Elementary School, Earthquakes, and Rocky LSATS

I went to Elementary school today and absolutely loved it. Although I think I would probably tire of it if I had to do it every single day of the week. The kids are so much happier than the high schoolers and they all love to participate!! They also grabbed my hand and took me to play with them and asked me tons of questions in Japanese...What a change! I love it. I wish I could get more random elementary days. Its also interesting to see the students at a much younger level and to imagine which of the current high school student personalities they will eventually morph into: the lackadasical student, the eager student, the reclusive student, the painfully shy student, the ADD student, the perpetually asleep student, the big hair student, the overweight student, etc. I love the elementary age when they are all participating without self-consciousness although I saw some of their self-consciousness kick in when one student got the wrong answer and was reluctant to answer questions for the next 20 minutes. It can be sad to see how in high school all the students seem to form separate cliques and become viscious protectors of those clique members and how the painfully shy students (male and female) try to absorb themselves into the background. You do something to offened others in the clique and your fucked. No questions are asked, acidic stuff is said and written, that particular student's well-being is on the line. There are no explanations, it appears to be much easier just to write someone off rather than try to fix things in some cases...I can see it in the puri kuras of students whom have crossed out a picture of someone previously in the picture. I hear about it when the teachers tell me about the internet bullying which happens over kei-tais and internet blogs. These poor high school girls come into the teachers room crying sometimes. [Surprisingly, I am learning that this can still happen in your 20s, and even in your 30s!!] The phenomena of Hikikomori is unique to Japan and I think that says alot about the collective culture and just how debilitating it can be sometimes. Recently a man in Akihabara stabbed a bunch of people with a knife, I think he actually killed some people. He was arrested and is now in jail. His reasoning was that he was tired of life and he didn't like Japanese society. I was speaking with my Japanese friend about this (the Jam Lady, whom I go hiking with often) and she said "why didn't he just kill himself if he was so tired with society" "If he wanted out, he should just kill himself...thats the best way for everyone". Something about this statement seemed to sum up the Japanese viewpoint to me. It also struck a funny chord with me. It was one of those statements that you could think, "hmm, yea, I see your point" but then later think "what the hell?!!?". However, I think in this case, I was thinking "what the hell" from the very start....Anyays, I've been chewing on it for a few days. There is so much suicide in this country yet its rarely on the news and its never talked about as a problem endemic to Japan. (And while its not an endemic problem, it certainly happens more here than anywhere else!) It appears to be a widely accepted way of getting out of a troublesome situation. I realize that I have just made it through both mixed CDs from the quadlings and it is almost 1am...yikes!!! Dear Matthew Stone: Thank you for the Pearl Jam :)