boutux

today was graduation for my 3rd yr students. students, teachers and parents were all in tears. i'm so proud of my students because they worked hard.
students don't have a lot of free time esp in jr high and high school. they go to school on weekends in uniform (that was the biggest shock) usually for club practice or to study. they don't really have vacations either, they get a ton of homework for every class and they go to school for club activities usually half day during vacations. this means teachers also have very lil free time, they are always tired. but with all the cultural differences teenagers are the same everywhere. they want to assert their independence, they want to belong and be accepted and they have crushes (so cute lol).

if you want to be a teacher i say give teaching english in japan a try. the experience has been invaluable.

i teach english in jr high school in japan and you are right about a lot of things but over the last few yrs kids learn a 2nd language usually english from as early as kindergarden/preschool. elementary/primary school kids also learn english casually but in grade 5 and 6 the lessons become a bit more serious. and then jr high grammar becomes the focus and kids who liked english in elementary school find it difficult and annoying to study.
another big part of life in school for japanese kids are clubs. most schools have a club for every sport, bigger school may also have band, choir, cheer leading, taiko(japanese drums) computers, english club etc. clubs are important cuz kids spend so much time doing club activities, their best friends are usually their club mates, not necessarily their classmate.

i only watch jdramas and i did watch few. i loved last cinderella and kazoku game. i'm glad they were in the top 3 but they were not my #1. hanzawa naoki was smtng fierce so it got my votes for best drama and actor. that said i respect the votes. ppl voted for who and what the watched and loved. i hope that we get some good dramas this year to pull more mdl'ers into giving as much love to jdramas as they give to kdramas.

i don't understand why ppl are having issues or finding some kind of offense with the voting results. why is being a fangirl sounding so negative in these comments? we all vote for who and what we like but also the dramas that we watched this yr which for some may only be a few very popular dramas.

yes it was that good. it was the one of the most popular dramas for this year and that was not solely based on it's popular actors but it's controversial older woman younger man love story. and it's OST was addictive. if you check out the thread for this drama you will see how many fans here were invested in this drama.

japan can indeed be very lonely for everyone here. many japanese ppl have told me they find it easier to talk to their foreigner friends about personal problems than their japanese friends. they don't want to burden their friends and their friends may not be as open minded and supportive. also big problems are not seen as individual problems, the responsibility is shared by everyone in the group be it family, work, friends etc. no one wants to be the cause of everyone else's shame. it's a lot of pressure to keep up that kind of image.

the loneliest time for me was christmas. my family has big dinners or lunches and it's party atmosphere. we go house house drinking and eating for a week. here ppl go to kfc and buy a bucket of chicken. i wish i were kidding but i am not. my friends realised i was depressed on christmas so they took me out for sushi and i was really grateful to them.

they start to look old. their facial features begin changing in the mid to late 30s. look at the older men in dramas. i often wonder how they go from looking so pretty to looking like that. lol. i guess that sounds bad but that's what i see. maybe it's from stress at work and home. my bf of 9 yrs is home in st. lucia. i could not pass up the opportunity to live in japan and he was very supportive. i love that man to pieces. as for japanese men i would never want to be in a rel'p with one. i've learned that they have specific gender expectations of women that i will never do. waking up at 5am to make his full japanese breakfast and bento. dinner waiting on the table despite the wife's situation(working, babies etc), wives are sex objects till they push out a child or 2 then after they are the mothers of the children. there is a lot of unreported abuse too. i could go on but u get the pic.

hi again.
i work for a company called interac. you can find more info about them on their website. as for men they are sexy up until the mid 30s then they start to look like old men after that. i can't explain how that happens. lol. japanese men are shy, the ones who are not have lived outside japan for a while from my experience. i've been hit on by older looking men which is gross to me. but i have to remind myself that cute ones are probably WAY younger than me. japanese boys are scared of foreign women. they think we are 'too strong'. and i'm black so they are more scared of me. one guy asked me out at the station (he was really cute too) but i turned him down cuz i have a bf and i was waiting for a friend and he ran away from me so fast it was shocking lol. japanese women are way more aggressive. i learned alot about men here that i don't like. i'll just watch them from a far.

hi. yes i teach english in japan. i was never worried about the vast cultural differences and language barrier when i began planning to move to japan. actually the difference is what excited me and motivated me to go for it. at that point in my life 2 yrs ago i was in desperate need of a change and boy what a change it was. like i said my japanese sux. it's still below basic after a yr and a half but i don't beat myself up about it. everyone is different and we learn differently. i have friends who landed here and were eager to talk. but i feel about japanese language the way japanese ppl feel about english. i'm interest in it, i want to learn but it terrifies me. i don't know if that makes sense. there are many things about japanese ppl or the culture that are strange or that i don't like but i've never been one to focus on the negative. st. lucia is home but i love japan.

the only negative i have is many of them look too old to be in high school.

I'm watching Starman, hanazawa naoki, summer nude and limit

i say this yr is better than last yr already. last season had a few good dramas (last cinderella and kazuko game got 10s). and i'm pleasantly surprised by many of the dramas that resently started. hanazawa naoki epi 1 blew my mind. i like limit and starman too.

I love jay z's wtf face in that pic. I really wonder what this screen shot was taken from?

As for family reactions, my dad never knew what to make of my watching dramas and listening to Japanese music but his employees thought it was the weirdest thing ever. My dad worked for Nissan as a mechanic for yrs and he has received many certificates from them over the yrs. one of them is framed and hangs in the living room. When I started learning Japanese I translated part of it and read it out to him. He 1st thought it was awesome then he thought it was weird that I was teaching myself japanese. When I told him I got a job to work in Japan is when he really began to wonder what happened to his daughter? Lol. My bf wondered what Asian ghost took over my body and caused this obsession. My 11 yrs old sister watched vs Arashi with me and she could tell the difference bw the members. Her issue with them was that except for Ohno they all looked like girls. She could not understand why I like these girly looking men...I repeat she is 11 (actually back then she was 8/9 yrs old). Lol.

They are all real actors, niño is just the best actor in the group.

The only drama I haven't seen is mineko Holmes cuz subs were slow to come. I put nazotoki dinner on hold cuz I wasn't enjoying it as much as I hoped . I completed kagi no heya and lucky 7. As for niño I too think RnS should count. He wasn't a detective but he investigated and helped solve the murder of his parents.

As for my pick of a detective...victim or surviving family I would chose shuntaro from lucky 7. He may make mistakes and it may take a while but I know he will give it his all to solve it. It won't feel like my case is just another case he will make it feel like my case is the most important case.

ii ne....I loved this drama. There were definitely a few 10 worthy jdramas this season and this is one of them. the only thing missing from ur guide is kowaii sensei's catch phrase "ii ne...."

I think ohno's voice is the best in Arashi but Nino's songs are the best.

kyaaaaa! i love this. nino needs to get some love. he is very talented. i wish u mentioned his song and music writing. he isn't only able to capture hearts with his acting but with his music as well. his solos on arashi albums are always deep and meaningful. another thing is nino is turning 30 in a week and he still looks 17, man hasn't aged a bit since stand up. gotta love bratty nino.

Hey Skye, I'm great. I' feel like I was in a drama hibernation during winter and spring has awaken me. Lol. How are you mdl boss?

i love the ending dance sequences too. so strange, so funny. the song is so catchy. i love this drama. its funny but serious. none of the characters are particularly likable but they each have had moments when you see their vulnerable sides and get to understand why they are they way they are and why their rel'ps have failed. i kinda don't want it to end because it is really realistic esp from the japanese perspective. this is truly a slice of life drama that should keep going.