Viajero perdido

new dawn

2012-01-14T12:27:00.000+09:00

明けまして御目出度う御座います！
Congratulations on the dawn of a new year!

I've been quiet on here for a while now, maybe questioning whether I had anything worth saying, maybe just thinking to myself, maybe just enjoying Japan. Hard to say. Doesn't matter really.

It was great to return home over the holidays and be with the people I love so much. It was the perfect place to sweep away the old, dried detritus of the past, take the seeds, and plant them to grow in the warmth of the coming year. Thank you. I am grateful to you.

It was hard leaving, heart-wrenching actually. There are so many things in life that are. That's the other edge of the sword, isn't it? It cuts both ways. No happiness without pain. I think all we can do is just choose to carry that love and happiness in our heart and endure the rest. And so, as the earth travels around the sun, and life is constantly ended and renewed, each day opens a new year which is really just a continuation of the old year without end. Everything begins and ends without beginning and ending at all. Revisiting the past, sharing in the present, together we open new doors to the future. Though an ocean separates us, those people I love are with me even now.

In the spirit of new beginnings with old roots, I've started learning the shamisen, tsugaru-jamisen to be exact. Tsugaru-jamisen music was created by blind, itinerant, beggars called bosama in Tsugaru, Aomori, in northern Japan, at the turn of the last century. The spirit of tsugaru-jamisen is innovation; it owes its existence to the innovation of the bosama taking an old instrument that came to Japan from China centuries ago and giving it a new life with a style of playing unlike anything heard before.

It's great to be making music again. It soothes this body and mind given to me by millenia of music-making ancestors. For a long time, I've been longing to start playing music again. Even singing traditional songs for the benefit of my Japanese students' education in Western culture struck a chord deep within me. We humans need music. Not just hearing, but making it too. At a Japanese taiko drum performance over a year ago, there were a couple of brothers who played tsugaru-jamisen. Their lively, dynamic playing resonated deep inside and lifted my spirits. Later, when my new friend Juergen practiced his shakuhachi at the summer camp we were working at, I knew I needed to start playing something again. What though? Taiko? It was taiko that made me fall in love with Japan after all. Not something you can play on your own too easily though. I wanted something that I could do anytime, not just when practice was held. Shamisen? Nah, too expensive. Shakuhachi? Beautiful, but maybe a little too somber. What's more lively? Shamisen. Damn, it's expensive. Tough, shamisen. Ok.

Juergen and his friends helped me find a teacher, and I've begun. Got a long way to go, but that's ok. Just playing a few random notes makes me happy. Even though I can't play anything, I want to share this experience with those people I love so much across the Pacific. If I were there, you'd be complaining about the terrible racket I was making. So that you don't miss out on that experience, here you go:

Someday, I hope to look back at this video and think, "wow, I've come a long way." In the meantime, I pity my neighbors. For comparison, here's what tsugaru-jamisen should sound like:

arashi

2011-09-28T20:26:00.000+09:00

here's a promotional video to encourage folks to come to japan. it features arashi (possibly the most popular j-pop group) and includes kagoshima!

(arashi='storm' in japanese. here's my favorite arashi song: troublemaker.)

giant tug of war

2011-09-24T11:53:00.000+09:00

Went to the giant tug of war (Oo-tsuna-hiki) in Satsuma Sendai, Kagoshima, Sept. 22. It's quite the event. 3000 people pull a 365-meter, 5-ton rice straw rope. The north/upperside Oshomachi neighborhood (上方 red team) competes against the south/lowerside Mukoda neighborhood (下方 white team) for about two hours.

The rules are more complex than a simple tug of war over a line, and so strategy and penalties play a part. It's nicknamed kenka-zuna (rope brawl) because of the pushing and fighting at the center of the rope. Carts and carts of shochu (Japanese sweet potato liquor) are distributed to the participants, fueling the frenzy.

Most of the participants are wearing tobi or chocho zubon pants which are the trademark clothing of Japanese construction workers. Some of the jackets worn probably cover full-body tattoos. Some were on full-display. These are not guys you want to mess with.

The event commemorates a tug of war held by the Satsuma soldiers before the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 to improve morale. (Incidentally, Satsuma's side lost the battle resulting in the installation of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the beginning of the Edo era. Two centuries later, Satsuma would play a key role in ending the shogunate and returning the emperor to power which began the Meiji Restoration.)

In the video below, you'll notice that the white side seems to be winning, then all of a sudden the rope gets pulled very quickly the other way and the white team carries the rope to a post in the center. Later, you'll notice the reverse happening. I have no idea why and most of the bystanders don't either. It might be strategy, it might be penalties. The graphics in the video on this page, may give some insight (though it's all in Japanese). I got recruited to the red side near the end of the night, and some guy gave me his headband 'cause he got a kick out of seeing a white guy wearing it. I don't know if he was just lending it to me, but in the chaos at the end I lost track of him. Watch the end of the video to see who won.

north sea circuit

2011-08-06T11:37:00.001+09:00

a week has already passed by since arriving in hokkaido (literally, north sea circuit). the first night my friend jim and i stayed in an industrial port town called tomakomai that, compared to kagoshima, was so cold, i worried i had packed the wrong clothes. we went to a nearby ainu museum that was situated in a recreated village. it was interesting but sad to see and learn about these indigenous people of hokkaido and northern japan who have all but been obliterated. i was struck by the similarities their culture shared with the japanese (the animistic ainu and shinto religions for one).

we headed to sapporo where it's pleasantly cool but not cold. it's a great city and the people here are much more cosmopolitan and laid-back than kagoshima (naturally). i've been busy going to my japanese class and doing homework, but i've been able to explore the city a little, and now i'm on a train to see hakodate for the weekend. the view of the coast from the train is amazing!

ogionsaa

2011-07-24T17:53:00.000+09:00

ogionsaa is a shinto festival in kagoshima where portable shrines called mikoshi are carried around to ward off the plague and bring good luck.

a year

2011-07-24T14:58:00.003+09:00

well, one year ago, i landed in tokyo and began this journey in japan. i was full of excitement and anxiety then, and incredibly jet-lagged. in the months before, there was also a little dread--knowing that it would take an immense amount of energy to pull this off. i remember sitting at the gate in san francisco surrounded by japanese speaking japanese, thinking how that would soon be my daily reality. now, i don't even give it a second thought and find it unusual when someone i don't know speaks fluent english. i think i even forget sometimes that i look different, but not for long, as i am almost constantly stared at. even that doesn't seem to phase me most days.

i still can't read most of the stuff in front of me, but i can read a bus schedule, order food, and even send texts to japanese friends. it did take a ton of energy. there have been so many days i just collapsed in exhaustion at the end of the day. i'm so glad i chose to stay another year though. i'm just now getting to the point where i can enjoy things without worrying about figuring basic stuff out.

about a year ago, i bought a 100 yen folding fan to cope with the heat. recently, students have been talking with me about what's written on it: lao-tzu's 千里の道も一歩から 'journey of 1000 ri from one step' or more often translated 'the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.' (1 ri = 2.44 miles)

family and friends, thank you for all your support and encouragement.

field ball

2011-07-09T12:21:00.002+09:00

went to my first yakyuu (baseball) game in japan. it was the last game for our high school seniors, so we all went to cheer them on.

yakyuu (野球) literally means field ball. in terms of the rules, it's pretty much the same as american baseball (aside from a slightly smaller ball, strike zone, and field). however, in terms of the discipline with which it's approached, it's a whole 'nother game. like many things in japan, it seems to be practiced with the same earnestness as budo (martial arts). japanese high school baseball players are extremely disciplined, respectful, and enthusiastic. as i was waiting outside the stadium for the others, every baseball player i saw stopped to take off their hat, bow, and say good morning. at first, i looked behind me thinking they were greeting someone else. in the classroom, i've found that baseball team members are almost always respectful and enthusiastic. their attitude is refreshing in comparison to the cynical, apathetic attitudes of some of the other students.

during the game, the first-year (sophomore) team members were in the stands with us (in their uniforms of course) and held up signs with each batter's name so we could all chant in unison. this youtube video is a good example of what it's like:

there's no jeering, no boos, no attempts to throw off the opposing team's batter. it was truly amazing how good-hearted it all was. and at the end, the teams bow to each other, then bow to their fans. it was hot and i'm well-sunburned, but it's stuff like this that really makes me love japan.

climate shock

2011-06-18T23:43:00.003+09:00

now that i'm more or less over the worst of my culture shock, it's time for some climate shock. being from bone dry colorado, i'm finding i'm ill-prepared to deal with the level of moisture here. 90% and up humidity here, raining almost constantly, and this morning i discovered some of my tatami were covered in green fuzz. i just bought my first dehumidifier. i've run plenty humidifiers, but i don't even know what to look for in a dehumidifier. after running it for about 8 hours, about 1.5 liters of water had collected. where did that come from?! wow. it's humid here.

now that i'm battling mildew, i'm finding it everywhere. it doesn't help that the kitchen window sill is leaking which explains why there was mildew in the cupboard when i moved in last july. my slumlord...err, landlord has known about it for more than 2 weeks but says he needs a couple dry days to fix it. so far we've had two consecutive dry days on two separate occasions. i'm sure it's just too complicated for my simple foreign brain to comprehend why those days weren't really suitable.

plum rain

2011-06-12T13:01:00.007+09:00

it ain't for nothin' they call this the rainy season (梅雨). it rains a lot here. a lot. and when it's not raining, it's humid. very humid.

things don't dry so well at this time. maybe because it's 89% humidity right now. maybe this is why there's another way of writing rainy season which means 'mildew rain': 黴雨. the usual way is 'plum rain.' i don't know why. there's a lot of plums at this time? the rain drops are the size of plums?

friday, there were some big lightning strikes near our school that blacked out the electricity. everyone was freaked out. it just reminded me of colorado summer thunderstorms. i actually enjoyed it.

went surfing last weekend in miyazaki:

it's so beautiful over on the eastern peninsula! it reminds me of costa rica.

got a little tan as a result which prompted the students to exclaim, "tyler sensei, you're baked!" and "you're toasted!" now, i realize that i must act pretty strange to them, but it's just due to being foreign, not drugs. so, in japanese, to say someone is tan or sun-burnt you say hi-yake (日焼け), sun-baked. this is the same 'grill/roast/broil/bake/fry' as teriyaki and yakisoba. when i tried to explain the difference between burn and tan, they were totally confused. it's all the same to them.

learned another japanese word this week, yaeba (八重歯). when i had smiled, a student remarked, 'you have yaeba! cute!' referring to my upper eye teeth that protrude a little because i made my dentist grandfather take my braces off early. yaeba literally means 'eight stacked teeth.' japanese are infamous for having "crooked" teeth. all along i thought it was because they had poor dentistry. turns out, they're just not obsessed with straight teeth like the west. good thing 'cause straight teeth seem to be the exception. here i was feeling sorry for all these kids with crooked teeth when in fact they have a desired trait! just goes to show, beauty is not absolute.

to update you on my battle against government-mandated irradiation, i'm being allowed to take a tuberculin skin test (at my own expense) instead of the pointless chest x-ray, and i don't have to take the stomach x-ray until i'm 40 (when it is absolutely required by law in japan).

x-ray vision

2011-06-03T20:49:00.013+09:00

after reassuring everyone for the umpteenth time that, yes, i am as safe in kagoshima as anywhere else, 700 miles away from fukushima, exposed to the same levels of radiation that people in the u.s. are exposed to everyday (0.34μSv/h), i now have a new menacing radiation source to contend with: the annual 'routine' japanese medical exam.

i wrote about the 'pee' test in my last post in april (sorry, i've been busy, alright?). like all things japanese, they seem to like to draw things out and with little regard for privacy. between then and now, i had blood drawn, had an ekg, an eye check (which involved detecting whether a little c was on its back, pointing down, backwards, or normal), hearing check, and weight and height measured, on a few different days.

thus far, i've eluded the annual chest x-ray and upper gastrointestinal series, but they may get me yet. everyone is subjected to the chest x-ray, and if you're 35 or older, you get the lovely 'extra bonus' of a barium meal and being shot with 15 times the radiation of a chest x-ray (along with the ekg and blood test). it is no coincidence that japan's x-ray attributable risk of cancer is 2 to 4 times greater than other developed nations. they x-ray the hell out of their people.

the supposed purpose of the chest x-ray is to prevent the spread of tuberculosis and is government-mandated as well as tragically misguided. tb can only be detected with an x-ray if the person has active tb (coughing for three weeks or more, spitting up blood, sweating at night, weak, etc.) and even then it's not conclusive. if someone has latent (inactive) tb (i.e. no symptoms), a chest x-ray will be normal. only a skin or blood test will detect latent tb. in addition, latent tb is not contagious until it becomes active. so, while it might make sense to x-ray folks who have been coughing a heck of a lot, a far safer and more reliable route would be to do blood or skin tests first. in other words, people are needlessly being exposed to radiation on a yearly basis.

so how does this affect me as a foreigner? since i'm a public employee working with minors, the school must assure that i do not have tb, which i think is a completely valid concern; however, given that i am not coughing at all (let alone for 3 weeks), feverish, weak, etc., an x-ray will show nothing even if i have latent tb, which again is not contagious. i may be able to do a skin or blood test at my own expense in lieu of the x-ray, but i'm still waiting to hear.

as for choking on barium and being pumped full of far more radiation, japan has one of the highest rates of stomach cancer in the world. some posit that the high-powered barium meal x-ray may be a contributing factor--this japanese clinic for one (the link is in japanese. why don't you have chrome by now so you can automatically translate pages?). even if that's merely conjecture, gastroscopy is now considered far more reliable in detecting stomach cancer. what's more, i am from a country that has a relatively low stomach cancer rate. most likely, i will be able to forego this nightmare of an exam, since the outcome would only affect me, but i'm still waiting to hear. two days ago i was told that i would not be able to re-contract if i didn't submit to these exams. in japan, you don't question doctors or the government, so i'm a bad, bad foreigner right now. i may have to do the chest x-ray in the end (ahem, sounds uncomfortable), but it doesn't appear that the stomach exam is legally enforceable.

so, while i'm still a fan of universal healthcare, you best be sure there are some safeguards to make sure the government cannot play doctor (not that insurance companies playing doctor is any better).

another use for origami

2011-04-19T17:24:00.003+09:00

it's check-up time! which apparently is performed at the schools (not in doctors' offices) for students and teachers alike. so, tomorrow morning, i have to use this kit:

3 guesses what it's for...
my sweet, shy (as most japanese are), new supervisor (who i've only known for a week) had the job of explaining its use to me: collecting a urine sample. i was afraid she would die of embarrassment right then and there. just how do i get the urine in that little bottle with the 1 mm opening, i wondered.
well, let me tell you, you fold the yellow paper into an origami pee cup like so:

then, you squeeze the bottle and siphon the pee up. lastly, you put it in the green envelope and bring your pee to work!
just imagine how fun that was for a shy, non-native english speaker to explain to someone of the opposite sex.

it's all very resourceful and practical, but i can't help but be amused by the thought of all the staff and students carrying their little bottles of pee to school tomorrow.

cultural stereotypes

2011-04-12T20:29:00.003+09:00

during the cold winter when sitting under my kotatsu seemed especially crucial, i started 'auditing' some university classes via al gore's internet, and i highly recommend listening to/watching them. the first one was history of the world to 1500 CE, columbia university, which rips us out of our western civ-centered perspective and challenges us to find a more accurate way to think about history. currently i'm listening to china: traditions and transformations, harvard university, and learning about a region which is becoming increasingly important in world affairs but which i have known very little about.

if you don't listen to any other part, please at least listen to the guest lecture "the literary enterprise." professor owens lyrically debunks the stereotype that, in china, the collective has always trumped the individual. his analogy about the 'american' movie-going experience beautifully demonstrates what i have repeatedly learned here in japan: that i (or anyone else) can make all kinds of broad generalizations about culture that certainly seem true but which fall apart in daily experience.

reverse psychology

2011-04-10T22:00:00.009+09:00

after the initial fear and apprehension over the tohoku disaster subsided, rather than wanting to leave japan asap, instead i discovered i was actually averse to the thought of having to leave. the thought 'but i'm not ready to go' replayed many times in my head and i hoped it would not come to be the only rational route to take. i found this somewhat surprising considering that shortly after deciding to contract for another year, i was deep in "recontractor's remorse" as were most of my fellow jets who made the same decision. at the same time, my cohorts who had made the opposite decision were cursing their hastiness to go. good old 'reverse'/'grass is greener' psychology.

reverse psychology aside, after nine months of struggling to establish some sense of order and purpose in my daily life here, i've not only outlasted my hostile ex-supervisor, i'm getting to take part in some amazing opportunities: learning a different style of aikido, weekly zazen at a zen temple followed by hilarious conversations with the monks, learning japanese tea ceremony and calligraphy, volunteering on an organic farm, and (slowly but surely) deepening my friendships with the locals.

on the theme of (constantly) changing perspectives, here are some photos of the view from the zen temple i visit taken at different times--a good metaphor for the flux of emotions and thoughts within.

truth

2011-03-27T09:44:00.000+09:00

truth.
it sounds so great, so noble, so pure.
and it probably is, but just try to capture it, try to hold it, try to own it,
and it's gone.
worse yet, try to write it down, try to fit it into a string of words,
and it's surely gone
because while you might have actually known that truth
if only for a moment,
those words can only begin to approximate it.
and what's more,
the minute someone else reads it,
it will be truth no more.
or at least not your "truth."
and this is probably the agony
and thrill
of every artist who creates something.
that whatever that creation meant to you
will most likely mean something entirely different to another person
who will observe it, read it, watch it, consider it,
contemplate and consume it into the internal milieu
of whatever that person is experiencing, has experienced, believes.
so,
truth may very well be great and noble.
but there it stands untouched,
unknowable,
or at least unshareable,
and we carry on despite it.

poignancy

2011-03-17T00:29:00.002+09:00

Sympathy for Japan a photo by mark leichliter on Flickr.

My friend Mark created this image in sympathy for the suffering that Japan is enduring right now.

daijobu da yo!

2011-03-12T21:08:00.003+09:00

Houses swallowed by a tsunami burn in Sendai
after a huge earthquake struck Japan.
The city bore the brunt of the waves. (Guardian)

「大丈夫だよ！」 "Daijobu da yo!" "It's ok!" shouts a father to his daughter crouched under a shaking table in a video clip among the many being broadcast to the world. Though I'm far removed from any serious effects of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, it's sobering nonetheless. In the same country about 700 miles away, people who were going through their daily routines suddenly find themselves struggling for their survival.
I think most of us have contemplated innumerable variations of: "What if this were my last day?" The specific circumstance we consider at the time--car accident, earthquake, tornado--might change, but the root of the question remains our own inescapable mortality. Eventually, one way or another, we will all meet our end. And even though we know this, we continue moving through our day because the alternative would be to hole-up somewhere paralyzed by fear, hardly living at all.
As I watch clip after clip of the earth's awesome power sweeping cars, houses, farms, and lives away, I think of my family and friends back home, the distance between us, and how horrible it would be to never see them again. But that is the risk we take, not only when we travel halfway around the world, but even when we leave the house for work in the same town. You never know what might happen to you or to them. Nonetheless, I ask myself why I couldn't have just stayed close to home. Did I really need to come all the way to Japan?
When I saw the video being taken by the father who seeing his scared daughter says in a kind and cheerful voice, "it's ok!" I chuckled at his cheerfulness in the midst of such a frightening scene, but then I started to cry thinking about how we all need comforting and reassurance and how, at that moment, I really wanted to be with my family being comforted and comforting them.
Gradually my tears stopped, and I realized it is ok. It's ok because there's simply no point in worrying about things being any other way then they are right now. The earth might be shaking our fragile, little human bodies to and fro, but it's ok. Because we're going to go on living until we don't, so what good does it do to despair in the meantime? I don't mean to trivialize the terrible suffering that people are experiencing in northern Japan and around the world or to suggest that in the face of such suffering, I'd be cheerfully shouting "it's ok!" I'm just saying that until the pain is so great that we can no longer say it, we might as well reassure ourselves that it's ok and keep on at it.

wake up...now!

2011-02-20T11:29:00.000+09:00

went to a wadaiko (japanese drum) performance yesterday: abeya japanese drum project with a local taiko group opening. amazing! my interest in japan might have started when a japanese exchange student stayed with my family, but it was firmly rooted when, several years later, my family saw kodo at the union colony civic center in greeley.

the drum beat resonates in our primeval heart. add to that wadaiko performers' coordination and complete surrender to the art, and it's completely riveting. like so many things--maybe everything--concentrating on the task at hand leads to superior execution. if we think about the drum beat a moment ago, we miss the present one, and the one that follows. there is only this drumbeat now. and now. and...
despite sitting zazen at a zen temple north of the city the day before and watching the performance yesterday, apparently i've made no progress in embodying this idea. this morning, as i checked the gps on my smart phone walking in the dark to a zen temple i had been to a few months before, i suddenly found myself flying through the air and then hitting the ground, the object of my total focus half a second ago now on the ground a few feet in front of me. i had walked straight into a bench. now! (well, then, actually.) it was a perfect aikido sudorinage technique performed by the inanimate bench. my ukemi (protective response to an attack) left a lot to be desired though. scraped, bruised, and laughing i hurried on, appreciating the lesson i had been taught once again.

stability

2011-02-05T13:20:00.011+09:00

experienced my first earthquake last night: 4.8 off the southeast coast of kagoshima prefecture. i was preparing phat si io for a friend last night when the room started moving like it was part of some sort of playground equipment. it started gently enough that i wondered if i was just imagining it. after it was clear that i was not, i moved to the doorway of the bathroom by which time it had stopped. that little tremor, our neighbor sakurajima which constantly spews ash, and the volcano an hour north in kirishima that continues to erupt all help to remind me that my fleeting human concept of stability is only a brief pause in the constant change occuring in this universe.

(3 February 2011, NASA Earth Observatory)

'stability' has been a buzzword surrounding the recent events in the middle east. its use seems to be exclusive to the oligarchs of this world who have the most to lose in terms of money and power, namely the u.s. and the middle eastern dictatorships being overthrown. it's sad to me that the u.s. claims to be a bastion of democracy yet has financially and diplomatically supported the crushing egyptian regime, and even when the people finally rise to seek democratic rule, the u.s. drags its heels to embrace this transition to democracy. it's clear where u.s. 'interests' lie with statements like john mccain's calling the arab pro-democracy movement a "virus" that is "spreading throughout the middle east."

it's hard to think of anyone but the mubarak regime and its thugs as viruses when you see reports like these:

Video Report on the Battle for Tahrir: An Inside Look at How Pro-Democracy Activists Reclaimed Tahrir Square After Attacks by Mubarak Forces

and as people struggle for their lives and self-determination, meanwhile back in the 'stable' country of japan, i fret over trivial matters.

spring is coming! the japanese just celebrated setsubun which marks the transition to spring and used to correspond with the lunar new year (which china just celebrated). so, as japan attempts to straddle the gap between the east and the west, they get to celebrate new year's renewal twice. this time of year seems like much more of a fresh start than in the middle of the cold winter. apparently, it did for the romans as well until 450 bce. for the first time in almost two months, i didn't wake up to a freezing cold apartment, and i don't have to wear thermal underwear! maybe my laundry will even dry in less than 4 days. what a difference a few degrees make. but would i appreciate this warmth had i not just endured cold? and how long until i start berating the heat? it seems we constantly yearn for a stability that never comes, and if it did we wouldn't appreciate it anyway.

sub-tropical snow

2011-01-31T21:47:00.001+09:00

it snowed a few centimeters this morning and then all hell broke loose. my usual 40-minute bus ride to work took 2 hours. traffic was brought to a standstill, yet the streets were only wet--no accumulation on the roads! apparently the expressway (where the speedlimit is a whopping 50 to 60 mph) was shut down, too. the bus wouldn't even go up the hill to the school. the walk uphill was absolutely beautiful--newly fallen snow on the bamboo and cedar. as i walked along, a car came down the road with chains on the tires clacking away on the only slightly slushy road. if you make the slightest suggestion that maybe the japanese aren't the greatest drivers, you will undoubtedly be rebutted with: "but the japanese are 'safety drivers.'" as near as i can tell 'safety driver' means being totally oblivious to everything going on around you while thinking you're being very careful. throw some chains on and then barrel on down the damp street!

up at the school, the students were loving the break from the norm. classes were delayed while everyone trickled in and they waved out the windows and threw snowballs.

meanwhile, a volcano a couple hours north of here is erupting.

this isn't the one that i can see from the roof of my apartment, sakurajima, that has hourly mini-eruptions. this one is one of the many peaks of kirishima. there's no sign of it here in the city, but apparently it's causing problems nearby.

and back at the ranch, i've finally picked up a few things i was putting off buying until i decided if i was going to stay another year. the highlight for me is a quality japanese kitchen knife. amazing what a difference a good knife makes. it's almost scary how effortlessly it slices through things.

last week was a little rough possibly because i had just turned in my intent to recontract and so i probably was hyper-conscious of all the little annoyances of life here. this week's going much better for several reasons not the least of which is that students have seemed to be more courageous in engaging me in conversation.

only just begun

2011-01-16T17:20:00.007+09:00

snow dusted houses from the roof of my apartment building

with winter, we naturally pull a little more into ourselves, stay indoors, sit by the fire (or in my case under the kotatsu), eat sweet fatty foods, and just hibernate. that's how it's been for me anyway. the past couple weekends, i've really enjoyed just relaxing at home, doing little chores, listening to columbia university world history lectures, being quiet, baking a kabocha (japanese pumpkin) pie with a rice-flour crust:

and then eating the whole pie over the three-day weekend. as a result of this introversion, i haven't been able to find the motivation to write the millions of things that i've wanted to post here. so, now, i'm afraid this is going to be a long one. sorry, shoganai: it can't be helped.

last month, my father came to visit and we traveled around kyoto, nara, hiroshima, nagasaki, unzen, and kumamoto expanding my experience of japan from kagoshima prefecture (and 2 days in tokyo) about a hundred-fold. up until then, all of the ancient history and culture of japan was about as 'real' to me as it was when i was reading about it back in the states which is to say not very 'real.' it was great to finally see the temples and palaces and castles that i had read about and seen in photos and samurai movies. there it was.

perhaps it was just a matter of time, but i really feel a lot more appreciative and understanding of all the modern cultural differences that i've been struggling with after deepening my understanding of japan's ancient history and culture especially as it relates to china's history and culture. it was kind of an 'oh, that's why you do this stuff that drives me crazy!' i started to look at all of the things that we 'westerners' do purely as a matter of custom, and i 'got it.' it's not conscious. it's just 'what we do' because it's what our predecessors have done for a real long time. suddenly i could see the common 'human nature' underlying it all.

ironically, christmas in japan was also a big influence. for a long time, i've thought christmas has become a 'soulless' holiday in the states, but then i experienced japan's christmas and understood what a purely 'capitalistic' christmas bereft of all meaning looked like. i'm not talking about the-birth-of-our-'lord and savior' christmas. i'm talking about yule, about year-end, winter holidays that humans have celebrated for a very long time before the story of jesus was invented and then made to correspond with the already existing traditions. and suddenly my bah-humbug attitude of previous christmases disappeared, and i wanted to teach all of my japanese high school students about 'real' christmas traditions, which are actually almost identical to japanese new year traditions in fact. we decorate things with plants and evergreen boughs, and they decorate things with plants and evergreen boughs. they send cards, and we send cards. shops close, people travel home to be with their families and eat traditional foods, and visit religious sites... and as i video chatted with my family back home, i wished that i had gone home and felt very homesick.

here i must go off on a slight tangent. after video chatting on christmas day (christmas eve back home) i decided to try to go swimming. the city pool here is closed for remodeling, so i had to go to the disabled persons center who graciously allow the non-disabled to use their facilities (perhaps also because like all things in japan they built this immense, expensive center a few years ago that very few people use). so after waiting half an hour in the cold for the bus, i arrive, and the pool is going to be closed in a half hour for maintenance. i decide to go for a quick swim, just to test it out, and i'm given two slips of paper and escorted down the hall at power walk speed to the locker room where i find a rather large, older man who i assume is the pool attendant. i offer him the slips of paper, and he takes one, but he's intent on helping me through every step of this process and doesn't leave me to change. instead he stands there facing me as i undress. it was at this moment that i start wishing i hadn't stayed and thinking that i have very bad luck at foreign swimming pools (some of you might remember the travesty of my first swimming pool experience in barcelona). he then makes sure i can set the combination on the locker (watching the combination i choose) and reminds me i need a swim cap, which i happily had as a result of my spanish swimming experience (no plastic foot covers for my head this time)! the whole time he is talking to me in japanese. i'm understanding about 2% or less. he says something about the shower and then he leaves. i go into the shower and then he comes and says 'not that shower!' oh, silly me. and he escorts me to the swimming pool and directs me to a hallway where i assume i am to go down and take a shower, but he says something about a button on the wall which i don't understand. he pushes it and water falls from several shower heads in the ceiling of the hallway. picture a biohazard sterilization shower from a sci-fi movie, and you've got the idea. so, i stand in the shower for a few seconds blind because there is no escaping the water coming straight down all around and wonder if i'm now clean enough. then, i ask if i'm set and can go swim. 'yes, but you need to wear a shirt,' he says pointing at his left shoulder referring to my tattoo. (tattoos are taboo in japan because the japanese don't like anything that pierces what they consider a sacred gift and because of the yakuza.) 'ok,' i say, 'i have one.' and start to go get it, but he stops me and tells me next time will be fine. by that time, i have about 15 minutes to swim.

afterward, i go to shower in the shower i initially went in where i discover that soap and shampoo are not allowed (presumably for chemical sensitive individuals who apparently don't have the same sensitivity to the chlorine-treated pool). so after rinsing for a short while i change (by myself this time) and walk to the front. the ladies there are eager to know how things went and i lie and say 'fine.' they offer to make me an id card, and i consent more out of resignation than any desire to ever come back here. i fill out a form and one of the receptionists sits me down and explains the rules of the facility, that there's no soap allowed, etc. she also points to her left shoulder indicating that i would need to wear a shirt (apparently the pool attendant chatted with her on the phone while i swam). i nod 'yes' like a a little scolded child (bad tattooed foreigner! bad!) and then i go out in the cold air where my chlorinated skin immediately begins to burn and start walking home because the next bus is in an hour. shoganai.

needless to say that between the pool and my homesickness the thought 'i hate japan' entered into my head once or twice. i ended up listening to 'this american life' podcasts to make myself feel better. (it worked.)

the next week went a little better. i was included in the year-end lunch at nishi hs where the principal bought every staff person a full sushi meal! i was even asked to lead the kampai (cheers). then it was winter break (december 29 to january 3) and i went with my friends allee and kyle to fukuoka, hiroshima, miyajima, and kumamoto.

on new year's eve, we went to miyajima which is situated in the inland sea across from hiroshima. it's the site of world cultural heritage, itsukushima shrine. since 1643 it has been considered one of the three most scenic spots in japan. when we arrived, the tide was out so we walked close to the o-torii (great gate). later, we hiked up to mt. misen where i lost my glove. that night was chinkasai (fire prevention festival) which is pretty much reverse psychology to convince fire not to burn down the town for the rest of the year. groups of men (and yes, only men. this is sexist japan afterall.) carry massive cedar torches on their shoulders shouting 'yoi yoi' and the rest of the people carry small torches. there were a few opportunities to be set on fire, but it was fun otherwise.

(i've finally posted some other videos as well. you can check them out here.)

on new year's we made the customary shrine (and optionally temple) visit. i discovered afterward, that the shrine we visited is for the god of learning and calligraphy. maybe i'll finally learn japanese now.

upon returning, i learned that a simple happy new year in japanese is not sufficient. you must bow formally with each person saying 'congratulations on the new start' and 'please take good care of me this year as well.' that got a little tedious after awhile, but i guess it is cool how much emphasis the japanese but on starting the new year on the right foot. and as i mentioned before, half of this is probably not even a fully conscious matter in the first place. it's just what we do.

the columbia university world history course, history of the world to 1500 CE, i've been listening to has also helped me get over my culture shock induced cultural defensiveness. the course points out the similarities in how people go about figuring things out even if they don't end up doing the exact same thing. the professor also cautions us against evaluating all world history as it relates to western civilization. it's all just a mess of people bumbling about, figuring some things out, failing at others, and picking up some strange habits along the way.

for a long time, february 4th has been looming before me--the date by which i must decide if i will recontract or not. i'm only now beginning to get a handle on how things work here and starting to make some more significant connections with people here. it's hard to know how i will feel in 6 months, but i think i'd probably be feeling like it was too early to be leaving if i decided not to recontract. as soon as i decided to come home and visit my family and friends this spring, my heart consented. and as if to affirm my decision, the tea ceremony teacher at one of my high schools has invited me to help serve at a formal tea gathering for hundreds of guests at sengan-en (the estate of the former lords of this area) next october. so, i guess i'll be here another year.

あけましておめでとう

2011-01-01T12:47:00.001+09:00

Happy New Year!

Great Torii Gate of Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan

An Indian woman in traditional dress dances during festivities to welcome the new year in the village of Narlai, Rajahstan, India, late Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. AP Photo/Kevin Frayer via Boston Globe: The Big Picture

volcanic snow

2010-12-26T20:02:00.001+09:00

a little chilly in kagoshima today. apparently, there's snow on our local volcano today. this article says it's 10 days later than normal for this time of year. i know europe and other parts of the world are having a much harder time of it and that it snowed back in colorado months ago, but hey, we don't have central heating and properly insulated buildings over here, and i can see my breath inside my apartment. still, i've stayed toasty under my kotatsu most of today talking with family, surfing the net, and getting some computer work done in between cooking and chores.

the true treasure

2010-12-02T01:25:00.002+09:00

On the ferry now, headed back to the much bigger island of Kyushu. Big seas today and we all stumble around the ferry like drunks.

Takarajima was amazing and the people were even more so. I wish I could stay longer, and in fact, I almost had to. The seas were so rough last night that they were likely going to cancel the ferry today, but it calmed down enough, though I daresay not much. ('The Lord of the Rings,' which I'm reading now, is obviously influencing my writing. My apologies.) As much as I would have liked to have stayed, it would have made it very difficult to meet my father in Osaka on Friday.

The past 36 hours have been jam packed. I boarded the ferry at 10:30, Monday night, and I happened to meet a fellow ALT who was headed to Kuchinoshima Island for his teaching visit. His was the first stop, 6 hours south. Mine was the last, 14 hours. Anyway, we caught up a bit while he ate some gyudon purchased on the ferry which he said tasted exactly as one would expect. He's a former University professor, so like me, he is often frustrated by the archaic teaching methods employed here. Apparently, he works in a night school for at-risk youth here.

We slept in little berths in a cabin that sleeps eight. I slept pretty well but was unable to go back to sleep after the first port. So, I was pretty tired but did okay on the seas fortunately. (Most ALTs complain of terrible sea-sickness on these trips.) Maybe my ancestors spent a lot of time on ships. I had been on ferries and smaller boats on inland passages, but this was my first this far out to sea. We'll see how today goes though. It's pretty rocky. I'll post more photos later, so you can see. The gunwales seem to rock back and forth at about a 25-degree angle to the horizon, but it's hard to tell.

It's pretty amazing that I'm even able to access the internet clear out here. Hooray for smart phones.

Anyway, I arrived at the island at 1 pm,Tuesday, and was whisked off into a whirlwind of a schedule. First to the minshuku, bed and breakfast, for a quick lunch and talk with the teacher about the lessons. Then, to the school to meet the staff and have a quick tea with the principal. Next, an assembly/lesson with the entire school, all 8 teachers including the principal and all 7 students, singing a Christmas carol, presenting Christmas cards, introducing ourselves, etc. (Most of the staff are from the mainland, by the way, and work for 3-year stints on the island while their families stay on the mainland.) Then a class with a 5th grader and 8th grader and tour of the town which has only one four-corner intersection, a store, a community center, a medical office, and an onsen. Apparently this was the location of an incident with British sailors who shot some islanders over a cow and initiated the closing of Japan's ports to foreigners.

Back to the school for some eikaiwa, conversation practice, with the teachers and the eighth grader. Then, a tour around the circumference of the island where I met one of the students' horse who bit my finger (nothing serious but a little painful). About an hour's drive. The island's covered mainly by jungle, bananas, and cattle ranches.

Home for supper which included a large fish head that I was unsure how to eat and limited Japanese conversation with the other guests, a bath, then more eikaiwa with two teachers, and bed. Up this morning at half past five for a breakfast that included a hot dog and spam but which was otherwise delicious, and to the 7 am ferry where about one quarter of the inhabitants were gathered to depart or bid farewell.

I only spent a few hours with them but I felt sad to be leaving these warm, welcoming islanders so soon. They waved and waved until the boat moved out of the port, and the English teacher (whose primary subject is social studies) and I exchanged deep bows.

Well, I could write much more, but apparently my ancestors did not write on their smart phones on ships, and I feel the need to look at the horizon a while. (Or maybe it's just the spam.)

treasure island

2010-11-27T14:15:00.004+09:00

monday night i head to takarajima (treasure island) to search for captain kidd's treasure. actually, i'm going there as part of the jet program to visit the 6 elementary students and 1 junior high student that live there. takarajima's population is listed as 117 and it's part of the tokara islands group. it's a 14-hour ferry ride one-way, so i'll be spending 28 hours of the 2-day trip on the sea. should be an interesting experience. no doubt i'll have some stories to share--though it may be a couple weeks before i post them as i fly to osaka two days later to meet my dad!

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28 km

2010-11-23T12:51:00.005+09:00

a couple weeks ago my school held its annual enkō (遠行) which could be translated something like "long-distance trek or road-race." at my school, it's 28 km. that's 17 miles! some schools do 5 km or 10 km, but not mine. 28 km. my work predecessor ran it, so some of the english teachers had asked if i was going to do it, and i thought, "why not?" initially, i planned on just walking most of it. i thought, "i've been on backpacking trips as long as this with a 50 lb pack, so this won't be so bad." i asked students about it in the days before. "do you like enkō?" was answered invariably with a resounding "no!" asking if they hated enkō received an emphatic "yes, i hate it!" not encouraging. most of them said they alternated between running and walking, doing it in about 3 to 5 hours. (i found out later that if you don't complete it in 6 hours, you have to run it over.)

the students' preparation for this two-thirds-marathon was running 1 km a day. that's it. a kilometer. luckily i had started running about one-month before (after not running for about 13 years), about 5 km each time. i figured, despite my age, i'd be better prepared than most of the kids.

it had rained just before the race, and it was a nice cool fall day. thinking this would be an all-day trek, i had my backpack with lunch, poncho, and smart-phone (with gps) in case i got lost somewhere in the hills around the school. (my main school is about 20 minutes drive outside the city.) the expatriate american student asked me why i had my backpack saying we'd be back before lunch (2.5 - 3 hours later). apparently, a lot of the athletic students get pretty competitive about the thing. he hoped to be in the top 10. oh, maybe this isn't such a laid-back stroll after all, i thought.

soon, the starting gun went off, and off we went. the boys a half-hour ahead of the girls (apparently to curtail mischief--which made me wonder if anyone had ever payed attention to the students in the classroom where the boys are literally all over one another). i ran at a slow pace, while some of the boys ran like it was a 800 meter race. out of sight of the spectators, i soon began passing many of them, totally winded by their outburst. ah, youth. you can see me a few rows back at the start line:

teachers were stationed along the way, and everyone of them was astonished to see me running. the locals would cheer everyone on. some would even shout "fighto!" when they saw me (a poorly pronounced literal translation of ganbatte! - maybe better translated as "go for it!" or "do your best!"), but hey, at least they were trying!

much to my surprise, i made it to the first check point at 11 km running the whole way except to drink some water a couple of times. a third-year student (who played soccer) had ended up running with me a few kilometers before, so that encouraged me to keep going. we downed a few cups of mugi-cha (barley tea) and some umeboshi (pickled plum) and continued on.

i had a great time talking with the students along the way who were astonished that i was running with them. i walked a few more times, but running most of the way, i suddenly found myself at the 21 km! soon after, running became out of the question, and i walked the rest of the way. those were definitely the longest 7 km. my muscles and tendons tightened up and my hips and knees ached. but fortunately, i could commiserate with another student who walked with me and we eventually made it back. 4 hours, 60th place. not bad for an old guy about to turn 36 the next day.

even though i was exhausted and sore, it felt great to have completed such a long race, and it was a major bonding experience with the students.

that night there was a staff party, and i could barely hobble to the tram. the next morning, i could barely move and my body ached. happy birthday, old man! 2 days later, i was recovered though.

when i told some other japanese folks that i had participated in enkō at the high school, they'd have these half-horrified, half-confused looks on their faces. i'd clarify that i'd run 28 km, and they'd give a sigh of relief. eventually, someone explained. there are two types of enkō. there's 遠行 which is a long-distance trek, and then there's 援交 which is short for 援助交際 (enjo kōsai) which means something like "compensated dating" or "schoolgirl prostitution." oh. well, no wonder they were horrified. why on earth would you call an official school event something that sounds exactly the same as "schoolgirl prostitution?!" it's not even a matter of having vowels of different lengths, as is often the case when these sorts of misunderstandings occur. nope. exactly the same pronunciation. yikes!

and so continue the cultural misunderstandings...

deru kugi wa utareru

2010-11-22T21:21:00.005+09:00

the nail that sticks out gets hammered down

--japanese proverb

after a few months in the homogeneity-myth machine, those unique and genuine encounters become like a life-line. tetsuya ishida's work reassures me that at least some challenge the happy, shiny veneer of social order and pleasantries here:

this japanese architect offers some hope: "[miwa] mori's face softens at the thought of her big ideas for japan: 'maybe i will have to tell my students. in their 20s, a lot of young people stick out a little, but unfortunately, most of them get hammered down. in this society, no one will appreciate your small difference, so you must protect it, nourish it, find a way to let it grow — we need a new kind of education.'" ('architect wants to end nail-hammer cycle' japan times)

it's notable, however, that mori's achievements came after (and as a result of?) living out of japan for 10 years.

the only thing worse than a two-party system is a one-party system

2010-11-22T19:59:00.002+09:00

we interrupt this regularly scheduled program with a quick, u.s. politics-inspired commentary.
wow, u.s. politics is just as frustrating to watch from the outside as in the midst of it. thanks to mark for reposting this cartoon:

no spring without fall

2010-10-31T17:34:00.004+09:00

it's fall here in kagoshima. the air is cooler and crisper. the days noticeably shorter. the sunlight striking at a glancing angle. rice straw has been hung to dry. moving from light to dark. at least for me, it's easy to understand why the celts felt the spirit world was closer at this time. with this more melancholy time of year, i'm feeling more homesick.

yesterday was the cultural festival at all three of the high schools i work at. students put on performances and exhibit their work for each other and the community. it's really great to see all of the creative, skillful work the students do. it's also a great example of the changing japanese culture. performances ranged from japanese folk dance to brass band to hip hop. i got to take part in the tea ceremony at both meiokan/koryo and at nishi high schools. i even got to exhibit some shodo (japanese calligraphy) that i had been working on with the nishi shodo club.

this video shows a japanese folk dance performed by students at waseda university for their culture festival (the japanese dance is the part where they're all wearing happi coats after the maori dance at the beginning of the video)

that evening i went to a halloween party downtown. it was good to see friends there, but it was a little disappointing. there were lots of great costumes, but unfortunately it was rife with the "gaijin zoo effect" where japanese (mostly women) treat us like zoo exhibits, taking pictures with as many foreigners as possible. ridiculous, smoky, noisy, and expensive. oh well.

wednesday through friday, i taught lessons about halloween to the kids, which were a lot of fun. i'm usually opposed to candy incentives, but in this case, it seemed like the best way to convey the cultural practice of trick-or-treating. the kids learned quickly; later on they came to the staff office with improvised costumes and said "trick-or-treat!" i had no choice, but to comply. it also helped me feel a little better about being away from home for halloween.

here's a photo of some halloween decorations i stumbled upon outside of a pastry shop.

i ♥ mochi!

2010-10-15T22:07:00.009+09:00

for me, one of the great things about japan is being able to avoid my arch nemesis (and migraine trigger) wheat! better known in nippon as ko-mugi. (fortunately, the fermented wheat in soy sauce isn't a problem.) when i tell japanese that i can't eat wheat they respond with the ubiquitous: "eeey?" followed by "taira-san, i think maybe you are japanese." sure, there's ramen and tempura and soba (which literally means buckwheat but usually contains real wheat) and udon, and the worst of mcwestern food is quickly taking over, but at least for now, rice is still the 'bread and butter' of japan.

best of all, there are innumerable japanese wheat-free desserts! my all time favorite being:

mochi! (i just love the tragically-hip japanese boy-hosts astonished "sugei!" (awesome!) at the end.)

i love mochi!

these days, most mochi is usually made with machines or from mochi flour rather than mallets and usu. and there's endless variety! hardly a week has gone by that i haven't gotten to try a different mochi concoction.

it has taken some diligence, however. one of the first things i had to do when i arrived was figure out how to decipher this:


名称	菓子、栄養調整食品
原材料名	小麦粉、大豆（遺伝子組み換えでない）、ショートニング、果糖ブドウ糖液糖、でんぷん、食物繊維（難消化性デキストリン）、食塩、酸化防止剤（ビタミンC）、香料、（原材料の一部に乳製品、卵を含む）
内容量	4枚×2袋（50g）
賞味期限	枠外上部に記載
保存方法	高温多湿・直射日光をさけて保存してください
製造者	維基食品株式会社AZ 甲県乙市丙ケ丘774番地

(thanks, wikipedia! http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/食品表示)

it's a food ingredients label. this particular one is for candy, and its ingredients are pure evil (for me)! first two are wheat and soy (albeit non-gmo soy. yay, japan!) and there's some ambiguously labeled starch thrown in for good possibly migraine-inducing measure.

i may not know a lot of kanji, but i've gotten damn good at food ingredients kanji! (and bus route kanji, too, but that's another story.)

and as those of you who know me well might have guessed, i've already started attempting to make mochi in my kitchen.
i'm getting close to success on iko-mochi (relatively simple-to-make, rustic roasted rice flour mochi) and next on my list is daifuku! which i like to pronounce something like "die, fuku, die!"

there's even a baked mochi setting on my fancy toaster oven! it won't be long till i'm making mochi waffles (moffles) on my newly purchased waffle iron!

it gets better

2010-10-11T21:14:00.004+09:00

my friend enrique sent me a link to this video of scissor sisters' lead vocalist jake shears:

and fortunately, it really does get better. as i writhed in queer teen angst caused by my homophobic environs, little did i know that it would get better. it's really hard to realize that there's life beyond the seemingly all-important world of high school, and i wish we could help every suicidal teenager realize this.

so, fortunately, i went on living, and now i get to do things like go surfing in japan! this weekend i got to go to aoshima in miyazaki prefecture on saturday and go surfing! it's been 2 years since i surfed in costa rica, but despite that i actually got up on my first wave! there were many subsequent waves for which i was not so lucky, however. it was rainy and a bit cold, but fun nonetheless. it was also nice to get out of kagoshima prefecture for a bit, breaking my 2 month+ stint in the 'ken.' hopefully this is the first of many sojourns into the rest of japan (and maybe greater asia?).

let's see, what else? i continue to be stopped by the little obaachan who asks me the same questions each time. i still find it amusing though.

checked out a different aikido group this week (manseikan aikido) drawn by an interest in its emphasis on the spiritual roots of aikido as well as hopes for a little more emphasis on 'ki' 氣 than i've been finding in the aikikai group. i really like the practical, 'martial' approach of aikikai, but at least in this dojo, that which makes aikido aikido rather than just another form of jujitsu seems to be left for the students to maybe discover by chance. grass is always greener, right? there were times in ki-aikido that i got so tired of talking about ki and wanted to just try applying it. maybe someday, i'll learn aikido despite my impatience. anyway, the manseikan group was really cool. it seems a lot more like ki-aikido than aikikai, but instead of doing shinto-based activities like misogi and pretending it's secular so as not to offend inflexible westerners, every class starts with a shinto invocation to kami (written here in the vague japanese manner which could be plural, but possibly not, and which could be translated as 'god' but might just be 'natural force,' too). meanwhile, in the aikikai group, an older student started attending again after a break who's trained with tohei sensei (ki-aikido)! i'm pretty lucky to be able to practice with so many different people with so many different perspectives and learn about so many different approaches to aikido.

and today, after maybe 13+ years hiatus, i went for a run! i explored one of the many hills that jut up in the middle of kagoshima city and discovered a shinto shrine with a path up to the top where i found a junior high school and an amazing view of the city, sakurajima, and the bay! legs and knees seem to be ok, so this may become a new routine (and a great way to explore the city).

and more great news! the english department at my base school decided to switch out my hostile direct supervisor for a different one! what a difference that has made. the old supervisor continues to be hostile, but at least i don't have to rely on her as my life-line. now, life here seems to be approaching a more sustainable balance. between my filthy apartment filled with useless junk left by previous alts, my hostile supervisor, and the more usual challenges to settling in a foreign country, man, those first 2 months were brutal! they say there's a 'honeymoon' period before culture shock sets in. i think i skipped that honeymoon phase or it lasted like a few days and went straight into the 'hating it' stage II of culture shock, but i might be on the other-side of that. whatever stage i'm in, i miss all of my family and friends back home and wish i could see them all in person, but i'm also glad to be here and living this experience.

higan

2010-09-23T21:46:00.002+09:00

just got back from a wonderful day traveling around south kagoshima on the satsuma peninsula. 'k'-sensei's family took me to visit a buddhist temple near ibusuki and go to the sand bath onsen and a rotemburo (open-air) onsen. we also had lunch at a japanese restaurant and sat beside lake ikeda and ate the (wheat-free) cherry pie that i made for them in gratitude for all the help that 'k'-sensei has given me since i've arrived. we even had the pie 'american'-style with vanilla ice cream on top. that was a surprise to them. they'd never heard of having pie with ice cream, which was, in return, a surprise for me!

'k'-sensei's really gone above and beyond, and it's not even her job. (my official direct supervisor is fairly unhelpful to say the least. hostile might be more accurate. but that's another story.) i'd be in a sorry state without the kindness of 'k'-sensei and 'o'-sensei (who's another wonderful jte).

it was a perfect way to spend shubun-no-hi (autumnal equinox day) which falls in the middle of higan (literally: another world; 6 days around the equinox). we even got to see the barely waning chushu-no-meigetsu (beautiful moon on the middle day of the eighth lunar month) over kinko bay on our way back. yay, japan!

time warp

2010-09-21T18:02:00.004+09:00

some days it all seems so surreal--some aspects of the japanese school system are straight from pre1950s american or british education--from the uniforms, to the school architecture, to 'sports' day, to the staff hierarchy, to the lecture-format 'lessons'--only instead of latin, it's english! you'd think english were a dead language based on the way it's often taught and how little many of the students can actually use it despite the 6 - 12 years they've spent studying it. no wonder japan fares so poorly in english. you'd think they'd be better off after almost 30 years of the jet program, but in part as a result of the impenetrable passive aggressive social hierarchy, 'assisting' a poorly trained language teacher seems to mean assisting in the furthering of poor educational practices rather than changing them. nothing frustrates me more than playing accomplice in assuring that students view english as a useless and boring subject to endure. (see don't blame jet for japan's poor english, japan times for an even more brutally in depth assessment of japanese english instruction.)

to be fair, not all japanese teachers of english (jtes) are teaching out of the 19th century educational practices textbook. some display a genuine love of language (and english in particular) and want their students to enjoy and be able to use english freely. some understand the difference between theory and application. some are implementing innovative learning strategies. it's a joy to work with these teachers, and fortunately, several of the teachers i work with fit in this category.

one would think that being a non-western culture, japan would be able to break out of the prussian educational model, but no one seems to do western culture better than the japanese. seen through the western caricature as implemented so wholeheartedly by the japanese, it's easy to see how totally absurd some aspects of western culture truly are (or in the case of education: 'have been').

obāsan

2010-09-13T22:41:00.003+09:00

there are only about a hundred experiences and observations i want to share, but the longer i wait for a moment to sit down and write about them, the longer the list becomes and the improbability that i'll relate any of them grows. so, rather than attempt to organize them by importance or chronologically, i'm just going to dive in and tell you at least one in the spirit of ichi go ichi e.

after having been here for almost two months, i am only now getting a handle on the intricacies of the japanese waste (gomi) disposal system. this photo should convey the complex nature of the matter:

please consider that each item of trash or recyclable material belongs in one or more of these bins. don't understand the writing or pictures on the bins? me neither.

anyway, as i said, i'm finally getting a grip on the system and tonight i took all the recyclable paper and cardboard (appropriately tied with string and not placed in bags, mind you) that has been accumulating in a stack in my apartment because i haven't had the time or energy to deal with it to the gomi station as tomorrow is the day that such items will be collected. as i walked to the gomi station (about a block from my door) a little japanese grandmother (obāsan) about half my height stood and stared at me (as they often do) in the dim alleyway. i greeted her with konbanwa and kept walking in the hopes of avoiding the redress (and deluge of rapid japanese) that might have been awaiting for something that i was surely doing wrong as a gaijin--disposing of paper gomi in this case. not a word though, and i continued on.

walking back, there she was waiting for me, and (shudder) she spoke to me! where was the english girl that lived in the apartment i live in now? where was i from? am i english? what school did i work at? how long do i intend to live here? am i english? (apparently, my repeated response that i was american to this repeated question was not convincing enough) and so on... the usual questions that seem like an interrogation but probably just come from genuine curiosity. she even spoke kindly and slowly in simple japanese words that a clueless gaijin like me would understand. she patiently rephrased questions i didn't understand rather than repeating the same word that i didn't understand the first time. i was amazed. and then, the conversation was over. i threw in a dozo yoroshiku and otsukare sama desu (which probably was contextually wrong, but worth a try) for good measure and the sweet, little obāsan laughed as the tall, awkward gaijin continued down the street. ichi go ichi e.

一期一会

2010-09-13T18:02:00.005+09:00

(Hanging Scroll 一期一会, photo originally uploaded by yuko_ppp2501, some rights reserved)

Quick Update

2010-08-23T09:22:00.000+09:00

About to head to Kagoshima Prefectural Office for some very ceremonious presentation of certificates of work assignments and orientation. Suit and tie. Hot!

Just wanted to post a quick update. All is well. Some frustrations, but overall, happy to be exploring this little island in the northwest Pacific. Started Aikido classes (Aikikai-style). Very fun. 5th grade to adult. Everyone is very friendly and helpful and tells me a lot of things that I don't understand. It's all about smiling!

If you've had trouble accessing the Picasa photos, try again. I think I've fixed the settings. Let me know.

More later. Gotta run.

simple things

2010-08-08T12:37:00.006+09:00

ah, those simple things like flushing a toilet, getting on the right bus, buying groceries, introducing yourself, using a rice cooker, they seem so, well, simple. you think you've got it down by the time you're 35. ha! take away your language, make things work just a little differently, and you haven't got a clue. that's been my life for the past 2 weeks. it's all part of what makes being in a foreign country exciting, but it also makes it easy to fall asleep exhausted at the end of the day.

it's been a week and a half since i got to kagoshima. on the flight, we were all anxious to finally leave tokyo and see the place where we will be living for the next year and maybe longer. apparently, japanese airplanes display a live video of take off from the front of the plane and then the view below from the air! exciting and scary--just like going to live in japan.

when we arrived, we were greeted by friendly staff from our schools. wait, how does that greeting go? hajimemashite? yoroshiku onegaishimasu? bow? but they're greeting me in english! shake hands then? fortunately smiles trump all the blunders.

then, it's off to meet the principal and vice-principal of my base school sweating in my suit and tie in the hot humid weather. hajimemashite... bow. change from indoor slippers to slippers specifically for the principal's office. indistinguishable reply ending in -masu. oh, sit down. oh, but not before the others do. now, how did that self-introduction go? smile!

then, on to my apartment, beautiful, craggy, volcanic, tree-covered hills and rice fields along the way. new tatami! cool! to the supermarket. what's that? and that? is that single apple really $5?!

now, here's where you get the bus to school, rain pouring down. shoes soaked through. and here's the foreign foods store. yea! oatmeal and maple syrup and cornmeal and raisins! then back to the apartment and good night. only to wake 4 hours later because you're still jet lagged...

many blunders, kind strangers, and moments of amazement in between, i return successfully from school at the end of my first full week of work on the bus to the bus stop that's actually closer to my home than the one i was shown 9 days ago, walk over the bridge see the river, take a photo with the smart phone that it took 4 hours and 2 visits to the store to get, breathe, and finally relax and let it sink in: i'm living in japan and that's wonderful.

tokyo

2010-07-27T20:58:00.003+09:00

i blink, and suddenly it's tuesday night. tokyo orientation has ended, and tomorrow i fly to my new home for the next year in kagoshima where i'll meet my principal and coworkers right after landing.

only last friday, i was back home, and all of this was just an abstract idea. after passing through a strange portal where day becomes night and today becomes tomorrow, i've arrived in this place which seems deceptively familiar--with buses, cars, highways, skyscrapers, signs, and people who smile and frown and hurry and talk, but eventually you realize that you just boarded the bus from the left side and there is oncoming traffic on the right, that those signs have some cryptic script and that you don't understand a word that those people are saying.

slowly this abstract idea of living in japan seems more real and i become more and more excited as i learn about what my job and life will be like. i've met so many interesting and friendly gaijin (foreigners) and infinitely patient japanese eager to help these bewildered foreigners who can't even properly order their food.

i miss my family and friends very much, and my eyes well up with tears when i think about how long it will be until i can see my family in person, but i'm also excited to be here and look forward to sharing this new experience with them through photos and writing and when they (hopefully) come and visit.

japan bound

2010-07-23T14:34:00.002+09:00

tomorrow i head to denver for the pre-departure orientation and reception at the consul-general's residence. then, it's off to tokyo via la on saturday morning.

i'm only feeling ten-thousand different things right now: excitement, anxiety, sadness, nostalgia, curiosity, frustration, happiness... to name just a few.

soon, i'm going to effectively be illiterate and deaf-mute--until i start to catch on to the language. this will certainly be an interesting experience.

possible dolphin suicide attempt

2010-07-13T09:28:00.001+09:00

“The habitat of that false killer whale is so unnatural it leaped out in desperation,” [former ‘Flipper’ trainer Ric O’Barry] said in a telephone interview from Florida. “It wanted to end it. Why does a person jump out of a building?” ‘Video shows dolphin suicide try: Cove star,’ Japan Times Online, 11 July 2010

party school!

2010-06-25T23:54:00.003+09:00

just found out my school has been switched to koryo high school. i love that google translates the name of the school to "party ling" woohoo! i'm going to a party school.
apparently i'll still be living in kagoshima city which is about 14 km (8.5 miles) away.

View Larger Map

a walk to beautiful

2010-06-22T13:25:00.002+09:00

you think you have it bad?

(via exocubic studio--thank you, mark)

good news for nature and humanity

2010-06-22T04:27:00.000+09:00

supreme court delivers ruling that leaves ban on planting of roundup ready alfalfa in place in first-ever case on a genetically-engineered crop, center for food safety

second-hand ash

2010-06-21T23:57:00.006+09:00

hmmm...this can't be good for your health: “ ‘while there is no ominous sign of a large-scale explosion, volcanic activity is expected to intensify,’ the observatory said in a statement. ‘it is advisable to watch out for large rocky ash falling in surrounding areas.’ ” sakurajima busts eruptions record | the japan times, 21 june 2010

mr. pot, meet mr. kettle

2010-06-21T13:38:00.005+09:00

“sat test” style analogy question:
israel : palestinians :: turkey : _____?
anyone? anyone?
here's a hint:
“turkey's prime minister vows kurdish rebels will ‘drown in their own blood‘” (guardian, 20 june 2010)
now wasn't turkey recently (and rightly) criticizing israel for its treatment of palestinians? anyone else smell the hypocrisy? guess it's different when the insurgency is in your own back yard.

electromagnetic pollution killing honey bees?

2010-06-16T07:49:00.000+09:00

‘mobile phones responsible for disappearance of honey bee’ uk telegraph

sage observations

2010-06-16T07:12:00.003+09:00

“‘I Love the US Republic, and I Hate the US Empire,’ Johan Galtung on the War in Afghanistan and How to Get Out” Democracy Now Interview

kagoshima city

2010-06-16T01:47:00.000+09:00

i just found out i will be working at tsurumaru high school in kagoshima city:

View Larger Map

helen thomas is anti-occupation, not anti-semitic

2010-06-09T11:37:00.017+09:00

“tell them [israel] to get the hell out of palestine!” --helen thomas, veteran white house reporter (bbc, 7 june 2010)

the media is reporting that she told “the jews” to get out of palestine; in fact, she was initially asked to comment on the state of israel, not jews. labeling her comments as anti-semitic is disingenuous. mid-interview, the interviewer interrupts thomas and slyly switches “jews” for “israel” as he restates her response. the terms are not synonymous--not all jews are israelis, and not all israelis are jews. you can watch the interview for yourself:

i'm assuming she means the palestinian territories, not roman palestine--although the part about going back to germany and poland does make that a little unclear. the “home” she mentions could include israel though.

so she didn’t express herself in the most ideal way (she is 89 afterall); however, the witch hunt that ensued was way overboard. to understand the vitriol behind the feeding frenzy, see the israel lobby in the u.s. as well as democracy now’s interview with james abourezk for a non-feeding frenzy discussion of thomas’ comments:

dangerous nighttime monkey minds

2010-06-08T03:00:00.000+09:00

“don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.”-- philip k. dick

i should paint this on the ceiling above my bed.

pragmatic dreamer

2010-06-01T13:17:00.000+09:00

“i'm sick of following my dreams. i 'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.” --mitch hedberg

déjà vu

2010-05-30T10:14:00.001+09:00

(via emptyful)

stand up to those oil execs, and give them exactly what they want

2010-05-25T06:16:00.001+09:00

“Meanwhile, the US government regulators who oversee offshore oil drilling have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and 17 drilling permits since the oil leak began more than a month ago, the New York Times reported on Monday.

“The new permits and waivers would appear to contradict President Barack Obama's declaration of a moratorium on new offshore drilling, issued soon after the rig explosion” (bbc news).

a current kagoshima jet's drive home

2010-05-22T03:56:00.000+09:00

yabusame in kagoshima

2010-05-22T03:54:00.001+09:00

oh, that's what ‘relax completely’ means

2010-05-21T02:05:00.002+09:00

lazy language bad

2010-05-21T00:01:00.004+09:00

“don't translate. learn languages,” says jean-luc godard (cannes is at a loss for words: jean-luc godard's clever misuse of subtitles in his latest film reveals our linguistical shorcomings, guardian, 20 may 2010).

future of food

2010-05-20T06:40:00.002+09:00

and a relevant article: haitian farmers commit to burning monsanto hybrid seeds

鹿児島県へ行きます！

2010-05-18T11:08:00.010+09:00

i just found out that my jet placement will be in kagoshima prefecture! it sounds beautiful, and i can't hardly wait! i'll find out which specific city/town soon.

many of you have asked when and how long. i leave july 24, and the contract is for one year with the possibility of renewal. you can read more about the jet program here.

the myth of money

2010-05-13T02:47:00.007+09:00

possible solutions:
american monetary institute
digital coin
american monetary act
monetary reform act

(thanks, wally, for turning me on to this information.)

how the land of pretend (wall street) messes with the real world

2010-05-12T00:40:00.002+09:00

school / umnh / what is it good for / absolutely...

2010-05-11T13:30:00.003+09:00

bee extinction = food extinction

2010-05-06T11:04:00.003+09:00

perhaps the best reason to buy pesticide-free food yet: that very food you are considering purchasing will cease to exist after all the bees are killed by pesticides (“fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe”, guardian, 2 may 2010).

making an ass of technology

2010-05-06T10:25:00.005+09:00

the dilemma between environment and economy causes a lot of hand-wringing amongst the bourgeoisie of first-world nations, but it's not complicated, folks. castelbuono, italy has it figured out. at least in terms of their garbage collection: $40,000 for a new garbage truck (not to mention upkeep and the carbon footprint) vs. $1,600 for a donkey (and some carrots i suppose) (“italian town opts for “low-tech” alternative to trash collection,” free speech radio news).

masanobu fukuoka would love it. sometimes progress means looking back.

eye for an eye, and then some

2010-05-05T23:35:00.008+09:00

in reference to the attempted times square attack, president obama said, “around the world and here at home, there are those who would attack our citizens and who would slaughter innocent men, women and children in pursuit of their murderous agenda,” (guardian, 4 may 2010) but couldn't an afghani, iraqi, pakistani, or palestinian just as easily have made the same statement in reference to the hundreds of thousands of civilians that the u.s. has killed in the middle east either directly or via israeli support? what contempt and animosity do we breed in the hearts of common people in these countries? obama continues, “as americans and as a nation, we will not be terrorised. we will not cower in fear, we will not be intimidated. we will be vigilant and we will protect and defend the country we love.” yes, any people should be able to defend themselves from aggression, but where is the line between defense and aggression? to what extent are we responsible for creating the “terrorists” that attack us?

pachamama

2010-05-03T23:27:00.004+09:00

people's agreement from the world people’s conference on climate change and the rights of mother earth,
22 april 2010, cochabamba, bolivia

“Today, our Mother Earth is wounded and the future of humanity is in danger.

“If global warming increases by more than 2 degrees Celsius, a situation that the “Copenhagen Accord” could lead to, there is a 50% probability that the damages caused to our Mother Earth will be completely irreversible. Between 20% and 30% of species would be in danger of disappearing. Large extensions of forest would be affected, droughts and floods would affect different regions of the planet, deserts would expand, and the melting of the polar ice caps and the glaciers in the Andes and Himalayas would worsen. Many island states would disappear, and Africa would suffer an increase in temperature of more than 3 degrees Celsius. Likewise, the production of food would diminish in the world, causing catastrophic impact on the survival of inhabitants from vast regions in the planet, and the number of people in the world suffering from hunger would increase dramatically, a figure that already exceeds 1.02 billion people.The corporations and governments of the so-called “developed” countries, in complicity with a segment of the scientific community, have led us to discuss climate change as a problem limited to the rise in temperature without questioning the cause, which is the capitalist system.

“We confront the terminal crisis of a civilizing model that is patriarchal and based on the submission and destruction of human beings and nature that accelerated since the industrial revolution.

“The capitalist system has imposed on us a logic of competition, progress and limitless growth. This regime of production and consumption seeks profit without limits, separating human beings from nature and imposing a logic of domination upon nature, transforming everything into commodities: water, earth, the human genome, ancestral cultures, biodiversity, justice, ethics, the rights of peoples, and life itself.

“Under capitalism, Mother Earth is converted into a source of raw materials, and human beings into consumers and a means of production, into people that are seen as valuable only for what they own, and not for what they are.

“Capitalism requires a powerful military industry for its processes of accumulation and imposition of control over territories and natural resources, suppressing the resistance of the peoples. It is an imperialist system of colonization of the planet.

“Humanity confronts a great dilemma: to continue on the path of capitalism, depredation, and death, or to choose the path of harmony with nature and respect for life.

“It is imperative that we forge a new system that restores harmony with nature and among human beings. And in order for there to be balance with nature, there must first be equity among human beings. We propose to the peoples of the world the recovery, revalorization, and strengthening of the knowledge, wisdom, and ancestral practices of Indigenous Peoples, which are affirmed in the thought and practices of “Living Well,” recognizing Mother Earth as a living being with which we have an indivisible, interdependent, complementary and spiritual relationship. To face climate change, we must recognize Mother Earth as the source of life and forge a new system based on the principles of:

harmony and balance among all and with all things;
complementarity, solidarity, and equality;
collective well-being and the satisfaction of the basic necessities of all;
people in harmony with nature;
recognition of human beings for what they are, not what they own;
elimination of all forms of colonialism, imperialism and interventionism;
peace among the peoples and with Mother Earth...”

meaning of pachamama

fungus to the rescue

2010-05-02T03:18:00.005+09:00

Thanks for sharing this with me, Takeo.

i wo he zuh hey o mo o mo

2010-05-01T02:44:00.003+09:00

in case you don't get the reference:

"united nations beyond reform"

2010-04-27T03:12:00.002+09:00

excellent interview with former un general assembly president miguel d'escoto: “the united nations is beyond reform… it has to be reinvented”

a matter of objectivity

2010-04-26T13:33:00.001+09:00

imagine if the tea party was black, tim wise

let the tea partiers speak for themselves

2010-04-23T13:12:00.003+09:00

...err, if they can.
...uhh, intelligibly.
...well, whatever:

eating chicken = gay

2010-04-23T01:38:00.002+09:00

bolivian president morales has it all figured out (he thinks):
gay and bald? evo morales thinks you ate too much chicken: bolivian president causes homophobia storm by blaming 'deviant' men on hormone-reared fowl

i'd like to think he's not being an ignorant homophobe and just being a little too literal about comer polla.

women, please stop causing these earthquakes!

2010-04-20T10:08:00.001+09:00

women to blame for earthquakes, says iran cleric

well...like...ummm...helloo...yeaah

2010-03-30T11:19:00.001+09:00

ricky martin is gay

leading by example

2010-03-03T01:01:00.005+09:00

in this time of increasing economic disparity and political subterfuge, could there really exist a humble, austere leader who rejects the presidential palace to live on his small family farm, eschews the presidential fleet for his old corsa, and gives away 85% of his salary? well, yes: presidente uruguayo josé mujica cordano.

5,200 naked sydneysiders

2010-03-02T12:52:00.001+09:00

would there be any war or hate if everyone were naked?

hunger or cars

2010-02-16T00:30:00.003+09:00

we can't just trade oil for biofuel. we must completely change our transportation and machinery use: eu biofuels significantly harming food production in developing countries

home is wherever...

2010-02-05T01:36:00.003+09:00

my beautiful, intelligent friend adrianne turned me onto this great song:

pentagon right for once

2010-02-01T05:10:00.001+09:00

what's happening? the pentagon and i actually agree on something!
pentagon to rank global warming as destabilising force (guardian)

plutocracy

2010-01-22T12:41:00.006+09:00

“...corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their “personhood” often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.” -- Justice Stevens in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission

“I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country.” -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan. November 12, 1816

Campaign to Legalize Democracy, Motion to Amend:
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.
Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

Center for Media and Democracy Petition to Put Americans Before Corporations:
The future of our democracy is at risk. Activist judges have rewritten the Constitution to mean that money = speech and that Congress can't limit corporate spending in elections. That's wrong. Money isn't speech, and corporations aren't people. It's as simple as A-B-C. That's why we need the Americans Before Corporations amendment.

It's wrong to give corporations the same rights as people, especially when it comes to our elections.
A corporation isn't really a person.
Corporations are created by statute to help maximize profit and limit legal liability.
Corporations can't go to jail when they hurt or kill someone; they're different from real people.
And they just aren't entitled to all the same rights that are constitutionally guaranteed to human beings.
Plus, corporations have so much more money than most ordinary citizens that their influence would drown out the voices of we the people in our democracy, if the court's decision were allowed to stand.

Of course we should be able to limit spending in elections. Campaign spending limits help create a more level playing field when we are electing our representatives. And one of the beauties of our democracy is one-person, one-vote--whether you are rich or poor--but allowing corporations to spend unlimited money to influence elections would dilute and distort that principle. Unless the Constitution is amended, corporations will have free reign.

The only way to restore the primacy of the people is to amend the Constitution. We should protect the sacred rights of human beings to freedom of speech. We need to make clear that money isn't the same as speech, in order to ensure fair elections. And, we have to put corporations back in their place. That's why I support the "Americans Before Corporations" amendment, sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy. We must reclaim our democracy and our Constitution.

please support doctors without borders in haiti

2010-01-15T00:52:00.004+09:00

killer corn

2010-01-14T00:21:00.002+09:00

our federal food safety mechanisms have failed us (as they have many times before). a recent study confirms that genetically modified organisms were prematurely approved. corporations' insatiable pursuit of profit continues to take priority over public health. unfortunately our corn crops are already overtaken by monsanto's gm corn.

monsanto's gmo corn linked to organ failure, study reveals, huffington post

industrialization intolerance

2010-01-10T11:38:00.004+09:00

gluten intolerance may be caused by a departure from traditional grain preparation methods: against the grain, weston a. price foundation

our own best enemy

2010-01-10T06:09:00.003+09:00

“obama has kept the machine set on kill”–journalist and activist allan nairn reviews obama’s first year in office, democracy now

whole denial

2010-01-10T02:56:00.006+09:00

wow, as if opposing real health care reform weren't enough, whole foods ceo john mackey now denies climate change. he just keeps going and going...

is whole foods bad for the planet? (kate sheppard, mother jones)

mackey's global warming denialist views are revealed in this new yorker article: food fighter

on another whole foods-related topic, dan kennedy comments on the unwholesome products sold at whole foods in the guardian: aisle be damned.

support your local food system: www.localharvest.org and read michael pollan's in defense of food.

a new dark age nears

2010-01-06T03:57:00.002+09:00

chris hedges: “empire of illusion: the end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle”

5 eyes for 1

2010-01-01T07:55:00.005+09:00

are we safe yet?
breeding animosity, destabilizing country after country, we're the best recruiting propaganda anti-us militants could ever want.
2009 in perspective: glenn greenwald on the five wars us is
fighting in muslim countries, democracy now!

heifer international: the white man knows everything

2009-12-30T11:59:00.011+09:00

why do people think other people should do things the way they do? i'm as guilty as the next guy, but when hunger and the earth are concerned, it's a big deal. such is the issue with heifer international. hungry people do not need to further deplete their land, water, and crops with western-bred animals. lactose intolerant africans, asians, and latinos do not need milk.

animal aid director andrew tyler writing in the independent urges people don't follow the herd and give a cow for christmas. his objections are "to the commercial forces that are seeking to persuade people of the poor world that their best nutritional interests are served by buying into modern, high-throughput farmed animal production processes. with that comes an addiction to high capital input systems, additional stresses on precious water supplies, environmental destruction, a loss of control over the means of production, bad health, a nightmare animal welfare scenario and more human poverty and malnourishment."

but people are hungry. why not give them meat? in what's wrong with the heifer project? gary kowalski states "an acre of prime agricultural land can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, or 30,000 pounds of carrots, or 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, but only 250 pounds of beef. the grain that could feed twenty people suffices for just one cow." he goes on to say, "thus in country after country, food security has suffered as people switch from rice, beans, and corn to eggs, dairy and meat to satisfy their nutritional needs. worldwatch institute documents the trend in taking stock: animal farming and the environment. the authors point out that taiwan increased its consumption of meat and eggs by 600% between 1950 and 1990. while the island nation was a grain exporter at the beginning of this forty year span, it depended on massive imports of grain by the end of the period in order to feed its growing population of livestock. food self-sufficiency is undermined when people increase their reliance on animal protein."

and further, "mexico is one of the countries where heifer works. twenty-five years ago, livestock consumed only 6% of that nation's grain. by 1990, the figure had climbed to 50%, as increased numbers of cattle required more imported feed. most of the meat produced in mexico and other latin america nations is exported for dinner tables north of the border while the little that remains at home is usually priced out of reach of the poor."

mark bittman's new york times article rethinking the meat-guzzler states "though some 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, the majority of corn and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. this despite the inherent inefficiencies: about two to five times more grain is required to produce the same amount of calories through livestock as through direct grain consumption, according to rosamond naylor, an associate professor of economics at stanford university. it is as much as 10 times more in the case of grain-fed beef in the united states."

one might point out that you can graze livestock on land that is otherwise not usable, yet heifer international states that it promotes zero-grazing techniques! this means penning in animals which still require food and water and is questionable in terms of the health and humane treatment of the animals. there are further concerns about introducing non-native western farm species, biodiversity, and the cost of veterinary treatment.

not to mention the environment. according to the united nations food and agriculture organization "the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in co2 equivalent–18 percent–than transport." goveg.com states that "eating 1 lb. of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving an suv 40 miles." further, "according to environmental defense, if every american skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off u.s. roads." people have pointed out the impact that the chinese living as americans do (with 2 cars per family) would have. just imagine if china (and the rest of the world) ate as much meat as americans do (half a pound per day--twice the global average).

solutions are desperately needed for the food security crisis but they must come through an organic (in all senses), local, grassroots process rather than westerners spreading their questionable practices to non-westerners.

alternatives to giving a cow:
food for life global
sustainable harvest international
fruit tree planting foundation

(many of the resources cited here were found on do life right.)

racism and war

2009-12-30T09:41:00.002+09:00

iraq veterans against the war: panel: racism and war: the dehumanization of the enemy: part 2: mike prysner
(via exocubicstudio)

placebo

2009-12-30T02:27:00.003+09:00

the things he carried, jeffrey goldberg, the atlantic, november 2008

in particular, note that the author smuggled a polyurethane bag attached to his body undetected and passed through security with forged boarding passes and no identification. all of this over a year ago.

'i want you to keep me accountable' -- barack obama

2009-12-27T10:16:00.002+09:00

"i didn't campaign on a public option." -- barack obama
"any american will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan, and income-based sliding scale tax credits will be provided for people and families who need it." (from obama's campaign literature)
track this and other promises on obameter.

another corporate bail out

2009-12-23T12:40:00.004+09:00

Dear Senators Udall and Bennet:
As your constituent, I urge you to vote against the Senate health bill as it currently stands. Our nation's current health care system has failed because of a corrupt private health insurance industry. Rather than address this failure and rein in private insurers, this bill provides the health care industry with 30 million new customers who will be forced to buy overpriced, poorly regulated health insurance though these Americans can least afford it. No wonder health insurance stock market prices are rising.
Without a government-run insurance entity or regulations to guarantee everyone access to decent health insurance, an individual mandate is immoral. In combination with the removal of the public option, the rollback of a woman's right to choose, and unfair, unequal exemptions for Nebraska, we are better off without this bill.
This bill is no longer a reform; it is yet another corporate bail out. Please withdraw your support for this bill.

何で貴方は三角定規なの？

2009-12-23T01:02:00.001+09:00

lest we forget

2009-12-20T03:16:00.004+09:00

the decade in photos

who doesn't love a tortured elephant circus?

2009-12-17T01:22:00.001+09:00

Visit RinglingBeatsAnimals.com

american outlaws

2009-12-16T00:12:00.002+09:00

indian environmentalist vandana shiva: “it is time for the u.s. to stop seeing itself as a donor and [start] recognizing itself as a polluter, a polluter who must pay”

one man's meat is another man's poison

2009-11-29T11:09:00.012+09:00

since i began eating a primarily vegetarian diet almost 4 years ago, i've heard a wide variety of reactions from people--from positive to downright rude. the rudest so far was a woman wearing an "i [heart] beef" shirt (i'm not kidding!) who was eavesdropping on a conversation i was having with a co-worker. when she intruded and asked if i were a vegetarian, her response was a facetious "i'm sorry" followed by, "i'm majoring in the beef industry." all i could reply given the restraints of being at work was "no need to be sorry. how can i help you?" (how exactly does one "major in the beef industry" anyway? i don't remember reading that major on college applications.)

some of the less rude, yet conversation-killers nonetheless, include (with my unspoken thoughts):
"well, i love meat!" (uhhh... good for you? i like the taste of meat, too, but i simply choose not to eat it when given the choice.)
"i would just starve!" (really? there are these things called edible plants... people without the luxury of living in one of the richest countries in the world are able to survive on little or no meat their whole life.)
"how do you get enough protein?" (perhaps a refresher of 9th grade health would benefit you.)
"no wonder you're so skinny." (no wonder you're so fat?)
"what do you eat?" (i know this is hard to believe but, anything that is not meat.)

now that i've discovered that gluten and dairy trigger my migraines, folks are even more incredulous, yet i'm still unsure how to answer the question: "what can you eat?" the best i can come up with is "plenty." that seems the most accurate and concise. fortunately, i love to cook from scratch and love a challenge. plus, there are great resources out there like: karina's kitchen, gluten-free vegan, and fat-free vegan, so i've managed to eat plenty.

for those for whom "plenty" is not a sufficient response, i'm going to start a list of meals i can and do eat. maybe i'll have to start carrying a card with the web address so i can just hand it out next time someone asks dismissively "what can you eat?" if some of this sounds good and you want a recipe, let me know.

gluten-free, dairy-free vegetarian dishes (in no particular order):
fried rice
millet couscous
gallo pinto (costa rican black beans, rice, and vegetables)
caribbean rice and beans
vegan pumpkin flaxseed muffins (made with rice flour)
corn meal pancakes
blueberry gluten-free waffles
dairy-free pumpkin pie
hummus
thai curry
pad thai
moong dal
red bean bhaji
pakora
pappadam
indian curry (without the tomato and cream)
grits
pad woon sen
rice farina
polenta
scrambled eggs
corn meal muffins
olive oil, rosemary, and garlic-roasted root vegetables
rice pasta with pesto
dairy-free coconut ice cream
vegan, gluten-free mac and "cheese"
baked mochi
risotto
rice flour crepes
coconut date rolls
corn tortilla tacos
baked beans
puffed rice cereal
coconut rice pudding
thai custard and sticky rice
vegetable soup
cole slaw
seaweed salad
huevos rancheros
flourless, dairy-free chocolate torte
sunflower butter cookies
to be continued...

pilgrims go home

2009-11-26T13:14:00.003+09:00

tea-party prankster robert erickson and other european illegals attempt to self-deport at i.c.e.

happy thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T13:12:00.004+09:00

vote earth

2009-11-20T00:49:00.004+09:00

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the other immigrants

2009-11-18T00:20:00.002+09:00

finally, an anti-immigrant movement i can get behind: columbus, go home!