Goodbye Koyo さようなら向陽！

With only two weeks left in Japan, I know that I should be doing something more than blogging at the internet cafe across the street. Yet the heat and my memories have drawn me out of myself in order to look at my time here in Japan, what it means and doesn't mean.

What it means...

That I have learnt a new language, other than the one I was born into, and thus caught a glimpse at the mysterious fact that each person speaks (so to speak) with a different tongue. We humans, as individuals united by a singular nature, bear a personal rhythm, a cadence unique to our place in time and space. Despite the fact that we all are saying different things, with a different existential geology in mind for the words we use, there is a truth that says we can understand each other, that communion is possible and necessary.

What it doesn't mean...

That I have learned what Japan is. That I have learned who "Japanese people" are or how "Japanese culture" works. That I have acquired some esoteric knowledge into the cultural life of Japan. I have been here for three years, done and seen a lot, met lots of people, regretted many acts and words that I inflicted upon people and experienced by our willful tendency to see the world as an extension of one's ego. Thus, I do not have a remedy for something missing in American life, do not have the secret of Japan wrapped up in a handerchief to carry around like a talisman of worldly experience. I haven't taught that much English either, from what I gather, even if I have been an example, albeit in an impossible role, of a foreign "teacher" in a Japanese school. Then again this is the "not" section, and I feel as though I am not a teacher.

Without further ado, I will share some more pictures of me and my students. If you want to hear any of their stories, please ask. There are many to tell...Goodbye Koyo,

Jeff Sensei

Baseball tournament (I was interviewed on TV for this game, sweaty t-shirt and all, and became somewhat famous in the process)




Shiho (left) plays baritone sax, Nanami (right) is a rock and roller...both freshmen...




Ayaka (left) and Yurie (right)...looking cute as I interrupt their assiduous band practice for a photo opportunity...




Mari and Nana, second year students. They look happy, but there were many tears shed when we lost the second round game in extra innings and pouring rain...THE DRAMA!!!




Tomoki making chopsticks from scratch on the junior high school excursion...




Yoshie serving up some handmade curry udon...MMM...??




My buddy Taisuke didn't work so hard at cooking the udon, but definitely worked up an appetite wrestling with me. This is one of our friendlier moments.




The finished product...




I sported a Thundercats hairstyle for the last leg of the trip. We went swimming in the Kishi River. Here are my friends, Shiho, Satoko, and Akane, after we finished cooling off in the river...