bunka sai = culture day

culture day is a national holiday recognized in the beginning of november when schools organize carnivals of sorts. it's a chance for students to perform, display art, and showcase their talents. this year minamishiro’s festival was on saturday 11/5. i was on hand to help organize the English club’s room and, of course, to frolic and joke with the students.

minami is one of my liveliest girls although her English is practically non-existant.


girls from the basic oral communication class that i teach with kodama sensei. girl to my left talks incessantly but has ok english, girl to my right is pretty good at english and actually studies and the girl on my far right is just not so smart but she’s really cute in her ditzy-ness.


noriyuki, who i’ve been working on forever. from smiles, to nudges, to simple hellos, to now, the difference is amazing. he’s found some self-confidence and is able to hold a conversation with me; he patiently tries to piece together his thoughts in english although he often resorts to interjecting japanese vocabulary. he’s still really shy in class and has this child-like quality about him that makes you smile. interestingly, although he looks really young, his hands are quite large and weathered, appearing to belong to a hulky man twice his age.


some of my favorite boys together in one pic…be still my heart.

front row far left is francesc, but we just call him frank. he’s spanish and moved here with his parents, who are missionaries [i try not to hold that against the kid], and his 8 brothers and sisters. they’re catholic if you couldn’t guess by the lack of birth control methods. i’m jealous of his linguistic ability; of course he speaks spanish, his japanese is perfect and his english is such that he and i have normal conversations at such a natural speed and some of the other English teachers can’t understand.
to his left is the school playboy who has now settled down with ayumi, one of my fave girls. they recently began wearing matching rings and explained to me it was their 6-month anniversary. he’s a really funny and good hearted kid.
to his left is daichi. behind daichi is his younger brother hajime and to daichi's left is his youngest brother whose name i don’t know cause he’s still in middle school. this is a talented family. their mother is filipina so she’s taught them quite a bit of english, putting them way ahead of their peers. as such, daichi can cover any beatles tune unbelievably well. he also plays guitar and bass. hajime was my first student crush and although he’s gotten older and cuter over the last year, he’s also become much more irreverent. he went to the national finals of the high school badminton tournament and he’s the band's drummer. their little brother, who has the longest, most rocking rat tail you’ve ever seen, plays bass in the band. i’ve seen them play around town several times and am anxious for them to become old enough to actually play clubs and bars. in a funny twist, i met a really cool man while out one night. he spoke to me in decent english as we discussed all sorts of things. he inquired about my job, eventually asking at which school i work. his eyes lit up…“oh i’ve heard about you. do you know the furihata boys?” so i had a good laugh with their dad that night and we always hit it off when we run into each other, be it at a bar or a parent-teacher meeting.
front row far right is one of the cute punk boys that smoke in the handicap bathrooms but really aren’t all bad.
back row far left is my new crush tatsuya. he’s really into home economics and wants to study food design after graduation. [what is it with me and effeminate men?] unfortunately he’s got all the necessary english credits so he’s no longer in need of my services...in class i mean. did i mention he’s also student body president? how cute…
back row far right is the night school student body pres. i don’t know his name, but he’s super respectful and funny. i teach his little brother in night school who is not nearly as well-mannered. all these guys played in bands that performed that day.

at the culture day festival there was a traditional tea ceremony. i love these 2 kids… neither actually goes to my school, they’re just always hanging around. the older one on the left graduated from minamishiro a couple years ago, his younger bro on the right is a student at another high school. at the english club’s ‘traditions around the world’ exhibit they were so interested in my papua new guinea regalia that i let them have a couple of the handmade necklaces. the amazement and happiness on their faces was quite a reward.


carrie and i attempted to catch goldfish in paper nets. apparently this is my calling in life as my thin paper scoop refused to break and i managed to nab about 10 fish before passing the net to a student who promptly destroyed it. knowing how good i am with pets, you can imagine that i was overjoyed [sarcasm] at winning all these goldfish. i promptly traded them for some popcorn.


tsubasa, hiromu and shinsuke from my first year oral communication class. they are inseparable and the four of us often spend time between classes chatting about their photographs, a hobby they enjoy together.


shu, nobu and i. shu is a big, rough boy who landed himself at minamishiro [the school for troubled kids] after punching a teacher at his last high school. we get along well both slap boxing and chatting. nobu is so laid back and mild mannered. for a while he was wary of talking to me very often because his friends constantly made fun of him for having a crush on me. luckily that joke blew over.