Unexpected dose of history

I've never hesitated to say how I love visiting the School in the Sky - the beautiful scenery, warm and friendly coworkers who are mostly in my age group, students who care and put forth serious effort in their lessons, and class sizes that allow me to actually give personal attention all make visits there a treat. I suppose it also helps that I'm there at most once a week, so trips there never quite become a commonplace, everyday routine. Anyway, today being a Thursday I once again make the trek (yes, yes...over the hills and through the woods, etc.). Last week I had talked with Sugar about how some of the students' parents would be visiting the school today, and we planned a review lesson on past-tense for the two sannensei, who are our lowest level students, but are showing more promise as of recent. There was another item on the docket for today that I had not been warned of, though, that made the excursion extra extravagant (wheee, alliteration!).



Mr. Takahashi is a man in his mid-60s, who was born right around the end of the second World War. 47 years ago he attended KJH, where I teach regularly these days. The ugly state this country was in in those post-war days meant that he needed to find work to help support his family, and was never able to pursue higher education. Today, he is in his final year of high school.

Yes, you read that correctly. A few years ago, after working in industry for the majority of his life, Mr. Takahashi decided that he needed this. Today he told us his story.
The principal of SitS first introduced Mr. Takahashi as "the person he respects above all others." I had been doing some prep work, so I slipped into the back of the classroom right as this was taking place. Mr. T (and I forbid all bad 80s TV references from this point on; I'm just getting tired of typing Takahashi) started with a few stories of his childhood, how after the war his family's first concern everyday was finding enough food for the table. They were not always as successful as they might have liked. He mentioned the movie "Hotaru no Haka" (Grave of the Fireflies) as having some similarities to his early childhood, a point that really struck a chord with me. If you've seen it, you probably know what I'm talking about. I do recommend it, with the caveat that it is not a happy movie. Don't watch it if you're already depressed; I don't want to be indirectly responsible for any suicides.
Anywho, Mr. T talked about his post-war childhood, and how he was never able to go on to high school because he needed to help support his family; I kind of just shut up and tried to chameleon myself into the wall. I never once felt nor do I think that anyone there (or even Mr. T) harbors any hostility toward Americans for the war, but it's one of those events that I'm still very careful of in conversation. I guess I feel that I don't really have the right to talk about it unless asked, especially in the presence of someone who was there. After all, what are most of us in this situation, but the descendants of two peoples who were supposed to be mortal enemies? And in the end, what would I say? Do I give the P.C. response that's expected of me, that nuclear war is terrible and I hope we have all learned from the mistakes of our past? If only it was so simple...
Getting back to the topic at hand, though, we heard from Mr. T how he went into work at some sort of machine factory (he said more than that but his voice was gravelly and my Japanese ain't perfect), and over the years as robots replaced more and more of his jobs he learned to repair the robots so he could stay employed. My ninensei student was nearly salivating at this; he's hardcore into robotics and wants to design them in the future. Question and answer time with Mr. T was pretty funny. One of the elementary students asked him if he enjoyed gym class when he was young. He responded, in a slow, drawn out manner, "Gym class...well, as to whether I liked gym class in my younger years...no, I actually freaking hated it. Passionately. I haven't the words to decribe my loathing of it." A smile, then. "Next question?"
My ninensei of course asked about the robots Mr. T repaired, and there may have been a few about what he planned to do in the future. All of this is of particular note, though, because this kind of thing just doesn't happen in Japan. There is no G.E.D.; returning to school for any kind of higher education later in life is not a popular choice, either. Once you've finished schooling in your youth, you typically work for one company for the rest of your pre-retirement life. Changing careers is still a rare phenomenon, too, with the attitude of company loyalty still claiming majority rule in the business world.
A local news crew actually came all the way out to SitS to film this event, and it got a minute or so on the 6pm news. This was of special interest to us single guys at SitS, because the newscaster was really hot.

I hinted at this before, but my sannensei at SitS are showing signs of progress and not sucking nearly as much any more. The one who used to skip all the time hasn't missed a class in over a month, and they both did well for their respective skill levels during our past-tense review. Granted, it probably helped that it was parents-visit-the-school day so we had the occasional mom drop in and observe, but they are also improving overall. I think it is largely related to their lessons previously being straight from that craptacular New Horizon rag, before we started teaching more to their level, but part of me likes to think I've been directly responsible for their recent performance, too.

Finally I have another gripe to wrap this up, just to keep this post in line with my typically effervescent personality. Eh, this one's pretty justified, though, I think. So, New Year's is a big thing here. BIG. Most companies and offices (mine included) have a bounenkai at the end of the year, which basically means 'a party to forget the year that just finished.' As you might have guessed, this can (does) mean drowning one's self in alcohol. Both KJH and SitS are having a bounenkai, both on the same night. I'm obligated to choose to attend KJH's party, because that's my main school. They're a fine bunch, but I'd rather get sloshed with the SitS people; we just have a friendlier relationship and more of them are in my age group. Ok, so far not a big problem. I can go to the KJH party and hang out with the SitS people another time, right? Wrong. See, the KJH party is at possibly the fanciest traditional Japanese inn in northern Japan, and at 28000 yen ($247) per head, I can't afford to go, especially since I'm traveling to Tokyo and Nagoya over the winter break. The SitS party is also at a nice resort but closer and less than half the price...but I can't just opt to go to that one - doing so might not officially be forbidden, but I know it could damage my professional relationship with people at KJH. I have a hunch that I could probably play the 'I'm white and don't know any better' card, but the risk (coupled with the fact that I do actually know better and would feel guilty) makes it just not worth it. So, no bounenkai for me. *pout*
I'll get over it, though. I am going to be in the 3rd (?) biggest city on the planet in a week.