Oh my goodness...
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
My First Elementary School Visit!
Wow. These kids are GENKI!!! I'm still exhausted from chasing them around all day! I had two classes, which seemed a little strange as there are NINE students in the whole school!!
At first they sat and listened attentively, as we tried to find my home on the map:
Then things got more exciting as we traced away:
Then before you know it we're playing 'Red Light, Green Light' and runnning from wall to wall!
Please note my incredibly patriotic attire..
Visit number two is next week, stay tuned...
At first they sat and listened attentively, as we tried to find my home on the map:
Then things got more exciting as we traced away:
Then before you know it we're playing 'Red Light, Green Light' and runnning from wall to wall!
Please note my incredibly patriotic attire..
Visit number two is next week, stay tuned...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Photo Booth Fun!
The beloved pastime of every junior high school student: print club (or purikura in the Japanese ‘let’s-shorten-everything style). Simply put, they are the super successor of the passport photo booth. Not only can you take an incessant amount of differently posed shots, these machines can superimpose various images over the top of your carefully positioned photos-see below for our watermelon adventure (that actually took place behind a big green plastic block):
You can also, if you so wish (and I did), chose to include props and or costumes to enhance your lovely photos. There are racks upon racks of costumes-any get-up you like from French maid to a baseball player to a Disney character or a soldier. Although what better costume than a Japanese school uniform!
And when all of your options are exhausted and you’ve finished your paparazzi stint, you can then proceed to draw/stamp/embellish your photos of choice:
There is also an option to have these little gems sent to your mobile phone, for free!
Japanese teenagers have been known to spend all day in these booths, jumping from one to the next (there are whole floors of these machines) in a bid to fill up their purikura books. Often this is their most prized possession as it contains years of photos. A common story is that when a Japanese girl has lost her bag, the first thing she is worried about is this book. Sadly mine is a little empty at the moment..
Overall a very addictive experience, and at $4 a pop it’s definitely one I’ll return to!
You can also, if you so wish (and I did), chose to include props and or costumes to enhance your lovely photos. There are racks upon racks of costumes-any get-up you like from French maid to a baseball player to a Disney character or a soldier. Although what better costume than a Japanese school uniform!
And when all of your options are exhausted and you’ve finished your paparazzi stint, you can then proceed to draw/stamp/embellish your photos of choice:
There is also an option to have these little gems sent to your mobile phone, for free!
Japanese teenagers have been known to spend all day in these booths, jumping from one to the next (there are whole floors of these machines) in a bid to fill up their purikura books. Often this is their most prized possession as it contains years of photos. A common story is that when a Japanese girl has lost her bag, the first thing she is worried about is this book. Sadly mine is a little empty at the moment..
Overall a very addictive experience, and at $4 a pop it’s definitely one I’ll return to!
Newsflash!
On a side note, I also made the local paper this week..
Roughly translated it says I'm happy to be here, like the countryside and looking forward to meeting everyone. I actually wrote it first in Japanese, but it came back with a lot of mistakes, so it's good to see it makes sense on te final copy!
Roughly translated it says I'm happy to be here, like the countryside and looking forward to meeting everyone. I actually wrote it first in Japanese, but it came back with a lot of mistakes, so it's good to see it makes sense on te final copy!
Mobile Mania!
In a land where anything that’s thinkable is already electronically do-able, and where the everyday problems already have a myriad of gadgetized solutions, I am in love. Japan is by far the leader of the pack when it comes to the digital world. Let’s start with my mobile/cell phone (or keitai in Japanese). Not only can I access high speed internet, take 5.2 megapixel photos/videos, send mail to any email address in the world, and receive calls personalised by a plethora of mesmerising ring tones, I can also access instant GPS and directions and watch full-res TV:
However, my favourite function by far is the osaifu-keitai (the wallet phone). I can link my bank account details to this lovely little device so that when I go shopping all I do is hand over my phone, which is then scanned at the register like another grocery item, and kapish-all is paid! Marrrrvelous! No fumbling with my ever-growing collection of 1 yen coins (1 cent)!
Another function that serves us foreigners well is the character reader. Simply point and shoot the camera at any Japanese character, be it on a sign, a magazine, a menu…and the camera will then digitize that image and translate the character for you! Ingenious!! The crazy part about all of this is, unlike back home, these characteristics are standard on Japanese phones, and have been for a number of years.
Then of course comes the necessary ‘blinging’. Japanese girls are renowned for having charms hanging of their phones that often outweigh the phone itself! There is a massive market for these ‘straps’ as they’re called-you want plastic sushi hanging off your phone? You got it! There is also a mobile craze over here called ‘deco-den’. It’s where you try and fit as many crazy/glittery/delicious-looking objects onto the outside of your phone. Here is my attempt:
It makes for easy finding in the dark. And my fellow teachers at school think it’s hilarious!
Though I’ve clearly been outdone by the natives, who do it best:
On a side note this trend has also spread to fingernails:
My lovely keitai also has about 7 different coloured lights that I can program to different settings, so I am never without an amber-fading-into-teal message alert.
Needless to say my poor little Aussie Nokia is paling drastically in comparison…
However, my favourite function by far is the osaifu-keitai (the wallet phone). I can link my bank account details to this lovely little device so that when I go shopping all I do is hand over my phone, which is then scanned at the register like another grocery item, and kapish-all is paid! Marrrrvelous! No fumbling with my ever-growing collection of 1 yen coins (1 cent)!
Another function that serves us foreigners well is the character reader. Simply point and shoot the camera at any Japanese character, be it on a sign, a magazine, a menu…and the camera will then digitize that image and translate the character for you! Ingenious!! The crazy part about all of this is, unlike back home, these characteristics are standard on Japanese phones, and have been for a number of years.
Then of course comes the necessary ‘blinging’. Japanese girls are renowned for having charms hanging of their phones that often outweigh the phone itself! There is a massive market for these ‘straps’ as they’re called-you want plastic sushi hanging off your phone? You got it! There is also a mobile craze over here called ‘deco-den’. It’s where you try and fit as many crazy/glittery/delicious-looking objects onto the outside of your phone. Here is my attempt:
It makes for easy finding in the dark. And my fellow teachers at school think it’s hilarious!
Though I’ve clearly been outdone by the natives, who do it best:
On a side note this trend has also spread to fingernails:
My lovely keitai also has about 7 different coloured lights that I can program to different settings, so I am never without an amber-fading-into-teal message alert.
Needless to say my poor little Aussie Nokia is paling drastically in comparison…
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
A Day in the Life of a Junior High School student
Here’s a little insight into JHS life here in Japan. There are many interesting differences!
Junior High School students are years 7-9 back home (they’re called 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders here).The students arrive at school at around 8am or earlier, for club practice (i.e. a sport or craft club) and extra study. The day officially starts at around 8.20 with homeroom, followed by the first four periods of the day. Each year has their own room, and it is the teachers who change rooms, not the students. In my school there are about 30-35 students in each year, so it’s pretty easy to keep track of.
After the morning classes comes lunch. Lunch is served American-style, complete with a tiny carton of milk. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are rice days, and Wednesday is non-rice day (i.e. bread), and I look forward to Wednesday lunch the most (the rice is getting to me..and my thighs!). It’s often a dinner sized portion, so I go home still quite full from lunch. My JTE told me today that the reason our staffroom is so quiet at lunch is because our school is famous for bad lunches and nobody is enjoying it! Ha ha. Every day has a calorie listing, and a monthly menu is displayed on the staff noticeboard. The students eat lunch together in the classroom, and serve each other, and then clean up after themselves. While lunch is happening, music is blared over the loudspeakers, and it’s been a great way to hear the latest Japanese music since my radio is broken :-(
After lunch comes two more periods and then cleaning. Japanese schools don’t have cleaners; it’s all done by the students. Of particular note is the cleaning song. Every day this week it’s been John Nash’s ‘I Can See Clearly Now’, it’s quite humorous!
After this comes afternoon homeroom, where notices for the next day are given. Following this, most, if not all, students go to their club activities. The most common ones in the schools I’m at are: volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball, tennis, and culture club. These clubs go til something like 7pm, or until it gets dark. Clubs are also held on weekends and in holiday time (yes, kids still come to school in holiday time, and are given extensive holiday homework specifically set out for each day). Japanese students live and breathe school. It’s such a common sight to see student in school uniforms on the weekends!
Junior High is fairly cruisy, and students have varying competency levels, as there is not entrance exam for JHS as there is for Senior High School. The kids first start learning English at Junior High School, so I’m learning to talk really, really, really slow. After Junior High School kids sit an exam to go onto Senior High School, in order to get into their school of choice. Senior High School is optional here, but 97% of students go on to it. Once in Senior High things start to build up, and ‘cram school’ for the university entrance exams becomes a regular activity after clubs finish. Senior High School students often don’t get home til 10om at night, and that’s if they don’t have to travel far. Unlike Australia, Senior High School students sit an exam for each university they want to enter-some can have as many as 10 exams! There is a high rate of student suicide at this age, as the pressure , understandably, just gets too much.
I’m very thankful I got placement in a Junior High School!
Junior High School students are years 7-9 back home (they’re called 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders here).The students arrive at school at around 8am or earlier, for club practice (i.e. a sport or craft club) and extra study. The day officially starts at around 8.20 with homeroom, followed by the first four periods of the day. Each year has their own room, and it is the teachers who change rooms, not the students. In my school there are about 30-35 students in each year, so it’s pretty easy to keep track of.
After the morning classes comes lunch. Lunch is served American-style, complete with a tiny carton of milk. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are rice days, and Wednesday is non-rice day (i.e. bread), and I look forward to Wednesday lunch the most (the rice is getting to me..and my thighs!). It’s often a dinner sized portion, so I go home still quite full from lunch. My JTE told me today that the reason our staffroom is so quiet at lunch is because our school is famous for bad lunches and nobody is enjoying it! Ha ha. Every day has a calorie listing, and a monthly menu is displayed on the staff noticeboard. The students eat lunch together in the classroom, and serve each other, and then clean up after themselves. While lunch is happening, music is blared over the loudspeakers, and it’s been a great way to hear the latest Japanese music since my radio is broken :-(
After lunch comes two more periods and then cleaning. Japanese schools don’t have cleaners; it’s all done by the students. Of particular note is the cleaning song. Every day this week it’s been John Nash’s ‘I Can See Clearly Now’, it’s quite humorous!
After this comes afternoon homeroom, where notices for the next day are given. Following this, most, if not all, students go to their club activities. The most common ones in the schools I’m at are: volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball, tennis, and culture club. These clubs go til something like 7pm, or until it gets dark. Clubs are also held on weekends and in holiday time (yes, kids still come to school in holiday time, and are given extensive holiday homework specifically set out for each day). Japanese students live and breathe school. It’s such a common sight to see student in school uniforms on the weekends!
Junior High is fairly cruisy, and students have varying competency levels, as there is not entrance exam for JHS as there is for Senior High School. The kids first start learning English at Junior High School, so I’m learning to talk really, really, really slow. After Junior High School kids sit an exam to go onto Senior High School, in order to get into their school of choice. Senior High School is optional here, but 97% of students go on to it. Once in Senior High things start to build up, and ‘cram school’ for the university entrance exams becomes a regular activity after clubs finish. Senior High School students often don’t get home til 10om at night, and that’s if they don’t have to travel far. Unlike Australia, Senior High School students sit an exam for each university they want to enter-some can have as many as 10 exams! There is a high rate of student suicide at this age, as the pressure , understandably, just gets too much.
I’m very thankful I got placement in a Junior High School!
About me
- Samantha Annetts
- Tokyo, Japan
- My fourth year in Japan, recently vegan with an interest for all things Japan (almost). Always looking for my next adventure/tasty meal!
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