Friday, March 24, 2006

Office Parties

In Japan, it is now the end of the fiscal & school year and that means it’s “Enkai” time again. Any office or work related party is called an “enkai”. Because many staff will retire or transfer there are all these “farewell parties” and “welcome parties”. Over the next 2 weeks I have a bunch of them to go to. Here’s a link that explains what an “Enkai” office party is….just click this link(click me)

This guys experience is petty different from mine but it gives you an idea. People don’t get too crazy at my parties and two of the English teachers I work with don’t drink. We also have most of our enkais at a hotel and we sit at western-style tables. I find the parties pretty tiring as there are so many speeches (of course, only in Japanese) but it is usually the only forum in which co-workers will let their hair down and speak openly with each other. It has been a good experience in the past as I have made friends with some teachers who I will go an entire year without being able to say more than “hello”.

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