Let's Human Rights

My friends in Japan will understand the title of this blog immediately. For the rest, you may be wondering why my title is so strange. Please indulge me as I explain why.

In Japan, every year, they have a Human Rights Week and that week is now. About a month ago I received a letter asking me to participate in an event to "kick off" the week by handing out pamphlets and traveling around Iinan town. The letter was rather vague about expectations and/or requirements, so I figured that it would probably be no big deal. Of course, this is the stupidest assumption possible, given the plethora of ridiculous things I've been ask to do at the last minute.

Regardless, the schedule of events said that I should be at the town office at 9:00AM, Monday morning, so I made my entrance at the stroke of 9, not wanting to sit around any longer than necessary in the cold. Events ALWAYS start on time in Japan, so in retrospect, I should have arrived by at least 5 minutes 'til. Luckily, I wore a white shirt, tie, dress pants, a sweater, and a sport jacket, because when I walked in the door, it looked like everybody was waiting for me to arrive. Someone official-looking greeted me at the door and quickly ushered me into the mayor's office. As we walked to his office, someone threw a sash over my shoulder that distinctly reminded me of the kind that Miss America contestants wear. There in the mayor's office, 10 men and women stood around in suits and gave looks of relief that I was finally in the room. A television crew was set up in the corner filming everything. There was a round of handshakes and then a man that did not seem to be from Iinan handed me a business card and then started a speech. "Wait", I said to myself. "What is he saying?" The film was rolling the entire time as he produced an award certificate (all in Japanese Kanji, of course). He handed me the cert and said some more words (a lot more words, in fact).

Now, I've observed lots of students getting awards, so I just remembered what they did and copied it in this moment. Bowing at the proper moments. Using the correct hands to accept the paper. Saying the appropriate words. Suddenly, the mystery man who was bestowing the award upon me stopped. Everyone was looking at me. A man from across the room whispered something like "dozo", which, in this circumstance, roughly translates to "go ahead". The camera was pointing directly at me. There were at least 10 pairs of eyes just staring at me, waiting for the special speech I was going to give!

In such a state, after oversleeping and speeding to the town hall and having absolutely no warning about was was going to happen that morning, all I could eek out was a raspy "Gabarimasu," (I'll do my best). I didn't know what the certificate was for, why I was being asked to give a speech, what the sash over my shoulder meant, or who ANY of the people in the room were. I was there by myself as the sole English speaker with only "emergency level" Junior High School Japanese skills.

At that. I gave a nod and the meeting was adjurned. I hope I didn't disappoint the viewing audience too much, but if a speech was expected, there could have at least been some warning. My guess is that Monday night's Japanese local TV would be slow.

After all of the "rituals" were performed at the town hall, we spent the rest of the day driving around in a van with a giant speaker on top. The message it extolled was something about Jinken (Human Rights), but I couldn't really understand it. The people I was riding with couldn't explain it to me, either, since they possessed almost no English ability whatsoever. I don't blame them for not knowing English. I'm the guest in their country. But it did make for an interesting, and largely confusing, day.

Regularly, we would stop the van and hop out to take a pamphlet and an Akagi apple (Akagi is the original name for one of Iinan's villages) to a local businessperson. We stopped at 6 or so banks, the post office, a few nursing homes, and several of the schools. Around lunch time, we set up camp at the Michi no Eki (local rest stop for travelers). As people came in from the cold and the snow (yes, it was the first day of snow here in Iinan), we would accost them with phrases like "Jin ken shuu kan desu. Dozo." (It's Human Rights Week. Here you go) or "Jin ken o mamori masho!" (Let's observe Human Rights!).

'Masho' is an conspicuously common term in Japan and is the prefix for almost anything that people want to do together. Japanese translations rarely get it right, so almost everything in English here in Japan is "Let's skiing" or "Let's holiday" or "Let's Christmas". It's quite amusing and has become part of the average JET lexicon. We'll agree to meet for dinner and sign off the phone conversation with "Let's dinner! See you at 7." It makes me chuckle every time I hear it!

Anyway, that's all for now. Time to head home from school and figure out what's edible in my fridge. School lunch, although delicious today, wasn't really enough to satisfy me.

Sayonara,
Maikeru
:-)

Oh, one last thing... Today, I administered a conversation test to all of my students. One of the questions I asked was "Tell me about your hobbies." The response I heard from one student was "I have sex after school every day." WHAT?!" I said, completely floored and almost speechless! The student, looking sheepish and feeling silly, said "I'm sorry, I play sex after school." Wanting to see what he really meant, I asked what kind of sex. He said "sexophone in the brass band." Ahhhhh, now it's clear. I said, "I think you play a wonderful saxophone." This one will keep my laughing for a long while.