Graduation Round 2 - My Little Prides and Joys

A couple weeks ago my favorite students graduated. I thought I was sad at last year’s graduation, but the relationship I formed with this year’s 3^rd (9^th) graders was even stronger. I’m not sure if I will ever have students I’m closer to. Something about the combination of students, JTE, and amount of time I had with them was perfect for fostering our relationship. I don’t feel as close with the current 1^st and 2^nd years.

Let me start by telling you about these students and the things I did with them. In class, thanks to their awesome English teacher, I was able to do things with these students that I couldn’t do in other classes. For example, I sometimes had class long deep discussions with them about controversial topics such as war, the bombing of Hiroshima, and discrimination. I don’t think teachers in general do this sort of thing much. I believe that having important conversations with your students where you can share opinions with each other and teach them things that are often not discussed is very important because it opens their minds, enables them to voice their own opinions (in a country where that is often frowned upon), and because I gain can their respect by being honest and emotional in front of them.

This group of students was very clever. I arranged a way for them to exchange letters with American high school students because I was confident in their abilities. I had many students tell me after that this was the thing they will remember the most about their English class. They were so happy for the opportunity.

In their classes, I often gave PowerPoint lessons where I told them about my life, things I’ve done, places I’ve been, and American culture. I often told them embarrassing things about myself. They enjoyed it so much. I think it’s rare for them to have teachers that are so open with them. Even the “bad” students enjoyed speaking with me (even if they only spoke to me in Japanese). I often exchanged notes and letters with the 3^rd years throughout the year.

I really believe that their JTE had a huge part to do with their English ability. She always created activities and exercises that involved speaking, listening, and conversation. In the beginning of each class, one student would come up front and give a speech about anything they wanted to for one minute. I got to learn more about my students this way. We also did group chatting where I would take a group of 5 students into a separate room, and we have a conversation about set topics for 10 minutes or so. The last time we did it, there were no grades or scores. Students could simply enjoy speaking English with me and each other in a relaxed atmosphere. You wouldn’t believe how much confidence this gave them! Many kids told me that when they first started learning English, they were bad and not confident, but after getting to speak with me, they began to enjoy English and were amazed by the fact that they could communicate with a foreigner by the end.

So what I’m trying to say is that I was able to grow closer to these students compared to the other grades. So, on graduation day, I was in tears. I completely lost it when the male and female class presidents came on stage and gave their speeches…and again when the students sang their farewell song to the lower class-men. They were choking back tears and embracing each other while trying to sing to the 1^st and 2^nd years. Even the toughest boys were crying which made me cry more haha!

After the ceremony, I had students flock to me to take pictures and get my contact info. Last year, I took some pictures with students, but none of them asked for my email, LINE, etc. Now that they have graduated and aren’t my students anymore, they text me every now and then to keep in touch which is so nice. I told them that if they ever need help with anything once they become high school students they shouldn’t hesitate to ask. I just want to end this half of my blog by saying I’m really going to miss them, I know they will do well in the future, and I am so lucky and thankful to have been able to teach them.

The next topic I want to bring up in this post is about starting my 3^rd year of living in Japan. The end of July this year will mark my 2 year anniversary of moving here. From this time, I will enter my third year. In my town, there is a rule where ALT’s can’t work at the same school for more than 2 years, so I will be transferring. I have mixed feelings about this. At first I was upset, but not I’m beginning to accept it and even look forward to it.

At first I was angry because changing schools means basically readjusting to EVERYTHING! I will have new coworkers, new bosses, new students, a bigger school with more JTE’s, a schedule in which I don’t teach every single student because there are so many, 2 elementary schools instead of one (that I go to every week), different systems and rules, and new ways of teaching that I’m not used to. It’s very frustrating to have to learn new ways…but then again, I suppose it keeps things more interesting? This isn’t just something I have to do, regular teachers get moved around every few year as well. It’s just the way schools work in Japan.

The more I think about it, however, the more ok I become with it. I guess we’ll see once I’m actually at my new school, but for now, I will tell you some of the reasons I’m looking forward to it. First, I’m getting a chance to start fresh, but this time I’m armed with experience. Although things will be different, I have ideas to offer, I know how a Japanese school works for the most part, my Japanese language ability is a billion times better than it was when I first came here, I know how to actually teach a bit now, and I know what things to not take for granted. From the second I walk in the doors of my new school, my goal is going to be to form good relationships with my coworkers and students and try to influence them. I have confidence that I can. When I first started working here as a teacher, all I could focus on is figuring out what the hell was going on and trying to not look like an ass. I am excited for the fresh start and having the tools I need to be a good teacher and coworker. It’s not that I’m not good now, but I feel like I lot of time was wasted in the beginning, and that I could have had an even better relationship with my coworkers and younger students if I knew how things worked from the beginning.

Next, my new school is WAY closer to my apartment. Right now, I ride my bike for 5+ minutes, walk for about 15 minutes, and then ride a bus for 20+ minutes. The times I can go home are determined by the bus schedule. Once I change schools, it’ll be only like a 10 minute walk! I’m gona get to sleep more!!

Last, from what I’ve heard, the teachers at my new school are a lot younger and like to party and hang outside of work. Currently, there are not that many young teachers at my school and the few young ones don’t drink or go out. My school never has nomikai (drinking parties) like most Japanese normal Japanese schools. I heard that my new school has nomikai almost every Friday! :O

So yeah, I will let you know how it’s going once I switch schools after summer vacation. For now though, I’m gona enjoy my last semester here at Tawara Junior High.

Sumo

On Saturday March 15^th, 2014, I saw my first sumo competition. I was super lucky to come across tickets. My first year in Japan, I didn’t even think about sumo, but this year when people started mentioning that the season was coming up soon, I thought that it would be a really cool thing to see! Not many people can say they’ve seen a live sumo match. I was dumb not to write down the date the tickets went on sale because when the day came, the people who had bought tickets excitedly wrote about it on Facebook and explained how the tickets sell out super quick. I felt like I had missed a huge opportunity. Luckily, one of my friends posted online that she had a spare ticket and was looking for someone who would buy it and accompany her! I was so lucky to have seen that post before anyone else, and I jumped right on it! That’s how I got my ticket.

The sumo season is very short. Matches take place in Osaka for only a few days, and it’s a big deal. I got really excited when I was riding on the Osaka Loop Line and came across my first sumo wrestler. On the day of the tournament I was going to, I got to meet my first sumo wrestler. We got there around 2 pm (that’s when the higher rank matches start…many people go around this time otherwise if you went from 10 am to 6 pm, which is the whole time, it’d be exhausting). The sumo wrestler I met was sitting outside of the arena. He must have been one of the lower rank wrestlers because he was done for the day. My friend and I approached him and asked if we could take pictures with him. He was really nice. When I stood next to him, I was surprised by the wonderful smell coming from him. I told him that he smelled really good. After laughing at my use of Kansai-ben, he explained that it’s the oil that sumo wrestlers use in their hair.

M sumo wrestler friend.

There were huge lines of people waiting for the top rank wrestlers to enter the gym. It was like a red carpet event. When a wrestler would arrive and get out of the car, people would start clapping and cheering.

When we entered the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium where the event was held, a person escorted us all the way from the entrance to our seats. We were shocked to find that we were sitting next to several of our JET friends! What a coincidence!

We all got to sit together!

I should that I really don’t know much about sumo. It would probably be good to do some research about the rules and whatnot before going to see in live. Thank goodness for the power of technology. I was able to look up some things with my iPhone while watching.

Here are some of my thoughts about sumo in list form:

·         They are huge! Their boobs are really big!

·         Despite being so fat, they are really agile and strong.

·         Their diaper things (which I’m sure have a legit name that I’m too lazy to look up right now) are funny.

·         Sumo is kind of scary. The reason being that it looks really painful when they slam into each other at first and when they throw each other on the ground really hard.

·         Being a spectator up close wouldn’t be as fun as it sounds because first, you have to sit seiza (where your legs are folded underneath your body…it’s painful) on a thin cushion. Second, you risk getting seriously injured! There is nothing blocking the people in the first few rows from the wrestlers. Numerous times the wrestlers fell on and rolled into the spectators! I Googled it, and there have been cases of people getting injured and even paralyzed from sitting in the front rows at a sumo competition!

·         There are some foreign sumo wrestlers!

·         Sumo is cool!

·         It’s interesting how there are no TV screens for advertising in the gym, so they instead have people holding banners walk around the rink ever so often.

I think sumo is something you should try to experience if your are living in Japan because it is pretty cool!  You should at least try to smell a sumo wrestler. You won’t be disappointed!

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A foreigner!

Palm to FACE!

SLAM!

Doing some sort of ceremony to purify the rink, I think.

Closing ceremony.

Japanese Movie Theaters

I randomly just want to tell you about Japanese movie theaters and how awesome they are. There are people in America, like me, who still consider movies to be a form of art and really appreciate them, but overall, I feel like the general public sees movies as simply a form of entertainment. Hence we have some incredibly stupid and mind numbing movies with no point, theme, or intellectual benefit at all. I’m not saying that Japan doesn’t have some stupid movies, but my impression is that the Japanese people as a whole still largely have an appreciation for the art of cinema. I find it really refreshing.

Before I get into details about Japanese movie theaters, I just want to point out something I think about quite often that’s somewhat related. When people in the U.S. think about animated films or shows, they automatically assume that it’s for children which isn’t always the case. In Japan, there is the mindset that just because it’s animated, doesn’t mean it’s for children. Take Miyazaki’s final movie that came out recently, The Wind Rises. If a kid sat through that, they would be so bored and not understand anything. A lot of Japanese anime is like that in general. There are heavy themes, violence, sexuality, and complicated story-lines in many Japanese anime.  There is a great appreciation for comics here as well (most anime stems from comics anyway). I really get annoyed by the Americans who see a comic book or an animation and can’t take it seriously because “they are for children.”. Thank goodness we at least have Pixar which seems to be one of the only animation companies that can touch the hearts of adults and children alike…even if they still are considered to be “kids’ movies.”

So anyway, the appreciation for movies in Japan can really be seen by looking at their movie theaters. Let me explain…Japanese movie theaters are exquisite. I have never once set foot in a crummy theater in Japan. Sure, there are some nice theaters in America too (where I live they are far and few between though), but it goes even further. When entering a Japanese movie theater, it seems like you are actually going to see a live show like a play or an orchestra or something. They are always impeccably clean, beautiful, and well decorated. Unlike American theaters, you actually choose your seats in advance. The exact time the movie starts and begins including previews and credits is listed. If you are seeing a 3D movie and still have your 3D glasses from a previous 3D movie you saw, you don’t have to pay for the glasses again which is super nice. The chairs are always on a steep slope so no one’s head is ever blocking your view. The chairs themselves are comfortable and spacious. If you buy food/drinks, they give you a tray that locks into the cup holder of your armrest and hovers over your lap so you don’t have to hold anything. Did I mention they sell beer that you’re allowed to drink during the movie? Once the movie is finished, and you exit the theater, there is almost always staff there who take your trash from you and separate it into recycling and such. You don’t have to do anything except hand them your garbage, and they thank you for coming to their theater.

Inside the lobby (from Google).

Inside the theater (from Google).

What really impresses me is that people do not make a sound or look at their phone during the movie which is how it should be, right?! I remember when I was home for Christmas, and I went to see Catching Fire with my mom. There were people talking behind me throughout the whole movie. A woman with two small kids came into the theater half way through the movie and sat down next to me. She started talking with the people who were talking behind me. Then she said the movie was too scary for her kids, so she gave them Gameboys to play with. As if the light from the Gameboys and their constant chatting wasn’t bad enough, the volume on the Gameboys was turned all the way up! They were playing Donkey Kong, and the music in the game was so loud. I’ve never been so shocked and furious at the rudeness of people. This would NEVER happen in Japan.

Another thing that impresses me is that when the credits after the movie start playing, almost everyone sits quietly through all of them without leaving. In America, as soon as the credits start rolling, more than half of the people in the theater leave right away. People in America don’t seem to care about respecting the movie and director, and if they stay, it’s only to see if there’s some sort of clip after the credits. In Japan, I believe they stay until the end out of respect. I should point out that most of the films I’ve seen in Japan are in English, and the credits are not translated. In other words, most Japanese people can’t even read the credits, but they still sit through them anyway! It really makes me feel happy. For me, even if reading the credits is boring, I like to appreciate the music that goes along with them because I know somebody either chose that music for a reason or composed it for the movie.

If you ever visit Japan, I think it’s worth it to see a movie here. It is a big more expensive, but it’s for a good reason.

This is a really silly picture I took on my mom and I when
we went to see Monsters University (in Japan). The walls
inside the theater were all lit up, and you can see how
awesome the chairs are.

The Lockup

We have a few themed restaurants in America like Rainforest Café for example, but I think Japan wins for weirdest themed restaurants. I’ve heard of princess themed restaurants in Japan, but I think “The Lockup” might be even stranger (I shouldn’t make assumptions before I’ve been to a princess restaurant though). The Lockup is a prison/haunted house themed restaurant. There are a few of them in Japan. I went to the one in Tennoji with a big group of girls. It was fun!

When you walk in, you are gathered into a little room where they turn off all the lights and make scary noises. There are props everywhere like skeletons and gross stuff. They bring you to your table after handcuffing a few of you (the workers are in police uniforms). When you get to your table, they close you in with iron bars that make it seem like you are in prison. All the food and drinks are shaped like creepy things. I can’t say that the food was anything special besides the appearance, but I thought the themed drinks were pretty tasty. Every hour or so, the restaurant goes dark (except for black lights), loud music starts playing, and people dressed in monster costumes burst into you room/nook and mess with you. It’s ridiculously silly and not scary, but it’s amusing.

You inject the liquor into your drink lol.

DNA drink.

Alcoholic chemistry set?

Jesus pizza.

This crazy gorilla apparently was cold so he
needed a scarf.

A monster entering our dungeon.

It was cool experiencing a themed restaurant in Japan for the first time, and I got to meet a lot of cool new people. I recommend going with a smaller group though (like 4 people) because when there are too many, they don’t get your drinks to you in a timely manner, if at all. Also, splitting the bill gets confusing.

Cool group of gals.

Anyway, if you are looking for something interesting and new, why don’t you try going! There’s one in Umeda as well, I believe.