2001-11-19 - 5:55 p.m.
Hard to believe it, but I only have two more weeks at my current school; in December I’m on to junior high #3. Junior high #3 is a 40 minute bike ride, but I did about 2/3 of it on my way to an elementary school last week, and it wasn’t so bad (and it will help me keep off those 2 kilos I’ve somehow lost). Last Wednesday I had my last elementary school visit until January, and as much as I love those days, I am ready for a break. Not only are elementary school days utterly exhausting, but being treated like a member of the Backstreet Boys gets a little old. From the second I enter the school, kids either jump all over me or freeze in shock when I walk down the hall. If I use the bathroom, they stand outside the door and wait for me. If I take a tea break in the teacher’s room, they’re popping their heads around the door and yelling my name. On Wednesday, I had to autograph the bingo cards of the entire 4th grade. At the end of the day, after teaching all six periods and eating lunch with the students, about five teachers gathered around me, wanting to speak English and ask me questions -- is it true that I do karate? that I can use chopsticks? that I ate rice before I came to Japan? As I left the teacher’s room that day (they gave me a round of applause at my exit), I was glad that I would not have to play the trained monkey role again for a little while.
I had a great and very chill weekend. Lela came over on Friday night and we just cooked and talked. We I brought my futon into the living room so we could both sleep with the heater, and at about 1:30 AM we were awakened by an earthquake. The conversation went something like this:
Lela: Is this an earthquake?
Me: Yeah, should we get under the table or under the door?
Lela: I don’t think it’s that bad. [Earthquake gets a little stronger]. Maybe we should.
[About one second later, earthquake ends, we fall back asleep.]
Turns out that it was a 4.5, a moderate quake. Maybe we should have gotten under the table after all.
On Saturday, after waking up and confirming with each other that there was, indeed an earthquake the night before, we set out to walk around Kimitsu a bit. I took Lela to my favorite place, the candy shop, where I was instantly recognized as “Sarah-sensei” by some kids I had taught at the neighborhood elementary school two weeks ago. I was making a get-well package to take to Saori (she’s getting over a cold) and I had the kids show me what they liked. Seeing their friends walking outside, they ran out of the store and shouted across the street “Sarah-sensei is here!” One of the girls had a small dog in her bike basket, who waited patiently outside the store. On Saturday night I went to Saori’s and was proud of myself for taking the bus alone in Tokyo for the first time. I had to listen for the stop and push the button when I heard it, and I did it right, even though the stop before (Wakabayashi 1-chome) sounds VERY similar to her stop (Wakabayashi 3-chome). With some sadness I said goodbye to two of her kittens, who were adopted yesterday.
On Sunday I had a great long lunch with Rena from Vassar. She was interested on my take on Japanese pop culture. I mentioned that there seems to be a proliferation of shows of the “CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS???” genre. America has these shows too -- strange or horrifying video clips accompanied by a voice-over. But in Japan, the clips are show to a studio audience and a panel of celebrities and comedians, who all react very visibly and vocally, to the strangeness of what they are being shown. For example: Video clip of a 9-year old boy who looks like a body builder. Cut to audience, gasping in horror. Back to clip of 9-year-old body builder. Box appears in the corner of the screen, with a guest comedian appearing incredulous. Cut back to studio, where guest panel discusses how weird that 9-year-old body builder was. And so on. I can’t help but connect this with similar gasps and questions I get when I display any capacity to do anything remotely “Japanese” -- use chopsticks, eat sushi, do karate. It seems plausible that such a homogenous and regimented culture as Japan is endlessly fascinated with deviance, abnormality, and things that defy expectations. At the same time, in order to ensure that these things STAY deviant, abnormal, and unexpected -- and to show that everyone agrees that this should be the case -- the Japanese are very vocal in their reaction to “foreigness.” Just as the studio audience on American talk shows acts as a barometer of the current public standard of sexual morality, perhaps its Japanese counterpart models, with wide eyes and appalled, unified cries, the appropriate reaction to the unfamiliar.
And as for the rest of the week: Wednesday I go to a JET/Japanese English teacher meeting in southern Chiba. There’s no school on Friday so I’m going to Tokyo Thursday night. Friday I’ll explore around Tokyo a bit (and hopefully buy some warm clothes). Saturday I’ll go to Yokohama to see Saori’s friend Debbie, and the three of us are going to see Cirque de Soleil. Next Monday and Tuesday the kids at my school are taking tests all day, so I just have to go into the Board of Ed. for three hours each morning. In about a month, I’ll be home!
By the way, the Backstreet Boys arrived in Japan today to much hysteria. Unfortunately I did not have the foresight to secure tickets to one of their shows.
