Today marks the beginning of the 3rd trimester at KJH. As is typical for all such things Japanese, there was an opening ceremony to kick off the occasion. Ok, so it wasn't particularly ceremonial; it really just involved gathering in the freezing cold gym to listen to some speeches from Elvis and Dracula, and then from the class president of each grade. Dracula rambled on for a while and I may have dozed off a bit, but I'm willing to attribute it to the subarctic temperature of the gymnasium. I think I could actually feel my nervous system going into hibernation, one part at a time.
Legs: Sorry, we're out. Frozen veins means no blood flow means screw you guys, we're going home.
Fingers: Stop rubbing us together! We're trying to nap, dammit!
Heart: Duuuuuuh...hm? Was I supposed to be doing something?
Anyway, I stayed entirely conscious for my kids' speeches, but a bit of me wishes I hadn't. They generally talked about what they did over the winter break, which initially doesn't sound so bad, right? Sadly, though, they all more or less followed the pattern set by the first one:
"Well, my 2nd trimester tests scores could have been better, so I spend time every day studying Science and Social Studies. My final English test score also had fallen (compared to 1st trimester), so I studied English for at least an hour a day. I hope to improve and do my best this semester! I might have gone skiing once or twice, too, but I didn't let it get in the way of my studies."
WTF? Last time I checked, weren't you people in your early teenage years? Don't you do stuff like play video games and screw around with your friends (not in the literal sense, we're hoping)? Ok, I'm sure they have their lazy time, as well (you might remember My quasi-day off?), but the fact that this is the sort of attitude that Japanese society still demands from students is more than a touch depressing. These poor kids are waiting until college to start living their lives, all so they can pass an entrance exam or two that'll really have no connection to what they actually do later in life.
We (foreign) English teachers sometimes take note of how our kids seem to have no real world sense, no street smarts at all. I guess it's not too shocking, though, when you consider how infrequently most of them see an actual street.
It's kind of ironic that in recent Japanese pop culture the word 'KY' (used as an adjective, to refer to a person) has come into frequent use. It is an abbreviation for 'Kuuki ga Yomenai,' an expression that literally means 'cannot read the air' - a person who is ignorant of everyday life taking place around them, who cannot feel the pulse of the crowd and get a general understanding of the way things are.
But of course the idea of change in this society still brings about nervous twitching, fearful glances, high-level Cabinet resignations, and the occasional axe murder. Will the day ever come that they don't violently resist what they so desperately need?
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