How do I manage to get on their bad side?

Well, it happened. Again. I wonder if this is me or just everybody. Last Friday I had a difficult class with Goi. The class was loud, and I was delivering a prepared speech of my tsunami experience, the students were filling in the blanks, but most of them couldn't hear me because a few of them were carrying on a conversation. Goi sat at the back of the class, arms folded, with a surly pout planted on his face. Whenever there was an English word that the students didn't understand, there was confusion. I tried to communicate it in English, or use the little Japanese I have, but to no avail. And Goi wasn't doing anything to help. So from time to time I would ask him to translate the word into Japanese. He is, after all, my team teacher and he is a JTE, a Japanese Teacher of English. But his idea of teamwork was to snarl at me.

After class I spoke to him and said that he should help me to deliver the lesson and keep order. He made many excuses, and said there should only be English in the English class, which is bullshit. It's not an immersion class and every JTE uses Japanese in the classroom. Including Goi. We walked downstairs while talking, when I suggested that Goi shouldn't be sitting at the back of the class, silent, Goi countered with his philosophy of teaching which is: "I have my own way of teaching." Okay. I finished off basically asking him to fulfill the requirements of his job and said "that's not asking too much is it?" His response was "I'll think about it".

I had a feeling he was pissed off, and on Monday I found out. I looked at my schedule and saw we had a class together during third period. Third period rolled around and I walked over to his desk where he quickly looked the other way and hunched over his papers.
"Hi Goi sensei."
"We have a class together now."
Goi managed a grunt of assent. He hadn't looked at me yet. He finished writing on his paper and then sprang out of his chair and exited the room. I followed rather quickly, trying to keep up. He entered the classroom for the developmentally disabled kids - our current class - and we had only two students today. The other three were in the neighbouring classroom with their homeroom teacher. Without a word to me Goi gave out the two sheets to the kids and instructed them in Japanese. Then he studiously avoided looking at me and gazed out the window. Then, deciding that some communication was in order, I asked,
"What are the students working on?" No answer.
"What are they doing on the sheet?"
Goi: "They're doing the words."
"Are they writing them out?"
Goi: "Yeah."

He has a petulant way of talking, like a teenager who resents the existence of his parents. I wonder if this has something to do with the childish obedience Goi has to give to his parents, which Nick has told me about.
Then the weird thing happened. The two students left the room. Then Goi walked out of the room, and smirked at me as he slid the door shut. I was then in an empty room - and that's not good for teaching. I walked to the door, opened it, glanced outside. One of the kids was sitting on the floor in the hall. I don't know where the other kid went. I suspect that Goi bolted as soon as he slid the door shut, as he was nowhere in sight. I went to the neighbouring room and asked the homeroom teacher where Goi was. Dismayed, she ran downstairs to the teachers' room and I followed. From outside, I heard her call to Goi, who was at his desk, "You should go back to the classroom!" I came in and went over to Goi. He was shuffling papers on his desk.

"Why did you come here?!" Goi says angrily, almost snarling.
"I didn't know where everyone went. Where are the students?"
"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO ASK SO MANY QUESTIONS?? YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING BY YOURSELF!" Goi was clearly enraged. I'm not sure why, except that he doesn't want to teach with me. He got up and rushed off to the class, and I followed. The students were back there, and I said "Goi sensei, we have to be able to communicate." His response was "That's a problem, because I don't want to talk to you."
"Okay. Well until you can talk to me, I'll be downstairs."

I went downstairs and told the vice principal about what happened. Unfortunately there was a communication barrier, so we got one of the English teachers involved, Muratta sensei, but his English was no better and they only got the general idea that there was some conflict with Goi. Possibly they understood that he flipped out. I hope so.

Later that day Goi got into an in-depth discussion with my tantosha, Taniguchi sensei. She is certainly not too keen on the ALTs. This did not bode well for me. First Goi flips out, then suddenly he's making a case against me with the woman who's my direct superior and the head of the English teachers. So after Goi finished I had a little talk with her. She said I had to change my teaching style to be more creative. More creative? Yes, like using my own little cards that I make up myself. Okaaaaaay. And this has what to do with that psycho Goi sensei? Oh. Apparently it's because I should not use Japanese in class. I must not rely on any Japanese translation.

She had no idea of what had happened with Goi that day, or on Friday. I started explaining what had happened and Taniguchi started to change her tune. She then said that he was a new teacher - less than one year - he hadn't actually gone to teachers' college and hadn't passed the teachers' test. This is how they do things in Japan. You can actually be a teacher for seven years without passing the teachers' test. You can fail it every year for seven years, and still be a teacher for that whole time. Suddenly his laissez faire teaching style starts to make more sense. The guy doesn't know what he's doing! On top of that, he's about as well-equipped psychologically as a fifteen-year-old with a grudge. Anyway, Taniguchi doesn't want to capitulate completely but she's clearly shocked by his behaviour. Hell, even Nick was shocked by his behaviour, and he's Goi's friend. We finish the conversation with lots of good advice on how I can adapt to Goi, who's too stressed to accomplish anything in the classroom except something resembling a Hieronymus Bosch. Which is not to say masterly, rather it's more like a medieval gathering in which people wander aimlessly and crawl out of hellish cracked eggs or have rooster legs. In the end I was supposed to talk to Goi. Tomorrow.

Today is that tomorrow, and we had our discussion. It was a meeting, in fact, with both Taniguchi and Nick in attendence, a full-on conference table, and an opposing-sides seating arrangement with full symmetry and proper symbolism. Great. Much bullshit was spewed. I was conciliatory and worked hard to get a resolution. I suggested we shake on it. We shook hands. Then Taniguchi left and he said "You're in Japan now, you should learn Japanese. I went to Canada...," yes, this nutjob was in Canada for a year, "... and I learned English." Well great, thanks for the scintillating advice. I'm glad we could rise above our petty differences.