Last Minute Notices

I purchased a ticket to a concert that starts at 1:00 this Saturday. The ticket cost me 3,800 yen.

I got a phone call from my supervisor yesterday (Thursday). My next week's school changed their schedule and the event that was to be held on a normal Monday, will now be held on this Saturday. My supervisor told me I had to go. Meaning I can't go to the concert. Meaning 3,800 yen went to a pretty piece of paper.

There is a systemic problem in my village (and some other ALTs complain of a similar situation in other towns and cities) where I am poorly informed of events both voluntary and mandatory. Poorly, meaning eventually, but at such a last minute, that any plans I had made previously have to be changed drastically or dumped or I just don't go to the (voluntary) village functions. One such example was two weeks ago when I was to fly to Tokyo to meet some friends. Two weeks after I book the tickets (for a weekend trip), I'm told I'm needed to be an MC for a speech contest (they found a replacement).

I've brought this problem up with all the people I work with, but the only way I can see to get any real change started is to put it on the agenda of the next village English meeting (principals, teachers, and boss). I have a feeling if I started popping last minute news on my schools, the earth would explode.