My new job...

This April I started my new part-time job as a Business English Instructor at Matsue Technical College, a high school/early university focussed on engineering and science, built in the rice paddies of North West Matsue. I scored the job through contacts (no interviews needed, thank you very much), and it has added a much needed 50% to my income. It has also added an essential experience to my life in Japan: the Japanese High School. Some of you may be familiar with my earlier discussion of matters school girl, but the strange things we hear in the West about these sultry temptresses constitute only a small part of our (often misguided) take on what appears to be a huge part of Japanese popular culture: High School Life. For every high school story we have in English, there must be a million anime series about High School. There are tales of High School girls with strange Spirit guides; convoluted tales of Creative Destruction; schools for delinquents; and, of course, girls dressing as boys in their "special" high school club. And that's without even considering the porn. So I feel truly privileged to get a chance to walk onto the grounds of what is, really, Japanese popular culture's biggest set.

So what is it like? When I walked through the gate I found myself looking at the scene from any one of those crazy shows, with the exact same long, grey three story buildings; the gravel soccer pitch; the same multi-paned windows with slightly overhanging eaves, all looking like it was built in the same year in the `60s, for the same generation which has subsequently refused to repopulate the world it left (I wonder why?) . I walked the same window-lined corridors, passing students in brown uniforms who all bowed politely to me and greeted me with "konnichiwa" (it seems it is essential to greet teachers one does not know, even in passing). I watched the students cleaning the halls in their recess periods (they have to clean their own classrooms!) and I finally ended up in a room exactly like the one in the picture above, right down to the detail of the windows and the desks (though admittedly, the desks were not transforming into monsters - but I felt like they should have). At any moment I expected the schoolkids to explode, sprout tentacles, suddenly spin around in swirls of sparkles only to reappear wearing miniskirts and cats ears, start doing crazy martial arts fightin' moves in the hall, or manifest their multi-dimensional Demon masters. None of this happened, although from the way my students looked at me I think they were expecting the same of me. Maybe they've seen the high school porn with the foreign teacher.

Matsue Technical College is a mixed high school/university system, so it has the first 2 years of University on its grounds. It only teaches engineering, as far as I can tell, and the best students can choose to go on to Shimane Uni to finish their studies. Apparently the College has a 98% success rate in finding work for its graduates. So one would assume it has a pretty good teaching system (or that this country sucks up engineers like a big whirly sucky thing at an engineering convention). I only have two classes, and my older students are so shy it is hard to tell how good they are, but my younger class (the year 4s, equivalent to University 1st years) are excellent students. They are cheerful and funny, and although very shy they respond to my efforts to impart English knowledge with something resembling ... well, resembling a response. Obviously a physics graduate from Australia entering an engineering first year class would expect the only response to his presence to be paper planes (or, in this country, fireballs and flying demon-spirit things); but in fact they knuckle under and do what they're told, and barely even talk or cause any trouble at all. The worst so far is one of them falling asleep. They are almost all boys, but the few girls don't even chatter that much. Outstanding students! Now all I need to do is fight off their demon masters, find the secret key to the heart of the Universe, steal the meta-gem and return to my own dimension safe from the attentions of the cat-eared girls from the school music club...

More signs of spring

In more signs that spring has come - and possibly also that the weather has vaulted straight through to early summer - the frogs are out. The sight of a frog with a cherry blossom petal on its head is too good to be true. Friendly blighters too.

In other countries of the world such a sight would be rare, and frogs are considered to be denizens only of the rare wilderness. We found one of these cute little green fellas hopping around outside the door to our house, and the bullfrogs are singing outside my office at the University. These pictures were taken 5 minutes' bicycle ride from our house (in the deeps of the wilderness, since Japanese cities become hillside and forest very fast).

So spring is here. No more snow, no more cold, just the music of frogs and insects from here until November. You can almost feel the whole world breathing a sigh of relief that the nasty business of ice and snow is gone, even though this year was mild, and the summer promises to be ferociously hot. But I don't care; the sooner summer comes on, the sooner my inevitable spring allergies fade, and I can venture outside to enjoy the frogs and insects, whose voices now herald the oncoming Pollen Wave of Doom.

Hanami by night

Spring has come, as evidenced by the turtles and the frogs, and so it is also time to engage in the essential festival of Hanami. Hanami is, of course, the festival of viewing the cherry blossoms, which come out at this time of year for about 2 weeks, blooming rapidly from green shoots to boughs overburdened with the faint-smelling blossoms. By the end of the first week of their bloom, the trees look as if they have been once more burdened with the snow which has become just a distant memory, and then the snow again seems to be falling as the cherry blossoms fall in great drifts with the wind. These blossoms are pink, but so pale in colour as to be almost white, and each petal is pierced in the centre with veins of red or green. The streets and rivers are lined with these trees, so that when one rides to work or university one can sail through a vaulted promenade of blossoms.

Last year I did hanami by night in Tottori, and this year too the Delightful Miss E and I decided to do a little night-time Hanami trip, this time to "1000 hands temple" (Gesshuji), where there is a famous weeping cherry blossom tree. The temple itself is on a hill, approached by a narrow winding road lined with vending machines, cherry trees, and then the water trough depicted above. From the top of the hill one can see all the way to the castle (not actually very far) which is lit up strongly at night during hanami season because of its extensive blossom trees.

While at this little temple we also saw an Owl, and many lovers who arrived in pairs and sidled away when they discovered us wandering about taking photos. Typically in Japan, where it is acceptable to drink beer and eat in temple grounds, it is to be expected that lovers would venture up to lonely temples. Us included, I suppose. This was the 2nd of our Hanami expeditions, the other being to the castle during the day. This had to be done early due to the NOVA work schedules, and was not so much fun. Fortunately this is the season of change, when the essential impermanence of life is writ large; at this time of year people move house, change schools and change jobs. In the spirit of things, the Delightful Miss E started working at the University and ditched her NOVA job. So we will never again be shackled to 5pm starts and late night dinners. And now her workplace is lined with blossom trees, whose shedding petals can be enjoyed in the early evening cool. Who said impermanence is bad?

A perfect day in Tokyo

I went to Tokyo last week, to watch the K1 tournament held in Yokohama on the 4th April. Ian Shaffa, a fighter who trains at my old Sydney kickboxing gym, was out here for a fight, and so my old instructor was here as his coach. This meant a chance to have a perfect Tokyo day.

After a leisurely breakfast I took the train over Tokyo bay to Odainba kinkakoen station. This is a fantastic journey, since the train passes from Shimbashi (an area of amazing modern architecture in itself), above the port area and then by a huge arched bridge over the bay. On the way we passed through a vast region of glass and concrete, and from our position hanging on the very edge of the bridge we could see across the bay to the forest of red cranes lining the docks. Here container ships were loading up, helicopters buzzed past us, and an 8 lane highway teeming with traffic buzzed by to our left, before we came to rest in a quaint little station nestled between modern apartment blocks. From here I took a walkway over a highway to a car park, were a building had been constructed entirely of cardboard tubing, white plastic sheets and shipping containers.

This building was designed by famed architect Shigeru Ban as the home of the art exhibition Ashes and Snow, which is a truly amazing exhibition of massive photographs of humans posed with animals. Set in its specially constructed "nomadic museum", everything about this exhibition is designed to impress and astound. The photographs are all huge, perhaps 3m by 2m, and are taken in a kind of grainy sepia colour, which is matched perfectly by the lighting in the building. They are arranged in two rows, with each row ending in a little theatre space where video of animals and humans interacting is played. In between these two rows is a larger video space, in which an hour long movie plays. The movie contains the background material for the individual photographs, shot in the same colours and played with a beautiful soundtrack by Lisa Gerrard. The scenes - particularly those with whales, Elephants and manatees - are breathtaking in their simplicity and beauty. I spent a good two hours wandering through these two hallways and the video theatres in between, being amazed by what I saw. I have subsequently read criticism that the photos are two posed, and the overall effect is obviously intended to be emotionally manipulative, but I don't care. It worked for me, and I left in a state of stunned disbelief, so I suppose the exhibition successfully manipulated me.

After this I returned via torturous routes to my hotel room, and from there hopped the 400m to Yokohama Arena, to indulge my fondness for kickboxing. The fights started at 5pm and went with barely a break until 10pm, culminating in an exciting bout between two well respected fighters. Ian Shaffa's fight went well, with his opponent putting up a decent struggle but ultimately falling to Mr. Shaffa's superior power and wily ways. Some of the fights were a little one sided, but I htink I must have seen 20 or so fights, so I was satisfied. I wandered down to the ring at the end to try and congratulate Ian, but the ring was hemmed in tight by a crowd of screaming girls, so I wandered back to my hotel room, fully sated by a day of gleaming city scapes, escapist art, and robust violence. How better to spend a perfect day in Tokyo?