Fun Times and Evil Sunlight

I’ve decided the temperature in Japan is based solely on sunlight saturation.

I know what you’re thinking: “My God! That’s BRILLIANT! You mean that ball of fire actually influences our planet??”

Yeah, yeah. Hear me out. See, Japan – at least Shikoku – is like Vermont x10. Where you can get a snowstorm in April like that *snap*, I woke up to a 50 degree F morning yesterday, and walked home from school in 83 degree heat. It didn’t happen all that gradually, either. The day was overcast and was the first in which I could see my breath. It remained chilly throughout the afternoon…until I walked home, however, when the clouds parted and sunlight came beaming down like death rays from above. By the time I got back to my apartment I was a sweaty mess, and looked at the thermometer in disbelief. I can’t remember ever experiencing a 30 degree jump in temperature like that. Now I know what an ant must feel like when you scorch them with a magnifying glass.

I had taken up the habit of using an umbrella to escape the summer sun shortly after I arrived in Uchiko (Whoever says parasols are for wimps has never felt this sunlight. I DARE you to sunbathe in this stuff. Your skin will sublimate before your eyes. I promise). I thought, though, that the Sun’s intensity would die down a bit as the seasons progressed. Wow, was I wrong. Bloody thing just gets hidden behind clouds a bit more often.

Later, when my supervisor commented about the weather (as almost every conversation in Japan begins with this topic – polite since it affects both the speak and the listener), I told her my observations. She agreed that sunlight in Japan is very powerful, but said that it wasn’t always this way. Gradually, year after year, the sunlight in Japan has become increasingly harsh. Yay for global warming *wince*.

Moving on to a nicer topic, but also one about the weather: I created my most successful game thus far! Now, I can’t take full credit since the game itself I didn’t invent. That said, my JT approached me one morning a couple of weeks ago and told me she hadn’t had time to prepare a lesson for our first class. Could I please make a game about the weather?….Ah, also – very sorry – but I had 4 minutes before the period began, so could I please hurry?

Yup. I had few moments of panic before I snapped into action. Man, was I lucky. I personally had no supplies on me, but I found large flashcards hidden behind stacks of paper in the copy room. There was also a small set of markers in my desk along with some colored chalk. Only 4 of the marker colors worked, but I drew eight pictures depicting the students’ new vocab and – this is the best part – pulled off the magnets that were attached to Matthew’s old flashcards (my apologies Matt if you’re reading this) to tape them to the back of mine. Presto: a set of 8 colored weather cards that were magnetized!! Damn, I’m good. :D

Anyway, using said cards of genius, we played a sort of janken-race game. The cards were lined up across the blackboard and the class was split into two teams. At the signal, the first person from each team would race to their end of the weather-card line. They worked their way down the line, saying each vocab word as they touched the card, “Snowy, rainy, hot, cool, sunny…”, etc. Team 1 was working left to right and Team 2, from right to left. When the students’ met, they janken’d to see who could continue…

...Ahhh, I will have to make a video for those of you who haven’t experienced janken before. Janken is the Japanese take on rock, paper, scissors…except it’s like RPS on speed. Both games start about the same: “Saisho-agu janken poi!” has the beat 1-2-3-4, and on 4 they ‘shoot’ either rock, paper, or scissors. After that, it’s a tad different. If you tie on the first round (i.e. rock, rock), you say “Iko-desho!”, which has the beat 1-2 and you shoot on 2. You continue to ‘iko’ as long as it takes to determine a winner.

Ok. That’s the technical way of doing it. Unlike RPS, where we usually just say, “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!….Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” over and over, Japanese kids have sped up janken to near-supersonic speed. Usually, the beginning verse is said in its entirety – to determine the rhythm – but, after that, you just get: “Sho! Sho! Sho! Sho! Sho!….” with players frantically ‘shooting’ RPS as fast as they can….

…let me tell you: by the end of that class I was in tears from laughing so hard. The game lasted quite a long time since, even if a student was quicker at the vocabulary and made it further down the flashcard line than the other, they often lost at janken. Then, their opponent would continue down the line and their teammate would have to quickly start from the beginning in hopes of catching the opponent as soon as possible and ‘jankening’ them out.

The kids got crazy near the end. Team 1 had only two people left standing (when you made it to the end of the flashcard line you got to sit down) while Team 2 had closer to six. One of the students was very quick at the vocabulary, but always lost to janken. When there was only one person left standing on the winning team, the suspense nearly killed them. The last student would make it most of the way down the line, only to lose to janken and be sent back to the beginning. Since there weren’t any teammates left, that last student had to keep starting over. Sometimes, they won at janken and nearly got to the other side. Then, they’d lose and have to start again. Eventually, though, they made it and everyone collapsed at their desks.

The game wore them out mentally and physically. Fun, fun times.