Life in Ueda

Sorry for the long abscence. I have no internet at the moment. I have been living in Ueda for about 3 weeks now and working in my new job for about 2 weeks.
I am working at a large Junior High School in Ueda as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). I haven't taught much yet but all the staff and pupils are very friendly. The first few days the students had special classes with their home room teachers. After that I had to introduce myself to all of the 15 classes. Now half the school is on a trip to Kyoto and most English classes are cancelled. I also have to gently persuade the English faculty to use me properly and not just as a glorified tape player. It is a trap many ALT's fall into and it takes time and diplomacy to avoid but I think I will avoid that fate. What I can is that schools in Japan are certainly very different to English schools. Here are some things that have struck me the most:
The opening ceremony. The school year started with this most formal affair. The hall was divided into four groups; staff, guests, the new first years and the old second and third years. About 10 different speakers were heard; the principal, the vice-principal, the chairman of the PTA and some other people who's role I couldn't discern. Everytime somebody spoke they bowed six times; to the stage, the staff, the guests, the new students, the old students and finally to everyone. They bowed at the start and the finish of the speech. The national anthem was sung. The school's own anthem (most Japanese schools have a unique anthem) was sung twice. The new teachers, including me, were introduced one at a time. The teachers were then introduced in year groups and again in faculty teams. The whole exhausting process took about two hours. The pupils showed remarkable patience and attention throughout. I guess they are practiced at it. It was interesting to me because it was novel. The next time I attend one I will probably be bored stiff.
School lunch. Organised with almost military precision. Pupils all eat school lunch in their classrooms. The lunch monitors fetch the food and plates and cutlery from the kitchen and haul them up usually two flights of stairs. They proceed to dish out everyone's meal (it takes about 10 minutes) then some preassigned person says "Itadakimasu" and everyone eats. 15-20 minutes later everyone has finished and there is no spare or uneaten food (it is rude not to finish your meal). Someone says "Gochisosamadeshita" and in a rush of activity all the empty plates are collected, returned and tables wiped. Constant items on the menu; milk, some kind of soup, rice and salad. Variable items on the menu; squid, curry burger, ground chicken, grilled fish, octopus, prawn cocktail, bread and cheese.
Soji or cleaning. Everyday after lunch for 15 minutes the whole school does cleaning. Everyone has a preassigned area and every student and teacher takes part. They have different jobs on a rota. Everyone has to wear a bandana during this time (for hygiene I guess). During soji, inspirational music is piped throuh the building. At the moment, they are playing the school anthem and 'You raise me up'. I hope they change the music soon. The pupils clean properly and without protest. In England it would be very difficult to get this kind of routine introduced, too many people would complain and shirk.
School building. Japanese schools don't have central heating. They do have kerosine heaters in the corner of the rooms. As a result, half the classroom is freezing, half the classroom is sweltering and it smells like kerosine the whole time. My school has yet to get an interactive whiteboard (a marverlous invention). The school has yet to get even a whiteboard. They still have blackboards and chalk. It's quite surprising that one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world has school buildings and equipment 50 years out of date.
I could go on but those are some of my first impressions. I think I will enjoy working here if I can avoid my predecessors fate; they were given nothing to do and then were complained about for doing nothing. I shall endevour to square that circle.