I'm really glad I sit by the door in the teacher's room, aside from it being a quick escape. The little garden area outside is truly a world of mystery and splendour. For instance, I always hear loud splashes in the pond, but whenever I turn around, there's nothing there. But the other day I finally caught sight of what the fish are actually doing: freaking out. The gigantic koi actually leap out of the water! Why? I don't know! But it's great. There are also tiny lobsters (or big shrimp, if you look at it that way) who live in the gutters along the sidewalk. Lobsters walk backwards! Yes, folks, we live in a mad world.

Right now, I'm enjoying the breeze and silence. All the teachers are in the gymnasium, listening to gory stories about bike accidents from the life insurance company (which I'm spared from because it's all in Japanese). It's a little bit like being a child, and exempt from real-world, grown up things. Every now and then we get life insurance saleswomen, or textbook saleswomen who make the rounds of the teachers' room, and by now, they know not to bother with me---just smile and give me candy. : )

So, another week has ended, finally, and I have a whole weekend to look forward to wasting. I decided to take it easy this time, not travel very far, and cut back on the spending. I haven't spent an entire weekend at home in a couple weeks, and I'm looking forward to buying a new light for my kitchen and studying Japanese.

So, last weekend I spent the Saturday in Tokyo! It was wonderful. I caught the 8:02 train with my lovely Irish friends, Amir and Louise. Louise had been working nonstop on a dissertation that was due the day before and still not finished, so there was much napping and passing out on her part. We arrived in Tokyo two hours later and had to take another 30 minute train to get to the convention center that was hosting the Tokyo Game Show. Easy peasy right?

Wrong. We got to the station and it was PACKED with nerds of all shapes and sizes heading for the show. Ok, they weren't nerds, but we knew where they were going! We had to stand in massive lines to get our fare adjustments in order to leave the station, which probably took half an hour. Miraculously, I spotted a friend from Hamamatsu in the crowd! Anyways, after fixing our tickets, we walked to the center, which was almost too easy to get into. Just wait in line for two minutes, pay, get your ticket and waltz right in.

The show itself was chaotic, loud, crazy, and packed. It filled three huge halls of the center, and there were booths for games as well as consoles and brands. It was a little like the state fair, only instead of petting zoos and milking stations, there were games and scantily clad Japanese booth girls. I didn't end up playing any of the games (the lines were too long) but one. It was Dragon Quest Monsters for the cellphone, and I waited about ten minutes in line, mindlessly pressed buttons on a cell phone for the length of one battle (all in Japanese), so I could get the cute slime keychain. : ) And it was the only free thing I got... Anyone expecting lots of free gifts was sorely disappointed, although you could shell out the big bucks for game merchandise, sure to set you back and arm and a leg and grant you Numero Uno Nerd Bragging Rights until the next TGS.

However, I wasn't really there for the games.. There was still plenty to see. Cosplayers primped and preened for the cameras in the pathway connecting halls, I think this was my favorite part of the whole show... Kids must have spent countless hours and yen on their costumes, and it showed. Plus, they really hammed it up for the cameramen, which was entertaining in itself. I probably saw a dozen Clouds, in every permutation of the character. There were even people cosplaying for games that haven't yet been released.

But like all good things, TGS ended, and we had to fight more lines for the train ride back to Tokyo. We ate tenpura in beautiful Ginza, and then it was time for me to go home, exhausted and happy.

Friday

So, it seems like all material objects in my life are breaking right now. My bike light has been on the fritz (and I never say "on the fritz" so it must be bad). It's fritzing like I can only imagine fritzing goes... Turning itself on an off when I haven't even touched it, blinking by itself, etc. etc. The wireless internet in my house stopped working. I had a flat the other day, after trying to inflate it with a bad bike pump. Irony, anyone? And today, mid bike ride, my zen micro earplugs started zoning in and out, probably from a loose wire. It was actually pretty terrifying, trying to ride home in the dark with no bike light (remember, it was fritzing at home), feeling every bump and dip in the road for the possibility of another flat, and listening to MUsic thAt sOuNDEd LiKE thIS..

I guess I had a bad Thursday too... I have to say, I hate English Club. Absolutely dread it every week. Being the new English teacher, I, by default, have to conduct English Club on Thursday afternoons. Basically, the only reason anyone is in the club is because it only meets once a week, and the only penalty you get for not attending is a scolding. A better, more experienced teacher could probably feel out the situation and come up with another activity on the spot if the one they planned bombs terribly. Ha, no such luck for me though. On my way out of the building, thoroughly defeated by Thursdsay, I also knocked my bike over and the bike next to it, in front of a group of my students. Sigh.

But finally, it's Friday, blessed Friday. Somehow, four day weeks always feel longer than normal weeks. But for my last class of the day, all we did was watch a movie. And during the afternoon, I took a breather out in the sunshine, watched the tiny lobsters in the gutter along the sidewalk, and found one of the mangy cats that live on campus. : )

And tomorrow, it's off to Tokyo I go for Tokyo Game Show! Oh, nerdiness galore. For those of you not in the know, TGS is THE videogame showcase in Japan, due in part because they open the doors to the public for the last two days. This year also happens to be its 10th anniversary. It's probably even the biggest game showcase of them all, now that E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in LA is being downsized, and sure to be my first real geekfest since being in Japan (I haven't even been to Akihabara). I shall report my experience of the pasty, acne-prone underbelly of Japan's biggest gaming showcase when I return!

OK, so I thought I'd post a real update about what I'm really doing in Japan. So it's just the facts for today!

My job
I teach English at Numasho (short for Numazu Shogyo Koko) High School. In Japan, highschools fall into a couple denominations: there are normal highschools and then there are trade schools for business (my school), agriculture, fishing, etc. Students who attend the latter generally do not go on to higher level education, instead finding a job right after graduation and living in that town for the rest of their lives. It's probably not as depressing as it looks, that's just my take on it. As such, the English level of these students isn't particularly high. My school was put under "intermediate" level, but in reality, it's closer to the "beginner" end of it. This makes teaching English and putting together lessons a lot more challenging. I often struggle with the idea of forcing English into these students, when they realistically will not use it and thus have no motivation to learn it.

So on to my classes: I teach 14 classes a week... Yes, that's a lot in JET standards. 8 Oral Communication 1 classes for first years, 3 OC2 classes for second years, and 3 Business English classes for a handful of motivated second years. Altogether around 400 students. No, I haven't learned all their names, so I feel kind of bad when over half the school knows me and will wave or shout "HARRO!" to me on my way to/from school and I can't call them by their names. I don't go a day without teaching classes, and it's a juggling act sometimes to keep on top of things and plan in advance. And when an activity bombs... well, I have to keep doing it anyway, so each class gets the same education. Lessons get boring for me fairly quickly too, b/c it's the same thing over and over again, but every class needs to be new and exciting. It reminds me of a documentary I watched about a certain band going on tour... Night after night it's the same crowd and the same songs, but you can't be bored b/c people are paying to see you, and it may be their first/only time ever seeing you perform. Not that I feel that kind of pressure when I'm staring out the window at the old dude pruning trees outside, but it does put a new spin on why I'm here. I can't bend over backwards for everybody, but if I can motivate some kids and make English interesting for them, then I've done my job.

Also, nothing would be possible without my JTEs, or Japanese Teachers of English. I teach with one (sometimes two) every class. I feel very fortunate to have such capable and helpful people to work along with, and so far no problems have risen with them. I actually quite like all of them. In fact, one of them is one of the vice principals. My school is unusual in this respect, also for the fact that she's a woman.


My town
I live in Shimizu-cho, which is a suburb of Numazu City. The train station is a 20 minute bike ride from my house, which is a tad inconvenient. I live in constant fear of being run over by cars, or losing my balance on the sidewalk and falling into a rice field. The town itself actually sprawls out across the river, where there is more civilization than my immediate neighborhood. If I ride 10-20 minutes southwest, I'll hit the ocean. It's not that impressive a beach, but the view of Izu rising in the distance is fantastic.

Numazu City is a modest town, with most things that you'd need if you lived here: a couple good department stores, a shopping arcade, new movie theater complex, cooking school, train station. It is also fortunate in that it has a train that runs from the city straight to Tokyo! And it's one stop away from Mishima, where you can catch the bullet train to wherever your heart desires, so long as your wallet is fat enough.

My house
I live in a 2 storey jutaku, or teacher's housing, a 5 minute bike ride from school. It's pretty spacious for one person, and I have a whole tatami room upstairs that's empty and unused. The building is pretty old, as is the case with most ALTs' housing, but not bad, especially for $130 a month. I have a toilet downstairs, in a separate room from my shower, which leads into the kitchen (yes, it's different). The rooms have tatami floors and sliding doors. My washing machine is outside. And dryer.. What dryer?

Anyways, I've managed to rearrange enough furniture to make it pretty comfortable. Although I feel like I'm a teeny bit obsessed with re-vamping the place. I acquired a free couch last week, keep an eye out for cheap shelving (A Japanese house with shelves? Dream on.), and fool myself into thinking I can replace the lighting in my kitchen. Who knows whether my dream paint job will ever get done, but a girl can dream...

Recreation
What fun things have I done since I've been in Japan? I've gone to an onsen and sat in hot water with a bunch of other naked strangers. I've been to Hamamatsu and Shizuoka City (the capitol of Shizuoka), the two largest cities in the prefecture. I rode the bullet train once, and it was divine. I ate natto twice, which was not so great. I went to a matsuri (summer festival) in Mishima. And this weekend, in Tokyo, I witnessed 5 weddings and 3 funerals. 3 of the weddings were traditional Shinto ceremonies at the biggest shrine in Tokyo, the Meiji Jingu shrine, all within 20 minutes of each other! Bizarre and wonderful.


So there you have my life so far in a nutshell. It's difficult to explain it all, and I'm leaving out a lot, especially the difficult times when I missed home like crazy and realized what incredible people I left behind in America. I still haven't gotten past the language barrier here, and it would help if I studied Japanese more... I still haven't found my niche either. But it's only been less than two months since I came here. Sometimes I still wake up from a nap or early in the morning, and wonder what the hell I'm doing in Japan...

Let’s Learn Japanese, OK?!!

Here’s a crash course primer in survival Japanese that anyone should know before coming to this strange and wonderful country. Mind you, I’m still learning too, so this is by no means a comprehensive list. Let’s begin, shall we?

Atsui
If you come to Japan in the summertime, like I did, this will be one of the first words you’ll learn. It means: “Jesus, it’s hot!” I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard this at school alone. It is pronounced “ATS-ui,” “swi,” or— when it’s just too damn hot to say the whole thing— a “tss” that sounds like letting air out of a tire. In the teacher’s room, which is air conditioned, teachers will moan it. In the (un-air conditioned) classroom, fanning themselves and wiping the sweat off their glowing faces, students will sigh it. Use it to initiate conversation. It’s like socially acceptable cursing. Everybody agrees with you, and we’re all united in our damp, sticky misery.

Doko
This word is indispensable! It means “where.” It’s helped me many times. And if I understood half of what I got as an answer, it’d probably be even more helpful. But you can ask something like: “To-i-re wa doko desu ka? (Where is the toilet?)” or “Ba-su wa doko? (Where’s the bus?)” or just point to something and say: “Doko? (Where is this?)” The great thing about that last one is they’ll automatically know you’re a dummy, and hopefully dumb down their Japanese.

E, to…
OK, this technically isn’t a real word and has no literal meaning. But it’s an often-used phrase, kind of like the Japanese version of “uuuh…” or “let’s see…” If you ask a question, it’s always “Eeeh, tooooh…” before the other person answers. Or, “Eh, to, ne…” (The ne is like adding “eh?” or “isn’t that so?” So, “hmm.. eh?”). An easy phrase to master, and one you’ll use if you’ve been here long enough; I’ve heard 2nd and 3rd year JETs say it like it’s second nature.

Irasshaimase
You probably won’t ever have to say this, but you’ll be greeted by it in every store you walk into, from the high end de-pa-to (department stores) to tiny ramen-ya. Basically it’s a super polite welcoming that only shopkeepers use to greet customers. They use a special voice for it, too (no doubt to get your attention), a loud, nasally tone, rising in volume at the end: “Irasshaimaseeeeeeeh!” Sometimes they’ll say it even if no one has walked in the store, as it to confirm their own existence.

Kawaii
“KA-WA-I-I-I!!!” Means “cute,” “very cute,” or “pretty pretty cute cute!” I don’t know if people think everything is cute, or, as we have seen before, just don’t have other words to describe things. But to their credit, many things in Japan are indeed very cute… I hear this word an awful lot from young girls, especially when they’re talking about their new ALT. ; ) Just make sure you pronounce the “ka,” otherwise the word can sound like kowai, which means “scary”!

Nihonjin janai yo
Alright, I learned this from a silly video at Tokyo Orientation about being a JET of Asian descent. Pretty much 99% of the time, people will think you’re Japanese, so whip out this phrase when things get out of hand. It means: “Look, I’m not Japanese, ok?!” Other non-Asian looking foreigners out there need not bother memorizing this phrase…

Oishii
The Japanese have very few words for describing the tastiness of food. Whereas in English, we have delicious, tasty, scrumptious, delectable, etc., the Japanese just have oishii* (and that’s probably why they use it so much). An elegant kaiseki ryori meal, a piece of fine sashimi, instant ramen, a bowl of rice… it’s all oishii. Or, “Oishiii!!” accompanied by a revelatory expression on the face, as if to say: “What is this marvelous taste I have never before tasted in my life?! Help! It is so delicious, AAAAAH!!!”

It’s also worth mentioning that I’ve never been to a place that is so discriminating about their rice. I’ve never really considered the deliciousness of my rice before, just as long as it wasn’t mushy or too hard or gone bad. But apparently, the taste of rice is a very serious concern for the people of Japan. Commercials for rice cookers usually involve a pretty lady taking a bite of pearly rice, still steaming from its 1000W womb, and sighing: “oishii….” into thin air. Of course, so much depends on the type of rice you use, but they say the more expensive your rice cooker, the more delicious your rice. I don’t have a rice cooker (yet), so I can’t really support/refute that statement. Rice cookers here cost more than microwaves, and even the toy-sized ones run about 4000+yen. I told my vice principal I was thinking of getting one of the cheap ones, and she gave me a strange “ Oh, dear...” kind of smile. Apparently those are only fit for making rice porridge. Good thing I’m not picky about microwaveable rice.

*There are other words for delicious, which are umai, or the popular backwards-slang-version, mai-u. But you only say this if you’re a man or a young person. The rest of us genteel folks say oishii.

Sugoi
“S-goi!” This means “Awesome! Great!!” It will often be heard coming from the mouths of high school kids and screaming television game show hosts, especially if something extraordinary is happening before their eyes, like flipping an omelet or opening the lid of a rice cooker or a foreigner speaking Japanese. “SGO-I SGO-I SGO-I!!!”

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Of course, there are many, many more words to learn. Japanese is made up of many words, most of which I will never learn. But I’m getting sleepy, and I can’t wait to sleep in tomorrow morning. I hope you’ve learned something today. Until next time, from the land of rising suns and squatting toilets, I bid you O-yasuminasai (good night)!