As you may or may not know (and as you may or may not care), I'm an assitant language teacher working for a couple of elementary schools in Tokyo. And I regularly bitch about not getting anything in the way of support. For years ALTs have been griping about not being sufficiently trained and then being abandoned in the classroom by the Japanese teacher. As it turns out, there's a reason for that sort of behavior...
Yeah. Even if the students want to study it, the teachers often have no interest in taking part. And why? They're nervous. Fortunately, I can't think of a single ALT who's ever felt nervous about trying to communicate with a room full of Japanese students.
08 December 2004
03 December 2004
25 November 2004
Say what?
Yeah, Japan is starting its very own pro basketball league. Hoping to follow the success of the Japanese soccer league, and to cash in on the NBA debut of Yuta Tabuse, the new league will start its inaugural season in November 2005 with six teams.
As for the name of the new organization? Well, since baseball already got NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), and soccer got J League (The "J" stands for "Japan," duh), they've elected to put the sport first.
BJ-League.
Yeah. Even after years of the international community making fun of the English used in Japan for things like sports drinks, travel magazines and god only knows how many t-shirts, they still haven't thought about checking these names with someone who actually speaks English.
Of course, there is something really uplifting about cheering for the Nippon Ham Fighters, so maybe it ain't so bad.
As for the name of the new organization? Well, since baseball already got NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), and soccer got J League (The "J" stands for "Japan," duh), they've elected to put the sport first.
BJ-League.
Yeah. Even after years of the international community making fun of the English used in Japan for things like sports drinks, travel magazines and god only knows how many t-shirts, they still haven't thought about checking these names with someone who actually speaks English.
Of course, there is something really uplifting about cheering for the Nippon Ham Fighters, so maybe it ain't so bad.
17 November 2004
So, did you rock the vote?
When I was first contracted to work in Japan, one of the warnings the company gave me was that I would "represent the company at all times, even outside of normal work hours, and [would be] expected to behave in an appropriate manner." It seemed to me like a convenient thing to toss into a contract to facilitate firings in case teachers did some really heinous things that might reflect badly on the company that brought them there. And I don't mean like mistaking an after-work party for an excuse to drunkenly proposition students before groping a co-worker and throwing up on the street in front of the school. I mean like a drunken brawl with the police, an arrest and conviction for heroin trafficking or propositioning a 14-year old girl.
Those things have happened, but they're more often done by Japanese citizens than foreign teachers. It's just a case of numbers. In a nation of over 127 million people, registered foreigners, around 1.5% of that total, make up something like 1.8 million people. And the vast majority of them are ethnic Korean or Chinese. Oddly enough, the number three group is Brazilians, but a number of them are second- or third-generation children of Japanese people who immigrated to Brazil.
Just for comparison, the US population recognizes about 28.4 million registered foreign-born immigrants. That's 10% of America's population, and it doesn't include any of the undocumented entrants who are either: feared, reviled or seen as a necessary and unavoidable part of the labor force who must be used in the post-slavery-pre-worker-robot-and-vat-grown-clone-laborers-period to do the stuff we don't want to dirty our hands with. Like gardening, slaughterhouse work and child care.
The point of all this is that there aren't very many people walking around Japan who don't look Asian. In some of the smaller cities (like Yokohama, 3.5 million) there's only 1.8 foreigners for each 100 people. And that's in a port town where a history of international trade is considered an integral part of the city's identity. Yokohama is about the same size as LA, Sydney, St. Petersburg, metropolitan Paris or Montreal. Can you imagine being in any of those cities and only seeing one kind of person? It just doesn't happen like that in most parts of the western world. If you are a foreign person living here, by default you're going to be taken as representative of your species, primarily for lack of comparison.
(By the way, if you're curious about Japan's immigration situation, you might want to read this article about Japan's (somewhat glacial) move towards an immigration and integration policy for foreigners.)
In Tokyo, a fairly hip place, people will sometimes understand that there may be a difference between foreigners of different nations, and ask questions accordingly. After last summer's heat waves, the French got questions about their country's infrastructure and health care system. After the Olympics, Australians and Brits got questions about their athletes. After the election, Americans (and some unlucky Canadians) were being asked "what the hell happened?"
I don't know if anyone tries to find Floridians, Texans, or anyone from any of the other Republican states and asks "what the hell were you thinking?" But since there's no way to make that distinction here, for me it comes down to trying to explain why my country, why my fellow Americans chose a leader who the rest of the world (with the exception of a handful of like-minded politicians) think is a dishonest, oil-mad, warmongering halfwit with Jesus-flavored psychotic delusions.
And I don't know what to tell them. I mean, I can understand on a rational level how someone would make the choice to support a politician who promises to cut your taxes, or to protect you from foreigners, or even one who claims to have the same beliefs and prejudices as you. But what I can't understand is how someone would support that politician in light of everything questionable that he's done and reasonable that he's failed, neglected or simply chosen not to do.
So that's the rub. I have to admit that I really, honestly don't understand, agree or empathize with at least 59 million people in my country. I realize that the voting majority that put Bush in represents slightly over 1/6 of the total population, But that's still a lot. My leaders, the majority of my leaders, hold positions that I don't support, agree with or condone. And all signs say that this is only the beginning of a long, hard era.
A lot of being an expat has to do with not really belonging to the place where you live. Now I have the feeling I no longer understand the place I came from.
Those things have happened, but they're more often done by Japanese citizens than foreign teachers. It's just a case of numbers. In a nation of over 127 million people, registered foreigners, around 1.5% of that total, make up something like 1.8 million people. And the vast majority of them are ethnic Korean or Chinese. Oddly enough, the number three group is Brazilians, but a number of them are second- or third-generation children of Japanese people who immigrated to Brazil.
Just for comparison, the US population recognizes about 28.4 million registered foreign-born immigrants. That's 10% of America's population, and it doesn't include any of the undocumented entrants who are either: feared, reviled or seen as a necessary and unavoidable part of the labor force who must be used in the post-slavery-pre-worker-robot-and-vat-grown-clone-laborers-period to do the stuff we don't want to dirty our hands with. Like gardening, slaughterhouse work and child care.
The point of all this is that there aren't very many people walking around Japan who don't look Asian. In some of the smaller cities (like Yokohama, 3.5 million) there's only 1.8 foreigners for each 100 people. And that's in a port town where a history of international trade is considered an integral part of the city's identity. Yokohama is about the same size as LA, Sydney, St. Petersburg, metropolitan Paris or Montreal. Can you imagine being in any of those cities and only seeing one kind of person? It just doesn't happen like that in most parts of the western world. If you are a foreign person living here, by default you're going to be taken as representative of your species, primarily for lack of comparison.
(By the way, if you're curious about Japan's immigration situation, you might want to read this article about Japan's (somewhat glacial) move towards an immigration and integration policy for foreigners.)
In Tokyo, a fairly hip place, people will sometimes understand that there may be a difference between foreigners of different nations, and ask questions accordingly. After last summer's heat waves, the French got questions about their country's infrastructure and health care system. After the Olympics, Australians and Brits got questions about their athletes. After the election, Americans (and some unlucky Canadians) were being asked "what the hell happened?"
I don't know if anyone tries to find Floridians, Texans, or anyone from any of the other Republican states and asks "what the hell were you thinking?" But since there's no way to make that distinction here, for me it comes down to trying to explain why my country, why my fellow Americans chose a leader who the rest of the world (with the exception of a handful of like-minded politicians) think is a dishonest, oil-mad, warmongering halfwit with Jesus-flavored psychotic delusions.
And I don't know what to tell them. I mean, I can understand on a rational level how someone would make the choice to support a politician who promises to cut your taxes, or to protect you from foreigners, or even one who claims to have the same beliefs and prejudices as you. But what I can't understand is how someone would support that politician in light of everything questionable that he's done and reasonable that he's failed, neglected or simply chosen not to do.
So that's the rub. I have to admit that I really, honestly don't understand, agree or empathize with at least 59 million people in my country. I realize that the voting majority that put Bush in represents slightly over 1/6 of the total population, But that's still a lot. My leaders, the majority of my leaders, hold positions that I don't support, agree with or condone. And all signs say that this is only the beginning of a long, hard era.
A lot of being an expat has to do with not really belonging to the place where you live. Now I have the feeling I no longer understand the place I came from.
02 November 2004
This is the big day, huh?
So what's it gonna be, America?
Four more years?
More of the same?
Another court decided rule that ignores the people?
Is this going to be the year we officially lay the myth of American democracy to rest?
I have to tell you, I'm not hopeful.
Four more years?
More of the same?
Another court decided rule that ignores the people?
Is this going to be the year we officially lay the myth of American democracy to rest?
I have to tell you, I'm not hopeful.
30 October 2004
Know thy...enemy?
I suppose that before the "War on Terror," which is coming to look like the "War on Middle Eastern Dissent" specifically, the US had been most interested in fighting the "War Against Communism."
So really, would there be anything scarier than "Communist Muslims?"
Well, if you find government tolerance of a misunderstood minority scary, or the protection of egalitarian educational policies unnerving, then no. This is as scary as it could get.
You big babies.
So really, would there be anything scarier than "Communist Muslims?"
Well, if you find government tolerance of a misunderstood minority scary, or the protection of egalitarian educational policies unnerving, then no. This is as scary as it could get.
You big babies.
27 October 2004
October is the cruelest month...
In Japan anyway.
Just so you know:
This month, typhoons number 9 and 10 hit Japan, dumping the equivalent of half a year's worth of rain in two weeks. Hardest hit were the southern and western parts of Japan. Number 10, which was the deadliest in 60 years, did nothing to Tokyo except give it a much-needed shower.
Last week a cluster of earthquakes hit the Niigata area in northern Japan. The deadliest since the Great Kobe quake of 1992, 31 people were counted dead, several hundred injured and many thousands more are now homeless. The train lines are buckled and the highways are crushed. As residents struggle to find protection from the bitterly cold nights, municipal shelters are filled beyond capacity. Many people who have taken to sleeping in their cars have become prime candidates for "economy-class syndrome," in which immobility and lack of space lead to muscle cramps, high blood pressure, blood clots and possibly death. Tokyo did nothing besides pre-empt the laughably named "Golden Hour" programming block of miserable, Friday night TV.
Because of the unusually high amounts of rain that fell this summer, the nuts and berries that make up the bulk of the average black bear diet have been unavailable. Leading bears to forage for food in human towns. And as people have tried to confront the bears, a number of attacks have occurred. But in general, the bears have only been attacking the weak and the stupid who live in mountainous, rural regions.
So to sum up: The country bumpkins are taking it on the chin, but we hip, sophisticated city-dwellers are doing just fine.
For now.
Just so you know:
This month, typhoons number 9 and 10 hit Japan, dumping the equivalent of half a year's worth of rain in two weeks. Hardest hit were the southern and western parts of Japan. Number 10, which was the deadliest in 60 years, did nothing to Tokyo except give it a much-needed shower.
Last week a cluster of earthquakes hit the Niigata area in northern Japan. The deadliest since the Great Kobe quake of 1992, 31 people were counted dead, several hundred injured and many thousands more are now homeless. The train lines are buckled and the highways are crushed. As residents struggle to find protection from the bitterly cold nights, municipal shelters are filled beyond capacity. Many people who have taken to sleeping in their cars have become prime candidates for "economy-class syndrome," in which immobility and lack of space lead to muscle cramps, high blood pressure, blood clots and possibly death. Tokyo did nothing besides pre-empt the laughably named "Golden Hour" programming block of miserable, Friday night TV.
Because of the unusually high amounts of rain that fell this summer, the nuts and berries that make up the bulk of the average black bear diet have been unavailable. Leading bears to forage for food in human towns. And as people have tried to confront the bears, a number of attacks have occurred. But in general, the bears have only been attacking the weak and the stupid who live in mountainous, rural regions.
So to sum up: The country bumpkins are taking it on the chin, but we hip, sophisticated city-dwellers are doing just fine.
For now.
24 October 2004
Swine!
Thompson was right about the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton elections. Has he got the line again?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
