The procrastination of truth

Remember a while back I posted about "getting closer to why I am in Japan".

Well, lately, it hasn't been going according to plan.


I didn't get the Motion Capture part.
The movie is looking increasingly dubious.
I still haven't heard about any jobs from my Game Localisation company.

Those were my three main goals for this year, and they are looking slightly vaporous...

Despite all this, I've been in pretty good spirits lately. I've just finished another tax course - perhaps the relief from that is perking me up. It's always nice to finish a teaching job, and realising that both you and the students somehow enjoyed it. Today we did a two hour roleplay session of a foreigner filling his Tax payments... somehow, the students were enjoying it; laughing, smiling. Bizzare.

Well, they are out of my life now, so it's time to think about what comes next. I've got a few TV jobs coming up in Feb, so that should keep me ticking over in the meantime. I'm doing one commercial with a mega-famous pop star from SMAP too. It'll be the most I've ever gotten paid for one day's work. I deserve it, need it, will use it.

I was walking home the other day, and suddenly realised.... if I leave Japan, I won't be able to eat sushi (properly)... this shook me a bit. Not sure if I can leave Japan now. The food here is just so great. British food is so miserable... it makes me angry. Gastro pubs? Friking gastro pubs? Who the hell are these idiots. I went to one in London with Mickey O' last year... it was basically pub food, with herbs shucked on. Decorated with fancy names and dim lighting.
Don't get me wrong - there is plenty of good food in the UK. The problem is, if you go in a pub/restaurant/cafe and order food, 70% chance it will be merely adequate... it's like just producing the meal is the goal (on a large plate so that you can charge five quid for it). I worked in a pub. It was dreadful. Almost everything was frozen-->microwaved.
Am I being too cynical here? Am I looking at the UK through shit-tainted glasses?

Tax college wrap-up

Well, it's all over - to be honest, the 6 days went by pretty quickly, without a hitch.
It's not hard to see why I might have been intimidated at first, if you just have a look at the textbook:


Not exactly inspiring stuff... interestingly, the foreign guy in the photo is Jack, an acting friend of mine. Another colleague, Shelley, is also in the book. She was my wife in the 'ALS' disease drama that I did. She has been acting and modelling in Tokyo for 17 years now... back to the glory days, when the studios used to pay for a taxi to take you to and from the shooting location - now we have to pay ourselves for a train. Humph!

Anyway, here's an extract from my favourite part of the book;

"In the Japanese Tax system, there is the non-permanent resident and the permanent resident. Within the resident status, there is the non-permanent resident and the permanent resident. The area of taxable income and methods of taxation are decided according to those classifications. A non-resident is taxed on income from a source within Japan. A non-permanent resident is taxed on income as follows: --- from a source within Japan, from a foreign source but paid in Japan, or for any amount of income remitted to Japan. A permanent resident is taxed on income from sources both in Japan and abroad."

Phew... got that? Any fun language games pop into your head after reading it? There wasn't really much we could do except for explain the language points, read and repeat, and role-play. Luckily for me, I only witnessed one case of student sleepage.
But, you know, as I've previously mentioned, teaching isn't about the materials, it's about the people. Teacher-student chemistry is paramount! I got on very well with my students this time - I was lucky that there were no bad eggs (just one party pooper can really stop everyone from expressing themselves).
Here are my band of merry tax-officers;


Check out the inspiring breeze blocks used for the government building!

After the penultimate day, we went for a 'bonenkai' - year-end party, in a local izakaya. Much beer was consumed, and karaoke was sung. I sang 'Linda, Linda' by the Blue Hearts - a classic 80's Japanese punk song - and, I think, 'The Power of Love' by Huey Lewis and the News (my signature song). Things were a little blurry by then - my students had, quite easily, persuaded me to also drink nihonshu (sake). Double fisting on a work night. Oh dear.
The party dissipated, and a couple of students took me to another izakaya - by now everything is a blur. I remember sitting down, and my next memory is of standing next to the cash register, giving a nearby bin a generous covering of my stomach acid... in glorious technicolour. I need to take my suit and jacket to the dry cleaners today. Like good, honourable Japanese people, I'm sure that my students won't tell anyone of my somewhat humbling antics. Yet here I am boasting about it. Must be a cultural contrast there somewhere.
Inevitably, on my last day I wasn't feeling too perky, but we all ploughed on, and before we knew it, the course was over. In the last class, the sun set clearly behind Fuji-san again, and this time, armed with camera, I was determined to capture it;


Please bear in mind that my camera has a wide-zoom lens, so Fuji actually appeared much larger in reality.

Well, I'm not one for metaphors, visual or no, but well, the course is over. Who would have thought that a 6 day tax English course could provoke so many thoughts, and my stomach. Of course, I don't want to do it again, if possible!

Thoughts, life, jobs, etc

Quite a lot of things tend to happen lately. Things that excite, things that bore, and things that defy themselves.

Recently, the tax college has started to go well. I'm finding a rhythm, the students are used to the class, and we're all getting along. The course finishes in two days, and we're going out for a party tomorrow night.
You would assume that teaching tax English to tax officers would be dull as hell, but, it has actually turned out to be a fun experience - and, of course, very well paid. More money in 6 days than I have previously managed in a whole month of acting.
I've also realised, again, that I am actually a very good teacher - in so far as I can keep the students interested for a good 90% of the lesson. I don't know why, but I do tend to grin and smile throughout teaching. It's a cheeky grin, because I know that I can abuse my power, and the students find it funny when I do. If it looks like you are having fun, then it projects onto your students.
I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best at actually teaching language points, and getting students to memorise grammar. But, that's not really what I'm here for. Japanese students are very good at this by themselves. What they need is to increase their ability in speaking situations, so I just try to get them talking as much possible - nonsense is fine. You'd be surprised by some of the funny shit they come up with. One of my students loves the word hate. Hate is a fairly hilarious word really, when you think about it. He uses it with reckless abandon. We laugh. You would probably laugh too.
For the record, the main reason that I don't like teaching is the preparation - and preparation is key in this industry. I just can't concentrate when I have to pre-read the texts, note possible language and vocab points, think of exercises and fun, original games...
So, they've asked me about another course running in January, so I may do that too. The thing is, several things seem to be starting to rotate now.
On Thursday, I have an interview with a video game localisation company to help proof-read translated games. If I want a career in the game industry, I'm sensible enough to realise that this would be a very valuable experience. The money is pretty crap - but thats not the intention.
Also, in January, I will have an audition for a Motion Capture job for a video game. This would be a great job to get. Experience and money wise.
On top of this, there is the (shrinking) possibility of the Thailand movie job in February. It's all enough to make me think that, well, my visa expiring in March is a bit of a damn pain.
Oh, and, also, there was a brilliant sunset today from the classroom - the sun set behind mount Fuji, searing it's outline a reddy-gold. I stopped the class to check it out. I didn't take a photo for you though, sadly. So I stole this similar one instead:

I do, however, promise to scan in some of my tax textbook soon - so you can see what I have to play with :-P