Other perspectives

Before anything else, happy new year to you!

Ok, I have to write about what happened for the time I was unable to post. Xmas and New Year will be postponed for a future post as I want to include the pictures.

But for this period I could see a little of the living of other "foreigner categories" in Japan. I'm as a exchange student and have friends here who are language teachers or specialized workers (such as engineers), so I can hear about those perspectives. Some known people also came as tourists (and I also experienced some of that myself during my trips, although it's not exactly the same thing).

So, one of the different ones was the dekassegui perspective when I spent the last days of 2005 with some relatives. For those who doesn't know, dekassegui is the name given to Japanese descents (nikkeis) who go back to Japan to work and earn money. That flux started during the Japanese economic bubble and even now it attracts nikkeis in Brazil and other countries. They're usually manual labor doing hard manual work that Japanese doesn't have much interest in doing, especially in factories. Very briefly, that's it.

So I went to Okazaki meet my cousin and his family, meeting other relatives during a visit to Toyokawa and reveillon dinner. Some of them I haven't seen for years and now, looking to them with families and kids, made me feel old... There're lots of Brazilians working as dekasseguis in that area, to the point I almost didn't speak, listen or read Japanese. Brazilian restaurants, markets, community... there's little need for Japanese language. That may be a good and a bad thing, actually...

Anyway, it was nice being in a familiar ambient for a change (which reminds me... I haven't tried homestay yet). In case they read this entry, "thanks for everything and sorry for the trouble".

The second was during this week. I was "recruited" as a interpreter to some Brazilian high school students during a trip to Hiroshima. They were spending some days with some kind of (Himeji) sister cities homestay program, so the new perspective was staying for a short period with a host family. It's cheaper than for tourists and you have good chances to experience Japanese culture and everyday life (although I'm living in Japan, guess my life is different than of ordinary Japanese), but you also lose mobility. Of course, I only listened to their experiences, so it's some kind of second-hand experiences.

The highlight was something I couldn't do during my first trip to Hiroshima (already backlogged as part of the "Reminiscences" series): talk to a hibakusha, or survivor of the atom-bombing. The Peace Memorial Hall is something that already move you, but listening and talking to someone who really lived that hell is even more powerful... As one student mentioned later, that makes us feel really small, as the sufferings we've moaned about during our lives was nothing compared to what that person is suffering (yep. Present continuous because those scars - social, psychological and physical - are unlikely to be fully healed).

Just a note. I was there as an interpreter, but I really didn't do much. The Brazilian group could communicate in English, so could the chaperone and the hibakusha, and the hall had explanations in Portuguese and English... Wonder why they called me... I can't complain since it was a free trip and had the opportunity to meet that hibakusha.

Last, guess my invencibility will be broken. I was getting proud of getting no cold or related diseases in Japan (and without taking any medicine). On 4th was Vinny's birthday party at Roxy Club (I wonder if I can call it a night club...). The party was pretty neat, but the fool here decided to go back home without wearing my hat and scarf so they wouldn't smell cigar smoke. Now the symptoms are starting to appear. All I can do is take some medicine and hope it's not too late. I don't want to use those "surgeon-looking" masks (I don't see many young people with them even when they get a cold, but anyway...).