Chiaki and Me on Volleyball Day

All Day School Volleyball Tournament

Enjoying NOT playing volleyball, girls playing with bugs

Cool Hair Styles in Japan

Hello, it's me at school!

Calligraphy Class

These characters say "Yama, Kawa" which mean "Mountain, River."

School Dayz

Lunch Time

All American Bento Box

A student's bento box from home, on an all American placemat. Irony is delicious.

Saturday night I came home late from a party. Then I got a call from my friend Angel. It was his uncle’s birthday and they would be celebrating all night at a local Peruvian disco. So I turned around and went out to dance. It was the first cold night since I arrived. I stood outside in the dark and cold drizzle, shivering under my jacket, scarf and hat. Angel came to pick me up on his bicycle in a sleeveless shirt. But he wasn’t cold (?). I could hardly bear to pedal the 6 blocks to the disco it was so miserable out. When we arrived, our friends two Peruvian girls Marianna and Harumi were outside waiting in the cold mist until a fight inside subsided. It is a small disco, and apparently not enough space for men to behave themselves. Everynight at the Peruvian discos all civility is left at the door, and after a certain hour it is not permissable to leave without hurling a glass at someone who looks at you funny.

Culture Shock

I couldn’t have prepared for culture shock in Japan if I had eaten at Asian restaurants and had a private Japanese tutor everyday for months before arriving. Its impossible to prepare with any amount of language learned or sushi ingested. Getting used to life here asks for more than just knowing the language or eating the food. With every new Japanese phrase I pick up, from “Delicious!” to “Does this train go to Kakamigahara?” life becomes easier. But I’ve found that to function in a foreign country is much different from fitting into it.

After School Keyboard Practice

Dedication

About Footwear

Students' shoes and slippers after school hours. All students must wear these plastic slippers while they are inside the school. They vary in color depending on the student's year: first year students wear red plastic slippers, second year - green, third year - blue. I on the other hand had to purchase my own choice of indoor footwear. I had a very hard time understanding what appropriate indoor footwear was, as opposed to outdoor footwear. Basically I have come to the conclusion that indoor footwear must contain the following components: (1) easy to slip on and off at a seconds notice (reasons: having to tie your shoes will make me that much later in the morning, making other people wait for me while I fumble with my shoes is unpleasant, one must to change his shoes every time one goes to the bathroom, and finally undoing shoes at the end of the day puts that much more time on my 3 minute commute home.) (2) blatently plain, definitely unfashionable, verging on ugly (3) comfortable (4) must be able to accomodate socks no matter how hot it gets.

This is my favorite book (250 Essential Kanji for Everyday Use ~ Kanji is part of the Japanese writing system based on Chinese characters) on my favorite desk (my desk) and my favorite supervisor (the only one... but really, she is very helpfull!).

Nothing Lasts Forever

I packed my bag for tutoring English tonight with extra clothing so I could slip down the street to capoeira lessons afterward. I hadn't gone in 2 weeks, but thats okay to go lesson by lesson. So after a good study session, I was looking forward to rejoining the capoeria group I had been part of for 2 months. But, like the nature of ghosts or immigrants ourselves, unseen by most, the capoeria school was dark and empty. In fact, through the huge windows I could see that everything inside had been moved out. No one ever bothered to tell me there would be no more class, or perhaps that it moved. The instructor and the other students are impossible to track down, hidden inside factories by day one week and night the next week. It was like the school was never there, except for a few memories of class this fall. It goes to show, appreciate what you have today because the things you assume will always be there, tomorrow, may be gone.

I hear they will make the old school into a bingo hall and bar.

Waiting for the Train at Naka

Its said that the Japanese set their watches by the trains. I believe it. Trains in Japan are generally very timely, efficient and cost effective. Japans cities are efficiently weaved together by threads of track, making big and small cities easily accessible. And the trains always arrive on time, so much so that "my train was late" is not an acceptable excuse for any tardiness.

On the local trains you present your payment ticket when you get off the train, but if you lost your ticket you must remember the station you came from in order to pay the correct amount. Some people would cheat the system and say they came from the closest stop to their destination, when in actuality they just ventured 5 hours from Nagoya to Tokyo. In effect they would save over a hundred dollars on their ticket (as compared with a shinkansen, expensive high speed train ticket) if they did such a thing. Of course this only works on local trains, which take time to go long distances. And of course I would never promote or do such a thing myself.

Hardboiled Eggs?

I don't know what it is about this picture, but everyone who sees it remembers it as being placed in somewhere it is not, for intance on the train or in a club. It was actually taken in a cute little cafe a few blocks away. The interior has a vintage green and white decor, and the people who frequent it seem to sit in the booths as long as the paint has been there. Dani and I asked for two coffees and a sandwich to share, and somehow we ended up with two hardboiled eggs and beernuts. A big thanks to Dani, without a doubt an awesome person and not just because she's from New York but because she is. She's who has been there for me since day 1 meeting my new supervisor and moving into my new apartment, among many many other adventures.

Find your country here

Saturday I went out with my American neighbor to a Japanese reggae club. It was full of Japan's tomorrow, dressed in green yellow and red. I was glad to be in a place where we, and a Brazilian sansei were the only foreigners among many Japanese. But I ended up practicing Portuguese most of the night anyway. I guess Japan is becoming international. But still Japan is thought of as a closed country without much diversity. But its been easy to find Peru, Brazil, Jamaica, America, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa at least a little part of them, here in Japan.

Kei and me in Kyoto. Kei is an amazingly talented and bright woman who was nice enough to show me the best of Kyoto and introduce me to her friends after just meeting me for the first time. I have to give a big arigato gozaimashita to her family as well who have been so kind to me since I arrived in Kakamigahara. Just a few days after Kyoto, Kei finally got her visa to go to Mexico. She had been planning the working holiday trip for months. A week after meeting her, she left the country. I definitely wish she was still here to hang out with because not only is she one of the coolest people ever but she was easy to talk with and speaks three languages. Even so, I know she's over there getting all fluent in Spanish and having a good time. Tequila is better than sake anyway.

Yes, We are Really in Japan

Taking Out the Trash

Every afternoon students and staff all take 15 minutes to clean up the school.

Need I comment on the uniform?

Sports Day at High School. Let's Go!

Enjoy School Life

Me giving a speach to all 800 or so students. My Japanese was painfully pronounced like I was choking on sushi.

Me on the stage with Kocho Sensei (Principal) the first week of school. He's talking about me in Japanese. Who knows what he really said.

Receiving my contract from Kocho Sensei. Learning how to bow. Damn it was hot in that suit.

Giving my first speach in Japanese to the whole staff at high school. I was more nervous than I look.

Its was a Really Hot Day at Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto

Kyoto with Kei. Now she's in Cancun, Mexico working in a Hotel and becoming fluent in Spanish. Cool girl. Thanks for taking me to Kyoto.

Miki in Kyoto

Gardens

In Kakamigahara many families have plots where they grow vegetables.

Salsa in Japan

Interesting... Here I am in Japan and I am speaking more Spanish than perhaps any other language. There is a sizeable community of Peruvians in Kakamigahara and Japan in general, although Brazilians outnumber them as the largest Latino immigrant group.

The other day I met with a Peruvian friend who never learned to dance. So we decided to try out salsa, merengue and bachata. I stopped suddenly and burst out laughing ~ here we are in Japan, an American teaching a Peruvian how to Salsa.

This month I've started studying English with a group of Peruvians. We study in a Peruvian restaurant / karaoke bar / boarding house 2 blocks from my house. I'm glad to be able to keep up with Spanish and communicate with another "foreign" culture here.

Lunch at Junior High

Wouldn:t you think that lunch with Junior High School students would be a horror? Judging from American Junior High Schools, yes. I was told before my Junior high School visit I would plan to eat with them - would it be a huge cafeteria, roaring with noise, kids running around like they:d never been let loose, long lines and just a short 20 minutes of time to eat, like in the States? Iie! Chigau! no way! In this Junior High of about 500 students, the students eat in their classrooms. Each room receives the appropriate amount of food and the STUDENTS dish it out FOR EACH OTHER. We ate a VEGETARIAN, healthy lunch of miso soup w/ seaweed, fried tofu w/ a sauce, rice, vegetables and milk to drink. And it was so filling I couldn:t even finish all the rice. Before anyone even touched their food, they waited for everyone to be served and sit down. Then one student stood up and led the class to clap our hands and say itadakimas or let:s give thanks and eat! Then the chopsticks got cracking. The intercom came on and played J-pop tunes over the entire 45 minute lunch period. The students seemed to really enjoy it. They were happy but calm while we ate and talked about Japanese cartoons, anime. After lunch, a student led us all in another hand clap and we chanted together gochisosamadeshita or thank you for the food it was delicious. And then the students cleaned up after themselves. Clean plastic plates, metal rice containers, food scraps, paper and plastic wrappers all separated. All the students bring their own cloth napkins and plastic or wooden chopsticks so there is minimal waste and minimal cleanup. After lunch, all the students disperse into stations where they sweep, dust, wipe down, polish and cleap up the ENTIRE school. In Japanese schools the job of janitor doesn:t exist because the students work together to keep their school lovely. Refreshing, isn:t it?