How to Get by in Japanese

So you find out you're getting a job in Japan but the only Japanese you know is based on a song by Styx (if you don't get that joke ask your parents). Well I'm here to help. I got bored doing Japanese shukudai (that ones a bonus) so I decided to make a list of the only 10 words you really need to know to get by in Japan. I probably knew less when I first got here but honestly this is all you need to survive for a while.

10. Sumimasen-it means excuse me. Even if you are a scary American, people will not move out of your way especially in the meat department late at night at the grocery store until you say this.
9. Gominasai - I'm sorry. This is what you say when you forgot to say sumimasen and you butted that surprisingly agile 80 year old  shufu (look it up) from the produce aisle.
8. Arrigato- Thank you. (See: Styx reference).
7. Betsu betsu de-used in a restaurant when you're hanging out with your friend you met at a sumo meeting or that friend that happens to not have change. It means to split the bill.
6. Kudasai and onegaishimasu- both mean please and you use each for different things and I'll never really understand which one to you use where. The Japanese language is very polite so you should feel free to throw those pretty much anywhere in a conversation. To be honest you dont really need #6 but people will assume you're just a rude foreigner.
5. Gozaimasu- basically means sir and mam. Used in general greetings and everywhere you can possibly try. Its another one of those polite things you can actually go without but people will secretly hate you jk.
4. Ohayoo Gozaimasu- Good Morning. Only effective in the morning. I've tried in the evening before and it doesn't work.
3. Konbanwa- Good evening. Again this one shockingly only works at night.
2. Konichewa- Hello. When in doubt about the time because the sun rises at 4AM and sets at 5PM use this one.
1. Wakarimasen- This is really all you need to know. This is your free pass to claim ignorance of anything Japanese. As soon as you say it, most conversations are done. It means I don't understand. I say this puppy in my sleep.

And there you have it, the ten(ish) words that you need to survive Japan. Gonbatte!

*side note Eigo ga hanasemasuka? is also important if you're looking to impress people. It means Can you speak English? Though, in all honesty if you say in ENGLISH Can you speak English? and you get blank stares then you're pretty much set with your answer anyway. Also this was supposed to be a top 10 list but 3 more words are probably just as important but who wants a top 13 list so here: Dozo-go ahead. Hai-yes. iie-no.

MeySen Kindergarten We Like You:My kindergarten field trip

This post title is actually the name of a story in our curriculum. However, I've gotten more of a chance to hang out with our immersion kindergarteners over the past few weeks and I'm just blown away by them.As some of you know, I always enjoyed working with kindergarten as a sub. It always starts with crazy stares and kids whispering "we have a boy teacher" within minutes we somehow become friends and the kids want me back the next time. Its partially because I always grew up with that age group because my mom does daycare. For the past week or so I have been sitting in on the 4 year old Japanese class (kind of like how American schools go to a special) to get a better perspective on Japanese class.  In Japanese class, those kids are way better at Japanese than me. They've had 4 more years of practice than I have. It was pretty funny to see the stares I got. Every time I'd attempt to say something about twelve 4 year olds would look back at me and kind of laugh.

 On top of  Japanese class, I was also lucky enough to go to the Aquarium with the 5 year olds last week. I basically acted as a parent volunteer for the kids in one class. I noticed right away how proficient they are in the English language. These kids have barely had 2 years of English exposure and are completely coherent of everything in English around them. I know with my 3rd graders I can hold a pretty normal conversation about anything and even use big words around them and they soak it right in. Its really amazing to see the difference between them and even the high schoolers who did not have the advantage of 6 days a week of English instruction. Also, as a Japanese student myself I can really start to see how polar opposite the two languages are. 90% of the time I try to say something in Japanese I end up saying it wrong so I just make up my own Japenglish (Daijo Not Bu or Suyoumasen). Back on to the point of the story. Those kindergartners are amazing at their abilities. The first random conversation I had was a kid trying to tell me how he loves "High School Musical." Other kids thought it was funny to call me "Miss Greg" because they understand the difference and others just assume Miss is just a formal way to say any teacher name because they've had little experience with male teachers.

We went to Matsushima to ride the ferry boat and feed seagulls then went into the aquarium. I wasn't too excited about feeding seagulls being from Michigan but the kids loved it. They'd come flying up and swoop the snack right out of your hand...the seagulls that is, usually. At the aquarium, we saw a pretty great seal show and then checked out all the fish. All in all it was a pretty great day.

Tsunami Aftermath: 7 months Later

Empty lots where houses once were

broken houses and trash

random boat on the side of the road

Its hard to tell from the picture but that mountain in the distance is just compacted garbage from the Tsunami. There are several of them around town but hard to get to.

This is in the middle of the road

The house in the distance looks rebuilt the other houses didnt fare so well

Random trash litters the beach.

foam 

Thats a boat buried

This is right next to a cliff. a car from a freighter is burried.

Play catch  on the beach midst the trash 

My last post was really about the fun we had just hanging out but you can't really go to the coast without thinking about the tsunami. News all over the world showed the chaos that ensued days and weeks after. I live about 30 minutes from where the tsunami was and know people who were affected by it. I telling my students today about going to Shichigahama for the weekend and they all said the same thing "tsunami." One of my students has a house on the water right there. She told me that the "tsunami came and house was gone."  Its still crazy to think how close it all was. Driving into town you could see the destruction all over the place and a whole lot of empty spaces. I would have taken more pictures but I was the lucky short straw who got to drive us.  Most of my pictures are in the middle of the land where houses once were and now look like a pond is there. These are some of the pictures of areas that were covered by water 7 months ago. I wish I had before and after photos but teachers tell me it was much different.

My American Weekend in Japan

Last weekend, we had a few extra days of for Health and Sports day so the immersion teachers decided to go away to our schools cabin at Shichigahama. Some of you might remember that I was supposed to go there the first weekend of April but the Tsunami made that impossible. This town was badly damaged, however the cabin was left in good condition because its up on a hill. The first thing you notice going into the town is that its nowhere near what it used to be. There are empty lots everywhere with remnants of houses, a lot of buildings on the way that still existed had markings of how high the water came up, roads were damaged and or changed, and random trash everywher.  If you live in Japan long enough, you notice that you almost never see a single scrap of paper on the ground anywhere. 

The cabin felt like a place that you could plop out of the dunes of Lake Michigan. It was modest on the outside and cozy and Americanly spacious. Ok now I'm starting to sound like a guy on house hunters... We get to the cabin and everybody just kind of relaxes and plays games. We grilled steak for dinner and sat out at the campfire at night. For two days, you could kind of forget that we were even in Japan.

On Sunday, we went out to the fish market bright and early. The people there were so friendly. Also, I probably had the best sashimi I've ever had. I ate tuna, whale, fish eggs, octopus and oysters and all of them were pretty delicious. That afternoon, a few of us took a walk to the beach. This was my first chance to go into the Pacific Ocean since I've been here. The beach itself looked like it would have been beautiful prior to the earthquake. Now, it kind of sat in upside down boats, garbage and foam pieces. We made the most of it. We even played catch and threw the football through a washed up tire. 

The Main Cabin

Beautiful view of the sunset

I wanted to try on the diving helmet. It was super heavy.

The bathtub

yum, fish eyes

Buy the fish get its eggs for free. Btw this fish feels more like a snake than a fish.

Touching the Pacific Ocean

Outside view of the cabin

The cabin the guys stayed in. 

All in all it was much needed relaxing weekend with my American Friends. It definitely puts life in perspective seeing all the damage and knowing that where I stepped was covered in water and chaos a few months ago. I definitely feel blessed to come full circle with the earthquake and make it out there and realize how lucky I am to be right here. (I'll upload tsunami pictures later).