Although my contract officially expired some time ago, today was my last day as a teacher. The last two weeks have pretty much been one continuous farewell party. With speeches and toasts literally every night, presents received and pictures taken, finishing JET has been a gradual process to say the least. Perhaps because of that it was a little difficult for me to get a sense of closure from most of those farewells. I think I talked to everyone I wanted to and said all of my goodbyes, but knowing in the back of my head that I would probably see any given person again as I continued my farewell tour lessened the emotional impact. Well, now I've finished all of my duties as an English teacher, and yet this whole experience of living in a small town in a foreign country for two years steadfastly refuses to be summed up in a nice neat package. Instead, I'm just sitting in an apartment that isn't even mine (thanks Tom!) a little depressed at the realization that yeah, it's over, but also wondering, what's going to happen next?
Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to think a bit more clearly about what teaching in Japan has meant to me, and what to take from this experience going into the future. For now, I just know that despite plenty of frustration at times, I am going to miss this town and the people I met while in it.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Accident Update
It's been an up and down couple of weeks. Dealing with two insurance companies and two repair shops in Japanese has been a bit taxing, and I'm still not sure how it's going to turn out, but hopefully I can get my car back on the road soon. Things started out great, I got a call from my insurance company, saying the truck driver's insurance was accepting 100% of the blame for the accident. I was relieved to somehow avoid the "if your car is moving, you're partly to blame" rule in the insurance system here. All that was left to do was talk to the trucker's insurance and get my car fixed.
At first, when I talked to the other driver's insurance company, I was ecstatic. The first words out of their mouth were "700,000 yen" ($7,000) of damage, and I immediately thought of all the carbon fiber I could buy with that. But something seemed a little off. How on earth did they come up with that number? The next sentence brought me back down. "Yes, and unfortunately since your car is only worth 200,000 yen, we won't be able to pay for repairs of that level..."
What?
Granted, I was a little worried from the start about my car being undervalued. You just won't find any Tourer-Vs in a normal Toyota dealer's used lot anymore. The only X90 Mark IIs around at a normal dealership are bargain bin base models, which are worth next to nothing. Still, my buddy Kevin paid more than 200,000 for his base model Mark II when he got to Japan. When you look at a Tourer-V, and a manual, the price goes way up, not even considering all the new parts on my car. So, it was obvious that the insurance company was fucking with me, both by undervaluing my car and overestimating the repair costs. I tried explaining that my car was worth much more than that, but the lady at the insurance company wasn't having it, and kept talking about the red book value. Argh.
I panicked, hard, imagining the trucker's insurance company basically stealing my car from me. I was also thinking about all the money I'd put into it (hell, I literally paid more than half of what they were offering me for the car only a couple weeks earlier for the shaken inspection!) disappearing with nothing to show for it. After worrying about it for way too long, I got some relief the next day when I called up Kazama, the guy who doesn't know if Bryan is spelled with a B or a V, also known as the owner of Kazama Auto, the store I bought my car from. After telling him the basics of my problem, his first words were, "Let me talk to them."
After that conversation, things felt a bit better, but it's still not over. Even after talking to Kazama the insurance company wasn't changing their stance. Last weekend, though, I went to the shop in Hitachi my car was towed to in order to get a better look at the damage. And 700,000 yen is completely just them fucking with me. The only damage was cosmetic, and the only body panels damaged enough to need replacement were the front bumper, bonnet, side skirts, and one headlight lens. Even getting name brand stuff, a front bumper is about 60,000, bonnet 70,000, side skirts 40,000, and headlights can be picked up for about 3,000 on yahoo auctions. The other 527,000 yen was completely just them fucking with me, quoting ridiculous labor costs so I would get scared and take their lowball offer on the car's total value. There is absolutely NO damage to the car's drivetrain or suspension. I got in the car last weekend and drove it down to Kazama's shop, almost 100 miles away, with no problems.
Things are looking a little better. Kazama's guys looked at the car, confirmed that the insurance company was full of shit, and the insurance company then called me up to say yes, we were full of shit. But, it's not over yet. They said they need to reevaluate, and I am still waiting for them to give me a new offer. So yeah, frustration all around with the car.
At first, when I talked to the other driver's insurance company, I was ecstatic. The first words out of their mouth were "700,000 yen" ($7,000) of damage, and I immediately thought of all the carbon fiber I could buy with that. But something seemed a little off. How on earth did they come up with that number? The next sentence brought me back down. "Yes, and unfortunately since your car is only worth 200,000 yen, we won't be able to pay for repairs of that level..."
What?
Granted, I was a little worried from the start about my car being undervalued. You just won't find any Tourer-Vs in a normal Toyota dealer's used lot anymore. The only X90 Mark IIs around at a normal dealership are bargain bin base models, which are worth next to nothing. Still, my buddy Kevin paid more than 200,000 for his base model Mark II when he got to Japan. When you look at a Tourer-V, and a manual, the price goes way up, not even considering all the new parts on my car. So, it was obvious that the insurance company was fucking with me, both by undervaluing my car and overestimating the repair costs. I tried explaining that my car was worth much more than that, but the lady at the insurance company wasn't having it, and kept talking about the red book value. Argh.
I panicked, hard, imagining the trucker's insurance company basically stealing my car from me. I was also thinking about all the money I'd put into it (hell, I literally paid more than half of what they were offering me for the car only a couple weeks earlier for the shaken inspection!) disappearing with nothing to show for it. After worrying about it for way too long, I got some relief the next day when I called up Kazama, the guy who doesn't know if Bryan is spelled with a B or a V, also known as the owner of Kazama Auto, the store I bought my car from. After telling him the basics of my problem, his first words were, "Let me talk to them."
After that conversation, things felt a bit better, but it's still not over. Even after talking to Kazama the insurance company wasn't changing their stance. Last weekend, though, I went to the shop in Hitachi my car was towed to in order to get a better look at the damage. And 700,000 yen is completely just them fucking with me. The only damage was cosmetic, and the only body panels damaged enough to need replacement were the front bumper, bonnet, side skirts, and one headlight lens. Even getting name brand stuff, a front bumper is about 60,000, bonnet 70,000, side skirts 40,000, and headlights can be picked up for about 3,000 on yahoo auctions. The other 527,000 yen was completely just them fucking with me, quoting ridiculous labor costs so I would get scared and take their lowball offer on the car's total value. There is absolutely NO damage to the car's drivetrain or suspension. I got in the car last weekend and drove it down to Kazama's shop, almost 100 miles away, with no problems.
Things are looking a little better. Kazama's guys looked at the car, confirmed that the insurance company was full of shit, and the insurance company then called me up to say yes, we were full of shit. But, it's not over yet. They said they need to reevaluate, and I am still waiting for them to give me a new offer. So yeah, frustration all around with the car.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Carnage
AAAAAAAAAAARGH. Need to get that out of my system. So, driving home from Mito last Saturday, had a bit of an altercation on the Joban Highway. I was traveling in the right lane, nothing out of the ordinary, when a truck cab in the left lane ahead of me clipped the right barrier and flipped over to the right, directly in my path. Got on the brakes as much as I could but a collision was inevitable. I was strangely calm in the aftermath, even after the trucker apologized for falling asleep at the wheel. Overall I was pretty lucky. No injuries to me or Saori, only light injuries to either of the people in the truck, and the damage to my car could have been a whole lot worse. The only part of the truck that made contact with my car was the cargo area above the cab, which apparently was made out of FRP (and apparently full of porn if you'll notice in the picture above) so there wasn't much damage to the metal on my car. I will need at least a new front bumper, grill, and bonnet though. But hey, I wanted to replace that bonnet anyway. Since the other driver admitted to falling asleep at the wheel, there's a chance I might not have any percentage liability for the accident. Honestly, even if he was awake when he did it, I don't see how I could be held responsible. A truck flipped over into my lane and I slowed as much as I could to lessen the impact. There were no escape routes since Japan hasn't invented the highway shoulder, leaving a 100 foot drop the only thing to my right. Unfortunately, Japan's auto insurance system is set up to almost never assign blame 100% to one party. Let's hope it turns out allright.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Random Conversation
(While waiting in Kazama Auto to find out how miserable shaken is going to make my life, measured in 10,000 yen bills)
Kazama: "Hey Bryan, how do you spell your name?"
Me: *Huh?? Kazama knows my name???* "Uh, B-R-Y-A-N."
K: "What's that? B? V? Like Tourer-V?"
M: "No no, B." (Pushes the shop cat away and demonstrates writing a capital B in the air)
K: "Ah, gotcha." (Fools around with some machine for a bit) "Here you go, a cell phone charm."
M: "Hey, thanks"
Yeah, uh so now I have a piece of wood with "BRYAN" etched into it hanging off my phone. After an entire life of having to explain my name is spelled with a Y not an I, it was nice to have confusion arise from a different letter. It's also funny that the confusion was resolved by my car's grade. Which gives me an idea. Maybe I should get a replacement badge made up for the back that says "TOURER-B."
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Chasing Sakura
A common writing prompt on English tests for my students is "Tell me about your town." Invariably, they will reply with, "My town has a lot of nature." Well, that's nice. No ATMs open after 9 on a weekend, no non-Japanese food other than McDonalds, but at least there are lots of trees. Well, sometimes trees can be pretty cool. As anyone that attended my nationally-televised Hanami party in Ueno park can tell you, once the cherry trees start blossoming, everyone better pay attention. Something about those trees just fills everyone with a desire to revel in being alive.
As spring and warmer temperatures slowly start crawling up the islands of Japan, the sakura trees follow north, but they don't stay for very long in any one place. Part of the appeal is, of course, that the pale pink blossoms only stay on the trees for about a week before being replaced by green leaves. Ueno park this year ended up being a bit of a perfect storm, with rainy weather both Friday and Sunday leaving Saturday as the only viable day for people to party under the trees. And party they did, coming from all over Tokyo, Chiba, Tochigi, Saitama, not to mention 20 ALTs from Ibaraki. Compared to Ueno, Hitachi's Sakura Matsuri, two weekends later, was a much calmer affair. Still, strolling along Heiwa street while chatting with Kenpoku area friends and munching on the gyoza at G-bros is always worth the short ride down. For the first time I visited Kamine park, as it was shutting down, giving its mostly abandoned attractions an eerie feeling. Back in downtown Hitachi, the cherry blossom festival was already over, street stalls and rockabilly dancers replaced with a line of cars snaking towards the station.
There's something calming in that contrast between the bright flower petals and the night sky behind them. Still, it wasn't long before Hitachi's trees went green, and Takahagi's along with them. I thought I would have to leave the Kanto area and go north to Fukushima or even further to get what I really wanted, a picture of my car surrounded by cherry blossoms. Unfortunately I didn't actually have my car back from Kazama Auto until last Saturday, and by the time I had it back in Takahagi I was too beat to do much exploring. Luckily, it turns out I didn't have to go far. Today I was able to leave work a bit early since almost all of the teachers were out visiting parents, meaning no classes to teach. I took the afternoon to cruise around Takahagi and experience some of that nature my kids are always bragging about.
Although my main school is only a 2 minute walk from the beach, actually only a very small part of Takahagi lies along the coast. The rest of it is covered in mountains extending to the northwest. The climate change between the two areas means that although everything in the city area of Takahagi where I live is done, trees in the higher elevations are hitting their prime right now. I was informed of this by a distinguished older gentleman who insisted I called him Professor Sakuragi. Maybe. I also learned that yamazakura, the cherry trees that bloom naturally on the mountainside, can be quite different from the rows of trees planted in the cities below. Many of them are completely uncultivated, naturally growing to impressive heights and spreading their branches wide. Their blossoms tend to clump together, and many times they will appear simultaneously with the green leaves. All of which makes this tree in Shimokimida (3 minutes from my mountain school!) all the more impressive.
Professor Sakuragi went on to tell me that he and his wife had been to our very location only two days before, only to find that the tree had not yet started to bloom. With rain in the forecast for the next few days, he (and I) were quite lucky to see such a beautiful tree blossoming at that time. Proving their devotion to nature, or at least sightseeing, people actually come from well outside of Takahagi just to see this tree. Oh yeah, and I did get plenty of pictures of my car and sakura trees amidst the wonderful nature all around Takahagi.
As spring and warmer temperatures slowly start crawling up the islands of Japan, the sakura trees follow north, but they don't stay for very long in any one place. Part of the appeal is, of course, that the pale pink blossoms only stay on the trees for about a week before being replaced by green leaves. Ueno park this year ended up being a bit of a perfect storm, with rainy weather both Friday and Sunday leaving Saturday as the only viable day for people to party under the trees. And party they did, coming from all over Tokyo, Chiba, Tochigi, Saitama, not to mention 20 ALTs from Ibaraki. Compared to Ueno, Hitachi's Sakura Matsuri, two weekends later, was a much calmer affair. Still, strolling along Heiwa street while chatting with Kenpoku area friends and munching on the gyoza at G-bros is always worth the short ride down. For the first time I visited Kamine park, as it was shutting down, giving its mostly abandoned attractions an eerie feeling. Back in downtown Hitachi, the cherry blossom festival was already over, street stalls and rockabilly dancers replaced with a line of cars snaking towards the station.
There's something calming in that contrast between the bright flower petals and the night sky behind them. Still, it wasn't long before Hitachi's trees went green, and Takahagi's along with them. I thought I would have to leave the Kanto area and go north to Fukushima or even further to get what I really wanted, a picture of my car surrounded by cherry blossoms. Unfortunately I didn't actually have my car back from Kazama Auto until last Saturday, and by the time I had it back in Takahagi I was too beat to do much exploring. Luckily, it turns out I didn't have to go far. Today I was able to leave work a bit early since almost all of the teachers were out visiting parents, meaning no classes to teach. I took the afternoon to cruise around Takahagi and experience some of that nature my kids are always bragging about.
Although my main school is only a 2 minute walk from the beach, actually only a very small part of Takahagi lies along the coast. The rest of it is covered in mountains extending to the northwest. The climate change between the two areas means that although everything in the city area of Takahagi where I live is done, trees in the higher elevations are hitting their prime right now. I was informed of this by a distinguished older gentleman who insisted I called him Professor Sakuragi. Maybe. I also learned that yamazakura, the cherry trees that bloom naturally on the mountainside, can be quite different from the rows of trees planted in the cities below. Many of them are completely uncultivated, naturally growing to impressive heights and spreading their branches wide. Their blossoms tend to clump together, and many times they will appear simultaneously with the green leaves. All of which makes this tree in Shimokimida (3 minutes from my mountain school!) all the more impressive.
Professor Sakuragi went on to tell me that he and his wife had been to our very location only two days before, only to find that the tree had not yet started to bloom. With rain in the forecast for the next few days, he (and I) were quite lucky to see such a beautiful tree blossoming at that time. Proving their devotion to nature, or at least sightseeing, people actually come from well outside of Takahagi just to see this tree. Oh yeah, and I did get plenty of pictures of my car and sakura trees amidst the wonderful nature all around Takahagi.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Must be dreaming
Let's ignore the fact that I only have 4 more paychecks before I am unemployed with which to move out of my apartment, pay the deposit on a new one, and live however long it takes me to find a new job in Tokyo, and just do some shopping for my car.
Also, shaken. Urgh. Yearly tax on cars that could end up costing me around $1000US. No way around it.
But, next, cooling. My car's been running pretty hot since I got it, usually around 98-99C. When I get it on the track, hopefully soon, I'm gonna need to do something about that, better radiator maybe. Looks like Koyorad has one for about 4 man, or Trust is 9. Yikes. Getting the heat out of the engine compartment would be a good idea too, so an aero bonnet could give proper ventilation. Could go full carbon, which would look sweet and be lighter, but more expensive and maybe more flashy than I want. D-MAX does this carbon one for 7 man or FRP for 5, although this picture is from a 90 chaser since theres no pic for the mark II on their site. Second is a FRP hood from Car Modify Wonder that I saw at the Auto Salon in January, but since their website is crap I have no idea how much it would be. I do like the fact that it's a little less duct-y than the D-MAX hood, but then again, that's kind of the point, isn't it. Last is a FRP bonnet from Hippo Sleek (what kind of name is that, seriously) that costs as much as a full carbon bonnet, 7 man, and would require another couple man to get painted. Of course that one is my favorite so far. D'oh.
Next is the headlights. As you can see, the passenger headlight is getting yellowed. It's nothing big, and purely cosmetic, but bothers me. Options are getting a used set of factory headlights in better condition off yahoo auctions for probably about 6000 yen, or replace the covers with new plastic ones, which would look sweet but cost 2 man plus labor.
Or, I could rent a heat gun and try to do it myself. Could be fun.
That's probably all realistically in terms of what I'm gonna do to my car, unless more stuff breaks. Eventually I'll need to replace some of the aero parts, especially the rear bumper, which I put a huge crack pretty much the first week I had the car. But, before I do that, I want to try taking it out to Ebisu myself.
Also, shaken. Urgh. Yearly tax on cars that could end up costing me around $1000US. No way around it.
But, next, cooling. My car's been running pretty hot since I got it, usually around 98-99C. When I get it on the track, hopefully soon, I'm gonna need to do something about that, better radiator maybe. Looks like Koyorad has one for about 4 man, or Trust is 9. Yikes. Getting the heat out of the engine compartment would be a good idea too, so an aero bonnet could give proper ventilation. Could go full carbon, which would look sweet and be lighter, but more expensive and maybe more flashy than I want. D-MAX does this carbon one for 7 man or FRP for 5, although this picture is from a 90 chaser since theres no pic for the mark II on their site. Second is a FRP hood from Car Modify Wonder that I saw at the Auto Salon in January, but since their website is crap I have no idea how much it would be. I do like the fact that it's a little less duct-y than the D-MAX hood, but then again, that's kind of the point, isn't it. Last is a FRP bonnet from Hippo Sleek (what kind of name is that, seriously) that costs as much as a full carbon bonnet, 7 man, and would require another couple man to get painted. Of course that one is my favorite so far. D'oh.
Next is the headlights. As you can see, the passenger headlight is getting yellowed. It's nothing big, and purely cosmetic, but bothers me. Options are getting a used set of factory headlights in better condition off yahoo auctions for probably about 6000 yen, or replace the covers with new plastic ones, which would look sweet but cost 2 man plus labor.
Or, I could rent a heat gun and try to do it myself. Could be fun.
That's probably all realistically in terms of what I'm gonna do to my car, unless more stuff breaks. Eventually I'll need to replace some of the aero parts, especially the rear bumper, which I put a huge crack pretty much the first week I had the car. But, before I do that, I want to try taking it out to Ebisu myself.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Graduation
Yesterday I watched some of my favorite students walk out the door of their school for the last time. Last year I wasn't able to attend the graduation ceremony because I was scheduled to work at a kindergarten instead This year I was actually scheduled at an elementary school away from my main junior high school again, but luckily I was able to change my schedule around thanks to a couple JTEs. I'm really glad I was able to be there. I've been teaching these kids since I came to Takahagi and it's really been a pleasure watching them grow up and mature (a little) into high school students. They're the only class that I will see start and finish their third year, since I'll be gone myself come July. One important thing to keep in mind is that in Japan, when kids graduate junior high school they don't all go to the same high school. Instead they have to take weks and weeks of tests get into specifically ranked high schools across the prefecture and beyond. In that regard it's almost like high school graduation in America, with kids saying goodbye to the friends they've been with since kindergarten.
The actual graduation ceremony was a little dry, as these things tend to be. Principals and members of the board of education giving speeches, etc. One nice thing I thought was that they delivered messages from all of the teachers who had taught the graduating students in the past but had been transfered to other schools or cities. The real emotion came when some of the students got up to give speeches. Plenty of the kids in the audience were tearing up, not to mention the ones giving the speeches. It was starting to get to me a bit too. Somehow I think when I hear something in Japanese it carries more emotional impact than the same words in English. I think sometimes these things sound trite or corny in English because we've heard similar things so many times before. But hearing it for the first time in Japanese bypasses all those reactions and just leaves you with the emotion and meaning behind the words. Writing it out in English really does make it sound corny, but the speech I liked the best was one girl talking about her memories in class, saying, "Even when we had really boring or really difficult classes, I still enjoyed learning because we were doing it together, as a class, as friends. I want to keep learning with everyone tomorrow too, but I can't do that anymore, can I?" Hmm. Maybe it has more impact if you're watching a 4 foot tall girl struggle to get the words out and not break down in tears. Or maybe not.
The sense of togetherness and arriving at graduation as a single group was an important theme for the day. Speeches by staff continually referenced the fact that every single student was graduating. One interesting thing was, during the ceremony there was no mention of class rank, test scores, or who would be going to the most prestigious high schools. The only achievement recognized was perfect attendance. In other words, those that never took a day off from being a part of the group. Which is why two students really confused me. There were two girls graduating that I had literally never seen before. I know its ridiculously hard not to graduate in the Japanese school system, but is it really possible to do so without ever going to school? It was easy to pick these two out from the rest of the students, since they both had their normally long skirts hitched up to mid thigh, and one had bright blonde dyed hair. What's more, neither one bowed during the graduation ceremony. I couldn't really get my head around how they were able to participate and graduate despite breaking so many rules. Why did all the rules so strictly enforced on all of the other kids in order to preserve group uniformity not apply to them?
The actual graduation ceremony was a little dry, as these things tend to be. Principals and members of the board of education giving speeches, etc. One nice thing I thought was that they delivered messages from all of the teachers who had taught the graduating students in the past but had been transfered to other schools or cities. The real emotion came when some of the students got up to give speeches. Plenty of the kids in the audience were tearing up, not to mention the ones giving the speeches. It was starting to get to me a bit too. Somehow I think when I hear something in Japanese it carries more emotional impact than the same words in English. I think sometimes these things sound trite or corny in English because we've heard similar things so many times before. But hearing it for the first time in Japanese bypasses all those reactions and just leaves you with the emotion and meaning behind the words. Writing it out in English really does make it sound corny, but the speech I liked the best was one girl talking about her memories in class, saying, "Even when we had really boring or really difficult classes, I still enjoyed learning because we were doing it together, as a class, as friends. I want to keep learning with everyone tomorrow too, but I can't do that anymore, can I?" Hmm. Maybe it has more impact if you're watching a 4 foot tall girl struggle to get the words out and not break down in tears. Or maybe not.
The sense of togetherness and arriving at graduation as a single group was an important theme for the day. Speeches by staff continually referenced the fact that every single student was graduating. One interesting thing was, during the ceremony there was no mention of class rank, test scores, or who would be going to the most prestigious high schools. The only achievement recognized was perfect attendance. In other words, those that never took a day off from being a part of the group. Which is why two students really confused me. There were two girls graduating that I had literally never seen before. I know its ridiculously hard not to graduate in the Japanese school system, but is it really possible to do so without ever going to school? It was easy to pick these two out from the rest of the students, since they both had their normally long skirts hitched up to mid thigh, and one had bright blonde dyed hair. What's more, neither one bowed during the graduation ceremony. I couldn't really get my head around how they were able to participate and graduate despite breaking so many rules. Why did all the rules so strictly enforced on all of the other kids in order to preserve group uniformity not apply to them?
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