First Day of the New School Year

Yesterday was April 1, the first day of the fiscal year in Japan. Even though all of the students at my school have been on vacation since at least last Friday (March 26) and don't return until next Wednesday evening, all teachers (all across Japan) were required to be at work yesterday.

The first order of business was to meet the new faculty members. Last year as well as the year before that, about one-third of the staff was replaced, so I that was the norm. (It turns out the norm, if there really is such a thing, is more like one-fifth.) This year's turnover was especially unusual: only two teachers plus the chief administrator.

At around 8:15 a.m., the three newbies were led into the main teachers' office and were introduced to us. We all stood up to show our respect to the new faces, the rookies bowed to us and we bowed to them, and we all exchanged the standard yoroshiku onegaishimasu greeting for such a situation that pretty much means "Nice to meet you" (but, since the Japanese are so serious a folk, actually means "I'll do my best to get along with you, so please do your best to get along with me.").

After the introductions, I was handed "The Sheet." Even though this is the third time I've experienced the beginning of the school year and all the change (chaos?) associated with it, this is the first time I was aware of the existence of "The Sheet."

"The Sheet" is so special a document because it lists what committee each teacher is assigned to, as well as who is in charge of each committee; what grade each teacher is assigned to, as well as who the homeroom teachers are; and who the department heads are. In my opinion, the information contained on "The Sheet" that affects a teacher the most is the first bit: what committee they are on. Why? Well, where one sits depends on what committee one is on, so when a teacher changes committees, he or she is forced to partake in the game of musical chairs. Not fun.

This past school year, Mr. M., a teacher who arrived with last year's group, sat next to me. (Before that, my ex-supervisor sat there, but he got transferred.) Mr. M. and I got along ridiculously well and shared countless laughs, so we were both pretty upset when we looked at "The Sheet" and saw that he had switched committees. I will miss him! (Naturally, I'm hoping that I get along great with my new neighbor as well.)

The rest of the day was filled with meetings (only one of which I had to attend) and teachers moving their belongings to their new desks.

(By the way, if you look closely at the picture, you will see yet another instance of men being given priority over women in Japan: The female teacher was introduced last. Of course, that could just be coincidence. Maybe she has less seniority than the male teacher in the middle, for instance. But females so often play second fiddle to males in Japan that I think it's done on purpose.)