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No kaki kyuka for you!
I'm one of only six teachers at work today. I use the term "teacher" to include myself, though technically I shouldn't. I'm not a teacher, I'm an "Assistant Language Teacher", which means that my status is unique among people working at my school. This unique status can at times be quite beneficial, and other times be a big pain in the ass. This week is one of those pain in the ass times. Today is the first day that teachers at my school are allowed to take "kaki kyuka" or summer vacation. This is a type of special leave in addition to the 30 days per year of "nenkyu" Japanese teachers normally receive. Back home teachers usually take over two months off in summer time, but in Japan most teachers will only take at most a total of 5 days off broken up over two months. Even though they have 35+ days of vacation each year, Japanese teachers are strongly pressured (forced) into actually using less than half of those days.
This is the week Japanese teachers dream about all year because they can take up to 3 consecutive days off (if they are lucky) and maybe even travel on vacation somewhere. So while many of my coworkers are rushing off to exotic parts of the world, buying souvenirs at the airport and rushing straight back to Japan, I'll be siting here at my desk writing bitchy blog entries like this one. Why is it JET's don't get any kaki kyuka anyway? Would it really kill them to give us 5 extra days off a year? Before all of you start posting your "JET's already get too much vacation, so stop bitching" comments, let me just say that I know that as an ALT I'm able to take more time off than most Japanese teachers, but seriously what is the point of me sitting in the staff room all by myself for a whole week when I could be out in the street spreading "internationalization" everywhere I go? The only time my students ever talk to me is outside of class anyway.
One final thing... I mentioned before how I had to conduct a seminar for English teachers last week. Well, an odd thing happened on the last day. Teachers were asked to make impromptu speeches for one minute. One teacher decided to give a speech called "My dream is to be Jamie". It went something like this...
My dream is to be Jamie
Jamie speaks English very clear and fast
Jamie presented very interesting workshops
Jamie seems very intelligent and clever
I hope I can be a teacher like Jamie
However, I don't want Jamie's belly.
Jamie's belly is too big.
9 comments
What happened the the Japanese practice of beating around the bush and not being direct so as to not even possibly, dare to offend someone? 
I know eh? For some reason that rule never seems to apply when it comes to the body parts of gaijin. 
Actually, that custom only applies to other Japanese people. If you're not Japanese, your fair game for all kinds of insulting comments. Its not at all uncommon. Gaijin arent really people anyways! Duh!There was a story about that in one of the JET books they gave us when we got here. An ALT was talking to his principal and asked "Would you stop eating fish if it would save my life?"
"I dont know, I really like fish..." The pricipal pondered.
"Ok, ok. Would you stop eating fish to save your daughter's life?"
Without thinking he shouted "Of course I would! She's a human being!"
It's certainly true of a lot of people I've met Melissa. It's kind of facinating how Japan can be at the same time so modern and technically advanced, but yet so insular and monocultural. I can't think of any other place in the world where the same would be true. You really see the most extreme forms of this living in the inaka as us JETs mostly do. Nice pics on your site by the way! 
Cheer up, jamie. On the balance, do you get more compliments or insults from japanese people?I know you got told how handsome you were in Canada a lot, but hasn't that increased a tick for you in Japan?
If you'd watch a bit of tv, you'll see people insult each other quite openly for laughs. People are generally just not so uptight about that stuff as long as it comes from someone above your social status, or a friend.
(you just got 20 new days of vacation. if you don't want to be at work, you could use it...)
I usually never get insults from anyone except for people who post comments on this website. I suppose there's always Akiko calling me fat, disgusting and pregnant. So, hmm.. yeah Japanese people definately do insult me more often than people back home, that is if you don't count my brother. 
Hahahaha pregnant!!! 
So...are there belly pics somewheres, for those of us not within easy perve distance?(Ooor yea, snort, droool)
holy crap that's a good poem. 
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