The Global Village by Barbara Erasmus
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Anna and the King was a block-buster on the cinema circuit. It’s easy for the audience to imagine the culture shock of the English governess who lands in Bangkok – a city of temples, foreign tongues and even the occasional elephant! Air travel and the cyber-space revolution may have made the distant corners of the globe more accessible since then, but the East was still a kaleidoscope of confusing impressions for Nicola Erasmus – a twenty three-year old South African who landed in Japan to take up a teaching post that she found advertised on the Net.
‘It was daunting!’ she recalls, ruefully. ‘You can always hazard a guess if the road signs are in French or Italian but you’re totally illiterate in Japan. I’m also tall and blonde so I feel like a freak-show – people are constantly pointing at me and lining up to take a photo of the gaijin!’ (foreigner)
On arrival at her destination, her Japanese experience became more and more curious, as Alice once said in the English classic. Wonderland for Nicola has turned out to be an English village set on top of a mountain, one hundred and eighty km north of Tokyo. British Hills is a country estate with all the trappings of Olde England – a Victorian manor house, cobbled streets, a statue of Shakespeare and even the Union Jack, fluttering from the central flag-pole.
The Sano family foundation spent 30 million pounds (R300 000 000) to recreate an English corner in this unexpected location. The Japanese have been characteristically thorough in carrying out this undertaking. The buildings in the village were designed by British architects and built in England. They were dismantled and shipped to Japan where they were reconstructed on Japanese foundations, built to withstand earthquake tremors of up to 6 on the Richter Scale.
The Japanese attention to detail is remarkable. The stock in the mahogany-panelled library was bought at Sothebys. Many of the books are collectors’ items. The stained glass window in the manor house was made at the workshops of Salisbury Cathedral and shipped to Japan in six sections. Special guests stay in the Queen’s Room or the King’s Room, which were designed in the style of the private rooms in Buckingham Palace – they feature four-poster beds, antique furniture and gold-plated plumbing in the bathrooms. There are oil paintings of Queen Elizabeth and the late Emperor Hirohito, alongside portraits of British individuals who helped to develop early diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.
‘The village opened in 1994,’ explains Nicola, who is now in charge of Human Resources at British Hills. “The Sano Foundation wanted to give young Japanese people the opportunity to study British culture in their own country. All our teachers are recruited from Britain or from Commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand or Canada. We don’t really give formal grammar lessons – our focus is on the English cultural experience. I’ve become an expert in baking scones, which we serve with tea, eaten outside by the duck-pond – weather permitting, of course. Our mountain location means that we can even offer our visitors authentic English drizzle! We eat traditional English meals like cottage-pie and we’ve had many festive evenings in the Falstaff pub, which is well stocked with Guinness and Glenfiddich!’
Nicola says that British Hills serves both a recreational and educational function. Groups of school children and students from all over Japan come to British Hills to improve their spoken English. Japanese executives also book in, to brush up on British etiquette before their business trips – they master the cutlery settings at dinner parties and skills such as snooker or croquet.
‘Last week, the Japanese Education Ministry sent a team to film a documentary on British Hills, for use with advanced English learners. The idea was to create a virtual reality situation so all of the English-speaking staff were actors for the day. We didn’t use a script as they wanted authentic English conversations. The formal dinner was great – each take started with us popping a cork and, as always in a movie, there were many re-takes – our authentic English was getting a bit slurred as the evening progressed!’
British Hills is set in a beautiful 24 hectare estate and features nature rambles, a sports gymnasium with tennis courts, a large pool, two saunas and a Japanese hot pool, fed by a natural volcanic spring. There is an adjacent golf course and a ski-resort is just ten minutes away. ‘It’s amazing!’ enthuses Nicola. ‘ At the moment, we’re not rushed off our feet with guests since we’re literally knee-deep in snow, so we ski every day.’
There is a downside to this remarkable experience, she admits. ‘Japan is fundamentally foreign. The language barrier is a huge hurdle, as are Japanese customs. Everything, from ordering a meal to having a hair-cut or visiting a doctor is an absolute mine-field. I’m a vegetarian and I shudder to think what I may have eaten by mistake while I’ve been here. The first time I bought Tampax, I came home with a packet of compressed nappies! And the Japanese don’t sell deodorant which is always a major adjustment for gaijin!’
Japan is not for the faint hearted, it seems. The luxury of British Hills puts it out of the range of the youthful back-packer. But if you’re very rich - or if the company’s paying – take a break from sake and rice cakes on your next visit to Japan and book in at British Hills – you can be sure you’ll find that corner in a very foreign field will be forever England.