This has been one of my favourite sequences in the story thus far. Japanese kids are little devils. I really am surprised at how many people assume Japanese kids sit in rows like little angels. When I describe “Kanchou” to others they are often horrified and appalled. I remember there was another “game” boys used to play called “electric chair” where four boys would hold down another and a fifth would kick him in the junk as hard as possible. I almost got Kanchoued a couple times, but I learned quickly to never turn my back on a class. I did have a young boy punch me in the crotch in my second team-teach lesson during training.
Today is also day 1 in my new place with my lovely girlfriend Sydney More!
Cheers,
Jeff
Kids in South Korea have their own version of Kanchou, called Dongchung. Lucky for me, they only do it to their male teachers.
Really enjoyed reading through your archives! Great story and art! I’m really jealous of your backgrounds! Glad to know there’s another webcomic about living in Japan. Keep up the good work!
Whoa! That’s on the job training of a different kind!
Interesting. I find there’s a lot of cross over culturally between Korea and Japan, though they’d never admit it
Thanks for the kind words! I owe my backgrounds to having lots of photos, and getting Jonathon to check my perspective lines.
I’ll be checking out your archives too. I’m surprised there aren’t more Eikaiwa comics. Are you still in japan now?
These last few pages are so familiar to me. Being thrown into a class with no time to prepare and no proper materials was probably the scariest thing ever.
I just want to point out that kids in Taiwan would never do something like this. They can be right little terrors, but Kanchou? No way.
My kids in mainland China never did this ever, either. They would have been in huge trouble with their parents.
I did, however, quickly learn the mandarin word for “butt”. I would often hear 很大屁股 (hen da pigu) from the six year olds because, in China, I have a huge ass >.<
Of course, the could have been saying 打屁股, which sounds similar, but means "slap the butt". I never got any butt slapping though.