Suspicious Person

Today, we had an emergency drill. The last one I took part in was a fire drill. Today, it was what to do if a stranger came into the school.

The students knew there was a drill, but they did not know when or what kind. At the start of 3rd period, the school's vice-principal comes up next to me with a towel wrapped around his head and a staff in his hand. We sneak up together to the 3rd/4th graders classroom to watch what was about to unfold.

A dude I know from the village office rushes in screaming and holding a fake knife. The kids freak, but they group up and head towards the gym while one of the students ran to the teacher's office to notify everybody.

An announcement is made over the intercom about the stranger, and the school evacuates to the gym. In the meantime, all the male teachers bust out broom poles (except the principal, who pulled a bamboo pole out of nowhere), and they all head to where the bad guy was. The teachers corner him into the corner by surrounding him with desks and making fake jabs at him with their staffs. Then the police arrive, knock him to the ground, and handcuff him.

It was awesome.

Tokyo Wedding

Last December, I was asked by two friends from UF, Tyler and Mana, to MC their wedding reception in Tokyo...in Japanese. I agreed to do it because I want to get more comfortable talking in front of a crowd...you know, one of those "life skill" things. Whenever I do speak, I feel a little nervous, but apparently I look way worse. So to make sure things went smoothly, I worked on my dialogue for several months with my Japanese teacher, who would tell me where I should pause and make sure my intonation was correct.

Saturday was the day of the reception, and although I felt prepared and felt no nervousness, about a minute into my opening speech, I could feel myself start to tense up. I'm sure it was noticeable, but I hope not distracting. People laughed at my jokes, which helped me to loosen up. Also, when I compare this to a little 30 second self introduction speech I did to a small group of old ladies a few months ago, I can now tell I've gotten a LOT better.

I think the secret is not to want to impress anybody. As soon as I want to do that, then I become self-conscious and nervous. At the beginning of the reception, I think I was trying to impress Mana's relatives. But as the reception progressed (and I had a few drinks in me), I stopped caring and think I did a better job. I was told by some of Mana's relatives that they were all worried when they heard a foreigner was going to MC the wedding, but were relieved cause I did a good (passable?) job.

Check out Ben's (the photographer) blog for some great pictures:

B. Whitlock Photo Blog

***

Okinawans always tell me how much better their wedding receptions are compared to the more 'formal/stiff' Japanese weddings. The argument is that at a Japanese wedding, you have to wait for the toast before drinking, which is a good 15-20 minutes into the reception. At an Okinawan wedding, people start drinking as soon as they sit down at a table. Also, at the end of an Okinawan wedding, there is usually some kind of song that gets played on the sanshin and everyone gets up and starts dancing. Therefore, more fun.

Well, getting to drink early is always a plus, but the wait wasn't that bad. And yes there was no dancing at the end, but other than those two things, this wedding was identical to the Okinawan one I went to. You eat a lot of great food, then you sit through some speeches by friends, followed by some musical entertainment.

And let me tell you, Mana's family is filled with talented musicians.

So take that, Okinawa weddings.

***

Another great thing about going to the wedding was that it was a chance for me to go to Tokyo again. Every time I go, I am always surprised at the amount of people and the amount of things to do. However, this time, I was walking around the city during working hours, and I swear salary men have no souls. The city was full of zombies in business suits, and I was a little unnerved.

Note to self: don't work for a company.

Then it becomes night and the city comes to life. I got to hang out with a lot of old friends and met some cool new ones. One of the highlights was talking to a Korean man at a bar, who is fluent in Korean and Japanese. He is a Tae Kwan Do master with 800 students who says his master founded Tae Kwan Do and had students such as Chuck Norris. I got his business card, and if I do move to Tokyo, I know where I will be continuing karate.


***

I will be going back to Tokyo again at the end of the month for a week with Roy. We are going to climb Mt. Fuji to see the sunrise and then off to Fuji Rock!

July 4th Weekend

I could not have asked for a better 4th of July weekend. The Northern Code played a show at Tejas that Saturday night, and almost all of the English teacher's in the north came, as did quite a few other friends that I had invited. Cesar has a nice house up on a hill that he has turned into a mexican restaurant with a small open area the back. Because we were playing outside, I was worried about rain, but by mid-afternoon, all the clouds seemed to pass by. We set up, begin to warm up...and then the cops showed up.

I don't remember exactly, but I believe the policemen motto is 'to serve and protect and stop people from having a good time'.

This officer was a little old man, and he did exactly that. He told us to unplug or no play. So we did the show with no mic and little amp.

But music is music and I had a great time playing.

We played for two hours, and after we were all packed up, the band plus Vaughn headed down to Onna to stay the night at a brand new resort. I'm good friend's with a family here in Ogimi, and it was through the dad's civil engineering company that we were able to stay a night for free. I think I need to do a blog post about company gift giving in Japan sometime down the road, cause it's cool.

The resort, of course, over looked the beach. We had a 4 bed room suite and after putting everything away, we went down stairs and spent the rest of the evening at a bar outside.

Balcony picture!

Mind Candy is Bad...Mmkay?

The front page of all the Okinawa papers last Saturday led with the story of two JET English teachers who were arrested for trying to import an illegal drug called Mind Candy. Here are some links my friend Vaughn dug up:

The first article that was run the night they were arrested: (Japanese)
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/news/2009-06-19-S_009.html?PSID=822364d2e9392ddf3e9851f8e4b65311

The article that was on the front page this morning: (Japanese)
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/news/2009-06-20-M_1-001-1_002.html?PSID=1a893f13cf30730cfebedd4adfc7082a

ALT Dave Webb's own blog post. (English)
http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/2-foreign-teachers-arrested-in-okinawa-for-importing-illegal-substances

And finally, Vaughn's translation of one of the articles:

2 American English teachers arrested for violation of the Narcotics Control Low

The prefectural organized crime division arrested two ALTs on charges of violating narcotic and psychotropic drug control laws (import). The two arrested denied the charges, stating "we didn't know it was an illegal substance."

The departments investigation reveals Lawrence ordered 44 pills of the narcotic (so called "mind candy") on April 10 and had it shipped to Japan via airmail. *(another story indicates the order came from the UK)

According to the department, the Tokyo Narita Airport Customs branch office discovered the drugs , and using Lawrence's address, alerted prefectural officials. Prefectural police carried out the arrest.

I had met one of the girls at a marathon and I did not know the other girl. The girl I met was real nice, but what she did was just plain dumb...if you are going to do something illegal in a foreign country, don't get caught.

A tip for not getting caught: Don't order 44 pills over the internet and have it shipped to your front door. To give some perspective of how much that is, according to one of the UK supply websites, a packet comes with 2 pills and costs £6, or almost $10.

But what I can't seem to find any information on is what Mind Candy is. It's 'marketed' as a plant fertilizer and I'm guessing it's some mild psychedelic.

What will happen to them? According to the US Department of State website on Japan (also found by Vaughn):

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1148.html

CRIMINAL PENALTIES:

Persons violating Japanese law, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned.  Persons arrested in Japan, even for a minor offense, may be held in detention without bail for two to three months during the investigation and legal proceedings.

Illegal Drugs:  Penalties for possession or use of, or trafficking in illegal drugs, including marijuana, in Japan are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and fines.  In most drug cases, suspects are detained incommunicado, which bars them from receiving visitors or corresponding with anyone other than a lawyer or U.S. consular officer until after indictment, which may take several months. Solitary confinement is common.

So yea. When they eventually do get out of jail. It's pretty likely they will have no jobs and will be deported.

Finally, I have heard some teachers express worries of some kind of racist backlash against them from all members of Japanese society. I think this stems from their own stereotypical views, not to mention if there was a person to hold some kind of grudge against all English teachers, that would represent that person only, not all of Japan.

And for the record, not a single teacher, nor my supervisor or superintendent, has even brought this to my attention.

Swimming and Opera

One of the big summer school activities is swimming lessons. Ogimi has four elementary schools, but only one of them has a pool. During the summer, the different schools will load the kids onto a bus and invade that school's pool for a couple of hours.

The fact that there are people who do not know how to swim is a concept I am slowly grasping with. This concept is further inhibited by the fact that these kids live within walking distance of the ocean. Yes they are from Okinawa, but I am told repeatedly that Okinawans only LOOK at the water. One of the mom's from Real Japan told me the kids there can swim. So I think this is an Okinawan thing only.

It's taken two summers now for me to finally understand that there are people who really can't swim. Maybe it's because I grew up in Florida and had a swimming pool, but even the actual question of 'Can you swim?' was foreign to me coming to Okinawa. Why would someone even bother to ask that question? Of course I can swim, who can't? It's like asking 'can you walk?'. And these aren't the kids asking me this, but the adults.

So last week, I went with the kids to help teach swimming. The kids wear what I consider to be normal swimming attire. A bathing suit. The teachers wear what I would consider to be normal swimming attire if I were allergic to water. They wear a bathing suit with a long sleeved wet shirt, swimming cap, and goggles. They look like they are ready to swim in a triathlon. I always feel a little bit awkward strutting my hairy white self into the open, but then again, the moms do seem to become more talkative.

The teaching part is fun, even if the kids really do suck.

But the most interesting part of the day was when everything was over and I was getting into my car, I was approached by a couple mom's asking if I can site read opera music. Random, but okay. I said it depends on the music and I headed back to school.

When I arrived, there was a lady waiting for me. This lady turned out to be an opera singer and is a friend of one of the student's mom's. She had great English and she said she speaks German even better. She lives in Tokyo but studied and lived in Vienna for 10 years. She hands me music and says we are performing in 30 minutes. Luckily the songs were easy enough to pick up in that time, but I did postpone lunch (yes, that's a big deal for me) in order to be ready.

Then the whole school files in (all 40 of them) and we gave a performance. The lady was amazing and I've been invited to visit her and her husband if I am ever in the Tokyo area.

Wonder Wagon II

Even though the Torii Beach gig was cancelled, last weekend was not all a loss. On Sunday, the Wonder Wagon was officially passed onto Roy (for free!) and I bought the Wonder Wagon II (WWII).

I found a Daihatsu Move in Ginowan and knew it was The One almost immediately. Anything is better than what I had, but I'm surprised at just how nice the car is for the price I got it for. It has FM radio, power steering, and can go up hills. I've been driving it a week now and I'm still amazed that it actually speeds up when I press down on the pedal.

This car is a bit historical because it is the first car I have searched and paid for on my own. I also paid for it the way all cars should be paid for: cash. So I'm happy about that, too.

The Northern Code

Buying a piano at the beginning of the year has been one of the best things I've done in Okinawa as it has led from one opportunity to the next. I accompanied my students in some songs at the 学芸会 (school arts festival), participated in a 4-piece band in the spring called the 役場カルテット (town hall quartet) where we played a couple of Okinawan songs at a cafe, and finally becoming part of what will soon be the greatest rock band Okinawa: The Northern Code.

We are currently three people strong. I play keyboard, Roy (who coincidentally went to UF) plays guitar and sings, and Yuichiro, a teacher on Izena, plays bass and does back-up vocals. A lead guitarist and a drummer may be joining soon, too.

Our first gig was in Chatan at Mary Jane's Rock Bar last month. The bar is said to usually be packed, but we played to a group of about 15. Apparently some famous band I've never heard of was playing on base. We are scheduled to play there again this month on the 20th, hopefully to a bigger crowd.

Our second gig was last week on a base in Yomitan. We were scheduled to play a three hour set outside on the beach. We were also told we would have an open gate so we could invite our friends. In my mind, we would be playing to a crowd of 500, with the majority being single women in their mid-20's. The reality was that we arrived only to be told the gate would be closed, and then after setting up and doing the sound check, we had the show called because of some rain clouds.

I wasn't that disappointed because 1) we still get 50% of the promised pay, 2) the number of people that were actually at the beach were in the tens, and 3) we now have three hours worth of music ready.

We asked to play again sometime and he said he'll let us know about an opening. We then asked to play a few songs since we had set up and everything, and by the time we had finished our second song, the guy's voice comes through our monitors, "So when are you guys free in August?"

Like I said, soon to be the greatest rock band in Okinawa.

***

What does The Northern Code mean? The name came before the band. The 'northern' part refers to the 'yanbaru' where we live. The code part is simple:

Rule 1 of The Code: Don't talk shit about other people.
Rule 2 of The Code: Don't talk shit about other people.

By following The Code, you can learn how to lead your life with a positive attitude. Why waste energy on the negative?

A manifesto is currently in the works.