If you found yourself choking on the first word up there in title, have no fear. I will explain it all to you. The 始業式(shigyoushiki) is the ceremony that schools hold at the start of the new term. In this case it is the second term, and it starts right now. This ceremony is not as formal as most are. It doesn’t even involve wearing a tie in most cases.
The Shigyoushiki is to let the students know that they should move from their summer vacation study schedule to a regular school schedule. Otherwise they might not know they are actually suppose to attend classes again(they never stop coming to school, however.) I’m actually sure they would know about the new term, but you never can be too sure; and never being too sure is what Japan is all about. Practice, practice and more practice. Constant Vigilance!!!
I took part in this ritual and it wasn’t all that bad. The principal came up and spoke of all the recent elementary school deaths around Japan(perhaps as a subtle hint not to die this term.) He also wanted us to try our hardest and never give up, and that it’s time to pick up the pace and study like tomorrow was never going to come. Constant Vigilance!!!
Never mind that I had know idea when this ceremony started. I decided to be vigilant and get up at six am, so I could make it there without missing the ceremony. I made it with one and a half hours to spare. A close call. But I was vigilant!!!
Vigilant!!!
It’s not all that bad, however. One of the nice things about this time of year are the flowers. You can see many different kinds, and if you are lucky, you can grab a good picture of them as well.
I am sitting here at my desk, trying to explain to myself why I haven’t blogged anything in the last three weeks. I would assume the one thing that keeps me from doing so is my absolute lack of desire to blog about Japan at this time. It’s not that there hasn’t been anything to blog about. I am just finding myself in a position of complete disillusionment.
As the summer months crawl by, I keep asking myself the same old questions. “Why I am still in Japan, when so many have moved on.” “Why I am still single, when so many my age have married and started families?” Or better yet, “Why I can’t seem to settle on a career when I am 31 and many are already well entrenched in their ambitions? ” It’s not that I am envious of those who are “successful” in the oxford definition of a happy life. Yet I can’t help but feel the ALT lifestyle is leaving me stretched thin. I love many aspects of Japan, yet feel I can never really amount to anything if I stay here. But then I ask myself, what is this “anything” I want to amount to in the first place. Is it worthwhile? Will it leave me satisfied? Can I really say that digging myself into a mediocre career with a wife and kids will give me anymore satisfaction than what I am doing now?
But there lies the problem. What am I doing now? The life of an ALT is a strange one indeed. I am there to assist my teachers with lessons, and I even make my own lesson plans when it comes to elementary school? Sadly, there is little that changes year to year. I am always making flashcards and finding songs. I am always using myself as a human tape recorder when I am in the Junior High classes. There are no promotions and no raises. I am not a human here. I am an ALT, and that is something I will always be. I am highly expendable, and that bothers me. As much as I enjoy this job it is not something I can do for rest of my life. When it comes to being ambitious, I am not Howard Hughes, but I am also not Kleatus, the slack jawed yokel. I feel like some days I am force to choose between these ridiculous extremes.
Which brings me to the next step. What that is, I’m not sure, however, I need to find it as soon as possible. I delayed this decision last year by moving out into the middle of nowhere. I fear now that if I don’t make it soon, I’ll be relegated to the vast rice-fields of Japan for years to come. In the mean time I will resume my blogging ways, and finding ways to make Japan enjoyable for all of you on the outside. Thanks for sticking around.
I thought I’d kick off my first blog post in a while with a smoking hot review of the Jazz concert I attended the other day. The name of the band is Olive and they are based out of Morioka and Senmaya. Yes, for those of you who read this blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that I used to live in Senmaya. I got a chance to take do a photo shoot of the concert. I was also quite impressed with what I heard.
The band is made up of Mai on drums, Emi on keyboards and vocals, and Oi on the electric stand up bass. What they lack in members, they make up for in raw ability. The band focuses on a style of acid jazz infused with pop style rolling bass lines. They performed a set of three songs; each more more upbeat and grooving than the previous. I have yet to actually get the names of the tunes they played; however, they are working on a CD for release later this year, so when I get my hands on it, you’ll be the first to know. For now I have placed the pictures I took in a flickr set. Enjoy.
There’s been a lot of buzz out on the interwebs and the blagoshpere lately about UNIQLO. For those not already in the know, UNIQLO is a purveyor of inexpensive, high quality, conservative fashion here in Japan. Recently they garnered attention in the US when it was announced that they would open a store in New York. Most notably though, they are also well known for their stylish t-shirts, whose designs are cycled throughout the year.
The store itself has a wonderful style, consisting mainly of plain white surfaces mixed in with brushed metal. It gives the impression of being inside Mac OS X. In addition to the touch-screen catalogues on tables, there are these cool wall street style LED tickers that appear to be giving real time information about sales trends of certain types of t-shirts. Along with that, are plasma displays showing these sales, and relationships to other shirts via a dynamic graphical hoo-ha of awesome. it all adds up to a pretty nifty, and seemingly real-time experience. (Or something out of an Orwell novel, but that’s up to the reader to figure out.)
The pictures you often see of the UNIQLO UT, are of the vending machine like walls of tubes, and as a concept, this strikes me as “Pretty Damn Cool”™. However, this effect of a multi story vending machine, is betrayed and, in my opinion, cheapened by what is not shown in the photos; the conventional clothing rack displaying the t-shirts themselves.
UNIQLO was so close to doing something new, interesting and different, and blew it in the execution. Everything about this store, from the racks of tubes, to the flat panel displays about the racks and in the tables, to even the walls themselves scream “I am modern, I am new, I am not a clothing store”. All that taken away by a rickety old rack in the middle of every aisle. I can just imagine the board room scene where this decision was made.
Is it a dream?, originally uploaded by jasohill.
I used the great June weather to go out and capture this beautiful field of violet flowers. In my opinion, the best time for flower photography is near sunset or just after sunrise. Any other time and the light is just too harsh. If you must shoot in mid day, consider a polarizing light filter, or a shoot with a lower F number to keep those harsh sun beams from overexposing your shots. If you can wait for some clouds to come it might just provide a little softening on those harsh shadows. Enjoy!
Japan is well known for its slow moving, bureaucratic layers of impossibility. Many tasks such as getting a driver’s license, or even signing up for a credit card often require moments of effort and patience. Applying for a job, or enrolling in University can sometimes be so stressful, people spend year training for them. We can see a little of that in North American as well(SATs, interviews etc.), but I’m not sure it is on the same scale as what I’ve seen here. What I didn’t realize was that many of these stressful motions are taught from as early as elementary school.
Today, I present for you, the elementary school English club. The school shall remain nameless in order to protect the identities of those involved.
Continue reading ‘Red Tape is Sticky’
Stormy Sunset, originally uploaded by jasohill.
I read an article in a business magazine a number of years ago about how a typical day at a Japanese office goes. From that point on I have been quite reactionary towards many of the customs I see at Japanese companies. It might have been the long working hours (60-80 hours), or the large number of people who never take their paid holidays that got to me the most. For me, a healthy balance between work time and home time was the key to a healthy mind and body. I could never figure out exactly why the Japanese would choose to submit themselves to such terrible working conditions.
Continue reading ‘A New Perspective on Japanese Working Conditions’
Today was a rather amusing day for me. I was teaching a group of first grade junior high school students who had just taken their first really strict vocabulary test. They had to be mindful of capital letters and periods. They had practiced this already, but I was shocked to see just how many of them were missing periods and capital letters.
After they got their tests back, there was quite a bit of grumbling. The person I co-teach with in this class explained that English had some rather strict rules that needed to be followed, and this was the only way they would learn. I agree witht his sentiment. One student couldn’t believe it, and vocalized his anger. He uttered out what I thought to be the equivalent of “This is Madness!” to the teacher. I immediately tuned in, and could hold myself back. I just let it slip out:
“This is ENGLISHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
The class went silent. I went silent. I doubt they had any idea of what I was talking about, but I hope I didn’t freak em out too much.
