So, this weekend, I encountered something that you sometimes hear about when reading about Japan, but which you never fully think you'll encounter in a country that has built a reputation on being so kind and respectful of other human beings. As it happens, my friend Javier and I were in Kumamoto City, which is the largest city in the prefecture. They have a large and thriving community of foreigners, what with all of the ALTs there and the University transfer program. Obviously, that would lead you to believe that the people of Kumamoto would have a more progressive view of foreigners. At least that's what I thought. But then, these 2 incidents occurred.
While in Kumamoto, one of our goals was to eat at the Mexican food restaurant there. One of the reasons for this is that it's delicious, the other is that Javier is Mexican, and thus misses Mexican food. So there were are, our heads filled with the notion of eating tacos and quesadillas, tromping into the restaurant. All seems well, as there only about 3 tables with people at them and only 2 people at the bar. You would think then that there would be no problem. And initially there didn't seem to be. Up until they figured out that we didn't speak fluent Japanese. And that's when things really fell apart and we were promptly told that the restaurant was full and for the evening and we wouldn't be able to be seated. Now, I could understand if the tables were reserved for people that had yet to arrive, but really, the bar too? No, I don't think so. People don't reserve seats at the bar. That's for single people or maybe pairs to sit when tables are full. So, with very little explanation and a dash of impatience, we were turned away.
Mind you, we tried to not let this bother us. And in order to do that, we decided to try another restaurant. We tried to keep the perspective that if we could just get food and stop starving, then it would be fine. So then we went to a Thai restaurant. This place only had 2 people at a table and they very promptly seated 4 Japanese women that went in right before us. But when we asked for a table, we were told that they were completely booked until 9 that night. It was only 7. And like I said, the place was empty.
So what happened here? It would appear as though we were turned away from two eating establishments due to the fact that we're foreign. I would like to also point out the irony of this being that BOTH restaurants serve foreign food. Now, it could be said that maybe it wasn't that, maybe they both did have tables reserved. Hell, maybe every table in the whole restaurant was booked by people that were going to arrive after we did. However, the fact that we were told at one place that the bar was booked, and the fact that at the other place, there was no problem with 4 Japanese people being seated right ahead of us leads me to believe that that isn't the case.
The other thing that leads me to think that we were turned out due to our foreigness lies in the fact that on an everyday basis, it is impossible to not encounter extreme xenophobia and at times, flat out racism, from the Japanese population. This takes many forms, whether it's being denied service, having people stare at you as though you shouldn't exist outside of movies and TV, being laughed at when you speak English or when you try to speak Japanese, being expected to do everything "the Japanese way", etc, it's something that's incredibly pervasive here.
I can not recall a single time in the 7 months that I have been here, when I have gone out and not been stared at. Sometimes it's a slack jawed wonder. Other times, there's a very thinly disguised hatred behind those eyes. But either way, it boils down to the same issue. Or issues. And it's not necessarily the staring that is overall the problem. It's what the staring implies. Especially when it can be said that the Japanese do not stare at each other. In many situations, it's actually rude to make direct eye contact, as it's seen as invasive. So, while they would never be so rude as to stare at each other, when you're foreign, it's fair game. And why this is a problem is because the one thing that it implies is that if you're not Japanese, you're inferior. You're less than human. You are not entitled to the same respect and treatment that they would afford each other. Because you are not part of their group. You are the outsider, and thus treated as such. You're a trick monkey, a novelty, but you are not a human being on equal ground with them. All of this, even though Japan has been an open country for years upon years. All of this even though the JET program has been here for more then 20 years. All of this, despite the fact that the Japanese government has openly attempted to internationalize the country for quite some time. After all, that's the only reason why I've been allowed to live here.
So why is it this way? Why is it that there are still Japanese who are so blatantly xenophobic/racist? Well, that's something that I'm still attempting to figure out. One thing I have noticed by working in the Japanese school system is that while there are many people that are genuinely nice and welcoming, there are just as many who are only kind due to social convention. As that is how they have been raised to be and act when interacting with society. But all of that deeply ingrained societal convention doesn't mean anything if there isn't any substance to back it up. You can't merely say, you should be nice to everyone just because that's the way that it is. Because that's the way the society should function. You have to teach people to be nice to one another because we're all human beings when all is said and done, and therefore we're all entitled to the same basic necessities. We're all entitled to a helping hand and a kind word, a smile and a nod. We're all entitled to respect. But that is not necessarily the theory that lies behind why they Japanese have been taught to be nice to each other. And it certainly does nothing to curb any sort of xenophobic thoughts or prejudices they may have. All of the social convention in the world will not do that. So, while some people will still be "nice" to you, it does not change the fact that at heart, they don't want you in their country. They would rather not have to interact with you at all, let alone afford you the same courtesy that they afford to each other.
Another issue is that there is an absurdly hypocritical mindset behind how they view and treat foreigners. On one hand, they expect you to subscribe to the Japanese way of doing things. So they want you to learn Japanese, they want you to know about cultural custom, to act how they do, do as they do. Which is fine, in and of itself. However, on the other hand, they do not ever think it's possible for you to do that if you're foreign. They do not believe that it's possible for you to ever be fluent in Japanese. They do not ever think that you can fully grasp or enact their cultural customs. So, if that's what they think, why do they expect it in the first place? Why do they not allow for the fact that we're foreign, and we will try our hardest to be respectful and do what we can, but that we will never not be foreign? We will never fully give up our own cultural norms, nor would we expect the Japanese to do so should they come to our respective countries. Most importantly, we should not be expected to give up our cultural identity. The point of interacting with any foreigner, in any country, is to have a give and take. To both learn about that culture and teach about your own. It is not to give up one for the other. We are all different, and that is one of the many beauties of the world. To attempt to all be the same would mean losing much of what makes all of us special on a very basic level. It's also just unfair, not to mention absurdly disheartening.
So that's the key word for today. This post has been brought to you by a deep level of disappointment. I feel disheartened.
I would like to make some commentary briefly, before it escapes me, about Japanese English Education Television Programming. They have quite a few of those shows on that are aimed at teaching the Japanese basic, supposedly useful and essential phrases in English. And admittedly, the ones aimed at children do just that. However, the ones aimed at adults are baffling, and at times, a little disturbing. For example, the other night, I happened to catch one of these shows. The premise of the show is that there is an international group of people living in a house: a Japanese guy, a French guy, an American girl and a guy from India. For now, I'm going to disregard the fact that each one of these people is nothing more then a walking, talking, how do ya do stereotype and go with the content. Because everyone else in this strange household speaks English, the Japanese gentleman is therefore learning the language. So, each episode has a skit concerning the folks in the house, and periodically, it cuts to three people, that apparently live on the roof of the house, watching the residents therein like some sort of omniscient trifecta of creepy. This group is comprised of an older Japanese woman, who is always dressed in Victorian era dresses and hats, a younger Japanese woman who is modern in appearance, and a guy that is apparently supposed to be British. I base this on the accent, the top hat and the weird green Jodhpurs he's always wearing. These 3 demigods cover the phrases that are being taught and the British man repeats them several times, while the younger Japanese woman attempts to say them, and the older Japanese woman explains their meaning in Japanese. Are you with me still? Or has your brain just imploded from all of the absurdity that I just lobbed at it like some sort of destructive fastball?
Ok, if you're still with me, now I'm going to cover the strangest part of this already bizarre show. Yes, it gets stranger. I know, it's hard to believe. The strangest part of this show are the phrases that are being taught. In this particular episode the key phrase was...Wait for it...Wait for it..... "You are bleeding from cuts on the face." Yeah. No joke. I caught another episode of another one of these shows, which appeared to center around a magician teaching a stunned group of students English, where the target phrase was: "Billy has wet the bed again." I mean honestly, what the hell Japan?
I can safely say that when my students stare at me with a confused look when I ask them questions like "When's your birthday?" or "How old are you?" and then they either can't answer, or it takes them 5 minutes of hard thinking to come up with anything, that these phrases are completely irrelevant and unnecessary. When are they even going to have a chance to use these types of phrases? Especially the wetting the bed one? Are they going to go to an English speaking country, break into a house and wait for the right moment before bursting into the bedroom of wholly startled parents, unleashing unto them a torrent of confidently, albeit creepily, memorized English? Honestly, just what the hell is this country thinking sometimes?
Ok, so for the sake of everyone out there reading this I've decided to do a series of posts introducing the people here that I have been lucky enough to meet. This should put faces to the names that I toss around like so much confetti. So up first is my dear friend Jennifer, a.k.a. Catface. The below picture is of her and I, at the local bar that we frequent. Seriously, this bar is amazing. It's called Freak and Yutaka-san (picture forthcoming) is the proprietor of said establishment. He is an enormous music fan and so half of the bar is just records and CDs. It's the only public place you can go to and hear Tom Waits and Mariachi music, all in the same evening. But anyway, that is not the point of this post. This post is about Jennifer. So feast your eyes on the glorious picture below:
There may have been alcohol involved when this picture was taken. But I shall admit nothing. Jennifer is another first year ALT from Ireland. Unfortunately, she is not based here in Yatsushiro, but in Minamata, a town farther down the coast that is 8 minutes away by Shinkansen, an hour by car. Thank god for those trains, am I right, am I right? You may have heard of Minamata due to Minamata Disease, which was a massive case of Mercury poisoning that afflicted the whole town. Twice. This was due to a local plant dumping Mercury directly into the ocean, thus affecting all fish in the area. And because the Japanese eat a high quantity of fish, they ended up suffering the outcome of this horrible lapse in judgment that this big corporation had. It's the most lasting legacy of the town and they actually have 3 museums dedicated to the subject. The effects are still noticeable in the townfolk as well, in that there is a high population of people that are cross eyed and have various deformities, such as missing limbs, deformed appendages, etc. And yes, I really wish I was joking about this.
So Jennifer is a Senior High School ALT, which means that she does far more work then the rest of us because she is actually in charge of creating lesson plans and doing most of the work in class. I do not envy her for this. She's also one hell of a pal. We met at Tokyo Orientation and became fast friends. We traveled together to Fukuoka over Silver Week and have since spent many a weekend together, laughing our heads off. Because she is one of those people that I giggle uncontrollably around, no matter what the situation. She's also teaching me Gaellic slang, as that is her first language, being from Ireland and all. Heck, she's teaching me Irish slang. So, in honor of that, I will say that she's great crack, which roughly means that she's a party on feet. She is one of the many reasons that I feel lucky to be here, as I never would have met her had I not come here. Funny how that works. I go to Japan and make an Irish friend. Go figure.
So yes, that is the first in my introductory series. More to come soon, I swear.
So, I had been planning on writing a blog post about culture shock, but in light of recent events, I have decided to write about the oddity that is the Japanese Health Care System, as dealing with it seems to go hand in hand with culture shock.
So, currently, I am sitting around at home, as I have been for the last 4 days, with the flu. But not with just any flu, no, I apparently have the oft maligned, enemy of the pork business, swine flu. Maybe. Possibly. But who knows, because the doctors here can't actually confirm that for me. So how did I end up in this predicament? Well, let me give you a re-cap.
So, last Wednesday, while at my Jr. High School, I started to feel under the weather. As in, my muscles were aching in that special way that only comes with a fever. By lunch, it had gotten bad enough that I took a little trip down to the nurses office and had my temperature taken only to find out that I did indeed have a fever. Oh, and the nurse laughed at me too. Why? Because she's a horrible woman, and I sincerely hope that she gets the flu and vomits up her stomach lining. But that's another story for another time.
Once the school finds out I have a fever, they freak out, call the Board of Education and demand I go home, which I am quite all right with. But my supervisor at the Board of Education, Ray (who, incidentally is a lovely man who used to be an ALT here about 15 years who is very soft spoken, to the point that we call him Kiff, because he is very Kiff-like. And if you watched Futurama, you know exactly what that means. If you didn't, well, shame on you. Your life is lacking) decides that he should take me to the hospital to get checked out for the flu. Which is one of the main differences. Here, you don't make a doctor's appointment, or go to a clinic, you go to a hospital when you're sick. Every time. So every time you go to the doctor, it's a huge expenditure of time. But, I can't fight with the BOE, so I just say yes and take a trip to the hospital with Ray. Which isn't so bad because Ray is a cool guy who I always enjoy talking to. Especially because he's half Japanese and originally from Hawaii, so it's quite interesting to see someone who has assimilated himself into the Japanese culture and who has lived here for over 10 years with a Japanese wife, 2 kids, working in the Japanese system. Verdict: you can never really assimilate fully, you will always be an outsider, and your life might kind of, sort of, suck a lot. These are lessons I have learned from observing Ray.
Anyway, moving on. Once at the hospital, they ask me if I would like to be tested for the flu, as though I have any choice in the matter. But the Japanese are polite until the very end. So I nod and say yes and they take me back to a room where a very meek looking nurse stands, giggling nervously, holding a very long q-tip. Ray explains to me that they have to stick the q-tip into my nose, and that it might hurt a little. Which was a lie. Because that shit hurt a lot. And they stuck it so far up my nose I swear I could have closed my eyes and actually seen it poking at my vitreous humor. Which really, when I woke up that day, I thought "You know what this day is missing? A massive q-tip jammed into my nasal cavity." So thank god I went to the hospital to have that rectified.
Once the test was done, I was returned to the lobby to wait for 15 minutes while they got the results of the test. At which point Ray and I swapped stories about piercings and horror movies. Moment of the day is when he said to me "When I was a teenager, my friends and I pierced our own ears. There...was alcohol involved." To which I said "Well, of course Ray. You're never sitting around sober with your friends and decide that piercing your own ears is a good idea." This was probably the best part of my whole day.
So, once the results came back, they tell me that they came up negative for the flu. But that they weren't going to check for anything else. Because I still might have the flu, but that it's just to early for it to appear as a positive on the test. So they gave me medicine for my fever and sent me home. And obviously, I was supposed to feel as though this wasn't a huge, ridiculous waste of time.
So the next day, I felt the same and called out of work. Now, that night is when things really got fun. I happened to wake up in the middle of the night to find that I was freezing, because my temperature had skyrocketed to being over 100 degrees! So I laid there in bed the rest of the night, under a down comforter, with a heater, freezing and shaking, so my muscles all tensed up leaving me in quite a bit of pain. It was truly a horrible night. The only thing I can be grateful for is that I wasn't vomiting.
So the next day was spent in bed, hating life. And that evening, Ryan, a fellow ALT here, took me to the hospital again, hoping that this time they would have a better idea of what was wrong. Once we get there, and I write down my symptoms and temperature, they decide that I need to go upstairs, by myself, because it might be the flu and I need to be quarantined. I didn't even know that this building had an upstairs until this moment. And they wanted me to go by myself, even though I don't speak a passable amount of Japanese to understand anything they're saying to me. So eventually they allow Ryan to come up there too, but he has to wear a face mask and sit in a room across the hall. And whenever they need him to translate, they have him come and stand in the doorway. Apparently they never stopped to consider the fact that he's the one who brought me there, which means he's already been exposed and they should all settle down. Not to mention that we work with kids, which means we've all been exposed at some point. Jesus.
So, at this point, they give me the flu test AGAIN. Joy of joys. And I wait AGAIN. And this time, they come up and tell me that it came back as a weak positive for the swine flu. Which means that it could either be the swine flu, or something else, like strep throat. But are they going to test me for anything else? No, of course not. Because that would be common sense. And the common sense of Japan is not the common sense of the rest of the world. So instead, they give me medication for everything that they think it could possibly be and send me home. Seriously, I have cold medicine, tamiflu for the flu, an antibiotic and something that's specifically for fever and headaches.
And now, after taking the medicine for a full day, I feel extremely dizzy. Which obviously, when you prescribe that much medication, there has to be a side effect. So once again, I have Ryan call the hospital to find out what the deal is and what I should do about it. And what happens? They get all of the information and then decide that they have to call back. Because apparently it would be too difficult to give me a straightforward answer right then.
So, to sum up the Japanese approach to medicine, it is thus. When you go to the doctor, based on your symptoms, they assume that you have one thing wrong with you. So they will test you for just that one thing. If you happen to not have that thing, they aren't going to test your for anything else. Either they're going to tell you to wait to see where your symptoms go, or they're going to throw every type of medication at you that they possibly can and to hell with the possible side effects. All of this seems dangerous and highly inefficient. But there's nothing that can be done, because they are not going to change their system from what it is. They're just going to continue on in this vein. How these people manage to live so long is a damn mystery to me.
The lesson to be learned from this is that if you're ever in Japan, do try to avoid getting sick. And always take your vitamins.
Ok, so it has come to my attention that I haven't updated this thing here in months. Allow me to bow and remove my ever present top hat in apologies. Let me make a loose promise to you that this weekend I shall attempt to remedy that. But take it as very loose. Really, super loose. I shall try my best though.
Last weekend I had the great fortune of going to Ashikita beach, which is about 30 minutes from Yatsushiro. Basically, my city is in Kumamoto Prefecture, which is made up of quite a few cities. And because we have the privilege of being in the JET Program, each prefecture has a support network/association. This association organizes events for all of the people within the prefecture to come to so that we may all hang out with each other and in general act like idiot foreigners together and not be judged by the natives of the country. So the Ashikita beach trip was one of those events. I drove down with my neighbor, Geoff, and my other neighbor, Javier. Once there, we met up with some friends we had made at the prefectural orientation. Namely, I was excited to see my friend from Ireland, Jennifer, and my friend from England, Shanade. We hit it off and became chums in Tokyo and have only ended up liking each other more over each subsequent meeting. This is mostly owed to the fact that they're damn cool ladies who make me laugh. And Jennifer and I are actually going to travel around a bit together next week for Silver Week, which is about a half week of holidays that we have off. It's going to be brilliant. But anyway, we managed to meet up with them on the shores of Ashikita. Here's what we all look like.
That's Javier on the end, I'm next to him, Jennifer is next to me, and Shanade is next to her. And yes, we're holding up gun fingers. Because we're super spies, that's why. Don't ask questions. Just trust us, because we're professionals. Anywho, we frolicked for a bit on the beach, running into the water up to our knees and playing with hermit crabs while trying to avoid jellyfish, which are abundant here. We were also trying to avoid douche bags, which are also abundant here as somehow, they manage to sneak past the rigorous application process for this program. Most people are really good folks, but there's always that dodgy fellow that takes you back to every party you ever went to in high school and college, who showed up drunk and tried to touch every girl there while insisting that he was awesome, before he puked in a corner and passed out. Yeah. Somehow, dudes like that make it here. It's sort of depressing. But we did a good job of keeping our distance and managed to have a lovely time in the water, before playing ultimate frisbee on the beach, which ended for me when the frisbee hit me in the face. Nothing ends a bit of sport like a flying object in the eye, I have discovered.
We also went zorbing. Zorbing looks like this:
That's Jennifer and myself in there. Essentially, Zorbing involves getting inside a big plastic ball. And by getting into, I mean pushing yourself through a small, plastic hole on the side. It's like being birthed, in reverse. And once both you and your partner slide in, the pipe in some freezing cold water. Why it has to be freezing cold, I don't know. I'll just go with that it's an ancient tradition. And then once you're packed in with water up to your shoulders, they push you down a hill. So you bounce and slosh around inside this giant ball, falling all over each other while screaming at the top of your lungs and laughing so hard you can't breath. You also can't breath because you keep falling on top of each other elbowing each other in the lungs. It was seriously a great time. And I'm not joking. If you ever have the chance to do this, I highly recommend it. You won't regret it, as there's nothing like it. It's a slippery, bouncy, laughy good time. And I know laughy isn't a word, but I'll do what I want. I'm an English Major. So there.
And once all of that was done, we headed over to another nearby beach for the campout/eat out portion. Geoff and Javier and I didn't camp, as we like to sleep in beds. We also like to avoid random grope fests, which is what it began to degenerate into once people started imbibing alcohol. But all in all, it was a super good time. It was "made of win" as the kids these days say.
Very soon I shall update about my actual teaching experience, as that began about 2 weeks ago. But that's a whole weird pile of worms that I'm living basically everyday, so it's a bit more difficult to write about as when I'm off work, I want to come home and not think about having Japanese children hanging on me, touching my hair and rubbing their faces against my hand all while they tell me that I'm pretty. And I'm being quite serious about this. This happens to me now on a daily basis. It's kind of adorable and kind of weird. Especially since I've never been big on being touched. Especially by sticky kids. But the Japanese have the virtue of turning out cuter kids then most of the rest of the world, so I guess it evens out. So anyway, until then, ja ne.
Well, it turns out I'm just half a liar. Which is better then a full on, in your face, liar with no concern for others and whatnot. I currently have to get ready to go to Fukuoka, a huge city that's about 2 hours away, for a run to Costco, so that us foreigners can partake in American goods and frolic about, skipping and giggling with glee down aisles packed full of 20 pound tubs of mustard and Doritos. It's going to be like discovering El Dorado. Or something that epic and awe inspiring. SO anyway, I'm just here to post a picture of some of the random and seemingly incomprehensible things you often find in Japan. I don't even think you're ready for this business. So, as Samuel L. Jackson said in Jurassic Park, "Hold onto your butts."
If you looked at that picture and thought "My god, is that just a bunch of boobs?", well then yes, you would be absolutely correct. It is a display of boobs. But what you might not expect is where that display of boobs is located. So, I shall tell you and make you wait no longer. That pack of boobs was in a mall. Yes. A mall. Relatively near the children's play area. In front of a store called Village Vanguard. Just out in the open, all willy nilly, for all to see, as if it's just no big deal. So, for the Japanese, boobs are not ok when on women and exposed. But they are totally ok when put on displays outside of stores inside busy malls. For god's sake, you can't even wear tank tops here, but a mess of boobs is totally kosher. This country, sometimes it blows my damn mind. Well, make that more then sometimes. Most of the time.
So, as you may or may not have noticed, I am incredibly bad at updating this thing. Maybe it was the lack of a post for the past month, maybe it was the fact that you felt an immense void in your life--a void filled with darkness and crushing loneliness and foul smells and other such awful, void like things--that caused you to realize that fact. I don't know. I could tell you that I have only been reminded that I should update due to my mother constantly telling me I should do it. I think she just wants me to do it for her. I can't imagine that anyone else cares much. Unless that void I mentioned earlier really does exist. In which case, I'm really sorry. That thing sounded awful.
I honestly don't know how to sum up any of the experiences I have here. Everything is so huge and odd and awkward and awe inspiring and life changing that it never feels proper to try to commit all of that to paper (or cyber paper as it were). I could say that my life is changing everyday. That I am changing everyday. Which is true. But none of that actually tells you anything about what's happening here.
So many things have happened. I don't even know where to begin. I can say that several weeks ago, I went to a neighboring town, called Yamaga, to witness an incredibly famous festival. It was called, appropriately, the Yamaga Lantern Festival. Because, well, it was in Yamaga, and involved ladies dressed in kimonos, wearing lanterns on their heads and dancing. And Yamaga is famous for these lanterns, as they're these incredibly detailed and intricate gold and paper lanterns. This festival is held around Obon, which is a holiday that celebrates dead ancestors and usually involves festivals that have boats laden with lanterns that sail across rivers. It's all very symbolic. But not in Yamaga. Nope, instead it's ladies dancing with fire on their heads. Which is better in a way. And I honestly don't know how they're able to do it. The dance is very tightly controlled and perfectly choreographed and every girl is in sync. It's amazing and very beautiful. These girls have a sort of consummate grace that seems to be lacking in the states. It's a combination of modesty and innocence that's conveyed through their movements that's impossible to describe. It's one of those things you have to see, and I'm glad that I did. I suppose I could show you a picture, to give you an idea.
So yeah, that's what they looked like. It was really amazing, and unlike anything I've ever seen in the states. We simply don't do festivals the way the Japanese do. They go all out. The streets are packed with food stalls, selling all manner of festival foods, like Takoyaki, which are balls of octopus covered in batter and then fried and drizzled with a tasty brown sauce and mayonnaise. And while they are usually really good, I managed to go to the stall that had the worst Takoyaki I have ever had. I actually felt a soul crushing sadness descend upon me after placing the first one in my mouth and realizing I had made a huge mistake. My friend Javier said I looked like I might cry, that my face looked like someone had just killed my family. So in consolation, he gave me a piece of his fried chicken. Which cheered me up marginally. Then I managed to find a stall selling Yakisoba, and that was delicious and all was right in the world again. After that, we wandered down to see some Taico drummers, which if you don't know, Taico drums are huge traditional Japanese drums that people pound upon with vigor. And the Taico drummers at this festival were awesome. They even had small children drumming, who were really good. And it was excessively adorable. SO much so that I just squealed with delight until my friend Geoff punched me in the face and told me to settle down. That didn't really happen, but I'm sure he thought about it.
And after that, there were fireworks. This is what I'm talking about, all of this was part of the same festival. It was elaborate. They just don't mess around here with fun. When they decide to bust out and have a good time, they have a damn good time. And fireworks here will blow your mind. The entire thing is comparable to the finale of US fireworks shows. Seriously. It's just huge and intense all the way through. And they make shapes like spirals! We sat on the curb in the dark and oooohhhhhed and awwwwwwwwwwed appropriately. And then we ate more food. And then we went home. I'm pretty sure some of us went to a bar too. As that's the Japanese way. Go to a bar, drink and then pass out. Drown the culture shock in alcohol. That's the foreigner in Japan method. It's all really scientific. I promise. I'm a doctor.
I'll attempt to update again tomorrow night and talk about beach day at Akishita beach, which is nearby. That was all sorts of fun. But really, don't hold your breath waiting for it. You might die and I might end up being a liar with pants constantly on fire by even saying that I'll try to do that. Anyway, until then, Ja ne.
Ah.
What to say?
Every time I sit down to write a blog, I just don't know what to say about all of this and everything that I'm doing and trying to adjust to.
I have done more new things in the past week then I have done before in the span of months. And I'm so very far away from home. So very, very far away from everything that's familiar and that I love. It's quite the challenge. And as a consequence, I have no idea what to say to sum any of it up concisely for all of you back home.
I mean really, regardless of how much I had learned about Japanese culture and people, as strange and hard as I thought it would be, it has still been so much stranger then even I thought possible. It's a substantial leap to go from a Western culture to an Eastern culture. Everything is completely different. I mean, granted, there are similarities, as there are bound to be considering they're human beings. But mostly, it's all differences.
For instance, formality is a big thing here. There is a right way, and a wrong way to do things here, and Westerners often seem to do the wrong thing. It's customary to bow. A lot. To pretty much everyone. People that you pass on the street, your co-workers, employees at restaurants, employees at stores. Everyone. Bowing is such an integral part of the culture, and the primary way that respect is shown that you'll even see people bowing to each other while they're on the phone. The person on the other end of the line can't see it, but they do it anyway. And chances are, the person on the other end of the line is doing it to. You'll even see people doing it in their cars to pedestrians or people that they let pass them or if they make a mistake while driving.
Also, you always need to take your shoes off when you enter a Japanese home. The doorways are recessed, so you take your shoes off and step up into the house, and then you crouch and turn the shoes around so that they face the door so that you can easily step back into them when you leave. It's a huge faux pa if you don't. When I first arrived here in Yatsushiro, my supervisor brought me to my apartment, and I was so excited about getting into the place that I ran right in without taking my shoes off. My supervisor stared at me is if I had slapped his mother and told me very quietly and sternly to take my shoes off. So yeah. Even if it's your own place, you still need to do it or risk feeling like an asshole.
I suppose that now that I have mentioned arriving here, I should back track and say a bit about all of that. After spending 3 days in Tokyo for an orientation that felt like it would never end, it was time to fly to Kumamoto prefecture and then head to the city I would be living in for at least the next year, Yatsushiro. We flew out of Haneda airport, which was rather nice, but smaller then Narita airport. Let me tell you also that their security checkpoints are far more lax too. It only took about 5 minutes to get through and head to the gate. And also, let me take a moment to tell you that the Japanese love to smoke. They seriously can't get enough of it. There are vending machines that sell cigarettes and smoking rooms in the most unlikely places. Like the airport. And the mall. It's absurd.
So, after spending some time in the airport, watching Japanese businessmen file in and out of the cloudy smoking room, we boarded the plane. And Japanese flight attendants are so much nicer then their Western counterparts. They tell you when they're going to turn on the seatbelt sign so that you have time to go to the bathroom one last time. And they check the bathroom doors for you to find out if they're occupied and then they open the doors for you. It was amazing. And while we were on the plane, I was practicing my Hiragana (which, for those of you that don't know, Japan has 3 writing systems. Hiragana is the most basic, and it's essentially the Japanese syllabary. The next is Katakana, which is the system they use to write all borrowed words. And there's Kanji, which is a beast unto itself. Kanji are pictograms and each one has its own meaning, and there are over 20,000 of them. It's insane) and the flight attendants were very excited. They told me my Hiragana had a nice shape and to keep trying hard. Which was very sweet, because in all reality, they looked rather terrible.
Once we landed, Jeff (the other ALT going to Yatsushiro) and I were met by Yamane-san, Takashima-san and another ALT, Ryan. Yamane-san is a man that works for the BOE who was a JET about 15 years ago and he is the only person in the Board of Education who speaks fluent English. Takashima-san is our actual supervisor—the man who was very disturbed by my shoe wearing—and he doesn't speak much English. From there, we drove an hour and a half to Yatsushiro along the back roads so that we didn't have to pay toll fees. On the way, we stopped for lunch at Joyfull, which is sort of like the Japanese Denny's. The entire time we ate, Takashima-san stared at me in awe. I had no idea what was going on, until he finally asked how I was able to eat with chopsticks so well. Yes, the Japanese are honestly surprised when Westerners can eat with chopsticks. It was sort of endearing.
The drive to Yatsushiro was beautiful. Everything is very verdant and green. There are rice paddies and traditional Japanese homes with the tiled roofs. And we're near the sea, so there are quite a few waterways that run through the country. This is the sort of scenery that I have never had the chance to live amongst. I spent most of the drive staring out the window in slack jawed wonder.
Once we got to Yatsushiro, we went directly to the BOE to give brief self introduction speeches to everyone that works there. This means telling them your name and where you come from and asking them to be nice to you. The thing is, these speeches are to be given in Japanese. And I do not speak Japanese yet. Luckily, I had written a speech down. It didn't change the fact that my heart was attempting to punch its way out of my chest and run for cover. However, everyone there is very nice and seemed pretty happy to have us, so even my clumsy attempt at introducing myself went over well.
After that, we were taken to our apartments and the aforementioned incident with the shoes happened. Needless to say, I was rather happy when everyone left and I could just sit and breath for a bit. But not too long. Because then I got to meet the other ALTs living in the complex. And there are a lot of them. They took Jeff and I out to Ban Ban Sushi, which is a Keiten sushi place. Which means that the sushi travels by on conveyor belts and you grab what you want. And each plate is about a dollar. Although specialty rolls are a bit more expensive. And by a bit more, I mean maybe 2 bucks. It was delicious. I do enjoy having food come to me.
Once the eating had finished, we all went to one of the malls here, called Jusco, to shop for some essentials. The malls here are ridiculous. They all have supermarkets inside of them and are insanely clean. And everyone is extremely nice. They also tend to have Daisos in them, which are essentially the Japanese equivalent of dollar stores. Only with stuff that's much higher quality.
After that, I got to go home and rest in my new apartment. Which is huge. 2 stories, with 2 bedrooms. I don't even know what to do with all of the space. And the view behind my apartment is amazing. There's a rice paddy and huge mountains beyond that. It makes me very happy to just go out and stare at it. I also got to kill a giant cockroach. And I do mean giant. If I hadn't killed it, at some point I would have come home and found it hanging out on my couch, watching TV like it owned the place.
The next day was my first day of work. Which isn't really like working at all. What it means is that I got to sit around at the Board of Education for pretty much the entire day. Except for the first part of the day, during which Geoff, my next door neighbor and an ALT going into his 4th year here, took Jeff and I around town a bit. We went to the train station and post office and the arcade, which is not like a game arcade, but rather a mile long stretch of restaurants and independently run businesses. We also went to the other mall in town, Youme town, to shop for more supplies. After that we, we got to eat Tonkatsu, which is a really tasty pork dish. And THEN we went and sat at the BOE. Oh, I was also taken over to City Hall to register for my Gaijin Card. Which is not the official name, mind you, but the official name is a mouth full and I'm not going to repeat it here. Essentially, Gaijin is the Japanese word for foreigner, and if you're going to live in Japan for a period that's longer then 90 days, you have to register for an Alien Registration Card that proves you're allowed to live here. The Japanese really do not want unregistered foreigners in their country. The woman that took me over to register for this card was Watanabe-san, who also spoke very little English, but who is very sweet. She explained to me in broken English and hand gestures that she had flown a small plane to the Grand Canyon and it was very bumpy. I couldn't help but be completely charmed.
That night, I went to the 24 hour grocery store in town with Katie, another ALT who I like a lot. She's very cool and nice. The grocery store is called Max Value, and they sell all manner of things. And they have all these areas where food is just out in cases that you can get into yourself with tongs and take however much you want. Which is insane for me. If that happened in the states, people would just stick their hands in the food, or much worse. But no. I was seriously able to buy 3 pre-made sushi rolls that I got to grab myself. It was awesome.
The next day involved more hanging around at the BOE and more going around the city, this time with Katie. It turns out that I live like 5 minutes away from the ruins of a castle. With a moat around it. And inside the castle walls, there's a huge shrine. It's beautiful and well kept, because shrines are very important to the Japanese people. I can't wait to go back and take pictures, because it's truly stunning, and me talking about it doesn't begin to cover how amazing it actually is. We also went to the arcade again and went deep into the downtown part of the city. Whereby we got to see the most insane mural I have ever seen with my own two eyes. It involved Kappas, which is a water sprite. Essentially, because of the Shinto religion, everything in existence has a spirit in it or attached to it. Kappas are a Suijin, which is attached to the god of water, otherwise known as Mizu no Kamisama. And not all water sprites in Shinto are good. In fact, Kappas will steal and eat babies. No joke. They're usually green, with scaly skin and beaky faces and they have a depression on the tops of their heads that are full of water, and around that water is a sort of scraggly hair. Supposedly, the water in their heads is where they derive their power from. And they are intensely attached to custom and decorum. Which means, if you bow deeply to them, they will return it, thus emptying their heads of water and sometimes killing them. Yes. I said it. They eat babies and have water heads that you can get them to dump out in front of you. The Kappa tale is now used to get children to adhere to the custom of bowing. Which is pretty sadistic and awesome. And there are still places in certain Japanese towns where there are signs up telling children not to go swimming in rivers because they're infested with Kappas. Anyway, this mural, which is in the middle of the town, was this intensely detailed painting of Kappas swimming with attractive naked women. Totally buck naked women. And next to this mural was a giant bronze statue of a Kappa that was as big as the house that it was placed in front of. And yes, I will be finding this place again to take pictures of it.
We also went down to the side of the Kuma river (oh yeah, did I mention that I also live near a major river? Because I totally do), and all along the side of the river are more bizarre statues of Kappa, including one of Kappas sumo wrestling with one another. This town is really into Kappas. Apparently, a lot of fireworks festivals happen along this river, presumably to frighten the spirits of the Kappas away, because they're afraid of fire. And it's a fairly common practice here to do that. This country is deeply entrenched in ancient beliefs, customs and folklore. Much more then most Western countries. It's part of their charm. And it's rather interesting that it is this way, considering how modern they have become in so many other respects. I very much enjoy this aspect of the culture.
That night, all of the ALTs had movie night and we watched Changeling with Angelina Jolie, which was not impressive, but did allow for a lot of joke making throughout. And then we played a strategy game that apparently most of them are addicted to called the Settlers of Katan. I lost. Miserably. But it was a fun night and I think helped me to adjust a bit and feel far less alone.
And otherwise, the weekend was spent cleaning and arranging the apartment so that it would feel a bit more like it was mine. It still feels like I broke into someone else's house and made myself comfortable. But once I get some stuff to decorate the walls with, I think it will feel more like my own. I also got to Skype with my fiancee and my parents, which was very nice. I think it made my parents feel a tad less worried about me being completely on my own and lonely. And it was nice to see them and feel as though for a brief moment, that I was not so far from home.
So, as much as I'm settling in and as much as I like the people here, it's still very strange, and there's not really a minute that goes by that doesn't feel strange. Which was to be expected. It was part of why I did this. I didn't want to atrophy and stay well ensconced in my own little comfort zone. I wanted to push myself and see what I could really do, what I was really capable of. And I really wanted to know if I could live, completely on my own, in a foreign country. Everyone seems to be very surprised about the fact that I have never lived far from home and that I have never been overseas before. I think I earned respect for taking such a huge step. Because really, this is taking all of the courage and ability that I have. Which is very good for me. I have never put myself in a situation where I risk feeling drastically uncomfortable and where I don't fully know what's going on or what will happen. I especially have never been anywhere where I don't speak the language and feel like an illiterate yokel. But that's ok. It's all part of what I signed up for. It's all part of what I wanted.
Oh my. As I was writing this, I experienced my first earthquake. Ever. It was small, but it shook the house and my Haruhi Suzumiya doll fell over. And it was a tad scary. But everything is ok now. Goodness gracious. My neighbor just knocked to make sure I was ok. Which is very nice. Now I'm going to calm down and stop shaking and go to bed. I certainly hope that everything is going well for all of you out there. I hope it's less bumpy and far less humid. Because yeah, in addition to all of that other business, it's also so humid here that every time I go outside, it's like jumping into the armpit of a sweaty fat man. I have never felt so disgusting in my entire life. So yeah, I hope things are less icky for everyone. And just remember that I miss you and don't let your kids near water, otherwise the Kappa are sure to get them.
I would like to preface this entry by saying that the last 3 days have been the longest 3 days of my life. And I'm sure this is a trend that is bound to continue. Which is absolutely fine. But be prepared folks, because this is some crazy shit.
So on July 26th, I boarded a plane to Tokyo, Japan in order to begin my time on the JET Program. This flight was 11 hours of pure madness. Just a bunch of kids that were sad, excited and terrified. In case you have never taken an international flight (because I hadn't prior to this) let me tell you that they're fancy. Fancy as all get out. There was a screen on the back of the seat in front of me and they had all sorts of entertainment that you could pick from and watch. And you didn't have to pay for it. And alcohol was complimentary. And they served rather tasty bentos, which is Japanese for boxed lunch. I sat next to a very stern Japanese businessman and his subordinate. At one point, I caught this businessman watching Caddyshack. Very sternly.
So then we arrived in Tokyo, after a flight that lasted entirely too long. And when we got off the plane, the humidity was ridiculous. It was like being slapped in the face with a wet washcloth. And that feeling has not dissipated this entire time. After we claimed our baggage and went through customs we were escorted to the buses that took us to the hotel. And that bus ride took about an hour and a half. So needless to say, I was quite tired of sitting. But that first glimpse of the Japanese countryside was intensely surreal. I couldn't help but feel as though after years of wanting to come to this country, and an entire year of waiting to find out if I had been accepted to this program, that this wasn't real. That somehow, I wasn't actually experiencing this. It was odd, and the first time I had felt that visceral sense of wonder and surprise.
After the bus ride, we arrived at the Keio Plaza Hotel, which is in Shinjuku, which is a huge, thriving, and iconic area of Japan. And seriously, this is the nicest hotel I have ever been to. I should interject here and say that on the plane ride over, I got to know another girl that was leaving from Seattle, named Andrea. And she is cool as hell. She sat in front of me on the plane, which I was quite pleased with. I was even more pleased to find out that we were roommates at the hotel. And when we got to our room, we ran around screaming and giggling like insane girls because it was so unbelievably nice. It's western style, but is decked out to look very Japanese. There were even Yukatas in the closet for us to wear, which Yukatas are traditional Japanese robes. I mean really, I encourage you to google this hotel. You will be amazed. Trust me.
Oh, and the toilets. The freakin toilets. I have never experienced nicer toilets. They have bidets, and seat warmers and they play water noises while you're sitting on them to drown out embarrassing noises. And every bathroom in the hotel is like this and incredibly clean. And yes, in at least one stall in every public restroom, there is an infamous “squat toilet”. Which is mildly terrifying. However, as soon as I got off the plane, I had to go to the bathroom, and ended up having to use one. It was the best introduction to Japan I could have hoped for. I did manage to use it without peeing on my clothes and I immediately stood up, raised my arms above my head and thought “EPIC WIN!!”
So, that night, I met up with my predecessor, Tracy and we went out into Shinjuku and ate conveyor belt Sushi, which is one of the most novel inventions ever conceived of by the Japanese. We then went back to the hotel and drank a beer at the ridiculously nice hotel bar, that was named Brilliant. And all of the waiters looked the rockabilly mafioso. They had cool sculpted hair and pinstriped suits. And that whole thing about the Japanese being polite is not a stereotype. Everyone at this hotel that I have encountered has been the definition of polite. And they don't even get tipped.
Anywho, my predecessor was very nice and cool and I had a lot of fun. I had her laughing hysterically, which was good. I always consider that a good sign. It was nice to finally meet someone that I've been e-mailing back and forth for the past month. And it was nice to go out into Tokyo and see some of the sights. It made it seem a bit more real.
The next day, bright and early, at 7 am our time, Orientation began. It was a day full of speeches and workshops and free food. And new people. So many new people. I have seriously met some very nice people here. What has been interesting is that all of the people I have met from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have been extremely nice. However, I have met some very rude Americans that seem to think that because they majored in Japanese in college that they're better than everyone else. It's been a very odd, and slightly schizophrenic experience.
That night, there was an opening ceremony where we got to eat a ton of food and drink, because, well, the Japanese like to drink at every ceremony. And make speeches. It's a cultural thing. And after that, another girl that I have made friends with, Margo, and I went out to Akihibara. In case you are unaware, Akihibara is like geek central. It's where you can get mad discounts on electronics, and find all of the anime and manga you could ever want. They also have maid cafes. Which involves girls dressed as maids, serving drinks and cake. And they stand in the streets and try to get people to come in. They're quite popular. We rode the train over, which was a very interesting experience. There are so many people here, it's a tad overwhelming. And they're all very orderly and polite. There's no shoving, and if anyone runs into you, they're very apologetic. For instance, a girl fell into me on the train and immediately started bowing and saying “sumimasen”, which is a word that means I'm sorry, excuse me and a couple of other things. She looked so embarrassed, and I had to keep waving my hand and saying “Iie”, which is pretty much saying that it's ok. I didn't really expect that, being that I'm a foreigner, and they don't have to treat me the same way they treat each other, but the do. That level of politeness is refreshing.
Once we got to Akihibara, we wandered around, just following all of the neon. And we ended up at a manga/anime store. I wanted to go the 4th floor, because that's where the toys were. So we climbed the stairs to the third floor, at which point we had to go through the 3rd floor to get to the next set of stairs. And this floor was where they kept all of the anime porn. So we had to wander through all of the odd anime porn to get to the next floor. It's rather ingenious, if you think about it. And once we got the toy floor, there was still porn mixed in. And we were the only 2 girls on the floor. At one point, a Japanese man turned a corner and found us, and looked very surprised and embarrassed and then immediately ran away. It was rather hilarious.
The whole thing was hilarious. I was so freaking thrilled to be there, in Tokyo, at that moment. I was smiling like I was insane and giggling like crazy. Margo kept laughing at me and telling me that I was adorable. We then went to an arcade and did this thing that I think was called puri kura, which is basically like a super snazzy photo booth. You pick out a theme, go in and take your pictures, and then you get to decorate them with little designs and sparkles and all manner of cuteness. Margo loves doing this. She has lived in Japan before, in Kyoto, so she decided that we should do this. And it was hilarious amounts of fun. Our little picture stickers are amazing. I was quite pleased.
And then today was another full day of orientation, and more meeting people. I met some real assholes today, which was no good, but did continue to meet more nice people and run into other nice people I had met the day before. I was rather exhausted and still jet lagged though, so that may have caused me to feel a bit of irritation about quite a few things which mostly concerned people's behavior and lack of manners. I just don't understand coming here with that attitude that you know more then everyone else. How will you enjoy anything if you seem to think that you know it all already? It's just a crappy attitude to have, and I certainly don't condone it. I also feel overstimulated with all of the information I have received and the fact that I'm in freaking Tokyo and there are Japanese people everywhere that like to stare because I'm foreign and insane amounts of neon and a cacophony sound that include people speaking Japanese, music, shouting, cars and cicadas. And just being in this hotel with all of these other foreigners is intense. So Margo, Andrea and I decided to go out again to Shibuya, to make the most of our last night in Tokyo and to get away from the JET bubble.
Shibuya is also a very iconic part of Tokyo. If you've ever seen a movie that involves Tokyo or a picture of a very large intersection that has people crossing every which way and paying no attention to the actual crosswalks, you're looking at Shibuya. It featured prominently in Lost in Translation. Shibuya is also one of the fashion centers of Tokyo. So people were out in full force in amazing clothes, strutting their stuff. So we ate Ramen, which was delicious, and then wandered around an enormous department store called Shibuya 109. This place. Oh god, this place. It seriously had my brain going into a fashion induced seizure. There were shops everywhere and cute girls shouting “Irrashamase!”, which is basically “Welcome!” I'm sure none of the clothes would fit me, because these girls are skinny, but they are amazing. And the shirts with English on them are the best. Because as you may know, they make no sense. There was one with a picture of a girl smoking on it that said “Super comfortable drowsy!” Why? I have no idea. But, I suppose that's part of why I'm here, to aid in their comprehension of English. After going through 4 floors of this place, we had to leave because it was just too much. And then we rode the train back. I was quite proud of myself because I actually managed to lead us all to the correct exit from the train station back into Shinjuku. It was a crowning achievement on my part and made me feel confident.
Because really, as absolutely thrilled and unbelievably lucky as I feel, there is still a part of me that's terrified. I am a long way from home and well beyond my comfort zone. I have never felt or experienced anything like this, and there is always that fear that I could fail miserably. Especially since I don't speak the language. That's really the most daunting part. So to be able to figure anything out was a rather nice boost that really made me feel as though I can do this.
I can do it. I can totally do it.
And I'm going to. I'm going to do my absolute best to make sure that this opportunity is everything that I want it to be. Because it all depends on me. There is no other way to make it work. So I am going to treat every moment as a whole new chance to make my life what I want it to be. And I look forward to that. I like thinking that every minute of every day is a whole new chance to turn it all around and make it anything I want. I may have set the learning curve high, but I can jump for it. I know I can.
So, tomorrow, I depart for my actual city, Yatsushiro. And while I am very sad that I won't get to hang out with my new friends for a while, I am ready to be in my new home and to down to business. These are exciting times.
Are you all ready to follow me on this? Because this journey is only beginning.
