Archive | September, 2009
Are you African? pt.3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRtuxjHBmi4]
When I was a kid back in Brooklyn, younger even than Terrence, my friends would tease me. “Are you African?” They’d ask. “Hell no!” “So why the hell do you dress like that???” Yes, indeed, evidence to the contrary. I was decked out in a dashiki and a kufi everyday. My friends in Public School wore [...]
Are you African? pt.2
“So, why do you know Swahili?” one of my more inquisitive students inquired. “I studied it in elementary school…” I replied. “I had to study it, the way you have to study English.” There were still looks of confusion on the students’ faces. The Japanese teacher looked as if it weren’t sitting well with her idea of how [...]
Sports Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–AxwT7lCy4]
Sports Day at a Junior HS in Japan is a day where the students break into teams and compete for a trophy and prizes. There are a series of races and tasks to test their endurance, strength and ability to work as a team. There are also cheerleading and dance competitions. After the Olympic like activities of the [...]
Are you African? pt.1
The other day in class, the Japanese English teacher asked me what languages could I speak. The simplest answer would have been English only. I mean, as far as fluency is concerned it is the only language I know. However, from grades 1 through 8, I was heavily exposed to Swahili (an African language spoken in Kenya, Tanzania and other East [...]
The Minstrels on my desk….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTXbgaqwPdM]
There’s an ongoing furor over a Japanese McDonald’s ad campaign featuring a white flunky japanophile who can’t manage to get nihongo (spoken or written) through his thick foreign skull…reinforcing this and other negative stereotypes about white foreigners, as if they needed reinforcing… Mr. Debito even compared Mr. James to Stepin Fechit. I don’t know about that. I thought it was ironic, [...]
Kappa: a river creature from the Japanese psyche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aPMIpjf21E]
I had a bizarre conversation at work today with my fellow English teacher and the students. It was regarding this picture which the Japanese English teacher had pasted on the corner of the print out: It was cutesy so I didn’t question it. Most Japanese kids (and adults for that matter) love Kawaii (cuteness) so the overabundance of it hardly [...]
It's the little things #8: Gaijin in the mist
So, the other day it was hotter than Georgia asphalt, and I found myself in Kannai, one of the few places I can find my Black & Mild cigars. I’d ventured a good 10 meters from the station when that first bead of sweat rolled off my bald head and splashed down on my eyelash. Crossing [...]
Bedside Religion
If you go to a hotel in the US- most any hotel- from 1-star to 4-stars, you’ll likely to encounter a number ubiquitous things. For example, a bed, a TV, relatively clean towels and sheets, perhaps a bathrobe and slippers. In fact, these are pretty much international standards. One other thing you’ll find in most any [...]
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