卒業、そして未来へ

The end of the academic year is drawing to a close here at Nicchu**. Teachers are tying up loose ends in their lessons, students are studying hard for the proficiency tests this week, and final preparations for the graduation ceremony on Friday is underway.

For those wondering why middle school graduation is such a big deal, Japan's mandatory education only extends through middle school. After that, they can either enter the work force or advance to high school. Moreover, anyone wishing to entire a high school must pass the entrance exam for that particular school so those applying to multiple schools must take multiple tests. For more prestigious schools, there may even be an interview involved. The stress and exam fees can really pile up. And once they graduate high school, the cycle starts over as they either enter the workforce or start taking exams for universities they want to get into. At either academic level, hopefuls that fail the exams become a "ronin" (literally a samurai without a master) for the year and try again the following year.

But all the stress and brain-hurt is done with and now my third-years can sit back and look forward to Friday morning. Well, besides practicing for the ceremony up to two hours a day. Starting last Thursday, all students and teachers with homerooms donned their jackets and congregated in the freezing gym to practice for the graduation ceremony during the last two hours of the day. One hour is spent on entering/leaving, sitting/standing, and bowing. They even make the first and second-year students applaude as the third-years and their teachers leave (which can take a loooong time and they do it more than once). The second hour is spent practicing the school song with the music teacher. They practice and sing it for the opening and closing ceremonies each semester.

Today, the head of the English department and I had our last lesson with our graduating third-year students. Last week, he asked me to write down two of my favorite songs so he could type up the lyrics for the students and he provided his favorite song. After we played those during class we ended playing a couple others and what we ended up with was a kind of graduation soundtrack for them.
I thought it would be fun to share it here:

The Nikaho Graduation Class of 2014 Playlist

-We Are the World, various artists

 

-Time Stand Still, Rush

-Perfect, Pink **yeah, I hate censored versions, but it's middle school...

-Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Green Day

-卒業、そして未来へ, MONKEYMAJIK **"Graduation, then on to the future"

And that concludes our graduation playlist. We tried to find songs that had a good message for them and I feel we did a great job. They may not of understood all of it (especially Rush considering how old and abstract the song is), but I hope they got something out of it and will look into some of the lyrics later. I wasn't able to get to know them well, but a part of me is still a bit sad to see them go. At least, from what I can tell from the happy and looks on their faces that they're off to a good future no matter where it takes them.

**Japanese Mini-Lesson!
The words for elementary, middle, and high school are 小学校 (shogakko), 中学校 (chugakko), and 高校 (koko). As you can see, the kanji that differentiates between the three is the first one. 小 means "small", 中 means "middle", and 高 means "high" or "tall". The remaining kanji 学校 or just 校 simply mean "school". However, since 仁賀保中学校 (Nikaho Chugakko) is a bit of a mouthful, people generally like to abbreviate it down to 仁中 (Nicchu). Similarily, my elementary school, 平沢小学校 (Hirasawa Shogakko) is usually shortened down to 平沢小 (Hirasawasho).

Decrypting Japanese Names

It's test time again here at Nikaho JHS and we all know what that means: hours of empty time at the office. Finally got my culture board about the polar plunge done yesterday and today I want to write about something that's been bugging me (and probably many other ALTs) since I started teaching here. Remembering names has never been my strong suit in the first place and now I'm trying to memorize the names of 300+ junior high students who all wear the same uniform and 100+ elementary school students whom I see only once a week.

The main culprit here is kanji- the fancy Japanese symbols derived from Chinese. They aren't a general problem for me and it's actually one of my favorite aspects of the Japanese language. In fact, last names are pretty simple since there are so many common ones out there that I don't come across too many that stump me. For example, if you take the kanji "kawa" (川） and "moto" (本), and squish them together, you get "Kawamoto" (川本). As any student of Japanese knows, however, kanji can have many different ways to read them. When written by itself, the kanji 本 reads "hon" which means "book". Thankfully, when it comes to last names, readings of individual kanji don't change much since these have been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years.

The problems started when I realized that these rules are thrown out the window when it comes to first names. I should've remembered this from a story a friend from Seijo University told me. She said she knew someone who registered her child's names with the kanji "hikari" (光)- the kanji for light and "nezumi" (鼠)- the kanji for mouse. Her phonetic name? "Pikachu"...

Weep for her childhood.

 

The last kanji at least makes sense even if it is a bit strange- "chu" is actually a way to read 鼠 (Zelda fans, ever notice how the cute little "Bombchu"s in Majora's Mask look like mice?). The problem is with the first one. There are a few ways to read 光, but "pika" isn't one of them. In fact, "pika" doesn't have a kanji at all since it's technically an onomatopeia. It's usually spelled phonetically with katakana as ピカピカ ("pikapika" since onomatopeia are usually said at least twice in a row). As many otaku around the world know, it means to sparkle or flash.

 

And at last we get to the crux of the problem: first names in Japan can be whatever the imagination conjures up. Technically the same is true for non-Japanese names, but they don't have the visual aspect muddling things up and there is no official phonetic spelling. When a Japanese name is registered, you write down both the kanji and how to read them. Interestingly, kanji isn't required- you can have a name spelled with phonetic hiragana (for native Japanese words) or katakana (for foreign words and names). If you're wearing a nametag with the phonetic name はるか ("Haruka") written in hiragana, and go up to someone and say your name is "Mary", not only would they be extremely confused, but you'd also be lying outside the context of a nickname- your name is offically pronounced Haruka and forever will be until you change it.

 

English-speaking countries have the opposite problem since you can basically tell people to call you anything you want, but it's not offically recorded anywhere (unless you bother with "aliases", but again, you can have people pronounce these however you want). This can cause a problem when foreign people have to register their names in Japan since they have to pin down a pronounciation which will then be official and written in stone. What's more, you have to choose katakana that most closely reflect your name even if it contains sounds that aren't originally part of the Japanese language (such as the "ti" in my name). When I registered my name, this gave me pause since my family tends to call me "ti-AH-rah", but prefer to be called "ti-EH-rah" to reflect my Latino heritage. In katakana, the former would be spelled ティアラ("ti-a-ra") and latter would be spelled ティエラ ("ti-e-ra"). Finally, I decided to go with my preference since I told it so closely to my read identity. From then I wrote "Tierra" in English in the space for names and wrote ティエラ in the space for the phonetic spelling above it.

 

 

The result of having a language that separates the visual and phonetic component is that you have over 400 kids who can have names with identical kanji but different readings, or identical names with different kanji. For example, I'd say that the most popular name at my junior high school is Miyu, but each one has different kanji. There are about as many ways to spell the name "Miyu" as there are stars in the sky. Even more confusing, there's a girl named "Miu" and is hard to pronounce separately from "Mi-yu" or "Mi-yuu" (with an elongated "u" sound at the end).

 

 

Let's take the kanji 翔 as an example of the opposite issue. I have three boys in one class who's names consist only of this kanji. One boy's name: "Kakeru" and another one's "Takeru". The third one? "Sho".

 

 

That's it, you're all Bob. Nice to meet you.

Thankfully, I seem to have picked up a pattern of what's more likely than other's. For example, when paired with another kanji, the reading tends to be "Sho" as in 翔太(Shota) or 翔也(Shoya), but there seems to be an exception when it comes to the name 大翔(Taiga). I know a few students with that name, so I'm going to assume from now on that every time I see 大翔 it's probably going to be "Taiga" (until I run into the one that isn't...). When it comes to 翔 being used alone, however, all bets are off. I have several students who's readings are "Takeru", "Kakeru", or "Sho" by itself (I also have a male student called "Takeru" who's kanji are 岳瑠）. Sometimes there's nothing to be done but shamefully consult the seating chart like the non-native-speaking gaijin I am...

 

Finally, we have gender-neutral names. Of course this happens in many cultures, but it's a bit daunting when you have to deal with a bunch of students with names you've never encountered before. This is especially true when you're trying to figure out which stickers to put on which child's feedback card. I made a huge newbie mistake in thinking that just because I'd heard a name in an anime/game that it must be strictly that gender. Since the character "Shion" in the video game Xenosaga was a girl, I assumed that "Shion" is a girl's name. And so a poor boy in one of my elementary school classes ended up with a big, sparkly flower on his feedback card and when I saw him again the next week and read his nametag, I felt like a terrible person. The kicker is that I do actually have a female Shion in a different class. I also got a couple "Kaede"s mixed up thanks to a little anime called Inuyasha. In fact, I have two "Kaede's" in the same Junior High class of opposite genders.

 

And so my adventure with Japanese names continues. I'm getting better at names and picking more and more patterns to go by and assigning actual faces to them. To all other ALTs out there, I would say it may be intimidating at first, but 我慢 ("gaman"- perservere) your way through and don't be embarassed of a few slip-ups. You're not the first ALT to be stumped by names and you certainly won't be the last. You could probably call it even since they probably still call you by your predecessor's name (I still get the occasional "Stephanie" even now). Incorporate names into your Japanese studies and have fun getting to know your students!

The Notorious JET Interview

From what I've seen on the facebook JET 2014 applicants group, the interview results are in. The aganizing wait is finally over! To those of you who have been scheduled for an interview, congradulations! Time to prepare yourselves for the big day and for another long, insanity-inducing wait afterward (starting to see a trend forming here?). To those who didn't receive one, I know how disappointing it can be, but don't give up! If you truly want to get into JET, try again! There's no shame in having to take two or even three attempts. It's not a race. Give your application and statement of purpose a good, long look and see where you can improve your odds of getting in. Eventually, I intend to write up another post about applying to the program which I hope will also be helpful to those re-applying.

Alright, interviewees, your interview is probably two or three weeks away. Where do you begin to prepare? Well, seeing as you're here, you're off to a pretty good start!

First, let's start with something in common with all interviews: appearance. If this isn't your first interview, you already have a good idea of what to wear, but there are still some cultural aspects you need to be aware of. The interview will be at the Japanese consulate/embassy after all and there will be a Japanese person on the panel and part of what they're looking for is whether you will acclimate to the environment well.

Clothes:

formal it up. Suit + jacket for everyone. Ties for guys. Dresses are okay for ladies as long as they are formal. Make sure your footwear is clean and like-new.
Culture Taboos-
NO bare shoulders. This includes tops and sides which means no cap sleeves. I've seen a lot of professional, sleeveless dresses out there which is fine as long you wear something like the aforementioned suit jacket over it.
NO cleavage. Actually, the entire chest area needs to me mostly covered. There's an ALT here who got politely taken aside and told her shirt exposed too much even though there wasn't cleavage. After she showed it to me, I saw it was one of those low-cut, wide-scooping necklines that show a lot of skin. Try to avoid those.
NO piercings on men.
NO piercings anywhere except the ears on ladies. Maybe get one of those flesh-colored fill-ins.
Keep your ear piercings small and professional.
NO tattoos. Thankfully, it'll still be the middle of/tail-end of winter everywhere so it shouldn't be too difficult. If you have any face or hand tattoos, then...I got nothing...bandages?
Hair- ladies can keep it down (I did) as long as it's brushed and neat. Men, get your hair cut. Long hair on men is usually not acceptable. That said, I have seen a JET get in that had long, brown Jesus hair and a matching beard, but it was pretty immaculate. If you insist on keeping your hair long, brush and keep it neat. Facial hair is ok, but again, as long as it's trim and neat.
Smile- pretty self-explanatory, but can be deceptively difficult. Some of you may be traveling a long way and it could drag you down some along with any nervous energy you may have. This is all part of it though; assistant language teachers in Japan that aren't hired under a cushy JET or Interac contract do get fired for not being "genki" (energetic) enough. Since it's pretty hard to get rid of you once you're hired, they want to make sure you're a keeper. Smile!

My situation: nice, white blouse, dress pants, suit jacket, and black flats (modest heels shouldn't be an issue though). I do have pierced ears, but I'm pretty sure I left them out.
I also do have two tattoos that were easily covered.

Preparation:
I like to address a major rumor floating around there. Many websites claim that merely getting to the interview stage gives you a 50 to even a 90 percent chance of getting accepted. DON'T RELY ON ANY OF THESE! It doesn't matter if it's true or not; wouldn't you rather err on the side caution? Make the most of this opportunity.

You won't be expected to (and rather shouldn't) bring anything into the interview with you. The most important thing to have is intangible. You know what they say- knowledge is power! Research, research, research. Don't take any one experience or even a few experiences as dogma. Here are some things that I found particularily useful.

Your App and SOP: The panelists will 100% be going over your application and statement of purpose. They may be open-ended ("I see you were part of the Japanese club. Tell me about your experience.") or they may be more direct ("What was your major at University?). They are both looking for you to elaborate and confirm facts. If your answers don't gel with your app or statement of purpose, you're pretty much not getting accepted. But you should be fine as long as you were honest on your app and statement of purpose and have something meaningful to say. Most candidates find 2 pages isn't long enough to fully express themselves so think of this as an opportunity to say the things you didn't have the space for in your SOP. For example, if they ask you about where you wrote about the desire to travel, say where and why.

Questions: Collect as many questions as you can. I sat down and tried to write up an answer to each one I found and even thought up a few of my own based on my application and statement of purpose. Remember, they will taylor these questions to your situation. These will also vary by whether you're going for an ALT or CIR position (and whether you're open to being an ALT either way). Here are questions that I got in my interview (I was applying to be a CIR open to being an ALT):

-Why do you want to be a CIR?
**You will 100% get some variant of this question. Do not just parrot your SOP- elaborate**
-What would you do if you were receiving unwanted attention from a co-worker?
**Ladies, you will almost certainly get this question or something else harassment-related**
-What would you do if your students didn't want to learn English?
-How would you present your own culture in a lesson?
-How were the "chikans"(perverts- usually of the butt-touching variety) in Japan? How did you handle it?
**This happened to me twice during my study abroad in Tokyo. For some reason I got this question and the harassment one**
-Why did you request this particular placement? What if you were placed somewhere rural?
**The correct answer is that you'd be fine with it. The majority of JETs are placed in the countryside and if your lucky, you'll end up somewhere suburban. If you're just going to drop out if you're placed in the countryside, why bother accepting you at all? Also, again, they're looking for flexibility and adaptability**
-What's your favorite part of Japanese culture?
-I see you're bringing your future husband along! How exciting. How do you think he'll deal with living in Japan? Does he know the culture or language?
**Bringing family along does not in itself affect your odds of getting accepted, but whether you and your family are well-prepared for it does**
-What was your fiancee's major at university?
-What is the Milwaukee Steampunk Society? (This was fun to explain)
-I see you were in orchestra. Would you bring your viola to Japan?
-Do you have any questions for us?
**This will come last, and every single candidate gets this question every time. There is a right answer and it's Yes. Come up with something that expresses your interest in the JET programme. This your chance to end the interview with a bang. I asked how the professor got interested in Japan to which the answer was family-related and this lead to me sharing that part of my interest lies in the fact that my dad was based in Yokohama when he was in the marines. Lastly, I asked what the former JET thought was the most valuable thing he took away from the JET programme.**

Questions heard/seen from other candidates:
-What are your three favorite Japanese authors?
-What would you do if you were asked to make tea for the office?
-Why did you apply to the JET programme if your major is [major]?
-How would you explain that not all Western people look like you?
-How would you deal with uncooperative teachers?
-What are the four main islands of Japan?
-Whose the current prime minister?
-Please introduce yourself in Japanese. (if you mentioned any Japanese ability)
-好きな食べ物はなんですか。("What Japanese food do you like?" Only if you mentioned a certain level of Japanese ability)
-Why did the United States drop the atomic bombs on Japan in World War II?

Class Demonstration: those applying for the ALT position will be asked to do a short class demo. Usually the panelists will become your students won't be the best students in the world...adapt!
(I did not have to do a demo as a CIR candidate, but don't rule it out if you're open to being an ALT as I was.)

Language: as mentioned above, you may get a question in Japanese if you mentioned any language ability on your app. You may be given a short grammar quiz or passage to read. While the official statement of the JET programme is that no language ability is required, the harsh reality is that more and more candidates with at least an introductory level are being accepted. Be sure to strongly emphasize your intent to study the language as a JET no matter what your level.

Culture: they want people that are truly interested in Japan and it's culture. Express what you like or what you want to learn more about. Read up on current events or other topics that interest you.
Just like with language ability, more and more candidates with travel experience are being accepted. If you've never been abroad, try to think about how'd you'd react and adapt to culture shock.

Practice!!! Find someone to interview with.

All ready to go? Great! Let's get down to the actual interview experience. Starting with...

The environment:

I've read about many different interview experiences. Some people walk away in tears while some leave feeling like they'd had a pleasant chat. Sometimes candidates will be hit with a severely awkward or seemingly unfair question out of left field meant to trip them up. From what I can gather, each consulate conducts their interviews differently. I interviewed at the Chicago consulate and my experience was very pleasant. If you're a fellow Midwest resident, relax! They won't grill you (too much...). However, keep in mind that just because you left feeling great doesn't mean you'll get accepted or because you left feeling like crap that you weren't accepted...

The Arrival: After turning in your interview voucher and photo, you'll be directed to a waiting area. There will be a promo video playing about JET, but I spent my time chatting with my fellow applicants. They were pretty friendly and there was even a Japanese guy there on other business who talked with us. I wondered the whole time whether being sociable helped at all since the officials could see us, and many other experiences I read confirm this. That being said, BE EARLY. As in, on time = late.

The Panel: You will be called in to the main interview room that will be separated into panels of three people. One will be a Japanese person who works at the consulate, one will be a former JET, and the last will be an academic (professor, etc.) of some sort.
As you enter the area, give a friendly greeting (this is where the smiling beings!). A wave or a modest bow will do. When you sit in your lone chair in the middle of the room, DO NOT cross your legs and sit up straight.

During/After the Interview: Smile!!! Be attentive. Show genuine interest. Keep a cool head even if a question has given you pause. If you need it, take a short moment to get your ducks in a row before answering. You will get at least one or two questions that are personal and maybe a little uncomfortable, but remember that they are testing you. This your chance to show your fearlessness outside your comfort zone.
After the interview, don't forget to thank them (you're still smiling, right?)! I was told to stop at the door/entrance and turn to give a little bow or wave (still smiling?).
Then walk out the door, giving one last thanks to your guide, and...YOUR DONE! Give yourself a pat on the back. Go out and reward yourself.

Japanese Test:

Of course, unless you're a CIR candidate. You've still got a Japanese test to do! Honestly, this freaked me the hell out more than the interview did. You'll be led to a separate room where you'll be greeted by a Japanese person who will ask you to sit down and give you a short passage to read. I could tell as a read that it was designed to start easy and get harder to read as you went along. The kanji started super simple and progressed to more difficult ones. After you've finished reading, you'll be asked some comprehension questions including some that ask for your opinion.
**If you feel like you really flubbed the test, don't despair- many CIR candidates get accepted as ALTs (I was!)**

And now you're FINALLY done! It over! The wait begins. If you're on Facebook, I highly recommend joining the JET applicants for 2014 group and anything similar. Everyone's going to need a way to pass the time and get moral support.
I truly wish the best of luck to all candidates and offer any help I can provide to make this grueling process easier.
頑張ってね!

Party Time! Excellent!

On a night usually spent enjoying the company of family in the warmth and hospitality of my grandparent's house, I was in Japan celebrating the end of the year with my co-workers at the annual "bounenkai" (忘年会). The Chinese characters in the word literally mean, in this order, "forget", "year", and "meeting". In other words, it's a party to forget the past year in order to ring in the new one. Since each school will have their own, assistant language teachers who teach at more than one school have a pretty busy (and expensive) couple of weeks ahead of them if they choose to go to all of them. Thankfully, I only had one for my middle school and one for my elementary school.

Popular venues for bounenkai's usually amount to large "ryokan" (旅館), or traditional Japanese

hotels. Since all schools in the immediate area hold their parties around the same time, the competition to reserve one of these places is pretty fierce. The fees per person can get pricey ranging from 5,000 - 6,000 yen and up (about 50-60 dollars). As traditional establishments, ladies dressed in kimonos greet you at the door to check your shoes (which you are required to take off) and guide you to your reserved meeting room. The room itself is a huge tatami (straw mats) room with low food trays and seat cushions lined up around the room.

There will usually be some traditional Japanese art behind the main row at the far end of the room where the higher-ups sit.

Your tray will already be loaded with food when you get there, but don't eat yet! After the bounenkai formally starts, there will be a few words from the principal. Everyone will then pour drinks for each other (never pour your own drink) for a "kampai"(乾杯), or toast. Then the eating begins.

During the 3+ hour duration of the party, kimono-clad ladies will continuously clear your dishes to make room for more and more food. It seems like a lot, but the portions tend to be small. If your drink gets low, don't worry- your neighbor will fill it up for you (and it's expected you will do the same for them).

The brown, ceramic-looking thing in the upper-right is actually a little pot set on top of a candle burner. At the start of things, the waitresses will come around and light your candle to start boiling
whatever's in the bowl on top.

Throughout the night, people will come sit in front of your tray to talk to you and fill up your glass and have their's filled in return. You'll probably hear the phrase, "What are you drinking?" about a hundred times before the night is over.

Next order of business is some sort of presentation of the year's top ten "big news" items. These can range from huge victories at competitions to recent marriages to snakes being found in the school entrance (unfortunately, I didn't get to see said snake...). A person related to each news item will make a short speech and recieve a small gift.

After another brief pause for socializing, a series of games begin. People are divided into teams depending on where you sit and either entire teams participate or select a member for each round.
Games can be just about anything, but here are the ones I got to play:

Hirasawa Elementary School Bounenkai:

Bingo- self-explanitory. Each bingo you got earned points for your team.

心の一つ (kokoro no hitotsu/ "one heart")　Each team recieves a laminated piece of paper and a marker. The MC will name something and end it with ～と言えば (...toh iebah/"Speaking of..."). For example, they might say, "speaking of mom's home cooking" or "speaking of sushi filling". Then each team member must write down an example of or something related to the theme without looking at each other's answers. When they've finished, the team will line up in a row facing the audience and reveal their answers at the same time. The team will then recieve points based on how many answers are the same. In other words, the team must become "one heart".


Nikaho Junior High School Bounenkai:


一流 (ichiryuu/"high-end" or "top rank") Each team selects a member to participate each round (we had four rounds). In each round, the participants are given two of the same food or beverage samples. However, one will be a generic brand and the other will be a fancy, high-end brand and each participant must guess which is which.


Gesture Roulette- pretty self-explanitory except when a gesture is guessed correctly, the gesturing person goes to the back of the line and the person at the front does the next gesture. Try to guess as many gestures as a team in one minute. This can get pretty silly with alcohol consumption (which there was plenty).

J-Song (Japanese song) Each group selects a singer who will recieve a list of songs to sing the melodies to (lyrics not required). The group must guess as many songs as they can within a time limit.

For some reason I didn't pick up, one team got penalized and each member had to recite a Japanese tongue twister. My JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) got "Boku Bobu"- literally "I'm Bob."

After all games have been played, points are tallied up and groups come up to receive their prizes. Everyone gets a prize; the games just denote who gets first pick.

If the reserved time is up, then closing words are spoken and the party comes to an end. Usually there will be a 二次会 (nijikai/ literally a "second meeting"). These after-parties are optional and usually have karaoke involved. People take taxis there and back.

While expensive, I think it's well worth the food, hospitality, and activities. You'll also get to interact with your co-workers in ways you can't in the everyday workplace. Japan being Japan, teachers work insane hours and are busy people. It's no wonder why they take the time to drink and unwind from a busy year and celebrate their accomplishments. ALT's, don't miss this opportunity to participate in a part of Japanese culture rarely seen by anyone else.

Cultural Perspective 2: Electric Boogaloo

I learned a very obvious thing after spending some time here. It's one of those things you've known your whole life, but can only truly understand after having experienced it. It's pretty simple: people are still people. Specifically, people that are foreign to you are still people.

Duh, right? Most of us are taught from an early age that people are people no matter where they come from. You've seen many on TV or even in real life. When you bump into someone on the street and exchange pleasantries, there's nothing strange or odd about it whether they're from here or there. It doesn't even matter if they speak English or not.

Or does it? Perhaps if you're in the states, speak native English and are surrounded by people speaking English. If you're in a familiar, comfortable environment and have no problems communicating in the dominant language, then the other person is obviously just some guy who bumped into you on the street. However, even if you parted on pleasant terms and you thought they were nice people, subconsciously in your brain, they were the nice Japanese or Indian or [insert ethnicity here] person you met on the street. We place these labels and their corresponding meaning on people without even thinking about it and put them in a group somewhere outside the social norm.

And what about the other guy? If he doesn't speak English well or quite know how to handle the current situation, how is he perceiving you? Even if they could sense your good intentions, you're also a source of anxiety. When you're in the extreme minority surrounded by people that don't understand and can't communicate with you, every interaction is terrifying.

Nobody can ever completely understand this unless they spend a substantial amount of time in another country. And I mean among the natives. None of this hanging around English speakers and westerners stuff. I'm a shy person to begin with, but then I went to Tokyo. There was a whole week I remember vividly in October of that year in which I didn't want to go anywhere (yep, a huge part of culture shock). For that whole week dragging myself to school was a chore because I knew that every minute I spent outside my apartment there was a chance I'd have to interact with someone. This wasn't because I didn't want to improve my Japanese. The fear was the possibility (perceived as high in my mind) that I wouldn't be able to achieve communication and in the end I'd be that weird foreigner that can't speak Japanese well. In that situation, I was that foreign person you bumped into on the street. I was a completely surrounded by a sea of well-intentioned people that couldn't possibly know or understand me. Communication is one of those invisible things we take for granted all the time, but would be screwed without (for a great read on this topic, I highly recommend Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson).

I don't know where I'd be now without that experience. I still have my share of difficulties and in some ways they're a bit grander in scale because there are few non-Japanese here and as a long-term resident with a job, I'm no longer the super-special student that's going to leave in a few months and never come back. Now, integration is key because the long-term effects of isolation can be disastrous (new ALT's, look forward to the speech from a former JET who new a fellow JET that went so crazy he ate paper in front of him...). This is now my life, not a vacation. It's my first-ever career and I hadn't worked with children in a long time.

When I first started, there was the usual wide-eyed fascination from students and teachers alike, but eventually it led to me developing the whole "stranger in a strange land" feeling all over again. They were strange, Japanese children who didn't (and in some cases didn't want to) understand me. Every day I felt a bit of apprehension when interacting with them.

Then one day, in one of my first-year classes, watching my students joke around and laugh, something clicked in my brain: they're all just kids. They love to laugh and have fun. They're snarky and clever. They each have something unique about them (which also helps me memorize names). The more time I spend with the them, the more the "they all look the same" cliche melts away. I was amazed just how much I was putting them in the outside "other" category without meaning too and they were probably doing the same to me. Every day I can feel the distance closing between us. This growing understanding not only makes life easier, it's also liberating.

It's the whole "this is my life" mentality that helped me with the integration. This is my apartment, this is my city, this is my office, this is my school, and now, these are MY students. There are still some that aren't so forthcoming, but now there is more understanding and I know how to interact with them.

I'd be very interested to learn why we put up these subconscious barriers between us. The phenomenon definitely isn't limited to culture and ethnicity. It's simply a reaction to those who are "different"- people that don't fit our mental structure of what is "normal". Perhaps it aided in survival to label people and make sure they were part of your social group.

No matter what the cause, I've learned that the most effective cure is spending a lot of time in foreign situations and with foreign people. I think this is one of if not the most important change in worldview. I'd like to think most people are decent human beings that don't want to build walls between them and other people, but there are way too many that deliberately ostracize people of other genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations and fervently insist they're not bigoted or racist. They are the ones who need this change more than anyone. Spending time with others forces you to build a sense of empathy for them which in turn results in understanding.

I think this experience will continue to have a positive effect on how I interact with other people who are "foreign" to me. In fact, I think this is part of the purpose of the JET program and ALT's in general. Maybe this is the "internationalization" that they're so adamant about. I firmly believe this is a major life change that everybody should experience at least once in their lifetime. Many people think all college students should be required to go abroad at least once and I agree. With globalization moving faster and faster, we're going to need to start realizing that at the end of the day, "people are people".

Happy Gratitude Day

Today is my favorite holiday. Well, my favorite Western holiday anyway. My favorite Japanese holiday is the Akita New Year's where ogres come down from the mountains and scare the crap out of children.

"HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!"

One might wonder, "why is Thanksgiving your favorite holiday?". Glad you asked. Simply put, it's basically Christmas without the presents and baby Jesus. The former is a stressful annoyance and the latter is an oft-debated hot-button issue.

The only thing I'm going to say about the religion thing is that it's something I realized our family didn't need to enjoy the holiday together. We used to go to Nativity plays and church on Christmas Eve and all that, but eventually we stopped going simply due to lack of interest. I was surprised the first time it happened, but eventually I figured out that, like Santa, it may add a certain flavor to things, but wasn't strictly necessary.

Which brings us to the presents. I don't remember exactly when, but there came a time in my life when I started to have to deal with the reality that you can't be just on the receiving end the rest of your life. One year, my parents gave me a certain amount of money and told me that this year I had to start buying gifts for other people. Don't get me wrong, I was actually pretty excited about it. I finally had the opportunity to make other people feel the way I did when I got something awesome from a person I loved.

However, I soon realized what a daunting task this is. In my young child brain, I learned that I had to factor in the following:

1. Budget- something I never really had to deal with before. How much should I spend on each person? Can I consolidate my brothers or grandparents together?

2. Extended family- it's easy to forget the people that you don't see on a daily basis. That magic household number of 5 becomes 8-10 depending on who's coming to Christmas that year and in the end somebody's going to get jilted because you barely have anything left over.

B-but, it's a spatula...of LOVE!

3. Individualism- everyone has different tastes and this is made more difficult by the fact that, as mentioned above, you don't seen certain family members all that often. The good news, if you're completely lost, you can ask a family member who's a bit closer to them. It also helps to have-

4. Wishlists- this is something I have to keep a running tab on all year because I'm the kind of person whom if you ask what they want on the spot, their answer will always be, "Um...". If I see something I want and don't write it down right away, I will forget. This has made for some interesting birthdays.
Of course the problem here is communication. If two or more people buy the same thing for the same person, the universe will explode.

"I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT HIM THE LOAFEeeeeers...!"

This is why I have a huge fondness for White Elephant and Secret Santa. The gifts don't have to be cheap or even brand new and it doesn't matter if the recipient loves or hates it since in the former case nobody knows what they're getting and in the latter you don't have to reveal who's santa you are if you completely blow it.

Totally wasn't me...

5. What's in stock- there have been times when I knew exactly what to get somebody, but I just couldn't find the damn thing. The nice thing is if you do manage to find what you're looking for, you feel like a big, damn hero. Especially if you avoided getting trampled to death to get it...

On the flipside, if you don't find it, your feeling of failure is directly related to how long you searched for it. The same goes if the recipient doesn't actually like it.

Which gets to my whole point: it feels like a huge social test or competition. I remember the disappointment I felt for the first time when I bought something for someone that I thought they would love and it turned to out to be the opposite case. Holidays should never be like that.

In the end, what you have left is a great day where you eat tons of the best food you'll ever eat all year, chat and play games with your family, and watch parades on TV.

Thanksgiving is literally never give you up,

never gonna let you down...

Except for the actual giving thanks part. It's important for people to stop and reflect on their lives every once and a while and it's probably a safe bet that the majority of people these days don't take the time to do it. It's part of the reason why I blog. Thanksgiving forces people to sit down and be grateful for the wonderful things in their lives and share them with others.

And so as I sit here in this office with my sleep-deprived, caffeiene-hungover brain, I can't help but express my gratitude to the people that put me here in life and made me the person I am today:

Pictured: still me.

-My parents. All four of them. I literally have two moms and two dads. Of course things are never perfect, but I wouldn't be who I am without you. From you I learned love and compassion, practicality and common sense, creativity, and the value of hard work.

-My parents-in-law. Thank you for your continuing encouragement and support.

-My little brother and twin brother. Couldn't have asked for better companions and friends growing up.

-My big brother and sister. Thank you for being good role models and friends.

-My husband. My best friend and constant companion. Some of the best things in life are unexpected and outside the norm. Thank you for reminding me to laugh and think outside the box.

-My old fencing instructor and his family for rounding up us misfits in high school and giving us a place to feel welcome.

Pictured: me in high school

-My old orchestra teacher in high school. I never knew a another teacher who believed in and loved her students more.

-Everyone at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and MAGE for making me feel like a part of something awesome.

-My Japanese professors at UW-Milwaukee. They're great people and advisors. Not many students are so lucky. I wouldn't be here without them.

-Everyone at the Japanese Consulate of Chicago for giving me this opportunity.

-All the teachers here for having the openmindedness and patience to accept me into their fold.

-All the ALT's I've had the fortune to meet. Thank you for your support and the constant reminders that we're all in this together.

Pictured: every ALT who ever lived

-All of my friends, old and new, here and everywhere. I may not get to see very many of you, but I cherish every unique and varied relationship.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, everywhere.

Your culture board is so jelly of my hand turkey.

***oh yeah, this is a blog about Japan...um...they don't celebrate it. At all. Sometimes they call it
感謝の日(Kansha no hi- "Gratitude Day"), but they never celebrate it. They don't get why turkey is a huge thing or what stuffing is...um...so...Happy Gratitude Day!***

Cultural Perspective

One of the things I think many people often ponder about is the subjectivity of time. For example, it's been almost 4 months since I've been here and yet there are both times when it feels like 1 day and others when it feels like a whole year. This creates a paradox when I reflect on my future because even though it may feel like I have all the time in the world, I know that it will all rush by in the span of a day if I let it.

This is amazing to me when I consider where I'm living which is, let's face it, the middle of nowhere. With so little to do in this small town, I wonder what on earth I've been doing to pass the time so quickly. I realize the answer is simple yet complex- living well. In a secluded, small town in the middle of a vast country and even prefecture, things are boiled down to the necessities of life where one can settle into a repetative yet comfortable routine. One of the great improvments to my life is that I have a stable job that starts and ends at the same time every day and fits the expected societal work-week (usually...).

www.readthesmiths.com

This was me the week of our school culture festival

It's well-known that Japanese people work long hours (one of the great challenges to the rising number of dual-working parent households which I've written a whole research paper about). In fact, people dying from overwork is such a problem that it has it's own word in Japanese, 過労死 (karoushi). However, here lies an example of how fixed worldviews can cause cultural misunderstanding and it's something every person on earth is guilty of at some point even if they don't realize it.

And then there are the ones that do...

 

In this particular instance, it's the subconcious thought that all of Japan is Tokyo (on the flip-side, most Japanese think all of America is New York and LA). When most non-Japanese think of Japan they conjure up images of bright lights, awesome trains, and buildings that reach the sky. In the same way, people that are conscious of Japanese work ethic think of trains stuffed to the gills with tired, black-suited men on their way to some office job hours away. And this image can be accurate when you're talking about Tokyo. Going from the city to the countryside, I was surprised once again at how the same culture can be so different within the same country. No, the train won't get me to work, but it's less than 5 minutes by car and I have the freedom to drive anywhere I want. Yes, we wear suits at school, but only in the winter when it's not boiling hot. Yes, they work ridiculously long hours, but the office environment is so relaxed and relationships so friendly yet professional that I myself don't mind staying a an extra hour or two even though it's not required of me (my contract stipulates an 8:30-4:15 work day with a 45 minute lunch break. Hah! My classes start at 8:35 and I eat with my students at lunch). You're treated as a person with things to contribute instead of a number in a machine.

Being that this is my first experience in the Japanese countryside, I was surprised by my own cultural ignorance when I started talking to my predecessor about what to expect. "What do you mean the train only runs once an hour!" (I laughed just the other day when I had to stop at a railroad crossing and saw that the train was only a measely two cars long...). "I'm going to need a car???!" "You use a kerosene-powered heater???"

"What do you mean there're no ninja trains?!!!"

 

Unfortunately, my expectations were also jaded by what I was told by Japanese people in Tokyo. It's amazing how many countries discriminate against their own people. Every Japanese person I talked to in Tokyo had a very negative view of the countryside. I even knew a teacher at Seijo University from Akita who spoke against her own prefecture vehemently. She spoke of a secluded place full of "hikikomori" (recluses and shut-ins afraid of society). When I heard that I had been placed in Akita for the JET program I panicked a little inside thanks to these prejudices.

After doing some research and talking to other ALTs in Akita, I began to wonder what she was talking about. The ALTs I talked to seemed very happy with where they were and I was surprised to find some newbies had actually requested it. After arriving I was stunned and I'm quite convinced that this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my entire life. I learned a valuable lesson in that sometimes you have to take what people say about their own country or culture with a grain of salt and I suspect that's true about any country.

Even if Japan has it's share of inter-cultural prejudices, I can definitely say that they do not take their country for granted. My Tokyo friends will even admit that even if they don't want to live in the countryside, they hold a very high opinion of it's natural beauty. The people that do live here in Akita place great value and pride on their prefecture for it's scenery and traditional culture (a lot of which those in the urban cities have to go quite a ways to see). They enthusiastically will point you in the right direction to famous places and events. As I mentioned before in a recent post, you can see Mount Choukai from our office window and whenever it's visible (a rare instance in the winter time), people actually stop and take the time to take in it's majesty while it's there.

Almost like a gigantic strip-tease...

 



That isn't to say that I don't miss the big city. I'm enjoying my time here, but all the while I'll be resisting the strong urge to run to Tokyo or Milwaukee where life seems to be happening without me while I sit here in the temporal bubble that is Akita. I miss my friends and being able to see them almost any time I want. I miss burritos and real pizza. I miss not having to own a car. By the time I finish my term here, I'll be so ready to jump back on that train of life.