Misadventures in Translation

It doesn’t matter where I go. People always want to write stories about me. Before entering the Yatsugatake Road Race this past weekend, I was interviewed by the prefectural newspaper, Yamanashi Nichinichi Shinbun (The Yamanashi Daily Newspaper). Actually, a guy was going around interviewing many people. I guess I stood out since I was the only white guy for miles. Below is a picture from the newspaper article and a quick translation.

Pictured above is Adam Wooldridge (22) of Kentucky, America and currently of Hokuto City. From August, he has been an Assitant Language Teacher of English at Elementary and Junior High Schools in the area. “I enjoy running,” said Adam before participating in the road race with a friend. “The beautiful nature of Yatsugatke is an enjoyable place to run. When asked how he would do in the race, he confidently said, “I will do my best.”

When I went to school today, I was asked at least 20 times if I had seen the paper. Next time, I need to win so I can really give them something to talk about. The best (creepiest?) thing I heard was when my principal came up to me to show me the article. We talked for a bit and then he pointed at the picture and said, “Handsome boy.” Random compliments can be a little weird to handle sometimes.

The race was very fun. Since I was running, I really couldn’t take any pictures. However here is a picture taken by someone else of one of the bridges I ran over. I would give them credit, but I can’t find their name.

I ran the 10K in 48 minutes and 39 seconds. Below is a picture of the certificate I got commemorating my triumphant run. It says my member number, my name, the running category of being a male and between high school age and 29 years old, and my time. At the bottom, it congratulates me for completing the race. It also says the date. The date is different than what most people are used to. For official or formal documents, the Japanese use a year system based upon the emperor’s reign. 2006 is Heian Year 18. So, the date on the paper reads, “Heian Year 18, October 22nd.” My birth-year was Showa Year 59. So, my birthday on official documents is Showa Year 59, July 31st. This system can be a little confusing. However, most people just use a chart to understand what year an older document was made in.

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After the marathon, I got a commerative photo with my Japanese friend, Reiko, and her students from Nirasaki East Junior High School. She is an English teacher at the school. Reiko is the one the far left. The photo was designed to be a fake news article from the Yamanashi Nichinichi Shinbun.

The Yatsugatake Road Race was my big event for this week. The Friday before the race, I hung out with my supervisor, Hinori Sakamoto, and his friends. We ate at a good restaurant and then dominated karaoke until the wee hours of the morning. Here are a few pictures.

Sakamoto is on the right and his friend Kei is on the left. We were buying “supplies” at 7-11 before going to the karaoke box.

Karaoke makes you do funny hand gestures.

Sakamoto and his girlfriend. I believe this was a song that required you to make a crazy face.

This guy shall remain nameless. Why? I only heard his name once and thus quickly forgot it. However, he was still really cool. You have to be really cool to be able to wear blue sunglasses indoors. Or outdoors for that matter. And look at those pants! He’d fit in Kentucky well.

No entry would be complete without my interesting anecdotes.

I have discovered that I can scare small children with English. In one day, I made two kids cry. What was the overly complex, intrusive English question? It was, “How old are you?” Normally, these kids understand what I teach them. But for some reason, these kids couldn’t absorb what I was teaching. When I went around gauging their progress, these two kids flipped out. I bet they’ll hate English for the rest of their life. Mission Accomplished.

The Japanese are overly amazed at my language abilities. Every time I write some simple kanji, I always hear, “You write kanji well. I’m impressed.” Sometimes, their heads explode from the shocking site of a foreigner being capable of writing kanji. I’ve been writing my lessons in Japanese and English to be posted on the bulletin board at my elementary school. One of the older female teachers oversaw my awesome (horrendous) kanji skills. This lead to the following conversation she had with a couple of the young, unmarried teachers.

• “Adam’s very smart.”
• “Yes, he is. Very studious. He studies a lot of kanji.”
• “You two are young. He’s smart. You should marry him.”
• giggles

This was all in blazing fast, supersonic, high-pitched Japanese. However, I still understood every bit of it. There was more, but it’s not that interesting. I’m afraid of the imminent sexual assault.

As for this weekend’s plan, I will be helping the international center in Kofu set up a Halloween event for the poor Japanese kids who have no clue what Halloween is. I’ll also be going to a Halloween party one night. On October 30th and 31st, I have a Mid-year Conference in Kofu. It’s not really mid-year, but who is counting anyways?

Now, for your moment of Japanese zen:

This is a video of a set of Japanese pranks. This theme is quite common. Get the guys nude. Then, suddenly force them into the public. Comedic gold in whatever country you’re in. However, I don’t think some of this stuff would last in the U.S. Too easy to sue someone.

If you can’t see the video, just go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BtNN6M97q8