It's always better on holiday.

The Japanese school year starts in April and last week we received a new batch of junior and senior high students. They were rather nervous at the welcome ceremony and I felt a little sorry for them as they were paraded in front of their peers and teachers. My school is quite prestigious and just to have gained entry is a significant achievement for the students. Their parents have probably invested a fortune just to get their students to this point and will likely invest a lot more before their time is up.

The life of an academic student in Japan is tough. Most of my students have private lessons in addition to their schoolwork, often on a daily basis. Many will not get home til late when they will then have to do their homework. There are no school holidays in the English sense of the word, because the students will be expected to do a full day’s work each day in order to keep up. Also, many students will continue to come in during the holidays for “boost” classes and club activities. It’s not like in the UK where everyone downs tools when the final bell goes and heads for the nearest mall/theme park/multiplex. The parents may well both be working so they won’t necessarily both be around to do stuff with their kids if that is the particular setup. That’s especially true since many people won’t take more than 7-10 days “leave” per year and that will often include sick leave which gets included in the Japanese equivalent of annual leave.

I could never work as hard as people here seem to. What’s frustrating sometimes is that it can feel so inefficient. Whatever the benefits of the Japanese work ethic, I can’t see how the amount of time put in to work could ever be worth it. The gains from an eighteen hour working day, 6.5 days a week can’t possibly outweigh the drawbacks. Work isn’t fun. It never could be and, as Franz Ferdinand say, it’s always better on holiday.

There is a flip side to this argument though, which you experience in the UK any time you queue at a supermarket, wait an hour for a late train or get irritated by poor customer service in restaurants. People work hard in Japan to get the above things right and it does take time and effort. But I’m too lazy to think it could ever be worth it.

As a follow up to yesterday’s Pulp video, here’s a bit of Allo Darlin’. I’ve been obsessed by this song for a while now. I know it’s painfully twee but I’m afraid I can’t help myself. I have a bit of a crush on the singer but I hate myself for it as her image is so obviously calculated to appeal to me that I feel I ought to react badly. I believe the technical term for this feeling is Josielong-itis.