A New Direction for This Blog

This blog started 2+ years ago as a way for me to share my experiences in Japan with my family and friends who cared to read my dribble. Seeing as I have been very busy lately and have not had the time to go out and have adventures worthy of repeating, I am going to try a different direction. In addition to the occasional stories about my life, I am going to also be posting commentaries, articles, and comics which I find interesting for one reason or another. This will be a useful way to spark up more comments and interaction on this blog and perhaps increase readership.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/11/15/ilist.japan.englishization/index.html

It is certainly a unique idea coming from a Japanese. It certainly would force internationalization.

As someone who teaches English in Japan (or attempts to) there is something to be said about the "Japanese complacency" to which the CEO quoted in the article alludes. Of the perhaps 1000 students I have taught over the past 2 years I can remember maybe 10 that planned to use English in their daily lives. Nearly all of my students have resigned themselves to the idea that English is too hard and if they never leave Japan and join a typical 9am-8pm office job they won't ever have to learn any other language because Japanese people speak Japanese.

A Japanese friend of mine calls this, "The Complex." The Complex is, according to him, a fear of speaking English. It is a silly fear, but one I am rather acutely aware of in its reverse, i.e. my fear of speaking Japanese and Spanish. But the Japanese complex with English is rather, to risk stating the obvious, complex. English as a foreign language, though it has changed and adapted over the many years, has been taught in Japan for nearly 60 years at the junior high school level. (I cannot be certain of the validity at the moment, but this article seems to point to a long history of English in Japan). This relates to "The Complex" because even though modern Japanese have a long history of learning English, in some cases more than 8 years of formal instruction, many feel as though they cannot speak a word of it. There are many reasons for this but the main one being that Japanese English education is focused on the grammar and vocabulary of the language and not the speaking.

For those unfamiliar with the Japanese education system, everything is based on test scores. To get into high school, you must take a test. To get into a university, you must take a test. So in a response to shoddy international English test scores, the Japanese government will force elementary school students to learn English in an attempt to boost English education. But who knows if that will work? It might have the opposite effect and make students hate school and English even more than they already do by high school.

As a side note, I have come across many wonderful English speakers in my travels and bar hopping in Kyoto. Many of whom had no interest in English as students but learned English through day to day interaction with foreigners. The focus on an international business language could lead more people to seek English as a second language as a way to better themselves in the business world. It could be a good step to revitalizing Japan, though the implementation of this will undoubtedly be met with resistance.

The comments on this CNN article are hilarious, which is to be expected from people who comment on CNN articles. Somehow the mandatory speaking of English in the office of one particular business became the supplanting of the Japanese language and culture in all things throughout the country. One thing I would like to see happen within the Japanese language is the removal of katakana-ized English loan words. Sometimes it is impossible to understand what they are. Then again, in English we say, "carry oh key" and "car a tee" instead of "ka ra o ke" and "ka ra te".

These ideas are pretty interesting to me. Of course, as I already speak English, they are inherently selfish.

Update

It has been a long time since I have come up with anything entertaining to write about on this blog. Life has been relatively calm in the last few months. I broke up with my girlfriend in April, passed my 1 kyuu (last brown belt) karate test, started a new school year in Japan, bought a Playstation 3 and a bunch of Blu-ray movies, started a low-sugar and low-carb diet which has resulted in the loss of a couple of kilograms and two belt notches, and I have seriously started studying Japanese.

I have been reading the news every day and it has me in a worried panic for the continued existence of the human race.

I have finally come to terms with my atheism and I am proud to be able to share that. Years of consideration and wishy-washy flip-flopping aside, I am much happier now than I ever was as a Catholic. The realization that this life is all I have, while short and seemingly uneventful so far, is a great motivator to get out there and live my life as I deem fit. It is an amazingly freeing feeling. Though this outlook can be bleak at times, I believe dealing with the reality of the world around me is more useful than worrying about the unlikely eternity awaiting me beyond the grave.

This is the season where old JETs begin to pack their bags and head home as their contracts expire in the next month or so. I have already said good-bye to a couple of good friends last year and there are a few more leaving (one is already gone) this year. It is sad, but I envy them for being able to pull the trigger and make a decision to leave this cushy job for the uncertainties of the Western world job market. Currently I am exploring the idea of staying in Japan and doing a Master's degree. It seems like a good idea now, seeing as I really enjoy living in Japan and teaching English as a foreign language is quite entertaining. If only for the occasional hilarious "Engrishisms" that pop up now and again. I also feel that mastering a second language will be useful in the job market. Whatever market that will be in the future...

As to the Japanese language progress; I have made a significant leap in my listening ability. My speaking is still sub-par, but I have a few Japanese friends with whom I attempt conversations. Attempt being the key word. I have been studying for a test next December, so I hope I can stay dedicated to my study methods. I have also started a new Kanji learning method which is based on associating elements inside the kanji characters with English meanings and using those vague meanings to create stories so that I can easily remember the English definition and the shape of the character. Over the past 4 weeks, I have "mastered" the writing and definitions of over 300 kanji. That, in addition to the other 200+ kanji I have come across over the 2 years that I have been here, should be enough to help me pass the test in December. I have also been studying grammar and reading manga in Japanese.

Well, I have successfully wasted the last 30 minutes of work today writing this update. So let's call it a day.

Seriously?? This is your response?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i6T2FZuW588xFahgyr8KUJFK1TJAD9FH00GO2

This article reports the RIDICULOUS opinion of Archbishop Dadeus Grings of Brazil on the Church sex scandals. I do not usually like to go into politics or religion on this blog because this is not one of those blogs, but life has been boring lately and this article was just too horrendous to pass up.

Basically the Archbishop believes that the recent (I guess he means over the past 50 years) flood of sex and pedophilia cases involving the Catholic clergy are due to the evolving pedophile-nature of society as a whole and the underlining homosexual nature of adolescent kids. You know, because "boys play with boys and girls play with girls." Duh!

The clergy really has no shame. I mean, I know that it is the common defense for offenders to blame the victims for "wearing revealing clothing" or "wanting it," but now it is the spontaneous (assuming temporary, too) lapses into homosexuality of the children for the immoral actions of the adult priests? Maybe I am reading this wrong, but do the priests have no responsibility for their actions? Are they really so weak willed as to not resist the "sexual" advances of a pre-teen?

Grings denounced the abuse within the church, but he said internal punishment of priests guilty of abuse was sufficient and that police should not be involved.

Apparently, yes. They are that weak willed. This is not the 16th century anymore. The clergy is not above the law. The church and the state are, at least in theory, separated. Why should they not stand trial for their crimes? If this were a public school math teacher that touched 200 some odd children over the course of decades he/she would be in prison for a long, long time. There is a fundamental hypocrisy in the way that people think about religion and religious figures. People think that because they are devoted wholly to God/Jesus/Allah (whomever) that they are flawless, holy people that can be trusted. Wrong. They are people, just like you or me. We all have the same propensity for good and bad, so why do we trust religious figures more than we trust homeless people with our children? Is it the hats? If I saw a robed man in a pointy hat kneeling down touching my fictional child, I would be just as frightened as if he were are ragged man with a scruffy beard sitting in front of the supermarket doing the same thing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that religious people listen to these men talk about God every Sunday and they think that they know this man because he works for the "man upstairs." Wrong. He is a sexually frustrated man bound by guilt and frustrated by celibacy.

I remember when I was in high school there was a convicted, tried, and reformed sex offender who was an assistant coach for a sports team to which I belonged. When word came out that he was in prison for having sex with a 16 year old girl over a decade before, everyone went berserk. I think rightfully so, too. There are plenty of other things reformed sex offenders can do, one thing the should not do is hang around with children. People went so crazy that the official coach and the assistant coach were fired from their positions. Ironically this happened at a Catholic school. Why do people not get this outraged when a priest does something equally or more horrendous? Why do we as post-Enlightenment humans not see that the Church is a harborer of sex offenders and pedophiles?

"The question is — how are we going to educate our children to use a sexuality that is human and suitable?"

Hint: How about not raping them? That would go a long way to helping them avoid unnecessary trauma and sexual frustrations in their own lives.

And this is the most frightening part of this article:

"When sexuality is trivialized, it's clear that this is going to affect all cases. Homosexuality is such a case. Before, the homosexual wasn't spoken of. He was discriminated against.

"When we begin to say they have rights, rights to demonstrate publicly, pretty soon, we'll find the rights of pedophiles," he said.

This guy really is a 16th century nutjob. I really hate when people make the argument that homosexuals are as bad as pedophiles. It is horrible. So far, the most prominent pedophiles I have seen have been priests.

I think I should just add a little post script here. I was led to this article by www.thegoodatheist.net blog.

Feel free to comment or not. I do not particularly care, I just really wanted to vent my frustration after reading the quotes from Pointy Hat Bigot Bishop.

Rugged Handsomeness

I just had a student seriously ask me out in the middle of class. Then she asked, "Why can't I be your girlfriend?" So I said, "You are too young...and you're my student." So they chattered away in Japanese for a few seconds and I deciphered the words, "after" and "graduation" from the squealing girl noise.

Then she asked me when we would be able to go out together. So I said, "Maybe in 2 or 3 years...maybe..." Hoping that would stop the onslaught of embarrassing questions to come. It didn't. Then she asked if I wanted to go see Alice in Wonderland the movie with her. Then all of her friends asked if they could be invited to the wedding ceremony.

A few minutes later she said she was going to send me a love letter and wanted to know if I would respond...I said, "Maybe...in 2 or 3 years."

Then the Japanese teacher assigned homework to write a self-introduction letter to me! He then said, "Here is your chance to write a love letter to Mike, if you want." The whole class burst into laughter.

I always knew my rugged handsomeness would come between Japanese girls and their education. (Just joking)

The plus side is that they were doing this whole inquisition in English...in English class! What are the odds of that?

Graduation Observation

I had planned to wear a tie today, it being graduation for my 3rd year students and all. But planning and doing are fundamentally different. Right now, my fancy green and blue patterned tie is sitting on my bed where I left this morning.

Most of my readers have probably experienced the traditional American high school graduation; "Pomp and Circumstance" playing endlessly as the students walk into the hall, then the same song playing endlessly as the students accept their fake-diplomas, and then the same song plays endlessly as the students leave the hall. Of course I use the word "endlessly" very loosely but I think you all get my point. Japanese graduation is all "circumstance" and no "pomp." The students walk into the hall wearing their everyday school uniforms. The school band, which is comprised of a bassoon, 4 clarinets, 2 flutes, 2 alto saxes and 2 drummers, plays an unrecognizable version of the school song while the students enter the room. Once everyone is in place, everyone stands and bows to the front of the room. This is only the first of many bows.

After all of this, the Japanese national anthem is played over the loud speakers. This shocked me last year, but this year I made it a point of interest to look around the room and see who was sitting down during the anthem. Apparently, as a method of protest for some transgression or another, Japanese teachers sometimes sit through the national anthem. I vaguely remember a teacher telling me that the anthem hearkens back to a nationalist spirit from the Second World War that many teachers, history teachers from my observation, do not wish to revive. Yet, immediately after the anthem, the band strikes up the school song again. This time, the people in attendance are expected to sing along. Those same teachers have no problem belting out like a teenager driving in a car with her friends and their "jam" comes on the radio.

The format of the graduation is as follows: student attendance is called, the principal gives a speech, the leading mother of the PTA gives a speech (I find it unusual that the Japanese school system uses the PTA acronym because there are words in Japanese for "parent" "teacher" and "association"), a student representative from the underclassmen comes to the front to tell the graduating students how great they are, then a graduating student receives a diploma/letter on behalf of the class from the principal, then a new representative receive a diploma/letter from the PTA chief, then two students come forth and tell everyone how great the last 3 years were. (Yes, I know that was a hell of a sentence.) Between every new speech, there is a standing bow for the students.

Last year, the graduating students sang a song to the teachers and parents. This year there was none of that nonsense. The band began to play and the students rushed out.

All in all, we were in and out of the gymnasium in one hour and twenty minutes. Not too shabby. Of course, they didn't waste time giving each student a fake diploma up on stage. Lack of pomp, overflowing with circumstance.