Another week has gone by and again I haven’t been updating this weblog regularly in order to use my internet time at the office to search for a job. (Sigh, at least in theory. See previous couple posts).
Anyway, since I haven’t been posting regularly this past week, it’s time for another (dum dum da dummm)
Week in Review
And again, I know some of you don’t like reading my longer posts, so I’ll try and break this into subsections, and you can just skim and read the parts you are interested in.
End of the year stuff
The end of March is the end of the scholastic year in Japan. Regular readers of this site will recall that the 9th grade students graduated a couple weeks ago, but classes didn't finish for the 7th and 8th graders until this week. And graduation for the Elementary schools didn't happen until this week either. Which brings me to...
Elementary school Graduation
Graduation is a lot different in Japan. It is held on a regularly school day instead of in the evening. Many parents (especially fathers) are working and can’t attend, so the primary audience is just the fellow students and the local VIPs from the community.
Although I've been in Japan almost 3 year now, this was my first year to attend an elementary school graduation. Since I only go to the elementary school 2 days a week, the previous years graduation just happened to fall on a day I wasn't present. But this year I got to see it. It was very similar to the Junior High School graduation, only not as much crying.
And as for the Junior High Schools, this week we had...
Cleaning and closing Ceremony
Of course, Japan, with its love of ceremonies, has to have a special ceremony to mark the end of the school year. This was a little boring to sit through, but thankfully short this year.
Another interesting thing about the Japanese schools is that no janitor is employed. The students clean the schools themselves everyday after lunch. And at the end of the year, there is a big cleaning. The kind of big cleaning where all the desks are pulled out of the room and every nook and cranny is cleaned. (Um, at least in theory. The kids here in Japan are like kids all over the world, they've been known to cut a few corners when the teacher's back is turned).
I tried to explain to my schools that the JET is not supposed to clean, but simply to sit in his desk and drink coffee.
No, just kidding. I participate in cleaning time every day, and it is a nice opportunity to interact with the students. It lets them practice their English on me, and I occasionally practice my Japanese on them.
So the big cleaning on Thursday and Friday allowed me a nice opportunity for more of the same interaction. Although I must admit, I was as bad as any of the kids when it came to cheating on the cleaning and acting like I was working when I was really just talking (a skill I perfected during my summers cleaning dorms at Calvin). But good interaction time.
Transfers
Another oddity about the Japanese system, at the end of the school year the teachers get transferred to different schools. About 3 years is the average time for a teacher to stay at one school before getting transferred to another one. So, after 3 years, I’m beginning to find myself one of the most senior faculty members at the schools I teach at.
It is a different system, and it has its ups and downs. It has allowed me to meet and get to know a large variety of different teachers, but it is always a bit sad this time of the year saying good-bye to people who are transferred.
And what is true in the schools is also true in the town office and even private businesses in Japan. Everyone gets transferred around this time of year. In the Board of Education my friend Issei is getting transferred.
Issei is only a few years older than me, and has been my best friend at the Board of Education. Although since he got married he hasn't been available for socializing after work, at the Board of Education he has always bent over backwards to help me out with everything I needed. I was a bit sad to hear he was leaving, but given the Japanese system I knew it would happen eventually.
With his transfer, it also means that no English speakers are left at the Board of Education. I’m actually feeling confident enough in my Japanese recently that I think I’ll be able to get by, but when the new JET arrives in August, he or she is going to have a hell of a time. The Board of Education is not only responsible for the JET’s work duties, but also for helping him or her get settled into Japan, sorting out banking accounts and telephone bills and apartment arrangements, etc, etc, etc. The new JET who arrives in August is going to be in for a rough start.
Charity Cycling Ride
This week Friday, Saturday and Sunday was the annual charity cycling ride through Oita Prefecture. It is organized by JETs, but is a mixed group of JETs and Japanese people. It is a 3 day cycling ride through the countryside, somewhat reminiscent of the bike trips I went on in High School with the Church youth group. Although the topography of Japan is a lot different than Michigan. The mountainous landscape makes the Japanese countryside very beautiful, but a challenging cycle. Cyclists collect pledge money and it is donated to charity (this year to the earthquake victims in Iran).
My Past Experience
The first year I was here I did this bike trip, and although the up hills were frustrating at the time, I have fond memories of the trip. The Japanese country side is beautiful, and the cherry blossom trees were blooming early that year so I remember riding down from the mountain into valleys filled with the red cherry blossom flowers. Perhaps one of my best memories of my time in Japan.
Unfortunately in Japan finding a bicycle my size was a challenge. After driving all the way to Fukuoka, I was able to find a bicycle that was almost big enough for me. Almost. My legs were never able to fully extend on the down stroke, even with the seat raised well past the safety levels. And the handle bars couldn't be raised on this bike, so after raising the seat all the say up, I was bent over at a slightly awkward angle to grab the handle bars.
Not a big deal for the short term, but when biking on a trip like this and putting in 100 kilometer days, these little things start to matter. I almost didn't do the trip my first year because I was worried about the short comings of my bike. But I did it anyway, and ended up having a great time. In the months that followed I even rode that bike frequently around my town, and on my way to work.
And then rainy season came. As a Michigan native, I was unprepared for rainy season. I had my bike under a shelter, but not inside. When it started to rust, I just let it go. It was never really a great fit for me anyway.
Unwilling to put forth the money for another bike that wasn't going to fit me anyway, I just sat out the bike trip last year. And had a rather boring weekend because all my friends ended up doing it. So this year I decided to join as a...
Volunteer
As a veteran of 5 cycling trips with my High School youth group, and 1 in Japan, I was always curious as to what things would be like as a volunteer. Driving along in a car and making sure everyone was doing okay always seemed like an easier job than cycling all day. I thought it would be kind of fun to be a volunteer. Drive alongside the cyclists, make sure their water bottles were full, and just watch everyone else struggle up those hills.
And although volunteering in a car is no doubt a cushy job compared to cycling 100 km, it was not without its challenges. There was a lot of confusion, and I was zooming all over in my car trying to make sure everyone was going the right way, and trying to chase down those who had made wrong turns. At one point I was given the job of chasing down some cyclists, and informing them that they had gone several kilometers in the wrong direction. There was some concern that I wouldn't have the tact to do this, so Eoin cautioned me, “try to be diplomatic when you tell them.”
At confusing intersections, I just parked my car and yelled directions at the cyclists who drove by. As the route for this years bicycling trip went through Ajimu, I ended up making a fool of myself in my own town by positioning myself at an Ajimu intersection and yelling at cyclists.
Since being in the car alone all day can be a bit boring, we volunteers were paired up with each other. On Saturday, much to the envy of everyone else, I had a beautiful Japanese girl the same age as me assigned to my car through the luck of the draw. It was a very nice day. But I am a bit of a sucker for a pretty face, and when she asked if I could teach her how to drive on my car, I gave in immediately.
Actually for a new driver, she learned very quickly. But the mountain roads of the Japanese country side are steep, windy, narrow, and not an ideal learning environment. Like many new drivers, she had a tendency to drive too close to the edge of the road. Since there was no shoulder or guard rail on these old windy mountain roads, I was a bit worried at points. It was amazing how quickly I turned into my mother, constantly giving advice and always telling her to slow down or saying that she was too close to the edge again.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
William H. Rehnquist and Me
Wish I would have known about this article a few years ago when I wrote this piece in the Calvin Chimes. If you read my article you'll note I touched on these issues, but this adds a bit more description to it, and makes it a bit more pointed.
And while I'm rehashing this, I want to note that my article underwent a little editing by the Chimes staff, and the last paragraph was inserted by Mr. Buma. I personally think the bastard is a racist.
Wish I would have known about this article a few years ago when I wrote this piece in the Calvin Chimes. If you read my article you'll note I touched on these issues, but this adds a bit more description to it, and makes it a bit more pointed.
And while I'm rehashing this, I want to note that my article underwent a little editing by the Chimes staff, and the last paragraph was inserted by Mr. Buma. I personally think the bastard is a racist.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
My Week in Review
As some of you know, I got rid of my TV this fall. I felt like I was spending too much time watching it, and not enough time studying or cleaning my apartment. Especially not enough time cleaning my apartment. Boy my place is a pit. So I thought if I took all those hours I spent watching TV, and used them to clean instead, my place would look a lot better.
Well, it is amazing how things have NOT improved since I got rid of the TV. The amount of time I spend cleaning has increased very little. Instead, the amount of time that I spend reading, sleeping or just staring at the walls has increased.
Unfortunately I’m beginning to follow the same pattern in my job search. Lately I’ve been very strict with myself about not spending time e-mailing, and keeping blog posts to a minimum. The theory being that I should spend that time looking for jobs. And yet in spite of this, I’ve accomplished very little on the job front.
For those of you who missed my last post though, I did get a rough draft of my resume typed up. Check it out, and send me any editing suggestions you have. And a big thanks to everyone who already did (both of you know who you are).
Anyway…since I’m not doing too much regular posting these days, I thought I’d at least give a brief summary of my week.
1.I was on TV this week.
Well, apparently anyway. I don’t have a TV anymore to see for myself, but my office assures me that I was. We had a regional meeting this Wednesday for all the JETs in my area, and the local television crew was there to film us. And apparently a brief clip of that meeting was shown on the evening news that night. My office has been telling me that the clip was of me looking like I wasn’t paying attention. I suspect they’re just teasing, but to be honest it is certainly a possibility such a clip did exist.
2. And about the meeting…Every two years regional meetings are held. This is different than the prefectural meetings (which are twice a year). Regional meetings are, well, regional. In my case just the JETs who happen to live around or close to Nakatsu city. It is basically just a time to talk about any problems that we might have at work. It is an interesting exchange, but since no one present has any power to change anything, it just turns into a bitch session. Somewhat therapeutic, and it is always interesting to hear other people’s horror stories (my favorite story was that one female JET’s Japanese supervisor had started spreading rumors around her town that he and she were a couple) but ultimately it all seems like a waste of energy.
The meeting was facilitated by the head of the JET program in Oita prefecture, and the local Coordinator for International Relations (CIR), who brought in for discussion a couple articles from the Japanese newspaper about the JET program. One article was about how recently the quality of JETs coming to Japan has been declining. In an attempt to clarify, I asked if Chris, who was sitting next to me at the time, would be an example of a lower level JET. Unfortunately the CIR said she was unable to answer that.
Odds and Ends
A friend of mine directed me to a store in Nakatsu that carried some western food items. I was surprised to learn this place had been in close proximity to me this whole time, and I hadn’t even known about it. I went there with Mike and Chris, and we had a look to see what the place had to offer. I was very excited to find Blackberries there. Blackberries are pretty much impossible to get in Japan. Most Japanese people don’t even know they exist.
Alright, they weren’t fresh blackberries. They were canned, and imported from America. But still, it was a find. I thought of all the ways I could use these blackberries. On my cereal in the morning, on ice cream, mid afternoon snack, with tea, etc. So, I decided to buy 6 cans so I wouldn’t have to make return trips.
Well, the punch line is that it turns out these blackberries were 600 yen ($6, roughly) a can. I never even thought to check the price. I mean everyone knows canned food is supposed to be dirt cheap. But in Japan I guess you can never assume anything.
Rather than go through the embarrassment of re-shelving the things. I just opted to pay the money. The boys had a good laugh about it. In fact a week later they’re still bringing up how much money I wasted on those damn blackberries.
And, to top it off, it turns out canned blackberries taste pretty awful.
Also, this Saturday I went to the 3rd year anniversary of “Tropicoco” my favorite Mexican bar in Japan. Good time was had by all.
As some of you know, I got rid of my TV this fall. I felt like I was spending too much time watching it, and not enough time studying or cleaning my apartment. Especially not enough time cleaning my apartment. Boy my place is a pit. So I thought if I took all those hours I spent watching TV, and used them to clean instead, my place would look a lot better.
Well, it is amazing how things have NOT improved since I got rid of the TV. The amount of time I spend cleaning has increased very little. Instead, the amount of time that I spend reading, sleeping or just staring at the walls has increased.
Unfortunately I’m beginning to follow the same pattern in my job search. Lately I’ve been very strict with myself about not spending time e-mailing, and keeping blog posts to a minimum. The theory being that I should spend that time looking for jobs. And yet in spite of this, I’ve accomplished very little on the job front.
For those of you who missed my last post though, I did get a rough draft of my resume typed up. Check it out, and send me any editing suggestions you have. And a big thanks to everyone who already did (both of you know who you are).
Anyway…since I’m not doing too much regular posting these days, I thought I’d at least give a brief summary of my week.
1.I was on TV this week.
Well, apparently anyway. I don’t have a TV anymore to see for myself, but my office assures me that I was. We had a regional meeting this Wednesday for all the JETs in my area, and the local television crew was there to film us. And apparently a brief clip of that meeting was shown on the evening news that night. My office has been telling me that the clip was of me looking like I wasn’t paying attention. I suspect they’re just teasing, but to be honest it is certainly a possibility such a clip did exist.
2. And about the meeting…Every two years regional meetings are held. This is different than the prefectural meetings (which are twice a year). Regional meetings are, well, regional. In my case just the JETs who happen to live around or close to Nakatsu city. It is basically just a time to talk about any problems that we might have at work. It is an interesting exchange, but since no one present has any power to change anything, it just turns into a bitch session. Somewhat therapeutic, and it is always interesting to hear other people’s horror stories (my favorite story was that one female JET’s Japanese supervisor had started spreading rumors around her town that he and she were a couple) but ultimately it all seems like a waste of energy.
The meeting was facilitated by the head of the JET program in Oita prefecture, and the local Coordinator for International Relations (CIR), who brought in for discussion a couple articles from the Japanese newspaper about the JET program. One article was about how recently the quality of JETs coming to Japan has been declining. In an attempt to clarify, I asked if Chris, who was sitting next to me at the time, would be an example of a lower level JET. Unfortunately the CIR said she was unable to answer that.
Odds and Ends
A friend of mine directed me to a store in Nakatsu that carried some western food items. I was surprised to learn this place had been in close proximity to me this whole time, and I hadn’t even known about it. I went there with Mike and Chris, and we had a look to see what the place had to offer. I was very excited to find Blackberries there. Blackberries are pretty much impossible to get in Japan. Most Japanese people don’t even know they exist.
Alright, they weren’t fresh blackberries. They were canned, and imported from America. But still, it was a find. I thought of all the ways I could use these blackberries. On my cereal in the morning, on ice cream, mid afternoon snack, with tea, etc. So, I decided to buy 6 cans so I wouldn’t have to make return trips.
Well, the punch line is that it turns out these blackberries were 600 yen ($6, roughly) a can. I never even thought to check the price. I mean everyone knows canned food is supposed to be dirt cheap. But in Japan I guess you can never assume anything.
Rather than go through the embarrassment of re-shelving the things. I just opted to pay the money. The boys had a good laugh about it. In fact a week later they’re still bringing up how much money I wasted on those damn blackberries.
And, to top it off, it turns out canned blackberries taste pretty awful.
Also, this Saturday I went to the 3rd year anniversary of “Tropicoco” my favorite Mexican bar in Japan. Good time was had by all.
Friday, March 19, 2004
Help me
This week I've been working on putting a resume together using some of the information I learned at the Yokohama conference. One of the things I learned at the conference was that it is important to get feed back from other people when putting together a resume. So, at the risk of abusing the patience and attention spans of the readers of this site, I thought I'd use this weblog to post my first draft of my resume.
Any and all feedback and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. (joelswagman@yahoo.com). Please e-mail me if you think I should leave something out, or add something in. If you can think of a better, more assertive way to phrase something, please let me know. Hopefully the spell checker should have gotten all the spelling mistakes, but if you see anything....
And if any kind soul is willing to take on the grammar, that would really be a help.
The formatting (type size, bold print, spatial arrangement, etc) got lost when I was copying and pasting this from word, so just ignore that for now. Everything else is fair game.
Anyway, here it is. If anyone can help me fine tune this thing, I'd appreciate it.
JOEL M. SWAGMAN
102 Go, Choei Daibutsu-jutaku, 214 Daibutsu, Ajimu-Machi, Usa-Gun, Oita-Ken, Japan 872-0523
0978-34-4806 joelswagman@hotmail.com
Education
Calvin College Grand Rapids, Mi
Bachelor of Arts December, 2000
l Majored in Secondary History Education, Minored in English Education
l Teacher Aiding at Pathfinders High School (Grand Rapids, Mi)
l Student Teaching at Tri-Unity High School (Grand Rapids, Mi)
l Volunteered teaching English to immigrants
Professional Experience
Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) Oita Prefecture, Japan
English Teacher, Ajimu Board of Education August, 2001-Present
Taught English in Japan for 3 years at the Elementary and Junior High school level.
l Created curriculum and presented original lessons at the Elementary school, and experience team teaching at the Junior High School
l taught the English Speaking Society (ESS) club at Ajimu High School
l designed curriculum and taught an adult English conversation class
l Initiated an English section in the Ajimu town library and collected materials for this section
l Served as the only chaperon for 8 Japanese students on a 10-day trip to America; initiated and organized this trip.
l Delivered presentation on “Presenting Global Issues in the Classroom” for JET prefectural mid-year seminar
l Passed 4th level (2002) and 3rd level (2003) of Japanese Proficiency Test
l Assisted the Ajimu-Usa Rotary club in hosting the Morialta Rotary club of Australia; helped to guide and translate for this exchange
Additional
l Hitch hiked from Kyushu to Hokkaido during summer vacation
l Published articles in college newspaper and Oita Prefectural magazine
This week I've been working on putting a resume together using some of the information I learned at the Yokohama conference. One of the things I learned at the conference was that it is important to get feed back from other people when putting together a resume. So, at the risk of abusing the patience and attention spans of the readers of this site, I thought I'd use this weblog to post my first draft of my resume.
Any and all feedback and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. (joelswagman@yahoo.com). Please e-mail me if you think I should leave something out, or add something in. If you can think of a better, more assertive way to phrase something, please let me know. Hopefully the spell checker should have gotten all the spelling mistakes, but if you see anything....
And if any kind soul is willing to take on the grammar, that would really be a help.
The formatting (type size, bold print, spatial arrangement, etc) got lost when I was copying and pasting this from word, so just ignore that for now. Everything else is fair game.
Anyway, here it is. If anyone can help me fine tune this thing, I'd appreciate it.
JOEL M. SWAGMAN
102 Go, Choei Daibutsu-jutaku, 214 Daibutsu, Ajimu-Machi, Usa-Gun, Oita-Ken, Japan 872-0523
0978-34-4806 joelswagman@hotmail.com
Education
Calvin College Grand Rapids, Mi
Bachelor of Arts December, 2000
l Majored in Secondary History Education, Minored in English Education
l Teacher Aiding at Pathfinders High School (Grand Rapids, Mi)
l Student Teaching at Tri-Unity High School (Grand Rapids, Mi)
l Volunteered teaching English to immigrants
Professional Experience
Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) Oita Prefecture, Japan
English Teacher, Ajimu Board of Education August, 2001-Present
Taught English in Japan for 3 years at the Elementary and Junior High school level.
l Created curriculum and presented original lessons at the Elementary school, and experience team teaching at the Junior High School
l taught the English Speaking Society (ESS) club at Ajimu High School
l designed curriculum and taught an adult English conversation class
l Initiated an English section in the Ajimu town library and collected materials for this section
l Served as the only chaperon for 8 Japanese students on a 10-day trip to America; initiated and organized this trip.
l Delivered presentation on “Presenting Global Issues in the Classroom” for JET prefectural mid-year seminar
l Passed 4th level (2002) and 3rd level (2003) of Japanese Proficiency Test
l Assisted the Ajimu-Usa Rotary club in hosting the Morialta Rotary club of Australia; helped to guide and translate for this exchange
Additional
l Hitch hiked from Kyushu to Hokkaido during summer vacation
l Published articles in college newspaper and Oita Prefectural magazine
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
More politics
You may have noticed my list of links has been growing lately. Both Phil Christman and Brian Bork, friends from Calvin College, have started wonderful blog pages. The political commentary is pretty sharp and dead on, and contains a lot of sentiments that I share but lack the ability to express so succiently. Also, while I'm plugging political weblogs, I really like This Modern World as well. I haven't established a permanent link to it, because I'm trying to reserve those for people I actually know, but this is my favorite political website, and the source of much of my news here in Japan.
As for me: It's been a while since my last political entry, and as usual I've lost timeliness. But I want to say a few words about John Kerry, now that he has won the nomination.
After Kerry won the nomination, the media, which had previously been very kind to him, has now started to focus on his faults. And there is a lot of disturbing things about John Kerry now in print. I just want to say for the record that I had reservations about Kerry before it was cool to have reservations about Kerry.
Of course it is easy to say that now. But those of you who were in e-mail contact with me last year might remember that I said I would not forgive Kerry for his vote in favor of the Iraq war, and I that I would vote Green again if Kerry got the nomination.
Now I have to decide whether I was just shooting off my mouth, or whether I really mean it. Certainly anybody would be an improvement over Bush, but it is hard to be enthusiastic about Kerry. The thing I hate most about the Bush administration is the Iraq War, and Kerry supported it. And what's worse, Kerry then voted against reconstruction funds. I mean I didn't support the war, but I'm a firm believer in the "you break it you buy it" policy. It was irresponsible of Kerry to support the war, and then vote against funds for the reconstruction.
So, we'll see. I have a little more time to think about it yet before November. But I'm not happy with Kerry.
You may have noticed my list of links has been growing lately. Both Phil Christman and Brian Bork, friends from Calvin College, have started wonderful blog pages. The political commentary is pretty sharp and dead on, and contains a lot of sentiments that I share but lack the ability to express so succiently. Also, while I'm plugging political weblogs, I really like This Modern World as well. I haven't established a permanent link to it, because I'm trying to reserve those for people I actually know, but this is my favorite political website, and the source of much of my news here in Japan.
As for me: It's been a while since my last political entry, and as usual I've lost timeliness. But I want to say a few words about John Kerry, now that he has won the nomination.
After Kerry won the nomination, the media, which had previously been very kind to him, has now started to focus on his faults. And there is a lot of disturbing things about John Kerry now in print. I just want to say for the record that I had reservations about Kerry before it was cool to have reservations about Kerry.
Of course it is easy to say that now. But those of you who were in e-mail contact with me last year might remember that I said I would not forgive Kerry for his vote in favor of the Iraq war, and I that I would vote Green again if Kerry got the nomination.
Now I have to decide whether I was just shooting off my mouth, or whether I really mean it. Certainly anybody would be an improvement over Bush, but it is hard to be enthusiastic about Kerry. The thing I hate most about the Bush administration is the Iraq War, and Kerry supported it. And what's worse, Kerry then voted against reconstruction funds. I mean I didn't support the war, but I'm a firm believer in the "you break it you buy it" policy. It was irresponsible of Kerry to support the war, and then vote against funds for the reconstruction.
So, we'll see. I have a little more time to think about it yet before November. But I'm not happy with Kerry.
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Thursday, March 11, 2004
More on Love Hotels, the conference, and a $250 bowl of Ramen
Ended up staying in a Love Hotel again Tuesday night. Tuesday afternoon I talked to friends and compared hotel prices, and no doubt the Love Hotel was the cheapest option. Excluding of course Internet cafes, but I wanted a bed and shower. Oh, and also excluding getting a package deal with plane tickets and hotel included. That is by far the cheapest option, and that is what most of my friends did, but since I bought my plane tickets at the last minute, I messed that one up (see previous couple posts).
So back to the Love Hotel. The lady at the front desk was somewhat disturbed to see me coming in for a second night, and tried to explain to me that it was not a business hotel. But I went through my speech about being willing to pay the same money as the other customers, and she gave me the room.
Wednesday afternoon the conference finished up. At the end of the last speaker, a friend of mine summed up the whole conference by saying, “these past few days have certainly given me a lot to think about, but no answers.” That’s how I feel about the whole thing to. Still just as confused about life as when I entered, but I do have a lot more to think about now. There was actually a lot of information presented at the conference, but I won’t bore you by going in to it.
Between when the conference finished on Wednesday afternoon, and when my plane left on Wednesday night, I did have a few hours to kill. As I mentioned in a previous post, this conference was the second time I had been in Tokyo area. The first time was for JET orientation, during which I didn’t get an opportunity to sight see. Now this time was shaping up much the same way, with only a few hours to go “see Tokyo”.
Left to myself, I would have probably just wasted these few hours. So when a friend of mine approached me to see if I wanted to go into Tokyo to get some “famous ramen”, I agreed. I’m not a huge ramen fan, but his idea was certainly better than my idea of doing nothing.
Ramen, although originally a Chinese food, is very popular in Japan. In fact, within Japan there exists a sub-culture of “ramen pilgrims” or people in search of the perfect bowl of ramen.
Apparently there is a certain ramen restaurant in the downtown area that is widely agreed upon to have the best ramen in Tokyo. My friend was very keen on checking it out. I had nothing better to do, and at least this way I would get to see a little of downtown Tokyo.
By the time we had navigated our way through the mess that is the Tokyo train station, and had found the ramen shop in question, we were already a little pressed for time. My friend more so than I. His flight was scheduled to leave and hour and a half before mine. But we did the math, and decided we still had time to enjoy a bowl of ramen.
There was a line outside the door, and roughly a 45-minute wait to even get inside the place. After waiting in the line, we got inside and were served a bowl of ramen. And, to be fair, it was a decent tasting bowl of ramen. Probably not the best I’ve ever tasted, but then I’m no conessiuor.
Afterwards we made our way back to the train station. It was now 4:30, getting close to rush hour in Tokyo, and the train station was already beginning to get pretty crowded. As we boarded the train, my friend began to realize he was probably going to miss his plane. As we took the train through the middle of Tokyo, stopping at every station along the way, it became apparent he was definitely going to miss his plane.
I have to confess I sometimes take pleasure in other people’s misfortunes. It makes me feel better about myself. I think to myself, “I may be a disorganized idiot, but at least I’m going to make my plane flight.” It should be noted that my friend had gotten a package deal on his plane tickets. He got plane tickets and a nice hotel for in total about $100 less than I paid for just my plane tickets alone. And then I had to wander the streets of Yokohama sleeping in shady Love Hotels.
So, I began to make smart aleck comments like, “Well, at least that was one tasty bowl of ramen, huh?” or “If you had to do it again, would you still wait in line for that ramen?”
In the end, my friend missed the flight. Since it was a packaged deal, he couldn’t use the same ticket on a later flight. Last I saw him, he had to buy a new ticket, costing the equivalent of $250. Which, I believe, makes this a record for the most expensive bowl of ramen ever. If anyone has a story about a more expensive bowl of ramen, let me know, but I think this is going to be hard to beat.
Ended up staying in a Love Hotel again Tuesday night. Tuesday afternoon I talked to friends and compared hotel prices, and no doubt the Love Hotel was the cheapest option. Excluding of course Internet cafes, but I wanted a bed and shower. Oh, and also excluding getting a package deal with plane tickets and hotel included. That is by far the cheapest option, and that is what most of my friends did, but since I bought my plane tickets at the last minute, I messed that one up (see previous couple posts).
So back to the Love Hotel. The lady at the front desk was somewhat disturbed to see me coming in for a second night, and tried to explain to me that it was not a business hotel. But I went through my speech about being willing to pay the same money as the other customers, and she gave me the room.
Wednesday afternoon the conference finished up. At the end of the last speaker, a friend of mine summed up the whole conference by saying, “these past few days have certainly given me a lot to think about, but no answers.” That’s how I feel about the whole thing to. Still just as confused about life as when I entered, but I do have a lot more to think about now. There was actually a lot of information presented at the conference, but I won’t bore you by going in to it.
Between when the conference finished on Wednesday afternoon, and when my plane left on Wednesday night, I did have a few hours to kill. As I mentioned in a previous post, this conference was the second time I had been in Tokyo area. The first time was for JET orientation, during which I didn’t get an opportunity to sight see. Now this time was shaping up much the same way, with only a few hours to go “see Tokyo”.
Left to myself, I would have probably just wasted these few hours. So when a friend of mine approached me to see if I wanted to go into Tokyo to get some “famous ramen”, I agreed. I’m not a huge ramen fan, but his idea was certainly better than my idea of doing nothing.
Ramen, although originally a Chinese food, is very popular in Japan. In fact, within Japan there exists a sub-culture of “ramen pilgrims” or people in search of the perfect bowl of ramen.
Apparently there is a certain ramen restaurant in the downtown area that is widely agreed upon to have the best ramen in Tokyo. My friend was very keen on checking it out. I had nothing better to do, and at least this way I would get to see a little of downtown Tokyo.
By the time we had navigated our way through the mess that is the Tokyo train station, and had found the ramen shop in question, we were already a little pressed for time. My friend more so than I. His flight was scheduled to leave and hour and a half before mine. But we did the math, and decided we still had time to enjoy a bowl of ramen.
There was a line outside the door, and roughly a 45-minute wait to even get inside the place. After waiting in the line, we got inside and were served a bowl of ramen. And, to be fair, it was a decent tasting bowl of ramen. Probably not the best I’ve ever tasted, but then I’m no conessiuor.
Afterwards we made our way back to the train station. It was now 4:30, getting close to rush hour in Tokyo, and the train station was already beginning to get pretty crowded. As we boarded the train, my friend began to realize he was probably going to miss his plane. As we took the train through the middle of Tokyo, stopping at every station along the way, it became apparent he was definitely going to miss his plane.
I have to confess I sometimes take pleasure in other people’s misfortunes. It makes me feel better about myself. I think to myself, “I may be a disorganized idiot, but at least I’m going to make my plane flight.” It should be noted that my friend had gotten a package deal on his plane tickets. He got plane tickets and a nice hotel for in total about $100 less than I paid for just my plane tickets alone. And then I had to wander the streets of Yokohama sleeping in shady Love Hotels.
So, I began to make smart aleck comments like, “Well, at least that was one tasty bowl of ramen, huh?” or “If you had to do it again, would you still wait in line for that ramen?”
In the end, my friend missed the flight. Since it was a packaged deal, he couldn’t use the same ticket on a later flight. Last I saw him, he had to buy a new ticket, costing the equivalent of $250. Which, I believe, makes this a record for the most expensive bowl of ramen ever. If anyone has a story about a more expensive bowl of ramen, let me know, but I think this is going to be hard to beat.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Love Hotel
Well, I ended up staying in one of those Love Hotels last night after all.
Again, I am getting subsidized for my lodging by the Board of Education, but they had directed me to try and find a cheap hotel. They had also advised me that there were several hotels around Yokohama train station.
And there are. As you would expect, the ones closest to the station were big expensive fancy hotels that I walked right by. Staying in the internet cafe would have been an option had it come to it, but I was really hoping for a place with a bed and a shower.
I walked into a couple Japanese style inns, only to discover they didn't have vacancies. But there were no lack of Love Hotels in the area, and when I discovered they were about 1000 Yen cheaper than the regular hotels, the choice seemed obvious.
As the name implies, the Love Hotels are usually used by couples for somewhat immoral purposes. But since they were the cheaper option, I was more than willing to overlook this. Plus being a foreigner, you can always play ignorant to a certain extent. Some of these places just look like normal hotels on the outside, you can go in pretending you don't know any better.
"What? What is this hotel for? Well, I am shocked! Shocked and appalled!"
(Also I'm hoping that the sheets are given a good washing after each customer. Actually this was something I tried not to think about at the time).
The first Love Hotel I went into refused to give me a room because I was by myself. You would think that if I was going to pay the money, they wouldn't care whether I had sex inside the room or not. I tried to argue this point. The lady at the desk was polite, but firm. She couldn't rent me a room unless I planned to fornicate inside it.
I'm not sure what the reasoning behind this rule is. Perhaps it is to prevent lonely guys like myself from just pretending they have girlfriends.
At any rate, the second love hotel I went into had no problems renting a room to me for the night. And, despite having a few kinky things in the room, it did have all the necessities of a normal hotel room as well. (Bed, toothbrush and toothpaste, tea bags (this being Japan) shower, etc). The only real negative was that, perhaps because it was a cheaper love hotel, the rooms weren't quite as sound proof as the couple next door appearently assumed.
But in the end a decent night's sleep. I'm slightly worried about coming back to the Board of Education and asking to be reimbursed for a reciept from a love hotel, but I'm hoping they will understand I was just trying to save them money.
And one more thing:
caught the train from Yokohama station back to the conference this morning. Tokyo and Yokohama is a lot different than my little town of 8,000 in the country side. In my town we don't even have a train station. In Yokohama the train station during rush hour this morning was nuts. Everything you've ever read about crowded train stations and overpacked trains is true.
Well, I ended up staying in one of those Love Hotels last night after all.
Again, I am getting subsidized for my lodging by the Board of Education, but they had directed me to try and find a cheap hotel. They had also advised me that there were several hotels around Yokohama train station.
And there are. As you would expect, the ones closest to the station were big expensive fancy hotels that I walked right by. Staying in the internet cafe would have been an option had it come to it, but I was really hoping for a place with a bed and a shower.
I walked into a couple Japanese style inns, only to discover they didn't have vacancies. But there were no lack of Love Hotels in the area, and when I discovered they were about 1000 Yen cheaper than the regular hotels, the choice seemed obvious.
As the name implies, the Love Hotels are usually used by couples for somewhat immoral purposes. But since they were the cheaper option, I was more than willing to overlook this. Plus being a foreigner, you can always play ignorant to a certain extent. Some of these places just look like normal hotels on the outside, you can go in pretending you don't know any better.
"What? What is this hotel for? Well, I am shocked! Shocked and appalled!"
(Also I'm hoping that the sheets are given a good washing after each customer. Actually this was something I tried not to think about at the time).
The first Love Hotel I went into refused to give me a room because I was by myself. You would think that if I was going to pay the money, they wouldn't care whether I had sex inside the room or not. I tried to argue this point. The lady at the desk was polite, but firm. She couldn't rent me a room unless I planned to fornicate inside it.
I'm not sure what the reasoning behind this rule is. Perhaps it is to prevent lonely guys like myself from just pretending they have girlfriends.
At any rate, the second love hotel I went into had no problems renting a room to me for the night. And, despite having a few kinky things in the room, it did have all the necessities of a normal hotel room as well. (Bed, toothbrush and toothpaste, tea bags (this being Japan) shower, etc). The only real negative was that, perhaps because it was a cheaper love hotel, the rooms weren't quite as sound proof as the couple next door appearently assumed.
But in the end a decent night's sleep. I'm slightly worried about coming back to the Board of Education and asking to be reimbursed for a reciept from a love hotel, but I'm hoping they will understand I was just trying to save them money.
And one more thing:
caught the train from Yokohama station back to the conference this morning. Tokyo and Yokohama is a lot different than my little town of 8,000 in the country side. In my town we don't even have a train station. In Yokohama the train station during rush hour this morning was nuts. Everything you've ever read about crowded train stations and overpacked trains is true.
Monday, March 08, 2004
Blue Light Yokohama
Subtitle: I'm a disorganized idiot
Actually writing this from an internet cafe in Yokohama. I'm supposed to be looking for a hotel right now to stay the night, but I saw this internet cafe and I thought I'd pop in for a minute or two.
I'm in Yokohama for a conference for "Returning JETs".
Perhaps a bit of a misnomer, because I think a lot of us aren't planning on returning, but it is a conference for people who are finishing up their last few months on JET. The goal is to provide us information on things like putting together a resume, dealing with reverse culture shock, employment opportunities post JET, etc.
Unlike the other various conferences I've attended during my JET tenure, this conference is optional. Because it is for our own benefit, it is not required we attend. Furthermore, because this conference is for our own benefit, lodging and transportation costs are our own responsibility.
For that reason, many of my other 3rd year JET friends have opted not to attend. And word out on the street, from people who have attended this conference in the past, was that it is not all that useful.
But I'm confused enough about the future where I figure I could use all the help I could get. Also, I'm in a very fortunate position, because my Board of Education has offered to reimburse me for travel and hotel expenses. Very few other JETs have BOEs that are so generous. I'm lucky indeed.
However, because I'm....well because I'm the way I am, I have sort of muddled a lot of things up. Although I was supposed to make reservations at the hotel the conference is being held at, I neglected to do this until the deadline had passed. Also I waited until the last minute to arrange transportation. I was going to travel by bullet train, but doing the math on Friday afternoon, I discovered a plane ticket was almost just as cheap, and I could leave a day later if I took the plane, thus saving one night's hotel fee. (Not that it matters terribly because I'm getting reimbursed by the Board of Education, but you know, no point in wasting money). But because I waited till the last minute to buy plane tickets, I had to pay full price.
In fact, truth be told, I never properly filled out my application form for this conference. The application was due before Christmas vacation, so on the day before I left to go back to Michigan, I pulled it out of my bag, only to discover that from weeks of just lying in the bottom of my back pack, it had become wrinkled, and torn in half. As this was the day before I was supposed to leave for Christmas vacation, I just thought , "screw it, I guess I'm not going to the conference." While I was in America, the Board of Education (without me even asking) used their copy of the application to send it in and apply for me.
It gets worse. I overslept this morning. I accidentally set my alarm for 6 PM instead of 6 AM, so I woke up at 7:20, twenty minutes after I was supposed to have left my apartment, without having even packed my bags yet. I quickly threw a suit and a tie and my toothbrush in my bag, jumped in my car, and arrived at the airport 10 minutes before my plane took off.
And now I'm at a 3 day conference on how to be professional and get a job.
The conference is in Yokohama, which for anyone unfamiliar with Japan, is essentially just part of Tokyo. Over the 3 years I've been in Japan, this is the first time since JET orientation that I've been back in Tokyo. (Greg and I did get a ride through Tokyo on our hitch hiking trip this summer, but I don't think that counts because we never got off the expressway).
On of my favorite Japanese songs is called "Blue Light Yokohama". It is a woman singer talking about walking through the streets of Yokohama and looking at all the flashing signs at night.
It's an old song from 1968. (I've developed a bit of an interest in Japanese oldies. I like to rent old music from the video shops). So it's obviously a bit dated now, but I was excited to come to Yokohama just because I like that song.
Not that I have much time to sight see or walk around. The 3 days I'm here I'm busy attending the conference. But right now I'm wandering around Yokohama looking for a cheap hotel. I don't mind doing that, except I've got this bulky suitcase with me. And the wheels broke off two years ago at the conference in Kobe, because of a girl named Heather. So with every step I take with this suitcase, I think of Heather.
Anyway, I saw this internet cafe, and I thought I'd take a short break from Hotel hunting. Which pretty much brings us up to date.
Don't worry about me, I should find a place somewhere. Already passed two "Love Hotels" which I could go back to and spend the night if it comes to it. (Although they aren't really intended for parties of one, if you know what I mean (and I think you do)). Otherwise I can sleep in this internet cafe (people do it in Japan instead of hotels sometimes. The internet cafes even have "night rates").
Subtitle: I'm a disorganized idiot
Actually writing this from an internet cafe in Yokohama. I'm supposed to be looking for a hotel right now to stay the night, but I saw this internet cafe and I thought I'd pop in for a minute or two.
I'm in Yokohama for a conference for "Returning JETs".
Perhaps a bit of a misnomer, because I think a lot of us aren't planning on returning, but it is a conference for people who are finishing up their last few months on JET. The goal is to provide us information on things like putting together a resume, dealing with reverse culture shock, employment opportunities post JET, etc.
Unlike the other various conferences I've attended during my JET tenure, this conference is optional. Because it is for our own benefit, it is not required we attend. Furthermore, because this conference is for our own benefit, lodging and transportation costs are our own responsibility.
For that reason, many of my other 3rd year JET friends have opted not to attend. And word out on the street, from people who have attended this conference in the past, was that it is not all that useful.
But I'm confused enough about the future where I figure I could use all the help I could get. Also, I'm in a very fortunate position, because my Board of Education has offered to reimburse me for travel and hotel expenses. Very few other JETs have BOEs that are so generous. I'm lucky indeed.
However, because I'm....well because I'm the way I am, I have sort of muddled a lot of things up. Although I was supposed to make reservations at the hotel the conference is being held at, I neglected to do this until the deadline had passed. Also I waited until the last minute to arrange transportation. I was going to travel by bullet train, but doing the math on Friday afternoon, I discovered a plane ticket was almost just as cheap, and I could leave a day later if I took the plane, thus saving one night's hotel fee. (Not that it matters terribly because I'm getting reimbursed by the Board of Education, but you know, no point in wasting money). But because I waited till the last minute to buy plane tickets, I had to pay full price.
In fact, truth be told, I never properly filled out my application form for this conference. The application was due before Christmas vacation, so on the day before I left to go back to Michigan, I pulled it out of my bag, only to discover that from weeks of just lying in the bottom of my back pack, it had become wrinkled, and torn in half. As this was the day before I was supposed to leave for Christmas vacation, I just thought , "screw it, I guess I'm not going to the conference." While I was in America, the Board of Education (without me even asking) used their copy of the application to send it in and apply for me.
It gets worse. I overslept this morning. I accidentally set my alarm for 6 PM instead of 6 AM, so I woke up at 7:20, twenty minutes after I was supposed to have left my apartment, without having even packed my bags yet. I quickly threw a suit and a tie and my toothbrush in my bag, jumped in my car, and arrived at the airport 10 minutes before my plane took off.
And now I'm at a 3 day conference on how to be professional and get a job.
The conference is in Yokohama, which for anyone unfamiliar with Japan, is essentially just part of Tokyo. Over the 3 years I've been in Japan, this is the first time since JET orientation that I've been back in Tokyo. (Greg and I did get a ride through Tokyo on our hitch hiking trip this summer, but I don't think that counts because we never got off the expressway).
On of my favorite Japanese songs is called "Blue Light Yokohama". It is a woman singer talking about walking through the streets of Yokohama and looking at all the flashing signs at night.
It's an old song from 1968. (I've developed a bit of an interest in Japanese oldies. I like to rent old music from the video shops). So it's obviously a bit dated now, but I was excited to come to Yokohama just because I like that song.
Not that I have much time to sight see or walk around. The 3 days I'm here I'm busy attending the conference. But right now I'm wandering around Yokohama looking for a cheap hotel. I don't mind doing that, except I've got this bulky suitcase with me. And the wheels broke off two years ago at the conference in Kobe, because of a girl named Heather. So with every step I take with this suitcase, I think of Heather.
Anyway, I saw this internet cafe, and I thought I'd take a short break from Hotel hunting. Which pretty much brings us up to date.
Don't worry about me, I should find a place somewhere. Already passed two "Love Hotels" which I could go back to and spend the night if it comes to it. (Although they aren't really intended for parties of one, if you know what I mean (and I think you do)). Otherwise I can sleep in this internet cafe (people do it in Japan instead of hotels sometimes. The internet cafes even have "night rates").
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Graduation
Today is graduation at the Junior High Schools in Ajimu. The Japanese school year is on a bit of a different time table. Students graduate in March, and the new school year starts in April.
This year's 3rd year (9th grade) students were 1st year students when came to Ajimu in August 2 1/2 years ago. Which means now that they are graduated, the schools student body has completely changed over from when I arrived. Which perhaps means I've been here too long :)
Granted when I arrived in August it was already in the middle of the school year, so I still can't say I've seen one grade completely through from start to finish, but pretty close. And wow, where did that time go?
I guess what they say is true: time does go faster as you get older. From the time I entered middle school to the time I graduated seemed to me like a lifetime in itself. But the time it took these kids to do the same thing has just flown by for me.
And it is amazing how much they developed physically during that time as well. When I first came here, they all looked like little kids. Now many of them look like young adults.
And I suppose I've gotten older over the time I've been here as well. When I first arrived in Japan at the age of 23, I was the youngest teacher at all seven of the schools I taught in. Now in all but 3 of these schools, there are new teachers that are younger than me.
Time is interesting. If I look at it from the standpoint of where I am now, then I think, "Wow, how did time go so fast? How could I have been here almost 3 years already?"
But if I think back, many of the events that took place in the past 3 years seem so far away now. I think back to friends who have come and gone here in Japan, and some of them seem so far in the past I can barely even remember their faces. And even Spring Break last year seems so far in the past now. I don't know, how have the past 3 years been for you?
Today is graduation at the Junior High Schools in Ajimu. The Japanese school year is on a bit of a different time table. Students graduate in March, and the new school year starts in April.
This year's 3rd year (9th grade) students were 1st year students when came to Ajimu in August 2 1/2 years ago. Which means now that they are graduated, the schools student body has completely changed over from when I arrived. Which perhaps means I've been here too long :)
Granted when I arrived in August it was already in the middle of the school year, so I still can't say I've seen one grade completely through from start to finish, but pretty close. And wow, where did that time go?
I guess what they say is true: time does go faster as you get older. From the time I entered middle school to the time I graduated seemed to me like a lifetime in itself. But the time it took these kids to do the same thing has just flown by for me.
And it is amazing how much they developed physically during that time as well. When I first came here, they all looked like little kids. Now many of them look like young adults.
And I suppose I've gotten older over the time I've been here as well. When I first arrived in Japan at the age of 23, I was the youngest teacher at all seven of the schools I taught in. Now in all but 3 of these schools, there are new teachers that are younger than me.
Time is interesting. If I look at it from the standpoint of where I am now, then I think, "Wow, how did time go so fast? How could I have been here almost 3 years already?"
But if I think back, many of the events that took place in the past 3 years seem so far away now. I think back to friends who have come and gone here in Japan, and some of them seem so far in the past I can barely even remember their faces. And even Spring Break last year seems so far in the past now. I don't know, how have the past 3 years been for you?
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