A Day in the Life

To remind everyone again, I am in Japan as part of the JET Program, which stands for the Japanese Exchange & Teaching Program. Its key objective is to promote cultural exchange between different nations and Japan, which in practice means: “yo, go teach some English.” So let’s walk you through an average day!

Morning (7:00 – 8:15 AM)

My day begins like any other: filled with a vague sense of dread and difficulty getting out of bed. Ahead of me is a brisk 5-mile bike ride, passing by rice paddies, farms, neighborhood vending machines, tiny Japanese cars, and also the Statue of Liberty. She welcomes the tired, the poor, and also the sweaty because it’s freaking 90 degrees every day and 70% humidity.

Arrival at School (8:15 AM)

I usually arrive 15 minutes early, as school starts at 8:30 AM. I change my shoes– you must wear a pair of indoors-only shoes to go inside the school. Same goes for the students, so despite the famed Japanese school uniform with loafers, they’re actually wearing indoor sandals when they’re in school.

Actual School (8:30 – 4:15 PM)

Summer vacation is ending soon, so it will soon be a lot busier. I haven’t been given too much to do aside from a few menial tasks, so I spend most of my time doing nothing. Interestingly, you’re either supposed to look busy, or you can nap. What you cannot do is be obviously screwing around, like on your phone with your feet up. I’ve caught quite a few teachers sleeping at their desks, even in front of the vice-principal (who is in charge of the teachers and sits among us). Just the other day, I caught him napping too!

That isn’t to say I have done absolutely NOTHING. I’ve prepared my self-introduction lesson (a PowerPoint), made quizzes from some basic English books, corrected essays, and compiled a list of English-learning games to play in the class. But there is still a LOT of down-time, especially for a dude who’s an assistant teacher, rather than an actual teacher. Until school starts next week, I guess I’m just office eye candy.

A Marathon Return (4:15 ~ 5:15 PM)

The modern-day 26-mile marathon originates from a Greek messenger named Philippides, who ran 26 miles from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a Greek victory. He died from the physical exertion, but not before announcing with his last breath, “Joy to you, we’ve won!”

My bike ride home is exactly the same, if not worse, except I don’t usually die at the end. I once fell inside (bike and all) of a rice paddy, ruining two of my shirts for the rest of time. You’d think Philippides had it bad.

Doing Nothing: Home Edition (5:15 PM – ???)

￥3980 is basically $39.80.

For lunch and breakfast, I mostly subsist on konbini (convenience store) food. For dinner, I try to cook most of the time, to mediocre results. Groceries can be almost comically expensive here. Oranges are $1 (100 yen) each. A bunch of grapes will set you back about $12. If you really want to live it up like the bourgeoisie, you could buy a $30 watermelon and have, I guess, a watermelon party while spitting on the poor. There’s even a game where you smash a watermelon like a pinata, which at one time went so far as to have officially-sanctioned rules. Cantaloupes are expensive too, to the point where you can buy one in a gift box. I know what I want for Christmas!

I go to sleep around 11 or 12, and a new weekday begins. And what about weekends? Stay tuned!

Typhoon Twenty TERROR II: The Conclusion

Typhoon 20 came and went from my life like many friendships– short-lived but still memorable. Since the time I made my post, and up until 7 PM (the time it had been projected to hit), it was still windy, but not enough to chomp down on your cigar and declare, “Well, here it comes, boys!”The wind WAS picking up, but ever-so-gradually. I biked to work against 15mph winds, and biking back, it had probably picked up to 20mph. It was, of course, blowing against me both ways, because life shouldn’t ever be easy. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was still manageable.

Seven PM, I had some friends over. We had the door to open let the night breeze in. The breeze was a little stronger than normal, but as the night went on, it turned into a night wind. It started blowing our cards off the table, and it started slamming my door against the balcony like a guy who owes the mafia money. We closed the door and forgot about it– the wind was howling outside, but windy days happen, this didn’t seem too much different than normal. Ten PM rolls around, and the wind still sounds exactly the same. It’s about time I kicked my guests out, so around 11 PM everyone gets up to leave. I open the door for them to outside, and wham! There it is. The typhoon had finally arrived!

The air was water. The rain was so thick, it formed a shimmering, watery fog. The wind blew rain in layers. Trees swayed violently side to side. Anything that hadn’t been weighed down or secured was swept away by the wind. The typhoon claimed my balcony slippers. I found one of them the next day, on the completely opposite side of the building. The other one is forever lost. Emergency alerts told me that the elderly were being evacuated in Akashi City. “In so-and-so area, please get to high ground.” It was really weird to see live updates (via emergency alerts) and actually being inside the typhoon. It sounded like the apocalypse was here, but being in it, it was hectic but it was not hellacious.

Many brave bikes fell in the wake of the typhoon.

I am proud to say I survived Typhoon 20, although I must admit that for all the hype, I was a little disappointed. Let’s hope Typhoon 21 rips my roof off or something!

Typhoon Twenty, TERROR from the East

I’ve been hearing about the incoming “Typhoon 20” for weeks now, far off yet close enough to make the local weather cooler and slightly breezier. Meanwhile, the vice-principal has just made an ominous announcement– from aikido to kendo and table tennis, all club activities are cancelled for today. Half the teachers have left the office. My supervisor suggested to me to take the rest of the day off before the typhoon hits. I didn’t because I would’ve had to cut into my paid time off.

The news show graphs and projections with hectopascals, and even the local trains will stop running 6 hours earlier than they usually do. Meanwhile, it’s 3:20 PM at the time of writing, and it’s another beautiful-albeit-a-little-too-hot day. The sun is shining, the clouds are out, and the giant mutant bugs of Akashi zip around your face like any average day. Where is this dreaded typhoon I’ve been hearing about for almost two weeks now? More to come…