Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

11/18/2004, Hyogo JET Mid-year Conference day 1, Hard Rock Cafe

Hyogo Prefecture (state) holds a conference for JET participants at the beginning and middle of each year.  This one was in Kobe.  We heard from a number of people about effective methods of teaching English.  There were also various people who went on and on about the profound experience of living in a foreign culture.  Seriously, these people act as though they are living on another planet.  I'll be the first one to say that Japan is a neat place with some neat cultural features.  But, some of these people get really excited about it.

The main stage of the conference with all of the instructors who led the conference.

The banner over the main stage of the conference.

In the evening, Akemi and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Osaka.  She treated me to a really tasty hamburger and some fish and chips.  Both tasted authentically American.  Juicy beef patty grilled with garlic salt (or something that imparted the right flavor).  Toasted bun.  Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, ketchup, mayonaise.  Fish and chips with just the right light golden crusty breading, fried in oil that didn't affect the flavor.  Nice big pieces of fish.  I enjoyed everything very much.  We played a little game with the waitress.  Akemi had me do all the talking.  I ordered.  We had a little coupon and I discussed the proper use of the coupon with the waitress.  The funny thing was that if I asked a question, the waitress would answer the question to Akemi.  Even though I was speaking Japanese, she didn't believe it, so she'd talk to the Japanese person.  We find this phenomenon quite amusing.  The place generally caters to foreigners.  They have English menus and I've seen foreigners there before.  But the waitress didn't seem to know what to do with an expat like me.

Unfortunately, on the way to Osaka, I got on the wrong kind of train so I ended up being about 20 minutes late.  Japan is a very punctual place.  In fact, just a few days ago, I took a survey in my International Understanding class.  As part of a larger activity, I asked the students to write something that is specifically polite to do on a date, and something that is specifically rude.  Almost all said it is polite to be on time and rude to be late.  In other words, my high school students believe punctuality is one of the most important features of a good date.  And, here I was late to a date.  Fortunately, Akemi is unusually relaxed for a Japanese person.  She was most forgiving.  It was clear that I was a lot more worried about it than she was.

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