Drain Thing

Aaron here

We’ll be heading back to the U.S. and A. in a little bit, but I wanted to share some part of our regular day to day life here. This is my most hated aspect of Japan. It is our shower drain. It’s a strange gouge in our shower room about two feet long, one foot wide, and one foot deep. There is no grate over it, and the water from the shower head falls right into it so you have to straddle this hole to receive any of the precious cleansing liquid. The ground is made of smooth concrete and can get a bit slippery when the soap starts to flowing. There have been a couple of times when my foot has slipped in there and luckily I fell backwards and was able to bend my knee. If I had fallen sideways I might have snapped my shinbone in half.



We were freaked out by this thing at first, and balanced these squat wooden pallets (you’re supposed to put them in the closet. They allow air to circulate under your futon mat…one of the many delightful futon accessories) over the chasm. This would allow for a nice shower without the anxiety of a possible broken tibia. Unfortunately, these things are made out of soft untreated wood, and they don’t take kindly to multiple daily immersions in water. We pretty quickly had to decide between a dangerous canyon, or standing on rotten moldy wood that gave off a wicked stench that seemed to linger on the soap. I was tired of smelling worse after the shower than before and decided to toss out the wood.

Now, if you’re any student of Japanese society you may be thinking, “In Japan you are to sit while showering. So stop yer moaning and get to squatting”. A valid point, but the tallest shower stool is quite short, and being a little tall I find it uncomfortable to shower with my knees next to my ears.

The discomfort of the bathing is a slight annoyance next to the terror while cleaning this damn hole. All of the drains (except for the toilet) end up emptying into our nearest river so they don’t want any “chunkys” leaving the house. So, the drain at the bottom of the hole has a circumference of a medium sized pancake. In this pancake is what I can only describe as the top of a bell. This “bell” barely fits inside the “pancake” and will only allow a small drizzle to pass through, blocking anything bigger than two atoms mating. This is where the depth of the hole comes in handy because it’ll usually take a couple hours for all the water to drain out of its tiny passageway, and it’s nice to have it contained in one handy gorge. Since nothing bigger than liquid passes through I have to regularly snap on a pair of heavy duty cleaning gloves (they don’t make them thick enough for this duty) start to scooping all the soap scum, hair, and dead skin cells off the top of the “bell”. But hey, I’d much rather kneel on cement with my butt wiggling in the air as I stretch myself down into a filthy scum box, that can never be fully cleaned, than risk the chance that some poor duck might choke on some of my diseased human skin.

This may sound quite whiney (you’re right) but remember. This is a first world country, the second largest economy in the world. If I encountered this in a Thailand or Cambodia I’d say, “It’s all they could afford”, but we live in teacher housing and it’s proof that America isn’t the only first world country that can treat their teachers shabby. There are many things in this country I’ll miss, but this isn’t one of them.

Amanohashidate

We finally made it up to Amanohashidate! This land formation is fairly close, but just far enough to be a bother, so we kept putting it off. Finally, we made plans to go, and Mari n Julius joined us.

We drove out from Toyooka and ventured into Kyoto Prefecture. We stopped at a conbini on the way and found Pepsi's Ice Cucumber. Of course we bought it! But it didn't taste much like cucumber.

We reached the tourist trap, followed the lines of people, boarded the chair lift, and found ourselves in a large crowd of tourists. We tossed some clay disks at a stone hoop, hoping for eternal happiness. Alas, none of us are meant to be happy. Then we did the big Amanohashidate thing--



Turn around, bend over, and peer through your legs at the opposite mountain. Doesn't it look like it's floating? It must be a bridge to heaven! Anyhow, it was fun, everyone looks really silly, which just adds to the fun. We took in a few views, wandered the town a bit, generally goofed around. Then we headed back to Takeno for the night, and set off fireworks.

A small roadtrip with great friends, good food, and silliness. It was one of my favorite days in Japan. And there was beachiness the next day! Really, the weekend couldn't have been better.

Melting Students

It's getting warm. The teachers have officially changed over to summer wear-- short sleeved button up shirts. If you were wearing short sleeved shirts before the change, well, golly, weren't you cold?

Now everyone feels entitled to mutter "Atsui" every few minutes.

The students are slowly slipping closer and closer to their desks every day. Thinking is difficult. Being lively is difficult. Soon, they will be puddles with uniforms.

Big Beetle

This guy was found in Morigaki's classroom one morning. He gave it to Ishii-sensei, as I-s is the Bio teacher. And as I sit next to I-s, I got to play around with the bug. Many teachers enjoyed telling me insect tidbits, notably how if you have a stag beetle and a rhino beetle, the rhino beetle will flip the stag beetle several meters. Happy childhood memories shone through their words.

Later that day I returned and found the box empty.

"I-s, did you free the beetle?"

"Hmmm?"

"The beetle's gone..."

I-s looks around, lifts up the box, shuffles aside some papers, shrugs, and chuckles.

I spent the next few hours eagerly listening for an unsuspecting student or teacher to find the beetle...

Trauma, High School Style

As I walk to class on Friday, Sayuri comes up to me.

"Marlene, I am having a bad day!"

"Oh, no! Why"

"Pool. The school bad pool." She was so grumpy that she quickly switched over to rapid-fire Japanese.

Seems swimming lessons will soon begin. This means the students have to wear suits in front of other students.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But at least girls and boys are separated, right?"

"NO! We have to swim with the boys!"

"WHAT?! But PE classes are always separated. Boys are never with girls!"

"But swimming is together!! It's soooo embarassing!"

And to add to the insult, the pool's been having technical problems recently, so the students thought they escaped swimming this year. Sayuri quickly spread the stories, so my Oral Communication class were angry and rebellious and distracted all afternoon. Poor students!

Effective Lesson

I am so happy! I did a sound effect lesson with my students, and it went over pretty well. For homework they had to create a comic illustrating using sound effects. Here are the results!

Babies Abound

Babies are everywhere this year. Ishii, Summer [in the states], an expecting friend in the states, and Jamila. Since Jamila's here in Japan, and an Eng speaker, Aaron n I learned loads about Japan and babies...

Firstly, mothers aren't encouraged to gain much weight. Jamila [and a few other foreigners I've met who've had babies here] were often reprimanded for gaining too much. The ideal is to put on 2x the weight of the baby. This does make it easier to lose the post-pregnancy weight, but Jamila said many Japanese mothers have difficulty breastfeeding as they don't put on enough weight.

Secondly, Japanese men seem to absent themselves from a lot of it. Typically, the husbands aren't in the room when the baby is born. [Oh, yeah, and women are told not to yell or be too loud when in labor] Most men don't have paternity leave [I don't think it's super common in the states, either]. Ishii's baby was born on a Sunday. He was at school as normal Monday morning. The mother is usually in the hospital for a week after birth to rest and learn how to breast-feed and bathe the baby-- Jamila said she really liked this, as she was so tired after the birth. Fathers might visit once or twice, but rarely more than that. Jamila said she was so happy to see one husband come every single day to visit.

Thirdly, Japanese women go to their parents' house for a month after having a baby. This is to receive more help and instruction from the new grandmother, as well as resting up. Depending on the distance, the husband might visit on the weekends.

Jamila and many foreigners frequent the Hidaka hospital, which is very flexible and allows frequent visitors, husbands in the delivery room, noise- you know, things we take for granted.

Interesting random notes..
*Babies are "akachan" in Japanese. "Aka" is red and "chan" is a diminutive for something cute or friendly. "Cute little red thing!"

*Pregnancy is counted in lunar months, with 1 month being exactly 28 days. So they say "10 months and 10 days." It means that the last month of a pregnancy only has ten days, that is, there are nine 30 day months, and then the last month is just ten days (9*30+10=280 days, a regular pregnancy).

Demon Mukade

We have been visited by our 4th mukade. Maybe the same one I saw the other night, maybe one of his pals.

Aaron was putting some clothes in the wash. He picked up a towel and found... a mukade. The mukade was all relaxed at first, which means stretched out to a hideous length. Then he freaked out and contracted, laying his armored plates closer together. Aaron pinned the mukade underfoot, I got some scissors, and we stood victorious over the squirming bits.

But mukades in the laundry... this is a new phase of warfare. Clearly diabolical and underhanded.

Night Creatures

Fireflies are back. And early-- we were told the 10th [Japanese can be very specific about dates]. So Aaron n I went out and watched them swirl over our little river. There are far more than last year. We're hoping to head out to a nearby spot reputed for great viewing.


Walking home, we caught a little frog to put in our garden. But once we reached the garden, he wriggled free and escaped. Now our herbs are doomed.

Looking down, I saw sinuous movement. Thinking it was a worm, I bent down to inspect it. It was a demon mukade. It slithered off, and I am hoping he doesn't make his way into the aparto.

And of course, our window lizards are still gracing us.

The Not

Doing an opposites lesson recently, I had to explain that Ams think sour is the opposite of sweet. Japanese consider bitter to be the opposite. And when I said I agreed with the bitter preference, my JTE chuckled and said "Yes; you're Japanese."

This isn't the first time a teacher has commented on this. Expressing my enjoyment of watching snow fall while in the onsen. Enjoying certain foods. Certain habits. Appreciation of aspects of Japan. Knowing certain phrases or terms.

On the surface, this seems wonderful and welcoming. Hey, they think I fit in; I'm one of them!

But then you come up against the problem-- they don't think of you as an American, at least in that area. Which means they don't see you as an example that other foreigners can do Japanese things, enjoy Japanese culture, be culturally sensitive. Or, if they can, it's only because of the influence Japan has exerted on them. No one from another culture could possibly understand the uniqueness of Japan without being Japanese. When I first arrived, a JTE said of my pred, "Oh, yes. He understands everything. He's Japanese." To which I said, "Well, he studied a lot and worked hard to understand Japan, but he's a white boy from the Midlands." "NO. He's Japanese."

Turning Japanese and Not

Interesting physical changes / body challenges resulting from life in Japan:

*Rogue black hairs are popping up in my otherwise light brown hair.

*Athlete's foot. I blame this on the humidity here. I've never experienced this until Japan. And judging by the front-and-center displays during rainy season, it seems to be a common ailment in Japan. It translates as "Water Bug" in Japanese.

*Soy sauce, vinegar, and green tea combos for deadly breath.

*Rice twice or thrice daily can be hard to digest. Let's leave it there.

*Scurvy. Just teasing. But it's almost surprising I haven't come down with it, given how expensive fruit is and how rarely I buy it.

Blubbering

The International Whaling Committee once again rebuffed the attempt to implement commercial whaling.



Whaling is a big deal in Japan, or at least, a small group wants it to be. Japan has a long history of whaling. Ahem, ok, only a few areas have a long history of whaling. The rest of the country experienced whale meat in the 20th C. Still, some vocal players shrill "Tradition!" and bemoan how bullied Japan is by the world. Currently, Japan takes roughly 1,000/year in the name of scientific research. To impress on the current generation just how traditional whaling is, a lot of the meat is served to school children. Leftovers are made into pet food.

Personally, if Japan wants to whale in its own waters, using traditional methods, I think that's fine. That is, after all, tradition. But Japan wants to go down to Antarctica and use modern conveniences.

Finally, finally, I asked one of my teachers about this. I made a point to ask a science teacher. And he says that whaling is ok. I ask about whaling outside of Japan's waters. He squirmed a bit, but said that the whale population is strong, and the whales won't die off, so whaling anywhere is ok.