Lunchtime

A recent book review on NPR said that the author of the largest book release this year was attracted to writing about middle school because of its “inherent drama.” He obviously did not go to a Japanese Middle School. The only drama here is the drama I make up in my head to make sense of my world and sometimes just to pass time.

While I waited for lunch today, I sat at a desk made for someone 3 ft. tall (The students desks are bigger, I don’t know why I get the small one, seriously my knees can’t go under it.) in a circle with the other students in their classroom. I listened to choir music on the boom box and watched the students serve up lunch trays of fried, sponge-like and gelatinous objects. As soon as that was settled, we ate quietly, but with a purpose, since a maximum of 20 minutes is allotted to eat every last piece and clean up. Today the menu was cold whole little fried fishies and a pickled salad with more fish bits and the standard bowl of white rice and 100% milk (I don't know what that means either). It was the same menu as my very first school lunch, that time when I got sick because my stomach thought I had voluntarily chosen to eat that, and it was trying to teach me a lesson… I was the only one not wearing a hygienic mask, hat or white apron by the way, and as I took it all in – the sterileness, the clockwork efficiency and measured proportions, I realized how ridiculously different this all is from my own middle school lunch time survival experiences…

There were so many variables that went into your lunchtime status. Who were your friends? Who were your backup friends? Was your last class close to the lunch area or an extra 5 minutes away? Did you buy lunch? Did you bring lunch? Did try and set the bathrooms on fire instead of eating lunch? And did you have a dollar for the Otis Spunkmeyer hot chocolate chip cookies right before lunchtime ended?

As someone of middle status, This meant it would have been awkward for me to try and sit with a more popular acquaintance and it would be impossible for me to bring my friends along because that would cross boundaries and amount to an invasion, which would have been perceived as hostile. But at least I had freedom of movement throughout different territories. The stress came with defending our own mid-level plot with shade (key) from an encroachment of undesirables who had bigger numbers. The stake out of the area was precisely coordinated in advance, with who already had lunch and would get there first, based on shortest distance traveling from class. The only detention I’ve ever had was from getting caught leaving class early to get to lunch.

We also had music at lunchtime, but choir music might have motivated escapes. Sometimes a “DJ” would play music on Fridays. That stopped when the yard duties actually listened to some of the lyrics. I especially remember the time they wised up to the Aint Nothing But Mammals song, probably realizing “do it like they do it on the discovery channel” was not about wildlife photography or such things.

Lunch was an essential element of middle school. The drama, the politics, the social maneuvers, the freedoms of expression! Not to forget, the life lessons in defense of property and the effects of libel, without which I would be a different person today. The order and equality that rules the lunchtime here, must be likewise influencing Japanese students. It would be naive of me to think that my Japanese middle school lacks a social geography, just because I don’t notice who is cool and where they hang out. For now, while this school in particular compared to my others, feels so strict and orderly, on good days I feel like it is more Zen sanctuary, than an expressionless void. For now...