Some of you might be wondering what the temperature is like in Japan. Well... it's a big freaking country (sort of), and stretches quite a ways west to east and also, north to south. So, I'd have to say that its weather (and temperatures) vary greatly.
Where I live in Ohtawara-shi (City of Ohtawara) , Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture), the weather is similar to Toronto. Four real seasons - five if I include construction season which lasts all year long. It's hot in the summer in the mid-30C range, with winter's getting chilly. I have to admit that Ohtawara doesn't get as cold as Toronto, usually getting as low as maybe a -10C. Toronto can get a lot colder than that - especially with the wind chill factor. And snow? I remember one day in Ohtawara when we had a bout 30 cm of snow (12-inches). But, it did all melt within about 36 hours. If it did snow, there was never more than a couple of centimetres at most. So... it was survivable.
Now the thing about hot weather in Japan, is that it tends to also be humid. Very humid.
It's Wednesday, June 12, 1991. What a day. It's been a constant 34C all day long. And it's not just the heat - it's the stupidity. I just always wanted to write that joke. The humidity makes my shirt wet almost the same instant I step outside my very hot apartment.
I'm supposed to get an air-conditioner in my apartment today... a gift, if you will, from the OBOE (Ohtawara Board of Education) - but no one has said anything for a few days.
Like usual, I'll just play it by ear and something will happen. That's all one can do in Japan when one doesn't speak the language. Communication is often lost in the translation - but often it's lost because of a lack of communication.
Today's is the first day I haven't worn a tie with my suit. Yes, since arriving in Japan and teaching at the schools, I've worn suits. Some three-pieces, some just two piece. I noticed that all of the male teachers do so, so despite being a gaijin (foreigner), it's always important to try and fit in - even if it means dressing up... and what's wrong with looking good?
So... at Sakuyama Chu Gakko (Sakuyama Junior High School), I forgo the tie. If anyone notices, no one says anything - as it is bloody hot.
I have four classes to teach in a row - and then I get to have lunch. Afterward, I sit in the teacher's office to cool off - and fail miserably - as for some reason, the windows are all shut, and there's no air conditioning.
I have noticed that in the winter, the schools have the windows open, so everyone freezes.
At 5th period (no class), I go outside to get some sun. Yes, I'm already brown, but I don't wind a bit more of an orange glow to my skin.
While I just wanted to do nothing, I find a baseball lying in the grass and start tossing it against the side of the school gym. I'm not just tossing it, though. I'm pitching it as though I'm a real ball player. I've shed my jacket and loosened a few buttons, and I'm really getting some descent velocity on the ball. I notice soon enough that the entire school has stuck its collective head out the window to watch me from their classrooms.
Not wanting to be a further distraction, I walk around a bit and then decide to jog for a mile (1600 metres) around the school's track. The heat is intense and I'm out of shape. But, somehow I make it and finish off in a sprint to the delight of the crowd which continues to watch from the class windows.
After waving to them, I go inside and sweat all over the floor and then consume my weight in water.
Outside, the beautiful blue sky begins to cloud up.
After school, some of the boys ask me to play baseball with them - I pitch two innings of scoreless ball, striking out four before my arm goes dead.
Still, I teach the boys all of the naughty English words I can think off - and they teach me a few naughty Japanese one's I haven't heard before.
We laugh and have a great time - and folks... this is what being an AET (Assistant English Teacher) is all about. Cross-cultural internationalization.
Back in the early 1990s... the only foreigners these kids had ever seen were on television or the movies. To meet one (me) and realize that that foreigners aren't as different as they thought - well, that's the whole point of this blog. People are people wherever you go on this big blue marble called Earth.
When I go inside the school after a half-hour of real English teaching, the dark clouds really roll in. A siren blasts a warning that scares the heck out of me.
What?! Are the Americans dropping another bomb?
Seriously - as poor in taste that joke is some 50 years later, it's what went through my mind then.
Kocho-sensei (Principal) Kobayashi tells me that the siren is a warning from the nearby golf course to all the golfers, that an electrical storm is fast approaching.
All of a sudden, the black clouds open up spilling its rain and wind. Lightning flashes everywhere. The building shakes with crashes of thunder.
I've never seen such a powerful storm - and I've already been through a couple of F-5 force hurricanes here.
The area outside the school quickly fills up with water so that it looks like there is a moat around the place. And... upon a closer look, it seems as though ALL of the students are standing outside for some reason.
I have no idea why - cripes, I hope it wasn't because they all stopped to look at me toss a ball or jog!
What a country, though. Windows sealed shut in the heat. Windows wide open in the cold. Standing outside when it's raining. It's like a backwards world some days.
Then, as quickly as it began, it was over and I was driven home with shiny blue skies overhead.
At my apartment, the air-conditioner guys were waiting outside my door - including Naoko's dad (Naoko is a Japanese female friend of mine), whom I had never met before - but like his daughter, he spoke decent enough English and seemed very nice.
It took over two hours to install - and included drilling a hole in the wall through the outside. Kanemaru-san (my boss from the OBOE), and the building superintendent were there, too. And with the four extra people in the place and the just completed thunder storm, it was very hot and muggy in my place.
At 6PM, it began to lightning and thunder and rain very hard again.
I needed a shower after the baseball, jogging and feeling dirty after teaching the boys all the naughty words - but I couldn't very well leave my guests alone.
And, by the time they did leave, I didn't really feel like having one. I just sat under the wall-mounted air-conditioner and bathed in all of its icy glory.
This computer-controlled unit was a wonder. Apparently it's an air-conditioner in the summer, and I can make it pump out lots of heat in the winter.
Ahhhhh. Ashley, forget about me for an instant... but my apartment is now even nicer - you have no idea what you are missing! No more of me dropping sweat onto your forehead (if you know what I mean!).
I stay up until 1AM cleaning up the mess the workers left behind - I insisted that they leave it for ME to clean up - as they had worked hard enough and should head home to their families. No one accepted my offer of a drink or food until they were done and then everyone had water.
It's not an insult. In retrospect (today in 2011), I should NOT have asked them if they wanted anything (like we do in western society), I should have just gone and got it and brought it out for them (like in Japan).
What's really sad is that I only just now - in 2011 - realized that.
Somewhere learning about culture is cool,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is by The Young Rascals: DOINGANYTHINGWELIKETODO.
To me, it's about doing what you want to do - and today, I pretty much did. All because I chose not to wear a tie.
PS: There's a link to a neat news story eight hours after this entry hots the air. See you later!
Where I live in Ohtawara-shi (City of Ohtawara) , Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture), the weather is similar to Toronto. Four real seasons - five if I include construction season which lasts all year long. It's hot in the summer in the mid-30C range, with winter's getting chilly. I have to admit that Ohtawara doesn't get as cold as Toronto, usually getting as low as maybe a -10C. Toronto can get a lot colder than that - especially with the wind chill factor. And snow? I remember one day in Ohtawara when we had a bout 30 cm of snow (12-inches). But, it did all melt within about 36 hours. If it did snow, there was never more than a couple of centimetres at most. So... it was survivable.
Now the thing about hot weather in Japan, is that it tends to also be humid. Very humid.
It's Wednesday, June 12, 1991. What a day. It's been a constant 34C all day long. And it's not just the heat - it's the stupidity. I just always wanted to write that joke. The humidity makes my shirt wet almost the same instant I step outside my very hot apartment.
I'm supposed to get an air-conditioner in my apartment today... a gift, if you will, from the OBOE (Ohtawara Board of Education) - but no one has said anything for a few days.
Like usual, I'll just play it by ear and something will happen. That's all one can do in Japan when one doesn't speak the language. Communication is often lost in the translation - but often it's lost because of a lack of communication.
Today's is the first day I haven't worn a tie with my suit. Yes, since arriving in Japan and teaching at the schools, I've worn suits. Some three-pieces, some just two piece. I noticed that all of the male teachers do so, so despite being a gaijin (foreigner), it's always important to try and fit in - even if it means dressing up... and what's wrong with looking good?
So... at Sakuyama Chu Gakko (Sakuyama Junior High School), I forgo the tie. If anyone notices, no one says anything - as it is bloody hot.
I have four classes to teach in a row - and then I get to have lunch. Afterward, I sit in the teacher's office to cool off - and fail miserably - as for some reason, the windows are all shut, and there's no air conditioning.
I have noticed that in the winter, the schools have the windows open, so everyone freezes.
At 5th period (no class), I go outside to get some sun. Yes, I'm already brown, but I don't wind a bit more of an orange glow to my skin.
While I just wanted to do nothing, I find a baseball lying in the grass and start tossing it against the side of the school gym. I'm not just tossing it, though. I'm pitching it as though I'm a real ball player. I've shed my jacket and loosened a few buttons, and I'm really getting some descent velocity on the ball. I notice soon enough that the entire school has stuck its collective head out the window to watch me from their classrooms.
Not wanting to be a further distraction, I walk around a bit and then decide to jog for a mile (1600 metres) around the school's track. The heat is intense and I'm out of shape. But, somehow I make it and finish off in a sprint to the delight of the crowd which continues to watch from the class windows.
After waving to them, I go inside and sweat all over the floor and then consume my weight in water.
Outside, the beautiful blue sky begins to cloud up.
After school, some of the boys ask me to play baseball with them - I pitch two innings of scoreless ball, striking out four before my arm goes dead.
Still, I teach the boys all of the naughty English words I can think off - and they teach me a few naughty Japanese one's I haven't heard before.
We laugh and have a great time - and folks... this is what being an AET (Assistant English Teacher) is all about. Cross-cultural internationalization.
Back in the early 1990s... the only foreigners these kids had ever seen were on television or the movies. To meet one (me) and realize that that foreigners aren't as different as they thought - well, that's the whole point of this blog. People are people wherever you go on this big blue marble called Earth.
When I go inside the school after a half-hour of real English teaching, the dark clouds really roll in. A siren blasts a warning that scares the heck out of me.
What?! Are the Americans dropping another bomb?
Seriously - as poor in taste that joke is some 50 years later, it's what went through my mind then.
Kocho-sensei (Principal) Kobayashi tells me that the siren is a warning from the nearby golf course to all the golfers, that an electrical storm is fast approaching.
All of a sudden, the black clouds open up spilling its rain and wind. Lightning flashes everywhere. The building shakes with crashes of thunder.
I've never seen such a powerful storm - and I've already been through a couple of F-5 force hurricanes here.
The area outside the school quickly fills up with water so that it looks like there is a moat around the place. And... upon a closer look, it seems as though ALL of the students are standing outside for some reason.
I have no idea why - cripes, I hope it wasn't because they all stopped to look at me toss a ball or jog!
What a country, though. Windows sealed shut in the heat. Windows wide open in the cold. Standing outside when it's raining. It's like a backwards world some days.
Then, as quickly as it began, it was over and I was driven home with shiny blue skies overhead.
At my apartment, the air-conditioner guys were waiting outside my door - including Naoko's dad (Naoko is a Japanese female friend of mine), whom I had never met before - but like his daughter, he spoke decent enough English and seemed very nice.
It took over two hours to install - and included drilling a hole in the wall through the outside. Kanemaru-san (my boss from the OBOE), and the building superintendent were there, too. And with the four extra people in the place and the just completed thunder storm, it was very hot and muggy in my place.
At 6PM, it began to lightning and thunder and rain very hard again.
I needed a shower after the baseball, jogging and feeling dirty after teaching the boys all the naughty words - but I couldn't very well leave my guests alone.
And, by the time they did leave, I didn't really feel like having one. I just sat under the wall-mounted air-conditioner and bathed in all of its icy glory.
This computer-controlled unit was a wonder. Apparently it's an air-conditioner in the summer, and I can make it pump out lots of heat in the winter.
Ahhhhh. Ashley, forget about me for an instant... but my apartment is now even nicer - you have no idea what you are missing! No more of me dropping sweat onto your forehead (if you know what I mean!).
I stay up until 1AM cleaning up the mess the workers left behind - I insisted that they leave it for ME to clean up - as they had worked hard enough and should head home to their families. No one accepted my offer of a drink or food until they were done and then everyone had water.
It's not an insult. In retrospect (today in 2011), I should NOT have asked them if they wanted anything (like we do in western society), I should have just gone and got it and brought it out for them (like in Japan).
What's really sad is that I only just now - in 2011 - realized that.
Somewhere learning about culture is cool,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is by The Young Rascals: DOINGANYTHINGWELIKETODO.
To me, it's about doing what you want to do - and today, I pretty much did. All because I chose not to wear a tie.
PS: There's a link to a neat news story eight hours after this entry hots the air. See you later!
