I returned from trippin’ back to England for the Christmas holiday with renewed refreshment. I was impressed with what I saw with new eyes. Everything felt familiar, like this was home, however temporary.
Students have finally started speaking to me after taking 6 months to ease into the idea. Usually in the form of asking really personal questions intermixed with many giggles and exchanged feverishly girly looks.
They said it never snows in Kagoshima鹿児島市but in January I was treated with flurries of beautiful swirling snow. It’s probably been one of the first winters I’ve enjoyed. There’s so much sunshine in the day and crisp air and even Japanese snow is more delicate.
Japanese people are often incredibly considerate. They always act with other people and society in mind. In Seika, the pool I go to, members mop the floor and hoover hair in the changing rooms.
Being here has made me realize the individualism with which we live our lives in the West. I’d never been made to think about it much before.
Sometimes the social responsibility can be very limiting on personal freedoms. For example, teachers in Japan are moved to a different school whenever the government deems it the right time, usually every 3 to 7 years. This means, especially in Kagoshima prefecture, where there are many islands, teachers could leave their families for long periods of time. Their own interests or their family’s interests come after that of the larger community.
Work, work, work and no play
My supervisor has two small children. She really enjoyed her last school because it was close to home. It was a more relaxed environment as it was a less academic school. The teachers had time for coffee breaks and chitchat and she had time for her family. Now she gets up at 5am and has an hour and a half commute and won’t be home until 7 or 8pm. As our school is ranked the third best school in the prefecture there is a lot of pressure on the teachers to increase the students’ performance. The teachers don’t take a break for lunch. She also now works Saturdays.
One Monday recently she looked so happy. She said she’d had the best Sunday ever. She took her children to the park and they were so happy. But she didn’t do any work- she leaned in to whisper it- so only had one hour’s sleep in order to catch up!
Once I thought it was strange that many people did army-raid style holidays where they leap across the world for a 3-day holiday and then home again. But now I know it’s because hardly anybody can take longer holidays. People feel like they will be letting down their work colleagues if they take leave. Most Japanese people will never take the number of vacation days allotted to them in the year.
Jan, Ken, Pon!
The best way of making decisions in a group, since no one can forcefully offer an opinion or persuade anybody else, or push for their own wants, society gets around this problem by mass Janken. Janken is the Japanese word for Rock Paper Scissors. People of all ages can do a mass rock paper scissors so fast that you barely even know it happened until everyone suddenly does the decision that was made without even appearing to have said much.
仕事
Shigoto: Work
I wasn't able to put a poster on the poster board at work to advertise my English club. I asked the head of English. I don’t think he really understood me even though I was grading my language and speaking very slowly. Then my supervisor came along, I asked her. The two of them gabbled away across me in Japanese. Then there was a lot of pausing and sighing and then the meeting dissolved without either party saying anything. This means: no poster.
One of the first year teachers, a young guy, about 26 years old, came to my desk and asked me to check over exam papers. We’re supposed to team-teach together. I haven’t done so since my self-introduction class in August. I suggested team teaching. He was startled, looked incredibly awkward and then ran away.
I actually had two lessons last week with one of the only two teachers I team teach with. After, she had a free period, so I took the opportunity to raise the subject with her. I explained that I would like to have more classes and that I was happy to be involved in any way I could. I said that I knew teachers had to carefully follow the text book and I was happy to make activities to fit the grammar point or reading. She pinned it down to a couple of things. One, that teachers often felt too busy to plan classes with an ALT. Another, that they weren’t used to working with an ALT who had teaching experience and implied they were probably intimidated.
My only relief from boredom is to escape at my 45 minute lunch period. Yesterday, I ventured out at lunchtime as usual, I always like to be outside whenever possible, and didn’t want to be deterred by the rain. In the park I took refuge in an old samurai house, open for public view.
Being away allows you to explore foreign cultures, understand that our way of perceiving the world isn’t absolute. Things that are obvious to you aren’t obvious to other people and vice versa.
I will never forget the story told by another ALT about a vending machine at his work. There were two bottles of green tea: a large one and a small one. They cost the same price. Continuously he would see teachers buying the smaller bottle. This fact aggravated him. One day the larger bottle went on sale, it was now half price. The ALT was beside himself when he saw teachers continue to buy the smaller bottle. He asked one of his female colleagues, ‘why do you buy the small bottle when the larger one is half the price?’ She answered, ‘I don’t want to drink that much green tea. The small size is more convenient for me’. This was almost too much for his bigger is better philosophy.
Onsen
The tradition of onsen is a big part of Japanese life. It’s one of the things I enjoy most about being here. The frequent volcanic activity means that there are public baths everywhere with natural hot water and different baths ranging from almost freezing to boiling. They are in fancy hotels, or built out of rock in the open air by the sea, or in traditional wooden huts.
Japanese people tend to take a lot more time washing than we do. Bathing is a long process, at least half an hour to 40 minutes. Surrounding the public bath are many shower heads and people sit on these little stools. The hair is netly piled on top of the head, wrapped in a towel. A small towel is use to scrub the body. After they are clean they get into the water.
I always found it impressive how still people are. They know how to relax. Women barely move their heads whilst soaking in the vitamin rich water.
I sometimes wish we bathed like this in England. But when I imagine it, there would be a million signs, ‘Don’t splash in the pool’, ‘Don’t eat in the pool’, ‘Please wash before entering the pool’, ‘Please cover your hair before entering the pool’. Plus we're much too shy of communal nakedness.
Recently a volcano in Kirishima erupted. Luckily the wind was blowing the other way. No one was badly injured. It was snowing and we went to the Kirishima onsen. But the water was incredibly hot. As we bathed outside, snow started to fall and landed on the steaming water. I learnt there’s a price to pay for over-enjoying onsen. As I got out of the bath for water, I fainted.
Skiing in Nozawa Onsen
I’d wanted to ski in Japan ever since going to the Fuji Rock Festival in the Nagano Mountains in summer 2007. My friend and fellow ALT, Marilyn had an ALT friend from college living in Nagano. A few weeks ago we flew to Tokyo and took a bus to Nagano. It was exciting to see another JET’s experience which differed enormously from our own. He lived in a village in the mountains. His house was surrounded by feet of snow.
It seems a mystery why Japanese homes don’t have central heating. It was -8 in Sam’s house and I slept in two jumpers and my coat with the hood up.
On the Friday we went to his local ski resort. It was fun to be back on the slopes again. Sam had a season pass to this local resort with three rickety chairlifts. We spent the day getting to grips with it again, and as Marilyn had never actually skied before, most of the day was spend digging her out of snowy holes.
On the Friday we went to his local ski resort. It was fun to be back on the slopes again. Sam had a season pass to this local resort with three rickety chairlifts. We spent the day getting to grips with it again, and as Marilyn had never actually skied before, most of the day was spend digging her out of snowy holes.
The next day we woke up early and drove north. Next we went on foot. A beautiful path led us through the forest to an onsen (hot spring) in the snow where monkeys famously bathe in the hot water.
There were also two snow festivals in Nagano. One was relatively small, revealing the strong community spirit of Japan. Some hunters offered us kuma (bear meat)! Another had snow sculptures, including one of the shinkansen (fast train) as the town celebrated its coming arrival to their area. The final festival was the igloo festival. I don’t think I’d actually seen an igloo before. Some families had rented an igloo and were eating nabe (hot pot).
There was even an igloo shrine.
In the evening we visited the Olympic Ice-skating rink, where for this weekend only, there was free skating.
The final day of the trip was the best day. We went to one of the biggest Olympic ski resorts, Nozawa Onsen.
Sam’s friend, Patrick, who was learning to snowboard came too. In the morning Sam and I attempted the red runs at the top, which were very moguly. Thankfully, because of the snowfall, there was a lot of powder. The afternoon sunlight was gorgeous. Marilyn gave up- too in pain to continue. The boys played in the snow park and the bus tours of people went home early and by 3pm I had the whole mountain to myself. The day ended with an onsen, hot water biting at our freezing bodies, snow falling as we talked Japanese to an old lady.
