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People in Japan I hate: Part 1

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This goofy looking guy’s name is George Williams:

He is on Japanese TV, and if you ever get a chance to see him, you will agree that he is the most annoying person on television ever. He’s not even American (after about 2 minutes of research, I found out he is half British and half Japanese), but he MUST be giving Americans a horrible horrible name in this country.

I’m going to make this as short as possible, but it is bound to be long, as it is a rant. This guy has pink hair, but apparently last week it was green. He overpronounces everything (which might not be totally bad, as he is on a show to teach people English), but the main problem is the way he moves and his facial expressions. It looks like with every word, he is forcing a pumpkin out of his crotch. His Japanese is actually good (probably he was raised here), but he pulls off the “douchebag foreigner” image 100%. He is going bald, dyes his hair a new color every week I suppose, and dresses like an old man on vacation, ie flowered shirts, khaki shorts, random accessories, etc.

I am embarrassed to watch this guy on TV, same as the other 2 or 3 “main” Americans on TV shows here. Another is a guy named Patrick. Not as bad, but still annoying as hell. Anyway, just needed to vent about this George Williams guy. His show is only 15 minutes, thank goodness, but he is annoying enough to irritate you for the entire next day. Ari and Mike agree with me on this. If I ever see this guy walking around the street, I will seriously consider kicking him in the groin and laughing. End of rant.

First day of high school

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On Wednesday, I finally got to go to my field placement and work. Got up around 5:30 in order to be at school in Sengakuji (about 1 station away from Shinagawa, southern Tokyo) by 8AM. Honestly, I do absolutely nothing until 8:45, when first period starts. I’m going to start getting there at 8:15 or 8:30 from now on. Especially considering the American lady who is my supervisor doesn’t get in until about 8:44, and before that I sit there and do nothing.

I taught 4 English oral communication (OC) classes. 1 class for the first years (equivalent to American high school sophomores), and 3 for the second years. All these OC classes are “team taught” by two teachers: a Japanese and a foreigner. I just join as the 3rd teacher, although they make me sit and practice with the kiddies also sometimes. That right there is the worst part of my job period. Sitting with the kids and helping them practice their English. I realize it might be good practice for them, but it’s almost…degrading for me at times to sit there and help practice English. I might mention to my supervisor that I’m here to be a teacher and not just a practice partner. I’m more comfortable at the head of the class here.

All the classes I taught, even the class for the “advanced” second years seemed about the same. The main things they were practicing were “What’s New” and “That’s All.” Pretty much just asking questions about recent activities, and giving long responses. For someone who is fluent in English, this is about as exciting as stabbing yourself in the foot with a corkscrew. Not only that, but I had to say the exact same thing about 50 times in one day. If I have to do something like this again, I swear I’m going to start making stuff up. One kid will hear me talk about my adventures the previous night in outer space. They probably won’t understand me, so it will be OK. If they happen to understand me, I will tell them “Hey good job for seeing that I was lying to you.”

After one day, I know I could never be a teacher “for real.” It wasn’t that bad, honestly, and was actually kind of fun. But the pure fact that I had to do the exact same lesson 4 times (in a row) bored the life out of me. I don’t know how teachers who do that everyday can live with themselves. I’m not one for rubidium of something boring like that, so I guess I can’t be a teacher. Overall, it was a fun day, but I’m going to have to start putting a little more variety in my work schedules otherwise I’m going to go nuts working at this school. I’ll be going back this weekend to help with the English Speech contest the 1st years are putting on. I’ll either be a judge or the M.C. I’m hoping for MC.

Cool Cool

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Just a few seconds ago we had a minor earthquake. It was pretty cool. Its like thunder, but instead of hearing it in the sky, it’s coming from the ground. Lasted for less than 30 seconds. Cool Cool….

Pizza Pizza

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I really do like Japanese food, especially noodles like Ramen etc. However, it really is nice to eat good old American junk food now and then, especially when I’m in a country who makes it a little harder to find. Thursday night, we went to Costco. Yes, they have a Costco here. There were 9 of us, and we got three whole (xtra large) pizzas. Me and Bryan put down the entire combo pizza (he had 7 pieces, I have 5). It was the greatest pizza I have ever had. Well, not really, but it was really good, and actually American pizza. The “pizza” place in one of the food courts near school serves something that is more like a taco bell quesadilla (it’s even folded in half).

Costco in Japan is almost exactly like the ones in the US, except for a few key differences. Instead of being 1 huge floor, the place is 5. The first two are the merchandice and service stuff, the top 3 are parking garages. Also, while there were huge wholesale boxes of Japanese stuff, the majority of the products sold there were American. Looks like Costco just imports huge amounts of stuff from the US, sticks a white label on them with Japanese ingredients, etc, price, and sells it here. They even had huge cases of SPAM.

Pictures are finally up!

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Well I finally uploaded some pictures. Click on “Pictures” to the left there. 1 gallery of general Japan pics, the other is from the Tokyo Game Show.

東京ゲームショー

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On Saturday, I went with a bunch of the guys (why, oddly enough, no females) to the Tokyo Game Show at Makuhari Messe. I’ve heard it compared to the E3 of Japan. Seeing as how most (of the good) games and related hardware comes from this country, I figured it would be fun. Yep, it was.

The Game Show itself was really big: about 2 convention halls full of booths. All the big players were there, except Nintendo, who doesn’t attend this show (for some reason). How would you propose to sell and advertise upcoming products to a convention center full of video game dorks? Why, you fill your booth with girls dressed in next to nothing, OR lots of skimpy spandex. (I’ll have pics up sometime soon).

The show only cost 1000 yen to get in, so it was a bargain. Got there a little too early, but at least it allowed me to be one of the first people in for the day. Met up with Ari, and we waited in line for about an hour at the Square-Enix booth. For our wait, we got to watch trailers for Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (upcoming movie sequel to the PS game), FFVII Before Crisis (a prequel game on Docomo cell phones), Kingdom Hearts 2, and a few others that weren’t important. However, that wouldn’t have been worth it. The big payoff was getting to wear these goofy TV visors, put on surround-sound headphones, and watch a 30 minute cut of Advent Children, before the thing has even premiered at the Vienna Film Festival. I was happy. It’s going to be a good (and really cool) movie.

I also played Before Crisis, Viewtiful Joe 2, Naruto on Gamecube, and a bunch of other games. Of special note was the new cell phone version of Fatal Frame (Ho would have loved this): you take pictures with your phone’s usual camera, then “review” them to see the monsters and ghosts that are hidden within. You then kill them. Fun game, good innovation. And I also got to PLAY a racing game on the PSP (Playstation Portable)!!! The thing is amazing, it really is an awesome awesome system. However, I hear that it will cost around $350 when it is released, which means I won’t be buying one until 2008 (that is probably a realistic estimate. the system is awesome, but as of now there are now awesome games that you “gotta have”)

Also saw trailers or commercials, etc for: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Narutimate Hero 2, and much more. Those first two had about 15 minute long trailers, and they pretty much made me wet my pants. Good grief I love video games.

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