't know how long this will stay up, but go to the above link- the Tonami City website, and under the 3rd small photo there is a set of 4 links. Our article is the first link. This was the international festival on the weekend. Yes, Tonami is now, apparently, a booming International city, if this article is anything to go by. (no)
Another photo was placed in the Toyama Prefecture newspaper. It wasn't huge, but there was a small article that went along with it.
The article, while short, tells about the large number of international residents in Tonami. About 370 Chinese, and 200 Brazilians, with a total of about 700 foreigners from 19 different countries. This was a revelation for me. I never knew there were so many. The article goes on to tell about the Brazilian food, and all the Japanese cultural activities on offer. The small article uses the word "International exchange" at least four times. It must have been a very successful festival.
Last week, we (white) ALT's were told about this small international festival. It was on a Sunday, so we weren't obliged to go. Still, my neighbor Tim and I thought it'd be best to show our faces for a little while. It turns out, that is all they wanted. Before we even got to the entrance, a photographer accosted us, and spoke to us in wild gesture. It apparently never occurred to him to try speak Japanese. That white foreigners may be able to speak Japanese is a crazy concept to most Japanese. I guess that is one reason why they had this festival.
Apparently, the photographer had a deadline to meet, to have the most "international looking" photo by midday. I was told later on, that even the Mayor was wondering where his 4 ALT's were. I mean, his thinking is perfectly reasonable: he imported them at great expense for "internationalisation", and his town would not look very international if there were only Asians in the photo for the newspaper.
Tim and I got whisked to a different building where people were playing a traditional Japanese fan-throwing game. We waited patiently our turn, but the photographer and his 2 goons (perhaps editors? They never introduced themselves, probably because they didn't know the international gesture for "Newspaper Editor"), they got very restless. They whispered something to the old ladies supervising the current game. I wonder what they said (maybe it was a threat), because within 30 seconds, the game finished. (It was a young boy vs. a young-middle aged woman). Tim and I sat down, (with difficulty- if you've had to sit on the floor in Japan, you'll know why.), and we played a game against each other. All the while we were treated to the soundtrack of a semi-automatic camera. I want to state for the record, that the result of our game was unimportant.
We went back inside to have some Brazilian food and talk to the origami ladies. (No, they weren't made from origami.) All the while, the cameraman was still going paparazzi on us. It was really quite odd.
This all illustrates the problem with internationalism in Japan. I saw the article with our photo today, and not only does it not mention New Zealand, it doesn't even mention our names. They just want the white face, the blond hair and the "tall" nose. Of the 700 alleged foreigners in the city, they specifically needed one of the 5 white ones for the photo. At times like this, I feel bad for being white. There were Brazilians and Chinese who were actually helping at the festival, but they aren't "international enough". All that is important to the Japanese is to appear "international", which they aren't. I mean, 700 foreigners in a city of 50, 000 isn't very much. My university of 12,000 had over 2,200 people born outside New Zealand. And what about 19 countries? I, personally, am 2 of those countries!
Moreover, lately in the news it has been highlighted how difficult it is to get Japanese Nationality. Nine children born out of wedlock to a Japanese Father and a Non-Japanese mother (Filipino, not that it's important) had to go to court in a landmark case to get Japanese Nationality. I cannot comprehend why Japanese people are so afraid of letting other people be Japanese. Every few weeks the newspapers come out with some article about how low the birthrate is, and this will cripple the nation in 30 years, and there is this unhealthy obsession with "internationalism". It doesn't make sense.
My conclusion is that Internationalism is something the Japanese say often enough to please the Americans. As long as it looks that way, people will be happy (except the actual foreigners). It is a word hollowed out by politics and devoid of any meaning.
I can say this, because, it wasn't an "International" festival until I showed up.
Another photo was placed in the Toyama Prefecture newspaper. It wasn't huge, but there was a small article that went along with it.
The article, while short, tells about the large number of international residents in Tonami. About 370 Chinese, and 200 Brazilians, with a total of about 700 foreigners from 19 different countries. This was a revelation for me. I never knew there were so many. The article goes on to tell about the Brazilian food, and all the Japanese cultural activities on offer. The small article uses the word "International exchange" at least four times. It must have been a very successful festival.
Last week, we (white) ALT's were told about this small international festival. It was on a Sunday, so we weren't obliged to go. Still, my neighbor Tim and I thought it'd be best to show our faces for a little while. It turns out, that is all they wanted. Before we even got to the entrance, a photographer accosted us, and spoke to us in wild gesture. It apparently never occurred to him to try speak Japanese. That white foreigners may be able to speak Japanese is a crazy concept to most Japanese. I guess that is one reason why they had this festival.
Apparently, the photographer had a deadline to meet, to have the most "international looking" photo by midday. I was told later on, that even the Mayor was wondering where his 4 ALT's were. I mean, his thinking is perfectly reasonable: he imported them at great expense for "internationalisation", and his town would not look very international if there were only Asians in the photo for the newspaper.
Tim and I got whisked to a different building where people were playing a traditional Japanese fan-throwing game. We waited patiently our turn, but the photographer and his 2 goons (perhaps editors? They never introduced themselves, probably because they didn't know the international gesture for "Newspaper Editor"), they got very restless. They whispered something to the old ladies supervising the current game. I wonder what they said (maybe it was a threat), because within 30 seconds, the game finished. (It was a young boy vs. a young-middle aged woman). Tim and I sat down, (with difficulty- if you've had to sit on the floor in Japan, you'll know why.), and we played a game against each other. All the while we were treated to the soundtrack of a semi-automatic camera. I want to state for the record, that the result of our game was unimportant.
We went back inside to have some Brazilian food and talk to the origami ladies. (No, they weren't made from origami.) All the while, the cameraman was still going paparazzi on us. It was really quite odd.
This all illustrates the problem with internationalism in Japan. I saw the article with our photo today, and not only does it not mention New Zealand, it doesn't even mention our names. They just want the white face, the blond hair and the "tall" nose. Of the 700 alleged foreigners in the city, they specifically needed one of the 5 white ones for the photo. At times like this, I feel bad for being white. There were Brazilians and Chinese who were actually helping at the festival, but they aren't "international enough". All that is important to the Japanese is to appear "international", which they aren't. I mean, 700 foreigners in a city of 50, 000 isn't very much. My university of 12,000 had over 2,200 people born outside New Zealand. And what about 19 countries? I, personally, am 2 of those countries!
Moreover, lately in the news it has been highlighted how difficult it is to get Japanese Nationality. Nine children born out of wedlock to a Japanese Father and a Non-Japanese mother (Filipino, not that it's important) had to go to court in a landmark case to get Japanese Nationality. I cannot comprehend why Japanese people are so afraid of letting other people be Japanese. Every few weeks the newspapers come out with some article about how low the birthrate is, and this will cripple the nation in 30 years, and there is this unhealthy obsession with "internationalism". It doesn't make sense.
My conclusion is that Internationalism is something the Japanese say often enough to please the Americans. As long as it looks that way, people will be happy (except the actual foreigners). It is a word hollowed out by politics and devoid of any meaning.
I can say this, because, it wasn't an "International" festival until I showed up.
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