Launching Over Japan

I had a really weird experience the other day. I wouldn’t say it was a big deal, but it was big enough to make me want to blog about it. It all started before the morning meeting….

Morning meetings are something that happen in just about every Japanese School. The teachers will stand up, say their greetings and talk about what is happening that day. It’s all fairly standard stuff; similar to what you might see at a morning sales meeting in Canada. On this particular day, however, the meeting wasn’t going to start very well, and I was the root of it all.

You see, I had been using the main staff room computer to print out a map of Canada. I was making a display board to show students and parents just how awesome Canada could be. I was not paying attention to the time and was still at that computer at the time the meeting started. The desk where the computer is also happens to be the place where the principal sits in for these meetings. He is usually in his crystal gondola, overlooking the school. He comes down to Earth for brief periods of time. The morning meeting happens to be one of those times. This time however he noticed I was at his desk and went to sit down over at the coffee table. This was nice of him to do, since I wasn’t done printing my poster. Then the bell for the morning meeting sounds and all of the teachers suddenly look at me like I’ve just announced the passing of the Emperor.

It seem that it is a nasty taboo to occupy the principal’s temporary desk. The teachers immediately started pleading for me to return to my own desk. At first I didn’t know what they were on about. Then after hearing some distorted mumbles and a “Kouchou-sensei”, I got the clue. I quickly moved back to my desk, and order was restored. The only person who didn’t seemed phased about this ordeal was the principal himself. He seemed rather calm about the whole thing. He even seemed to find it funny. He and I seemed to be the only ones who did, however. The remaining staff members looked terrified. Which is not a fun wat to start off a morning.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this sort of thing happen. I think it must harken back to the days of the samurai and his servants. It seems that if you had any sort of power at that time, then you were the man. You called all the shots and no one questioned you. If you didn’t have any power, then you feared those who did for what they could do to you. In this democratic and modern Japan, I would assume things had changed. But looking in the panic struck eyes of those poor staff members, perhaps they haven’t. I say this as a purely speculative assumption, and I am, by no means, trying to say it happens all the time. But it happens enough that gets my attention. I got over the issue rather quickly and moved on with my day.

My principal doesn’t seem like the type of person to come down on someone for a small goof-up such as that. Add to this assumption that he seemed to be letting me get my work done, instead of shooing me away to me desk, and he seems like a decent guy. Of course, in the future, I will be making sure to never be near that computer before a meeting starts. Not for fear that the principal would punish me, but so I don’t get the blood pressure of any other staff members higher than it should be. One of the key skills in working in a Japanese office is to make sure not to step on any toes. It’s a delicate dance that takes time to learn. I think I a finally becoming skilled at it.