Obama in Japan

During a quiz game for the 9th graders at the end of last school year, I asked (using the grammar point): "Who's the man who is the President of the United States?"

A hand shot up. "Santa Claus!"

Ms. Teramoto and I looked at each other and started to laugh. I thought for a moment.

"Oh, okay. I said President—not presents!"

The whole class broke into giggles. Once we all calmed down and I'd gone to pat the Santa Claus girl on the shoulder, I asked the question again.

More hands.

"George Washington!"

"No, who is the President now, today?"

"Lincoln?"

"No..."

These students have to know the answer, I thought. My first day, when they learned I was from the U.S., they came after me chanting, "Yes we can!" and waving an American flag they'd found. Deep breath.

"Okay, who's the man who says, 'Yes we can!'?"

"OBAMA!" the class screamed in unison.

I was reminded of this incident when I was subbing in Shiga-ken, watching TV one stormy night when I was sick and didn't feel like moving an inch. TV shows here are like great puzzles to me: collecting the images and trying to put together enough words to figure out the story. First, I watched the news, which was maddening. I had to call a friend:

"The company GEOS is on the news and something bad's happening. Google it and tell me what's going on."

"They declared bankruptcy."

"Aha! Thanks." Etc.

The next show was a bit easier to decipher:
Japan's resident Obama impersonator was on! He was competing with a group of four other comedians for...some grand prize. The guys would make a flashy entrance and then try to woo the female host. Obama didn't win, but the guy definitely had the voice and mannerisms down, even though he was speaking in Japanese...except for, of course, throwing out a "Yes we can" at the end.

I watched a crime show after this (I was really sick, Internet! Plus in a way I was diligently studying Japanese.), and let me tell you, it was riveting. I missed the first five minutes, which was probably when they showed the crime taking place, but it was way more fun trying to figure out whodunit along the cute forensic medicine student who was on the case.

More soon on the rest of my time spent in Kansai.