Japan vs. America Chapter 1

The differences between America and Japan are slight when you get down to it. Sure there are the obvious variances in culture, art, language, food, and architecture, but the real differences; standard of living, and daily life, are slight.
I am going to start a list here, which I hope to add to as I note other differences, as I know I will fail to mention some now, as well as discover small oversights later. So, here is a short list.
* Nothing comes in a dozen. Not eggs, not donuts, nothing. It is as though the word doesn't enter into the Japanese vocabulary.
* Hotdogs are at least double if not triple the length of American hotdogs, and they are about half the width.
* Japanese kids (and possibly adults) peel their grapes. Literally. They tediously remove the skins of the grape before they will eat one because they think it will make you sick. So not only are they amazed that I will eat whole grapes, it explains why grapes are cheap, and why the kids don't like to eat them.
* Japanese people, in general, believe the fruit and veggies here are expensive, so they are shocked that I buy so much. Further, because even the store keepers believe fruit and veggies are an expensive, luxury item, each peach, each tomato, each mushroom is individually wrapped with exceptional care, with a Styrofoam "diaper"of sorts and in specially crafted crates with the right size for each fruit.
* As an added thought, rice here is expensive. Not just a little pricey, but I honestly cannot afford to eat it. I understand the reason is because rice is the one product they are not allowed to import, and because the price of land is so high, as is the demand, rice ends up costing more than, say, the slice of sushi that tops it.
* Though everyone has a cell phone, there are certain respected places where you absolutely may not use it…public places, trains, buses, indoors, and everyone obeys, which a visit to any American movie theater will prove Americans do not feel similarly.
* No one drinks water in Japan. I once saw a coach encouraging a young athlete to deny his craving for water in hopes that it would build endurance and stamina. The size of my water bottle, and the frequency with which I refill it startles all of my students, and is the butt of many jokes in the teacher's room.
* People always ask me what I would like to eat as though there is an option. There is Japanese food, or Japanese food, and Japanese food is nothing like American-Japanese food. Everything is either deep-fried or pickled, and comes with a side of at least three different carbohydrates. For example, a school lunch might include a "slice" of bread (literally the size of a loaf of bread), a deep-fried and battered piece of fish, potato salad, a bowl of vegetable and pasta soup and (not or) a side of mochi (rice ground into a fine powder, mixed with something to make it the consistency of the inside of a jelly bean)…oh, and milk. This would all be included in just one school lunch.
* There are no street names. It is impossible to find anything or give directions, and all directions are in relation to other buildings or landmarks, "urn left at the large red building and right at the barber poll near the cigarette machine."
* Soon there will be snow, and rather than snow-plowing the streets, they will "melt" the snow with water, creating long icy rivers otherwise known as streets.
* If you buy a loaf of bread, it will only be the size of half a loaf of American bread, but will be sliced between one and two inches at best. A slice of bread isn't so much a slice as it is a quarter of a loaf. I have never put much stock in the saying, "Best thing since sliced bread," but now that I slice in half each slice of bread I buy here, I fully appreciate how great sliced bread is.

One kitten down...

Tuesday night was a joyous night...a night beyond belief in Japan. Every small task in Japan is highly exaggerated and drawn out, so much so that even paying bills is a hardship; not of the financial nature, but because of language barriers, bank hours, and due process.

Anyway, Tuesday night I employed my downstairs American neighbor to find me a kitten. I really wanted two kittens of the same sex, to keep each other company and to keep from getting pregnant (neutering/spaying a cat costs mucho dinero). So, with his exceptional English we ventured to the local veterinarian to inquire how one obtains a kitten in Japan. He asked for our phone number and said he would call in an hour.

Sure enough, not 45 minutes had passed when the phone rang, "At 8:30, you will have your choice of three kittens!" Oh, what joy, what glee. The gods were smiling down on me! Kittens for me! Hooray!

So I went down to the vet at 8:30 sharp. I must say, that I don't think I could turn down any kitten, but these three tested me. They had many ailments, not the least of which, they all had a severe cold. One looked like she may be blind in one eye, and had a severely broken tail. Another certainly had a broken leg. The third had obviously been abused by people, as it hissed at any person who came near it, attacked without provocation, and was just mean!

The two women who brought the cats, as I understand through translation, found them, and couldn't care for them any longer, as they had their own cats.

But, this was the end of my grief. Without paying a dime, the two women and the vet washed (with water and shampoo) each cat, gave them each a shot for the cold they had, gave them each eye drops (and gave me a bottle to continue use), let me borrow a kitten carrier, gave me kitty potties, and GAVE me any of the kittens I wanted. Since the 1st and 3rd above mentioned kittens were from the same litter and the same sex, I took them. I can't split up a litter, and more importantly, I am not home often enough to care for a kitten with a broken leg.

So I walked out of there, pockets full of free kitten stuff, with two kittens that I know I rescued.

I still haven't named them. I am waiting to get to know them before naming them something I know I will forget, like "Jelly Bean," as is my inclination.

But alas, the story does not end here.

Thursday morning I woke up to kitten #1's meows, or should I say squeaks...at 4:00 am. "What's wrong?" I ask as I put here into the kitchen...she has food, water, clean litter..."she must just be scared I tell myself." I spend maybe two minutes looking for kitten #3, who always hides from me anyway, and decide that she is again trying to escape me. Little did I know...

At my standard time of 6:38 am on Thursday I woke up and started getting ready. Kitten #1 was again meowing and circling my feet. I think to myself, "Awww...I like you too!" After getting ready, I realize I haven't seen kitten #3 yet so I check the usual spots...Then I check unusual spots...Then I check completely unlikely spots. Only owning two pieces of furniture, there are not many places to hide.

I panic...Where is kitten #3...WHERE IS KITTEN #3???

Oh god, oh god, oh god...The I saw it...The window...Where she was sitting last night (on the second floor of the building). The bottom left corner has been torn to shreds and there is a whole, big enough for a kitten...my kitten has left me...

I have been looking for her since, but to no avail. What would drive a kitten to jump (plummet?) down two stories to escape?

Sigh...I am not a good kitten mom...somehow, I have failed...

A Day in the Life

One of the questions I get asked most frequently is what work/school is like. At the risk of repeating myself for those I have already emailed, I think I will share some insight on what it is I do for 35 hours of the week.

The unofficial motto of the JET program is that "Every situation is different," or ESID. This is so true...true to the nth degree. From living situations, placement, number, age level and academic level of schools, quality of coworkers, and on and on and on, your situation varies completely from the next person.

In my particular situation, I will, over the course of the year, work at three junior high schools and their adjoining elementary schools. All of these schools are in villages that you cannot even find on a map, but are up near Tsurugi, which is in the mountains along the eastern border of Ishikawa. So far, and for the whole month of September, I am at Kawachi Elementary and Junior High School (E & JHS). October will be split between the schools Torigoe JHS, and Yoshinodani E & JHS, and all future months have an unpredictable, seemingly random rotation.

A strange thing will happen to these schools as of January 1st, 2005. These three villages, and possibly more, will combine and create a new city. This is definitely going to affect my job, though how, I do not know.

First, to get to school I ride my goofy bike 10 minutes to a train station where I catch a 50 minute train to a coworker who will drive me to one of my three schools, ranging from 10-30 minutes from the station...sigh...It is insane. And I am not happy about it, but it works...for now.

My life at Kawachi E & JHS so far is mostly uneventful. The realization that these schools are in SMALL villages is important because most of these kids, while very nice have very little interest in English. All 100 or so kids in 1st - 9th grade are all the kids in the village. However many kids were born in a year, well, those are the kids at the school. It is why I only have 5 fifth graders (two of which are twins). So most of these kids don't think they will ever use English. They will never travel, they will never work for big businesses, and they may never even leave their village.

This has made me change my goals a bit. Now, instead of trying to create the best little English speakers in Japan, I am settling for being their friend, or rather, the coolest teacher at the school. I alternate daily (when not suffering from injury) between playing softball at lunch with the boys, winning their respect with my skills hitting a silly rubber ball with an aluminum bat, and reading fairy tales and nursery rhymes to the girls.

I just realized this may begin to sound sexist, splitting the genders like this, but Japan is very different from America. These separations are not enforced by any means, but rather, there is a different maturity level for Japanese kids. Even through 12th grade, boys have cooties, and girls are icky. The two genders do not intermix...ever...for any reason. And any forced interaction will result in stone silence and no one completing the project. I have learned it is just better to let them be comfortable. I act in a more passive way...sports with the boys (even though I am a girl), and teaching the girls to make faces.

Anyways, the school days are pretty standard. I have a total of 12 classes a week out of 30. Less than part time and more than half are cancelled for various reasons. Holidays, tests, Sports Day practice, any reason is a good reason to cut English class. It's like P.E. or Woodshop in America. So I have a lot of free time. There is internet there, but it is slow and on the smallest monitor you have ever seen. Sometimes I read (8 books so far!). Sometimes I make origami figurines. Sometimes I walk the halls or sit in on classes. The only other English speaker, the Japanese Teacher of English (JTE), my partner, seems to have a lot of work, but it is rarely shared. Suggested projects are more than welcome.

Something that is different from American schools, however, is after lunch EVERYDAY, a half hour is spent on the students CLEANING the school. That's right. From the 9th grader who might clean the staff room on down to the 1st grader who might carry a water bucket for someone who is mopping, THEY ALL PARTICIPATE. Even more surprising, no one complains. It is crazy cool!

Also, I have now enrolled myself in the 7th and 9th grade art classes. I love it. In art, you don't need language. In art I can communicate without words, and it comes across a billion times better than anything I try to say.

When a friend of mine went to the Peace Corp, he insisted that a Thesaurus was a necessity, as he hoped to write while there. I think it is a necessity here too, not for writing but for speaking. Every Japanese person knows some English, whether they will admit it or not. But sometimes the translation is funny. Sometimes I have to go through 8 or 9 words, all with similar meanings before they understand. "Done?" "Finished?" "Complete?" End?" "Through?" "Concluded?" "Over?" Oh, you understand over? Great!

My favorite part of the school, though, is the 2nd floor where the 1st - 3rd graders live. I am normally on the fourth floor, but when I walk on the second floor I am a superstar. I am Brittany Spears. The kids run up to me, hold my hand, speak all the English they know (which isn't much and is very scattered), climb up my limbs, and in general, they LIKE me. To them, I am something of a novelty. It is a great self-esteem booster. Friday I had lunch with the first grade, and it was probably the best of all the grades (I rotate around the grades everyday at lunch). Every other grade asked the usual, "What's your favorite color, sport, food, etc." The first grade asked cool questions:
"Are there ghosts in America?"
"Why is your hair two colors?"
"How tall are you?"
"How many rooms were in your house?"
"How big was your kitchen?"
"Do you have rice in America?"
And on, and on, and on. It was cool!


Well, that is work...in a slightly large nutshell...

I suppose I should start by saying, "I'm okay!"

For those of you who heard, yes, there were two earthquakes off the west coast of Japan on Sunday night. I think, through my bad translations with the locals, they were both a "5" on the richeter scale, but they were so far away in the ocean it was not a big deal. The first one happened around 7:00 pm, while I was eating dinner. I felt it. I was not impressed. I slept through the second one, which occured at midnight. I suppose after five years in Los Angeles, I just believe the ground should move.

All the same, I think I should start putting together my earthquake preparedness pack with all the emergency supplies. And while I am at it, I should really start finding a cat. My two most favorite cats in the whole world can predict earthquakes (I know this sounds insane, but it is absolutely true!!). Also, I wouldn't mind them hunting the creepy crawlies in my apartment.

I am reminded of my brief stint in Oklahoma, both for the natural disasters and the creepy crawlies. Upon arrival, I was quickly oriented on tornado procedures. There were a lot of rules about being caught in a tornado, though I never saw one. But the great thing was that I would have some warning before it hit. I would be on the alert and lookout for a tornado. Here, if an earthquake hits, it will be a bit of a surprise. Also, with as much Japanese as I know, Tsunamis and Typhoons are also a surprise. I am sure there is some weather report somewhere, telling people to stay inside. But I wouldn't know the difference between that and any other storm.

Totals after one month in Japan:

1 typhoon (with two pending)
2 earthquakes
Me, three; Japan, ZERO