Life in Japan

[arcthemonkey]

Nude Erk! w00t!

If I went to Japan it would be for the frikkin grocery stores. I could live and die in a Japanese Market.

Also, Pachinko...

No...

Mochi! I think I would move to Japan just to eat Mochi every day.

Or maybe I'll move to LA in two years and haunt Little Tokyo... I can't decide!

If you get your hands on a box of those delicious chocolate covered tree-stumps, you should mail it to me! Or eat them and tell me how delicious they are.

 

[Erk]

Oh, don't be a wuss. I had underpants on.

 

[Pyromanga]

I just realized: Who took that Erk At Work: The Classroom?
Hey... Erk at Work rhymes.... and i'm the last to figure it out...

 

[catalyst]

Ne, I have a small question for you. I've been trying to grasp how the school thing works. I remember reading several times that there's only one classroom for a group of students, instead of a classroom for each class. I've read what it's like on the students' side of it but I've never heard about it from the teacher's perspective. Do you do this at the schools? How to the teachers switch subjects?

Personally, I do hope to go to Japan one day. No illusions about living there, though. lol I would like to go to Kyoto and see the Path of Philosophy. Maybe just walk from Ginkakuji to Nanzenji.

 

[Tana]

Erk can correct me if I'm wrong....

The teachers are the ones who change rooms, not the students.
So Erk, for example has 4 classes he goes to during the day. That means he goes to four different class rooms, and teaches four different sets of students.

The main difference from schools in the US (I can't speak for other countries) is that the teachers go back to the staff room inbetween classes, rather than stay in their rooms.

An English teacher still teaches english classes all day, a math teacher still teaches math classes all day (as much as a teacher in the US does).

 

[catalyst]

I'm sorry, that's what I meant to say. But I mean, does a teacher wait there for the next teacher to come, or do they just leave the students in there? Does a bell ring to switch teachers? In anime they never show this sort of thing. At most, you only ever get to see one teacher. And do they have a sort of homeroom teacher that gets things started or does the first teacher take role? Do the students just automatically go where they need to for PE, or does the teacher come and get them? And I've heard stuff about boys and girls sometimes having different lessons and I'm not sure how that works.

 

[Erk]

The homeroom teacher starts things up at the beginning of the day. The students have a schedule set up on the chalk board for where they need to go in each period, and a well-defined routine - i.e. when it is PE, they put on their gym strip in the class break and head to the field or wherever they are scheduled to go (I think. I haven't ever taught a PE class). I've never seen boys and girls separated for lessons; I don't think they have any kind of school sex-ed here, and that would be the only reason I can think of for segregation.

The rest is pretty much like Tana said. During the 10 minute break between classes the kids are left to their own devices... if they have another classroom class they can relax a bit in the class break; otherwise they need to get ready and go wherever they need to be (eg. for PE). During lunch, the students eat in their class with the homeroom teachers.

I typed "homewoom" there by accident. Been reading too much Erfworld.

 

[Tana]

Yay for early setups for holidays. There's a holiday in March, called Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival), that the local store has already set up for. I took some pics with my celphone during my lunch today.

A traditional setup is:

• Prince Princess
• 3 Ladies-in-Waiting
• 5 Musicians
• A young noble, an old noble and an oxen cart (and flowers)

none of them had the musicians, but here are some of the pics. You can see more on my LJ.

Spoiler: Hinamatsuri

http://www.alisachristopher.us/photos/hina1.jpg[/img]
http://www.alisachristopher.us/photos/hina3.jpg[/img]
http://www.alisachristopher.us/photos/hina4.jpg[/img]
http://www.alisachristopher.us/photos/hina10.jpg[/img]

 

[Axerax]

My family will be moving to Japan in the summer... So I can go visit them in Japan over the summer, All of your time there sounds so exciting I can't wait to see it for my self!!

 

[Erk]

Well, enjoy yourself, but don't get your hopes up too high! We are posting about the crazy and/or cool stuff. Most of it is just like anywhere else.

Where are you going to?

 

[Skyla Doragono]

Dear god, Tana, those dolls are so pretty. *_*

I'm so jealous; one of the things I've always wanted to do was go to Japan. You guys are so lucky.

 

[Erk]

I'm not lucky, I worked hard. I've been working on this program specificlaly for several years and used the combination of ten years of japanese study, a science degree, and eight years of teaching experience to do it.

And Tana's not lucky either. Not only did she also have to get the degree, her job sucks.

 

[catalyst]

Cool. Thanks! That actually cleared up quite a bit. Well, in my mind anyway. Maybe your explanation is just easier for me to visualize. lol For the separation thing, I've heard of some schools that had some sort of ettequite class or something, like flower-arranging and tea ceremony for girls. I didn't know if schools still did it or what.

I do have one other question. Does the homeroom teacher stay there the entire time, or do they leave when the students have class?

 

[Tana]

They leave after homeroom to teach classes. The Homeroom teacher may be the Math teacher, or the PE teacher, or the Japanese teacher, so they'll probably see the teacher again at some point in the day.


Well, the job is fine, its the company that sucks. And my roomate.

But Sendai is very similar to Portland. There are a few differences in that Portland doesn't have a Castle, but life isn't that much different. Except the food. I miss having the variety of food Portland and San Francisco had. And I miss having an oven and a clothes dryer.

 

[Erk]

catalyst, if they have anything like that in class it is in high school. At jr. high some people do that cultural stuff in their extracurricular club, and generally (but not always) girls do the tea ceremony, calligraphy, flower arranging type clubs.

Tana: have you seen sendai castle? It is a piece of tower. I don't know if it really counts... "had a castle" would be more accurate.

 

[RavenTDA]

Wow Erk it must be fun to be over there. At one point I wanted to teach English over in japan or maybe be a translator. I love the Japanese language so much when I took a year of it. Anything about Japan really excites me and I know you say there's nothing really magical about it over there but I dunno I just always wanted to go. It just looks really beautiful there and a lot more cleaner there rather than in American. Were you always from Japan and if not do you ever get like overwhellmed by the culture and just want to go home?

 

[catalyst]

Cool. I've always been interested in the school system. I don't know what about it intrigues me. It seems like a very efficient system, though.

 

[Erk]

Raven: it is about the same for cleanliness here. There is a lot of clutter, and there are not many plants around (but that is more because I am in a city I think. I'm a smalltown boy so I am used to having lots of trees and things). There is still plenty of litter, I have no idea how it compares to the USA but it is not as bad as Europe was. I think it is around the same as Canada.

I haven't got culture shock in any level I notice, which is apparently very odd. Most of my friends have. I came expecting not to feel part of the culture and to feel confused, so if anything I have been a bit surprised at how little that has happened.

Catalyst: it's not any more efficient than the system back home, as far as I can tell. I don't really care for it myself; the students spend most of the day sitting in the same desk with only a few minutes every hour to get up and move around, so by the end of the day they are totally out of it. They even have lunch in the same room, so there is really no chance for a change of scenery.

I do like that the students clean up the school themselves, though. They don't do a very good job of it but it gives them a sense of pride in the building.

 

[Tana]

Sendai's about the same as Portland. Its a lot cleaner than San Francisco. My coworker said its better than Kyoto which was similar to Chicago (in cleanliness and rudeness)

 

[Axerax]

Well, enjoy yourself, but don't get your hopes up too high! We are posting about the crazy and/or cool stuff. Most of it is just like anywhere else.

Where are you going to?

I'll be in Yokosuko, Japan. Sorry for the long delay. I'm hoping to visit a lot of intresting places while there