How to become famous, washing your rubbish, and the joys of living in rural Japan.

First a little update…

So ladies and gentleman the final nail has been put in the coffin of my travels to Mashiki-Machi. The official confirmation has now arrived that there is no suitable housing in the area and the commute would be too long for someone without a car, it is thus entirely off the cards. Moving forward the idea is to put me into an area called Kita-Kyushu, it is the very northern tip of the very southern island of Kyushu. However no one is quite sure when the move would take place, what kind of schools I would be going to, and where exactly I would be situated. Once again, I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen.

But, for now I am in a small ‘city’ called Yanai, at the north-eastern end of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Population of around 33,000 (1/10 the size of Newham), with 4 junior high schools for me to look after. There are about 10 buses on each route a day, and a trains are on average every 80 minutes or so (though not at regular intervals). Exactly how long I’ll be spending here I have no idea, but here is a brief update on what life is like in semi-rural Japan…

Being the only honkey in town:

In all the other places I’ve been in Japan I have never been alone in being a foreigner, in most big cities there are lots of foreigner bars, regular meet ups, and things designed to bring the diaspora in contact with each other. Here though in Yanai, there are very few foreigners. Aside from the girl I’m replacing I have no seen one yet. It may not seem like a big deal, but everybody knows who you are, and you become somewhat a fairly well known figure, a celebrity by virtue of birth, a bit like a really shit version of the queen. Thus you spoken to by a lot of people. Even though sometimes you just want to zone out and walk around the town a little bit they ask you anyway, out of genuine curiosity. There is, of course, a generic set of questions that you are always asked. Of which there is a nice polite version, and one that is a bit less tactful. Because at first they assume you speak no Japanese and will just throw out single words at you. Some of the standard question include;

“Where are you from?”/ “American?”

“How long are you staying here?” / “Tourist?”

“Can you speak Japanese” / “Japanese OK?”

If you can learn the correct response to these questions you are guaranteed to convince people you are a near native level speaker. Being who I am though I tend to get some follow up questions which usually include;

“How tall are you?” “Really, stand up, let me see”

“How old are you?” “Really?!?”

“Are you married yet?” (There is never a really after this one, just an acknowledging nod)

These are always asked out of genuine curiosity but they tend to murder the conversation as I’m slightly too British to ask these questions back. Plus asking a stooped over, very elderly Japanese woman about their height, age, and marital status is going to bring around some awkward moments.

Community Spirit/Guidelines

Yanai being the size it is, things do not work here like they do in the big cities. People know their neighbours and, in the area you live in, you will know most of the people, and the people will almost certainly know you. This, like all things, has its ups and downs, on the positive side people will look out for you, and are always happy to lend a hand. People here take pride in their community and it’s well looked after. However on the flip side, people know who you are, which means there is no chance to do any kind of civic naughtiness. Japan has some very strong rules on things such as rubbish collection; in Hiroshima there were 8 different types of rubbish, all of which were taken out on different days, had to be washed and dried, placed in different types of bags, and would then be gone through by old people who had nothing better to do (That is not an exaggeration, I have seen them doing it). Failure to comply with these rules will result in old people getting very grumpy at you, you become somewhat of a social pariah, and people never trusting a foreigner again. (Again, not an exaggeration)

Community spirit here is so fun that I have the great joy next Sunday of taking part in the annual storm drain cleaning (it was either that or Pay £20). This will include pulling weeds, cleaning out rubbish and other things that in the UK we normally have to commit to a crime to get the chance to do it. Yaaay community.

Me no speak Americano

The Japanese learn English from the age of 12-18 (if they choose to go to high school, they can leave education here at 15), but no one really speaks it. English is an academic subject, and whilst being here in Yanai, aside from the teachers, no one will even attempt English. I am always met with the same fearful look when I enter a building that I won’t speak any Japanese. Thankfully I can passably do day to day tasks, but not having any people sharing the same native tongue as you nearby can be a little frustrating. It always put a bit of distance between you and the people you’re talking to, as you’re never 100% sure if the type of language you’re using is appropriate, or even if the words you’re using are conveying the tone and message of what you’re saying correctly. Japanese is a highly contextual language, often the subject is omitted from the sentence, and the entire direction of conversation can be missed if you miss just a tiny fraction of a sentence. So you really do need to pay attention! The whole smiling and nodding thing does not work here, during a conversation about pets one person was telling me about their dog dying a few weeks ago…this was an inappropriate time to smile and nod. I know that now…

The future…

So that’s Yanai so far, the plan for staying here, in terms of time and length are pretty unknown. I should find out in the next week exactly where I will be heading off to, but I really know nothing of any definite plans. I start work properly on Monday at the biggest of the junior highs, and will just keep working until they tell me to stop and pack up my things again…game on, I guess. Finally, It’s time to edumacate them kids some gud Englamish!!!