Sister Junior High
Mood:  bright
Some of this will be a repeat for those of you who have been reading my log diligently but maybe it's worth repeating some things.
My principal (kocho-sensei) told me that we had a "Sister School" in Spokane when i first began teaching at Masago. I emailed a lot of teachers at Shaw Middle School before the holidays to see if there was someone interested in communicating and establishing some kind of relationship between the two schools. I am so happy that Ms. Anderson who teaches World Languages at Shaw is very excited about having her students start a PenPal project with our third graders here. I am busily preparing a box to send to her students to give them a small sampling of sweet treats and some not-so-sweet-treats to try. I am giving you a bit of a letter that i will send to the students explaining some things about junior high here in Japan. So here it is....

"There are a couple of things that I should explain to you. School here is divided into elementary, junior high, and high school just like in the states. When you receive letters from the students they will tell you that they are in third grade. Each level starts over at first grade so chugakko (junior high) has 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders.

School here is divided into 3 trimesters and begins in April. Our 3rd graders will be graduating at the end of March. It is not automatic that they go on to high school. Many students will take a test in February to try and qualify for a private high school. This test costs about 20,000 yen. The tests in March are about 2,200 yen and these are for public high schools. The tests cover all subject areas including the Japanese and English language as well as math, science etc. If a student doesn't pass this test, his/her possibilities are limited. There are vocational schools, but they are designed to train you only for a certain type of job. None of the high schools are free. The costs vary, the most expensive being the private high schools.

Most students belong to an after school club. Some of the activities include baseball, basketball, track, kendo, etc. Some of your letters may say that a student is "retired." Third graders are required to "retire" from their clubs in the last two trimesters of their junior high school career so that they can concentrate on testing. They are not allowed to compete in any events so there is supposedly nothing to do after school but study!

About 80% of the students go to "juku" which is cram school. Some go maybe as little as once a week. Some go 3 or more times a week. This is a private school and the hours are around 7-10pm and also open on weekends.
There's so much more to tell, but this will, hopefully, explain a little of the schools here."

Hope that you enjoyed a tidbit of chugakko here.

Running in the snow
Mood:  energetic
Snowflakes on my nose and eyelashes. Big fluffy flakes floating down this morning. A puffed up white crane in the river as I jog by. What a morning!

Women's Marathon
Sakamoto, Naoko won the Osaka International Women's marathon today. This qualifies her for the Olympics. She is a graduate of Masago Chugako where I am teaching. I'm guessing there is going to be some celebrating tomorrow. She lives close by our school and comes to speak to our students once in awhile. How exciting and inspiring for our students.

I in America
Here's a bit of a revelation that i've experienced this week. As a reader, you may have noticed that i have been writing the pronoun "I" in lower case lately. I will attempt to do that from now on unless it's the beginning word in a sentence. The conversation that led to this revelation was with one of the English language teachers this week. It circled around teaching pronouns to Japanese students and the difficulties this entails. In Japanese it seems that pronouns are used very infrequently. There are subtle - nonverbal - ways to indicate who you are speaking about. The conversation wove it's way to the pronoun "I" in the English language. The teacher told me that a lot of students ask her why the pronoun "I" is capitalized. Her answer is that in America "I" is the most important word. It got me to thinking...."yo" in Espanol is not capitalized. Neither is "ich" in Deutsch, and come to think of it... "moi" in French. This may be a subtle insignificant thing but i choose to write in lower case from now on. We have become the "me" society to the rest of the world. Maybe a bit of humility is in order.

Delightful Friday Evening
Mood:  special
Now Playing: French cuisine in Osaka, ooo la la
First, some Osaka trivia:

Osaka is about 1400 years old. It is Japan's second largest city after Tokyo. Thirteen percent of all the people in Japan call this city "home." In 85 square miles live 2.5 million people who reside in 1.1 million households. Ok, you can do the math.
The main industries of Osaka are General Machinery, Electrical Machinery, Chemical Products, Metal Products, Iron and Steel. Osaka is the leading producer of manufactured products with 30.86 billion yen worth in 1999, out producing Tokyo by over 30%. Per capita income is 3.5 million yen, that's about $33,000/year.
So back to dinner...

I feel so lucky to have met this wonderful woman, Miki, and her husband last month. They are friends of my Spokane buddies, Ildiko and Wayne, who came for a visit in December. Miki is studying to be an English translator and her English is already really great. She invited me to dinner this evening. I haven't done much exploring in Osaka so here we go! I got on the train and met her in front of the "Biggu Manu" (that's Big Man in English) at the train station entrance. So what is the Big Man? It's a very large TV screen outside a wonderful bookstore that carries quite a variety of books in English. Yahoo! This is quite the phenomenon. The Big Man is an easy place to find and so to connect with people. On Friday night it is a major "hang-out" for many young people waiting to meet up with friends for a night out. Miki used to work in the downtown area of Osaka so with her guidance we got on a subway and headed out. We first tried to get into a "tofu" restaurant but Friday night was hopping and the waiting list was way too long. So we wandered down to one of her favorite French restaurants - what a treat. We had delightful hors d'eouvres, an oishii (delicious) seafood bisque, and other French/Japanese delicacies. I say French/Japanese because there were a few surprises like... the sausage was made of fish! Only in Japan. We shared some fine wine, and it was so great to just sit and chat about Japanese and American culture and just get to know another true gem in Japan.

So How Cold is It?
Mood:  chillin'
"Well, this is as cold as it gets, right?" Answer, "Well, maybe not." Arghhhh.
I woke up this morning to wet and sweating windows again. This is an everyday event now. There is a channel at the bottom of the sliding glass door. At first I thought there was a bad seal because every morning there was a stream of water trickling to the outside from the window. I realised quickly that this channel is a necessity. It allows all the excess moisture which condenses on the inside of the window to escape to the outside by dripping and flowing in this channel. This morning, because we dropped down to 0 or below last night, my little puddle of water outside the door was frozen solid! oh, my. I don't even want to know what the wind chill was this morning riding my bike to school. All i can tell you is that my ski mittens weren't enough to keep my poor fingers warm. At the risk of repeating myself, THERE IS NO HEAT in the classrooms. On sunny days we get solar heat through the windows which is a real blessing. On windy, cloudy days it's just down right freezing. The little handwarmers and patches that you stick to your back between shirt and jacket are the only sources of heat while teaching. The staff office is heated and it is a relief to run back for a "warm up" between classes. I don't know how the kids manage. Some of the boys actually were wearing cotton gloves today. Many of the girls use chemical handwarmers(they have iron and sulfur in them and when you open the airtight package - oxygen is introduced and they create about 5-8 hours of welcome warmth). I used one of the patches on my back today and it is incredibly warm and helps take the edge off. The cold is an energy drain and i feel pretty drained at the end of the day from just trying to stay warm. I go to bed with a sleeping pad to get my core temperature toasty for a real good night's sleep. The philosophy seems to be, it's only a few months of cold weather and it would be an enormous expense to install heating and air conditioning in all the schools. They sure must saving on the heat bills!

Kinako pan and peeing
Another taste sensation. The students get this only one time a year, I hear. It's a fried bread kind of like a donut in the shape of a small loaf of bread. It's covered with a brownish topping that is made by mixing toasted ground soybeans with sugar. Wow, very delicious.

So, riding my jitensha home from work yesterday, i discovered an abandoned car running in the middle of the street. Casually I looked over toward the culvert next to the road and there was a "salaryman" standing peeing into the culvert. This is an everyday occurence here but it did startle me a bit and make me laugh. Now, I haven't seen any Japanese women squatting over these ditches but men everywhere are totally free to pee when the urge hits. It reminds me of Mexico but there the women will squat in their long skirts and do it too!

Adult English Class
Mood:  happy
Wow, I just rolled over 1,000 miles on my little bicycle odometer. Hard to believe I've pedaled so far since August.

Japanese Tongue Twister
nama mugi
nama gomen
nama tamago
(say this fast 3 times!)

Adult English class for lottery winners.

Sogo Center (our bosses) have asked Frankie, John and i to teach a conversational English class for the next 9 weeks on Monday evenings. City workers and citizens were invited to apply for this free class. There were so many applicants that they did a lottery to see who would get to take this class. Wow, we were a bit nervous but our first class went off well. There are 25 people whose skill vary from not being able to read our alphabet at all and not knowing any English to a few with very good skills. We have people who work for the city, a custodian, an engineer, a junior high teacher, a few housewives and retired people. Quite a diverse group! There will always be two of us teaching at each class. We hope that we can make it fun and relaxing while teaching some basic conversational English. This will be a fun cultural exchange and we will learn as much as our pupils. What a great opportunity for all involved.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Remembrance
Mood:  sad
January 17, 1995, at around 5am the earth shook and a huge disaster befell this city and surrounding areas. Masago area (my junior high) was not hit that hard but the apartment that I live in now is less than 9 years old because the old one came tumbling down that day. The northern part of Nishinomiya was in ruins, with many fires and scenes reminiscent of the last big San Francisco earthquake. Freeways collapsed, buses and trains were left hanging in thin air, and people were in shock everywhere. Many families slept in gyms just like the one we sat in this morning, where the students, teachers, and some parents spent some time remembering and saying some prayers for those who died and those who lost so much. My first graders were only 3 years old when this happened so they don't remember much. The third graders, I think, do remember, but not much because their homes were not damaged. The kids spent last week folding paper cranes in memory of the loss and, at the assembly today, they were displayed in long strands that will be delivered to a memorial shrine tomorrow on the anniversary of this sad event. Help came from all over the world and I have already seen two incredible monuments to say "thanks" for all the assistance that this area received in their time of need. One was the luminaria in Kobe that are displayed every year. I wrote about this last month. Also, I have seen an incredible "Sculpture of Hope" in Kobe that we saw on a hike in December.
It is humbling to think about how powerful nature can be and how vulnerable and fragile we really are. I count my blessings and give thanks for health, happiness and a roof over my head.

A Big Blooper
Mood:  silly
Now Playing: If I only had a brain!
So, I had the bright idea to buy a Japanese/English electronic dictionary in California while I was there over my winter break. My Japanese friends whip out their compact, light "jishos" and translate away when we are together, and I wanted my own. I figured that buying one in the states would be better since it would come with an English manual (very important feature!). I tried to no avail to find one in Santa Rosa so I reverted back to the Internet to research. I found that most electronic translators can be ordered over the internet and sent to Japan for a reasonable price. One of my New Year's resolutions was to go back to Japan and order one. So last week, I did some more research on prices and features of these electronic marvels. There are from one to 9 dictionaries installed on some of the puppies. There is a website created by an English speaking man in Japan who has written a lot of evaluations on many models and I read all the different comparisons and recommendations that he offered. I decided on a Canon model that I could buy right here in Japan and then download an English manual. So off I went to Midori and, luckily, I found a really nice English speaking employee, Ms. Shimizu, to help me with purchasing this wonderful device. She didn't know much about them but got a salesman to help me and she translated. He was very hesitant to sell me the model I wanted for 22,000 yen (a mere $200+). Well, I was confident, and purchased one anyway over his strong hesitant concerns.
The very next day, my friend, Didik, came over with a Japanese friend who graciously helped me install the batteries and fired it up. You just can't beleive how excited I was - even tho this guy, too, was very hesitant. We went through all 9 dictionairies and, much to my chagrin, discovered that, yes, I could type in "cat" into any of these dictionaries but the only thing that it generated was kanji words!!!! Oh, no. Not like my paperback dictionary where I can look up an English word and get a Japanese word spelled out in Roman letters that when sounded out come out Japanese. Oh, no, this just expects you to read the kanji characters. Well, if I knew 40,000 kanji characters then I could probably speak Japanese and not need to spend $200 on a #$%&$#&%# dictionary. So, it's back to Midori the very next day with my proverbial "tail between my legs." I was very relieved (after sitting patiently for about 15 minutes while a few different managers discussed my stupidity) to receive a full refund. Actually, they were very polite and helpful and didn't make me feel any stupider than I already felt. So, my friend, Didik, suggests that I check with a few friends before making anymore expensive purchases, and I may just follow his advice from now on. So, if anyone knows where I can get an electronic dictionary that will translate from English into something Japanese that I can read, I would be most deeply grateful. Arigato gozaimasu

Coming of Age Day
Now Playing: Your a Big Boy Now!
Monday, January 12,2004

Coming of Age Day is a National Holiday here in Japan. We celebrate all those who will turn 20 years old this year. Lots of families have been visiting the shrines in celebration for the last few days.
I mostly stayed home (still feeling a bit under the weather). Went to temple this morning and had tea with the minister. He gave me some basic kanji to start memorizing and a simple text in kanji written by Shinran Shonin. Oh, dear. I guess I'm going to have to study this too! Came home and went for a short run to try to get some of the cobwebs out of my brain. I've gained 10 pounds in less than 2 weeks and I haven't been running for awhile because it was so rainy in California and then I got sick (sinus headache, groan).
It feels oh, so good, to get out in the fresh air and blow off some steam.
I baked chocolate chip cookies today and Didik and a friend came over to make sure that they were good. I made tamale pie for them. Neither had ever had this treat. I'm not sure if they really liked this spicy dish but they both went back for seconds.

NEW YEAR'S TRADITIONS AND CULTURE

I missed this holiday because I was in the states, but I've heard from the kids that there is a lot of tradition in Japan revolving around New Year's. I will try to fill you in on a bit of this interesting culture...
There is a tv show in Japan (I think similar to Dick Clark). Lots of people watch this on New Year's Eve. It's called Kohaku (sorry if the spelling isn't quite right). They play all the past hits of the old year just like we do in the states.
Otoshidama is a biggie with kids here. It is very traditional to give gifts of money to kids. They can get quite a bit of money from parents, aunts and uncles and so on. I gather that it is not uncommon to get 5,000 to 10,000 yen as a gift. That adds up to a few hundred dollars if they are lucky.
Nenga are cute postcards that are traditionally sent out during the holidays. I received quite a few of these postcards with cute drawings (monkeys were popular this year - it's the year of the monkey!)
I was surprised to discover that many of my students went to a shrine at midnight to purchase their fortunes called omikuji and to pray for a good year. Toshikoshi soba is also a tradition to eat at midnight.
The most interesting tradition that I would like to start for myself is getting up early (or maybe not going to sleep at all) to see the first sunrise of the year. This is called hatsuhinode. Many of my students said that they stayed up all night and then watched the sun come up and then went to bed. Oh, it must be nice to be young and full of energy. yawn.