Living in a glass house is not unique to me...

I (and other ALTs who I converse with) often feel like they treat us like children here. Like, because we are foreigners they try to control all aspects of our life to keep us from getting into trouble and, as such, they demand knowledge of all aspects of their life. For instance, ALTs who I know have been told that they cannot drive their personal car to Sapporo (Hokkaido's main city). This is a car that the ALT purchased with his/her own money and is fully funding as far as insurance, maintenance, etc. The ALT does not use this car for work. The ALT isn't going to Sapporo for work. It has nothing to do with the Board of Education... but, when the ALT happened to mention that he was going to go to Sapporo on the weekend (a 2 or 3 hour drive) they forbid it. This is your job. They can't do this! But they do. And other stranger things that you think they should not be involved with. But recently I found out that it is not just us foreigners who are being treated like children. We definitely are treated more like children, but normal Japanese employees must also expose their entire personal life to their employers. When you work somewhere they make you get a physical exam every so often. This is not for drugs (in US we might get a drug test to work somewhere). This is just for your normal health. And your work gets all of your information from your physical, and all your coworkers chat about it. If the doctor decides you are overweight (no, not me, if you know me you're laughing now) then all your coworkers are telling you to lay off the potato chips or to jog more. It's not like a support group, it's more like organized teasing. (and by the way, the "overweight" limit in Japan is quite low compared to that of US) It is so invasive.
I have a friend who everyone at the school says is overweight. (seems fine to me...) But, the thing is, they talk about it all the time. Apparently the doctor said he is overweight, so they are always teasing him about eating fattening things and exercise. And he just confirms them. "Yes, I am fat. I'm a bad person. I should lose weight." I am always shocked by that. Here it is normal.
I have a friend. Joe Japaneseman. (no, that really isn't his/her real name.) Joe is an English teacher. He was taking the test to get his teaching license. But he is a temporary English teacher at one of the schools until he gets it. (temporary is still like years.) He takes the test, and another teacher I know in the same position takes the test at the same time. This other teacher is far less qualified, but still manages to pass. Joe does not pass. He doesn't/won't ever get to hear the reason. But there is one strong probability, which is basically what he's figuring is the reason. He was speeding this year and got caught. Got a ticket. Because of the point system here and the absurdly low speed limits he actually lost his license, but just had to attend a seminar and pay a fine to get it back right away. (the low speed limits are because they don't change in the summer and the winter. They are just set for winter speeds all the time.) Yeah, this wasn't a good thing that he did, but it has nothing to do with his job, right? It didn't occur near the/a school. It wasn't during work hours. He wasn't on a work errand. But the principal of his school was informed and they had to inform the test committee of this information. And this is very possibly what caused him to fail the test! It seems to me like the ticket was his own private affair and unrelated to work unless he was in a work car or driving the principal somewhere. I don't know. If I got a ticket in US I wouldn't expect my boss to be told. I wouldn't tell him/her. If I did happen to mention it they would just take that as conversation, they wouldn't lower my pay or job status for it. (Joe's pay was lowered for that ticket, by the way.)
Well, it's a glass house. It's like everyone wants to know everything and then everything about the way you run your own life must be done as they say or you will get punished/demoted/fired for it.
Now, this all having been said, it's just a cultural difference and Japanese people are used to it. (although some of them might complain about the system, but some Americans might do the same, eh?) And I'm happily living here and enjoying my life. I can deal with all the probing into my personal life, my medical problems, the activities I engage in on the weekends, being careful not to say anything that they might disapprove of. It's like so much paperwork, you get through it very careful to read the fine print and then you can achieve what you want. It's just their culture. Not the same as mine. The point at which it will start to bother me is when I get my pay deducted for something unrelated to work or am banned from traveling to Sapporo in my own car. But for now my particular BOE is fairly good about those things (although they have gotten more strict recently with the change of my boss to a new guy).
Still here. Still alive. Still having a blast. If you have an opinion. (Agreeing or disagreeing.) post a reply, or start a board on the messageboard (if it warrants that much discussion). Thanks for reading. Hope my English hasn't deteriorated too much in all this time. :)