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Yep, today the university once again wanted to show off its pet gaijin to
other Japanese.
Today's Gaijin Circus was held under the title "Overseas Student
Symposium," where we had to be present to show of our Japan photos (in my
case, the cemetery ones), in front of little 10 and 11 year old kiddies.
At the beginning, I really did feel degraded, like a circus attraction. We
had to wear stupid name tags saying our name, where we came from and what
university we came from.
And then, the teachers made us do something that they hadn't told us they
were going to do - they made us stand up in front of the kids and
introduce ourselves. So, the kids could not only just gawk at our funny
gaijin white skin, funny gaijin brown/blonde hair and funny gaijin
blue/green eyes, they could also hear our funny gaijin Japanese speech.
Being made to talk in front of a load of little kiddies when it's
completely off-the-cuff is even worse than normal, because you feel so
stupid if you mess up your Japanese in front of children younger than you.
Even worse, our teacher told the audience that "possibly their Japanese
isn't very good, so you should speak slowly and use simple language
towards them." Great, thanks for the vote of confidence, sensei.
Remember, this isn't something optional. The university makes us do it.
Afterwards, we were put in front of the display of the photos and the
children were released to go and talk to us. This wasn't too bad, actually
- I quite like Japanese kids, they're well-behaved and very sweet. And
even though they all thought that Japanese graves are scary, they were
nevertheless interested in the photos. I tried to convince them that
they're not scary, they're peaceful and beautiful places, but I don't
think it worked! If the kids wanted to "say" something, they were spared
the awkwardness and embarrassment of having to tell us outright,
face-to-face - they had the option of writing their statement and putting
it in an envelope beside the displays beside our photos. Japanese people
only like making gaijin feel uncomfortable - not their own kind.
I know, I'm probably too sensitive about this. I should be grateful for
the university and all. But it'd make us feel so much more grateful and
happy if we were given respect, not treated as clowns or aliens.
Well, there have been plus sides to today We did get out of a lesson. And
I got a surprise late birthday present from Helen, the X-Japan CD I'm
playing now (and it rocks). And I discovered that the university shops are
selling chocolate nut mochi, which are delicious.
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