Rainy Season has Begun, No more Laughing, no More Fun...

We are now offically into the first week of rainy season in Japan. While it seemed to have rained as much last month, it definitely wasn't as warm. From what I can tell so far, rainy season has the following characteristics.

1. It rains...everyday

2. On days it manages to not rain, you wish it was, because it's really humid.

3. Your pants and shirts stick to all over everything because you are coated with perspiration.

4. Tour armpits are perpetually 'swampy.'

5. Everybody says tsukareta (I'm tired) or atsui (It's hot) all day long.

5. Everybody is moody.

The students at school are less enthusiastic than they were last month, and teachers who normally are bright and cheery seem a little less so as well. The teachers who were less than cheery last month have already snapped a couple times (at least the male ones). The students sometimes seem to take the brunt of this aggression. I've already seen a couple of teachers yell and manhandle a few of the students, which kinda bothers me. The reasons why the students are physically and verbally disciplined vary, from "that student has not done their homework for a week," to "they ignored a teachers request to tuck in their shirt." The odd thing to me though, is that I can see how angry the teacher is when they get to school in the morning already...so it's almost no surprise to me to find out that the teacher is 'disciplining' a student. I know I am an outsider looking in, but this feels like a dark spot on an otherwise decent educational system.