What's been happening

So.

Been a while.

Sorry I haven't posted all that much, must not seem worthwhile to check this blog if the person doesn't bother updating. BUT LOOK! Over yonder! What is that you see?? Yes, it's an update. Pigs CAN fly!

Hope all that read this are doing well. Hope those that don't read this aren't doing quite as well so you can pat them on the back but secretly be happy about your good fortune. 

Japan continues to astound me. I said this in my first entry, but I want to reiterate: The people of Nango-cho are friendly, hardworking, intelligent people... hardly what a "city dweller" might expect from people living in the middle of nowhere. They are devoted, not only to themselves, but to family and friends. Some people in America "go the extra mile" for a friend in need. The people I've met go the extra mile, then offer to run it again WHILE scrubbing your toilet, shining your shoes, and cooking you dinner. I just got back from a camping trip with a woman of truly EPIC proportions. She's 60 and yet, goes backpacking at least once a month and rides her bicycle to work EVERY DAY. A 40 minute bike ride!! I've eaten dinner at her house, gone hiking and now backpacking with her... this woman causes my socks to fly off my feet when she enters the room. And yet, despite having just arrived home after a 5 hour drive from the mountains where we spent two nights... she cooked dinner for us. Then she drove me home. When I think of a Japanese person, this is what comes to mind. Every day "giving it their all" kinds of people. In Japanese, they call it, isshokenmei. With all one's strength.

It's not just with the adults that you see this level of commitment. The kids are astoundingly devoted to whatever it is they are interested. Lately, older folks in Japan often complain that modern youth lack the discipline of earlier generations. That's a little frightening, because already most of these kids stay after school for special projects or clubs. At middle school, where I teach once or twice a week, most club activities end around 6/6:30pm. 60-70% of the school has some kind of extracurricular commitment. At high school it gets even more absurd; I rode my bike around town yesterday and saw clumps of students riding home at 8:30pm! You can bet these kids are doing this EVERY DAY after school. The son of Mrs. Mountain Climber, now a senior in highschool and preparing for entrance exams, arrives home around 8pm every night. He doesn't do any club activities, he studies at school in special "test preparation" classes. Once he's home, he studies. 

Alright, so that's a little of the good that I see in this place. Obviously not everything is rosy all the time here. First, the mindless obeisance to "authority." So often the excuse for a poor plan of action is: "Well, that's how we're told to do it." Lesson planning is a good example. Elementary schools have a very simple lesson plan, you might call it an English "sampler." You take a little vegetable, toss in some shapes, maybe a color or two... if they can say all the months, that's cool too. But they learn about 10 words a month disconnected from sentence patterns and condensed in Japanese explanations. The words themselves start to sound Japanese. Left becomes Lefutto! GO Sutre---tto. I'm a little more than shocked. Just the amount of financial effort the Japanese government puts into this program throws me for a loop. There are more than 10,000 native English speakers living in Japan at this moment whose soul purpose is to teach English to Japanese children. The end result: Broken English rarely used by a population that remains embarrassed about their speaking ability. Just slightly discouraging.  

Alright, I'm done venting and it's time for a school visit.... Today, Nango Middle School.

Jya, matta!