Better By Nightfall

If it wasn't official before, it most certainly is now. My Japanese/Japan Culture teacher is El Douchetto.

El(La) Douchetto(a)

A confusing and complicated person with scattered ideas that make you think they are worse than a "douche bag"

Today we had an exam which usually consists of 20-35 multiple choice questions in regards to various topics we discussed earlier in the month. This time these question were focused around the various holidays that Japan has, including dates, meanings, and objects used during said holidays.

We also usually have short essay questions that focus on topics that are expandable enough to write 3-9 sentences on. Last time they focused on cultural ideas and norms, like miai marriage and renai marriage, among others.

This time, however, it was much different. El douchetto decided it'd be more interesting to put only one lengthy and totally what-the-fuck-out-of-the-blue essay question on there:

"Give five proposals that you could implement to improve U.S. and Japanese relations, both culturally and educationally. Be sure to note what each proposal is and how you actually implement it to achieve the goal each proposal seeks to obtain."

Motherfuck! Say what?!?

Yeah, so the whole class breezes through the multiple choice questions and gets to the essay and thinks exactly what I just said. Having no clue as to where this essay question came from, I decided to implore my mad speech/debate skills (a.k.a. knowledge-base and bullshit-base of ideas) to help me make the essay seem much better than it would have been. Needless to say, I proposed one practical idea (embracing each culture through the sight of co-dependency), three educational examples (more stringent language-based programs throughout elementary, middle, and high school; more historic education with backing in Cultural Anthropology to assure proper understanding of all cultures and not just a focus on European cultures; and more exchange based programs where educators from both countries experience each others culture first-hand), and one economic example (where the U.S. and Japan have more fluid economic relations between business to lessen complications and increase profit-motive [Yeah, I said that.]).

I don't know how the rest of the class did or how I did. I do, however, know that my professor is officially El Douchetto. It wasn't official before, but it most certainly is now. No professor I know has ever done something that retarded on an exam before, not even my professor for Energy for Society. I'm less frustrated with it than I was before, but it doesn't detract from the fact that our modern language department in the Japanese area needs a lot of work.