Intruder!

Today I was in the office after lunch, trying to find some pictures (and slyly checking my email :). As I was leaving, one of the secretaries told me that there was going to be a "shelter." I figured out that this meant that there was going to be some kind of drill. I thought it was an earthquake drill (you can't have too many of those here!), but when another teacher said "suspicious" I realized that the drill was in case of a suspicious person lurking around. My other school had the same drill a few weeks ago. Apparently there was a suspicious person that drew quite a bit of attention near both schools awhile back. Anyways, I decided just to stay in the office instead of go wandering around the school during the drill. As I was waiting in the office this REALLY suspicious looking guy came into the office, following the vice-principal and principal. He had on a big, black, down jacket, a black beanie, black sunglasses, and a mask that Japanese people wear when they are sick (think surgical mask). At first I was taken aback, then I realized that instead of just IMAGINING a suspicious person, one of the teachers actually dressed up like one! He even had a fake knife! I was so surprised, and explained to everyone that we just imagine suspicious people in America! So, as we're waiting for the drill to begin, the suspicious looking teacher actually enters the school from the outside, comes inside, and runs to a classroom! Talk about simulation! I wasn't sure the students knew about the drill, and was thinking about how scary it would be if a scary guy with a knife came running into my classroom. But as the students shuffled by I saw them smiling, so I knew they were aware of the drill! From the window of the office I had a great view of the drill. After the students evacuated to the gym, all of the men teachers ran to the classroom with the "intruder." It looked like they were all carrying sticks, and I thought that maybe they were supposed to grab whatever they could find to attack the intruder (metersticks, brooms, etc.) But when I asked the secretaries, they showed me what the men were using. They look kind of like cattle prods. They are long metal sticks that have a U-shaped metal ending. You use this stick by holding the long end and containing a person in the U-shaped ending. Apparently they are all over the school, and are supposed to be used to fend off dangerous people. It was very interesting... All the staff were so surprised when I told them we have the same drill in America, but our drill is usually for suspicious or dangerous people with guns. Makes America seem pretty dangerous... But I told them that American teachers don't have guns as weapons! Overall, it was quite interesting to see the teacher dressed up like a creepy intruder, and then watch him actually run into school and be detained with cattle prods! You can check out pictures from the school's website- try to find the pictures under January 30 at http://tateyama3.exblog.jp/