If Japan Only Knew...

Japan, it's an amazing country that I've had the pleasure of living in for almost 4 years now. It's hard to put into words, but my time here, as well as the memories and experiences I made... will always be kept safe in my heart.

That being said... in my time here I've noticed something... interesting... yet, troubling, you can say...

Japan is (in)famously known for being a very conservative country... maybe too strictly conservative at times.

This is why certain things I've seen or heard... well you can't help but shake your head and give a nice, hearty chuckle... followed by a deep sigh...

Yup, that pretty much explains the varying range of emotions when you see and/or hear what I'm about to talk about...

-Flicking People Off

And by this... I mean students... mainly, my students...

Yup, I've seen quite the range of flicking off--one handers, two handers, waving it about, aggressive, joyful, etc.-- but, they also have something in common:

The student doing the flicking usually has no idea what the gesture is actually supposed to mean.

Take this example, for instance...

I saw two of my students having a normal conversation.  One proceeded to give his friend two thumbs up... and that was met with this:

Really really... exactly the way Haunter looks, face and all, is what the student did to his friend.

The look on Entei's face... that was my face...

The situation did not call for middle fingers... yet, it happened.  Also, let me mention that I teach at an elementary school...

So, yeah... moving on:

Cursing in the halls, children cartoons/anime... sale banners!!!!!

Going along with flicking people off without really knowing the meaning... is cursing.  They're found and heard in the most random of places.

I've heard students scream a word or two out loud... yet the only reaction they get is usually from me...

"Uh... what?!? WHERE DID YOU LEARN THAT?!?!?

Then, you hear it on regular, cable TV shows... FOR CHILDREN!



And even sale banners:

... yup... moving on...

-Marijuana Paraphernalia

In my years here, I rarely go a week without seeing some type of reference to marijuana... and surprisingly, it's usually coming from my students.  The children here tend to wear hats, shoes, shirts... any type of clothing and/or accessories that have pictures and references to marijuana.

Then while I'm actually teaching... I tell the students to take out a pencil or an eraser... and marijuana pencil cases are pulled out... no really...

 

I understand that students don't know what that means... they probably just think it's a brand symbol or whatever... but, surely the parents have some sense and should know better...

... and going along with brand names and symbols that Japanese don't really know about...

-The Playboy Bunny, and Corresponding Merchandise

I can't tell you how many countless, little girls I've seen wearing Playboy Bunny clothing.  In Japan, I guess all they see is the rabbit icon and think it's cute... thus all the little girls want it.  You go to the store, Playboy Bunny clothing everywhere.

Sometimes I'm tempted to tell someone what it means... but, how do you even go about starting that conversation.

"Hey, does your girl like rabbits?  That's cool... well... she shouldn't wear that shirt necessarily... unless you're encouraging her to take nude pictures for the whole world to see... fyi yo!"

But, yeah...

(I couldn't find any pictures of the Playboy clothing... I tried looking for some using a search engine, but... as you can imagine... I came up with other... results... so, just picture that logo on clothes children wear... heh heh...)

-Piramekino Daru-Daru English

Sometimes I'm surprised at the English my students know... especially English that, though funny... is kind of bad English to use.

Kids yelling "Shuddup!" when they want someone to be quiet... or a teacher/someone telling them to do something and replying with, "maybe later"/"I can't"...

Then I also have students asking me things like, "Do I say 'whatever'?"

Well... I've realized the source of this English knowledge!  It comes from a TV show that the kids watch afterschool... 6:30-7:00 pm every weekday.  So, that's 5 days in which they have the opportunity to learn and use new English phrases in specific situations.

The show is called Piramekino... and in that show there's a special 5 minute segment called Daru-Daru English... or something like that.  In the segment, there's a Japanese man and a rather large foreigner who is always eating junk food called Darl (or Daru in the Japanese pronunciation).  So, the Japanese man explains a new English phrase... and they have 3 different scenarios in which you can use them.  Then, the Japanese guy tries telling sluggish Darl to do something... and he responds with the English phrase of the day.

And, yeah... they only teach "bad" English.  It's funny... but, yeah... from a teacher's perspective... you wouldn't really want to teach students that.

I do get a kick out of hearing them properly (of course they use bad English the best) use these new English phrases though... I'm not the one teaching it to them... so, it lies in the hands of their parents... heh heh...

I tried looking for a clip of this... but, couldn't find anything.  I admit that I have seen the show on several occasions since I wanted to know what the students were talking about... and it is pretty funny.  It also gives me things to talk about with my students... heh heh... sans the me actually teaching them the bad English the show teaches them.

EDIT: 

Thanks to a blog reader, Claire, for providing a clip of Daru-Daru English.



It's not quite the whole clip since it's focusing mostly on the K-Pop group... but, it gives you an idea of the type of English they tend to teach in this segment.

Anyway...

I'm sure there are many many more that I'm forgetting about and not mentioning... some of my fellow gaikoukujin teachers can even supply more examples... but, I've made my point in this blog entry!