When Worlds Collide

Eri left for Yokohama Friday, so she could pack up what she wants to send to our new home. I left that day for Uehonmachi via a Limited Express train, which usually takes about 45 minutes to reach Umeda. This morning, however, it kept stopping on bridges for anywhere from 5-7 minutes. It was over an hour before we pulled into Umeda, and during that time I realized I had forgotten the other two gifts I needed to drop off at Yoggy Osaka. When I finally arrived at the Uehonmachi studio, I found I had forgotten my shorts. An interesting start to the day. However, later that afternoon, I received a call from Eri with fantastic news. Yamaguchi-san from Choei had called her to say I would be receiving all of the money I had paid them, every last yen, by the end of the month. Yatta! (Yippee!)

I spent most of my afternoon at Shinsaibashi on the internet, sending emails to friends and trying to finalize my travel plans. After all was said and done I am still a long way off.

Saturday I had a meeting with Tomoko at 2:30pm. Miho came to translate. It was an interesting conversation. Apparently, Yoggy is worried about a few things. One is that I have asked students to sometimes translate for me during class to clarify specific alignment points, or extrapolate on the tantric philosophy. The staff, never having this occur in the class before, are supposedly anxious about what could possibly happen because of this. Their concern is that the students are paying customers, and this is an abuse of their payment. I asked if any students had complained. No. I asked if any of the people who had translated for me had complained. No. Another issue is that my class numbers have dropped since my initial first two weeks*. I made the point that of course the first two weeks many would try my classes, but that not all would be interested. They feel that my use of people as translators may have had an affect on this, because it is the only variable recently introduced. 

So, I have agreed not to ask anyone to interpret for me in class anymore. I feel that here at Yoggy it is all about me making concessions. There is no reciprocity. I am not asking to be given anything. All I would like to see is that some effort is made in trying to understand me for who I am. I was brought into Yoggy because of what I, as a unique individual, can bring to the students. Tomoko tells me though, that LOHAS wants everyone here to be the same in classes. I am the only male teacher for these three studios, and the only foreigner. I am going to be different. This is not better or worse, it just is. I have no problem with trying to make concessions that seem fairly reasonable, but if no one wants to step towards me, I am not being respected as a fellow being, let alone as a teacher who has come to Japan to offer all that I have to the students here.

There are so many things I could go on about, but I came to a decision today to actively walk the middle path between wanting to completely integrate into this culture and completely ignoring its emotional infrastructure. When I initially came here, I really wanted to do the former, but I now see that that is an impossibility. I am not, nor will I ever be Japanese. This is not better or worse, it just is. I need to be seen for who I am. I will try to honor some of the parameters set here, but I will not become a cookie-cutter teacher just to keep everyone happy. I would really like to come to an amicable middle ground with the Yoggy staff, and hope this can happen. 

As I said to Miho, if two different cultures in a yoga studio can’t meet each other half way, then what hope is there for the world to do this as a whole?

*I decided to check this out for myself, since I keep a running tab of class attendance for my own information. Looking at the numbers, there has not been a steady decrease. There have been classes that have dipped from the previous one, classes that have risen in attendance, and classes that stayed exactly the same. There were also two weekends in a row that my classes at Shinsaibashi were consigned to the smaller studio, which meant an automatic drop in attendance, because I can only fit 10-11 people. I will bring this up at the meeting I am hoping to have soon with the entire Yoggy staff.