J-pop
Over the past year and half I haven’t been able to get into Japanese pop music. Sure there are many avenues for me to find out about J-pop but I’d really like to steer clear of those dark alleys:
1.) I could talk to my students about who’s hot or not, but they’re just kids and would probably just recommend who’s ever doing the newest McDonald’s ads.
2.) There’s also the occasional Karaoke night out with all the local foreigners where undoubtedly there will be a few who rock at Japanese. Here they must show off their skills by singing some J-pop hits. Those songs usually sound exactly the same, and when drinking is involved, those songs will poof out of existence from my musical memory.
3.) I could always turn on the TV to catch a musical variety show but that would mean having to put up with bizarre commercials that either end unexpectedly or finish with a cheesy jingle that would even make Uncle Jesse cringe.
I stopped watching TV ages ago. If the commercials don’t do you in, then the 24 hour, every channel food fest should seal the deal, unless you are one of the said few who are brilliant at Japanese, in which case, you can use the knowledge gained from TV to chat with your students about the newest J-pop sensations. So, TV just isn’t the option. But somehow, I have over 20 J-pop hits floating around in my subconscious.
How have I managed to acquire a compilation CD’s worth of J-pop musical knowledge? Well, it couldn’t have been any easier. Since I teach, on average, 1 class a day, I am stuck in the main teachers’ room playing on the internet. In Japan, the teachers do not have their own desks in their own classrooms, rather there is a teachers office with rows and rows of desks for the teachers. They are usually divided into grades so each section can have their morning meetings together. The teachers all store their belongings at their desks. You’ll find computers, flowers, coffee, stationary, ordinary office supplies, but most importantly, their cell phones.
When I leave for class, I also leave behind my cell phone that I have switched to silent. Well, apparently, this common sense isn’t quite common here. The teachers don’t set their phones to silent, not even to vibrate, but rather, it seems they set their volumes high, and set their ringers to go off for at least a minute. Let my musical education begin. When the phones first began to go off in the office, I would pop my head up and try to see whose phone was ringing. No one was ever around to stop the stupid music from ringing. Slowly, as the months flew away, I adjusted to the mp3 ring tones. It was no longer a surprise, and in fact, I couldn’t help but instinctively hum along. I’ve also managed to learn the words to a few songs, and I’d love to give them a shot at the next Karaoke get together but sadly, I have no idea what the titles are.