From Japan Living: http://www.eikaiwa1.com/jp.html

Nagoya, Japan

From almost the first day of working at St. Mary College I was warned, "Don't ever touch Craig." Even Craig himself had warned me. There were stories of full-grown teachers, being spanked over Craig's lap for transgressing his personal space. "You're joking?" I said one day to Cathy. She wasn't. Being a pretty touchy guy, it is hard for me not to pat someone on the shoulder or give someone a playful, light punch on the arm. Craig seemed harmless to me, he came from the country of my Mother, and we got along well. He sometimes took me out for beer and steak at his expense. What wasn't there to like? One day in a humorous mood, as I am apt to be, I tickled Craig as I walked by. Next thing I knew, I was grabbed from behind, punched very hard in the shoulder, spun around, and had an English Director, screaming in my face in Scottish brogue about how I should never, ever touch him again! In a daze I continued to the staff room my heart pounding. The man had a definite problem that really required counselling. Everyone knew it, but Craig I surmise had never paid for a doctor.

This man I had considered to be a friend was totally changed for me. I felt I had to be on guard around him, always having to remember to never, ever touch him for fear of being physically assaulted. I never entertained taking him to court, but instead felt sorry for him. He was single and I imagined this phobia about being touched was caused by some kind of child abuse many years before. But I never found out the reason why. Craig very sweetly apologized to me the next day, but also said that he had warned me. I had forgotten the warning. I never would again. Neither would Brenda, the fellow Canadian who had been spanked over her boss's knee a year earlier. After bawling during this episode, she would never forget the warnings either.

As the weeks turned into months, my culture shock eased. Nagoya became more interesting and more bearable to look at. New colleagues arrived and they made work more interesting. Kim Robinson from Boston was a breath of fresh air and so was Margaret from Australia. We had a great time joking around and chumming around the city. Jeff, Brian and I joined a multicultural soccer team and this helped fill the hours too. There was dancing at some of the crazy night-clubs of Sakae-cho and barbecue parties in the countryside. I missed my family and friends back home, but I was making a new life.

Ikumi, a beautiful 27 year old woman I had met during my days working for Columbia College kept coming out to visit me and taking me places, showing me her beautiful country. She had gorgeous almond eyes, a cute laugh and smile, and was one of the most exotic women I had ever met. She had a sense of humour too and she was smart. I went out to visit her a few times in her hometown of Minami Ashigara, Kanagawa Prefecture. She owned a small boutique, could speak English well, and was the top tennis player of her area. Being a tennis nut myself, I felt I had met my match. As a child, I had always felt I should go to Japan, maybe Ikumi was the reason why. After a trip together to Thailand in December, (partly to visit my gomi (garbage) loving brother) I felt I should move out to be with her, and set my mind to doing so. It would be hard starting over yet again, but the thought of being near her was exciting.

By the end of March, 1990 my goldfish cutting boss at my other school, due perhaps to a little karmic retribution, didn't have enough students to employ me. So I had picked up more hours at St. Mary's.

Chapter 6 On to Hon Atsugi and ECC

In late January, I had confided to Craig that I would be leaving for Kanagawa Prefecture and Ikumi. I wanted to give them a couple of months to find my replacement. On March 30th, I handed in my official letter of resignation. In it I told them they should warn all new teachers and students about Craig; and raise the starting salary, a salary that hadn't been raised in many years, and was one of the lowest in Nagoya at the time. In my heart, I knew they would never warn students about Craig, and hoped he wouldn't do the same to a student as he had done to Brenda and I.

It would be great to be with Ikumi more, and live in a different part of the country. The thought of being able to go into Tokyo sometimes was also intriguing.

I moved on March 30th and my new home was Hon Atsugi, a city of about 3-400,000 souls, 50 minutes south of Tokyo on the Odakyu train line. My 4 year old apartment was a rokujo or six tatami mat flat. There was one room about 3 and a half metres squared. There was a hallway that doubled as a kitchen leading to the room and off the hallway was a tiny unit bath with a toilet. I was about 15-20 minutes walk from the main ECC school I would work at. There was no air conditioner and I didn't feel like paying the huge amount of money I would have had to pay to buy one. In the summer I had the experience of having a sauna right in my apartment. My boss at ECC was very impressed that I came to work one hour early everyday. I never told him it was because ECC was air conditioned. He didn't need to know!

Hon Atsugi seemed like a cheap imitation of an American city, without the parks and large trees. It was near to many beautiful places though. You could go hiking in the Tanzawa mountains only thirty minutes away by bus. Chigasaki, a small beach community was nearby. It was home to many famous singers, and artisans, not to mention surf loving Aussies. Enoshima another nice beach town and interesting island was just up the coast from Chigasaki. Hon Atsugi boasted a brand new library with free English movies. I was to love that! Oiso too was a nice little beach town and I was within one hour of Tokyo or Yokohama and close to Ikumi as well.

So I managed to land a job with what was then the largest English school chain in Japan. I was paid 276,000 Yen per month which was pretty good for 20 hours of work per week and being 27 years old! I picked up some private lessons on my own and in four months, I proudly sent home over 10,000 dollars to Canada! In my second year with ECC, my salary went up to 296,000 Yen and with my private lessons I made around 350,000 Yen per month. My rent was only 45,000/month and I could live very cheaply if I wanted to. I was able to save a lot, but I worked a twelve hour teaching day on Tuesdays. I got up at 4 AM, staggered to the train station, and took the earliest train to Tokyo so I could get a seat and sleep. I taught in the fashionable area, Shibuya from 7-9AM, then took the train back to Hon Atsugi, was picked up by my private student and she drove me to my apartment where I taught her for the next hour, I ate lunch, then a Korean couple came by for their lesson from 1-3PM. From 5:20-9:20 I taught at the ECC in Hon Atsugi and after that I taught a doctor and his wife. It was a 30,000 Yen day. It was a killer day but I enjoyed counting the money.

One reason I chose to work for ECC was the fact that I would have my days free. I have always been into more and more freedom. ECC offered a good salary and reputation. The fact that I only had to show up for four hours per night, was also a major attraction. The longer you are in Japan, the more opportunities come your way. If you hustle, you can pick up private lessons on your own as I mentioned. When teachers leave for home, they often have students they need taught. When Mary Ellen left for the States, she mentioned that the Machida YMCA would need to replace her. She put in a good word for me and I ended up with another two mornings of work per week at good pay. The manager was a great guy. Mr. Minamida had lived in Vancouver, and knew Westerners well. He was a great boss and I learned a lot about how to manage from his laid back style. The YMCA had no time clock. You didn't need to punch a time card as you did at ECC. They seemed to trust their teachers more and treated them with more respect.

ECC was an interesting place to work at. There were so many different characters there. My constantly sick boss Mr. Suzuki was there 6 days a week at lower pay than the foreign teachers. He was a nice enough man, but I never got to know him very well, although I enjoyed working for him. I really wanted to land a good job near Ikumi, and after striking out in Odawara, the nearest major city to her, I interviewed at other schools. I figured that it was probably pretty rare for a Westerner to walk in the door all dressed up, and asking about employment, as we were relatively far from Tokyo. By doing so, I hoped to make a bit of a splash. Mr. Suzuki was suitably impressed when I waltzed in, in my tailored suit from Thailand, with my Japanese friend Yutaka, and my Japanese "fiancé" Ikumi in tow. The fiancé part really was a lie. We had no firm plans to marry, but we were both thinking of heading in that direction, but needed more time to get to know each other. I figured the Japanese fiancé part, would further my chances for the job, and I really didn't mind calling Ikumi my fiancé, and she didn't either. Mr. Suzuki and I had a long talk and he seemed interested in me. He told me to talk with ECC's head office, and I had the impression that he would too.

A few weeks later I went to Shinjuku in Tokyo for an intense interview at ECC's head office. I was interviewed by a couple of staff from the Personnel Section, and then given thirty minutes to prepare a lesson. I felt good about the lesson I taught to my fellow interviewee and I was hired shortly after. I was so happy to get the chance to work for this famous school, and to be near Ikumi!

Kevin Burns

Some of the names have been changed to protect privacy.