Sept. 8

Today was just like yesterday, except it all took place at my second elementary school that just happens to be nestled waaaaaaaaaaaay out in the rice fields. So, that school is now dubbed the Boondocks School.

When Natto-sensei and Atsuko were driving me out there, they decided to take a “short cut” which in Japan means “backroads that only the Japanese could possibly navigate.” The roads here are impossibly narrow as is, and to have to learn where you’re going while driving these things is a recipe for flaming death. But I digress.

This was the school of the rowdy kids, the kids who love kanchos and water balloons.

Kancho. The kancho is the Japanese counterpart to the American wedgie, but with an up close and personal flare that totally betrays the standoffish natures of the Japanese stereotype. Here is how it is executed. Clasp both hands together with interlocked fingers. Then, point both index fingers out straight ahead. This is your kancho tool. With your kancho tool engaged, ram your index fingers up between the buttocks of any random passerby. Congratulations! You’ve just performed a kancho. Now, run, before they catch you, and wash your hands for goodness sake.

Like I said, these kids love them some kancho. It’s like…a rite of passage here. They tried to get me, but fortunately, missed the bullseye. So, I’ve been inducted. The kids are cute, though, and so very little. I was trying to read a map of the city, when the tiniest little girl I’ve ever seen walks up to me and asks,

“Wakaru?”

“Iie…kanji o wakaranai…”

“Daijoubu…atashi mo wakaranai. Issho ni naraimashoo, ne?”

TRANSLATION

“Do you understand it?”

“Nah…I can’t read kanji.”

“That’s okay. I don’t understand kanji either. Let’s learn together, okay?”

I laughed and let her grab onto my arm as I lifted her way up into the air. That made my day.

At home, I still began to wonder why I didn’t find Japan so mindblowingly amazing. It was just another place. Culture shock still hadn’t hit me. Neither had homesickness. Maybe it never will…or maybe I’m bound for something completely different…we’ll see. We will see…

D