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Japan can be strange country and sometimes Japanese people say strange things. It's interesting how everyone thinks that Americans are arrogant and overtly patriotic, but judging by the things I hear here, it's clear that some people haven't spoken to enough Japanese people.
The guy that says "do you understand?" all the time, he's kind of stopped with it, but I still give him a look when he does it, has said plenty of things that make me go "what?!" or "why the hell is that important?" and it's always something that honors Japan in some way. I can't tell you why they say things, or why they believe ridiculous things but some Japanese people do. For example, I told him that I want to go to Hokkaido for the snow festival because I love snow and despite how cold it gets in Miyazaki, it's never cold enough to snow and that's sad. He tells me that I should go to Korea and see the snow there because it's cheaper than going to Hokkaido. Then he says," But...the quality of Korea's snow is a lot less than Japan's snow so you should still try and go to Hokkaido." It's okay, I'll give you a minute to let that digest................
(Pictured: Korea's inferior snow.)
OK?
Japan's snow quality?! Despite the snow coming from the same goddamned sky? I suppose Japan's rain is more awesome than Korea's rain too. The crazy thing about it is that he's not pulling my leg; he truly believes what he's saying....mind boggling.
If you've been in a Japanese office, you know that it's likely that you'll get plenty of gifts from people that went to trips and come back with things to show their remorse for leaving us all alone (ONE part of omiyage). Some people in the office give gifts whether or not they go anywhere. It's still a form of omiyage, but it isn't truly. For the past couple of weeks, I've been given shitloads of Japanese oranges and tangerines. Their oranges don't taste like oranges we're all used to, but it's not bad. We were talking about Japanese tangerines and he was saying that these tangerines are delicious. He said, "There have been studies that show Japanese tangerines are the best in the world." It's okay, I'll give you a minute to let that digest...............
OK?
Japanese tangerines are the best in the world?! My main source of surprise truly wasn't his Japan horn tooting since I hear that pretty much everyday. It was mainly the fact that he said "studies have shown....." like wow, that's great English and I've never heard any other Japanese person say that. His English is usually pretty bad so I'm guessing those tangerines were so important to him that he had to look up how to emphasize that Japanese tangerines blow any other tangerines from any other countries clear out the water. Right.
I create listening sections to tests here. It's everything that I've covered already, there's nothing new on my test papers. It's also quite simple because I'm at an agricultural school. Well, I made it SLIGHTLY harder because I was pleasantly surprised and excited about how they did so well for the first test. Nothing TOO bad though, it was still everything I already covered. I even read a passage with all of the answers in there in the first part, did dialogue with the answers in the second part, and read another passage with the answers therein in the third part. So there's no way these kids CAN'T do well since I didn't even do that for the first test...RIGHT?! Well, imagine my surprise when they tell me Halloween is November 5th, you carve ghosts for Halloween and you're supposed to say "Get Down!" if you're a trick or treater for Halloween (I did laugh about it for while though). It was a tad frustrating and I told the guy I sit next to that it was bit frustrating. You know what he tells me? "Well....I believe that Americans think that they don't have to learn any other languages because English is a universal language. We Japanese (he loves that phrase) HAVE to learn English if we want to go to college and get a very good job, and even if I talk to a Chinese or Korean, we use English to communicate so I think Americans think that they don't have to learn other languages. Don't you think?"......................
Is he out of his damn mind? I asked him ,"Have you ever been to any other countries?" He says,"No, I haven't." I said,"Oh.......well that explains everything doesn't it?" I said it in rapid fire (standard speed for me though) English and of course he didn't understand me. Like why the hell would I agree when I'm SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO HIM and he's met PLENTY of other Americans. I couldn't explain to him that he'd never meet those kinds of Americans because obviously they wouldn't leave America, but to make such a stupid broad statement TO AN AMERICAN is truly mind-boggling, I could only just sit there with wide eyes. The other crazy thing is that he TRULY believes what he's saying and if he said it to other Japanese people they'd agree (well surface agreement- one facet of "tatemae," but who knows if they'd truly believe it). If you don't know what tatemae is and you want to come to Japan, please look it up. Now. Tatemae and honne. Now. Go on...I'll be here.................
OK?
I spoke with this nice Japanese library lady (who according to other librarians, doesn't do anything in terms of working and pulling her own weight) and we were talking about languages. I told her Japanese is very hard but English isn't that bad (of course right?). She explains that English is very hard, but Japanese is the "hardest language ever." I'm like "??????? Really?" She truly believes that Japanese is the hardest language to learn. Let that stew while I continue. Now... she truly does believe that but I think the most frustrating part of that whole thing is that some Japanese people don't even think about other countries but are scholars in whatever thing they think Japan is the best in (fruits, etc). Don't get me wrong though, Japanese is pretty damned hard, but there are other impossible languages that are more impossible than Japanese. I know for a fact that Chinese, Mandarin or Cantonese, as well as Arabic, and one of the many languages in India and are damned difficult to master. It's just strange how I had to remind her that there are more languages in the world than Japanese and English. I think the main strange thing about it is that this was a Japanese lady who has been speaking Japanese for 60+ years and would be willing to bet that Japanese is the "hardest language ever." Right.
I spoke to a friend who was explaining something about Japanese bananas to me. She was speaking with some Japanese ladies and they let her have some special Miyakonojo (where she lives, 45 min by train from me) bananas. Why are they special, you ask? Well, according to something that she read, it said that the special bananas she was eating was actually raised with the soothing sounds of Mozart and were especially made for her town. What the hell? Well, I'm guessing that eating those musical bananas will allow you to put some music into your sad music-less life. Yeah...someone in the government offices REALLY needed to sell some bananas, spun this wonderful story, then watched the money roll in. The sad thing? Everyone there bought it... and the bananas.
Hm...let's go over the list one more time.
Ankle winter boots with a fur trim. Check.
Leopard skin tights. Check.
Corduroy-shorts jumper with another fur trim. Check.
Black puffy blouse with grey sleeves. Check.
50s beehive hairstyle. Check.
As much make-up as humanly possible. Check.
Okay, we're good to go!
What I just described is the typical outfit of a Japanese female college student. Feel free to replace the ankle winter boots with thigh-length black high heeled boots and the tights and jumper with very, very short miniskirts and you're still on the right track. What she is doing, while it being labeled as "fashion," is pretty much wearing everything readily available in her closet. A friend that's been living here for 3 years has come to a more accurate conclusion: they're wearing their "favorite" things all at one time. Like, "Oh..this is my favorite yellow corduroy jumper...I'll wear my favorite maroon tights with it, with my favorite green plaid scarf and favorite red high heeled boots." She would know more than I do, so let's take her word for it.
Just try and imagine the other things as well...
I personally like a lot of Japan's shoes, sneakers and boots. The clothes? Well, I do like their accessories too! The clothes? Umm....well...I guess I like some of it. The way they put their clothes together in an outfit however, is ...eer...interesting. When I see my students, regardless of the time of day, they have their school uniforms on because it's likely that they just came from school. College is the one of the only times in which Japanese people can dress and look however they want to look. It's no surprise, judging by the strict hair and eyebrow check that the high school (and I'm pretty sure middle school) students go through in the beginning of every semester, that once they're given the opportunity to be out of a uniform, they tend to er...go all out.
The men are absolutely no exception to this rule and it's quite to common to catch a male college student with snake skin pointy shoes, tight jeans, snazzy suit top, blond dyed spiked up hair, a lot of make up to give their faces a smooth porcelain look, with a man-bag or murse, and yes, they are quite popular here. I can't really imagine what's in a man-bag, since I've never looked in one, but what they can they possibly need?
Well, in any case, that's part of Japan's fashion in a nutshell, and it makes one wonder exactly why they go all out. There was definitely a decent sized portion of men and women at my college who dressed to the nine's, only to go to math class. Why is it such a big deal here? The answer is simple and a little sad. First off, let me explain a little bit about Japanese colleges. When I was in college in America and I spoke with Japanese people who just came to America to graduate, I was told that in Japan, students must study to get into a good elementary school (?!), then they must study to get into a good middle school, then of course they have to study hard to get into a good high school, and definitely everyone attempts to study hard to get into a good college. What comes after that? I was told that college in Japan is also referred to as the "four year vacation." Granted there are plenty of difficult colleges in Japan to study at, as well as there plenty of stressed out Japanese college students, but it's called a four year vacation for a reason. There are more people that can simply just lay back and enjoy college for what it is because I have heard that once Japanese people get into a good college, they are almost guaranteed a good job because of its reputation (similar to the U.S.). Also, I have been told that the parents pay for their college tuition and anything else they might need, so even if some students get part-time jobs, it's merely just to pay for their fashion preferences. This is one of the first times in a long time for Japanese students to dress however they want, get piercings, color their hair, do whatever they want. It's common knowledge that once college is over, they are back to uniforms and rejoining with the group collective again. There's also the other group who just dress up for picture taking (called Purikura) and so they would dress to the nine's..take pictures, then just hang around and do other fun things.
However, how was I able to accurately describe a good portion of the people's clothing here? It's because most of the clothing stores here sell the same exact things! Go into any Japanese mall and you see cute scarves and boots. Great! Walk down, past five stores, and in 4 of those 5 stores, you'll see more scarves and more boots of nearly identical style and pattern. So......it's like...why the hell are there so many stores if they're selling the same things? I can't answer that. What I DO know is that everyone here is buying the same looking clothes and accessories, and so everyone ends up dressing the same anyway. I think it can even be said that those students are technically still in uniform. I think that's kind of sad, but I think that even if you attempt to dress differently than the next person, the person next to that person will have the nearly the same kind of outfit, or the same kind of accessory. (Well honestly, I shouldn't even say "sad" because that's just my American love of individuality talking and Japan is a completely different culture and society. I will instead say it's "different." So, I apologize for that). I don't think that people here would even WANT to be completely different and unique from everyone else because then there won't be any group for them to belong too. It can be seen all the time; the men with the snazzy tops, dyed blond spikey hair and snake skin pointy shoes all hanging out together. You can also see the 50s hair style, miniskirt, blouse (which might or might not come with a fir trim), and thigh length booted girls all hanging out together. Even with the guys that are into hip-hop culture and the way that they dress. Perhaps in that way, the group collective never really left and just had a casual appearance.
Some people however...are a bit different.
I hate it when people repeat things over and over again. I especially hate it when they repeat, they say it in a 'matter of fact' tone as if they just didn't say it a second ago. I'm having slight gripes with some of these people, and it's not even bad compared to what I hear from other ALTs. It's just small things that get on my nerves. I try and multitask, but even if someone is talking to me, I will listen, regardless of whether or not I'm looking at the person. That's simply what some people in western culture do. However, doing that here will result in people getting mad, leading them to explain things...ad nauseum. I will take the blame for not understanding upon my arrival here that I would have to drop absolutely everything I'm doing so some butthead can explain something (for no reason) three times. I rarely even do that anyway, but today I was trying to look for something to teach, and I didn't have much time to do it, and here comes the teacher who likes to say everything over and over, and even has the nerve to say "do you understand?" in Japanese almost as often as he likes to explain himself, to start yapping. I had this problem even in America when I spoke with this Japanese guy in my college e-board (I was event coordinator of the Japanese association on campus), it's all well and good that English isn't his first language, but when he struggles with absolutely everything he says, he adds in little Japanese phrases to fill in the blanks. There's nothing wrong with that, but when it takes 3 minutes for him to say, "I think we should buy the grapes," it gets a little........annoying. So fastforward to now when the guy whom I sometimes teach with and sit next to does the same exact thing....it's annoying. Not to mention the fact that he feels the need to tell me absolutely everything about nothing. Our speaking Japanese would be faster than our speaking English, but he wants to torture me and take 5 minutes to say, "Please look at me when we speak." Damn that's annoying. I'd also be more inclined to look at him if he didn't treat me like I was 7. I'm very appreciative of his help, but there's only so far someone can go before their explanations get rather tedious and it becomes a 10 minute effort for him to say ONE fucking thing. None of the other Japanese teachers of English do that either....it's just him.
They also claim that I can be honest with them and say whatever I feel about any situation, but it only works from one direction. Even if I told them something very slight and random, they're quick with a retort and pretty much say that what I think is silly or just flat out wrong. So....then what's the point of telling me that I can say whatever I like? I can say positive things all day though. Even if I actually took what they said and ran with it and said whatever was bothering me, they'd probably end up complaining about me behind my back, so speaking my mind wouldn't help anything. Well in any case, this is quite common to struggle with these minor things, especially when everything feels like it's piling up on each other, but usually they're solved in like one day....I still can't stand that damn repetition.
It's also interesting in where you can be doing absolutely everything right for two months, then you do one thing differently, and everyone freaks the hell out. There's a daily cleaning time, in which everyone picks up a broom or wash cloth and cleans something. It usually involves students moving the very minimal dirt from one spot to the next. Regardless of that, I always pick up a broom and start sweeping. This one time last week, I was talking to my supervisor during cleaning time so I missed it. My teachers' room includes the vice principal who's fairly important in Japanese schools. He's the one teachers have to go to when they want to take vacation days off or when they're going on a business trip. He's not much that of a prick, but I heard from other teachers that he has the potential to be one every now and again. So I miss the first cleaning time ever. The next day I hear from another teacher that I'm ALWAYS SUPPOSED to do cleaning time. Welll...duh, I know that...that's why I pick up a broom and sweep everytime the annoying cleaning music comes on. The issuse that I spoke with my supervisor about was a hell of a lot more important than cleaning time, to tell you the truth (visa stuff), but that was only one time out of two months. This one time when I took one minute longer to pick up my broom this jerk goes "Hey! It's cleaning time!" And claps three times quite loudly while staring at me. I give him a calm stare, then wait a minute or two before I actually get up. I know I'm not supposed to do that and rock the boat, but I'm not Japanese so I'm not going to jump up, apologize and run for the broom. It's all about hierarchy so he's supposed to talk down to me, like he talks down to everyone else (except for the principal of course ^-^ ), but I'm not going to react the same way. He only did it once, but I still get slightly annoyed when I think about it.
In any case, these are isolated incidences, except for Repeat Man up there, despite my slight gripes, I'm quite happy with my placement and I love the students. Most are bad at English and don't have a particular interest in it, but they're willing to speak with me about everything in Japanese. I get a lot of "You are.......soooo cute," from the boy and girls students. This one crazy kid, from the crazy kid class, had his friend write the Love kanji (愛) on his arm in pen. Then after he was finished, he decides to point at me and point at his arm...then point at me and point at his arm...for a good three minutes while I'm just standing there in front of the students. I suppose in a way it's.....kind of endearing? You can't help but laugh at their crazy antics, and I mean even if you didn't like their behavior, they aren't going to change for you, so you might as well roll with the punches and laugh about it anyway. Such is life in Japan as an English teacher.