Kojima Nobuo’s short story “The American School” offers a somewhat humorous take on the fictional (but likely) account of several Japanese English teachers who have been forced to visit a newly founded American school in Japan shortly after the end of the War. World. II. The plot centers on four main characters: Isa is the protagonist who has been forced to teach English simply because she knows some words and phrases, but she hates the language because she can’t pronounce it well. Shibamoto is the head of the Japanese procession that visits the school (although we don’t know much about him since the narrator rarely gives us his point of view). Yamada is a highly accomplished jerk who speaks English well enough to continue with the US troops and thus considers himself better than Isa (putting him in the position of the antagonist), and Michiko is the only female in the group, who strangely speaks better English than Yamada. As their procession proceeds towards the American school, the reader is given the opportunity to see Japanese and American cultural features; by the interaction between passing US troops in their jeeps and walking natives, as well as the behavior of US children at school.
An example of this would be how Americans seem hotheaded and impatient in contrast to the Japanese and their ways. For example, Yamada has an encounter with an American soldier in a jeep who, when he discovers that Yamada’s leader is late for his appointment with American officials, throws his hands up in the air and walks away saying sarcastically, “I’m really sorry for that.” keep you waiting.” This hasty “must be on time” attitude, in the face of the more laid-back nature of the Japanese, seems to epitomize, as it were, a cultural difference between West and East.
Another example showing differences in cultural characteristics occurs below. Isa and Michiko are inside the school waiting in line for a tour when Michiko sees two students holding hands in a “crush on each other”. Michiko says, “Look at those two over there, how disgusting!” which shows that Michiko had never seen two people in love holding hands before, or that holding hands in public was not something generally accepted in Japanese culture during that time. Kojima Nobuo generally hints at such cultural divisions and rarely makes direct statements to lampoon either culture. In this way, he tactfully assumes that the reader is intelligent enough to make his own assumptions and judgments. When Michiko falls on her high heels and the Principle sees what has happened, we know he is the epitome of a smug, arrogant American when she says, “Oh yeah. The old kamikaze spirit.”
In conclusion, “The American School” is a well-written, sometimes satirical short story that helps to reflect on some of the many differences in cultural characteristics between Japan and the United States during the end of World War II.
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