After summer vacation I will have a new student in my school. She was born in Japan but both of her parents are Korean. Today in the office all of the teachers were talking about whether or not she could speak Japanese even though she was born in Japan and has been going to school here for entire life. The questions about potential problems continued for about 30 minutes.
As many people know, Japan and Korea don't have the best relations. There are several reasons but the main would be the still not healed wounds left by Japan's occupation of Korea. This has left Japan to be extremely competitive with Korea. Personally I think they are both great countries with interesting cultures. I actually like Korean food more than Japanese food too. This town has very few foreigners so have any sort of exposure to other cultures is great. A lot of racism gets passed from parent to children and you will hear young kids saying things like "I hate Chinese people" and have no real grasp of how horrible a thing they are saying. I think that being as island nation has put Japan into a dream like state where other nationalities are like fictional characters that they can speak badly about without any sort of retribution. I think that having one student, even though she was born in Japan, with a more diverse background will be great for these kids and give them a reality check that people are people.
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Japan has many foreigners living in the country teaching. Some of them got here because they studied the language for a long time and wanted to make a life for themselves here. Some people knew absolutely nothing and thought it would be an interesting experience and made their way over here. In my case I studied Japanese in university and made learning about Japanese language and culture a big part of my life for a very long time.
Currently I am participating in the JET Programme which is a really weird experience because basically everyone one the JET program has just moved to Japan for the most part. I was an exception and had already been living in Japan for over two years when I started the JET program. I had learned the language in college and got a lot better at it living in the country and working in a company for my first year or so here. I switched to teaching and worked for Interac for about 9 months in Chiba prefecture. It was a great place to live but one of the first things I realized when I started teaching is that people don't want foreigners to speak Japanese in the education world. They want you to speak English as much as possible so that not only the students get a chance to practice English but the staff also. I found this a really awkward situation because other than a few English teachers who can actually communicate in English everyone else can do a basic greeting and that is the end of it. So that would mean that I would just speak to two people on a daily basis and everyone else just simple greetings. I understand that yes ALTs are there to be someone who people can practice with but I am going to be brutally honest here and say most students can't and even more don't want to. As much as you try to talk to them they don't care. I think the students were much better in Chiba but in Hokkaido it is just a joke. I teach from kindergarten to high school in this tiny town in Hokkaido and I have only been teaching here for a year. I find that a lot of the kids in elementary school enjoy my class but anything over that when the students actually have to start learning grammar and such they hate it. Being an ALT is really awkward because you are a teacher but you aren't. For example once students get into middle school a Japanese teacher starts teaching them English and I can understand that. There are all sorts of things that need to be explained to these children so that they can understand a lot of the nuances of the language however. I think that Japan doesn't take advantage of bilingual foreigners in the educational realm. When I was in Chiba I was often chastised for using to much Japanese in the class room and in the office. There was a teacher who would go from school to school helping out English teachers and she honestly got pretty angry at me because there was a younger English teacher who wasn't that great at English and I would help her understand a lot of things by speaking to her in Japanese. It made things really efficient and I think that the younger teacher really appreciated it. However the older teacher asked that I never speak to this teacher in Japanese again and in quite an angry tone. In Japan there is no use arguing with "superiors" even if they really aren't your superiors. Most of the time they will just believe they are correct and won't listen to anything you say. I have gotten to the point where when I run into this kind of problem I just apologize and continue doing the same thing I always did just not in front of that person. When I was in Chiba I also taught two nights a week at a small English Conversation School and that was great. I made an extra 300 bucks a month or so and all of my students were really nice ladies who liked bring me snacks that they had made. It was really a pleasant experience. Some of the other teachers there spoke Japanese but not as much as I did. I was able to explain complex grammatical points and when I was asked how to say a certain word in English 9 times out of 10 I could answer instantly. My students really liked me and when I told them I was going to move to Hokkaido 3 out of 5 of my students quit. I can't say whether or not they quit because I did but when I was teaching there some of the older students complained that the other teachers weren't good at explaining things. Some people who teach English in Japan excel because they simply because they can't speak Japanese. This is one of the main things schools and contracting organizations want you to do but if you can speak Japanese you realize how inefficient it really is. You can stand in front of the class speaking English simply and hope that people can understand you but most of the time that just won't happen. So the logical thing to do would be explain it in Japanese. Eventually in the Japanese education system this is what happens anyways. As I previously mentioned once Japanese students get into middle school they have a Japanese teacher teach them English. Of course there are good English teachers in Japan who can speak a lot of English but I would say it is almost 50 50. Some teachers can hold a conversation with you and some can barely get across what they want to say. So learning Japanese winds up getting you no where in most cases if you are teaching in Japan. Of course outside of school you can make a lot of friends and communicate but inside of the class room if you follow the rules it does almost nothing for you. Where I am currently teaching I teach solo from really young kids to high school students and in all of these situation I use lots of Japanese. I think that if I wasn't able to speak Japanese teaching in this town would be almost impossible. However I get no special treatment no pat on the back saying good job. They just take it for granted that I studied the language for 10 years. It's been one year of teaching in this town and I have had the occasional person tell me I was doing a good job but I would be extremely happy if someone made any mention about how my language ability facilitated all of the students in this town to be able to learn. It's been a year since I've moved to Hokkaido. It's honestly has been a very hard experience. This is the third place I've lived in Japan and it is very different than all of the other places that I've lived in so far. When I think about Japan I think about trains. Trains have been a huge part of Japanese culture for a very long time. From crowded morning rush trains to the famous bullet train they have long been a huge part of the infrastructure of Japan. However where I live in Hokkaido there are no train stations. There were trains that came to this town many years ago but the stations and tracks were destroyed years and years ago.
Hokkaido is the largest prefecture in Japan. Going from town to town can take hours. When I lived in Iwate and Chiba the next town was always quite close and easily accessible by train. Unless you live in a big city in Hokkaido you will have to drive everywhere. If you like to go to concerts or just go out for a night of drinking with friends the lack of public transit makes it impossible. Hotels aren't too expensive but spending an extra 40 dollars to get a hotel room makes you think twice about having a drink when you are in a big city. Not on the main island. Japan is comprised out of many islands but there are four main islands. Honshu is the main island. Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka are all on the main island in addition to many large cities. Hokkaido has a few cities like Sapporo, Asahikawa and Hakodate however depending on where you live you might wind up never going to a actual city. I live in the furthest southern point of Hokkaido so getting to Sapporo (the largest city in Hokkaido) is a long and expensive journey. First of all there is no train station in my town so I have to drive to Hakodate which is 2 hours away. Since I drove there I have to put my car in a parking garage which costs about 8 dollars a day. The train ticket to Sapporo is 10,800 yen (about 80 dollars). There is no bullet train in Hokkaido. That means you are riding on a normal train for about 5 hours. So you have pretty much killed an entire day just by getting to Sapporo. There is a tunnel that goes from Hokkaido to Honshu but once again you are taking a normal train, not a bullet train. So going from Hakodate to Aomori will take you a little over 2 hours. I have to take a bus to the train station which costs another 15 dollars. Once you get to Aomori you can transfer to a bullet train and things instantly get much easier. You can quickly get to anywhere in Japan. It costs 19,000 yen to get to Tokyo from Hakodate by train but it takes about the same amount of time as going to Sapporo. The main point I want to get across is that transportation is terrible in Hokkaido. I would say that living in Chiba without a car is easier than living in Hokkaido with a car. If you are going to live in Hokkaido you are almost definitely going to need a car. I have a few friends who live in larger cities that don't have cars but if you are moving to Hokkaido for an ALT job with the JET Program there is a really good chance that you won't be living in a big city. When I did my JET orientation in Tokyo there were tons of people who were going to be flying to Hokkaido and I thought there could be two reasons for this, one Hokkaido is really large so they need a lot of ALTs or two lots of people quit working in Hokkaido because it is a hard place to live. After a year of living here I would say that it probably is two. Living in Hokkaido has been a very difficult experience. Perhaps if I lived in a larger city it would be different but my town only has 4700 people in it. Before this I lived in a city with 500,000 people and before that 100,000. This is a fishing town. The only jobs you can get here are fisherman, convenience store clerk or working in town hall. All of the teachers in this town were transferred here. Most people who live in this town are not college graduates. Most of the people who graduate from the high school in this town do not go to college. I really miss living in a more cultured area. There are about 3 people who I like in this town but honestly no one really wants to be my friend. I get the feeling everyone is embarrassed about living in this town. People either wound up living here or never got out. I don't think there is any real pride in this town. I asked some of my high school students about if they would ever want to move back to this town like 10 years later and some people said "I would be surprised if this town is still here 10 years later". Do I want to leave? Yes, of course however, the JET Program is one of the best paying jobs you can get in Japan. Starting at 280,000 yen a month with a 30,000 raise every year for three years, it is far beyond the pay of other jobs. I also have free housing. 260,000 is a pretty standard pay rate for an ALT in Japan plus paying about 40,000 a month for rent gets you down to about 220,000 a month. It is far less than what you would be getting with the JET Program. When I first moved here I was asked if I wanted to re-contract only a few months after living here. I had no idea how much I would grow to dislike it. I want to continue with JET but transfers are almost impossible. I am going to try to become a coordinator for international relations, also known as a CIR, next year. I am waiting for the results from the JLPT N2 and hoping that I passed. Having that on my resume will be a huge boost in terms of being able to make that transfer. After a year of living in Iwate I had a ton of great memories and same with Chiba. A year of living Hokkaido has left me with little to show for it. I have friends but they live in Hakodate which is over an hour away from me. I used to love going out to eat in Japan but there are no good restaurants in this town. I wind up eating junk all the time. The only places to go out and drink are filled with bitter fisherman who want to try to make fun of you even though you make more money than them and eventually are leaving this town. In short, I hate it here. I can't wait to leave. Leica has obtained an almost cult like status in the world of cameras. Their quality is great but you have to ask yourself, "is it worth it to spend 5 times as much for a Leica?". Leica is known for their extremely high quality lenses and precision quality camera bodies but are they worth the huge prices?
I am mostly going to be talking about film cameras but I will mention some digital aspects in this article. When we talk about Japanese cameras there are several and I mean several high quality brands to choose from. Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Contax, Pentax, Minolta, Mamiya, Bronica, just to name a few. If you want to get a great quality SLR camera Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Minolta are going to be your best bets. Of course there are exceptions but you can get a great quality Nikon or Canon with a lens for around 150 dollars. However Leica will cost far more and most likely for less function. The cheapest your are going to find a Leica for in beat up barely working condition will be around 300 to 400 dollars. Most likely this is going to be either an M2 or an M3. These are both great cameras but have no light meter. Then we get into what is really going to cost you, the lenses. If you want Leica lenses they are going to cost you about 400 dollars each for decent quality for their oldest versions. Let's face it. 1950s Leica lenses are good but when you compare it to the 1980s Canon and Nikon lenses you can get for far less, they aren't that great. Also if you want to shoot anything over 135mm Leica is not the brand for you. The final nail in the coffin is larger aperture lenses. If you have a Japanese camera getting a quick 50 (a 50mm lens with a large aperture) is incredibly easy. A 50mm 1.4 Canon lens FD mount will only run you around 50 dollars and a Nikon about 120. These are both great lenses and finding one in good condition is no problem. The main reason the Nikon will be more expensive is because Nikon has been using the same mount for forever. Even an older lens can be easily used on a modern Nikon digital camera with no adapters. On the other hand is we get an M mount 50mm F1.4 from Leica you can expect to pay 2000 dollars. That's right 2000 dollars. Of course you can get lenses from Zeiss or Voightlander but at that point what is the purpose of owning a Leica body if you are just using third party lenses. You can get Zeiss and Voightlander lenses for brands like Nikon or Contax. "But I want to use a rangefinder camera!" I understand why people like using rangefinders. It is a completely different creative process compared to using an SLR but there are plenty of good rangefinders from Japan also, like a Canon 7 or a Nikon S2. I would actually make the argument that if you want to spend under 1000 dollars on a rangefinder set up you would be better off getting a Nikon S2. The quality of lenses you will be able to get from the Nikon will be better than a cheap Leica Elmar or an old Summicron. If you want to get an auto-focus rangefinder, cameras like the Contax G2 and Konica Hexar both give Leica glass a run for their money. I would say that the Zeiss lenses for the G2 are some of the best you can get so that is certainly a great way to go. The only downside to the Contax cameras is that they are all electronic and when they break they are basically impossible to fix. Lastly I want to do a price breakdown of getting a great Nikon Kit vs getting a Leica Kit. Let's go with a budget of $1000. Let's start with a Nikon F3 for $175, 50mm F1.4 $200, 28mm F2.8 $200, 85mm F2 $268, SB16A Nikon Flash $31, Lastly let's throw in a 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 for $119. Add all of that up and you're at $993 dollars. These are all KEH prices in excellent quality. Let's compare this with a Leica. We can get a Leica M5 for for $648 dollars in bargain condition. That leaves us with 352 dollars for our lens. The only thing you can get for a decent price within budget would be a 50mm elmar F2.8 for $418 putting you slightly over budget. This isn't a bad set up but it isn't nearly as versatile as the Nikon set up. Why did I choose the M5? Because it is made in Germany and has a light meter giving a fair comparison the F3. So this brings me back to my main point. Are Leica optics worth the money? Personally I would say no, they aren't at least not for the hobby enthusiast. Of course Leica lenses in the hands of an amazing photographer can produce some incredible images and on the other hand Daido Moriyama produced incredible images using a compact Ricoh camera. With how much film costs to shoot with and developing costs I would say that unless you are extremely wealthy, Leica isn't worth the money and there are better places to be putting your money. |