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Another Last Day
Mar. 7th, 2026 10:36 amTuesday was my last day at one of the junior high schools where I've been working over the past year. I was surprised by the very kind expressions of farewells. One of the second year English teachers I worked with gave me this bouquet of artificial flowers:
She was one of the most hard-working and resilient teachers I've worked with. Another teacher gave me some kind of bread snack, sort of like bruschetta but frosted with a cherry flavoured substance. It was really good. He was one of the most sensible of the younger teachers I've worked with, as was a young woman who also teaches English to first year students. I worked with several impressive teachers.
It's an amazing school, a big one, with a surprising number of non-sports related clubs. It has an art club, a literature club, a handmaking club, a drama club, a brass band, and an English club. Of course I got to know the English club members and I was always impressed by their energy. I also generally hung out in the art club and occasionally in the brass band and drama club. I was continually astonished by the high level of work coming from the art club and I think the drama club has members who'll become skilled filmmakers. I wish I'd had more time for the literature and handmaking clubs. I spent a lot of time talking with a pair of sisters in brass band, the elder of whom was particularly keen on practicing English and was always a delight to speak with.
This was the first school where I spent some time observing classes of other subjects, primarily to see how differently other subjects are taught in Japan and gauge student attitudes toward them generally. I was surprised how often the Japanese language teachers were friendly and interested in talking about English. There was also a really impressive third year social studies teacher whose ability to remember information related to her subject enabled her to display some engaging extemporisation.
The school principal took me to dinner at a really amazing izakaya. It was easily the best food I've had in this town and I've had a lot of good food here. I ate so much sashimi, quail eggs, fried squid, and Japanese style fried chicken. The meal concluded with some incredible green tea over rice. This is normally considered the poor bachelor's easy meal but this restaurant turned it into a culinary masterpiece with a pitted umeboshi on top that combined with the rest for a perfectly balanced set of flavours.
It was a fitting experience to cap off a memorable year at a memorable school.
She was one of the most hard-working and resilient teachers I've worked with. Another teacher gave me some kind of bread snack, sort of like bruschetta but frosted with a cherry flavoured substance. It was really good. He was one of the most sensible of the younger teachers I've worked with, as was a young woman who also teaches English to first year students. I worked with several impressive teachers.
It's an amazing school, a big one, with a surprising number of non-sports related clubs. It has an art club, a literature club, a handmaking club, a drama club, a brass band, and an English club. Of course I got to know the English club members and I was always impressed by their energy. I also generally hung out in the art club and occasionally in the brass band and drama club. I was continually astonished by the high level of work coming from the art club and I think the drama club has members who'll become skilled filmmakers. I wish I'd had more time for the literature and handmaking clubs. I spent a lot of time talking with a pair of sisters in brass band, the elder of whom was particularly keen on practicing English and was always a delight to speak with.
This was the first school where I spent some time observing classes of other subjects, primarily to see how differently other subjects are taught in Japan and gauge student attitudes toward them generally. I was surprised how often the Japanese language teachers were friendly and interested in talking about English. There was also a really impressive third year social studies teacher whose ability to remember information related to her subject enabled her to display some engaging extemporisation.
The school principal took me to dinner at a really amazing izakaya. It was easily the best food I've had in this town and I've had a lot of good food here. I ate so much sashimi, quail eggs, fried squid, and Japanese style fried chicken. The meal concluded with some incredible green tea over rice. This is normally considered the poor bachelor's easy meal but this restaurant turned it into a culinary masterpiece with a pitted umeboshi on top that combined with the rest for a perfectly balanced set of flavours.
It was a fitting experience to cap off a memorable year at a memorable school.
