A Year in Japan


January

Hatsumode (your first visit to the shrine for the year), hatsuyume (your first dream of the year; the top 3 bringers-of-good-luck: (1) Mount Fuji (2) a hawk (3) an eggplant), hatsukeri (your first game of football of the year), ozoni (traditional Japanese stew in which you put . . .), omochi (. . . pounded rice cakes), tennohai (the final of the Emperor's Cup, the local version of the FA Cup), ekiden (the popular long-distance relay race run over two days by teams representing their university; on day one they run from the centre of Tokyo to Hakone, then the following day, they retrace their steps), boroichi (an antique market in Setagaya where they sell grot that would have made Reggie Perrin blush), seijinshiki (Adult's Day when twenty-year-olds dress up in kimono and celebrate the fact they can choose not to vote in an election), graduation thesis viva, the sales, the center test (Round One of the juken-senso 'exam war')


February

Plum blossoms, end-of-year grades handed in, setsubun (the vernal equinox celebrated by throwing dry beans at someone wearing a devil's mask, while shouting "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi" = "Out goes the devil, in comes happiness!"), entrance exams (Round Two of juken senso), kakutei-shinkoku (filing your tax returns), lots of clear blue skies and sightings of Fuji, dekopon


March

Graduation ceremony, end of academic year, agm of the residents association,


April

Start of academic year, entrance ceremony, orientation, cherry blossoms, rishuu toroku (registering for classes), nominating a semi-cho and fuku-semi-cho, Alice video, wedding anniversary . . .


May

Golden Week holiday, wakaba, konshinkai with the part-time teachers, students writing a graduation thesis submit their provisional title, teachers writing a thesis for the Daito Journal submit their provisional title (fair's fair)


June

Rainy season, send out letter to part-time teachers asking if they want to teach next year, students on teaching practice for a fortnight, shingaku-setsumeikai in Ikebukuro, eibei-bungakkai (aka Peter Rabbit Day) in Higashi Matsuyama


July

End of the summer semester, start of the summer sales (reprise of "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi" motif)


August

Carry out extensive research into the changing face of Britain with particular emphasis on the subtly shifting currents in the nation's diet (working title of next paper: What Are We Going To Eat Now The Fish Have Gone?)


September

Deadline for the Daito Journal, Sept 20 soritsu kinenbi (Daito's Foundation Day), typhoon season


October

Students hoping to study at universities abroad affiliated with Daito take scholarship exam, Tokyo Highland Games, Daito sports day, meeting to decide who is to be considered for promotion (get those knives sharpened),


November

Bunka-sai (cultural festival at Daito), deadline for the eibei ronso (department journal), interview students hoping to study abroad, Shichi-go-san festival, autumn leaves,


December

Toyota Cup (European champions play South American champions), deadline for graduation thesis, bonenkai, Christmas party with seminar students, write nengajo