The working world.

Sooooo, I spent my monday night getting WASTED with my coworkers. I'd usually be ashamed to admit that I can't remember what happened but it's not like I had any say in the matter.

For all those who don't know, drinking with your co-workers in Japan is probably more common than drinking with your friends, and turning down an invitation could be seen as rude. Now usually foreigners have a 'get out of jail free' card for almost any expectations Japanese have of Japanese people but because I don't want to be treated like a monkey by EVERYONE and only those too stubborn to see that I am a sentient being, I try to go along with anything that doesn't make my life extremely difficult. This included a 5000 yen ($50) diiner and all you can drink party with all my coworkers including the principal and vice principle. Now it was advertised as all you can eat fancy buffet but what it actually was was something like a drink-and-do-everything-else-as-fast-as-you-can-and-show-drunk-affection-to-your-underlings event. The buffet was enough to feed half of the 33 of us and it took them a good 20 minutes to refill things. I've experienced this kind of service in America (maybe once or twice) but I thought it was unheard of in Japan, which to me indicates how much the stress was on alcohol.

So I knew it was common to pour for each other and you aren't really supposed to pour for yourself and I knew it was common to get sloppy with coworkers, but I didn't know that if the person pouring reached you and you had a full glass that you're expected to drink a significant amount so that they can pour for you. And I didn't know that at any given time half the people in the room are running around to pour for their superiors and inferiors to establish healthy bonds at lightning speed, which means about a half a beer every minute or two at the peak of the night (which for most people starts once their 4 or 5 drinks in). There does exist an option to establish yourself as a light drinker, but you run the risk of isolating yourself so the only option, if you want to avoid the risk of puking on your boss is to drink as slowly as possible until the pouring starts and hope no one challenges you to a chugging competition.

I'm sure there is a great deal of variance between the types of jobs and personalities in question, but in any case, MY situation left me with the kind of dreadful hangover that I had managed to avoid most of the way through college. I imagine this group is a little more open because they seem to be pretty close with each other compared to the teachers at the other school I work at.

I wasn't shocked by this situation, the only real surprise was that I thought most of the alcohol entering my body would have been 90% at the hands of my own free will.

I'm not complaining and I'm not raving about it either. It was awesome to see the principal stumble around and tell me he wants to communicate with me better and then chug a beer in my honor. But it would be nice if there was a little more room to opt out of all the drinking without feeling like your putting your job at risk.

After 2 and a half hours, the most pathetic game of darts and bingo that I've ever seen, and somewhere between 9 and 19 drinks, whoever was left standing moved on to the bar (about half of us). I'd tell you about the bar but all I remember is a very drunk gym teacher telling me I need to be more American and that I'm too much like Japanese people. I don't really know exactly what he meant by that but I took it as an opportunity to tell him I'm not the kind of jackass that fits a stereotype as well as he does. He laughed.

After that, all I remember is an older woman teacher making sure I didn't get lost on my way home since she lives fairly close to me on the same train line. During that time I am sure I said something embaressing but I'm not sure what. I cannot remember for the life of me if it was in English or Japanese but it doesn't really matter.

I woke up the next morning (2PM) dizzy and sick and decided it was as good a time as any to go to karaoke.

The astounding adventures of no one.

Sometimes I put people in awkward situations.
I was talking to another American who works for the same company about language barrier problems at work….and, you know, my Japanese isn't jaw dropping like Thane Camus or that dude from Megadeath or anything so I was trying to be humble, because I don't have the right not to be. Anyway, a Japanese friend from the building comes down to the lounge and I make a comment to her and she asks if he's my friend. I say well yeah but he lives here too, and she immediately starts speaking Japanese to him. Now I would appreciate this but he didn't really understand her question at all. She switched to English and it was fine but me and the girl have never spoken in English and I think she would rather speak in Japanese, and most of all, she understands English about as well as he understands Japanese. Her friends were there too and they were all speaking Japanese. Since I've been kind of neglecting them for a while (not like they sit and wait for me to spend time with them but you know, if you stop talking to people they think you don't like them sometimes and I don't want to), and because they are decent people and basically my only consistently Japanese conversation practice, I spoke to them a little bit in Japanese. And because I was in the middle of a conversation with the American dude, I tried to include him in the conversation. Now what should I do? Translate? That feels rude! Its like a jab saying my Japanese is better than yours and I know its not a nice feeling because people do it to me all the time when I don't need it just because I didn't catch one word. Not translate and risk him feeling completely alienated and feeling like shit about his level of Japanese; something I've also experienced. So I did what any sensible person would do and had two conversations at once. In the end, I couldn't focus on either of them and kind of spaced out and went to my room. This didn't exactly plague me for the rest of the day and it’s probably not the most interesting thing I’ll write here but it just got me thinking;

Human interactions are so complicated.
Cool.

I can't escape christmas song

I came to Japan to get away from every single store playing the same 30 Christmas songs on repeat with who remade it being the only real variation. That was the only reason I came to Japan. How was I supposed to know a non-Christian nation would embrace Christmas the same way America does? In fact they embrace Christmas more here. In fact, they embrace Christmas so much in Japan that they've one up-ed the US....with fried chicken. Christmas in Japan is about being with your lover, sending Christmas cards, giving presents, Decorating with Christmas trees and the color pink (...pink?), buying things (just like every holiday in Japan) and OF COURSE fried chicken. There are lines out the door of every single KFC in Tokyo, and that's a lot of KFC's; KFC is huge here. What better way to celebrate love, Santa Claus and shopping than with some fried chicken? Now maybe I just grew up in a nice neighborhood but I don't know a damn person who eats fried chicken on Christmas; in fact, I don't even know where you get fried chicken outside of the hood and maybe Fridays or Chili's (I see fewer KFCs than I see pink things on Christmas in the states). The best thing about this is that when you tell people any of this, 7 out of 10 will stare at you like 'what the hell are you talking about?' and you can see on their face that they have to re-evaluate everything they've done in their life up until that point. You can imagine the look on their face when I tell them I have never celebrated Christmas in my life. They usually think I grew up in a foster home or something like that.So remember, just because your Japanese friend celebrates Christmas doesn't mean they know shit about Jesus. So what the hell are you doing reading any further? Convert the heathen before Satan gets to them!Seriously though, it's not as if America is the only country in the world who grossly misinterprets foreign cultures and I'm coming to appreciate that about America ,which I guess evens out the fact that I've grown to see America as a generally dirty country.Please remember not to take my stereotypes too seriously; there are tons of exceptions to everything here and Japanese people are as diverse in personality,　interests, lifestyle, and habits as anywhere else. I know a load of dirty ass Japanese people and a bunch who are not very surprised when they find out Japan has grossly misinterpreted foreign culture. But talking about those people is totally boring and you would not want to read it. If there weren't any stereotypes it would be an indication of a lack in cultural difference and that would be boring right? I think avoiding all stereotypes is not only unpractical but also extremely tight assed. But I doubt there’s a stereotype in the world that doesn't have loads of exceptions (there are often more exceptions and the stereotype represents the only recognizable trend despite it being less than 50%) and not realizing that is what causes problems. Generally Japan is full of people way more interested in understanding foreign culture but not unlike America, the media, advertising and other forces complicate their ability to do so in order to pursue their own goals. In all likeliness, the Christmas at KFC thing started from an advertising campaign when Japan was still 100% clueless about the west.In any case, I'm going to have to go to a Muslim country soon. I think that’s the only part of the world I can get away from the jingles.

Let's see if I can speak Japanese

This blog is a mess and I don't think anyone reads it yet. I'm torn whether or not to make it personal or informative. I want to share stuff with my friends and family and record the things I don't want to forget but I want to write informative stuff too for whoever is interested so maybe I'll have to make two blogs. For now 1 will work.

I saw Shiina Ringo. It was strange. It was huge...one big event I didn't know how to attend. The music was amazing but it was almost as impersonal as watching a live dvd. It all felt like a youtube video I was paying a lot of money to watch. 16,000 people! I'm used to meeting my favorite bands after a show in front of 200-500 people. I felt so small. An ego-blood rush went to my head and I felt I deserved better than to be a nameless spectator. Maybe. Maybe not. With her opening song and one of her most haunting, Hatsukoi Shojou, the last 3 years sunk in.

I don't desire fame, but I want to create something worthy of fame. I will. I know now that I am able to.