Years End Email

I recently began playing badminton with the local
club who play once a week at the nearby sportscenter
(actually "suporutsu sen-tah" in the Japanese). I was
invited by one of my co-sensei, who insisted it would
be a very casual game. Perhaps it was, and because
they are so sportsmanlike it was hard to discern, but
I think they thoroughly enjoyed watching me struggle.
Badminton is one game where my height and strength
dont translate into a gaurunteed advantage. Speed,
agility, and technique are the key skills in this
game, of which I have none. In the words of a 60ish
man who ran me all over the court just in warm-up (his
English is sound):

" Michael...(short pause and
sigh)...you do not move well. But dont mind, it
CANNOT be helped." (the Japanese love to use "dont
mind", they mean "dont worry about it")

Truer words were never spoken. No Woodard has ever
been described as "catlike". We move more with a
bull-headed stubborness that makes Newton's law of
inertia proud. But in the true Japanese spirit I
continued to "do my best" (more on this in a bit) and
hit that shuttlecock as hard as I could for 8 straight
defeats in a row while my rotating doubles partners
politely said "dont mind dont mind" after each of my
errors.

I may have commented on this before but it seems
more important now that winter has arrived. The
toilet seats are heated. Simply better.

The past several weeks have delivered my first
feelings of culture shock, though I am not quite sure
why. The differences have surely been there since I
arrived. Its difficult to point to one thing;
possibly its the fact that I have a better
understanding (though only slightly) of the Japanese
way than I did in September.

Much of it has to do with my own lack of
communication abilities I suppose; for all my efforts
and progress with the Japanese language, my "real"
communication skills are still quite poor. Japanese
is not so much more difficult than I expected, but
much more difficult than I had HOPED! When I learned
Spanish, it seemed it got easier as I continued;
Japanese is the opposite in that the more I learn, the
more difficult it becomes.

There are a great many things I admire about the
Japanese, among them their work ethic. And yet, the
extremity of it is one of the things that bugs me the
most. With a a very few exceptions, everyone seems
overworked, tired, and stressed (especially teachers
and students). Each afternoon at 4pm brings a bit of
guilt as I leave school and head home, knowing that
many of my colleagues will be there until 7 or 8pm.
No doubt they have things to do but I get the feeling
that much of it is "face time". Most of them too,
give at least one day of the weekend to coaching
school club/sports teams. My guilt never lasts very
long, usually before I arrive at my apartment it been
overtaken by "Man, those Japanese need to learn to
relax!" thoughts. Once a week (or once a month
even!) I wish I could be the principal and at 3:10
when classes were over, I'd tell everyone to go home.
I'd say: "Students, we're not gonna clean the school
today. Teachers, your student progress reports can
wait until Thursday. Everyone, go home, take a nap,
watch TV, go walk in the woods, help your mother with
dinner, read a book, just do something without
thinking about school for an afternoon!" Course thats
just the lazy in me talking.

The day before winter break (2.5 weeks for students),
I asked maybe a half-dozen kids what they planned on
doing, even giving some suggestions like skiing, video
games, hanging out with friends, etc. You know what
every single one of them said? "Study". What, what,
WHAT? "Everyday?", I asked. "Yes, everyday" came the
replies. Ludicrous. Now maybe they were just trying
to impress their teacher, but I dont really doubt
them.

The Japanese have this saying "Gambatte". It has
several meanings, "Good luck" and "Hang in there", but
most often represents "doing your best". I hear it no
less than 400 times a day. It really does seem at the
core of the Japanese code. Admirable to say the
least, but it sure would be great if, oh, say once in
a blue moon maybe, they would just half-ass it. Maybe
even do their best, but in a mediocre sorta way.

I, on the other hand, am taking full advantage of my
winter break (while the teachers dont get 2.5 weeks,
we do get 3 long weekends in a row, one of them being
a 6-day respite over New Years). I have been skiing
several times (more today and tomorrow), have visited
6 different bathhouses in the past 7 days, done a bit
of baking, hosted a Christmas party at my apartment
with co-teachers and friends, and am currently
engrossed in Bill Bryson's "Short History of Nearly
Everything" (fantastic if you havent read it).

New Years Eve looks to be quiet, though I did hear
something about midnight skiing under fireworks at the
local resort. Sounds better than watching that dumb
ball drop I must admit.

I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year
celebration (or quiet evening at home) and that 2006
brings nothing but joy, happiness, and plenty of
opportunities to unite with family and friends.

Gambatte