GOAL!!!!

Some of you will understand the following picture (from my computer, I followed all the rules):

For those of you who don't understand the signifigance of this picture; Here is a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaNoWriMo

So... um... for tonight... I'm tired of typing... So... I'll be back Friday.

<---Did the challenge.

Flooded with things ta do...

I'm wrapping up some stuff that needs to be done this month (Taxes? In Japanese... this is gonna be interesting), so I'll post next week (Dec 1), in the mean time, Happy Thanksgiving, (Here Labor day), And to our Canadian friends; erm... I hope you had a good week :D

I'll see you in a week!

---Me.

Living down to expectations

Why is it that Tokyo, the Tenth largest city in the world (New York being the 11th), is 1000 times safer than Houston (94th)?

I would happily (And I have) walk around 99.5% of Tokyo after dark and never even think about being robbed or beaten or anything of the sort... I don't think you can say that of even the smaller Metropolises in America (I can think of almost 10% of Denver that you don't want to go into after dark... )

I pondered this for a long while and it suddenly came to me: We all live exactly to our expectations: By this I mean, we either live up or live down to our expectations.

This of course, does not cover every single human being without exception, but it does cover the majority. I say this specifically for those of you who pick nits with me :)

Now, that disclaimer said, Let me explain:

In Japan, people are assumed to be good folks. Companies treat people like honorable folk; police don't carry guns and seem to have the primary job of getting cats out of trees, and giving directions; there is not a single speed trap within 100 miles of my house (I'm guessing they are somewhere, but I haven't found them). People here are assumed innocent.

In America, counterpoint, I think people are assumed guilty. To prove my point, ask any officer for directions and see if he/she doesn't put his/her hand on his/her pistol or at least look at you with the "Cop Glare"... This is an easier experiment if you are male, and not a cute lady. And certainly not a cute doctor lady (Just stopping you before you get started m'dear :) ) Companies in America have rules set in place that cannot be bent because they don't want to be taken for a ride by their customers, and thus we have thousands of odd hurtles to jump through just to do the simplest things. Hospitals treat everyone like they have Ebola and have been using Heroine for the last 40 years, and your neighbors carry shotguns.

I'm not saying it's not justified, I'm not saying it isn't the right course of action. I'm just observing. But I do believe we live down to this. People who are assumed guilty become guilty. People who are assumed innocent become innocent.

Here, people are still assumed innocent, and the entire place is shocked when someone takes a gun and waves it around. Though you can't own a gun here, that's very much a "The Japanese people have decided to be peaceful and thus we will not have guns." Sort of statement, not "YOU CANNOT HAVE A GUN!" Which may seem like the same thing, but it's not. Everyone is assumed to not have guns here. And so they don't.

Does this prevent people from getting guns? Of course not, Does it mean that no one here has a gun? No. But we don't have even a millionth of the gun crime of America.

I'm not saying it's bad to own a gun, either... I know at least Dad would argue with me there, that's not the point of this post; it's simply that I have noticed that when you assume your populous is dangerous, they become dangerous.

I think things changed for America during the 70s and 80s... probably as a direct result of Vietnam (For the record, we owned guns before the 70s... this is to reinforce that I'm not posting an "Anti-Gun" post, just using it as an example :) ). We started to change slowly. Started assuming the worst in people instead of assuming the best. Now, it's a given. Strangers are not to be trusted, someone is always lurking in the shadows, and we are all a little scared.

It's starting here too. Japan is starting to "lose it's innocence". More people are taking advantage of the systems here, and so the systems are changing as a result.

I'm even part of the problem: I drive way over the posted speed limits all the time, because I know that the police aren't watching.

Of course, I've always felt that speed limits were too low everywhere, but that's no excuse for breaking the law.

Many people do that, but the police haven't gotten to the stage where they feel like they need to "Watch" everyone... so though we don't feel watched, we do take advantage of it.

And the accidents will rise, and somewhere along the line, they will start to watch... And things will change.

It won't be long before Japan will be just like America, and I won't feel comfortable wandering the 10th largest city at night.

Yes, this is kind of a depressing observation. But keep in mind that we are the same humans, Americans, Japanese, British, etc. With pretty much the same lifestyles (The fact that the Japanese eat things that frighten small children isn't enough of a difference to change their humanity... though it does often make me worry about my dear friends...). And we are the same humans that we have been for thousands of years. Nothing has changed except the way we have been treated.

So why is Chicago so much more dangerous than Tokyo?

Something to ponder, that's all...

---Me.

A Wonderful Day...

What a day! I just had one of those days that makes up for about 16 bad days.

It was a lovely (If not a little chilly) Sunday morning when I awoke lazily and Maia and I did nothing of consequence for about two hours.
Then, the day started.
Now, before I continue, allow me to share a little story from a couple of months ago.
At the beginning of the summer, Maia and I went to Cocos for dinner and we spotted Katie, a fellow English teacher, giving a private English lesson to an older Japanese lady (Many of us take on private tutoring, not just kids, but all ages). Katie introduced me to her and I thought she was a very interesting lady. Maia and I left her and Katie to continue their lesson.

During summer break, Ms. Team Teacher unexpectedly retired. Which is a shame, but I could see it. The kids didn’t like her much, and they were pretty good at expressing their feelings to her. I think the pressure got to her.

So, for about a month into this school year, we were without the Team Teacher position. Which was a little bit of a strain on the English department as we all had to pitch in to help fill the gaps and all.

So about a month in to the year, I am called into the Principals office (Along with the rest of the English Department, to meet our new Team Teacher… And it turns out to be the lady from Cocos! Who promptly looks at me and says: “Guy-Sensei! Do you remember me? I met you and Maia-Sensei that one time!” At the mention of Maia, Mr. Second year looks at me with a quizzical look (a “How did she know about Maia?” look). I tell her (Not so terribly truthfully) that I did remember her (I actually knew I had met her, but I couldn’t tell where or when… Except for Maia, everyone I have met over the last 9 months has been a brand-new face… so it’s sorta all a blur).

Thus, Ms. New Team Teacher… whom we shall call “Ms. Team Teacher” because it’s easier…

Now, onto the great day!

The morning starts at 10:30 as Sensei (My Kyudo Sensei) has ordered me to meet him in the Town Square (Which is circular) at that time. I show up and there are a whole bunch of MyTown High School students dressed in traditional Japanese Armor with bows and arrows and the whole getup.
Sensei gets to meet Maia, she introduces herself, chats in Japanese with Sensei and then Sensei gets this big grin on his face and says: “Your Japanese is so good! His is horrid.” He says, pointing to me.

To her credit, Maia politely disagrees with him. But I am laughing (I did, amazingly enough, understand that).

They start practice, and I start to videotape (More stuff you, as my family, will undoubtedly be subjected to upon my return… and yes this means you, too Nick, as you know, my family is not limited to blood relations).

The Archers then begin a series of really neat military drills.

Then we break for lunch, at which time Maia and I decide to try to get lunch out of town.

Now, the problem is, MyTown is pretty much the hub of this part of the state, thus, all roads lead to it. And the main road, of which all roads lead to, has been blocked off for the festival… meaning, the traffic leading into and out of town is insane. It takes Maia and I all of our allotted time to get out of town and then back again (All of the restaurants were packed).
But that’s okay, we got to wander the Japanese countryside for a while (Because I am my father’s son, and I did everything I could, including driving 20 miles out of my way, to avoid that traffic jam)
We get back and the festivities are about to begin, so I get back and I discover that I am being placed right next to the stage with my camera. I am as close to the festivities as it gets! So I set up and start rolling tape.

The festivities begin with a man, in traditional Japanese armor, going on at length in stilted, ancient sounding Japanese about the beginnings of the festival, at which time a parade of Samurai come into the main arena and sit down, followed by a cadre of Archers (Our High school Kyudo club), followed by the city officials, also decked out in armor as well (Most of them, anyway). There is a lengthy introduction set (That’s very traditional Japanese… long speeches). At which time…

Evil Samurai attack! And a whole mock battle happens, complete with staves and swords and all kinds of neat things.

Then (After the evil Samurai are repelled), we go into our archery demonstration, Sensei explains all kinds of things, then the Archers start attacking the target, sometimes in teams, sometimes in unison, pretty much exactly like the practice, except the crowd is cheering us on.

It was all very cool, and that wasn’t the end. We ran into Ms. Team Teacher whom was visiting the festival. She had a friend with her (And Katie) and the five of us watched the rest of the parade and had food from the vendors.

Then, as we were standing on the street, Ms. Team Teacher and her friend go into a shop on the main street for a moment. They come out a minute later and invite us in as well. It’s a jewelry shop and very nice. Apparently, Team Teachers friend is a longtime friend of the shop owner, and thus she invited all of us in for coffee and Manju (It’s a Japanese sweet). We sit and chat and have a grand old time and then we each go our separate ways.

There’s more to this story, but I think I’ll fill it in more later. Dad and Tio are waiting for pictures! :D

----Me.

You know the worst part about being sick in a foreign country?

Not wanting to post on your blog cause nothin' sounds good to write about...

Okay, so I'm just under the weather, nothing alarming... I'll be back in a couple of days for my weekly update... honest.

Until then, I shall sleep and when not sleeping, I shall drink Orange Juice, which, thankfully, is something this country has in abundance...

---Sick.

Todays Surprise is...

Brought to you by MySchool.

All I have to say is: I am so glad I trained under Troy for Improv... And when I return I hope he is interested in doing again, because I am SO much better at it now...

Tuesday we had a most unique thing (Well, unique to me, not so much in Japanese Schools). We had our Annual Chorus Contest. My kids have been practicing since we returned from Summer break for this, and they were quite amazingly prepared.

Every school in Japan does this; all the kids in each class choose a song to sing, then the entire grade chooses a song which all of them sing. They get up on stage (Yes, every single one of them), and they sing the "Grade Song" followed by the "Class Song". There were some very interesting songs this year, I only recognized first year, 4th class's rendition of "Carrying You" from Castle in the Sky: Laputa, but they all did a very good job. I filmed it with the new camera, and you will likely all be subject to see some of it at some point... Because, of course, everyone hates vacation films... except the person who shot them...

Anyway, lunch time rolls around and I'm in the staff room when Mrs. Sensei (The wife of my Kyudo Sensei) comes up to me and says: "Your singing, right?"

She doesn't speak any English, so I thought "Hey, maybe I misunderstood her..." so I say: "What?"

"The Staff chorus song, you are singing in it, right? I need to fit you for your outfit." Along comes Mrs. Team Teacher, who translates it for me... Nope... I understood her perfectly.

"Sure!" I say, because, hey, I'm game.

She hands me the music... it's in Japanese... this should be fun... then I say: "Could I listen to the song?"

"Why?" Mrs. TeamTeacher asks.

"Because I've never heard it before... and I don't even know what kind of song it is..."

Mrs. Team Teacher stares at me, "Good luck" she says softly with a horrified smile...

So I take the music over to my desk and I write the English Phonetic equivalent over the Japanese (Because I can't read Japanese at normal speed yet, so I wrote the words in Roman letters I.E.: "Shin-Ji-tte yo, an na ta..." etc), because at least I can sight-read those. I listen to the CD twice through, and then I'm on stage (Less than an hour after they brought up this famous proposal...).

That was fun! Actually, Mr. Principal, standing next to me as the curtain is about to rise, says in english as he taps his chest: "Don't Worry. No practice too!" Then he laughs merrily.

I love my Principal.

The curtain goes up... I mouth the words (I wasn't about to risk actually singing, I just wanted to look like I was singing), and halfway though Mr. Principal loses track of his part, and everyone naturally looks at me... but I'm not making a sound! :D

Ah... those are the days that try mens souls.

The song ends and a very amused 3rd year girl who has been playing the piano for our chorus and trying so hard to keep us together, just looks at me and grins... I just shake my head.

Mr Principal immediately admits it was he who went off tempo and Mr. Music Teacher is stunned that I looked like I had been practicing for weeks on this song.

Later, two of my best Third Year Girls walk up to me and say (In Japanese):

"Well, Guy-Sensei... better luck next time with your singing." and then they nod knowingly and walk off.

I just grin at them... because, really, what else can you do?

And that, my friends, is what life is like as a Junior High School teacher here...

Thank you, Troy. Of all the skills I have used here, the ones taught by you are becoming the most valuable...

---Me (Singing).