My First Enkai

The person next to me alternated between suddenly bouts of liveliness and hilarity and slumping unsteadily in his seat. People at my table poured beer into my half-full glass, and those of the people around me, telling me to "drink up" and "enjoy it". Teachers around me were clapping eachother on the back, elbowing eachother jokingly, crying and stumbling. Chaos abounded.


So this was the famed ENKAI.


Enkai means party, or banquet, and the term is usually used to mean a work party. These are all-you-can-drink work parties inwhich the famously reserved Japanese people let down their well-styled hair and get crazy.


The night started with everyone being poured a beer ("would you like a beer" was not asked). We toasted the start of the night, and from then on, everyone drank steadily. Waiters and waitresses continually brought large bottloes of beer to each table, and refilled glasses of wine if they were nearly empty. If drinking beer, the people at your table were expected to refill it whenever they could, and people would go to visit people who had helped them throughout the year, and refill their drink as an expression of and gratitude and respect.


Within half an hour, with the Japanese tolerance for alcohol (or lack thereof) the effect of endless beers had already become visible.


Soon after the first course had been served, speeches started. New teachers and treachers who had changed schools or retired gave speeches to thank people (mostly) for their time at the school. As the night became later, speeches became messier. There was shouting. There was crying. A lot of crying.


The enkai ended suddenly, as soon as the last speeches were given. I was shocked to see my full glass of wine (my 10th, but hey, who's counting) being taken away from my table by a waitress. I was outraged at the lack of warning. I quickly grabbed someone else's abandoned beer from the table in front of me and downed it, thinking that this was the sudden end of the drinking (you've got to get value, am I right?).


Everyone poured out of the fancy venue. I asked what was going on. It seemed the night had not finished, just the venue. So, with little idea of where people were going, or what was happening, I followed the crowd of people to the closest trainstation, got on a train with them, and went to the next place, a Japanese izakaya (traditional bar) with an upstairs room.


During the train ride, we had a drunk and rowdy sports teacher tell us he loved to do bongs, and how he wanted to use a bong again. He then spent the rest of the trip switching between calling us "dudes" in an American accents and pretending to be our tour guides, in his politest Japanese English accents ("This way please! Follow me!").


At the next bar, we sat upstairs in a private area with 2 long low tables. We were brought drinks and small dishes of food. Apparently we had another hour of all-you-can-drink at this establishment. "So drink up!"


By 11 o clock, we realised that the last train home wasn't far off (curse you, Japanese train system!) and so everyone had to leave and catch their seperate trains. The next work day, nothing was spoken of the Enkai or anything said or done.


What happens at enkai stays at Enkai.

School in Japan Part 2

The sound of raucous laughter filled my ears as I approached the closed sliding door designated for teachers. Students inside yelled, cheered, and squealed. Was this a Japanese classroom, known for its quiet, complacent students?


I opened the door and poked my head in, looking for my lead teacher, or JTE. He was not in this classroom. I stepped back out and closed the door, wondering if I had the wrong class. I stood outside the class for a few moments, trying to remember what my timetable had said.


A student came out of the students' door toward the back of the class.
"You can come in!" She said, enthusiastically.
"Oh, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be here," I responded nervously, "I'll just wait here a little bit".


A minute later, my JTE arrived.
"Oh! You're here early!"


I had forgotten that Japanese students have 10 minutes between each class to relax, go to the toilet, and eat if they want. As Japanese students stay in their classroom, the teacher leaves at the end of the period, and they are alone in their classroom for 10 minutes. During this time, the class usually erupts with chatter. Food is gobbled from bags, and students lounge in the chairs, desks rotated towards their friends. They don't have a recess break, so these 10 minute periods are their only time to eat, socialise and use the toilet, until their one 45 minute lunch break at 12:40.


After the lesson finished, I left the class, leaving them alone to their own devices. As soon as I exited the class, a small group of students ran out of the student door, cutting me off at the pass.


"Sharon! We want to talk to you!"
"Where do you buy your clothes!"
"Can we see your tattoo?!"
"Please tell me the difference between 'stuff' and 'things'!"
"Kawaii!"


These exchanges are common.


In lunch time, students come into the office to exchange notes with me in English, and sometimes just to talk (today's topic- "Please tell us about prom!").


In the halls, some students who are strangers to me gather their courage and practise their English skills with words of "hello" or even "how are you?". When I answer, they usually laugh and blush, or giggle with their friends. I am an amusement to them, but I don't mind.


The students have been lovely so far. I don't have to tell students off in class, and the only negative action that occurs is that some students sleep in class, especially in the afternoon classes. This of course, bothers no one else, and is usually a result of being up late studying.


The teachers are friendly, although not the best at explaining what they would like me to do. I have a new timetable with the new school year, although no one has explained my classes to me, or if I'm expected to plan anything for classes, or even which classes I'm in charge of (if any) and which classes I'm simply helping out with, or even just coming along to.


I usually have 3 assigned classes a day, although usually a teacher will ask me to join his or her class on the day. When this happens, they may want me to do a special activity like read a story or tell an experience, or they may just want someone in the room to help with English questions if they come up.


There is no homework for me, although I do sometimes get marking to do in my 4 hours of DOTT.


I'm not gonna lie, the ALT life is pretty sweet right now.

Capsule Hotel, Osaka

Jason and I stayed at our first capsule hotel!

For those not familiar with the term, capsule hotels are hotels in which the rooms are small "capsules", just larger than a person lying down. They're usually around one metre tall, one metre wide, and two metres long. Usually capsules are stacked on top of eachother.

 

 
They were originally a cheap accommodation for men on business trips, and so originally were just for men. However, these days, with a growing number of women in the workforce, capsule hotels have begun to accommodate women.

 

Prices are usually around $30 a night.

 

Jason and I stayed at the Shinsaibashi Asahi Plaza Capsule Hotel for roughly this price. I have to say, I was impressed! Of course, it does depend on whether you can deal with small spaces. I, personally, love to sleep in small, enclosed spaces. It strikes me as very comforting, womb-like even. But I know to some it would be a night mare.

 

The hotel was open to both men and women, although they are on seperate floors, for safety reasons. To get into the women's area, you needed a special key, ensuring that there were only women in this area. As you first enter the women's area, there is a large, spacious "powder room", equipped with seats, hairdryers, pre-toothpasted toothbrushes, and samples of moisturisers and lotions.





 

After the powder room there was a baggage room where you could lock your baggage away, as the actual capsules themselves are not lockable. The capsules were located just past this area. All capsules were numbered so that you could find the one you'd been allocated. I was given a ground level capsule which was great because I didn't have to climb a ladder to get in, although being only a metre high, it did mean I had to crawl. The insides of the capsules are sparse. White plastic walls, a small shelf, a charging port, and in some, a small television. There are fancy capsule hotels out there, but this was just a basic, run of the mill capsule.

 

On the fancy side however, this hotel did surprise me by having a spa and sauna included in the thirty dollar price. So if you walk past the women's capsule area, you come to a shower room, a spa room, and a sauna room. The spa was lovely looking! And the showers were private, in little capsules for shy westerners. I didn't get to try the sauna, but it looked nice. I was surprised by the facilities. I was expecting something dingy, but actually it was bright, airy, and fresh.

 

Outside of the locked women's area there was also arcade games, refreshment vending machines and a commen entertainment area.

 

While I enjoyed my stay in the female section, Jason did not have a milar experience in the men's. Jason is quite tall, and found the small boxes stifling. He also found the men's area to be loud. The capsules do not have walls covering the outside part, but simply have privacy screens that can be pulled down to cover the entry to each capsule. This means that sound can be an issue. It wasn't for me, in the women's floor, but Jason said he had a bunch of noisy snorers on his floor. To be fair though, this would be the case in any hostel and I have never seen such good other facilities in regular hostels. So if I'm ever travelling by myself, I'm definitely going to use a capsule hotel again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanami!

Finally, cherry blossom season is upon us!


The trees are in full bloom everywhere and I couldn't be loving it more!


When the cherry blossoms come out, it's a Japanese tradition to head out for "hanami" (cherry blossom party).

Japanese people go out with their family or friends and flock upon one of the many cherry blossom-filled parks. They bring their blue tarps, their food, and most importantly, their booze. They sit under the blossoms and get drunk while petals rain down on them. It's truly magical.

We had our very first hanami this weekend at Osaka Castle Park. Osaka Castle is absulutely beautiful, and even more so when surrounded by the beautiful cherry blossoms.

I did not expect Osaka to be so... crazy though! Everyone in Japan, it seemed, came to Osaka for hanami on the same day! Trains were packed to the brim! The convenience store actually had a huge line to get in! It was sheer madness! We stupidly left our food shopping until Osaka, thinking that this away we wouldn't have to carry the food around for long. Big mistake. It took us a good half hour to get into and out of the convenience store.

We finally got to Osaka Park Castle and then had to wait more, lining up to get into the garden! It was worth the wait though and we found ourselves surrounded by canopies of blossoms, with food stalls cooking up noodles and okonomiyakis.


We sat down with our group. Booze and food was shared around. Every time the wind blew, cherry blossom petals feel in our hair, on the food, and wafted dreamily along in the breeze. The atmosphere was something I'm not likely to forget. I'm saddened to think that the cherry blossom season will be over in a week or so and I'll not get to do this again!