The Lesson That Only Beer Can Teach Us

Greetings, dear readers.

Tonight I attended something I have been anticipating for a long time with a mixture of excitement and dread: the enkai. Essentially, it is an office party. But it's more than that.

The "enkai" is a party especially for the employees of the school. It was held in a sort of mini-resort up in the hills of Ena, the neighboring city. Many of us rode a bus over there together after school on Friday. Sitting there on the bus, I was quite nervous because I was dreading what was sure to come--the nudity. The venue for the enkai doubled as an 'onsen,' or a Japanese bath house/sauna. Before the big dinner, we would all go to the bath together.

They say that in Japan nudity is seen but not noticed, but I was still nervous as hell. I didn't mind people seeing my stuff, but these were people I worked with every day, many of whom I had never even talked to. I would have preferred it to be people I would never see again. No one else seemed particularly nervous, though, so I figured it couldn't possibly be as weird and homo-erotic as I was picturing it to be.

Once we showed up, we checked in then went downstairs to pick up our 2 towels. A bigger one for drying off, and a smaller, "privacy" towel for, well, privacy. I picked my favorite locker and after inspecting the nudity rapidly developing around me, went for the full Monty. As my pants were coming off, the principal of the school appeared next to me, naked. I sure know how to pick the good spots (you will remember that I am irrationally nervous around him with my clothes on, let alone with one or more of us in the nude).

As I walked into the bathing area, the kindly English teacher, Mr. Isomura, who sits next to me excitedly waved for me to come sit down. Somehow, seeing the enthusiasm on his face really lightened the mood. I wasn't really nervous after that. Besides, every single person was naked. How self-conscious could I really be? First, you wash yourself in a sort of sit-down, private shower. Then you pick a hot pool and go for a dip. They had about six to choose from, some with rocks, some outside in the cool air, some with nice jets. It was pretty sweet, actually. I felt my muscles begin to loosen up quite a bit, even if I was a little self-conscious.

After sampling most of the pools, I made the sudden realization that I was virtually alone. Where did all the people go? Dang it! I figured people would sit around and really savor the heat, but apparently that's not the case. The other teacher and I made our way upstairs into the eating area, pretty much the last people to show up. Dang. That's embarassing.

I picked a random seat number and ended up not one seat away from the principal. Dang. The gods must really want me to make friends with this guy. After we were all seated, a teacher gave a short introduction, and then the principal stood up to give a speech. He mentioned a breadth of topics, none of which I understood except for "Jay Taylor." I tried to smile at him to acknowledge that I was grateful to hear my name in a speech, but of course I just sort of awkwardly half-bowed. I've never been good with being the center of attention.

After that, my supervisor, Mr. Taniguchi, gave the official "kanpai," or toast. This is a big occasion. No one, and I mean no one, must take a sip before this is completed. He also talked about many things, and again my name was mentioned, and many people looked at me and smiled/giggled, and finally, we all said our "kanpai" and the evening began. Even though I couldn't understand it, something about the cadence of his voice and the expression on his face told me it was an inspiring speech.

The actual dinner was ridiculously fun, for some reason. There was much pouring of each others' beers and plenty of drinking, plus some pretty awesome Japanese food. I had delicious pork cooked in tofu milk, plus tons of sashimi, udon, tempura, and really good dessert. The most amazing part of the evening was seeing the people at the school loosen up. They were insanely friendly and interesting. I was blown away by how much English some of them knew. I just assumed that almost no one in Japan could really speak much English, but I was proven wrong. A lot of people knew a surprising amount of words. People made their way around the room, stopping to fill your beer and talk for a while. It was great. I was surprised how much Japanese I had learned. I managed to hold my own in Japanese conversations, and with the combination of their English skills, we managed to have some pretty great conversations. I had fun conversations with people I had never really spoken a word to before. Even the principal proved quite friendly, several times coming over to show me the correct way to eat the food (I was completely neglecting all the delicious sauces they had provided), and also filling up my beer glass. Man, if I took more than a sip from that glass, he filled it right back up. I really was very touched by that. I felt special.

At school, people are much more polite and proper, and so they don't let their inner personalities show as much. I do the same thing. That's the great thing about these enkais. They provide a safe environment for people to be themselves for one evening. I think this is a good group of people, and I certainly can't wait for the next one...I made plans with two of the teachers to go skiing in the winter. I hope they remember.

Oh, I almost forgot the best part! After it was over, we all formed a circle with our arms on each others' shoulders and sang the school song. We swayed left and right and sang and sang, and of course I didn't know the words. When the song finished, somebody said something, and they all excitedly looked at me. Everyone all of a sudden crowded together and lifted me up into the air many times. I've never had that happen before. I felt like I was floating. Needless to say, I felt like a king for a day. What a great feeling.