Harmony

　　　　　The Japanese office is a peculiar creature. Unlike American offices, which cubiclize everything and coordine off most everybody while still promoting the guise of unity by leaving one side of a cube open to the rest of the world, Japanese offices function without barriers. You see, in order to maintain the harmony (調和 - chiyoowa) of society even in office settings, the Japanese have effectively set up rows of desks with the most senior of people at the head of the office closest to the windows, while us lowely English teachers are farthest from the bosses. The only one with a private office is the superintendant of the school district, who is too much of a head honcho to be among us lowly mid level administrators. Even now, as I sit here typing this, I can see all of my colleagues and they can see me, which discourages me from going online but I do it anyway as I have nothing to do.
　　　　　Coming to that topic, we, as Assistant Teachers of Language (ALTs), are required to come into the office every day from 8:30 to 4:15, Monday through Friday until school starts. We are supposed to work on lesson plans and teaching materials but as we still have more than 2 weeks until school starts, we sit here through mind-numbing bordom, listening to the same cheesy song that plays when one is to cross the street outside of our office, which can drive one to madness. So in addition to lesson planning, I have been checking my email and posting here in order to relive the endless hours of nothingness. But everyone here is amazingly nice, more so than in America. All this lends to the harmony of the office. If somone were to act out, being grumpy or whatnot, it would lead to discord and result in concern for that individual. But people here are generally laid back and agreeable. I made sure to bring in presents ( おみやげ- omiyage) from both America (I gave hershey's kisses to my immediate superiors - Mr. Higuchi and Mrs. Kobukata who both can speak english - only kobukata uses english with us, Higuchi majored in English literature but speaks japanese which is good for practicing), and from nagasaki (a cake called Castella cake which was portugese in origin - it speaks to the diversity of nagasaki and its rich history with the outside world) which i gave to the entire office in order to feel more accepted by my colleages. Everything goes back to harmony in this society and we're trying our best to fit in.頑張りましょう！ (I shall try my best).