I sat in the passenger side seat as my company rep began driving, it felt uncomfortable to not be in control of a car which moved around. My company representative paid little attention to the intricacies that came with driving. It wasn’t her fault, most people were okay with just knowing enough to get from one place to the next. My stomach churned a little as the acceleration and braking were controlled in a janky abrupt manner.
Few people understood that both the accelerator and the brake pedals were analog controls meaning that with enough finesse you could come to a stop and get going smoothly. When driving well I could brake, downshift, and come to a stop without lurching forward and experiencing set back. Back at home, I was usually the one who opted to be the driver for most situations.
“When I look fast, I’m not smooth and I am going slowly. And when I look slow, I am smooth and going fast.”
~ Alain Prost
Although I’m more of a Senna Fan it gave me a small sense of joy to drive smoothly enough that the passengers I’d carry would fall asleep. If I was Takumi they’d be my glasses of water. When I was the only one up I would start to play a game, seeing how far I could push my car and still keep them asleep. Performing heel-toe downshifts, passing cars, and taking corners while driving smooth enough to keep them resting was a fun challenge. One of my proudest moments being a driver is when my friend Taylor, who was prone to motion sickness unintentionally quoted Initial D.
I usually get carsick when going on long trips, but when you were driving I didn’t feel it at all.
Natsuki Mogi
The Silence
wasn’t something I hated, as we made our way from a city to an area completely surrounded by rice paddies. It allowed me to soak in the environment, as I preferred the serenity of the rice paddies over Tokyo’s concrete jungle. The weight of meeting the principles made small talk hard as everything seemed so serious. I looked down at the tie which strangled my neck. . . I really did hate wearing suits.
We pulled into a side street and immediately the school was visible, the gym was the tallest thing in the immediate area. Pulling into the gravel lot I witnessed kids running around and playing in a large field. It was surprising to see the surrounding area filled with grass, but the soccer field itself was dirt. Coming from the pacific northwest it was a strange sight for me to see a field that wasn’t grass or turf.
The Sound
took me into a place in my mind where I hadn’t been in a while. I was amazed that just hearing this familiar sound was able to restore so many memories I’d forgotten I had. The amazing essence that is the soundscape of a particular location isn’t something that’s consciously thought of very often. Great films, especially animated ones, take great care to create these soundscapes from scratch.
I myself had only recently learned the sound of the place I missed. The crashing waves, roaring planes, and seagulls was the only soundscape in my memory now. I was humbled at the ability of the school’s sound to remind me of how far I’ve come. Little did I know the longer I stayed at school, the more memories school would bring to me. Sound is one of those things that I had taken for granted. It’s something you notice when you have problems with it. I remembered watching Koe no Katachi and feeling a little guilty when I thought my life was so bad.
Upon Exiting The Car
We made our way to the genkan(entranceway). Shoes going from big to small lined little cubbies to our right. It was hard for me to remember what it was like to be that little. I had brought my indoor shoes with me as I had discovered that my feet were far too large to fit into the provided slippers. It was always a dream of mine to always be able to wear vans into my adult life.
A student who was leaving the office froze in place as he looked at me like a deer in the headlights. . . .
“会社員？”(Business Man??) he shouted before bolting off. Although I might have been jealous of their high pay, a salaryman was the last thing I wanted to be. Working long hours at an unfulfilling job while having to wear a suit every day didn’t sound like an appealing job in the slightest.
Stunned from the short encounter we were approached by the vice principal before being taken to a large conference room where the meeting would be taking place. He then left to continue preparing for our big meeting. The heavy, tense, and serious atmosphere left me on edge, making it difficult to focus. The door opened suddenly, leaving me startled. I was relieved that it was just the office assistant bearing the gift of green tea.
The Tea
occupied my nervous hands and as we waited I took the occasional sip. The sounds of school life were muffled through the thick walls. The vice-principal came back with the principal and two other teachers who all bowed one by one upon entering. Standing up we returned their bows before sitting down. After a small introduction, the exchange of rapid Japanese began taking place.
I felt like a kid in a world of adults as I could only understand bits and pieces of the exchange. Pulling out a profile of myself, the representative explained my name and who I was. They began discussing when I should show up to school, I was surprised when the school wanted me to go home almost right after the last English class would end. It sounded like a good deal to me, but then my company representative objected, saying I had to work a minimum amount of hours. Advertisements for the job state that it’s a full-time salary based job, but after hearing that I suspected that the job was actually a part-time position that took advantage of legal loopholes to avoid paying employees a certain amount and avoid providing benefits.
The Principals Left
Leaving the two headteachers of English with the company rep and myself. After discussing what the expectations would be we talked in Japanglish and I was happy to not be the main person in charge of creating lesson plans. Two young teachers one male and a female would be in charge of creating plans that I would follow. After exchanging pleasantries we left to visit the remaining two schools.
Visiting the schools and being serious all day had left me exhausted at the end of it. I read somewhere that constantly switching languages took a great toll on the brain. My company rep said that our company would pay for our lunch so we went to a Cafe Gusto and I ordered the same thing I always get at family restaurants. Eating while exhausted always made the food taste better, I put away another tonkatsu that day.
