So its been a while since I've posted anything. Its not for lack of things to write about, more to do with lack of motivation and sheer unadulterated laziness...but at the behest of friends and family its time to share a few stories and happenings that have since transpired....
...beginning with the most recent, and possibly craziest thing that has happened since I've been overseas. So I'm teaching a lesson about Halloween to a group of 6th years at elementary school, going over standard Halloween language like "bat," "jack-o-lantern" and "monster," nothing that should get them too riled up. But, during a rousing game of the basket game (think duck-duck-goose, but even tamer) a student doesn't like the fact that he is the one left standing, so he grabs another kid, picks him up from his chair and throws him to the ground. He sits down, smiles and leaves the smaller victim left huddled on the floor attempting to collect his dignity.
Well, the teacher, a matronly, older woman in his 50s I would guess, witnesses the assault and moves in for retribution. She grabs the student by the wrist and says something to the effect of "apologize and get out of that chair" (I taking a total guess on that, but it would seem to fit the situation).
Well, he was not a fan of this at all and he begins to struggle with the teacher, attempting to free himself of her terrifyingly meager, nursing home grip. (It should be noted that the student is one of the larger kids in his grade. He is fairly tall for his age, but still very skinny like most Japanese students. Watching his struggle with an old woman was humorous for a little while until it escalated, at which point it went from troubling and back to hilarious in the span of a couple of seconds, but all in good time...).
So the teacher is winning the tug of war at this point, as she has forced the student out of the chair and the two of them are now standing toe-to-toe in the circle of chairs I had arranged for the now forgotten game. He must have realized that her ferocious kung fu grip wasn't going to be broken unless he stepped it up a notch, so he rears back and gives her a solid kick in the leg, reminiscent of a kickboxing move, connecting solidly with her mid thigh.
To her credit, she doesn't give an inch, so he kicks her again (please, no one ask me why I just sat there and watched an old lady get kicked in leg twice, I don't yet have a decent explanation...). Having already assaulted a teacher in American standards and witnessing his efforts being brushed aside by a sweet old lady donning a jack-o-lantern hair band (the ones with pumpkins flopping about on 8 inch springs), he decides to go for broke and punches her in the face. Let me repeat that: he punched an old lady in the face. And I'll tell you the best part...she didn't move an inch...
This is where I come in. Apparently kicking an old woman is ok for me to watch, but I draw the line at punches to the face. Let no wrinkly face be harmed on my watch, only their brittle, veiny legs...Before the punch, I simply sat in awe along with the other students watching the proceeding unfold, but after the fists of infantile fury were thrown I jumped out of my chair and bear hugged the kid, restraining his spindly, fiery-self.
Its at this point that little Nathaniel Noodlearms starts crying in my arms. Sensing the worst is over the teacher tells me its ok to let him go and then instructs me to continue with my lesson...which at this point is furthest from my mind. But I trudged forward with the game that started this whole mess in the first place.
Now, onto the most curious part of the story. In America I'm fairly certain that the student would be arrested and the school would hold a vigil for the once bruisless cheek of the teacher, all the while relegating the students present in the classroom to therapy sessions to cope with the trauma of such a jarring event, while the rest of the school would be subjacated to anger management sessions and sensitivity training. The student in question would be given numerous drug and alcohol tests and the child's home life would be under intense investigation. What I'm getting at is that it would be a big deal. A REALLY big deal.
Not so in Japan apparently. Mr. Aggrivated Assaulted stood up in front of the class and apologized to the kid he threw on the ground and the class applauded him. I still expected there to be some reprecussions and at midday there was a meeting in the teacher's room, during which I was asked to wait outside. Surely this was the meeting where shock turned to anger turned to swift, deliberate action. But as I later found out, this was not the case.
Not one word of the incident of mentioned to me, except for a brief thank you from the teacher who was hit. I left school and called my company to tell them what had happened, that I had to physically restrain a kid, (which they said I actually shouldn't have done since Japanese parents are a little particular about who touches their kids, especially in the case of "overly-aggressive Americans") but that everything seemed to be alright. Thinking that was the end of the story, I was surprised to get a phone call from one of the ladies from the office. She called to tell me she had heard about what had happened through my boss, so she called the school to verify if everything was indeed alright when she learned that kyoto sensei (vice principal) DIDN'T EVEN KNEW IT HAD HAPPENED. The teacher didn't tell anyone, I was the first person to let it slip, and actually I let it slip to quite a few people at this point since it was a pretty exciting news story for me. So now I'm just hoping I didn't break some unspoken oath of the Japanese classroom, that which happens in the classroom stays in the classroom.
