"Because of sake, I can change myself..."

...so says one of the JTEs (Japanese Teacher of English) at my technical high school. I just got home from an "unagi" party with 4 other English teachers. I have to say, I think it was one of the most culturally revealing experiences I've had in Japan so far. It's amazing how much these teachers are suddenly willing to reveal after just a few cups of sake.

One of the teachers got really drunk and started talking about all his failures and regrets throughout his career. Last year, six of the students in his homeroom got expelled before they were able to graduate, and apparently he's never quite forgiven himself for not having "protected" them. Another teacher didn't sleep for weeks and lost 6 kgs after he couldn't figure out how to get the "wild boys" in his class to stop bullying a girl who was too weak to defend herself.

It's really interesting to see how involved Japanese teachers are in the lives of their students. They're pretty much secondary parents. I wonder how shocked these students would be to find out that their teachers spent last Friday night getting drunk over sake and agonizing over how to reform the school's worst troublemakers. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure my teachers in high school never did the same thing...