done

Well. Well. This is the last hour here at school. Not a whole lot to say really. Been crying like a girl for three days now. Have received more love letters in three days than Gareth Gates does in a year. Bunches of flowers, home made ornaments, marriage proposals, pictures, picture frames to put them in, phone straps, sweets, hugs and more. It's been a little overwhelming. As much as I didn't work here this year I certainly have gotten to know the students as best I could, and my fellow teachers (Except Cunt-Sensei who is an absolute cunt). Familiarity and routine have certainly dug in and built up any emotional attachment I have to the recently earthquake-proofed walls of the school. There are so many things and people I could talk about concerning these years’ endeavors. Japanese education is just bewildering. It's so bad in so many ways it's beyond a joke. Pressure is immense on students to gain access to top universities, even a regular university for that matter, ' day weeks and 12 hour days are normal. Forced to join a club they have no interest in. For the most disciplined students every night and every weekend is spent at juku (grind school) having their little heads filled with exam-passing information. It’s all learned by rote, not deduction. If you ever ask a Japanese student to use initiative you get a startled look and a ten-minute panic of uhms and aw's while they try and figure out how to express themselves. They don't even write essays in Japanese class. Imagination is suffocated from very early on, it’s a wonder they haven’t all gone mad. There is no doubt that the Japanese are united in a consensus that education is essential for social cohesion, economic prosperity and prestige in international affairs. But unfortunately, like I said, form and rote take precedence over function and knowledge. The students aren't taught to analyze but rather only 'essential' information needed to pass the exams for their entry onto the next educational stage. And there are exams for primary school, junior high and senior high. And then the exams for university, the whole point of life up to this point. Schools also act as a discipline factory and hammer down the nails that stick out. From the first days of schooling the educational system focuses on developing such basic Japanese values as harmonious relations with others and establishing group identity through membership in a limited number of social and vocational groups. It's their way of life. I could go on only I'm not articulate enough nor bothered enough to ramble on about points that everyone already knows, and I've got a party to attend which is full of horny teenage girls. I actually think I may be in love with one of the students. Easily the best looking person I’ve ever seen. During the course of tapping away at this drivvle she brought me a photo of herself and a letter looking to rendezvous in Tokyo. 17 is okay, isn't it? Well, I'll just wait till she graduates. Eh...moving swiftly along. Lat post as a JET. I'm sure I'll flick one up here before the next stage of the search for the Golden Toffees, they7re out there somewhere. I know it. I won't give up. A year of contrasts, much like Japan is a country of contrasts. Charged with the duty of internationalisation I7ve never had problems with the Japanese, it’s been the internationalisers that have poses the greatest headache. I've gonna on about them before, no need to rehash now.
The Jet year, teaching wise is over.

Nothing more to say really.