the title of a new article by R. Taggart Murphy in The New Republic.
Having tied their fortunes so tightly to the United States—or, more generously, having had them tied by history and circumstance—Japan's power-holders in the LDP and the bureaucracy, in business, finance, media, and academia have, since the 1950s, built an elaborate and sophisticated infrastructure of relationships and institutions in the United States capable of detecting and acting on the most subtle shifts in American opinion where Japan is concerned—and, when necessary, influencing it...
...But until last August, these “agents of influence,” as the title of a controversial book on the subject put it, were deployed to achieve Japanese government objectives. Now they were brought out to undermine them. Any American seen able to influence Washington's Japan policy was fed a predictable line: Hatoyama was “weak and vacillating,” the DPJ was filled with “amateurs,” and, most damning, Ozawa was “anti-American.” The New Republic.
Murphy writes that Okinawa has "now been radicalized" and that the only way the agreement can be implemented is by "brute force." Should he be right, Kan (and ultimately, Obama) is in for a huge surprise. There is no way that he can fulfill his supposed promise to Obama to implement it.
8:50: Edited
Friday, June 11, 2010
Freelance journalist Takeharu Watai has a problem
Ironically, on the day that Japan was awarded the number 3 spot on the Global Peace Index (previous post) based partly on "High levels of freedom of information," the controversy raised by the cancellation of the showing of The Cove made the Japan Times again.
In the report, it appears that at least one rightist wanted the movie to be shown. His opinion was countered by a defender of freedom, a man in a profession in which one would assume would demand "high levels of freedom of information," freelance journalist (meaning under/unemployed?) Takeharu Watai said:
freedom of expression should be observed in monitoring the government and other authorities, but he has a problem with inflicting freedom of expression on Taiji's fishermen, indirectly criticizing the movie crew's filming methods. Japan Times
One cannot properly respond to that without inflicting some rather vulgar freedom of expression on Watai's opinion.
In the report, it appears that at least one rightist wanted the movie to be shown. His opinion was countered by a defender of freedom, a man in a profession in which one would assume would demand "high levels of freedom of information," freelance journalist (meaning under/unemployed?) Takeharu Watai said:
freedom of expression should be observed in monitoring the government and other authorities, but he has a problem with inflicting freedom of expression on Taiji's fishermen, indirectly criticizing the movie crew's filming methods. Japan Times
One cannot properly respond to that without inflicting some rather vulgar freedom of expression on Watai's opinion.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Japan as #3: the benefits of hiring out national defense
Japan has come in as number 3 on the totally reliable, accurate, and based in reality Global Peace Index.
This rigorous scientific survey measures such things as such as "conflicts with foreign countries, numbers of murder cases, risks of terrorism, the level of respect for human rights and military expenditures." Japan Times
There are a total of 23 areas evaluated. I am not sure if one criteria would be: "Said country should have a lop-sided---or one-sided---"security treaty" which is somewhat weirdly referred to as an "alliance" with the country with the world's most powerful military. That would help in the area of reduced military expenditures, conflicts with foreign countries, and possibly the risk of terrorism, and it might have been enough to propel Japan ahead of warmongering #7 Luxembourg. I wonder, is the US penalized for providing personal and arms for the military security of Japan? A read of the Results and Methodology PDF at GPI's site might lead one to think so. No mention of the US military role in Japan's defense.
Would other criteria be: Does said country respect the human rights* of those of different ethnic/racial/national backgrounds? Has said country signed the Hague Convention Treaty on International Child Abductions? Not sure how those would affect the level of respect for human rights. Perhaps Japan improved four notches because we don't hear right-wingers in the government nor Hobbesian Bushidoists like Fujiwara Masahiko railing against too many human rights as much as we did a few years ago under the LDP.
A check of the GPI website shows a few other interesting tidbits which makes one wonder if the creators of The Onion are not behind this whole thing**. The main findings show that the most peaceful societies contain the following attributes in addition to the above:
The lack of a refugee population also seems to raise the peace index of a country. Very helpful for a country like Japan that allows almost no refugees in.
A number of famous people have signed on as "Endorsers" of the GPI agreeing that: ..."without a world that is basically peaceful, it will be exceedingly difficult to solve many of the intractable problems facing humanity today." How insightful is that?
*The Results and Methodology PDF at the site uses "Levels of disrespect for human right (Political Terror Scale)" using a definition by Amnesty International/ and US Department County Reports (sic) and also refers to "Respect for Human Rights."
**It's actually The Economist trying to measure the ultimately unmeasurable. The folks at The Onion would have more sense.
Edited several times as author cannot write, spell, or proofread because he is from the US. He also added a few items that he thought was relevant.
This rigorous scientific survey measures such things as such as "conflicts with foreign countries, numbers of murder cases, risks of terrorism, the level of respect for human rights and military expenditures." Japan Times
There are a total of 23 areas evaluated. I am not sure if one criteria would be: "Said country should have a lop-sided---or one-sided---"security treaty" which is somewhat weirdly referred to as an "alliance" with the country with the world's most powerful military. That would help in the area of reduced military expenditures, conflicts with foreign countries, and possibly the risk of terrorism, and it might have been enough to propel Japan ahead of warmongering #7 Luxembourg. I wonder, is the US penalized for providing personal and arms for the military security of Japan? A read of the Results and Methodology PDF at GPI's site might lead one to think so. No mention of the US military role in Japan's defense.
Would other criteria be: Does said country respect the human rights* of those of different ethnic/racial/national backgrounds? Has said country signed the Hague Convention Treaty on International Child Abductions? Not sure how those would affect the level of respect for human rights. Perhaps Japan improved four notches because we don't hear right-wingers in the government nor Hobbesian Bushidoists like Fujiwara Masahiko railing against too many human rights as much as we did a few years ago under the LDP.
A check of the GPI website shows a few other interesting tidbits which makes one wonder if the creators of The Onion are not behind this whole thing**. The main findings show that the most peaceful societies contain the following attributes in addition to the above:
- A well-functioning government
- High levels of freedom of information
- Good relations with neighboring states (We can see why Japan has improved in this area compared to the Koizumi/Abe eras.)
- Acceptance of others
The lack of a refugee population also seems to raise the peace index of a country. Very helpful for a country like Japan that allows almost no refugees in.
A number of famous people have signed on as "Endorsers" of the GPI agreeing that: ..."without a world that is basically peaceful, it will be exceedingly difficult to solve many of the intractable problems facing humanity today." How insightful is that?
*The Results and Methodology PDF at the site uses "Levels of disrespect for human right (Political Terror Scale)" using a definition by Amnesty International/ and US Department County Reports (sic) and also refers to "Respect for Human Rights."
**It's actually The Economist trying to measure the ultimately unmeasurable. The folks at The Onion would have more sense.
Edited several times as author cannot write, spell, or proofread because he is from the US. He also added a few items that he thought was relevant.
Monday, June 07, 2010
Groundhog Day
Years ago, there was a frustrating movie called Groundhog Day about a guy played by Bill Murray who was stuck experiencing the same things over and over, day after day. Just like we are doing now.
About 60 percent of voters surveyed have expressed positive expectations for incoming Prime Minister Naoto Kan, two major dailies said Sunday, releasing the results of opinion polls they conducted recently. Japan Times
It's kinda hard not to have positive expectations for Kan as nobody can expect a quicker fall than Hatoyama's. It ain't too encouraging that Kan has been reported to have informed the Obama administration* that he would make "strenuous efforts" on still-not-implemented Futenma agreement---whatever strenuous efforts turns out to mean.
In an arguably more democratic country and a seemingly more participatory democracy than existed under the LDP, one has to wonder exactly how he is going to do that and satisfy those on Okinawa who want nothing to do with the agreement. Is he ultimately going to just run it through like the LDP did in the past over the objections of Okinawans? I'd wager that he ain't going to get any flexibility from the US.
Once again, Japanese politics will be more interesting than frustrating. Then, not all that far in the future Japanese politics will once again become more frustrating than interesting. Then....well, we know the drill.
*ABC (US) reported that: "This is a bilateral accord, and therefore decisions will be based on the accord," Kan said today. "As indicated in the bilateral agreement, there will be emphasis on alleviating the load on the Okinawans. This is a priority of concern and this is an issue that is extremely important."
Xuihan reported:
About 60 percent of voters surveyed have expressed positive expectations for incoming Prime Minister Naoto Kan, two major dailies said Sunday, releasing the results of opinion polls they conducted recently. Japan Times
It's kinda hard not to have positive expectations for Kan as nobody can expect a quicker fall than Hatoyama's. It ain't too encouraging that Kan has been reported to have informed the Obama administration* that he would make "strenuous efforts" on still-not-implemented Futenma agreement---whatever strenuous efforts turns out to mean.
In an arguably more democratic country and a seemingly more participatory democracy than existed under the LDP, one has to wonder exactly how he is going to do that and satisfy those on Okinawa who want nothing to do with the agreement. Is he ultimately going to just run it through like the LDP did in the past over the objections of Okinawans? I'd wager that he ain't going to get any flexibility from the US.
Once again, Japanese politics will be more interesting than frustrating. Then, not all that far in the future Japanese politics will once again become more frustrating than interesting. Then....well, we know the drill.
*ABC (US) reported that: "This is a bilateral accord, and therefore decisions will be based on the accord," Kan said today. "As indicated in the bilateral agreement, there will be emphasis on alleviating the load on the Okinawans. This is a priority of concern and this is an issue that is extremely important."
Xuihan reported:
Kan said that he will strive to fulfill the Japan-U.S. pact on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Futenma base within Okinawa Prefecture.
"I want to make strenuous efforts" on the relocation of the base, Kan was quoted as saying.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Yukio Departs
Sorry, had to remove the video as it automatically played with sound whenever the page was loaded. Suddenly and unexpectedly hearing a space shuttle blast off with one's speakers at full volume is not pleasant. A link to the video---which really has nothing directly to do with Hatoyama---is here.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
I spent a lot of the day reading about the resignation of Yukio Hatoyama and various opinions of whose fault it was:
1) Hatoyama's. He should have handled Futenma and the US better, plus he got money from his mother instead of some half-crooked company.
2) The US: Parts of the US gov't were confused and worried about the DPJ's attempt to move Japan .0001mm away on security issues which would have destroyed the most-important-bilateral-relationship-in-the-world-bar-none, as well as have resulted in the collapse of human civilization. These expert managers wanted the policies of their old and trusted Freedom-Fighters in the LDP to continue forever.
3) Nobel Laureate Barack Obama, who was not up to speed on the most-important-bilateral-relationship-in-the-world-bar-none, and whose meaning of the word "change" as far as Japan policy goes appears to have been restricted to "(ex)change George Bush for me." Nobel-man Obama has been a little tied up lately anyway, since he shockingly discovered that the company that was responsible for a major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not as responsible as it could have been at stopping it. He is now making angry faces, clenching his jaw, and has become so outraged as to have uttered the stinging expletive "damn."
4) The MSM: Goes without saying. The media is always responsible for everything everywhere.
5) The citizens of this fine land themselves, the least likely culprits.
6) All of the above.
I must rule out "all of the above," even though it seems reasonable. I must rule it out for I read somewhere on the Internet that if we say that, it means everyone is guilty and if we say everyone is guilty it means that no one is guilty. Perhaps due to cultural differences, I am unable to figure out exactly how that works or what it means, so I will focus on the group that has received the least attention: The folks of Japan.
I am not so sure how important the Futenma issue really was to anyone in the mainland. There are polls around that show that most Japanese wanted the Futenma mess solved by relocating the base outside Okinawa, but nobody seems to want those bases, with their lower-than-the-average-compared-to-Japanese-citizens crime rates, near their homes. They simply want and expect the US to defend Japan until hell freezes over because that's the way things have always been, and to do so under "tightened discipline" (perhaps chained to a table when off-duty) at a distance. Besides, Japan is a peace country and Japanese should not have to fight a war for Japan should one come.* And some have called Hatoyama indecisive and loopy**.
I am looking at this from the perspective that citizens of a democracy are over the long term, allowing for normal miscalculations***, voting for politicians and policies that they agree with. So I figure that after 65 years of democracy [Edited: We can't call the Occupation era democracy. Let's say 50-odd years] when folks keep electing politicians who continue the same policies, that they are voting for what they really want. I don't recall Futenma or the so-called alliance**** being a major issue during the election last fall, so I'd guess most outside of Okinawa did not especially object to the status quo. In the US we want low/no taxes, free government programs, wars fought mostly by lesser-well-off citizens and paid for by foreigners. In Japan, we want the US to provide a military and a foreign policy cover and to have little contact with the troops unless we can pawn them off on a poorer prefecture inhabited by Okinawans.
The good thing is, according to some theories, the US may not get what it wants now as there might be some reluctance on the part of the government to follow through on the Henko move. Okinawans ain't gonna just give in because Hatoyama is gone. And Naoto Kan is said to be sort of stubborn. He is also said to be more "practical" in foreign policy, which I take to mean more likely to do what Uncle Sam wants. But maybe, just maybe, this will get folks to think a little more deeply about this "alliance." It obviously isn't going to come from the US side without a swift kick.
*I don't get a chance to ask Japanese acquaintances this as often as I would like. In fact, I think I have only asked it once: If there is a war and an American soldier is killed fighting for Japan, what would you say to the mother and father of that soldier when they ask you "Why did my son (or daughter) die fighting for Japan?"
**I am using the Washington Post's Al Kamen's definition of loopy: "...oddly detached from reality."
***See G.W. Bush, the man who accepted Abe's "apology" about the Japanese Imperial Army's forced recruitment of sex slaves in WW2 which Abe claimed never really happened, but apologized for in spite of the fact that he claimed it never happened and had been claiming for years that it never happened. Sorry, I didn't understand it either. Ask Boy George or Abe.
****Describing the relationship as an alliance was first done in a communique when PM Suzuki visited the White House in 1981 and it was not well-received in Japan. The phrase US-Japan Alliance was not used in an official document until 1995. See AMPO's Troubled 50th: Hatoyama's aborted rebellion, Okinawa's Mounting Resistance and the US Japan Relationship. (Under Treaty? Alliance? about 1/3 down the page.)
1) Hatoyama's. He should have handled Futenma and the US better, plus he got money from his mother instead of some half-crooked company.
2) The US: Parts of the US gov't were confused and worried about the DPJ's attempt to move Japan .0001mm away on security issues which would have destroyed the most-important-bilateral-relationship-in-the-world-bar-none, as well as have resulted in the collapse of human civilization. These expert managers wanted the policies of their old and trusted Freedom-Fighters in the LDP to continue forever.
3) Nobel Laureate Barack Obama, who was not up to speed on the most-important-bilateral-relationship-in-the-world-bar-none, and whose meaning of the word "change" as far as Japan policy goes appears to have been restricted to "(ex)change George Bush for me." Nobel-man Obama has been a little tied up lately anyway, since he shockingly discovered that the company that was responsible for a major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not as responsible as it could have been at stopping it. He is now making angry faces, clenching his jaw, and has become so outraged as to have uttered the stinging expletive "damn."
4) The MSM: Goes without saying. The media is always responsible for everything everywhere.
5) The citizens of this fine land themselves, the least likely culprits.
6) All of the above.
I must rule out "all of the above," even though it seems reasonable. I must rule it out for I read somewhere on the Internet that if we say that, it means everyone is guilty and if we say everyone is guilty it means that no one is guilty. Perhaps due to cultural differences, I am unable to figure out exactly how that works or what it means, so I will focus on the group that has received the least attention: The folks of Japan.
I am not so sure how important the Futenma issue really was to anyone in the mainland. There are polls around that show that most Japanese wanted the Futenma mess solved by relocating the base outside Okinawa, but nobody seems to want those bases, with their lower-than-the-average-compared-to-Japanese-citizens crime rates, near their homes. They simply want and expect the US to defend Japan until hell freezes over because that's the way things have always been, and to do so under "tightened discipline" (perhaps chained to a table when off-duty) at a distance. Besides, Japan is a peace country and Japanese should not have to fight a war for Japan should one come.* And some have called Hatoyama indecisive and loopy**.
I am looking at this from the perspective that citizens of a democracy are over the long term, allowing for normal miscalculations***, voting for politicians and policies that they agree with. So I figure that after 65 years of democracy [Edited: We can't call the Occupation era democracy. Let's say 50-odd years] when folks keep electing politicians who continue the same policies, that they are voting for what they really want. I don't recall Futenma or the so-called alliance**** being a major issue during the election last fall, so I'd guess most outside of Okinawa did not especially object to the status quo. In the US we want low/no taxes, free government programs, wars fought mostly by lesser-well-off citizens and paid for by foreigners. In Japan, we want the US to provide a military and a foreign policy cover and to have little contact with the troops unless we can pawn them off on a poorer prefecture inhabited by Okinawans.
The good thing is, according to some theories, the US may not get what it wants now as there might be some reluctance on the part of the government to follow through on the Henko move. Okinawans ain't gonna just give in because Hatoyama is gone. And Naoto Kan is said to be sort of stubborn. He is also said to be more "practical" in foreign policy, which I take to mean more likely to do what Uncle Sam wants. But maybe, just maybe, this will get folks to think a little more deeply about this "alliance." It obviously isn't going to come from the US side without a swift kick.
*I don't get a chance to ask Japanese acquaintances this as often as I would like. In fact, I think I have only asked it once: If there is a war and an American soldier is killed fighting for Japan, what would you say to the mother and father of that soldier when they ask you "Why did my son (or daughter) die fighting for Japan?"
**I am using the Washington Post's Al Kamen's definition of loopy: "...oddly detached from reality."
***See G.W. Bush, the man who accepted Abe's "apology" about the Japanese Imperial Army's forced recruitment of sex slaves in WW2 which Abe claimed never really happened, but apologized for in spite of the fact that he claimed it never happened and had been claiming for years that it never happened. Sorry, I didn't understand it either. Ask Boy George or Abe.
****Describing the relationship as an alliance was first done in a communique when PM Suzuki visited the White House in 1981 and it was not well-received in Japan. The phrase US-Japan Alliance was not used in an official document until 1995. See AMPO's Troubled 50th: Hatoyama's aborted rebellion, Okinawa's Mounting Resistance and the US Japan Relationship. (Under Treaty? Alliance? about 1/3 down the page.)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Gomen ne
A few weeks ago I posted some smirky remark that anyone in Japan who heard the absurdly nonsensical "Japan is the only country with four seasons" (or four clearly distinct seasons) would be able to find the truth by using Google. ("Finding the truth is only a google away.")
I apologize. Anyone who can figure out how to find much of anything using Google Japan deserves a medal. I have better luck using English on Google Japan than I do using Japanese---kanji/hiragana, whatever. Even then, once you find something you are in for another adventure in addition to the language difficulties. (I have not yet reached the level of easy fluency---especially reading/writing/arguing---that many on the Internet do after a year or two in Japan as an ALT. I am slow.)
What a mess. I truly long for access to a US university library and those huge rows of musty, often out-of-date books. Kinda like the musty, out-of-date stuff I find on Google Japan. The Internut has changed the world immensely and forever, but I ain't so sure it has here yet.
#&@k
I apologize. Anyone who can figure out how to find much of anything using Google Japan deserves a medal. I have better luck using English on Google Japan than I do using Japanese---kanji/hiragana, whatever. Even then, once you find something you are in for another adventure in addition to the language difficulties. (I have not yet reached the level of easy fluency---especially reading/writing/arguing---that many on the Internet do after a year or two in Japan as an ALT. I am slow.)
What a mess. I truly long for access to a US university library and those huge rows of musty, often out-of-date books. Kinda like the musty, out-of-date stuff I find on Google Japan. The Internut has changed the world immensely and forever, but I ain't so sure it has here yet.
#&@k
Just found some interesting articles by Bill Stonehill here. They are a little old, but still most are still very relevant. Lot's of other interesting pieces there too.
"The Japanese Coast Guard doesn't like you diving near there because it is too close to shipping lanes. So, naturally, this is where everyone dives."
"The Japanese Coast Guard doesn't like you diving near there because it is too close to shipping lanes. So, naturally, this is where everyone dives."
Unfinished, simple-minded thoughts 2: Thinking aloud.
While wandering around the Internut looking for crime stuff about Japan, I found something that took me back a number of years to when I was in the USAF.
Now contrary to what we see in the movies, read in some media, contrary to the beliefs of some who think that the military is made up of a bunch of flunkies, high school dropouts, and nitwits who were too dumb to go to college and spend four years in a semi-drunken haze, I never found that to be the case. The Air Force, for example, does not entrust a moron with the life of the pilot(s) and the care of a fighter jet worth millions.
Folks go in for different reasons, but in the AF at least, most went in for the training---which was better than anything I ever did in university as far as practical skills and life skills go---and to get money to go to college. Others go in for a career that is much, much better; much much more challenging; much, much, more intellectually demanding---yes, by far---than most other jobs available for high school grads or even many college graduates. (Provided that you don't get killed in a war.) When I think of the word professional, I still think of the military.
I was a "law enforcement specialist", a narcotics detector dog handler. I was in a good position to know the types of crimes that occurred on the bases I was stationed. I was never stationed in Japan, but I did know guys and gals who were here in a similar capacity.
During my AF time I found most crimes* on bases either overseas to be relatively minor. DUIs, occasional fights, drug possession (usually marijuana* or stimulants), occasional weapon storage---some guy kept his 30-06 hunting rifle in his room in the States---and traffic violations. Access to bases was controlled, people who lived and worked there had background clearances of various levels, and they lived and worked under a disciplined system that could be a real pain-in-the-ass**, but one that worked very well for young people, especially young men. (Haven't tried it, but I wonder what would happen if you compared the crime rates of people of that age in college to those in the military?)
So what? Well, we keep hearing and reading about the dangers and the crimes committed in Japan by US military personnel. It's not only stuff I read in the Japanese press, but I have even seen non-Japanese whose writing I usually respect fall for some unsubstantiated "Deer Hunter/Rambo" theory that those just back from a war zone are somehow naturally unstable and prone to violence.
Anyway, something smells about this supposed danger posed by the US military on the Japanese---or should I say Okinawans? What is the source of most of the claims of this danger? Is it the NPA? The media? Folks with an axe to grind? How do these same people view non-Japanese in general? They wouldn't go around claiming that all foreigners and foreign countries were potentially (if not actually) dangerous and untrustworthy would they?
No, such a thing would be so un-Japanese.
*Includes active duty military, dependents, civilian contractors, and base employees. Even visitors.
**Often exaggerated in movies and on TV. In the States I worked a 9 hour shift. I did not do KP---that's Basic Training---did not march around all day (Basic Training again), did not run around shouting "Sir, yes sir"---Basic Training again. Except for training, exercises, deployments, recalls etc, I pretty much worked as I have in civilian life.
***I once had the biggest quarterly marijuana find in PACAF (Pacific Air Forces). A massive 22 grams if I recall correctly...
Now contrary to what we see in the movies, read in some media, contrary to the beliefs of some who think that the military is made up of a bunch of flunkies, high school dropouts, and nitwits who were too dumb to go to college and spend four years in a semi-drunken haze, I never found that to be the case. The Air Force, for example, does not entrust a moron with the life of the pilot(s) and the care of a fighter jet worth millions.
Folks go in for different reasons, but in the AF at least, most went in for the training---which was better than anything I ever did in university as far as practical skills and life skills go---and to get money to go to college. Others go in for a career that is much, much better; much much more challenging; much, much, more intellectually demanding---yes, by far---than most other jobs available for high school grads or even many college graduates. (Provided that you don't get killed in a war.) When I think of the word professional, I still think of the military.
I was a "law enforcement specialist", a narcotics detector dog handler. I was in a good position to know the types of crimes that occurred on the bases I was stationed. I was never stationed in Japan, but I did know guys and gals who were here in a similar capacity.
During my AF time I found most crimes* on bases either overseas to be relatively minor. DUIs, occasional fights, drug possession (usually marijuana* or stimulants), occasional weapon storage---some guy kept his 30-06 hunting rifle in his room in the States---and traffic violations. Access to bases was controlled, people who lived and worked there had background clearances of various levels, and they lived and worked under a disciplined system that could be a real pain-in-the-ass**, but one that worked very well for young people, especially young men. (Haven't tried it, but I wonder what would happen if you compared the crime rates of people of that age in college to those in the military?)
So what? Well, we keep hearing and reading about the dangers and the crimes committed in Japan by US military personnel. It's not only stuff I read in the Japanese press, but I have even seen non-Japanese whose writing I usually respect fall for some unsubstantiated "Deer Hunter/Rambo" theory that those just back from a war zone are somehow naturally unstable and prone to violence.
Anyway, something smells about this supposed danger posed by the US military on the Japanese---or should I say Okinawans? What is the source of most of the claims of this danger? Is it the NPA? The media? Folks with an axe to grind? How do these same people view non-Japanese in general? They wouldn't go around claiming that all foreigners and foreign countries were potentially (if not actually) dangerous and untrustworthy would they?
No, such a thing would be so un-Japanese.
*Includes active duty military, dependents, civilian contractors, and base employees. Even visitors.
**Often exaggerated in movies and on TV. In the States I worked a 9 hour shift. I did not do KP---that's Basic Training---did not march around all day (Basic Training again), did not run around shouting "Sir, yes sir"---Basic Training again. Except for training, exercises, deployments, recalls etc, I pretty much worked as I have in civilian life.
***I once had the biggest quarterly marijuana find in PACAF (Pacific Air Forces). A massive 22 grams if I recall correctly...
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Tokin' doobies
And folks say that only foreigners and their innocent victims use mind-altering substances* in Japan.
The Japan Times has proof to the contrary:
A total of 277,674 nonregular workers at 5,252 businesses will have lost or are expected to lose their jobs...
...But a ministry official said things have improved... Japan Times: More nonregular workers out of jobs
And the export-driven recovery continues:
The unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.1 percent in April in a sign that companies are still wary about adding jobs despite talk that the deflation-ridden economy is trending toward recovery....
...only 48 jobs were available for every 100 people who were looking in April. Japan Times: Jobless Rate Climbs
*Mind-altering substance abuse does not include getting barfing-drunk several times per week with coworkers or customers. That's work.
The Japan Times has proof to the contrary:
A total of 277,674 nonregular workers at 5,252 businesses will have lost or are expected to lose their jobs...
...But a ministry official said things have improved... Japan Times: More nonregular workers out of jobs
And the export-driven recovery continues:
The unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.1 percent in April in a sign that companies are still wary about adding jobs despite talk that the deflation-ridden economy is trending toward recovery....
...only 48 jobs were available for every 100 people who were looking in April. Japan Times: Jobless Rate Climbs
*Mind-altering substance abuse does not include getting barfing-drunk several times per week with coworkers or customers. That's work.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tokyo 40th best city on earth
to live in (quality of living). Don't know what to say, it ain't bad, but I guess it depends on who you are. Hasn't it dropped a bit? Is it the recession? See here.
Unfinished random thoughts
Offenses committed by people from overseas remain vicious and adroit.* They aim at making crime inconspicuous by cooperating with Japanese Boryokudan** and by conspiring with fewer people for their crimes. Crimes in Japan 2007. Police Policy Research Center, National Police Academy.
It wasn't so long ago---under Koizumi and "Beautiful Country" Abe---that foreigners were being hit so hard with accusations of being near DNA-bound to be criminals that you would have thought we were all members of the Yakuza, or at least adroit enough to cooperate with them. I could barely go shopping back then because every time I reached for my wallet to buy something, I'd slap my own hand away for fear that I was picking my pocket.
One of the things that amazes me about a country in which everyone obeys the rules, in which the crime rate is said to be so low that women can safely walk the streets alone at night, that you can go out and leave your apartment unlocked without fear of being burglarized, a country in which guns are illegal for citizens to own, is the fact that folks don't obey the rules, Japanese women are not so dumb as to think they can walk the streets safely at night***, that only soon-to-be-educated victims leave their apartments unlocked, and where firearms ownership is not illegal. (Oops, apologies for that sentence.)
OK, forgetting the just-off-the-boat myths, I am intrigued by the fact that the rule-obeying, law-abiding Japanese that I see aren't so rule-obeying or law-abiding. That and the fact that the koban-sitters---at least where I live and work---don't seem to be motivated to go out of their way to enforce any laws until after an incident. I guess we could call this reactive law enforcement.
I watch people disobey all kinds of traffic laws (especially cycling laws, and many of these violations I understand to be criminal offenses) right in front of "police officers" who routinely ignore it. I live near a koban and can go outside any evening and watch dozens of people ride by with no lights on their bikes---illegal---and I have yet to see any of them stopped for it. I have seen cyclists blow right through crosswalks against the light and ride within a few feet of a cop standing at parade rest and all he could do was eyeball me. I saw a cop jump up out of his box and run 3 feet outside to yell at two kids riding double on a bike causing them to slow for a few meters before taking off while still riding double as our hero went back to sitting in his box. There is a traffic light about 20 meters from my local koban that folks occasionally run with no fear from the cops. Folks park illegally right in front of their noses---no reaction. I could continue for hours, but of course these are minor infractions, not the viscous stuff of foreigners. Just because folks seem to have little respect for these types of rules, laws, and koban sitters, doesn't mean anything beyond that. I'm sure.
You'll have to forgive me for skepticism when I hear how foreigners disobey Japanese laws more than the Japanese do themselves. And you'll have to forgive me when I start doubting simplistic comparisons of crime rates between countries when the laws are so different, when the enforcement of these laws are so different, and when the rate of reporting of crime by victims is likely different, and especially when the rhetoric of the folks who gather the statistics does not match the statistics.
Back when I was in the USAF, my friends in law enforcement at Yokota AB often remarked on the very high burglary rate in Tokyo. They knew 'cause lots of military personnel were victims of these mostly professional burglars. That was back before the "surge" in foreign residents here and nobody thought to claim that the criminals were non-Japanese. I do not recall ever seeing such a thing in the Japanese press though. The burglaries that most recently became notorious were mostly blamed on Chinese and others of foreign origin. Have all the Japanese burglars retired?
*As opposed to the kinder, gentler, more innocent and naive crimes committed by the natives.
**Yakuza. I'd guess that the yakuza is a Japanese problem and maybe if something more effective were done about that problem, the vicious, adroit, foreign criminals would have to find another way to make their crimes inconspicuous. (Hire Japanese thugs?)
***I have been repeatedly surprised at how much attention Japanese women pay to the lighting of an area, how well-traveled it is, and all sorts of things that I, as a man, pay no mind. Last Saturday, I was walking with a friend through Denenchofu, an expensive, upper-middle class/wealthy area that is notorious for burglaries, and she immediately noticed (at 3PM) what areas would be risky to walk at night due to isolation/ lack of adequate lighting. What's she afraid of, I wonder? This is Japan.
2:15PM: Edited
It wasn't so long ago---under Koizumi and "Beautiful Country" Abe---that foreigners were being hit so hard with accusations of being near DNA-bound to be criminals that you would have thought we were all members of the Yakuza, or at least adroit enough to cooperate with them. I could barely go shopping back then because every time I reached for my wallet to buy something, I'd slap my own hand away for fear that I was picking my pocket.
One of the things that amazes me about a country in which everyone obeys the rules, in which the crime rate is said to be so low that women can safely walk the streets alone at night, that you can go out and leave your apartment unlocked without fear of being burglarized, a country in which guns are illegal for citizens to own, is the fact that folks don't obey the rules, Japanese women are not so dumb as to think they can walk the streets safely at night***, that only soon-to-be-educated victims leave their apartments unlocked, and where firearms ownership is not illegal. (Oops, apologies for that sentence.)
OK, forgetting the just-off-the-boat myths, I am intrigued by the fact that the rule-obeying, law-abiding Japanese that I see aren't so rule-obeying or law-abiding. That and the fact that the koban-sitters---at least where I live and work---don't seem to be motivated to go out of their way to enforce any laws until after an incident. I guess we could call this reactive law enforcement.
I watch people disobey all kinds of traffic laws (especially cycling laws, and many of these violations I understand to be criminal offenses) right in front of "police officers" who routinely ignore it. I live near a koban and can go outside any evening and watch dozens of people ride by with no lights on their bikes---illegal---and I have yet to see any of them stopped for it. I have seen cyclists blow right through crosswalks against the light and ride within a few feet of a cop standing at parade rest and all he could do was eyeball me. I saw a cop jump up out of his box and run 3 feet outside to yell at two kids riding double on a bike causing them to slow for a few meters before taking off while still riding double as our hero went back to sitting in his box. There is a traffic light about 20 meters from my local koban that folks occasionally run with no fear from the cops. Folks park illegally right in front of their noses---no reaction. I could continue for hours, but of course these are minor infractions, not the viscous stuff of foreigners. Just because folks seem to have little respect for these types of rules, laws, and koban sitters, doesn't mean anything beyond that. I'm sure.
You'll have to forgive me for skepticism when I hear how foreigners disobey Japanese laws more than the Japanese do themselves. And you'll have to forgive me when I start doubting simplistic comparisons of crime rates between countries when the laws are so different, when the enforcement of these laws are so different, and when the rate of reporting of crime by victims is likely different, and especially when the rhetoric of the folks who gather the statistics does not match the statistics.
Back when I was in the USAF, my friends in law enforcement at Yokota AB often remarked on the very high burglary rate in Tokyo. They knew 'cause lots of military personnel were victims of these mostly professional burglars. That was back before the "surge" in foreign residents here and nobody thought to claim that the criminals were non-Japanese. I do not recall ever seeing such a thing in the Japanese press though. The burglaries that most recently became notorious were mostly blamed on Chinese and others of foreign origin. Have all the Japanese burglars retired?
*As opposed to the kinder, gentler, more innocent and naive crimes committed by the natives.
**Yakuza. I'd guess that the yakuza is a Japanese problem and maybe if something more effective were done about that problem, the vicious, adroit, foreign criminals would have to find another way to make their crimes inconspicuous. (Hire Japanese thugs?)
***I have been repeatedly surprised at how much attention Japanese women pay to the lighting of an area, how well-traveled it is, and all sorts of things that I, as a man, pay no mind. Last Saturday, I was walking with a friend through Denenchofu, an expensive, upper-middle class/wealthy area that is notorious for burglaries, and she immediately noticed (at 3PM) what areas would be risky to walk at night due to isolation/ lack of adequate lighting. What's she afraid of, I wonder? This is Japan.
2:15PM: Edited
Monday, May 24, 2010
Crime in Japan: An utterly simplistic view
...crime, especially violent crime, is dependent on external factors (the lack of availability of guns) and cultural factors (emphasis on honor and group harmony.) In the U.S., with the incredible ease of obtaining weapons and the emphasis on people "doing their own thing," a much higher level of violent crime should not be a surprise...
...The ease of obtaining guns also automatically causes crimes to be of a much more violent nature in the U.S. then in Japan... Crime in Japan
Huh?
Folks who are stabbed to death with freely available, razor-sharp, 8 inch-long kitchen knives must die less violently and be less dead than those shot to death. Probably die more honorably and in a more harmonious way too.
...The ease of obtaining guns also automatically causes crimes to be of a much more violent nature in the U.S. then in Japan... Crime in Japan
Huh?
Folks who are stabbed to death with freely available, razor-sharp, 8 inch-long kitchen knives must die less violently and be less dead than those shot to death. Probably die more honorably and in a more harmonious way too.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
More like us
Wasn't that the title of a book by James Fallows written about twenty years ago concerning how the US should focus on its own strengths to compete with Japan rather then trying to emulate Japan?
Well, James wrote in vain, if Paul Krugman is correct with the latest piece in the US-is-gonna-get-the-Japan-disease genre: Lost Decade Looming:
Despite a chorus of voices claiming otherwise, we aren’t Greece. We are, however, looking more and more like Japan...
...I strongly suspect that some officials at the Fed see the Japan parallels all too clearly and wish they could do more to support the economy... NYT
I suppose if you generalize enough, and are vague enough, you can make any country's economic problems look like those of Japan. Why not when you have to write a column regularly and wanna say the same thing over-and-over, but in a different way? The "Japan disease" stuff is getting a bit out-of-date now. You'd figure a Nobel Prize winner could do better.
I like Paul, but I also can't stand him. That's what happens when you work as a supposedly unbiased economist, and then consistently take polemic partisan views. Which do we believe is the real Paul?
Well, James wrote in vain, if Paul Krugman is correct with the latest piece in the US-is-gonna-get-the-Japan-disease genre: Lost Decade Looming:
Despite a chorus of voices claiming otherwise, we aren’t Greece. We are, however, looking more and more like Japan...
...I strongly suspect that some officials at the Fed see the Japan parallels all too clearly and wish they could do more to support the economy... NYT
I suppose if you generalize enough, and are vague enough, you can make any country's economic problems look like those of Japan. Why not when you have to write a column regularly and wanna say the same thing over-and-over, but in a different way? The "Japan disease" stuff is getting a bit out-of-date now. You'd figure a Nobel Prize winner could do better.
I like Paul, but I also can't stand him. That's what happens when you work as a supposedly unbiased economist, and then consistently take polemic partisan views. Which do we believe is the real Paul?
Friday, May 21, 2010
Naoto Kan knows all, but he ain't tellin'
Japan's Finance Minister is once again hinting at intervening in the currency markets to protect Japanese exports.
No, not really---"to protect Japanese exports" is just a childish, flippant remark that I made. It was unfair and tends to make Natto Kan of the new DPJ-led government look like some old retread from the LDP years.
The reason that Mr. Fermented Beans made his remarks is that:
"In general, it is desirable for exchange rates to stay at an appropriate level in terms of international trade, and it is undesirable if the currency moves far off that level,"...
"I think we must closely watch developments in the currency market and ensure that the yen will not become excessive," EuroAsiaReview
He said that the government has noclue plan to intervene and refused to explain to the world what the appropriate level of the yen is. After learning of the sizzling-hot economic figures released yesterday, I personally would estimate that the yen should strengthen against the dollar to something like ¥20 per buck.
No, not really---"to protect Japanese exports" is just a childish, flippant remark that I made. It was unfair and tends to make Natto Kan of the new DPJ-led government look like some old retread from the LDP years.
The reason that Mr. Fermented Beans made his remarks is that:
"In general, it is desirable for exchange rates to stay at an appropriate level in terms of international trade, and it is undesirable if the currency moves far off that level,"...
"I think we must closely watch developments in the currency market and ensure that the yen will not become excessive," EuroAsiaReview
He said that the government has no
Thursday, May 20, 2010
A moment of silence, please
Major Japanese newspapers reported on Thursday that Prime Minister has decided to largely accept Washington’s demands that he honor an existing agreement to relocate an American air base on Okinawa, in an attempt to end a damaging dispute that had sown confusion and mistrust between the longtime allies. NYT.
Wouldn't want any confusion as that's the worst nightmare in Japan. If Prof. Hiroshi Nakanishi of Kyoto University is correct, it'll be a "long, punishing process" to convince Okinawans about the wholesome goodness of the deal. Might take until temperatures drop well below 0 degrees Celsius in hell. Does that mean it'll settle back to the pace it was proceeding under the LDP and we'll have to hear about it for another 14 years?
Wouldn't want any confusion as that's the worst nightmare in Japan. If Prof. Hiroshi Nakanishi of Kyoto University is correct, it'll be a "long, punishing process" to convince Okinawans about the wholesome goodness of the deal. Might take until temperatures drop well below 0 degrees Celsius in hell. Does that mean it'll settle back to the pace it was proceeding under the LDP and we'll have to hear about it for another 14 years?
Musta missed this somehow
Japan's economy surged in the first three months of the year, data showed Thursday, marking the fourth straight quarter of expansion as the country's export-driven recovery gathers pace.
Gross domestic product accelerated by an annualised 4.9 percent in the January-March period, the fastest pace of growth since the second quarter of 2009. AFP
Just goes to show that I associate with weird people, many of whom have been fired, have had hours reduced, bonuses eliminated, pay cut, folks whose export-oriented companies are in deep trouble---and that does not include those who were in finance and are still looking for related work a year after being fired (women, of course). After four straight quarters of growth, it looks like someone would notice* this sizzling-hot good news other than economists. There were over 30,000 suicides in Japan last year, many related to the recession. Just think how many lives would have been saved had they been aware of these statistics.
Why am I beginning to think that the field of economics is a game of smoke and mirrors?
Edited 6:30 pm: The NYT magazine has an article (The Rise and the Fall of the GDP) about the weaknesses of using the GDP to measure the prosperity---among other things---of a country. It's a long, but interesting article, that unfortunately leads me to believe that we are still a long way adopting anything else. The alternatives suggested in the article are not likely to ever get accepted in the US without another Fort Sumter event.
Edited Again: 6:59: Now I am gettin' jus' plain stoopider, 'cause I can't figure any of this out. The New York Times optimistically reports:
Private spending has been supported by a flurry of stimulus measures introduced by the government, including tax breaks on fuel-efficient cars, subsidies for eco-friendly electronics and cash payments for families with young children. The stimulus has helped retail sales advance for three straight months through March.
while Business Week takes a less rosy view:
Japan’s economy grew less than forecast in the first quarter as an export-led recovery failed to stoke consumer spending,...**
What does "supported by" mean? Since consumer spending wasn't "stoked," but at the same time was supported, I guess that it was flat or fell less than it normally would have. I think I got ¥12,000 in a tax rebate earlier, but I would not say that my spending was supported by that. I should have bought a car or something to help. I feel guilty now.
*One person whom I know who works directly in exports has seen an increase in over-time in the last month. However, she is very concerned since she is not a specialist and "anyone" can do her job. She will feel better too, after looking at these numbers.
**Household outlays rose 0.3 percent in the first quarter, slowing from the previous period’s 0.7 percent gain, today’s report showed. Business Week
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
All atwitter
It's not the first I have heard of this little tidbit, but some fellow up in Abiko Twittered the Economist take on the slush fund for the buying of "journalists," commentators, and similar scam artists. Damn, Twitter is useful sometimes. Gives me more time to write my next post too...
(Best to check both article links as they have different perspectives.)
edited 1130pm
(Best to check both article links as they have different perspectives.)
edited 1130pm
Friday, May 14, 2010
Kidnapping the only safe option two internationally-wanted kidnappers say
We've heard and read of the claims by certain folk in the government and elsewhere who have said that most Japanese child abductors fleeing back to Japan do so because of abusive spouses.
Up until now, we've had to take their word for it that such a danger exists. The Japan Times---which recently raised its single issue price to ¥180 for folks with no access to the Internet or perhaps no sense---has given us an example of hard-nosed investigative journalism at its best. Custody or Abduction: Returning to Japan with kids was the only safe option, two mothers say.
As we read through the article, we are given reasons by two ladies of why they chose to kidnap their children. Both had suffered domestic violence, both verbal and physical, and one had also received an alimony award that was so small that, "I realized that my son and I could starve to death if we stayed."
I suppose we'll just have to take the word of the two that this happened as they said. No mention of restraining orders, court actions, complaints filed, or much of anything else in the story. We have to admit that it is not unknown for foreign spouses to be ignorant of the legal system in foreign countries or that they are often not able to fully exploit it to protect themselves and their children. However, we won't learn if that is the case from reading the JT article for no relevant questions were asked. Actually, I don't think any questions were asked.
Hats off to you, Masami Ito for this report. We await your interviews of more than just two of many, many internationally-wanted felons and your follow-up with the hard-hitting questions that you left out this time just to keep us all in suspense. Otherwise, we may ask ourselves why anyone would pay ¥180 for the JT when we can read it for free online. Custody or abduction? WTF does that mean?
Up until now, we've had to take their word for it that such a danger exists. The Japan Times---which recently raised its single issue price to ¥180 for folks with no access to the Internet or perhaps no sense---has given us an example of hard-nosed investigative journalism at its best. Custody or Abduction: Returning to Japan with kids was the only safe option, two mothers say.
As we read through the article, we are given reasons by two ladies of why they chose to kidnap their children. Both had suffered domestic violence, both verbal and physical, and one had also received an alimony award that was so small that, "I realized that my son and I could starve to death if we stayed."
I suppose we'll just have to take the word of the two that this happened as they said. No mention of restraining orders, court actions, complaints filed, or much of anything else in the story. We have to admit that it is not unknown for foreign spouses to be ignorant of the legal system in foreign countries or that they are often not able to fully exploit it to protect themselves and their children. However, we won't learn if that is the case from reading the JT article for no relevant questions were asked. Actually, I don't think any questions were asked.
Hats off to you, Masami Ito for this report. We await your interviews of more than just two of many, many internationally-wanted felons and your follow-up with the hard-hitting questions that you left out this time just to keep us all in suspense. Otherwise, we may ask ourselves why anyone would pay ¥180 for the JT when we can read it for free online. Custody or abduction? WTF does that mean?
A walk along the Tamagawa
Being too lazy to double-post this dribble, I'll just link to it---a short, nonsensical photo essay of how I wasted some time yesterday.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Don't worry, be happy
Japan's debt is apx 200% of GDP---the world's largest---but it isn't as bad as it seems 'cause most of the debt is owed to domestic suckers holders of government bonds.
"...Given Japan’s demographics, the current-account surplus may decrease and some even say it will go into deficit” in the long term, Masaaki Kaizuka, director of debt management at the ministry, said in Tokyo today. “We may see the need to increase reliance from abroad, whether we want to or not.” Bloomberg Businessweek
According to the article, Japan's debt may rise to 246% of GDP in 2012. Will Japan still have a AA- credit rating? Will foreign investors care? Will they rush in for the same 1.4% yield on a 10-year bond?
We should refrain from panic because according to Naoki Izuka of Mizuho, the government simply* needs a "feasible, credible and sustainable fiscal plan" and to resolve the problem within 5-years and "we'll be fine."
Nothing to it. A simple thing for any government, but especially the government here, whether led by the DPJ, the LDP, the Commies, or whatever. And we know how welcome foreign investors have been in the past.
*My word, not his.
"...Given Japan’s demographics, the current-account surplus may decrease and some even say it will go into deficit” in the long term, Masaaki Kaizuka, director of debt management at the ministry, said in Tokyo today. “We may see the need to increase reliance from abroad, whether we want to or not.” Bloomberg Businessweek
According to the article, Japan's debt may rise to 246% of GDP in 2012. Will Japan still have a AA- credit rating? Will foreign investors care? Will they rush in for the same 1.4% yield on a 10-year bond?
We should refrain from panic because according to Naoki Izuka of Mizuho, the government simply* needs a "feasible, credible and sustainable fiscal plan" and to resolve the problem within 5-years and "we'll be fine."
Nothing to it. A simple thing for any government, but especially the government here, whether led by the DPJ, the LDP, the Commies, or whatever. And we know how welcome foreign investors have been in the past.
*My word, not his.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Love of Nature
The whaling issue both inside and outside of Japan often seems to be as much emotional as anything else. I suppose that is something to be expected in the modern world. You have extremes on both sides of the issue---I have always been suspicious of Sea Shepard and also find much of the defense of whaling in Japan absurd as it is more of a nationalist/traditionalist argument* than anything based on science. You know, science that is peer reviewed and accepted outside of Japan.
I was at least somewhat suspicious about the Taiji dolphin kill as it has been reported to be depicted in the movie, The Cove. I haven't seen it yet, but figured it would be as much sensationalist as anything else. Perhaps I should withhold judgment until I do.
C. W. Nichols, who has been in Japan for decades, and who is a citizen, is someone whose opinions on matters of wildlife, wildlife management, and so on, I trust. He is no strict preservationist, has no Disneyland view of nature, is a hunter, a fisherman, and has professional experience in the conservation field.
He has written another column for the Japan Times in which he discusses the Taiji dolphin kill and whaling among other things:
I saw the kill for myself back in 1979 when I lived in that small Wakayama Prefecture fishing village for a year. I protested to the fishermen, to the Town Hall, and to the Fisheries Agency. Some years ago I published a book in Japan, with a chapter devoted to that slaughter and its extreme cruelty. I met the prefectural governor and warned him that the media would spread the Taiji kill all over the globe — and that Japan would be despised for it.
Nichols' arguments matter not to the nationalists defending these practices. I don't think anything does. The argument seems to be (as Nichols mentions in different words) that it is the world against poor little ol' Japan yet agin'. I have heard that from people, most recently when there was pressure to protect Blue Fin tuna. I never heard one single word of concern about the tuna population and the sustainability of the same level of fishing them. It almost seemed as if people thought the problem occurred because the rest of the world started enjoying tuna sushi and was eating all the tuna which by rights of tradition belonged to Japan.
But that's just from the folks I know. Perhaps others have performed some basic research on the issue to see if the official Japanese government position is solid, or maybe a just a little questionable. I mean, if you tell folks that Japan is the only country on earth with four clearly distinct seasons, nobody would accept that because in addition to the obvious silliness of the claim, finding the truth is just a google away.
*As for tradition, I agree with C.W. I have no problem with folks killing and eating wildlife as a part of tradition, unless doing so threatens the species. Minke whales don't fall into that category, as I understand it. But then again, even so, as far as whaling is concerned, the Japanese government position seems to be more nationalist than merely traditionalist.
I was at least somewhat suspicious about the Taiji dolphin kill as it has been reported to be depicted in the movie, The Cove. I haven't seen it yet, but figured it would be as much sensationalist as anything else. Perhaps I should withhold judgment until I do.
C. W. Nichols, who has been in Japan for decades, and who is a citizen, is someone whose opinions on matters of wildlife, wildlife management, and so on, I trust. He is no strict preservationist, has no Disneyland view of nature, is a hunter, a fisherman, and has professional experience in the conservation field.
He has written another column for the Japan Times in which he discusses the Taiji dolphin kill and whaling among other things:
I saw the kill for myself back in 1979 when I lived in that small Wakayama Prefecture fishing village for a year. I protested to the fishermen, to the Town Hall, and to the Fisheries Agency. Some years ago I published a book in Japan, with a chapter devoted to that slaughter and its extreme cruelty. I met the prefectural governor and warned him that the media would spread the Taiji kill all over the globe — and that Japan would be despised for it.
Nichols' arguments matter not to the nationalists defending these practices. I don't think anything does. The argument seems to be (as Nichols mentions in different words) that it is the world against poor little ol' Japan yet agin'. I have heard that from people, most recently when there was pressure to protect Blue Fin tuna. I never heard one single word of concern about the tuna population and the sustainability of the same level of fishing them. It almost seemed as if people thought the problem occurred because the rest of the world started enjoying tuna sushi and was eating all the tuna which by rights of tradition belonged to Japan.
But that's just from the folks I know. Perhaps others have performed some basic research on the issue to see if the official Japanese government position is solid, or maybe a just a little questionable. I mean, if you tell folks that Japan is the only country on earth with four clearly distinct seasons, nobody would accept that because in addition to the obvious silliness of the claim, finding the truth is just a google away.
*As for tradition, I agree with C.W. I have no problem with folks killing and eating wildlife as a part of tradition, unless doing so threatens the species. Minke whales don't fall into that category, as I understand it. But then again, even so, as far as whaling is concerned, the Japanese government position seems to be more nationalist than merely traditionalist.
Friday, May 07, 2010
Let's laugh at the funny non-native speakers 2 NYT
A Sampling of Chinglish (Foreigners Speak Funny English! NYT post below) reached #1 on the NYT most popular e-mailed list earlier today. At one time some thought the NYT to be a newspaper with some standards. NYT readers might even had assumed themselves to be better informed, more educated, and of higher class than some gal who reads the local rag. This e-mail list certainly brings that into question, but then again maybe folks were e-mailing it to show the effects of a newspaper desperate for readership.Imagine if a US politician, especially a Republican or someone from the Tea Party, had made fun of the language of non-native speakers or some other group. Imagine the holier-than-thou, snobbish editorial we'd have read in the NYT.
Here's a link that shows funny non-native speakers mangling the written language from a different perspective. (Thanks to Dave and another commenter)
4:45pm Edited to add: And here's a hint of how it feels to be on the receiving end.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Okinawa Redux
If the Futenma mess---perhaps disaster for Hatoyama, who has thrown in the towel in the fight with the US over who actually runs Japan as far as security issues go---is so unbelievable as to make you pinch yourself to make sure you aren't just dreaming it all, then perhaps you need to read the Chalmers Johnson editorial in the LA Times: Another Battle of Okinawa:
...I find Hatoyama's behavior craven and despicable, but I deplore even more the U.S. government's arrogance in forcing the Japanese to this deeply humiliating impasse...
That about says it all. (Edited to add: I don't personally don't feel that strongly about Hatoyama.)
A thank you towards the Potomac for the heads up.
...I find Hatoyama's behavior craven and despicable, but I deplore even more the U.S. government's arrogance in forcing the Japanese to this deeply humiliating impasse...
That about says it all. (Edited to add: I don't personally don't feel that strongly about Hatoyama.)
A thank you towards the Potomac for the heads up.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Foreigners speak funny English! NYT
Warning: I cannot prove the part below about the movie poster. You'll have to take my word for it until I can, or just assume me crazy. If anyone else remembers it, or knows a link to the poster, I'd appreciate it if you let me know.
Ahahaha. This is so funny. I knew we were overdue for an article in a major US newspaper about the hilarious and funny English non-native speakers in East Asia use. Oh, ha, ha! LOL! Yee Haw! (I liked photo number 10 the best as it shows that even the most basic rules of photography---hold the camera still when you take a shot and use an adequate shutter speed---no longer apply to photos published by the Times.)
I guess that it is a symbol of Japan's dwindling influence (how can little to no influence dwindle?) in the world that it was not a target this time of the talented multilingual geniuses at the NYT. Of course it's all innocent, because yesterday the Times published a piece on Shanghai try to untangle "Chinglish" or some such thing. I shan't bother to link.
There was a US movie called Black Rain when I was in college. It starred Michael Douglas as your stereotypical corrupt NYC cop and his partner who came to Japan (the perfect country of the future back then) and got all involved in a culture clash. The rough, corrupt, screw-all-the-laws-and-rules ways of Americans meet the polite, rule/duty bound, alien and inscrutable Japanese. The opening scene over Osaka (never been to Osaka, but I doubt that it appears so otherworldly from an aircraft) set the stage for the rest of the bizarre movie. In the happy ending however, the surviving American departed Japan a little more introspective and maybe even a bit less corrupt, while we were left to ponder just how corrupt the American had made his Japanese partner.
Some movie posters at a local Pullman, Washington video store had Black Rain written in both English and katakana.* How international! Unfortunately, they had written the katakana backwards so that it actually read kurabu nurei(?)---or perhaps nurei kurabu? Don't remember exactly as I did not take a picture. Bahaha. Ain't it funny how those English-speakers mangle Asian languages?
*They were not locally made---I am pretty sure they were supplied by the studio. I can find no examples online either.
**Edited: 1126pm
I have continued to search for the poster on the Internet, but as of yet have not found it. Really, I am not that crazy yet. My wife remembers it too. However, we could both be crazy.
Ahahaha. This is so funny. I knew we were overdue for an article in a major US newspaper about the hilarious and funny English non-native speakers in East Asia use. Oh, ha, ha! LOL! Yee Haw! (I liked photo number 10 the best as it shows that even the most basic rules of photography---hold the camera still when you take a shot and use an adequate shutter speed---no longer apply to photos published by the Times.)
I guess that it is a symbol of Japan's dwindling influence (how can little to no influence dwindle?) in the world that it was not a target this time of the talented multilingual geniuses at the NYT. Of course it's all innocent, because yesterday the Times published a piece on Shanghai try to untangle "Chinglish" or some such thing. I shan't bother to link.
There was a US movie called Black Rain when I was in college. It starred Michael Douglas as your stereotypical corrupt NYC cop and his partner who came to Japan (the perfect country of the future back then) and got all involved in a culture clash. The rough, corrupt, screw-all-the-laws-and-rules ways of Americans meet the polite, rule/duty bound, alien and inscrutable Japanese. The opening scene over Osaka (never been to Osaka, but I doubt that it appears so otherworldly from an aircraft) set the stage for the rest of the bizarre movie. In the happy ending however, the surviving American departed Japan a little more introspective and maybe even a bit less corrupt, while we were left to ponder just how corrupt the American had made his Japanese partner.
Some movie posters at a local Pullman, Washington video store had Black Rain written in both English and katakana.* How international! Unfortunately, they had written the katakana backwards so that it actually read kurabu nurei(?)---or perhaps nurei kurabu? Don't remember exactly as I did not take a picture. Bahaha. Ain't it funny how those English-speakers mangle Asian languages?
*They were not locally made---I am pretty sure they were supplied by the studio. I can find no examples online either.
**Edited: 1126pm
I have continued to search for the poster on the Internet, but as of yet have not found it. Really, I am not that crazy yet. My wife remembers it too. However, we could both be crazy.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Blinky the bigot
cannot trust himself, for folks of foreign roots owe allegiance to their foreign ancestors. Where did the Japanese---whomever "the Japanese" are---come from? Is Blinky-the-bigot Ainu by any chance?Well, although Blinky was elected and has been re-elected governor of Tokyo by the citizens of this fine prefecture, we can't assume that just because he is a racist that everyone else is.
However, as Debito Arudou writes in The Japan Times: Last Gasps of Japan's Dying Demagogues, some are:
[Citing research from M. G. Sheftall of Shizuoka University---good god, A furriner! Who can believe him?] Ishihara's "Showa Hitoketa generation" (1926-1935) was "completely immersed, from birth until late adolescence/early adulthood, in prewar Japanese ideology at its most militantly militaristic, chauvinistic and xenophobic. It is unsurprising many never quite recovered from the trauma they suffered when their ideology was suddenly and catastrophically delegitimized in August 1945."
Arudou points out that the argument of the folks who opposed the partial foreign suffrage proposed by the DPJ that bakagaijin should naturalize if they want to vote is purely fatuous (he does not use those words) as folks of Blinky's ilk will never accept naturalized citizens as Japanese when they won't even accept people who have been here for generations as Japanese.
We can only hope Debito is correct when he calls these types a dying breed. I ain't so sure, at best I think that they are a diminishing breed as there will always be others to pick up the flag.
I have nothing against that old extremist that the citizens of Tokyo decided to have represent them. The fact that he is a well-known racist, misogynist/misanthrope, and all-around kook was not important enough to give them pause. I wish him no bad luck, but if he were to be hit by a freight train, I would not spend the night crying. (What a mean thing to say!)
Google spell check does not recognize delegitimized as a word.
Edited 1010pm
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Did ya ever notice?
As I sat at the nice little fish and chips place Delight in Tamagawa Tokyo on a Golden Week Sunday and enjoyed a decent meal and a new Yebisu Creamy Top Stout, I pondered life amongst the worlds most polite and rule-obeying citizens.
If I walk down a street in Tokyo, a large portion of the population will only very, very reluctantly (or, on the case of certain very short middle-aged men completely refuse to) share the sidewalk with me.
However, if I carry a camera and stop to take a photo---or just look like I might take one---everyone will do anything, including climbing a wall, to avoid getting between me and the subject.** Some will duck down about an inch believing that doing so somehow keeps them out of the photo. Others will stand for eternity waiting for me to take the photo. It's almost as if I were on a firing range shooting an elephant rifle. Nobody would dare dally in front of me.
It might make life easier if I were to carry a camera---working or not---around my neck and pull it up as if to take a photo every time I saw a group walking side-by-side taking up the entire sidewalk.
This would have NO effect, however, on mama-chari-ists (who are licensed to kill anyway), nor the recent road bike converts (who have transferred their mama-chari skills to road bikes), nor cars---stop to take a photo in a crosswalk in Denenchofu and you are dead---taxis, buses, the large speeding dump trucks driven by lunatics, nor the young ladies who attend the Denenchofu private school for girls.
As I came out of my exercise in fantasy and was about to order another ¥880 pint, a fellow and his girl pulled up on shiny new road bikes dressed in the latest road bike fashion as promoted by Fun Ride magazine. After they came in and ordered, the future TDF yellow jersey prospect pulled out a cigarette and injected his lungs with the mama-chari-ist's EPO: nicotine. Next time, I am sitting outside.
*I keep forgetting the name and thus cannot find it on the Internut, including Google Japan. However, if you go to Tamagawa station and exit toward the river of the same name, you will find an nice little British-themed pub on the right just across from the bus stop. It has become my favorite local restaurant. 9:18PM: Found it here
**I often want people in the photos, although I rarely photograph someone's face clearly without asking, if I intend to put it on the web. Copyright/privacy laws are a bit strict in Japan about that sort of thing. Got your blog "monetized"? Well, hhssssssss---the sound of air being sucked through teeth.
If I walk down a street in Tokyo, a large portion of the population will only very, very reluctantly (or, on the case of certain very short middle-aged men completely refuse to) share the sidewalk with me.
However, if I carry a camera and stop to take a photo---or just look like I might take one---everyone will do anything, including climbing a wall, to avoid getting between me and the subject.** Some will duck down about an inch believing that doing so somehow keeps them out of the photo. Others will stand for eternity waiting for me to take the photo. It's almost as if I were on a firing range shooting an elephant rifle. Nobody would dare dally in front of me.
It might make life easier if I were to carry a camera---working or not---around my neck and pull it up as if to take a photo every time I saw a group walking side-by-side taking up the entire sidewalk.This would have NO effect, however, on mama-chari-ists (who are licensed to kill anyway), nor the recent road bike converts (who have transferred their mama-chari skills to road bikes), nor cars---stop to take a photo in a crosswalk in Denenchofu and you are dead---taxis, buses, the large speeding dump trucks driven by lunatics, nor the young ladies who attend the Denenchofu private school for girls.
As I came out of my exercise in fantasy and was about to order another ¥880 pint, a fellow and his girl pulled up on shiny new road bikes dressed in the latest road bike fashion as promoted by Fun Ride magazine. After they came in and ordered, the future TDF yellow jersey prospect pulled out a cigarette and injected his lungs with the mama-chari-ist's EPO: nicotine. Next time, I am sitting outside.
*I keep forgetting the name and thus cannot find it on the Internut, including Google Japan. However, if you go to Tamagawa station and exit toward the river of the same name, you will find an nice little British-themed pub on the right just across from the bus stop. It has become my favorite local restaurant. 9:18PM: Found it here
**I often want people in the photos, although I rarely photograph someone's face clearly without asking, if I intend to put it on the web. Copyright/privacy laws are a bit strict in Japan about that sort of thing. Got your blog "monetized"? Well, hhssssssss---the sound of air being sucked through teeth.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
The Smart Money ain't on Japan
....Smart Money is looking at Japan as the next short because its debt is 100% of GDP, and it will be more difficult to refinance as the population gets older and may need to spend its savings, rather than buy more poorly yielding securities. The cost of shorting Japanese government debt is cheap as interest rates are so low... Forbes
For what it's worth.We've been hearing these sorts of things about Japan, the US and everywhere else for a gadzillion years now. "It can't go on! We can't continue to borrow and borrow and borrow!" But we do.
But if the above occurs sometime in the distant future, what will happen to the US when its one of its two major financiers goes belly up? Will China be able take up all the slack? US taxpayers certainly won't.
For what it's worth.We've been hearing these sorts of things about Japan, the US and everywhere else for a gadzillion years now. "It can't go on! We can't continue to borrow and borrow and borrow!" But we do.
But if the above occurs sometime in the distant future, what will happen to the US when its one of its two major financiers goes belly up? Will China be able take up all the slack? US taxpayers certainly won't.
Friday, April 30, 2010
DPJ's Maehara shows himself to be an intellectual dupe; surges in polls
Japan Bashing, the term created by an American lackey and lobbyist for the Japanese government, Robert C. Angel in the 80s has made a comeback in the DPJ with Transport Minister Seiji Maeha:
"Should there be any Japan-bashing, that would not be positive for the American economy either," he said, referring to a possible extreme backlash against Japanese manufacturers, which he said had been avoided so far. Japan Times
Edited to add, knowing fully well this has nothing to do with the intellectual dupe's "Japan Bashing" theory:
Seiji Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, surged into second with 10.6 percent. Maehara, who is in an anti-Ozawa group within the DPJ, had just 4.9 percent support in the previous poll. Same JT article as directly above.
I sincerely apologize for being unfair to the dupe.
Why must I edit html to get blogger to format, to use the correct font, and to do about anything else? And even when I do, it ignores what I enter?
"Should there be any Japan-bashing, that would not be positive for the American economy either," he said, referring to a possible extreme backlash against Japanese manufacturers, which he said had been avoided so far. Japan Times
--------------------------------------------
I [Robert C. Angel]hoped to be able to discredit those most effective critics by lumping them together with the people who weren't informed and who as critics were an embarrassment to everybody else."...
...Angel, who says he is now embarrassed by his triumph, commented, "I view that modest public relations success with some shame and disappointment." And added, "Those people who use (the term) have the distinction of being my intellectual dupes." Wikipedia
In other unrelated news, PM Hatoyama's support has dropped to 20.7%, according to the JT.Edited to add, knowing fully well this has nothing to do with the intellectual dupe's "Japan Bashing" theory:
Seiji Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, surged into second with 10.6 percent. Maehara, who is in an anti-Ozawa group within the DPJ, had just 4.9 percent support in the previous poll. Same JT article as directly above.
I sincerely apologize for being unfair to the dupe.
Why must I edit html to get blogger to format, to use the correct font, and to do about anything else? And even when I do, it ignores what I enter?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Somebody slap me
I did not read this letter in the Japan Times Hotline to Nagatacho. I rarely bother with that section. Just like the folks in Nagatacho, I am sure.
It is not wise to mix local politics with diplomacy. Diplomacy is like a poker game played by sovereign states. You cannot play it with your cards exposed. And to read the cards of others, you need the advice of career diplomats... ...Futenma is a case in point...JT
OK, the video has nothing to do with this except for the title, but I did search in vain for a girl like that before getting hitched.
It is not wise to mix local politics with diplomacy. Diplomacy is like a poker game played by sovereign states. You cannot play it with your cards exposed. And to read the cards of others, you need the advice of career diplomats... ...Futenma is a case in point...JT
And Hatoyama, who was lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family (which always seems to make one suspect) ought to be more considerate to bureaucrats. Hasn''t the advice of career diplomats (from the old days, both in the US and Japan) been part of the problem? And ain't it about time someone did listen to Okinawans even though it smacks of democracy?
It is a shock when you vote for someone for change, and the person makes some attempt to actually change something.
OK, no more reading of that part of the JT. Ruins my lunch, for I will be thinking of responding there. I once read or heard that one of the first signs of insanity is writing letters to the editor. Blogging may be one of the latter stages.
OK, the video has nothing to do with this except for the title, but I did search in vain for a girl like that before getting hitched.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
So what's changed?
The rest of the world regarded Americans as a mob of barbarians who happened to live on top of a mother lode of precious minerals, fertile land, inexhaustible woodlands and waterways galore ... but were as uncouth as they were rich ... and spoke in barbaric yawps... Faking West, Going East: NYT (Tom Wolfe)
The article is about Mark Twain who died just over 100 years ago, 21 April 1910.
The article is about Mark Twain who died just over 100 years ago, 21 April 1910.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Speaking of incompetents and language study, nobody could ever make the claim that those big eikaiwa chain schools were managed by a bunch of nitwits:
In its attempt to catch Nova, Geos expanded rapidly only to be caught high and dry by the plunge in student enrollment after Nova imploded, and was probably unable to trim unprofitable branches fast enough, Sakurabayashi said. Japan Times
I once worked for an eikaiwa chain whose name I shall never utter, but they run asideshow side business of very poor travel guides and quicky language books. They often had problems with remembering that most folks expected to be paid as per contract for services rendered. Also had trouble understanding that the contract applied to them as well as the employees.
I worked at a newly opened branch in a business district in Yokohama. Great idea, except that a major target was children. Everyone, including the students, kept wondering why anyone would open a school aimed at children in the middle of a business district. I was assured by the manager that he had personally "seen the numbers" and they looked great!!* The branch closed within 1.5 years. I ended my career with the big B shortly thereafter.
I had to spend the next 2 years shoveling horse manure just to get my dignity back.
*Anyone who has worked at B%&$ or studied there since about 2003 knows that the word "great" is the most important and most frequently used word in the English language. The in-house writtencomic books texts managed to work it into about every dialog when they weren't insisting that students had to learn some long, weird, out-of-the-blue phrase that no sober native speaker would ever use.
In its attempt to catch Nova, Geos expanded rapidly only to be caught high and dry by the plunge in student enrollment after Nova imploded, and was probably unable to trim unprofitable branches fast enough, Sakurabayashi said. Japan Times
I once worked for an eikaiwa chain whose name I shall never utter, but they run a
I worked at a newly opened branch in a business district in Yokohama. Great idea, except that a major target was children. Everyone, including the students, kept wondering why anyone would open a school aimed at children in the middle of a business district. I was assured by the manager that he had personally "seen the numbers" and they looked great!!* The branch closed within 1.5 years. I ended my career with the big B shortly thereafter.
I had to spend the next 2 years shoveling horse manure just to get my dignity back.
*Anyone who has worked at B%&$ or studied there since about 2003 knows that the word "great" is the most important and most frequently used word in the English language. The in-house written
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Non-communicative communication
Glad to see that the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) written by anal retentive types who understand neither testing nor language acquisition has been redesigned. Supposedly, according to a recent article in Metropolis magazine---which is well worth the price---the unimaginative, 1950s-types have made the test "more communicative." Obviously, they are not aware of the meaning of the word "communicative" when it comes to language. As far as I have been able to learn, they are once again testing passive/receptive skills and require no language production. Not a single word.
Frankly the test designers are incompetent. Do these same doofuses run the English language "education" system in Japan? Isn't there sorta like a basic rule to "test what is being tested"? If so, how can you test for communicative ability without testing communication?
The only reason to take such a test is for motivation (which will soon disappear after wasting chunks of your life with dry, arcane crap, much of which you will soon notice few Japanese actually use---and you won't remember) or because you need it for an equally unenlightened company for employment.
Isn't there a field known as linguistics with a sub-field known as Second Language Acquisition? Are the test writers so ignorant that they are unaware of it? Are they trying to perpetuate a for profit-first-and-foremost scam? Or is it different for the Japanese language? What century is it here?
Oh, and another eikaiwa chain, GEOS, bites the dust.
Frankly the test designers are incompetent. Do these same doofuses run the English language "education" system in Japan? Isn't there sorta like a basic rule to "test what is being tested"? If so, how can you test for communicative ability without testing communication?
The only reason to take such a test is for motivation (which will soon disappear after wasting chunks of your life with dry, arcane crap, much of which you will soon notice few Japanese actually use---and you won't remember) or because you need it for an equally unenlightened company for employment.
Isn't there a field known as linguistics with a sub-field known as Second Language Acquisition? Are the test writers so ignorant that they are unaware of it? Are they trying to perpetuate a for profit-first-and-foremost scam? Or is it different for the Japanese language? What century is it here?
Oh, and another eikaiwa chain, GEOS, bites the dust.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Bicultural cross-dressing and the intellektual
One of the good things about living in Japan is that just by living here, one can become an expert on all things Japanese. After a while, this biculturalism, along with ones own intellectual superiority sets oneself apart from the crowd.
I know it has me.
It was a nice trip up to Yugawara for a stay at Sansuirou ryokan: the train was lightly occupied, there were no drunks sucking down beer and chu-hi at 11am, and we even arrived at the station a few minutes early instead of the normal 1 minute all-out run through the station to catch the train. The curry rice that I had at Coffee West (not the small one by the station, but the big one just down the block) was especially delicious. We had time for a short hike to the sea, but since access was closed off apparently due to some sort of construction/economic stimulus, we substituted a climb to the top of a small but slightly steep hill nearby. Then, after managing to get lost in that small town, we made it back to the station and caught a cab to the ryokan. Unlike the last time, the driver was not a frustrated F-1 wannabe whose only driving skill was acceleration.
That evening in the ryokan, I got to put my stunning language skills, my education, experience, and impressive intellect to work in dealing with the nakai-san (much more than a maid, but that seems to be the English translation). I managed the delicious 11 course kaiseki with no problem. "Does Japanese cuisine match your taste?" nakaisan asked. Well, for an old hand like me, naturally it does. And the meal was delicious though I still am not sure exactly what some dishes were although she explained each. I did not divulge the latter though, as I did not want to cheapen my sophisticated image.
After dinner and the ryokan's wine-like specialty sake (and after nakai-san dropped about every other dish when cleaning up) t'was time for the traditional bath. Would have loved to have gone to the rooftop rotenburo, but only ladies could go after 9. Men could only go to the indoor bath. I did not appreciate that at all, for I wanted to see the starsand the naked ladies*.
I reached for the yukata in the closet that I had sworn nakai-san had pointed out. The wife saw that and said "違う、違う！”** "Huh? Wrong?" I asked. "These are for men" she said, grabbing one out of the other closet.
Well, something seemed strange about it as the sleeves were short and designed differently. It seemed rather short too, but I am not a yukata expert so who I was to question a Japanese? Despite that, I decided not to wear the yukata to the bath, but just wear what I had on. (A purist's nightmare, I suppose.)
During the bath with men old enough to be my father (and older) I reconsidered my disappointment with not being able to bathe while looking at the starsand naked elderly ladies. I returned to our room and there enjoyed the exotic, sensual experience of donning a real Japanese yukata. Lafcadio Hearn himself would have envied me. We soon turned in.
One of the great pleasures about sleeping in a yukata is that you don't really sleep in it very much. You get to enjoy waking up several times with it half off, or over your head, or the sash wrapped around your throat strangling you.
Soon enough---or not soon enough---it was morning and the boss woke up and suggested that she take a photo of me in my fine traditional Japanese wear. I was a bit befuddled, since it was not exactly the first time I had worn a yukata. However, an order is an order and I posed for a few. Then she went out for a pre-breakfast soak.
I chose not to go, but instead made a cup of green tea and turned on CNN which was broadcast in Japanese and English simultaneously*** making trying to understand it a great fun. I then heard nakaisan at the door announcing that she was ready to put away the futons. Come on in, I said.
She busied herself with the futons while I coolly sipped the tea and exhibited my skills at understanding two languages at once.**** "That's a woman's yukata," she informed me. Picking up the one that my wife had said was for women, she said "These are for men."
"Is that so," said I, being secure enough in my masculinity as to not mind being caught crossdressing by the maid. Besides, I was too busy imaging what I was going to do to my wife. The woman still does not understand who wears the pants in the family. I will need to shave a bit closer though, as whiskers tend to clash with my outfits.
Breakfast made up for it.
I know it has me.
It was a nice trip up to Yugawara for a stay at Sansuirou ryokan: the train was lightly occupied, there were no drunks sucking down beer and chu-hi at 11am, and we even arrived at the station a few minutes early instead of the normal 1 minute all-out run through the station to catch the train. The curry rice that I had at Coffee West (not the small one by the station, but the big one just down the block) was especially delicious. We had time for a short hike to the sea, but since access was closed off apparently due to some sort of construction/economic stimulus, we substituted a climb to the top of a small but slightly steep hill nearby. Then, after managing to get lost in that small town, we made it back to the station and caught a cab to the ryokan. Unlike the last time, the driver was not a frustrated F-1 wannabe whose only driving skill was acceleration.
That evening in the ryokan, I got to put my stunning language skills, my education, experience, and impressive intellect to work in dealing with the nakai-san (much more than a maid, but that seems to be the English translation). I managed the delicious 11 course kaiseki with no problem. "Does Japanese cuisine match your taste?" nakaisan asked. Well, for an old hand like me, naturally it does. And the meal was delicious though I still am not sure exactly what some dishes were although she explained each. I did not divulge the latter though, as I did not want to cheapen my sophisticated image.
After dinner and the ryokan's wine-like specialty sake (and after nakai-san dropped about every other dish when cleaning up) t'was time for the traditional bath. Would have loved to have gone to the rooftop rotenburo, but only ladies could go after 9. Men could only go to the indoor bath. I did not appreciate that at all, for I wanted to see the stars
I reached for the yukata in the closet that I had sworn nakai-san had pointed out. The wife saw that and said "違う、違う！”** "Huh? Wrong?" I asked. "These are for men" she said, grabbing one out of the other closet.
Well, something seemed strange about it as the sleeves were short and designed differently. It seemed rather short too, but I am not a yukata expert so who I was to question a Japanese? Despite that, I decided not to wear the yukata to the bath, but just wear what I had on. (A purist's nightmare, I suppose.)
During the bath with men old enough to be my father (and older) I reconsidered my disappointment with not being able to bathe while looking at the stars
One of the great pleasures about sleeping in a yukata is that you don't really sleep in it very much. You get to enjoy waking up several times with it half off, or over your head, or the sash wrapped around your throat strangling you.
Soon enough---or not soon enough---it was morning and the boss woke up and suggested that she take a photo of me in my fine traditional Japanese wear. I was a bit befuddled, since it was not exactly the first time I had worn a yukata. However, an order is an order and I posed for a few. Then she went out for a pre-breakfast soak.
I chose not to go, but instead made a cup of green tea and turned on CNN which was broadcast in Japanese and English simultaneously*** making trying to understand it a great fun. I then heard nakaisan at the door announcing that she was ready to put away the futons. Come on in, I said.
She busied herself with the futons while I coolly sipped the tea and exhibited my skills at understanding two languages at once.**** "That's a woman's yukata," she informed me. Picking up the one that my wife had said was for women, she said "These are for men."
"Is that so," said I, being secure enough in my masculinity as to not mind being caught crossdressing by the maid. Besides, I was too busy imaging what I was going to do to my wife. The woman still does not understand who wears the pants in the family. I will need to shave a bit closer though, as whiskers tend to clash with my outfits.
Breakfast made up for it.*I shouldn't need to mention this, but in 2010, men and women have segregated baths, or bath times in the vast majority of places. Should I be incorrect, I'd like to know...where...when...age groups etc...(I found that I may not have been completely correct here. Search down to the comment by the photographer.)
**Japanese and kanji used solely to impress the easily impressed. Chigau, Chigau: Wrong! Wrong!
***If the TV had a bilingual function, we could not find it. Especially not on the 34,453.6 function remote.
****Actually, I can barely understand one language, let alone two at once.
I can imagine the number of hits I'll get from Google from people searching for Japanese cross-dressers.
**Japanese and kanji used solely to impress the easily impressed. Chigau, Chigau: Wrong! Wrong!
***If the TV had a bilingual function, we could not find it. Especially not on the 34,453.6 function remote.
****Actually, I can barely understand one language, let alone two at once.
I can imagine the number of hits I'll get from Google from people searching for Japanese cross-dressers.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Crazy Karl
I have to admit that no major writer on things Japanese attracts my interest more than Karl van Wolferen. Since I first read his book, The Enigma of Japanese Power, in about 1992/93, I have always thought that what he writes just fits since it matches what I have seen and experienced here. I suppose that means he is all wrong.
His latest Japan Focus article was tremendously interesting. I was especially intrigued by his opinions about the US and its vision of Japan. I would say that there should be nothing radical about his thoughts as everything has been out in the open at least since the Futenma mess began. Did it not seem absurd that such a thing would cause a "crisis" in "the most important bilateral relationship in the world--bar none"? Did it not seem even more absurd since the US had a new, more internationally aware president than the old with us or agin' us fellow? Karl has certainly put the parts together so very well, as he always does.
The only thing that I would emphasize is that we do have to remember that Japan made the choice to submit its sovereignty in international affairs and defense back in the 60s.** And it benefited mightily from it---at least economically---in the short-term. There are other possible, but unprovable benefits too. Had Japan needed to provide fully for its own defense and foreign policy, would it have been a nuclear weapons free "peace country" today? What if some of the more extreme fringes had gotten into power? Would they have tempered their loud-mouths knowing that there weren't foreign watchdogs to provide cover for them? Or would they have acted on their words? If so, how would things have turned out?
On the other hand, had this perverted arrangement not been in place, would Japanese citizens have been more involved in politics knowing that the country would have to face the full consequences of military or diplomatic missteps? Could it have been a much more democratic country earlier? Then again, was any of this directly the business of the US?
Times have changed and the fact that Japan sold its soul for short-term benefit is no longer seen as so beneficial by many. Unfortunately, that does not seem to include those running the show in the US.
Previously, I had believed that if Japan really wanted to have an "equal relationship," or at least get out of the submissive role it placed itself in, it would do it. However, as we have seen since the DPJ came into power, and as mentioned in the article, things aren't that simple. The US can intimidate Japan (again, Japan is not blameless for putting itself in a position to be intimidated) and influence politicians through citizens and seems very willing to do it where security is concerned (less so where economic/trade issues are concerned. Wonder why?). Why else would the polls show so many Japanese concerned about Hatoyama's handling of Futenma? And we know that the US expected citizens to pressure the government---at least that was what I felt earlier this year when reading some of the US statements. Many seemed confident that Hatoyama would back down because of public reaction.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety: Attributed to Ben Franklin. Perhaps Prime Minister Yoshida should have considered that before committing to his "doctrine."
*I read some of the amazon.com reviews of his book several years ago and discovered he actually knows nothing. A Japanese professor has refuted all of his claims. So has a fellow I once knew personally, although he was never exactly specific about anything, except that only fools believed van Wolferen. Cool. The fool's view of Japan seems more accurate than any of the others.
**Apologies for the Wikipedia link. The Yoshida Doctrine (PM Shigeru Yoshida) should be easy to confirm elsewhere on the web, or, god-forbid, in a book or something.
Edited for corrections at 2030 and again later.
His latest Japan Focus article was tremendously interesting. I was especially intrigued by his opinions about the US and its vision of Japan. I would say that there should be nothing radical about his thoughts as everything has been out in the open at least since the Futenma mess began. Did it not seem absurd that such a thing would cause a "crisis" in "the most important bilateral relationship in the world--bar none"? Did it not seem even more absurd since the US had a new, more internationally aware president than the old with us or agin' us fellow? Karl has certainly put the parts together so very well, as he always does.
The only thing that I would emphasize is that we do have to remember that Japan made the choice to submit its sovereignty in international affairs and defense back in the 60s.** And it benefited mightily from it---at least economically---in the short-term. There are other possible, but unprovable benefits too. Had Japan needed to provide fully for its own defense and foreign policy, would it have been a nuclear weapons free "peace country" today? What if some of the more extreme fringes had gotten into power? Would they have tempered their loud-mouths knowing that there weren't foreign watchdogs to provide cover for them? Or would they have acted on their words? If so, how would things have turned out?
On the other hand, had this perverted arrangement not been in place, would Japanese citizens have been more involved in politics knowing that the country would have to face the full consequences of military or diplomatic missteps? Could it have been a much more democratic country earlier? Then again, was any of this directly the business of the US?
Times have changed and the fact that Japan sold its soul for short-term benefit is no longer seen as so beneficial by many. Unfortunately, that does not seem to include those running the show in the US.
Previously, I had believed that if Japan really wanted to have an "equal relationship," or at least get out of the submissive role it placed itself in, it would do it. However, as we have seen since the DPJ came into power, and as mentioned in the article, things aren't that simple. The US can intimidate Japan (again, Japan is not blameless for putting itself in a position to be intimidated) and influence politicians through citizens and seems very willing to do it where security is concerned (less so where economic/trade issues are concerned. Wonder why?). Why else would the polls show so many Japanese concerned about Hatoyama's handling of Futenma? And we know that the US expected citizens to pressure the government---at least that was what I felt earlier this year when reading some of the US statements. Many seemed confident that Hatoyama would back down because of public reaction.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety: Attributed to Ben Franklin. Perhaps Prime Minister Yoshida should have considered that before committing to his "doctrine."
*I read some of the amazon.com reviews of his book several years ago and discovered he actually knows nothing. A Japanese professor has refuted all of his claims. So has a fellow I once knew personally, although he was never exactly specific about anything, except that only fools believed van Wolferen. Cool. The fool's view of Japan seems more accurate than any of the others.
**Apologies for the Wikipedia link. The Yoshida Doctrine (PM Shigeru Yoshida) should be easy to confirm elsewhere on the web, or, god-forbid, in a book or something.
Edited for corrections at 2030 and again later.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
I can see clearly now
The rain had gone over the weekend. Having nothing useful to do, I walked up celebrity hill behind Denenchofu station, to see the now rapidly falling blossoms.Oh look, folks on bikes. The guy is even on a road bike. Great, I have always loved road bikes, riding several thousand miles every year for about the last fifteen.
Last year, just after a couple of Japanese riders placed well in the Tour de France, I worried that the sport would become a popular fad and that people would bring their mama-chari "skills" to road bikes at higher speeds. I was right.
But that is a story to be continued later. For now I will just say that one cannot count on any realistic attempts to deal with the root of this problem---negligence, ignoring traffic devices, rules and laws (even the koban sitters ignore them when out of the koban on their police-charis), lack of awareness of surroundings, and lack of concern for others, lack of anticipation, lack of cycling skills, and a general incompetence on a bicycle. I have recently developed an actual dread before a ride.
Most "serious" cyclists, native and not, know to avoid the Tamagawa cycling path, at least until about 20 miles out from Futako-tamagawa. It has become deadly dangerous (some would say it always has been). So dangerous---including fatal accidents---that the authorities have decided to take action. Simple-minded, mostly ineffective action, but action nonetheless.
By the way, what would happen if a speeding car came around the curve ahead of these cyclists? Are they prepared? What side of the road are the helmet-less, glove-less riders on? (They should both be to the left---toward the camera here since we drive on the left in Japan.)
Monday, April 12, 2010
A "Stumbling Revolution"
The next couple of years will be crucial for the realization of genuine Japanese democracy. More than that. If the Minshuto leaders succeed in carrying out their aim of creating a cabinet-centered government this will be a grand example for others – one of the very few positive turns of fate in the political life of our planet. But the obstacles to achieving this are formidable. Not only domestic forces but also Washington will seek to torpedo the plans for a truly independent Japan that can stand on its own feet in the world. Understanding those obstacles well could help Japanese citizens contribute to the chances for a good outcome. Japan Focus
The article, Japan's Stumbling Revolution, by Karl van Wolferen, originally published in Chou Koron in Japanese last March is now at Japan Focus in English.
The last time I posted van Wolferen's comments
One must be wary of using the label ‘revolutionary’, but if they [DPJ] succeed this would be appropriate in the context of Japan's controlling political institutions.
it irked one of the commenters who thought DPJ being revolutionary was absurd. I think he missed the key word "if." Today "revolutionary" is still in "if" form and that "if" may seem a little less likely every day. Karl van Wolferen writes that "to call the task that the Minshuto has taken upon itself a heavy one is very, very understated." No doubt about that.
I think his take on the Japanese system is always worth reading. And rereading.
Edited to add: His take on the big newspapers and their "creating political reality as it exists in people's minds" seems especially accurate. I wish I could paste the whole article here, it's very good.
The article, Japan's Stumbling Revolution, by Karl van Wolferen, originally published in Chou Koron in Japanese last March is now at Japan Focus in English.
The last time I posted van Wolferen's comments
One must be wary of using the label ‘revolutionary’, but if they [DPJ] succeed this would be appropriate in the context of Japan's controlling political institutions.
it irked one of the commenters who thought DPJ being revolutionary was absurd. I think he missed the key word "if." Today "revolutionary" is still in "if" form and that "if" may seem a little less likely every day. Karl van Wolferen writes that "to call the task that the Minshuto has taken upon itself a heavy one is very, very understated." No doubt about that.
I think his take on the Japanese system is always worth reading. And rereading.
Edited to add: His take on the big newspapers and their "creating political reality as it exists in people's minds" seems especially accurate. I wish I could paste the whole article here, it's very good.
Speaking of health care and nutjobs
Michele Bachmann, who is running for some office in the US---I haven't bothered to check or care which:
"said she had it on good authority that in Japan the government puts people who criticize the health care system “on a list” and denies them treatment." Gail Collins, NYT
Perhaps that explains some of the problems we've had. No, not in Japan, where I must now assume that I am on a list, but in the US. We allow crazy people to run for office.
While unsuccessfully searching for the exact quote by Ms. Bakamann, I found Frank Rich's column, No One is to Blame for Anything, which is mainly about Greenspan and Rubin et al not accepting responsibility for the financial crisis [edited to add that I should add that it goes beyond that to the Pope, Tiger Woods and more]. Then I did something stupid. Something I almost never do on newspaper articles. I read the comments. I discovered:
"said she had it on good authority that in Japan the government puts people who criticize the health care system “on a list” and denies them treatment." Gail Collins, NYT
Perhaps that explains some of the problems we've had. No, not in Japan, where I must now assume that I am on a list, but in the US. We allow crazy people to run for office.
While unsuccessfully searching for the exact quote by Ms. Bakamann, I found Frank Rich's column, No One is to Blame for Anything, which is mainly about Greenspan and Rubin et al not accepting responsibility for the financial crisis [edited to add that I should add that it goes beyond that to the Pope, Tiger Woods and more]. Then I did something stupid. Something I almost never do on newspaper articles. I read the comments. I discovered:
#58 It is not in the American character to say I take responsibility because I did something wrong. In Britain, the cabinet ministers take responsibility and resign pretty routinely. In Japan, the senior officials apologize and sometimes commit suicide because they brought so much shame.Not sure about Britain, but I am wondering in which Japan the latter occurs. Must happen a lot in that Japan for everyone talks about it. In this one, it seems senior officials deny, lie, stall, bluff, duck, and do anything but apologize until there is no other possible alternative and then maybe give some sort of murky, stylized formal apology. (Of course, some folk never get an apology. Ask the former sex slaves of WW2.) Not sure Americans would be satisfied with these apologies once they got used to them. Especially the whiny-teary-insincerey part. Suicide? Quick, name the last three senior officials who did. The last two? OK, one?
#55 As to the Catholic Church, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if the Pope was Japanese rather than German. Reminds me of...[edited for relevancy]...I don't suppose the world could expect a Japanese Pope to commit seppuku (presumably, it would be a sin) but I think we would get a sincere personal apology and a resignation.A sincere personal apology from someone in that type of position? Oh, I'll just bet. That is about as likely as having a Japanese Pope to begin with. Should it have been a scandal at a well-respected, traditional, and conservative Japanese institution, I wonder how we'd find out about it? What domestic newspaper or or media would report such a thing?
Re: Personal Note
A few weeks ago, I reluctantly posted a note that I may suspend this blog. A the time I posted it, I expected to be spending the next X months of my life trying to rebuild it yet again with little time for scribbling. Fortunately, although nothing has really changed, I have somehow been able to trick myself into believing that I am once again in control. Nonsense, of course, but a reassuring lie that helps us all deal with the fact that we aren't in control of a damned thing.
I once tried to keep everything personal out of this except for occasional rants or goof-offs, and I hope this is the last "personal note" I ever write.
I have learned a few things, which I am sure that most other people over 15 learned years ago.
Now with this vague, incoherent post, I hope to gradually and erratically resume more regular writing unless my fantasy of being a bit more in control turns out to be nothing more than a fantasy. At least I won't be doing it from under a blue tarp along a less than pristine river.
Thanks to those who commented, e-mailed, or otherwise contacted me. I do very much appreciate it.
I once tried to keep everything personal out of this except for occasional rants or goof-offs, and I hope this is the last "personal note" I ever write.
I have learned a few things, which I am sure that most other people over 15 learned years ago.
Living in Japan as non-citizen makes you very vulnerable, no matter how much you think you have adapted or how much you think you know. Oh wait, Japanese is the key. You passed JLPT 1? Cool, never mind, just show the certificate and this won't apply to you. Ditto if you have permanent residency.
One should never, ever, ever, ever---shall I repeat that?---allow oneself to become to dependent in any way on any single person. I'd guess that this is something that men tend to do more than women. I'd guess. Anyway, one should make sure that he has a whole network of folks of varied relationships and of all nationalities even if it occasionally pisses off said person he has become in any way dependent on. Always be prepared. Have your capsule hotel or a spot along the Tamagawa ready to move to on a day's notice.
The medical system in Japan may be all wonderful for those with a sore throat who need lots of pills, but for something serious, your hindquarters may be in trouble.
Been to another hospital about the same problem? Then get out of ours for we will have nothing to do with you.
Did you call the ambulance yourself or did another person have to do it for you? Oh, you did it yourself? Well, then your illness isn't really that serious.The good thing is that health insurance covers such incompetence and, in my opinion, unprofessional behavior. When T.R. Reid did his little piece on health care in Japan for PBS Frontline a year ago, he didn't mention anything like this. He seemed to me to be more interested in showing the world that he could speak basic Japanese than investigating the health care system here. Good for you, Tim. (I was not the patient in this mess but a family member was/is. This was my third major experience with the medical system here and I am not impressed.)
I am a doctor. Why the hell should I listen to you, a patient? What do you know about what you are suffering from? Let's just run yet another CATSCAN because I am too f***ing lazy and unimaginative to try anything else. Oh, it is negative so you cannot have the symptoms that you have. Like, what are you going to do about it if I am wrong or am merely a quack? Sue me? Bahahahahahaha!
Now with this vague, incoherent post, I hope to gradually and erratically resume more regular writing unless my fantasy of being a bit more in control turns out to be nothing more than a fantasy. At least I won't be doing it from under a blue tarp along a less than pristine river.
Thanks to those who commented, e-mailed, or otherwise contacted me. I do very much appreciate it.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Weekend shot all to hell
The first Saturday in months that I have been able to relax without the help of shochu and I am dumb enough to turn on the TV and watch the news. What do I see?
I see documentary evidence that Neanderthals are still among us, for the new Tachiagare Nippon (Stand Up Japan!) Party was launched today (link in Japanese. Mistakenly [or not. See update at the bottom.] referred to as the Sunrise Party of Japan in English here). And there at the press conference among the other old, old, men---not necessarily in age, but in beliefs and ideas (?)---was Ol' Blinky Shintaro Ishihara himself.
The fact that the fossilized bigot Ishihara is a part of the "new" party is all anyone needs to know about it. I understand that he may have even come up with the ingenuous name for the retrogrouches. Perhaps he came up with the idea because it reflects his infamous salute (he stood up and saluted like a Nazi) on top* of a SDF APC---or perhaps a tank---a number of years ago when he held a disaster exercise, part of which was to prepare Tokyo to defend against crazed, rioting foreigners.
This was a real news show, not a spoof, and these geezers apparently take themselves seriously. As I watched, I wondered who among my friends and acquaintances would support such a silly looking (and thinking) bunch. Then again, those who would snuggle up to these OGsans would not be friends with me.
Gonna need the shochu after all.
*Have not located an image yet. It was widely circulated at the time.
**Handsome likeness of Ol' Blinky from here. I hope that any female readers will be able to control themselves after seeing such a studly fellow.
Of course, I am not implying that the old goof is a Nazi.
Update: Kyodo/Japan Times is also calling the new party the Sunrise Party of Japan. According to that article this will be the official name in English. As usual, we make something sweet and innocent sounding for the foreigners and keep the real meaning for internal use.
I see documentary evidence that Neanderthals are still among us, for the new Tachiagare Nippon (Stand Up Japan!) Party was launched today (link in Japanese. Mistakenly [or not. See update at the bottom.] referred to as the Sunrise Party of Japan in English here). And there at the press conference among the other old, old, men---not necessarily in age, but in beliefs and ideas (?)---was Ol' Blinky Shintaro Ishihara himself.
The fact that the fossilized bigot Ishihara is a part of the "new" party is all anyone needs to know about it. I understand that he may have even come up with the ingenuous name for the retrogrouches. Perhaps he came up with the idea because it reflects his infamous salute (he stood up and saluted like a Nazi) on top* of a SDF APC---or perhaps a tank---a number of years ago when he held a disaster exercise, part of which was to prepare Tokyo to defend against crazed, rioting foreigners.This was a real news show, not a spoof, and these geezers apparently take themselves seriously. As I watched, I wondered who among my friends and acquaintances would support such a silly looking (and thinking) bunch. Then again, those who would snuggle up to these OGsans would not be friends with me.
Gonna need the shochu after all.**Handsome likeness of Ol' Blinky from here. I hope that any female readers will be able to control themselves after seeing such a studly fellow.
Of course, I am not implying that the old goof is a Nazi.
Update: Kyodo/Japan Times is also calling the new party the Sunrise Party of Japan. According to that article this will be the official name in English. As usual, we make something sweet and innocent sounding for the foreigners and keep the real meaning for internal use.
Friday, April 09, 2010
Arudou's speech to UN Special Rapportuer on Human Rights
I hope to have a new post once a week for the time being, and occasionally finish and post a few still relevant drafts:
...we are not officially registered — or even counted sometimes — as genuine residents. We are not treated as taxpayers, not protected as consumers, not seen as ethnicities even in the national census....According to government polls and surveys, we do not even deserve the same human rights as Japanese....Debito Arudou Japan Times.
A well-written speech, at least from my point of view. Will it make any difference? I will wager no and pray* (without faith) that I am wrong. Doubt I will be though since we've been reading and saying the same things for years and years and years. The fact is that the whole issue is not important enough to most citizens to care much about except for the occasional sympathizing with affected gaijin.** I think Debito's final paragraph says it all, especially the plea for help outside of Japan. Don't expect much inside.
*Are an agnostic's prayers answered?
**An innocent, neutral term that simply means gaikokujin. We know it is innocent and neutral because many people use it all of the time mostly, but no longer exclusively, for those of certain non-Eastern ethnic origin.
...we are not officially registered — or even counted sometimes — as genuine residents. We are not treated as taxpayers, not protected as consumers, not seen as ethnicities even in the national census....According to government polls and surveys, we do not even deserve the same human rights as Japanese....Debito Arudou Japan Times.
A well-written speech, at least from my point of view. Will it make any difference? I will wager no and pray* (without faith) that I am wrong. Doubt I will be though since we've been reading and saying the same things for years and years and years. The fact is that the whole issue is not important enough to most citizens to care much about except for the occasional sympathizing with affected gaijin.** I think Debito's final paragraph says it all, especially the plea for help outside of Japan. Don't expect much inside.
*Are an agnostic's prayers answered?
**An innocent, neutral term that simply means gaikokujin. We know it is innocent and neutral because many people use it all of the time mostly, but no longer exclusively, for those of certain non-Eastern ethnic origin.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Deep thinking
I can't just let well enough alone. Anyway, during my break I have been pondering the question: Why do people have eyes in front of their heads? I live in a city where having eyes placed in such a location seems to be an inconvenience since nobody ever actually looks forward, whether walking, riding on a bicycle, or whatever. Will evolution in time move people's eyes in a position---say on the chin---so that they may look at their feet or their keitai (cell phone) while in motion? Perhaps on the side of their head so that they may look to the side, or on the top so that they may observe the clouds---anything but watch where the hell they are going.
On an unrelated topic:
Now back to the loony bin.
*A wink across the Potomac for (inadvertently) introducing this video to me a few months ago.
On an unrelated topic:
Now back to the loony bin.
*A wink across the Potomac for (inadvertently) introducing this video to me a few months ago.
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