School Assembly and Life in Japan

As September finally came around, it meant the new school year has arrived. In the Japanese school system, students do not have a three month break like they have in Canada. Instead, students have a summer break for one month, and the school year resembles more of a three semester system. So September is actually the second semester of the school year. Today we had our first official day of the new semester. I arrived at school around 8:15 and made my way to the staff room, the crummy thing is that there is a staff meeting at 8:05, but my train only arrived at 8:10 and I can’t make it any earlier then that. So whenever I come to school it will always be in the middle of the morning staff meeting, I talked to the principal and he says it’s no big deal but I still wish I could come earlier. Luckily my predecessor was a banjo playing Yankee, who had a tendency to twitch whenever he talked and usually came minutes before school starts. So I think that the precedent has been set quite low.

The thing with living in Japan and with the JET programme is that there are rules in place and certain expectations, but if you choose to not follow them, more often then not, you won’t get reprimanded for it. I have heard of some JETs who haven’t taken the initiative to be included in lesson planning, just doing the bare essentials and spend most of there time sitting around and reading novels at their desk being bored. But there have been many JETs who have asked for responsibility, shown initiative in helping out at school and have gone the extra mile, and in turn they have been accepted in the community and have the respect of their teachers. So the job is really what you want to make of it. If you choose to come right on the dot everyday, it is well within your right to do so. However, most of your other teachers will usually come an hour early and stay well into the night. So if you want your teachers to respect you and include you, you should try to follow their lead to a certain extent. As a foreigner, I am given a certain leeway on many issues, but I am going to try my best to follow my teachers lead and be as immersed in Japan as possible.

After the staff meeting everyone got ready for the school assembly. The assembly consisted of me giving a speech introducing myself that went not as smoothly as I wanted. As the procedures of bowing and waiting at prearranged times are never explained to me. So I almost began my speech prematurely; however, it all went alright in the end and I gave my introduction in Japanese. After my introduction, a trio of students welcomed me in with a speech in English explaining how they can’t wait to learn more about Hockey and Canada. It was a really nice speech and I’m excited about teaching the students and learning more about them. The rest of the day was pretty slow, as I won’t be having any classes till Tuesday, and my first week will consist of giving an introduction about myself. I spent the past month blowing about a lot of postcards and pictures from home to show my students. So if any of you are walking around Japan sometime soon, and people recognize you, it is probably because they saw you in my introduction.

The days will really pick up once I start teaching, as I’ll usually have 3 to 4 classes a day. The rest of my spare time will be spent preparing for lessons and studying Japanese. Which is pretty important to me, I’ve set it as my goal to be able to communicate at near fluent level when I leave Japan. My friend Pete and I have signed up for a Level 3 Japanese language Examination in December. This certificate in officially recognized and a Level 1 means that you are completely fluent at a college level. What I have realized being in Japan is that there is a difference from studying Japanese and actually being able to use it. I’ve studied a fair bit, but my practical usage is quite poor, I know different grammatical structures but it does always occur to me to use them. Hopefully, I can rectify this problem ASAP. Another reason why I should really get my Japanese language level to a higher fluency is that life would be a lot easier for me in Japan. Essentially, I am a retard in Japan! As not only am I Asian, but I’ve been told by almost everyone that I look Japanese. Which makes life a lot tougher over here, as store and shop workers would ask me a question, and when I don’t understand I usually pause and sometimes answer “Hai.” So when I don’t do what they ask me, they just conclude that I am must be retarded because I’m not answering them properly. When they finally realize I’m a foreigner, they are surprised that I’m not Japanese, and I have to go into a lengthy explanation that I’m Canadian, and that my parents are from Hong Kong. So, learning the language is definitely a priority that will make life a lot easier here.

This upcoming weekend I’ll be heading to Yamanashi to climb the famous Mt. Fuji. We will be leaving saturday morning and will be climbing the mountain at night, starting around 8. It is suppose to be a pretty tough climb, but its something that I’m really looking forward to. We’ll be catching the sunrise at the top in the morning, then heading to an onsen (hotspring). Looking forward to it and will let you all know how it goes.

I leave you all with my Japanese Factoid #1: In Japan it is considered rude to eat and drink when you walk. Typically, there would be benches or seats near a convince store where you can sit down and drink or eat, then go on your way. In Canada, we always eat and walk, it’s convenient and when you have food or something that you want to drink because its damn humid outside you just do it. But not in Japan, so I often have to catch myself and try not to do it, even though it is sometimes pretty hard to resist.