Yesterday, I received some amazing news, which has more or less settled what I’m going to be doing in the future. I am aware that first sentence makes it look like I’m going to have a child but it’s not that. It’s even more exciting because I’ll be making money! So here’s what’s going to happen to little old Mike for the next year or so.

The remainder of my study abroad year. It’s going past way, way too fast but I’m determined to make the most of it. I have university right up until nearly the end of July, meaning that I only have a week or two to get some travelling in, but as long as nothing goes horribly wrong I should be climbing a certain famous mountain in the end of July.

Studying hard at Sheffield university. It’s going to be one hell of a busy year. Japanese degree. I’m also going to be taking an English teaching course, possibly two. Japanese Language Proficiency Test in the summer. I’m going to try to pass the top level, but if not no huge loss. Kind of want to get it out of the way, though. Oh, and since after this things get super serious, I guess I’ll be partying like a monster for a year. Do monsters even party?

If I manage to graduate, I get from around June to September off. But then things get serious…

Ok, this is where things get serious. Starting September next year, I will be working at Junten School, but this time as a full time teacher! YEEEEAAAAAHHHH! It’s been talked about and mentioned a few times, but yesterday I accepted the contract and wheels started turning. It’s a huge step forward, and it’s job security. I can finally stop being so defensive of my student finance. I’m going to go bet everything on Japan winning the world cup. Oh wait.

I’ll be doing six months of training, so I won’t actually be teaching until around April 2012. The school is currently in the process of designing the course I’ll be teaching, but from what I can tell I will be teaching advanced English to students who have lived abroad, and also taking some regular level classes too based on staff numbers.

At the meeting yesterday I was told the course details will begin to be set in stone as of October this year, in other words once I’ve gone back to England, so they can avoid my amazing suggestions like ‘Candy Floss for all teachers!’ or ‘Teach the children to perform classic Disney songs!’ Once I know exactly what I’ll be doing I’ll let you know!

There’s a few other things I want to mention. Firstly, I appreciate the emails but I really can’t help you land a job in Japan. I’m sure there are some good guides out there, and plenty of people willing to give advice, but I’m really not the one to ask.

Secondly, this blog. I’ve been turning it over in my head and I’ve finally reached a decision. I’m going to continue this blog until around August next year, in other words after I finish university but before I come to Japan. At that point, I will open a new website, with a brand new blog. Japan Is Doomed will continue to exist, and I will never get rid of it, but I think after the end of my education it will be time for a fresh start. That said I may well change my mind and continue on with Japan Is Doomed as it is. I’m not sure, what do you think?

I’ll keep taking photos for Flickr and making videos for Youtube, under the same account names.

That’s about all I can think of right now. If anything changes I’ll be sure to write it on here. I’m aware this post has been a bit dull but if you stuck with it and read the whole thing, you win a prize. Check under your seat!

You knew after my incredibly wordy June that it would take me two weeks to write anything in July, right?

Rainy season rages on, and with it a serious lack of photographs. Everyone in the country is currently suffering from a slump in enthusiasm, myself included, because all day we are pelted with rain and boiled in the humid air. I’m not sure how much longer I can take living in an oven. If I start displaying signs of madness I want someone to put me in a freezer for an hour.

Anyway, throughout last week and this week, I have been saying “goodbye” to all my various classes at Junten, as well as the four different adult classes. Each class had a different, unique way to say farewell before sending us on our way;

My Junten Parents Class (PTA) decided to throw a large party in the English centre at the school. Bearing in mind this meant having to shut down access for all students to our office, I was quite surprised that the school were happy for us to have the party there, but I think the PTA might hold a lot more power than people realize. They’re like the mafia, except they replace arranged murders with cups of coffee.

The Wednesday Lunchtime class, limited by their number of members and time, decided it would be best if we just had a normal lesson. I say normal, they provide lunch for us every week and I swear they were trying to kill me with the amount of bread I was supposed to get through. Then as it was the last lesson I did a pretty boring “Everyone remember what we’ve done and don’t forget me and send me chocolates” speech, and everyone was very sad. Then it was back to Junten to be assaulted horribly by bad English students. Oh well.

Our Wednesday Evening class, the most advanced class of the four, threw a big party at an Izakaya, where they gave us these stunning pictures of us that one of the members had drawn, and everyone had signed. I don’t currently have access to a scanner, so you’ll have to make do with a dodgy photo.

We had a great time at the Izakaya (Japanese pub/bar/picnic), and everyone said goodbye. Weirdly, I went along to their lesson with Lynsey two days ago, and we said goodbye again. So really they said goodbye to me twice. That’s right, I broke their hearts twice. I’m a terror.

Finally, the Monday Evening first took us out to an Izakaya, then the following week took us on a two hour all-you-can-drink party ferry. I wish I’d taken my camera now as I doubt anyone is going to believe my description of this, but basically loads of surprisingly middle-aged Japanese people dress up in traditional clothing, then “dance” to “music” on a boat which is circling around the Tokyo bay in the freezing cold. I can’t really go any further than this without bringing to light some terrible memories that I’ve successfully repressed, so I shall stop here.

Tomorrow morning at some horrible hour (6am) I will be going to Japan’s famous Tsukiji Fish Market. Going with me will be my camera, so no excuses here!

Throughout the Junten Sports Day, various different classes and year groups of students performed Yosakoi dances. Yosakoi is a traditional Japanese dance and is typically performed by quite a large number of people (usually 20+) at the same time. Although we only saw about three or four performances, it’s really quite a large and complex thing so if you’re interested, you can read more about it here.

I quite enjoyed the performances because the students who were doing it wore these cool costumes and it’s pretty impressive when they all move together. That said, the less well behaved students would refuse to get into it and grudgingly threw their limbs around but it’s hard appreciate a dancer when he has a look of pure boredom on his face. Nevermind.

I’ve decided to just post a few photos here today, as most of them are the same but with various different poses and groups of students. Enjoy!

So there we have it. This concludes the four-update write up of the sports day, one of the strangest events I’ve ever bore witness to. Tomorrow I shall tell you of my amazing trip to Oiso, a town not too far from Atami, a place I visited and wrote about way back in October.

As Nate pointed out, I forgot to mention which team was the victor at sports day in this update, so without further ado; The Red Team won! Hurrah!

Saying that, it wasn’t much of a surprise. Due to the way the teams were organized, the white team got all the clever people and we got all the sportsmen. Not that I’m saying people who play sports are dim. Not that I’m saying I’m still bitter about not making the hockey team in upper sixth. No, really. Stop shaking your head…

“But Mike how can you possibly justify writing this update?! It’s so short!”

I honestly have no answer to that, so here are some extra photos to distract you whilst I escape out the window…

The chivalry, moments before descending into the Valley of Death to run each other through with bayonets steal hats.

One of the better skipping teams. Not as good as our champion English class, however. So there. Notice the white headbands, which means they were not on my team and therefore were rubbish.

Because when you think of physical competition, you think of Elmo & Spiderman dancing around in circles like they’ve just drunk three liters of paint thinner.

How could I not finish with another photo of Darth Cheerleader? Here he is in all his glory. His shirt reads Daasu Beeda and is written in the script used for foreign words, so it’s meant to say “Darth Vader”. Glad to see the evil overlord is finding work in his old age.

There we are then. The world’s shortest update. I have another two planned, so keep your eyes peeled and your brain sufficiently shut off to wade through another one of of Mike’s wacky stories.

Yesterday, I got as far as lunchtime at sports day, and so far we’ve had mounted headwear theft, the Power Rangers showing their support, and children fighting over logs like angry beavers. I’ll get this out the way quickly; lunch was very normal and not worth writing about. Throughout the rest of the day there were quite a few Yosakoi performances which I will write about tomorrow.

With the hats sufficiently stolen and lunch devoured, the kids prepared for the next event in the baking heat – the tug-o-war. Of all the events (except possibly the relay) this was the most normal of the events, with your pretty standard “pull harder than the other team to win” rules. However, one poor team of boys lost their footing and ended up falling over each other, and they still managed to beat the white team. Haha!

Just as I was getting bored at how mundane the day was turning, we were told it was time for the Staff tug-o-war. This was quite exciting as I hadn’t really done anything at all. Except it wasn’t really the same event. Whilst the students had taken part in a simple 1v1, we were going to participate in “The Cross”. Basically, you have four teams instead of two and they all pull in different directions. You end up each time with two winning teams. The teams consisted of;

1. The Teachers team, including myself.
2. The Parents association, including Matt.
3. A selection of students from the red team.
4. A selection of students from the white team.

Sadly, the teachers team was opposite the red team, making it impossible for us to win with them, so in the end we decided to cheat and side with the PTA, leading to a 2-1 victory once we sorted out our tactics. The prize was one of those pens that has four colours in it, and mine turned out to be lucid pink. At least I won’t lose it.

Eager to get back the insanity of the morning, the sports day organizers outdid themselves with the next event, which I previously wrote about, the big pole game. As I wrote;

The goal is to have your attackers push over a great big pole that the other team are defending. The rules are, well, nobody knows as nobody ever follows them. This is basically a big fight with the added danger of big poles.

Simple, right? I’ll let the photos speak for themselves;

It was pure insanity and can only be described as a fight. Anyone who harps on about tactics and planning is lying and should be thrown over a fence. I don’t even want to know how the organizers begin to justify this event as it is just a fight. These two photos are the best I could get without being swept away into the mass of overexcited Japanese boy.

After a couple more Yosakoi performances, it was time for the last event – the group skipping. There was a teacher’s team for this as well, but I was suffering a little from the heat and missed it, but as I understand they got 19 in a row, which is impressive considering they hadn’t practiced at all. The winning student team, one of our English classes, clocked up 58 in a row, and the school record is 62 so they did a great job.

At long last, around 4.30 or so, the day was over. I was burned all along my arms and neck, tired and still incredibly confused. The kids were exhausted, which made it even crueler to make the listen to incredibly boring speeches whilst sitting on the dusty floor in the burning sun, but whatever gets them into university, I suppose. Afterwards I headed to the obligatory staff party before heading home and falling face first into bed.

I’m sorry this update and the previous one have so little about why the Japanese sports day works the way it does, but I have a valid reason for this; nobody knows. I’ve asked quite a few staff members, and every time they either shrug, or mutter something and then slowly back away, staring me straight in the eyes and chanting “Foreigners can smell fear!”.

Yosakoi update tomorrow!