March 2004
Another month. This one is gonna drag...
Grey as my lungs.
March 1st
The steady slow-down in updates is probably enough on its own to signify the pace of life in Shiraoka at the moment. Spring is on its way, and we’re experiencing the “four days warm, three days cold” of the Japanese Winter/ Spring transition. Several cherry trees are beginning to blossom, their hacked away limbs (“pruning” as the Japanese would have you believe) producing something less awe inspiring and beautiful than I’d been led to believe…I’ll give it a chance though.
The weekend was memorable for all the wrong reasons. I had a party, or I should say, Taoe and I held a joint party as our apartments face each other at the top of the stairwell. I was quite pleased by the eventual turnout; must’ve been at least 30 people cramped into our tiny bedsits, and I employed the candlelight method of making my place seem dark and cavernous, rather than just dirty and ill-equipped! To my shame and embarrassment, my anti-biotic fuelled body began to reject its alcoholic toxins right on the floor of my apartment in-front of said by-standers, and 2 days later I’m still struggling to remove the smell of cigarettes and stale beer from my place. It might be another 8 months before the next shindig, and I never want to see alcohol again!
I’ve started up at the evil smoky school of my nightmares again. The combined efforts of my four team-teachers wouldn’t extend me the courtesy of letting me know if I’ll have any classes this WEEK…no schedule, nothing. I think it’s really rude. Nothing changes, the men are still smoking, and the vice principle is the same bottomless void at lunch time. I’ve resumed my self imposed exile in the meeting room with a few books to read/study. My silent protest is gaining momentum, and the tea lady has started bringing tea and chocolate to my cell, and turned on the heater (setting a precedent I believe). Many more of these classless days and I might do something very sneaky indeed such as disappear for an hour to go to the gym ;) Roll on the weekend…nay, roll on April.
5th March
Not exactly having a whale of a time here at the moment, but surviving. One of the students freaked out in class today. After Mr Takazawa announced a change in schedule, the kid just booted his desk and half his belongings across the room! He sat there sulking for the rest of the class. I can’t say I blame the kid…kind of felt the same way when I had this class surprised on me 5 minutes earlier.
Shiraoka pupils are quite well behaved mind, in comparison to a lot of other places. There is tremendous pressure and strain placed on kids at such a young age here. They go to school, they MUST be in an after school activity of some sort, whether they’re interested in it or not, and most of them go to Juku (cram school) in the evening, where they do a few more hours work, before going home to finish their homework. It’s no wonder they’re bored and listless – they’re over-worked to an extreme, the only reason for which seems to be to turn them into servile salary slaves who long before forgot how to speak out for themselves or voice an opinion. I feel sorry for them, and that’s why I’m kind of glad this kid reacted in the way he did!
I haven’t looked forward to a weekend break so much for a while. Last night’s Eikiwa wasn’t exactly a gleaming example of success either. Ricky and I long ago exhausted our repertoire for filling the class, and thought we might screen an “educational” video (Bowling for Columbine). Our students aren’t bad at English, but what they emphatically lack the ability to do is just chat, or hold an opinion, so we thought this movie might get a bit of a rise out of them. 30 minutes in, and we noticed that something had gone awry. We paused the film, and every one of the womens’ faces were ashen, and some looked like they were about to cry. They meekly uttered words like “so scary” and “unbelievable” and then voted not to watch the rest of it. But I guess that kind of sums up the lives of some people here…they’d rather live a bland and uneventful existence than be challenged in any way. Ho hum. I’ve got to face them again next week. Swell.
later that same day...
Hilariously, the entire baseball club were just caught smoking! The hypocrites called a meeting, and there were stern words and stern faces. The parents were called and the boys taken home. And I looked at Mr Takazawa and said "I've no sympathy. When everyone is smoking in the staffroom, what do you expect, its hardly an example to set!". This has just made my day!
10th March
About time for a new update I think! School goes from bad to worse, and I’ve begun to question, as I predicted I would, the wisdom in signing the contract to stay for a second year. It’s just the all encompassing feeling of uselessness I get here, of not belonging. My attendance at school is rather like the lingering smell after some big fat bloke has taken a dump…you can’t get rid of me, and know I’ll be around for most of the day. I spend a lot of time just sitting on the concrete porch, reading Bill Bryson and wishing I was anywhere else. All the same, the last few days the weather has been so much better, to the extent that I’d say today was hot, so it wasn’t altogether unpleasant for a while.
So, I’ll let you into a little secret…I haven’t completed a days work yet since I came back to this school. At the other 3 places, I say good morning and goodbye, I’m watched over like a hawk in the staffroom, but I don’t mind, its ok. Ever since I quit the staffroom here though, I’ve barely uttered a word to anyone, so no-one knows when I’m leaving. It started off that I’d leave a mere 15 minutes early, as long as I thought I could get away with it. I got so much pleasure from each extra minute of spare time, I got that thrill-seekers rush. I liked it, I liked it a little too much. I started asking Takazawa if he thought maybe I could come to class after the listening test, after the student assessment etc, and managed to squeeze in that extra cup of coffee here and there. But it wasn’t enough, I was out of control! Today, I left a full 2 hours early. I actually can’t believe it as I type it…its bordering on dangerous, breach of contract and all that. Not sure quite how impressive my CV would look with a big SACKED in the centre. I’ve been reduced to it though. I’ve been turned into one great big liar. There’s just no common sense in the system here, no way of reasoning, so you have to take matters into your own hands. And I feel absolutely no remorse.
Still, I am proud to announce that I’m almost 2 full kilograms lighter than the last time I announced my weight. I’ve been going to the gym with my extra free time, and whilst I’m hardly a figure of health, it’s a solid improvement. The weather’s getting better, the cherry blossom is beginning to bloom, and spring break is a mere 2 weeks away. No, things are fine.
13th March
Before writing anything, I just want to add this link, which moved very quickly off the Guardian online because of this weeks tragedy, but is none the less an interesting read.
Another pleasant day, I took to wearing shorts for the first time this year. However, I couldn't help noticing this dull throbbing headache all day, and which I've now learned is almost certainly hayfever. I've never had hayfever, and it comes as a bit of a surprise. If you'll now let me digress, I'll give you a few facts and figures from the Kerr book that are pretty appaling (did I spell that right?):
"...by 1997 Japan had replanted 43% of all its woodland with a monoculture of coniferous trees, mostly sugi, or Japanese cedar...Allergy to sugi pollen, an ailment almost unknown a few decades ago, now affects 10 percent of all Japanese..."
So, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Forestry Agency, not only for despoiling the environment of an entire country, but for ruining the only season I stood a chance of enjoying, thankyou.
Now that we've dispensed with the niceties, I'd like to get down to the job of ridiculing my occupation. On Friday I had no classes. I wasn't, with my new found ability for lying, about to let that affect my mood. I spent 3 hours before lunch at the "bank" washing my clothes and reading a newspaper over coffee, before making it back to school in time to shoot some hoops on the basketball court and enjoy my virtually free school lunch. After lunch I decided that I needed to "speak to my supervisor about something". The Vice Principle seemed so petrified that Japanese words were spilling from my mouth, that I think he agreed to my absence before I'd even given the reason. Thereafter I repaired to Hasuda gym, where I was pleased to note that I'm under the 70kg mark and can benchpress a sumo. All in a days work.
At this rate, I won't need to complain about the situation with the Board of Ed this summer again...I'll be having too much fun making a mockery of it! In the words of my friend Ricky "Isn't it ironic that you had to come to the "most hard working country in the world" to become a lazy lying slob?".
St Patricks Day!
Woohooo, wooo, hooo, eughh…remind me why? I’m glad there’s no-one “celebrating” it round here. In my opinion, the lamest holiday in the world ever “yeah, let’s go out and get pissed ‘cos it’s St Patrick’s Day, yeahhhh! (Never mind the fact we have no connection to Ireland, or even have any idea who St Patrick was)”. Piss off.
Sorry for that. Anyway, thought I might update as I have something to write about for once. Yesterday was my Junior High School 3rd year’s graduation day. Let’s put aside the notion that you need to achieve something to “graduate”; its compulsory and no-one can fail to go through. Anyway, it was interesting, mind-numbingly boring, hilarious and ridiculous all at once, if that can possibly make any sense. A brief description…
The entire school assembles in the gym, as well as the parents, teachers, board of ed employees and local dignitaries. Students walk up one by one and graciously accept a diploma whilst bowing. Many speeches are made in a language I can’t understand, and as a result I entertain myself with my kanji notebook. The most irritating part was the clapping. From the moment the 3rd graders entered the gym, everyone started clapping, which reached a crescendo every time a subsection of them bowed. The clapping (I kid you not) lasted a full 15 minutes. It was like some sort of horrific Stalin rally, where everyone was afraid to be the first one to stop clapping! In between speeches from just about everyone affiliated with the school, there were bowing frenzies, bowing orgies indeed. Thank god we shake hands in the west, it’s so much more understated.
In between being tremendously tired, frustrated, and fed up with school, club activities, cram school and homework, my students must’ve found time to form a bond, possibly owing to the shared hatred of the system that they’re going through. Perhaps that can partly explain the collective outpouring of emotion as their little community was split up. At several points during the ceremony, just about everyone in the hall (parents, teachers and BOYS included) was sobbing except myself…the only parallel experience I’ve had was at a freaky Christian house party when I was at school, and all the bible bashers started crying together…SCARY! On the other hand, it was all so long and drawn out, and there were so many renditions of heavily sentimental pop songs, that the pathos reached such a degree that this kind of thing was perhaps inevitable.
After the ceremony I was mobbed for autographs and photos with hundreds of little faces I could barely recognise. The 3rd years paraded out of school, thereby symbolising their separation from one “group”, to enter a period of liminality before they begin high school. And I almost forgot...they played "Auld Lang Syne" on a constant stream. The versatility of this song in Japan never ceases to amaze me. It's also the "get the **** out of our store" tune at the local supermarket on closing time! All year round!!!
The upside of the day was that thereafter I embarked on an eating marathon by gorging myself first at one school, and then another, where I remained drinking beer and singing karaoke long into the night with Jeff. It was all a bit crazy and confusing, but a great stress buster!
In retrospect, besides the bizarre nature of the ceremony, I think it was a pretty nice end to their school days. We didn’t really have anything like that when I finished school, or indeed university. Owing to the differing exam dates, people just slowly melted away on both occasions. Still, nothing like the day Johnny Ferguson dumped horse manure at the school entrance and on Mr Armstrong’s mobile as a parting shot at the school we were dying to get away from!
18th
Yet another Guardian article, a bit of travel writing on Tokyo, which conveys about as much as you could hope to learn from Tokyo in a matter of days. Funny how travel writers rave about how "confusing" and "super modern" Tokyo is, but never seem to enjoy themselves!
Later...oooooohhhh!!! This is great...check out the posters from an anti smoking campaign! This is possibly the coolest thing that's happened since I came to Japan! Pity I can't start putting them up inside the staff room...now there's an idea!!!! Link
21st March
The weather is continuing to throw up interesting surprises. Yesterday there was snow for a while, whereas today is covered in blazing sunshine, the moisture from yesterday deepening the hues. The town doesn’t look half bad on a nice Spring day, and the weather recently is the best I’ve known in Japan. It’s like a good Irish summer day with a cool breeze; none of the lethargy inducing humidity or shrill of cicadas (not to mention mosquitoe bites) of the summer. It’s possible now to relax outside on the “Beranda” (that’s not a spelling mistake). All over the town crooked, bent over old people are tending their allotments, a myriad of colours thrown up by the flowers of the various vegetables.
I was in
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