13 Random things

1. Since moving to Japan I have begun to love cleaning my apartment/Ayuko's apartment not for the actual act, but for how clean and tidy it looks afterward. Strangely enough I always hated cleaning while I lived in the States and I feel that finally having my own place to call home is what has brought on this odd love.

2. I am a self professed nerd and lover of many things decidedly uncool, yet somehow I am still a highly functioning member of society. I am actually slightly unnerved by the hardcore nerds who seem unable to function in social situations because they have fallen so far into the other worlds they love. It is called a hobby and not a lifestyle for a reason :P

3. I love reading and often have to deal with Ayuko pestering me as I read because she gets bored with me just sitting there in silence. However, I tend to only read science fiction and fantasy for pleasure and can be perversely difficult about trying new genres. I just know what I like I suppose.

4. The reason I am writing this note at all is because my friend Sarah tagged me in her note, so I suppose I should say that while she is definitely the most at odds with my own social groups back home she is also one of my favorite people ever. I can nerd out with her in safety and often end up thinking she is the big geek! Also when she read this she just went, "awwww", I promise it.

5. I have been living in Japan for almost two years and have truly enjoyed my time here so far. I have finally started to dedicate myself to studying Japanese in more depth and might possibly attempt a Masters in Japanese when I go for my MBA.

6. Speaking of MBAs I attempted to help Ayuko with a marketing project today and was forcibly reminded of just how little I do know about business and the intricacies involved. Needless to say I will be studying hard when I do go for that MBA.

7. This is taking longer than I thought.

8. Up until my company went bankrupt last October I had fairly poor financial skills and didn't really plan things out in advance. However, I now pride myself on being very financially aware and spend free moments thinking up how I can save or more efficiently use my money. Part of my drive to earn an MBA revolves around never wanting to be in a financially precarious situation again, as well as making sure Ayuko never has to worry about that.

9. I like to think I am very modern in my views towards women and equality thanks largely due to my strong mother, yet I still insist upon chivalry when it applies. Simply because a woman is capable of opening a door or hefting a heavy box by herself doesn't mean I can't help out. I think there is a big difference between respecting a woman and still choosing to help, as opposed to holding oneself above them due to some misguided physical or mental beliefs.

10. I am currently preoccupied with obtaining a copy of Fallout 3. That is all.

11. I am in love with a miss Ayuko Hayashide.

12. My first dog will be a doberman who will be accompanied by some toy dog of Ayuko's choosing. We are thinking of naming the doberman Fluffy or some such, with the toy dog named Killer or something.

13. I think the Japanese are massively incompetent for not insulating their buildings. I mean honestly the logic isn't that hard to understand.

This is awesome

Marathon?!

SO I somehow ended up running a second 10K marathon today as the elementary school I was at had their own marathon! Seriously these Japanese are serious about their running and just health in general. However I can only approve of forcing all of the children to run as it encourages healthy living and just not being a lazy blob in general. They had practice all week which entailed running for five minutes at a time during their morning recess and while this obviously can't prepare a child to run a 5K, it at least gave them some sort of training.

I suppose I should clarify as well on the actual length ran. It was only a 5K, but I ran it twice as the children ran in groups of two grades at a time. I ended up running with the first and second graders and then ran again with the fifth and sixth graders immediately after finishing the initial run. Again it was nice to be able to run something like this with no extra training and it only reaffirms my firm belief in healthy living. A very few of the children were somewhat overweight and I feel that if parents allow poor living choices at such a young age it will only cause problems later on in life. I know this will probably rile some people up, but I just feel it is the parents responsibility to teach proper eating and exercise habits as well as act as examples themselves. No child should have to face the added stress being unnecessarily overweight causes and while there are obvious exceptions for medical conditions and such, I feel the vast majority of the cases is that the child reflects their parents.

AGAIN living in Japan has really opened my eyes to just how unhealthy America is and I can only hope our government and society takes drastic steps to change the path we are currently on.

Japanese Test Attack!

SO today I took the lowest of four levels of the government created Japanese test which tests you on grammar, vocabulary aka kanji, and listening ability. It is officially called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and is given once a year in December. Passing any of the four levels can gain you an advantage in the job market, as well as giving you some sort of self worth for learning one of the most difficult languages on the planet.

I had decided to take the lowest level simply because I didn't know many kanji at the time and for the third level you needed 300 basic kanji, as well as all of the words that come from combining them. Thus I now know 150 kanji and a whole multitude of words formed with them. Looking back on the test I probably should have taken the third level, but I am still happy in progressing in any way. Once I move to Tokyo I will be joining a Japanese school for intensive study in order to pass the second level next December. This is not only due to my desire to continue to improve myself while living here, but also as I want to obtain a Masters in Japanese while I attend business school. Thus having high level Japanese before then only makes that stage of my life that much easier.

NOW I only need to learn the rest of the 20,000 kanji the Japanese alphabet uses...

SO my junior high held a 10K marathon today and I decided to join in as it beat sitting at my desk in an empty staff room for eight hours. To give you an idea of just how physically fit the Japanese are compared to Americans you have to understand that ALL of the students had to run the marathon and while I was running I noticed that very few students walked at all during the entire race. Once again this just highlights for me just how out of shape Americans are as I have grave doubts about the abilities of American junior high students if they were placed in the same situation. Not that all Americans are massive monsters chomping down on their Big Macs and super sized sodas, but I feel that when I do eventually return home I am going to have massive reverse culture shock at the physical state Americans are in. However that is something to worry about another day. On to my own personal glory.

OF the 400 boys I ran with I came in 60th place, but unfortunately they didn't give out times. Thus while I am not entirely sure of my time I would guess that it was around 50 minutes based on when I got home after the race. Again I am not sure and wish I would have timed myself, but I figured that the whole point of a race was knowing how fast you ran it. Damn these Japanese and their avoidance of individual greatness! However I was happy that I could pound out a 10K with no training whatsoever beyond my usual workouts that never involve distance running.

IN closing I also must point out that junior high girls are scarily fast as while the boys started 10 minutes before the girls I still had a good 10-15 girls pass me by the time I finished the run! It was especially impressive considering how much longer my stride is than that the average Japanese junior high girl.

THIS picture was just too funny to leave out.

WHILE I am still in excellent shape due to my diet and exercise regimen I would still like to gain more muscle mass to try to return to how I was at my height of fitness in college. So I have decided to post my results once a month to let everyone else follow the fun, as dubious as it may be. I also realize that it may sound arrogant as far as how I describe myself, but I rarely eat sweets or otherwise unhealthy food, bike and lift weights at the gym five to six days a week, perform my sets of crunches and push ups every morning, and often go for 30-45 minute bike rides at night after the gym. So the condition my body is in is something I am very proud of.

THUS if you are reading this and thinking, "My god what an arrogant and shallow person", please know that to me physical health is very important and I feel better mentally and physically when I am in good shape. I don't judge anyone else who is not up to my own personal standards as I only apply said standards to myself. I only say this because I get tired of people feeling that I am judging them when they are eating sweets or otherwise unhealthy food simply because I myself don't want to. I honestly don't care what people eat as long as they don't put any guilt they may feel onto me.

Anyway here are my results:

Age: 24
Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 161 lbs
Skeletal Muscle Mass: 84 lbs
Fat Mass: 12 lbs
Body Fat %: 7.7

IF I could commit complete genocide on any species inhabiting the planet it would definitely be the mosquito. I've thought it through and I don't feel there would be any massive ecological fallout and frankly even if it did mean the end of the world I would die happen knowing I was free from those blood sucking little beasts. The past couple of days in school I have been plagued by them as I sit at my desk which happens to be directly in front of a window which opens out onto the school's koi pond. Needless to say their genocide doesn't bother me in the least. That is all.

CAN'T say I really have that much to say as it is 12:25PM on this lovely Saturday and I have no plans for the day. Last month our paycheck was greatly reduced due to the five weeks we had off for summer vacation finally coming back to hit where it hurts...our bank account. This means that all of my friends and myself are rather financially limited this month and so no one is really doing anything beyond the usual alcoholic festivities on the weekend. Unfortunately as that doesn't really interest me anymore I find myself rather at a loss as to what to do with myself this month as most of my friends spend the money they do have during said orgies and are therefor reticent to do other activities.

NOT that I blame them for spending their money at clubs and bars, but as I mentioned before when one is sober clubs tend to become very repetitive and all of the hilarious drunken antics tend to repeat themselves every weekend, so even the amusement gained from that is limited. At times I find myself yearning for the bleary eyed memories of my past where I would stumble around the dance floor in full confidence of my dancing abilities with nary a thought for anything else. However I now find myself having to deal with the nagging annoyance of reality when I attempt to bust out my mad dance skills and for some reason this tends to limit my time on the dance floor. However I have put some thought into actually taking dance lessons to rectify said disablity, yet we will have to see if anything actually comes of this.

ALSO in a completely unrelated note I have recently signed up with a private student company in the hope that I can gain a fair number of private students. Let the wealth flow in!

THIS week my junior high had a cultural festival or bunkasai and during one of the days they had a school wide chorus festival at a music hall. This involved all three grades traveling to the hall by bus, which in itself was no mean feat. There were over 700 students to be shipped off and this took a fair amount of time alone. Once the students were all situated in the concert hall the festivities could finally begin. The day was set up such that all three grades would sing a certain song together and then each grade would have a type of competition within itself. This consisted of each homeroom class singing a predetermined song and and one additional song which they had selected themselves. They were judged by a panel of three people and then a winner for each song was selected from each grade and this finally brings me to my true point of interest for this blog.

IN Japan, as I believe I have mentioned before, people tend to become extremely emotional in competitive events. This applies to both men and women and it is not uncommon to see the most hardened athlete break into tears at the drop of a hat. This also means that the students cry ALL of the time whether it be during a game I am playing in class or during this festival I attended. As I stood outside of the hall waiting for all of the students to leave a good third of the girls who had lost were teary eyed or in full blown sob mode as they exited. I mean honestly is losing a singing competition enough reason to lose it?

THE correct answer is no.

ALSO I would like to take this moment to have everyone pray for my Uncle, we'll call him 'Paul', because apparently after attempting to paint a simple flower with watercolors the doctors were able to determine he suffers from grade 3 autism and is mainly blind. His outlook is bleak at this point and we can only hope for the best :P

THINK I mentioned a while ago that I am now drawing to try to take up some of my free time at school and while I still lack creative juices when it comes to original works I seem to have some talent at free hand copying/enlarging others work. So far I've just been buying used manga comics and using them for this as the art style is fairly simple and strictly black and white. I am oddly proud of my sketches so far as they have turned out almost carbon copies of the manga I look at and when I have more time I will upload the actual comic pages as well for comparison. On to the drawings!

Rage

ONE of the things I struggle most with the whole long distance situation with Ayuko is how I am not able to be there when she needs me. This applies both in an emotional and physical sense, but in this instance I am talking more about how she is vulnerable alone whereas she wouldn't be if I were there with her. As Ayuko is a very pretty girl she draws a lot of unwelcome attention from fuckheads who have been brought up in a Japanese society that is completely male dominated and where women are portrayed as a much weaker sex that are defenseless against their advances. This means that a lot of sleazy Japanese men will approach women in a very aggressive manner, often grabbing their arm or other body part and following them for blocks, as they ask them to go on a date or for their phone number or whatever. There is even a certain type of job which is known as a 'catcher' and their job is to try to recruit girls to work as hostesses, prostitutes, porn stars, etc. They act as I described above and will continually badger the girl despite their negative responses. So when I get a phone call from a frightened Ayuko who is being harrassed or followed by one of these pieces of shit I feel not only enraged, but also completely helpless as I am unable to do anything. The simple act of having her call me is often enough to have them leave her alone, but I am constantly worrying about her at night and especially when she goes out on the weekends.

DESPITE the safety that is so widely accepted in Japan, Tokyo is still one of the world's largest cities and it obviously has its share of degenerates. If anything where to ever happen to Ayuko I honestly don't know what I would do. I already have a lot of built up anger towards these type of men, which you see everytime you go out, and while they obviously never approach her when I am with her the rage is still there. I have occaisionally thought that if one were to ever do something to her when I was near all of my anger and frustration would be taken out on him and frankly it is a satisfying thought. My other foreign friends with Japanese girlfriends feel the same way I do and we have often talked of how satisfying it would be to have these arrogant little shits feel how it feels to be afraid. I am sure some of you are shocked at my anger or violent thoughts or whatever, but after having to put up with this for the year and a half I have been dating Ayuko it only angers me more every time. I am not a violent person, but the only thing that would hold me back from smashing down one of these pathetic excuses for men is the possible fallout with the police and compromising Ayuko in any way. Let them pray the day doesn't come when they meet me in a situation where I don't have to worry about that.

I recently have been struggling with the tedium and lack of motivation associated with my job as I am essentially performing cookie cutter lessons over and over with no real change involved. This is due partly to teaching such young students who obviously are learning very basic English; as well as having all of my lessons planned out in advance by the Kyoto Board of Education. This means that preparation time is basically nil and I can saunter into lessons only after glancing at the lesson plan five minutes before. I could go above and beyond and really throw myself into preparing my lessons as it is really up to me as far as how much effort I put into them, but I honestly can't be bothered. I don't particularly like teaching nor do I want to do this as a career, so I have no driving force to make me try harder than the bare minimum. Added on to this is the fact that I am only paid for 29 hours of work a week despite having to be at the schools for 40 hours. So all in all I try to do the least work humanly possible in order to fool myself into thinking I am not being completely taken for a ride by my company.

HOWEVER recently I have begun to throw myself into other side projects such as studying Japanese, drawing, meeting new people, attempting to read manga, etc. As my mother and psychologists worldwide have suggested the best cure for depression or lack of motivation in your life is to simply force yourself to take on new tasks. I wouldn't say I am depressed as that isn't entirely true, but simply more dissatisfied with my current life and the lack of direction it is taking. So now I am determined, through study and mastery of Japanese, to be able to obtain a more fulfilling job when I move to Tokyo in the spring or at the very least have that opportunity become available within the next year or so. As Ayuko and I plan to only stay in Japan for another two years or so I would ideally like to be working for a Japanese company by next winter either as their private English teacher or in some interpreter role. All of that depends on my Japanese ability which is why I am motivated now.

SO all in all life is looking up.

A new day begins today

WELL I've almost finished up my stay here in Tokyo as Ayuko and I will be heading back to Kyoto tomorrow night. I have to admit that I have really come to appreciate Tokyo not only for the sheer amount of things to do here, but also as it gave me a glimpse of what living here next year will be like. As one of the world's largest cities you truly can find almost anything you can think of in one of shops hidden throughout the city, not to mention a place to practice a huge assortment of hobbies. I have no qualms about moving here as I am sure I will be able to find far more to do than any free time I might possibly have would allow.

EVERYONE dresses well and I can truly say Tokyo is a city full of beautiful people. The major shopping districts of Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza, and Roppongi were full of gorgeously dressed women and sharply dressed men. However this comes at a cost as Japan and especially Tokyo put an incredible emphasis on body image which often overrides any common sense people might have. Thus almost all of the women are very thin, yet it is due to starvation diets and not exercise as one sometimes encounters in America. This means that will girls are very slender they have almost no muscle tone due both to their poor diet and lack of exercise. Ayuko is not immune to this national trend and while she is a size 2 she feels she is fat. The truly shocking thing is that even at a size 2 she is slightly larger than many other Japanese girls, so you can only imagine how they can obtain such bodies. However I can only feel empathy for Japanese girls as they are under enormous pressure to be slim and beautiful, so one can only hope a healthier body image will emerge at some point.

I recently went to Akihabara, the electronics and geek capital of Japan, and took some pictures to document it. As you can see from some of these pictures Akiba is known for the various maid cafes and cosplay or costume play girls that inhabit it. These girls dress up as various characters from anime and manga who then act out fantasies with the geekboys of Japan. These pictures were all taken right outside of the main train station in Akiba were these girls wait to hand out flyers to their respective cafes to the throngs of otaku or Japanese hardcore nerds who come there. Sometimes these girls are veritably swarmed by photo snapping men as they all group around them with their high powered cameras to get that one perfect shot. However I came away from Akiba rather disturbed after viewing this subculture of Japan firsthand for a variety of reasons.

One of these reasons is simply how pathetic these otaku are as they pay ridiculous sums of money to go to maid cafes and chat with the maids as they have tea or play simple games such as patty cake. Some of the cafes have a more sexual theme as far as the costumes the girls wear, but it seems that the majority of them are not really selling the sexuality of the girls and instead focus more on their innocence. This of course creates environments where the very shy and repressed otaku do not feel intimidated by sexually aggressive women and can be comfortable living out their rather odd fantasies of chatting with maids or anime characters. I just feel that it is sad that Japan has emasculated these men to the point that they have to pay women to act so non-threatening that they can feel comfortable simply talking with them! Because no sort of sexual acts or even real physical touching occurs in these cafes, simply chatting and very innocent flirting. It just seems so humiliating that I simply could not imagine ever paying some woman just to talk to. Admittedly it is also harmless in that the girls are in no danger and they don't have to lower themselves by performing sexual acts or routines, yet I still can't bring myself to approve of it.

Another facet of this subculture that really disturbs me is the picture taking that goes on. As I mentioned above many of these men have very expensive cameras with powerful zoom lenses that they use when photographing these young women. They will stand directly in front of the girls and snap away as the girls pose in various ways. Now while many of the maid cafes do not showcase the sexuality of the girls that does not mean that scantily clad women were not present. A small number of the maids and almost all of the cosplay girls were wearing at the least short skirts or other revealing clothing. When I took the few pictures I did I felt extremely uncomfortable even though the girls obviously were there to have their picture taken. Sometimes when I would be near girls they would offer to pose for me, but I simply felt it was too intrusive and just simply perverted. While I would not categorize the Japanese otaku as being physically threatening towards women in any sense of the word they still had about them a very perverted addiction to these costumed girls from their fantasies. All in all the experience left me feeling like I was unclean in some sense.

Also just thought I'd throw out there that the one random comment from my friend Nathan wasn't the reason for comment changes, just a gradual change I've wanted to make for a while. However now I know that Nathan is out there watching and waiting I'm too nervous to make any other changes... Send help :P

Just changed the comment settings so people have to leave some sort of identification when they leave comments as I am very weirded out by possible randoms reading my blog and leaving comments. If random people do happen to read this blog that is fine, but I am blissfully unaware of that until they leave comments. Then the weirdness sets in mainly because the reason I write is for my family and friends to stay somewhat updated on my life without me having to send out mass emails or something similar. Thus the stricter comment regulations. Hopefully my massive readership of all of ten people or so won't be too upset :D

Just got back from dinner with two of Ayuko's high school friends and I must say I am won over. Both of them were incredibly nice and while we spoke almost exclusively in Japanese I still really enjoyed myself. Whenever I get together with some of her friends/co-workers/family I always wish I studied Japanese harder than I do now as no matter how much I may think I have learned I am constantly reminded of how much further I have to go.

Such as tonight when I would sit mute for 15-20 minutes at a time because I simply could not contribute to the conversation at the native level they were speaking at. I was proud enough that I could understand the basic outlines of their conversations and ever time Ayuko would mention some fact to me to try to keep me involved I would already know it. Still I need to study much harder than the casual pace I am at now if I ever want to actually engage in this society at the level I desire to, which is proficiency in all non formal situations and informal business situations. But I will gambarimasu or keep on trying as the Japanese say and one day be able to hold my own.

Also I am sure this will get me some hate comments, but just stumbled upon this picture and thought it was too funny to not post. Gotta use the content warning sometimes!

Well I have been in Tokyo for several days now and I am currently sitting in Ayuko's apartment whiling the time away while she works. The rather unfortunate thing about staying with her in her apartment is that since it is a company apartment for singles they are not allowed overnight visitors. However it is not really an issue as long as we come back to the apartment relatively late in order to avoid any random wanderings from her landlord who apparently lives close by. The real issue is that this means I can't leave the apartment unless I leave with Ayuko, so during the week when she is working I have the choice of staying in all day or leaving at 7AM and staying out until 8 or so when she comes home. However I don't really mind as it gives me plenty of time to relax, study Japanese, draw, workout, etc. Also it definitely allows me to save a massive amount of money as Tokyo seems to just suck the money out of you.

Speaking of money I have also decided to channel my funds towards updating my wardrobe or perhaps simply replacing the whole thing. I haven't really bought new clothes for several years and while I believed myself well dressed by American standards my outdated style simply pales in comparison to Japanese fashion. I went shopping with Ayuko the other weekend and picked up a few new outfits as well as some new sandals and when we were walking around Shibuya, the fashion capital of Tokyo, I didn't feel out of place as I usually do. In fact I felt that I was just as well dressed as everyone else and Ayko admitted that she much preferred seeing me in such fashion glory. Thus I am now dedicated to becoming one of the 'cool Japanese' I so often see.

This is partly in fact that I don't really spend a lot of money on material things, so I have decided to use my spending money exclusively on my wardrobe. Unfortunately as I am much larger, both in height and muscle mass, to the average Japanese man a great deal of their clothes don't fit me well. Never in my life have I ever felt I was some muscle bound beast, but I certainly do here. In America I often felt smaller than a good amount of men simply due to my lean build coupled with my height. However here I often feel like I could take on a group of four or five Japanese men and come out not only the victor, but ready for more. Gaijin ego out of control? Perhaps, but the men here are much smaller. However the younger generation I see in my junior high and local high school are more comparable to their American counterparts, even if still slightly small. To give you some idea of the difference my junior high had a assembly the other day and I was perhaps one of the five tallest people there out of close to a thousand people. I am only 6' tall.

Just three more days of school until summer vacation! My tolerance for the children has hit absolute rock bottom due to the fact that I know I will be seeing Ayuko in several days, so this week has been rather irritating so far. Yet the end is in sight, so I will soldier on.

Tomorrow is Friday and that makes this boy happy. Been a rather uneventful week, but when all is said and done I will be more than happy to walk out of school tomorrow being able to look forward to the weekend. No big plans as of yet, some of my friends are going into Osaka to celebrate a birthday tomorrow night, but as they are planning on staying out all night I will not be joining them.

Definitely have come to the slow realization that staying sober until 9AM makes for a very long night. Clubbing just doesn't hold the drunken allure it used to with my new found sobriety, so I am in the rather annoying process of trying to find new things to do on weekend nights. Unfortunately this means that the majority of the time I part ways with my friends once they go off to a club and usually end up heading home earlier than I used to. I just don't enjoy myself at clubs as I am too self conscious to dance sober and having Ayuko takes away the whole trying to fool girls into talking to me part as well. Alcohol and women were the main reasons I went to clubs and with those two things out of the equation I am left with very neutral feelings towards them.

While some may argue that this stage of socialization only really occurs in my general age group I would have to disagree. I feel that at any stage in life one is left searching for new and inspiring things to occupy themselves with in their free time and that alcohol often plays a role in loosening social boundaries. Not that I feel there is anything inherently wrong with that, I just don't partake in that part of it anymore. I really am just an old stick in the mud now :P

The past few days I have been in a rather depressed mood for several reasons. Sometimes living apart from Ayuko can drag me down as the frustration and loneliness it causes builds up until it overwhelms both of us. This only happens occasionally and whenever either of us does feel this way a phone call from the other is always more than enough to bring our spirits back up. However when the dark feeling it brings on does hit, for me at least, it is like being clouted over the head with a sledgehammer. Immense feelings of depression and longing for Ayuko seem to overwhelm my usually solid mental defenses and it brings me to my knees emotionally as I wonder why the hell I am not living with her in Tokyo. This then couples with anger at my company for lying to me in saying I would be working in Tokyo, the only area I applied to work in, and then telling me the "job" I had there was no longer available three weeks before I was set to move there. However as I said after talking with Ayuko I am always fine, as I am now, but it still sets me back.

Another reason I have been feeling rather down is after talking with my father's friend, a doctor from Japan who know lives in America, I feel that I am woefully unprepared for a future career in America. Up until this point I have not put a great deal of thought into grad school beyond wanting to achieve both my MBA and possibly a Masters in Japanese, but after speaking with her she opened my eyes to the reality of the situation. Competition is much fiercer than I had imagined and so specialization will be necessary for a successful career. It also made me realize that I may have to choose between doing something I enjoy and something that is financially viable. I am the kind of person who views a job as something you do to earn a living and not something that is necessarily your life's passion, but having to confront the reality of it so head on was a sobering experience. However as I have mentioned before after my experience with NOVA I will never again be in a situation where I have to worry about my finances.

All in all I am now even more motivated than before in my Japanese studies, as well as planning for my and Ayuko's future. I am not a terribly ambitious person, but I like to view myself as a slumbering giant such as America before WWII and once I am galvanized into action I can accomplish a great deal. The beast has awoken.

Maiko

Just watched a BBC documentary about maiko or apprentice geisha training in Kyoto and thought I'd share some snippets from it.

Before beginning formal maiko training a girl must first undergo six months of intense training simply to prepare herself for the exam at the end of this time. Said exam is one and a half hours long and includes dance, instrumental skill, overall presentation, etc. They begin their training at 15 years old. During these six months the girl is not allowed to call home and for the first two months she can have no contact with home or friends whatsoever. After those two months have passed she is allowed to write letters home. During her training she lives in a teahouse that is run by the house mother and shared with several other maiko or geisha.

As well as not being allowed to have contact with friends or family for the first two months she can also not speak back to the house mother or sisters for that time. In the past geisha could not leave the house unattended, but modern times have seen a relaxation of such strict rules. However, as the house mother pointed out there are no set rules for geisha, simply the rules the house mother decides.

The kimono alone costs over 10K dollars and fully dressed a geisha's outfit, including jewelry, will cost approximately 60K dollars. The wide cloth belt or obi that the maiko wear is seven meters long and requires the strength of a man to handle it into position.

A maiko can expect to earn $180 an hour for her services at a party, but due to the expenses the house mother must pay for during her training she won't begin to earn a real wage until after she has been working for five years or so. Lessons alone cost over 4K dollars a month during this six month training period. Geisha are expected to master a variety of instruments, four of which were shown in the documentary. Along with that Yukina, the girl featured in the documentary, had to change her intonation to match the Kyoto dialect.

When entertaining guests maiko and geisha are not allowed to eat and only drink if offered it. They often stay up into the early hours of the morning with their clients and due to their busy schedule have little chance for romance or friendship outside of their fellow maiko and geisha.

Some children just followed me home from the post office... I thought I could lose them on my bike simply due to superior speed and such, but they were able to glimpse me turning into my apartment complex and caught up with me right as I was opening my door... They know where I live. This could be a fatal mistake due to my laziness as I usually ride for as long as it takes to either lose them or have them lose interest and give up the hunt. One of my vice principals warned me that the children discovered where the old ALT lived and constantly hounded him at his apartment until the school finally had to make an announcement telling them to leave the poor man alone. I fear for the worst.

However only four girls know my secret now and I think they are still lingering around to try to catch me leaving. Four deaths to keep my secret. Is it worth it? Only time will tell...

Just kidding! Or am I?

Seems NOVA's president might finally get what is coming to him.

The Mainichi Daily Paper

The labor ministry's regional bureau in Osaka is planning to send information to prosecutors possibly later this week on Nozomu Sahashi, former president of Nova Corp., on suspicion of nonpayment of wages to language instructors, sources said Monday.

The Osaka Prefectural Police are separately planning to launch investigations to build a criminal case against Sahashi, 56, for alleged embezzlement of fringe benefit provisions for employees at what was once the largest English-language school chain in Japan, the sources said.

According to the sources, the allegations by the labor bureau concern a total of around Y100 million that should have been paid last September and October to around 400 instructors and staff members nationwide who worked for now-bankrupt Nova.

The amount represents one of the largest cases of nonpayment of regular wages ever.

However, the allegations constitute only a part of wage nonpayment at Nova. During the two-month period, it is known that around 8,000 employees did not receive salary payments totaling Y1.8 billion.

The unpaid wages are thought to be as high as Y4.1 billion in all if the period after October, when Nova went bust, is included.

[...]

However, the labor bureau believes Sahashi bears criminal
responsibility for the suspected violation of the Labor Standards Law, given that he continued to operate Nova even though he had no prospect of paying the wages for its workers, they said.

The bureau is not seeking to hold other executives liable because Sahashi was in full control of management, the sources
said.

I got a wedding invitation from my friend Erica today for her wedding in July. It really made me stop and think about just how removed I am from all that is happening back in the states both with friends and family, as well as just how far away I am. Due simply to the cost of flying home I won't be able to attend her wedding, just like I missed the wedding of one of my best college friends in May due to work and the price of flying home. While Erica's wedding happens to fall during my summer vacation, it is depressing to think that I won't be at the wedding of one of my best friends who I have known since eighth grade.

When I originally came to Japan it was with the intention of staying for my year contract and then returning home to go to graduate school. However that year has now turned into a year and a half and I will most likely be here for another two years or so. I never thought that when I decided to come here I would really be making the choice between experiencing the lives and celebrations of my friends and family back home as opposed to my own journey to find myself as a man. I still am almost paralyzed into disbelief when I think that I have and will most likely miss more of the weddings of my best friends, events that will ideally only occur once. I also have an uncle who will be getting remarried at some point and there is very little chance I will be able to come home for that as well.

At times I worry that people feel I don't come home for said celebrations out of some selfish motive, but that certainly isn't how I feel. At the end of the day it comes down to weighing two thousand dollars for one or two days back in the states with missing weddings, graduations, Christmas, etc. I know that people understand that I'm not just flying in from New York, but I know how easy it is for people to forget just how far away I am. I haven't come home for a year and a half at this point and while Ayuko and I are hoping to come home during Christmas/New Year's that could also change. At times my desires could be viewed as somewhat selfish as I simply want to experience the most I can from my time here in Japan and that often means spending my vacation time here in Japan and the surrounding countries.

At the end of the day I know my true friends and all of my family understand my decisions and only want me to get the most out of my time here as I possibly can. This knowledge is what allows me to truly feel free to exploit every opportunity I have here even if it means I might not be able to partake in celebrations back home.

So my friend's bike was picked up by the police today for being in a no parking zone and carted off to the bike detention center in the south of Kyoto. Not only does she have to make the trek down there, but she also has to pay a $25 fine to get her bike returned to her. Now I know some of you may be thinking, "Now Chris she did park in a no parking zone so it is well within the rights of the police to impound her bike for so blatantly ignoring the law", and usually I would agree with you as long as we weren't talking about Japan. For a country that is so heavily infested with bikes there are very few areas in which you can legally park your favored form of transportation. Now while there are no parking zones all over the city it certainly doesn't mean that people adhere to these warnings as evidenced by bikes left in virtually every available space. What this usually means is that the chance of your bike being picked up by the police is very low, but when it does happen it is very inconvenient and exponentially more expensive if it happens to occur more than once. I just feel that the government should encourage people to ride bikes as it is beneficial to the environment and your pocketbook, not make it increasingly difficult to find places to park your hulking 'Mama-chari' as they are called. Mine is literally a tank. I also realize I just ranted on about bike parking...I am way too tired to be blogging right now. On that note I will call it a night and be off to read some before bed, but remember this. A bike in the garage is worth two in the impound lot. I am so wise.

I'm back! After a much extended 'break' from blogging I have returned to once again post my thoughts on this here information superhighway. Far too much has happened in the intervening months during my stay here in Kyoto, so instead of attempting to catch all of my eight readers up on my life I will just continue like nothing happened.

Random thought that I must put in is that as I am writing this I am listening to one of the radio stations on Itunes and the song is about having the sweetest ass in the world. Surprisingly catchy for such lame lyrics, but it is a dance song so they don't tend to have mind blowing lyrics anyway.


I have also decided that elderly people should be barred from operating any form of transportation whether it be self powered or otherwise. Perhaps those walkers some of them use are acceptable, but any faster mode of transportation should be made illegal. This coming mainly from my daily experiences with old Japanese people on their bicycles doing their very best to get in my way at the most inopportune moments as I bike around the city. Most especially when I am biking my way to school and am therefore on a strict time limit. I do take some pleasure in the fact that often when I pass them they are unaware of my approach so many a time I hear a sharp intake of breath on usually associates with people on roller coasters. No on has crashed as of yet, but I am sure it is only a matter of time until that happens.

Anyway here are some random pictures of my new friends and such...

I was with some of the other ALTs a couple of days ago when we decided to wander around downtown Kyoto. As we walked through the various areas I saw far more gaijin than I have ever seen in Osaka, mainly due to the massive number of tourists here. However that is a story for another day. When we arrived in Gion, otherwise known as the geisha district, it was already getting fairly late so I figured we wouldn't see any geisha or maiko (apprentice geisha). Yet lo and behold as we were crossing the Kama river to enter the district we saw two obviously powerful businessmen with their own pair of geisha trotting alongside them. The men looked fairly yakuza, not exactly the clean cut gentlemen I had thought would want to be entertained by geisha, but the geisha were a whole different experience.

Both of them seemed otherworldly as they meekly followed along with the two men and for the first time in my life I simply stopped in my tracks and blatantly stared at them. I was simply dumbstruck by their beauty and grace. The other ALTs were babbling on, but I was transported to a completely different time and place. A place where samurai roamed the streets and women could stop a man in his tracks with a glance. Anyone who has seen Memoirs of a Geisha know the scene where the main character stops traffic with a shy look and until now I have always thought that was simply Hollywood. I can't even put into words how I felt seeing those geisha and as we continued on I saw several more with one that truly stands out.

She was standing outside her teahouse seeing a customer off and after he departed she opened her traditional bamboo umbrella with a simple flick of her wrist. Yet that flick carried in it centuries of culture and power. I can't put into words how moved I was by such a simple everyday gesture, yet here I am still awestruck by it. It also may be easy to confuse how I feel with lusting after the geisha or some similar physical feeling, but that couldn't be more wrong. They embody a part of Japanese society that has been almost lost and just thinking about them almost brings me to tears. Pure unadulterated beauty. Never in my life has something struck such a raw chord in my very essence. They are perfection.

Well I am sitting in my hotel room in Hamamatsu as I am writing this and I have to say the city has impressed me so far. It has a much more open layout than Osaka does with a feeling that building locations were carefully planned to convey a much more welcoming aura than what I am used to in Osaka. Sidewalks are very wide, the streets are clean, signs in English are everywhere, and to top it all off my hotel was easy to find! So far so good. Unfortunately as I don't start training until tomorrow morning I am kinda on my own until then as there isn't some sort of informal meet and greet tonight, so while I know there are possible a good number of other ALTs staying in my hotel I have no way of knowing who they are. So tonight may consist of watching some internet tv, finding a movie theater, exploring Hamamatsu or going to karaoke by myself as sad as that sounds. Actually I don't think I would really mind that as I love karaoke and I could sing all the songs I love, yet sound terrible at. Seriously though I love karaoke.

Well Ayuko leaves for Tokyo tomorrow while I leave for Hamamatsu to finally start my training. Both of us have been packing today, her more than me, as I mistakenly gave myself an extra day after I come back from the training before I move into my new apartment. However it is kinda nice as I don't have to stress about being completely packed before I leave for training, but I still am going through all of the papers and junk I have collected in the past year or so in order to get a head start. The nice thing is the only stuff I really have to move are clothes, so packing won't be much of a hassle. I'm also using this as a chance to finally update my wardrobe, so I'm giving away/donating/throwing away about a third to half of my clothes. Japanese fashion is fairly different than western fashion as I've mentioned before, so this will finally let me buy some new clothes for the coming summer and maybe get some good deals on some winter clothes.

Ayuko and I both have mixed feelings about moving apart from each other, but both of us are excited to be starting new lives in new cities. She has a lot of friends who already live in Tokyo or are moving there now, so she won't have to worry about starting from scratch. However she is also going to be extremely busy, so that kinda offsets knowing people. While I don't know anyone in Kyoto I have the advantage of having a seemingly easy workload with a lot of free time with weekends and school holidays off. So hard to say, but off to some more room cleaning for now.

Okinawa Revisited

I thought I would touch on the Okinawa subject again due to a recent string of events there. In the past month a marine raped a Filipina woman, a drunken marine broke into a house at 4AM and proceeded to pass out on the family's couch, another drunken Marine broke into another family's home, 3 marines assaulted and robbed a taxi driver, and another taxi driver was killed by a marine. On top of this the 14 year old girl who was raped by the 38 year old Staff Sergeant dropped her case due to a stress related breakdown induced from the intense media pressure of the event. So not only is the man responsible for the rape of this girl, who had already admitted to a sexual encounter with the girl and only argued against the severity of the encounter, going to be released with no punishment; but it seems violent, both sexually and physically, encounters with marines have if anything increased and at the very best have continued unabated.

There are currently 92,491 American military personnel and dependents living in Okinawa located on 37 bases, which is shocking considering the small size of the island. Considering the fact that World War II ended 63 years ago many Japanese living on the island and the mainland are becoming increasingly angry about the presence of American military forces. The US Military has also repeatedly refused to rewrite the Status of Forces agreement which stipulates the need for their presence despite unceasing demands from local Japanese governments. However the national Japanese government is also complicit as it always expresses official outrage over these incidents, but never pursues the matter any further. However I still place the blame squarely on American imperialism as the US currently has over 700 military bases in foreign countries and the need for a heavy military presence in one of our greatest economic and political allies is simply ridiculous. The marines are obviously a danger to the people of Okinawa and living abroad has really exposed me to the military aggression that America is so well known for internationally.

Also I am not trying to slander the entire armed services as I know there are many decent and hard working men and women who in certain cases are fighting to protect the liberties I enjoy, but you have to ask yourself a question. If a foreign power had 37 military bases in your home area of 922sq miles, the size of Okinawa, and said bases covered 12% of that area, how would you feel? Also the members of said military frequently engaged in criminal acts against mainly women and children including rape, murder, molestation, robbery, etc. Especially considering violent criminal acts are very rare in your home area and when violent crimes do occur in your country they are national news due to the scarcity of their occurrence. Finally a last thought to leave you with. My sister Mary is the same age as the girl who was raped by a 38 year old man.

Sorry for the dearth of recent posts, but as far as the training goes I will be doing that at the end of the month through the first few days of April in Hamamatsu. Should be fairly easy as it can't be that radically different from Nova especially seeing as I won't be teaching very high level English at any of my schools. Only in the past couple of years has the government started mandating English classes at elementary schools, so most of the children there have never studied English before beyond what they may have been exposed to in foreign movies. However this also means there is no set textbook or teaching method for elementary level English, so this means that I will be independently designing and implementing all of my elementary English classes. Ideally the homeroom teacher will work with me, but I have heard that it really depends on the teacher as far as how involved they want to get. Also there is a very good chance that the elementary teachers I will be working with won't speak a word of English, so needless to say my Japanese should improve exponentially. I will also only be teaching 20-25 classes out of the weekly total of 40, so I'll have a lot of downtime to study Japanese during the day. Basically this job looks pretty ridiculous and I'm excited to finally be working again in general, so life is looking pretty good.

Quick Update

This post is just to briefly try to catch everyone up on the recent news in my life. I found an incredible apartment in Kyoto that is close to all of my schools as well as in a nice area. More on that later. I was also supposed to go to Tokyo today to start my training, but lo and behold when I called the hotel to request internet access in my room they informed me that Interac had canceled my reservation. Awesome news all around. So I call Interac and they tell me that my hotel had been canceled because my training had been switched over to my new managing branch of Hamamatsu and they were supposed to have informed me of this and of my new training. The Tokyo branch was as surprised as I was that I had no information about the change in training and after calling the other branch they said that they should have sent me the info. However I assured them that I had received no such email/call as yesterday I bought a train ticket to Tokyo which I obviously wouldn't have done had I known about the training change. So I'm waiting to hear back from them about training as apparently it will be done by my new branch at some as of yet undecided time, but the good news is that my ticket will be refunded. Not that they had much choice in the matter as I told them it absolutely would be if it did turn out that I wouldn't be going to Tokyo for training as the blame lay squarely on their shoulders. So who knows when I'll be training.

Good news is after my Nova experience I have absolutely no expectations for this new company as all ESL companies over here are corrupt/inept/abusive, etc, so today's news didn't faze me in the slightest despite the last minute change of plans. I also am no longer shy about demanding compensation over the company's mistakes, something I would have been hesitant to do before simply because I was not used to dealing with a large overly bureaucratic corporation. Now I have learned that to get what is rightfully mine I have to pursue it aggressively or else they simply ignore you. Also I was shown again that in dealing with a company it is my responsibility to make sure of arrangements they have provided as I will be the one affected by any mistakes on their part. Ah the excitement of the real world never ends. Harsh lessons I suppose, but ones I am certainly taking to heart. I'm learning that ultimately the only person you can count on is yourself and success or failure largely depends upon the work you put into whatever goal you are trying to achieve. Not that I am brushing aside the massive amount of support my family has given me in my time here, but at the end of the day I am responsible for what happens.

So I received an email today from Interac informing me of the actual schools I've been assigned to. I'm going to be working at one junior high school and three elementary schools all located in central Kyoto which is great news because it means I can finally start looking for apartments. This also means that I'll be able to hopefully live right in the middle of Kyoto which places me close to everything as Kyoto is a fairly centrally focused city. I believe it has a population of roughly 1.5 million people and is an interesting mix of historic and modern buildings. Needless to say I'm happy about my placement as I can once again start making plans for my life and hopefully this time they won't be rudely interrupted by company bankruptcy or fear of deportation. Fingers crossed.

Calm, Cool and Collected

So it is now midnight of the day I found out I would not be offered a job in Tokyo by Interac and would instead be moving to Kyoto to work there. Now when I first was informed of this at 9AM sharp this morning by the ever cheerful Ssen Ota who has been my contact throughout this rather exciting time I was less than thrilled, but mainly more confused by the wild ride my emotions went on. Before I posted that I was very angry and upset, which I most definitely was, but once I got over the shock of the news and had time to think about things more coherently I was able to look at things in a different light.

Since moving to Japan it has been an up until now unobtainable dream of mine to live/work in Kyoto as it is the cultural capital of Japan and truly a beautiful city. Not only is it filled with castles, temples, historic districts, museums, etc, but it also has a very modern yet tasteful side to it. However due to the highly competitive nature of the job market there it is very difficult to obtain employment simply because so many people, many more experienced and qualified than I, want to live there. So in all honesty I'm ecstatic to be able to have the chance to live in such a historic city, yet at the same time said happiness is tempered by being away from Ayuko. We've dated for almost a year now and have been living together for the past six months. Honestly when we first started dating I didn't foresee a long term relationship simply due to the difficulties presented by cultural differences we were encountering, but just recently we have both come to realize how much the other means to us. Yet at the same time neither of us is worried about the impact the distance will have on our relationship, simply the fact that not seeing each other except maybe twice a month will be really difficult. Both of us are brought low simply thinking about it.

Also please no comments about "oh you're young, long distance isn't so bad, etc" because while I may only be 23 I'm not emotionally handicapped nor is long distance easy as I've done it before and it honestly only gets worse with time. I'm sure as of now many of you are beginning to think, "My god Chris is actually turning into an adult and dare we say it...a man?!". I'm sure the shockwaves will run through family and friends for weeks to come. I just wish you all the best of luck with this astonishing news. However Ayuko would resoundingly assure you that I am still the same immature, yet strangely lovable, person you all knew and loved before I came over here. Anyway I'll write more later, but for now I have a Japanese girl I need to cuddle while I can.

Five minutes ago I go a call from Interac saying that due to a lack of available contracts I no longer have a job in Tokyo...and instead they offered me a position in Kyoto or Shizoka prefecture. As I was absolutely stunned I agreed to the position in Kyoto simply so I could remain in Japan, but I still am reeling from this change. So many things are running through my head like how this will affect Ayuko and my plans, what it is going to do to my already low opinion of Interac, my overall extremely low opinion of the ESL industry in general and just everything else. I'm so angry and upset I can barely write this. What the fuck. As I find out more I'll post here as they are supposed to get back to me later today concerning the situation in Kyoto.

After the feedback I've gotten and some thinking on my own I've decided to keep just the one blog despite possible consequences. Viewers, as you are well aware if you are reading this, are now warned that 'adult content' may be present and their very souls could be at risk if they continue on. Thus in the grand American tradition I have absolved myself of any responsibility should anyone take offense to any posts. Long live freedom of speech.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I was granted a work visa for another year with Interac as my sponsor, so no more excitement concerning that. I should be finding out in the next couple of days where exactly I will be working and once that happens Ayuko and I can start planning our move up to Tokyo. Hopefully I won't be placed too far from her work, but I'll know soon enough I suppose.

I met two of Ayuko's friends today separately, Kano and I'm afraid I can't remember the other girls name. The first one was surprisingly masculine in not only her manner and way of speaking, but also in the fact that she drove a full size motorcycle that reminded me of a smaller Harley. She said it weighed over 600 pounds and as Ayuko was anxious for me to sit on it so she could take pictures I thought I'd see how hard it was to work with. Definitely not the easiest thing to lift off of the kickstand, nor maneuver down the driveway at a backwards walk. However when her friend left she was able to do so with little difficulty and then roar away in a blast of noise. Impressive woman indeed.