Head On Collisions

I saw a funny thing on the way to work today, a little insight into how some things are so different here in Japan from what I’m used to.

I was walking along the road in Takasago, just about five minutes away from my school. Ahead of me the sidewalk was wide open, there was only two people approaching each other. I watched the two people walking towards each other, both of them with their heads bent down looking steadily at the ground. It became apparent to me that one or the other was going to have to look up soon and see that they were on a collision course.

But, nobody did, and they jumped out of each others way when each other’s feet were in their range of vision – maybe less than a foot apart. It was strange to see given that the whole rest of the sidewalk was open and empty for as far as I could see.

I’ve noticed that people that walk around tend to not be so aware of their surroundings – at least not as aware as I am. Before today I have written it off as me being a little frustrated with the slower walking speed around here, or maybe some frustration at being stared at all the time. But now, I think it is just that people here don’t need to be so aware of their surroundings. If they bump into somebody, nobody is going to make a big deal, nobody is going to yell at them or push them, and nobody is going to pull a knife or a gun. It is interesting what living in a relatively low crime society can do to people’s awareness.

Through a scheduling fluke I had no classes today, and had six separate visits from the history teacher. Despite this I was able to study most of the day and plan a lesson for Wednesday. Outside it was snowing pretty hard in the afternoon – big fluffy flakes that melted soon after they hit the ground. The flakes were the size of quarters or half-dollars – and even though they were falling fast and thick it just wasn’t cold enough for them to collect on the ground.

The English educational system in Japan was struck a critical blow today. The history teacher received a teacher’s license to teach English. He’s been working hard on papers and exams, and somehow, he passed. As I sit and listen to him tell me, “I have great interested in telling you what you do this weekend,” and “Today I hit the punch!”, I wonder who gave him a license. He’s missing some huge fundamentals, but apparently it’s enough to teach English in the public school system. I feel sorry for his students. He wants to keep the certification a secret for now – he’s afraid of the reaction of the English teachers. I don’t know what I would think if I were them.

This afternoon the vice principal stopped by and invited me to join a class being taught by an American college professor from Osaka. The VP said that he was going, so he invited me along. I told him that I’d meet him there, and headed upstairs a little while later. The professor was teaching away, and the students all turned back to look at me with an expression of “what the hell is this guy talking about?”

It turned out he was lecturing about the upcoming iPod/Levi’s jeans cross-promotion, and he had the students looking up words like “frenetic” and “drooling”. I walked around and tried to help the students out. The professor had a great lecture, but it seemed like it would be better suited for a college or higher level high school class. The professor asked me if we had some speakers to plug his iPod into to play some music, but unfortunately we didn’t.

Overall I thought it was a wasted opportunity, but something that the school will publish as one of the advantages of going there – courses by college professors. The guy was nice enough, though, and he was really happy to have me around.

I was looking at some of the major events coming up in the next six months for me and Kuniko. We’ll be taking a trip to Hokkaido at the beginning of next month, Mark will be in town at the end of March, I’ll need to renew my passport at the embassy in Osaka, and then change my visa to reflect my new status as married. The visa is important because it will allow me to stay in Japan regardless of my job status. I would hate to be against a deadline for a visa and take a crappy job – this will give me a little more flexibility. Finally, I’ll need to get a new re-entry permit once I get all the other things taken care of, so I can come back into Japan if I leave it.

Lots of fun paperworky-type stuff to look forward to, with a culmination in hopefully a honeymoon trip in the summer and a new job soon thereafter.


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