Wossamotta Chiba U?

June 15

We arrived at our hotel in Chiba City a little later than expected, and I had two missions that needed to be accomplished. First, I needed to find a coin laundry. I was really getting close to running out of clothes, and my extra piece of luggage was being used solely as a rolling hamper at this point. Secondly, I’d looked at our schedule for the rest of the trip and seen that there would be almost no other time to go to Tokyo DisneySea other than this evening. I made the decision that I was either going to convince people to go with me or I was going on my own, which would have been fine because sometimes I do that on my own at home.

Upon checking in to the Mitsui Garden Hotel in Chiba City, we immediately asked for directions to the nearest laundry. We were told to walk straight back from the hotel until we got to the grocery store (about five traffic lights) and then to turn right and just walk until we saw it on the left. I headed out with LJ from Nebraska and Wendy from Utah and we walked what must have been a mile and a half or so to this tiny little run down Laundromat in the middle of one of the neighborhoods.

At this very moment, all of my preconceptions about uniform Japanese cleanliness, attention to detail, and operational efficiency went right out the window. We walked into the tiny coin laundry to find an overflowing trash can and probably the single nastiest laundry sink in the history of public clothing wash houses. There were six tiny washing machines and three tiny dryers. Two of the washing machines were broken. There was a detergent machine, but it was broken, so I shared my four small boxes of detergent with LJ and Wendy. There also was a dryer sheet dispenser for us to use, but it too was broken.

This old man and his wife were hanging out in front of the Laundromat, so I guess they must have been the owners or something because there weren’t any machines going. LJ and Wendy both had about one small load to do, but mine was colossal and the guy came in and helped me with the machines. He was trying to explain everything to me and seemed amused that I had no idea what on earth he was saying. The machines all seemed easy to use, though… there were buttons on any of them. All you did was drop in coins and they would start. After getting the wash started, we left and headed over to Yac’s, the tiny local grocery store. There really was not a lot of difference from any grocery store back in Apopka aside from the fact that the grocery store was about half the size. I saw Ziploc, Reynolds Wrap, Snickers bars, and everything else I might see over at Albertsons. The biggest difference in the products was all of the fish in the meat department. They had everything, and lots of it in so many different sizes: shrimp, squid, octopus, all manners of fish, clams, oysters… if it was from the sea, they sold it! There was beef, but it was super expensive. There also was a pretty big variety of different kinds of eggs. I picked up a bag of chips, some chocolate Apollos, and a couple of Onigiri (rice balls) to eat for lunch, and we headed back out to the coin laundry to switch things over to the dryer.

It was a nice change of pace to just sit and have a little lunch with some folks in the Laundromat. I definitely enjoyed the company, and it was nice doing something that was hidden back in a real neighborhood that was so far removed from the crowded and fast moving experience of Tokyo. Even doing the wash was an experience on this trip.

That evening Kendra, Wendy and Chrissy from New Jersey accompanied me to Tokyo DisneySea. We had to take the Chiba City Monorail to get to the train station. The Monorail is a hanging train where the tracks are above the passenger car, and there is nothing below you except the floor of the train and a very long drop. After about ten minutes, we switched to the regular train system for a 20 minute ride to the park. At the park, we found that the Disney Monorail that connected the four main areas of the Tokyo Disney Resort cost 250 yen per ride. That junk’s free in Orlando!

This place was awesome, but I’m not going into many details because aside from everything being in Japanese, it was not much different than other Disney parks. Lots of people, lots of lines, lots of opportunities to burn money. There were a few notable differences though:
The popcorn wasn’t just popcorn… it was black pepper popcorn, or strawberry popcorn, or chocolate popcorn, or caramel popcorn… but not regular old butter popcorn.
Everything shut down at quarter til ten. In Orlando, if you have money to burn, they have products to sell you, and those stores stay open.
Even though the park closed at ten, the rides closed at 9:50. This was annoying.
On the rides in Japan, they have a single rider line for just about everything. We took advantage of this and turned 70 minute waits into five minute waits.
Fastpass exists, but they shut it down before 6 pm, when the twilight pass customers come in.

We got on some pretty incredible rides: Indiana Jones, some cheesy roller coaster right next door to that, this crazy 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea ride where some Japanese narrator dude was yelling like crazy through the whole thing, StormRider, which was a theater size version of Star Tours that flew you through a hurricane, and this super crazy ride called the Aquatopia that would just randomly follow an underwater track and spin you around wherever it wanted to.

After the park I stopped into Bon Voyage, a big Disney store where I was able to pick up a few souvenirs, including a new tie. We stumbled back to the hotel via train and monorail and dragged ourselves into our rooms, falling immediately to sleep. It was a very mixed up and exhausting day.

June 16

I woke up this morning with the nagging feeling that I was missing something… my big suitcase was gone! After calling one of my fellow teachers, I discovered that the larger pieces of luggage had been sent ahead to the next hotel already, and that we were to have a suit packed in our carry-on for today’s meeting at the teacher’s college. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t paid attention to this. My exhaustion must have been winning the battle when we were told, because everyone in my group was prepared but me. I looked at what I had, and it wasn’t much: jeans, one belt, sneakers, a dress shirt that I had just washed the day before, and the new tie that I had just purchased at Tokyo Disney. I got dressed and went downstairs feeling like an idiot. I greeted Sawamoto-san at breakfast and she just about had a stroke when I told her that I had no suit to wear. She had to call the JFMF office in Tokyo to find out if I could still go to Chiba University. I felt so bad about it that I wanted to apologize to every Japanese person I saw.

When we got to the university, Sawamoto-san said that the clothing issue was only a minor problem and that after she apologized to the university on my behalf and on behalf of the ENITRE JFMF PROGRAM that we should be fine. Thankfully, after we got started with our meeting I forgot about my wardrobe malfunction and was able to enjoy and participate in the discussion without any problem. After Tom from Minnesota gave a speech introducing us and thanking Chiba University, we had an opportunity to ask and answer questions. It was true exchange of ideas, and everyone spoke very franklky about teacher training and the situation of education in both the United States and Japan. Honestly, I need to say right now that it’s nice to be traveling with a group of really intelligent people who are on this trip for all the right reasons, because they asked some super questions. The question of moral education came up, and the response was similar to the information that we received in Tokyo. In March of this year, educational guidelines were revised to include moral education in all facets and in all levels of education. Behavior and morals are apparently becoming serious problems for the Japanese people to the point where they have to take drastic measures.

I asked a question about teacher attrition, and when I shared that we lose about 30% of our new teachers within their first three years of service jaws dropped on the Japanese side of the table. The president of the College of Education personally took this question and asked me why the turnover rate was so high. I told them that the three primary reasons were the extremely low salaries for beginning teachers, severe behavior problems with many of the children, and a very small but conspicuous group of parents in each school who have a strong sense of entitlement and have problems behaving as well. As the answer was being formulated in Japanese, the English speakers on my side of the table heard the words “Monster Parents” and we all laughed because that one needed no translation. Basically the answer came back that the turnover rate for teachers is very low, largely in part to the significant government subsidy that teachers receive in their salary that makes them among the highest paid government workers. I felt like sharing the story of Amendment One and Florida’s willingness to cut education funds before subsidizing but restrained myself… I didn’t their jaws to hit the ground and break completely. The “Monster Parents” problem is a fairly new one in Japan, just showing up within the last four or five years. No one’s really quite sure how it started. I assured them that this problem was alive and well in the States, and then I thanked God that I have only had one over the last four years, and even that was only for about ten weeks. There’s something to be said for having a group of supportive parent in your class, so thanks Ralphadelphia families!

After the formal session, we moved into another room where we were able to share ideas and speak more candidly with education students. I was checking out some replicas of ancient scrolls where two young ladies came over and said hello. Megumi Machida and Nao Tozaki both spoke very good English and were Elementary Education majors, and they wanted to learn more about Elementary Education in the US. I told them about my class and the community that we’ve built, and gave them my card so that we could begin to build a connection. I asked them what they were most apprehensive about as preservice teachers, and one said that she was nervous about Monster Parents, and the other was nervous about teaching subjects where she wasn’t completely confident. I told her that as she teaches these subjects to others, she will better understand them herself. As for the Monster Parents, how do you explain to someone from Japan to stand their ground? It seems like their entire society is based on deference, so Monster Parents have opportunities around every corner to antagonize a young teacher.

I’d include more about the session but this blog is long and time is short, and I need to give the speech at Shinshima Elementary School today. I will say that I found my conversation with these young teachers to be my absolute favorite part of the trip so far!

***out of time, pix coming later***