Work Parties:


Work parties are an important part of Japanese culture, and offer all employees the chance to interact outside of the workplace, and loosen up on the rigid constraints of the office hierarchy, and general “workplace interactions” which are typically extremely formal, and polite. When a new employee arrives, it is customary to have a “welcome party” to initiate them, so that they can officially become one of the group. While I have six schools, I only visit the elementary schools twice a month, so I only had welcome parties at my two Jr high schools.

My main school, “Kitakata daisan chugako” or “Kitakata 3rd Jr High” is my biggest school, and has the largest staff. I was instructed to meet my co-workers at 7pm, at a local restaurant/bar near my apartment. When I arrived, the entire staff was already present, and sitting in an upstairs room. I was greeted to a round of generous applause when I entered, along with a large banner across the doorway welcoming me to the school. I was seated in the middle position of a long table (accommodating around 25) next to the principal (the seat of honor, as I had read in the JET handbook). The entire staff was presented with beer, or other alcoholic drinks and I was asked to give a speech, and a campai! I should have been prepared for this, however, I had forgotten to prepare any kind of notes, so I stumbled through a few awkward sentences about how everyone was so welcoming and nice. When I couldn't think of anything else to say, I just shouted “campai” (cheers) and that was good enough. We were then served several dishes, all of which were very good, although the principal warned me against the sashimi (sliced raw fish) because it was “crap” and not the good stuff that he buys from tokyo. I had not spoken to my principal much since I had arrived, however, he was very talkative and funny. He seems to have taken me under his wing, since he has a son of the same age who is a new teacher in Tokyo. Other members of the staff opened up quite a bit from their formal workplace selves. Several of the women who hardly speak a word at school, were quite talkative, and animated.

The “enkai” lasted about two hours, after which several of the staff said their goodbyes and left for home. The remaining staff held a short meeting after which it was decided that we would have a (ni gikai) 2nd party at a nearby kareoke bar. Several staff members were quite drunk by this time, including one teacher who had travelled to the United States several times. He kept shouting “Lets go to Vegas and gambaru!!! (gamble). Drink beeru! Geto hangova!!”

At the Kareoke bar, we sang various Japanese songs that I did not know, as well as some Beatles songs that I did not know. As it turns out the Beatles are the latest big hit in Japan, as well as Oasis (you know that song “Tooday was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to youoooo. By now ya shoulda somehow realized what ya gotta doooo” not a bad song except for the singer's nasal voice), and the Carpenters? (I think) which is some band I have never heard of from the USA. Anyways, we sang some songs. It was fun. The drunk teacher was passed out in his chair within 20 minutes of us arriving. This was actually a main source of entertainment at the ni gikai, as other teachers around him began balancing random items from the table on his face and body. The other source of entertainment came from the food that was brought out by the restaurant staff. One of the teachers had ordered a big plate of sushi, but it was part of a “batsu” game (literal meaning X, but it was kind of like russian roulette with food). Within the platter of sushi, there were three pieces that were filled with wasabi. We each selected a piece, and ate it at the same time, and watched to see who had the wasabi filled roll. We played three times, and I lucked out and never got the wasabi, but it was funny to watch the expressions of those who did. We stayed at this second bar for about 2 hours and I made my way back home around midnight.

My second enkai followed much of the same format as the first. We were actually at the same restaurant by chance, (my town isn't thaat small) and in the same large upstairs room. This Jr high, “Kaihoku” is much smaller than Sanchu, and only has about 10 staff. I was again seated next to the principal in the middle position, and the night carried on much the same as it had during the Sanchu enkai. For the nigikai, the principal and a few other teachers decided to go to a local bar down the street. It had a very local feel to it, and one got the feeling that it served the same regulars on a nightly basis. The bartenders as well as the patrons were clearly surprised when a foreigner walked through the door. My principal informed me that this bar had been the birthplace of his father and that he himself had been raised in the basement, sustaining himself on old beer nuts, and dead rats. We spent the remainder of that evening the bar, where I was served primarily hard liquor and sake on the rocks. Ugh.