E-mail: August 13, 2001

(Retrospection)

Dear Bear,
I haven’t heard about Cowboy Bebop yet. Last night people were telling me about an animated Children’s show that is quite popular among Japanese children, called An Pan Man, or something like that, which apparently translates into Bread Face Man. It sounded quite strange to me, but perhaps you’ve heard something about it or other.

Yes, I am in the land of Anime I suppose. And yet I think it will be difficult to find any Anime in English, so I might have to wait until I get back to the U.S. before I start watching any of it.

The town is pretty small, about 8,000 people, and not too many people my age (although I have met a few). And I have one other Jet here too, who is a New Zealand fellow, and we’ve hung out a bit. I’ve discovered my Americanness makes me pretty popular among the locals here. For instance, last night me and Ryan (the New Zealand guy) went into a supermarket, and the owner was so happy to see us in her store that she invited us to dinner later that week. So, it’s pretty easy to keep occupied. And when I don’t have anything to do, my apartment is only about an hour’s walk away from some great hiking.

****************************************************************

Thanks for the heads up. I checked out CNN’s website after reading your e-mail. [Story relating to protests in Tokyo over controversial new Japanese text book. Also bomb went off in author’s office. Left Wing Japanese group claimed responsibility].

Funny thing, I was in Tokyo when that bomb went off and when they were having those protests. And I was completely oblivious to it. Of course, Tokyo is a huge city. Even bigger than New York. On the last night we were there we went out for food. We got on a train in Downtown Tokyo, rode for 15 minutes, go off, and we were still in the middle of Down town Tokyo.

My apartment is pretty nice actually. About as big as Rob’s current place back home. For some reason though, my predecessor absolutely hated the place. He kept telling me how small it was over the telephone. And I guess he did a lot of complaining while he was here, because everyone was afraid I would hate my apartment before I even got here. My supervisor kept asking if it was alright and apologizing for it, saying it was hard to get a bigger apartment for a single guy in the country side. The New Zealand Fellow had heard from his predecessor that “The American guy is going to be really cheezed off when he sees how small his apartment is” so even he was worried I wouldn’t like the place. In fact even the Mayor of Ajimu asked if my place was alright.

Living by myself is a bit lonely. So far I’ve been keeping busy though. I get a lot of invitations to places.

***********************************************


Dear Rob,

Yes, it is quite humid over here too. It’s probably no worse than a hot summer day in Michigan. (That is, a really hot 90 degree day). But the killer is that it is like this every day, instead of in Michigan where we might have one 90 degree day only once in a while. Fortunately my work and apartment are air-conditioned. (My apartment is actually very much like yours in terms of the way it’s laid out).

I’m in my little mountain town right now. I only spent a couple days in Tokyo actually. Tell Brett it is absolutely gorgeous over here. Be sure and rub it in a lot. Seriously though, I’m right next to a bunch of mountains, and I’m only an hour’s walk away from the top. But these mountains aren’t like Colorado or the Smokey’s or anything like that. They’re covered in bamboo plants, and have tons of weird insects and spiders. (Actually the spiders are a bit creepy).

I haven’t heard any Aerosmith since I got here, but the Beatles are quite popular. In fact the Beatles are more popular in Japan than they are in the US. I think that might be partly because of the whole thing with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, because everyone talks about John Lennon a lot. I see his picture all over the place, and I learned that John Lennon’s favorite food is Miso soup. It almost seems to be common knowledge over here. I used to read about the Beatles all the time, and I never found out Miso Soup was John Lennon’s favorite food.
[Ed. Note: Actually this e-mail is a classic case of speaking (or writing) too soon. It turns out Aerosmith is also very popular in Japan, and I would hear a lot of Aerosmith as well over my Japan time.]

I haven’t started teaching yet. It’s kind of a weird system. They don’t have anything for me to do right now, but I show up everyday to show I’m a team player (which apparently is very important in Japan). The office just lets me read or do e-mail (which is where I’m e-mailing you from right now).

******************************************************************

Dear Mom,
In regards to my mail, please save the letters from the War Resisters League. None of it is particularly important, and you certainly don’t need to forward it to me here in Japan, but it would be nice to read when I return home. As for the Sports Illustrated: Butterball signed me up for a subscription over the internet as a joke, along with Cigar Monthly, National Geographic, etc. (I think Butterball has a lot of time on his hands). Anyway, I’ve just been ignoring it, and most of the magazines gradually stop coming. Sports Illustrated is more persistent than the others, but everything is being sent to the Camelot address, so I don’t think they’ll be able to send me anything once the forwarding stops.

Things are good here. This is a brief description of what I’ve been up to since I arrived in Ajimu:
Wednesday: I actually just spent this night by myself, because the office assumed I would be tired and would want to sleep. I did some unpacking, and took a walk through the town, but it gets dark here so early that I couldn’t see much. (There’s no daylight savings time in Japan, plus the surrounding mountains block the sun earlier).

Thursday: First day of work. They don’t have anything for me to do yet, (summer vacation) but it is important that I show up because of the emphasis here on team. I just do e-mail or study Japanese. I was also introduced to everyone in the town hall. At night Issei (one of the younger guys in the office) took me out on the town with his friends.

Friday: Work, and then at night I had nothing to do, so I just went hiking in the hills around here (although again it gets dark early so I had to cut it short).

Saturday and Sunday: My supervisor had his family in town (they are usually studying in Tokyo, but he has two sons, 17 and 23–the same ages as me and Kyle). He invited me over and took me sight seeing with his family to all the scenic spots in Ajimu. Lots of Buddhist temples, much like our trip to Korea. But there are also beautiful mountain views and waterfalls. We spent all day Saturday sight seeing, but Sunday afternoon he dropped me back home early, so I just went hiking around town again. I met some Japanese college students up in the trails, and they took me around and showed the safe hiking areas. Then I hung out with Ryan (the other New Zealand Jet in my town. I had been unable to get a hold of him before then, but a 3rd year Jet from the neighboring town of Innai came over to visit, and showed me where Ryan lived).

Monday: went to work, and then hung out with Ryan in the evening. At night, Issei took me to O-bon festival (Shinto festival for the dead, lots of dancing and thinking. Even though I think most Japanese are not religious, they like the old festivals. Afterwards we had a party in the temple.)

Things are going good over here. I’m certainly getting a lot of special attention where ever I go. Last night Ryan and I just walked into a grocery store, and the owner invited us for dinner, so that’s what we’re doing Thursday. Tonight and tomorrow there is a coming of Age Ceremony, and Ryan and I are supposed to say a few words or something. To be honest I’m not really sure what we’re doing, but I’m sure it will be interesting.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
Lennon apparently intended the song "Yer Blues" as a parody of British blues, but it was delivered with such spirit that it has been hard for some listeners not to take it seriously. The lyrics are extremely suicidal, and include references to Bob Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man as well as cosmology.

Link of the Day
Last night I went to the screening for Jeff Smith's new documentary. His corresponding book: " Sembramos, Comemos, Sembramos: Learning Solidarity on Mayan Time" can be read on the Media Mouse site here.