Going to School in Japan is sometimes a little dangerous and often funny!

Well I have two stories of things that happened on the way to school. Everyday I ride and then catch a train and then ride again to get to my Junior High School. This particular day I was riding with a teacher from school and she was ahead of me. Suddenly I heard her say a Japanese “what!?!” – “e---!!” and swerve almost off the footpath as they are so narrow and there are drains either side! Well I was close behind and suddenly did the same as there was a snake on the path which was close to 50cm long! There are only 2 poisonous snakes in Japan and this wasn’t one! But it was raising it’s head and wasn’t pretty!

The thin roads near school.


The other story is when I was going to my new primary school. Somehow I had lost my map and thought I would just go as it was close to my apartment. Well I got lost! In Japan primary school students walk to school in a kind of human bus! There is a leader with a flag and all the students follow. Well while I am lost I see a line of students and wonder that maybe they are going to the school that I need to be at. So I ask them in my basic Japanese what school they go to but they go to another primary school that I work at! Well one student thought she would try to help so she starts reaching into her bag and telling me to wait in Japanese. I am thinking she is going to draw me a map but she pulls out a world atlas! She finds a map of Japan and says in Japanese that it is difficult! It was so cute! Well I continue on my way and decide to ask junior high school students this time, well they answered in Japanese but I only understood the word right. So there I was turning down every street on the right only to come back to the main road and see the students again waving me on and saying “right” in Japanese! Well I eventually found it! It was on the main road on the right hand side!! After all that I still made it on time too!

Students walking to school.