Awkward and Uncomfortable Party of One?

In my role as cultural ambassador to Japanese schoolchildren, I have spent the past week or so talking about the American Fourth of July. Since historically, Japan more often filled the position of conquering nation than of conquered or colonized, they really don’t have a corresponding Independence Day to reference. So, I have been telling my students that the Fourth of July is America’s birthday. (This was an easily segue in my upper level classes as they are learning the names of the months and I have been asking everyone when their birthday is. Which leads me to…)

Side note: I had never paid attention to just how confusing our names for the months were until I learned the Japanese names – ichigatsu, nigatsu, sangatsu… - which literal translate to first month, second month, third month, etc. Now, a septagon, octagon and a decagon mean a seven-sided, eight-sided and ten-sided figure respectively. So why do September, October and December refer to the ninth, tenth and twelfth months? I know the answer (I looked it up: the Julian vs. Gregorian calendar), but it feels unnecessarily complicated compared to the Japanese system. And where the heck does February come from? And I get Sunday and Monday – sun day and moon day (Interestingly enough, the Japanese names for these also translate directly to sun day and moon day)– but why are all of the rest of the days of the week named after Norse gods? All except Saturday, of course, which is either named after the planet or the Roman god of agriculture. I bet there’s a story there. Why am I still thinking about this?

Okay, I promised a less pedantic post, let’s move on. America’s birthday. My students got a kick out of learning that America is only 232 years old. Especially when I remind them that Kumamoto Castle – considered one of Japan’s great modern castles – is celebrating it’s 400th birthday this year.

I discovered the problems inherent in describing the Fourth of July as such, however, when I was eating lunch with a 6th grade class and after I went through my little spiel about America’s birthday, one of the girls tried to ask a question. As is the case when they don’t know how to ask in English and I don’t understand their Japanese, she grabbed a small notepad and pen and started to draw. My uneasiness when she drew a pregnant stick figure transformed into outright horror when she started to draw arrows indicating the baby’s entrance into the world. I have no idea what she was asking. I said something about England being America’s mother and quickly changed the subject. ‘Wow, this is good tofu.’ Oh, my goodness. Awkward.

And speaking of awkward, I occasionally get asked what Americans say in specific situations. For example, some of my 4th grade students visited me in the teacher’s room between classes the other day to ask me how to say ‘okaeri’ in English. I wasn’t sure, so I asked my coordinator who was sitting nearby. In response she asked what Americans said when someone says, “I’m home.” Ahhh, hello? Dinner’s on the table? Take out the trash? I eventually said, “Maybe, hello. But it depends.”

It doesn’t depend in Japan, though. They have very specific sayings that all Japanese from Northern Hokkaido to Southern Kyushu use. When returning home, they say “Tadaima” and get “Okaeri” in response – which I’ve discovered means ‘welcome back.’ Before eating, Japanese always say, “Itdakiamasu,” and afterwards, “Gochisou sama deshita.” While eating lunch with a 3rd grade class, the teacher asked me to translate these into English for the children. “Let’s eat” doesn’t sound quite as poetic or gracious as ‘itadakiamasu,’ it is nonetheless a decent translation. ‘Gochisou sama deshita’ translates literally to 'this was a feast,’ so I simplified it to a simple ‘thank you’ for the kids to say. There are many, many more examples. Whenever someone leaves the workplace, people say, “Otsukare sama deshita,” which literally means, ‘you must be very tired,' but is more often translated as, ‘thank you for your hard work today.’

So, I mentioned the no air conditioning in the schools, right? Brutal. Actually, despite the assumption of most everyone I meet, Kumamoto isn’t really any hotter or more humid than Eastern Kansas – at least, according to Weather.com. I do admit to rampant envy, however, when I am sitting in my classroom with two standing fans going full blast and I’m still sweating and I watch the students march past my door in their matching navy swimsuits and lime green and safety orange swim caps. That’s right, they have swimming classes once or twice a week. Every school, no matter how small, has a good size swimming pool. At first I thought it was odd, but I guess it does make since for an island nation to emphasize the necessity of knowing how to swim.

Comparing Japan to America is a favorite pastime to my students and co-workers. I am often asked if Kumamoto’s weather is hotter, more humid, rainier, etc. than America. I then do my best to explain that America is pretty big compared to Japan. The island of Kyushu is only about a sixth of the size of Kansas, though it has five times the population. So, I’m often saying that Kumamoto gets more rain than Eastern Kansas; tons more rain than Western Kansas; a little more than Seattle, and not as much rain as Hawaii.

Speaking of hot, I discovered a Sri Lankan restaurant the other week as I was wandering around downtown. Ran by native Sri Lankans, they did speak some English, so I didn’t have to tax my language skills too much, though I am getting ever so slightly more competent and confident in speaking Japanese. Back to Sri Lanka, though, I had their special Sri Lanka curry which was a three curry combination of chicken, potato, and vegetable. And though the menu indicated that you could specify the level of spiciness, they didn’t ask and I got the maximum of spice. It was so hot that I think even my Mom would say, “Well, that’s got a bit of a kick to it.” It was delicious however and I will definitely go back.

Before I end this, I should let you know that I uploaded some new pictures to my Flickr.com account. Remember to search for 'jennimcd' and you should find all of my pictures. I re-visited Suizenji Park with my camera this time and got a lot of good pictures of the gorgeous park.

Thanks for reading!

- Jenny