Year One: In Summation

August 1 was the one year anniversary of working for the JET Program in Japan. I realize that this post is a bit late but I have been traveling for summer vacation. This has been one of the most event-filled years of my live. It has been my first year of marriage, my first year out of college, my first full-time job, and my longest stretch of time outside of America. To make a long story short this year has been great. There have been highs and lows but overall this year was one of the best ever.

The first year of marriage does not perfectly go along with our time in Japan but close enough. There have been times that we have argued and had trouble getting used to living with each other. Those time have been fairly rare and I'm sure I love Samantha more now then ever. She is a great wife and I hope that I'm always the kind of husband she deserves. I think that living in Japan has taught us a lot about relying on each other. We have to work together to solve the problems that come up. Even the winter will be something that many years from now we can look back on and laugh about. Many many years from now.

Teaching has been great too. At first I was very nervous but I think (hope) that I am more coming into my own as a teacher especially at the Elementary level. This is mostly because at the Elementary schools I have a lot more freedom in the classroom to be what I want. I have the main teacher there to back me up but mostly just for help with order and explanations. There is only vaguest of curriculum for K-4 so those are mostly just vocabulary building and games. In 5th and 6th there starts to be a text book. A text book that I truly hate. They dont want to call it English so it just Foreign Language and at time wants me to say words in French, Chinese, Italian, Korean, Arabic, and Russian. They dont have any English pronunciation guide for them so if you cant read the Japanese one you are out of luck. They also dont have an English teaching guide so it can become pointing and read this to the kids. Even the chapter names are different in English and Japanese. For example the English is I like Red and the Japanese is lets do self introductions. This can cause no end to the confusion between the ALT and the other teacher.

Middle school, or Junior High School as they call it here, is very different. I'm much more of an assistant to the regular teacher. Part of that is because of the the fact that I'm only there every other week. The main reason is my teachers personalities. Most are determined to get through every page of the text book in the year which means that you have to set a decent pace. This means that my main tasks are games and English pronunciation. Also, I correct the teachers and students grammar mistakes. There is a bit of an art to correcting the teacher is class so as not to hurt anyone's feelings. I usually will change it myself while the teacher is not looking if its just something tiny. If it is a big mistake I will tell them about it during a pause in the lesson. I'm just glad my teacher want corrected at all so they dont teach kids the wrong things.

People ask me if teaching is my life's calling fairly frequently now. I have to say in all honesty yes and no. I love teaching and want to find something that would allow me to keep at it. However, I want to teach older students who are self motivated. At least one every two months I hear someone say, "I dont need English. I live in Ichinohe." I always try to tell them that they might not want to always live in Ichinohe and that learning English will open all kinds of doors for them. The students who say that they cant imagine not living in Japan at least and in Japan they can go through life without using a foreign language or talking to a foreigner. I want students who want to learn, not students that have to be tricked or convinced into it. I'm sure every teacher has said that at some point.

Being out of college has been, frankly, a bit strange. I still try and study everyday but now its just Japanese. I still have tests but just twice a year. The next being in December. I'm hoping to pass the level 2 Japanese Language Proficiency Test this year. That would qualify my for many jobs back home and even college here if we decided to stay. There is a lot I miss about college and a lot I dont. I miss being able to take a class in something that interested me. I really miss debate team. I dont miss professors and I dont miss general education requirements. Having a full time job, even an easy full time job like mine, was not that big an adjustment. The hardest of the adjustments to having a full time job was the jobs location in Iwate. In college you had the occasional snow day for 3 inches of snow. Here all winter there is at least a foot and not one snow day.

This has been a year full of adjustment but I'm glad I have made it. I'm more glad that I have had Samantha to help me.

Tomb Of Christ

As many of you know, there are many many strange things in Japan. Many of these things are quite famous online, but this is one that I don't think that many of you will have heard of. It's the Tomb of Christ. Yes, that Christ, Jesus Christ. In the town of Shingo, Aomori, Japan there is a legend that in the missing years of Christ's life he came is Shingo to study religion. Then he returned to Judea for the events of the New Testament. When Christ was arrested his Japanese brother Ishikiri took his place on the cross and Christ returned to Japan. He then settled in Shingo, had a family, and died at 103 years old. I'm not sure to what degree this is actually believed in Shingo but I don't think that it is well known in Japan, because the Church folk had never really heard of it. It really was out in the country too. There were a few signs and a museum that was closed, but no Tomb of Christ gift shops or anything of the sort.
This is the first sign you see for the tomb of Christ. Apparently it has a dance.
This is the Tomb of Christ. Whatever I was expecting this was not it.
Read the above.
The Tomb closest is the tomb of Ishikiri.
I'm Jesus, Samantha is Jesus' Japanese wife, and Stephanie is his child.
Group Picture.
Me.
This sign says Christ's Tomb. Look at it closely you will notice that the Tomb of Christ is brought to you by Coca Cola. Yes, Coca Cola sponsors the Tomb of Christ.
To be honest it was a very strange experience. It would have been just a lovely park if it didn't call itself the Tomb of Christ. However, the atmosphere created by the Tomb of Christ and Ishikiri along with the odd but very serious plaques created such a strange feeling. The final straw in making it one of the most bizarre places I have ever been is the cutout thing where you can be Christ and his rice farmer family. I'm glad we went because it will be great to tell people the story of Christ's Tomb in Japan.

Election Posters In Japan

These are election posters that I have seen up around town. Since this is a rural area the Japanese Communist Party has a very strong following and most of the poster around are from them. They are the farthest left of the main parties here. Their big issues are getting rid of American bases, nuclear disarmament, not raising the consumption tax, and farm issues. Also, for the posters I have only translated the main statement and others might disagree with my specific wording, but the gist is whats important.

Japanese Communist Posters:
Japan needs a party that can stand up to countries like America, and on issues like Financial Matters. (The more exact would be a party that can be insistent but I think stand up makes more sense.)
Because safe food come from Japanese soil, stop import liberalization. (This one is on a rural bus stop where there are only farms near by. Also, they use the literal English word stop as stopu to make their message pop.
Working people are important for the country/ Making working people is important for the country. (Even though this on is simple seeming it gave me a bunch of trouble.)
We definitely oppose upping the consumption tax. (This is another one that they use English written in Katakana to make the poster stand out.)
Stand up to America. New Politics! (The signs in the picture says Abolish Nuclear Weapons. No more Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis!)
Proportional Represented Constituency Social Democratic Party. (That is a direct translation of the main part and the bit in red at the bottom is about the importance of peace. )Cleaner Politics. (This is from the New Komeito Party which is a center right party. It was started by members of the Soka Gakai Buddist sect and is heavily associated with it.)
Politics that receive the peoples voice. (New Komeito)
Toward the founding of an ocean nation. (I dont know what this one means it makes no sense. Its literally just ocean national founding toward.)

Happy Fourth Of July

Hey everyone Happy Fourth of July.