I’ve just eaten a Valentine’s Day chocolate... No, love isn’t in the air, it’s again one of these cultural differences between back home and over here. On Feb 14th in Japan, it’s the day that women give chocolates/ sweets/ biscuits to men as well as to friends. And then they have to wait until White Day (15th March I think) to see if anyone reciprocates.
Today a couple of the more servile (?) no that’s the wrong word, but teachers who seem to fit the traditional Japanese model of servitude, went round the staffroom giving out chocolates to male and female teachers alike. Last year I remember being surprised when some of the girl students came into the staffroom, giving gifts to their favourite teachers. It just has a different meaning behind it to the solely romantic notion in the West it seems.
Last year I seemed to fit quite well into the Japanese way of doing things- completely by chance I might add. I’d just come back from a week in England & Feb 14th was my first day back at school. So I gave several members of the staff omiyage – souvenirs from home. But I think the Cadbury’s roses were seen more as Valentine’s Day chocolates than just normal omiyage. Oh well, it worked out as quite good timing in a way; but isn’t something I’ve chosen to repeat this year!

But thinking of traditional male/ female roles, yesterday I saw a teacher hovering by the kettle in the staffroom. He’s close to retirement & I notice, never makes his own tea- he just refills the teapot with new water but uses the old green tea leaves. I think he’d looked in the teapot & realized it was empty for once (this was at about 8:18am I think, just before the morning meeting). Maybe he doesn’t know how to make tea! Or, more that he doesn’t think it’s a role he could possibly adopt (even if it’s just making it for himself). I am, of course, speculating here. But in the olden days & in fact in some more rural schools in Miyagi even now, apparently at 11am or so, all the female teachers jump up and start serving tea for all the men in the staffroom. Extraordinary.