The Enkai

Well, it's time for another Japanese culture lesson.
This time we will talk about the 'enkai' or office party. On a basic level all the enkai is, is a chance for people who work together to relax and have a good time. However there are some important aspects that make it quite different from what we might expect in the states.

First of all, Japanese people have absolutely no problem having an enkai on a weeknight. I had one tonight, Wednesday, and everyone had to work tomorrow. Whereas I am used to having parties on Friday or Saturday (or, in college, on Thursday since Friday is the new Saturday) they see nothing wrong with staying up late drinking on a Wednesday night and then getting up early and going to work the next day. So, we had an enkai tonight.

The reason we had one tonight was because Saturday (yeah, I had to work on Saturday) was the 'jugyou sankan'. 'Jugyou' means lecture, and 'sankan' means observation. So, this is the day that parents come to the school to watch what happens when they aren't there, and it's also the day that the teachers put a lot of work into their lectures to make it look good, as well as the day the students are really on their toes so their parents think they always pay attention. I only had one class that was observed but the kids were really on top of things that day. I have never seen more hands being raised in that class before. Of course, since one of the student's mothers is also a student of mine in my adult English class I was able to find out that the parents were well aware that the kids were acting unusual that day. Still, it went well.

Anyhow, this is a big deal which the faculty and the PTA work hard to pull off so they have an enkai to celebrate its success, which was tonight. So, some of the PTA and some of the teachers met at a local restaurant to have a good time. In America a party usually means having people over to your house, but in Japan it simply means everyone goes to a restaurant together. We would call this "going out to eat together" but here it's a full blown party. Fortunately for me I live in town (which many of the teachers don't) so I was able to drink (the legal blood alcohol level here is 0.00%).

One of the cool things about tonight was that three of the PTA members who came are parents of students. Sure, this should have been obvious (hello, P stands for PARENT) but I actually knew who their students were. All three students are some of the better kids (one of them is a star student) which makes one wonder. Are the parents involved because their kids are good students? Or are the kids good students because their parents are involved? The question is applicable everywhere. I remember my father being pretty involved and I like to think I was a good student, so which came first? The chicken or the egg? Hmmm... (In all likelihood I should be saying "Thanks, Dad!", so, "Thanks, Dad!")

What is the point of all of this? I have no idea. I had a party tonight with parents and teachers and I had a great time. Maybe that's the point. Maybe the point is that I drank a pretty decent amount of beer and I have to get up early tomorrow. Maybe the point is that I have to face students whose fathers got drunk with me. Maybe the point is that Japanese people like to have a party at the drop of a hat. Who knows. To me, the point is that I enjoyed myself.