On TV

During a morning breakfast programme on Japanese TV they showed a few societal statistics and surveys taken from the 1980s all the way to early 21st century, and one of the survey questions was 'How important is religion in life?'

I know the picture isn't very big but in short, the red line (decreasing) illustrates the trend for those who answered 'Very or quite important'. The blue line (increasing) illustrates the trend for 'Not really & not at all important'.

I somehow doubt that the people surveyed had the same idea of 'religion' as the pastor at Taira Church on Sunday did, who said, ' "Religion" is what WE humans have to do in order to be saved; whereas "the Gospel" is what GOD had to do in order for humans to be saved'.

Nigella in training

There's something about studying that gives one the desire to make things, or cook things. Otherwise known as excuses for procrastination. As my Japanese Proficiency Test approaches, I have found myself working in the kitchen more than on my desk. Last week, I made my first batch of cookies. It wasn't great, although on the following day at school there was a resounding 'UMAI!'* from all the teachers that were privileged (or brave) enough to try. Last Friday I made another batch, a better batch, and gave most of it to my calligraphy class - 3 grannies and 2 elementary school kids. I got mugicha* teabags in return from the teacher. Que Japanese reciprocity.

On Monday, after a long and difficult day at work, I decided to express the stress in the form of shopping - more specifically household shopping, and ended up buying a blender. ('Twas less than 1500 yen! Win!) And today I made peach-&-banana-&-zero-fat-yogurt-&-soymilk-&-honey smoothie. Ooh-la-la.


I also made 'Sunny's scones' - I got a vague scone recipe from my friend Sunny. They're tomato-onion-cheese-basil scones, except I didn't have any basil. So I put pepper instead. After making an epic mess in the kitchen (as well as on myself...I just found scone-mix in my right ear), the scones came out pretty good, to my surprise (see picture). Until now I was never able to boast any sort of cooking skills, despite both my parents being good cooks themselves.

Next challenge - banana bread!


Note:
* umai = delicious
* mugicha = 'roasted barley tea'

Creative Writing

As much as I, as an ALT, would like to think I should be encouraging more oral communication from students, most of the time it is writing exercises that really bright up my day. Or more specifically, reading the students' creative writing exercises.

This week the students were taught the grammar point "I'm going to (verb)", and they were made to write what their aspirations or expectations for themselves in 15 years time.

I managed to sneakily take pictures of 2 students' masterpieces without getting weird looks from the teachers around me. Take note: both of these are written by 13 or 14 year old boys. And while they are very materialistic, they're also quite creative in some ways.


Exhibit Number 1:

I am going to have two kids. I am going to marry a cute girl. I am going be an office worker. I am going to be happy. I am going to make 300,000 yen. I am going to have tropical fish. I am going to have a big house. I am going to pick up 1,000,000 yen.





Exhibit Number 2:

I am going to have three kids.
I am going to marry Yusuke (a boy's name).
I am going to take care of Yusuke.
I am going to kiss Yusuke everyday.
I am going to love Yusuke.
Yusuke is going to love me.
I am going to cook tororo imo (type of potato).
I am going to live in a pink house.

This was not the only uhh 'boy wants to marry boy' piece we got.

This is another 'culture shock' issue I faced in Japanese schools - that how boys have very um close and loving relationships with each other, which is kinda cute in some way, but then it can also get a bit erm 'ero' sometimes and they get really huggy and touchy feely with each other.......yeah.

(But then apparently its normal here......)

I never went to school with boys...can anyone shed any light on what 12-15 year old boys are like in other cultures..?

Sufficient Grace

This morning I woke up feeling kind of annoyed, irritated, and grace-less.

First of all, trying to organise a party without knowing numbers (and hence how much food to get) because people don't RSVP or people cancel last minute is irritating. Especially when it's my birthday. Yes I am vain in that way. Secondly, JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is 2 weeks away and knowing I still have lots to learn is irritating. And then waking up at 7:30am on a Saturday is irritating. I also wasn't feeling well, physically, which is irritating.

All these little things sound rather trivial, but with all this all rolled together on a warm and humid Saturday morning got me feeling grace-less.

But God, with all HIS abundant grace sent gentle reminders that made me realise a few things...

For starters, upon opening Firefox to check my email, these big headlines on Yahoo news front page -Miracle recovery of 'amazing Grace' - hit me right in the face. It reported of a miraculous recovery of a baby called Grace who survived and recovered after her life-support machine was turned off after her parents gave up hope of her ever recovering from "incurable" meningitus - story here. There is no other explanation other than God's sufficient grace to give this baby life, and bring her parents joy. That story appearing on Yahoo News, today, was no coincidence, I believe. The baby's name being Grace was no coincidence either, I believe. Thus first reminder - God's grace is sufficient.

Then after getting bored of studying, I decided to re-listen to a Ravi Zacharias talk on 'Why don't I feel my faith', and at one point he said how easily we let our emotions and feelings control us, when actually, we ought to kick those moods that get us down and less Christ-like. It's the language of me to myself, to train our emotions, to be the master of our feelings. Second reminder.

The party turned out to be better than I had expected. The people that I actually enjoy hanging out with came, and even though it wasn't a massive turnout, it was just big enough (about 10 people) for everyone to enjoy each other's good company, chatter & banter, good food and wine - just generally have a good time. Any bigger and it would've gotten a little chaotic, which would have been irritating.

So praise Him for his Grace, His perfect plan, His little reminders, and how He 'works for the good of those who love Him', even though I probably / definitely didn't deserve it today...(I'm not even sure if that verse really applies to my situation today)...

But at least now I'm going to bed NOT irritated, NOT annoyed, and NOT grace-less :)

Stupidity Tax

Two news story on BBC news really pushed my wtf buttons this morning - A 20-year-old woman from Leicester was imprisoned because thought it would be funny to overtake a siren-sounding ambulance, laughing and making obscene gestures at the ambulance crew, and slowed down, causing the vehicle to brake suddenly, whilst at the back of the ambulance a paramedic was giving heart compressions to an elderly patient. Full story here. Seriously...wtf! Who does that..!?!!

And story number two is where an NHS Trust clinic caused a couple's embryo to be wrongly implanted in a different patient, causing much distress to the couple who have been having pregnancy difficulties for years, and the Trust having to pay an undisclosed settlement to the couple. Full story here.

Turning to the plank in my own eye, I managed to melt the anti-slip rubber on the bottom of one of my little floor mats by keeping my rice cooker and electric kettle/hot water pot on it at all times. The consequence was I had to peel off the mat from the floor, and spent 20 minutes scrubbing off the melted bits off the wooden floor in the kitchen. But not really that big of a plank compared to the above stories from the BBC.

Which brings me to stupidity tax. Stories like that make me think it's not actually an such absurd thing. Acts of stupidity usually bring an amount of unhealthy or harmful consequences to society - either to the person himself and/or to others in society. In both of the above cases they've caused considerable damage to people outside of themselves, as well as to themselves (being imprisoned and paying the settlement respectively).

If stupidity can be seen as a demerit good, and if the government's role is to reduce demerit goods in society, then maybe people like this should be taxed in order to internalise this negative externality. And then the government should use the money to educate people in common sense. Or maybe society needs 'common sense licenses' where everyone is required to hold one in order to be allowed interact in society, and is taken away and must either be on house arrest or put in isolation when stupidity is breached.

The Japanese know how to have fun

I guess I can't really compare how the British or Chinese teacher/company parties go, but one thing is for sure, and that's the Japanese really know how to make it a hell of a night.


On Friday night, I was cordially invited to one of my visiting school's "thanks for the hard work / thanks and farewell Mr Singaporean JET / let's work hard for the upcoming National Schools Sports Tournament" party. It was in this wonderful Japanese-Fusion-esque restaurant, in a private room for all 25 of us with our own bar, a fabulous set menu and all-you-can-drink. There was conversation and laughter and jokes and drinks and food for a good 2 hours, and more importantly great company. Some of these teachers really know how to get the party going. There was not a dull moment. I also love the unspoken 'what happens in a party stays at a party' policy. Nothing said or happened is to be talked about again. Everyone comes to work the next (working) day as if nothing happened the previous night.



Anyway, with the sake and beer continuously flowing (which, is actually drunk in tower-fuls - suitably named 'Ta-wa bi-ru'), a few of the teachers got up and did a sort of ritual chant/traditional cheering routine to cheer everyone on for the Tournament, for Mr Singapore and his future, and for the school in general to 'gambare'.

This party was definitely one-of-a-kind. And I love how each Japanese party is sort of similar but also quite different. I don't believe that any other culture out there does their parties like the Japanese do. Maybe it's something in the water? Maybe its something in the sake....

On Blogging, Travelling, School Lunches and Religious Freedom

From now on I do hope to post a bit more frequently...although it must be understood that 10 months in, I've settled in for quite a while now, those initial new 'Japan discoveries' have now become the norm.

And life has become pretty regular, except for the occasional travels - well, I say occasional, but actually I just realised I've been travelling pretty much every month since the JET-ing began..

- August - well, arrived Tokyo and setting foot in
- September - Sendai Jazz Festival in Sendai, Miyagi
- October - Lots of festivals around Fukushima; shopping trip in Tokyo; and the Gifu & Toyama Bus Tour
- November - Okutama JCF Retreat; Nikko, Tochigi; Tokyo DisneySea
- December - Hong Kong
- January - Sapporo, Hokkaido
- February - Aizu, Fukushima
- March - Tokyo; Nagano JCF Retreat; Osaka
- April - Kobe; Kyoto; Tokyo (yes, again)
- May - Okinawa


On a different note, when I saw what was served for lunch at school today, my first thought was that the guys who decided today's main dish, side dish, carbs and dessert obviously didn't talk to each other today...

We get school lunches delivered to school everyday by a school catering company. Usually the school lunch consists of: Milk, Main dish or soup, side dish, the carbs and dessert (erm actually the term 'dessert' is debatable as we sometimes get cheese or a packet of nuts & small dried fishies...so probably the term 'after-lunch snack' would be more appropriate..?)

Anyway, TODAY'S lunch consisted of: Milk, soft noodles, soupy Japanese curry, 2 takoyakis ('octopus balls') and yogurt. It's as if they picked each item out of many in catagorised hats. The school lunch company made absolutely no effort in giving thought to the combination whatsoever. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't mad, not at all. It was just really amusing. Although sometimes we do get some truly indigestible matter. A friend once commented on how school lunch soups are probably made: write down a bunch of foods on pieces of paper, put them in a hat, pick 3 or 4 out, then serve it in your own urine. I myself probably wouldn't've put it in such a way, although it does make you think...

....that I should be grateful that I have lunch at all.

I had also recently just realised, after being in Japan for nearly 10 months and teaching for 9 of those, that Japanese public schools don't have religious education. I shared my revelation with the trainee intern teacher sitting next to me, and she said it was because the government is not allowed to intervene in terms of anything religious, because religion is a sensitive issue, and people have the freedom to make their own choice.

I see it, however, not as freedom, but as a great limitation to freedom. It seems people are deprived of information to be free to make a rational choice based on facts. They are bound by a shallow 'religious' culture that surrounds them - on the surface all the festivals and shrines and temples make Japan seem deeply rooted in Buddhism and Shintoism, but underneath that superficial culturally colourful coat the real religion is of materialism, of keeping one's face (or dignity), of advancement and constant renewal, but also of a strong herd-culture. On the other hand, "many long-held traditional beliefs and values seem to be crumbling. Never, in Japan's recent history, have there been so many brutal crimes being committed as now. It is also reported that over 30,000 people commit suicide annually." (RBC Ministries)

I haven't really talked to any of the kids about religion, or how much they know about different belief systems. I don't expect them to know a lot. Even the reasons behind religious public holidays in Japan are not taught to children "because if they say so it will be interpreted as having to do with a particular denomination". I'm not saying indoctrinate the kids with certain religion(s), but there's not even a gateway for exploration and investigation, or even just a window to expand their worldviews and open up their minds to other cultures and beliefs and mindsets.

I sometimes feel the kids here are so bound up in chains of all sorts. They need freedom!