Vignettes of a Monday morning in a Japanese Junior High School…

The day starts off badly; I show up to notice that everyone is dressed immaculately in suits… I go about the daily operations of my morning (I have two classes of 3rd years in first and second period, respectively, so I have to hustle). When my principal walks past me,

"Mister Guy, Come on… picture time."

What I haven’t mentioned yet is that my principal loves to talk in English; he’s actually rather good at it. The more he practices with me, the better he’s getting, I’d like to add… but this particular time he passes me and says this I shudder…

No one told me today was picture day. I missed the memo… or perhaps I got the memo, but it was in Japanese far beyond my comprehension… Either way, I’m wearing a nice shirt and a nice tie… but not a suit… I stand out…

Then they show me the picture from last year… and I notice the American teacher that was in my position before me standing there in a nice shirt and a nice tie…

He too was taken by surprise…

Well, at least I’m not alone…

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My first 3rd year class is slow and ponderous; the kids are asleep almost the moment the chime rings in the class. I introduce myself and, as I have done for all three of my 1st years, I show the picture of dad, mom and my sister. Then I go through talking about Denver, and all of my normal spiel. This time, however, I’m not going as slow as I was with the 1st years. I kinda want to see what the 3rd years can do.

…They can stare at me, dumbfounded… that’s what they can do.

Well… on to plan “B”: Stare back.

Okay, that was at least a funny plan… but it only elicits slight giggling from the class.

So we drill the class for a second, what is my sister’s name, how many family members do I have… etc. And after a little while, they seem to have gotten at least most of what I had said.

Then I go to 3rd year 4th class…

I should start with; so far my experience with the Japanese girls are that they are giggly, reserved, shy, and are more difficult to engage… Pretty much like the wallflower JHS girls back home.

This is not true of “Genki-Chan”. Genki-chan (Genki is the Japanese word for “Energetic”, I’ll call her that for now) is loud, boisterous, calls out answers in Japanese or English, depending on whatever strikes her fancy at the moment…

…and most of all, she has a wicked sense of humor.

We go through the same process as with class 3-3 here in 3-4; I introduce myself. Then move on to my father, mother and sister, and then wrap up with explaining a little about Denver.

The JTE (Japanese teacher, English) then begins the question drill as she had in 3-3:

(In English)“Okay, what is Guy-Sensei’s sister’s name?”

Genki-chan is standin in a flash, no one else had a chance to react…

Genki-Chan (English): “Peter!”

Peter?!? That’s not even an option on the little handout I gave at the beginning of the class! Where in the world did she get “Peter” from?

Me (In Japanese): Peter is a (Male) name (The word “Male” is in parenthesis because I, in my infinite wisdom, didn’t actually use the word “Otoko” (Male), instead, I used the word “Otaku” (the Japanese term for over-the-top Fanatics of anime or science fiction… very much like Trekkies)… saying in essence “Peter is a Trekkies’ name”)

Genki-Chan: Otaku? As in Akihabara? (The borough of Tokyo which has all the Japanese animation and Star Trek paraphernalia)

The kids laugh. I laugh. Genki-chan, however, is not even cracking a smile, she is looking at me dead-on with a classic straight-man look…

This girl is sharp as a tack. I’m in trouble, I can tell…

I back out of it with what little grace I can muster, and move on…

Okay, Genki-chan, you win round one…

Later, I am wandering the class chatting with the groups of students, when I get to Genki-Chan’s little clutch of girls. I don’t have to say anything, Genki-chan is all about gaining the initiative.

Genki-Chan: How long you Japan?

Me: About one month.

Genki-Chan: Ah. You have good… um… (What is the word?) Japanese skill?

Me (Switching to Japanese) Actually, no. My Japanese is pretty lousy.

Genki-chan (Also in Japanese): It sounds pretty good to me, but you should probably use this and this….

She promptly writes out my sentence on her paper, and is correcting it… A Japanese girl is correcting the Sensei’s speech… That’s gutsy… So gutsy, the other girls are obviously worried she is going too far…

I, on the other hand, stun the other girls by asking questions; “So if I do this and this, it makes it past-tense, correct?”

Genki-chan: That’s right.

I suddenly stand upright and bow to her,

Me: Thank you, Genki-Sensei.

Genki-chan’s straight-man comedic exterior cracks and she gives me a shocked smile…

Gotcha Genki-chan. And now we are even.

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I’m walking up the stairwell at my school, when I come across a gaggle of 2nd year girls who are giggling and pointing out the 3rd floor window.
Below, in the bike parking, a majority of the students are preparing to go home for the day, and the lot is a sea of children wearing my schools' navy blue (Winter) uniforms and white safety helmets and their uniform brown bookbags...

And yet, something has attracted the attention of these girls... so I saddle up to the girls...

(All in Japanese)

Me: So... what are we looking at?

Girl 1: We are looking at the First years...

Me: Are...are they funny*? (*In Japanese Omoshoroi (Funny) has sorta a "Strange-funny" connotation)

Girl 2 (Giggling): They are so young!

I pause at the irony of this...

Me: Ah... I understand.

Girl 1 (Laughing a lot now): I'm glad!

I saddle off as I saddled in, leaving the Gaggle to Giggle...

No matter the country, Junior High Girls are Junior High Girls...

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The students had a half-day today because this is “Home-visit” day, the day when my fellow teachers visit each student’s home and see what their living-conditions are like. Here in Japan when a student does something wrong the parents aren’t really held responsible, instead, their teachers are called to the carpet. It is presumed that the teachers failed to teach the students proper behavior, and thus they are held responsible. The pressure on the Japanese teachers is tremendous. So they insure their students have the proper environment by visiting their houses and inspecting their rooms… I’m not making this up… Honest.

I’m not sure if it’s better or worse than America, but I know it’s interesting…

After helping work in the garden outside, I pretty much run out of things to do and my Principal lets me go for the day with a smile.

All in all, this is an interesting school.