Life in the Land of the Rising Sun, Part....? (I lost count...)
by Kevin Hatakeyama-Maxfield
Part One: Nationalism or Sensationalism
A recent issue of Newsweek magazine had the media here in Japan all up in arms. On the cover it shows a young, male Japanese. He is wearing a hachimaki (traditional fighting headband) emblazoned with the Japanese Rising Sun. His shirt says "Nippon" (Japan) in huge letters. In his hand is a small flag which looks like the Japanese naval battle flag from WW II. His face is red, sweaty, and contorted into a hearty shout. Above him is the headline: "Nationalism Returns to Japan".
The media here was confused. Studies have shown that the current generation of twenty-somethings, particularly college students, is the laziest, least talented, and least motivated of the century. They have virtually zero interest in anything other than beer and sex. So where did this bellowing, Rising-Sun-bedecked young man come from?
He was a soccer fan. He was photographed at a World Cup qualifying round. So much for nationalism.
Oh, well. The Japanese media has for many years painted a picture of America as a country where the majority of the population are illiterate, filthy, and prone to blow each other away at the least provocation. School shootings are the norm rather than the exception. Everyone has been carjacked at least twice.
I guess it's only fair to tip the scales back a little...
The School Culture Festival, 1999
It just ended. It was full of "as always". As always, the kids knocked themselves out preparing for the thing. As always, I was asked to direct the junior high segment of the school band as an introductory performance for the new, 7th-grade members. As always, we rehearsed outside in the heat and hard sunlight. (As always, I forgot SUNSCREEN...) As always, the music department was going nuts preparing for its yearly live-music tearoom. As always, I had trouble getting the members of the jazz band to come to rehearsals since they kept getting involved with just about everything else they could think of. As always, I was relieved of my entire supply of old English newspapers for use as wallpaper. As always, I was drafted to be a judge at the junior high class singing competition. As always, the teachers in charge of the thing were on the point of hysteria by the time it finally happened.
As always, several of the teachers NOT in charge of the thing ranted and raved about how the students should have been studying all day and night instead of doing something creatively productive. Some of them, as always, tried to take matters into their own hands. (In my case, one of the more notorious teachers dared to interrupt my jazz band rehearsal in order to command me to stop it early. I politely told him to get his face the hell out of my rehearsal room.)
As always, there were a couple of holes in the performance schedule at the live-music tearoom, so I was politely begged (groveled at, etc...) to do a few on-the-spot gigs.
As always, Father Neptune lobbed a typhoon at us, so we were forced to move the junior high band performance into the bake-oven (i.e. gymnasium).
What were NOT "as always"?
- It was SO BLOODY HOT!!!!!! In the middle of September we were still having August weather. Temperatures in the nineties (Fahrenheit). Humidity of around eighty percent. Most of the school was like an oven inside. Naturally, the hottest rooms were the ones that the music performances took place in... Halfway through Day One my festival T-shirt was already absolutely soaked. By theend of Day Two I was leaving trails as I walked. While I was conducting the junior high concert band the poor front row clarinets were wiping sweat off their faces.....MY sweat!
- I was having trouble with absenteeism at my jazz rehearsals, so I finally delivered an ultimatum. Rehearse, or we don't perform. Unfortunately, some of the members took it too much to heart, and that caused some trouble. You see, they were so concerned about angering me that they neglected to mention they were expected to be at a rehearsal for the class singing competition. (Why the Sam Hill do they have to rehearse standing up, walking onto the stage, walking off, and sitting down again, anyhow? For FOUR HOURS? I'll never understand the preoccupation with rehearsing that exists here!!!)(Oh, shut up!) After rehearsal I was given a warning from the upper echelon... One student out of forty missing rehearsal of standing up and sitting down was clearly far more serious than one out of sixteen missing rehearsal of a tough performance piece... Uncivilized gaijin that I am, I just can't seem to grasp that...
-The jazz band performance, despite rehearsal schedule problems and a music difficulty level that I was afraid I'd overdone, the kids did a good job....once they got over the jitters. Luckily the easier tunes were first. The ensemble sounded good, especially on the really tough tunes. Though I actually had soloists ad-libbing for a change (finally), they didn't sound nearly as good as they did in rehearsal (cliche...cliche...cliche.......*)
(By the way: acting on Mr. Ogawa's suggestion, the jazz band has come up with a name for itself. Well, actually, I did. I sarcastically suggested "The Seishin Eggheads" since we're a "high-level" prep school and so many teachers think the kids should do nothing but study all the time. Well, it stuck. We are now the "Flying Eggheads", and our icon is a flying, caped superhero with an egg for a head. Only my lead alto player, Megumi Kasuga, was bitterly opposed. She wanted to name the band "Zip", but was severely outvoted. If it bothered her, she showed no sign at the concert. She was the only soloist that played flawlessly. Appropriate, since her feature solo was a tune I composed myself for her.)
-The junior high band performance was uncannily similar (an ominous new trend?). At the concert they were absolutely brilliant compared with the rehearsals. Well, the ensemble was, anyway. Most of the soloists were pretty lame even though they had our new, expensive sound system backing them up. Amazingly, one of the best solos was Yuko Yoshida, the bright-eyed flute playerwhose terminal heart condition was supposed to have killed her two years ago. It was her debut on lead part. She's not very strong (and she makes no pretenses about her limits), but she did a good job, thoroughly upstaging the oboist she was trading off with... Some of our key players were pretty pathetic, especially among the 8th graders... The new 7th graders were seriously putting some of their seniors to shame....
- The 10th graders in the music club, that hopeless collection of snobbish, spoiled brats with sushi for brains that always infuriated me so much, nevertheless managed to pull off something none of their seniors had ever been able to do in years past: they kept the performance schedule of the live-music tearoom going without a hitch. They had to do a few last minute switches and plug a few holes (with me...), but there were no gaps and no foul-ups. For the first time in their woefully-overindulged, pathetic excuses for lives they showed leadership, initiative, and teamwork. They deserved a lot of praise, and I gave it to them. To my utter amazement (read "shocked almost to the point of fainting dead on the spot") I got smiles and "arigato" in return. I guess anyone can wake up and smell the coffee.
(Unfortunately, with his hideously high standards, Mr. Ogawa was still not impressed. There were no major problems, but there were a number of trivial things. I let them slide since I figured they'd more than made up for it. Mr. Ogawa didn't take that into account. He says that tomorrow he's going to gather them together and deliver an ultimatum: Either the 10th and 11th graders start paying more attention to their juniors and show a bit more gumption or he's dumping both the symphonic band and the orchestra [into MY hands?] until further notice. I don't know, but I think he's been toying with a similar notion off and on for years.....)
-Since I'm a 12th grade teacher this year my participation was different from before. The 12th graders aren't allowed to participate in the Culture Festival, so they're free to come and go as they please in the meantime. Meanwhile, the 12th grade teachers are technically supposed to just sit in the staff room and be ready to give individual instruction when asked. My band commitments freed me from most of that, but I still had to miss the opening ceremony, which is always a blast. I spent the time actively warming my chair and staring off into space, just like my colleagues. Such efficiency!
And then the next day (today), which the rest of the staff and students had off, we had to come in to supervise the 12th graders taking YET ANOTHER standardized achievement test. But after the full 12th grade faculty arrived in the morning we were told that only the chief homeroom teachers were needed. So I did the American thing: I went back home. (I never thought that Asahi Super Dry could taste so good.....)
Addendum: Music, Music, Music
High, kiddies! Can you say, "You're seriously overdoing it"? I knew you could. Unfortunately, Mr. Kevin can't seem to figure that out. As if the Culture Festival and all those rehearsals weren't bad enough already, there's also the Kashima Community Band, whose concert will take place in a few weeks (with me conducting part of the time and playing the rest). More rehearsals. Then there's my friend Tsutomu's (Stone's) wedding about a week after that. Guess who's going to be playing in a jazz combo put together just for the occasion? Rehearsals, rehearsals!
Wow! You're pretty sharp!
But we're not finished yet. My old friend, fellow musician, fellow teacher (different school), trumpeter extraordinaire, Mr. Kanazawa somehow talked me into performing with him in a little jazz combo as part of his school band's regular concert. The performance is this Sunday. No rehearsals yet. The one and only practice will be day after tomorrow, after the Kashima Community Band. I've only even transcribed the music (Mr. Kanazawa gave me a FULL MIDI SCORE..all key of C...the LOUSE!!!) to one of the three tunes. They're all monstrously tough, but they're mostly solos. I figure I'll probably just ad-lib my way through them all...
And now my old friend, fellow ex-pat, and chronic Canadian Jeff tells me that he needs me to play a repeat gig in Tokyo next month. The Canadian Embassy gig went so well, and the CD is sounding so good, that we're doing a showcase for some record labels. I hear there will be rehearsals, but I don't know where I'm going to squeeze those in... I guess I don't really need to go to work, do I?
And with Kiharu now in her seventh month of pregnancy......
The Japanese word for "industrious" is "mame", which is also (with different kanji characters) the word for "bean". It is a Japanese tradition to eat beans as a sort of prayer to urge oneself on in one's work. At the rate I'm going, I'm going to have to start eating chili for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That could have serious consequences on both my social life and the atmospheric content of my house...
Have a pleasant Fall, everyone!