The Country Mice

I’ve been having recurring dreams about Japan for 26 years. Even writing that sentence is nightmarish.

Early in the 1990s I lived in a tiny town mid-Japan, teaching English in two high schools as a participant in the JET program, where cadres of native English speakers populated classrooms across this tiny nation. Over the course of a few decades the Japanese government anticipated rapid globalization in education and commerce and wanted its country’s youth to have had at least a bit of exposure to the world’s dominant language.

Maybe the Japanese government was brilliant. But for those who grabbed the golden ticket, we were the lucky ones. In our towns and villages we were frequently “it” for the foreign population, the nearest English-speaking gaijin a train ride away. We were paid well, treated well, and outside of the classroom had all the time in the world…. to travel, savour and explore a unique country in a unique situation:

Would I ever have another chance to experience life as an illiterate minority?

When I left Japan in 1991 I thought, oh, I’ll be back. I travelled through China for three months. Oh, I’ll be back. I went to Thailand. I’ll be back for sure.

And thus began a quarter century’s worth of recurring dreams: I’m on a plane headed to Japan. I don’t have luggage, a passport, money or anyone caring for my children. Or, I’m let off a bus in the Kansai countryside, no money, no luggage, no one taking care of the kids, and it’s pitch black outside. Or I’m back in my Ikuno classroom, at the front of a group of thirty students all watching me expectantly.

Each time, in every dream, I stop cold and wonder, What was I thinking?!

I also remember, too late, that I no longer speak the language.

Like my other recurring dreams about being one week from a sociology exam and realizing I haven’t been to class in six months, or breaking my teeth, or having surreal conversations with my late mother, I wake up and think, well, thank goodness it’s morning.

All of which is a very long way to tell you that hurray! I’m finally back in Japan.

And savoury breakfasts are back on the menu.