The Inconstancy of Work

October 19, 2007

There are those of you, who, when I tell you this, will hate me, but the fact remains: there are days when I go to school and there’s nothing for me to do. I sit at my desk, writing stories, or letters.

“It’s not fair,” you may complain, and be well justified for it. “It’s not fair for you to be in Japan (lucky devil), sitting on a nice salary, and doing no work for it.”

Of course, it’s not as if I don’t work; even when I have no classes to go to, I try to make lesson plans or help the teachers in any way I can. Still, there are only so many lessons I can plan, so much English I can speak, so much I can do before I have nothing left to do. And this is fairly universal among ALTs.

For most of October schools were preparing for midterms. Well, when teachers are busy creating tests, administering tests, grading tests, and handing tests back, they don’t have as much time to talk to me or even much time to bring me to class very often. After all, when students are taking exams, they don’t exactly need me to be speaking English to them. I think that would be considered cheating.

I’m not really complaining about my free time. I have a novel to write, so having blocks of time where I can sit down and write is very useful. Besides which, I’m usually very good at finding ways to keep myself amused. But at the same time, I feel a little guilty. It feels like the schools aren’t getting their money’s worth.

The reason for my ambiguity has to do with American culture, I think. In America hard work is a value, and no one wants to be seen as lazy. There’s also a strong sense of competition in work. I can’t say all Americans feel this way, but I know I do. Even when I would prefer being lazy, in America, I kept at it, pushing myself to meet and then exceed the standard. Sometimes I hate this, but that’s how it is.

In Japan, it feels very different. I feel as though I just don’t have to work as hard all the time. And I don’t know why it is. I know many Japanese people work hard, or, if not hard, then long. Although I’ve never left the office later than 4:30, many Japanese employees stay at work until 8:00, 9:00 P.M or even later.

Besides, what do I have to compete with? Certainly I don’t get grades. I don’t even think I get a written evaluation. I’m not even quite sure what’s expected of me, besides the basics: get to work on time, go to classes, get along with your peers, dress appropriately, etc., etc. What is the standard? What is the goal? I don’t know and therefore feel at a loss.

Also, in Japan, I think the value of efficiency is somewhat watered down. Efficiency: squeezing the most work out of your time. In America, this is key. Do you ever see supervisors letting their workers do nothing? No. If you’re, for instance, a sales clerk, and you’re not helping a customer, you’re usually cleaning or folding or trying to look busy. If you have no task, your supervisor gives you a new one. And at the end of the day, you go home at a reasonable time with your well-earned money.

Well, in Japan, from what I’ve heard (and mind you this isn’t much), workers stay late, but they don’t always get more work done. Sometimes they just play solitaire. The attitude is that it’s not so much the work you accomplish, but the fact that you’re there, you’re available, you’re showing your devotion to your company. And this, I think, waters down efficiency, because you aren’t squeezing the most work out of your time. Instead you’re squeezing the most time out of your work.

Am I wrong? It’s really hard to label my own experiences as the general trend. After all, I didn’t really work in America, and in Japan, I am a foreigner and occupy a sort of precarious position. Who knows how it really works? But these are my own observations as well as the observations of others handed down to me.