Conference in Kobe

The conference was a really good experience for me. I have to admit; being on an island with almost 900 native English speakers (even in Kobe, so close to home) was almost like venturing to a foreign country for the weekend. I naturally used Japanese to ask for things at the hotel and in a few workshops, but otherwise, it was strictly English with everyone. This is not a common luxury in my everyday life. The evenings were a lot of fun, too, with most of us going out to dinner and then to some club or gathering afterwards, but even that is a bit of a teaser considering you might never see most of the people at the conference again. On Monday night, Kelly, Jen and I hosted a Charity event at Ryan’s Irish Pub in Sannomiya to raise money for Habitat for Humanity (to fund building a playground in the Philippino slums one trip visited this spring). Kelly and I were at the door most of the night, but we took in almost $2,000, all from a voluntary cover/donation!
As usual, the conference was a business meeting, held at a huge, fancy hotel (the Portopia). The dress code required business attire and the agenda included formal opening and closing ceremonies. We had an opening speech each day, and I have to say, the second day’s opener, given by Peter J. Collins of Tokai University, was one of the best talks I have ever attended. Mr. Collins is a really charismatic American who was refreshingly candid and really taught me a lot about some social and cultural differences between “east & west”. I laughed out-loud almost the whole time. The daily workshops turned out to be extremely valuable, as well – at least on the first two days – but I was not as impressed by the last day (organized by MEXT). I went to a talk on globalization, given by an American professor who had settled in Japan in the 1970s. His self-introduction was extremely interesting, but it also took up the whole hour (rather than just being an introduction or preface), and I would have preferred to get more content out of his work and experiences. The second speaker was a famous psychologist, but it seemed like he didn’t prepare, he didn’t make eye contact with the audience, and he was asked to speak into the microphone probably five times. Rather than focusing on the psychological theories and phenomena behind culture shock or educating, he focused on being depressed and gave us advice on how to avoid suicide. I just felt like it was a waste of my time when I could have attended a more benefiting (or fitting) lecture.

One thing I did profit from in this last lecture, however, were the following lists of things that people said they liked, didn’t like and were surprised by in Japan (after at least one year residing and working here). I can relate to all of them, and think they are worth sharing. Maybe you will find some of it surprising:

Things we LIKE (about Japan):
Kind people
Culture
Food
Transportation
Feel safe

Things we DISLIKE:
Formalities/Rules
“Gaijin” (outsider) mentality
Too much deep-fried food
No Air-Con/Heat
Beauocracies
In-school politics (office politics)
Indecision
Lack of a gray area (too black & white)
Slow/rude old people
Gender inequality
Staring
Indirectness
Election Cars (loudspeakers)
Waiting in the teacher’s lounge
Lack of human contact

Things we were SURPRISED BY:
Nomi-/tabehodai (all-you-can-eat/drink specials – very common)
Relgion (balance between Shintoism & Buddhism)
Language (foreign influence & borrowed words)
Green (how much nature there is)
The Senpai system
Racism
Strict discipline
No grading systems
Fashion

In addition, I was asked to write the following list:

Five personal lessons (showing how I have grown since I arrived):
1. I’m extremely proud to be from America, and from Minnesota (but will quickly point out
that a country and a government are not always the same; ex = Nazi & Germany)
2. The world is small – there are so many basic human traits that transcend boundaries
(friends here remind me of friends at home)
3. It’s hard to be back at learning a new language. It is really difficult.
4. How much you can communicate without words.
5. Teaching is really hard world. It’s a respectable position
6. Cultural tolerance.

And that's about it! Feel free to send me a note or email if you want to talk about any of these traits or hear more about the workshops:)