Ekiden send-off

Our ekiden team has THE meet tomorrow. If they don`t place in the top X tomorrow, they won`t go to the prefectural meet in mid-October. So just now, in the court yard, there is a send-off of sorts for the team.

Even with the marching band and the entire school present, the send-off was goofier than it was solemn. There was a troupe of male cheerleaders, and each cheerleader wears that white headband thing Japanese soldiers always wore in WW2 movies. They took turns yelling, waving the school flag, leading school fight songs, and doing goofy, sumo-like dances to the school fight songs. Imagine a bunch of middle schoolers, skinny with high-pitched voice, doing something like that New Zealand rugby thing. I didn`t crack up, some girls did, and they received stern stare from the principle. It was over in less than 20 minutes, thank god.

Just one of those goofy Japanese things I guess. Then again, to think that the kamikaze pilots probably received similar treatment before their flight, I guess it is not as funny as it seemed afterall.

The last bit of summer

I found the body of a cicada, beside the damp dirt road. I had seen them lying around and desiccating everywhere in the summer heat. But today, the air was cool, the rice paddies a golden brown, and with no other cicadas chirping, it just didn`t sound like summer anymore.

I wondered if anyone had heard this cicada`s last song? Did its mate hear it? Or did the summer`s last cicada die alone? It`s appendages were locked in a way as if it were still clinging to the tree bark. Maybe it died while still clinging to the last bits of summer.

Typhoon no.21

Yet another typhoon, the 21st this year. This one avoided Taiwan, and came straight northward to Japan in full strength. Just arrived in western Japan apparently, judging by the two power outages, torrant rain, and enough wind to lift 20 Marilyn Monroes in the past 45 minutes.

Pretty shitty weather, to say the least.

Since twenty-four

On Saturday afternoon, went to the Odaiba beach party with Simona. The weather was horrible, but we drove there anyway since we hadn`t heard any news of the party being cancelled. We got there around 4.5pm, and the first people did not show up until 6pm. So much for beach activities. Many people showed up, met a few 2nd and 3rd year JETs whom I haven`t met before. Lots of people full of sperms and eggs and ethanol. I felt a little bit left out because, despite the fact that I`ve got sperms and there were lots of eggs, I didn`t have any ethanol. Still I had a sobering good time. Left the party with Simona a bit after 10, got back to Yonago around 11, had a beer with Ian at the Brown Sugar before I went to sleep.

Next morning Segawa-sensei picked me up at the apartment, and we went fishing. Met the rest of the crew at Akasaki port: Yoshida, Morita and his kid Kyoske(sp?), Sakesegawa and her two kids, Segawa-sensei, his wife, and their baby. I had no idea that 1) that this was a family fishing trip and 2) that this wasn`t a boat fishing trip. On the invitation that was passed around the staff room, it specifically mentioned that we will meet Sunday morning at Akasaki port, aboard Yoshida #2, and driven by captain Yoshida. Little did I know that it was an inside joke of sorts--everybody knew that Yoshida wants a boat but doesn`t have one. So we fished little (<10cm) blow fish, thorn fish and other assortments of poisonous/unedible specimens. The pole setup was kind of strange too: pole and a link of multiple hooks and plastic baits, with a little weighted cup of chum/bait at the end of the line. You drop the cup in the water, the chum/bait floats and swirls in mid-water, attracting all fish in the vicinity into a feeding frenzy, and you sit and hope one gets hooked. It was kind of fun at first to maneuver the line and the hooks and disguise them in the chum cloud, but it soon got pretty old when you realize that, it is mostly luck and requires as much skill as pachinko. Everyone enjoyed it, go figure. We had BBQ afterwards on the beach, it was better and cheapter than yakiniku restaurants. I played frisbee, baseball, and soccer with a trio of 5-8 year olds in the sand. It was worth giving up on the beach party the night before.

Monday I didn`t go to school, instead I went to the English speech/recitation contest in Yonago. Three of my 3rd year`s competed in it and I had been coaching them afterschool for two weeks. None of them won anything, but they met some of my fellow JETs and they seemed happy about it (apparently happier than I thought: just 5 minutes ago, Chika wanted me to give a thick envelope with Pooh art to Matt; I coulda teased her about it but decided not to, she looked terrified enough just asking me to pass on the letter).

From left to right: Chika, Mae, and Yoshiko @ the speech contest.


Yesterday I went to Gotokaoka JR high school in Yonago with Matt to observe Suzanna, a 2nd year JET, teaching in her classes. It was official JET business, a job training of sorts. Besides the fact that Gotokaoka chuu is 7 times as large as my school, everything was essentially the same and no revelations were imparted. Though they have a judo team, a boys` volleyball team, boys+girls basketball team, badminton, swimming, etc., I have to say that I did not envy Suzanna`s situations at all. She meets her students less than once a week, she is basically a human tape recorder (well, so am I on most days), the school infrastructure is dilapidated, and some of her teachers` quietly dismissive attitudes revealed how absolutely useless and expendable her role is. Though on most days, I don`t fare any better in the classrooms, I do feel that I have a presence in the school above and beyond my (near) accent-free English. I am treated as an equal collegue and not a mere assistant by the teachers, but the students know me and in time, I will know them too. One good thing about Tuesday: I didn`t have to leave Yonago, and the day was over by three thirty. I got a haircut at Ikka, an English-speaking hair salon, which was introduced to me by that Japanese girl with good English but better-looking friend at Hangover (Tyler got the #). Lisa, the fluent Japanese speaking girl from Scotland(?) was there. The shop was owned by Yu-san, who speaks passable English and passable Mandarin in a baritone voice, loves Taiwan and its foods, and owns a lefty brown `69 Mustang. The hairdressor`s names were Amy (spoke very good English) and Ma-chan (not to be confused with Majong). They were happy to chat with Matt and I, and gave me a 50% discount on my haircut (\2000 for \4000). Though the cut is not $40 quality, I will definitely go back for more.

The same (last) night, I finished reading 天竜八部, the Chinese kung-fu novel sent by mom, a 2-week, 10 books, 4000+ page effort. So now what am I going to do with my nights?

Okayama pics

Okayama 岡山 is a city about 1.5 hours south of Yonago by car. Drove there with Simona and Ian last Saturday. Some pics:


烏城 (ujo), the Okayama Castle, also known as the crow`s castle beacuse of it`s black color. Like many other castles in Japan (except for the Mastsue castle), this was destroyed during and restored after WW2.


The only original and undamaged part of the castle.


Inside the castle is a museum of sorts. Not as impressive as the one in Mastsue (which had 7 levels compared to Okayama`s 3). This calligraphy was written by the former lord of the castle and said in kanji: "Wine is the best of all drugs."


They also let you wear costumes and take pictures. Only one person at a time though, so Simona and Ian and I were unable to all dress up and reenact Lords and their Concubine.


So we did it out of costume instead, the Humpers and the Shrew.


This one was written by Hirohito, the Japanese emperor during WW2. Even non-readers of Kanji can appreciate the gentle meekness of his calligraphy compared to the emphatic forcefulness of the previous one.

We didn`t really do all that much on Okayama besides the castle, the Japanese garden surrounding it, spaghetti lunch and the shopping district in front of the train station. However, this picture did make my day:


I wonder if you can rent furries porn in Japan?

After Okayama at about 3pm, we had a hard time deciding between about to Kurashiki, another city .5 hour away with a supposedly excellent museum full of impressionist art, and Yubara, a small town full of onsen　(hot springs; Yubara 湯原 translates to "The fountainhead of hot water"). An executive decision had to be made and I was behind the wheels. One right turn and 40 minutes later, we`re sitting in a outdoor onsen, wearing nothing except for a small towel (big enough to cover either the front, the back, or the front plus half a cheek). There were two natural-looking pits, between the side of the dirt road and a purling cold stream (I have no clue how the water stays hot). The bottom of the pit were lined with smooth pebbles. Between the gradually darkening sky, a light drizzle and the steam, it was beautiful even with scores of naked Japanese men and toweled Japanese women. I didn`t take any pictures, fearing that the camera might be damaged by the steam or angry naked men/women. Surprisingly I felt no hang-up getting naked in front of these people, and actually felt unnatural and self-conscious only when I covered up in front of Simona.


Simona and Ian.

After dinner (okonomiyaki), we left Yubara around 7pm and encountered this guy

and just had to pull over and take pictures with him. Because this mannequin was covered with reflective paint, I couldn`t get a good shot even with the flash. The humor in this requires some explanation.

Having been driving for 2 weeks now, I`ve noticed that traffic workers on Japanese roads and parking lots are mostly useless. They seem to serve no apparent purpose, standing on the sides of the roads and waving you through in wide open roads (not even at intersections) when there`s no obvious reason to ever stop or even slow down. On the drive to Okayama, I saw one of these workers waving a lightstick down the freeway, and just as I was about to finish my comment on the absurd non-function of these people, the 3 of us simultaneous realized that it was a mannequin. We had a good laugh about it then, but we had no idea. 1/4 mile later, there was another traffic worker waving a lightstick--a visibly bored, but very real person this time. We literally poked our heads out of the window, fingers pointing, and openly mocked the collegue of a mannequin.

Naturally we had to take a picture on the return trip. Ah, to be on the road again.

Yet another Japanese language note

Ever wonder about how all these illogical and contradictory Zen Buddhist koans, like "the sound of one hand clapping" or "beginner`s expertise"?

Just found out that there is no clear distinction between "any" and "some" in Japanese.

How can you expect these Japanese Zen masters (though Zen Buddhism originated in China, it only reached its modern form in Japan) to be logical, when you don`t even have the vocabulary to separate existential and universal statements or distinguish sufficient and necessary conditions?

Japanese grammar as an explanation of Japanese mentality?

My Japanese is at a kindergarten level at best, but I`ve picked up enough to notice a few things.

For one, in English, we would say: "I studied textbook at my friends`s house very hard yesterday because I am bad at Japanese." The sentence structure is who-verb-what-how-where-when-why. In Japanese, 僕わ日本語が下手なので、昨日に友達の家で、熱心に本を勉強しました。(whew), which literally translates to "I, because I am bad at Japanese, on yesterday at my friend`s house, very hard I studied." The sentence structure is who-why-when-where-what-verb. Besides the subject and the verb which always fall in the very beginning and very end respectively, the order of everything in between is the reverse of English, but is often interchangeable.

But, when referring to oneself as the subject, the word "I" in the beginning is implicitly understood and often dropped. As a result, one often would never start a sentence with "I".

Might this have something to do with the group mentality--to put the group, and the individual`s relationship to the group, ahead of the individual--of most Japanese people?

I had this thought while spacing out during my 3rd period class. It was a lot more interesting and revealing then, before I put it down in digits.

Hilarious

Yang can cook, and so can you.

Belated Undoukai pics

It`s such a pain in the ass shrinking all the high-res pictures into a size reasonable for internet publishing/storage, it took me a full week to actually get to it. The pics are mostly in 300x225 resolution since there are many.

Anyway, so here they are, undoukai pictures. Undoukai is Sports` Day, basically an annual sports festival held during the autumn semester (2nd semester; Japanese school year, as well as financial/tax calendar, starts in April). It is a competition between all classes and grades as well an excuse for the townspeople to gather and hangout. Students spent a full school week, plus summer and afterschool hours to prepare for this event. Most of the time were spent on class mascots, made out of bamboo skeleton and paper mache`:


Mascot of class 1A (7th grade). Korosuke, some cartoon character created by the creator of Doraimon, another cartoon character (which I grew up watching).


1B. The head of Sakesagawa-sensei. I wish I had a picture of her to show the likeness of this project.


2A (8th grade). Goyaama. I have no idea what the hell this thing was.


2B. Ultraman.


3A (9th grade). This was pretty impressive.


3B. So was this.

This mascots, as well as the class flag, are props in the class parade, during which students prepare some sort of skit/dance number with corresponding theme.



The back of Sakesegawa-sensei taking a picture of her own likeness.


Segawa-sensei carrying his class flag.

Some formalities involved in the undoukai:


The announcer,


the marching band (they were placed 1st in prefectural competition and 3rd in Chugoku area competition),


the bigwigs (mayor, head of board of education, principles from other schools, etc.),


the Japanese, city, and school flags (raised during national anthem, which sounded strangely unfinished like it was cut-off in the middle),


students taking the oath of sportsmanship,


introduction of different club activities and award ceremony,


the volleyball team, which won the prefectural junior-high tournament,


and Nakayama entou, some kind of Japanese traditional dance which I was required to participate wearing a borrowed yukata.

And onto the events. These are fairly typical:


Warmup aerobics;


100m race, each class pick 10 runners (boy and girl), and the classes are ranked by the most heat wins;


800m race for girls, 1000m race for boys. Winner of race wins points for his/her class;


One of those 2 Man 3 Legs relay races;


Who can jump rope the most times;


Centipede relay race.

Plus three more events that are a bit more unusual. First, as I have introduced in a previous entry, kunitade, or human formation/pyramid, coordinated by whistle:









all pyramids collapse on the 4th whistle,



Another event that`s for girls only: tire pull. Tires are aligned in the middle of the field,


The girls are divided into east/west Nakayama,



And then all hell breaks loose!





Tires with different sizes have different point values, and the side with the most points wins.


And the loser gets medical attention.


Another boys` only event: horse battle. Boys are divided into east/west Nakayama,



and the side with the most surviving horseman wins. Different strategies apply:


Group melee,



One-on-one battle,


Or evasive maneuver.

All in all, it was worth the sunburns.

Things to be blogged

just a short to-do list for me. To be replaced by actual entries later.

Undoukai plus photos.

Okayama trip with Simona and Ian.

Sun night with Yuko.

First planned lesson.

Too little energy

Things happened today. But I have too little energy to record. The temperture too hot, the climate too humid, my nose too congested and runny, body too dehydrated, had too many (5) classes and too many unparticipating kids, lost too much money ($60 over the last 3 days) on PTY, and wasted too much time not doing what I ought to be doing to celebrate the beginning of a 3-day weekend. I think I might make a road trip to Okayama, but then again, I might not.

In between my therbligs

A therblig is a unit of work or absence of work into which an industrial operation may be divided. In my case it is 50 minutes, the length of one class period. And my next therblig does not start for another .5 hours.

Carpooled Amy this morning. We live in the same apartment, our schools are 5 minutes away on foot, and she had a sore back. Perhaps after her train pass runs out I ought to propose regular carpooling, for a fee of course.

Anyway, on the ride this morning we had a discussion on politics. It was brief and not very well thought out on my part. Something I hope to remedy now.

I hate politics. I hate politicians and them doing what they do. But I especially hate people talking about politics. As a whole, people who enjoy talking about politics are more interested in speechifying their own opinions, with an implicit agenda of making you believe what they believe, rather than having an actual exchange of ideas. Ironically, in this way they behave very much in the same manner as politicians, whom they usually despise or at least hold themselves superior to. Additionally, I find that people who are most opinionated and passionate about politics are often the ones who are least informed (though they are often smug about their ability to fact-drop).

Politics is not about who is right or who is wrong, it is even less so about choosing what is best for the country. People do not vote for policies or partisanships but their own morality and worldview. People who value discipline and success will vote with the conservatives, people who value nurture and fairness will vote with the liberals. The politicians` job then, is to sell their policies in neat little packages to suit the voters` moral taste. Since politics are decided on such deeply internalized personal feelings, convincing another of the merit of one`s personal view is simply a waste of energy that accomplishes nothing. It`s like trying to convince a lactose-intolerant that gouda tastes good.

Since I am mostly apolitical, I guess I am amoral as well.

You`ve lost that !%$?ing feeling

The urge to breed has reached an unprecedented upswing. Not chick-flick sensuality, not romance novel companionship, but I am swelling with hardcore porn lasciviousness to give to something soft and warm that moans. Driven mad by a daily barrage of teenage girls (I am in the center of a triangle of high schools, one of which possibly all-girl), I woe the day I might become just one of "those" Japanese men who obsess about sailor suits and bobby socks. What devilish curse!

The question then, is what remedies are available to one thusly afflicted? Japanese porn, as explicitedly argued in a previous entry, is long on kinkiness but short on satisfaction. Importing uncensored material from US is uneconomical and embarrasingly impractical. My Japanese is laughably pre-school to make serious attempts at non-English-speaking J-girls. There are no suitable prospects from the foreigners community (unattractive/no common ground/married/committed/too far away/questionable interest). Then, short of turning gay or to the Thai whores/hostesses in Asahi-machi, my only real option is English-speaking Japanese girls, which are as rare as typhoons in California.

Luckily I found one. Her name is Yuko Tagouchi.

She might be down too, unless I am confusing her desire to get into my pants for her excitement for learning English. English-conversaion meetings and dates can be easily confused sometimes. No confusion from my end though: last Saturday when we ate and drank lightly at Torico Spoon, I had to readjust at least 3 times.

She has freckles, which is good because 1) I like them and b) I know she doesn`t use too much makeup. And, unless I misunderstood her having gone to Osaka University for her having gone to a university in Osaka, she is very smart, or at least was good enough of a student to get into Osaka University. Her English is certainly good enough to have a relatively involved conversation, a feat for even some U.S. girls. She likes Oscar Peterson and most of my jokes. I have only seen her twice, she is one year and 3 months older than me (4/20/78, if I am correct, somehow I doubt that I will have much difficulty remembering that one), her voice is throaty but not in a sexy way, and I think her head is one Elaine-size too big for her body--but that hasn`t been a problem on either times I saw her since all I could remember were all those different shapes of her eyes and what her calves might have felt like.

Problem: how to get from the thin disguise of language exchange to some serious seriousness? And I mean the soft and warm and moany kind of seriousness.

I see her again this weekend.

Undoukai Sunday

Just want to leave a note varifying my presence at school on Sunday. Undoukai just finished, will blogg later. I will be going home soon followed by a mix of beer and sake that equals my body weight and Monday and Tuesday off.

Brief note on Friday

Besides the smoking poster, several other events transpired on Friday. I have to be brief so I can get out of here on time to meet Yuko.

The orientation at Tohaku: drove to Urayasu with Adam in the morning. The training was mostly a waste of time. Carinne`s lesson planning ideas were right out of the available books and websites, so were Tori`s elementary lesson demonstration. Niki`s workshops on building relationships with coworkers was more like a chance for her to show off her supposedly superb interpersonal skills and how cool her kocho-sensei is (needless to say, seeing and listening to her outside of dimmed pubs and dancefloors have completely destroyed whatever favorable impressions I might have had about her). The whole thing was just stupid.

I did get my car though. More on that later.

To smoke or not to smoke?

I went to Tohaku for a Tottori JET orientation yesterday. It was mostly a waste of a day, but I did take the following two pictures.



This is a poster found in the Urayasu JR station. I have seen anti-tobacco posters like this all over trains and train stations in Japan. The arrangement and the English translations of the descriptions next to the pictures are oddly poetic (I will write them out in case they can`t be read on your browser):

"I moved to avoid him.
But my smoke didn`t."

"Cigarette smoke is wider
than a human body."

"A cigarette but tossed in a puddle absorbs
water and becomes hundreds of pieces of trash."

"In summertime,
the arms that pass
near my lit cigarette
are bare."

The funniest and most ironic thing about this poster, is that it is placed right next to a cigarette vending machine.

Saturday blog and random pics

It`s Saturday, typhoon no.18 has passed, it`s sunny outside--so what the fuck am I doing typing on my keyboard at work?

Answer: because this Saturday is a work day. Tomorrow will be too. The make-up weekend does not arrive until Mon and Tue because of the school-wide undoukai (sports festival) on Sunday.

Note: previous blog entries on 9/6 and 9/9 have been updated with pictures.

Random pics of the day:

The shoes of everybody at school(142 people) during kunitade practice inside the gym


In the west, we have "The calm before the storm." In the east, we have "The sunset before the typhoon."

Kunitade Practice

Kunitade is one of the undoukai(Sports Day) events. Basically it is a series of various human pyramid formations involving 2-10 people. Its main purpose is basically to show the city hall people, other esteemed guests and parents that the time and money spent in PE classes did not go to waste on these kids. It also has the side effect of team-building and establishing trust between all the kids, I guess.

Some 2-3 man formations:







Pyramid:


And once the pyramid is set, the students look up, left, right, down, back up, and collapse the pyramid (resulting on 10 man falling on top of each other) on whistle blows.


Fan:
]

There are a couple more formations that I didn`t capture, including a human tower (basically a circular variation on the pyramid).

These are just kunitade practices, held inside the gym. On the day of the undoukai, the kunitade is done on gravel fields. And it hurts like hell. I`ve done it on undoukai rehearsals on the gravel, replacing an absent big kid in the bottom of the pyramid, and got scrapes and cuts all over (and re-opened the wound on my left knee for the 3rd time, it has yet to heal completely in 6 weeks). Despite all that I really enjoyed it. It is just a ton of fun putting all your body weight on another while supporting someone else`s weight.

On a side note relating to kunitade, one thing I`ve noticed about these Japanese kids is that physically, they are completely comfortable with each other, despite being in the awkward age of puberty. Between boys, between girls, between boys and girls, it makes no difference. I`ve observed boys massaging each other`s legs and asses(!) between track races, boys holding hands, girls braiding and brushing each others` hair, girls fondling and comparing the development of each other`s breasts(!) in hallways (I wished I had my camera), and boys and girls tagging and tackling each other in piles. To me, this was a side of Japan that I did not expect.

I suppose that the fact that this is a small rural community and that these kids literally grew up with each other has something to do with their comfort with each other. Also in general these kids, unlike the teeny boppers in US that I`ve come to know, seem to have no concept of adolescence and are perfectly content to remain as kids. Their counterpart in more populated and more "developed" Japanese big cities might be more aware of their body and personal spaces and their development. Regardless, their innocense is refreshing to me.

The longest word

The longest official word ever (1,913 letters) is the term for the formula C1289H2051N343O375S8

Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenyl-
alanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysyglutamyl-
gycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylvalylthreonyl-
leucylglycylaspartylprolylglycyllisoleucylglutamylglutaminyl-
serylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucyl-
glutamylalanylglycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucyl-
glycylisoleucylprolylphenylalanylserylaspartylprolylleucyl-
alanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylglutaminylasparaginyl-
alanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanyl-
glycylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanyl-
glutamylmethionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyl-
lysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucyl-
leucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphenylalanyl-
asparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyl-
tyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalyl-
aspartylsrylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalyl-
glutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenylalanylarginylglutaminyl-
alanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylalanyl-
prolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartyl-
alanylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminyl-
isoleucylalanylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyl-
tyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycylvalylthreonylglycyl-
alanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylleucyllysyl-
glutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminyl-
glycylphenylalanylglysylisoleucylserylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminyl-
valyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanylglycylalanylalanyl-
glycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylvalyllysylisoleucyl-
isoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamyl-
prolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenyl-
alanylvalylglutaminylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginy-
lserine.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A182765

On the flip side, the word for categorizing something as worthless, is floccinaucinihilipilification.

Congratulations!?

A friend of mine, who shall remain unnammed here, has just met someone who

"is down for anything....got S&M equipment, got multiple kinds of lotions and has had a serious relationship with another couple (3 some)....[and] has a 2 year old kid."

I don`t know if I should be envious of or terrified for this person.

Ryoma Takami

Just finished reading the summer English diary from Ryoma Takami, who may or may not have a crush on Amy. He sent her a letter about the location of local art museums and the bus/train schedules to reach them, when he found out that Amy likes art from his 4th grade sister. Hmm. Kid`s smooth. Anyway, his diary is definitely one of the most insightful and introspective. Some quotes that I REALLY quoted:

"I hate Tottori because it has bad atmosphere" (Takami 7/17).
"I was sad because I didn`t know why" (Takami 7/18). This is either incorrect grammar or incredibly deep Zen meta-insight.
"I suddenly turned on the TV. It had environmental problems program. And it give a question to us. What is true rich?" (Takami 7/19).
"I watched the sun set, I had like in a story" (Takami 7/19).
"I cut bamboo like hard paper" (Takami 7/28).
"We went to Shimane Museum of Art...We went to Tanabe Museum" (Takami 7/31).
"I went to the library because I was looking for the picturepostcard between the pages of the book" (Takami 8/1). I`ve seen lots of my students hanging out in the library, so that`s what they`re doing--treasure-hunting between the pages.
"I went to the sea to clear the beach today" (Takami 8/8)

added after kunitade practice:

So, as it turned out, Ryoma is the same kid as the soccer/ekiden player whom has attracted my attention from my first day of work. On the first day, Yoshida-sensei pulled Ryoma aside and introduced him to me, added that "He is very fast." I saw him at the ekiden meet, and he is indeed fast (<10:20 for 3000 meters). He is pretty short, but I dont`t think that it is simply because he hasn`t hit puberty--his voice is pretty deep already. Perhaps it is merely because of the baritone voice, but he seems more mature to me. He carries himself with an air of quiet confidence and self-sufficiency. He seems so self-contained to the extent of appearing loner-esque. He does not attach himself with any cliques or regular groups, and yet he does not lack friends. Kids gravitate towards him without him making any apparent effort to appease or stand out. He is the only kid at school whom I`ve seen kids approach for one-on-one conversations, boys AS WELL as girls (at the ekiden race, the volleyball captain Yuka sat side by side next to him in the rain and they talked quietly...it was drizzling, and Kageyama-sensei put an umbrella over them but they turned around before I had a chance to take a picture; you had to be there for this middle-school moment). I don`t know, he kind of reminds me of myself a little bit when I was his age.

Dreamt

Dreamt that I was wrestling some Mongolian kid, on the Mongolian prarie under the Mongolian sun surrounded by a tribe of Mongolians. All my jabs and pulls felt weak, like somehow I can only access 30% of my strength.

This happens a lot actually, everytime I punch, run, jump, or otherwise physically exert myself in my dreams. Don`t know if this has to do with the fact that human muscles are in a deep relaxation state during REM, or some kind of Freudian subconscious repression.

Deep thoughts: J-porn

Got membership at the video rental store yesterday. Rented Last Exile, an anime entirely in Japanese, as a cover for porn. Right now I estimate my ratio of regular movie versus porn rentals at 1:1. Having viewed my first native Japanese porn, I now understand the reason why anime porns and other kinky genres are so popular among Japanese men.

Simple: Japanese censorship laws require even hard-core porn movies to blur out the genitals. So you see girls sucking on a blur, guys licking at a blur, guys and girls fucking at a blur. It was hugely unsatisfying. I guess that anime porn is just one way to add appeal and circumvent the law by showing animated pussy and cock. Another is rape porn, apparently a genre condoned and popular enough to have a whole aisle devoted to it at the video store. Others include big tits, students, house wives, and S&M. Kinkiness abound. There were a few other sections/genres that I do not understand. One translated to horny girls. Another translated to reserved/faithful girls. Another translated to professionals or career women, and the back covers showed women in suits and suitcases. Perhaps the Japanese men, having no visual access to straightup un-blurred or blacked-out movies, instead developed more refined and elaborate preferences for their porn. The one I rented from the new release section showed just a pretty face on the cover and hand-written bio on the back in pink pencil and lots of hearts. It was just mysterious enough to warrant a rental. It turned out to be a hour-long tease/foreplay/sex session with one single girl, apparently continuous without cuts. She never gets completely naked, so I`m guessing that the presence of school uniforms is required for the fans of the student genre to get off. I actually fell asleep in the middle. I`m not making this up(this was around 10pm, and I did get only 4 hours of sleep the night before).

Without internet at home and only sub-par Japanese porn available, performing manual override will prove to be tougher than ever.

Undoukai, ekiden race, the cause of yesterday`s hangover

My first weekend without my computer--cause for the blogging delay.

Most Japanese junior high schools have this annual tradition of undoukai in the second semester, which everyone refers to as "Sports Day." This whole week the classes are either shortened or cancelled as the school prepares for this Saturday`s undoukai. During the sports day, there will be school-wide competitions between classes and grades in events like human-pyramid building, horse battle, tire pulling, track&field events, team jump-roping, tug-o-war...etc. Basically it`s an annual organized play time between all 142 students. I will be blogging more about this over the week, since there isn`t much happening besides undoukai prep anyway, and since much has happened over my blog-less weekend.

I went to a track meet with the ekiden team on Saturday. Ekiden is basically long-distance relay. 6 runners, each running in a relay race with various distances, between 2km to 3km, covering a total of 18km(6x3km) for boys and 12km(4x1.5km+2x3km) for girls. On Saturday, all the ekiden runners competed in an individual track meet in Nawa, which served as official time trial for the entire team. I had thought that, since these are 13-15 year olds and everyone is required to join a club activity, these kids can`t be faster than my slow ass.

Two girls (both 9th graders) ran the 3000m, both finished under 13 minutes. All the rest of the girls ran the 1500m, and no one ran slower than 7 minute miles. The boys all ran the 3000m, with finish times varying from mid-11`s to low 10`s.

In other words, on the track, I doubt that I can even keep up with the slowest girls, let alone the boys with mid 5-minute mile speed, in the shape I`m in right now. Keep in mind that these are kids 13-15 years old.

On further inquiry, Yoshida-sensei told me that these kids jog/run/speed train almost every morning between 4-8 kilometers during practices over the summer. That`s a weekly average of 40 kilometers, or about 25 miles a week. Keep in mind that these are kids 13-15 years old.

I recognized some of these kids from my volleyball and soccer practices over the summer. Like this kid Yuka, who`s the captain of the volleyball team.


Which meant that over the summer, when I wake up at 7:30 to get ready for the 8:40 train for school, these kids are already warmed up and stretched. And by the time I get to school at 9am, these kids already finished running/jogging/speed training 4 miles. And by the time I "visit" volleyball or soccer practices, some of these kids are ready for another 2 hours of volleyball or soccer or track and field or kendo or baseball or table tennis. I can`t believe that these are 13-15 year old kids.

I just couldn`t help but cheer my throat out for these kids during their races. They have put so much of their heart and soul into this, much more than I previous thought capable by 13-15 year olds. And I could see them responding to me too, even though I was never there for them when they had cramps or ankle sprains or shin-splints (from their English summer diaries), and they have no idea what the hell I was screaming in English. I moved around the track and placed myself at the turns to cheer for these kids. I get all misty just thinking about it, picturing in my mind as they make a move on the kid ahead as I screamed at them to suck it up.

Before the race, the entire team huddled in a circle, and each runner screamed out their time goal (I also have a closer panoramic picture which I will post later).


This one kid, the soccer team captain, called out 9 minutes flat (that`s about a 4:40 mile). Everyone laughed, and so did he, so I guess he`s kind of like the joker of the group. He was the last person to run, with a group of exclusively high school runners who were on average a foot taller. He finished 3000m in 10:31 and came in last. Both coaches (Segawa-sensei and Yoshida-sensei) and a group of other boys, unchoreographed, sprinted to the other side of the track to receive him as he walked off the finish area.

Some other pics:

Warmup








Pre-race bowing to the field


Two of many starting lines:



I guess I shouldn`t be surprised that Mizuki Noguchi won the Olympic gold for women`s marathon. I do get all misty, everytime when I see her cross the finish line on TV. It is one Japanese Olympic moment I don`t mind watching a million times. I don`t think there`s any other sport that`s more emotionally stirring than long-distance running. Just thinking about it makes me want to go out there and put some miles in (which I did Saturday morning, and my right knee still aches).

After the race, I went to a yaki-niku (a restaurant where you grill your own plate of raw meat in the bbq pit at your table; yaki-grill, niku-meat) place with Yoshida, Segawa, Ogura, Nishiyama, and Kageyama, near the Yayoi department store in Yonago. The meat was very good, the beers were plenty, and this picture was taken:


(left to right: Nishiyama, Ogura, Yoshida, Segawa, Kageyama, and me)

I tried a Korean sake which was opaque, nama (raw beef), raw livers, and raw cow intestines. The meal cost 5000yen per person, which I`m finally realizing is about the standard going-rate for going-out in Japan (in Tokyo, I`ve been told, would be twice that).

Nishiyama-sensei left after yaki-niku, leaving me to carry on the night with 4 other non-English-speaking teachers. We went to another bar in Asahi-machi (the drinking district in Yonago, Piman and Hai Hi Picadoss are also here), where every table comes with hostess girls.


Yoshida-sensei`s pained expression strongly suggests that there is a toothpick stuck in his right nostril (this suspicion can confirmed with higher resolution).

Despite the presence of these two lovely ladies, there`s no touching and just frendly drunken banter. At this point I was starting to feel the alcohol (I had 5 at the yaki-niku place, and then I lost track), and the guys understood and can reproduce English words such as "fuck," "cock," "boobies," and the like, so we had no communication problems. Yoshida-sensei started to grope (in what I deemed an unthreatening manner) and use the deep sexy voice on the girl to my left (the one in pink/golden chi-pow(a traditional Chinese dress) whose facial features strongly suggest Thai). She kept leaning into me for cover and I became the butt-end of all sorts of jokes. The other girl wore a blue chi-pow and just happened to be Ogura-sensei`s student about 5 years ago, so he took over as the butt-end of jokes. It was strange to feel like one of the guys and knowing only 3 licks of Japanese, but it was fun. It was another 4000 yen, I was 2000en short and 5 seconds too slow to pull out the money. But Kageyama-sensei said something and judging from the group`s reaction, had decided to pay the bill in full. A round of applause and then he became the butt-end of the all jokes. Then we took a taxi back to Segawa-sensei`s place.

His house was huge by Japanese standards. It was so huge and so decadent in traditional Japanese style I immediately pegged him as the trust-fund baby type who inherited the house. I pissed in a downstairs urinal. His wife cooked us sausages. A few more dick jokes and another round of beers/brandies later, the conversation took on a serious tone, led by Segawa-sensei. I couldn`t understand the content, but I could guess that the discussion revolves around the hierarchy of power at school. I sensed that a power play was at hand. The names of Hiyashibara (principle), Fujita(vice-principle), Ogura(don`t know exactly what her position is, but she`s definitely 3rd on the ladder), and Nishiyama(the head of 3rd year teachers, one of the English teachers) were mentioned repeatedly, with Nishiyama`s the most frequent. I was only mildly surprised how accurate my impression of Segawa-sensei was(in 8/18 entry, when I described him as `beta-male`). From the tone of voice and body language, I sensed complaints about Nishiyama and impatience at Hiyashibara. In Japanese school systems, the principle is basically an honerary position and requires no specific duty--just a post for the soon-to-be-retired. I have no idea how one can move up on the ladder but I should find out before I read more into evesdropped conversations I do not understand. However, I am certain that there was palpable tension around the table that night, or morning. It must`ve been around 3am and I soon followed Yoshida-sensei and passed out on the futon.

The next morning I had a mild hang-over. A slight headache but no nausea. Yoshida-sensei drove me back. Shopped at Jusco with Matt and Ian. I wanted to check out this place called Tenshin, a ramen shop that came highly recommended by one of my students, but there was a line outside the shop at 2pm. Instead I ramen-ed at Daioh with Matt. I've found that some ramen loaded with fat and salt really hits the hangovered spot.

A day in the life of sensei and his students

Today, students took evaluative tests in all subjects, and no classes were scheduled. I thought that I would have a nice, uninterrupted, all-day-long internet and poker session, perhaps even a little nap after lunch. Afterall, I need a little R&R after the stressful day I had yesterday and the week-long 6am wake-up call.

I was summoned to monitor a 3rd year math test during 2nd period. I arrived at the classroom 30 seconds after the bell had rung, and hurriedly passed out the 1-page test. Only until Yoshida-sensei came by 15 minutes later for questions did he correct my mistake and passed out both the 2nd page and the answer sheet. Though many students` tests were unfinished, I think it`s mostly due to general ineptitude rather than my mistake since there were a number of completed tests. The (expected) level of math in these 9th graders was more advanced than American counterparts, though not jaw-droppingly so. Some fractional arithmetic, some simple binomial factoring, some trignometry (slopes, intercepts, etc). Although they weren`t asked to solve any algebra, almost all of the non word-questions assume some tacit understanding of algebra. I couldn`t really decipher the word-questions, but they took up the majority (at least 2/3) of the test. The emphasis on word-question and problem-solving seems contrary to the kind of rote learning that Japanese is so infamous for.

Then came some more sitting in the office. I couldn`t play poker because Ogura-sensei sat next to me for the next 2 periods.

Then lunch at the cafeteria. Supposedly hamburger, but tasted rather like a mixture of pork and fish paste; wasn`t too bad though. Students around me were super conscious of the presence of a non Japanese-speaking teacher they were on the verge of freaking out, though I had two of the girls, Mirii and Saki in my class yesterday. They made lunch extremely awkward for me, which I ate in near silence.

Then some more sitting around. Minus $10 at a .5/1 table, continuing my downward spiral to minus $80.

Then I was asked to join the cleaning period. Japanese students are required to clean the campus on a daily basis. I knew this before coming because Taiwanese schools work the same way. My assignment: the student entrance and the hallway in front of the library. This would require some explanation. Japanese students take off their shoes upon entering school, and put on their slippers, stored in rows of cabinets, at the school entrance. I didn`t ask anyone about this, but I seriously suspect that my assignment--the entrance and the library hallway (which is directly facing the entrance)--may be the dirtiest place in the whole school. It is the only place in the whole school where students are allowed to wear outside shoes, and is dusty as hell. And I thought that these teachers were nice to me...

Then I grade the English test of 2nd year students. I`m sorry to write in such laundry list format, but one can`t help after reading some of these students` diary entries.

Full score is 7.

8
I got up at five thirty. We had track meet today. I will jump long jump. I jumped long jump. I could jump five meters eighty three centimeters. I was first. I was very very happy because I will go to Yokohama too this year. I got home at five o`clock. I ate rice, salad and fish for dinner. Taste was very good. I took a bath at eight forty. I watched TV. I went ot bed at ten thirty. I was very very tired. But I did my self today. I will do my best in Yokohama. I will jump six meters.

8 (written by the captain of the kendo club, a girl!)
We had Chugoku contest today!! I went to kaijyo with daisenchugaku kendo bu. I practiced kendo with Osaki. Then I played game. I played game Okayama`s kendoplayer. She was very strong. I didn`t win. I was very sad because I want to win!! I was very very sad but I had a good experience. Then I was very happy!! I am going to go to Chugoku contest next year. I will try hard!

7
I got up at seven this mornin. Then I aet hotcake for breakfast. I took a bath. I played game with Kazuma and Tomoki. It was very fun. We went to Daigo (I love Daigo, an awesome udon shop in Nawa and just found another one in Yonago last night). I aet Daigoudon (same thing I had last night). It was very good (I concur). We came home. I took a nap. I watched video on TV. Title is *Hally Potte*. I like tihe video. Do you know `Hally Potte`? Hally is very very coll.

5
I got up at six-thirty. I washed my face. I brushed my teeth. Then I ate rice, salad and tea for breakfast. I left home for school at seven-forty. Today was practiced game in Nakayama. I had a very good game (I think this was the starting middle blocker). I got home at four-thirty. I was tired. I took a shower. I took a nap. Then I did my homework. I watched kuwazugirai on TV. i went to bed at eleven.

6
I got up at seven. I ate rice and misosoup for breakfast. I went to the club activity by bike. First I practiced a long distance relay race (ekiden). Next I practiced soccer very hard. I got home at eight-thirty. I ate rice and ramen for lunch. I took a nap. I played a game. I watched soccer on TV. I ate rice meat salad and ham for dinner. I took a bath. I watched baseball on TV. I studied math and English. I played a game. It was interesting. I went to bed at ten.

4.5
I got up at seven this morning. Then I at bread, salad, and milk tea for breakfast. After that I played ping pong. I drank tea and apple drank. I went to juku (cram school) and koto (traditional Japanese instrument). after that I came home. I had a rice for lunch. I played a fishing with my brother. My brother is one I have a fish is two. Today did happy(many mistakes, but I have her an extra .5 for trying).

4 (my personal favorite)
I got up at five. I went to school at six thirty. So we cut the grass. I got home at eight. I studied from 9(AM) to 8(PM). I was very tired. I went to bed at ten.

There were a few 2`s and 3`s and 0`s, but they weren`t very interesting. I noticed that these Japanese JHS students on average wake up at 6 and go to bed between 11 and 12. That`s less than 7 hours a day, every day including weekends (for some with long-distance relay practices)! I dont know how they do it. They seem to not know how to, just, chill. I do it very well. I will teach them. It is four fifty now. I don`t want to miss the train. So I will go now.