Despite the apparent uselessness of English for my students, I’ve been thinking English as a language (tho it doesn’t _have_ to be English - Spanish, Chinese, Norwegian, … would be good, and maybe even better) is a Good Thing for Japan. The only times I get glimpses into a friend’s thots or feelings is when they’re not speaking Japanese. Somehow, a second language liberates their thinking, and they more openly express their individuality. With the government making laws forcing workers to take holidays, Japan could use another outlet for emotion.
As for me, my course load went up this term - 3 preps and 17 lessons. Again, the ALT is leading the entire 3rd year curriculum, so that’ll add to the business of preparing things for the next teacher here. It’ll be a different feeling for them: when I arrived, there were only 2 preps (and 18 lessons) a week. But prepping a lesson takes about 6 hours, so there’s more work and stress for a new-to-living-in-Japan person.