So I finally got my picture in the school bulletin! At least the staff bulletin...They took the pictures at the very beginning of the year, handed out a questionnaire sheet a month or two later, and now finally it's all been assembled! As soon as I found one on my desk I began reading everyone's answers to the questionnaire. As expected, I was highly entertained. Answers range from interesting, to hilarious, to downright sad. Either way, there's always some sort of cultural observation to discern.
Here's the list of questions each teacher was asked. (The Japanese love questionnaires!)
1. What was your dream when you were a junior high student?
2. What subjects are you good at? What are you bad at?
3. What's your current obsession?
4. What are your strong and weak points?
5. When was the last time you cried?
6. If the world were to end tomorrow, what would you do today?
Keeping confidentiality in mind, I'll go over some interesting answers to each question.
1. What was your dream when you were a junior high student?
-"A jet pilot."
-"A cool stewardess."
-"To quickly be a high school student." Thinking practical here. This person either must not have liked school or was way more mature than the other students.
-"Become independent."
-"Special effects man for TV/movies."
-"A teacher." This was a common answer. Although one guy answered 'definitely not teaching staff'
-"I don't remember." This was an older lady.
-"I forgot." Older guy.
-"Either an astronaut, a pro baseball player, or a teacher." I guess he went with practicality.
-"A doctor/scientist."
-"A job with a uniform such as police woman." The Japanese do love their uniforms here. Recently I watched an episode of "Nippon no Deban" where they explored why Japanese people love uniforms so much. Basically Japanese people just think uniforms look so cool and professional. There was a little skit where a woman is greeted by a man in uniform and thinks he's sooo suave, then meets the same guy a week later and doesn't recognize him in civilian clothes. She's horrified because he's so uncool when he's not in his uniform! This produced some laughs but still...
Japanese people are basically raised in uniforms and taught to value homogenity. You can always recognize elementary students by their yellow caps and red backpacks, and school uniforms start from junior high. All students through junior high have basic white shoes perhaps with a bit of color on the toes to identify each grade level. Elementary kids also have gym uniforms (these are worn under their clothes so the school doesn't need locker rooms. This seems pretty hot and sweaty during the summer months however). Then once you finish school you enter the workforce and live in white dress shirts and black pants for the rest of your life. Yay uniforms!
Among the Japanese (and Japanese textbooks) there are popular career options such as nursery school teacher, pet groomer, baker, chef, sports player. Nursery teacher is a really common answer among girls when I teach "What do you want to be?", and boys typically respond with "soccer player."
2. What subjects are you good at? What are you bad at?
Answers varied here, but most common was:
Good at: math, music, P.E.
Bad at: English, Japanese
Naturally English remains Japanese people's less confident subject. Interestingly Japanese is also lower ranked. I've had a number of students say they don't like Japanese. From what I've glimpsed of the textbooks, I can see why - it looks like it's pretty much just grueling kanji study.
Then there was one lady who answered "I suppose I'm bad at everything? I'm not good at anything in particular." There's that ol' humble, self-deprecating Japanese attitude.
3. What's your current obsession?
-"Washing my car." Meh. This doesn't sound like much fun.
-"Onsen."
-"Limited edition sweets." I enjoy this as well. Oreo and Kit-Kat flavors are my favorites to collect.
-"Diet."
-"Massage."
-"Drinking different kinds of tea."
-"Corn snacks."
-"Taking pictures of flowers."
-"Theater appreciation."
-"Homemade granola."
-"Radio controlled helicopter." Finally something really fun!
4. What are your strong and weak points?
Strong points:
-"I'm calm/gentle." Not exactly what America would consider a 'strong' point.
-"I'm refreshing,"
-"I'm positive."
-"I can wait for people." Never thought about this being a strong point.
-"I can drive long distances."
-"I can greet in a big voice." This is a thing here. Kids are taught to greet loudly. Greetings are very important in Japan, and every day at school starts with an onslaught of "Ohayo gozaimasu" to every single teacher and student you pass. Same guy said his weak point is that he's too loud during class.
-"Not particularly anything."
-"Please tell me." (T_T)
Weak points:
-"I'm short tempered." This was a common answer.
-"I talk too much."
-"I'm forgetful."
-"I'm carefree." This is a weak point?
-"I'm scary when I'm angry." This is an older lady! And I sit right next to her in the teacher's room. I haven't seen her angry yet thankfully...
-"Too many." This answered occurred more than once. Americans wouldn't even think about answering like this! The Japanese are really taught to be humble. When they give a gift they usually say something basically like "this is crap but please receive it..." I've read that when introducing their kid, the mom might even say something like "this is junior, he's not very bright..." in order to downplay any bragging and avoid jealousy. Quite a cultural difference here.
And lastly, one guy answered his strong point is that he talks a lot, but his weak point is that he's noisy. I guess he just can't win.
These last two questions have some sad responses!
5. When did you cry recently?
-"6 months ago when I saw a movie."
-"I forgot."
-"Last year?"
-"I don't remember."
-"I'm too busy, so i'm always crying!" (T_T) Indeed, Japan is a workaholic society. Junior high teachers never seem to have a spare second to talk or even catch their breath, and their weekends and after school time is filled up with club activities.
-"I haven't cried recently, but sometimes some garbage gets in my eye and I shed some tears." Interesting...how do you get garbage in your eye?!
-"6 months ago."
-"I haven't cried in forever!"
-"When I saw American Sniper."
-"When my cat/dog died."
-"Quite a long time ago..."
-"Two years ago (after the death of a friend)." Wow, that was a long stretch! This guy has nerves of steel.
-"I had a bad cough and there were tears in my eyes." (Does this count?)
And the number one answer was: "I can't remember." Wow. I guess they're too busy to have a good cry about how busy they are. At least one guy makes time for it.
6. If the world were to end tomorrow, what would you do today?
-"Go to Europe."
-"Spend time with my family/friends." Pretty typical answer.
-"See an NBA game."
-"Meet my junior high friends (this is an older lady. Wow! She's still friends after all this time...) and eat food and drink sake."
-"Eat yummy food to my heart's content!"
-"Eat and drink sake." Pretty similar to what most Americans would do.
-"Go on a trip."
-"Relax at home."
-"Spend all the money I saved." Japanese people do love saving money.
-"Watch my favorite movies." Yet there is only 24 hours in which to squeeze in all the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter movies. He must have his favorites down to a concise list.
-"Maybe pray?"
-"Try to figure out how to extend my life and save the world." Pretty ambitious for your last day.
-"Watch TV and not think about tomorrow." Seriously? That's it?!
And the saddest of all: "I would just do the same as I always do." Which is: wake up at the crack of dawn. Eat rice. Go to work all day. Get home way too late. World ends. Great.
At least there was a totally awesome answer to this question: "Time slip to a new world!" Lol.
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