Feels like home

First, apologizes...

I made it my new years resolution to write more frequently on here, which I have failed miserably at so far. Solly...

It's a shame I can't shake this wonderfully natural laziness at the drop of a hat. So much has happened since I last wrote, I can only hope to recall all of it....

First, there was a house fire next door to my junior high school. I wasn't there to witness it (I was at my elementary school that day), but as soon as I arrived to Koito Junior High the next day, Mr. Yamashita, the kyoto sensei (vice principal), stopped me to tell me the previous day's happenings. So apparently a house caught on fire and a few of the teachers ran over to check it out. As it turns out there was an old couple inside so Mr. Oikawa, the technology teacher, sumo coach and volleyball coach, leaps into the blaze to rescue the elderly couple.

Now, my interactions with my Oikawa have been pretty minimal so far. He seems super friendly as we exchange rudimentary Japanese/English greetings in the morning. Apparently he is a badass sumo coach because Koito is the Chiba sumo champion, which is pretty impressive. So to sum up Mr. Oikawa: stout, friendly, presumably strong and a kind of berserk superhero of sorts, but one story at a time.

So, Mr. Oikawa runs into the blazing house and pulls out the old man and old woman. The old woman survives but the old man dies shortly thereafter. All the teachers now are outside consoling and helping the old woman. So, Mr. Yamashita is telling me all this, which is all kind of shocking to receive first thing in the morning. So then he asks where I was yesterday in a sort of accusatory tone, which took me by surprise. I told him I was at Koito Elementary and by the time of the fire I was already home. He backs off and nods his head approvingly, then half-jokingly, half-serious, he blurts out that had I been there to help, who knows, maybe I could have saved the man.

I laugh, thinking to myself, yeah, sure, I'm sure it would have made a world of difference. Mr. Yamashita doesn't laugh, at least not initially. After a few seconds he does decide to laugh and we leave it at that, but those few seconds between the turning of his face, from somber and suggestive to that "you should have seen the look on your face" brand of humor, were some of the strangest moments in time I have ever experienced.

Now, onto more of Mr. Oikawa tales of bravery and feats of wonder and some...



Fast forward to the next day. The school day has just begun. We are literally five minutes into the day when there is a commotion outside in the hallway. It begins with a deep, growling, angry yell from the end of the hallway. It's a sound I've heard numerous times here so its no big deal. Shortly after that though and hear different sounds, banging on the wall, doors rattling and shaking, the unmistakable noise of unarmed combat. Several of the teachers get up to investigate, to which I follow.

I peek over the top of the women teachers and there on the ground is a 3rd year student and Mr. Oikawa on top of him screaming in his face. Another teacher is holding down the students other arm and the rest of the staff is watching like a crowd witnessing a playground fight. This is a new experience for me, much more physical and serious than the shoe assault I witnessed earlier in the year, but it gets amped up even more. Silently moving down the hallway is another student from the same classroom (before I forget to mention it, these students all came from the separate "troublemakers" classroom. I think we are all at least vaguely familiar with this setup). As he nears the ruckus though, he speeds up and begins to move with purpose and intent. Mr. Shigeta, a science teacher from the 2nd grade and purveyor of swords and exotic sports cars, feels a tingling in his "spidey-sense" and turns around to confront the approaching student, who is clearly moving with aggression in his stride. Mr. Shigeta grabs the kid by the arm, straightens it out and slams the kid to the ground onto his back, then forcefully plants his knee right into the kids sternum. I swear I've seen the same maneuver used frequently in OZ.

Ok, so the situation ends with the koucho sensei (head principal, mainly just a figure head, actually does nothing on a daily basis) picking up the 2nd attacker by his shirt collar and pushing him down the hall. I standing there in a sort of daze and I look around at the other teachers seem only mildly amused. The female PE teacher just looks at me, smiles and shrugs her shoulders in a sort of cheesy network sitcom "what are you going to do" moment.

So I go to class, where nothing really happens.

I leave class, I'm walking down the stairs to the teacher's room and the cops are at the school. Now, I'm assuming its because of the first kid, thinking he's just out of control and the teachers don't want to have to put up with him. And that's the end of the situation as far as I know.

So the end of the day rolls around and there is an impromptu teacher's meeting concerning the days big news. I'm told I don't need to attend, so I go to the gym to kill time. After about a half hour, Mr. Yamashita comes to the gym and I ask him what in the hell happened earlier. So the story goes like this...

Student A brings a knife to class, a whittling knife from how Mr. Yamashita describes it. We both agree that he didn't bring it school with aggressive intent, but still, you can't just carry a knife around school, regardless of its supposed purpose. So the sumo teacher takes it from him. Student A does not like this, so he decides to throw a temper tantrum and kick down a door. In this vicious circle of disagreeable actions, sumo dude does not like this so he goes after the student. Now, somewhere during the action, sumo dude hits the student. This is what cause Student B to attempt the flanking maneuver and led to his as getting owned. The big surprise of the whole incident was the student was the one who called the cops on the sumo sensei. In another shocker, koucho sensei calls the kids parents to explain what had happened and probably expected hell in return. But instead the kid's parents admit that their kid is a troublemaking piece of crap and THEY apologize for their kids actions and fully understand why the sumo teacher thumped him. Totally against everything I've been told about Japanese parents. Wild shit...