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Broadcasting to an audience of three (and a goldfish)...
Comment, ramblings and musings... life through the eyes of a Japanologist...
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Wednesday, October 2, 2002 |
 Went to taiko- and actually positively enjoyed myself! I always enjoy the taiko itself, but the company (or lack of said company) when we're taking a break is not particularly fun. But this evening my 'taiko nemesis' (Saori- another S-san) wasn't there, and the seven of us had a most enjoyable time. It was easy to join in the conversation, and it seemed that everyone was really making an effort to include me. Perhaps the fact I moaned about this the other week had some effect...
I know myself, though, that I'm at least partly at fault. When Saori is there, I know I find it much more difficult to take part in the conversation- but this isn't because I don't understand, or because Japanese isn't my first language. My Japanese is at the point now where it's absolutely no hindrance. No- rather, it's something psychological- I think I get the feeling that if I do join in the conversation, S will not be sympathetic or friendly- and so, in this sense, I have only myself to blame. I should be more outgoing.
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Examples of amusing- and just plain bad- language
Schilly Roman
So, then, what's this? ...Toilet paper. Of course! But what exactly is a Schilly Roman? Answers on a postcard...
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On my way home, I came across a group of junior high school boys outside Kihodo (the bookshop near the office). They all shouted to me, so I got off my bike for a word with them. They started off with asking if I remembered their names (only half of them realising that their names were written on their shirt pockets), and then Une-kun asked me to include them in one of my newsletter articles. I have to admit I was a little surprised that the children even knew about them, but when I asked, they said they read them every time! (As an aside, I wonder how many people in the town do read my articles- I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be more than I realise...)
Meanwhile, Shinkyu-kun- out of the blue- asked me whether Wendy and I were boyfriend and girlfriend. He said he'd seen us holding hands in the 100-yen store in Izumi (how romantic!), which was (of course!) the cue for a good amount of ribbing from the rest of the boys. Of course (again!) my attempts to explain that this had never happened fell on (conveniently) deaf ears...
Anyway, when Shinkyu-kun decided he'd tell everyone at school about Wendy and my 'liaison', I decided to get my own back... and phoned Wendy, to tell her to give him hell in the next English lesson! The boys didn't believe that I was actually phoning her, but nevertheless, when I passed the phone to them they all scarpered... ;-) When we parted, Shinkyu-kun was mumbling that he should perhaps take the day off school then next time Wendy was helping in his lesson...
I really like the fact that the junior high school children still want to talk to me even though they're no longer my students- it shows I was (am?) obviously doing something right in my elementary school lessons. It's also really good to be able to engage in banter like this with the children; more than anything else, this sort of interaction cultivates a feeling of friendship and closeness which is not only fun in its own right, but is also important from an internationalisation point of view. Those boys didn't regard me as a foreigner- I'm sure that the very concept of whether I was Japanese or non-Japanese didn't even enter their head. I was just someone they could joke and have a bit of fun with, and someone who would joke with them back. This sort of thing really makes my day, again not only because it's enjoyable to be able to interact with 'my' children in this way, but because in doing so I realise just what my being here is achieving.
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Web articles worthy of mention...
A well-written article on Ciao, about Hiroshima. Overall it paints a pretty correct picture of the city, although I'm not sure that I agree with the author about the Peace Memorial Museum. The author writes,
"Horrific as the experiences of those caught by the bomb obviously were, terrible as the legacy is and however much sympathy I feel for the victims (many of whose testimonys you will see and hear on video, or live on the 6th of August), I cannot help but feel the museum goes for the wrong note.
"The impression is given that here people were, going about their daily lives, when out of the blue a great American atrocity came and killed them. True on one level, but the museum does not properly inform the visitor of why this happened. The bomb did not simply come out of thin air."
However, in my opinion, the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima actually does present a fairly balanced picture about the war and the context of the atomic bombing. Nagasaki's museum has changed now, but the first time I came to Japan and visited both museums, I was struck by how much more balanced Hiroshima's museum was when compared to Nagasaki's.
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Mid-way through the afternoon, I had three visitors in the office... three elementary school children, coming to ask if I had any English sweets for them! 'Not backward at coming forward' would be one phrase that springs to mind...
As it happens, though, I do have some sweets, so they're coming back on Friday afternoon.
In a way, I'm very happy that the children feel able to come into the office to say hello to me like this (even if the motivation is sweets)- it shows that they don't have any problems with my being a non-Japanese. I honestly think that the children in Etajima are the people who benefit most from my being here.
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Third lesson in the Naval Base this morning. We played Scrabble for basically the whole time. Everyone said they enjoyed themselves, but it really seemed that there wasn't that much English being spoken. Obviously we played in English, but the four teams discussed words amongst themselves in Japanese- until I banned Japanese. Then everyone just stopped talking...
The great thing about the Naval class, though, is that most of the participants are willing to give anything a try. Often amongst Japanese people, there's a tendency to take the view that if something is too difficult then it's not worth trying, but the Naval Officers really will give anything their best shot. I enjoy this class a lot, especially the second group, in which there's a chap who really makes the whole group lively; I joked in the first week that he looked like a television personality called Enari-kun, and this has stuck, so he's easy to joke with. On the other hand, he's willing to engage in banter with me (even though I'm the sensei; for example, when I walked into the class this morning, he found the fact I was wearing a bowtie immensely amusing). The whole time becomes much more enjoyable for everybody when there's a 'joker' like this in the group...
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 8:44:25 pm.
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