Soaking in it

28May09

I arrived at my island school this morning to find no students. Apparently the weather (strong winds and rain) was too dangerous, and they all had the day off. But one of the quirks of the Japanese school system is that weather too dangerous for students is not too dangerous for staff, even though the [...]

Filed under: Feminism & Womanism, Japanese, Studying, Women   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Japanese, JLPT, JLPT 2, Sexism

Sufficiently feminine chocolates

06Jan09

Kawaii is Japanese for cute, or charming. The stereotypical Japanese young woman likes fluffy things and Disney characters (and fluffy Disney characters most of all), and likes to squeal “Kawaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” when faced with any objects (or small animals, or children) that vaguely fit this description. There are of course women that veer in the direction [...]

Filed under: Japan, Japanese   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Chocolate, Gender, Japan, Japanese, Kawaii, Language, Office

Mislaid in Translation

23Jun08

My town is probably the only town in Japan with sister schools in Turkey. Over a hundred years ago, a Turkish ship ran aground on the coast here. Most of the sailors perished, but a few were rescued by local people, and Turkey was grateful. There’s a small museum nearby commemorating the event, a few [...]

Filed under: Japan, Japanese   |  2 Comments
Tags: Anecdotes, English, Internationalisation, Japanese, Languages, Translation, Turkish

Lunchtime English lessons

05Jun08

I’m a peripatetic EFL teacher. I work at six schools on a regular basis, with occasional visits to several more and a few kindergartens thrown in for good measure. At the junior highs I teach at, my role is well-defined and the teachers I work with, as well as the other staff members, know what [...]

Filed under: Japan, Japanese, Teaching   |  3 Comments
Tags: Anecdotes, English, Japan, Japanese, Teaching