Mom and Dad’s visit

I was lucky enough that my parents were able to find the time and resources to be able to come to Japan and visit me this past week!

My parents arrived in Tokyo late on March 2oth, and I met them where they were staying at The New Sanno, which is for US military personnel. Since my ID expired back in December, and I am no longer considered a dependent, it was weird having to wait for my parents to come out and bring me inside. It’s weird not being able to go to these places by myself anymore.

Anyway, the next day I still had to go into work for the First year student’s Show and Tell contest. Each student that made their speeches were considered the best speakers in their class. One student I worked with had very good English, and spoke real well, but he did not have a lot of content when he talked about his table tennis racket. The girl who won first place, Manatsu, is from class 6D, and is in the English class that I team teach with Okachi-sensei. Manatsu talked about her flute, and how she thinks if it as a woman, and gave it a secret name.

After the contest, Kira had to run to an English camp at another school where she was volunteering. I hadn’t heard from Mom and Dad. They rented a cell-phone that they could use locally in Japan. Kesha and I decided to go out to get ramen for lunch. I kept an eye out the window to see if Mom and Dad would pass by, but I missed them. They found their way to the school, and they called down Suzuki-san, and he brought them up to the English lab.

Yamashit-sensei called me to let me know that they had arrived just as Kesha and I were finishing our ramen. Good thing I biked to lunch, so I was able to rush back to school and meet them. I found them in the English lab, and I was able to introduce them to Kesha, and a few other teachers that I work with. I wasn’t able to introduce them to my advisor, Igarashi-sensei, because she was in Shanghai visiting her husband.

Mom and Dad hadn’t eaten yet, so I went with them to an udon restaurant, and them showed them around the school. Afterwards, I took them to my apartment so they could actually see where I live, and show just how tiny my apartment is. The apartment I had at Hollins one year is actually bigger than the apartment I have now. I gave them some green tea, and then later we went out for some Okonomiyaki.

I was able to take the rest of the week off, since the school term was ending and I didn’t have anything else to really do.

On Thursday, I met Mom and Dad around 10 in the morning, and we made our Shinkansen reservations for Kyoto, and then went to the Studio Ghibli museum in Mitaka. Mitaka is actually a small town outside of Tokyo, but it’s closer then Omiya or Ina. From Mitaka station, we took a bus to the Ghibli museum that had Totoro and the Cat bus painted on it, and there were soot sprites painted inside.

The museum had fake studio rooms set up, that people can walk through. They actually had old storyboards and character design sheets that they used from the movies, and different animation cels on the walls. In one room, they had these hard bound books complete with the full movie storyboards and notes for people to browse through. In one of those rooms, they photos of places in Europe that Hayao Miyazaki had taken as inspiration for background and location in his films. Some of them were even displayed with off-set scenes from different movies to show how he used them.

The museum also had some rooms set up like scenes from some of the movies, like the inside of the Cat bus from Totoro, a forest scene from Princess Mononoke, the hallway leading to Yubaba’s office with giant painted vases, and the food stand where Chihiro’s parents ate the Spirit food and turned into pigs.

There was also an area outside and up on top of the roof where they had a statue of the giant robots from Castle in the Sky. It was one of the few places where tourists are allowed to take pictures.

Robot from Castle in the Sky.

It took only two hours to tour the Ghibli museum, mostly because certain areas were crowded. I liked the whimsical set-up of the museum, but I was expecting to be a little bigger. I’m glad I went, but I think I would only do it again soon if I was taking a fellow friend who is also a huge fan of Ghibli films.

The next day, we went down to Kyoto by Shinkansen. It was raining in Kyoto when we arrived, and we accidently passed by our Ryokan two times before we found it. Technically, check-in time isn’t until four pm, and we arrived before then. But I think they saw that we were tired and wet gaijin, and were just ready to sit down, so they gave us complimentary green tea while they got our room ready.

Even though all of us had been to Kyoto before, it was fun going through the city together. We went to a few places that I’ve been to before, and places of Kyoto that I hadn’t seen yet.

On the first day, we went to Nijo castle, and the Golden Pavilion, which I have been to before. They were selling Sakura-flavored ice cream by the Golden Pavilion because it’s almost cherry-blossom season, so of course I had to try some! It wasn’t bad, but it’s not my favorite flavor of ice cream.

Afterwards, heading down from the Golden Pavilion, we walked and visited all of the other temples and shrines that were up and next to the hills . One of the was the Ryoanji temple, which is famous for it’s old rock garden. I wasn’t actually impressed, mostly because that day they just had circles around the big rocks, and straight lines going the rest of the way.

The next day we went to the Silver Pavilion, and many other temples that I never went to. We also went along the Philosopher’s path, which is right by a small canal. It was funny, because the sun would come out at intervals, but then it would be cold and windy again in a couple of minutes. It’s also not quite sakura-season yet in Japan, so all of the cherry blossoms were in a pre-bloom. 

When we realized that the sun was going to stay out a little longer later in the afternoon, we decided to go to the Heian Jingu shrine last. It is HUGE! The main Torii gate for that shrine is right over a busy road too.

Since the Gion district wasn’t far away, we decided to walk through there. It was around 6 pm by that time, and only some of the restaurants were starting to light up and prepare for customers, and the stores were shutting down. We didn’t see and Geisha, because they were most likely just getting ready to work. Even though we didn’t see much besides overpriced menus, I’m glad I finally got chance to stroll through the famous Gion district.

On Monday, we took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, and I spent the next couple of nights at the New Sanno with my parents. Even though we didn’t do much on Monday, we felt tired.

On Tuesday, we went down to Kamakura and Yokosuka in Kanagawa prefecture. We stopped at Kamakura first and went to three different shrines. At the first one, we saw a Shinto wedding ceremony taking place out in the very front.

Shinto wedding at Kamakura

 

Afterwards, we found a place that sold cold soba, and Dad finally got his soba fix.

Dad and the elusive cold soba.

 

I forgot the name of the next temple we went to, but it’s famous for its money-washing ceremony. Basically, if you get your money washed in the water at the shrine, it will increase three-fold once you start spending it. They rented out baskets for 500 yen, that you’re supposed to use to place your coins and bills in before you pour water over it. Mom decided to forgo that, and just staright up poured money all over her wallet and credit card instead.

This is how you do it.

The last thing we saw in Kamakura was the big Buddha statue. It used to be housed in a giant temple, but a giant tsunami swept the temple away, and left the Buddha statue standing, so now it just stands on its own outside. We also paid an extra 20 yen per person to go inside, and see how it was built.

Outside the Buddha

Inside the Buddha

 

By late afternoon, we made our way to Yokosuka, and walked to the Navy Base. It was interesting hearing my parents talk about how much Yokosuka had changed. I remember nothing of the city from when I was a baby, but I recognized everything I saw from the last two trips I took there.

It was also interesting having to guide my parents through the guest check-in process to get onto the Navy Base, even though I was the guest this time. I miss being able to go onto Navy Bases by myself.

But I was lucky enough to find some clothes at the Navy Exchange, and other American things that I miss having around. I didn’t buy as much stuff this time, because I still have things that I stocked up from last time. Mom went into the commissary and bought me some American food that I can’t get here in Japan, like Honey Nut Cheerios, Doritos, big  jars of Peanut butter, and packets of Quaker oatmeal. I was also able to get some pairs of capris for the coming summer, since I know it will be hot, and I can’t find pants my size in Japan.

The next day was Mom and Dad’s last full day in Japan, and we didn’t really have anything else planned, so we went to Asakusa Kannon since Mom wanted to go there again. I was lucky that I was able to find Rose-flavored ice cream in one of the stalls that lines the path between the Gate and the Temple. It was so good! It was the first time I’d had it since I went to Japan with a group of girls from Hollins years ago. Let me just say that Rose-flavored ice cream is better than the Sakura flavor.

After wandering around Asakusa, we went to walk by the Sumida river, and when we realized that we weren’t far from the Edo Tokyo museum, we decided to walk over there and check it out. As luck would have it, turned out that it was their 25th anniversary, so the entrance was free for the day! I had been to the Edo Tokyo museum before when I went on the tour with Hollins, but I never had seen the whole museum.

After the museum closed, we went back to the New Sanno, and had dinner at one of their restaurants called Wellington’s, for a steak dinner. It was one of the fancied restaurants I had ever been to, and I felt under-dressed. It was a great treat from Mom and Dad. After dinner, I went back to the room and packed up before heading back home to Saitama, since Mom and Dad were leaving early the next morning to catch their flight back home to the US.

It was bittersweet saying good-bye, even though I know I’ll be seeing them in a couple of weeks. Probably because I have nothing to do until the new school year starts on April 9th. I still have to go into work all week next week, even though there’s nothing to do, if I don’t want it to cut into my vacation days.

Yet I look forward to seeing Stepehen’s graduation in a few weeks, and for my friends Amanda, Meia, Lauren, and Ariel to come visit me here in Saitama and Tokyo!

 

Good Bye’s

This past Tuesday was the graduation ceremony for Inagakuen. It started around 10 am, and was held in the big gym. Even though it is Spring, and the weather is starting to warm up outside, it was freezing in the gym. I was wearing at least three layers of clothes, and I hat two heat packs for my hands, and I still shivered.

I was the first of two ALT’s to arrive at the gym, so I got to see the students’ procession. Each house was lead by a male, and a female teacher, and all of the female teachers were wearing formal kimono. The students wore their school uniform, since they do not do the cap and gown for graduations here in Japan, but each students get a pink boutonniere to put on the lapel of their jackets.

The students would sit in the seats two by two on each side of the gym, and slowly filled in to the middle. The ceremony was kind of cool, but I feel it’s a little impersonal and solemn compared to American graduations.

The people on stage who made speeches and called out the students names were all members of the Board of Education, so it’s not like the students knew who any of the officials were. It’s not back in Anacortes where the Principal, and everyone’s favorite teachers get up on stage. The teachers and Principal here at Inagakuen all stood off to the side.

Instead of calling up the students to get their diploma, everyone just stayed in their seats the whole time. They would call out the students names one by one, and the students would stand up and shout Hai! and then sit back down. There were quite a few students who fell asleep during the ceremony. Some of them would even be asleep right before their name was called, then they’d stand up to attention, and then right back to sleep as they sat down. The whole process of just calling out each student’s name took over forty five minutes.

There were two more speeches. One of them was basically a member of the Board of Education repeatedly telling the students “Thank you for all your hard work.”

At the end of the ceremony, the students processed out, and the teachers and us ALT’s got up to the door to applaud them on their way out. Kesha actually started crying because she’s known some of the students for all three years that they’ve been there. A lot of students were actually crying on their way out, sad to leave high school. I find it kind of funny that most of the students who were crying were the boys.

One male student, after the graduation ceremony, put his bags down, gave Aaron a hug, and just burst into tears.  It was definitely bittersweet seeing some of the students go, but to me, it doesn’t seem as passionate, as back home. Maybe It’ll be more emotional next year, when the younger students I know now start to go.

All of us English ALT’s also gave video messages to Anna with her camera, and wished her luck in University. We also promised her that we would all meet up again sometime before the year is up, to go sing karaoke.

There are also some teachers leaving Inagakuen as well. A few are retiring, but most are going to different schools. Basically, here in Saitama at least, to become a teacher, you apply to the Board of Education and they decide where to put teachers. They also like to rotate teachers around the different schools in Saitama. It’s not if the teachers are bad or good, it’s just what they do, and the teachers basically have no say.

Yamashita-sensei, the head of the English department here, is going to a new school come April. He says at the new school, they don’t have any ALT’s, and apparently their English program isn’t as good, but the principal at that school requested him. Ohta-sensei, who runs the English camps, is going to be the new Head of English at Inagakuen. I’m sad to see Yamashita go. He’s been great to us, but I’m also excited for Ohta-sensei to be spending more time in the English lab. She’s awesome.

Umeyama-sensei, a French teacher in my House, is also leaving for another school. Also, my advisor Igarashi-sensei, is going to be a part-time teacher this coming April, instead of a full time teacher. She’ll still be here at Inagakuen, but now she’ll only come in two days a week.

So as a good-bye to the teachers, we put together a little pot-luck lunch for them. All of us ALT’s made dishes from our own countries, and invited the leaving teachers to come up to the English lab to eat. I made clam chowder, Kesha made Ackee and spicy pork ribs, Antoine made ratatouille, Aaron made cheesy bread and mashed potatoes, and Kira brought Apple crisp for dessert. Everyone enjoyed the meal, and got super-full. In fact, I didn’t even feel like eating dinner for a couple of hours after I got home.

I’m excited for the new school year to come in April, but I’m more excited to see my parents when they come to visit me next week! I can’t wait!

Junior High

So this past week has mostly been testing, so all of us ALT’s didn’t really have any classes to teach, but on Wednesday, the Junior High PTA put on an event where the students were pounding rice into mochi, and we were invited to come down and try it ourselves. The students had a fun time watching us try to pound the mochi with them. We also got to try taking the sticky mochi, and rolling into balls, and covering it with soy sauce, or sugar. We got to keep and eat the mochi balls that we made.

On Thursday, we all had to help with the Junior High English camp. It was just with the third year students, and they were divided into groups of 8, so we had to invite other ALT’s from other schools to come and help out.

The Junior high camp isn’t exactly like the English camps we have with the high school. We each had a forty minute warm-up period, and then most of the day was having the students practice giving their speeches for the speech contest at the end of the day.

For my warm-up period, I had the students play a brief game of Simon Says, and then we played Mad Libs. Mad Libs was a bit harder for them then I expected. They didn’t understand what the words adjective, noun, and, adverb meant. If the Japanese translations for those were next to the blanks, it would have been easier for them. Yet I was able to explain what type of words were supposed to go into which blanks by giving them examples. They had a lot of fun telling their stories about going to the crazy park, and when they went home and punched my mother. I think Mad Libs is definitely do-able again for the junior high age group.

The Junior high students each had two rounds of practicing their speeches. The first round, the ALT’s would listen to all of their students, and give tips on how to make it better. Most of my students were pretty good, but they were nervous. What I noticed with most of my students (well, most Japanese students in general) is that they have a hard time pronouncing the difference between S and TH. 

We had top 10 speech finalists from each group, to give their speeches one more time in front of everyone. My student was a girl who made a speech about how she loved baton twirling, and used to enter competitions. She talked about how she doesn’t do baton twirling anymore, but that she hopes her skills will help her to join the Cheerleading team at Inagakuen. She didn’t win any of the top three prizes, but she did get high marks regardless.

One of the top three students talked about how she dreamed of being an explorer, and was creative with her speech. Instead of just talking about what she’d like to do, she had a narrative of an adventure she imagined, and used pictures that she drew in a powerpoint presentation describing going into a cave. She won second place.

The third place winner was a boy who talked about how he wanted to either be a police officer or be on the Japanese Coast Guard, because they all bring Peace, and Justice, and help people. His pronunciation was off on a lot of words, but he was so confident, and loud and genki, that we all gave him high marks. After the contest, Mr. Aoki, the head of English for the Junior High students, told us that when the boy first came to Inagakuen Junior High, he did not know any English, and did not know how to write the English alphabet. All of his hard work and studying these past three years have paid off then!

The girl who won first place talked about how she loved cooking. She gave a story about how she tried to learn to cook with her mother, but she wasn’t very good. Finally she baked a delicious cake without any mistakes, and showed the pictures of food she had made. At then end, she concluded that she wanted to own her own bakery.

About all of the third year Junior High students are going to High school here at Inagakuen next year, and they’re all going to be in my house, House 2! I think it’s cool that I’ll have a pre-established rapport with some of my English 1 students for next year. I’m excited! Apparently four of the students are going to high school somewhere else by their own choice, as Mr. Aoki put it. Event hough the students are at Junior High here at Inagakuen, they had to take and pass the entrance examination just like everyone else.

This past Friday, a whole sea of Junior High students and their parents came from all over Saitama to look at the entrance examination results. They had the students names and their status on this huge board in the front outside foyer of the school for everyone to see. It was so cute to see the little students jump in excitement when they found out they got in. A lot of students came with their friends, and many of them would jump and hug each other when they found out that they both got in together.

According to Mr. Yamashita, not as many students applied to go to Inagakuen this year as they have in past years, so the standards were lowered a little. Apparently only one in six students would pass the entrance exam 10 years ago, now he says it’s about three in four.

I didn’t really see any students react or cry if they did not get in. There was one student who I’m pretty sure did not get into Inagakuen, and her mother seemed more upset then she was. The girl looked up at the sign, and just seemed to nod silently. her mother was carrying a baby, and handed the baby off to the grandmother so she could take out her handkerchief and dab her eyes.

I’ll be seeing most of these students in English classes come April, and this Tuesday is the graduation ceremony for the third year high school students.