There have been lots of little things that have happened over the past few weeks that for one reason or another slipped my mind. Here they are, in no particular order.
The teacher that sits next to me is a part time computer teacher. She is a younger woman, maybe a couple years out of college. She is built like a truck and probably had a future in wrestling if she gave it a shot. Anyway, she is obsessive-compulsive. Every morning that she comes in she spends ten minutes arranging all her things on her desk. During the meetings her hands straighten objects around her, and she probably doesn’t even realize she does it. I’ve been experimenting with it a little bit. I put big stacks of messy papers right on the border of my desk, never quite crossing the seam onto her desk. She didn’t seem to notice – it completely didn’t bother her. Recently when she’s in class I turn things on her desk one or two degrees in a various directions. It never lasts long, though – as soon as she comes back she arranges everything symmetrically again. You should have seen her folding her coat during the winter.
The girl students at my school seem to go on a cycle of having a crush on me and not really caring one way or the other. At any given time the amount of girls that giggle and coo when I walk by is probably a fixed number, but as time passes hormones change and shift, and now girls that couldn’t get enough of me barely say hello as I go past. Then, as if to compensate, some girls that have never said anything to me in the past will suddenly smile and slow down when I walk by. It’s a strange phenomenon. The boys seem to remain constant – which I would expect.
There’s this guy who occasionally smokes in the non-smoking area of my train station in the mornings. Actually, there is a small smoking area, and everywhere else in non-smoking. Anyway, the other day he was smoking and I started working out the Japanese in my head to make a sarcastic remark. While I was working it out I was looking at him and I must have been giving him a really dirty look; he started watching me out of the corner of his eye, checking me out a couple of times, and then finally he got up and went to the smoking area before I could let him have it (verbally). I was amazed at this power, and it has had a lasting effect, recently I’ve seen him standing over at the smoking area looking back at me warily to see if I’m going to attack or something.
An interesting cultural insight into Japanese businessmen is that a lot of respect is given to people who are stern and serious. I guess it goes all the way back to the samurai (at least that’s what the history teacher told me), but a guy that is relaxed and happy looking apparently isn’t serious about his work. I find this attitude interesting because I’m exactly the opposite – maybe as opposite as you can get. You see lots of guys staring off into space seriously, and you wonder if they’ve forgotten how to smile. When do they give it up? I’m sure this, like a lot of other things, is starting to change over time.
Thanks go to Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister of Japan, and to his cabinet. Recently they’ve introduced a new idea for summer – the idea of a casual “no necktie” look. Why? The idea is to save money on air conditioning. Imagine all these serious businessmen all wearing serious suits and ties, and sweating like dogs in the heat and humidity. They think they can save lots of money by loosening up a little, and turning down the AC. The prime minister and his cabinet have made lots of appearances wearing casual open neck shirts, sometimes even for big meetings, and it is making an impact. You can’t change everyone right away – maybe it’ll take years, but I see it as a step in the right direction. I can’t believe how many suits I see around here. I’ve never liked wearing suits – they are uncomfortable and stifling. Now, quite by accident I have the same fashion sense as the Japanese government. Scary.
Well, that’s all I can think of right now. I should write this stuff down – my life is full of these little tidbits that come up.
