Timothy Baril

Club hostesses unionize to fight gray-area abuses | The Japan Times Online.

Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010

CLUB HOSTESSES UNIONIZE TO FIGHT GREY-AREA ABUSES

By MINORU MATSUTANI
Staff writer, Japan Times

Their sexy outfits and glossy makeup make it easy for “kyabajo” cabaret hostesses to entice flush male patrons into splurging fortunes on drinks.

Their flashy lifestyle is the fodder for magazines looking to tickle teenagers’ curiosity. Surveys show hostessing ranks in the top-10 jobs high school girls aspire to.

But hostesses and their former ranks want young girls to realize there is no such thing as an easy meal ticket. On Dec. 22, former hostess Rin Sakurai established the Kyabakura (cabaret club) Union in an effort to improve the treatment of hostesses, who can face abuses ranging from harassment to unpaid wages to unlawful firing in an industry that faces little scrutiny.

The union’s first 10 members say they have been subjected to such mistreatment.

“Young girls fancy the hostess job because they think it’s easy money. I want them to know that’s an illusion,” Sakurai, who is in her 20s, told The Japan Times.

So-called cabaret clubs are usually exclusive bars where young hostesses ply their well-off male patrons with exorbitantly priced drinks and provide easy conversation, without having to also provide sexual services. High-end liquor or champagne such as Dom Perignon costs hundreds of thousands of yen.

The Kyabakura Union could be ground-breaking for the hostess industry because it can serve as a vehicle for those who have suffered in the workplace but gave up trying to correct the abuses. United, they can take legal action.

Also, the Labor Standard Bureau may feel compelled to take the complaints of unionized hostesses more seriously.

A typical kyabajo is paid about ¥4,000 an hour plus a commission based on how many drinks she sells. Magazines and other media often feature hostesses who rake in ¥500,000 to more than ¥1 million a month, comparing this with the ¥200,000 often earned by first-year salaried office workers with a college degree.
But the night clubs exact high fines for tardiness, absence or failure to meet drink sales targets.

The Deers club in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, where Sakurai says she suffered sexual harassment and had wages illegally withheld, not only docks a hostess a day’s pay for an unauthorized absence but also charges eight hours worth of salary. It slaps a “fine” amounting to six hours in wages if a hostess calls in on the day of being absent to say she will not be able to come in, even if she later provides a certificate from a doctor proving she is sick, Sakurai said.

In a typical club with 30 hostesses, one or two may make Â¥800,000 or more a month, others Â¥300,000 to Â¥400,000 and around five “underperformers” Â¥200,000 or less, Sakurai said, adding she cannot generalize about wages because she has limited knowledge about what goes on at other clubs.

Sakurai said she has never seen a contract stipulating rules regarding fines and doubts that any exist. But she and Yu Negoro, an official of the Freeter Union, to which the Kyabakura Union belongs, believe such abuses are common.

“All the clubs fine hostesses for not soliciting enough customers during sales campaigns. A manager may levy a Â¥20,000 fine one day and Â¥30,000 the next. Basically, there are no written rules. The managers make them up,” Sakurai said.

She and Negoro alleged that in some cases hostesses are paid less than ¥100,000. Sometimes their fines even exceed their wages.

Another industry custom is the withholding of wages for a hostess’s last month, the two said, adding that in some cases hostesses pay fines and don’t get their final wages.

Both actions would violate the Labor Standard Law, whose Article 91 stipulates cutting a salary as a punishment must not exceed a half day’s pay, and a total amount that can be cut during a payment period, typically a month, must not exceed 10 percent.

Article 15 requires employers to clarify working conditions, wages and hours when they and employees sign a labor contract.

Tomotsune Omura, an official at the Tokyo Labor Standards Bureau, said employers of hostesses and other people engaged in “night jobs” are subject to the Labor Standard Law because there is an employer-employee relationship. The law’s Article 91 implies employers must detail employee working conditions in writing, he said.

Sakurai and Negoro, who is also a former hostess, said they have consulted with local labor standard offices on behalf of Sakurai and other abused hostesses but have been refused help. The two hope that by being unionized, labor-related authorities will start to take them seriously.

“Hostesses give up easily because they think that’s how the kyabakura industry works. We formed the union because we don’t want them to give up,” Sakurai said.

Men working in the industry, on the other hand, feel there is nothing wrong with the way things work.

“We pay them (kyabajo) Â¥4,000 an hour. How can we pay that high a salary?” said a male street tout trying to steer men into a club in the Kabukicho red light district in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Hostesses as a rule don’t venture outside to solicit customers. “Unlike women who are office workers, kyabajo lack social common sense, like not being late for or skipping a job. We cannot afford to be nice to such girls or those who cannot make money for us.”

Hostesses who can’t keep the male gravy train running also are subject to “power harassment” by their superiors, Sakurai said.

“Managers and male employees harass us verbally, going after our self-esteem. They say things like, ‘You cannot do any other jobs,’ ” Sakurai said.

The harassment has become more severe since the economy started slumping in fall 2008 and hasn’t let up, she said. Clubs started imposing impossible sales targets so they can fire underachievers at will, she said.

Sakurai worked as a hostess for six years and at Deers for half a year until March. When she told her manager she wanted to quit, he began sexually harassing her and did not pay her for the last half month, she said.

She went to the labor standards office in Nerima, where officials there told her to forget about the unpaid wages and claimed they could not do anything about the alleged sexual harassment, she said. “They told me, ‘You should give up’ and ‘the kyabakura industry is like that. We cannot help you.’ ”

She then approached several unions, only to be turned away. The only union willing to help her was the Freeter (part-time worker) Union, which accepts anybody, including free-lancers and the unemployed.

James Cameron’s Avatar was recently released and will surely prove to be a huge box office success. Why?

It’s not simply because it’s a movie that has pushed the technological limits of movie making to a whole new level. This technological breakthrough isn’t why Avatar is an important landmark in film making.

Movies in the past have pushed the technological envelop as well. The Matrix and Lord of the Rings are smashing examples. Avatar is the next big step in movie making, just as those famous predecessors were, because it will once again bring sheer imagination and film making ability closer together. Avatar is a landmark because film makers have achieved a technological level that allows making fabulous, breathtaking story environments and details without holding back because of technical limitations.

We’re reaching a point where the suspension of our disbelief is becoming unnecessary, and we can take the fantasy played out on screen as a new reality. We don’t have to pretend a guy in a rubber suit is an alien, the aliens in front of us today move and behave so realistically, we can immerse ourselves in the story without a mental caveat keeping us company.

Why is this so important?

The sad truth about many movies is that studios use the technology of movie making itself to drive a film. When you’ve gained the technology to create a realistic Godzilla, or battles between King Kong and a tyrannosaurus rex, or show New York City being pulverized by giant waves, it’s enough of a draw to bring in big audiences.

Unfortunately, it’s not enough to sustain the film industry as a whole. Sooner, rather than later, people become accustomed to ever more incredible special effects. Then they realize the movies themselves are boring. You just don’t buy the DVD for these movies and watch them over and over because after the special effects ‘wow’ wears off, they become empty. Audiences are always waiting for the next great trick in movie making that will make the experience a bigger wow, but that desire can’t be fulfilled indefinitely.

Avatar certainly does wow us. 3D is actually an old technology, but only now is the world ready to make it an established part of the regular viewing experience. Avatar is designed to overwhelm us and push audiences into that new threshold.

But reaching this new threshold isn’t why Avatar is important, it’s what reaching this threshold means for the movies of the future. At some point, even moving to new technological thresholds is going to bore audiences, and they will return, as they always do, to the need for well written and well performed stories.

Reaching a technological plateau means that for a short period studios will try to capitalize off the new technology to hold audience attention. This will pass and then a new stage of story development will take place. THAT is what is important. Without barriers, and without focusing all their energy on trying to show off the latest technological trend, movies can - and need - to fall back on developing great characters and interesting plots that capture our hearts.

The science behind story telling is only a way to enable more vivid and interactive storytelling, it’s not the objective to making movies all on its own. Even though the basic purpose James Cameron wanted to achieve with Avatar is a new level of special effects, it was the future of film making that was really on his mind. Because what he wanted Avatar to do, and where it will probably succeed, is to enable future story tellers in the film industry to ignore technological limitations, and focus on the more important aspects of characters and plot.

Being able to relate to people and events in stories, to learn from stories, is what makes them enjoyable. I look forward to a point where technology levels off, and the film industry spends more effort on making better all-round stories. Perhaps a new golden age in films will arise, for what we can create on screen will match or outshine anything our imagination can dream up.

Perhaps Avatar signals the beginning of this new age.

It’s Monday morning. Rain drizzles down. I show up to school wet, dreading a dull day of classes. Lucky for me, it’s just as I fear.

First period grade 9s. I stand next to the chalkboard after a good morning greeting that wouldn’t register on a decibel meter for singing mice. The Japanese teacher teaches. Homework check, going over homework, grammar. My input isn’t invited. It’s all in Japanese so there’s nowhere for me to jump in. Ten minutes into class and I’m lazily wondering how far I could toss a desk out the second story window.

Minutes later I’m bored quite senseless in the same way I’ve been for months in this school. Only it’s starting to get on my nerves now I’ve been in this country and job long enough to see just how much of a waste of everyone’s time this is. I envision tossing the teacher out the window with the desk previously heaved and wonder which would go farther. Then I envision taking over the class and actually seeing kids have fun with their schooling.

Visions of sugar plums follow the ridiculous teacher tossing ones and I’m bored stiff again. I look up at the clock and watch the hands struggle valiantly as if going through molasses. I sigh and notice some coloured chalk. The teacher drones on. Students reluctantly drone back half as energetically but twice as listlessly as the teacher and I begin to draw Halloween pictures on the corner of the chalkboard. I wonder at the joyless society so devoid of imagination that they so easily ignore not only Western events and themes but local ones as well. Lesson plans don’t include Halloween or Christmas or any local Japanese flair either. At least not for most of the teachers. Cool senseis are an exception. I continue to draw. A bloody haunted house. A witch. Apple bobbing. Oops, teacher needs the board. Sayonara drawings.

A student asked before class with a flair of hope and life if they could do apple bobbing at school. The teachers says “maybe” in a way that means no and in fact you’re as stupid as the idea for suggesting it openly to me, you should know better, now wipe that joy from your soul we have school to torture you with. I’m tempted to just buy the damned apples and pull a screw you and do it anyway. Wish apples weren’t so damned expensive here and I wasn’t so damned broke. Without the drawings to occupy me now and forced to stand away from the board I’m getting bored fast again. I try weaving back and forth and yawn a few times just to shake up the routine.

Strolling to the back of the room I play a game to see how little I can make the old floorboards not creak. Oops, destination reached, that was my excitement for the day. I’m standing at the window and watch the grey rain fall from dull grey skies onto dull gray concrete, rust bleeding from old uncared for metal everywhere the way our students bleed their intelligence in this intellectual wasteland and the leaves are turning red in the fall coolness outside right now. The teacher drones on behind me. I keep glancing at him, listening with a quarter of an ear (half was too much) but he ignores me and there’s no room to contribute to the pointless reading of their answers off their papers that consumes most of class. Why am I here? I’d be more productive in the staff room or at home in bed. Well, that’s not true. Here I’m producing at least twice the CO2 and doubling my contribution to global warming.

I really need to sit down with the English staff and say enough is enough of this. We need more imagination. We need energy and caring and to give the students a reason to learn. Your lesson plans are terrible and don’t involve me AT ALL! I need some professional fulfillment so I quit feeling like a piece of furniture. Look at their faces. I can see how bored, bitter and annoyed to be here the students are. I recognize the same emotions I’m going through on their faces. We relate.

But I can’t talk to my teachers. They’ll feel bad instantly. They’ll apologize twenty thousand times and bow too much and not do anything unless I take the leadership role. They’ll like me less. They might cry or cut the amount of words they say to me outside class every week from 2 to 1. I should stop caring about that. I know it. But that doesn’t make the confrontation that needs doing any easier to do. I’ve talked to them before, but it’s SOOOO frustrating when you’re trying to communicate something needs to change and you get this blank look and nod and totally know they don’t understand half of what you’re saying and are misinterpreting the rest of it because their English is so limited. It’s blah blah blah - huh? And you can see their faces cloud up and back off at any prospect of changing the norm or defying any normal practices.

We need a manual for Japanese teachers on how to teach. And how to use ALTs. The JET Programme is like a great many human endeavours, brilliantly conceived as a general notion, poorly implemented and terribly maintained. Should die out in a few years. Been writing teaching manual notes myself for over a year. Hope to publish it to local teachers before I leave. This school has been disheartening. Don’t think I’ll do much in the next few weeks. But the next school is a fresh start and I’ll act on the lessons learned to date.

I exit my day dream of professional ambition stage left. A mosquito drones dully by me through an open window and over the dull students, drearily looking for a victim, but not putting much life into its reason to live. It probably sense the students doing the same. Blood harvested here will likely result in a fraction of its potential offspring production. (Again, kind of like the Japanese…) The blood of these students is kind of like watered down alcohol or coffee - what’s the point?

I notice the principal with a ladder and a jacket. What’s this? Another gardening project? Does this guy do any work at all, or is this some kind of perfect retirement? Get three teachers worth of wages, show up to the morning meeting most days for 10 minutes and spend the rest of your time relaxing? I sigh.

Class is winding down. Teacher asks me to come over. I read aloud 7 new words in English. I try to use them in sentences. Teacher doesn’t translate. Students don’t repeat or understand me. Bell goes and the lesson is cut ’short’. I swear one of these days I’m going to slap this teacher…

I return to the staff room after that one class. I take a nap at my desk, too disillusioned with the place to find something productive to do. I wake up an hour later. Second class is cancelled. I go home. To hell with this place.

Wake up, Japan! Your education system needs an overhaul. Welcome to your future.

Teaching in Japan
Jet Programme

Teachers report that students basically failed at their English midterms. Results were terrible, across the board with all 3 grades. Teachers from other subjects indicated similar results.

I suspect that if the city of Moriguchi doesn’t improve its education system by pumping a lot more life and heart and professionalism into it, the future here is not going to be so bright. I look around and see so much potential gone to waste.

In the afternoon today we had a meeting for ALTs with the supervisor from the board of education (BOE), as we do each month. It follows strict procedure, as does everything the BOE does. At some point the supervisor asks about our experiences the past month, is everything ok?

ALTs usually make a few comments about recent events and move on. I usually say far less, not having a wonderful relationship or much respect for the BOE here. I usually say “No problem.” and clam up until she moves to the next ALT. But today, I decided to speak up. I don’t know if it was to make a difference, to test the supervisor to see what she’d do, or just needle her because I knew she would do nothing. Maybe all three.

I commented about the trouble at school over student behavior. I explained how the students had no interest in recent culture and sports festival days, which should normally be cause for great excitement for students. Unfortunately they went through both as if only going through the motions, having no desire to be there. I told the supervisor about the staff meeting and how teachers slept, and how the vice principal and principal were terrible role models.

She said very little, looked at me sometimes skeptically, sometimes as if thinking I was expecting too much from the system. I said I thought leadership was very important in schools, and that it was lacking in this school. She agreed about the leadership, and when I mentioned that my Principal spends far more time gardening than working, she burst out laughing and nodding because she knew exactly what kind of guy he was. Yet when I suggested that perhaps the BOE might be more proactive in the future about helping develop better leadership in schools, she got defensive and said they already had. Well, I thought, obviously with zero results.

At the end of the meeting I knew my comments had been wasted on my supervisor. Maybe she’ll complain to others at the BOE that I’m a trouble maker or dissatisfied person. Maybe she’ll say nothing and no one will ask, because no one cares what the ALTs have to offer.

It doesn’t matter. The board of education has long since proved itself to me as inept and entirely in need of deep reaching improvements. I’ll continue to find ways to do my job better and make a greater difference here. I hope in some way I can encourage teachers around me to make more of a difference too.

Teaching in Japan
JET Programme

Midterms day one of two today. English tests were today. The English teachers are busy at their desks, tall stacks of tests and work books and files handed in from students at their elbows. They work steadily, heads down.

It kind of makes me wish that Japanese teachers didn’t have so much extra time to fill. In my first school here, the teachers brought me marking to help with and I enjoyed it. I make a game of seeing how fast I can do it and push myself. The teachers had seemed to value my help. But in this school the teachers seem much more faux busy and have more hours to waste, so when I offer to help mark, they refuse. If they gave it away they’d have nothing to use to look busy. In such a small school with only two classes to each grade, they need all the work they can get to fill that need.

Surely they want to monitor student progress as well as look busy, and get a direct feeling for what the students are or are not understanding. But honestly, I don’t think that’s a deciding factor. They don’t change their lesson plans or content to account for previous shortfalls.

Seeing them work makes me wish I had more of a full time role as a teacher. It would be nice to feel more like an equal than a junior. I’m getting a little old to be feeling that way, and feeling confident enough in my abilities that I’m outgrowing that part of my life. I’m ready for more, for greater challenges and responsibilities. I’m really glad that I’m having this hands on experience before going back to university for a teaching degree. I’ll be able to understand the material in an entirely more meaningful way now that I’ve got this experience behind me. I’ll get more value for my education, and be able to perform as a better teacher once graduated. If I’d taken a teaching degree immediately following my history degree I wouldn’t have the perspective to take advantage of the learning involved.

Teaching in Japan
Year 2, Month 3

The very next day following the staff meeting, the first year teachers take the first year students aside and speak to them in the gym for another lecture. At the morning meeting with staff, the principal encouraged staff to seek help from each other, and join each other in classrooms if necessary to help curb bad behavior. Later, during class time, One of the first year teachers sat in the hallway of the first year classrooms during breaks and when he wasn’t teaching, catching bad students and keeping their rowdy behaviour during breaks down a bit. I was surprised by these sudden actions from the staff.

Before our classes together, the first year English teacher came up to me. She looked ashamed and very nervous and apologized that she’d been unable to control the students in her class previously, causing me to feel bad and reach the point where I’d spoken at the meeting yesterday. Obviously she was taking my words and actions personally. True, she’s part of the problem, but I honestly told her it isn’t just her, it is the obligation of the entire staff to help out and try to help our students. Privately, I think she’s much better suited to teaching much younger students, perhaps below grade 4. Maybe one day she’ll try elementary and see if she enjoys it better.

The teacher seemed reassured a bit by my words. The teacher next to me, who yesterday had said she was looking forward to my input at the meeting, then joined our conversation. She said that she understands how I feel, but that punishing students was going to far. I think perhaps she misunderstood what I was saying when I talked of detention, because she told me that we can’t take students away from learning and class, because they have a right to learn and parents complain if we do. I tried a few times to explain that detention was after school, and that a little punishment shapes kids up so that they behave and perform better in class, making their education more efficient and better. However, I don’t think I was reaching her, or she continued to disagree. I was disappointed in her attitude and lack of understanding.

I had been wavering for weeks on whether or not I would continue to assist in first year classes. I’m not used as an ALT at all in the lessons for first year students (or for 3rd year and barely 2nd year classes either). The teachers in this school seem to have no interest in using me as a foreigner, in having me talk to students about how things are done outside Japan, about encouraging interest in foreign things. I don’t think it occurs to them to use me at all other than the way they use university students as assistants, people who just show up, hang out, and contribute randomly now and then. It’s sad and a waste of money on their part. I think I’m a valuable resource going to waste. Add to that fact that I’ve been reduced from ALT to discipline teacher in some classes. I’ve seen my relationship with first year students decline as I become more of a bully to them trying to force them to listen to the teacher, rather than a fun learning tool.

However, seeing the other staff try this day, I resolved to join them, rather than wait for them to turn the students around on their own, and it being the ALT’s job or not I had to take more of a leadership role. And honestly, from looking at her I was pretty sure if I refused to work with her and go to class, the English teacher who apologized would probably be really hurt. I hate making girls cry. So I went to class.

After multiple lectures and the staff responding to their bad behaviour, albeit slowly, the students were starting to understand their wrong doings. If not the acts, a generally feeling that they couldn’t get away with things forever, and so in a very VERY small measure they were slightly better today than last week. I quit being an ALT and became a full out teacher. I gave them a chance to be good students, and when the teacher started to lose them, I took over the class and became the primary instructor. I was not going to sit by and wait for them to fall apart while the Japanese teacher tried to instruct them, so when they stepped out of line, I stepped in.

I tweaked my tone of voice and behaviour a little, became more strongly authoritative, yet still joked a bit with students to let them know I wasn’t angry but rather being concerned for them. I never gave them a chance build on anything they started, taking very firm control of the class the way you would with the reins of an unbroken horse. The Japanese teacher translated what she could, but honestly I bulled right past her and became the stronger teacher in the room. The students slowly began to respond, and during student presentations they actually quieted down to listen during most of them.

I’ve only a few weeks left at this school, I hope the students can be brought around before I leave. Two major events in Halloween and Christmas will be at this school, so I hope to be able to give lessons on them as I did last year. I haven’t got the same teachers as last year, who were much better at that kind of thing, but I’ll suggest themed lessons and see if I can get some cross cultural information exchanged.

Professional Growth
I must say that after having spoken at the staff meeting, and resolved to do my own thing in class with students, I feel better at my job. I feel like a stronger part of the team, like I’m doing something worthy by fighting for and being passionate about my students. Just standing by to watch things go bad around me and doing nothing, or refusing to go to class in protest would have improved nothing, and honestly would be good reason to be disappointed in myself. Whether or not my actions result in direct success here, I feel good for making an effort, rather than stewing about poor performances around me, and growing to resent people or the system I’m involved with.

I could easily grow to hate whatever it is I’m involved in when it doesn’t live up to expectations of perfection, or when meeting with the vast limitlessness of human fallibility, including my own. I felt like that a lot when I was younger and realized the world was far from perfect, or even rational, and humans were terrible, weak creatures. I could, as I more often did when younger, easily falter in the face of negative results or opposition.

However, I find that with greater experience and maturity I’m increasingly more resolved to tackle issues I believe in regardless of problems involved, opposition, or the negative and emotional responses of others. I worry far less about what other think, or whether or not they’ll like or respond well to something if I believe that thing needs be done.

If you can find a fight you believe in, fighting it becomes a worthwhile way to live your life. I am my first and most difficult stumbling block, and always I am the first person I must overcome in my desire to achieve something. But once that is overcome, the worst is over, and you look forward positively, rather than shrink back and think negatively. And with effort made, and more success achieved than failure, confidence in my abilities and possibilities are increasing.

Teaching in Japan
Year 2, Month 3

Difficult Students
My first class is first year students again this week. The class is terrible, worse than before. They are rude, unruly, and completely ignore the teacher. She struggles, looks flustered and red faced, the class is a complete waste of time. No teaching was done at all, and needless to say no learning. At the end of class I’m frustrated and tell her that I’m not feeling well and I’m going back to the staff room instead of waiting for the next class with her. I don’t show up to the next period with her. Later that day she appears to have taken my absence hard, we don’t speak, she has a strange expression when she looks at me, she is quiet at her desk the rest of the day.

Later this same day is the monthly staff meeting. I resolve to speak at the meeting about students. I ask one of the English teachers if I could speak, he smiles somewhat knowingly but with that nervousness or embarrassment that Japanese people try ineffectively to hide behind their smiles but totally gives away their true feelings. He asks if it’s about lessons or students. When I say students he nods as if expecting that answer. He asks the head teacher if I can speak at the meeting. The head teacher assumes an ‘Oh my god what is the English teacher going to ask me with the ALT looking on expectantly for?’ look. When the English teacher speaks, the head teacher’s face floods with a look like he’s just lost half his paycheck on a horse race while biting into the guts of a giant disgusting bug. But he says it’s ok for me to speak.

I spend time going over what I want to say. I write a draft about everything I want to cover, trying to keep it in short easy sentences that can be easily translated. When the meeting time comes, I’m prepared. I wasn’t going to pull punches, I was going to tell the staff straight up that as a whole it isn’t performing well, it’s lazy and making the wrong choices. I felt that although these words would be felt strongly and seem negative, that the staff needed to be shaken up. They are simply too complacent and uncaring.

Then one of the teachers came up, and having heard I was going to speak at the meeting about students, told me she was looking forward to what I was going to say. In broken English she expressed what seemed to me to be honest interest in a Canadian perspective. Later, when in the meeting itself, this would spur me to temper my remarks so as to approach my words not from an attack but from a cultural difference point of view. Hopefully just being there and speaking would be enough for a statement on my part.

I had hoped that because I don’t speak Japanese they’d let me make a short statement at the beginning of the meeting, then withdraw. That was unrealistic of me. I was told I could speak at the end of the meeting when new business about student problems was slotted to be addressed. I thought it strange that it was so low on the priority list, but perhaps that meant it was easier to discuss once other business was out of the way.

Staff Meeting
The first sign things were going wrong was that the meeting was 40 minutes late to start. Next, when if finally did start, teachers came in late, a few didn’t show up until very late or at all. But the absolute worst was how much teachers slept through the meeting AT the meeting. At one point I counted half the staff fully dozing. Not eyes drooping, head nodding, trying to fight it but full out arms crossed head down snoozing. My first thought: you expect students not to sleep in class when you teachers can’t even do the same? What kind of role model are you?

I don’t speak Japanese so 98% of the meeting was beyond my understanding. There were a pile of printouts for each teacher, and they took turns reading them to each other. Why they don’t read the info on their own I don’t know, but it appeared that very little information was added by the speakers, and there was zero commentary or questions about anything. No one was paying attention unless they were reading aloud.

When it came time to address student problems, the head of the meeting asked the first year spokesperson to speak. Already about 75% asleep he woke himself to a state of about 30% asleep, head weaving back and forth, eyes half shut, hands uncoordinated, but with surprising ability began to read from his notes. I couldn’t believe he was awake enough to have the cognitive recognition to respond to the instruction. As he spoke, he leafed half blindly through his notes, seeming to never find what he was looking for. He read directly most of the time, and seemed very uninterested in a subject which has recently become a prominent school problem, especially for him and his immediate first year teacher collegues. The Principal and VP both dozed through his remarks. I thought that was such a disgrace in the leadership of this staff.

The second year teacher spoke next. He is a very good teacher, and one of the very few as alert at the meeting as I, and the only one who took notes about what others were saying. His own notes were brief, very well organized, highlighted and professional. He spoke, as he does when he teaches, with an emotional interest in the subject. While he referred to his notes, he didn’t read directly, appearing more than familiar from memory with the notes, adding to them on the spot and evidently providing opinion, or so I deduct from his tone and mannerisms.

After the third year spokesperson spoke on incidents with 3rd years it was my turn. At this point I was so disappointed in the staff I almost wanted to quit the meeting. Why speak when most of the audience is asleep? The Vice Principal and Principal, when not asked to speak directly, had arms crossed, eyes closed and slept the entire time. These are the leaders of the school! What terrible role models! No wonder the quality of the school is so low. It’s failing right from the start, right from the top down.

One third year teacher is a fat slob of a disgusting man who sneezes, coughs, shuffles, works and generally moves about with an array of unpleasant noises, impatient grunting and waddling. He arrived at the meeting, sat down, and went to full 100% sleep in seconds. He quite literally snored through parts. Snored. No one woke him, let alone admonished a member of the staff, a professional, for sleeping in such a manner through a staff-wide meeting.

Looking around at these teachers, despite the fact that they can be friendly and nice enough around school, I couldn’t help but feel that they were failures as teachers, lacking the interest and passion necessary to combat a terrible board of education and lackluster parents in order to help students reach their potential. These teachers were part of the same malaise that grips every other part of this system, and it’s no wonder the students here attain such pathetic academic scores, don’t care about going to and participating in clubs or festivals, and generally don’t care about life.

As I began to speak, I raised my voice to classroom level. This served to wake most of the staff, and, interested in the strange foreign ALT speaking for the first time at a staff meeting (most ALTs never attend, it was the first time for all these teachers), they actually leaned forward and through sleep blurry eyes paid attention to me. Except the fat slob. He kept snoring. I was tempted to throw my pen at him and wake him the way I throw chalk at teachers but already people were waiting for me to continue. Some teachers seemed to be a little embarrassed that I was speaking. Only a small handful could understand my words directly, but not to any great extent.

One English teacher was good enough to translate what I was saying. Not all of it, but when my first remarks were to the effect that I believed problems with students didn’t stem from the fact that they were bad people, but that we were being lazy teachers, he agreed verbally and seemed to translate readily. For that I was thankful. Even a few listening teachers nodded.

I shortened what I was going to say considerably. Disappointed in the audience, and with the translation making things slow, I found myself simply going over main points, rather than trying to elaborate on anything. No one seemed ready to discuss, they leaned in at me like waiting for a speech. I tried to explain to them that it is important for teachers to teach students self discipline. In order to do this, they needed to form a perspective of what is right and wrong, and in order to show them what they’re doing is really wrong, they need actual negative consequences, or punishment, for wrong doing. The more we just let them get away with things, the more they’ll do.

I was asked to elaborate on punishments given in Canada and that you’d want to see here. I told them if they are bad in gym class, they may have to run laps after school. If bad in English class they’ll have to write extra papers. They can be prevented from attending club after school, going on school trips and events, or staying after school in detention rooms and forced to study quietly. These ideas were met with astonishment and laughter. They simply couldn’t fathom actually handing down these kinds of punishment. One teacher told me that punishment can’t be done, the students are protected by law. I gather that in Japanese the word punishment refers more to physical than general consequences. I didn’t mean actually hit any children.

I’ve spoken to Japanese teachers in school elsewhere in Japan, and such punishments and deprivation of privileges are in fact used, and are often effective. Why the teachers in this city can’t fathom doing the same probably speaks strongly to the reasons why this city achieves such low education results. I’ve heard from teachers her that in all of Japan this city is ranked amongst the very lowest districts in academic and sports achievement.

One of the teachers then told me at the meeting that this was an important issue and teachers were always looking to discuss it. We should find a time to do so, but “Japanese teachers” are so very busy, they didn’t have time. But we should try. I couldn’t help wondering in my head why this school staff meeting wasn’t the very place to speak about the subject. I was tempted to ask why we couldn’t talk about it now.

With sadness I simply told them that I was worried about the students, now well through the year and exams approaching. I would be happy to help, and though there are only a few short weeks left, please ask me to join you in helping improve student behaviour, I wanted to help. A few nodded appreciatively at the remarks.

For a moment there was silence and then the head teacher began to change the subject. The gym teacher interrupted and began to speak. He pointed at me and said “Timu-sensei” so I fathom he was responding to my words, but they weren’t translated for me, and he never looked at me or anyone else as he spoke, his comments seemingly general and aimed at the mosquitos flying around the room, so I can’t say what he said. As he droned on, the other teachers quickly went back to sleep mode. There were no questions or comments or discussion. The gym teacher finished and went back to sleep for the last couple of points on the schedule and then we broke up the meeting.

One of the teachers came up to me after and told me I was a good teacher. I thanked him and wished he’d slept less because he was a good guy and could be a fun teacher if he was more interested in it.

Teaching in Japan
JET Programme

Though I don’t yet have details, I have heard that there were serious incidents last night involving first year students misbehaviour, or that at least the first year teachers have gotten to the point where they have spent last night, and perhaps today, contacting parents about the children in an attempt to correct their behaviour. I will pursue and try to learn more.

On hearing the above, I have reconsidered speaking at the upcoming school staff meeting. Obviously teachers are doing at least something to correct the recent bad behavior now, surely along with many other incidents of bad behaviour I’m not aware of. Students are halfway through the year and I assume grades are seriously suffering from their lack of discipline. English scores are miserable. Teachers must be aware of this. Thus anything I said at the staff meeting would surely be redundant, and unnecessary, wouldn’t it?

Typhoon
In other news, a typhoon arrival is imminent, expected tomorrow morning. The procedure issued at school is that if there are strong wind warnings issued at the 7am weather watch, students stay home from school. Probably due to commuting times, teachers are still expected to come to school. At the 10am weather watch, if the high wind warning persists, students stay home all day. If the warning ends, students come to school for a half day. This is my first serious typhoon warning while in Japan. Staff and students seem perfectly calm. I don’t expect trouble. Osaka seems to be a fairly well positioned location for weathering such storms.

Later…

… I have been informed of the further news regarding first years. On the Sports Festival day a few days ago one boy had been using the toilet while a bunch of others came and pounded on the door and dumped things on his head from above, bullying him - water, soap, toilet paper, whatever was on hand. A second incident occurred when students brought a cigarette lighter to class yesterday to play with. These events prompted the contacting of parents and an assembly this morning between first year teachers and students. I assume the students have been subjected to a few long and boring lectures from parents and staff, but no indication of punishment or consequence is in evidence to me.

I had two first year classes again today. The first class was not so negative today, but very very energetic. They didn’t listen so well, and were quite mobile in their seats, but did participate when prompted. The lesson was exceptionally easy, so they handled it easily and thus didn’t bother to give class much thought. The second class was also very energetic, and a bit more rude, with students mocking me to get laughs from their friends when I tried to make them shape up. I was forced to move one female student who refused to behave. Both classes did not even attempt to be ready for class by the bell, and required actually moving around class and pushing kids into their desks. The female teacher agreed completely that 10 minutes is far too much time between classes. They don’t need it. Allegedly in elementary they only get 5 minutes between classes.

I have rethought the issue of discipline and what my actions should be. I think a better course from here would be to approach the first year English teacher, and via her the others, and ask how they’re going about improving things, or if they’re going to stop at just talking to them a couple of times. I will suggest that if they’d care to make concrete changes and create new rules and operating procedures, I’d be happy to help. If they don’t plan to do anything concrete, then I don’t want to waste my time going to those stressful classes any more. I do nothing more than stand silently unless going out of my way to tell kids to behave. I’m developing nothing but a useless and negative rapport with them, and there is nothing about me for them to respect because I’m not teaching, and thus can’t prove I care. I come off as a bully. I won’t do that.

Lesson Contents
I remember being in school and always taking many notes every class, and thus I was always busy. It occurred to me today that my students rarely ever take notes in class, so they are very idle. This makes them prone to paying less attention and talking to friends. If they felt a need to copy notes down from the board, they’d naturally be forced to pay more attention.

Obviously, in a language class, you don’t want students to spend all their time writing and never speaking, especially with me there. Thus more speaking activities are needed, but ones that require the entire class to be engaged. Games such as making each student say something, and the entire class proceeds in order to re-say what the other students said and add their own statement. (ex I like blue. He likes blue and I like red. He likes blue, she likes red and I like green.) Another activity might be that students have to listen to statements and perform, such as with karuta, or a game where each member of the class gets one different question and together they have to guess the object the teacher is thinking of. (ex. Is it red? Is it food? Is it a car?)

Generally speaking, the lessons used in all grades at this school are very similar, in fact repetitive, and really not so engaging. They don’t make use of me or instruct anything beyond basic grammar, and do not challenge students. Students need to be pushed and activities more fun to illicit interest. Perhaps if the Japanese English teachers don’t have the imagination for this, I should be proactive in suggesting it? Not everyone is a great teacher, and we all have room for improvement, so perhaps my input would help?

JET Programme
Year 2, Month 3

I’m revisiting the first year students I had trouble with in the previous week. As before, the teacher was without any respect from students in class. She seemed to attempt to act tougher, get sharper with students faster, but it had no effect. She degraded into a state of being lost very quickly. This time I had no desire to wait for problems to become worse.

I told kids: “Let’s play a game! When the teacher talks, you don’t talk. If you don’t talk, you get to learn. If you talk when the teacher talks, you get to stay after school with me. No club, no going home. Isn’t that fun?” This resulted in a suddenly quiet class. The teacher actually translated what I said! And right away and in a normal voice, not in weakness. The students looked at each other and paused to think, confused at our words, and wondering what to make of us. Were we speaking truth?

They decided not to press too much. Class became a little more manageable. Those students just following bad student role models, fence sitting, generally shaped up. Only the die hard rebels refused to stay quiet for more than a few minutes.

I took hold of one of the students who refused to behave. Took her by the hand, picked up her books in the other, and led her to the rear corner desk in the room. The desk is well away from and behind everyone, so she has no easy ability to speak to or play with others. She tried to brave through it and share a laugh with her cohorts, but quickly ended up simply packing her books up and going to sleep.

Class improved marginally, but the one other student refused to behave properly so I took him and stuck him in the opposite rear corner of the room. As with the other punished student, he pouted and seemed annoyed at me.

Two things happened once the bad students were removed. First, the class actually began to focus, became quiet and allowed us to teach. The teacher was much happier. Second, now that there were two punished students, they had someone to play with and began to misbehave together in the back of the room while we ignored them. It was only a slight distraction to the other students, but in the future it would be nice to remove the punished students altogether, or extend further punishment at that point.

Following this class was another first year class. The students milled about and played and screamed and shouted during the ten minute break between classes while we waited at the front of the next classroom. When the bell rang, most were not ready to start, and only slowly started to get ready at that point. The Japanese teacher tried to hurry them along. When they finally got to their desks I spoke firmly, but without anger: “You are to be ready to start class when the bell goes. You don’t start getting ready at the bell. Is that clear?”

To my surprise, the Japanese teacher once again followed with direct and quick translation. The students took note and their attitude was checked some.

When a student refused to behave, and then another, I did the same as the previous class, taking them by the hand and placing them in opposite rear corners of the room. Again, class became more manageable, and the bad students at the back were less trouble alone, but partnered up when together. However, the second student wasn’t placed there until late in the class, so it didn’t become too much of a problem.

As an ALT, I should not be disciplining students. It is the combined failure of the teachers, parents, board of education, community and government that have failed these children and allowed their behaviour to reach unacceptable limits, a point that is becoming detrimental not only to themselves but many others around them. I don’t enjoy being a bad guy. I don’t enjoy raising my voice to students, alienating them, and further preventing any sort of positive relationship with them due to the need to implement discipline.

An ALT is in school to be fun, different, and provide insight and awareness of different culture and social aspects from outside Japan. That role has been almost completely taken from me in this school, and entirely with the first year students. Not only am I not properly utilized as a teaching and cultural exchange tool by most staff, I’m in a position in first year classes where I’m taking on the role of parents and teachers, instead of doing my job. That things have deteriorated to this state indicates serious flaws in the current system.

I would very much like to raise the issue of discipline with the staff, and have even considered presenting my thoughts at the next staff meeting. I don’t speak Japanese and am therefore unable to understand everything happening at school, and what measures teachers might already be taking, but I feel the need to try to help and contribute.

Teaching in Japan
JET Programme - 2nd Year

Today, due to a compressed schedule thanks to Culture Festival preparations, 1st year classes were not split in half as they normally are. The resulting larger than normal class proved to be less well behaved than normal, and entirely uncontrolled.

Since arriving from elementary school some four months ago, these students have steadily become more rude, more uncaring, more interested in social play and less in English. I have heard that they have been admonished by their home room teacher repeatedly recently, so I believe their bad behaviour extends to other classes as well. While they arrived at junior high very energetic and sweet, they have quickly developed the idea that there is far less control over them here, it is cool to be bad, and there are no punishments for bad behaviour. Naturally they’ve gone wild.

Today, I had enough of the bad behaviour. The female teacher is young and inexperienced. She has a kind heart but does not seem to have outgoing strength or quick mind. She lost control of the first class immediately. They were slow to even enter the classroom as the bell went, let alone get out English books or prepare for class. Students talked at high volumes across the room, turned around in chairs, threw objects around, walked about, and showed no interest in listening to the teacher in any way. They ignored her as they might a television in the background playing something uninteresting, barely glancing at it every now and then as they heard their own name called, or the volume raised.

Regardless of this, the teacher tried to teach. Unfortunately she does not seem to have a great understanding of how to be the center of authority and control, and I believe her naturally quiet, submissive and shy nature escalate her nervousness to the point where she simply can’t handle the students at all. Even if she raises her voice, they pay little heed. Despite good intentions, she doesn’t give students the control they need, and is surely a contributing factor to allowing their decline.

To make matters worse there is no active discipline or system of punishment in this school, as indeed seems to be the case in many schools here. Students are sometimes yelled at, but no one ever takes away their club time, gives detention or extra work, removes them from class, calls parents - nothing. Aside from a little loud yelling - MAYBE - on rare occasions, there is nothing done to help these students learn discipline. There is also nothing done to teach them the value of behaving well, and studying, either. They’re unruly and immature children who understand nothing of why they’re in school. After all, much of their previous school experience in elementary was playing.

One student is the worst behaved of the class and always constant trouble, though he bares no signs of mental or other deficiency. Today he was tossing around an object, a hand warmer, and playing with two girls. Many teachers don’t take objects away, they demand students put them away. I’ve increasingly been confiscating things until the end of class. To get them back they have to behave and request them back in English.

I took the hand warmer, having physically to take it out of one girl’s hand, but was polite about it. At this point the bad boy started shouting. He repeatedly shouted “Shine! (Die!)” and “I kill you!”. I was going to let him be, but then a friend whispered to him, he cross the room to listen better, turned, and on the way back to his seat managed some of his best English ever as he shouted: “FUCK YOU!”.

That was enough for me. The Japanese English Teacher (JTE) was doing nothing. I walked to the student’s seat and took it away, placing it in the hall. The student was surprised by my actions. Then I grabbed him by the arm and bodily dragged him out of the classroom and planted him firmly in the chair in the hall. Then I told him in a rather loud voice to “Sit!” and “Stay!”. With a worried look on his face, he did.

The JTE was lost at this point. This kind of thing doesn’t happen here. The other students were shocked, and talking about it. Had the teacher chosen to back my actions up and build on them, perhaps she could have advised the class to shape up else more punishment come, but unfortunately she didn’t. The class didn’t improve.

Quite soon teachers began to appear in the hall. Notably the home room teacher and the gym teacher, whom I suspect is one of the two discipline figures in the school. They both talked to the student, and took my JTE aside for a moment to get an explanation. My JTE had a somewhat fragile voice at this point, not in any way indicative that the boy had done anything really wrong. No one asked anything of me and the two of us went back to teaching. The boy stayed outside.

The class as a whole did not improve. Even with the home room teacher (also female) standing at the back, they continued to socialize and ignore the teaching. Recently I’ve increasingly held back from participating in the first year classes because of their very bad behaviour, because I can’t do much without the ability to speak Japanese. They can understand my emotion, but without words to back it up, if I get angry it lacks a certain long-term punch. And I can’t help them understand why I might be angry, the JTE does not complement me by translating. This was not true in my first Japanese school, as I often had more experienced and respected teachers to work with.

However, with both female teachers quiet, the JTE walking back and forth calling names for people to shut up and getting nothing, I finally stopped her and asked if she wanted them to be quiet. She said yes, looking fairly fragile.

I turned to the students and began to bellow in an authoritative voice. “Oi! (Hey!) Quiet!”. I’m physically a decent size guy, and I have a very loud and powerful voice. It achieves instant silence when used. When a few smart ass students try to crack some remark after, I repeat with a bit of anger. That gets everyone quiet, and heads bowed. I’m told I’m pretty scary. I continued on a bit trying to say when the teacher speaks, they listen, this is English time, not play time, but they obviously understood nothing. Unfortunately when I shouted today, I think I not only cowed students, but the teachers as well. I even drew the male teacher wide eyed over from next door to see what was going on.

At this point if we’d worked as a team, with the English JTE and homeroom teacher together, and translating my words, we could have gotten into a discussion, helped them understand what they’re doing wrong and why, and warned them that things had gotten bad enough that they’d better shape up this instant or get punished. It was a key moment and could have seriously altered student understanding and behaviour for the rest of the year, and been a launch point for better teaching.

But the teachers did nothing. And because the students couldn’t understand my untranslated words, their behaviour once again rapidly deteriorated almost as badly as it had been minutes before. I was very tempted to simply walk out and leave everyone else to her own mess. However, I simply couldn’t bring myself to abandon a comrade in the field, and I don’t think the students would gain anything positive from such a move.

After class the Japanese teachers spoke at the classroom and again in the staff room, as it was a big event. The JTE and home room teacher both awkwardly apologized to me, I assume because they felt bad that things in class were so bad I lost my temper? I don’t know because they won’t include me in their discussions. I didn’t know what else to do, so simply said excuse me, I hope I did the right thing, if I was wrong, please let me know. They just said everything was fine, and for now the incident has ended.

I am of two minds about school. I believe it is important to drill into students the idea of self discipline, and how to work within a system. However, I am very much against producing unquestioning robots, and I don’t think we need to speak down in anger at them all the time. I believe it is important to help students achieve an understanding about why they are in school and why we use the methods and materials we do. I believe that actions should have positive and negative consequences, just as every day life does.

In the case of this class in particular, and indeed all classes in a general way, I believe we need to be more concerned with the quality of what we’re producing and how we’re going about it. The methods used now are failing our students. The natural faults in their human nature are preventing their ability to control themselves, because they are not provided adequate direction from their role models the teachers.

I suggest giving out punishments and removing privileges to impose negative consequences for negative actions. If people believe there is no serious detriment to negative behaviour, they will behave the same or continually worse. Take away their student clubs, don’t let them participate in events, give detention or extra work, whatever it takes to make student life less fun so that they have an understanding that life gets worse when you’re not actively trying to make it better - just like real life.

I suggest explaining in detail why the students are in school, what we all hope to achieve, and how we hope to improve their young lives. They need to understand what role school plays in their current lives and future. That’s an aspect of my own childhood I found desperately lacking, even in Canada. Most students only have vague notions of the human life cycle, urban society, why they’re in school or any number of things. That’s what defines them as children. An essential part of their education is helping them understand the role and value of said education.

If a class has become particularly unruly, such as the one I had trouble with today, then I suggest teachers team teach so that if there is one teacher who is weaker, a stronger one is there to complement them. In this case, the male second year English teacher is also a disciplinarian teacher, and would prove imposing to the young first year students. He is an excellent teacher in his own right, and would surely prove a great role model for both students and the first year JTE alike. While I realize this means more class time for teachers, it should serve to improve the abilities of all teachers involved, and improve student behaviour, thus making teaching time easier and more effective. Everyone benefits.

I hope to convince the English teachers, and perhaps home room or other teachers, to sit down and discuss such matters with me in the near future. I’m told few foreign assistant language teachers behave in class the way I did today, or sit down to discuss issues like this with teachers, as it’s something more common for “real teachers”. So, I don’t know if the JTEs will be open to my input. However, my first concern is the welfare of the students, and secondly the teachers who have to deal with them, and I hope I can be of some help regardless.