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!