I really love this question so I figured I'd answer.

I guess I relate to a couple of different characters. As I'm a big Buffy fan, I totally relate to Xander as he's that person that's always there and tries to say funny things but people don't really notice. In the series he's always there in the background getting knocked out and what not and doesn't really shine until the end. I'd like to think that as I get older I'm starting to put myself out more and become more noticed.

And with the same kind of logic I also can relate to Ando from Heroes. He's getting so much cooler now but not quite as cool as Hiro. No one can ever be as cool as Hiro.

To wrap things up, this isn't really identify with but more respect, I really like Uhura from Star Trek (you can tell I saw the movie recently). She's ambitious but never makes a scene. She's amazingly brilliant and can speak a bunch of languages. I'd love to speak a couple of more languages myself so one day I hope to be like that. Though I doubt my brain capacity would be able to meet that lofty goal. (And also because she got to make out with Zach!)

I really should be sleeping now but I'm on a short sugar-filled-Calpis high. So instead, I'll quickly tell my loyal readers (hahah....no one?) about my journey into the underbelly of Japanese TV.

As you can see I'm really stretching to make this sound like a dramatic, life changing experience. But in truth, I just went to go watch a taping of a Japanese music show called "Music Lovers" with Ikimonogakari as their special guest. I entered a draw for a ticket through the band's e-newsletter and through some miracle won a spot. Of course I got the Gaijin Stare (TM) as I got in line outside the TV station but I think I've slowly grown numb to it's piercing effects. So I twiddled my thumbs and sent emails as I waited for the staff to get organized and start checking IDs.

After about a half hour of waiting in line they slowly started to let us into the building to drop off our coats and bags. After that was finished they herded us down the stairs into a stairwell where we waited with no further contact from the staff for at least 20 minutes, though I have a feeling it was closer to a half hour. When they finally got everything organized they let us into the actual studio, which I recognized from the time I had watched the Hitoto Yo special. They had split the women and men up, with women at the front aparently because of their height...but I'm thinking that it may have more with them wanted to have pretty Japanese girls on TV, not slightly awkward high school boys or otaku. And by some crazy stroke of luck I got herded into the very front row, right where the special guests of the day would be standing. Now I can't remember the girl's name, she was that generic Japanese TV actress that comes and goes within a year, but the other two I completely love. The other two were a comedy duo called Nankai Candies, with the two members being Shizu-chan and Yama-chan.

It was amazing being able to see them in real life, but the best part was definitely beeing no more than 2 meters away from the lead singer. She literally stared right at me for part of the song. It was an amazing feeling. I really look up to her as she and the other 2 guys in the band make really good music. Their biggest hit, Sakura, really made me tear up the first time I really listened to it and it means even more to me now that it kind of tells the story of the last 2 years of my life. They sang Hana wa Sakura, Kimi ga Utsukushii, Akane-iro no Yakusoku, Sakura, and a cover of the song Sotsugyou Shashin. They started as a street band outside of the stations on the Odakyu Line not that far from where I'm living and they explained that for a good couple of years they'd make one or two new songs but basically stick to doing covers of other people's stuff. They actually had to record Hana wa Sakura, Kimi wa Utsukushii 2 times because the crowd just was not into it all that much the first time. They did have a guy come out and try to warm us up, teaching us how we needed to clap and when what not. But as the first song it was still kind of tense. The lead singer actually mentioned that she was happy half way through the song when people actually started to get a bit more into the song. The major problem is that they are not a pop band of the bubblegum variety. They stuff is pretty mellow most of the time and I think a lot of people were afraid if they clapped they'd screw up the recording or something. In any case after re-recording that song we watched the talk segment and were sent on our way. It only really lasted an hour but that was the best free entertainment I've ever seen and was definitely worth the hour or more of waiting in line.

And just as a funny note, because I was right beside random actress A, you'll see half of my head or maybe even all of me if you see the show. And of course I'm waiting for the angry fanboy backlash of "Who the fuck is the fat white chick beside my precious ~~~?" or "I don't want to see white chicks on TV" so I'll report back with screen caps and with any nasty comments I find about myself on the net. Hahah.

Making good on my word, here are some more pictures from my (not so exciting) everyday life.

( Follow me into the rabbit hole.... )

And now I should be off to bed as I have to be up for 6 AM to get organize for my first day of training. I'm super high strung over this whole working thing but I think I've gone past being nervous and into that numb/pretending I don't know what's to come.

Seeing as I am really terrible at writing entries on a frequent basis, I've now turned to a new way of blogging. My (kind of late) New Years resolution is to update at least a couple of times a week with the pictures I've taken with my brand-spanking new cellphone. So here goes nothing!

( Read on for pictures )

Well I'm back in the land of the rising sun for another try at this international living thing. So far, and by that I mean the last week and a bit, things are looking up. Actually this time might be a bit better in the meeting Japanese people department. I've already met some of Shinya's friends and they seem really nice, though only 1 is Japanese. While I'm not allowed to socialized with my future students, I do hope that some sort of social connections might be born from my work there.

And of course my worried about starting this job could fill up your friends page so I'll keep it short. I've never held a job for more than 2 months and I'm worried that my complete and total lack of experience, not to mention my gaping void of knowledge when it comes to English grammar. Though getting negative before even going into training is not going to get me anywhere. I start next weekend in Aoyama for a whopping 5 days of training to get me prepared to teach, which I think is completely inadequate. Though it is true that those Oxford Seminars claim they can teach you how to teach in 4 days on top of teaching you how to land a job overseas. Training should go well though, from what I think it should be a lot like going to school, and if there's one thing I'm good at it's studying. I spoke to another employee of the same company and he said that I only have to do 1 sample lesson, only half of the actual length of a lesson (20 minutes) after the first 4 days of training. I'm sure I can put together something at that point. We get to sit in on lessons before that point so I should probably be able to fall into line.

Wish me luck~

I love this article. It basically sums up what I've been thinking about this worthless strike.

"But where does fair come into it? Does anyone really deserve to be making $14 an hour (plus benefits, plus a seven per cent increase) to do a minimum-wage job, when Manitoba’s unemployment rate is only five per cent — and, as Statistics Canada reported in 2004, 38 per cent of children living under the poverty line have a parent that is employed full-time?

Instead of hiring fewer students at a higher rate, the university should be hiring more students (particularly more international students, who have to apply for a permit to work off-campus) to give students a chance to earn their money back. Not only would this fit with the CAW’s plan to increase their union base, it would also devalue the university’s stronghold on the service workers. It’s pathetic that the only option available to CAW workers, bound by a poor contract, signed three years hence, is to strike — wasting everyone’s time, but mostly their own, when it has an hourly worth."

http://www.themanitoban.com/2007-2008/1017/116.Cleaning.house.php

A person does not deserve to make $14 an hour to flip burgers plain and simple. And hiring students was something that I thought was an amazing idea. I'm sure the students would provide better service than the grumps working there now anyhow.

It's been over a month since I've bothered to write anything. Well the latest in about 30 seconds would be that I have 8 or so days left in Japan before I have to say goodbye to the country that has treated me for the most part very well over these last 11.5 months.

I've seen off 3 of my good friends in the last week, which has been one of the toughest things I've done in a long time. These girls were like sisters to me and there wasn't anything that I couldn't trust them with.

Maria was my karaoke buddy, the one that was always excited over the little things, and the only person to love Tokyo Tower that much since it's been built.

Peng^2 was the laughing light of the group. Even in the mornings when everyone was sleepy or just kind of out it, she always was bouncy. I found myself with that kind of energy a lot of the time so I had a lot of time joking around with her. We even practiced our "Billy's Boot Camp" moves in the classroom together!

And Hinako was the older sister that I always wished I had. Even though we were born in different countries, with different languages, we always found ourselves thinking the same. There were numerous times when we would write exactly the same things for Japanese assignments. We were always there for each other when the other was in a pinch which I'll always be thankful for.

As I walk the halls here the house kind of feels empty now. Maria always hung out in the common room working on her website or watching Furin Kazan on TV. And I would always bump into Hinako at night because we share the same pattern of staying up until the forsaken hours of the night. I love them like family and I will never forget them.

Wow, heavy stuff out of the way, I'm still around and I see Akemi all of the time. I love talking to her, even if it's for short moments at a time. She's really cute but I don't think she'd ever admit that. So that is to say I'm not sitting around the house depressed all of the time. I'm friends with just about all of the foreign residence of the house so if I'm bored I always have someone to talk to.

Lately I've gone to see a soccer match (Kawasaki vs. Yokohama), I ate okonomiyaki in a restaurant for the first time (which was absolutely amazing), and have been packing like a mad man. You would not believe how much crap a person can amass in one year. From papers to containers, to piles and piles of books. Because everything is so cheap I seems to have gone a little overboard. But my airline is super forgiving for overweight baggage (only a 30 dollar fine for an extra 10KG).

So from today I'm going to spend my time with Shinya and try and get enough couple time in to last me 4 months. I'm going to be so lonely when I get back. But thankfully I have my sister which is a very fitting replacement. (haha) They both have the same amount of craziness so it will make the transition a bit easier. But 4 months is a long time, at least to me it is. But we've made it this far so I'm sure a couple of months won't be enough to tear us apart. I have faith in him 100% of the way, I guess that's is what it really means to be in love.

And on that mushy note I take my leave. I really need to get back on a normal sleeping pattern. This going to bed at 4 in the morning nonsense is killing the amount of time I have to actually do things.

I thank the gods that I don't live in Niigata. They were hit with a level 6 earthquake today, twice. It's really scary to think that if the plates were nearer to my house it probably would have been my house that fell over. I don't think I mentioned this, but my house is pretty crappy in the "strong against earthquakes" department. It's made of wood and I'm sure if a 6 hit kanto we would all die. Happy though, right? There was just another earthquake about 2 or 3 minutes ago, my lights swung a bit but that's all. I really am lucky to not be one of the hundreds of injured today. I just hope my luck holds out, for me and the millions of people living in the Kanto region.

Update - Another 6 level earthquake has hit Japan, the third one today. Good lord.

Wow, I can't believe I have a little over 2 months left in Japan. The thought of leaving my friends and Shinya tears my heart to pieces. This one year has taught me so much about life as well as myself. I really have to give my thanks to the board that picked me to go. It really has been a turning point in my life.

That said I'm looking forward to spending the next 2 months enjoying things and hopefully not taking anything too seriously. I've realized that with minimal effort I can scrape past the rest of the year and most probably that's exactly what I'll do. The morning classes I'll still try and get the most out of as possible though. They're the only thing that keep me going to school. The afternoon does a combination of things to me, including frustrates and bores. I mean, I'm used to classes I have no interest in (Macroeconomic Theory I) but this year has shown me a new level of boring. I'm sure everyone remembers bed time stories right? Someone reads off a paper to you. Well this is what most of our teachers do. They read off a piece of paper and like a bedtime story, it puts me to sleep. These teachers have a shaky grasp of English at best, and can't keep talking for an hour and a half if it's not off a piece of paper. But live at let be, or so I've learned this year. They don't expect me to pay attention so I don't. I've created some amazing pieces of art this year though.

So in the next weeks I have a couple of things to look forward to. First is the Melon Kinenbi and Emyli concert. I managed to get a ticket to it, standing only of course, but for 2000 yen I'm not complaining. Then today I managed to score a ticket to happy pani, the *pnish* anniversary event. It was amazing, the tickets sold out in 4 minutes! I didn't think I'd be able to beat the fangirls, but I did! I'm just scared of the dirty looks I'm gonna get from them once I get there. And finally, dinner out with Chino-san! Our economics teacher is taking us out for dinner in Roppongi to a chinese restaurant in the ANA International hotel! I'm so excited. This guy is completely loaded as he owns his own company, so he can afford it. He's an expert in grain trading and was on CNBC the other day. I wish I could live like that, living a year or two in tons of foreign countries, owning my own business. Ah, that must be the life.

Shinya and I are talking about going camping. Renting out a cabin is surprisingly cheap. My guess is because Tokyo-ites don't like anything that doesn't have electricity and other fancy add ons. But a night in a cabin with some canoeing or something sounds like a wonderful get away. He can drive so we can probably steal the car for a day or two. Also I have to start planning the K-STEP album! I had the idea of making something like a yearbook for us and the girls seemed to bite...but I have to get things moving. Need some paper, already have colours pens and markers and stuff...this should be fun. A good way to kill a day if we have some time off. Though everyone seems so busy that I doubt this will ever get done!

I have to make sure I enjoy these last days I have here. Create memories that will stay with me forever because I'll never have this chance again. I think, even with all of the BS, this experience will continue on as one of the happiest period in my life.

I just watched a very stupid show on television, but like any other over tired person, it evoked many deep and profound thoughts. (Okay, not many, but one or two)

The point of this show was to make 4 ブサイク("ugly,homely")female TV personalities so upset that they raised their blood pressure, setting off an alarm. If they didn't get upset they won a fancy prize. Of course the prize was food, like on every other Japanese TV show.

So there's the 4 lined up against an 8 person pannel in charge of being as mean to them as possible. In the 4, are 2 of my favorite personalities of the moment, the group Harisenbon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl52-m6GYFw&mode=related&search=　They're very different from the disgustingly fake looking Japanese women that are plastered all over all of the other TV shows. They're normal.

So back to my point. The 4 are lined up and the nasty birds started pecking away at their pride. There's one thing I want to point out. I found most of these people more ugly (inside and outside) than these girls ever could be. There were 2 ganguro girls with literally black faces, a Egyptian lady who belonged on the busaiku side, these 2 cabaret club girls (good work girls, the only reason you're not prostitutes is because they leave that job for the immigrant girls), and other random non-famous people. So the start with the first topic "Ugly girls shouldn't be on TV". So the 2 cabaret girls especially, start to attack every appearance based fault they can find before moving on to much more personal things. They were so mean to one of the girls that, while normally a very calm personality, started screaming in what is vulgar Japanese for a woman. In the end she landed up being buzzed out and left only to cry when getting to the waiting room between the different "topics".

Now you think, well all is fair considering it's just a game, right? Wrong. The look on these cabaret girls' faces and considering that they made constant remarks about their superior beauty somehow raising them above all else, you come to realize quickly that they really believe it. In this society, fashion magazines, I'm sure, sell much better than newspapers, especially amoungst the younger generations. To go to school most girls that I see have perfectly curled hair, have designer clothes on, and wear stilletos or pumps. I must add that 99% of them have to travel in the train in the morning, meaning that they stand for what could be a 20 minute to 1 hour commute and then walk to school on top of that. They'll be reaping the fruits of their labour in 20 years from now. Maybe I should become a chiropractor. But back to the topic at hand, I was kind of shocked at the attitude of superiority that these women seemed to have, a kid of pride in nothing by their permed hairstyles and god-given bone structures. Is that really what's become important in life? I swear that no feminist would be able to survive here. The shallow nature of some of the younger generation is disgusting, even to me.

That is not to say that the same shallow culture doesn't exist back home, it does. But not to the same extent. Actually as time goes on, and education in Feminist ideals increases in schools, those over done fashionistas are actually decreasing. Or at least it felt so in the schools I've been to. In my high school they were most definitely in the minority and I also notice that most women at the university also tend to take a more relaxed approach their appearances. Not to they are messy looking, not at all. They just are not quite as obsessed. I'll confess here that I secretly laugh at how much make up some of the Japanese girls wear here. Like eye shadow so bright that it stands out like neon against their either bleached skin or heavily bronzed skin (no middle ground here).

So my point? Media is an interesting way to learn about what a culture holds as important at the moment. It just happens that what they've shown me in kind of depressing.

Go go normal girls! I'm on the ブサイク team so I've gotta cheer them on.

Before coming to Japan I thought this would be the most expensive country in the world. Or so I was told. But in actuality I love shopping here because I can buy so much for quite a small ammount of money. Like today, I spent 12 dollars and bought enough food for 3 meals plus snacks and other things. I was lucky to buy a bag of groceries back home for $20.

( My Shopping Trip )

I know this is a waste of internet space, but as the second in command in the K-STEP Sukebe Club I found this hillarious.
( Just to amuse myself... )

I know I base way too many of my 'Japan' entries on this topic, but it's the one that makes the most upset. Today I watched the newest episode of わたしたちの教科書　(Our Textbook) and I sat glued to the TV. I'll just let you know quickly what this show is about. There's a young girl that's committed suicide from OO middle school. There is an underlying suspicion that it was related to bullying (a very hot topic in the country), but the school refuses to admit the possibility. On the other hand teachers within the school, as well as lawyers considering taking on the case, believe the opposite.

Now you'd wonder why a stupid drama would suck me in, especially seeing as most of the time I can't stand them. This one hit way close to home. I've seen how broken the education system is here with my own eyes. In today's episode you have students studying for their high school entrance exams while in the middle of an unrelated class. The teacher reprimands a particular student and in turn gets scolded by the mother and is told to let the children do what they wish. These were lines that I found really left a strong impression:

Serious Teacher: Well if we're not supposed to teach the students, what is the purpose of having schools?
Other Female Teacher: I don't know.

Different part of the scene

F.T. : If students wanted to really study they could just go to the juku (cram school).

It's interesting that it seems the media has caught onto the fact that schools are broken. They no longer teach anything outside of the entrance exam guidelines, and on top of that children can no longer be reprimanded for anything. Classrooms are no longer places where one is taught, but a place where one learns on their own. It's also a place where the whims of the children rule supreme. They make a very important point in this episode; these middle school kids are not "children" anymore in the sense that they are not incapable of committing evil, evil things against those around them.

So if the media knows the school system is broken, why isn't the government doing anything to try and fix it? Well that would be because Japan hates to admit that there's something wrong with the way they do things. My economics teacher this term, Mr. Chino, says it all of the time, "Japanese people are very slow to make any type of change.". So while the government saves face by not admitting their faults, they continue with their overly regimented education system with a zero tolerance policy on reprimanding students. The sad thing is that in the end it's the kids that lose out. They may leave school with the ability to solve math problems better than their western counterparts, but they lack the psychological shaping that a school is supposed to play. I'm not one for pushing my moral beliefs onto other people, but children need to be taught what human decency is. That concept is one that is not innate to the human psyche. It's obvious that these kids don't realize that what they're doing could lead to a real death among their peers, they're still stuck in the invincible stage. One needs to have responsibility and respect reinforced in their youth or they'll never put it into use in their later years.

I really hate to be so condescending, but lately I've just been so disenchanted with the system here. I'm glad Shinya comes from a good family, like wise with my other Japanese friends. They all seem to have been taught to respect everyone. Even use with different coloured faces. Unlike those stupid punks in Politics class on Tuesday. The ones who talked over the teacher for an hour and a half. They teacher waited until the end of class to reprimand them and only because “it was disrespectful towards the foreign students”. Poor teachers.

I love this country, but there are some people here that are a bit too over the top for me.

This is from today's "history" class (about the geophysics of Japan):

Incident 1 - The start of things was a conversation about the fact that Japanese people eat only one type of rice. The point that it's possible, if not for trade barriers, that Japanese people would probably eat more kinds of rice was brought up. This is where the fun starts. This "teacher" finds this idea completely preposterous. He insists that Japanese people will only eat sticky rice and this rice can only be produced here. So the debate goes back and forth with the student sounding more intelligent than the teacher. The teacher didn't really have any grounds for saying what he did, he just said it to flap his gums, or so it seemed.

Incident 2 - At this point the teacher started purposely using extremely difficult, geophysic specific terms. So he turns to me and Jeff in turn, asking us if we know the meaning of his very obscure words. To which the both of us reply in the negative. Of course this seems to give him some sort of pleasure and he responds with a smirk, "Well it's okay they're hard words", in the most amazingly condescending voice. This of course is a lead in to a lecture about the amazing properties of Kanji (I bet you saw that coming just about as well as I did. Did I mention this was supposed to be a history lecture?). He brought out some crazy book written about how Japanese Kanji are amazing and pulls out more difficult English words and writes out their kanji equivalents that *amazingly* (to him) that the Chinese speaking people in the class understood. Would that have anything to do with them...well having studied Chinese characters most of their lives?

So this goes on for a while and I'm starting to feel more upset, bordering on explosively angry at his ignorant way of making his very twisted point. Which I might add, my linguistics studying friend has informed me is a load of shit. Finally Jeff seemed to have about as much as he could take of it too as asked the teacher if he "amused him". I interjected...but I'll let the truth spill here. I only did so to stop the conversation before I got involved. I knew that if he started reaming that asshole of a teacher I would want a piece of the action. And the last thing I want to do is to talk back to a teacher here and find myself on the receiving end of a strongly worded talking down to by 国際交流課. I know that's their way of dealing with us types.

Now you might wonder why I got so angry. It was particulary because of this beautiful Freudian slip: "It's okay only educated people...specially educated people understand these types of words." said to us English speakers in the room in a condescending voice. If there's one thing I won't take, it's to be spoken down to. I've taken on the responsibilities of being an adult, so I expect to be treated like one.

Grrrr

http://www.meiji.co.jp/movie/frame/sweets/chocolife/chocolife-chess-60s.html

Perverted Japanese old man commercials are lots of love.

I'll tell you a little story of why I hate rich/over-privileged people.

Today there was a very sudden rain storm. And when I say sudden I mean sudden. It was only partially cloudy one moment, and pouring with thunder and the works the next. So seeing as it's Japan, there is a long line up for taxis at the train station. Both me and Shinya don't have umbrellas and considering it will only cost us each 3 dollars to get home we don't mind the splurge. So we stand in line like every other person ahead of us. Quite a line builds up behind us but everyone falls into their proper place. Then out of nowhere show up these two. A very stereotypical housewife of an upper class husband, obvious by her expensive clothing and overly done hair and make up, and her wonderful bundle of joy, a high school aged son. The son was in his very crisply pressed school uniform so there was no mistaking his age. So they decide to butt in line ahead of us. Now I have to explain the logistics of this to you folks in the form of a diagram



Now as you see Entitlement Family (EF) comes in from a different direction than most of the others waiting in line. I could have understood standing there confused and then moving but this gem of a conversation goes on between the two.

Mother: Ooh, I wonder if we should stand here...
Son: It doesn't matter (This sounds so much worse in it's original Japanese. The kid used ねぇぜ　instead of ないよ if that means anything to the reader).

So the two not only move into the line but do so by squeezing themselves into the 6 inches between us and the people in front of us. By now my blood is just about to boil because I knew they knew what they were doing. Unfortunately though, because I have foreigner stamped on my forehead I would be met with disdain at best, completely ignored at worst. So I mention it to Shinya who's been watching the whole thing too. So he turns to them and in his most nice good boy Japanese (which he uses with everyone minus his really good friends) explains that the line does in fact end where...you know...all of the people are lined up. And she gives him the tongue sound in response. You know the 'nngh' sound that the teenagers like to make these days when they're pissed off. So he replies that it really does start over there and then proceeded to say just as loudly in her face, "Fuck.....". I've never loved him more than in that moment, I swear to the lord almighty I wanted to do exactly the same thing. Of course they, being obviously well off and the idea of waiting completely absurd to them, walked off into the rain with no umbrella. We then continued to talk about the incident in English until our taxi showed up a whole 5 or so minutes later. We'd been in line about 10 minutes all together. Yes, they would have had to of waited a whole 10 minutes like everyone else there did. But instead, because they figured themselves important, got shot down in public by my most awesome of boyfriends. Love you hon

This is probably one of the funniest commercials I've seen since coming to Japan...at least the one that I like to mimic the most. Enjoy!

Hello peoples!

I'm now oficially 21! So I guess I should let you all know what I've been up to lately. First of all I went to Okinawa at the beginning of the month. We went for 4 days and I really loved it there. There were so many clean clear water white sand beaches and interesting things to see.



And who wouldn't love that after the concrete jungle that Tokyo is? Though I really would like to go back to Kamakura now that it's nice out. Today I was walking around outside in just a t-shirt. And people wonder why I'm not interested in going back to Winnipeg!

Most other days I've been doing nothing of too much excitement. Mostly day trips into the city or to go to see movies. Or just simple quiet days in the house. I'm basically just enjoying my free time here before I have to go back to school.

Okay, now for my birthday I spent a nice quiet day with the guy I love. We went shopping in Aobadai. I found some piano books (YAY!) and it was a good way to kill time until dinner. For dinner we to The Macaroni Factory, a fancy Italian restaurant somewhere between Tama Plaza and Azamino stations. The food was amazing to say the least and we both got a kick out of feeling rich. It was pretty obvious that the rest of the patrons had money. Unfortunately I have 0 table manners so I blew that facade pretty quickly. And I got so many presents! I feel so special (;_;)



And for the first time, I got flowers from Shinya! They are the most beautiful things I've ever seen and the picture doesn't do it justice.



Well that's about it for now. I'll probably write more about my trip later! Until next time take care :D

A recent topic in the news here has been the increasing numbers of parents that won't pay for their children's lunch fees (給食費). Schools in this country supply food for elementary school students at lunch and even those children who's parents don't pay are allowed to eat. Because of this the quality of the meals has slowly dropped from full meals with a very balanced diet, to smaller, less good tasting meals that simply fill the children's nutritional needs for the day. Now, you may ask me to have some compassion on these poor parents who can't afford their children's many school fees in this overpriced country. Wrong. 60% of those that don't pay are able to pay and simply refuse for stupid reasons like "Well, my kid doesn't think it tastes good so I don't have to pay". Meanwhile these parents, especially mothers, sport designer clothing and bags.

People like this should never be allowed to have children. I know there is a lot of pressure to have children in this country, but if you're not willing to support them financially and mentally then don't have any. This on top of the huge issue with child suicides linked to bullying and the harsh examination systems, I feel really sorry for kids in this country. I know a lot of them turn out fine, but you know a society has issues when the future of the society, the children, are some of the most harshly treated.