Enkai

This is actually from last weekend when the teachers at one of my schools had a (belated) New Year's party. We went to a yaki-niku, which basically translates as grilled beef. There's a burner in the middle of the table with a grill on top that gets replaced periodically by the wait staff as they bring out more trays of meat.

Here I am enjoying raw beef mixed with raw egg:



A bigger picture:



Not pictured: grilled cow stomach and liver that the vice-principal made me eat.

Himeji Castle

I had Thursday off from school (Constitution Day apparently) so I went to Himeji Castle. Himeji Castle is widely considered the best in Japan and it is one of few to be more or less in its original form. Other castles have been rebuilt since WWII and are mostly made of concrete, instead of the wood and stone of the originals. Himeji was designed to confuse invaders, with multiple false entrances and hidden passages to sneak in behind the enemy. It also has really high walls, with correspondingly steep hills. I'm not sure of this, but it appeared to be the tallest building in town even today.


Here's me in front of the castle, to prove I was actually there.


Closer picture.


Most Japanese castles have some kind of fish at the top like a gargoyle. Sometimes it's a dolphin. It's supposed to keep out bad spirits. This is from the 6th or 7th floor, after several steep stairs with low ceilings.

More impulse buying

Once again I bought something I didn't need at a konbini:



It's chocolate soda and it wasn't bad. The flavor wasn't as strong as I expected and it went down pretty well. There's also a chocolate flavored beer that is absolutely awful.

Lessons from direct democracy in Japan

Last Sunday there was an election in my town. I'm not sure what for or who won, but I definitely knew there was an election and the names of several people running. I don't read the newspaper (mostly because I can't read the newspaper) and nothing on TV talked about these local elections. So how did I know about this election?

Someone drove by in a car and told me.

Actually several people drove by in a couple of cars and told me constantly for the past week or two. My understanding is that soliciting door to door isn't allowed in Japan. So instead people put loud speakers and billboards on top of their cars and

The other night I had a closer encounter with one of the candidates, or at least his supporters. As I was walking across the street a car flashed on its lights and turned towards me. The windows started to roll down, hands covered in white gloves came out waving, and a loud speaker started spouting out the candidates name. The car looked something like this:

Impulse buying

Too often I come across something in a convenience store that I just can't refuse to buy.



It tastes exactly how you would imagine it.

I'm in the newspaper again

On Tuesday, about 60 people came to one of my schools to watch my class. They've been doing research on elementary English education and this was (I think) the end of it with a big presentation to finish it up. I don't think the story is online at all, but I have picked up a copy that I will try to put up later.

English class

Considering that my job is teaching English and it is probably the one thing I do most often here, I should probably write more about it. The second year students at my jr. high school (roughly 8th graders) have been divided into two sections. More accurately, the school has taken out four or five bad students from both classes to teach them separately. Some of these kids have behavior problems and at least one was removed from the normal class explicitly because of this. If I am free, I usually help the Japanese teacher who teaches this class.

They aren't particularly bad, just a little noisy and noticeably uninterested in English. Occasionally one will abruptly get up to leave the room, complaining of a fever or stomachache. Sometimes we have to ask why they are leaving before they offer an excuse. If we challenge them on their reason for leaving it generally results in more class disruption and a longer absence by the students.

Last Thursday one of the other ALTs at my company (same job as I have) came to watch my classes. The first three went relatively well. During the last class one of the more disruptive kids jumped out of his seat, whipped off his belt, and unzipped his pants. At that exact moment in time I thought it was as likely as not he would pull down the gym shorts he wore underneath. It turned out his was tucking in his shirt.

The Japanese teacher, the other ALT, and I were all shocked. This quickly, if awkwardly, became funny as we laughed it off. A few minutes later when the Japanese teacher was explaining grammar to the student,s I made a slight gesture as if I were removing my belt to the other ALT. He, lacking an understanding of subtly, dramatically mimicked the same. One of the kids noticed the other ALT and immediately cracked up. I had managed to embarrass him without casting any suspicion on myself.

On another note, my first year jr. high students have been writing out times long-hand, for example writing 8:35 as eight thirty-five. A few have written 7:05 and I have no idea how to write this, nor have I found any solution online. Typically they write seven five, which makes sense in Japanese but not English. I would think seven o' five works because you can write seven o' clock. Really I don't know and am trying to hide this fact from the Japanese teachers.

For the record, I think you should write it as 7:05, or simply round to the hour.

PS if anyone knows what time "tit eighty" is, let me know.