Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

2/18/2005, School entrance examination, wedding tuxedo fitting, Cherry Jam jazz club

Announcing the Results of the School Entrance Examination

In Japan, all high schools have an entrance exam.  You must pass the exam to get into the high school.  My school is pretty competitive, so it's a big deal.  They are extremely secretive about the creation of the exam.  They don't trust anybody to work on creating the exam alone.  Anybody working on it must work with somebody else to supervise and report any dishonesty.  It's crazy.  JET English teachers like me have been known to work on it.  But, those who do are not allowed to tell anybody they worked on it.  So, I won't tell you any such thing.  But, I will say they are absurdly secretive about it and paranoid about the security.  I heard at another school, two or three teachers stayed the night at school to guard the exam.  I think it was two teachers and the principal, all sleeping with this stupid exam.  Sheesh.  I guess one teacher guarding it would be inadequate, since that teacher might be dishonest.  Sheesh!

On the day of the exam, a few days ago, school was cancelled.  All teachers and staff (except for 3 office staff) went to the exam location to help.  I was prohibited from participating by order of the board of education.  Apparently, foreign teachers might be dishonest or unreliable in such capacities as telling students where to sit, or whatever.  So, I came to school and sat, alone, in the teachers lounge all day.  Really bizarre.

Anyway, today, we announced the results of our exam.  All the middle school students who took the exam left their middle schools and came for the official unveiling of the list.  As soon as the list was uncovered, the students ran up to it, saw the results and split into two groups: the passers and the failers.  The winners and the losers.  220 took the exam.  100 were accepted.  There were many teary-eyed people all over the place.  People crying because they failed or crying because they succeeded.  It was totally bizarre.  At first, I thought it would be inappropriate to take pictures of students in such an emotionally loaded time.  I asked a teacher and he said it was totally okay.  Actually, there were people taking pictures everywhere, including people like me just documenting this (not so) historic event.  So, I took some pictures, too.

The sacred list of people who were accepted.

People were constantly taking pictures of the list with cameras or with plain old cell phones.

Lots...

... and lots...

... and lots of people taking pictures of the same piece of paper.  Weird, huh?

They were also taking pictures next to the important piece of paper.  But, it was hard to get in there because people were constantly taking pictures of it.

It was a very special time for many people.  By the way, these people are hugging and crying for joy.  They were accepted.  I took no pictures of the sad people.

Winners went to a certain desk and picked up a packet of materials.

This, too, was a special moment for these people.

It was really packed with people.

People looking at the sacred paper.

Notice one of the teachers, Mr. Takei, taking a video of the people looking at the sacred paper.

It was a mob scene.

Winners going one way.  Losers going another way.  Friendships being strengthened... and weakened, in just a minute or two.  I imagine it was very hard for good friends, where one person was accepted and another was not.

This kind of experience is really valuable to me.  Sure, I like learning about and experiencing traditional Japanese culture.  But, to me, this kind of experience is a little more relavent to the current time.  Yeah, it seems very weird to see people acting this way about an exam while they're still in middle school (aka junior high school) and to see the whole system supporting a big, sensational event.  But, I feel like I learn something about this country by being part of stuff like this.  It's really valuable to me.

Getting fitted for a tuxedo for the upcoming wedding

I'll be taking part in a mock wedding in a few weeks.  One of my co-workers is friends with somebody who teaches an informal speech class in Himeji.  I think it's something like Toastmasters.  All Japanese.  No connection to my school or English.  Just Japanese people giving speeches in Japanese.  Anyway, once a year, they have a mock wedding to create a setting in which to give speeches.  So, they have the wedding and many people give speeches.  I think it sounds really cool.  My co-worker kindly invited me to participate.  In fact, I'll be the groom.  I'll give a short speech in Japanese and play the piano a bit, in addition to exchanging vows with a stranger.  It's really neat.  My name will be "Richard Door".  They invented a whole personality for me and the bride.  Favorite foods.  Personal motto.  Hobbies.  That kind of stuff.

Today, I was fitted with a tuxedo for the event.

Here I am, ready to go.

The whole picture.

Cherry Jam jazz club

After the fitting, I went to Osaka.  Akemi and I had planned to see Brad Meldeau (sp?) with some friends but that fell through.  So, we headed for a club we went to once before - Cherry Jam.  We really love this place.  The owner is really nice.  She always comes and talks to us.  Last time, she let me play the piano with the group that was there.  (She did this time, too.) There's no cover charge or anything like that.  The food and drinks are all delicious and reasonably priced.  This place is a real gem.  It's an awesome jazz club.  Highly recommended.

Here's the owner, singing.  They have various bands in, but the owner always sings with whoever comes.  The piano player behind her was outstanding.  Really solid with jazz and latin playing.  They showed us pictures of the same pianist doing a classical concert.  I think there's just not room on people's CD shelves for all the outstanding artists that are around.

The bass player was also really good.

As for the piano player, well, I can't say the same.  But, I had a nice time, as always.

We had a traditional Japanese ice cream dessert with balls of rice flour (mochi), sweet red beans (azuki), ice cream, and some other stuff.

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