Flowercare, preventers of DWIs, and poison tasting: a job for Principal-man.

Obviously they do more than this. But the occupational heirarchy here rewards the oldest for a few years before they retire.

1. I had heard about the principal's job as head gardener, but was unsure whether it was really true. My first day at Suda elementary, I made sure to compliment the flowers, then act surprised when the principal said that they were his responsiblity.
My neighbor, Joe-sensei, told a story of his principal really stressed out one day. He asked why? The Board of Education was coming. But not to visit the classes or school, but for the school garden judging contest.

2. The principals always eat first but I figured they just didn't want to wait. I was astonished when the teachers told me it's a tradition that the principals try the school lunch first, to make sure it's not spoiled or poisoned.

3. The drink limit for drunk driving in Japan is like one, and the punishment, strict. Apparently if you're a teacher, some responsibility falls on the principal, too. The principal loses a portion of his retirement if a teacher is arrested for DWI. How ridiculous. So we are frequently given speeches and pamphlets on drunk driving.

Drugs are bad
Even bigger news lately is another ALT from Kamisu, about a half hour away, got arrested for 11 grams of pot. Everyone was given a copy of four articles on the arrest, from papers all over Japan. There was a 15 minute meeting for everyone to discuss the matter. It blew people's minds that a teacher had drugs. Their reaction and the Japanese media's and justice system blew my mind at least 5x more. They don't seem to discriminate between drugs here, heroin's the same as pot as far as they're concerned, both illegal. And if it's illegal, then you're a total social deviant. So the dude has to wait in jail for 22 days until prosecution. If he's lucky he'll be deported.

That day, I decided it was time to remove suspicion; my hippy long hair had to go. Actually, it was just about time, so I went to the local surf shop/salon, an interesting combination. Mostly a salon, but it had 8 boards, some gear, surf DVD’s and magazines, and photos of the owner surfing Indo all over the walls. In fact, he used to be a Japanese pro, and he was my barber.

I hadn’t really thought through how I would communicate the subtleties of my desired haircut, and a drawing did not seem to suffice. I was then handed a magazine of ultra hip Japanese haircuts to choose from. It was then I got worried. Luckily a friend who spoke Japanese came, and now I have a great haircut, shortest it’s been since my mid teens buzz cut. My haircut was a big hit with the Jr. High girls, they even braved the use of English to tell me. Let me correct that it was much more than a haircut. Two hair washes, a facial, an eye glasses clean, and a short shiatsu as well as a robotic and a scalp massage. The whole process lasted nearly two hours. ahhh, Japanese service.