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What goes up

August 2003

Well, boys and girls, my summer tales kick off with me flying out from Tokushima Airport and into the city of cities on Friday July 25, my brother's birthday. I had to wear my suit onto the plane to make sure I could fit enough clothes for two weeks in Tokyo into my bags. I even packed my "jutte" - like a little metal prong, one of my Awa Odori accessories - to make sure I could get some practice in for the approaching dancing season. No sooner was I off the plane in Haneda than I was onto the monorail and off to the Australian Embassy in Akabanebashi to meet the Australia-Japan Foundation's Junko Sato.

I didn't have to be in Tokyo until the next day, really, for the start of the JET Programme Orientation, but I turned up on Friday to meet Junko and put the finishing touches on a workshop we were to present together at the orientation. Working with Junko was refreshing. She's a striking 30-year-old, warm and interesting, a former English teacher who decided she wanted a change of career and went for it. Many Japanese women are panicking to get married at 30, but Junko is enjoying her not-so-stable life. We chatted over lunch (eel, surprisingly tasty) and dinner (tuna sashimi, always nice) and hit it off quickly. The three workshops we presented over the next fortnight, all on the same theme of "Kulcha in the Klassroom", were very well received. I hope I get to work with Junko again some time.

Once the orientation itself got underway on Saturday afternoon, the next 11 days went by in a blur of new faces, welcomes, drinking, seminars, karaoke, late night help desk shifts and little sleep. Hosted at one of Tokyo's most expensive venues, the Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo Orientation welcomes 3000 new JETs in two batches on consecutive weekends. It's an exercise in organisational mayhem that a little part of me would like to be in charge of one day! Being one of over 100 volunteer JETs acting as staff and doubling as an AJET representative gave me a great insight into the mechanics of the JET Programme. I was also pleased that the AJET Pocket Guide, edited by yours truly, was well received by everybody. When I wasn't at the Keio, I managed to hit Tokyo Disneyland with the AJET team, see a couple of movies, stay at a capsule hotel for the first time (bit small for me!), buy a new digital camera, and knock back a couple of VB stubbies in good company at the Australian Embassy. Top fortnight!

Flying back to Tokushima with the new JETs on Wednesday August 6, I made a stop on the way home for Awa Odori practice before finally pulling into Iya at 10:30 that night. Besides for getting some much-needed rest, next on my agenda was heading down to Kochi city on Shikoku's south coast for their big freestyle summer dance festival, Yosakoi. A typhoon was planning to visit Kochi that weekend, too, but thankfully it came and went quickly, leaving a beautiful day for taking in the dancing. Piling into a little 4-wheel drive with my principal and another young male teacher for company, we zipped down the highway and arrived in the city centre by 2pm, just in time to catch the the arcade parade.

Hustling through the crowd to get a good vantage, the first thing to hit me was the noise, a cacophony of competing rhythms echoing down the arcade, accompanied by the occasional shouts of dancers and the clack of "naruko" castanets. Then it was the huge floats leading each team - brightly decorated trucks decked out with speakers, some even with live performers, variously blaring rock, pop or traditional music as dancers came running along behind. Yosakoi dancing teams are only limited by two rules - the use of a certain traditional phrase in otherwise freely arranged music, and the use of "naruko" as dancing accessories. The festival itself is therefore a truly entertaining mix of traditional and modern Japanese culture.

The dancers themselves came down the arcade in rows of 4, each team with its own style of summer kimono, everyone wielding "naruko", some people dancing with large banners or lanterns. Once I'd taken in the spectacle, I settled down to marvel at the energy shown by some young teams, the smiles on their faces as they went, and the amount of practice it must have taken to get 200 people dancing in choreographed unison. There was a stage show as well in the evening, which was more of the same. The only thing I hated about the day was that I couldn't join in!

Awa Odori, on the other hand, is something that anyone can do at the drop of a hat, and Yosakoi reminded me that it was my turn to dance down the street in just a few days' time. My group, Minoda-ren, wasn't due to start its program until the 14th, so I had a chance to go to Tokushima city and check out the professionals on the 13th. Every man and his dog wanted a ticket to the professional exhibition at the Cultural Hall, but we got in line early and managed to pick some up at the last minute. And it was sensational! I left the performance all fired up for the next day's action and thinking about joining a big group next year.

Unfortunately, though the weatherman had proclaimed Japan's rainy season finished, the clouds opened in the evening of the 13th and didn't close again until late the next day. We got some dancing in during the afternoon, albeit on a wet stage, and several other groups came to join the fun, but that evening's dancing was cancelled all over Tokushima. When the next morning dawned cloudy but rainless, we got stuck straight into making up for the lost day by dancing around Miyoshi town all morning, in front of businesses, gas stands, homes, and care facilities, as an exercise in thanking the locals for their support throughout the year. We also got our fill of stage and street dancing over the next two days. I even broke my dancing lantern - too keen! What started as a potentially miserable Awa Odori season ended up a little ripper. Come on 2004!

Out of my yukata and into the Pajero Mini for the drive to Kamiita for my third (and last?) summer English Camp for high school students and new ALTs. I arrived late and was already going on little sleep as it was, but had to get up early and put on a genki face for the students on Sunday morning. I was assigned to the Sudachi Samurai, a group of younger students and fresh-faced ALTs who needed some direction, so there was no rest for the wicked. Straight into preparing for the students' Monday skit - in English, of course. They chose to sing an English song, Country Roads, so we went to work changing a few of the lyrics to match our local area. The masterpiece on the right is what we came up with, and they did us proud in their performance!

After a long few days on the road, I was well on my way to a bout of the cold by the time I got home on Monday afternoon. Luckily, I didn't have to go into school for very long during the week, so I recovered and backed up for one last weekend of JET Programme fun in Kamiyama, the annual homestay and welcome party. Not many JETs do more than one homestay, but the people of Kamiyama are always welcoming and I was looking forward to doing my third. Kamiyama is located on the other side of Tokushima's tallest mountain from me, so I decided to take the scenic route straight over the mountain instead of driving around as I have in the past.

Everything was fine until I came to an impassable road block for construction on the main road half way down the other side of the mountain. It was one of those days where you take some tiny winding detour up a hill and start wondering if you'll ever come back down. Sure enough, the Pajero Mini was up to the task, and I got into central Kamiyama right on time, feeling like I'd had my adventure even before the weekend had started!

I was taken in by the Hayashi family that night - the mother a kindy teacher, the father a builder, and their twin 12-year-old boys. The boys are quite big for Japanese kids and very friendly, but they have a learning problem and dislike study so much that they don't go to school very often. I gather this is a growing problem in Japan. Fortunately, their parents are loving and patient, and the boys are tutored by university students every week. We played card and video games together, went bowling, sang karaoke, and did some indigo dyeing (one of Tokushima's famous products). I'm glad to have yet another family I can call on when I next visit Kamiyama.

So finally I find myself here at the computer with time to write about the summer now past, thinking about the lessons I need to plan for the start of the new school term next week, and wondering if I'll see out another summer in Japan or if I'll be back in Australia by this time in 2004. My time in Tokyo made me think seriously about investigating work opportunities there, for example at the Australian Embassy. Awa Odori made me remember why I love Tokushima. And my brother's birthday at the start of the summer, followed by my mother's just yesterday as I returned from Kamiyama, made me think of home. It's a bit hard to work it out just now. I finish many of my missives with musings about the future. Will I still be writing these stories in 12 months?

For now, I can confidently say that I'll be back in Australia again this Christmas. Not sure if I'll organise a big outing again, but I'm certainly looking forward to being home and seeing my loved ones. That's about the time I'll be looking to plot my course for the next couple of years. Hope to see you then.

Love,

Dave