The Best Zombie Show You’ll See This Year

To fresh eyes, Japanese television appears to be about 80% food shows and 20% watching celebrities watch videos. Over time, the percentages improve as you discover the hidden treasures of Japanese TV, including some pretty decent detective/crime shows and, of course, the comedy. In the latter category, a YouTube channel called Funny Japan has done the English speaking world a great favor by subtitling the best 13 minutes of comedy you’ll see in any language.

The show sets it up nicely. Children have been practicing for the zombie apocalypse and their mom asks Knight Scoop (the show) to give them the real test. The accommodating zombie gives a written warning before showing up and falls prey to their carefully set traps, including Tabasco sauce and packing tape. Well worth the watch - and a possible parenting strategy for all of us with kids to encourage them to cooperate more.

The Pull of Japan

Try as I might, I can’t quite leave Japan behind. Spending the lion’s share of my 20s in the Northern reaches of Japan has all but guaranteed that I will always long for those “halcyon days of my youth”. There is no doubt that a lot of my time in Japan was central to shaping me into an adult, something my driver’s license assures me I am. So maybe it is to be expected that I still feel the pull of Japan - or more specifically Aomori - despite now having a career, a home and a family all rooted here in Canada. That said, I worry that the call of Japan may just be a siren’s song.

Memory is a faulty and often outright false mechanism in even the best of minds, but it’s all we got. I remember the unbelievable pink of the cherry blossoms along kanchogaidori, the main street running past city hall in Towada. I remember biking down towards what was then Towadako Machi and seeing the freshly planted rice fields quilted across the landscape, butting right against the feet of mountains. I remember walking the Oirase Gorge paths under trees dense with leaves and every surface being covered in mosses, like a forest ripped from deep time.

Many of my best memories are like that. A bit of alone time in what has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. What memory tends to omit is that these moments were necessary for me. They were the times when I could drop all the different characters I played in Japan and just enjoy the moment. Many of these moments were in the early years of my stay, before I was able to get beyond some of the interpersonal layers and genuinely connect with a small number of people. But that took years. Years.

That’s not to say there weren’t great moments despite the distance most Japanese people kept. I remember finishing teaching a class and walking away from the school vibrating with the energy the kids throw at you when you are absolutely killing your delivery, feeling like I wouldn’t sleep for days. There were also too many acts of kindness to list, part of an overall desire to make sure the latest long-term guest in town enjoyed his time. Some were anonymous, like the bags of vegetables, rice and even apples I would find on my porch. Others were obvious like the time the local brewery stayed open with staff on hand so I could take a visiting friend there well after they were supposed to have closed for the night.

To be clear, I wouldn’t trade my time in Japan for anything, and not just because that is where I met my wife. It shaped me like few experiences did before or since. Going there, I started with the disadvantages of being illiterate and barely verbal, essentially the mind of an adult with the communication skills of a toddler. Building up to where I could function as an adult in Japanese is still one of my proudest achievements, even though I never achieved true fluency. The experience of being involved but always apart was also incredibly important as it focused me to reassess many parts of my personality and what I really needed to be happy. And even playing all the characters - the inquisitive tourist, the entertaining foreigner, the eager worker, the properly awed cultural adventurer, the grizzled ex-pat - has made me much better at adapting on the fly to whatever professional or personal situation I find myself in.

With time, the upsides of even the worst parts of my time in Japan stick with me, as do the best memories - and my overtaxed brain minimizes or outright deletes the downsides. I had to go back to old notebooks and journals to remind myself how tired I was of standing out wherever I went and recall the angst that the bureaucracy of Japan caused in me. There was also the career limitations inherent in the position I held.

Again, there is my tendency to emphasize the upsides. Those career limitations were one of the reasons I was diligent in keeping up my freelancing, avoiding the skill/experience gap that can lock an ex-pat into staying because it is all they know. But it was soul crushing at the time to think that there could never be space in Towada - the only place in Japan I wanted to live - for me to do anything other than teach English. I loved Towada and still do, but I wasn’t convinced that the feeling was mutual enough to leverage my future on it. I imagine it is hard to get kids excited about learning fruits and numbers in English when you are past middle age with arthritis creeping in.

I do wonder about the alternate universe Andy that never left Japan. I can make some fairly informed guesses based on the experiences of fellow ex-pats who stayed. We would probably be making ends meet with my wife still teaching and myself stitching together teaching gigs, some freelance work and overseas contracting. We would likely not own a house, but we’d be renting one at a ridiculously low rate. Our cost of living would be less and our food fresher and more varied. We’d be a part of the community and still actively participating in sports, riding our bikes around town and looking forward to a different regional event or festival every month.

What I don’t know is if that healthy, happy couple - not wealthy, but doing ok - has any children with them. Is my wife still working 12 hour days and weekends going above and beyond what a Canadian elementary teacher would consider reasonable or even sane? Am I still leaving my classes every day feeling like I am making a difference? Do we still love our jobs or just our lifestyles? I wish alternate universe Andy would tell me some of these things. Because I still hear that siren’s song and in moments of struggle here in Canada, I feel like pointing our sails east again, come what may.

Is Anpanman Going to Be Ok?

I worry about Anpanman a lot these days. Anpanman is a popular show for children that we get on the TV Japan channel and I get to see a lot of it because my son is currently a fan. All I can say is that Japanese children’s television is deeply concerning.

With Anpanman, my concerns are largely metaphysical. Anpanman is a bit like Superman, if Superman had a removable head made of pastries and sweet bean filling. Anpanman can fly, he is incredibly strong and he goes around helping people and punching out bad guys. This is all great stuff. I hope that Aito grows up incredibly strong with the ability to fly, help people and punch out bad guys, so there are many lessons that he can pick up from Anpanman.

Unfortunately, like Superman and kryptonite, Anpanman has a weakness - the fact that his head is basically dough and sweet beans. If his head gets dented, dirty, wet, or fed to hungry animals (as sometimes happens), Anpanman’s power wanes. The solution for Anpanman is to replace his head with an entirely new head. This brings him back to full power and allows him to “An-punch” his enemies so hard that they disappear over the horizon.

What I wonder, though, is whether or not Anpanman is actually Anpanman anymore after switching heads. Sure, we think that Anpanman is the same person because he does and says the same things, but isn’t it also possible that Jam Ojisan, Anpanman’s creator, is baking a new individual with each head? Could we be seeing the death of a hero every time Anpanman’s head gets changed?

Besides the existentially terrifying question of the disposable hero heads, there is the change that would have on the show itself. If each head is a different hero, then Anpanman’s nemesis, Baikinman, doesn’t actually fail each episode. In fact, he’s slowly working his way through all of the potential Anpanmans until the day when Jam Ojisan runs out of sweet beans and flour.

Of course, it would be easy to chalk up my worries about Anpanman to Japanese cartoons being quirky, but I’ve realized that it has nothing to do with Japan. Thomas the Tank Engine, another of my son’s favorites, also contains some big questions. Sir Topham Hat can’t go one episode without mentioning that all the train’s should be “really useful engines.” In fact, most of the episodes are about the trains competing to be more useful or agonizing about not being useful enough. The question I have is what exactly are the engines so scared of? What did Sir Topham Hat do to inspire that kind of fear? What happens to the engines that don’t measure up?

Now, you might say I am reading too much into both these shows - and you’d be right. I have a lot of spare time to think while watching these shows. Anpanman and Thomas tend to be a bit formulaic in the plot department. It’s almost like they were written for kids. As a person in an international marriage, I am all for understanding and appreciation between cultures. And one thing I think we can agree on is that children’s shows are crazy in any culture.

The Things You Forget: Japan Five Years Later

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Japan. I lived and worked in Japan as an ESL teacher from 2003-2009, but since then we (I met my wife in Japan) hadn’t returned. From the time we touched down in Narita, it felt like we were enacting the Japanese folktale, Urashima Taro. In the folktale, Urashima Taro returns from the ocean to find decades passed while he partied in the undersea kingdom and the world moved on. It really felt like decades passed while we were away rather than a few years, but I think it is just the things you forget when you aren’t in a country day in and day out.

For sure, some things are different. For example, Tokyo station has touch panel vending machines now, street lights have gotten slimmer and you can finally pay with a credit card in most large stores. However, there are all sorts of things that must have once been familiar and now seem strange and new. The counters and tables all felt a few inches too low, the airport and bullet trains were unbelievably clean, and the average combini (convenience store, but so different from Canada’s version) held all the products a person could possibly need in their daily lives. Even the cars were surprising as there seemed to be an endless selection of makes, models and colors.

One thing I was shocked to have forgotten was the natural beauty of Japan. It is easy to think of Tokyo as being Japan concentrated down into a single city of skyscrapers and concrete, but outside of Tokyo Japan is a country of mountains, oceans, fields and rivers. In Alberta, we can drive 600 kilometers in any direction without a huge change in the countryside. In Japan, 600 kilometers takes you from Ueno station in Tokyo to the snow covered forests of Aomori. For such a small country, Japan packs in a lot of scenery.

There were many other moments of rediscovery, including the quality of the food, the high-level of service, the mild weather, and the weight of history and culture in Japan. There are many things I wish I could bring back with me to Canada, and also some things I wish I could export to Japan. I wish my Japanese friends took more of a Canadian approach to work and took all the holidays they were entitled too. I wish Canadian restaurants could offer the service and food quality you get in Japan.

I guess I really wish I could live in a Canadianized Japan or Japanized Canada, but that’s not how the world works. That said, every time we travel to Japan or a Japanese person comes to Canada, you can’t help but take a piece of that culture with you. Piece by piece, the connection is built between both cultures. Sure, you can forget the little things like the spotless bathrooms and the talking ATMs, but the truly important things like respect and appreciation of nature stay with you forever.

Working and Living in Japan: Joining Private Club Activities

Previously we looked at how to join a school club in Japan. Now we’ll look at how to join a private club – a club where you can practice and compete with adults as well as receive instruction from qualified club teachers.

Finding a Club

The process of finding an adult club can be a little more complicated. If you are absolutely new to your town of city, the first step is to find the community center (kouminkan) in your area. These will usually have a registry of the clubs that use rooms there as well as an events calendar listing tournaments that the clubs compete it. Even ikebana (flower arranging) has annual competitions. As with school clubs, it is possible to do the research just by staking out the club areas. Simply, hang around a baseball diamond after working hours to find an adult baseball club or go to the martial arts center (shidoukan or budoukan) to find a kendo club.

There are also job-related clubs - for example, a high school teacher’s soccer team - that may be easier to join than a fully private club. Teachers’ clubs generally have a lighter practice schedule because of the heavy workload Japanese take on. The usual time for people to view and join clubs is in the spring when the Japanese year traditionally begins. As many people are shuffled around in both the public and private sector at this time, it means clubs lose members and are searching for new ones. It is fine to check out clubs at any time, but just keep in mind that some may not be looking for new members right when you’re ready to join.

Before Joining Up

It is important to know your limitations when joining a private club. Sports and martial arts clubs usually have several levels to choose from. When a Japanese member joins, he or she is assessed by the teachers/coaches/management and placed at the appropriate level. With foreigners, however, the people in charge are occasionally too timid and let the foreigner decide their own level. If you play soccer at a beginners level, it’ll be difficult for you to fit into an A-class club because people in that class have played competitive soccer for six years or more. Similarly, if you play hockey at a university level, but join a C-class team, the other teams you play will be understandably upset.

What if the club nearest to you doesn’t have an appropriate level? There may be a practice-only option. This is an option that doesn’t exist for most Japanese people, but many clubs will make an exception for a foreigner in the name of international friendship. You can usually practice with a club even if you won’t be allowed to enter competition with them. This is something you will have to discuss directly with the club managers as it may affect your club fees.

Paying Your Dues

Joining a private club involves a financial commitment along with the time commitment. Many private clubs in Japan are run like small-market sports teams, complete with team managers and coaching staff that are paid by the club. The costs of joining a club vary according to the type and the level. For example, a kimono club starts cheap (not including the cost of buying a kimono), but as you progress in levels your lessons increase in price.

The same is true of sports club. C-class hockey clubs practice the same amount as A-class clubs, but they enter less tournaments in a year, and that is reflected in the membership price. On top of the initial fee, you may need to pay out-of-pocket for special events or travel expenses. Also, there will be instances where you will be expected to give money as a gift. The hat is passed around whenever a member gets married, has a child, or someone in their immediate family dies. Usually this amounts to a maximum 5000 yen per person, and it’d be bad taste to opt out.

Getting Out

The same methods used for school clubs – direct, excuse, rotational – work for privates clubs, but you may not be able to get your club fees returned. If you are considering coming back after awhile or going on a rotational basis, you may have to pay the entire club fee for the year even if you only go occasionally. This is standard for Japanese club members and, although they may give you special consideration as a foreigner, don’t expect it. Generally speaking, the unused portion of your club fees is considered apology money for quitting the club.

Conclusion

Private clubs are an excellent way to meet people in your area with similar interests. They are also one of the best places to increase your Japanese ability. It is important to remember that Japanese people take clubs very seriously, so you should do your due diligence in finding a club that you’ll be happy staying with for awhile. That said, don’t let caution stop you from using clubs as a gateway into your community and Japanese culture as a whole.

Joining a School Club in Japan

Joining a club is one of the quickest ways to adjust to Japan and take part in your community. Whether you want to shoot hoops, shoot arrows (kyuudo), arrange flowers (ikebana), make pottery, study drumming (taiko), or strap on a mawashi and moonlight as a sumo wrestler, there is probably a club for you. We'll look at how to join a school club.

The Japanese Club System

Clubs have an important place in Japanese society. Students choose a club when they start junior high school and remain in that club for three years, choosing to either continue with the same club in high school or try out a different club for the last three years of schooling. Clubs are not mandatory, but there is a lot of pressure to join from teachers, parents, and peers, so there are very few students who don’t participate in some type of club during their school days. Sports related clubs like soccer and baseball start as early as grade 3 with practices every day.

Finding a School Club

If you are working for the public school system, finding a school club is very easy. Most clubs begin within an hour of the end of classes and, although it is better to talk to the teacher in charge of the club first, you can find the club you’re looking for by wandering around one of your schools. If you’re not a regular sight at a particular school, it’s important to visit the teachers’ room and announce yourself to either the principal, vice-principal, or the schedule teacher and tell them you want to watch the club activities.

Joining Up

Joining a school club is usually very easy. You need to observe the club once or twice to see if it’s what you want. If there’s a sport that you’ve been doing for a long time, you can probably just show up in training wear and try out the club on the first day – ask the club teacher beforehand. If you are good, the teacher may even ask you to take some of the training responsibilities. On the other hand, if you want to try something that you’ve never done before, it requires a bit more consideration.

If it is a training intensive club like Judo – where both participants safety depends on their knowing the proper techniques - you’ll have to catch up in a way that doesn’t affect the students’ progress. In all likelihood, however, both the students and teacher will be happy to have you. Likewise if the club is material intensive like art, you’ll want to either buy your own materials or pay the club fee and have extra materials ordered through the school. Make sure to watch two or more practices before making your decision so you know exactly what you are signing up for.

Getting Out

What do you do if you’ve joined a club and you find out it’s not for you? Ideally this won’t happen if you’ve researched the club properly. That said, it is easy to over-join and end up running yourself ragged with several clubs, each requiring significant time commitments. There are several ways to get out of a school club. Simply telling the club teacher directly is one, but it may affect your ability to join clubs at that school in the future.

Next, there is the excuse method, excusing yourself from practice - no actual reason is needed, just say you can’t make it – for a few weeks and then just not going again. This seems to be more acceptable in the non-confrontational sense. The final method is not to completely quit, but rather go on a rotational basis. For example, sports clubs often practice for two hours, with the first hour focusing technical practice and the last hour being matches. You can work out an agreement with the club teacher to show up for the last hour of the club once or twice a week – even once or twice a month – and thus keep your connection with the club and the students while reclaiming most of your time.

Summing Up

Although school clubs are good for sports and some basic cultural clubs, they are limited in a couple ways. One, you’re a teacher and an adult, so you don’t want to go full-out in a sports club like Judo and accidentally hurt one of your students. Lawsuits are very rare in Japan, particularly within club activities, but injuring a student still leaves you feeling terrible. Two, the students are usually new to the activities and sometimes the teacher is as well, so you may find the level of instruction lacking. The best reason to join school clubs is to get to know your students, rather than to get a workout or master a new art form.

Teaching English in Japan: Important Questions You Should Ask Recruiting Agencies

This article will focus on what you need to ask when choosing between recruiting agencies. For an introduction to recruiting agencies, see What You Need To Know About Recruiting Agencies.

Questions to Ask

Once you have a list of agencies offering the type of job you’re seeking, you need to ask some basic questions:

How are You Paid?

Are you paid per lesson or by hours on the job? Eikawa schools generally pay by the shift or month, and this means you speak directly to your superiors about any issues you have. In contrast, public schools can pay in a number of ways. If schools are paying you directly, or a board of education is paying you directly, then any issues you have with holidays, sick days, etc. should be taken up with them. If the school board pays the recruiting company and the recruiting company pays you, then any problems you have must be resolved through the company. This can be useful if your company is supportive, but working through a middleman can also be frustrating.

Is There Training and Support?

If this is your first time teaching, this question may be more important than how you get paid. Don’t be satisfied by a, “yes,” in this case. Ask about the training schedule and whether you can see a sample of the training manuals. Also ask for the contact information of current employees. If they refuse on the grounds of privacy it can be just that, but many agencies do have employees who volunteer to field questions. Whether the lack of references is a warning bell depends on how they answer the other questions. As a last resort, you can go into the message boards and find opinions on the training and support of just about every company, but take them with a grain of salt.

What Are the Benefits?

You need to know if you’re going to be enrolled in any benefit plans: health, pension, unemployment, etc. Generally speaking, most private companies have been skirting these issues with a, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” As a trade-off for a higher salary, foreign teachers are expected to arrange their own insurance, either with their home country in the form of extended travel coverage or with a Japanese firm. In reality, this results in a lot of un-insured foreigners praying that they don’t get seriously ill. If you are expected to carry your own insurance, make certain that the salary offered reflects that cost.

What Happens if I Get Sick?

This is stressing a point, but the reply tells you a lot about the company and the job. If being too sick to go to work results in you forfeiting salary, you might consider looking elsewhere.

Understanding Your Tradeoffs

A company that offers extensive training and support will probably offer a lower salary than a company that just places you (for a fee) and washes their hands. Similarly, company that enrolls you in benefit programs will withhold more salary than a company that doesn’t – you pay a premium to that company for taking the hassle of keeping your own insurance while in Japan. As long as you understand the trade-offs you’re making, you can find a company that suits you. It definitely involves more thought than simply going to the one with the highest salary.

Conclusion: Getting Out of the Recruiting Game

Once you find a company you like and have spent some time teaching in Japan, you’ll have more power to choose your next job if you want to stay. Living within Japan and having a valid working visa opens up many private jobs directly linked to a school board or the smaller, non-franchised eikawa schools with better terms. To compete for these positions, you’ll need to work on your Japanese, your teaching, and, most importantly, keep a record of the work you’ve already done in Japan.

Teaching English In Japan: What You Need To Know About Recruiting Agencies

Right now, getting a job in Japan usually means dealing with a recruiting agency, so this article is an introduction to recruiting agencies: why they exist, and the two types. Before we start, this article won’t specifically praise, lambaste, compare, or even mention any of the many agencies. There are many places on the internet where you can read specific criticisms and praise, but the impossibility of unanimous opinion on any particular agency combined with a complete lack impartiality minimizes the benefits of doing so.

Why Are There So Many?

The desire to learn English hasn’t waned in Japan, despite the end of the bubble economy that first prompted the dream of a bi-lingual Japan. Private eikaiwa (English conversation) schools will always be in demand as a hobby for older Japanese and a door to opportunities abroad for the younger generation. Changes in the public education system have now combined with the solid private demand to increase the overall need for ESL teachers.

Elementary English

English became mandatory for 5th and 6th graders in elementary schools in 2011. This does more than simply add two years to the current English curriculum. Elementary school teachers, at the time of this writing, aren’t trained to teach English as a subject at any point during their post-secondary degree. This is supposed to change by 2011, but native English speakers will be used as the stopgap measure until the kinks are worked out of the training program. In truth, the demand will likely remain until all untrained teachers have retired from the education system – that is, 30 to 50 years from now.

Japanese Exchange and Teaching Progamme (JET)

The nationally run JET Programme is proving too expensive for many educational boards that are seeing their overall budgets slashed even as their need for a native English teacher grows. To meet this demand, private companies have stepped in to make it more affordable to bring English teachers to Japan. Although JET is the best ticket to Japan for most people, the chances of getting on the program are dropping as the number of nationwide positions decrease. If you can’t get into JET, it doesn’t mean you should give up on coming to Japan.

Private or Public

The opening of the public system to private placements isn’t new, but they used to be much rarer. Now, if you are looking for a job in Japan, you have the choice of working at an eikawa school or within the public school system. Agencies generally specialize in one type and choosing between the two is a personal process.

Public School

Generally speaking, if you like children and teaching, going into the public school system will provide more job satisfaction. Working in the public school usually requires a lot of time and effort in the form of lesson planning and prep, so be clear on your reasons for wanting to work in Japan before you sign on.

English Conversation Schools

Eikawa schools, on the other hand, generally have prepared lessons and firm guidelines. This can be a great relief if you are teaching for the first time, but restrictive if you want to go beyond the guidebook. An eikawa school generally takes up less of your off-hours energy because most of the planning is already done, leaving you free to explore Japan. Both types can be deeply satisfying and a great way to experience Japan.

Summing Up

The explosion in the number of private companies offering teaching positions in Japan has increased the chances of finding a job. It has also increased the competition between companies trying to bring teachers over. In Important Questions You Should Ask Recruiters we look at how to measure each company and what questions you should be asking before you sign the contract.

Understanding Sumo: Techniques

Sumo can resemble judo or the defensive line of an NFL games, depending on the match. In the course of a top-rank match the pendulum may swing between raw power and technical precision many times before one wins the day. In this article, we’ll look at sumo techniques. You can find an introduction to the sport of sumo here.

Pushing

The most common technique in sumo is pushing. There are more than seven listed techniques that, with small distinctions, all amount to pushing an opponent out of the ring or down to the clay. Pushing or push-out can be misleading terms, so the translators for the sumo federation usually use force-out instead. This is meant to capture the sense of impact as well as the follow-up thrusting that is required to drive a man weighing between 260 and 400 pounds seven feet backwards against his will. We’ll bend to convention and use force-out from here on.

The tachiai, the crouched position that wrestlers start from, is vital to a successful force-out. A wrestler must reach the point of maximum momentum a split second before striking his opponent. This is easier said than done, as the space that a wrestler has to work with is often less than a step. If a wrestler comes out of the tachiai too slowly, his opponent can usually win simply by halting his momentum and causing a misstep for an easy fall. If both wrestlers come out slowly, they generally end-up deadlocked in the center of the ring and have to go to the belt. If, however, the taichiai is executed just right, it will have the double effect of forcing an opponent up and back, while also creating space for the wrestler to come in low and either get a hold of the belt or simply continue thrusting and pushing.

Belt Techniques

Top level sumo is all about the belt. Top flight wrestlers have to be effective on the belt, both in getting a dominant hold and initiating the throw. As the belt is connected to another sumo wrestler, power plays as much as role in maintaining a grip as technique does in making a successful throw. Once a wrestler gets an inside grip or outside grip on a belt, he has many techniques to choose from. Using the belt to twist and upset his opponents balance, the wrestler can sweep out his opponents leg, force down his opponents head, try for a more dominant two-handed grip, and so on.

If a wrestler can’t get a hand on the belt, he can try to execute a beltless throw using the same techniques and counting on the opponents balance to give out first. This can be a double-edged sword as flesh is more slippery than a belt, and a miss leaves the wrestler facing the wrong way with his opponent behind him. The most effective beltless throws involve catching an opponent’s arm at the elbow and using the locked joint as a lever to move him. Because of the high risk of failure, most wrestlers use beltless throws as a last resort.

“Dirty” Tricks

Just like a boxer who follows his hooks with his forehead, there are techniques in sumo that, while legal, are frowned upon. The feinting techniques, either sidestepping or jumping after the tachiai in hopes that your opponent’s momentum will carry him out, are considered cheap. A feint is acceptable to halt a losing streak or gain majority wins, but, if a wrestler does it too often, his opponents will take their revenge the next time.

A Matter of Class

The variation of techniques increases as you move up through the ranks. In the lowest ranks and the amateur levels, a vast majority of wins come from force-outs and those wins generally go to the largest wrestler. The highest ranks are dominated by technicians and large men capable of playing both sides. You don’t need to understand all the techniques to enjoy watching sumo, but understanding just how much strategy goes into a bout that lasts less than a minute can help you appreciate on a deeper level.

Understanding Sumo: An Introduction to Sumo

With its religious origins, extreme training system, and deep connection to traditional Japanese culture, it is difficult to find a sport comparable to sumo. In an age when athletes are measuring their body fat to the decimal, sumo dares to be big. It would be a mistake, however, to underestimate the athleticism of sumo wrestlers. They collide with the same force as NFL linebackers while wearing little more than a silk loincloth. This article is an introduction to the world of professional sumo.

A Brief History

The history of sumo is long, reaching back over 1000 years. Sumo was originally part of the harvest rituals that can still be found in every part in Japan in the modern form of festivals. Wrestlers would fight to gain the favor of the gods and plead for a bountiful harvest. Ancient sumo probably resembled pre-Queensbury boxing, with very few rules and a great deal of brutality. This changed when sumo was integrated into the pomp and ceremony of the Imperial Court.

To meet the tastes of the Emperor and other nobles, formalized rules removed some of the more brutal practices like eye-gouging and high kicks. Open-handed strikes to the throat and face, arm-locks, head-butting were deemed civil enough and are still acceptable techniques today. As Japan’s population became more concentrated in cities, the demand for entertainment increased. A class of professional sumo wrestlers emerged to provide it. Newly formed governing bodies organized regular tournaments outside of the traditional imperial schedule, furthering sumo’s popularity and making it Japan’s national sport.

Ceremony

Modern sumo has kept many of the trappings from its religious past. The clay ring, called dohyo, is specially constructed beneath a hanging shrine, blessed, and then purified by each wrestler before they enter. Wrestlers toss a handful of salt into the ring each time they step over the bales. Similarly, both the opening and closing ceremonies on tournament days follow the traditional formula. The yokozuna performs the opening ritual (dohyo-iri) before the upper divisions begin their matches, and the bow dance (yumitori-shiki) brings a close to the day.

Rules

The rules have also survived from the Imperial Court with very little alteration. A wrestler can win in two ways: a) he forces his opponent out of the ring or b) his opponent touches the ground with any part of his body, excepting his feet of course. The most common techniques are the push-outs (yorikiri, tsukidashi, and other variations) and throws using the mawashi (silk belt) for leverage. A wrestler cannot strike with a closed fist, kick an opponent above the knees, grab on to the portion of the mawashi covering his opponents sensitive bits, or pull on an opponent’s top not.

Training

Most professional sumo wrestlers have been doing sumo since childhood. Generally they begin with a sumo club in elementary school and, if they rank highly in national tournaments, a training stable will pick them up after junior high school. From that point on, wrestlers live at their stables and train daily. The training regime is very harsh and, in 2007, a young wrestler died as the result of a disciplinary beating that are a part of many wrestler’s daily life. Some wrestlers have come to professional sumo through university sumo programs, but they seem to have a difficult time adjusting to the physical punishment that accrues over a 15-day tournament compared to the single day team matches that make up a university-level tournament. A growing number also come from abroad, with Mongolia being one of the most prominent exporters of sumo talent.

Tournaments

There are six tournaments a year: one in January, March, May, July, September, and November. All of the wrestlers are ranked and split into their divisions. The five highest ranks fight in the top makuuchi division. From highest to lowest, these are: yokozuna, ozeki, sekiwake, komusubi, and maegarishi. In the January 2008 tournament, there will be two yokozuna, four ozeki, two, sekiwake, two komusubi, and thirty-two maegarishi. The lower divisions are similarly organized.

During tournaments, the sumo wrestlers in the upper division have one match a day and, at the end of the tournament, the wrestler with the best record wins the Emperor’s Cup. Other awards are also given out to exceptional wrestlers. Wrestlers are promoted up the ranks when they turn in consistent majority wins. If a wrestler can win two tournaments in a row while ranked at ozeki, he may be promoted to the rank of yokozuna.

Conclusion

Sumo is unique among modern sports because it has carried its origins with it as it has grown. It also one of the few sports where a combatant can find himself pitted against an opponent twice his size. If you are interested in learning more about this sometimes brutal, but always fascinating sport, we will look at each aspect more in-depth in later articles.

Related: Sumo Techniques

Thriving In Rural Japan

The continuing push for elementary English courses is increasing the opportunities to teach in Japan. Many of the new jobs, especially the private placements, are in rural settings (inaka). In this post, we will look at how to get the most out of living in rural Japan.

Welcome to the Inaka

The language barrier will be your biggest problem for the first few months. As your Japanese improves, so will your ability to meet people and make friends. In the beginning, you’re limited to English speakers and people who are patient enough to mime entire sentence with you – you may be surprised at how many of both you’ll be able to find in your town. While you’re learning your survival Japanese, however, there are still some steps you can take to make your life improve immediately.

Get to Know Your Town

Once you’ve settled the practical side of things like finding the post office, it’s time to enjoy some sightseeing. Even the smallest town in Japan has something worth seeing. These can be historical sites, local museums, public parks, temples, shrines, or simply the natural beauty of the countryside. City halls, town halls, public libraries, and community centers often carry tourist-type information pamphlets about your area. These will likely be in Japanese, but you should be able to hunt down someone who is at least willing to draw you a map. You may even find someone who is willing to guide you through the sights once they see you’re interested.

Clubs

Clubs are very important key to Japanese society and are covered in more detail in a different article. Briefly, clubs will help you get to know people in your town, and those people will be able to answer most, if not all, questions you have about your new home. The range of clubs that exist in even a small village is staggering. Taking the above example of sightseeing in your town, many rural communities have walking/hiking clubs that meet regularly for nature walks. You’ll be able to find a club that meets at least one of your interests.

Local Festivals

Most towns in rural Japan have at least a fall festival to celebrate the harvest and a cherry blossom viewing festival, and many towns have several festivals a year. In cities and towns that have been made up of several smaller villages, it is not unusual for each part to keep its local festivals in addition to the amalgamated festivals. The town events calendar is useful for keeping up with this when you learn how to read it, but constantly asking co-workers and friends will help in the meantime. Festivals are a great way to meet your students and their families as well as other people in the community who wouldn’t know you otherwise. You may even find yourself dancing in the parade, dressed in a yukata and a straw hat.

Local Industry

Take every opportunity to learn about the local industry in your town. There is a large amount of specialization in Japanese agriculture and fisheries. Local specialties vary widely with towns specializing in dried squid, sticky rice, spicy miso, black garlic, woven baskets, sheep meat, basically anything you can imagine. Although not many people hope to be placed in a town known for dried squid, actually going out on the midnight ocean and helping pull in the nets while high-powered lights lure the squid to the surface is an experience few people get in Japan. Also, on a practical note, a day spent learning to plant rice or a night spent fishing squid often results in never having to pay for squid or rice during your time in Japan.

Conclusion

Japanese people truly do want to show you the best Japan they can, but they can be shy and, particularly in the case of rural areas, may have a inferiority complex about their town. This is unfortunate as it’s the local events and traditions that make your stay in rural Japan a fascinating and utterly unique experience. By showing an interest in your town, you’ll encourage them to think of you every time there is an event. This will pay dividends in both your relationship with your town and your satisfaction with your life in Japan.

Surviving In Rural Japan

Many foreign teachers come to Japan with hopes of being placed in a large city, usually one of the big four (Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka, Kyoto). The level of competition for teaching jobs in well-known cities is very fierce, with the majority of jobs going to experienced teachers that are already living in Japan. For an aspiring ESL teacher coming to Japan for the first time, the chances are good that you’ll be placed in smaller cities or rural areas. So we’ll look at how to survive in rural Japan. 

The Good News

Generally speaking, the smaller pool of foreign teachers willing to work in rural Japan means that these towns and villages offer more generous terms than similar teaching positions within the large cities. This can include subsidized housing, transportation, lighter workload, and much more. Your cost of living will be much lower than in a large Japanese city regardless of the actual terms in your contract. Added to this are the long-term advantages of learning more Japanese and actually joining a Japanese community, two things that are by no means certain in an urban placement.

Housing – Can I Move?

Contracts vary, but your employer usually sets up housing in advance. Ideally, this saves you a lot of headaches, but there are cases where people are unsatisfied with the housing situation. If your house has a bear living your garden, a squat toilet, or some other sticking point that you’re unable to live with, then move. Very few contracts stipulate that you must live in the house procured for you and, if your contract does, it’s definitely something you’ll want to bring up before signing.

Moving may mean moving to the nearest city if your town doesn’t have a better apartment or house for rent. In this case, you will likely have to buy a car as well, but if the state of your housing is bad enough to have a negative affect on your experience in Japan, then it’s better that you move. Apartment and housing rentals are advertised in booklets you can find in convenience store stands or you can use a rental agency like My City Home, basically an office where landlords list vacant rooms. You may have to pay the infamous, “key money,” meaning three months of rent upfront plus a deposit, but the overall peace of mind is worth it. 

Taking Stock

The next step is practical: walk around your town and take stock of what is there. Your watch list should focus on necessities – grocery stores, hospitals, police stations, banks, fire stations, post offices, gas stations, public buildings, and convenience stores – and you should make yourself a simple map as you go. Most of these buildings will be obvious, but you may have to walk into some buildings to make sure that what looks like a library is actually a library. If you are going into a town to replace someone, you can save yourself some of the legwork by asking your predecessor about the house and amenities. That said, you can’t take everything your predecessor says as gospel, as he or she might not have actually done all the legwork.

Don’t Panic

If your town seems vastly under-developed, don’t panic. It may be that you didn’t register everything on your first survey. Very small towns of less than 3000 may not have a large supermarket, but they’ll usually have farmer’s markets or something similar to fill the gap. This is not ideal, but it’ll do in a pinch. Also, towns that small often combine to make a district for the purposes of hiring an ESL teacher, so the chances are good that you’ll be placed in the most populous town in your district. If you are placed in a truly small town, you’ll probably want a car to go to the nearest city do your shopping. 

Learn to Love Trial and Error

The steps for surviving in rural Japan aren’t that different from surviving in any foreign country. You need to make sure your everyday necessities are taken care of. Trial and error will take on a whole new meaning as you struggle through everyday tasks like shopping, but the challenge of telling squid guts from spaghetti sauce is one of the things that makes working abroad a life-changing experience.

Surviving a Japanese Onsen

A trip to Japan is incomplete without a trip to an onsen. Onsens, the hot springs that serve as public baths in Japan, can be confusing for a first timer. However, this addictive tradition is well worth the effort. Here is a quick guide to getting in and out of your first onsen without shaming anyone’s ancestors.

Packing Your Kit 

An onsen kit will make your first onsen go smoothly. It should include:

1. A large towel to dry off with. 
2. A small towel – basically a “modesty” towel to cover your bits. 
3. Shampoo, conditioner, and soap. 
4. Any other necessaries like a razor and a toothbrush. 

Onsens generally sell all these items, but you’ll find it cheaper to pick them up at a convenience store before going. Soap and shampoo are free at higher-priced onsens.

Paying and Undressing 

Many onsens have vending machine style ticket dispensers, but you need to read some Kanji in order to use them. The symbol for adult is 大人 literally meaning, “big person.” If there’s no machine or you can’t understand it, simply go to the front counter and pay at the till. An onsen will normally cost between 400~700 yen. Most onsens are split into men’s (男) and women’s (女). The proper change room should be obvious by color; men’s is usually marked by a blue or green hanging and women’s by a red or pink one. Check with the counter if you have any doubts – better to be safe.

The change room will have cubbyholes with baskets for your clothes and coin lockers for your valuables. The coin lockers return your coins, so use them if they’re there. If there are no lockers, leave your valuables at the front.

Before Getting In 

At this point you’ll be carrying your kit and nervously adjusting your modesty towel, but it’s not time to jump it yet. Inside the onsen, there will be washing areas and a pile of small plastic bowls and stools. Grab a bowl and and find yourself an open spot. Traditionally, you would fill the bowl with water and pour it over yourself to wash, but modern onsens have showers as well as taps. Clean yourself thoroughly before getting into the onsen.

If you are going to shave, do it after going into the onsen at least once just in case you cut yourself. Nobody wants to share a bath with someone who is bleeding. Also, you can carry your modesty towel with you, but wring out any soap or shampoo first.

Leaving 

After slowly boiling yourself clean, you reverse the process: rinse your washing area, put the stool and bowl back, and get dressed. Remember to dry off with the modesty towel before stepping into the change room so you don’t drip all over the floor. Once you’re out, thank the lady at the desk and congratulate yourself on surviving your first onsen (and probably not your last). An onsen is an excellent experience that you can have anywhere in Japan. That said, Aoni Onsen in Aomori still has my vote.

Lessons For Teaching In Japan: Time

Elementary ESL Lessons: What Time Is It Now?

Preparation Materials: Vocabulary cards, number flash cards, plastic practice clocks (optional).

Suggested Level: Elementary grades 1 to 5

Introduction

Time is a great lesson for the students to learn. It combines numbers with a sentence they can use. For younger students you only need numbers 1-12, and older students can learn to use numbers 0-60.

How to Tell Time

In English we say time in two ways. When the time is on the hour, seven for example, we say, “It’s seven o’clock.” When there is a minute component, we say it as a set of two numbers. For example, 12:45 becomes, “It’s twelve forty-five.”

Preparation Activity: Group Game

The teacher plays music and the students walk around. When the music stops, the teacher yells a number. For example, “six.” Students have five seconds to make groups of six and sit down. Repeat several times with different numbers.

Main Activity: What Time Is It Now, Mr. Wolf?

• Students line up at the back of the room. Mr. Wolf stands at the front with his back to them.
• They say, “What time is it now, Mr. Wolf?
• Mr. Wolf answers. For example, “It’s three o’clock.”
• Students take three steps towards Mr. Wolf.
• Repeat until the students are close to Mr.Wolf.
• When Mr. Wolf says, “lunchtime,” the students have to race for the back wall to be safe.
• Any students Mr. Wolf touches will join him at the front of the classroom for the next round.

Level Up: Time Trials

Students can make simple paper clocks (or use clocks from the first graders). Students stand up. Students ask the teacher, “what time is it now?” and the teacher answers. Students move their clock to the correct time. Students that are wrong, sit down. Last student standing wins.

Review: Make time part of the Greeting.

Time can be practiced everyday like, “How are you?” or “What day is it today?” By practicing everyday questions and answers, student will be more confident speaking English. Some elementary schools do English greetings every morning – you can too!

Final Tips

• Count everything to practice numbers. Count the students with red shirts, the number of flashcards, everything.
• Students need to practice asking questions as well as answering them. After the students answer a question, they can ask another student or the teacher the same question.
• If your students get nervous about speaking English or being singled out, build their confidence through active group and team activities. You can transfer their stress to something embarrassing but fun, like gesturing or racing against other teams. If you praise students for doing their best, everybody wins!
• Most schools have a fake clock for teaching time to first graders. This can be used for the English class as well.

Elementary ESL Lessons: Easter Holidays

Holidays: Easter Word Hunt 

Preparation Materials: Vocabulary cards, colored paper, word search sheets.
Suggested Level: Elementary grades 3 to 6

Introduction 

Easter is a holiday celebrated in countries around the world. It is originally a Christian religious holiday, but there are also many other ways to celebrate. On Easter morning, parents like to hide little chocolate eggs and candies around the house for their children to find. Children collect the chocolate and candies in an Easter basket. This is called an Easter Egg Hunt!

Easter Vocabulary

Here is some fun Easter vocabulary:

• Easter
• spring
• bunny
• Easter egg
• hunt
• basket
• chocolate
• color
• decorate

Preparation Activity: Writing Practice

To play Word Hunt with your students, you will need letter cards. Each word should be written in a different color or on different colors of paper. Give each group one color and a list of scrambled letters to write. Cut out each letter of the word. To make the game harder, include extra letters too!

Main Activity: Word Hunt

Use the Easter vocabulary words to make a Word Hunt for your students.

1. Hide the letters of the vocabulary words around the classroom.
2. Let the students search for the letters.
3. The students assemble the letters to make their vocabulary word.
4. They show the teacher the word and get a sticker.
5. Review the words as a class.

Review: Word Search

You can find word searches on the Internet. These are rows of letters with vocabulary words hidden in them. To review Easter, you can give your students a word search with the words you studied. Some websites give you the option of building your own, but may charge money. You can make word searches by hand using a grid or on your computer using Excel, Google Sheets, etc.

C	G	G	F	O
H	R	K	M	G
O	U	B	P	G
C	A	N	R	M
O	N	G	T	N
L	E	G	G	Y
A	F	R	N	D
T	E	N	E	A
E	U	W	Z	X
B	E	P	U	C

Final Tips

• You can write sentence instead of words. For example, “I like red Easter eggs.” This helps the students practice the order of the words.
• For fun, you can make the letter cards egg-shaped!

Lessons For Teaching In Japan: Countries - A Trip Around The World

Countries: A Trip Around The World

Preparation Materials: Bingo sheets, stamps, vocabulary cards.

Level: Upper elementary to first year junior high. 

Introduction 

One of the reasons to study English is because it is an international language. Many travelers from all over use English to communicate in different countries. We will look at a lesson that teaches countries as well as some useful travel phrases. Spinning the Globe There are many countries to choose from. An ideal mix combines countries that students know (United States, Russia) with countries they don’t know (South Africa, Iceland). For example:

• Canada 
• China 
• Brazil 
• South Korea 
• Italy 
• India 
• Egypt 
• Taiwan 
• England 
• Australia 
• Russia 

Preparation Activity: Interview Bingo

• The teacher prepares bingo sheets with country flags. 
• Each students is given a secret country card. 
• Students can circle their own flag on the sheet. 
• Students meet, do paper, rock, scissors, and the winner asks, “Where are you from?” 
• The loser answers, “I’m from [his or her card].” 
• The winner circles that flag. 
• Repeat. 
• When students get bingo, they go to the teacher for a prize. 

Main Activity: Let's Travel

• Students get a passport from teacher. 
• Inside, they write their name and country (the same secret card), and draw a picture of their face. For higher-level students, you can add more information. 
• The teacher sits at desks with different stamps representing each country. You can use some students as countries too as long as there is time to rotate them. 
• The students approach the desks and the teacher asks, “Where are you from?” 
• The student answers, “I’m from ~.” 
• The teacher asks, “Where are you going?” 
• The student answers, “I’m going to [any country]” 
• The teacher stamps their passport with that country’s stamp. 
• Repeat. 

Note: If you can find country stamps, that’s great. If not, stamp each flashcard so you and the students can remember what stamp belongs to what country.

Level Up: Customs Interview Instead of sticking to the pattern, challenge the students by adding new questions. For example: “How old are you?” “What’s your name?” “When is your birthday?” Or: “Where are you going?” “I’m going to Brazil” “Why?” “I like soccer.” This encourages students to think outside of the pattern.

Review: My Travel Diary 

After the lesson is over, students should have a passport full of different stamps. To review, pick a student and ask them to list the places they went in English. You can even use past tense: “Where did you go?” “I went to Canada, Brazil, China…”

Final Tips

• You can turn the vocabulary into a quiz by giving the students hints rather than showing them the cards. For example: “This country is hot. It has many crocodiles and kangaroos.” 
• Controlling the flow of students is important during shopping and passport games. Try to make sure that no country/shop is being ignored.