Culture Shock

As I said before, life in Japan seems rather normal to me now and I have to make a conscious effort to analyse and describe the major differences that do exist between life in Britain and life here. My cousin's daughter, Laura and her boyfriend Dominic are thinking of coming over here to work for a year. They have applied to Nova, one of the major Eikaiwa, (English conversation schools), and are going down to London for an interview soon. They have expressed an interest in working in Tokyo if they are selected, what can they expect to see and feel if they arrive at Narita airport one fine day in late August or early September?

Narita is a busy international airport, but it is strange as it only has one and 2/3ds runways as local farmers have been refusing to sell land for the completion of the second runway since the sixties. You thus have an extremely busy airport with planes taking off and landing on the same strip every minute or so! Pretty scary. The procedures at immigration and customs can be quick and friendly or very slow and serious. I have heard horror stories of people undergoing very thorough searches at the customs post. Personally, I have never had even a cursory search and the customs officers have usually just tried to practice their English with me. My tip is to be friendly and polite and for God's sake don't try to smuggle or hide anything, the penalties are severe and the system is Draconian.

Step outside the airport to catch the coach to the city centre, (65 kms away! this is the airport at the end of the world), and you will be hit by a solid wall of hot, humid air. August and early September are in the dreaded summertime and the humidity resembles a Turkish bath, not pleasant. The journey into town, especially by train gives the first opportunity to see Japan close up. It's not a pretty sight. The train goes through Narita city, (town actually), and then through a rather nice belt of countryside before plunging into the megalopolis that is Tokyo. I think of London as a city made up of towns and villages that have merged together over time. Tokyo is a city made up of cities that have grown together over time. Tokyo is home to 12.5 million people and the Kanto plain is home to over 33 million people, so one thing you will notice is that the buildings are packed together, ( and almost uniformly ugly), and that everywhere is swarming with people, especially at the rush hour and at the weekend. In the West, we are rather used to our cultural diversity. If you travel on the London underground or the bus in Glasgow, you are likely to see Chinese, Indian, African, Eastern European and British faces, and think nothing of it. Get on a train in Japan and you are likely to be the odd one out. Sitting or standing in a carriage, crammed to the gunwales with people of the same genotype can be somewhat overwhelming. I think nothing of it at all now, but it comes as a shock when you first realise that yours is the only white face in sight anywhere.

The next two surprises as you walk along the street are likely to come at you at the same time. Loud noise from shop adverts, traffic and traffic signals and the rather unpleasant stench emanating from the drains! This is just a wee reminder that you are in Asia, even if it is a rich and modern country some aspects of life in Japan are very Asian, such as the noise and clamour and the stinky drains/toilets. Public toilets in stations and in parks tend to be smelt before they are seen, therefore people prefer to head for the nearest department store or restaurant instead. Oh, and very few public toilets, or even company/school toilets for that matter, have hand drying facilities, that is why everyone carries a large handkerchief with them at all times.

Time on my hands

It is going to be difficult to keep writing something new and interesting every day, however, the fourth year students have gone to England for a month, the new first year students are still being taught how to find their way around and how to live the Shumei life, so our schedules are very light at the moment and I have time to compose something.

Unlike other countries, apart from South Korea perhaps, Japan's academic year starts in April. This is to coincide with the cherry blossom time, so that the students have that symbolism of the ephemeral nature of life and the swift passage of time when they enter this new phase of their lives. The opening ceremony was held last week and was conducted with a great deal of pomp and ceremony. As well as the entrance of the new first year students, it also marked the entrance of the former third year students into the senior high school. The ceremony starts off with the entrance of the new students in their too large uniforms, looking nervous and lost, then the stage party entered and we all bowed to them in turn. After the kendo club boys played the taiko drums, the Japanese contingent sang 'Kimigayo', the controversial national anthem that has been in use since before the second world war and which some people refuse to sing because of its militaristic overtones.

Lots of speeches followed, from the founder, the headmasters of the junior and senior high school and representatives of the new first years and the new fourth years. The parents were all very attentive and videod and photographed dutifully to make a record of this landmark day in the lives of their offspring. They are paying an arm and a leg to send their tykes here, so I guess they were here to ensure they were getting their money's worth too.

After the ceremony was over and we had all sung the school song, it was off to the English Teachers' Preparation room, (doss), for a cup of tea and a natter, before having to get down to the task of preparing the new syllabus for this term.

If you want to see our ugly mugs here at Shumei, try this link, http://www.shumei.ac.jp/kawagoe2/home.html we are viewable if you choose the fifth button from the top on the left hand side of the page, the one that says English education, (but you knew that).
Mr. Van de l'Isle has been replaced by Alison Ormisher, but apart from that, we are all present and correct.

Sunday Sunny Sunday (U2 Song?)

Spring has finally sprung and yesterday was a very pleasant, warm Sunday. After washing the dishes and tidying up, we packed the baby things in a bag, shoved Akira on his bike seat and cycled off to the pond park for a picnic. The park was really busy. It has a large, grassy area, (unusual in itself in Japanese parks), where families were playing almost every conceivable catching, throwing, batting, kicking game imaginable. Akira toddled through it all, remarkably unscathed, hunkering down occasionally to pick up a leaf or a cherry blossom petal. The cherry trees still had some blossom on them and a few of a weeping variety were still in their full glory. Couples and families were picnicking and enjoying 'Hanami', (cherry blossom viewing), under them. The larger trees had already shed their flowers in a cascade that swathed the ground like new fallen snow. I have never seen ground so white from blossom, acres of park turned to a snowlike landscape on a balmy spring day.
We toddled down to the pond and spread our picnic sheet. We had stopped at Seven Eleven on the way and Reiko had bought herself some 'Onigiri',(rice balls, these consist of a ball of sticky rice containing something like a piece of fish, some Japanese pickles or meat and then usually wrapped in a thin sheet of 'nori' kelp pounded and dried into a sheet like paper, delicious!), I stuck to sandwiches and Akira had baby food of course. Reiko had opted to bring her own green tea from home, but I bought lemon tea from the vending machine in the park. Japan is the No1 vending machine country in the world, they are everywhere and you can get a hot or cold drink almost anywhere at anytime or even a beer, sake or whisky! I can't see the same thing happening in Britain as the machines on the street would have to be made by the same company that made Robocop and would have to be just as heavily armed!

After lunch, we went to Saiboku Ham, which is a pig farm turned food theme park nearby. It has a vegetable market, a supermarket specialising in porcine products and a weird pitch and putt type game using clubs that look like a cross between a driver and a croquet mallet. They have also recently opened a hot-spring spa, which seems to be incredibly popular, going by the packed car park. Sundays at this place are just a heaving mass of humanity as people wander around trying samples of food, licking ice creams, enjoying the barbecue or playing on the adventure playground. Akira was fascinated by the machine that roasts green tea. It has a revolving display at one end and he was mesmerised by it and the steady stream of tea leaves tumbling into the tea chest. I dragged him away from that to look at the Koi carp in the pond. The fish are really beautiful and the pond has the largest single carp I have ever seen, well over four feet long and inky black. A quick cycle home through the country lanes, and Akira was nodding off in his seat before we turned into the bike park at the flats.

A New Start

I've decided that I want to write my blog regularly and include aspects of life in Japan which are totally different or unexpected from life in Britain. I will still write about what we have been up to, but with a view to informing people as to the ways life here is different. The main problem with this idea is that I have been here so long that I consider many of these differences to be normal now, so it will be a good challenge for me to get down in writing things that I almost overlook these days.