Weekly Japundit Posts

This week's crop of posts are quite eclectic. They cover the Nintendo Wii, an "Engrish" t-shirt from one of my students, an African-American (1/4 Japanese) singer, a Japanese woman who was abducted by the North Koreans, and an article on the aging of Japan and their attitude towards immigration.

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Interesting notes on the articles: the Japanese guy behind the Nintendo Wii is the same guy behind Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, and Donkey Kong! Jero, is a 20-something singer from Pittsburgh who has become an overnight sensation here singing old-fashioned Japanese ballads.

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Megumi Yokota was abducted by the North Koreans in the 1970s and her fate has been a mystery ever since. Yumi and I along with a few other friends saw a documentary on this story at the Cleveland International Film Festival in 2006. The documentary will actually be playing on PBS in the next week or two. I think that the last article is the most interesting and telling. It covers two very pressing topics in Japan: the aging of the society and their disinclination towards welcoming foreigners.
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Wii Wheeee! (NY Times)

Just to Do That! As You Wishes (n/a)

Jero (Washington Post)

Megumi Yokota (Japan Times)

Japanese Workforce and Immigration

(Washington Post)

A Most Excellent Weekend

No, this does not refer to this past weekend's ring odyssey. That was most certainly *not* an excellent weekend. Rather, I am referring to the previous weekend when Yumi and I actually got to enjoy an entire weekend for the first time since I arrived in Japan - 10 months ago. We were able to put the Ph.D. corrections and wedding planning aside for one weekend and actually went out and had fun.
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Saturday, Yumi's office had a barbecue which started with a softball game; the Yokohama office vs. the Tokyo office! It was my first game in almost a year and I enjoyed every moment of it. It was also nice that I didn't embarrass myself or Yumi and actually played decently. I hit what I believe to be my 2nd career homerun and made some nice plays in the outfield including a shoestring catch and 2 outfield assists at home(!). Cultural notes: everyone stretched together (both teams) in unison before the game, we all lined up after the game and bowed to our opponents, and we refueled not by nuts and sports drinks but by rice balls and green tea! Playing softball with 20 or so Japanese reminded me of playing softball in Papua New Guinea; one of my most fond memories of that time. As my cousin Mel would sing as she perused either scene: which one of these is not like the others, which one of these, doesn't belong...
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After the game, we had the barbeque and I met Yumi's colleagues who are interesting and nice. One guy lived in India for 3 years and one is fluent in Japanese, English, and French. Then the real fun began. The drinking accelerated as we went to karaoke. I really enjoy karoake even if I can't sing my way out of a paper bag. Note to self (and anyone else with my [lack of] vocal range): do not, I repeat not, attempt Hotel California. :-)

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On Sunday, we ventured up to the "Big Egg" (Tokyo Dome) for the Yomiuri Giants hosting our Hiroshima Carp. It was nice to see friends we hadn't seen during our recent, self-imposed hibernation: Tomo, Jumpei, Dawn, and Keiko. Another cultural note: upon entering the stadium, Jumpei was told he couldn't bring in his six-pack of beer in cans. In the U.S. you're out of luck but in Japan, they pour them all into paper cups for you at no cost! Talk about civilized. Hiroshima kept up its perfect record for me. 3 games, 3 losses. This time they gave up 4 runs in the first, then clawed back in it one run at a time to where it was 4-3. Then gave up 2 more runs and let it slip away. I've posted before about the experience of Japanese baseball but it's worth repeating how different and fun it is with all of the organized cheering, trumpets, drums, flags, whistles, and the like. I'll post my first attempt at video below.

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Daylight Savings Time

After being awoken recently at 4:30 am by the sun, I am now a firm devotee of daylight savings time.  Yes, it's always a bit of a pain to move clocks ahead in spring and back in fall but that does not compare to ridiculously early sunrises and equally ridiculously early sunsets (before 7 pm!)  I had actually made a note to myself to post about this and then today someone on Japundit posted that Prime Minister Fukuda is in favor of daylight savings time and is considering implementing it.  Please do it!

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An Excused Absence

When a student is absent, we get a slip from the office explaining the reason. Today I got a unique but quite valid excuse: "Will be in Tokyo meeting the president [of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki]". Sure enough, it turns out that the president of Kenya is visiting Japan for a few days on a diplomatic mission. The student's father works for the embassy here. Maybe I should have him write an essay on what he learned on his day off.

Wedding Ring Odyssey

Well, after approximately 10 solid hours of ring shopping spread over 2 days, we finally have winners. Sure, even though 10 hours represents a good day's work, it really doesn't do justice to our odyssey, so here are the gory details:

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Saturday we left the apartment at 11am and ventured north to the Shinjuku district of Tokyo arriving just in time for Yumi's 12:30pm undisclosed "beauty appointment." Factoid: Shinjuku station is the busiest train station in the world, serving over 3.5 million per day! It is crazy. While Yumi was becoming more beautiful in some secret way (and despite my inspections, I couldn't figure out what way), I was left to my own valition at a book store. After the mysterious appointment was over, around 1pm, Yumi picked me up and we started the fun. Eight hours later with stops for only a tux fitting, a nice noodle lunch, and a quick snack, we suspended the search for the night and enjoyed a yummy Indian dinner. A quick aside: all restaurants here give you wet towels before the meal which I've become accostomed to. Cheap restaurants use disposable "moist towellettes" and nicer restaurants give you warm, wet, cloth towels. I should also point out that all day, I was subjected to fond lamentations of days gone by in Shinjuku because she spent 9 years in the area (Sophia University "the Princeton of Japan" as she loves to remind me, and then her first job after graduating.)

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We left the Indian restaurant around 10pm and 3 train transfers and 2 hours later got home around midnight; exhausted.

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Seven hours (and about 10 shops) of actual ring shopping wasn't enough, so Sunday we soldiered on, leaving the apartment around 4pm and arriving in Yokohama station around 5pm. We spent 2 more hours looking around before finally deciding on our rings. Originally we had wanted matching rings but we didn't even come close to agreeing on a design so we opted for two different rings. When we went to purchase them we were told that if we opened a credit card at the department store we'd get a 15% discount. While that was a no-brainer, the 45 minutes of paperwork was pretty painful. Of course, it only got worse. With 15 minutes left to actually make the purchase, we hurried back to the counter and were told that it was only a 10% discount if we ACTUALLY USED THE CREDIT CARD THEY JUST GAVE US! To get 15%, we had to pay in cash! What exactly was the point of the credit card? Just chalk it up to one more confounding Japanese experience. So Yumi ran off to an ATM to get cash; a lot of cash, but came up empty - the ATMs stop dispensing cash on Sunday evenings at some point before she got there. So after all of that, we left empty-handed and resigned ourselves to just enjoy a well-earned Thai dinner. After I write this post, I will go to an ATM, get arm-loads of cash and walk to the station to actually pay for the rings.

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One last aside: we were told we could have up to 15 or so letters for engraving and Yumi piped up "how about 06.23.08 Y to B?" I was horrified! Apparently that is the common inscription in wedding rings in Japan, though. Nevertheless we went with the simple "June 23, 2008."

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Weekly Japundit Posts

Last week's contributions to Japundit run the gamut from sports to news. My favorite two articles are the Yu Darvish epic article about the young baseball phenom and the article on the Toyota Prius which really blazed the trail of green cars. The "most peaceful nations" article is also interesting. Enjoy.

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Sumo (NPR, Only a Game)
Yu Darvish (ESPN)
Japan's Engineering Shortage (NY Times)
One Million Toyota Prius (Prii?) (AP)
Baby Drop Box (AP)
Japan Ranked 5th Most Peaceful Nation (Reuters)

Advertising

For some reason, giving out tissues is a ubiquitous form of advertsing here. If I'm going to get inundated with advertising, at least I get tissues out of it. Here are a few of the ones I've gotten since I've been here (I get them so often that I accumulate them faster than I use them).

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Language (and Culture) Exchange

The blog posts are backing up again... hopefully I can write a few this weekend in between school work, Ph.D. corrections, and wedding planning.
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In the meantime, I'll write a short post about my language exchange. Yesterday I met my regular language partner, Minae, at our usual place (Starbucks) at our usual time (6:15-8:00pm). We speak about 1/2 in English and 1/2 in Japanese (well she teaches me basic Japanese vocabulary for 1/2). During our English conversations, I find that we're also having a cultural exchange. We often talk about what's going on in our lives which leads to questions such as "is it true that in America..." or "I heard that the Japanese..." I really look forward to our weekly get togethers.
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Yesterday's tidbits:

• Apparently there are "host" and "hostess" clubs which are fairly common in Japan. In the former, women go for drinks and find themselves surrounded by attractive men who are there to flatter and entertain them. It seems a bit strange to me, although that's not the first thing and I'm sure it won't be the last that confounds me.
• Fold (ori) + Paper (gami) = origami
• Hand (te) + Paper (gami) = letter (tegami)
• A telling saying in Japan is that the nail which sticks out gets hammered. How true! That explains a lot about this culture of compliance and "harmony."

Previous Japundit Contributions

Per the request, moving forward I'll try to cross post my Japundit contributions (perhaps a once-per-week roundup).  Here are the past posts, most recent to oldest:

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Horse Breeding in Japan (NY Times)

Japan's Richest (Forbes)

Plague of Crows (NY Times)

Kyoto Travel Guide (NY Times)

The Man Who Saved the Akita from Extinction (NPR, Diane Rehm)

Japanese-Russo Dispute Over Islands (Reuters)

Chinese Leader Hu Jintao Visits Japan (NY Times)

Sports History Made in Japan (ESPN)

McMafia (NPR, Talk of the Nation)

Japanese Health Care (NPR, Talk of the Nation)

Lost and Found (CNN)

Is Japan Conservative? (NY Times, Japan Today)

More Than Just Big Macs (Japan Today)

The Reluctant Communist (Washington Post)

Christianity in Japan (NY Times)

Tokyo Earthquake Consequences (Reuters)

Murder Alleged by U.S. Sailor (Washington Post)

Forbidden Food (NPR, To the Best of Our Knowledge)

NPR Take on Japanese Baseball (NPR, Only a Game)

New York Times Roundup (NY Times)

2nd Place Sakura (Washington Post)

Hotel Hiroshima (Slate.com)

More Japanese Baseball (Washington Post)

Why Fan Comes from Fanatic (ESPN)

Pride

In today's New York Times, there is an article which talks about Teach For America's most recent recruiting year and it's impressive:

• TFA will place 3,700 new teachers this fall, up from 2,900 last year, a 28% increase.
  
• About 24,700 applied, up from 18,000 last year, a 37% increase.
  
• About 11% of the graduating class at Yale applied, 10% at Georgetown and 9% at Harvard.
  
• It was the No. 1 employer on many campuses, including at Duke, Emory, George Washington, Georgetown, New York University, and Spelman.

I've had many affiliations in my almost 36 years: Boy Scouts, Heights High, Carnegie Mellon, Pugwash, Teach For America, Peace Corps, Queen's University Belfast, and Democratic candidates and office holders, among others.  I am proud of all of those associations but most proud of Teach For America -- it represents my hardest work and loftiest ideals.  I'm looking forward to hopefully returning to those ideals in my next job (probably 1-2 years from now).

Views of Belfast

I lament that I wasn't able to blog when I lived in Papua New Guinea or Belfast. However the recent trip back to defend the dissertation did give me the opportunity to take some pictures so I can at least show off the city I called home for over 3 years.

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Home - I lived in this flat in the "Holylands" area of Belfast. It is really a great place by student standards with lots of character. It's hard to believe now that I shared the place (and its one bathroom and kitchen) with 4 others and lived in a tiny bedroom! I don't want to do that again anytime soon. But it did serve its purpose and allowed me to save money so I could travel Europe and beyond. My flatmates were some great people and I still keep in touch with one, Cathal, who I met up with in Dublin just before returning to Tokyo.
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Work - I worked at the David Keir Building on campus. It's a nice, old, red-brick building with some character including its strange shape from straddling Stranmillis and Malone Roads which diverge at an angle. Unfortunately, the building had absolutely horrible insulation and windows so it was often cold and drafty. Plus it was not heated on weekends, so working then during much of the year was uncomfortable.
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Botanic Gardens - On my 5-10 minute walk between home and work, is the beautiful Botanic Gardens. The old, glass conservatory, the beautifully tended flowers, and immaculate, green lawn made for a wonderful commute.
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Lanyon Building - When the Botanic Gardens were closed, my commute took me through this gorgeous and majestic building which is the literal and figurative center of campus. It also adorns the back of one (of the four!) sets of currency.
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Queen's Film Theatre (QFT) - Apart from home and work, this is where I spent the most time in Belfast. I watched at least two films per week at this small art-house movie theater which was conveniently a 5-minute walk from my flat. The films were a mix of foreign, independent, and documentaries. That was another who education unto itself and I really miss it.
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City Centre - The center of Belfast was only about a 20-minute walk from my flat and I probably went down there about twice a month to shop or for other miscellaneous reasons. The City Hall is another wonderful Belfast landmark. I also loved seeing "Samson and Delilah;" the two huge Harlan & Wolfe cranes where the Titanic was built. Other notable points of interest include the Victorian Grand Opera House where I volunteered behind the scenes on two shows (Guys and Dolls and Oklahoma), the Europa Hotel (the most bombed hotel in Europe -- the joke goes "it could use one more bombing"), and the Crown Saloon.
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Fog of Travel

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Well I'm back in Yokohama and still in a bit of a fog.  It's been a wild 3 weeks. Today was my first day back at work and it was nice even if I was exhausted. The kids seemed happy to see me which was a good feeling.

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There's still so much I want to say about the last 3 weeks, but if I keep waiting for time to write it all, I'll never write anything.  So I'll take a modest bite and discuss my affection for Belfast and how great it was to be back.

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I really had a great 3+ years in Belfast: University life, Queen's Film Theatre (art-house cinema), Botanic Gardens, Belfast Festival at Queen's, weekly soccer (er, football) matches, daily tea breaks, Pugwash, lectures and courses for fun (French, Philosophy, Religion, etc.), and of course travel all over Europe and beyond (Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, England, Spain, France, Morocco, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Israel, and Japan!).

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It was amazing how familiar everything seemed to me when I returned.  I had been away for 2 1/2 years but it seemed like it had only been a month.  Sure there were some new buildings and restaurants but it is fundamentally the same.  More later...

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P.S. Happy Birthday, Yumi!  :-)

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Luck of the Irish

To make a very long story, very short - I passed! Now I have corrections to make to the dissertation and I will finally, finally be done. It really hasn't sunk in yet. In the coming days and weeks, I'll post more details.

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