A bunch of odds and ends today, nothing to justify a whole post in it's own right.

Tsunami
First off, I had written a while back that it appears all the people I knew had returned from their Thailand vacation unharmed. Indeed, the Japan times published an article the other day indicating all the English teachers all over Japan have returned back safely. I hate to call this good news in the wake of such a huge tragedy, but it's not bad news either.

Oita and Gifu-some follow up observations
A couple brief follow ups from the previous post: indeed the girl Shoko did point out a few differences between Kyushu and the Nagoya area. I thought just for the hell of it I'd jot down a couple more differences I've observed.
Obviously there is the difference in the dialect. Most notably the suffix "hen" is used to make words negative instead of the standard "nai". Therefore a word like "wakaranai" becomes "wakarahen". Easy enough to pick up on actually once you get used to it. Shoko found it very amusing that I've started speaking in Kansai dialect.
Also the word for something or some action that is undesirable or forbidden is not "Yada" but "ikan" or sometimes "akan". Still not sure what the difference is, but it sounds pretty cute when strung together, as some girls will sometimes shout out, "Akan, akan akan" at various times.

The driving here is a lot more aggressive compared to Kyushu, something both Monika and I noticed. (Monika was also stationed in Kyushu during her time on JET). I'm acquiring a lot of small stories about aggressive drivers. Most interesting to me is that even when I'm near school and driving cautiously to avoid hitting students the guy behind me will sometimes still decide to attempt to pass me on the narrow Japanese roads.

And one more thing that I didn't notice at first, but Shoko mentioned to me that her friends had commented to her she was getting fatter, and I thought to myself, "No one has called me fat for quite a few months now." (With the exception of Shoko when she came to visit). And then I realized that people in this area seemed more reserved about commenting on body weight than the people of Kyushu seem to be. In Kyushu a perfectly acceptably conversation starter seems to be, "You've been getting fat recently, haven't you?" or sometimes, "You've got a lot of acne today, don't you?" This bluntness at first confused me because it seems to fly in the face of everything I've been taught about Japanese politeness, but it appears perhaps unique to the Kyushu (perhaps Oita) area.

Of course I should qualify all of this by saying that, as with all my observations about Japan, these are not the results of scientific polling data, but just the way things struck me based on the limited people I interacted with. Someone else might have a different take, and if so I'd be interested to hear it.

Books
Another difference between Gifu and Oita is the library. (How's that for a smooth transition). The Oita library was terrible. Never any big less than 15 years old. I don't know how the Gifu library does it, but they have new books all the time, books that aren't even in the stores yet in Japan. Like "The Daily Show, America the book," or the "Bob Dylan Chronicles." I checked both out and have been enjoying them.

One thing that really struck me about Bob Dylan's book is how clearly he seems to remember certain events from his past. What the room looked like, the way a conversation went, etc.

I'm tempted to compare this with my own memory. Something I've been noticing lately, especially back in the States and meeting up with old friends, is how much I've forgotten about my college days. I did save all my e-mails, as well as kept a fairly detailed day to day journal, and I'm glad I've done that now because my memory is such crap. I wonder sometimes if because I've been in Japan for so long I'm away from daily cues, people and places and other things, that might otherwise jog my memory and help to keep the past fresh in my mind. I'd be curious how other people feel like their memories are working. And how many people believe Bob Dylan actually remembers the events with the vividness he described them, or how much he is embellishing.

Changing gears completely now to a different book...
I've recently finished reading "Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami. A very popular book with in certain Japanophile circles, so if you've been to Japan you've probably heard of it already.

I've been avoiding reading Japanese literature so far because my Japanese isn't good enough to read anything in the original, and I'm always hesitant to read a book in translation because I feel like you're not really reading the author but rather the translator. I always think this, but then once I get into a book I get so absorbed into it I forget it's translated.

It's good to read the literature of a country because it helps you really understand the people. Even after so many years in Japan, sometimes all of the school uniforms and codes of politeness and emphasis on uniformity, et cetera can make one think that the Japanese don't have the same emotions we do. The thing that struck me about reading this book was how much I could identify with the main character. He seemed to go through life without really knowing what he was doing, take classes without a clear goal for the future, and get into relationships without knowing what he wanted out of them or where he wanted them to go. I thought, "man, that's me."

Also his descriptions of turning 20 reminded me exactly how I had felt at the same time. He said that first he was 18, and then he became 19, and it seemed like the natural thing to do was next to go back to being 18. Turning 20 seemed inconceivable. I'm paraphrasing obviously, but I remember feeling the same way at 19.

Also the description of dorm life reminded me of my time in the dormitories. The way jokes are often made about another persons quirks when that person is absent, and how certain people can supply the rest of the dorm with endless amusement. The sanitary conditions in the men's dorm, or lack there of, reminded me of my own living arrangements. The funny thing is whenever a Japanese person looks at my room, they often make some comment like, "Are all Americans this messy?" But according to this book, young Japanese people can be just as bad if not worse.

I may be rambling a little bit here. (The internet cafe I frequent has all you can drink coffee, and occasionally I abuse it, and I think being hyper on caffeine affects my writing style). But before I close off this section (if anyone is still reading) I think it is only fair to include a counter-review by Shoko, who has also read the book.

Shoko thought the book had way too much sex in it, and in fact read like a paperback pornography at some points (apparently there are a lot of those type of books in Japan). She also thought most of the women characters seemed unrealistic, and were not real women but what men often wished women would be like. (I conceded this point). And she thought the language the author used was un-necessarily crude, although obviously this didn't come through in the English translation.

Shoko asked if there was anything I didn't like about the book. I conceded some of her points, and then said I didn't like how cynical the author was about the student movement. (The book is set in the 60s). I said the world has a lot of problems in it, and it is important to try and correct these problems. Of course when you do this, you are bound to make mistakes along the way, and it is easy for people who are not doing anything to sit back and criticize things like the tactics or rhetorical excess of the student movement. (To quote Nathan Bierma, "I'm cynical about cynicism")

Shoko just laughed and said that was a rather Joel-esque criticism to have of the book.

Video Version



Bob Dylan Chronicles Video