Teaching(?) English in Japan

Japanese society.. a mysterious enigma, for us gaijin.

I spent years in college studying cultures, learning how to critically consider foreign ideas, remove myself from my biases, etc. I do believe that this has helped me to be more observant, though I still feel woefully inadequate at trying to understand the Japanese mind.

Nonetheless, I've been reading a lot of books on the subject, and feel like I do have some bits of understanding.

Japanese society seems very stressful, a tightly buttoned machine in which you don't have a lot of chances to really relax and be yourself. Quite the opposite of English cultures.

I've long believed that students can only get so far into learning English before they start understanding the culture as well.. I believe that our languages are intricately tied to our culturally-biased interpretation of the world. We speak the way we think, in other words.

Westerners are individualistic, and our speech reflects that. We're a speaking based society, in which the burden of communication is placed on the speaker; you must make yourself understood by choosing correct wording, etc. Japan is a listener based society, in which the burden falls on the listeners to be able to guess at the meaning of the speaker. In fact, many Japanese can seemingly read each others' minds, communicating through the barest use of words and relying mostly on body-language and intuitive knowledge of their friends and family.

That too sounds quite stressful, to be honest.

The following is entirely based on the collective anecdotal evidence of various English teachers, as taken from numerous conversations with myself. We believe that the role of foreign language teachers in Japan, for many students, takes on a far different meaning than merely providing authentic instruction in the language... we represent some sort of freedom from the burdens of Japanese society, an "exotic vacation" in which they can immerse themselves in the more individual-friendly English culture.

Note: I'm not saying that there's something inherently better about English speaking culture, nor that individualism is better than collectivism. Indeed, many a day I curse my selfish, pig-headed brethren for being less capable of a bit of collective consideration.

But what I am suggesting is that Japanese society, with its focus on the group, is inherently more stressful than English culture, due to our emphasis on the individual. You don't have to worry about anyone but yourself, and that must be attractive to people dealing not only with their only daily stresses, but with having to accommodate everyone else in their daily lives as well, through group-centric thoughts and actions.

So basically, what I'm trying to get at, is that many times as foreigners, we tend to act as a sort of counselor, or at the very least, a sympathetic ear, for our students. Every English teacher has had a student book a private lesson, come in and immediately begin the conversation with some sort of tragic news; a death in the family, their current depression, or troubles at work.

We then proceed to do absolutely no English lesson for the entire time, merely listening and consoling as we would a good friend. (I mean hey, we're getting paid really good money for what we have to do, so most of us can be bothered to act the part of a good friend, even if we're not genuinely sympathetic.)

This seems really weird to us, as we would generally want to confide in our close friends and family, rather than basically a stranger.. but then again, perhaps that isn't something that the Japanese feel easily able to do. Opening up in Japanese society, as I understand it, is something that's prohibitively hard to do.

Anyways, it is always quite interesting to live in Japan, though usually in the most unexpected ways.

Pregnant in Japan (Whiskey Water)

One of my friends is a Scottish girl married to a Japanese guy, and she's pregnant. It is interesting to hear from her on various aspects of being pregnant in a foreign country. For starters, the Japanese doctors/medical practices/beliefs are sooo different from collective Western ideas.

The Japanese doctors are highly against weight gain, so much so that you should lose weight to compensate for growing a 5 pound baby inside of you. They actually said if she felt the urge to eat, instead she should smoke.

The doctor who, according to plan, will be delivering her baby also said that she will probably not get any painkiller as Japanese medicine prefers to keep things natural. He said that he will determine at the time of birth if she's in enough pain to warrant pain-killers. She related that she felt like kicking him in the groin at that comment.

Also, if they opt to do a c-section, the cut will be done up-down instead of from side-to-side. Another observation is that in Japanese culture, everyone feels like they have the right to give her advice about the baby / being pregnant.

I'm not sure if this is just an exceptional situation owing to the fact that we live in Osaka, where the people are known for being pushy/friendly/outgoing, or else if it is because she is a foreigner and therefore normal rules of politeness don't apply, or else because this is truly the social norm in Japanese culture, but regardless, she is constantly relating stories of people giving heaps of unwanted and unnecessary advice. Even to the point of picking apart everything she does, from sitting position to food of choice, in relation to "what's good for the baby".

Sounds like it would piss me off right quick.

While on the subject, a student recently had a pretty keen observation that he shared with me about the cultural differences and why, inherently, there are more foreign guy / Japanese girl couples than the opposite... particularly in the expectation of gender roles. In Japan, men are expected to work and "bring home the bacon" so-to-speak, while the girls are supposed to be in charge of everything in the house; raising kids, providing food, cleaning up, etc.

So a Western guy, who is more expecting to share the duties, finds himself pleasantly surprised at how lazy he can get away with being while the wife works on all the household chores (generally while maintaining at least a part-time job, as the middle-class is losing ground in Japan as well as America), while the Japanese guy finds himself perturbed at how much the Western girl expects him to help out around the home.

This same friend recommended a traditional Scottish cure of the common cold to me: Whiskey Water, or "wussky water" as she says. I find the Scottish accent totally endearing! But anyways, hot water with a bit of Whiskey. Good times!

My friend Dave recently visited me here in Osaka. He's a buddy from high school who is currently teaching in South Korea. I almost typed Korea by itself, because in Japan they don't differentiate; nobody ever talks about North Korea unless they are talking about dangers of the world, etc. So they just say Korea, and I always jokingly "assume" they mean North Korea. It always flops.

Anyways, this wasn't the first time Dave was able to visit. But the first time, after a fun day of visiting around Osaka, we made our way to a Mexican restaurant, and we were promptly food-poisoned. I spent over 14 hours throwing up... and this was at least once an hour, but at its height 4 times an hour. It wasn't fun. This time we were optimistic of a healthier visit... and were mostly rewarded for our hopes.

But the last night before he left, I started feeling a bit of a cold coming on. That cold eventually turned into that hellish fever I mentioned previously.

Even when we were both in college in America, ever time we visited, illness soon followed. I was at a loss for the possible cause of this situation, when Dave, in a fit of wisdom, said that it was perhaps related to the massive amounts of alcohol we imbibe together. Upon reflection, I believe that he could be onto something!

The Latest!

For the first time in my adult life, I had a fever of over 100 degrees. Clocked out at 103 to be exact... very close to crawling to the hospital once I realized how bad it was, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it (a few more degrees and I would definitely have called up a ride). I was simply too tired from the ordeal of working my entire ten hour shift with a 103 degree fever. I was MISERABLE.

Luckily, I am now fully recovered and ready to teach some English again! Which is what I gotta go do now. So this is going to be a short post.

Just wanted to say that things have been quite busy here as I've been doing a ton of overtime, but that will all end with September; from October onwards I'm back to a reasonable schedule with lots of time for me to spend playing video games instead of posting on my blog..!

Out of Service

My old PC finally bit the dust.

Do not ever, under any circumstances, purchase from Alienware. If you don't know, they're a (highly fraudulent) custom build PC company specializing in "gaming" machines. They have a really terrific marketing department, and a really terrible PC-building and repair department.

Regardless, it is my second Alienware PC that never worked right from the very beginning, and I paid super premium for years of dealing with crappy service and idiot technicians.

But that isn't what I want to talk about today. I just wanted to explain my absence; my PC finally and definitively quit working, so I had to wait a month and buy a new one.

The longest month of my life.

Anyways, I hope to be posting a bit more as I've had some thoughts about the differences in our educational system in America and the one here in Japan. Among other topics.

The Thunderstorm

So yesterday, I was getting ready for work and noticed that it was really looking like a storm was coming. Like a huge storm the type of which I never see in Japan but always used to see in West Virginia. The entire sky going black, etc. So I decided to go into work early to beat the rain.

As I was walking from the station to my office, the air was charged and thunder could be heard. People everywhere were rushing about, trying to hurry to shelter. I made it to work with about ten minutes to spare, but soon thereafter it started to pour. Everyone who came in after the rain started was soaked like they had been swimming in their work clothes, umbrellas regardless.

I was quite happy to be dry and cozy inside the office, enjoying the rare thunderstorm and thinking of home. Then I saw a news story today, when I woke up: people dead due to a flash flood. It makes me sad to think that while I was enjoying watching the rain, at the same instant as I relaxed before work, there were children fighting for their lives, and losing that fight.

The world is full of tragedy, and it doesn't seem fair.

Don't get me wrong; I am thankful that it seems to be unfair in my favour, thus far (knock on wood). I have a great life and enjoy it immensely. I suppose I am just shocked at the contrast between how I felt about the storm, and the reality of its implications.

First Impressions / A Return to the Easy Life

My first day back at my old company was a shock. First of all, the office has relocated. Before, we worked in one of the city centers. Now we are located in the largest city center. Not a huge change, but definitely something different. The building is about the same, as far as it being nice and well kept and all, though there's still a bit of construction going on as they get it fully converted from what it was previously, which I'm not sure exactly but I know it wasn't an English-teaching Multimedia Center.

Secondly, when I returned to work, G. Education's president came to meet me face-to-face, spoke to me in English, asked questions about where I was from, etc. and shook my hand, welcoming me to the company. Certainly, nothing like this happened before; I never in fact met the old president of NOVA. Granted, I can appreciate that he is just doing that as a show and most likely doesn't really care at all, but the gesture itself goes a long way towards showing that they are trying to foster a different atmosphere. And I can appreciate gestures. Especially the gesture that followed:

Thirdly, my arrival was quite auspiciously timed; the first quad-annual NOVA bqq party! All the sake, shochu, and draft beer you can drink along with delicious grilled beef and an assortment of cheeses, crackers, vegetables, etc. They even provided bread for those of us used to meat in sandwich form! Needless to say, all of this is on the company's tab. Sadly I couldn't enjoy any alcohol with my lunch, but thankfully they still had plenty left when my shift ended and I enjoyed a few beers before returning home.

Truly, the company has realized that it had a major morale problem and that it was bleeding teachers (its only commodity) faster than [joke about recent crimes in Japan omitted due to it being in poor taste], and is finally trying to do something about it.

Notably, this wasn't a segregated party held only for the foreign staff; we were mixing with all the Japanese workers and even met the president of G. Corporation, the parent company of our current benefactor and a conglomeration of around 200 different businesses. My mixing with the Japanese staff, it really made me feel like I was a part of the company. Not just a commodity. Not just a resource that is expected to be used up in about a year. (On a side note, it will be interesting to see if G. Education's policy towards NOVA teachers changes once they realize that no shows of good will are going to change most peoples' attitudes, specifically because they are only here for a year and have no idea what it is like to work for a typical corporation, thus can't appreciate when they are working for a good one.)

By the way, we still aren't sure of what the G stands for. Gaijin Corporation? Good Corporation? Giant robot Corporation?

Regardless, it is a complete departure from the old feeling at NOVA, where we weren't really treated as being a part of the company. I for one really like it, and am quite happy to return to work at NOVA.

Another stabbing spree!

This one was a bit closer to home.

Also, this was a long time coming. And it led to this, which made us all happy to finally see.

G Desperation

Japan has long suffered the occasional murder rampage, but recently the frequency seems to have increased. Making world-wide headlines was the Akihabara rampage that occurred earlier this month. (Akihabara is one of Japan's "geek culture" Meccas, famous for computer supplies, electronic gadgets, video games, comic books, ridiculous costumes, etc.) It is located in Tokyo.

However, other recent slayings have struck a bit closer to home; while I have been living here in Tengachaya, there was a fatal stabbing at my local train station. (This one, at least, was mafia-related and not an indiscriminate slaying of an unstable creep.)

Speaking of the Japanese mafia: its funny, because the Sopranos did a really good job of dispelling any glamorous notions of the Italian mafia that I had in my subconscious by portraying them as real, flawed, mentally ill and morally depraved criminals.

And yet that reality check failed to remove any similarly glorified visions of how the Yakuza would be. I had even imagined how fun it might be to someday meet a made man of Japan and become friends, allowing me to see a side of Japan that most people, let alone foreigners, didn't. Now that I've actually spoken with quite a few of the local criminal organization, I can say that the Sopranos' reality check could equally be applied to the average Yakuza grunt, as well. Uncouth, uncultured, morally bankrupt.

And yet, in one of the thousands of quirks that makes Japan such a unique country, they are just as polite if not more so, than the average Japanese person you'll run into. (At least, from a foreigner's point of view; I have no idea if they would be less polite to a local or not.) Regardless, not people I want to become friends with, or even enjoy a drink with.

In any case, I have some interesting news. I will be leaving my current job, though it pays well and I've come to enjoy it (which is directly related to my ability to perform it well). At first I wasn't sure, because I had a lot to learn as far as teaching children went. However, over time, I've been purified in the furnace of a classroom full of Japanese kids who want to kancho my ass. What emerged from the flames of humiliation and trauma: a lean, mean, children's teaching machine. (Except the parts about lean and mean.)

Ironically, just as I got good at my job and began enjoying it, I got a call from my formerly generous benefactor, with an offer I couldn't refuse. You see, at my current job, I'm making good money, but don't have a lot of hours due to the size of the school I work for and its limited student-base. So I'm making enough to pay the bills and enjoy life in Japan, but there's not enough left over to save anything, and that has been a situation I was hoping to rectify sooner rather than later.

This morning, I got a phone call offering me my old job, same conditions, with a significant pay increase! Seems like the old boys realized that when living, breathing English speakers are your only commodity, you can't treat that commodity like your typical Japanese wage slave. Thank goodness for cultural differences that mean I won't allow employers to treat me horribly! (My heart goes out to any Japanese wage slaves who may be reading this.)

However, times are a-changing in Japan; recently, workers have begun to realize that life doesn't have to suck just because their employers are greedy bastards. McDonald's managers are suing the (Japanese branch) corporation for unpaid overtime. Young people are cherry picking, and hopping to better jobs with better conditions, instead of becoming committed for life to a single employer (as has been the case in the recent history of Japan).

And get this! Some crazy, crackpot members of minority parties in the government are advocating allowing foreign immigration to an unprecedented extent: 10% of the Japanese population! (You may go ahead and read some bitter sarcasm into the italicized descriptors of the previous sentence.)

Regardless, I took up G. Desperation on their lucrative offer, and gave my two weeks notice to my current employer. I will definitely miss my old job, but you gotta go where the money's sweet.

Returning to the rising crime in Japan, I've begun feeling uneasy in crowded situations. My roommate, even before the most recent attack, has repeatedly said he no longer walks with his hands in his pockets, out of a desire to be ready to fend off any crazed knifemen he may stumble upon. It is no longer a place that gives me an unmitigated feeling of safety that it was when I first arrived, though I still don't fret over my safety in general. Only when I'm in the midst of a terribly huge, rushing crowd...

In any case, I think that this ramble has gone on long enough.

Until next time,
don't walk with your hands in your pockets.

Japanese Police / Discrimination: A Widely Spread Myth

Overall, I will say that Japanese police have so far been quite polite and helpful for me. I had read a bunch of horror stories before coming here, with many claims of discrimination by the police due to being foreign.

It is a popular sentiment that most, if not all crime in Japan, is committed by foreigners. (Often times, when a major crime had been recently committed, we discuss the story in our English conversation class. Without fail, someone will mention that they think the alleged perpetrator was Korean or Chinese, aka non-Japanese.)

Regardless, I've only had four experiences with the police when I wasn't specifically seeking them out for help. Twice, I was stopped in a random bicycle checkpoint (quite common) but waved on after being told to turn my light on. Another time, another bicycle checkpoint where they went ahead and actually checked up on my bicycle certification to ensure that it was not stolen. Again, nothing special and certainly not discriminatory; they check most Japanese folks' bicycle registrations as well. (On a side note, by far the majority of discrimination I experience is the good kind, where I get special gifts due to being a foreigner.)

The fourth experience was rather humorous; I was heading out to meet a friend at a restaurant, and realized I had taken a wrong turn and was going opposite the direction I should be going. I started to turn around, and while making my U-turn on the sidewalk, noticed two police on patrol (also on bicycles). I sort of chuckled to myself, thinking about how suspicious I must look. The cops were having a rather loud conversation with each other, and this was before my Japanese was very strong, so I didn't understand a word. Nor did I notice when the conversation stopped and they began yelling orders at me!

Needless to say, from behind it looked like a Japanese guy was ignoring their orders. They went into uber cop mode, and did a seriously impressive maneuver with their bicycles that basically pinned me in place with a cop in front and one to the side, with an obstacle to my other side. This was sprung on my rather fast, so that I had to slam my brakes and had an angry look on my face until I realized they were cops, at which point I would assume my expression was bewildered.

At that point, they both see my clearly Western face, and look at each other, and chuckle. They ask where I am going, I tell them, and they tell me to please ensure that I keep my bicycle light on at night. Almost as an afterthought, one of them asks "Bicycle.. yours?", to which I nod, and they both bid me a good evening.

Especially when looking all sorts of mad suspicious, I would expect some form of interrogation, or at the very least proof of my registration, but they were quite relaxed about the obvious misunderstanding and maintained a very polite and non-suspicious attitude the entire time.

Overall, I am quite impressed with the experience of the fine men and women serving in Osaka's police force, and would like to ease the worries of anyone reading this for information about potential discrimination, as stories of such seem all too prevalent on the internet.

Specifically in regards to that, with every story I've seen or heard of first-hand from my fellow expats living here in Osaka about discrimination, they are all stories involving the "victim" acting like an asshole within the custom and culture of Japanese society prior to receiving some form of discrimination.

Of course, I acknowledge that there is undoubtedly many true stories of people receiving totally unwarranted discrimination in spite of their best efforts to respect the Japanese cultural norms. I don't mean to say that every story about thus is an exaggeration or somehow was earned. What I do mean to say is that I have met a lot of people living in Japan with a chip on their shoulder, who have a masochistic hatred the Japanese and Japan's society, and yet continue living here year after year.

People like that love to post horror stories for people who are seeking information on what its really like to live in Japan. I myself visited a few message boards seeking similar information, and nine out of ten responses were all about how hard it was to live in Japan, how most people couldn't cut it, and how much it sucked. Basically, people who wanted to pat themselves on the back for surviving such a hostile environment. Bullshit, I say.

The Japanese are the most accommodating people I could possibly imagine, and welcome foreigners to visit their country and experience their culture. Living here is arguably easier than living in America, and I can barely speak the language. The experience as a whole has been unbelievably positive, and I have had sooo many acts of random kindness by countless Japanese people who I barely know, or literally do not know.

So this post is my little public service message, to try and act as a counter to all the people who would love for you to believe that Japan is a terrible place, full of discrimination and terribly difficult to live in. It may be like that in some places, at some times, but don't believe that it is always like that, everywhere. I for one would say that if you have the right attitude and learn what's polite and what's not, your experience in this country will be priceless and wonderful.

I'm going to have to cut this rant short, as it is now time for me to go to "work". And by "work", I mean I go sit in a comfortable chair and talk to people, while sipping some soda water or herbal tea, and get paid way too much for it. If living in Japan and working as an English teacher is difficult, then you are in for a rude awakening when you get a real job.

Comparisons

When I first arrived, Japan was almost magical. I had never been in such a foreign setting, and I had never had so much fun; every trip to the supermarket was an adventure. Every conversation around me was completely incomprehensible. Every cultural difference was a mystery unfathomable.

Now that I've lived here for over a year and a half, things have become mundane. I can understand a good deal of the every day conversations that I happen to hear. I've become quite comfortable with my home area and city life in general.

For the most part, I no longer go seeking experiences with the locals after work, instead preferring to come home and play video games or watch episodes from American TV shows that I've downloaded. In short, my life here has become no different from my life in America, aside from my being on the other side of the planet from my family and most of my close friends. (I had made quite a few new friends, but after the failure of our mutual employer, most have returned home or moved on to South Korea.)

A large part of this change has nothing to do with Japan, and only a little to do with my understanding of what was once fun and mysterious. I think, on the whole, I have become rather homesick. I've begun making loose plans anticipating a move back to America sometime before Thanksgiving.

I really want to get my second degree, which is frustratingly one class away. I also hope to start taking an official college-level Japanese course, as my efforts at self education have increased my vocabulary quite impressively, but have failed to help me understand a lot of the basic grammar.

I have a vague notion of returning someday, armed with a better than basic grasp of the language and in possession of a better job than one can find in the language teaching industry. But for now, I am more than ready to return home and immerse myself once again into good 'ol American culture.

Speaking of before and after differences, I'd like to share the differences between my old job at NOVA and my current one at a much smaller conversation school. At NOVA, I taught eight lessons a day and had at most one kid lesson. At my new school, three fifths of my lessons taught are kids lessons. At NOVA, I was on a webcam and could post a picture at will, hiding my face and allowing me to yawn, enjoy a McFlurry, or make silly faces at the camera. Now, I teach face-to-face with nothing to hide behind but a smile.

Before, I was treated with respect, and viewed as a professional. Now, all of my Japanese coworkers are quite openly jealous that I am making three times their wage in spite of their extensive teaching experience and qualifications, and all consider me an amateur (quite accurately, compared to themselves) but fail to treat me with any measure of respect or courtesy.

At my old work place, rules weren't flexible and it had a definite business/corporate air to it. Now, I work at a fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants small school with only two branches. There is a decidedly non-corporate feeling at the school.

Overall, I find myself quite frustrated by the lack of professional courtesy, the lack of organization, the extra work inherent in a poorly organized school, the constantly ambiguous attitude of my boss, and the generally condescending attitude held by most of the school's staff towards the foreign teachers. Most infuriating is the occurrence, on more than one occasion, of being chewed out for doing something wrong or failing to do something entirely, when in fact I did whatever exactly correctly.

Nobody's English, owner included, is all that great, so there is a lot of misunderstanding and if they get an idea in their head they are then incapable of understanding anything said in English in conflict with this idea.

Given that, at NOVA I worked within a fairly constrained teaching style with little room for change or adaptation. I worked a full work week and had to work for all national holidays. At my current school, I get all national holidays off, I have a very relaxed working environment where I am basically in control of my classroom and can teach what I want how I want, and have dramatically less hours worked for only a moderate cut in pay.

If I could choose, at this point, I think I would like to return to a professional Eikaiwa environment with the higher pay and more hours worked, if for nothing else, the satisfaction of being treated with professional respect.

Remind me to post about the differences between how English culture and Japanese culture treat and raise their children, next time.

The musings of an eikawa bum

I have been reading a book lately that has caused me to think a lot about our modern society, and how the global economy is so interdependent now. Since I've begun reading this book, it has really made me take note of news stories I can recall seeing for the past few months at least. Such as this one, and this one, and this one, and this one. Although the scariest short term implications, for me, are the impending rise in Japanese beer prices, when they are already atrociously high for someone used to living in America.

Reading "Collapse" has reminded me of something else I had been studying a few years back: Peak Oil. The thing about peak oil that so completely captivated me in the first place is that it isn't a theory or possibility... it is a certainty. Although some sources of news about peak oil don't really help to legitimatize the coming danger of catastrophe, I do believe that it is a real certainty and can only hope that the American government is secretly perfecting alternative energy sources even as we speak.

*******************************

In a completely unrelated note, this article basically says that my former employer, NOVA (now under new and even worse management), has currently reopened 195 schools in the country and plans to have almost 1,000 open by one year from now.

One of two scenarios is going to happen, due to their plan to cut costs by changing their teachers' salaries from formerly on the upper side of average for the industry, to down among the lowest in the industry. Also, they no longer want full time instructors, just part-time. This is combined with their generally poor management, dumb business decisions, and extremely bad treatment of employees.

As a result, they will either be forced to change their plans and offer full-time contracts at average-for-the-industry wages or better, or their schools will fail. I thought that it was a possibility that they would achieve low quality lessons taught by idiots who couldn't get a decent job in the eikawa (conversational English school) industry, but after thinking about it, there simply isn't enough teachers who would or could live on such a low salary, even if working a second job.

It will be interesting to see how things turn out for my former employer, because we are all quite shocked at their stunningly idiotic business decisions and lack of respect for the one single commodity that makes their industry possible; foreign teachers who speak English as a native language.

Although I suppose none of that will really matter when peak oil happens and the world economy crashes. At that point, I merely hope my savings or citizenship will be enough to get me on a boat, at least, headed back for the homeland.

When I was little, I often read stories and watched movies about World War II, and naively thought about how cool it was that the world was in such a state of transition and uncertainty back then, and how everything seemed to hinge on what regular guys and girls were able to manage in extraordinary circumstances. I used to think that a time like that would never come again, and I desperately wished I could have lived back then, in more interesting times.

It is said that there is an old Chinese curse: May you live in an interesting age. It may turn out that my longings as a child were for naught, as my own time seems to be turning out to be quite interesting, indeed.

The Cherry Blossoms Are In Bloom

I've been saying this for over a year now! Japan has a very low birthrate, a rising retired population, and no prospects for the future. Other countries would naturally think of immigration, but not Japan. Japan is for the Japanese. They love for people to come and visit Japan, and they genuinely hope that we leave Japan with a nice, positive experience, but they put a lot of stress on the part where they hope that we leave.

Anyways, every month there's some big news story about another breakthrough in robotics, and half the time the robots are attractive females that look and feel real, and everyone knows that really they are trying to build sex bots because that would be a huge industry in this country. They already have life-sized mannequins that you can go and pay to "be with", and the longer I stay here the more worried I become about my perception of normal behavior. Regardless, I've been saying for a while now that I think they will really build robots sophisticated enough to take over a lot of menial labor tasks in Japan, freeing up Japanese to work at other jobs and overall making Japan an even stranger and more surreal country.

So anyways, the cherry blossoms are in bloom. This is a really big deal in Japan. In fact, I would say that if you want to experience Japan, this is one of the absolute must-see things that Japan has to offer. I remember in America, the stereotype about how Japanese are crazy for their cherry blossoms, and how in uni my Japanese friends would talk about cherry blossoms, and I always thought the obsession was a bit peculiar. Now, I'm converted.

There is absolutely nothing more wondrous and beautiful than enjoying a picnic underneath a canopy of cherry blossoms in bloom. Every gentle breeze showers a cascade of the pink petals down around you, and you can relax and enjoy the weather and see the blue sky and sun through the blossoms, yet they afford you enough protection that you're not too hot or worrying about sunburn after the long, cold, pale and pasty winter. Altogether the experience is something that Americans could never understand.

Usually, these parties have the cherry blossom "viewing" as a pretext at least. In reality its a chance for everyone to have a big party and get krunk. Krunk is like drunk, but to an extreme. Also, there's delicious food; fried meat mostly. So its a drinking party with a feast of fried meat at a beautiful setting.

Last night, though, there was no pretext. I was invited by my Japanese friend who works until midnight, to go to a flower viewing party after work. So we went to a park and got drunk in the dark, with no pretext of being there to look at flowers. And it was very fun and delicious! But the main purpose of this post is what I saw on my way to the park where we had the party: a trash truck. Since it was midnight, I guess they turned the music off, but this one had racing stripes. Like, ridiculously well done, beautifully painted racing stripes and checkers and overall looked really pimp.

My conclusion is that they really are serious about glorifying garbage disposal in Japan. And by the way, since my dad asked: Japan is crazy about recycling, in a way that Americans can't imagine. Large businesses are fined if they don't deliver their recyclable garbage presorted. People in apartments have to sort their garbage for recycling as well. Every public trash can is actually three to six trashcans, each with a few words in both English and Japanese, along with a silhouette picture, of what you should put into this particular trashcan.

It makes sense given that Japan is uniquely a first world nation with almost no natural resources of its own; pretty much everything important to a modern industrial nation has to be imported, so they are understandably hardcore about conservation and reuse.

In any case, I'm hoping to eventually put my pictures of Japan on the internet, and if I can ever manage this, hopefully my posts will be a lot more fun to see.

Until next time,
paint your garbage trucks.

Not about Japan, but..

I saw that there is a big uproar in America about a new ad campaign by Absolut vodka, which depicts a "perfect" world in which Mexico never lost the territory that now comprises the American Southwest.

Needless to say, many Americans are responding negatively to the ad campaign, which is only displayed in Mexico and for obvious reasons not targeted at Americans. In spite of this, many are offended and the responses by people safely anonymous behind the protection of the internet have many colorful and offensive ideas about paving over the entirety of Mexico or fighting off an invasion by the Mexican military.

I have noticed something very interesting about Americans and American culture, in contrast with every other European-based culture; Americans have a sense of entitlement. In some ways, I believe that this is a good thing and is part of what inspired America to have such a strong economy and to become a superpower. On the other hand, left unchecked, I believe that this is ultimately going to be our downfall.

This is why our nation has such a huge welfare program; people feel entitled to have the government give them money and food stamps. This is why you can be sued if a burglar injures himself while trying to steal your property due to unsafe conditions in your house, or if you happen to hurt the burglar after discovering him or her in the act. This is why the White House dictates other nations' policies and launches preemptive invasions of sovereign nations on the flimsiest of pretexts.

Manifest Destiny was the name given to the justification for invading Native American and Mexican lands. Note, I am not in any way saying that I wish things were different; playing a what if game with history does not change history, and I am quite happy with an America that is coast-to-coast. The American Southwest is one of my favorite areas of America. I'm not a "traitor", but for anyone who wants to tell me to "git out" because I disagree with your opinion, note that I already did.

Some of the responses to this ad campaign were perfectly reasonable; "I find this offensive and unnecessarily divisive", wrote one person. I can understand that. I can even agree with it, in part. But most of the responses showed me the things I don't miss about living in America... the ignorance of our history, the ignorance of how the rest of the world has a right to an opinion even if it disagrees with America, the ignorance about how an ad campaign and a declaration of war are rather far from each other, and the ignorance about how "America should make X a parking lot", where X happens to be Mexico this time rather than some Middle Eastern nation.

Now, to be honest, there's just as many ignorant and nationalistic people in Japan, and in some ways a lot of the common public ideas and opinions are much worse than the ignorance demonstrated by the American responses to this ad campaign, but the thing is I can barely speak Japanese. I get to live in a world of blissful ignorance, (ironic, that), where I don't have to deal with any glaringly bright and ignorant public opinions.

I still crack a smile every time I think about the US Congress trying to force Japan to admit/apologize for various "bad" things it did in the past, because it is just so hilariously ironic. Read a book about the Philippine-American War some day.

Kuma-chan, okite!

The Japanese garbage trucks sing a song, much like American ice cream trucks. In fact, the first time I heard it, I just assumed it was an ice cream truck. (They don't seem to exist in Osaka, by the way.) Anyways, now every time I hear the singing garbage trucks, I always smile, imagining a bunch of newly arrived American children chasing after the garbage truck and their horrified expressions upon discovering a bunch of trash instead of delicious ice cream.

Yube wa..

So last night, two of my private students (who take a lesson together) decided to treat me to dinner to thank me for the lessons. My opinion remains that it was a good excuse to go and eat a delicious dinner, a semi-traditional "kushikatsu" style Japanese dish. And boy was it good!

It was my second time going to a restaurant in the area of Osaka called Shin Sekai (literally "New World") that is famous for its kushikatsu shops and nearby transvestite community. One of the landmarks of Osaka City is Tsutenkaku Tower, which I have yet to go up. (Note: the second picture of Shin Sekai shows the edge of a building to the right - that is a convenience store (convenie in Japanese-English) that I sometimes buy a snack at after work on Monday nights.)

You see, I teach English on Monday nights as a part-time gig at a very chic bar located at the base of the tower. As such, I am in this area every week, and the pictures I have linked are very familiar sites that I see every time I'm in the area.

Ironically, out of the many restaurants in Shin Sekai, both times I've gone for kushikatsu have ended up with me in the same exact restaurant, at the same exact table.

Anyhoo, after dinner the guys wanted to shock me with sights of "real" Osaka City. They drove me first to the homeless capital of Japan, an area where all the houseless people live ("homeless" seems inaccurate since they do indeed have homes, just not houses...). What they didn't know is that I ride my bicycle through the area literally twice a day on my way to work; nothing shocking or new for me there.

Next, they took me on a drive through the local prostitute district. Again, I ride my bicycle through this district every Monday night, to and from the bar I teach English at, so it was nothing new. Granted, the first time I found this place, I had my fair share of shock.

I'm not sure if I posted about it before, but I can't find it after a brief search so I'm going to write the story (again?).

I was exploring Osaka City on my bicycle in the spring of 2007. I was about halfway between my house and one of the "downtown" areas, when I took a street I had never been down before, and after a few minutes I came across an old grandmother-type's house. She was sitting in her living room, except that the living room was in a garage-like opening. And it looked VERY cozy, too! Nice furnishings, comfy looking couch, etc. Everything very bright and colorful.

Another surprise was that the grandmother smiled and nodded her head, greeting me. Quite uncommon in Japan, because people are very reserved. Further inside the house, I noticed her grand-daughter sitting on one of the comfy looking couches and I thought about how nice for them to be enjoying the fine spring weather and visiting each other.

I continued down the street and the next house had the same set-up. "Japan has very unique architecture", I foolishly thought to myself.

The next house, and the next, were also the same set-up, and also had the same old woman / young whore combo. Yes, that's when it occurred to me; I had heard about this area but never expected to actually wander into it unexpectedly!

Needless to say, that was a shocking experience since it was so open and obvious, and in the middle of the day. Last night, the area was a heckuva lot busier, but nothing I hadn't seen before, so their devious plot to shock me failed utterly.

Still, the guys I teach are a lot of fun and I was happy to enjoy a fine meal together and have them give me a bit of a tour of the seedy side of Osaka.

Anyways, thought I would post about it to share some of my experiences in this urban jungle, and give some context to my life in Japan.

ATMs in Japan... a short rant

OK, so in America, or at least my part of America, ATMs exist for just about one purpose as far as I know; to dispense cash. An average person using an ATM takes all of one minute from start to finish, transaction completed.

In Japan, ATMs provide basically most of the services you'd need a bank teller for in America. You can update your financial records, check your account history, transfer funds between accounts, make deposits, count your change, and so on and so on.

So when I need to pick up a quick $20 equivalent from the ATM, I generally find myself in line behind three people and always think "this won't take long", since I forget that I'm in Japan. Thirty-five minutes later, I can complete my transaction in less than a minute... but I usually stand there and triple check my account balance or something just to make it seem worthwhile, to justify this investment of time that I will never get back.

The ironic thing is, you'd think the need for an efficient way of getting cash out of your bank account would be imperative in Japan, which is a cash-based economy compared to the luxury of America's debit and credit cards. Japan has those, to be sure, but their use is quite limited; generally only large-expenditure businesses like travel agencies or department stores and the like will accept them.

On a side note, since my return to my old job at NOVA, I have learned what it means to truly hate one's job. This is a valuable life skill since I don't want to go in to work anymore. It's my first time truly hating my job, and I never realized how much having a job could suck until now. Before it was always a minor inconvenience at worst... but with our company's active policy to destroy foreign staff's morale and get us to jump ship, I often feel like I'm still clinging to the Titanic no matter what...

In other words, I've begun job searching. Again.

Luckily, this time the market isn't flooded and there's actually quite a few jobs.

Will keep you updated on my job hunt... right now I'm thinking I might try being a "hosto" which would basically mean I got paid the big bucks (or the small bucks, depending on how I do) to wine and dine lonely women. In other words, I could get paid to get drunk and flirt with women... I do believe that this would be my dream job! (^_^)v

Please drink responsibly.

Nishinari-Ku, Tengachaya

When I first arrived in Japan, I remember being so shocked when I got on the train from the airport. I had been met by a company representative who helped make sure I had no problems getting onto the right train, and was supposed to meet someone at my stop (about an hour away), but for the train ride itself I was on my own... and the foreignness of everything was still making quite an impression.

First of all, there was the absolute lack of ethnic diversity. There were no other foreigners present, everyone on the train was Japanese. Being American, I was completely unused to a monogenous culture and seeing that left quite the impression.

Another thing was the little differences; some airline personnel was sitting across from me on the train, wearing her extremely cute uniform (which I daresay most Americans wouldn't be caught dead in, since most of the company uniforms in Japan ought to be slightly embarrassing for adults to actually voluntarily put on), and sipping on something out of a bag. I later discovered this to be a popular vitamin supplement. Something I had never seen before, and again, just the simple unusualness of it really struck me.

Then, of course, there was arriving at my station. I met the other person easily, and they helped me get to my new residence, which was actually quite close to the station and within easy bicycle distance of two major areas of the city of Osaka. (I'm in a sort of residential in-between area.) Walking around after dark, the entire area had a sort of forlorn feel to it, a run-down quality that caused me a bit of concern. We also passed a few crazy-homeless-looking people, which again caused me to question my new locale.

Not that I had anything to worry about; the stereotype about how safe Japan is, if you're a non-Asian male, is actually quite understated. (As an aside, one night after working overtime until 2am on a Friday, I bicycled home and passed through a group of 30+ young men on bicycles. Upon seeing me, an obvious foreigner and easy target, not a single one of these 30+ obviously intoxicated young men so much as cat-called a single insult. I can't imagine the same being said for 30 young men from any Western country, where a group-mentality sort of coward's courage would combine with an easy, solitary target, for at the very least some antagonistic language.)

As far as young females go, watch your back in Japan at all times, especially after dark. Every female friend of mine has at least one story of being randomly stalked, and three or more of casual molestation. The sense of entitlement in the mind of the drunken salary man is quite appalling, but try not to let an outspoken minority make you think all Japanese are like that. Otherwise people mike think Americans are all like this.

Anyways, my first impression of Tengachaya (my neighborhood) was not so hot, but I have apparently arrived in the midst of some urban renewal; a year before there were a bunch of construction sites and related debris, with many of the roads quite rough looking and in dire need of repairs. Now most of the construction sites have been replaced with shiny brand new buildings, mostly brand new high class stores, restaurants, and a giant indoor soccer field.

Also, I get awakened every day to the sound of the construction workers going to town on all of the roads hereabouts; every day, my neighborhood is looking nicer and nicer. Also, the homeless-crazy-looking guys are, turns out, just retired guys who love to hang out together in the parking lot of their apartment building and get trashed on sake. Not exactly the best of neighbors, but this is surprisingly less of a dangerous combination than you would think; they are quite polite and don't bother people, just minding to themselves while looking all sorts of crazy.

Also, when I first arrived, I wasn't particularly impressed with my apartment, but nor was I disappointed; nothing overwhelmingly good or bad about it, just a new place. Since that first impression, I have come to realize how freakin' awesome this apartment is! We have a huge dining room/living room space, a huge kitchen, a huge bathroom, and three large rooms. The apartment building has very thick walls between separate apartments, and we are located on the end of the building - no noise complaints about our loud and late-night gaijin ways. And best of all, its for the same price or cheaper than all of the terrible apartments that my co-workers were given by my employer.

Now, of course, the apartment is no longer a NOVA apartment, though someone forgot to tell payroll that and they double-charged me for December and January, in spite of my having paid those months' rent directly to the landlord. On the plus side, whenever (if ever) I see another real paycheck, I won't even know what to do with that much money. I am appalled at how wasteful I was when I first got to Japan, but now I've had a crash course on how to live in Osaka on the cheap, and I'm going to use my newfound knowledge to save up tons and tons of cash so that I can blow it all on new video games and other geeky stuff!

I wish I could go into details, maybe even show some links of the stuff I'm going to buy, but alas I have to go get ready for work. Till next time!

Saikiin wa taihen desu ne!?

Lately, I've been very busy!

I'm working two part-time jobs in addition to my full week at NOVA, and have some private students on the side as well. To be honest, I probably couldn't handle this if I was teaching lessons constantly at my main job... fortuitously, however, I actually do not usually teach as we don't have enough students. Mostly I develop new lessons, though I've also been learning some Chinese in my spare time.

I've recently made quite a few friends on the Chinese language team and am starting to really desire to see China next. I feel like Chinese in many ways have a lot more in common with Americans than Japanese ever will. And although I'm not done with Japan yet and am still really enjoying myself, I am beginning to chafe under parts of Japanese culture that I've come to understand and now recognize daily. Everything is so subtle, so very subtle... and being American, it is basically the direct opposite of my native culture.

Interestingly, the more I learn about Japanese culture, the more I learn about American culture as well. It is so hard to understand our culture from the inside, but by living abroad, mixing with "foreigners" and living in a foreign country, I feel like I can finally begin to understand what being an American actually means. This was one of my original goals in coming to live in a foreign country, so I am happy.

By the way, response to (dad's?) question: I am indeed working in the same building, although the work floors are a little bit jumbled now and we are compacted into half the space in order to save on rent. Scuttlebutt says that we're supposed to relocate to another area someday soon, but they've been saying "any day now" since I've been back.

An interesting note, however, is that after November 2008 there probably won't *be* a Multimedia Center for me to work from anymore, as this company (rather ingeniously) is going to open up teaching centers in actual foreign countries; they can pay high school kids minimum wage to teach English lessons from North America, England, New Zealand, Australia, etc instead of paying us what I'll laughingly refer to as "the big bucks".

I wonder how one knows when its time to move on? I have a financial goal that could act as a rough barometer, I suppose. Save up enough money and then it's time to go to China? Coincidentally, the other day I was visiting my host family and they taught me some Kanji, which really whetted my appetite for learning the Japanese alphabets. After a year and three months, I'm finally wanting to learn how to read and write!

In any case, things have been hectic here as always (I'm slowly beginning to realize that this is what people refer to as being an adult), and I need to get some sleep.

Japan shall endure me yet

There is a General Union in Japan. This union exists for the many foreigners who work in Japan and have to face thieving corporations and a prejudiced, apathetic government. My former employer, NOVA, was among those companies whose employees had established a chapter of the General Union. As such, the union was heavily involved in the entire debacle since NOVA's bankruptcy.

None of us thought that much was going to be accomplished, but due to being a native West Virginian I do have some healthy respect for the power of organized workers, and decided that I didn't have anything to lose after the bankruptcy, and joined. (Prior to this incident, I hadn't heard about the union; things were apparently a bit hush hush since the company supposedly had a history of targeting members.)

Surprisingly, however, it turns out the union has teeth, and forced the new benefactor of my old company, who had effectively laid me off on Christmas Eve, to reconsider their decision. And solely because of my membership in the union, in fact! Several of my friends were unable to join in the mass return due to their not having signed up with the union, as the company's agreement was only to extend their original offer of employment for union members.

Regardless, they are still trying to trim the workers as much as possible, and thus they are (quite illegally) trying to say that they will only employ workers through the original terms of their NOVA contracts. So when I got a phone call asking me if I wanted to come back to work at NOVA, effective the next day, and that if I did I would be guaranteed a position until November 2008, I jumped on it! (After all, if any of my other job interviews gives me a better off, I can always just quit.. but in the meanwhile this solves some financial and VISA/immigration problems that were beginning to mount.)

Basically, and I know this is dangerous and that I can't rely on it, but: I seem to live a charmed life where I float from one incredibly lucky situation to the next. I hope that my life will continue in this fashion.

Just wanted to post and share the good news.

Changing the subject, it snowed in Osaka for the first time that I was aware of it since I've been here, on my way to work the other day. I didn't even recognize it at first, so unexpected was the flurry. Life is settling down and I am back into a routine, though with all of my part time jobs and private students I am now quite literally busier than I've ever been in my life, save finals in Uni.

I also recently started tending a bar, once a week or so. It is fun, but I sure need practice when it comes to pouring from a tap.

Basically I was seriously beginning to question if I was going to be able to continue my planned next three decades in Japan... And now, my next year at least is guaranteed. It is a good feeling, and although I wasn't particularly stressed by it, it is still a relief to no longer have to worry.

It was a very good year.