Hi!
Gee, it's been for ever since I've posted - and this isn't even a fanfic,
either. Not sure if this even fits within the FFML's mandate - let me know,
oh kindly admin, if it doesn't. I did include a small anime section way
down at the bottom.
Only reason I'm sending this thing to the FFML, actually, is because I
thought some of you might be interested -- stuff about me aside, I thought
some of the little bits about Japanese life and culture scattered throughout
might be of interest. Heck, got any questions about any of it, and I'll do
my best to answer - mind you, I haven't been here long, and am obvious
somewhat the outsider. . . but I'll find out what I can.
So here's my most recent update on my life in Japan, in wonderful Takamatsu,
in Kagawa-ken, on Shikoku island. This was originally written for my
family, so sorry if it seems a bit odd in places. I haven't updated my
webpge, yet, so no new pictures, yet. Previous updates can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/noakes_m/Japan.
Hope you enjoy!
-Mike Noakes
***Tuesday, February 15, 2000
It�s been exactly three months since I wrote my last Japanese update.
Anybody surprised? Heh, me neither. Well, I wouldn�t be me if I didn�t
procrastinate -- I can�t even offer up the excuse that I�ve been busy, since
I haven�t, really. In fact, there isn�t really all that much to report.
After all, I -did- spend one month (minus a few days) in Canada, and there
really isn�t much point in recapping my own country in a journal dedicated
to Japan. Especially since the first audience of this little text are the
very people I hung out with during those weeks, and writing about you guys
-- when I -know- you�re going to read it -- feels kinda weird. Although I
did have a great time back home, enjoyed the rest, came to realize a few
things about my home country, and maybe even myself, and just loved (and
still do) the laser-eye surgery; as important as all that, perhaps, was that
the time away from Japan helped make everything here fresh again. It was
great heading home, but it was great getting back, too.
Anyway, on with the update. . . good thing I�ve finally got into the habit
of keeping a personal, written diary/journal, so that I can actually
remember what�s happened since I got back on January 12th (has it already
been a month?)
So, let�s see. The trip back was long. Left North Bay at 3 am and drove to
Toronto; the flight to Vancouver was five hours, and from there to Osaka,
another eleven. Once there, I decided to skip the torturous
Osaka-Kobe-Takamatsu bus-and-ferry route, and just grabbed a half-hour
flight home. So, adding in waiting time between connections (usually about
two hours per stop), you�re looking at approximately 26 hours of travelling.
I was feeling just a little pooped by the time I arrived. Did get some
great reading done during the trip, though (and more on that later.) And a
wonderful aside: not once during the trip did I have to worry about putting
in, or taking out, my contacts.
Fortunately, once I arrived at the Takamatsu airport, someone I knew was
waiting there as well -- an American girl called Jessica, who had
coincidentally just returned from her home as well. She called up a friend
of hers, and I got a nicely convenient ride home. Ride aside, it was nice
seeing her again, although the infatuation I�d had for her before had
somewhere died during my time away. Probably had something to do with the
fact that she went home to make wedding preparations.
I stepped through my door at eight o�clock. So, to home and to bed, right?
Not likely. I�d been in for all of two minutes, long enough to notice a
few odd semi-pornographic articles scattered across my apartment (I�d left
the keys with a friend), when I heard a strange sound (reminiscent of a
fart, actually.) I threw open the closet door. . . and there was Dave, Joe,
and Abi, crammed into and lurking in my closet! They jumped me with a
�boo�. Their original plan had been to ambush me from strategic locations
in my apartment, but when they heard the voices of my ride, they thought a
teacher had brought me home, and hid in my closet. What a great welcome.
(Seriously!)
And, appropriately enough, within half-an-hour later, I was back at the
Seadragon, drinking my choice crap Japanese beer and munching down on a
Roman pizza, catching up on the month�s activities. It felt great to be
back.
(As an extra bonus, my friends decided to liberally �decorate� my apartment
with a deck of pornographic playing cards, carefully hiding away every card
in various locations, some obvious, some rather devious. I�m still
stumbling across the occasional card: taking out my Cohen CD for the first
time today, I found one stashed in there.)
The next day, eight o�clock morning, I was back to school, tired but
surprisingly glad to be back at work. Well, why not? For the most part,
I�ve got a great job, and the students are (mostly) cool. I just love being
cheered when I step into class.
There aren�t that many special �events� to report since then, though.
Mainly due to incredibly bad money management (spending it all within days
of getting paid), I�ve been somewhat limited in what I can do. Oh, some
good times, still: a few birthday parties (Sylvia�s and Abi�s), for
instance, but I�m sure you�re all tired of hearing about each and every time
I go out and guzzle beer.
Worth mentioning, however, is the Kagawa JET mid-year conference that took
place in January. I usually hate this kind of thing, except for the fact
that it brings a lot of people together that you may not have seen in a long
time, but to my surprise it proved very useful. The noteworthy part,
however, that gives a little insight into a darker side of Japanese culture,
came up on the second day. Various people were going up and give small
lectures on various subjects (I did one, on the role of the ALT. . . made a
bit of a fool of myself -- one of my in-depth and sharply perceptive
comments was that an ALT was always on duty �because, wherever you go. . .
err, there you are� -- but I had fun). My friend Dave spoke on the subject
of Discipline in the Classroom -- a difficult topic, really, since school
here are run very differently that what we�re used to back home. For most
people, it�s minor, since serious discipline problems are rare enough;
however, Dave happens to work at the work school in the prefecture.
What�s important to realize is that, in the Japanese system, middle-school
(Canadian grades 7-9) education is mandatory, while upper-school education
is by choice; furthermore, the middle-school a student attends is determined
by geographical location, while upper-school is determined by academic
achievement, regardless of distance from the student�s home. This means
that the most serious discipline problems are at the junior high level,
simply because the -really- bad students, for the most part, simply never
make it to high school. And in some cases, like Dave�s, the school is
situated in an under-privileged area, giving rise to a larger number of
aggressive, rowdy, occasionally violent students. Dave brought this up at
the conference, suggesting that it�s a good idea to do some research into
the background of one�s school, to know it�s where and why. His school�s
area, he discovered, included a Burakumin district.
Very, very bad thing to bring up.
I had heard of the burakumin before coming to Japan. I knew it was a
touchy subject, though never to what degree. Dave knew as well, and it�s a
good thing he brought it up, I think, and his point was a very valid one.
But the reaction was immediate and unpleasant.
The tension level in the room increased immediately. One of the Japanese
men in charge of the conference immediately addressed the question and, in a
very agitated and defensive manner, both defended and dismissed the problem.
Yes, he admitted, there has been discrimination against the burakumin --
the government was working at raising people�s consciousness, while
alleviating the burakumin�s situation. However, the problems at Dave�s
school, he assured us, had nothing to do with that. Whether they were
burakumin or not was irrelevent.
It�s hard to know how to interpret the situation. As an outsider -- and
I�m not foolish enough to think that, after only six or seven months, that
I�ve seen or understood even a fraction of Japanese culture (a culture
recognized as being notoriously difficult for any outside to ever understood
or be fully accepted into) -- I have to hesitate at passing too quick a
judgement. But this seems like dismissing the problems of inner-city youth,
such as central London, say, or the Bronx, or even earlier French-Canadian
districts in English Canada, as being solely a self-perpetuating problem.
The problems of African-American youth in central city American schools
might not be
_directly_ racially related, but who can dismiss any and all
links between the underprivileged city areas they�ve grown up in, with
barriers to education and employment, and racial discrimination both past
and present? I doubt the burakumin situation in Japan is very different
from that.
(Burakumin, as I understood, are a racially-identical minority group
distinguished by their family�s past: traditionally, these families were
employed in trades that bought them in contact with death -- �unclean�
employment from certain religious viewpoints. The stigma remains very
powerful even today, and employers and prospective fathers-in-law have free
access to check an individual�s past for burakumin lineage. According to
the Lonely Planet guide, there are approximately 3 million hereditary
burakumin in Japan today. I don�t know how true or accurate this
information is. The reaction I saw, however, was very real, very vivid, and
shocking.)
Simply put: don�t raise the subject with a Japanese person unless you�re
very sure of your friendship with him or her; even then, think about it
again.
On a less serious note, a small demonstration of my folly. Two days after
payday on January twenty-first, I went with two friends to the nearby
prefecture of Okayama, a mere hour-long train ride to the north. Finally
crossed the Seto bridge across the Inland Sea, which was neat.
It wasn�t an exploratory trip, however, which is unfortunate, since Okayama
apparently has a lot to offer (and, interestingly enough, the capital city�s
main road is named after Momotaro the Peach Boy.) It was, in fact, a
shopping trip to the Gap. It�s rather odd. I�ve never shopped at the Gap
in Canada -- never even stepped into one, actually. But I managed to drop
nearly four man at this one; that�s 40 000 yen. Well, I really needed the
clothes. A few students had already mentioned my �one wear�. I figured it
was time I had more than two pairs of pants to wear to work.
Because of this, however, I suddenly and unexpectedly found myself nearly
broke. Oops.
My friends and I made an interesting observation on the ride over, however.
On the seat across from us sat a high-school girl, still in uniform. (To
be in uniform on a Sunday isn�t unusual. Many students have Sunday club
activities. Also, supposedly, some students actually -like- to wear their
uniforms, even on days off.) Her actions reminded me, in a way, of some
kind of anthropomorphic squirrel-and-cat hybrid. Small, furtive motions as
she nibbled on her Pocky (or whatever), as if to not be seen, yet done with
a slow, passive languidity. What my friends and I noted, however, was the
inordinate quantity of time she then proceeded to spend on herself, combing
hair, placing each strand perfectly, gazing all the time into her mirror.
Out of an hour trip, at least half was spent staring into it. She must�ve
spent at least twenty minutes dabbing at her face with some kind of
oil-cloth or something -- they�re popular right now in Japan. It�s not
surprising, really, especially the way gender-roles are enforced, here.
There�s a certain narcissistic impulse pushed onto young girl, here, it
seems, through media and traditional views. The two girls I was with --
they�re on their third year -- said they�ve seen all too much of that to
date.
(For example, look at any of the pictures I�ve posted up showing my
classrooms. See how the boys and girls are separated? They do it
automatically. Running activities where they�ve got to mingle can be
torturous, sometimes. They often just don�t.)
An important thing that started on January 29th was the beginning of my
Japanese lessons. Actually, they�ve been running for months, now, but I
never managed to drag myself to them before. Yes, they start at 1 pm.
That�s how pathetically lazy I can be on weekends. But I�ve finally started
going, and it�s doing me a world of good. I can finally feel my Japanese
getting better again, and quickly, too (I hope.) I also secured a tutor
(the same teacher) for once a week. I�m hoping to get a second day a week
as well. It�s a bloody tough language -- one of the top-ranked one for
difficulty, actually, on an international scale, although that�s in part due
to its absolutely insane writing system.
So, for example: kino boku wa takusan biru o nonda node kyo totemo
tsukareta desu. Which is: yesterday I <subject particle> a lot beer <object
particle> drank so today very tired am. That is, yesterday I drank a lot of
beer, so today I�m very tired. I think I got that right. That�s an advance
grammar point a friend taught me, however; currently, I�m learning �have-to�
verb conjugation (tabenakute wa ikemasen - I have to eat), and working at
simply increasing my vocabulary. I despise straight memorization work, but
that seems to be what 99% of learning a language is. On the other hand,
I�ve been holding longer and more complicated semi-conversations with
Japanese people, which is great. Can picking up Japanese chicks be far
behind?
Also of note on that date: a group of friends and I got together and
watched the South Park movie. This is only noteworthy because (aside from
being a funny movie), I saw it with a nicely international audience:
Canadian, American, Australian, British, if I remember. There�s a lot of
fun at Canada�a expense, but it actually comes off making us look kinda
good, in a strange kind of way. There are countries out there you simply
wouldn�t try that kind of humour on, I think. It also says something about
the nature of American-Canadian relations. Or maybe I�m just reading too
deeply into a silly, stupid, extremely rude movie....
And so, what else? Just a few side-notes, I guess. I was accosted by my
first Christian evangelist about a week ago, although I�m not sure of what
denomination. It was interesting, actually. Stumbling across another
gaijin isn�t all that uncommon in a city like Takamatsu, nor is it strange
for a complete stranger to approach you, either. I�ve done it myself: when
you�re lost, or confused, finding someone who might speak your language and
be able to help can be a relief. But when this guy popped up, I knew -- I
just knew -- he was out to convert me. I�m not sure how.
Seemed like a nice enough Australian guy, though his approach annoyed me.
A quick string of �getting to know me better� questions that he obviously
didn�t care all that much about, before getting to his real purpose,
religion. I found the perfect defence against his attempt, however: the
truth. When he went to start preaching to me, I simply cut him off, told
him I was already Christian, and wasn�t interested in changing churches.
Confused him, and I made my escape.
Been reading a lot, too. School�s been busier than ever, but I�ve been
using what time I have to go through my small stock of books. I think the
fact that most foreigners don�t watch much television here -- why bother,
when you can�t understand -- helps contribute to why so many foreigners go
through so many books here. Been reading a lot of Robertson Davies, a
distinctly Canadian author, and his material gains a certain significance
when read in a foreign country. Certainly has me thinking about my French
Canadian roots, anyway. Going to research some of that when I get home.
Tackling Ulysses next, which I think may prove an exercise in futility.
Lost a week or two due to sickness. Even missed a day of work because of
fever. Oh, I struggled to school, and suffered for about an hour, then got
checked by the nurse. The moment they found I had a high temperature, they
sent me home. Fever, apparently, is a magic word here. You may be
suffering through the most impossible cold, or congestion, or whatever, and
it�s expected that you�ll grin and bear it; first sign of a fever, and it�s
off home. Interestingly enough, if I�d just called in sick, I may have lost
a sick day or, equally possible, a vacation day (work tradition has it that
you don�t actually use sick days until all your year�s vacation days have
been used up); but since I actually made the effort to show up, it was waved
aside. They even told me to go home early the next day (once I had no more
classes to teach) so that I could rest up and get better. I�m all better
now. I probably would�ve healed better if it hadn�t been for the cold.
Ah yes, the cold. I�ve complained about that before, and I�ll do so again.
A country that endures a good four months of nasty weather really should
look into such concepts as central heating and insulation. Or, hell,
keeping windows closed when its only 2-3 degrees outside. In the worst of
it, February, the temperature drops to about zero outside. Not bad, really,
by my Canadian standards. . . except that outside temperature quickly
translates to
_inside_ temperature. I don�t like seeing my breath in my own
apartment. I don�t like perpetually cold hands, toes, and nose. I don�t
like wearing my winter coat inside when I�m at work. Maybe I sound like I�m
whining. Maybe I am. But it just seems silly in a country as
technologically advanced as Japan. It�s unhealthy, too: the number of both
teachers and students who�ve been missing days is just silly. One of my
schools even cancelled club activities for a few days because there were too
many teachers and students absent to make it worthwhile.
And that brings me up to the present. Last weekend was a hedonistic blast,
in part because it was a long weekend, Friday being yet another trumped-up
Japanese national holiday. So a wee bit of partying Thursday night; Friday
was relaxed, although a drunken friend crashed at my place (being in the
�big� city, and being a welcoming sort, my place seems to a frequent
layover, or �I-missed-my-last-ferry�, point); Saturday there was a
Valentine�s party, at which I hung out with a girl I�ve got somewhat of an
infatuation for; and Sunday was my friend�s birthday party (actually, five
people whose birthdays coincided -- they decided to rent out a bar and throw
a big party; fun, if on a Sunday night, considering I had to work on
Monday.) Tomorrow (Thursday), I�ve got to teach a first-year class in the
gymnasium, because about 200 elementary grade six students will be watching
in. Saturday I�ve got to give some kind of two-hour class on Canada -- I
have -no- idea what I�m going to talk about, or how I�m going to keep it
interesting. I�ve got a two-day trip with the teachers from one of my
schools coming up the weekend after payday, to a onsen (hot spring) hotel;
that�s going to be tops. Also starting to organize where and when I�ll be
travelling to in the near future, since I�ve determined that it�s about time
I start seeing this country around me before it�s too late. That being
said, I�m making tentative plans to visit Hong Kong come Golden Week. Who
knows, maybe I�ll bump into Jackie Chan (and he�ll ask me to join in his
movies, and I�ll become a B-action movie star, and. . . well, you get the
general idea.)
And that�s that.
Cultural Notes:
Valentine�s Day:
The Japanese have got this one right. You see, here, on Valentine�s Day,
it�s the -girl- who approaches and gives chocolate to the boy (often
secretly, mind you, since, at least a lot of my Junior High students, are a
bit shy about this kind of thing). Yes, I know, in theory it runs both ways
in North America. . . but realistically, it�s assumed the boy�s going to be
giving to the girl. They get a kick out of it when I explain that to them,
here. It gets switched around on March 14, White Day, when the guys give a
gift back to the girls. Very Japanese, actually, since it�s traditional to
return the favour of receiving a gift. I�ve been informed, however, that
White Day is a very recent event, maybe only around ten years old or so. . .
and possibly started by sweets companies to help boost sales. Good idea,
though.
My Valentine�s day wasn�t all that great (heh, when is it ever; no, no
bitterness here). Nothing special, really -- still single, and all that.
And since I�d just switched schools on Monday, and my new students didn�t
know I was coming, I didn�t even get chocolate from them. Sniff. No sex,
either. Er, not from my students, I mean. From. . . oh, forget it.
New Year�s Day:
Somewhat different from North America. Where we seem to treat it as a
�go-out-with-friends and get-hammered� night-and-day event, it�s most
certainly a family event, here. Sure, a lot of drinking still gets done,
but so does a lot of temple-visiting, mochi (rice-cake) making, and so on.
A lot of people also watch NHK�s famous Red-and-White show. Cool New Year�s
celebration show on television.
And, great for children, most of them get �New Year�s Money.� All of my
students have. We�re not talking five bucks slipped into a pocket, here:
we�re talking anywhere from 2-5 man. . . that�s 20 000 to 50 000 yen. . .
two- to six-hundred Canadian dollars! Sweet!
Video Games:
Why bother, you ask? Popular media gives an excellent window into a
society�s mores; click on the television and you�ll learn a lot about Japan
- or at least, it�s silly side, or at least, catch a glimpse of something
lurking below the otherwise hard-working, impassive exterior.
Well, video games are also a big thing here, from the giant arcades to the
Playstations and Dreamcasts at home. And it�s Big Business, here.
Incredibly, sometimes absurdly, creative as well, and there�s a staggering
number of games that simply never make it overseas -- sometimes a good
thing, but there�s a number of truly creative and original concepts that are
lost.
I�ve already mentioned Dance Dance Revolution, the �dance-simulator� game
where you�ve actually got to dance to keep playing; there�s guitar, drum,
and DJ-spinning versions of the concept as well. Now there�s the maracas
version, where you grab your maracas, and shake your booty to �Livin� la
Vida Loca�, shaking your maracas to the beat and striking poses. My arms
hurt the day after playing that one for a bit. There�s the ambulance
simulator � you drive into scenes of violence (usually a cop getting shot
up), haul his body into your truck, and then you race off to the hospital
before he dies; ramming into incoming traffic knocks time off your meter,
since jarring your ambulance wounds him further. There�s the chilling
�Silent Scope�, where you peer through a sniper rifle and blow terrorists
off of buildings as a SWAT member -- one scenario has you hunting an escaped
man as he runs through a football game; shooting football players and
cheerleaders is a bad thing.
Those sound bad, but there�s all kinds of surprisingly fun, non-violent,
and highly imaginative and physically exhausting games as well.
Pattern-recognition and IQ testing games; a flying bicycle game where you�ve
got to peddle; a train game where you�ve got to drive one of those
up-and-down carts, pumping madly on the handle to go fast. . . and so many
others. The real neat thing is that I�ve yet to see a scummy arcade, they
simply don�t have the same stigma here as a loser-hangout, as they do back
home. Heck, I�d say the nicest bathrooms in Takamatsu are at the Sega World
near my place.
As for the at-home games. . . the selection is by far larger, and odder.
From horse-raising games on the Playstation, to train-conducting and
passenger-jet flying, to scads and scads of porn, pornographic mahjong, and
pornographic �date� games, there�s literally thousands of games for the
Playstation alone. The cool things is that most of them come out here
months, if not longer, before they reach North American shore. I recently
picked up Biohazard: Code Veronica (Resident Evil) for the Dreamcast, and
the Playstation Two is supposedly due out some time next month.
Anime:
(Just for the FFML!)
I sent a thing to the FFML a few months ago about the current crop of shows
currently playing. There's a few new ones, and I've gotten some of the
names fixed.
The one about the detective-like youth with long hair is the New Kindashi
Files. Interesting, but lots of talking - I can't understand most of it.
The one with the big-mouthed peach-coloured balls that look like their
owners and explode is called Jibaku-kun: Twelve-World Story.
The most popular shows right now seem to be (at least at a Junior High
Level) GTO - Great Teacher Onizuka - which just entered a new season. Great
stuff. There's a translated manga available, printed in both Japanese and
English, that's up to volume three. Really well done, even if they tend to
go with a somewhat more vulgar language then I'd expect is in the original.
It's a Kodansha Bilingual comic, and the quality is tops.
One Piece is exceptionally popular, too. Really entertaining show with some
great animation. Centers around a pirate crew that stumbles into various
plots and action. Main character seems to be some kind of chronically
smiling, happy, Mr-Fantastic - his body is stretchable. Favorite move seems
to be to throw his fist back about a quarter-mile, than whip it forward and
give a roundhouse like you wouldn't believe. He's joined by various
characters: a cool-looking samurai, some twit with a slingshot, a girl who
bonks people with a stick. . . The show can be surprisingly violent and
bloody, at times, too.
Card Captor Sakura is still going on strong. Pokemon is -still- incredible
popular, at least with my ichi-nensei classes (grade seven back in North
America.) I was surpised to find a strong, if small, Kenshin following,
although it seems to be mostly among the girls. One guy, though, drew me a
great manga-style picture. It's amazing how well these kids can draw, even
if mainly limited to a manga-style form.
I think that's it for now. Nothing really new has started in a while. My
top picks for shows to be carried over to North America? GTO, for sure; One
Piece; Dai Garudo, as a sort of less-serious, more fun Evangelion.
***
Later, all!
(And, yes, still working on my fics. Choices will be finished... someday.
Hey, it's already been about three years, what one more? <grin>)
-Mike Noakes
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