So far Japan has had many ups and downs.
Financial, emotional and physical. I lived in Tokyo for about two weeks when I first arrived. Ahh! What a place. For some Tokyo is the place to live and for others like my self it is totally not the place to live. In just two short weeks I was already going crazy, the crowds, the noise, the constant advertising.

So I moved to Saitama to start a new job, out of Tokyo but still not out of the constant consumerism. The Japanese do not define themselves by what they can do, or what they know, but rather what they can buy. It would seem that everyone is trying very hard to be an individual but no one wants to push against the system, therefore the only way of expressing one's self is to buy the latest fashion item or gizmo. I saw a used purse in a store for the equivalent of $11'000.00 US. It's a bag people!!

I started the new job as an English teacher to children in a private cram school (name: E-mail me and I will tell you). This company in particular would tell parents that presenting flash cards at a high rate of speed would stimulate the child's right hemisphere and there by make them extremely smart and capable of E.S.P.. What a bunch of crap!! Like I said, constant mindless consumerism.

We were to present 350 flash cards in a fifty minute class, the children were not expected to say the words. Rather, the magic of the flash-cards would some how enter their little heads and make them very smart. We were expected to show 2 flash-cards a second.
"more fast William, more pretty please. Remember, RIGHT BRAIN William, Right Brain!" (Japanese English A.K.A Japlish, Not my English)
These half wits would tell me again and again.

As time went on I learned that none of the the teachers, Japanese or foreign had teaching qualifications, (0). I also learned that none of them held a university degree either. I was the highest educated employee at the company and I only have a B.A. (Psych). This is a very shady company! Well I was let go eventually, I know what most of you are thinking at this point, "William was just rocking the boat too much".
However this is not the case. As those of you who know me, I am dyslexic and while I refuse to use this as a crouch, I do have some limitations. Yes I read at a University level. However when I am reading 2 random words a second with out the structural support of grammar, my Dyslexia comes through loud and clear. I was making some mistakes on the flash-cards such as reading (THIS) for (THIS IS), (THEY) for (THEM) and (IN THE TREE) for (ON THE TREE). Clearly "Back-Ward Masking" Briant & Braddly.

So the company fired me, not for conduct issues or any of the above but because I could not perfectly read 2 flash-cards a second. If you have any kind of disability especially Dyslexia, (one of the invisible disabilities). DO NOT tell it to any one you will be working for in Japan, this is a very intolerant place. Personally I like it, it is teaching me that I need to rely on my self and no one else. No crouches! Swim or sink! No note takers, no Dragon Naturally Speaking software and no extra time. Live or fail! SO I choose to live.

That's all for now, got to work.