ode to imaizumi

this is an ode to my supervisor from the honjo board of education, imaizumi-san. not only did this amazing man just come to my house to hand-install my internet, last week he also hand-delivered a giant package i had received at the office. this man, along with yumiko-san, another board of ed employee who happily played the role of travel agent for me last week, have done so much for me helping me settle in, they should probably be sainted. when i expressed my gratitude to imaizumi in the form of a flippy cube with pictures of nyc on it i got from the met, he thanked me so profusely, you might have thought i had handed over my first born child. no imaizumi-san, thank YOU.

i wish i had a picture to share with you of this fantastic bastion of the japanese educational system, but unfortunately he is quite shy. i will try to get one this weekend at the second honjo festival i will be attending, where he will be manually pulling a float filled with little girls dancing. i heard the theme of this festival is samurai and plums, but something may have been lost in translation there.

did i mention he is obsessed with early-90s rap/hip-hop/R&B a la TLC, Skee-Lo, Salt-n-Pepa, and Naughty by Nature, and blasts this in his car? this is probably the most endearing thing about him. he also has reportedly sang green day "really well" at karaoke.

or how about the time he came back from checking out jeff's bike in the parking lot outside the BofE, dramatically seizing up in pain as he re-entered the office, claiming the (locked) bike had done serious damage to his foot. but why, imaizumi-san, were you kicking the bike in the first place? we never did find out. he does tend to exaggerate physical discomfort, he often gives the look of a damsel in distress after being outside for a few minutes, sighing "atsui desu!" (=it's hot out!) while ferociously fanning himself.

and i mustn't forget the little notes he leaves for amelie, jeff, and me in our cutely labeled drawers at the office. ie. "this is important. please keep yourself." and his keitai messages: "This is imaizumi. (thumbs up pictogram) will you come to office today?"

he is also the proud father of a newish baby and has several stuffed animals in his car for said baby, that mostly look like the "ugly doll" line.

imaizumi is new to the job of supervising ALTs, and he apparently misses his old job, which involved working in the rice paddies somehow, a great deal. in japan every April many public employees are shuffled around to different jobs, i think to find the best fit, but apparently you can end up with strange responsibilities you are not at all trained for - though as i have been told many times, variety is the spice of life! i don't think i would mind yearly career changes, actually.

anyway, i'll leave you with a pic from jeff of saturday night at the izekaya, celebrating edel's birthday with several new japanese friends. it seems to be common practice over here at the izekayas to come sit down with any party you choose, provided they are not in a private room with their door closed. we went to karaoke after this, which i must say is the most fun i've had since i arrived, and i wasn't expecting to love it so! if only imaizumi had been there!