I'm convinced that my supervisor is rushing to an early grave.

I haven't yet had the opportunity to introduce my supervisor, but his name is Obata, he's 26 years old, and he's running himself into the ground. Or rather, he is being run into the ground. I think society is to blame. No, really. It was a bit of a running joke back in college to say "society is to blame" for things, like when someone would go, "Brad, I notice you sit outside a lot smoking a cigar and having a beer. Why aren't you doing something with yourself?" and I would answer "Well Mr. Nosy, society is to blame," and we would all have a good laugh and go back to doing nothing. Here, in Japan, society really is to blame. Obata is the newest full time teacher at my school, so he gets stuck with all the bitch work, most notably taking care of my floundering self. Also, putting together superflous newsletters and visiting the homes of students who have zero initiative and don't deserve the time of day, in order to attempt to convince them to come back to school.

The poor guy is at work before me, and stays three (yes, three) hours after I leave. And he makes one half of what I make. Now, I know JET is well respected and quazi selective and all, and if you talk to any of us, I think eventually you will come to the conclusion that we are all overpaid, but for crying out loud, there is something very wrong with this picture, no?

When you couple all of this with the fact that the man is consistently positive, seems to genuinely enjoy helping me out, and has quite literally been my saving grace in this country, you wonder what in the world keeps him going for 14+ hours a day, five to six days a week.

Perhaps it is the seven cups of coffee he drinks daily. I'm sure that helps, anyway.

Now, people will tell me "It's the culture, Brad. It's what they do! Everyone does it!" And you know what I say to that? It's the culture to flog people to death for stealing a loaf of bread in some places. Sometimes cultural norms are problemic. Then those same people will say, "you can't compare cultures, Brad, these cultures have to be examined case by case." And this is usually when I stop talking to these people because I'm getting a headache.

It's true, working yourself to the bone for a living and getting stoned for adultery are two very different things, but that doesn't make them suck any less. Anyway, I'm not out to change Japan, a lot of other countries have a lot worse problems, and this is one stubborn country, but I still reserve the right to cynically critique.

Also, he smokes 20 cigarettes a day, and that can't be helping him either.