Boo! Thought I'd surprise you with a post. It's been a while, ne. So very busy. I took this pic in the park on Tuesday and messed around with it in photoshop and quite like the saturated effect. Look at all that grey re-growth! I'm at 80% grey now. Seriously.

This is a post I've been meaning to write for quite some time, and it seems that every week something new happens that I could add to the post I've been writing in my brain all this time....

Tokyo is a huge city-state (for those of you who have never been here) and it's actually made up of dozens of smaller “cities”. In the small city I've chosen to make my home, I've been steadily losing something that I have always cherished about life in a huge city: anonymity. Coming from a small town where my job meant that going out usually involved some band members trying to push CD's on me or hassling me for gigs, it was nice to just walk into a place and not be known.

When it first started happening here, I loved it. It made me feel like a part of the community. But now that the novelty has worn off some, I don't know how I feel about it so much any more. Being a foreigner in this very homogenous society makes it very hard to be invisible. People talk about you. Strangers know about you. You're something of an oddity - almost celebrity-ish in some cases, or just a scary alien in others.

Technorati Tags: japan, life, teachingenglish

Examples in point:

1. This week at school, I walked into a grade 10 class and found a message for me on the board.

“Martine-senseii, we love you, do you have a TATTOO?”

I laughed it off and erased it without any answer but when I had a chance I asked a returnee what it had all been about. He was reluctant to tell me, but I got it out of him. It wouldn't have surprised me if someone had seen me walking around in casual dress in Kichijoji, but it turned out that their Classical Japanese teacher told them during a class that I have tattoos. Well. I sought out this man - I'd never met the shithead - and refrained from skewering him on a kebab stick only because my next class started 5 minutes later. What the hell was he thinking? He feigned surprise at my concern that he was discussing my (as a complete stranger to him) personal information (a) with students and (b) in a Classical Japanese class! I was furious! I have gone to great lengths to dress appropriately and keep my tattoo's discreetly hidden away from view in the workplace, especially since there is such a dubious attitude about them here. The matter has not been put to bed yet and I do plan to rub his nose in humble pie at the earliest opportunity. He would never dream of doing such a thing if I was Japanese. Disrespectful creep.

2. A while ago I was drinking with Tyler, Kat and Darin on a Friday night, up on a third floor rooftop, enjoying some end-of-week beers and getting pretty merry. As I made my way down to the second floor toilet some time into the evening, I was greeted by a whole room of my ex-High School students - now uni students (all technically under the legal drinking age in Japan). They were all very boisterous and well, the entire room screamed “MARTINE-SENSEII” and swamped me with big drunk grins. They made the waiting toilet queue let me in first, explaining I was their teacher and therefor a very important person. They were so sweet, and so proud of me - all of them trying to talk to me at once, I felt quite touched. But then,... I kept seeing them. That night, later, in the streets and well.... now, it's every time I go into Kichijoji, day or night. If it's day time, it's usually just a “Hey, Martine” and a nod and a smile - sometimes they walk with me a while too, and tell me all their news. It's nice. If it's night they are usually very loud. They all tell me “You like to drink, don't you”. Seems I can't always be guaranteed a drink in peace. I hear my name being called/whispered a lot. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's just annoying. *sigh. I miss my anonymity.

3. Sitting in the English staff room recently, a senior student asked me if I was still doing photography, and then tells me that I was drinking with his Dad at my exhibition. His Dad had liked my photos and was considering buying one of the prints. I had had no idea....

There are plenty more stories to tell but I have to go teach in a bit, and then catch up with Kat who just got back from a one week holiday in our home town of Brisbane. Tests are about to start at school, which means I have 4 days free next week. So excited. Expect some catch up posts and photos....