Who are you? (Japan - Toyota)

This was the day of formal introductions and speeches.  We were picked up at the hotel at 8am and were chauffeured to the school by the ever-present and generous Mr Onda.  In 2007 we were provided with our own staff room to use and it was filled with previous presents from Gilroy.  It was the same this time, except the school has undergone a refurbishment and our room is now at the front of the school.  It was still filled with Gilroy presents – which really prompted me to place our presents from Toyota in the upstairs leadership room.

Mr Onda

Before we were able to gain access to the room we had to trade our shoes for a pair of sandals.  Shoes are stowed in a locker at the front entrance of the school.  Then the reality of formal Japan commenced with the teachers being introduced to the Toyota staff at their staff briefing – which included an impromptu speech from me.  From there to the full school assembly in the hall.  There have been other significant changes to Toyota Otani since 2007, the student population has almost doubled to 550 and the dress standards and the behaviour of the students have improved significantly.  The general feel of the school is much more positive, it is a happy environment.

Last night I delivered my first speech in bad Japanese.  Before today’s speech, to a much larger crowd, we moved to the hall which required another change of sandals to a soft-sole variety.  Of course they listened politely and clapped at the end, but I know I stumbled over more words than I would have liked.  Pat and Stephanie delivered the students’ speech and sounded so much more comfortable.  Then it was time for all the Gilroy students to come up onto the stage and introduce themselves to the Toyota school population.

After the assembly the students went to English class and then to Judo.  James proved to be ultra-competitive and a number of others, who shall remained unnamed, were completely uncoordinated and a threat to no one but themselves.

Lunch.  OMG!  How they eat over here!  We had lunch in the school cafeteria – yes, the Gilroy students were jealous.  There was a choice of pre-prepared meals as well as hot meals – ramen, curried beef and rice and the ubiquitous miso soup.  The meals were large enough to ensure that Jayne and I didn’t need dinner – Brett, not so, but more about that later.

From lunch to the Toyota Stadium, a massive structure on the other side of the river where the local soccer team play.  The stadium has a capacity of 45,000 and a completely retractable roof for the winter season and, in the more expensive zones, seats heated by steam.  There was a great deal of action the day we were there, but not of the sporting kind.  The seasons in Japan are quite severe in difference with scorching summers and freezing winters, so they were changing the grass on the pitch from summer grass to winter grass.  All quite amazing when you consider that the stadium is only used about 12 times a year.  That is a major capital outlay that is covered by sponsorship.  Oh, what a feeling!

Re-laying the pitch

Fully retractable roof

The Noh Theatre

Moving from one end of the continuum to the other, we next visited the Toyota Sangokan, their cultural centre.  We had the traditional style of Japanese theatre, Noh, explained to us.  The students were able to try on the traditional Noh masks.  Noh uses a minimum of characters and no speech, the masks and body movement convey all feeling.  It also has pantomime elements to it.  There is also a recital hall in the building.  It houses a very large traditional pipe organ, costed at approximately $4 million and the only one of its kind in Japan.  We were so fortunate to be treated to a brief recital by the lady who is performing there this week.  The sound filled the room, it really lifted you.

Brett when he's angry.

Gilroy students, Brett and the pipe organ

We left the formality of the concert hall for that of the Mayor’s office.  The last couple of groups have met with the deputy-mayor, but we got the real deal.  It was very formal with a master of ceremonies.  The mayor welcomed us with a speech, commenced in English and concluded in Japanese.  I took the easy option and spoke in English and Kayo translated for me.  Presents were handed out and the mayor spoke to us about a new initiative involving electric cars and bikes.

Rather than go back to the school on the bus we walked the 10 minutes back to our hotel and changed out of our ‘work’ clothes into something more comfortable for the 30 degree day and went shopping.  We purchased gift bags because it had become obvious that we needed to split the gifts we brought from home into separate bags because we needed more than expected.  So, the wrapped bookmark and lanyard become two presents not one, as did the note pad and key ring.

We also found a shop that sold Tim Tams and did a nice line in French wine.  While I wrote the blog post later that night and photo-shopped the day’s pics, Jayne, for diversional therapy, unwrapped and rewrapped all the presents.

As we were walking back to the hotel, Jayne had asked Brett if he was hungry, and surprisingly, the answer was yes.  We were most definitely not.  In the plaza near the station there are a number of fast-food outlets. Lotteria was the choice for the night and while Jayne and I split a large fries, Brett opted for a burger that had 5 meat patties and five slices of cheese.  While we were trying to get the girl behind the counter to understand what we wanted a very nice man who spoke English and Japanese offered to translate for us – and then checked to see if everything was OK before he left.  We weren’t sure what Brett’s burger was named, Jayne suggested the ‘cholesterol tower’ but he made very short work of it.

And so, the first day endeth, only one formal speech left to deliver and a lot of sight-seeing and dinners to attend.