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.

"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.

http://www.city.tonami.toyama.jp/

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.

Snow Snow Snow, Finally.

There is a very famous snow festival in Japan, which has gained international fame. It's at a wee place called Hokkaido, where every year skilled sculptors make wildly elaborate snow and ice sculptures. I am familiar with their work, having been to an exhibition where most of Rembrandts works translated were translated into snow and ice (Ruben in Dutchland, December 2005)... At this snow festival they have everything from ice castles to tacky Japanese cartoon characters. They have something for everyone, unless you don't like the cold. And every year, the JET program has a trip to this famous snow festival.

I don't know exactly why I mention this, because I did not go, nor was I ever planning to. However, there was a similar event closer to home. Nestled in the Japanese Alps, is a small mountain village called Toga where they have an annual small snow festival. It is very-much like me to choose the substitute: I have been to Little Venice, Little Kyoto, Tokyo Disneyland…I've even seen a mini Statue of Liberty and supersized at McDonalds in Japan. If you are as good at lieing to yourself as I am, it can save you a lot of money. So this mini snow festival was a much more viable option, decided Tim, my New Zealander neighbour, and I. The plan was, we'd drive up and he'd go snowboarding for a few hours while I check out the festival. It seemed like a good way to spend a Saturday. Just before leaving, he had to stop to buy underwear. I still don't understand this, and I have stopped trying to. I suggest you do the same. I'm not even sure why I mentioned this.

The winter in Toyama, and all Japan I guess, has been incredibly mild. Whereas last year I am constantly told there was a fisherman-tale-like 11 metres of snow, this year was simply a treatable case of dandruff. When I went to the ski-field a few weeks ago, it was sometimes more like downhill wakeboarding. There were several large patches of dirt and jagged rocks to avoid. (this made learning to snowboard much more exciting). The trip to Toga and the prospect of seeing real snow was exciting. The drive was stunning, but at times the road was so narrow, I couldn't help but feel this was not the right road. The road kept climbing higher into the mountains, but was thankfully carved out by snow ploughs (Note: 'narrow-mountain-road-snow-plough-man' must be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world). Anyways, we made it, and I dropped Tim off at the ski-field. I allowed myself 3 hours to check out the festival.

3 hours was incredibly ambitious. Yes, the snow sculptures were stunning- 2 days ago, before it began to rain and melt them.... Calling this a "mini" snow festival was still an exaggeration. Still, it was definitely an experience. The food stalls were good, and there were enough people to talk to to pass the time. There was also a "custom" (i.e. inexplicably stupid thing people perpetuate every year until they simply accept it) where 5 or 6 old men wearing straw capes sat on a huge log, and made a lot noise until all the visitors came over and pulled them around the festival grounds. These old guys were loving it! Snow festival log riding: that's where I want to be when I'm 80. We were given free sake afterwards.

I somehow managed to kill those 3 hours, but Tim wanted to see the festival too. And then we were enticed to stay to watch the fireworks. This means, in all, I was at this tiny mountain festival from 1 until 8pm hours, and as I was driving, I couldn't drink.. This was my 'mini 7 years in Tibet'. The festival was lit up, making the sculptures stand out, and the entertainment got going. It wasn't necessarily 'good entertainment', but at least they tried. Just before the fireworks, it began to snow. The only fireworks displays I have seen until now involve loading a barge full of explosives, and setting them off one-by-one. This one was choreographed with music and a semi-traditional dance group on the snow stage in front. As the sky lit up in brilliant colours behind the stage and the snowflakes, it made the wait seem all worthwhile.

All that was left now, was to drive home. I knew it would be slow going at night, with a now near-blizzard, but this was ridiculous. It turns out I missed the turnoff... . It turns out I drove down the hill in the wrong direction, and ended up driving 2 sides of a triangle. I haven't been this lost in a long time. The day couldn't get any better.

It didn't.

I feel it is my duty to at least report back after my trip to China, that I did not get stabbed. I repeat, I did NOT get stabbed. In that sense, it was a very successful holiday. I have much to write about (don't I always?), however, it somehow doesn't belong on Ruben In Japanland. (although many people don't know the difference... Have we been over this before.) So anyways, I will at some stage give a proper account of the comedy of errors that was Ruben In Mainland (China) .

For the meanwhile, I am back in Japan, in my capacity as a teacher. Well, technically, my job is classified as an "ALT". This stands for "Assistant Language Teacher". This makes more sense to me, as I am not a real teacher. Other teachers are usually quick to point out this fact as well, (despite the fact we get paid the same amount). I think the abbreviation "ALT" is so appropriate.

You are most likely reading this on a computer. Take a look at your keyboard. You see the ALT key? He's just sitting there, not really doing anything.. How often do you use him? Maybe sometimes for a shortcut, although the amount of shortcuts you know that uses the ALT key is very limited. Shortcuts: that's all he really does. It's sometimes convenient when you are too lazy to move the mouse pointer around. Usually though, it's a key that you often push on accident and wonder what the hell just happened. It's more an inconvenience than anything. else. Even still, the ALT key is heavily over-represented. There are in fact 2 ALT keys. It is clear that the ALT key's usefulness cannot justify its keyboard space. The only reason for it being there could be "aesthetic considerations". It's all symmetrically placed either side of the spacebar. On my keyboard they are even in a different colour. Despite the obvious obsoleteness, the feeling is a keyboard would be incomplete without the ALT.

(In case this went completely over your head, I school is the keyboard, and I am the ALT.)

The reason I mention all of this, is because I finally caved to the pressure and re-signed (not resigned) for a 2nd year. This was a very difficult decision, mostly because of the location of my town. Well, to be more accurate, it's more the lack of people located in my town. However, I don't know if I will ever get another job as easy as an ALT, or whether I will ever get another job at all. What probably influenced my decision the most, was materialism. Things things, glorious things.

Embassy

I had a big problem in my life in Tonami. My apartment, apart from being too cheap, was also too big.. It was tough. I finally decided that I needed to resolve both of these problems. This culminated in the creation of a new bar in town. A bar which doesn't require a 10 minute walk in the freezing cold or snow. A bar where alcohol is as cheap as you can buy at the liquor shops! A bar where you can drink beer from proper beer mugs! A bar where you don't have to pay to sit down! Where you can play darts with a real dartboard and dangerous steel tipped darts! Where anything Japanese is forbidden. Welcome to Embassy.

It was a great project to keep me sane in the impending doom of another 1 1/2 years in Tonami. Now it's complete, it makes the idea easier to cope with. It really does feel like a place I can escape my existence; where I can truly relax. Sometimes, I get too relaxed. When you find yourself falling asleep at a bar, you know you have a problem. Unless that bar is in your own apartment! Although, that could be an even stronger indication of a problem.

Either way, I'm here to stay for a second year. Despite my cyniclism, things are definitely looking up. It's all about hitting the right keys.