Check out this Video

Check out this CNN video about Japanese fathers rarely seeing their children because they spend so much time at work.

Running with the Kids

On Friday, I participated in a 4.5 km race against 45 of my school's junior-high-school boys. Yeah, that's right: Old Man Yama running against a bunch of 12- to 15-year-olds. (This isn't the first time. Remember the mini-triathlon?)

I ran in the race last year, too, and ended up with a time of 19:58, which was good enough for a respectable sixth place, even though I crossed the finish line a good 1:33 behind the winner.

This year, I planned to run faster and finish at least one place higher. Well, things worked out just fine.

Just like last year, I got off to a slow start. Going around the first lap, I found myself trailing around 25 runners. Despite the fact that no one had taken a clear lead, I wondered if it maybe wasn't my day, especially since some kids were even passing me. (Last year's start was even worse, as I saw a few runners take off in such a hurry that they easily distanced themselves from the pack and left me with no hope of winning. Furthermore, since so many runners were out of sight that time, I never knew what position I was in until after I finished the race.) But as the race progressed, many of the runners who were ahead of me ran into a wall, whereas I was able to maintain my pace.

Luckily, I was able to keep my eyes on all of the runners in front of me, so I quickly counted bodies and realized that I had managed to move up to 15th place about a third of the way through the race. Then I began to pick off the remaining guys who were in front of me one by one until I was in 8th place. That's when I knew I had a chance to finish better than 6th, so I kept pushing myself to keep the pace going.

With a little more than 1 km to go, I finally made it into 5th place, passing last year's third-place finisher. (I expected him to compete for the title, especially since he told me he that his goal was a top-three finish.) And on the final lap, I even had two more guys in my sights for quite some time. But I just didn't have enough gas left in the tank to pass them.

So how did I do?

Well, I finished in 5th place with an official time of 18:23, which is a big improvement over last year and two seconds faster than last year's winning time! Oh, and believe me, when I see last year's winner later today, I'm going to rub that in! You see, my unofficial time had me finishing with the exact same time as he ran last year. (He ran in a different race this year.) So after the race, he was giving me a hard time about the fact that I was this close to beating him but didn't. So I'll get the last laugh now!

I am a bit bummed that beating last year's winning time only moved me one step up the ladder. But this time I only finished 28 seconds off the lead, even with the school's second-fastest student in the race. (Yes, he won.) So, yeah, overall I'm very pleased with the results!

I must say, however, that last year's race-day temperature was probably about 35, whereas this year's temperature was closer to 50. So obviously that is one explanation for the faster times run this year. But I'm also in better shape now than I was a year ago. And once again I was able to push myself in competition, which is very satisfying.

One crazy thing about the day's events (there was a total of four races) was that there was no food or drinks on hand for the participants until afterward (when a bunch of the parents served some food and a red-bean soup called zenzai). I just don't understand how you can have a bunch of people exercising and not have water and bananas for everyone, for instance. (Actually, there was a water fountain, come to think of it. But if you ask me, that's not good enough.) I remembered that from last year, however, so I had plenty of my own supplies. But the poor kids. None of them seemed particularly thirsty or hungry, but fuel is important. Then again, as I've mentioned plenty of times before, the Japanese seem to like to suffer.

One more crazy thing: After the races, there was very limited support for the kids who were in obvious discomfort (probably because they pushed themselves well beyond their limit or they were severely dehydrated). Although I don't believe any of the kids got hurt, I found the lack of first-aid rather alarming.

Anyway, I'm happy that I was allowed to participate in the race and I'm already looking forward to my next athletic challenge, the road relay race in February. Ganbarimashou!

This is No Way to Live!

(This wasn't exactly what I wanted to post first after my long hiatus, but this topic has been burning inside me and just had to come out. So here it is. Sumimasen.)

If I'm upsetting you by writing this, well, my apologies. Don't take it personally.

What I have to say is this: Japan, or at least my(!) Japan, is an utterly ridiculous place at times. Especially in the winter. Especially now.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

When I arrived at school today, I was in pretty good spirits. But as soon as entered the building, my mood changed for the worse. Why? Because the first thing I noticed was how cold everyone was. Students were shivering, teachers were sucking in air (as if that would help them warm up), and several people mentioned how cold it was. And then, when I entered the teachers' room, I saw a few teachers huddled around the pathetic little heaters we have. And I also noticed that a few teachers were either wearing or in the process of putting on heavy jackets.

This is no way to live.

Let me repeat that, with a little more gusto: This is no way to live!

If you've been following my blog, you already know that I walk to school, and that just about every other teacher at my school does not. And, well, seeing as it's winter, I can assure you, I am positively the lone walker these days. Because all the other teachers think it's too cold to walk to school.

Well, folks, let me clue you in: Walking is a form of exercise. Not only is it good for you, it warms your body up. So when you arrive at school, you're actually taking layers off, not putting them on. And while everyone else is bitching about how cold it is, you're feeling your natural body heat in action. Granted, that warmth goes away rather quickly on colder days, but it's certainly a reminder that, if you're cold, there are several things you can do to warm up.

So let me list some of them, for all of my fellow comrades out there who haven't discovered the ways:

1) Motion. As the ol' physics saying goes, bodies in motion tend to stay ... warm.

2) Hat. A great deal of your body heat escapes through your noggin. Trap that heat by wearing a hat.

3) Gloves. Even those cut-off variety of gloves are useful, since they let you use your fingers (to type blogs, for instance) and also help to keep your hands at least semi-warm.

4) Layers. Look, it's winter. It's cold. Stop worrying about looking "professional" in your suit and tie and puts some more friggin' layers on. You'll feel much better. For instance, you could put on an extra T-shirt underneath your dress shirt. And how about adding a sweater? Or two. And a jacket. Or two. Come on, don't be shy!

5) Shoes. I've made the remarkable discovery that shoes keep your feet much warmer than beach sandals do. (Why didn't I realize that last year?)

6) Heater. It's amazing how much warmer a room can get if it's heated up. Duh!

7) Doors. Keep the doors closed and the building will stay warmer. A rocket scientist told me that and I believe him. (Pardon me while take a break and mosie on down the halls to do just that: close some doors... I'm back. Doors closed count: Three.)

(For those who can't remember my seven tips, here's a mnemonic: MHGLSHD. What does that stand for? Beats me! I think I need to buy some vowels.)

The problem with my tips is that most of them don't apply to the students. Their uniforms are simply way to skimpy for cold winters. For instance, from what I can tell, the poor bastards aren't allowed to wear hats, gloves (although I occasionally see a student or two wearing cut-off gloves), or coats (they are allowed to wear their coats in the hallways but not in the classrooms). And the only real addition to their uniform in the winter is a sweater and sport coat, both of which are rather flimsy. And they wear the same indoor slippers all year long. And they love to leave the sliding doors open when shuffling from class to class.

I often feel guilty walking around the school in my jacket(s), and even wearing one in class, especially when I see the kids obviously suffering from the cold, sometimes feebly trying to at least keep a bit warm by draping a big towel or small blanket or even their jacket around their legs. But why should I suffer just because the kids have to? I'm telling you, it's a crime that the kids' winter uniforms aren't designed to keep them warm. A crime!

By the way, today is December 8th. Which means, according to last year's schedule, this should only be the eighth day that we have had heat in the building. But this year, something remarkable happened. The heaters appeared on November 19th, nearly two weeks early!

"How the heck did that happen?" you ask? Well, it was pretty cold that morning and we saw our first snow, or rather sprinkling of snow, that day. And it was noticeably colder in the building than the previous few days. So I guess someone decided enough was enough.

I'm not sure who made the decision to bust out the heaters, but I think it was the new vice-principal (the one who arrived in April), because it was he who made an announcement using the intercom at around 12:15 p.m. I had no idea what he said, but before I knew it, a horde of students came pouring into the library, took the heaters out of storage, and immediately distributed them to the classrooms and offices.

What a difference a year makes. If you remember, last year the process of getting out the heat was slow and painful. This year it was instantaneous. Bam(!) and the heat was on! Well, thank goodness for that. It blows my mind that someone actually showed at least a tiny bit of reason this time regarding the use of heaters.

Now if I can only convince them to make the rest of the changes that are needed around here to make this place livable. Good luck to me with that!