Saturday, March 24, 2007
Hare nochi guu (GUU!)
Still alive here, I promise. Just been a little busy lately. First I had to spend a weekend being trained to teach 2-3-year-olds. Then my boss went out of town and I had to work her shift one day. Then I caught the cold everyone in the entire country caught, and after that I had a busy weekend with my private students. But the cold's gone now, and this past weekend was AWESOME.
My private students Teruko and Yoriko were going to kabuki with some friends, and when one came down with the nasty cold at the last minute they offered her ticket to me. So Thursday I got to see kabuki at the National Theater! It was unbelievable! I loved every minute. Kabuki's not really all that different from Western theater. Some of the older pieces are all dancing and music, no words, but this one did have dialogue. All the roles are played by men--unlike Western theater the Japanese never opened up kabuki to female actresses. The music was on traditional Japanese instruments, which I love but might sound a bit strange to first-timers. Other than that, it was pretty accessible to a Western audience. They had earphones that translated all the dialogue into modern English, so I think I understood more of the dialogue than many of the Japanese audience struggling through the ancient Japanese. :P
The men that play female roles are called 'oyama.' The main female character of this play was played by Tamasaburou, who is apparently the most famous oyama in Japan. Teruko and Yoriko said there was no way they'd have been able to get tickets to see a Tamasaburou play except their friend's husband is the producer of the play and he pulled strings for them. I must admit, it was amazing how perfectly Tamasaburou could mimic a woman's mannerisms. He even somehow managed to *blink* in a female way, although I'm not sure how to describe the exact difference between a male and a female blink. I must say, though, his falsetto voice sounded like an enraged parrot.
After the play they took me to dinner. Teruko and Yoriko raved about how small and dainty Tamasaburou's face was, how elegant and petite his hands were, how feminine his bone structure was, how lovely his voice was, and on and on. I must say I didn't quite get it (especially the voice bit. Seriously, enraged parrot.) But as I reflected back on the play, I realized about 4/5ths of the audience had been female. Apparently Tamasaburou has quite the female fan club. I guess it's not any weirder than little old American ladies gushing over Chuck Norris or MacGuyver... okay, it IS quite a bit weirder. At least Chuck Norris didn't wear makeup and prance around stage in kimono. I guess it goes to show that the Japanese fondness for pretty boys has been around for a couple of centuries at least.
Anyway, if you get a chance to see kabuki, you should. It was an amazing experience.
We had traditional Japanese food for dinner. There were a couple of plates of sushi, one of tempura, a bowl of some kind of egg drop soup with rice and seaweed, boiled cabbage covered in flakes of dried fish, and steamed beef and vegetables. All really very good, although I could hardly walk afterwards. And for dessert we had green tea ice cream and orange tart. The piece de resistance, though, was 'basushi'. For those that aren't up on their Japanese, it was slices of raw, chilled horse meat, dipped in soy sauce, green onion, and ginger. Yeah, horse meat. And actually, while there was one horrible, nauseous moment where I realized I was chewing on Black Beauty, it actually tasted really good. Horse meat apparently has a lot more flavor than most meats. Two thumbs up.
****
Funny student stories:
You know how I wrote earlier that all the salarymen like to complain to me about their wives? Last week, in a lesson about pets: "I'd like a dog because they're cute and friendly... unlike my wife." Hooboy.
There's one little kid that clearly watches too many American movies. He's the nice kid, never causes any trouble, picks up on the lesson real quick--a favorite with the teachers. But every time he makes a mistake he shouts, "Oh my God!" at the top of his voice. We're trying to figure out how to get him to stop.
Everyone's heard the jokes about Japanese people that can't distinguish the difference between Ls and Rs, but a bigger problem in many of my classes is the difference between 'see' and 'she'. Really, you should stay away from words like 'sit' and 'city' unless you can tell an S sound from an SH sound.
****
Other than that, nothing much is happening. I finished my first book in Japanese. Like, no pictures or anything--a full-on Japanese novel. I was so excited!
Apparently some Nova teachers were caught in Roppongi with cocaine. All the branches got stern letters from the head office saying that we were in no circumstances to break the law by doing drugs. Apparently, since they were only in the country because they had work visas from Nova, it reflected really badly on the company. Sales have dropped all over the country. Of course, Nova's still the biggest English conversation school in Japan, but we teachers have been pushed to sell the program and encourage the students to renew their contracts. Idiots.
I was ecstatic last week to catch a cold. I know it sounds strange--who wants a cold? But I was worried it was allergies. Japan is apparently where good little allergens go to die. Something about Japanese cedar and cyprus trees doesn't mix well with human sinuses. Two-thirds of my students are sniffling and wearing the little face masks. Half the teachers say they never had allergy problems until they came to Japan, and now they're up to the eyelids in anti-histamines. So when I developed a fever and realized it was the cold bug that's going around and not allergies, I was so relieved. Hey, a cold will go away! I REFUSE to spend years studying Japanese and move across the planet to get here, only to find I'm allergic to Japan. No measly little trees will get in my way!
Not much else to report. Sorry, Mrs. Anderson, I don't know the answers to most of your questions. I have been lucky enough to not need the services of the Japanese health system, although it is fairly socialized by all accounts. I'm not sure about charities.
And yeah, they're HUGE into the socialist thing over here. Every time I have an upper-level lesson where we debate the causes and solutions to social problems, the students just say, "Oh, the government should take care of that." "The government should open more homeless shelters and give homeless people jobs." "The government should stop bullying in schools." Of course, it's not my place to say, but sometimes I just want to ask, "And HOW is the government supposed to accomplish this? It's made up of people just like you--if you don't have a solution, how can you expect them to? The government is not a magic wand you can wave at every problem and make it disappear." You'd think, with the population rapidly aging and a looming social security crisis that makes America's seem like pocket change, they'd be trying to wean themselves off government assistance, not grow more dependent on it.
And there are certain class issues. Apparently unemployment's a big problem. You see a lot of homeless people in the big parks, and unlike America, they're mostly well-educated middle-class salarymen that lost their jobs. In the past, once you got a job with a company you would stay with the company for the rest of your life, but now it's getting more and more common for people to be let go. So formerly well-employed men find themselves with no job, and they kind of give up, throw in the towel, and take up residence along the Tama River. Either that, or live in their parents' basement for the next fifty years. They're called NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) and they're one of the more intractable social problems in Japan.
It's strange how wealthy many Japanese people look. I've talked with the Japanese staff at my school, and they work cruddy hours for peanuts. In order to attract foreigners, Nova's really paying its teachers much more than native Japanese. But to look at Japanese people, you wouldn't think so. Here you HAVE to wear the latest designer-brand everything. I learned my first week here that 'casual' to a Japanese person means a nice blouse and skirt and leather boots and Louis Vuitton bag. I'm not really sure where all the money comes from.
One of the junior high school girls has a crush on one of our (much too old for her) male teachers. When he asked the Japanese staff for advice, their response was something along the lines of, "Yeah, she's cute, isn't she? You two would make a cute couple!" @.@ So, this is just between you, me, and the teachers, but the latest theory is that the Loius Vuitton bags come from middle-aged sugar-daddies. You certainly see enough teenage girls walking around town dressed to the nines with men you HOPE and PRAY are their fathers.
Wow, this post ended up kinda negative. But I'm still loving it here, bizarre as it may be. Kabuki! 100 yen sushi! Bookstores stuffed to the brink with Japanese comics! Cherry blossoms! The 24-hour anime channel on the TV! Tiny, adorable little Japanese kids that shout "Oh my God!" all the time! What more could a girl ask for?
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My private students Teruko and Yoriko were going to kabuki with some friends, and when one came down with the nasty cold at the last minute they offered her ticket to me. So Thursday I got to see kabuki at the National Theater! It was unbelievable! I loved every minute. Kabuki's not really all that different from Western theater. Some of the older pieces are all dancing and music, no words, but this one did have dialogue. All the roles are played by men--unlike Western theater the Japanese never opened up kabuki to female actresses. The music was on traditional Japanese instruments, which I love but might sound a bit strange to first-timers. Other than that, it was pretty accessible to a Western audience. They had earphones that translated all the dialogue into modern English, so I think I understood more of the dialogue than many of the Japanese audience struggling through the ancient Japanese. :P
The men that play female roles are called 'oyama.' The main female character of this play was played by Tamasaburou, who is apparently the most famous oyama in Japan. Teruko and Yoriko said there was no way they'd have been able to get tickets to see a Tamasaburou play except their friend's husband is the producer of the play and he pulled strings for them. I must admit, it was amazing how perfectly Tamasaburou could mimic a woman's mannerisms. He even somehow managed to *blink* in a female way, although I'm not sure how to describe the exact difference between a male and a female blink. I must say, though, his falsetto voice sounded like an enraged parrot.
After the play they took me to dinner. Teruko and Yoriko raved about how small and dainty Tamasaburou's face was, how elegant and petite his hands were, how feminine his bone structure was, how lovely his voice was, and on and on. I must say I didn't quite get it (especially the voice bit. Seriously, enraged parrot.) But as I reflected back on the play, I realized about 4/5ths of the audience had been female. Apparently Tamasaburou has quite the female fan club. I guess it's not any weirder than little old American ladies gushing over Chuck Norris or MacGuyver... okay, it IS quite a bit weirder. At least Chuck Norris didn't wear makeup and prance around stage in kimono. I guess it goes to show that the Japanese fondness for pretty boys has been around for a couple of centuries at least.
Anyway, if you get a chance to see kabuki, you should. It was an amazing experience.
We had traditional Japanese food for dinner. There were a couple of plates of sushi, one of tempura, a bowl of some kind of egg drop soup with rice and seaweed, boiled cabbage covered in flakes of dried fish, and steamed beef and vegetables. All really very good, although I could hardly walk afterwards. And for dessert we had green tea ice cream and orange tart. The piece de resistance, though, was 'basushi'. For those that aren't up on their Japanese, it was slices of raw, chilled horse meat, dipped in soy sauce, green onion, and ginger. Yeah, horse meat. And actually, while there was one horrible, nauseous moment where I realized I was chewing on Black Beauty, it actually tasted really good. Horse meat apparently has a lot more flavor than most meats. Two thumbs up.
****
Funny student stories:
You know how I wrote earlier that all the salarymen like to complain to me about their wives? Last week, in a lesson about pets: "I'd like a dog because they're cute and friendly... unlike my wife." Hooboy.
There's one little kid that clearly watches too many American movies. He's the nice kid, never causes any trouble, picks up on the lesson real quick--a favorite with the teachers. But every time he makes a mistake he shouts, "Oh my God!" at the top of his voice. We're trying to figure out how to get him to stop.
Everyone's heard the jokes about Japanese people that can't distinguish the difference between Ls and Rs, but a bigger problem in many of my classes is the difference between 'see' and 'she'. Really, you should stay away from words like 'sit' and 'city' unless you can tell an S sound from an SH sound.
****
Other than that, nothing much is happening. I finished my first book in Japanese. Like, no pictures or anything--a full-on Japanese novel. I was so excited!
Apparently some Nova teachers were caught in Roppongi with cocaine. All the branches got stern letters from the head office saying that we were in no circumstances to break the law by doing drugs. Apparently, since they were only in the country because they had work visas from Nova, it reflected really badly on the company. Sales have dropped all over the country. Of course, Nova's still the biggest English conversation school in Japan, but we teachers have been pushed to sell the program and encourage the students to renew their contracts. Idiots.
I was ecstatic last week to catch a cold. I know it sounds strange--who wants a cold? But I was worried it was allergies. Japan is apparently where good little allergens go to die. Something about Japanese cedar and cyprus trees doesn't mix well with human sinuses. Two-thirds of my students are sniffling and wearing the little face masks. Half the teachers say they never had allergy problems until they came to Japan, and now they're up to the eyelids in anti-histamines. So when I developed a fever and realized it was the cold bug that's going around and not allergies, I was so relieved. Hey, a cold will go away! I REFUSE to spend years studying Japanese and move across the planet to get here, only to find I'm allergic to Japan. No measly little trees will get in my way!
Not much else to report. Sorry, Mrs. Anderson, I don't know the answers to most of your questions. I have been lucky enough to not need the services of the Japanese health system, although it is fairly socialized by all accounts. I'm not sure about charities.
And yeah, they're HUGE into the socialist thing over here. Every time I have an upper-level lesson where we debate the causes and solutions to social problems, the students just say, "Oh, the government should take care of that." "The government should open more homeless shelters and give homeless people jobs." "The government should stop bullying in schools." Of course, it's not my place to say, but sometimes I just want to ask, "And HOW is the government supposed to accomplish this? It's made up of people just like you--if you don't have a solution, how can you expect them to? The government is not a magic wand you can wave at every problem and make it disappear." You'd think, with the population rapidly aging and a looming social security crisis that makes America's seem like pocket change, they'd be trying to wean themselves off government assistance, not grow more dependent on it.
And there are certain class issues. Apparently unemployment's a big problem. You see a lot of homeless people in the big parks, and unlike America, they're mostly well-educated middle-class salarymen that lost their jobs. In the past, once you got a job with a company you would stay with the company for the rest of your life, but now it's getting more and more common for people to be let go. So formerly well-employed men find themselves with no job, and they kind of give up, throw in the towel, and take up residence along the Tama River. Either that, or live in their parents' basement for the next fifty years. They're called NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) and they're one of the more intractable social problems in Japan.
It's strange how wealthy many Japanese people look. I've talked with the Japanese staff at my school, and they work cruddy hours for peanuts. In order to attract foreigners, Nova's really paying its teachers much more than native Japanese. But to look at Japanese people, you wouldn't think so. Here you HAVE to wear the latest designer-brand everything. I learned my first week here that 'casual' to a Japanese person means a nice blouse and skirt and leather boots and Louis Vuitton bag. I'm not really sure where all the money comes from.
One of the junior high school girls has a crush on one of our (much too old for her) male teachers. When he asked the Japanese staff for advice, their response was something along the lines of, "Yeah, she's cute, isn't she? You two would make a cute couple!" @.@ So, this is just between you, me, and the teachers, but the latest theory is that the Loius Vuitton bags come from middle-aged sugar-daddies. You certainly see enough teenage girls walking around town dressed to the nines with men you HOPE and PRAY are their fathers.
Wow, this post ended up kinda negative. But I'm still loving it here, bizarre as it may be. Kabuki! 100 yen sushi! Bookstores stuffed to the brink with Japanese comics! Cherry blossoms! The 24-hour anime channel on the TV! Tiny, adorable little Japanese kids that shout "Oh my God!" all the time! What more could a girl ask for?
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