Blogs from Yamaguchi, Japan, Asia - page 4

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Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi November 25th 2002

. An exception to the rule was last weekend when I attended a Japanese wedding for the first time. Come to think of it, it was my first wedding anywhere, yet another thing that I have done for the first time ten thousand miles from home. The bride was the office worker at my school, and the groom the social studies teacher at my friend’s, so we were invited by the umbrella of our respective schools. Everyone at each school received an invitation so it was kind of hard to refuse us. The wedding took place at a multi-purpose party hall where they hold coming-of-age ceremonies, end-of-year parties as well as other happy events, located outside a “major” city with a backdrop of a rocky cliff, magnificent foliage and rice fields below. We arrived by a ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi November 20th 2002

I suppose it is an inevitable result of extending my stay to a second year: most things I participate in these days I have done before. It doesn’t make them less interesting, but it does remove the novelty factor. These days I strive to make more of an impact at my job. I am directing a performance of Aladdin with my 8th graders at this year’s school cultural festival, but I am given exactly 50 minutes every week to do everything from practicing lines to making costumes and props. On Friday, I am supposed to lead the rehearsal by myself because the English teacher won’t be there. She has little confidence in my ability, so I am committed to proving her wrong. At my elementary school, I am putting together a big shindig for Halloween. In ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi November 11th 2002

Things have been pretty quiet lately, just hanging out in the capital of the prefecture with American and Japanese friends and working on my calligraphy, sword fighting and pottery making skills, the latter two of which need a lot of work. I have sent out my graduate school applications, and now I have nothing to do but sit back and relax and wait for the results from Princeton, GW, Tufts, John Hopkins and the University of Colorado sometime next March. I will keep you posted. Today I got a pleasant reminder from home. My friend took a trip to Costco and snagged me a large cheese pizza and a couple of extra-sized jars of Prego spaghetti sauce. Ah, the title of this edition. The other day, I was teaching about Chanukah at one of my junior ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi September 15th 2002

In one of the peculiarities of the Japanese system is the singular oddity known as the “kenshu ryoko,” literally translated as training trip although that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Lest anyone be deceived, this brief journey into the known but exotic of Japan doesn’t have the slightest hint of education or job development. It is simply a time for all the teachers of a school to pack their things, hop on a bus, and have an extra opportunity to bond besides the 10 or 12 hours at school they spend every day. Happening to spot a questionnaire asking about desired locations and times, I volunteered that I was going to accompany them this time. They didn’t have the heart to turn me down so they said, “Sure, that will be $320. Please pay up.” ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi August 24th 2002

In early July, I received an ominous fax from the bureaucracy of the JET Program five weeks after the fact stating rather concisely that effect one week later my international drivers license would be null and void and could not be renewed. In an effort to catch Japanese people who go to America to get an international license and renew it indefinitely, the Japanese government decided to limit the validity of such a license to a single year. Caught in the crossfire, I was required to head for the Japanese DMV, and slaughter the demons that I had vanquished four years earlier. I will not repeat here my sordid history of taking the New York driving test, but suffice it to say it was not an experience I was not looking forward to reliving. Just about ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi July 20th 2002

Nearly a year has passed, quicker than I ever imagined possible, and after a brief interlude at home I return to embark on a second year of adventures. The first year, it goes without saying, was a time of first; some could only have only happened in Japan, others were universal. I bought my first car, lived by myself for the first time, drank sake, had a full-time job, visited a leprosy village, celebrated New Year’s on the beach, conducted my errands in a foreign tongue, traveled by the fastest train in the world. It has been a quite successful year. I made friends, both Japanese and Americans, improved my spoken Japanese beyond my expectations, traveled to nearly a dozen major cities in Japan and beyond to South Korea and a memorable three weeks in Vietnam. ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi July 5th 2002

The other day, the barbarian horde wielding gleaming swords and powerful clubs descended on my tranquil village. The villagers did what they could to mitigate the onslaught, but despite their best efforts a horrific bloodbath ensured and the casualties, still being discovered, numbered in the hundreds. The survivors set upon themselves the grim task of collecting the body parts, intermingled among the rice plants, which the unfortunate victims had lovingly cared for, as had their ancestors for decades without number. The houses and stores will be rebuilt in time, but the shattered sense of security wrought by thousands of invaders will take far longer to repair… You will have to excuse my overactive imagination. In truth, the barbarian horde was but three in number, and usually referred to more lovingly as my uncle and semi-cousins (daughters ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi June 3rd 2002

Nearly a year has now passed since I touched down to rice field central last August, expecting civilization, and finding nothing but rice. The few who live here, who have not yet been swept over to the dark side of overflowing cities, rampant waves of technology, and exquisite shoebox living, have had a lot to teach me about Japan. I am of course, officially known and unofficially referred to as the “gaijin,” Japanese for outsider, the mysterious stranger who braved a 13-hour airplane ride from New York, the living, breathing center of the world to come to the rice paddies and teach them English. I am the ever-present celebrity who is accosted on nearly every visit to the supermarket, the ATM, and the government office by people who long to have a few words with ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi May 1st 2002

First of all, yesterday the Board of Education treated me to a birthday celebration for my birthday a couple of weeks prior. The BOE asked me what kind of toppings I like on pizza and told me to show up on foot at 6:00. I arrived a bit early to find a table filled with pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and chicken teriyaki, as well as a chocolate birthday cake emblazoned with “Scott Congratulations,” written in Japanese. The first entertainment of the evening was a ventriloquism performance executed flawlessly by the elder statesman of the BOE. I was introduce to Kacchan, a three foot doll who is five years old, and apparently makes regular appearances at birthday parties in Japan. Then we got down to the heavy duty eating and drinking. The conversation revolved around brothels and ... read more

Asia » Japan » Yamaguchi March 15th 2002

It seems a bit bizarre to be writing about endings in March, but I am in Japan and that is when they happen here. Perhaps it is their hyperawareness of the seasons that inspires them to place the most auspicious of events just prior to the coming of spring and the cherry blossoms. From nursery schools to university, March is the universal month for valedictories and teary-eyed moms lugging around boxes of Kleenex, disbelieving the fact that time has passed so quickly. As for me, having been thrust into the middle of the Japanese school year in September, I didn’t have quite the level of attachment to my students. Still, the leaving of the students that I have taught twice weekly for the last eight months left me with a tear or two as well. ... read more




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