Culture, Carnival and the strangeness of HG

My school recently hosted their annual Culture Day. Over the last two weeks, the students had spent their afternoon hours busily compiling and creating a variety of exhibitions, entertainment and interactive experiments for the community to enjoy. They were the theoretical busy bees.

This being my second year living on the island, I was a little more prepared for what the high school students were hoping to include in their Culture Day. Last year, I had prepared a CD of popular American music and corresponding information on the artists -- taking great pains to show a wide variety of styles and influences. I remember being quite proud of my work --thinking I had shed some light on such a big component of US culture. I can humbly report to you that my exhibit had less than a luke warm reception. It was more confusing than anything. Students, and teachers alike regarded it with curiosity and pity.

Take a moment and think about your image of Japanese culture. What would you expect to see at a Japanese high school Culture Day? You might be thinking exhibitions about geishas wearing kimono, poets sitting in zen gardens, writing haiku, or even the bloody marauding of the samurai. I was guilty of expecting traditional Japan last year, and in reality, I got a good healthy dose of what can only be considered pop-culture.

The Culture Day is more of a mix between a craft fair and carnival, and is relatively far removed from examining culture. Each classroom agrees upon a theme, activity or craft and work together to attain their goals. (Students are also trying to generate funds for their class and can charge admission to their room or sell their wears.) The school is open to the community and there's even a make-shift cafeteria set up where udon and curry-rice is sold. There's usually a high turn-out of elementary school students.

This year, among the rooms, there was a haunted house, a flea market and several rooms selling tickets for the chance to sit in a folding chair and watch a DVD. A few of the classrooms went a more artistic route and constructed quaint country-esque signs that would fit in nicely at a B&B, and painted pictures. Here are some shots of the day....

Here's the 3rd year student's Flea Market.

Here's the line outside of the 2nd year student's haunted house.

Here's Ebisu-kun, a 3rd year student, who was in charge of selling cotton candy.

Some of the 3rd year students selling balloon Yo-Yos as a part of their Flea Market.

Here, and elementary school student paints her name on one of the signs that were made by a 2nd year classroom.

1st year students, selling curry-rice from the cooking room.

After the day had come to a close, and the school returned to its normalcy, the teachers gathered at one of the local watering holes to celebrate the hard work done. During this enkai, I was privy to lose lips and some frustrations. A little surprised, I listened to one of the math teachers explain how flea markets and haunted houses had nothing to do with culture, and the students who actually created some kind of art had a better understanding of culture.

This is what his class produced....

Now, this actually is an interesting production of Japanese pop culture in my opinion. Said math teacher asked his students to paint pictures. Now, of course, art is easily considered culture in any community. Moreover, I find it wildly interesting that this is what the kids actually produced. The writing at the left says REIZA- RAMON and I was told that HG stands for Hard Gay. This was shocking enough, but the fact that a different classroom had similar life-sized paintings with the faces cut out so that anyone could slip on the HG persona for a Polaroid snapshot was beyond comprehension. (That homeroom teacher shared her shock with me later that night and said that she had been kept from seeing the posters until the day of the festival.)

Now HG didn't just pop out of some kind of repressed and forbidden students homophobia. Apparently, there is a HG character out there, somewhere, running around on the TV and is teaching the youth of Japan that this person, this image, is one of ridiculous humor. I haven't seen him in action, but have been tuning in more and more, hoping to get a glimpse of how homosexuality is played out on prime time television in Japan. I'd also like to learn about this character as a means of opening up communication on the taboo subject. I find myself saying "Well, in the US, this and that, or such and such is or is not accepted." It's a constant refrain.

The day was a success in the fact that every class participated and worked together to entertain the community. I have a very different image of what a "Culture Day" would be in the US and I have a very hard time answering when someone asks if I followed the same customs when I was a student. I want to tell them yes; that my schools participated in carnivals and bake sales to generate money; that we made crafts and displayed them; and that we even participated in Culture Days, but that those days consisted of very different things than their all encompassing day of celebration.

Happy Birthday to Me

Having skipped over the precipice leading well into the balk half of my twenties on August 23, I was honored by my co-workers with a surprise birthday party. I actually turned 27 while I was cruising at an altitude of 30,000 feet, pointed in the direction of Hokkaido where I spent four nights celebrating on my own. But upon my return, my friends - namely Oka-sensei, the nurse at Hokusho Nishi High School - organized a BBQ that was held in the parking area near teacher housing. (That particular parking area also happens to be the venue for the annual HSNHS BBQ after we all strap on our cleats and participate in the Ojika softball tournament every September.) Needless to say, I was deeply touched that this motley crew of characters who I love for so many different reasons, took their precious time (and believe me, in Japan, people really do believe time is precious), their money and their kindness to wish me a happy and pleasant year. This celebration replaces the one I had when I turned 19 - stripper included - as my all time favorite. If I continue to be loved like this, I can only assume that all the stealing candy from babies and prank calling elderly folks hasn't really bought me negative karma! Seriously, I I've got amazing friends and shall be filled with love and happiness as long as they are in my life, making me the person I'm happy to be.

Here's the BBQ from a far. The floodlights were broken out, the coolers of beer chilled and the kids rounded up.

Chiharu Oka, the organizer, and Ai-chan Yoshino, 1yr old daughter of Yoshino sensei, Japanese teacher extraordinaire. (Chiharu isn't the mom, just like holding babies, and who wouldn't want to hold that little doll!)
Some of my favorite co-workers. From the left: Ikeshita-sensei - PE, Me, Higashikawa-sensei - Biology, and Chigita-sensei - Math. Ikeshita-sensei remembered that my father had worked at Coors Brewery in Colorado and brought back some long-neck bottles for me as a present!


Posing with the principal. Now that my Japanese is a little better, I can have some conversations with him. We talked about the differences between hurricanes and typhoons as well as his trip to the US twenty years before. He'd visited Yosemite National Park as well as Boston. He was quite fond of that city. He also gave me a collection of beautiful, traditional Japanese dance post cards that night.

Higuchi-sensei cooking up some yaki-soba here on the griddle. The VP of the school contributed some fresh squid he'd caught that morning to the mix. Higuchi-sensei is the music teacher at school and extremely talented in many different areas. He's also my go-to man with computer problems. He also happens to be painfully shy and I don't think I've ever seen him with such a big smile!

We finished up the evening with fireworks and cake. I didn't get a picture of the cake, but it was delicious and made by Yoshihara-sensei, the Home Ec teacher and good friend.

The best part is that I not only had one party, but two! My good friends and the people whom I consider to be my Japanese family, also treated me to my favorite Japanese dinner - hand rolled sushi when I returned from Hokkaido. The Ito family invited myself and Yumiko Egawa to dinner to celebrate Yumiko's, Kana's and my birthday which all fall within two weeks of each other.

From left to right: Yumiko Egawa, Yumiko Ito, Grandma Ito, Mr. Ito and Kana Ito.