Getting Japanese people to give an opinion on anything can be rather difficult. It is impossible in a large group and still challenging in one-on-one conversations. They seem so worried about saying something wrong or offensive that they often won't talk. Arggh!

Yesterday there was a conference in the afternoon of all the English teachers. Mrs. Iguchi took me home after the meeting. I had dinner with her last month, and she volunteered to take me home because she lives quite close to me and the school. The trip was about 30 minutes so I asked her some questions about politics and other such things. During the meeting we saw a team-teaching demonstration at a new junior high school. It was the nicest school in the whole world, from my point of view. Every classroom had ethernet ports for all the students in the floor, sliding blackboards, and a digital projector in the ceiling. The teachers were all loaned laptops to use. The ALT there said that there are more computers than students in the school. Basically, it was amazing the difference between my school and this other school.

Anyway, after the team teaching demonstration, we had a discussion where we talked about how it went. I think only one Japanese teacher had suggestions or gave comments about the lesson (positive or negative). I asked Mrs. Iguchi about this and she said that Japanese people don't like to give their opinions in front of others. Many of them were at the same official "level" as the teacher involved in the class, so criticizing her might've been disrespectful. So basically a bunch of us ALTs gave suggestions instead, though we have some of the least experience teaching. The only Japanese person who did do any criticizing is one of my favorite guys, a famous teacher-trainer, Mr. Nakamura. He has apparently written some books on teaching, and it is considered a big deal when he gives advice on teaching. He criticizes Japanese teachers for teaching just for the end of year tests, and for only using the textbook in class (both of which are quite true). Often it seems less important that students can actually communicate, than if they can understand some written questions in a specific context. I think they learn too many set responses instead of being able to construct their own sentences.

So I also asked her what she thought about the US attacking Iraq, since my mom was curious. In true Japanese style, she tried to dodge the question so she didn't have to answer. She said, "That is such a difficult question." I admit it is a little complex to explain why you think as you do, but saying whether or not you agree is not that difficult, so I pressed her for why it is a difficult question." She replied, "I am not American. I haven't been to America. I don't understand all of its problems." What a cop-out! I explained that I wouldn't be offended if she thought it was wrong, but she still wouldn't answer. I know its on the news all the time, so I was hoping to hear what she thought about it.

I did manage to discuss the Japanese financial system and the North Korea kidnapping situation recently though. I don't know how much about the North Korea kidnapping you heard, so I will tell you. About 24 years ago some North Koreans came to Japan and kidnapped 10 people. They were brought to Korea and forced to teach Korean spies about Japanese culture and language. Japan didn't know this happened for quite awhile, but Japan did find out at some point. A couple weeks ago, North Korea admitted they took these people from Japan, and a couple days ago 5 of the people returned to Japan finally. North Korea says the other 5 died of disease, but Iguchi-sensei said that Japanese people think they were probably killed. I managed to find out that many Japanese people think that North Korea has recently revealed this information and returned the hostages, because of America's threats against Iraq. They think North Korea is afraid that America will attack them next, and they are trying to clean up their act to show good faith on their part. This might be true, I don't know. However, today North Korea announced that it had been working on making nuclear weapons, so maybe they are trying to clear the air some because of this threat. So maybe another reason she is reluctant to comment on Iraq is that it might be helping Japan clear things with North Korea.

We also talked a little about why Japan doesn't have an army anymore, and she basically said that they don't really want one now, because Japanese people look at things differently. She also said that China and Korea would be deeply opposed to any effort to have an army (they have only a national defense force) because of the brutalities suffered in World War II. It was an interesting conversation as a whole, and I appreciate any chance I can get to talk with Japanese people one-on-one.