Kelly in Japan

Blogday

// July 24th, 2009 // Uncategorized

Hello, everyone! I’m still here. I see my last post is titled, “Hello, July.” Being the end of July now, it seems that a blog post a month is about the best I can do. I’ve been trying to come up with a good excuse for this, so all you loyal followers will breathe a sigh of remorse for ever shaking your fist at my RSS feed; but I’ve come to the unfortunate conclusion that I’m just not a good blogger. I’m a great Twitterer. I love the internet. But I have a very short attention span and, deep down, I guess I’m just not convinced that my life is all that interesting. I hope some of you in America will disagree. But the truth is I have a difficult time finding anything to blog about.

Anyway, I am going to try to make Friday my Blogday. I generally have free time on Fridays, so it is a perfect day to kick back and pen some deep thoughts.

Today I will talk about nature in Japan.

My second-year students just returned from their mandatory field trip. Where did they go? Perhaps to an historical or educational location like the Japanese equivalent of Washington, D.C.? Perhaps somewhere fun, like an amusement park?

No, no! They went to a national park. That’s right, my friends, a national park. Where they were only allowed 2 buckets of water per shower, where they were required to hike long periods of time on wooden bridges a foot wide while carrying heavy backpacks containing all their worldly possessions, and where they were forced to climb a mountain. This sounds pretty close to my definition of hell on earth, and it must be said that a good deal of them reported that they didn’t want to return. But the funny thing is that they went in the first place.

You see, Japan loves nature. With all the natural forces that have influenced its development (tsunamis, earthquakes, unbearably humid summers and freezing winters), the Japanese have learned to extend a hand of cooperation toward nature. This is in sharp contrast to my American response of cranking up the AC, blasting the heater, smashing bugs, knocking down birds nests, etc.

During my first few months in Japan, people would attempt conversation with me by asking easy questions like, “What’s the name of this flower in English?” and, “Do you have this bird in America?” I was usually forced to confess that I had no idea. I’m sure there are botanists and bird enthusiasts from my country who could answer these questions, but I think, overall, Americans just have a different approach to nature than the Japanese. The names of flower and avian species aren’t something I was taught as a small child.

Another example is how everyone opens the windows here. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the smell of fresh air breezing in a window. But when this is done with the purpose of cooling off a humid room stuffed with 40 sweaty high schoolers, when the air outside is no less hot or muggy, it occurs to me to wonder why they don’t turn on the AC instead.

It’s just one of those cultural differences that you learn to live with or go crazy. I now carry a fan in my purse and wear undershirts like a boy. I try to look at nature more closely and appreciate its beauty. I let the giant spiders live so they can eat the imaginary (so far) mukade.

In the privacy of my own home, however, it must be admitted that I do crank up the AC.

:)