a few cultural comments...

Over the past few days I've been reading a book that I found in my apartment that provides a general overview of Japan's history, culture, and economy. The book, written by Lucian Ellington, is called 'Japan: Tradition and Change' and I thought it would be interesting to both highlight and comment on some passages (mostly dealing with Japanese culture) that I've come across while reading it. I think this is a good book to examine for blogging purposes because it deals with a lot of general things that I see every day but may be new to those who haven't spent time in this country.

-"In Japan many employees put in long hours on the job together, socialize after work with each other, play on company teams, and live side by side in company housing...In fact it is very unusual for many Japanese to have any other friends to speak of other than work mates. All this makes it almost impossible for many Japanese to separate work from private life" (158).

I'm truly in a unique position here. I'm working in Japan but I don't have to subscribe to the group mindset and philosophy to the extent that the Japanese do so I'm able to observe this world but not actually 'live' it. Watching how teachers work together is pretty fascinating here because there's a certain daily order of operations that keeps everyone in check and, from what I can see (in my situation at least), everyone's role is well defined. Institutions in Japan are different from the United States because of the elevated level of commitment that the Japanese exhibit when taking part in a group or activity. In America this generally occurs more by personal choice but here the high responsibility of being part of the team is simply expected. Anyone teaching English here will tell you that questions like 'What are you hobbies?' and 'What sports do you like?' come up ALL the time. I see this as a logical method of categorization on the part of Japanese people. When I first came here I didn't really understand all of the interest in my favorite sports and hobbies but it makes sense to me now. For example, I am known for a few things in Naruto which include but aren't limited to 'This is Brad. He is from America. He plays the drums. He likes fish but not meat. He has blue eyes (even though they're green), etc.' Because so much time, effort, and importance are placed on what institutions you subscribe to here, saying what you like to do tells a lot about yourself. So yeah, I'm not in the position to generalize all Japanese concerning this topic but I know that many people spend a lot of time with their coworkers because this tight group cohesion. This book was published in 1990 and I think that things are in the process of changing but the social structure here is still very, very different than what I was used to back in America.

-"Japan is not a society where individuals who dare to be different have fared well. The old Japanese proverb that the nail that protrudes to far is hammered down has mean difficult times for, among others, many young people that do not fit in with the group" (167).

I have witnessed a few students who have shown a complete disregard for the conformity and pressure of school life in Japan and the reaction of the teachers has been interesting. Most of these students are swept under the rug and ignored by their teachers and most of their peers and no one really attempts to make the non-conformist students fall into line (at my schools). These kids literally walk around the hallways during class, sometimes opening up the doors to the classrooms just to mock the teacher or make some other kind of disruption. This lack of discipline drove me crazy when I first got here but now I realize that it's not my problem and all I can do is attempt to get along with these students outside of class (which I've done well with so far).

-"That the Japanese are among the world's most educated peoples is apparent in aspects of society other than the classroom or the workplace. Anyone who has ridden a Japanese train or subway knows that almost everyone seems to be reading a book, magazine, or newspaper" (133).

First of all, this quote can be updated by adding 'or using a cell phone' to this list. Many Japanese do exhibit a very strong daily commitment to education. I've had this conversation many times on any given Monday:

Me: So what did you do this weekend?
Student: I study English!
Me: Really?
Student: Yes!
Me: All weekend?
Student: Yes!
Me: Well, what else did you do?
Student: I study math! (etc, etc.)

Granted, 'I study English' is a go to answer for the 'What did you do this weekend?' question but I know that a lot of my students really do study many, many hours every Saturday and Sunday.

-"Three behaviors that most Japanese high school students don't engage in are drinking and drug-use, after-school work, and dating. Laws and societal mores concerning drinking and drug use are quite strict, and teenage drug and alcohol problems in Japan are minuscule compared with that of the United States" (140).

In a country where beer vending machines are very common, it's a good thing that almost all of the youth know to wait until they are 20 before they can use them. I don't know about the dating thing...I am aware of a few relationships between students although it's kept very low key. I can say that with some of my classes the male and female students literally ignore the presence of the opposite gender and only socialize and do classwork within their own group.

-"Many working females are typically young, unmarried women for whom the Japanese have a nickname which may be translated as OLS or "office flowers." These young women work for a corporation for five to six years after they graduate from high school or junior college and, upon marrying, leave the company. "Office flowers" are never given meaningful work but instead are expected to create a pleasant environment for the permanent, mostly male employees by making and serving tea and running errands" (155).

The book follows this paragraph by saying that not all women fit within this pattern. All of my eight co-teachers are female so I'd say that women here at least have a promanent role in English education. A co-teacher of mine let me borrow a book that descibes a woman whose husband would put in very long hours at work only to come home and say three words to his wife: 'food' when he wanted dinner, 'bath' when he was ready to relax, and then 'bed' when he wanted her to unroll his futon. I don't work with any 'tea ladys' but I know that they're common in some other schools in this area. From what I've read and seen it seems that with every new generation comes more equalities between genders. Since I mainly interact with school-age Japanese I can say that I don't see too many outright gender inequalities while at school. Boys and girls tend to stay separate and clubs are usually either all-male or all-female so gender identity is still a strong determining factor in the students' actions.

graduation, the weekend, etc.

On Friday I went to a graduation ceremony at my smallest school. The day was a bit more relaxed than I thought it would be although I was happy when the actual ceremony was over and I could talk with the students, parents, and teachers that were there. Of course there were old men on bikes who were chatting away with me in Awa-ben (the regional slang for this part of Japan), not realizing that I can only make out a few words if I'm lucky. I'm used to this though and can usually respond somewhat accordingly. After the ceremony, I got home earlier than usual so I took a walk around my neighborhood and enjoyed some of the warm air and then watched (and loved) the movie Into the Wild. I've read that foreigners' spirits (in Japan) are generally pretty high when the weather improves, but I think that's true for most people that have to deal with winter temperatures.



I also went on my first off-road bike ride of the season and discovered some great trails right by my apartment. While riding I noticed a lot more of my neighbors outside mostly to prep their gardens and fields for the growing season. I remember how green the rice fields were back in August and I'm looking forward for seeing that again...it sure beats having those fields be so bare during the winter.



Well, it's Monday and I'll be on a plane to Auckland, NZ in three days. As with my other trips that I've taken while living here so far, the fact of the matter really hasn't hit me yet. I know that it's going to be very different to be in an English-speaking country but I'm pretty sure it won't take long to get used to my native language being spoken all around me. Wow, it's sure a lot easier to plan things when you don't have to navigate your way between languages. I hope the fall leaves are still in full effect when Caitlin and I make the drive through the country (which is about as big as the state of Colorado, by the way) and hopefully we'll notice all of the sheep that frequently cross the roads. Well we're both from western Pennsylvania so I think that we're used to avoiding deer anyway...

OK Chris, here are some pictures of my apartment. I've got three rooms- a kitchen, living room and a bed room. All of the rooms are separated by sliding doors and in two of the rooms I have tatami (woven straw) mats as the floor. My futon is folded up every day and put in the corner and at night I unroll it onto my floor and sleep. My computer is in the living room and I've got a balcony with a washing machine on it (yep, it's outside) and my clothes are hung to dry outside after they're washed. It took me a few months to get my place the way I wanted it but it definitely feels like home now.

finishing up the school year

I just got back from my final class with some of my favorite students at Naruto Jr. High and this is the first time feeling the way that I do at the moment. I've been here long enough to develop relationships with the students here and saying goodbye to them was not easy. It feels really strange because on one side I'm really sad to see them graduate and go to high school but at the same time I've got to be happy that we got along so well in the first place. These 9th grade students would write letters to me every time I came to school, visit me in the staff room in the morning and during cleaning time in the afternoon, and they really, really liked English class. Things will be very different when going back to this school but I'll be looking forward to meeting the new students that will be coming in April (when the new school year starts).





It's been a pretty good week for me. On Tuesday night I was invited to Naruto University to attend a discussion about the '08 U.S. presidential election and I jumped at the chance because I realized that I wasn't too clear on the candidates' policies on a few issues. I spent the day researching the election so that at least I knew what I was talking about to some extent. A small but diverse crowd showed up, including university students from Indonesia. Laos, Japan, America, and Malawi (next to Zambia). The whole thing reminded me of being back in college and I realized that I miss being around that atmosphere.

The weather has been nice over the past few days...I've been opening up the doors and windows of my apartment and remembering what spring feels like. I don't think this winter was too harsh but lots of locals have been telling me that the past few months were very cold for them. Even though I had to bike though all the winter weather, the cold didn't get to me like it would in Pittsburgh.

Also, it looks like I'll have some more visitors here soon. My parents are thinking about making the trip in early May when I have some time off from work and then and then I'll be anxiously awaiting Anthony and Cris' trip during the middle of the month. But, before all that, I will be seeing Mr. Jordan Graw and Julia the day I get back from New Zealand and I'm very excited about it. And, for future reference, I now have my schedule for next half year and July 19th is a very possible date for a visit to America. I've been having some crazy dreams about home and it think this means that I'm excited to go back for a little while. It's hard for me to predict how I'll feel in Pennsylvania after being in Japan for a year...it could be totally normal or feel very different. I know that I've changed a bit throughout this experience, so we'll see...

graduation day

On Saturday I somehow got up and out of the house in time to see the san-nensei (third year) students at Naruto Tech spend their final day at school. Graduation ceremonies in Japan are very formal and I was told to just follow everyone else as they sat down and stood up on command. There were a lot of speakers (including the mayor and the superintendent of the board of education, who I was having a beer with with later on in the evening) and an equal number of musical numbers such as the Japanese national anthem (which I never heard before). Afterwards, I helped take down the decorations in the gym and then had some lunch at my desk. A group of my favorite students came up to me to say 'thank you' and wanted their pictures taken with me. This made me really happy because I wanted to get in one last goodbye before the day was done. Graduates from this school go off to do many different things...from construction, to playing music professionally, to pro baseball. One of my most enthusiastic students will soon be the catcher for the Hiroshima Carp. I want to see him in a game sometime and revisit Hiroshima, my favorite Japanese city when I first visited the country.