Reflections on my first full-year in Japan

I have been in Japan for one year and 156 days now, a little over 17 months. 2009 was my first full year here, and while the rest of the country tries to forget about the past 12 months in their bonenkai (忘年会), I’m trying my best to understand just what has happened to me this year.

Work

I’ve been through a difficult learning curve. Teaching young kids from day one, I began to find my ground in 2009. I’ve discovered which students and classes I adore, and which ones cause me problems. I’ve found a rhythm of games and work that is serving me well. If anything, I am better than ever with my very young learners, but I’ve yet to find the correct formula for older elementary and junior high school kids.

As for my working life, I feel appreciated and largely respected by my bosses and peers. This is very important for me: in such a decentralised system, your relationship with your colleagues can change the tone of your day significantly. I’ve also consolidated my teaching days into three schools, two of which are close to my home. Working 20 minutes from home as opposed to an hour away is the difference between being home just after 9pm, or being home at 10pm.

That said, I am considering what will come next. The job market is idle at the moment, but if I were to see a full-time job teaching adults for about the same pay, I would start looking to jump ship. I’m in no rush though, I don’t hate my job, it’s just that it is the kids that can ruin my day. Adults much less so. Yet, like I said, there is no rush.

On Keiko’s side, her work is moving in the right direction, if not quickly and smoothly enough. The poor girl has been working solid and much harder than I have. She deserves a long holiday and a big bonus, but neither are going to happen.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Find a less dry way to teach higher-level concepts (such as tenses and adverbs) to older children.
• Consolidate more working days closer to home.

Family

We started off 2009 by purchasing Ebichu, our hamster. He’s been an adorable and lovely addition to our family. He never bites and is low maintenance. So far, he’s never been sick, and he’s great to have around (even if he’s a pain to arrange a babysitter for). We love him as a family member. He might even be considered a substitute for the child that we’ve long wanted and came close to having this year.

The day I found I Keiko was pregnant, my heart pounded with anxiety… the doctor doubted it would come to term and Keiko was suffering from pain. After a few weeks, another doctor told us we would probably be fine. I felt myself ready to burst out with joy: I was going to be a dad. Only, I wasn’t.

The slow and painful moments that it took to acknowledge the doctor’s news, the floods of tears that followed, and the inevitable dive into depression I will never forget about this year. We learned this just two days before we were to move home. Our new house still reminds me of our loss. We chose it knowing that we would have a baby here where they could spend their first few years pottering around our small garden, playing in the nearby parks, and walking along the river. The house is great (although it’s much colder in winter than we expected), but until I fill that gap in our lives, I will always be living in that moment.

Verdict: Negative

Resolution(s):

• None (yet).

Friends

This has been a pretty good year for catching up with friends. Chikara was here for most of the year so we spent a good deal of time together. Nori came back in the summer so I was able to see both of them together, a throwback to our Aberystwyth days. But now Chikara’s back in the UK and Nori’s hard at work, so it’s not easy to see two of my best friends as often as I’d like.

As for friends back home, Rory came over (twice in 12 months). Although I didn’t get a chance to get to know him while we lived in Aber, it’s great to have that chance even though I live abroad. On the other hand, despite deciding to get a job here, Andy hasn’t made it to Japan yet. I hope that 2010 changes that.

Finally, I’ve networked a lot more this year, and it’s paid off. Earlier in the year I met Bryan (sadly, just before he went back to the States) for a drink, and I love the idea of catching an after-work or Saturday night drink with anyone following me here or on Twitter. (Just no murderers, please!) In addition, after learning some lessons from last year’s Christmas parties, I’ve managed to get more people into my contacts list.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Try to get out for drinks more often and meet new people.

Travel

I still have many places to visit in Japan. I didn’t do much sightseeing in 2008 as I was adjusting to work and married life, but this year I’ve made it to a few places: Enoshima, Odawara, Sagamiko, and more. I like local tourism, seeings things that are nearby on a day-trip or long weekend. Whereas many Tokyoites jet off to far-flung regions of Japan, that just stresses me out. There are still many local places that I want to visit this year, and I’d like to arrange another longer-stay holiday at some point in the year.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Visit Nikko, Karuizawa, and Ikebukuro (I can’t believe I’ve still not been there).
• Try to go on at least one longer-haul holiday.

Language

This year has been difficult for my Japanese skills. I’m still improving, but for months I had no teacher after the move from Sagamihara to Kawasaki. Now I have one, but she doesn’t teach on national holidays which, when you have a lesson on Mondays, is a constant annoyance.

I’m still overly shy and embarrassed by my Japanese, but if the alcohol’s flowing then so can the language. On the plus side, I can to talk to Keiko’s parents on the phone more fluently than ever. However, I need to talk more to help overcome my insecurities, so I’m trying to find a local language exchange partner. No luck yet.

Finally, I’ve succumbed to the idea that I should take a Japanese test. I have two options: JLPT5 or the J-Test. I don’t feel like I would struggle too much to pass JLPT5, but I’d like the experience of taking that kind of test. The higher-level tests (Levels 1 and 2) are important to employers, plus a pass might increase my confidence.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Try to supplement my private lessons with a group lesson.
• Find a language exchange partner or someone whom I can talk to entirely in Japanese.
• Apply to take a Japanese test.

Health & Lifestyle

Finally, I’d like to note that 2009 has been an excellent one for my body. Having grown up a fussy child, I’m only now beginning to eat most common vegetables. In addition, I’ve been trying to lose weight: I started this year in the gym, but gave up my membership as work became busier in the summer. However, since finishing at the gym, I’ve been losing weight due to better eating and my better understanding of calorie intake. This is a first for me, and it’s something I really hope I can continue.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Go out running more frequently (at least in the warmer months).
• Drop 5kg in a sustainable fashion.

Summary

On the whole, I had a rather good year. I’m fitter and healthier than ever, living in a cosy apartment and getting on well in my work. The things I wanted to do in Japan are being done, even if it’s happening slower than I expected. Even though we went through the toughest experience of our lives in the summer, we are nevertheless stronger and more determined because of it. In sum, not a great year, but not too terrible either: there is still room for improvement in 2010.

Happy New Year everyone!

Winter Blues

We’re moving out of the throes of that most despicable of seasons: winter. Times have been pretty rough in the Simpson household. We’ve both been ill multiple times (last week I had a fever that gave me extreme shivers… scary stuff). It’s been raining plenty, and is on and off hot and cold: hardly conducive to good health. It’s been a hit on us financially (I lose money when I don’t work), and physically (I’ve not been to the gym since this non-stop illness hit some three weeks). The air is dry leaving us sore and lethargic. It’s all pretty miserable.

Today, however, has been a silver lining: snow! Now, you guys had snow back home, and a lot of it too, as did I over the New Year break, but I am very happy to see it in Kanto (even if the roads are really slippy now).  I can only hope that it’ll be there tomorrow.

Lifestyles of the Moderately Wealthy and Successful

Today I will go to my Japanese lesson. It’s my day off and I’ve had a rough fortnight. Last week I was called out on standby and travelled to Kawasaki. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. When you work cover or standby in a place you don’t know then most people treat you with a little distance. For some of the students, you’re an interruption, you don’t have time to get to know them and they don’t have time to get to know you. With kids, who have built up a routine with their regular teacher, you upset the balance and again I had a kid falling asleep on me (although it occurred to me later that these kids were doing a text far above their age… I don’t know why). Thankfully, some students really get into it and you get told that they enjoyed themselves.

I’ve been working in Japan for 3 months now and things have gotten easier. My kids know me and my style of teaching and I know them. We have a banter. Even kids that I would have liked to have thrown out of the nearest window are finally becoming tolerable. I know the texts and the language of teaching much better now so I am able to teach more effectively. Sure, I’m still useless at giving instructions, but that is a long-term change waiting to happen.

I have also begun to discover the kind of students I like to teach: those who are like me. I get on well, generally, with students who question why things are the way they are in English. I enjoy teaching academic english, conversation, and lexical and grammatical nuances. In my own studies, I’ve always struggled with having a number of questions about Japanese that are difficult to ask. I try to be teacher that I want: the down-to-earth friend with a brain full of (at often times) junk trivia.

However, none of that helps you when you’re working in a new place for only one day. Kawasaki drained me, and since then I’ve been tired and struggling with waking up each morning. Today is my day off, but Thursdays are my day of studies, housework, and cooking. It is the only time I can really cook for Keiko, it is the only time I can do my fair share, and by doing this on Thursday then I can free up Sunday for time with her.

I am taught privately by a teacher who lives near Tamagawagakuen only 3 stops from my station. She’s a nice lady, we talk in Japanese and English about Japanese and English (she is actually a student at her local branch of my company) as well as study. She puts me at ease, and that’s good, because I’m not an easy student. I lack vocabulary and confidence. Furthermore, I don’t have much time to go out in the evenings, and certainly little time to go out alone, so I don’t actually have much opportunity to speak Japanese.

The place where she lives is very suburban, contrasting with the seedy communterism around my area. There are big houses and nice cars. Take, for instance, this building:

If you look carefully you will see evenly spaced green tufts along the roof. Each of these is a potted grass. It is a fantastic idea. It might help with insulation, drainage, and it makes for a garden where people have little space for one (mostly because they wish to maximise living space).

In Japan if you can afford the land, it is not that difficult to build a house. Houses have no value, only the land they sit on. All around me I can see new houses being erected where old ones stood. This makes for a truly interesting variety of residential architecture. Parking spaces are crammed into unlikely spaces and the buildings often have an overhang. As most areas have height restrictions and as most plots are relatively small, designers attempt to make the most out of their space (Chikara’s brother’s house is particularly interesting: modern, airy, a nice balcony and sizeable parking area fitting into less space than my house in Aberystwyth). Moreover, as the materials are typically wood and/or concrete, these houses are quick to build and demolish. It has always been a dream of mine to build a house, and in Japan I might just be able to do that (although not on my current salary).

Relatively high up, the grass-roofed house has a fantastic view of the valley below (spoiled by the grayness of the day that I took this photograph):

These people have money. Most are families of salarymen commuting into Tokyo, an upmarket version of my own area. You can discover these kinds of places by watching the number of passengers rapidly decrease as they pour out of the local trains and onto the platform, an exodus of people heading for a home-cooked meal, date, or misery. The big difference between my teacher’s area and mine is the population denisty. With less people there are more trees and, notably, more cars.

Check out the number plate on this classic 911. Truly awesome. You can really tell a lot about an area by the number of classic cars there are. Near my house is a classic Volkswagen Camper, but that’s about it. In Japan, it actually gets more expensive to keep an old car as the cost of MOTs is ridiculous. Although it may have changed, cars have been a disposable product here for some time. However, clearly money is not a problem near Tamagawagakuen-mae station. You can even catch a glimpse of home if you look hard enough:

Maybe, one day, that’ll be me… *dreams*

A Long Overdue Update

Life has been a little crazy for me. This week is my last 6-day week for at least 3 weeks, thankfully, as I’ve been getting really run down. It didn’t help that my first lazy day off in a long time was nixed by illness. I came back from Japanese class ready to cook chili for Keiko, my first time cooking for her since we arrived (as I am always home later than her). However. having been shopping for the final ingredients and after spending too much time in the drizzle outside (yes, proper British-style drizzle), the only thing I could do back home was succumb to a fever. My temperature raged. Keiko worried. Yet, by the time I woke up for work the next day I was back to normal. The Cosmic Joker strikes again, ruining my day off.

Chikara and Sawa came back a couple of weeks ago, which was nice. We had yakiniku (barbeque-style cuisine) with our fancy-schmancy grill-cum-hotplate, and then last weekend we met up with Chikara’s brother and family for a spot of grape picking, barbeque and dinner. It was great fun, although who knew that grapevines were such a mosquito hotspot? Chikara’s neice was feasted upon. Luckily the little buggars, the mosquitos not Chikara’s neices, only got me once.

I had some training days this week. The bad news was that they were early (for me) days, starting at 10am, unlike my normal 12pm (ish) start. The good news was that we finished halfway into the afternoon which meant I could actually go out. On the Monday, Chikara took me by car to Yamato for a spot of house-hunting. At the moment Keiko has to get up at 6ish everyday and travel over an hour to work, plus we don’t live on an express stop so I have to make an extra change every day when I go to work/come home. Yamato is on the Soutetsu line which Keiko travels on daily and would make life a bit easier for her. Hopefully taking a little bit of the edge off her daily routine’ll go a long way towards giving her some more time to herself/us. Anyway, Yamato is a bit of a dingy place, like my current town but writ large on a city scale. Still, it seems pleasant enough to live in (although we are not through looking yet).
After my second training day, I met up with Keiko and Yasuko in Tokyo for a walk around the Imperial Palace (to go in you need to book, and I already promised Chikara and Sawa that I’d go with them). I took some pretty decent photos which I will present in the next post. After that, we headed to Outback Steakhouse Shinagawa, Keiko’s old workplace, for dinner. It was delicious and very filling, so much so that we are planning to go again.

You see, tomorrow Andy arrives (he is blogging about this over at his blog: The Mind of Yu). I am absolutely stoked at seeing him, although his whistlestop tour will be tiring for us both. We’re taking him to Shinagawa tomorrow for Outback (what a seriously unhealthy week this has been for me foodwise: two lots of KFC, two lots of Outback, a BBQ a week ago… crazy). For Sunday I have planned an arduous day of geeking out in Tokyo, and on Thursday, another such day, ending in Yokohama Chinatown for dinner with Chikara, Sawa, Chikara’s brother (Makoto) and Keiko. Should be fun!

Anyway, I will get back to you if I have some downtime while Andy’s here, if not, then afterwards. I still have to talk about the Dark Knight (good film!).

Disappointing?

My last student today was a Buddhist monk… sadly he was a well dressed young man with a full head of hair. I died a little inside with the disappointment of not teaching a Shaolin-style monk.

In other news, I was observed while I taught a kids class. It was a bit disappointing too… the two girls are uber-quiet and it made my life a little difficult. I have to wait until my follow-up meeting to hear how bad it actually was.

That is actually how much of my week has gone. I’m drained… my brats on Monday was super difficult, and I have been struggling to stay awake for the majority of my classes. I feel distant and not with it. Hopefully my day off tomorrow (today, I guess, now) will fix it.