The compound
I haven't really written much about living in Japan for many reasons, but one of them is that I have lived here so long that everything seems normal to me. But anyway I will try to tackle the subject more often.
Anyway it could be argued that I don't live in Japan. I live in an apartment complex of foreigners, mostly westerners which is situated on the university campus. We don't really have any Japanese neighbors so it is very easy to go for long periods of time without really speaking to any Japanese other than out students or staff at the university.
Of course this is terrrible for my Japanese language skills. When I was teaching high school in Sendai I would hear and speak Japanese every day but now the only time I use it is when I ask directions when I am running, or for one 90 minute period every 6 weeks when I get my haircut. I have to make more of an effort to get out and use the language but it hasn't really happened.
When I got this job and heard this would be the living situation I didn't want to take the job. I knew that when you get a group of people together who are naturally isolated from the main society, Japan, they can be incredibly nasty. The thought of living with the people I work with turned my stomach. Luckily it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. It is pretty easy to live your own life and choose how much you mix or don't. The other teachers here have been quite nice and respectful of other peoples space, so it has been a pleasant surprise.
posted by zatopek at 8:57 PM
2 Comments:
It is kind of amazing and pretty sad that we never have a chance to have any personal relationships with Japanese. Not even the other teachers at the university - they talk to us on rare occasions in the cafeteria and that is about it.
However, a woman, who sees us running in the mornings, invited us for tea next week, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. It will be my first time inside a Japanese house! I am also very curious to see who it is, since she didn't ask us when she saw us, but rather called the university to find out who we were and only spoke to Jon on the phone. Since she called last week, I have been keeping my eyes peeled on the morning runs, but haven't seen any likely candidates. Will let you know what happens!
Greets to the webmaster of this wonderful site! Keep up the good work. Thanks.
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