JET's & ALT's

Let me start by saying this...I don't really care for teachers. Like policemen and tax inspectors, they are a necessary evil. Part of the reason why I couldn't wait to finish high school was the motley collection of so called educators that I encountered on my journey through the education systems of 2 countries.  A small number of the teachers I had were genuinely good people who cared about what they were doing but most of them were merely clock watching drones who had little to no talent or power tripping egotists who got off on scaring small children. A relative who is a teacher of some eminence once said to me "there are 3 reasons to become a teacher...June, July and August". For me however, the old adage "those that can, do. Those that can't, teach" is one of those indisputable truths of life. The reason for this rant is that I have just read a book by a Kiwi guy who spent 3 years as an assistant language teacher (ALT) on the Japan English teacher (JET) scheme. It was a great read for a number of reasons but mostly for the fact he didn't take himself seriously. He seems to have had a lot of fun during his time in Japan because he realized this right from the beginning. 

The JET scheme has been running for 25 years now and is still enthusiastically supported by the Japanese government. For a small town mayor in backblocks Japan having an exotic foreigner on the payroll of the local high school is a boost to his prestige. The local school board can claim to be "international" and can demonstrate to the local people that they are taking all possible steps to prepare their children for the new globalized economy. As usual in Japan it's all about image and if this is the primary goal it could be judged as a huge success.  Less publicized is the inconvenient fact that the average Japanese student's English level continues to be abysmal. It's not really surprising when you consider when these so called "English teachers" are nothing of the sort. Because just about anybody can get themselves on this scheme it's no wonder that the results are woeful. While I believe most teachers in NZ are a waste of good oxygen I will concede that they have at least attended several years of training college, have gained experience in the classroom and have done their time in the system. Contrast this with the recruiting criteria of the JET program...

To be accepted as a JET you need to, A) speak English, and, B) have a degree in something (anything will do). And...that's it. Don't worry about the fact that you have no experience as a teacher. It doesn't matter that your degree is a Doctorate in Equine Psychology. You don't even need to speak any Japanese.  It's no secret that becoming a JET is the easiest way to exist as a foreigner in Japan. Your average JET is a twenty something American/Canadian/English/Aussie just out of university and on the lookout for a way of funding an overseas experience for a couple of years. Some of them have an interest in Japan while others are just there to meet people and get in adventures. Some may even have a genuine desire to teach English and to participate in the education of the students they will meet. Whatever their reasons, the JET scheme is their ticket to a life in Japan.

Now this is all good and wonderful. The Japanese Government and the local education boards get their progressive image and the foreigners get to live the dream, meet girls and drink a lot. Even the long suffering taxpayers who foot the bill for it believe it to be a good thing. It's a win-win situation....except, the internet is full of blogs with JET teachers railing about the injustices that riddle the Japanese education system and the abuse and intolerable working conditions they endure. Now I don't doubt for a moment that all of this is true and that they have some real grievances but they all seem to have forgotten the fact that they are not real teachers. For some reason these people expect to be taken seriously as bona fide educators despite the fact they have had no training or experience and their qualifications amount to the grand total of being able to speak their native language and that they managed to show up to enough lectures at university to get a degree in something. The only reason they work in education is the fact that they can't do anything else that qualifies for a visa. It's very clear to me that if the Japanese government had an interest in teaching English to children they would hire real teachers and pay them real money to do so. The Jet scheme is simply a feelgood exercise and is not intended to be a real career for anybody. You are not supposed to be there 7 years later and demanding pay and conditions to reflect your long service...you were supposed to have gone home years ago.  Anybody in this situation has missed the point of the program, which is to go to Japan, party, sight see, reinforce a few stereotypes about foreigners, learn some kanji and generally be a bit of colour for the local community for a year or two.

Road Rules

It's time I went back to Japan again and did some housekeeping. The trick is now to find a good airfare. Jetstar is undoubtedly the cheapest but I don't like having to transit in Queensland and I hate giving money to an Australian airline. I need for Air NZ to come up with a special like they did this time last year.

Mixin it up on the Midosuji

I read in the Japan Times that in Kameoka a teenager in a van ran over some schoolkids and killed 2 of them. It always surprises me that this sort of thing doesn't happen everyday. The traffic/pedestrian mix in Japanese cities is ludicrous. Despite having a huge automotive industry Japan is at heart a nation of walkers and has not yet come to terms with traffic. A lot of places there are no footpaths and the fact that houses and shops are allowed to be built without any setback from the road means that people are simply going to walk on the road. OK...but when they do that they seem to forget that cars and trucks are also using that same road. I've rarely seen anybody who looks even half aware of this fact. Old people are the worst. Some of them may have been living beside this road all their lives but still look astounded when a car comes along while they're shuffling across it.  Even though large numbers of motor vehicles have been driving around Japanese cities for over 60 years, I still get the feeling that they are viewed as something that has just come along and people don't yet quite know how to respond to them. In Kameoka I used to drive past a rock which was right on the edge of the road. When I say road, I mean the barely 2 metre wide path that everybody uses to access their homes. And when I say on the edge, I mean this thing was literally on the road. This rock was about 50cms high and had some kanji written on it. To me it looked like a shrine of some sort, the kind of which you see all over Japan. Driving by this rock I was always scared that even a minute twist of the steering wheel would result in me driving over some ancient monument and incurring the wrath of the natives. It was a stupid place to have a rock of any kind much less one of some importance or spiritual value but that's the kind of traffic hazard you see everywhere in Japan.

Bicyclers and scooterists are even worse. It seems that a lot of people disengage their brain whenever they jump on a bicycle. Weaving erratically around traffic and pedestrians with careless abandon is the name of the game when using any form of 2 wheeled transport around town. People ride straight through stop signs while using umbrellas and texting on their phones. I believe this stems from the tradition that in an accident the driver of the car is automatically guilty of causing it just like if a bicycle hits a pedestrian the cyclist is at fault regardless of the circumstances. The laws around bicycles are a great example of this lack of attention to traffic reality. Riding a bike on the footpath is forbidden except in places where it is not but nobody seems to know where they may be so everyone rides on the footpath. Riding at night without a light will get you a stiff fine while riding drunk will mostly likely get you a lot of finger wagging and a warning to not do it again. The cops are big on bicycle theft....(all bikes have to be registered) but aren't interested in enforcing laws like the ones prohibiting carrying other people on your bicycle or chatting on the phone while riding. One good thing about Japan is the lack of militant "cars are evil, everybody should ride a bike" activist bicyclists like we have in NZ. These idiots are usually to be found wearing bright coloured spandex and riding 5 abreast on busy roads. They know they are being unreasonable and don't care who they offend. I don't know which is most annoying....stupidity as seen in Japan or such willful stupidity as seen in NZ.

Where I come from roads are for motor vehicles. Sure you are entitled to be on the road on your bike or horse or scooter but be under no illusions....the car is king. It's up to you to stay out of the way and not do anything stupid. If you don't you'll be splatted and get very little sympathy from anyone. And that's as it should be..............