Final Post

I started this blog 4 years ago when I first went to Japan to teach English. I have now left Japan after an unforgettable, life changing experience. During that time I really enjoyed my teaching work. I spent my first year working for NOVA, a chain english conversation school or eikaiwa 英会話, in Matsumoto city. The next three years I taught in the Japanese state school system. The first year at a Junior High School in Ueda City and the next two years teaching in many Elementary Schools in Matsumoto city. The work was fun and rewarding and I made many friends through it.
Living in Japan gave me a chance to travel to many interesting places inside and outside the country. I visited Mexico, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Laos and Thailand. Inside Japan I visited more than half of the countries 47 prefectures. Living amongst the Northern Japanese Alps allowed me to ski on some of the best slopes in Asia regularly. In the summer I hiked many Japan's biggest and best mountains. I got into running and completed two full marathons. Through these activites I made many good friends, Japanese and foreigner or gaijin 外人 alike.
I got to know the culture and found out the best and the worst of Japan. The best: so many wonderful Japanese foods and dishes, the shinkansen bullet trains and simple efficiency, futuristic gleaming modern architecture side by side with beautiful traditional buildings, karaoke and other Japanese inventions, the work ethic and manners, cherry blossom time or hanami 花見. The worst: beurocracy, even now a failure to aknowledge and come to terms with World War 2, strange Japanese takes on western culture like the KFC Christmas bucket of chicken or teenage girls or ギャル trying to look western by wearing coloured contact lense and dyeing their hair orange.
During my time in Japan there was a revolving door of five different Japanese prime ministers. My family and friends all moved on with their lives. Notably my brother got married, moved to the USA and had a baby. My internet alias Matt Santos predicted the election of Barack Obama as life mirrored art and TV's the West Wing proved uncannily accurate.
This is not the end of my association with Japan. I have become fluent in Japanese and recently passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 2. I intend to continue studying and maybe even try to find a job where I can use my Japanese skills. My love life has had its ups and downs but I am now very happily together with a Japanese lady. She will join me in England soon. I will certainly go back to visit and may go back and work in Japan again. This is the end of this blog though. It served it's purpose to reassure and inform my friends and relatives back in England of what I'm doing. It was also a diary and a personal history for me although edited of the more private or scandalous episodes of my Japanese life. It will remain on the internet for the consumption of people who know or people who don't. Thanks for everything, Japan. See you soon. さようなら

My last day at school

On Wednesday I taught my last day of school. I visit 15 elementary schools in the Matsumoto area so I had already had numerous farewells at the different schools but it was still sad to say goodbye. The previous weeks had seen the start of springlike weather so I had changed the tyres on my car back to summer tyres. So I was as suprised and put out as anyone when I learned Tuesday night had the heaviest March snowfall for 50 years. To make my matters worse my last day was spent visiting two small schools in Shiga mura, a small suburb of Matsumoto up a mountain and about one hours drive away. But as it was my last day I decided I had to try to get to school. With the bad conditions and the wrong tyres I set of 30 minutes early. My first task was to dig my car out of a foot of snow. I proceeded as cautiously as I could and found myself 90 minutes later still very far from school. Fearing I would be late or couldn't make I phoned ahead but 20 minutes later, after nearly two hours of fraught driving in difficult conditions I made it to Nakagawa elementary. I had about 5 minutes to prepare for my first class. We played giant "snakes and ladders" with year 5; reviewing all the English I taught them. It seemed to go well. 2nd lesson was with year 6. For my benefit they organised some games in the sports hall which because of the weather was below freezing temperature and your breath misted up in front of you. We first played "Fruit basket". This game is something of cliche; in my opinion played by lazy teachers with little imagination and I dislike it. I had spent the last two years of my job successfully avoiding using it despite it's ubiquity amongst other English teachers. However, the kid's insisted so I played along and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We then played "イスとおり” or musical chairs. Murayama sensei had remembered a conversation we had about a year ago and used Crowded House, one of my favourite bands, as the music. So New Zealand New Wave 80's pop was the music for musical chairs. Finally we played dodgeball; a game that is crazy popular in Japanese elementary schools. Despite having a whole team around me I was inevitably the target of almost all of the balls thrown but still it was fun.
I had brought my guitar with me with the intention of playing one goodbye song at the end of 2nd lesson. However, Yamamoto sensei spotted this in the staff room and interupted 2nd lesson to ask me:
"Kevin sensei! Today we were supposed to do cleaning outside after 2nd lesson but we can't becuase of the snow. Can you do a 20 minute guitar concert for the whole school?! It will start in 10 minutes."
I had little choice but to say yes and so I sang through a few beatles songs. It was well recieved but a tougher audience might not have been so impressed. There was time for thanks, farewells and a few photos before I had to go down the road to Gojo Elementary school.
Gojo is the smallest school in Matsumoto with only 36 students total and destined for merger with Nakagawa school in a few years. It had started raining now as the temperture rose. 4th period I had a lesson with the 5th grade, all 7 of them. We studied food and ordering in restuarants. They did very well with the English and it was a nice lesson. I ate lunch with the 4th graders, all 5 of them. They asked me to play dodgeball with them and so I again was the main target throughout the match. A special English assembly had been arranged prior and we played some games involving learning the names of sports. I was again requested to play the guitar and so I sang "Yesterday" with all the teachers mouthing the words! I knew the Beatles were popular everywhere but I was still surprised. Then I was present a thank you card and was asked to shake each student's hand individually. A small school so forturnately it didn't take too long. 5th lesson I taught the 6th grade, all 6 of them. We learnt about jobs and I asked each student their career ambitions. They were variously doctor, pharmacist, voice actor, manga cartoonist, dancer and baseball player; all fine aspirations. In form time at the end of school I was once again asked to play dodgeball. By the time I had said my goodbyes and left the rain had turned into snow again and I drove home with great caution.
And so my last day had finished. In many respects quite a typical day; in many respects untypical. It contained all the best and worst aspects of my job. I got to teach fun lessons to happy, enthusiastic students. I got to spend time in lovely small old fashioned schools and school buildings before they are soon torn down and merged. I had to pretend to like things I didn't. I got to share my language and culture with students who have hardly ever seen a non-Japanese person. I had to an awful lot of driving.