All of us JETs love finding products in which the Japanese attempt to market using English, because more often than not they screw it up. I guess this is why we are here. I saw this one while I was on my way to the welcome weekend, I believe it was the Japanese equivalent of a processed beef log. Seriously. I've seen some wacked out English in my day, but this one takes the cake. Who the hell Ok'd this one up at corporate? One of my fellow JETs had a theory, which I am inclined to believe, that some smartass American runs the marketing for this sausage company. Can't you just see the conversation in the board room?

American Smartass: "no, no, i swear, Homo is perfect for sausage."
Japanese Boss: "are you sure? It's popular?"
American Smartass: "Oh for sure! In fact, I would say that no American would even think of buying a sausage unless it's a Homo Sausage!"
Japanese Boss: "Well, you are the expert..." and so on.



Anyway, about this welcome weekend I just went through: It was an all day drinking affair, and as many of us know, when you drink all day you often get very drunk, and when you get very drunk you often get in long winded and/or heated conversations with people. Usually, with me anyway, things devolve into politics. Mostly because I seem to constantly surround myself with tree-hugging, bleeding-heart, red, commie, liberals. JET has more than its fair share of these, for sure, and they`re wonderful fodder for debate, especially that charming welshman Geoff, but what is interesting is that now I have another topic that I usually settle on when I`m knocking a few back, one in which the hippies and I are more often than not in agreement: bitching about Japan.

I will say that I generally am on the listening end of these rants, at least for now, newly arrived as I am. I am consistently struck by the differing stances JETs take when we talk about our jobs here. Some JETs do it for the kids, they love kids, the kids are so damn cute, etc. etc. Now, I don`t like children, so I`m not doing anything "for the kids." If anything, I`m doing the teaching part "for the money." Beyond that, of course, I`m here for the culture and the food. Beyond that, of course, I`m here because they threw a degree at me when I begged to stay for a fifth year at my school.

Another hot-button topic amongst us is foreigners (foreigners being ourselves.) Some people hate 'em, some people love 'em. I spoke with one girl who said that she consistently looks forward to the JET outings because she is simply happy to finally be able to hold an extended conversation with someone, a luxury that her daily life does not afford her. (I got lucky with my supervisors, and can hold a halfway extended conversation when I choose to make the effort.) I`ve spoken to others who assert that "They're not all about hanging out with a big group of white people." Hey, whatever, each to his or her own. These people (rightly) claim that they can hang out with Americans (or English, or Irish, or whatever) at home. Here, they want to hang out with Japanese. Easier said than done, of course, because its all fine a good wanting to hang out with the Japanese, but you must ask yourself if the Japanese really want to hang out with you.

I am of the school of thought that if I can hang out with Japanese people (a.k.a my supervisor) then I will take that opportunity. I have in the past, and I will in the future. At the same time, if I'm going to get drunk and make an ass of myself in a karaoke bar or something, I think I would rather explain myself away to somebody that can understand me. You know what I'm saying?