Japanese Monster parents

It is the thing all teachers fear in Japan... no it is not budget cuts, its the dreaded monster parents. In Japan, like other countries in Asia parents can be overbearing when it comes to education. If you talk to any of my students and ask their schedule, you would be shocked to hear how busy they are. On average they attend school from 8-3 followed by joining some school sport and then head to cram school which ends around 10.

By the time children become adults they are lacking childhood experiences. Thus, parents try their best to make sure their kids get everything they want. Thus, we get monster parents. I have only had a couple of run-ins with such parents but let me tell you... the run-ins are not pretty. There was a story I read about a whole group of monster parents at one school. The school was doing a play of Snow White... In America, we usually only choose one person to play the role of Snow White. Yet, in Japan a majority of parents got angry at the school board when they had discovered their daughters had not been chosen to play Snow White. Thus, they argued with the school board and won. Thus, the play ended up having 15 Snow Whites...


This might sound like a stupid story but it happens quite often. I personally had this happen to me a week ago. A week ago I had to do a trial lesson with a mother who is very demanding. She actually makes a plan for the teacher to teach and you have to teach it to her liking. I knew coming in that she was a difficult mother to please but I had listened to previous teachers and got their opinions prior to teaching this student.

The lesson was a complete failure. For starters, the mother had her one year old toddler with her while she was watching the class. The child was screaming at the top of his lungs and was spilling food everywhere. Moreover, she was eating dinner while she was watching class. Soon after class, she gave me her two cents. She slated that I was a good teacher and had good pace but she was angry that I did not show her son the words for some of the vocabulary words I had taught him. Being the smart ass I am said " Your son is only three and he can`t distinguish the difference between A and B, do you think he can actually read full sentences? " This was a shocker to her and to my boss who was standing next to me but to my surprise my boss took my side.

In the end, I feel that if you are a parent and you want your children to succeed in life. Do not give them everything they want. Some kids need to be taught a lesson in failure and that they cannot get everything they want in life... Otherwise, they will learn the hard way when they reach adulthood and get declined....

Chinese speed trains

Over winter vacation I had the opportunity to travel to China again. This was my third time to visit China in the last year. My original plan was to visit one of my close friends who lives in Shanghai... However, a couple of days before flying out, he contacted me and told me that his parents had surprised him with a trip to Taiwan the same time I had planned to visit him in Shanghai. However, since the flight was scheduled to leave from Beijing not Shanghai he offered to take me with him to Beijing. Considering I would be alone for a week in Shanghai I jumped on the chance to explore Beijing. Prior to leaving to China, I checked the weather report on Beijing and according to Yahoo on my iphone Beijing`s weather was -13C. Thus, I decided to hit up my local Uniqlo store and stock up on heat tech (believe me this stuff really works).

Upon, arriving in Shanghai the first thing I did was head over to Shanghai railroad station and buy a speed train ticket. The ticket itself could only be bought in person or online if you are a Chinese citizen because it requires you to use your Chinese ID number in order to buy tickets. The round trip ticket from Shanghai to Beijing cost me a total of 1110 RMB. Which is the same price as a one way ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto.

After riding the both the Shinkansen in Japan and the speed train in China. I believe they are both very convenient for travel and I cannot really prefer one over the other. The only thing I did not like about the Chinese speed train is that you have to buy it in person and there is not a rail pass available for foreigners traveling to China. Unlike Japan which offers a 7 day free pass for foreign tourists for the low cost of around 300USD. In closing I like both train systems in both countries but I in particular I liked the free entertainment offered on the Chinese speed train. As you can see in the picture below they had movies and TV shows playing. The train felt similar to a Air China flight...

Ticket booked

Well, I`ve gone and done it... I have booked my ticket to India. I have decided to stay one week in India and one week in China. Now comes the hard part... What should I do in these two countries?


Does anyone have any recommendations?

I am currently thinking of just hanging out around the Delhi area with some day trips to see the Taj Mahal and so on...

In China, I would like to take another short trip to Beijing as well as visit Datong. The alternative plan would be to visit Xi`an and see the Terracotta Army...


Lots to do an and a lot of time to plan

Being Stopped by the Japanese Police

Let me start out by staying Japan is a great country, otherwise I still wouldn't be living here. However, like any other country Japan does have it flaws. Over the last eight years of living in Japan I have experienced the good and the bad. The worst being the Touhoku earthquake in 2011. Yet, last week comes to a close second. Last week, I was on my way to work like usual. When I got to my local station I saw a couple of police stopping foreign students in front of the ticket gate...  This is quite common for foreigners to be stopped by police to check if they are legally here or not... However, I saw they were busy harassing these foreign exchange students so I went through the gate and headed to my train.

As got on to the train platform the train started to pull up. Once the doors opened I got on the train minding my own business and then suddenly I felt someone pull on my arm and take me off the train. To my surprise it was Tokyo Police, they demanded to see my foreigner registration card. I gave to them to look at and they let me go on my way.

I understand that they do need to check up on some people in order to check their living status in Japan. However, I don`t agree with manhandling someone and pulling them off the train to do so... In the end causing me to be late to work. Once I got to work and discussed this issue with the rest of my non Japanese coworkers they have also stated they have been stopped and asked to show ID`s from the Japanese police. However, my boss a white male said " I guess you brown folks need to know your place, I have never been stopped before... but wait I am white.."

Although his comment was meant to be a joke it was not far from the truth.


Rant over

Planning my next trip....

 It hasn’t even been two months since my last vacation overseas, but I am already planning my next adventure. However, I am at a crossroad… I really like traveling to China, as everyone might already know. I have already been there four times over the last year. But I have decided to expand my horizons and try traveling to other countries in Asia. Thus, I have decided to take a trip to India.

So now starts the long process of planning a trip to a country, in which I have never been to nor have any friends living. First thing I need to find out is how to get there. After researching several travel sites I have decided on an air ticket to get… Did you guys know that by transferring in another country you could almost get a ticket for half the price? So, I have decided to take a flight with China Eastern with a transfer in Shanghai. After researching this ticket a little more I found out that it is possible to extend my layover up to a week without any additional costs from the airline… but I still have to pay the huge visa fee American citizens are required to pay. However, but getting this plane ticket I would be able to travel to two countries without any extra planning or plane tickets. But here is what my dilemma comes.

Should I spend more time in India or spend a week in both China and India?

Of course, I have been to China many times but I have a lot of friends who currently live in Shanghai. Not only will I be able to eat all of the great Chinese food but I will also be able to meet many of my good friends. However, this will cut down the amount of places and time I will have in India. However, if I do make the India trip a whole two weeks and I totally dislike the country I will be at a loss… 

Either way I am going to enjoy my nice Indian lunch and  consider my options.......

Recent updates

Hello, everyone.

Recently, I have been a little busy with work and I haven`t had anytime to update my blog. Well, last year in December I had the opportunity to visit both Bejing and Shanghai. This was my third time to Shanghai and my first time to Beijing. Shanghai is similar to Tokyo, in other words a very international city. Beijing is similar, but it still has a strong cultural presence. My favourite part of Beijing was the Great Wall.  Although I did not spend much time on it because the weather was freezing and most of the wall was covered with snow.

Are dreams made to be broken?

Over the last couple of months I have grown to dislike my teaching job. It is not particularly the job itself, I just want change in my life. Last week, I had a chance to have an interview with a Japanese recruiting company. The company is located in Iidabashi and they are currently looking for a native English speaker in order to spread their network overseas. Thus, I was the perfect match for this company. However, after the interview I came to discover that maybe what I want and what I need are two different things. Just like the old saying says "be careful what you wish for", I always wanted to work for a Japanese company in Japan and I wanted to be considered a normal salary man. But after thinking about it this last week, I have decided that maybe that lifestyle is not for me. I am like a bird, I like to do what I want when I want.. maybe I have Peter Pan Syndrome. But if you work to live what do you get in the end.... Just like the famous Japanese Poet Matsuo Aida says "We all wait for our children to grow up, we wait to save money, we wait for our until we build a house, but death never waits for us."No matter what we achieve in life all of us will die eventually. I prefer to spend my life among good friends and family and have a mediocre job with time to enjoy my hobbies.