Conversations after Japanese Class
Wednesday night I go to free tutoring sessions in Gifu city. It’s a lot like the free tutoring sessions in Oita city on Thursday night that I used to go to when I lived in Ajimu. And, as with Oita city, I go to the tutoring in Gifu city as much for the social interaction as for the Japanese study.

After class I was talking to some of the other students. One of them, Alex, was slightly distraught. “I was just told in no uncertain terms that I would die before the end of the year,” he said. “My tutor said the next big earthquake would hit before this year was through, and that my apartment would not be able to withstand it.”

The greater Nagoya area (which includes Gifu) is due for a huge earthquake sometime in the near future. No one knows exactly when it will be coming, but everyone seems to agree that it is just a matter of time. “I heard it might not hit for another ten years,” I said.

Someone else chimed in. “Ten years is the high estimate. Most people think within the next three.”

“My tutor was certain it would hit within the year,” Alex said. “I said my apartment was built in the 1950s, so my tutor said there was no way it would withstand the earthquake. It would crumble to the ground, and I would die in my bed. She stated it so matter of factly as well.” He imitated the simple English of his tutor. “Oh yes. It will fall. I am sure.”

I tried to cheer him up. “Well, you only sleep for 8 hours everyday. That means there is a 2/3rds chance you won’t be in your apartment when the earthquake hits. I’d be pretty happy about those odds if I were you.”

Alex refused to be cheered up. “But those earthquakes always hit when everyone’s asleep. They always hit at like 4 or 5 in the morning. The earthquake in Iran was at 4 in the morning, wasn’t it?”

“And the one in Kobe was around 5 in the morning as well,” someone else said.

“See,” Alex said. “Those earthquakes know. They know just when to strike.”

We walked to the bar. Alex began thinking of ways to cheat his fate. “My apartment wouldn’t fall down,” he said. “It’s been standing since the 1950s, why would it fall down now?”

“There haven’t been any big earthquakes in this area since the 1950s,” someone said.

“Yeah, but there are castles and stuff that have been standing up for thousands of years. What happened in the Kobe earthquake? Did the castles fall down?” None of us seemed to know. “At any rate,” Alex continued. “None of the foreigners were hurt in Kobe, right? We’ll be okay because we foreigners.”

I don’t know what it is about being in Japan, and probably being on the JET program in particular, but there is some sort of a feeling that you can’t possibly die while in Japan. I don’t know what it is. The feeling that Japan is such a surreal environment, every day realities like death seem like they can’t touch you. Or the fact that being in Japan just seems like an extended vacation, and you never picture yourself as dying on a vacation. Or maybe it is because in Japan we are outsiders, and constantly have a feeling of not fitting in, and so it seems that we are outside of even death.

I don’t know what it is. But my first couple years in Japan I definitely had the same feeling. Whenever I was engaged in any sort of dangerous activity, I’d just think to myself, “It’s okay. This is Japan. I won’t die here.” It actually sort of surprised me when I went to a JET conference and learned that JET participants even occasionally die in Japan.

Although everyone knows it’s just a silly feeling, it seems to be something we all shared because the others joked about it as well. “You never hear about the foreigners dying in earthquakes, do you?” someone said.

“It’s like the Tsunami,” someone else added. “None of the JETs in Thailand were hurt by the tsunami.” (Miraculously this is actually true. See some of my previous posts on this (or this article).) “We JETs have some sort of power so that nothing here can touch us.”

Another person steered the conversation in a more serious direction. “Actually, JETs do occasionally die in Japan,” he said. “Traffic accidents and what not.”

“Well the way people drive here, it’s no surprise.”

A number of people murmured statements similar to this. “I’ve been hit by a car twice since I’ve been here,” someone said.

“But you never hear of any JETs who were killed in Kobe, right?” Alex repeated himself.

“I’m not sure it would be widely advertised if there were,” I said. “They certainly wouldn’t put it on the brochures.”

“Welcome to the JET program. 8 killed in Kobe.”

Alex laughed a little bit at this, but then said, “Damn it, I wish my tutor wouldn’t have said anything. Now I’m going to be worried about this for the rest of the year.”