Remiscing Japan

I needed to choose a photo for a workplace newsletter the other day, so I promptly went onto Facebook and started scrolling through my picturer and further down I went, until I realised that I'd hardly any pictures of Osaka, Kobe, or several other places in Japan that I'd been to and loved.

Facebook in the past couple of years has become, for me, a great platform to remember and reminisce about the past. Looking back on where I've been and what I've done helps to bring to mind happy times, beautiful places and wonderful friends. When I'm down, it reminds me that I've had some great experiences and that there will be more to come; when the weather is - quite literally - putting a damper on my mood, I am reminded that even Ireland can have lovely weather and that I'll be ready to enjoy it when it comes.

I therefore decided to dig up photos of my time in Japan and post a selection on Facebook, so that they'll be just a few convenient clicks away when the mood hits. I was struck by nostalgia browsing through the photos of my neighbourhood in Osaka - it's the simple things and once-familiar places that threatened to bring tears. The sight of my apartment brought to mind smells of the tatami and the feel of the cool kitchen floor; the shot of clear skies over the Yodogawa evoked clearly the sense of freedom and peace that I felt when out on my bike, cycling around the neighbourhood on restless evenings and quiet weekends.

Yet, I was surprised and disappointed that there were so few photos of the city I love so dearly and once called home. There were none of the touristy shots of frequent haunts like Shinsaibashi, Namba and Umeda. Nothing more than my memory of the Glico Man, the Dotonburi crab, the plastic food figurines in Sennichimae, the HEP 5 ferris wheel, JR Osaka station, Yodobashi camera, LoFT, Crystal Nagahori, Namba Parks... nothing from the cycling route from Sagisu into Umeda (like the mural at a junction and the long slope that was so scary yet thrilling to go down; the wind in my hair and adrenaline in my veins); nor the Ebie junction; nor the Fukushima-dori; nor even Nodahanshin itself or Jusco.

It scares me to realise that I have nothing tangible of Osaka - even if the memories I have are so real and so clear. I don't know why I didn't take many pictures then, when I spend so much time photographing bits and pieces of my life here - the food, the city, the everyday. Maybe it would've been different if Instagram had existed back then. But now that I know I will one day be looking back on photos of my life, I'll bear in mind to continue snapping away as I go through the days.

JET 2011 Farewell Dinner

The Japanese Embassy held its farewell dinner for this year’s JET participants. There are 25 ALTs and 1 CIR this year, and I was back there in the same room as three years ago in the Japanese Association – but as a member of the alumni.

It was surreal to be recognised by some of the new JETs as “the person with the blog” – but it was great to know that my blog on my time in Japan has been useful. Today was also definitely the closest I’ll ever come to feeling like an ‘internet celebrity’, and I have to admit that it never crossed my mind that I’ll one day meet some of the visitors to the blog in person. One said that she recalled me blogging that it’s difficult to find good and cheap shoes in Japan*, while another found my blog “objective”** as it didn’t present an all rosy and wonderful picture of Japan/JET. 

Like it was for my batch, there were quite a few JETs this year who will be going up to the same prefecture as another Singaporean – some are even in the same city. Once again, there are few fresh graduates among the participants (I’ll hazard that it’s again about 20% fresh grads) and quite a number of ex-teachers.

My memory is horrible, but I still recall bits of this bus ride out of Sagisu into Umeda. I love this picture because of all the movement in it.

It also only occurred to me today that I probably benefitted more from hanging out with the other (largely) Caucasian Osaka city JETs when in Japan than if I had interacted more with Japanese people.

Yes, I would probably have gone away having superb knowledge of Japan and command of the language, but our culture is a lot more similar to Japanese culture than it is to western culture - my initial culture shock came from the other JETs and not from Japan. My 2 Japanese studies modules and 5 Japanese language modules had also prepared me with adequate knowledge of Japanese culture, and we occupy this strange position between Japan and the west – what the other JETs found extremely bizarre I considered only mildly puzzling (if not at all!) and a result of simply being a different country. My English also improved***, and I think I gained more from learning about the practices, trends and customs from the 7 other countries the JETs hailed from than I would have from being with Japanese alone. Perhaps I’m actually trying to reassure myself that I didn’t miss out on too much, but I’m grateful for the breadth of experience that I’ve gained.

This was taken with the Osaka-city JETs (and some girlfriends of the year 2 JETs) less than a week after I arrived. For some reason – and I only just realised this - all the Asians/people of Asian descent are in the front row.

It was very interesting to be there. Somehow it felt like nothing had changed, although it’s been a whole three years since I last stood there and a world of experience in between. It’s not the first time I’ve felt that being back in Singapore – in the place where I’ve always been besides those two years in Japan (and four months in London) – has that effect on people: the effect of making everything else besides the here and now and all things Singaporean seem far away like a dream.

Bon voyage, 2011 JET participants! May you have a fulfilling and fruitful JET experience :)

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*: I’d forgotten all about shoes. The reason being that the season for shoes – rather than boots – isn’t long, and since I was wearing indoor shoes most of the time I eventually didn’t get too concerned about outdoor footwear.

**: “Objective” being a diplomatic turn of phrase, she admitted. Not surprising, given that parts of my time on JET were difficult to get through and blogging was a form of expression and release!

***: I also discovered little things like the fact that ‘pail’ is considered an old-fashioned word in the UK and people say ‘bucket’ instead. By the way, the reaction I evoked by saying ‘pail’ was fairly large – for starters, the person had no idea what the hell I was referring to. The elaboration of “a thing you use to collect and store water” helped a little.

thoughts on the JET Programme

news reports on the abolishing of the JET Programme* are not new, but have definitely increased in the past year or so, especially since the DPJ came into power. while I occasionally read the Japan Times, these two articles were brought to my attention via a friend on facebook:

Don’t blame JET for Japan’s poor English

Readers offer their thoughts on jettisoning JET

while I certainly agree that the JET Programme is by no means responsible for the lack of english proficiency in Japan, that is not to say that JET has contributed significantly to raising the standards of english in the country. In fact, my main gripes about my time on JET were that i struggled to find meaning in my job and was highly doubtful that i had any impact whatsoever on the english standards of most of my students**. also, there are JETs out there who don’t have english that’s good enough (especially grammar-wise) to teach (or edit, or whatever else ALTs are asked to do) and their presence can cast doubt on the selection process.

but the qualifications and quality of JETs aside, how they’re used has to change: JETs wouldn’t be a waste of money if they were used more efficiently. i mean, only a maximum of 4 classes (i had less) a day in an 8 hour working day? having nothing to do during the term holidays and test periods (of which there are many)? not being able to help with scoring tests and entrance exams even though the Japanese teachers always complain about it and struggle to finish marking in time? no doubt JET salaries are high – that could easily be reduced without scraping the programme*** – but i think one major reason for the complaints about their fat salaries is because those in the know are aware of just how little JETs have to do.

i’m not sure an english-teaching cum cultural exchange programme should be ceased, as it theoretically is a good idea. the problem is that theory, of course, differs from practice – JET needs an overhaul (like much of the Japanese system in fact) but perhaps not complete removal.

 

*: these tend to refer to and address the ALT aspect which forms the bulk of the JET Programme.

**: perhaps my junior high students in the english course were the sole exception, but that’s just 20-40 students out of the many whom i’ve taught.

***: according to David L. McConnell, author of the illuminating book “Importing Diversity: Inside Japan’s JET Programme”, JET offers a high salary due to the belief that a lower salary will not attract quality applicants. my opinion is that a lot of people apply to JET due to personal desires to experience Japan or Asia and that they’ll still apply as it offers precisely the paid opportunity to do so. it also makes sure that the people who apply primarily to get a paid holiday – there are quite a few and usually they’re those who’re the biggest waste of money on JET – will no longer to so.