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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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Monday, November 11, 2002 |
 Watched E.T. on DVD. It's as excellent as I remembered, although I have to say that after 20 years, some of the effects look a little primitive. I suppose we're spoiled by what computers can do now. I'm very glad I bought the DVD, though- this is a film I could watch again and again.
One thing that would be interesting, actually, would be to compare the original version and the remastered 20th anniversary edition. Apart from the well-publicised replacement of the guns in the film, there are supposed to be enhanced effects and extra scenes, but I couldn't tell which they were...
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Not quite the same as CDs, but I did find... a lizard about the size of a small car on my door. Well, actually it was only about 6 inches long, but there was still no way that it was going to be allowed to continue squatting anywhere near the entrance to my house. I did the only sensible thing in the circumstances... I got Wendy to take it downstairs.
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I was a little disappointed when I got home from Izumi to find no CDs waiting for me. I was hoping that the HMV order I placed last week would have arrived today. Hopefully it'll come tomorrow...
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After work, Wendy and I went to Izumi. I needed money, so I went to the ATM outside the supermarket. Well, this has been mentioned on the Breakfast Show before, I'm sure, but one of the things that irritates me more than almost anything else in Japan is women who practically camp out in ATMs. They withdraw money from one account, then stick in a different passbook and deposit some of the money in another account, then they transfer money to utility companies to settle their bills, then they stick in a third passbook (or a seventh, or an eighth) and withdraw, deposit, transfer. For variety, they then launder part of the balance in a fourth account (or thirty-second, or thirty-third) to an offshore account on a small island in the Pacific, check their stocks, wait for a wire transfer from their Swiss account, and then, as a grand finale, they repeat the whole process from step one. Three or four times. Then, as an encore, they stick every one of their passbooks into the machine, one by one by one, and get the entries updated. This is quite amazingly annoying if all you want to do is take out some money so you can buy food. There really is no need for all those passbooks, either- a bank card is all you need. You'd really think that with all the MBAs that every housewife in Japan must have in order to be able to use an ATM in such a way as to take ten or fifteen minutes, they'd realise that that little plastic card can operate the machine... I use my passbook so rarely that the other time when I stuck it in the machine, the magnetic stripe on the book had actually become demagnetised!
Anyway, this time was one of the shorter waits to get money from the ATM. It only took twelve minutes for the person in front to destabilise the whole world economy. The thing is, though, when she finished with the ATM I was waiting for, she walked next door, to the Post Office ATM! I'm sure with the glare I gave her, though, she'll be a damn sight quicker if she ever finds herself in front of me in the queue again...
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In the afternoon, I went round to Ozu for a couple of lessons. With the lower years, we sang 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star'. Or, at least, we tried to. As ever, the children were incapable of repeating the words I pronounced, although some of the girls did remember most of the words in the end. I didn't really try that hard to get the children to learn all the words- it would have been pointless- but I practiced the words with a game, and played about with some of the children (Ueda-san and I picked up one little boy to throw him into the sea!), which meant that the lesson was fun, even though not as productive as it might have been. I'm sure the children prefer it this way, though, and I'm coming to think that I do too.
With the fifth and sixth years, meanwhile, we turned our thoughts to an English play for the local community festival in the New Year. The children had suggested the story of Momotaro, the peach boy, which has the benefit of being well-known by all Japanese, so even if we perform it in English people will understand what's going on. I decided to get them to write the script themselves in Japanese, so that I could translate it into English afterwards, and well! I've never seen them so animated! They came up with a superb script in really strong Hiroshima dialect, with jokes galore (almost none of which, unfortunately, will translate into English). What's more, they had fun doing it, and in addition I think they'll feel more 'connected' with the play. Until now, I've always prepared the script in English, which has meant that the children don't have any real input, and moreover don't know exactly what's being said. With this play, though, it really is the children's play, and because they wrote it, they'll know what's going on even though they don't understand the English lines they're learning. I'm really looking forward to working with them on this.
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On the way back from Tsukumo, I saw a woman with ear-muffs shaped like dogs. Nice. I thought 'fashion' like this had gone out with fluorescent socks or shiny suits...
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I've said this before, but Monday morning lessons aren't the best. The children are still sleepy after the weekend, which makes it difficult to do much with them.
Anyway, I had a visit to Tsukumo Elementary School this morning; all the three-day weekends recently have meant that Mondays are few, so on some days I fit in lessons in Ozu and Tsukumo on the same day. With the first- to third-years, we played Go Fish! for the second time; needless to say, the children didn't seem to have practiced the colours and shapes since the previous lesson, so half of them couldn't play properly. This goes to prove everything I've said about pushing English in elementary schools- the teachers insist on it because it's a suggestion requiring no thought whatsoever, but they aren't prepared to back up their eagerness with any effort. This is the fourth lesson this term for these children with the same colours and shapes, yet they still can't remember the words. And why?- because between my lessons they have enough time to forget what they've learned, which is why the teachers need to reinforce the vocab between lessons. But no!- of course, they don't.
With the fourth-years and above, meanwhile, we played kabbadi. Once they'd got the hang of it, they played well (generally, in Tsukumo, any sport will be well received), and had a good time. One girl, though, in the sixth year, can see nothing but that she has to win by any means and at any cost. Literally after every round, she would shout a complaint in a whining, wheedling voice, and then when she didn't get her own way, she would command 'her' team to commit the same imagined foul. Whatever happened to playing for the fun of playing, to 'it's only a game'? I came as close to losing my temper with her as I have ever done with any of my children. However, I get the feeling that I'm not the only one who finds this girl's attitude irritating and unpleasant- after the lesson, her teacher came up and apologised for her, in the sort of 'war-weary' voice that suggested that he completely sympathised with me. Anyway, we're playing again next week, so we'll see what happens then.
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Photographs
While eating breakfast, I made the photos from Saturday's JMSDF Kinenbi into an album, and uploaded them to the internet. They're here...
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They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
From 'For the Fallen (1914)', Laurence Binyon
Today is Armistice Day, the 84th anniversary of the ending of the First World War, at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month.
On this most solemn of days, I wear my poppy with pride, and remember The Glorious Dead, those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 8:54:25 pm.
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