Sex Slaves and German Nazi Dogs

I owned an English language school in Japan.

I loved my students when I lived in Japan. Sincerely loved them in a good way.

They were generally hard working, diligent, conscientious and pleasant. Teachers had to lose respect, not fearn it.

Every now and then I would come upon some that most certainly weren’t the brightest light bulbs in the chandelier, the firmest brick in the wal, the sturdies leg on the chair.

For whatever reason Japanese like t-shirts that have something written on them.

If it’s English, it’s really cool. Anything in Roman characters is cool – French, Italian… Most Japanese think it’s English. It’s kind of like Westerns and their new found affection for Japanese/Chinese characters. One of the girls in my classroom here has the Kanji for COW on her leg. I told her about it and she screamed “That’s not what they told me!” and ran out of the room.

In the West, we care what our t-shirts say. We wear them to make a statement. The t-shirt I have on now is from my son’s university. I go to the gym in my Ohio State sweatshirt. I don’t wear Google anything.

In Japan, it doesn’t matter what the t-shirt says, Japanese will wear anything. They just want to look cool.

Every now and then I had to call a student out into the hall and have them turn their t-shirt inside out. The writing on their t-shirt just wouldn’t do. Four letter words aimed at McDonald’s and so on.

In one incident I had to send a young lady to the girl’s restroom to have her turn her shirt inside out. For obvious reasons, I couldn’t have her do it in the hallway, right? Right!?

What the t-shirt said – “I was a sex slave for German Nazi dogs.”

No kidding.

I think these kinds of incidents are called ‘teachable moments’ no?

The moral – read your shirt! Preferably before you buy it. Oh, and check out the meaning of that Kanji you want tattooed on your body, too.

Orginially posted at Japan-hopper.