Work Environment

One noted difference between the Japanese workplace and the American workplace. Granted, I haven't before worked in an American office or high school, but the following is the initial impression I have. Japanese teachers work all year round. I'm not sure why, and I think a Japanese person would have some difficulty explaining why because it is simply the way it's been and will continue to be. While talking with Ueda sensei I asked the question of why teachers work in the summer and what specifically they may do on a day to day basis. With limited language abilities from both sides she answered that teachers prepare lessons, and many are supervisors of club activities etc., which meet all summer long. That fact there is quite different. Most American high schoolers are involved with their high school team's duties for 2 1/2 months, and, if they want to continue playing the sport for the other 9 1/2 months of the year they join a community club. Or a couple of community clubs. Here high school club teams practice and compete together 12 months out of the year.

Right now the All-Japan High School Baseball Championship tournament is in full swing. Last night while out and about in Kambara I saw one game being played on every TV I crossed- I saw it through the window of a neighbor's house, at the Ramen Restaurant and playing on the display TVs at Mega Mart. Unfortunately I couldn't watch it at my house because my TV only gets 12 channels. Total. No, I don't mean reception, I mean, the remote control only goes up to 12. Yes, it has a different button for channel 1, 2, 3...10, 11, 12. And of the 12 channels, 4 of them are the same station, 3 of them are the same different station, 1 of them is half a station and the other 4 don't work at all. Baseball must be a big deal here.

(following the breadcrumbs left on my tangent line) Even though teachers work here year round I (preliminarly) think that the way in which teachers spend their time at work here is quite different than the way people spend their time at work in the US. It seems to me that in the US office workers put their noses to the grindstone for 8 or maybe 10 solid hours working consistantly to finish certain tasks. Here (at least at Ihara High School)....

...let me take a moment to address something formulating in my mind at the present. I really want to make the effort to not apply my specific experiences to all of the Japanese. I realize that Ihara koukou is an individual school, and the way things are done here may or may not reflect on general rites and rituals of high school life throughout the rest of Japan. So, my musings are vastly preliminary - let's call them wonderings - until I have spent considerable time talking with other people, reading books and experiencing life here....

....At Ihara high school teachers wander in and out, often dressed in sports attire, read the newspaper, look out the window, go out for lunch, talk with me or Sarah, look up words in the dictionary, etc. I don't know how much production is actually occuring. And maybe it's a lot - I can't decipher what peopel are talking about so maybe it's entirely task related. (And maybe equally as true, American office workers could be off task for a large percentage of the time).

I noticed in listening to Sarah and Ueda sensei talk in Japanese the frequency of the word tabun. I was curious what it meant because I kept hearing it so often. So, I took out my trusty pocket dictionary (thanks Mike, it has come in handy) and looked up "tabun." It means "probably" or "maybe." Having some limited knowlege about Japanese culture I am reminded that it is a very indirect language where strong nos and yeses are avoided in most occasions. Using probably or maybe can make things sound like a suggestion rather than a command. It has been confusing, however, when speaking with JTEs who are using English with a Japanese cultural filter. I keep hearing "maybe, maybe, maybe" and have found myself using this word a lot more often as well.

I have come to be good friends with one of the JTEs, Kenmatsu sensei. She was born in the year Showa 32, the same as you, mom, but she hasn't turned 50 yet! (I'm showa 58. I've had to use that year to describe my age since most people here don't understand "1983." The system of keeping track of the years is based on the current Emperor. Year 1 is the first year of his reign. The years stop progressing at his death, and begin anew with 1 the following year. For example, the Showa period is marked by the rule of Emperor Showa who died in 1989. Taking over for him was Akihito who is still the reigning emperor today. Akihito will be given the honorary name Heisei after his death, thus this period is called the Heisei period. 2007 is "Heisei 19.") In one of our conversations she defined the "Japanese maybe" as 80% chance or more. "Maybe it's different than the American maybe?" She asked (meaning, "I know it is different than the American maybe!") When I use "maybe" I'm thinking right around 50% or maybe less. Then there's the Jack Johnson song Flake- "It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no, so don't tell me, you might just let him go..." Often Americans use maybe when there is less than a 50% chance. Tabun is a part of polite and indirect Japanese speech and translates poorly when used in the same way with English. I taught Kenmatsu sensei to use "I'm pretty sure" when she wants to say she's 80-90% positive in English, and I will certainly try to use the Japanese maybe more often as I learn the etiquitte of the language.

A few more musings:

I am sitting here at my desk as a "real world professional" for the firt time. It certainly feels more surreal being it Japan and not the US; but nonetheless I'm a college graduate and am getting paid to do things rather than paying to do them. The coffee has been replaced by green tea, and a snack of leftover sticky rice sits to my right. My newly purchased ohashi (chopsticks) sit atop the obento boxed lunch as I type this. Another mostly edible meal consumed quickly between "work." Today I had konyaku which is a type of a yam made into a gelatin (think dense yam flavored jello). I was told by kyotosensei that it is good for cleaning out the intestines. "Oh, sugoi!" I said and, "Oh, great..." under my breath. (Sugoi is an expression of great or wonderful or cool, haha.) As for work I spent the first 3 hours of the morning pouring over the Japan Times (published in English) reading all kinds of articles about news from around the country and world. I asked yesterday what I could be doing to help around the office and one of the answers was to read the newspaper and know about Japan. Horiikesensei (one of the viceprincipals) wants to talk with me in English about Japanese sports, namely high school baseball and summo wrestling. So I have to brush up on my knowledge of summo, which is at the same level as my knowledge of the Japanese language, or another obscure sport like cricket (hah).

I'm sitting here in one of my Dad's used workshirts thinking about the working world and feeling like a "big boy" now. I've grown into my father's clothes, yet am wearing them as if I'm still playing pretend. I wonder if I know enough for someone to actually be paying me to produce for them. I guess my job is to mostly be a good representative of my country and to make friends with Japanese people. If that's what I'm getting paid for, then this is the cush job. How can I spend my time effectively? How can I give back?