And finally, the Shiga JET crew (well, some of them. There are a scant eight thousand of these people.) The two native-lookin' folks are Ryo and Satoko, a pair of really cool, ridiculously nice people who hang out with us. Ryo's the one who loves the heck out of Springsteen, and hosted the Italian food party. This picture is from a Mexican night, despite the fact that there is no Mexican food on the table.

Now, a few more questions have been brought to my attention, so it's time to play our Q&A Game, called "Let's Clear some Stuff Up, Shall We?"

Q:Whats Japanese humor like? Is it any different from ours?
A: To begin, the Japanese have no concept of sarcasm. None. It simply does not translate, like old computer programs that would spit back at you "SYNTAX ERROR. DOES NOT COMPUTE." Lying just... isn't funny. So: Most of their jokes down here in Shiga revolve around language. They're huge fans of puns and wordplay, and almost every conversation eventually gravitates towards the differences in language structure between different areas of Japan. Evidently, every prefecture speaks a slightly different dialect, with Shiga having it's Shiga-Ben (dialect) that's a lot like Kyoto-Ben and Osaka-Ben but nothing like Tokyo-Ben. They think this is hilarious. It is pretty funny, if you understand what's going on. They're also big on "That foreigner's huge!" jokes, but that might be a recent phenomenon.

Q:Because you're dealing with children at a somewhat young age, what values do you see being instilled into them, as far as you can tell? What values are being shunned?
A: TEAMWORK TEAMWORK TEAMWORK- the "values" question can be accurately summed up by the following difference between American middle schoolers and Japanese middle schoolers. In America, girls often call each other to coordinate clothing- to make sure they're not going to show up to school wearing the same thing. It embarasses them.

In Japan, both guys and girls coordinate their dress with their peer groups. If it's pink day, you're wearin' pink. So's your crew. It's a unifying activity. The basic social unit (this also addresses a later question, which we'll just roll into this one) is not the individual. It's the group. Groups do everything together- a guy eating alone in a restaurant had better have a really good reason. This is part of why clubs are so popular- they give you a ready-made group that likes what you like, and you spend all your time together.

Q: (question about discrimination in Japan)?
A: Don't know enough to really answer this one. Sorry. I know there are a lot of immigrants from Peru who work in the factories. Some of their kids spell their names in The Foreigner Alphabet (katakana), and some use The Native Alphabet (kanji). They seem to get along just fine in class. I'm not sure about their parents and their impact on society as a whole- I'm just a teacher. I do get stared at on the trains a lot. :)

Q: Has there been anything you've said to a Japanese about America that surprised them? Is the opposite true? Has there something you've told them that you expected a reaction and gotten nothing?

A: Yeah. They were shocked like crazy that Michigan has no subways, and that you have to book train tickets in advance. They're all like "WHAT? The train doesn't run every ten minutes?!" I can't think of anything I've tried to play for effect that just completely missed- but if something along those lines happens, you guys in internetland will be the first to know.

Q:When I was younger, we all talked about, "What we wanted to be when we grew up." What do Japanese children dream of becoming when they are older?

A: Same stuff we do. Interesting you asked, though, as one of the students who's prepping for an English speech contest picked that as her topic. She wants to be an interpreter- lots of kids do. But a lot of them want to be the typical big-dream kid stuff. Astronaut (though Japan ain't winnin' any space races), fireman, cartoon character... though what's weird is they're all about pastry chefs. A ton want to own patisseries. Why, you ask? Strong trade relations in the country's formative years with the French have left pastry as a form of high art around here.

Q: Yakuza?

A: NO! No, no, no. If I did see one, I wouldn't know it, as they don't advertise. So... maybe.

Q: What language do you think in?

A: I really don't know anymore. It's kind of a weird creole- it depends on who I've talked to last. I'm still primarily thinking English, but my responses are almost always in Japanese out of simplicity's sake. So I get in the habit of speaking and listening that way, and sometimes misstep among my foreigner crew. With Hilarious Results- except that they do the same thing. I think it's pathological.

There's a symptom among the more experienced ALT's and Foreigner Residents- they tend to say "Yes yes yes yes" very quickly in a string, which directly corresponds to a Japanese response of "Hai hai hai" for complete agreement. If I start doing that, I'll know I've gone too far.

With that, it' s 1:20 in the morning. I think I'm going to go crash out- tomorrow's my big trip to Kyoto. There will be pictures. Oh, yes, there will be pictures.

Pax.