Cameron!

I may have mentioned this before, but in Japan the school year ends in March and begins after spring break in April. Since I have two schools that I teach at, alternating between the two every other month, this month was the first time I had taught the new 1st grade (equal to 6th grade back home) students.

I always love teaching the first class with the new students. They are so enthusiatstic and excited about English class that it is difficult at times for them to contain the excitement. Such was the case last week...

Schools in Japan are organized a bit different than they are at home. Students have a homeroom class, and instead of moving from room to room for each subject, they stay in the room and the teachers rotate every period. The grades are also seperated according to grade level, so the entire first grade classrooms are on the 3rd floor, 2nd grade on the second floor, and 3rd grade on the first floor. Anyway, the point is that many of the 1st grade students don't have much opportunity to interact with me outside of class since they are on the top floor.

So...last week, as I said, was the first time teaching this new group of 1st graders. As I also mentioned, the students at this age are usually bursting from the excitement of having class with a foreigner. So excited, in fact, that last week's classes got a little out of control. When I went up to their floor for class, I was immediately mobbed and subsequently surrounded by about 20 students. Some of them wanted to try out any and all previously learned English, others just wanted to get a closer look (maybe some smelling going on, too), and there were a sea of little hands grabbing and clawing their way through the mass just trying to touch me. The excitement of the students was so intense that I was literally backed into a corner and another teacher had to come rescue me and pull me out of the crowd!

Cultural Note: In Japan, there are many big Hollywood celebs that do commercials here. Meg Ryan hawks instant coffee, Tommy Lee Jones sells canned drinks, and Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz do commercials for cell phones. Anyway, for some reason, people here have decided that I look like Cameron Diaz (??) Either that or Meg Ryan...my guess is that both these women are blonde and blue eyed...but that's pretty much where the similarity ends, in my opinion.

Anyway, the 1st grade students have now all agreed that I look like Cameron Diaz. During the middle of my classes, the students would becomed so moved by this realization that they felt the need to shout "Cameron! Cameron!" to me in the middle of class. And if one student was thusly moved to testify, well...then a chorus of "Cameron!" would erupt and it would take several minutes for the class to get calmed down and quiet again (this happened on multiple occasions in several different classes)

So I'll let you be the judge...

Here's Cameron...

and here's me.

Bittersweet Good-byes

So lately I've been reflecting on my time here in Japan. As my tour-of-English-duty draws to a close, I have started an informal list of things I will miss about Japan. Thus far, the list mainly consists of arbitrary, superficial things. For example, Japanese bento (pre-made lunch boxes), convenience stores/vending machines on every corner, frogs croaking in the rice paddys at night, different Hello Kitty charms for every major city....and the list goes on...

However one thing that I will gladly say goodbye to (and, in fact, will rejoice at never having to lay eyes on again) is the haunting sight of the tanuki lingering in dark doorways of restuarants and bars here in Japan. These tanuki, at once both pervasive and elusive...one never knows when one will be confronted by the rat-like snout, those souless eyes, those giant....testicles....

Anyway, before I continue, here's a bit more explanation about the tanuki:


TANUKI:
Magical Racoon-like Dog with Shape-Shifting Powers; Modern-Day God of Gluttony, Boozing, and Restaurateurs

Tanuki appear often in Japanese folklore as shape-shifters with supernatural powers and mischievous tendencies. Tanuki statues are found everywhere around Japan, especially outside restaurants and bars, where the Tanuki beckons drinkers and diners to enter. The beckoning Tanuki is most often depicted with a big round tummy, gigantic testicles, a flask of sake, a promissory note, and a straw hat.

There are countless tales about the mischievous Tanuki. The Tanuki can transform into any living or inanimate shape, but in legend it often assumes the form of a monk or a tea kettle to play tricks on people. Tanuki is most often shown playing tricks on hunters and woodsmen. They can cast powerful illusions -- they can turn leaves into fake money or horse excrement into a delicious-looking dinner. The Tanuki is said to love Japanese sake (rice wine), and is often depicted with a sake bottle in one hand (usually purchased with fake money made from leaves) and a promissory note in the other (a bill it never pays).

A curious and defining characteristic of Tanuki is its gigantic testes. According to some legends, the testicles / scrotum can be stretched to the size of eight tatami mats. Others point to the word Senjojiki (the space of 1,000 tatami mats) as an indication of the Tanuki's testes size. Called Kin-tama (Golden Balls) in Japanese, the testes are supposedly symbols of good luck rather than overt sexual symbols (the Japanese are more tolerant of low humor than most Western nations). In the movie Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko, the Tanuki stretches out its scrotum as a parachute in a desperate suicide attack. In other Tanuki folklore, the Tanuki uses the testes as an impromptu drum, beating out the "ponpoko" sound.

The tanuki in all his glory:

A line of tanuki in front of a restaurant

My brother-in-law, Dave, worshipping at the shrine of Tanuki.

It's really quite hideous (however I should apologize to all acutal tanuki out there. Having never seen a real one in nature, my only experience with the tanuki is the statues...in reality they could be quite cute....but I'm guessing probably not...) Another curiosity regarding the tanuki is the amazement and enthusiastic interest in them from most men who visit Japan.

Well...maybe it isn't such a curiosity...a gluttonous, drunken raccoon dog with giant testicles? What's not to love?