Catch up post!

Well I'm really sorry if I worried anyone through my lack of communication, it's just I have been so incredibly busy I just haven't had the time to write anything half decent, I also had a period of personal life difficulty which was taking up a lot of my thoughts and time. I did write a really long entry in the middle of November (about 5000 words) But then I messed it up when I was trying to copy some pictures in it and lost it all. I was so disheartened it took me a few weeks to get the balls to write another one.

Things have changed a lot in the last few weeks, Including me physically, kind of by accident actually. I've taken to working out now more regularly, and have gone wall climbing with a Japanese friend of mine a few times. I'm trying to find the motivation to push ups in the morning too but so far not quite managed it. On top of that, instead of negotiating my way through a Japanese barber shop, a colleague at work offered to cut my hair for me, it was free so I wasn't going to complain. Unfortunately it was difficult to communicate the kind of look I wanted to achieve, so my new hair cut is a kind of weird hybrid of my former haircut and a kind of pseudo Japanese haircut look. To be honest after the placement I think I'm just going to say to hell with it, while travelling, and just let it grow, grow, grow. Same with shaving too, I'm not sure it's worth paying for razors and stuff when I'm travelling, so I'll probably just let it go a bit wild, and have something of caveman look to frighten everyone with when I return to the UK. It's not like I'm going to have to look reasonably respectable for an employer like I do at the moment anyway.

Other interesting things coming up in the next few weeks, I'm at the moment putting plans together to travel to Tokyo for New Year. This will be absolutely amazing if it all pays off. There are 3 main reasons I want to go. First off, New Year Party in the capital of Japan... what more can you ask for?! I'm hoping to be at Tokyo Tower new year street party with 10,000 other people to watch the release of a million balloons at midnight on Dec. 31st. Second January 1st is the day almost all Japanese travel to shrines all over the country to pray for good luck for the year ahead. It's an incredible atmosphere at shrines on Jan 1st, and particularly at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo where over 1 MILLION people will pass through the shrine in one day to pay their respects. I hope to be among them. Thirdly on January 3rd Emperor Akihito will be became a public appearance at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. This is a very big deal. The emperor is simply not accessible to the general public at all. The Imperial Family is nothing like the British Royal Family, The emperor only makes about two public appearance a year, once on his birthday, and once on January the 3rd. Other members of the royal family are even less frequently seen. No one really knows what goes on in the Imperial Household, and Japanese get uncomfortable when talking about the emperor, even today. I have noticed this the few times it has come up in conversation. It's also one of the very few times when the general public are allowed inside the Imperial Palace grounds. It's also a highly unusual event as there is very rarely any public outpouring of emotion in this country. In my opinion an unmissable opportunity. On top of all the cultural opportunities, I'm planning on travelling to Tokyo with my good Canadian friend and fellow gapper Craig, who is currently working at the Osaka district hospital. I'm also planning on travelling with Thunusha, an American English teacher I met here in Nishio City. The three of us, plus Thunusha's boyfriend, should have one hell of a week. Even better Thunusha's good friends with some semi-famous band from the US, who are in Tokyo at the moment, so we've been guaranteed some places to stay and some interesting events to go to. But as always I've got a good selection of back up plans, because some things are bound to go titsup, that's just one of the laws of travelling. I might even get a chance to return to Akihabra which would be excellent, because I didn't really get a feel for it last time unfortunately. I remember it fondly because it was one of my first experiences of Japan.

Other things that have changed in the last few weeks, I've found that I've diverged quite significantly from my gap partners out here. I rarely socialise with them now, except through work. It's unfortunate, but we've just found that there is less and less that we agree on in so many areas. Things have unfortunately degenerated into arguments a few times. Cooperation between the three of us is not essential, but it's a definite plus. There are many points of conflict, I think the attitude they take to our employers is at times a bit insulting, given our employers generosity, some of the things they get up to I consider a bit risky, considering our situation. I'm all up for having fun, in fact I will do some of the most ridiculously stupid things at times (let's just say News Streaking is on my to do list ) but being here is not like at home, and so we have to make some exceptions. I think I will go into details into some of the difficulties we face post-placement, it's not in my interest to stir up feelings now. But as a note to anyone considering gap years, make sure you can work with the people your given, and if you can't. make sure you can deal with that too! I'm not the only one who's been in difficulty either, a few of the other gappers in other parts of the country have expressed frustration at some of the attitudes of their partners. But we knew when we signed up that we would likely be paired with complete strangers and asked to cooperate for several months. It was in black and white and we knew it was coming, so for me I will just see this a test and lesson in dealing with people with completely different attitudes to you. Perhaps if I handled this better there would have not been a degeneration into arguments at times, but that should just be considered a lesson well learnt.

Cooperation and working with people is especially important here. At home is you find you don't get along with someone, you just withdraw from their company, and move onto someone else. Out here, there is no such luxury. In three months I can remember every single time I have seen someone who was not Japanese in Nishio City, that's how homogeneous this society is. If you don't get on with someone, you can withdraw from their company but that leaves you in a very difficult situation. You can't just pop into the local pub and strike up a conversation with a stranger, because it just does not work like that here. Socialising in Japan is like an ever-increasing spiral. You meet a person, who will introduce you to their friends, and if their friends like you, then they will introduce you to their friends.... etc etc. So, as a foreigner with no natural contacts you can find yourself almost completely isolated, a few fellow foreigners here in Nishio have been expressing their feelings of loneliness that they have been experiencing, it's especially bad if you do not get on well with your employer, as many many many social connections are made through work, and it's one of the few places where the "don't socialise with strangers" rules does not apply... Now all of these feeling of loneliness are amplified by a million by the language barrier too. However if you are lucky/hardworking enough to be fluent this country is your playground. You have to enterprising, motivated and a bit brave to break into Japanese social circles as a foreigner with limited Japanese but it can be done.

Despite this however most Japanese are curious, but shy of foreigners. Everyday you will see people steal glances at you, and you know that they would love to ask you questions but never will. I would say some of my best friends here are Japanese. Some Japanese (especially those learning English) will be very pleased to meet you, and will seemingly lap up every word you say (You're British? How cute! You're a University Student? How amazing!) Many will ask to have a photo taken with you, which I feel kind of weird about because it's like being claimed as a trophy, to show off to friends, but whatever. Given my personality (an attention hog at the best of times, unfortunately) it's great fun at parties when you get a lot of attention from people (especially girls)

And don't even let me get started on Japanese women. In my opinion physically they are stunningly beautiful and so cute. But of course everyone knows that relationships with people need to be built on more than looks. Many Japanese girls would be very interested in having a foreign boyfriend, sometimes for the wrong reasons as it carries a certain Kudos in some sectors. Often foreigners are considered exotic looking and beautiful. Some girls will (very cutely) go all giggly when you talk to them, some will get very touchy feely, some will be flat out uninterested. And some are "Eigo Bandits" This is a nickname for a girl who may be very flirty with you, and give signs that she's interested in a relationship, like taking you out on dates. But is really only interested in learning your English ("Eigo" is the Japanese word for English). Now I have a few female friends here in Japan who I do only meet to practice English (and Japanese) with. Such as the girls in my English Class. As long as both parties understand that, there's not much scope for things to go wrong.

Getting involved with Japanese romantically is a potentially thorny area. It's aggravated by differences in expectation in culture. Here it's considered normal to be married off by 25, and making babies by the late twenties. In fact it's not just normal, it's the expectation. Marriage is not like marriage at home, in which the predominant motivator seems to be love. Here love is a strong factor, but financial compatibility, working preferences all play a much stronger role than at home. In a way marriage can be better understood by thinking of it as a partnership pact in which both parties will benefit massively from in their work lives. I sadly see a reflection of this in some of the children at the nursery, the youngest group contains babies that are maybe 9-10 months old. Yes that's right, 10 month year old babies that are taken to a nursery EVERY DAY five days a week. That's just the way it is, Japanese people don't love their families any less than western families it's just the work ethic is incredible. Most of my Japanese colleagues start work a the same time as me but finish much later. Public affection is also a big no no. I can't remember the last time I saw a couple embracing in public. Even couples rarely hold hands. In a way it's refreshing, because there's nothing worse than being single and seeing loads of happy couples together eating each others faces off. (hmm) But I think if I was in a relationship here, it would be hard to switch off my emotional desires and needs everytime we where in public. As a foreigner your stay in Japan is very often going to be temporary. Casual relationships are less common here, but they do occur. Your temporary status is often a big off putter for Japanese girls.

Japan is a country that is either going to shoot to new heights in the new century, or fall spectacularly behind, like the United Kingdom in the middle of the 2oth Century. The primary problem with Japan's development is rigid conservatism in it's political and business machinery. The Prime Minister is almost always over 70, firms rarely recruit from outside organisations, god forbid outside countries. Sony only recently appointed it's first foreign CEO, while groups in the West have been doing it for years (Arun Sarin in the case of Vodafone for example) these are just some points that are an absolute strength and an absolute weakness in Japan's economy. Without it's rigidity Japan would never have managed to achieve the world's number two economy, they would never have managed to dominate the electronics and automotive industries as effectively as they have. And there is no doubt about it. The Japanese produce amazingly sophisticated high quality and reasonably priced goods.

However the biggest threat it is the demographic timebomb. Japan's population is aging far more rapidly than it is being replaced. Birth rates are extremely low, and have been for two decades (perhaps a symptom of the social system?) the boom population of the post war years is approaching retirement, pension costs will mushroom. Care for the elderly is already a big business in Japan (In this respect, I'm on the frontline of this at the hospital). In 2005 the number of deaths exceeded the number of births.

Now we have the same problem in the UK. The birth rate is falling rapidly and the population is aging, although not quite to the same extent. But these shortfalls are made up for by immigration. Immigration is what keeps the United Kingdom prosperous, same with the United States. I am 100% certain that the US would not be a superpower if they had not allowed so much immigration in the past, and continuing today. Likewise had the United Kingdom not allowed migrants in the 1950's and 60's the country would most likely have vanished in a black hole somewhere from chronic labour shortages. Japan's government is just, only just starting to get the message on immigration. Starting in the 1990's the Japanese government invited many people of Japanese descent in South America (chiefly Brazil) who's families had been there two or three generations, back to Japan as full fledged citizens. This is the first time ever in Japan's history that there has been an major immigration programme initiated by the government. The reasoning being that because they had Japanese ancestry they would be easily compatible with Japanese culture right?

Wrong. 10 years on the Japanese Brazilians are still here and they speak Portuguese not Japanese, all over Nishio there are Brazilian import shops opening up and doing a roaring trade on Brazilian goods. It's impossible how to say how damn strange it looks to see a foreign shop in Japan. It looks so out of place. At the nursery I work at once a week about a third of the kids are of Brazilian descent and they are really very different to the other children. They shout more, misbehave more, punch kick and bite you more, talk more etc etc. This is just a cultural difference, or perhaps in stems from them feeling marginalised in a foreign country... I don't know. But most of the staff have absolutely no idea how to manage these wilder children. Only one of the staff can speak Portuguese. Japanese child management seems to work on the basis of "you don't cooperate, you miss out, your loss..." The staff never "punish" the children if they misbehave. Now I recognise that you can't chain a three year old to a wall and flog them if they misbehave, but you can do more than just say "that's not very nice, apologise" maybe a temporary forced exclusion from activities, or taking their food away when they refuse to eat it, when they throw it on the floor, instead of refilling their bowl. In short many Japanese, unfortunately including those in power don't really seem to know how to handle immigration, or the idea of multiculturalism. I think they will get it eventually and experience they are gaining from it is invaluable in the future development of the country.

This is not a slur on the Japanese nursery system either. The staff are hardworking and diligent and love their work. The children get an absolute mass of different things to do, going for walks, treasure hunting, organised activities, dancing to songs. Someone must spend a very long time organising all of this and doing the preparations. It is overall an excellent system.

Some of the difficulties I have experienced and the people I have met say a lot about the kind of people who go travelling. Many seem to feel as if they don't fit into their home culture and that they can make up for it by living in another country, some are using it as an excuse to behave completely out of character, not everyone who volunteers or travels abroad is doing it for the right reasons. And some people I wonder why they even bothered leaving. You also meet some people who honestly must be angels on earth. There are some people here who put others absolutely before themselves, they do not seem to have a selfish bone in their body. People like this are your greatest friends when you are new in a foreign country, like me. If the world was made up of people like that, there would be no wars. I'm not even joking.

There's much more I'd love to write about but I'd better get this out or it will never be published. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up soon too!