Traditional Japanese Culture. In the Butt.

Yes, as alluded to in yesterday's dispatch, I, Harry Althoff, am once more among the ranks of the Working. I don't really have too many details yet, but I can tell you that I will be teaching English at a kindergarten. Yes, ol' Harry's comin' up in the world!

At this rate, I'll be teaching English to babies by this May, and by September I can retire, I guess.

The interview process was considerably mellower than at Berlitz; I was interviewed by two youngish American guys -- wearing a near-complete Luigi costume and a basic Old Navy get-up respectively -- and a very smiley Japanese woman who was cracking up over the two Americans the whole time. They spoke to me in the Sun Room (just down the hall from Acorn Room and Grapes Room), where I planted my be-suited butt in the tiniest, most frail-looking chair in the world. The whole thing had a kind of Alice in Wonderland vibe, really.

They let me know last Friday that, though it's still tentative, I've got the job! No idea what my hours or commitments will be at all, but they'll let me know on my first day (not ideal, but better than finding out about that stuff on the second or third day). I've been told that the kids' enthusiasm is really infectious (speaking of, I heard one of the teachers carefully explain to some students the importance of hand-washing...they repeated "no in-flu-en-za" after him). I was also asked in a phone interview if I had any real problems with being hit by small plastic shovels or being called a doo-doo head. Hey, every occupation has its hazards, right? As long as they don't have cell phones.

The one thing I am worried about is a traditional bit of Japanese culture called "kancho," pictured in yesterday's blog post, which is very common with younger children. Because it's fun, here's another picture:

I don't think "fun" means the same thing in Japanese, actually.

As you might be able to guess, "kancho" is something that kids do to each other and to slow-moving grownups: they...well, they jam their fingers into a rather delicate area and yell "kan-CHO!" I can't imagine why we don't have a word for this in English...oh, wait, we do: "sexual assault." Culturiffic!

To sum up: Harry's career has just gone from this...


...to this:


Sweet deal.