Beppu University: 100 Year Anniversary

This Thursday was the 100th Anniversary of Beppu University. Initially we were all told we would have the day off from school, which made us very happy. Then we were later told we would have to attend a special ceremony that day instead of school (at which attendance would be taken) for which we were not so happy.

A Korean friend complained to me. "I hate these Japanese ceremonies," he said. "They just go on and on with speeches. In Korea we try and wrap everything up in a half hour, but in Japan they just go on and on. The opening school ceremony was awful."

Actually I had missed the opening school ceremony, because it was on a Saturday and I had a conflict with work. But over the years I have attended more than my share of ceremonies in Japan, so I knew what he meant.

The day before the ceremony, the principle gave a short talk in which he told us what to wear (suits), where to go, and what time to show up. He mentioned the first hour would all be speeches, and then the rest of it would be a concert by Minami Kosetsu. "Of course you're all quite young, so I doubt any of you know who Minami Kosetsu is," he added.

...unless of course you have some sort of strange fascination with Japanese oldies like me. So I knew who Minami Kosetsu was. (In fact I mentioned him by name is this article). I even have a couple of his CDs in my apartment. (Well, if you want to get technical, they're actual mini disc copies I made. But the point is I'm a fan).
Minami Kosetsu was part of the folk music boom in Japan in the early 70s. He's also a native son of Oita prefecture, which is his connection to Beppu University.

And he put on a really good show. He played several songs I knew, and told lots of interesting stories between them. (My Nova students tell me that lots of talking is characteristic of his concerts). And even though he is an aging pop star, his voice still sounded as clear and as clean as it did on his old records. In fact even more so because it was a live performance.

The thing that was too bad was that it was a mandatory school event. So the auditorium was packed full of people who didn't really want to be there. And all around me there were people who would shift in their seats or groan whenever he started a new song. But many other people really got into it. Several of my classmates later said they had never heard of him before, but really enjoyed his music.

Link of the Day

The World at 350A Last Chance for Civilization By Bill McKibben
Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start — even for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.
It’s not just the economy. We've gone through swoons before. It’s that gas at $4 a gallon means we’re running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It’s that when we try to turn corn into gas, it sends the price of a loaf of bread shooting upwards and starts food riots on three continents. It’s that everything is so inextricably tied together. It’s that, all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the “limits to growth” suddenly seem… how best to put it, right.
All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it’s dusk on planet Earth.
There’s a number — a new number — that makes this point most powerfully. It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A few weeks ago, our foremost climatologist, NASA’s Jim Hansen, submitted a paper to Science magazine with several co-authors. The abstract attached to it argued — and I have never read stronger language in a scientific paper — “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.” Hansen cites six irreversible tipping points — massive sea level rise and huge changes in rainfall patterns, among them — that we’ll pass if we don’t get back down to 350 soon; and the first of them, judging by last summer’s insane melt of Arctic ice, may already be behind us.
The rest.

太陽の子エステバン / The Mysterious Cities of Gold

(Japanese Video Series)

When I saw this Anime series in my local video store, I thought: what a great way to combine Japanese study with childhood nostalgia.

Remember this show? Of course you do. If you grew up in the 1980s, and if you lived in a house with basic cable, then I have no doubt this show has a special place in your heart.

And it turns out not only for Americans. I mentioned to my Australian co-worker that I was working my way through the series, and he said, "No kidding. I'm a member of the 'Mysterious Cities of Gold Webring'," (apparently such a thing exists) and then he proceeded to wax nostalgic about the series himself.

For anyone not familiar with this show:
It was a French / Japanese co-production. (My co-worker tried to tell me it was primarily a French project, so I couldn't really count it as Japanese anime. My own internet research leads me to believe it was mostly initiated by the Japanese side. I'm not going to waste a lot of space here on the debate though. Suffice it to say I'm counting it as a Japanese anime series for the purposes of this blog.)

It was then translated into English, and broadcast on Nickelodeon from 1986 to 1990. Which is where I, and many of you, saw it as a child.

In fact for much of my childhood I wasn't allowed to watch normal TV, and my viewing was restricted to just 3 channels: PBS, The Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon. So I used to watch this show a lot. And yet I never managed to make it all the way through to the end. I remember one summer when I had watched the show almost to its end, and then I was forbidden from watching TV for one week because I forgot to weed the garden. Another time I missed the conclusion because we had to all go pick my sister up from camp at Spring Hill, and I was given no choice about coming along for the afternoon.
(Also if memory serves correctly, this show used to be on at 2:30 in the afternoon. Which meant I couldn't watch it on a school day, and it was mostly a summer vacation show. But my memory grows hazy on this point. Does anyone else remember more clearly?)

Anyway, it was nice to sit down and watch the whole series on DVD from beginning to end. And of course watching it in the original Japanese helped me with my language studies.

For comparisons sake, I was just watching some of the English episodes on google video (there seem to be a lot of episodes floating around on the internet), and I realized how horrible the English dub actually was. This was something that never bothered me as a child, but I notice it now.
First off is the way all the dub voice actors are always rushing to finish their lines before the character's mouth finishes moving. For whatever reason, this seems to be a common problem when dubbing Japanese anime to English. (A phenomenon spoofed excellently on South Park).
That may be an unavoidable evil when dubbing from one language to another. What is less excusable is that the English voice actors seem to be sleepwalking their way through the performance. "Oh no. Oh let me go. Oh Esteban help me" (All spoken in a monotone).

Neither of these bothered me as a child. In fact I don't recall ever noticing it. But I notice it now.

So for voice acting, the Japanese version is far superior. Unfortunately the Japanese sound track is a big disappointment.

Remember the theme song from "Cities of Gold"? It had a mysterious feel to it, which really set the mood for the show.
Granted I was easier to impress back then, but go over to youtube and watch the opening sequence again. It still sounds pretty cool. And the French version is pretty much the same.
....And then, watch the Japanese opening theme. I'm a big fan of Japanese music, but the J-pop scene has more than it's share of cheesy pop ballads, and this is a prime example.

The series consists of 39 episodes. (Apparently 39 being the magic number needed to accommodate the Japan Broadcasting Corporation airing schedule during a year).
39 episodes is a lot to sit through when you're trying to watch them all on DVD. (Especially with school starting up , it took me about 3 months to work my way through this series). And yet at the same time, part of me was surprised there weren't more episodes. After all, 39 episodes is nothing really, considering Nickelodeon aired this show 5 days a week for 4 years. They must have run through the whole series every 2 months, and rerun the whole a thing a total of (...hold on a minute here...) 24 times in total.

But somehow it seemed a lot longer back then. If I missed the ending episode, it would seem like an eternity before the series would cycle around again to the conclusions (I would have guessed about half a year). I guess time really does pass slower when you're a child.

Anyway, I've gassed on long enough. I suppose I should finally get around to reviewing the actual content of this series.

This cartoon is clearly not adult entertainment for any number of reasons:
*the slapstick cartoonish humor is aimed straight at a child's sensibilities (as well as the buffoonery of the comic relief characters Sancho and Pedro) ,
* the action sequences take a lot of liberties with the laws of physics,
* the whole premise of the show requires a suspension of disbelief on a level more readily achieved by a child ,
* the adults defer to the decisions of the children in a way that only happens in children's cartoons,
et cetera.

So it's no good watching this show from the perspective of an adult. However, if you can try and watch this show from the perspective of a 10 year old child, it has aged surprisingly well. Especially compared to all the other junk we used to watch during the 80s.
Have you ever tried re-watching 80s cartoons as an adult? Superfriends, He-man, Thundercats, all the stuff we used to love back then is hard to sit through now. (When I was living back in the states 2 years ago, I was overjoyed when I discovered the cartoon network was re-running Superfriends, only to discover I couldn't even make it through a whole episode).

"Cities of Gold" on the other hand, was an absolute pleasure to re-watch. Sure I had to work hard to suspend my adult reasoning at several points throughout the series, but the story is well written, and a sense of exotic adventure pervades the whole series. Whether you're navigating the straits of Magellan, shipwrecked on the Galapagos Islands, in the jungles of South America, in the forests of the Amazon women, or deep in the caves of the Olmec's, you have a sense of being on a classic adventure in the tradition of the best pulp fiction writers. Burroughs would have been proud.

When I was a child, I had read in the school library about the real life historical Spanish quest for the cities of gold. At the time, that was yet another attraction to this series, as it gave it a real historical connection.
Watching it now, the historical connection seems very loose indeed. Especially once the series turns to science fiction and fantasy and blatantly abandons any pretense what so ever of historical accuracy. Still, it was a stroke of genius for someone to turn this ancient Spanish myth into a children's cartoon. The whole series has an air of ancient mystery to it.

The characters are surprisingly complex as well, by the standards of children's cartoons. Mendoza is the action swashbuckling action hero of the series. If one of the children gets in trouble, you can bet it will be Mendoza who swings in on a rope (with the dramatic music and his cape fluttering behind him) to save the day. In any other series, Mendoza would have been the title character of the show; like "He-man" or "Superman", or any other 80s cartoon, where the strongest and bravest character is also not only the lead character but also the moral strong point. (Didn't He-man even give moral lessons at the end of each episode?)

But in "Cities of Gold" you're never quite sure until the very end where Mendoza stands. You know part of him wants to protect the children, but another part of him just might sell them out for the gold if he ever got the chance. And the children, especially Zia, never fully trust Mendoza for most of the series.

And of course there's the whole concept (completely new to all of us 80s children) that this was an on-going story. Not everything was wrapped up and finished in 25 minutes, and then completely restarted the next day. The story developed, and the characters and their relationships also developed with it.

Finally, despite the fact that this series was produced in the early 80s, the animation has also aged very well. None of the cheap stop motion techniques you might expect from cartoons of this period. It could hold it's own against anything on TV today.

In conclusion: watching this video series straight through was a very pleasant trip down memory lane. It might have been a children's cartoon, but I never thought to myself, "how could I have liked this crap as a child." Instead the thought that constantly went through my head while watching was, "No wonder I loved this show as a child. It's the perfect show for an 8 year old boy."

And plus I finally found out how the series ended!

According to wikipedia, a film based on this series is currently in production. If true, I'll be looking forward to seeing that when it comes out.

Link of the Day
Enough

Golden Week

It's Golden Week again in Japan. (For a description of what Golden Week is, see this post here. Or this post here as well).

I don't actually get any time off from NOVA during Golden Week. But I did at least get some time off from school. I ended up with a total of 3 days off from school this year. I only had to work 5 hours at Nova, and then had the rest of the day off. It wasn't enough time to go on any big hiking adventures, but it did give me time to relax, do some reading, catch up on my homework and, of course, some blogging. (I also had time to finish watching another Japanese video series, one which I had started months before but put on hold when school started. Expect a review on this site in the next couple days).

In the meantime, since I have the time to blog, I thought I'd throw up a few more thoughts about school the past couple days.

School Field Trip: Kuju Flower Park

The school organized a field trip out to Kuju Flower Park last Friday. This had absolutely nothing to do with Japanese studying, but it was a fun little trip and a nice idea on the part of the school. Apparently they do something like this once a semester. This is more for the benefit of the regular students, who are freshly arrived in Japan and haven't had a lot of time to sight see, then for someone like me. But I thought it was a great idea as well. And although I had been hiking around in Kuju mountain before, I had never been to the Flower Park.

It was nice. A lot of flowers. I thought it bordered slightly on being a tourist trap. The French students remarked the same thing, saying they didn't see what the big deal was because you can see flower gardens all over the place in Europe. But the Chinese students were absolutely amazed and said you can't find anything like this in China.







To me, what saved the whole experience from being just another cheesy tourist trap was the beauty of the mountain side on which the flower park had been build.




I had a nice walk around the place, and ate lunch with a bunch of Chinese students, who generously shared their lunches with me. I had brought with me a convenience store lunch, but it didn't compare to their home cooking. I'm always amazed at how much work they put into making their lunches. And they in turn are constantly amazed by the fact I'm perfectly content to buy my lunch at a convenience store.

...What you don't see on these pictures however is the 2 hour bus ride it took to get here. And the 2 hour bus ride to get back. I had almost forgotten how much I hate buses.

I suffer easily from motion sickness. And like a lot of people who suffer from motion sickness, there seem to be a lot of influencing factors. For instance if I'm behind the steering wheel, it's almost never a problem. If I'm the passenger, it becomes a bit more pronounced. But it's slightly better if I'm in the front seat instead of the back seat. (Why all these factors make a difference I couldn't explain to you rationally. But they do).

What I do know is that there is nothing worse for motion sickness than riding in the back of a bus. (Oh, how I hated those yellow school bus rides from in childhood).
And being in the back of a bus on a 2 hour drive winding up and down the mountains is the worst case imaginable.

It sounded like a fun outing with my classmates, but by the time I actually got to the flower park my head was pounding and my breakfast felt like it was just one good bump in the road from coming up again.
At least I can take comfort from the fact that I wasn't the only one suffering. Halfway there, one of the Chinese students behind me asked for a bag to throw up in. And once we arrived, another threw up outside the bus.

...We had slightly less than 2 hours to enjoy the park, after which, to everyone's dread, we had to load up in the bus and go back again. By the time it was all over, I reflected to myself I would have been a lot happier to go somewhere a lot less scenic that happened to be walking distance from the school. (I guess I just don't travel well. This is no doubt why I've gone on so few trips during my time in Japan).

Nor was the day a lot of use practicing Japanese. On the trip to the flower garden a Bangladesh student who wanted to brush up on his English sat next to me. On the way back, a Chinese student who also wanted English practice filled the open seat.
In Asia, an English teacher is never truly off duty. And generally I don't mind. After having received so much kindness here in Japan, I figure the least I can do is let people practice their English on me.
But you can imagine it didn't do much for my headache on the bus: having to use excruciatingly slow and simple English, and having to repeat everything I said several times. At last I just put my head down and pretended to sleep the rest of way back.

Interesting Conversations
The Japanese school continues to be an interesting source of cross cultural exchange.
On May Day, the Chinese students asked me if it was a big holiday in America as well. When I said no, they were very surprised. "But it's a world holiday," one of them said. "Not just China. The whole world celebrates it."

"Not in America," I said. (In Japan it's not an official public holiday either, but they are at least aware of it over here, and the labour unions always hold some sort of May Day rally. In America of course the US government created Labour Day to co-opt May Day, and the Unions hold their marches on Labour Day instead. I doubt very much if the majority of Americans could even tell you what May Day is.)

"You know what's even stranger," I continued. "May Day actually originated in America."

This resulted in a number of blank stares, until one Chinese girl clapped her hands with recognition. "Yes, I remember now," she said. "We studied this in junior high school history class. Long long ago, the Haymarket martyrs in Chicago."

Of course they all wanted to know: since May Day originated in the US, why didn't the US celebrate it? I couldn't answer that question easily, so I just let it go.

....Really though, who wants May Day to become an official state recognized holiday? Can you imagine it? It would be just like Martin Luther King Day. People would wave American flags and talk about what great patriots the original labour leaders were. Right Wing pundits would get on TV and talk about how they are the ones keeping the true spirit of the Haymarket martyrs alive. The whole thing would get ridiculous in no time at all. It's much better to keep May Day as an unofficial holiday.

In other news...
Justin wrote in his blog about a few months ago about a Japanese woman who came by to his apartment to advertise her English class, and ask if he wanted to enroll his kids.
I don't know if it's affiliated or not, but I just had the same experience just now.
I'm sure the girl doing the job had to ask everyone on the block for the sake of completeness. Still, isn't it a bit bizarre to ask an American if he wants to enroll his kids in an English class taught by a Japanese woman?

Link of the Day
From the Media Mouse website: Re-launching the Progressive Directory of Western Michigan. (I just wanted to link to this so I would have an excuse for saying that I was part of the team that put the original together).

also: How The Rich Starved The World and Heartland Institute Condemned for "Major Ethical Transgression"

Japan E-mails: Aug 27, 2001

(retrospection)

After my little manifesto e-mail I had sent out to Media Mouse the previous day, I got individual responses back from 4 of them. I composed individual e-mails to each one, but as there is a far amount of overlap in the material, I am editing them down and condensing them into one e-mail for the sake of this blog.

Thanks for the speedy reply. We're right in the thick of the dog days of summer over here too. It's very hot and muggy on this little island that I'm on. It has its nice moments occassionally, but usually it's just hot and humid.

Hey, one thing I forgot to mention in my last e-mail: Tokyo had some nice bike lanes in it....Well, OK, actually they're not all that nice. And there a little on the small side. And the only thing to seperate them from the rest of the traffic is a painted white line and the words "Bike Lane". But still, it shows they're making an effort at least. If a city as crowded and congested as Tokyo can find room to put in some bike lanes, surely Grand Rapids could do something for its bikers, right? Well, good luck with continuing the campaign at any rate.

(Ed. note: The summer of 2001 Media Mouse was actively campaigning to make the city of Grand Rapids more cyclist friendly. It was our big focus that summer, but since then there have been a lot of changes in the world, and bigger events have taken precedence. As far as I know, it's not one of their top priorities anymore.
But maybe the issue should be picked up again. As we enter into the age of global warming and the coming energy crisis, the least, THE LEAST, the city government can do is to give people the option to ride their bicycles to work if they want to.)

I really wish I could go with you guys to Washington DC [for the IMF/World Bank Protest] next month. And I'm not just saying that either. I really wish I could go. It's hard for me to be sitting in a stuffy office on the other side of the world reading about the protest movement without being able to participate. I toyed with the idea of trying to fly back to the US for a couple days for the DC protest, but it's just not a realistic option. Maybe after I've saved up a bit of money over here I can join you guys on the next big event. (Incidently, what is the next big event?). Either way, it comforts me to know that Media Mouse will be there to raise their voice and document the events. [Ed. note: In the end this protest never happened, because the event got called off after 9-11].

I'll try and forward you anything I can find on the Japanese student movement for the Media Mouse "history of leftist political movements page". I haven't had a lot of luck finding stuff on the net so far, but I'm sure there's got to be stuff somewhere. As a history major, I really like the idea of a leftist history page though. That sounds like something I could really get into, and I'll try and contribute what I can from Japan.
[Ed. note: this leftist history web page was one of several media mouse projects we talked about, but in the end never got off the ground].

I'll try and collect what information I can over here as well. It is, I agree, an ambitious project, especially considering my Japanese at this point is pretty much non-existant. I can say "good morning" and "thank you" and that's about it. However hopefully in a year's time I'll be able to develop some speaking skills. That way I'll be able to contribute to Media Mouse even from Japan. We'll see what happens. At any rate, thanks for the offer to do a presentation. If I'm able to collect enough material this year, I might be interested in it.[ed. note: If I had only known 7 years after I wrote this e-mail I would still be struggling with Japanese]

I'll try and follow what you guys are up to from here in Japan via the Media Mouse website. I notice there are a lot of new names and e-mail addresses on the Media Mouse e-mails, but you say attendance is down? Any luck with our recruiting efforts, or is it the same old faces?

Sincerely Joel (Your Media Mouse Foreign Correspondant)

**********************
To Ben (my predecessor)
thanks for the e-mail. I'll keep your warning about Ajimu wine in mind. I actually haven't developed my palate to the point where I can distinguish good wine from bad, so it's all the same to me anyway. My ignorance will probably come in handy at the wine festival. Otherwise, if it's really that bad, I guess I can always force it down for the sake of social protocol.
Thanks again for the heads up.

Link of the Day
I was listening to Michigan Public Radio the other day (via the magic of the Internet) and heard the program on the My Lai massacre. I don't know how many of you heard the same program as well, but if you haven't heard it, I can't recommend it enough. Really. You'd be doing yourself a disservice not to go over and check it out.
You can listen to it at The Changing World Website.

Another Update

Work and school continues, and as I wrote last time I am very busy.

I think I am adjusting somewhat. At the very least I'm having a few days a week where I feel good. And then the next day I'll be back to feeling crap again.

I continue to have pounding headaches in the afternoon. I continue to be paranoid about my car.

Most days I am enjoying myself however. I enjoy being back at school and enjoy learning again. And I also enjoy the social aspect. I'm beginning to get to know my classmates, exchange jokes with them between classes, go out for lunch, and even develop circles of friends.

I've also managed to acquire a small fan club of about 7 Korean females. They're a couple levels below me, so they're not in the same classroom, but I see them occasionally between classes. They're always very eager to talk to me and compliment me repeatedly on how cool I look. They give me small gifts of chocolate and candy. Last week they asked if I wanted to walk down to the convenience store with them during lunch break. When I said yes, they gave out such a loud cry of joy that some of the teachers came out of the office lounge to see what had happened.

This is of course the old "Charisma Man" factor coming into play again: the sudden and undeserved popularity we Westerners experience in Asia because of
1). Our relative rarity out here and
2). the popularity of American movies worldwide, which has created the impression that all Westerners are like movie stars.

This is a common story out here and, since writing about how popular I am tends to be one of my favorite subjects, it has popped up many times on this blog before now.
Still, it's interesting to note the differences between countries. The amount of intense attention I'm receiving from these Korean girls is even a further step up than what I'm used to in Japan. Assuming the factors that create Charisma Man syndrome are the same in both countries, why should there be a difference? An interesting question for sociologists to explore, no doubt.
(I wonder what my life would have been like if I had spent the past 6 years in Korea instead of Japan? Ah, the road not taken.)

In order not to get in any trouble, I worked into the conversation that I was living with my fiancee as soon as possible. (I figured I was getting a little bit old to play the game of concealing her existence.) They were initially devestated, but they still seem very eager to get a chance to talk to me between classes.
Well, as Richard Nixon once said, "I like to be liked". At any rate, it's nice to know that even as an old man of 30, my years of popularity are not completely behind me.

Speaking of the old 30th Birthday...
It passed quietly here, as most Birthdays do in Japan. I usually try and keep a low profile on these days anyway.
The previous week I had mentioned to some of my classmates that I was on the verge of turning 30 (it was the start of classes and we were introducing ourselves to each other). They wanted to throw me a birthday party, but I was horrified at the idea and quickly squashed it.
I didn't mention anything to Shoko to see if she would remember on her own, and she didn't do too well. I had a feeling if our positions had been reversed, I would have never heard the end of it. But I let it go. I did point out to her that I had always remembered her birthdays, but she responded, "Yes, but what's the point? You remember them, but you never do anything special for them. You just wish me a happy birthday, and I still have to do all the cooking."

The following week however, Shoko made me a big birthday dinner and cake. And took a couple pictures of me at 30.

Classes...
Because of my work schedule, I have trouble keeping up with the homework for my Japanese classes.

The first test I scored a 91 %, which was the best score in the class. I was quite proud of this, until I remembered that I had originally tested into the advanced class, and then dropped myself down to the intermediate class. So this already was an unfair advantage over my classmates.
Plus, lest I forget, I have lived in Japan for 6 years now. My classmates have been in Japan for one month, or at most half a year. The fact that we're even in the same classroom studying the same material should be an embarrassment to me.
I could plausibly argue that Chinese students have a background in Kanji characters, which helps them out a lot. But that still doesn't explain away why the French, Vietnamese, and Korean students are also about the same level as me.

...Well, it's embarrassing. What can I say? I've become the poster child for the ignorant American who lives several years abroad and still can't speak the language. My only defense is that I have been living in Japan as an English teacher, whereas my classmates have all come to Japan on student visas and have been able to throw themselves fully into the language study. Hopefully after completing this course, I'll finally have a decent level of Japanese where I can hold my head up high again. Although even know I'm finding it difficult to study while splitting my time as an English teacher.

Last update I was feeling sorry for myself because most of my Chinese classmates didn't have part time jobs, but it turns out I might have just been talking to the wrong Chinese students. The other day I was talking to a different classmate who gave me quite a different perspective.
"Most of us have part time jobs," he said. "And we have to work a lot. I work from 7 to 11 every night, and then have to do my homework afterwards. And we're constantly being yelled at by our Japanese bosses because we don't know the Japanese customs or make mistakes speaking Japanese."

...Point taken. With all the crap I have to put up with at my job, at least I don't have someone coming in and yelling at me constantly. And as a teacher, I have a lot more enjoyable job than a restaurant or convenience store employee (which is what most of the Chinese students are doing). Not to mention that I get paid a lot more that they do.

...On the other hand, at least the Chinese students have jobs that allow them to practice their Japanese. I'm forbidden from using Japanese inside the classroom, so my job has absolutely no studying benefits for me. (In fact because of the simple English I always have to use in class, I often complain that my English is deteriorating, and my Japanese isn't improving. The worst of both worlds.)

And lastly, speaking of work...
This Monday I was glancing at the work schedule for the following day, and noticed that my name wasn't on it. Instead, teaching all of my classes was someone listed as John Brooks. I asked the staff about this. "Oh, that's just a computer error," they said. "John Brooks is a teacher in Fukuoka. His name got put on your schedule, and your name was put on his, but don't worry about it. Just come in and teach tomorrow as always."

And so I did. I walked into the office as always, and my (long suffering) Australian co-worker called out, "Hey Swagy, how are ya?"

I slapped him (lightly) across the face. "My name is John Brooks, Damn you!" The rest of the day I refused to answer to my proper name. The Japanese staff thought it was amusing, but my co-worker just seemed to get more and more frustrated throughout the day.

Finally at the end of the day he said to me, "Are you going to tell me what this is all about, or what?" I thought it was self evident, and pointed to the schedule, but this only confused him more. Finally I realized he hadn't bothered to look at the schedule all day, and didn't realize the switch up in names.

Link of the Day
This Modern World
Chickens coming home to roost”
The context behind that endlessly recycled sound bite:

And Via Whisky Prajer
I would like to say more about King, but I am still wrestling with what he represents -- unlike, say, the North American media, which still does not hesitate to put a black preacher "in his place." From Jon Trott, who remembers.

Hitch Hike Video Part 1: Summer 2003

(Retrospection)



After having converted my old videos onto DVD, here is another retrospection video. This is the tape of the hitch hiking trip Greg and I did up to Hokkaido in the summer of 2003. It's a long tape so I'm splitting it into several parts (with commentary). This is the tape up through our first ride. (Also available on youtube here, if google video is giving you any trouble.)

Comments:

*We started out from Greg's town in Kusu. The night before Eion, Greg and myself went out to "D-styles", a karaoke bar in Kusu, where we stayed until the early hours of the morning. Then we came back and slept on Greg's floor. Because we spent the night at Greg's apartment, it had been necessary for me to do all my packing the day before. Greg however had to wake up early in the morning to do his packing (we were committed to getting an early start on that day). He turned the video camera on Eion and I while we were still sleeping, and you can see me sleepily sit up, and mumble a few nonsense words of Japanese.

*As you can see from the video, it was a very rainy morning and an ominous start to the hitch hiking trip. Fortunately most of that cleared up by the time we actually started.
The red car outside in the rain was my car at the time. I later sold it to my successor, and he in turn had it crushed down when it cost more to upkeep than it was worth. At any rate it was still a lot nicer than the car I'm driving now :(.

*I said on the camera that my previous hitch-hiking experience was once hitching a ride home from University. This is a slightly mispoken.

--First of all I used the word University because I was talking to two Brits, and in British English I've discovered "College" means a kind of high school. My own Alma Mater, however, can be safely considered a small college by American standards

--Secondly I didn't hitch hike from college to home. I hitch hiked from my teacher aiding experience back to the college dormitories.

This was back during sophomore year. As a pre-requisite to get into the education program, I had to spend two semesters doing volunteer tutoring.
Because this was back before I was lucky enough to have access to a car on campus, I used to take Calvin's taxi service to get there and back every week. (What did they call that service again?)

On my last day, I ran overtime tutoring. And then as I was trying to hurriedly get out the door, my supervising teacher came over to give me a farewell speech to tell me how much they had appreciated my help that semester. And then she gave me some gifts (a coffee mug with the schools name on it).

By the time I got out the door, I was about 20 minutes late, and the Calvin car had long since left.

I thought about calling Calvin taxi service to let them know I was still there. But then first I would get chewed out by them for not being ready and waiting at the given time. And then it would be who knows how long before they got a break in their schedule and were able to come pick me up. And during that time I would have to sit around twiddling my thumbs by the school doors, and everyone would be asking me if was alright and if I had a ride home. And then I would have had to explain that I missed my ride back to Calvin because of their good-bye speech to me, and that would just be awkward all around.

So, I started walking down the East-Beltline with my thumb stuck out. After about 10-15 minutes, an old guy stopped his car and picked me up. He brought me back to Calvin, and I gave him the school's coffee cup in gratitude.

*Eion gave us our first ride to the highway rest stop, and then left Greg and I from there.
Eion and Greg had experience hitch hiking in Japan before, and had figured out that the way to do this was to stick to the high way rest stops. That way people already had their cars stopped anyway. Besides it gave them time to look you over and think about if they wanted to give you a ride. (Otherwise if you're just standing on the side of the road, by the time they decide they realize you're there, they're already driving past you. )

As long as we kept to the highway rest areas, we seldom had to wait more than 10 minutes. (The one big exception would be when we got near the Tokyo area).

* Although ultimately we were headed to Hokkaido, Greg and Eion again drew on their previous hitch hiking experience to tell me that it was no good asking for a ride to a destination too far away. So we would ask for rides in increments throughout the trip. Our first sign was for Honshu. I was given the task of making this sign while Greg finished up his packing, but in the end my sign was deemed too sloppy and unsatisfactory by Greg, so he redid it himself. (Greg had procured a bunch of old cardboard from the local supermarket the night before for the purposes of making signs.)

* The cheesy TV documentary style part, in which Greg invites the viewer to come along on the trip, was all my idea. Greg was a good enough sport to go along with it.
I in turn of course got the idea from Brett, who used to use this kind of thing all the time in our old Calvin era videos. (In fact you can still see Brett's influence in some of my videos these days).

* As Greg says in the video, we had made a brief stop at a Photo booth (or "Purikura", as it's called in Japlish) to take photos of ourselves, which we intended to give out as gifts to people who gave us rides. It may be a bit narcissistic I guess, but we wanted to give out small gifts in lieu of offering to chip in for the gas, and Purikura is about as small and cheap as you can get.

* Through out the trip, in between car rides Greg and I would try and guess how long it would be before we got our next ride. Greg, being the optimist, usually took the shorter time. I usually took the more conservative estimate.
We almost always got picked up faster than we anticipated, and so Greg won the guessing game every time. If memory serves, I didn't win once.

*Shoko was watching this video and commented, "Wow, you're Japanese was really bad in those days. I had forgotten how bad it was when we first met." (This video was taken a few months before I met Shoko).
Actually I like to think my Japanese was slightly better than is indicated on this video, even in those days. I think it was just the pressure of the camera that made me nervous and caused me to flub a lot of it.

Link of the Day
Pentagon Caught Infiltrating the Media with Pro-war Propaganda

30th Birthday

So, 30 years old today (April 21st).

I'm a bit busy these days (see previous post) so I don't have time to write one of my usual long rambling birthday blogs. Despite this being "The Big One".

Actually these big number birthdays you can see coming from such a long way away, that by the time they actually arrive there's not much left to say. Good-bye youth. Hello middle age. et cetera. (Besides, to the extent that the readership of this blog is made up mostly of old school friends, most of you are around the same age anyway).

So, I'll just make the announcement with out comment.

In the meantime, if anyone is feeling nostolgic, here's some past birthday blogging.
29,
28,
27,
26,
and, if we're counting retrospections, 23rd Birthday

Link of the Day
Busy in Iraq, US Faces Surging Violence in Afghanistan