i had a dream the other night....
goes a little something like this....

Memoirs of A Teacha: Ch.8: home,sweet, home?

I've been back in Toronto for a few months now and I don't know where to begin.

My life is not what it used to be. I cannot believe how much has changed. I am forced to re-evaluate my life and the relationships around me, namely family. Japan has been such a surreal experience for me. It was a bullet train ride through the entire spectrum of human emotion. Just these blog stories alone can testify to that. How can someone be expected to go back to normal day to day living after such an experience.

Culture shock goes both ways apparently. I'm going through what is known as reverse culture shock. Reverse culture shock sucks big time. Its culture shock's evil twin brother's ,crazy ex girlfriend's , wicked step mother's, midget clown lover's, pet toad's festering wort!

Ok, its not that bad...but you get the point. Its sooo strange coming back to an entirely different life. I guess I should realize that change is an ever present theme in life. And as a human being, I should have the uncanny ability to adapt to such things. Chotto muzakashii, thats all.

A main reason for me coming back sooner then expected was to finish up university. Its my final year and if I can suck it up and put up with it, I'll be back in Nihon in no time. Remember,those music connex? I gotta go back. Decisions,decisions...At Uni, I'm taking an introductory Japanese language course as my elective. Casually speaking, I could rock that class. Formally, its a different story. Glad I'm learning it from an academic stand point this time. We'll see how much it pays off.

To all the loyal emrah(kento) fans that kept up with my journey, thank you all. This may be the end of "Memoirs of a Teacha", but the cartoon-esque life of me continues and is pushing its 23rd season. Here's a kanpai to you and that land on the other side of the globe, Nippon....


I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel of my accounts blogged its way into your hearts again.haha...

Until then, I'll blog here and there and hopefully bring ridiculous emrah insight into issues we all know and love.

Mata Ne,

Mr. Eko
^____^

memoirs of a teacha. ch.7. sealed the deal for a future feel

This has become quite an annoying theme of the epic that is me. Once again, I must apologize for the tardiness in entering a new blog. Quite a lot has transpired so please bare with me.

I have been away from my country of origin, Canada, for some time now. I have experienced many a valuable thing and hope to share many more with you personally. As of late however, my situation in Nippon has changed. Due to extenuating circumstances beyond my control, I must return back to the T-dot post haste.

There have been many things I have hidden in these blogs. Many of which I have calculated into a puzzle of sorts. No one has been able to crack it. I will come clean. Some time ago, I was involved in a car accident. Completely not my fault but that's neither here or there at the moment. To make a long and painful story short, my car was completely obliterated and I was hospitalized for one day. After various tests and procedures, to the surprise of the medical staff, I sustained no significant injuries. At the time of the accident, I thought that leaving the next day for Toronto would be justified. Although physically I was ok, mentally it took a considerable effect on me. However, after numerous introspective discussions, I decided that I developed too strong of a bond with my students and thus decided to stay abit longer. But after hearing that my family needs me, I can no longer keep that promise to myself. Besides the company is kinda shit to begin with...

So, after everything has been said and done it looks like Kento Sensei is retiring early from the land of the rising sun. I definitely regret leaving so soon because living in the middle of nowhere has caused me to miss out on so many interesting opportunities Tokyo city life can offer me. The timing kind of sux as I was planning on moving into Tokyo this month to bartend and pursue my music more. But what can I say? Being the first born son comes with certain responsibilities. I must adhere to them. Besides, I'm only 22. The experience I have had here has given me valuable knowledge on making a sound decision of working/living in Japan in the future. I wholeheartedly know the conditions that must be met before I move here again. Its not a complete write off. I have had some great experiences which my blogs can validate. There are so many things I have experienced here both good and bad that cannot be expressed through mere words. Just wait till we talk in person. One cool thing as of late is how I sealed the deal for a future feel regarding my music. I met these two rising J pop stars who frequently perform outside of Yokohama station. They invited me to jam with them and the audience response was just spectacular. Their manager approached me and is very much interested in helping my music get exposed here. So hopefully I will be back sooner then later to make something of this crazy obsession I have with music. I have so many pictures (most from my celly.cant believe I didn't get a digital camera here.argh!!!). I will post them in due time.

Mata ne on June __, 2006
Namyo Tnek Harme

Memoirs of a Teacha-ch.6- River of Dreams

Hey,hey,hey true believers. Its your friendly neighborhood Emrah coming at ya straight from Japan. I'm approaching the 5 month point of my voyage and let me tellz ya,it ain't at all what I thought it would be. Throw everything you know about Japan away. Sure,it helps if you know the basics but everyone will have their own,unique subjective experience here. Everything is going by so quickly. It feels like I am in a raging river, racing past and through all these surreal experiances. I only hope that my blogs shed a little light on what it can be like for a foreigner living in Nippon. My only regret is not writing every single detail of my alias', kento's life. As mentioned, before this blog must remain a PG-13 account. I've painted quite an interesting, exciting, sweet picture of things here haven't I? However, not everything is kosher so if you are interested in knowing various other expects concerning my Japanese life, please feel free to email moi with your inquires.

This past weekend I ventured up into an area known as Hakone. My Japanese teachers took Aaron and myself on this trip to an onsen (hot spring) resort near Mt. Fuji. Finally, I was doing tourist stuff. During the day, we explored the town, took pictures, bought souvenirs, and ate onsen boiled, blackened eggs (yum!). At night, we settled into a ryokan(a traditional Japanese inn). As with most social gatherings in Japan, drinking was a necessity. And boy did we drink. After our final onsen bath, that mischievous adventurous spirit in me started to awaken. I realized that I left my guitar in the rental van outside but the doors to the hotel were locked up for the evening. I quickly dawned on my yukata kimono) and slipped into the night a'la ninja style. It was quite a mission, being all stealthy, leaping from one tree to to the next,sliding down roof tops, tiptoeing past open windows but I made it. Nothing like a drunken ninja mission to illustrate one's affinity for music. Here are some pix from the trip including a ninja shot.


As I'm writing this, I am realizing just how eerily quiet my house has become. Oh that's right. You don't know do you? Well, I am living by myself now. I have been for the past couple weeks. Agent Smith decided to bail out on the company. Like most people, he didn't believe certain business ethics were satisfactory. To save himself from any potential damages he may have to pay for breaking the contract, he just packed his stuff and bounced one morning, leaving me as the sole inhabitant of this big, scary, Japanese house. Actually, its not that bad. The house is cleaner now that it doesn't have Smith's trademark stench of mustard and onions. It is lonely at times sure, but I like to think of me being able to cook naked is some sweet justification. With Smith's departure, I took the opportunity to move upstairs into the bigger bedroom. My first night was kept awake with random earthquakes but now I think I feel safer (cause I got that helmet).

Remember about me joining up with 3 Japanese guys and their band? Well it happened last Tuesday and it was nothing short of stellar. I haven't been in a band for the longest time. Now, having had vocal experience and training, I felt as if there was nothing I couldn't sing as their frontman. Its simply for fun at this stage but if the audience responds this well each time, who knows?

In terms of work, it has gotten pretty hectic lately. More then usual. I am the only full time teacher left. The company doesn't seem to treat me as bad as others. Nonetheless, I do have some quarrels with certain legalities of the work. One thing is for certain. My bond with my students. I was afraid that I would develop a strong one, and sure enough I did. They are all great kids and I really must start blogging about individuals soon. A zoo trip is coming up next month.

Next week is Golden Week, a week holiday free of work for all of Japan. It is a crazy time to be traveling here. I am definitely coming back to Toronto before my contract ends. So, I must try to fit in all the touristy stuff while I have time. The destination: Fukuoka( known for its ramen noodles and delicious horse meat!?). The team:Kento-san, Aron-san and I'm sure a host of other weird wonderful characters we'll meet along the way. Hopefully, we will be able to come back up via Hiroshima, and Osaka. The next chapter,Golden Week should be a doozy.

Some Random pix:

Now why doesn't the rest of the world call a toilet this?
The objectification of school girls make me sick. Dear, Santa...


I thought this was kind of funny because I was expecting to see other caricature race masks. After not seeing any other ethnicities, I realized that its done in really bad taste.


Wake me up,
Emrah

Memoirs of a Teacha-Ch.5- The Social Samurai

I'm back!!! Its been little over a month and although my blogging has been out of commission, the saga that is Emrah continues. As I write this, I am looking out a window at a single Sakura tree and can't help but contemplate a striking comparison with the saga of Emrah. Japanese society values aesthetics and presentation above many things. It is no wonder that the Sakura tree with its haunting majesty and creamy, pinkish cherry blossoms is held in high regard here. It is truly a beautiful sight to witness. The Sakura tree is just branches for the majority of the year. But around this time, it blossoms and is in full bloom for only 2 weeks. The wait is justified. Similarly, the chronicles of EMURA take some time to bloom. The wait will be justified...
So make yourself comfortable, light some candles, and pour yourself that favorite drink because it is now officially time to Emrah!

I must confess. A main reason why it has taken so long to blog is because I feel I can't deliver interesting accounts of my adventures anymore. Being in a country that does not primarily speak my native tongue has caused my comprehension of English to deteoriate. I am out of sync with the North American world. I hardly watch English movies. I hardly listen to English songs. I hardly read English books. Writing this very sentence feels like its taking more mental energy then it would've back home. In Toronto, I was a very social person with many social activities to participate in and many people to talk to. My lifestyle of being in constant communication with the people I care about was the fuel for my mind staying imaginative and creative. As human beings and social animals, we are meant to interact and communicate with others so that we may learn about ourselves and the world around us. Socializing makes us aware, gives us valuable perspective, and keeps us sane. Teaching basic English to children 10-12hours/day, 5 days/week takes a toll on your mind and spirit. If I did not have my weekends to be SOCIAL, I would no doubt, go insane. However, each weekend, I notice my vocabulary getting more and more limited. I'm starting to stutter. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to express what I am feeling. Its so frustrating sometimes. On the other end of the spectrum, theres the Japanese language acquisition. I guess if I'm gonna start losing one language, I might as well learn another one.

Which brings us to Japanese class and the various other activities I find myself doing to compensate for my English loss. Class is great! I'm surprised at how fast I am learning this new language. Next month, my Japanese teachers are taking Aaron and myself to an Onsen resort. Should be interesting to say the least. In addition to that there are the Ninjitsu classes. Coooool is the operative word here. I have always enjoyed physical activity but these classes are taking my physicality to new heights. Unfortunately, they are going to be cancelled due to the lack of students but to compensate, a different form of martial arts will be taught at a different location(don't know which one yet). Moreover, theres the random solitary missions I take to sight see or shall I see people see. Minatomirai, Shibuya, and Harajuku are great places for shopping but even better, people watching. I usually bring my guitar, go to the local conveniance store, grab a few beers, and just sit in public writing songs about the wacky and wonderful faces that grace my way.

This past weekend I took part in the yearly festival of Hanami (cherry blossom viewing party). It was a very unique experience. Some friends and I and a frisbee went to a park in Harajuku filled with Sakura trees. The sight I saw was nothing short of an outdoor rock concert. There were thousands of people setting up picnic style under the trees. Everywhere I looked, there were people sitting in little circles eating and drinking the day away. It was amazing! An event like this would never be legally tolerated in Toronto. There were food and alcohol vendors throughout the park. At night, the DJs came out and everyone got into a tribal like, alcohol influenced stupor. I'm glad I was able to be part of this ultimate union of alcoholism and nature.

Moving on, let us discuss my new roommate, Agent Smith. Or as I like to call him, Hugo(Weaving). The other day at the office, he was dicking around at his desk. I told him that he should probably move to another cubicle so that he would not be in plain sight of the director while he slacked off. His response was that he felt a good energy about his current work space. I simply dismissed this eccentric comment and thought nothing of it. That night, at home he decided to elaborate on his 6th sense of picking up certain energies. "Sure", I thought. "Why not"? I'm a very open minded person who enjoys a good interesting, educational conversation now and again. I think everyone has at least some degree of extra sensory perception in them. Some people are just more in tune with the world around them. I should've just ignored him...He was abit too much for my cup of o- cha. Hugo went on to say that he felt a strong vibe from my bedroom since he first moved in. He feels as if someone is in my room even though I might not be. To make a long, weird story short, he runs upstairs, brings down a pack of tarot cards, lays them out in a pentagram shape on my bedroom floor and goes into a trance. I'm not one to discriminate anyone's personal beliefs but to just walk uninvited into someone's private space (my bedroom) and do something like that made me angry. But what am I gonna do? I live with this dude. As much as I wanted to headbutt him and tell him to get the F*** outta my room, I couldn't. I don't want to cause unnecessary tension. So after his "reading" of my room, he tells me that there are two entities living with me. A guy and a girl. I called his bluff and asked him to read other areas of my room of which I felt "strange vibes" about(besides the underwear gnomes,there is nothing strange about my room).He went to say some other random paranormal bullshit. ARGH!!!! Once again, my uncanny ability to attract colorful situations and characters is validated. BTW, like Schizo, he also teaches children...

On a lighter note, I'm gonna join up with the most popular band at my gig venue and be their frontman vocalist for a few shows in the coming weeks. Three Japanese guys and me. Lookin forward to it.

More to come,
ME

Memoirs of a Teacha- Ch.4- SUPER SENSEI!

For as long as I can remember, I have had the luck of finding myself in fairly odd, fully outrageous circumstances. I don't know why, but if you are a close friend of mine, you can attest to this. I simply seem to have this uncanny ability to attract colorful situations and characters. At times it feels like I'm living a life straight out of a comic book. Here are just a few examples as of late.

Remember that crazy schizo house mate I had? Well, the company is firing him. Good call doing it before he went postal. Guess who the replacement is? Agent Smith of Matrix fame. Or Lord Elrond of LOTR. Either way, he looks like that actor, Hugo Weaving. This new teacher is from Australia and he plays Beethoven's 'moonlight sonata' in the music room of my crib non stop. I rented an indie flick called "Elephant" the other day. Its basically a movie made to make the viewer feel like they were present during the Columbine shootings. (wish I knew that before I rented it). My heart was aching after watching that. If you want to watch a powerful film based on an actual event, watch 'Elephant". Yeesh, what's wrong with the world? The musical theme of the film was "Moonlight Sonata". The freaky thing is, is that after I watched the movie,ironically Agent Smith started to play this haunting, depressing song over and over again. Kuwai!!!(Scary)

Last weekend, I went down to Roppongi (Gaijin Ghetto). This the area of Tokyo which caters mainly to that of foreign descent. It was the international duo of mayhem night. I was with my Cuba bro, Aaron. The itinerary? Bar hop! The first bar was pretty boring until a big taiko drum was hit. Whenever some drunken fool hits the big taiko drum above the bar, that individual must buy the whole bar a round of shots. Lucky for us, some American business man got drunk enough and decided to be generous. After our shots, we hit up a tequila bar. Once inside, I completely lost my bearings. You truly believe you are in Mexico, Cuba or some other exotic Latin spot. It was blowing my mind that just outside was JAPAN! This was no shot bar. Ohh no..this was as classy and lavish as they come. Only the finest of the world's tequila in this joint. You get your tequila in a wine glass amigo! To make things truly authentic, Aaron and I indulged our senses with some cigars-sipping and smoking the night away. It wasn't long before we both were feeling the effects of the alcohol. Its at that moment that my adventurous spirit kicked in. So out we went into the insanity of a downtown Tokyo, Saturday night. An interesting thing I noticed while walking the yellow brick road of Roppongi was the amount of Africans here. Literal Africans. Not African American or Canadian. Straight outta Nigeria. Left, right and centre these Nigerians were trying to get us to go into their clubs. Them and they're clubs looked way too sketchy for us. See for yourself. Then came the Thai prostitutes. We were just wondering the streets trying to figure out when our trains were starting up again when these two, old Thai women came outta nowhere and aggressively pulled us into their building. They were offering some pretty interesting services for dirt cheap. It makes sense cause they were pretty dirty themselves. After saying no, they started yelling and making a scene. One tried to reach in my pants for my wallet!?!? We bolted with them chasing us! Thank goodness for the sun because as it rose, they backed off. I think vampires exist here. And that was that.

What else do I do on my spare time? I joined a gym, a dvd/cd rental store and started Japanese classes. Haha, I also signed on for Ninjitsu lessons starting next month. GO NINJA, GO NINJA, GO!

Here are some random pix...

Outside most arcades you can find characters like this waiting to be photographed or kancho-ed.
I'm at the arcade brushing up on my dance, Dance revolution game when suddenly I see this sight!?!? I've seen many animals do many tricks but a freakin horse playing video games is a definite first. WTF,WTF,WTF!



Finally, some pix of what keeps me sane in this bizarro world.




Hero in a half shell,

EMRAH POWER!

Memoirs of a Teacha-Ch.3- And in this corner,Team Kento!

Mushi mushi Mysteko fans! Its been awhile. I need to get myself some reliable internet stat! Been doing the teacher thing for about a month now and let me tellz ya, it ain't easy. I can't stress how ridiculous these hours are. Probably gonna do it for another 6 months or so then test out other options. Namely, travelling! I have missed snow boarding and south east Asia trips so far due to the strict conditions of this company.

As I am writing this, it is Valentine's Day and I am eating chocolates that female coworkers have given me. I could care less that they got nothing back in return! HAHA! Sorry, thats just the way I am-In Japan! Hai, Valentine's has somehow become really sweet (no pun intended) for men here. We are not expected to give any sort of gift to the women. Their time comes exactly one month later on a day called White Day.

Another wacky thing I noticed is McDonalds. We all know the great little promotional catch phrase of "I'm Lovin' It" right? Either the guy who invented that is a utter genius are a complete moron because that phrase is in use here too. However, the Japanese find it tremondously difficult to say "L" and "V". For "L" they use "R" and for "V" they use "B". So Lock becomes Rock, Vote becomes boat AND "I'M LOVIN IT" becomes.....The commercials never fail to knock me out with laughter.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, TEAM KENTO!(MY STUDENTS!)-most of 'em at least.






7

Team Kento Out!


Haha....One of the teachers of the kindergarten where I do my assembly classes at took this. Apparently, this is me after those 5, 25 minute one man shows...