Personal update, the bad news first:
My bike was stolen. Trusting fool that I am, I thought it would be ok to leave my bike unlocked for 5 minutes while I ran into a store. I was on my way to dinner with one of the teachers I work with, and my contribution was to be some cake (along with the wine in my backpack). I guess I took too long deliberating chocolate mousse versus strawberry cheese-, because when I came back out, my beautilful 5th hand, 3-gear, mamacheri was gone. Idiot that I am, I had also left my backpack outside. So, along with the wine and some other random stuff, and the backpack that I`ve had for ages, I lost a bright and shiny and new digital camera, used just once. (If you remember, before I left Vancouver I debated buying a dSLR, or a compact digicam, or both. Well, since I only got to use the compact once, I think fate only wants me to have the SLR.) I can just imagine the fun the thief is having with it. Probably dropping it heaps in drunk parties with his crack-addict friends, knocking it against the bricks as he scurries away after scoping out places to hit up - none of this damaging the camera because of its awesome shockproof shell; probably taking nasty pictures in the shower with his ugly girlfriend, and, when he makes it to the beach once this summer, stupid pictures of himself making the peace sign underwater - which he can do because of the camera`s awesome waterproofing. Well, some greedy amoral asshole or underprivelaged and pitiable youth is going to have a delightfully picturesque summer.
Let this be a lesson to you (meaning me). Even in CrimeFree Japan, only trust people when you can see them, and always lock your damn bike up, idiot. Alternatively, have a crappy bike that isn`t worth stealing, and don`t own expensive possessions that will hurt your wallet if stolen.
The good news. Things are pretty good otherwise. I have enough positive thoughts and memories to swing the balance in the right direction.
Let`s see, a few weeks ago I hiked Mt. Yotei with some friends, staying overnight in a mountain hut. At about 1900 metres, Yotei is one of the tallest mountains in Hokkaido. It`s also called Ezo-Fuji because of the similar conical shape to the namesake volcano in the south. On the first day, we hiked up through the mist to emerge on top of clouds as far as the eye could see (always a cool feeling). The next morning broke clear, and we took in a 360 view of the surrounding farmland and lush, green, rolling hills receding off into the distance. One of our crew wrote a detailed and thoughtful post, with pictures, about the hike. So, I just point you in that direction if you`re curious. http://happyinhokkaido.typepad.com/happy/2008/06/yosh-mt-yotei.html
What else? Well, after my bike was stolen, I continued on to the dinner anyway. The dinner was a special request from my coworkers mother in law, who studies English and wanted to practice. Plus, my coworker (Hey Mori Sensei!) is an awesome guy, really good to me at work, with whom I was glad to share a relaxed evening away from the hullabuloo. The four of us (add his lovely wife) finally did relax after I forcefully shifted focus away from my recent idiocy (losing the bike). I feel like this small family was representative of a good possible future for Japan. All three were, on top of being very kind people, open-minded and interested in broader perspectives of the world. They all see value in speaking multiple languages, and communicating with people from other places, and talking about interesting issues rather than just exchanging pleasantries. We didn`t spend the whole time talking about how old I was, or how tall I was, or how I would rank the top ten most common Japanese foods. And they didn`t compliment my use of chopsticks - though you might only understand the significance of this after you`ve lived here. Best of all there was actually some nice cheese and fruit (as well as the scrumptious Japanese foods), which I have yet to see at any other dinner here.
Anyway, it was a nice time, and it made me realise for the first time that I finally have a relationship (can you use the word friendship with coworkers?) with a Japanese person that time has helped develop, where we understand each other better than we did at the start, and I believe we actually engage with each other as people, rather than as the functions we serve for each other.
After the dinner, at 1030, I got on a train heading north out of the city. At Toubetsu, in Ishikari (small city North of Sapporo), I took a ridiculously expensive taxi ride out to an old abandoned junior highschool in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere on the edge of this town. There were candles glowing everywhere. In the gym at this most random of locations, an all day alternative (ie not shit JPOP that is the ONLY option pretty much everywhere here) music fest was quietly kicking ass. Alice (who is responsible for anything halfway youthful and exciting in my life) and co had already enjoyed the music all day, which ranged from improv spoken word jazz to people playing little bamboo mouth harps (or so I was informed). In the evening, the Ainu groups took over. I got there in time to see Oki (see earlier post) and his lovely accompanying ladies, doing their waves of rythmic, hypnotic traditional singing. I like it more every time I hear it. Regardless of whether or not there were intoxicants involved, the scene was awesome. Similar to the concert in Obihiro, there were people of all ages, little kids and little dogs scurrying underfoot. The only lighting was candlelight. There was a woman making a line/dot piece of art on the wall over the course of the night. As soon as I jumped out of the taxi at the beginning and asked where Oki was, a couple people jumped on me in conversation. You can feel the energy of this kind of place as soon you as show up, and it`s so indescribably different from anything you can find here in the city. Relaxed but charged, human, alive. The music went till 5 in the morning. Well, actually, I went until 5 in the morning (the music kept going), at which time I took in the last of the sunrise quietly, and then retreated to our tent on the school field.
Not sure if this link into Facebook will work, but my friend Emma Rowbotham has some photos of the night in her `trivia times - Ainu I knew you` photo album. They capture but a fraction of the magic, some candles, a delightful child, the drawing on the wall (and there`s nothing indecent, so dont worry).
My hiking partner from above, Michael Snyder, has two relevant posts. One is copied news article talking about a recent government panel formed to discuss ongoing discrimination against the Ainu.
In the other he talks about an Ainu Solstice festival he took in one night in Asahikawa (you just have to scroll down a pinch).
OK. Back to the the good stuff. I`ve had a good week at work.
On Monday, I spent the day at the school I will be moving to in August. It is a highschool. It is a very big, flash, advanced highschool with students who can understand quite a lot of english. I followed around the JET who I will replace, met the teachers, and saw a few classes. Just about everything about the situation there looks different from the situation I`ve found so far in Junior Highschools: the ALTS are used far more effectively, far far more extensively, and the focus on actually communicating in English is very high. I`ve only got three weeks left at my current school, which I will be sad to leave in a lot of ways. Nonetheless, I`m pretty excited to test out the new scene of highschool.
Then Tuesday was Canada day. After a rare delicious and filling breakfast, courtesy the lovely Canadian Emma and the lovely Alice Alice, I went to school with lots of energy, a good out look, a canadian flag worn as a toga, and lots of Canadian stickers to hand out (thanks for buying those and sending them to me mom). I surprised a lot of kids out of their apathy with my enthusiasm all day, plus it just so happens we were actually doing a fun class activity that day, so, all in all I just felt great about being at work, and unequivocally enjoyed my job. Forgive the cheese factor, but I think I will always remember the smiles on those kids faces, and the energy with which they shouted `Happy Birthday Canada!` Shiny stickers and energetic bribery: have to employ more of that.
Today is a bit of a quieter day, so I have time to write this here blog. Yet, I`m still riding the energy from the past couple days, and I feel pretty content with my work situation at the moment. I feel like I have continued to relax more, and figure out ways to connect with these kids (meaning illicit a few more precious words here and there). Partly I think they are just becoming more comfortable with me, after three months together. So I do have mixed feelings about leaving, as I look forward to change and new things, but also feel I`ve started to find my place here.
I`ve got much to look forward to in the near future as well. We are taking off a couple days before the end of term to head down to Fuji Rock Festival (which I `ve mentioned before). After that, I`ve got a week to explore the area. I think I`m going to do a day or two in Tokyo, then hop down to Kamakura and see some old temples and a big budha and take pictures that a million other people have taken before me, followed by a wee hike up that well-known mountain, you know the one, that a million other people will probably be hiking at the same time as me. Yup, I`m meeting up with a friend (Lexis Lum) to hike Fuji on August 2nd, then returning home for some down time before starting a hopefully exciting and fulfilling year as a highscool ALT.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Bushido: The Way of the OverWorker
I am constantly struggling with the mentality toward work here. Most teachers spend a minimal amount of time AWAY from school, lucky to get their weekends free - and that`s only if they don`t have a club team to run. I think the service industry is the only sector that has fairly rigid set hours, and allows its workers to leave promptly when their shifts are finished. Anything more involved than a job at Tully`s, you`re putting in 12 hours (not counting travel) and catching the 9pm train home. Why? Why!? WHY!!!
According to `The Japanese Mind,` this workoholism relates to the tradition of Bushido, the way of the warrior, which is a blending of previous Zen Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian beliefs (all from China) rehashed to become the samurai`s ethic during the Edo Period (bushi is another word for the samurai, the warrior class). Most relevantly, this ethic involved exhaustive repetition and training to acheive perfect forms (which I`ll return to in a later post), complete devotion to your lord, and above all exertion. What`s most interesting, as the book points out, is that exertion itself is not sufficient. The goal was not merely sufficient exertion to acheive a certain goal, as might seem most reasonable. The goal was to be seen over-exerting yourself. Combined with honour gained by self-sacrifice in the name of your leader, this meant that the ultimate goal of the ethic was in fact death. Essentially, you work yourself so hard, constantly, that you`re bound to die in a scuffle or battle eventually. There is the paradoxical focus on acheiving honour (for your self) through self-effacement, working your self to death for another`s sake.
This might explain a lot of things about modern Japan. Not that it`s so simple as smacking a `bushido` label on modern phenomenon, or that every Japanese is daily looking for ways to die through their labour. However, the mentality of self-sacrifice and over-exertion surfaced in the WWII soldiers who killed their own offspring to free themselves to go to war, perhaps even as a kamikaze pilot. This mentality surfaces in the executives whose lives are inseperable from the companies they run, and who kill themselves if the company falters or a scandal is discovered. `karoushi` is the Japanese word for death by overwork.
The conundrum is that in a way, the excesses and the tragedy are admired, or at least expected. If you ask teachers why they don`t take a holiday, usually they make up excuses. Apparently taking leave or working only regular hours can hurt your career`s progress. Our Manager at the Board of Education has repeatedly but without justification emphasized that, though we are allotted 20 days paid holiday, `true` Japanese workers don`t take holidays. In fact, only when they are sick do they use their paid holidays (instead of using their stack of sick days). If you suggest that holidays might have a positive impact on people`s lives, you`re likely to hear the common refrain that there isn`t time, work is too busy.
So, what are people here doing that people elsewhere aren`t? If you look at per capita output, (I`m gonna go ahead and not back this up with a source, please correct me if you have one) Japan no longer outproduces most other wealthy nations. If you ask people on the ground, like JETs, you might discover that people waste a lot of time at work. Teachers unnecessarily rehash materials just to create something to do. Then there`s the endless meetings and creating published reports for the meetings (which wastes an unimaginable amount of paper), which usually cover information that people already know. Other than that, teachers kill time by clipping their nails, perusing newspapers, and occasionally watching some TV or a movie in the evening. I`m not saying teachers don`t work hard; they do! Only, they have to somehow come up with stuff to do on top of the sufficient amount of work they do.
Of course, the biggest extension of work hours has got to be the clubs. Club attendence is pretty close to mandatory, mostly enforced by social pressure. What boggles me though, is that you don`t get to grow out of this pressure when you grow up. Teachers are expected to join clubs too, which is why you get overlapping (many coaches to a team), and worse, teachers having to sponsor clubs for which they have no experience, expertise, or even liking. Because the ethic extends to the students, these clubs run for insane hours - four hours after school everyday, and possibly both days on the weekends (usually just one), with games and tournaments showing no regard for public holidays. And, watching these clubs, you see that a lot of time wasting goes on there too. So, a hard-working teacher who does her best to educate the students, and stay on top of her work-load, has to stay at school long past the contracted hours, coming in on most weekends, even if this means creating busywork, or joining a club in which she has no interest whatsoever.
I point out the inefficiencies because they are what frustrate me most about the overworking. People at work (I`m gonna go ahead and assume this is true in all sectors), teachers at school, students in club: everybody could acheive the same amount of work, output or improvement (in clubs) with the same or possibly less effort spent more efficiently in less time.
I somewhat grasp the often-cited `group mentality`, which could potentially mean nobody wants to leave their institutional group and go off to do something else. But the practice of overworking contrasts with so many people`s complaints (for example, by the teacher`s union), and ignores the high rates of depression, suicide, and alcoholism among what should be otherwise well-off workers. I keep struggling to understand...
...but, a slight turn of phrase makes it make sense. The goal is to be seen not only exerting, but over-exerting. The goal is not even to acheive or to complete, but to exert. And so, if you stop to take a holiday, or even go home at your designated hours, or when you`ve finished a task, you`re not really pushing yourself, are you?
This still isn`t enough for me though. Who are they trying to impress? It`s not much of a sacrifice for the group if the group as a whole is less efficient and produces less as a result. Why does the system pressure people to expend all their time and energy at work, when nobody really wants to do this? When the government legislated a 6- and then 5-day school and work week (presumably for the sake of people`s well-being), enrollment in cram schools shot way up, and school clubs expanded to fill the slack time; time spent at work did not drastically decrease. But if the highest official authority, the government, is asking people to lead more balanced lives, who keeps insisting on the unnecessary standard of over-exertion?
People do it to themselves, for nobody, the worst possible option.
According to `The Japanese Mind,` this workoholism relates to the tradition of Bushido, the way of the warrior, which is a blending of previous Zen Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian beliefs (all from China) rehashed to become the samurai`s ethic during the Edo Period (bushi is another word for the samurai, the warrior class). Most relevantly, this ethic involved exhaustive repetition and training to acheive perfect forms (which I`ll return to in a later post), complete devotion to your lord, and above all exertion. What`s most interesting, as the book points out, is that exertion itself is not sufficient. The goal was not merely sufficient exertion to acheive a certain goal, as might seem most reasonable. The goal was to be seen over-exerting yourself. Combined with honour gained by self-sacrifice in the name of your leader, this meant that the ultimate goal of the ethic was in fact death. Essentially, you work yourself so hard, constantly, that you`re bound to die in a scuffle or battle eventually. There is the paradoxical focus on acheiving honour (for your self) through self-effacement, working your self to death for another`s sake.
This might explain a lot of things about modern Japan. Not that it`s so simple as smacking a `bushido` label on modern phenomenon, or that every Japanese is daily looking for ways to die through their labour. However, the mentality of self-sacrifice and over-exertion surfaced in the WWII soldiers who killed their own offspring to free themselves to go to war, perhaps even as a kamikaze pilot. This mentality surfaces in the executives whose lives are inseperable from the companies they run, and who kill themselves if the company falters or a scandal is discovered. `karoushi` is the Japanese word for death by overwork.
The conundrum is that in a way, the excesses and the tragedy are admired, or at least expected. If you ask teachers why they don`t take a holiday, usually they make up excuses. Apparently taking leave or working only regular hours can hurt your career`s progress. Our Manager at the Board of Education has repeatedly but without justification emphasized that, though we are allotted 20 days paid holiday, `true` Japanese workers don`t take holidays. In fact, only when they are sick do they use their paid holidays (instead of using their stack of sick days). If you suggest that holidays might have a positive impact on people`s lives, you`re likely to hear the common refrain that there isn`t time, work is too busy.
So, what are people here doing that people elsewhere aren`t? If you look at per capita output, (I`m gonna go ahead and not back this up with a source, please correct me if you have one) Japan no longer outproduces most other wealthy nations. If you ask people on the ground, like JETs, you might discover that people waste a lot of time at work. Teachers unnecessarily rehash materials just to create something to do. Then there`s the endless meetings and creating published reports for the meetings (which wastes an unimaginable amount of paper), which usually cover information that people already know. Other than that, teachers kill time by clipping their nails, perusing newspapers, and occasionally watching some TV or a movie in the evening. I`m not saying teachers don`t work hard; they do! Only, they have to somehow come up with stuff to do on top of the sufficient amount of work they do.
Of course, the biggest extension of work hours has got to be the clubs. Club attendence is pretty close to mandatory, mostly enforced by social pressure. What boggles me though, is that you don`t get to grow out of this pressure when you grow up. Teachers are expected to join clubs too, which is why you get overlapping (many coaches to a team), and worse, teachers having to sponsor clubs for which they have no experience, expertise, or even liking. Because the ethic extends to the students, these clubs run for insane hours - four hours after school everyday, and possibly both days on the weekends (usually just one), with games and tournaments showing no regard for public holidays. And, watching these clubs, you see that a lot of time wasting goes on there too. So, a hard-working teacher who does her best to educate the students, and stay on top of her work-load, has to stay at school long past the contracted hours, coming in on most weekends, even if this means creating busywork, or joining a club in which she has no interest whatsoever.
I point out the inefficiencies because they are what frustrate me most about the overworking. People at work (I`m gonna go ahead and assume this is true in all sectors), teachers at school, students in club: everybody could acheive the same amount of work, output or improvement (in clubs) with the same or possibly less effort spent more efficiently in less time.
I somewhat grasp the often-cited `group mentality`, which could potentially mean nobody wants to leave their institutional group and go off to do something else. But the practice of overworking contrasts with so many people`s complaints (for example, by the teacher`s union), and ignores the high rates of depression, suicide, and alcoholism among what should be otherwise well-off workers. I keep struggling to understand...
...but, a slight turn of phrase makes it make sense. The goal is to be seen not only exerting, but over-exerting. The goal is not even to acheive or to complete, but to exert. And so, if you stop to take a holiday, or even go home at your designated hours, or when you`ve finished a task, you`re not really pushing yourself, are you?
This still isn`t enough for me though. Who are they trying to impress? It`s not much of a sacrifice for the group if the group as a whole is less efficient and produces less as a result. Why does the system pressure people to expend all their time and energy at work, when nobody really wants to do this? When the government legislated a 6- and then 5-day school and work week (presumably for the sake of people`s well-being), enrollment in cram schools shot way up, and school clubs expanded to fill the slack time; time spent at work did not drastically decrease. But if the highest official authority, the government, is asking people to lead more balanced lives, who keeps insisting on the unnecessary standard of over-exertion?
People do it to themselves, for nobody, the worst possible option.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Oki Dub Ainu Band in Obihiro
As promised, in order to alternate between rambling ruminations and personal updates, this post will be one of the later. If the tone differs from my usual, that may be because I`m writing at work. I`ve gotten to the place where I no longer feel bad doing personal stuff at work, providing I`ve done all the work-work I could have done or could be doing. Also, if the tone is strange, I`m composing this at my desk on a scrap piece of paper, with my left hand. So much brain in there, gotta keep it active somehow.
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If you don`t want to read this post, long story shot: we had a great time seeing the Oki Dub Ainu Band in Obihiro, about three hours from Sapporo, a few weeks ago.
This is the Band`s site (in Japanese): http://www.tonkori.com/profile/index.php
So, we went to Sapporo Station (the main mall and train station, downtown) to buy tickets. As you walk into the JR (Japan Rail) Counter, a woman in a red stewardess outfit swoops into action. Now, this red is so bright and red that it isn`t actually part of the spectrum, you just have to imagine it. And the outfit, incongruous in a mall, to say the least, is such an exemplar `50s Stewardess outfit that you swear it`s the ideal form and doesn`t exist except in God`s imagination. It`s too perfect to belong to any Airline in the real world. Anyways, as soon as she sees you are not Japanese, ie performs a quick biometric survey, she swoops toward you to most kindly offer assistance and information in English. I feel confident we could have conveyed our purchasing wishes to the monolingual man behind the counter without her aid, but I suppose it is nice to receive extra help. (If you`re reading between the lines here, you`ll note that occasionally, as my Japanese slowly improves, I get frustrated when people remove the opportunity for me to practice, just as I get frustrated when people with limited english abilities give up on communicating with me.)
So, we payed the bill. Let me tell you about bills in Japan: They suck. Utility bills; Food bills; Entertainment bills; Most relevently, train bills: they all suck. It cost us about $120 each, round, to take this 3hour trip on one of the main lines across the island. Basically, train fares don`t make it that pleasant to hop around the place and explore.
That Friday night, I went to a Hanami (a picnic in Cherry Blossom season) party organised by another ALT`s school, though the open invite meant it was mostly overrun by JET`s always eager for a party. The standard (meaning rather expensive) price bought access to cans of beer spilling out of bags and baskets onto the ground. However, though the Invitation proffered Vegetarian options, this consisted of the cabbage and onions that act as the sideshow of `Genghis Khan` (lamb), as well as a few seafood items that don`t make the transition to BBQ so well. Someday Japan will understand Vegetarianism, and I will be proud to have contributed my proselytizing/whining to that development.
--On a side, note, I`m trying to mostly cut fish out of my diet as well, as I keep hearing about how devestated fish stocks are EVERYwhere, and how much we mess up the oceans in our efforts to scoop up what remains. Industrial fishing (as it is practiced anywhere in the world today) is simply not sustainable. Basically the only meat-based protein I`ll be getting is from the free-range chicken eggs Alice has managed to find--
Despite the fact that my stomach rumbled, and there weren`t actually any blossoms at this Hanami (they had already fallen in Sapporo, by that point), I still had a good night. The drinking culture seems to allow spontaienous crossing of party lines, so, without the nervousness that would have accompanied the act back home (because of my somewhat shy nature), I ambled over to a big party of what could only be University students having a good time. Within a minute, a big group had huddled around to hear the funny foreigner. [I`m not sure if a Japanese person making the same sudden intrusion is greeted with the same interest. For groups of foreigners, it is as easy as lifting a glass in a kampai (cheers) to another table at a restaurant, or wandering to another room at a karaoke bar, to find a group ready to welcome and chat and laugh and (always) drink.] After five minutes I told them I just wanted to say hello, and that they were welcome to come over to our party and chat if they wanted, and then I turned to return. When I got back to our picnic, I realised that ten to fiteen of them had followed me! If a not very exciting or outgoing person like me can cause this, Japanese (youth at least) are clearly either eager to talk with foreigners, or just to share beer and a good time in general.
Anyway, the party led to early morning packing before rushing to the train station. Now, the train. The most interesting thing about the train was the most annoying thing about the train, this being the PA Announcement from Hell`s aural department. Everywhere you go in Japan you are incessantly bombarded with electronic and prerecorded messages, and sometimes public transportation is the worst. The high-pitched (being extra polite) voice droned on for between 5 and 50000 minutes to inform riders of the entire list of stops across the whole line, their sequence and spacing, as well as the rules of etiquette aboard the train, and the options at the snack bar and each individual item`s variety of flavours and accompanying costs. I couldn`t catch all of this in Japanese, but I didn`t have to because the message was then repeated in English - though somewhat more succintly. Worst of all, both recordings were repeated after every single stop the train made. Sigh.
We got to Obihiro not knowing anything about the town or anything about where the concert was. As we pulled into the station, we realised that this town was not in any way interesting or unique looking, and someone might as well have just grabbed an indifferent district from Sapporo and plopped it down in the middle of otherwise pretty countryside.
So far it doesn`t sound like I`m that positive about this weekend trip... but really, I am! Mostly the experience was enriched by the people we saw and met. After arriving, we called the concert info number and I tried to ask for directions. Whoever I was talking to declined that request, and instead told me to wait at the station for someone to come pick us up! The operator`s friend, a volunteer setting up for the concert, drove us the 20 minutes out of town, to a quaint commercial Garden/Park/Touristy Place. The concert was at the Park`s Town Hall style building.
With time to kill, and not knowing where we would stay that night, we probably looked lost. Somebody came up and asked if he could help us - turns out he was running the Garden Centre (whose name I should probably look up). In the office, he started to look up hotels in the city, as a coworker brought some snacks to share (we couldn`t eat the Instant Ramen because of the meat). Soon, though, he just told us that if we were trustworthy people, we could sleep in the concert hall with the band crew, after the concert!! So, we stumbled past wires and drum sets and a few confused stares, and stowed our packs in a loft in the hall.
In order to offer some payment for this generosity, we insisted on doing some work. This consisted of scraping and cleaning the park`s stack of BBQ grills. Eventually, Shinya, an employee at the park, drove me into town with him so I could buy some food.
After killing 5 hours at the park, it was finally time for the concert. Numbers slowly swelled as a huge range of people arrived. A large portion of the audience was Ainu, with old people and young people alike. The band leader, Oki, is a vocal but not violent activist for Ainu music and culture. The band incorporated modern and traditional instruments, and that night co-performed with an Ainu women`s group, which sang beautiful echoing and throat-wobbling songs. The mucic`s tone was deep, befitting the Dub in Oki Ainu Dub Band, the mix of dub, reggae and traditional styles unique . The show was essentially dry, with everybody (toddlers and grandmas alike) loving every minute. To end the show, everybody in the audience gathered round in a circle dance to the last number, holding hands and weaving back and forth to the rythm, before the band came down and chatted.
The music and the atmosphere, along with the genuine and genuinely kind people we met all day, made it an awesome experience.
Oh, but we didn`t end up staying with the band that night, which was a bit of a relief (because we didn`t want to impose). Instead, we ran into another JET at the concert, who let us stay in his place that night. It was a mere 45 minutes away by car!!! Thanks Austin! Only on the JET program can you wander pretty much anywhere in Japan and find someone you (sort of) know, who`s willing to take you in, on the spot.
The next day, after a slow morning (not everybody was dry at the concert), we took in an onsen (first mixed onsen I`ve been in, men and women allowed, though we were the only ones there. It was a big garish hotelish-thing built in the 50`s, with about 7 different onsen baths. It looked like it hadn`t seen a cement patch kit or a drop of paint since the 50`s.), had lunch in a cosy tatami-floored soba-etc shop, and then caught the three hour train back to Sapporo before work on Monday.
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If you don`t want to read this post, long story shot: we had a great time seeing the Oki Dub Ainu Band in Obihiro, about three hours from Sapporo, a few weeks ago.
This is the Band`s site (in Japanese): http://www.tonkori.com/profile/index.php
You can find some mediocre clips on YouTube, but they don`t do the band justice.
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So, we went to Sapporo Station (the main mall and train station, downtown) to buy tickets. As you walk into the JR (Japan Rail) Counter, a woman in a red stewardess outfit swoops into action. Now, this red is so bright and red that it isn`t actually part of the spectrum, you just have to imagine it. And the outfit, incongruous in a mall, to say the least, is such an exemplar `50s Stewardess outfit that you swear it`s the ideal form and doesn`t exist except in God`s imagination. It`s too perfect to belong to any Airline in the real world. Anyways, as soon as she sees you are not Japanese, ie performs a quick biometric survey, she swoops toward you to most kindly offer assistance and information in English. I feel confident we could have conveyed our purchasing wishes to the monolingual man behind the counter without her aid, but I suppose it is nice to receive extra help. (If you`re reading between the lines here, you`ll note that occasionally, as my Japanese slowly improves, I get frustrated when people remove the opportunity for me to practice, just as I get frustrated when people with limited english abilities give up on communicating with me.)
So, we payed the bill. Let me tell you about bills in Japan: They suck. Utility bills; Food bills; Entertainment bills; Most relevently, train bills: they all suck. It cost us about $120 each, round, to take this 3hour trip on one of the main lines across the island. Basically, train fares don`t make it that pleasant to hop around the place and explore.
That Friday night, I went to a Hanami (a picnic in Cherry Blossom season) party organised by another ALT`s school, though the open invite meant it was mostly overrun by JET`s always eager for a party. The standard (meaning rather expensive) price bought access to cans of beer spilling out of bags and baskets onto the ground. However, though the Invitation proffered Vegetarian options, this consisted of the cabbage and onions that act as the sideshow of `Genghis Khan` (lamb), as well as a few seafood items that don`t make the transition to BBQ so well. Someday Japan will understand Vegetarianism, and I will be proud to have contributed my proselytizing/whining to that development.
--On a side, note, I`m trying to mostly cut fish out of my diet as well, as I keep hearing about how devestated fish stocks are EVERYwhere, and how much we mess up the oceans in our efforts to scoop up what remains. Industrial fishing (as it is practiced anywhere in the world today) is simply not sustainable. Basically the only meat-based protein I`ll be getting is from the free-range chicken eggs Alice has managed to find--
Despite the fact that my stomach rumbled, and there weren`t actually any blossoms at this Hanami (they had already fallen in Sapporo, by that point), I still had a good night. The drinking culture seems to allow spontaienous crossing of party lines, so, without the nervousness that would have accompanied the act back home (because of my somewhat shy nature), I ambled over to a big party of what could only be University students having a good time. Within a minute, a big group had huddled around to hear the funny foreigner. [I`m not sure if a Japanese person making the same sudden intrusion is greeted with the same interest. For groups of foreigners, it is as easy as lifting a glass in a kampai (cheers) to another table at a restaurant, or wandering to another room at a karaoke bar, to find a group ready to welcome and chat and laugh and (always) drink.] After five minutes I told them I just wanted to say hello, and that they were welcome to come over to our party and chat if they wanted, and then I turned to return. When I got back to our picnic, I realised that ten to fiteen of them had followed me! If a not very exciting or outgoing person like me can cause this, Japanese (youth at least) are clearly either eager to talk with foreigners, or just to share beer and a good time in general.
Anyway, the party led to early morning packing before rushing to the train station. Now, the train. The most interesting thing about the train was the most annoying thing about the train, this being the PA Announcement from Hell`s aural department. Everywhere you go in Japan you are incessantly bombarded with electronic and prerecorded messages, and sometimes public transportation is the worst. The high-pitched (being extra polite) voice droned on for between 5 and 50000 minutes to inform riders of the entire list of stops across the whole line, their sequence and spacing, as well as the rules of etiquette aboard the train, and the options at the snack bar and each individual item`s variety of flavours and accompanying costs. I couldn`t catch all of this in Japanese, but I didn`t have to because the message was then repeated in English - though somewhat more succintly. Worst of all, both recordings were repeated after every single stop the train made. Sigh.
We got to Obihiro not knowing anything about the town or anything about where the concert was. As we pulled into the station, we realised that this town was not in any way interesting or unique looking, and someone might as well have just grabbed an indifferent district from Sapporo and plopped it down in the middle of otherwise pretty countryside.
So far it doesn`t sound like I`m that positive about this weekend trip... but really, I am! Mostly the experience was enriched by the people we saw and met. After arriving, we called the concert info number and I tried to ask for directions. Whoever I was talking to declined that request, and instead told me to wait at the station for someone to come pick us up! The operator`s friend, a volunteer setting up for the concert, drove us the 20 minutes out of town, to a quaint commercial Garden/Park/Touristy Place. The concert was at the Park`s Town Hall style building.
With time to kill, and not knowing where we would stay that night, we probably looked lost. Somebody came up and asked if he could help us - turns out he was running the Garden Centre (whose name I should probably look up). In the office, he started to look up hotels in the city, as a coworker brought some snacks to share (we couldn`t eat the Instant Ramen because of the meat). Soon, though, he just told us that if we were trustworthy people, we could sleep in the concert hall with the band crew, after the concert!! So, we stumbled past wires and drum sets and a few confused stares, and stowed our packs in a loft in the hall.
In order to offer some payment for this generosity, we insisted on doing some work. This consisted of scraping and cleaning the park`s stack of BBQ grills. Eventually, Shinya, an employee at the park, drove me into town with him so I could buy some food.
After killing 5 hours at the park, it was finally time for the concert. Numbers slowly swelled as a huge range of people arrived. A large portion of the audience was Ainu, with old people and young people alike. The band leader, Oki, is a vocal but not violent activist for Ainu music and culture. The band incorporated modern and traditional instruments, and that night co-performed with an Ainu women`s group, which sang beautiful echoing and throat-wobbling songs. The mucic`s tone was deep, befitting the Dub in Oki Ainu Dub Band, the mix of dub, reggae and traditional styles unique . The show was essentially dry, with everybody (toddlers and grandmas alike) loving every minute. To end the show, everybody in the audience gathered round in a circle dance to the last number, holding hands and weaving back and forth to the rythm, before the band came down and chatted.
The music and the atmosphere, along with the genuine and genuinely kind people we met all day, made it an awesome experience.
Oh, but we didn`t end up staying with the band that night, which was a bit of a relief (because we didn`t want to impose). Instead, we ran into another JET at the concert, who let us stay in his place that night. It was a mere 45 minutes away by car!!! Thanks Austin! Only on the JET program can you wander pretty much anywhere in Japan and find someone you (sort of) know, who`s willing to take you in, on the spot.
The next day, after a slow morning (not everybody was dry at the concert), we took in an onsen (first mixed onsen I`ve been in, men and women allowed, though we were the only ones there. It was a big garish hotelish-thing built in the 50`s, with about 7 different onsen baths. It looked like it hadn`t seen a cement patch kit or a drop of paint since the 50`s.), had lunch in a cosy tatami-floored soba-etc shop, and then caught the three hour train back to Sapporo before work on Monday.
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