Hiroko's Shougakkou Farewell Enkai

Hiroko receives some farewell gifts.

On my first weekend back in Japan, I was feeling pretty exhausted, but I managed to muster up just enough energy to make it along to Hiroko's farewell enkai (work party) that was happening on Friday evening. After three days of classes, I was still fairly jet-lagged, but I didn't have shakuhachi practice the next morning and I decided to have a bit of relaxing fun.

Hiroko was leaving her job Tsuru-Uchi shogakkou to move on to work at her husband's company. It had always been great to see Hiroko while I was on my weekly visits to Tsuru-Uchi, but I wished her well and knew I'd continue seeing her and her family outside of school time anyway in the future.

Karaoke!

We made our way along to a small karaoke bar where we had a party into the early hours of the morning with the teachers. Fellow eikaiwa-leader Luke Beatson also came down for the evening. I managed to croon out a few classics (including "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi, "All My Life" by the Foo Fighters and "Hot and Cold" by Katy Perry). My performances had mixed reactions from enthusiastic encouragement to outright bewilderment (no one seemed to understand why I was singing Katy Perry).

My drink for the evening.

A fun night out, which I was happy to spend the next morning recovering from in my bed!

25th Birthday in Japan

First published: 23 June 2013

For my 25th birthday this year, I decided to have an intimate birthday celebration with my English club, only a few of my close friends and special people I'd met during my two years in Japan.

25th birthday celebrations!

My birthday luckily landed on a Friday this year (May 31st), we opted to have dinner at 'Sanuki Shoukudou', enjoying an all-you-can-eat feast of various dishes. The restaurant was staffed by many former students who had now graduated; a bit of a surreal experience as they all came over to say hello!

I was joined with my girlfriend Angie, and my good ALT friends Arran, Stephen, and Luke, as well as members of my English club and some teachers, students and their families from my various schools. It was a lovely way to spend an evening, and I was treated to a series of birthday gifts - including a home-baked cake by Hanyama-san!

Birthday bantz!

Making a birthday wish.

The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly when the restaurant staff dimmed the lights and read out a speech my English club had prepared for me... in Japanese! Luckily, there was an English translation provided and was handed to me for me to understand. A lovely gesture. Arran also kept the evening entertainments alive by challenging various competitors to arm wrestles... which he consistently won! 

Major kudos to Stephen Branston (from this video), who cycled all the way from Ayagawa-cho to Kozai over the course of the evening, arriving mid-meal to join the festivities. He had been held up leaving work, and it took him well over an hour to get to us. I really appreciated the effort he made, and he even arrived bearing gifts. What a guy. As a Canadian, I reckon there be something in that maple syrup!

A slice of birthday cake all for me.

After the meal finished, we all stood outside for about an other hour of conversation. For Hiroko and Luke, the next day would be the Shimokasai Junior High School sports day, meaning an early rise despite the copious amount of alcohol. Luckily for me, the next day was a lie-in. Despite intending to get up early (and possibly make it along to the sports day!), I didn't wake until around noon. There was just a bit too much alcohol in my system for that! I also felt fairly sorry for Stephen, who would have another long cycle back home...

A very big thank-you to everyone who came along and gave me such a wonderful birthday evening this year!

A Birthday in Japan

First published: 1 May 2013

Older and not very wiser.

For the first time ever, I experienced a birthday living outside my home country.

It was a slightly surreal experience. In my family, birthdays have always been treated with a lot of celebration; always with presents and a trip to dinner at a restaurant of our choice. There would also be a great deal of eating / drinking / nights out with my friends, too! Of course, as I would be outside of Scotland for the first time during my birthday in May 2012, it would be impossible for me to uphold the same traditions as normal.

To celebrate turning 24 years of age, I decided to have a small birthday party with my fellow English teachers at El Dorado, a brilliant little Mexican restaurant in Takamatsu run by a warm-hearted woman named Takako. Several ALTs and Tak residents piled in for a night of eating and drinking, and I was touched by the warm turnout. The highlight of the evening was receiving a specially personalized birthday cake for the occasion.

A slice of magic.

At my English club in Kozai, I was surprised to receive a wealth of gifts from the club members, including traditional Japanese lacquer-ware and a cloth to be wrapped around my head (I swear it makes me look like a criminal). In addition to all of these, my good friend Hiroko also supplied me with my very own Yukata (complete with shoes!). A type of Summer-kimono to be worn in warm weather, it was a lovely tribute.

Nae messin'.

That wasn't it. When teaching a class at Kozai Elementary School, I was surprised when - a few minutes before the bell rang - the class charged at me with a huge banner - complete with the words 'Happy Birthday Gavin' - and threw confetti which they'd made. Another lovely gesture. Meanwhile, the classes at Tsuru-Uchi Shougakkou in fifth and sixth year each gave me a traditional Japanese toy throughout the day, with part of the lesson dedicated to teaching me how to use it. I received spinning tops, kendama, juggling balls... and kana cards for the Karuta game.

The celebrations were rounded off with a small package from home filled with presents (courtesy of my parents and sister). After all, it just wouldn't have felt like my birthday unless there had been some butter tablet and Tyrell's crisps! I had more confectionery than I could have dreamed of.

It was all far more attention that I ever expected to receive. Living in Japan can occasionally get quite lonely, but my birthday here was a wonderful reminder that I had plenty of friends and people who cared about me in this country. I really felt lucky to be here.

Eikaiwa Fun with Stephen Branston!

Recently, Canadian ALT and friend Stephen Branston came along to my eikaiwa group to do a small presentation on his home country and his culture. Everyone had a great time - including myself! Having only been to Canada once in 2006 (Toronto and Niagra Falls), it was great to learn a little bit more about the place.

Additionally; we also had a small challenge that evening for the eikaiwa members: using four random words picked from a hat, teams had to create small English skits and perform them to the rest of the group. Stephen and I decided to kick things off with our own demonstration. Our words were "donuts", "sleep", "romance" and "Help!".

Here's what we came up with...

Kozai Eikaiwa Updates (and a Trip to Penta5on)

First published: 10th March 2012

After I returned to Japan, we decided to keep regular meetings running every second Monday after my return to Japan. It's been consistently fun and successful, with a committed group of people who enjoy coming down. It's a great experience for me - I've had a unique opportunity to meet so many local people and make friends I never would have been able to outside of this environment. And, in the interests of clarity, it remains a free activity for anyone who wants to join - I'm not taking any pennies for this! I'm doing it simply because I enjoy it so much.

We've been mixing up the format with various activities - regular lectures, acting out short scripts, pictionary... even bringing in our own foods and baking (I made scones!).

 Not necessarily good scones.

I've also had some of my fellow ALTs down to do their own presentations (big props to Jasper Wood and Rainer Wessels). One of the best times we've had so far was a trip to a local American-style diner; Penta5on. On February 24th, we went to a live music night and enjoyed some pretty sweet tunes.

Evening trip to Penta5on!

Featuring Rainer Wessels' infatuation with Japanese MTV.

A special mention must be made for Taeko Manno; a fellow English teacher from Kozai Shogakkou who has been instrumental in putting the eikaiwa together and helping it run every week. As well as taking care of the initial booking of the hall, Manno-sensei always volunteers to bring along the ocha and cake, as well as taking care of the hall bookings and ensuring the smooth running of the group week by week - from handing out name badges to consistently translating any difficult English between members, she's a real asset and I couldn't be able to do this without her.

So, with my sincerest gratitude; Thank you, Manno-sensei.

Manno-sensei; a truly kind woman.

Starting an Eikaiwa: Christmas Class

First published: 10 Mar 2012

I'd like to talk a little about the Eikaiwa I set up around Christmas time in my town of Kozai.

Merry Christmas from the Kozai Eikaiwa!

Note my slightly concealed Santa-hat.

"Eikaiwa" basically means "English conversation club", and many of my fellow ALTs and JETs were running these clubs as part of their standard teaching week. The aim is simple; to create a fun, social club for Japanese people who want an opportunity to practice, speak, and improve their English ability. These sounded like a great chance to bond with people in the local community; to make new friends, and to offer an English speaking environment to people who normally would be unable to do so.

Having heard about these and how much fun they could be, I decided I would set up my own.

Christmas fun at the first eikaiwa - Monday 12th December 2011!

I was initially unaware how to proceed. How do you set these things up? And where? I decided to have a practice run by inviting people to the food court at AEON mall - but unfortunately, the turn-out was a little low and the environment was pretty noisy. Many teachers didn't want to come because it was an environment many of the students frequented - I myself regularly encounter students when doing my shopping there (usually accompanied with shocked screams of "Gavin-sensei!", complete with wide-eyed pointing). However, many people expressed an interest in coming along to a regular eikaiwa, and I decided to proceed.

A new location was suggested by my good friend Hiroko Tomozawa; Kozai Community Centre - a venue open for community use. With the assistance of one of my favourite teachers, Manno-sensei, we managed to book the hall for a night in December, able to do our first eikaiwa just in time for Christmas!

Thus, on Monday 12th December, with a fantastic turnout of over twenty people in the local community, we had our first eikaiwa. I'm please to say that it couldn't have gone any better.

The evening consisted of a brief introduction to the subject of Christmas (thankfully I had all of my slides from the lessons I did at school!), and the chance to chat freely with many people in the community. In addition to doing a short quiz to test listening ability, we also had some ocha (Japanese tea) and cake - now a regular fixture of all eikaiwa meetings. Lastly, I played some Christmas music and we played a couple of small games for people to win small Christmas-themed prizes.

It was a lot of fun!

It was just as well we managed to fit it in, too, as on Saturday 17th December, I would be heading home to Scotland for three weeks to celebrate Christmas with my family and friends.

Many people come to the eikaiwa sessions...

even some of my students from school!

I'm planning to continue running this eikaiwa throughout my time in Japan. It really is one of the most rewarding and consistently fun experiences I'm having here.

And, most importantly, I've made some great friends.

 

A fantastic bunch.