Joe strikes from Japan
Today was my first day of school and it also happens to be the first of the month, so I figured I`d send a second report.
The high school I`m going to is called Ogimachi Senior High, and it`s located near the center of Osaka, about an hour from my house via subway and foot. This morning, I woke up around 6:20, tried to stop myself from
getting out of bed until 6:40, and quickly got dressed, ate breakfast, combed my hair, and tried to assemble something like a school bag, quickly tossing in a couple of pencils, a Japanese-English dictionary, a couple of textbooks the Japanese rotarians sent me, and my CD player.
The first stop on my commute was Senri-Chuou Station, which is about a ten-minute walk from my house. The station only serves two lines but, for some reason or another, a gigantic mall-like structure sort of grew over
it. In fact, Senri-Chuou is actually two stations, one in the middle serving the subway and one in the south serving the Osaka Monorail. My host father said something about it being the longest monorail in the world but I haven`t looked that up yet. It was built as an attention-grabber for the 1970 Expo, which was held in Osaka: the city`s newest challenge is to build something incredibly neat-o for the 2008 Olympics, which are being hosted here.
OK, back to the story. I boarded a southbound subway in Osaka and rode it to Umeda, which is a cluster of subway and railway stations under the very center of Osaka. Around Umeda is a giant underground shopping mall that houses a bunch of huge department stores and a jillion tiny shops and restaurants. Here, I attempted to find the train that would take me to within five blocks of my high school. I eventually located it just as it
>was about to leave, and although there was barely enough room to breathe, I took it to the next station called Fukushima, where I went up the escalator into the chaotic world of urban Japan.
Anyway, I looked for a street sign (those are very hard to find in Japan) and figured out that I was on the right street. I proceeded to walk about ten blocks in the wrong direction, pull out a city map, turn around, and
walk fifteen blocks back. In the end, I did find my school. \
Once I walked in, I faced the daunting challenge of taking off my shoes. This might not sound difficult, and it wasn`t: the real challenge was wearing a pair of rubber slippers that were apparently designed for someone
about three feet tall. Despite the fact that the slippers were incredibly small, I managed to climb four flights of stairs and reach my homeroom about ten minutes early.
At this point, two teachers whom I had met before yanked me out of the homeroom and took me to the staff room, which is similar to a planning room but looks more like an office, with vast banks of telephones and forms and papers and things of that nature. I stood before the school`s entire faculty and introduced myself very briefly in Japanese, at which point one of the teachers offered to translate an English speech into Japanese. I accepted
the offer and attempted to make a speech in English, which went something like "My name is Joe. I came to Japan about three weeks ago, and I amenjoying it very much, although the slippers could be a little larger."
The teachers took the last line in stone silence, which marked my last attempt to be humorous in Japan.
After this, I was taken back to my homeroom, where the teacher wanted me to introduce myself again. Again, I started in Japanese, and then I began fielding questions in English. There were only two questions from the
entire class, and I didn`t know what to say for the first one: "What`s your favorite food?" I think that the sukiyaki is killing my brain cells.
Then, we cleaned the classroom with brooms and mops. Normally, this isn`t done, but today there was going to be an assembly. I cleaned about half of the classroom single-handedly and the teacher decided to let me go out to
the hallway, where I met some girls who were fixated on my eyes.
I talked to the girls for a little while and then went downstairs to the gym, still attempting to cope with the size-zero slippers. At first, we all just stood around talking, and eventually the principal had us form up in lines, standing up. As the principal spoke, one of the teachers yanked me out of the line and informed me that I would be... you guessed it... introducing myself again. We waited backstage as some old guy droned on about something and the students all talked to each other, ignoring him. Finally, the teacher pointed towards the stage, and I followed her finger to stand between the principal and the old guy. The old guy proceeded to say something about me. He gave my name and started talking about my hobbies and what school I came from, and then spontaneously shut up and gave me the podium.
Suddenly, everyone was silent. I felt like I was about to give a eulogy. The first words out of my mouth were Ohayou gozaimasu" (good morning), and there was an incredibly loud "OHAYOU GOZAIMASU!" followed by applause. I bowed, saying thank you, and the applause died, at which point I said, in Japanese, that my name was Joe, I was from Florida, and I was pleased to meet everyone. Apparently, the entire concept of a foreigner in Japan introducing himself in Japanese was too much for the crowd, and they burst into applause again. I smiled, bowed, and left the stage. The old guy spoke for a few more minutes and we went back to class.
I`m not entirely sure what happened in class, but we were only there for about ten minutes before we were all dismissed. From school. The time was 10 AM. It was like a bomb threat. (That`s a Hallandale joke... there would
never be any bomb threats in Japan.)
I went down to the staff room again, where I was showed a schedule and calendar and promised that I would get textbooks the next day, and then I was let go. I got rid of the fetus-size slippers, put my bag on my
shoulder, and left for the subway station, schoolgirls shouting "Haro!" all the way. (In case you don`t understand, that`s "Hello" with a heavy Japanese accent.)
I got to Umeda at about 10:30 and figured that I would hang around there for a while, maybe check out some of the stores. I desperately wanted a drink but the only money I had was a couple of 10,000 yen bills (about $100
each) and some odd pennies and nickels. I would have gone into a store and asked for change, but I wasn`t sure how to do so.
So I walked around for a while, got incredibly lost, and stumbled onto a Tower Records that was just opening for the day. I looked around there for a while before I dropped a couple thousand yen on a CD. Across the corridor
was an automat sort of thing, and now that I had large change with me (the smallest Japanese bill is worth about $10), I was able to get a Pepsi, which appeared in a cardboard cup after a good deal of whirring and churning and
bubbling. My thirst satisfied, I went to the task of finding the train to go home, which was about a million miles away: by the time I got there, I needed another Pepsi, which I grabbed from a vending machine as I hopped
into the train.
The train sort of swooshed its way back to Senri-chuou, and I decided to go home. When I got to the house, it was locked and nobody was home except the dog, which happens to be an incredibly loud dog. I checked all the doors
to see if any were open but none were, so I stumbled back to Senri-chuou and tried to find some food. I ended up getting a Haagen-Dazs ice cream sandwich, which I had a hell of a time ordering because, of course, I had
to do so in Japanese. It tasted just like it would taste in America, which was refreshing since the Japanese tend to mess up every single American food in the translation. (Spaghetti and pizza come to mind... I can`t really
explain it.)
I went home again after an hour had passed, and my host mother happened to be home. She asked me if I wanted lunch and I just told her that I ate lunch at the station... after a gallon of Pepsi and Kirin Lemon (incredibly
strong Sprite-like stuff), I didn`t want anything else in my stomach.... and that brings me to now.
Anyway, I`ve been trying to keep busy here. I went to orientation last week, which was held on the side of a mountain at a sort of hotel-like thing that cost about half of the district`s budget as I figure it. We spent most of
>>the time swimming, eating, playing tennis and soccer, and partying like crazy, which was a good pick-me-up after a week of boredom. Although there were only four native English speakers among the fourteen or fifteen of
us, and there was a small group of Japanese Rotex with us, we all spoke in English because it was the only language we all had some understanding of. I think that many of us left the orientation having learned more English than Japanese. For my part, I learned some really great German toasts that involve parts of the human anatomy, and I also learned how to get change from a Japanese vending machine. (Vending machines play a major role in my life here, because you don`t have to talk to them or ask for change or worry that you`ll get a room temperature Coke.)
Now that I`m rambling, I`ll cut this report short and write again in a month`s time, with a slew of stories: or, at least, whatever`s sanitary enough to send.
joe W[
P.S. I also learned a useful Japanese word at the orientation... "aa-ho."
If you pronounce it out loud you may figure out the meaning. Ev... this satisfy you? :)
