I've Found Him...

---

This blog entry is in response to a suggestion by loyal reader Kristen Leutz. Before I came to Japan, Kristen had said that she would be thrilled to follow my adventures through my blog, but there was one particular question she had in mind: “What are the like in Japan?” If you know Kristen, you know why I had to paraphrase.
Well, I’ve found him. It only took me seven weeks, but he’s here and he’s a jerk. I’ve been warned not to use people’s names in blogs (apparently our celebrity status leads to much googling, where many an unadulterated blog detailing the seedy underbelly of a school has been discovered), so for now let’s just call him Kubo-sensei…ok that’s actually his name…I hope he reads this…you jerk.
Let’s start with the bright side. It took me SEVEN WEEKS to find someone how has been anything but nice to me. Those of you living on the East Coast probably can’t go seven minutes without pissing someone off, or being pissed off by someone. Here, it’s truly in the culture to be nice and polite. Politeness even becomes a competition in itself. You’ll see two businessmen literally competing with one another on who can say “Thank You” more, who can bow more, who can bow lower, who can say “Excuse me” faster, etc. Hell, you will even see people on their cell phones inexplicably bowing to the unseen person on the other end! (Side note: I shouldn’t make fun of this too much, because I’ve done it too…)
It seems Japanese people just genuinely like each other. In seven weeks and four Junior High Schools, I have not seen one disagreement, or sense of hostility, or any ill will or frustration. Imagine a Junior High School where everyone liked each other!
How this could all be possible? I realized that the number one reason Japanese people like each other is because they are all the same. They all look the same, speak the same, eat the same things, wear the same clothes, and read the same comics. Maybe it’s the differences in people that cause friction. History shows that conflict usually stems from the intolerance or the fear of the unlike. This was true for the Crusades as well as the high school brawl between the jocks and Goths. Hey, I’m a lover not a fighter, but if you ask me, I would take the volatile Melting Pot over Japan’s forced homogeny any day.
Ok, back to the topic at hand. After seven weeks, I was getting pretty used to people trying their best to help me out, welcome me to a new school, and translate when possible. But then, I arrived at a new Junior High School, and was greeted by Kubo. The man barely even asked me my name, that’s how uninterested he was in me being there. When I came to his first class, he told me to take ten minutes to introduce myself. “I will teach today” were his words. Most teachers have me introduce myself for the whole 50-minute period, but this was no biggie. In the past, all of the other teachers showed as much, if not more interest in my self-introduction than the students did. They would help translate, ask questions, get the kids excited, and discipline when necessary. Not this guy. Didn’t say a word the whole time. Finally, had to specifically ask him to translate easy sentences that his students just didn’t understand. They were losing interest, and I was losing patience. When I finished, I stepped to the side and let him teach. My name wasn’t called the rest of the class. I literally stood there while this guy spoke in Japanese and played English recordings on the CD player, which is pretty much supposed to be MY role. I realized then why his students couldn’t understand even “My name is David. I am 24 years old.” This guy is one lousy teacher.
After the class, no “Thank you David”, no “see you next 4th period”, no nothing. This guy won’t even say hi to me in the hallway.
What a !

---

Comments

[Mark]

Jerk's mug shot
Get a picture of this guy's jerkface up there. We need to be able to recognize this jerk when we see him, so we can pop him in the jerkmouth a few times for being such a jerk. Jerk...

[Will Jaffee]

David the threatening American
I think he's threatened by you. (Granted I have very limited information here, but...) He sounds insecure in one of two ways. He's either set in the way he does things and is afraid of any change/deviation from the norm, or he doesn't want the attention on you because he got no attention as a kid and is savoring it now... either way, it's a sad state whose symptoms are showing themselves in the form of this dude being a jerk to you!