I'm Quite Useless at the Moment

Its all I could really do pull myself to the keyboard and type a posting out. I spent the day in class-- at the head of the class-- in Shikaoi Elementary School. I mean, these kids are comically, chronically cute, but so energetic too; I'm just completely bushed. Luckily for me, no one at the office needs my skills as an art history graduate; which frees me up to post now.

...And one had better sit down for this next one: it's raining again. Not exactly the deluge we had last week, but still, its been raining all day, and will for tomorrow too. And its not a shower either, its rain. A bit of rain, that's all poetic and melancholy; it makes everything fresh afterward. But this, for an Albertan, is just depressing. Alas... Really reading what I've wrote it makes it sound worst than it really it. The people and children of Shikaoi shine-- all the time.

A heads up to those in Stony Plain reading my posts as the Shikaoi delegation leaves here early Friday morning. Most of the English teachers (here called JETs) in Shikaoi will be going. It's good English conversation practice for them, increases the number that can be relyed on to translate and creates fruitful links for the Stony Plain-Shikaoi twining. This trip bares on my life in two ways. Firstly, all the teachers I worked with today will be going. So everyone gets to meet them. And secondly, it means my work in all Shikaoi schools will most likely canceled next week.

Insight into Life in Japan

I wanted to name this section "Insight into Japanese Life" but really I have almost none. Its the curse of being a foreigner here and always being on outside- looking in. But I can try to paint a picture of what my life is like here; from the very very complicated recycling scheme to everyday grocery shopping. What's on my mind today is the television. It's one of the more extraordinary aspects of Japanese life because it is, to my eyes, amazingly homogeneous and materialistic. It's hard to describe what TV looks like here without being able to talk with my hands. I had been trying to read in front of the TV but I was attracted to its flashy colorful and loud presentation (distracted maybe a better word). I was helpless to look away while famous Japanese stars were dumped into water, shocked with electricity, or dressed up in women's clothes (the men). If you were ask me why, I couldn't give an answer. They talk amazingly fast on T.V. and I can't interrupt and ask them to repeat what they said slower. An interesting example to illustrate the shallowness and materialism of Japanese TV is how "Reality TV" bombed here. The public does not want to watch a bunch of average, nobodies on TV; they want to watch stars get covered in mustard. Japanese television is homogeneous in the sense that if you go around the dial at 8 PM you will see the same, whacked out game show/talk show, maybe even with the same people. To me, all the programs look the same. Some stars maybe made one or two movies five years ago, and now make a living being goofy on all the various shows. I'm doubting the usefulness of talkshow to describe the format. Thank goodness for the news and sumo.

I think its an important point to bring up that this is by no means the epitome of Japanese culture. I've met many here that simply hate it, and it's hard to judge people that know no other kind of television. The beautiful and profound architectural statements of the small Shinto Shrines that dot the area around Shikaoi make poor television and it is in this context that my comments of materialism and shallowness are made. One could never use the word "shallow" to describe Japanese Culture as a whole. In fact, I word reverse the statement and say that Canadian culture looks relatively shallow by comparison.