Living in Japan sounds a dream to most Filipinos. For old Filipinos, hearing the word Japanese is a mix-up of hatred, war, comfort women, hukbalahap, and other memoirs during the WWII.
As I was blessed to a Japanese wife, I look more on the cross-cultural climate that we would have. I got a chance too to look on our history with the Japanese during the war.
My late father told me that Japanese soldiers landed on the shore in Bauang, La Union and happen to make their camp just at the back where the house of his grandparent was. It was just a stone-throw away he said. They have to run to the nearby mountain for a refuge the time. He remembered that his mother with his grand mother had to go down back to their house during night time to get some food stuffs left in their shanties.
One late afternoon, they noticed that Japanese soldiers were most if not all lying down on the grasses. They discovered that the soldiers ate the fruit of the tuba-tuba as they thought is was a good fruit to eat. The soldiers suffered diarrhea the time because of that. That was more than 55 years ago.
Since 2005, my almost 4 years of stay in Japan was not that favorable.
My first year here was much of sacrifices living in an old apartment far from technology. We had a poor toilet room there with no toilet chair nor a flush. The hole is direct to the ground hole. One time that we have our visitor, she changed her mind to sleep to another place instead of staying in our apartment because of that old toilet. I could not get a job for employment and for a living because of language barrier. So I have to go to a Japanese language school offered by the city government. For more than six months, I was just a mere language student, a spouse of a Japanese wife and a no-income father of 5 children struggling to learn their new tongue.
My wife was a part-time worker at the time. I remembered that when she buy a pair of bananas, she have to slice both by three to make six. Enough for them. Sometimes, the unlucky 6th has to be slice again to half to make seven for all of us.
As I met some Filipinos during my first months in Japan, I got a chance to be informed of a technical job painting house roofs located one hour north of where we stay. I took that chance. I found my self on top of house roofs during day time doing hte cleaning of the roofs before my boss will do the actual painting. I have to use a pressured water-hose to smash rusts and dirts on the metal roofs before we do the painting. The big powered-water-hose was strong enough that once it is not hold properly, it can force your hands out the hose and smash you down the roof.
I was so happy to hand to my wife my first yen bill wage after a week. But that was just for two weeks. Later, I found myself inside an mini-theater type night club which was about to open. I was first doing clerical works for the company, but later I was their waiter, janitor, snow-shoveler to clear the parking space and road, and the like. After a month, I was again on the street looking for another possible living.
After my wife's application to rent a government housing, I asked my wife to consider having an Internet in that new government apartment. And only there that I could find myself browsing for possible job. I got a luck after several applications I made. A school needs a curriculum developer which was one of my MA courses before in PSU Urdaneta. The job was good for me but the office environment and medium made me deaf and isolated from the world for more than two years. Working with nobody to talk to is not a normal routine for an office employee. As I was working on English curriculum, all my companions are nihongo speaking and have nothing about English. My nihongo lessons too were all overshadowed by the bulks of my English materials and works the time.
As I tried taking care of my growing children, they have adopted the new environment and could fastly flow to the nihongo worlds as they are completely into it during school time and with their mother in our apartment. More that when they go to nihongo tutorial classes after their normal class, the more that they are into it. Moreover, their friends and weekend companions in their ball games helped them to be emerged in it.
After my three years in curriculum development was over, I got a chance to find a new job as ALT teacher and part time conversation-class teacher in the evening to professionals wanting to learn more on English conversation. However, my world was so limited in teaching English and almost nothing more. Fellow teachers don't speak in English. English classes are taught in nihongo explanations.
At home, I have nobody to talk to when my wife would talk to our children in nihongo. I just put my self to the house chores from laundry, cleaning, garbage disposal, kitchen chore and the like. Sometimes, I found myself venturing more into the garbage houses looking on what were those condemned and thrown materials that can still be adopted or recycled. I found a little fun to those I can restore from it. In a way, there are something in it that still can serve a purpose. There are old chairs, cabinet, pillows, blankets, bedding's, plates, used clothing, curtains and the like. Hence, recycle or restoration. Washing and ironing are basic ways before using them as God's creations.
Nowadays, Japan is in recession. Many foreigners are being laid-off from job. As they were employed, they don't have the regular benefits that the Japanese get from their employers. When there is retrenchment, the foreigners were the one being laid off first. Par time jobs were also hard to get even now. ALT teachers too are out from their work as the school year is about to end. Belt-tightening is the mode since last year to most Filipinos in Japan. Yet, their extended families in the Philippines, their friends, their sponsored scholars, their churches and organizations believed that they are great donors and rich sponsors.
My family too has been suffering and is also affected. Since December 26, we experienced eating rice meal only once a day. The rest are mostly noodles as part of belt-tightening. Thanks to some friends who offer some kilograms of rice. It made me became a like a beggar.
As I am in my fourth year in Japan, I still could not make direct complete nihongo sentence to play their tongue here. Sorry for that. My psycho motor is not that aggressive and active as before. I still am struggling to have an ace in their tongue. It means, I have poor conversation still with the Japanese, the store tellers, the bus drivers, the neighbors and others. In the school, my medium is English as it is the subject I am teaching. Off the class, when I try practicing my nihongo, students answer me the foul. I ask the name of the food and they give me the name of a baseball player with their laughs. I ask my wife the name of the flower and she usually just give me the "shiranai" reply meaning I dont know!
I saw myself in a bookstore. All the stuffs are in nihongo. English books are the review books for TOEC and STEP tests and nothing more.
Look for a job. The information you will get is in nihongo. Go and travel. The driver, the map, the route tags are in nihongo. I decided to walk and let nature satisfy my travel. Several times I go to a hospital for a check up and the doctors would talk to me in nihongo. The medicines are in nihongo too. Did I get the right medicine for my sickness? What shall I do?
I remember having a counselling with an old Japanese adviser. She first listen to my wife and they have their exchanges, compassion and understanding. She favored her fellow Japanese in front of me. The next talk, she talked to me privately and favored me in the absence of my wife. That was a Japanese way. It does not meet two points but created two directions.
Jacob went to Haran and stayed there for three 7 years in three courses, a total of 21 years. Jacob's first seven year course is so sacrificial to be a servant in his uncle's place. I am wondering it I too will have the same course in my stay in Japan with my family still trying to adopt the culture, the language, the education, as I am struggling to look for my freedom, my stability, my way to fulfill a life-mission and the fulfillment of true love and life with His lineage.
Four years and I still am to look for the next three years for my 7-year course in Japan, my Haran. Do I have to make a seven-year life course in Japan like Jacob in Haran?
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