Be The Jam

I suppose I should start with the World Cup... They`re pretty crazy for it over here though maybe not quite as bad as we are. All the games are televised at night and during the day. Unfortunately Japan`s crushing defeat against Australia left most people pretty deflated. They`re realists here and seemed fairly happy with the 0-0 draw against Croatia. Japan have actually beaten Brazil before so a few diehards are maintaining a glimmer of hope..

Matches start at either 10 or 12 in the evening or 2 or 4 in the morning. This is actually surprisingly compatible with my teaching schedule as I teach between 1pm and 9pm. the other English teachers and I have probably seen as many of the games as you lot, and the patriotism still stirs abroad.
Thankfully the workload has been easing off. I have an eight day holiday starting on Saturday so I`ll have the chance to do some proper exploring. Akinabra (or technology city) is one place high on my list-paradise for you Jamie. Mount Fuji also beckons though i may have to wait until August before I can get a clear view.

As I mentioned before things are cheaper over here. Bizarrely it`s cheaper to eat out (which does beg the question- how do restaurants make money out here?) than it is to cook for oneself. I mean I bought a lobster and it cost me more than Macdonalds! I haven`t eaten any Macdonalds obviously, though I think their prices are a fairly accurate international barometer for the cost of living.

There have been some notable mistakes with language on both my part and by Japanese companies writing in English. My mistake involved washing my dishes with what soon transpired to be shampoo: it seemed to do the job though. It was just shampoo and not a shampoo and conditioner so they didn`t have that extra shine and smoothness to the touch unfortunately.

Mistakes in English appear all over the place as you would expect, but I just had to buy a sandwich which boasted `greater confidence, quality and freshness than any other sandwich. What , I mused, would a confident sandwich be like? Would it unwrap itself and urge me not to be shy about eating it? I had to find out and must confess I was disappointed by more than just the taste.

The sandwich, like everything else you buy from the convenience stores comes with an unnecessary amount of baggage. Despite having a strict recycling programme one can`t help but think they`re making it tougher than it needs to be. I think the profligate use of plastic is predominantly a result of trying to keep everything sanitary. They`re obsessed with hygiene here. Though in fairness, the humidity is a real problem when it comes to keeping stuff fresh or indeed from going mouldy.

As far as my Japanese goes, I`m still at the basic　phrases level though I`ve started to learn the writing(which will help my speaking and pronunciation). Japanese is split into Hirigana (about 45 characters used for writing foreign words exclusively), Katakana (45 basic Japanese characters) and Kanji (3,000 odd complicated chinese symbols with multiple different meanings). I know and can write about 15 katakana and will hopefully have both Hirigana and Katakana under my belt in a month or so. It`s quite fun to learn so hopefully progress will be steady.

Teaching is getting easier. I haven`t been kanchoed though I don`t know if that`s out of respect or because I haven`t given them the chance. A `kancho` is when a student puts their hands together in a gun shape and sticks their fingers up your bum while simultaneously yelling `kancho!`. My students are by and large well behaved thankfully.