I agree with what Mark said. Unfortunately our job is to be foreign…but only for 35 hours a week. The rest of the time is yours! Also, while I’ve found being at school pretty lousy for speaking, it is full of opportunities for listening and reading. Start reading the flyers, grade newsletters, etc. and don’t tune out during morning meeting (ok, this one I still have trouble with).

The best thing to cultivate a local identity is to do something where there’s not a lot of foreign interest- and here I am going to differ and say that a Japanese culture hobby isn’t the best way. I’ve found they get really caught up in showing The Foreigner something Japanese and while your language skills might improve the cultural divide doesn’t (I’ve also heard there’s less of this in martial arts, but from friends who have done tea ceremony/ikebana I’ve heard that). Pursue whatever you’re interested in (and if it happens to be Japanese culture okay), and let yourself get integrated into a scene naturally. This takes time but you become a part of the group *in spite of* the fact that you’re different, not *because of*.

My 6 year son is half Japanese, we are now living in Australia

You just can’t do it at school really… The only moderate success I had, was to talk to the kids in Japanese; completely disregarding the only English ‘rule’. As a result, I get to practice spoken Japanese at my own level with kids that will mercilessly take the piss if my pronunciation is off, but at the same time are more than keen to help correct my speaking/kanji/read things for me/etc.

The best option is to do something outside of school. Ikebana/Judo/learn the Tea Ceremony/etc.

In summary, there’s the Game Face ie at school and your Real face; outside school. You’re being paid to speak English at school so it’s fair enough, but outside school it’s up to you to make the most of your time, and there’s the added bonus that you can talk to people that are actually worth talking with.

I expect nothing short of awesome.

Even if my mommy is a guy.

Maybe I’ll write about it when I relaunch my blog.

(too busy reviewing to write at the moment – badoom tscccchhh!)

You won’t find another great crazy japanese book like this one. You will like it if you like the AJATT fun. As always when a book is good, it’s too short.

Khatzumoto : next time could you deliver also a spreadsheet for SRS items?