卒業式 (graduation ceremony)

My beloved children graduated last week without you even knowing. Ah, the little demons will now head out into the Great Beyond: a life of drudgery at cellphone shops and pachinko parlors for most of them, no doubt. The carefree days are over: Adulthood is here. This horribly sad event occurred last Thursday. Almost all of my favorite classes are 3rd year, so I too was depressed about my future. Luckily I've got 2 or 3 classes that keep me going in the second years.... first years are all just bad uns.

It was a graduation ceremony not unlike our own in America.

I say that. But who am I to talk? I sooo didn't go to my high school graduation. Ok, I have no idea if it's similar or not, but I would bet you that there was certainly a lot more bowing involved here. As the tinkle-tinkle music box song played in the background, every single kid got their name read, bowed to the teacher, got the certificate, bowed again, walked down the stairs, bowed to the administrative head and VP, bowed to the teachers, sat down. I got so bored after a while that I started counting things.

*Number of students who tried to bow and walk at the same time and fell down the stairs: 8

*Number of students who stopped at the top of the stairs and yelled something inappropriate at the top of their lungs: 12. Like, a high pitched, "GINOWAN HIGH IS AAAAAWESOME!!!!!!" giggle giggle run away.

*Number of kids who actually fell asleep in their seats during their own graduation ceremony: about 1/5. Yeah, my kids are sleep-in-their-seat MEISTERS. If there's one thing you ever learned from my blog, let it be never go up against a Japanese kid when it comes to sleeping. And those are true words of wisdom.

Above, you see a Japanese graduation tradition called the 花道 (hanamichi) Road of Flowers. After the graduation ceremony, all friends, family, and peers wait along the sides of the walkway and the 3rd years all do a spectacular slow-mo exit of the gym. Flowers are pressed upon them from all sides! Strategically placed bubble-blowing-girls work hard to create an atmosphere of mystical heroism! And most bizarrely of all, necklaces made of strung together candy bars are draped around their necks by their peers.

Then, there was the Graduation Party. This is the equivalent to the American PROM. Except that it is nothing like the prom. Though once again, I find myself talking out of my ass. I didn't go to my prom OR my graduation. I was Disgruntled Youth. Well, I was pleased to be invited to the Graduation party by the students at any rate. I was told that it would take place from 6-9pm at the ugly building next to the fire station, and Id get free snacks but that there would be no dancing, no one would talk to me, and beyond that female and male students wouldn't talk to each other. So I was unsure what to expect. It surely didn't sound like a prom. No dancing? What were they going to do? I figured they'd all just show up in their school uniforms and chow down for a few hours. Boy was I wrong. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that people cant dress fancy just because their party is in an ugly building with folding chairs. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for having chosen to wear a skirt instead of jeans (yeah, bad ideas like that seem really good to me at times) when I walked in and found 100s of spectacularly garbed students. I didn't recognize most of them without their school uniforms, natural hair, and seating numbers. It was certainly the prom. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the really good ones. Some of the girls, for example, where wearing tiaras and ball gown get ups. Some interesting fashion differences that I shall note for you here between American and Okinawan kids:

* boys like to wear large, fake jewel earrings. Like a big multi-faceted amethyst stud. And I mean, BIG. Usually 2 in one ear.

* No matter what the rest of their outfit looks like, girls will have a shawl draped around their shoulders. Showing boob outline must be a big big no-no here. I mean, they had slits up to their panties in the dresses, 3 inch heels, insane extensions in their hair but a jacket or shawl was always present.

Something I found funny was that between the time that school graduation ended (about 2pm) and the party started at 6pm, nearly 20% of the boys had bleached their hair blond.

I am an adult! Hear me ROAR! This statement cries, in this culture. In reality it cried,

I have bad taste and ugly hair now! I know never to trust Shouhei again with powerful chemical substances near my scalp!

But it makes sense. School kids aren't allowed to wear earrings or dye their hair, even highlights. Thus the tawdry glass earrings and blinding hair.

Above, Junko sensei with 3 boys from her homeroom class, as well as her daughters.

So, they were right about the party being a bit lame. I sometimes forget that Japanese kids are way behind American in inter-gender relations. They really didn't talk to each other at all. They must have spent hundreds of dollars doing their hair and nails and buying their outfits but the only thing that happened was that the girls stood on one side of the room, the boys on the other, they giggled, then they toasted cola, they wished that they were courageous enough to talk to each other and did a lot of blushing, then they ate, then the big party event. The real fun. The true excitement.... yeaaaaaa you know whats coming.....

WE PLAYED BINGO!!!!!

がんばろう!

In the last days of life before adulthood hits them in the face like a sack of bricks, my 3-4 boys performed a remarkable feat. My boys pulled their late-night-partying, motorcycle-drag-racing boot-ays into school at the crack of dawn. Then they drove up north and ran back down. Yup, they RAN from Nago to Ginowan.

Ok, you don't live here so that means nothing to you. In a car, this trip is 1.5 hours on the normal highway, 45 minutes on the expressway... I think its about 80km. 3-4 ran a relay race along the coast, which lasted from 9:30am to 3:30pm. Above, you see their triumphant and weary return to school. The first thing you're probably thinking is that Okinawans seem obsessed with relay marathons, which is true: they are obsessed with marathons in general. But that's not the point.

It is misleading that class number 4 is called the "sports" track. It makes it sound like all its members are extremely athletic. That's not the case. Rather, it's one of those tracks that kids get shuffled into if they don't have a special talent. There`s two IT tracks (1 and 2), and there are tracks for smarties like the international track (5) and we-want-to-go-to-college track (3). Then there are those for people who are all definitely not going to college, and have no idea what will become of them... these are 4, 6, 7, 8. And though the 4 tracks are cool kids at school, they are among those whose anxieties post-graduation run the highest.

This marathon was a がんばろう! ("ganbaroo!") race for the 3-4 before graduation. Ganbaru is a verb very important to Japanese culture. In this case it means, "let's give it our all! Try our best!" The marathon was a tool to pump up the kids` courage for entering the next stage of life; to give them faith in themselves that they can aim to do something difficult and accomplish it. The photo below shows the school awaiting their return. I, of course, found myself sniffling into a hanky... this kind of thing always hits a chord in me. The 1-4 and 2-4 tracks were excused from class to be a part of the return ceremony. In Japan they pay more attention to the relationship between elders and juniors than we do. The 3-4 sports course boys are the role models and seniors (senpai) of the 1-4 and 2-4 sports boys. So below you see one side of the walkway lined with 1-4, and the other side with 2-4, cheering their graduating senpai on.
After they returned, the seniors were asked to stand and give words of wisdom and advice to the youngsters, and the youngsters stood and gave words of encouragement to the elders. It never fails to amaze me how different Japan is in one respect from America: kids here have the capacity to be very serious and sincere, even in front of large groups of peers. They can go from goofy slackers and too-cool-for-school bad-asses to laying their hearts out on the table in a second. Below, one of my best buddies from 3-4 gives a little pose as he crosses the finish line.

Ganbatte, boys! Here comes the rest of life.

It's not Japan

When people ask me how I like living in Japan, I am always surprised. I don't really consider myself to be living in Japan because, well, I'm not. Okinawa is distinct culturally, historically, and distant geographically from mainland Japan. When I was practicing nationalities in class last week, I asked this one kid who hadn't been paying any attention, "are you Japanese?" He stared at me for a second and shook his head. I thought he hadn't understood the question. "JAPANESE?" I repeat. A head shake, and one word mumbled: "uchina." I'm Okinawan. Answered not in English, not in Japanese, but in Okinawan language. These kids are smarter than you think.

Okinawa was its own nation (the Ryukyu kingdom) until it was annexed forcibly by Japan due to its convenient geographical location and the fact that Japan was threatened by an independent, prosperous little nation that could be used as a stepping stone to their own islands by their Enemies. Ha! Sounds like someone you know? If you talk to Japanese people, they know ZIP about Okinawa. Well, I take that back. They know that it is a tropical island convenient for Japanese vacationers to reach without a passport. Hawaii.

Japan announced in 1872 that it was unilaterally abolishing the Ryukyu kingdom. Okinawan officials were replaced with mainland Japanese (sometimes through imprisonment of former Okinawan officials) and the Okinawan king was forcibly exiled to Tokyo. The Meiji gov't withheld economic reforms from Okinawa that vastly benefited the rest of Japan. Though taxes were proportionately much higher in Okinawa than in the other Japanese prefectures, Okinawans were not allowed to be represented in the national Diet until 1912. The Japanese undertook assimilation policy in Okinawa: they repressed Oki religion, spiritual healers, and language (at that point, Okinawans were all spoke Ryukyu languages).

During World War II, Okinawa was caught between the hammer and the anvil, as they say. The largest land battle of the Pacific (the Battle of Okinawa) was fought between Japanese and American troops on Okinawan soil. Did Okinawa have anything to do with the war? No. But they sure paid for it. One third of their civilian population was killed in this battle, and just about everything was razed to the ground. Even the landscape was changed forever. Were American troops responsible for all these deaths? Nope. Japanese soldiers threw civilians out of caves or other hiding places into the middle of battle in order to make room for soldiers. They killed crying babies out of fear that they would give away their hiding spots. They shot people for speaking in Okinawan languages, on the off-chance they might be American spies. Japanese soldiers set up 100s of brothels on the island, forced 100s of Okinawan women into prostitution.



After the war, Okinawa was occupied by the US for 27 years. For decades, American military committed crime after crime, rape after rape, murder after murder on Okinawa, and remained untouched by the law; safe behind their barbed wire and walls. I won't go into detail about the Battle of Okinawa or the occupation, but if you want to read about some gross stuff, read about what one imperial power or another has done to Okinawa for hundreds of years.

When they came, Americans picked the land they wanted and brought in their bulldozers. Families were driven out, houses were destroyed, ton upon ton of crushed coral was spread across the ground that had been family farms for centuries (and coral ruins arable land). Asphalt was put on top. Military bases were built. The Okinawan land-owners are paid "rent" every year for their land, but they are not given the choice of whether they want to lease it. When the time came for renewel of the land leases, many families refused to sign. Governor Ota (the best governor Okinawa ever had) refused to sign for them, standing firm for his people's rights. Going against their own constitution, mainland Japan broke the law, and allowed the military to remain on the land. In a famous case, one fellow and his family were allowed to enter a base under guard for 2 hours and eat a picnic lunch on their land. It was the first time most of them had seen it.

Now Okinawa "belongs" to Japan again. But nothing has changed. Time after time, the mainland breaks promises that have been made, sacrifices Okinawa's well-being for its own interests. Before '72, many Okinawans struggled for reversion to Japan, assuming that US bases and military personnel would be removed. Where they? No. They're all still here, over 30 years later. Okinawa is less than 1% of Japan's landmass, yet hosts most of the US military presence in Japan. Why? It's ok for them to be down here, in Okinawa. But talk about bringing them into your own backyard, and the Japanese citizens would be up in arms in an instant. Who pays the rent money to Okinawans for US bases? Japan does, not America. What is required by Japan of the Americans when they leave Okinawa? Not much. They don't have to return the land in the same state they found it in. They don't have to remove dangerous chemicals or clean it up at all. What will Okinawans get, if and when they finally win back what is their own? What was once miles of farming land will be more of a wasteland.

We can think of Okinawa as Japan's offering to the United States, post WWII. The sacrificial goat.

Okinawan is currently Japan's poorest prefecture. The unemployment rate here is double that of mainland Japan, and many jobs that do exist are service industry. There are more gambling parlors, tourist shops, and restaurants than anyone could ever know what to do with. It's coming time for graduation at Ginowan High, so these things are ever-present in my mind. In the last few months, seniors have become more subdued. They don't play as much, they look tired and serious. Seniors at my school know that childhood is about to be over, and next month, they will be forced into the world of adults. What awaits them there? My kids aren't high achievers. 80% of them already have part-time jobs, most are from poor families. A lot have trouble at home and act it out at school. In the main hallway, we've got this display:
It's a list of what the future holds for all graduating seniors. On each ribbon is printed the name of a student who has a plan, post-graduation. One line represents those who have been accepted to technical schools, one line those who have found employment, etc. To the far left, you can see a sign that reads "53.1%: 112/211". This is a rolling count of how many graduating seniors have found jobs or a place in a school. Every week, the teachers receive printouts in our mailboxes with pictures of students who were successful that week in finding a job. Every time a kid passes a test for a technical school, it's announced at morning meeting and we all clap and cheer. Because life isn't easy for these kids on this island.

This week is the seniors last week of classes. We're still at 53.1%. What will the remaining 50% of our seniors do? Probably, they will all continue on in their current jobs. They'll be bumped from part-time to full time at the gas station, the grocery store, the cellphone shop. This island could have a better employment rate, could move away from service-industry based jobs if Japan would agree to funnel more money into development and infrastructure. But they won't. Okinawa has presented several plans of economic development that they would like to consider as an alternative to the bases. For example, a free trade zone plan that would make Okinawa a middle man of imports from the rest of the world into Japan. This would create jobs, boost the standard of living, seems like a good plan... but mainland would never allow it. Reading about such a conflict makes you realize that Okinawa would be much better off as an independent nation.

Okinawa is a Japanese colony when you get down to it. Mainland takes, but it doesn't give back as far as I'm concerned. Japan is sucking as much as they can get out of this little island and its people. I wonder what Japan plans to do, once it's finished killing all the coral and paving the beaches with landing pads.