Until the Pebbles Grow into Boulders

Tomorrow is graduation day for the third year students at my school. Their graduation ceremony is a big formal event, and I'm told it will most likely be the most formal Japanese ceremony I'll experience here. Originally, I had interpreted this as "wear a suit; bow a lot." Apparently this one takes it a step further. The national anthem.

We sing our national anthem back home in the States at graduation ceremonies as well as many other events, and for most of us it's no big deal. When I was in high school though, I was the type who wouldn't stand, sing, or cover my heart for the anthem. I did not pledge my allegiance to the flag, or to the republic for which it stands, because I took issue with the insertion of "under God," and the idea of being forced to pledge my allegiance left a fascist taste in my mouth.

Here in the land of the rising sun, the anthem presents a different set of problems. The lyrics glorify the Emperor and his continued reign, and in the opinion of many Japanese, the atrocities of WWII. This passage in particular stirs up a lot of controversy:

May your reign
Continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations,
Until the pebbles
Grow into boulders
Lush with moss

Apparently, it's not unusual for some teachers here to protest the anthem by remaining seated during the song. To these teachers, the anthem represents the old Empire of Japan and its crimes rather than the modern State of Japan. I was asked personally to stand for the anthem. I'm pretty sure all JETs are asked to stand for the song. It's the law for teachers here to stand and respect the flag and anthem at school ceremonies. Doing otherwise will often cost them their jobs, and even potentially get them into legal trouble.


If I were a Japanese citizen, I could easily see myself in the opposition camp here. I would make a stand by remaining seated. The thing is though, that I'm not Japanese. I'm a foreign guest. A cultural ambassador even. So tomorrow, when the anthem plays and the flag is flown, I'll stand. (And keep my job.)

The Naked Man Festival

Hadaka Matsuri, or the Naked Man Festival, in Okayama is an event in which thousands of men run around wet and screaming in the cold wearing only fundoshi (loincloths), and then beat the crap out of each other in a battle for a holy stick worth money and good fortune. Okayama isn't far from Fukuyama, so we couldn't miss out on this.

As with any good festival, there was food. Our first stop upon arriving was the grilled beef on a stick stand. Duh!

Then, of course, we watched the march of the naked men:

After they marched through holy water to purify themselves, they all crowded into a temple and beat the hell out of each other in a battle for a holy stick said to grant the holder good fortune for the coming year--part of that good fortune being a monetary prize.

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I totally forgot to make a blog entry about our Hatsumōde at Saijo Inari back in January. I'm not doing so well at this blog thing. Sorry! Hatsumōde is the first temple visit of the new year. It's a Japanese New Year celebration, basically. Our good buddies Naoki and Rina took us along with them to Saijo Inari for the event. From what I was able to understand, Saijo Inari is like a temple that honors a fox god called Inari, which is a good explanation for all the nifty stone fox statues they had out there.

Pancake Flakes!

Japan's not too big on breakfast cereal, but they do have a few varieties. Nothing too exciting, for the most part, but check this out:

They took two Western breakfast staples--cereal and pancakes--and fused them together into this masterpiece! I cycled right home from Halows and poured myself a bowl. Good stuff, man.

I Love Being a Teacher

One of my students approached me on my walk to the bus stop this morning to tell me that he passed EIKEN, the national English proficiency exam. He said that his practice sessions with me gave him the confidence he needed to do well, and thanked me. I almost want to cry!

Sometimes I Fit Right in Here. Sometimes.

My co-workers are having a pretty in-depth discussion about Kamen Rider & Super Sentai. I love Japan.

"ha-do rezubian!"

As an incentive system, I had all my students make name cards that function sort of like point cards (think Subway sandwich punchcards). When a student answers a question, volunteers to read something aloud, or basically does anything right at all, I put one of those little star stickers on the back of their card. For every ten stars, they get to choose a prize from my box of American doodads.

I tried to encourage them to decorate the fronts of their cards where their names are written, which a lot of them did. Anpanman, Tamagotchi, and Pokémon doodles are pretty common among all my classes. Many of my students try really hard to save up stars and earn prizes. Then, there's the kids who just wrote their names plainly in pencil on the front of their cards and have somehow managed to avoid earning a single star. When I can, I try to give those kids a little extra attention to see if I can win them over.

One student, who hadn't a single star, was spending most of his time in my class drawing on the backs of my worksheets. I told him that he was really talented, and that I'd like to see more of his work. Apparently, that won him over right away, and he started raising his hand every once in a while. When I got back to the English office after that class was over, I went through the name cards and discovered that he'd taken me up on my request to see more of his artwork. Check out these gems he drew on the back of his and a classmate's cards:

I can't really read this, but it looks like a hentai game.

This one says "hard lesbians!"

Don't Breathe Kerosene

The students at my school were testing today, and they will be for the next two days. When the kids are testing, I have no classes to teach. On days like this, I basically just sit at my desk and study Japanese, plan lessons, and lurk Twitter on my keitai. I have very few reasons to venture out of the English office.

I spent my whole workday in a room with multiple rickety old kerosene heaters and no ventilation. Let me tell you: no matter what Japanese people say, those things just can't be safe. Just before leaving work, I was feeling like crap; my head was pounding, I was light-headed, and I felt like blowing chunks.

Now that I'm on the train, I'm feeling better. I'm going to have to just keep my coat on tomorrow and walk laps around the school every hour for fresh air.