Learning to Drive

[From my predecessor, Ben]

Have you gone from to any of the waterfalls around Ajimu yet? Drive past Tsubusa and you’ll see signs for it. I used to go swimming there after working out.]

My response:
Yes, I have seen the waterfalls, although I haven’t had a chance to spend a lot of time there. And speaking of working out, I’m looking to get into a work out routine. Is there a gym or something around here that you can go to?

Driving has been going okay. As I mentioned beforehand, I am unused to driving a manual transmission car. And there are a couple other things that threw me off about driving in Japan. The whole left side of the road thing was okay when I was thinking about it, but sometimes I would be concentrating on the shifting instead and would automatically turn into the right lane of traffic. (Don’t worry, no accidents yet).
Also, the roads are so narrow. I think even in the states I had a tendency to drive too far to the side of the road (just from being an overly cautious person that I am and not wanting to hit the cars coming the other way) and of course you can’t do that over here because you’ll drive the car right into the irrigation ditch. (And again, don’t worry, I haven’t actually done that yet either. Although I won’t mention just how close I did come).

Anyway, I’m afraid I must have given the impression that I couldn't drive at all, because they've been giving me driving lessons in the parking lot. And they've been using an automatic transmission car to teach me on. I tried to explain that I can drive an automatic no problem, and that is was only the manual transmission that was given me problems, but I don’t speak Japanese and their English is limited so it is often hard to get these concepts across the language barrier. (I guess this isn't all bad however. The lower their expectations are for me, the easier it will be to impress them).

Here’s the thing though: they went looking for another car that I could drive more easily, and they found an automatic for me. At first I insisted that I was learning the manual gradually, but they made a good case for me to switch over to the automatic. It is in excellent condition, so I won’t have to worry about it breaking down or repairs. The Shaken [Japanese road worthy certification] is good until next August, and the car I inherited from you is good only until January. Plus the price sounded very reasonable.

So, I’m going with the new car. They want me to trade in your car for it, and I tried to explain that it wasn't my car to trade, and that I was just borrowing it from you, but again the language barrier is limiting how well I can get this across. They are insisting that it is not your car, that you drove another car, and that this is Sam’s car. Anyway, what do you want me to do with your car when I change over to the other one?

And another thing. I found 98 American dollars in the apartment, possibly left over from a trip to Thailand (it was with some other Thai stuff). Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m new at this whole living overseas thing, so what is the best way to get the $ back to you?

[Editor’s note: the case of Ben’s forgotten money represents both my best and worst qualities: my good intentions matched against my laziness. I had every good intention of sending him that money, as evidenced by the fact I e-mailed him about it. Which was very nice of me (if I don’t say so myself). I could easily have just kept quiet about it.
Ben told me to just hide it in a card and mail it too him, but I was new in Japan and out in the countryside simple things like mail seem like a huge undertaking. Where do you buy stamps and envelopes out in the middle of nowhere? How do you communicate with the post office staff? I wasn't even sure where the post office was in those early days.]

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To my cousin Jeff,
How are things going for you? I am in Japan now, and getting myself settled in. You’ll have to forgive my forgetfulness, but I don’t remember where in Japan you will be when you come here (or have you arrived in Japan already?) Anyway, last time I e-mailed you I don’t believe I knew my address yet. Actually I still don’t know my address, but at least now I have a vague idea of where I am. I am in the town of Ajimu, near the city of Usa, in Oita prefecture, on the Island of Kyushu. So, tell it to me straight Jeff, are we anywhere near each other, or are my chances of running into you about equal with my chances of meeting the prime minister?

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To my supervisor:
Hope your new hotmail account works out good for you. Hotmail is very nice because it is free, and also because lots of people use it so it is easy to remember your e-mail address ending. However it can be frustrating at times too, so be careful. Sometimes the system crashes, and if you’re writing a letter when it crashes you will have to start all over again. At other times hotmail can be very slow, because many people are using it at the same time. And sometimes you can get a lot of junk mail in your hotmail account.
Hope this helps.

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Things are going good over here. I went swimming in the ocean last night. It was the first time I had a chance to go swimming in the ocean since I got here. The water was surprisingly warm, but I still like Lake Michigan better. After you go swimming in the ocean, you get all sticky and salty from it.

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To Bob (from Media Mouse)

I have been corresponding with Erica via e-mail, and we have been batting ideas back and forth together. I have been thinking of ways I could still help out Media Mouse even over here from Japan, and I have a couple of ideas for the website that I thought would be cool, but I don’t want to create any trouble for you [the website designer].

I've been tentatively thinking about doing some writing about periods in radical history, but that might be a little down the road at this point. I thought maybe something easier to set up might be a radical literature review section. I think maybe this could really take off pretty well. I mean probably each person at Media Mouse is well read in radical literature, and could, if they wanted, probably contribute at least 5 reviews each.
Admittedly this project isn't very activist oriented, but it would be a good way for us to recommend (or not recommend as the case maybe) books to each other and anyone else who visits the site.
Now, be honest with me here Bob, for each review I send you how much trouble is it going to be for you to add to the site. If this is going to create significantly more work for you, I don’t want to do it.

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To: my sister
I gave the bandannas you made to my supervisors family. It was nice because there were 4 bandannas and 4 people in the family. They liked them very much and are currently using them as place mats at the table.

Note:

This post was originally various emails that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Reporting to Media Mouse

Things are okay over here. Monday night I drove over to the neighboring town to hang out with Aaron, whose a JET from Wales. Since I don't have a phone, I'm forced to just kind of drop in on people and see if they're free. (Hopefully I'll be getting a phone later today though.) I caught Aaron just as he was about to leave his house to go to a drum circle, so I went with him. It was an interesting experience. A bunch of Japanese people sitting in a circle playing on the drums. It reminded me of that drum circle we went to once or twice in Grand Rapids, only this was at someone's house, and I think all the drums might have been traditional Japanese instruments.

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Dear Media Mouse,
As we talked about with the radical history web page, and my contributions from Japan:
What would be ideal for me, if it's not too much trouble for you guys, is I could do a sort of survey-type write up about the Japanese left (with sources of course) and that could be posted on the website, and then as I'm able to get more into it, I can send an expanded version later on in the year.
As for your question about other areas of radical history, I think there are several fascinating subjects we could explore on the Media Mouse website. The Paris Commune perhaps (when the communists, anarchists, and radical Jacobins took control of Paris in 1871). Or Rosa Luxembourg and the Spartacist Revolution, or the Haymarket Martyrs, etc. And maybe we could even adda book review section of radical literature.

I'll start sending stuff as soon as I have a chance to write it up. Sorry about the low attendance lately, although it has always been up and down for Media Mouse, hasn't it? Attendance was always really good right after we did a big event, and then it would drop down again between projects. I think right before I left Grand Rapids, there were a couple people who we had picked up on the momentum of our July 4th demonstration. Are they still attending, or have they dropped off as well.

Note:

This post was originally various emails that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Reporting on the Japanese Student Movement

This first e-mail was a message to Media Mouse. They had sent out a mass e-mail that name dropped me briefly:
"Media Mouse needs you because we have some stuff to do!!!With record low attendance (is it because Joel Swagman has left us for greater ambitions???)...."

Well, I did have a pretty good attendance record back in the day, if I do say so myself, even if I was just a bump on the log with nothing useful to contribute for most of those meetings.
Anyway, I took advantage of their opening to send back my own report about what I had been learning about Japan so far. It is fairly long and self indulgent, but this was in the days before school had started, and I was still trying to kill 8 hours every day at the board of education.

Dear Media Mouse,
Hello, and greetings from your fellow correspondent. Glad to see from the last message that I am not forgotten. I thought I'd write in and tell you what I've been up to. Sorry in advance for filling your inboxes with a long and rambling e-mail, but for those of you who couldn't care less about what follows, just hit the delete button.

Well, here I am in Japan. I'm a bit cut off from activism at this point, although while I was staying in Tokyo, apparently there was a protest against the new textbooks (for those of you who have been following that story) and a leftwing Japanese group bombed the author's office. I was completely oblivious to all of this while it was happening. (Tokyo is a big city, and besides sometimes its hard to find English media.) Instead a friend e-mailed me about it afterwards, and I read about it much later on CNN's website.

Now that orientation is over, I'm in a rural area very far from Tokyo (on the Island of Kyushu) so very removed from anything political. (Although I guess it doesn't matter anyway, because as an employee of the Japanese government, and a foreigner as well, I wouldn't be allowed to join any political movements). School hasn't started yet here, but I have to come into the office everyday because that's just how they do things here. I need to show I'm part of the team.

Anyway, my supervisor was worried I would get bored, so after I told him I was interested in Japanese history, he told me to write down which areas of Japanese history I was interested in, and he would help me find the sources. Naturally my first inclination was to say I was interested in the Japanese Anarchist movement (and Japan did have a decent Anarchist movement during the first quarter of the 20th Century, until the militarists came to power), but I was a little nervous about revealing an interest in anarchism, so instead I said I was interested in the Japanese Peace Movement (which seemed liked a non-threatening way to get into Japanese anarchism) and the Japanese student movement.

Activism (as we well know) is currently undergoing a revival in Europe and America, a revival which has yet to hit Japan. However during the 1960s the Japanese student movement was much more active than the American student movement that we are familiar with.

After WWII, during the allied occupation of Japan, the United States followed some interesting policies. Because China had just fallen to the Communists, the US was nervous about the same thing happening in Japan. MacArthur instituted the "Red Purge" which meant anyone with leftist ties in the newly constituted Japanese government was dismissed. Of course it was the Japanese left that had fought against the imperialism of the fascist government, but because of typical cold war thinking the US tried to jail the leftist dissidents and allow the fascists to creep back into their former positions. (This was also true in other parts of Asia, but that's another story). During the 1950s, the CIA even secretly funded the Japanese rightest political party.

Also, after the devastation that World War II had caused to the Japanese people, the Japanese government proposed to outlaw war in their constitution. The occupation was worried about this, because they wanted a strong Japanese military as a counter-weight to Communist China. The US pressured the Japanese to set up a small self defense force instead of abandoning their military all together. The US has continually pressured Japan to increase its military ever since, especially as memories of WWII grow dimmer. Today Japan has the 4th largest military in the world.

There was a demonstration against US imperialism in Japan on May Day 1952, but the big demonstration came in 1960. One of the former militarists, Kishi, became prime minister, and the Japan-US security treaty was up for renewal, signaling even stronger military influence in Japan. To many students it meant their government was creeping back towards fascism. They staged a huge protest, some 330,000 people strong. They forced their way into the Diet building, and smashed many cars. The Japanese government was forced to cancel Eisenhower's visit because they could not guarantee his safety, and Prime Minister Kishi resigned.

The incident had a strong influence on American students. Clark Kerr, who was unfortunate enough to be President of Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement, later remarked that the American student movement was inevitable given what was happening in Japan. Later, during the end of the 1960s, the Japanese government supported the United States during the Vietnam War, and a second wave of student protest began. Japanese students engaged in violent struggles with the police in which both students and police were killed. Japanese radicals barricaded themselves in the Universities, and the University system was shut down during the academic year of 198-69 while police cleared the radical students out of the buildings.

Anyway, it turns out my supervisor, being a student at the time, was very sympathetic to the goals of the movement. He had studied in the United States, so had not taken an active part himself besides occasionally participating in demonstrations. However, Tokyo University was organized into dormitories according to the prefecture the students were from. I live in Oita prefecture right now, and apparently Oita dormitory was a haven for radicals. So much so that the Governor ended up shutting down the dorm and dispersing the students. This means that 1) my supervisor had connections to many people who were involved in the student movement and 2) probably many of the people I will be working with in Oita prefecture had radical pasts. For instance I am told that some of the principles in the schools I had teaching at had been involved with the Zengakuren (the Japanese student federation) and I'm also told that the superintendent of the Board of education had been arrested 5 times in the past for political activities.

So where am I going with this long and pointless message? Well here's the thing: if any of you have been to the library recently, and tried to do a little reading on Japan, you'll notice there are books and books on Japanese aggression during WWII, but nothing on the Japanese student movement or the Japanese peace movement. My supervisor was astonished when I revealed to him the depravity of English sources on the Japanese peace movement, and asked me why this was. My best guess is that Americans love to write about WWII because it is important to the American mythology to see ourselves as shining knights defending the world from evil. We are less eager to write about Japanese students protesting American imperialism in Vietnam. So, what I would love to do is collect some stories from people I am working with, and perhaps post them someday on the Media Mouse website. The big problem at this point is the language barrier. I'm trying to learn a little Japanese but it is coming along very very (very) slowly, so I don't know if this is a realistic project at this point, but I thought I would just bounce it off you guys anyway.

Well, sorry once again for the long message. Hope everything is going well. I would love to get personal correspondence from any and all of you.

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Actually I haven't heard from Bork or TJ yet. I should probably send TJ a message or say hi or something. I sent a message to the Chimes listserv when I first got here, which I assume Bork got, but I haven't heard back from him yet. How are those guys doing?

Well, I've got a bit of a "dumb American" story for you. I didn't have much going on this Sunday, so I walked into town to buy some chocolate. While I was there I saw a sign that said "Waterfall--12 Km this way." Of course I don't have a clue how much a Km is. I know it's less than a mile, but that's about all. So I thought, "12 Km, that sounds like a nice little walk to the waterfall." Well, two hours later I was only halfway there, my chocolate was melted, and I was beginning to think 12 Km might be longer than I had originally anticipated. Fortunately a Japanese friend was driving by, and he gave me a lift the rest of the way.
[Ed. note: actually given my high school history in cross country, I should have had more of an idea about the length of a kilometer. I think the big problem was the difference between walking and running. I figured if I could run 5 Km in 21 minutes, a 12 Km leisurely walk would be nothing.]

As for our discussion about anti-American attitudes, No, American history isn't pleasant, but you know what I'm discovering while I'm over here? No one's history is perfect. I mean I'm hanging out with a number of British people, and they have a really ugly history of imperialism. And Japan has some dark spots on its history too. And as for Canada they've...they've ah...Well, I'm sure they must have done something nasty in the past.

I think there are two kinds of idiots. The first kind is like the Canadians you described, who think Americans are pure evil. The second is Americans who think they live in the best country ever. I think of the two, the second is more irritating. First of all because there seem to be an overabundance of these idiots at Calvin, and secondly because I think one has a duty to be extra critical of one's own government. After all, all the historic atrocities might not have happened if people hadn't just blindly gone along with it while saying, "Ah, what a great country we live in."

Say hi to those guys for me. Tell Bork not to be mad because I lost his ID. And let me know how your weekend went.

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Well Hannah, if you recall my latest hair cut before I set off for Japan, it's a little on the short side to weave dreadlocks. So I had to buy dreadlock extenders at the Jamaica festival and weave them into my hair. It was a lot of fun at the Jamaican festival, but now I have to brush them out of my face a lot, and it a rather humid climate here, so the dreadlocks are a bit of a pain. I'm thinking about taking them out, but what do you think? And yes, I love Japanese ska. (Although there didn't seem to be much of a difference between Japanese ska and American ska. The Japanese even sing most of their songs in English.)

No school yet. We start this Saturday. (That's right, I said Saturday. What a country!) I took the car out driving with one of my Japanese friends last week to try and learn how to drive a manual, and I stalled at every traffic light. It was a little embarrassing. (No, it was very embarrassing. Especially since we live in a small town, all the cars stuck behind me at every light were probably all people I knew too.) But I think I'm getting the hang of it slowly.
And no roommate, so I've got the apartment all to myself. It's kind of nice, but there is no one else to blame my mess on. Before I could always delude myself into thinking that it wasn't me, but my roommates who were the messy ones. Now I am faced with the truth. I am a slob.

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yeah, it's interesting how defensive I can get when an outsider attacks America. I find myself defending all sorts of things I would never usually defend, like Southern mob lynchings, the relocation of Indians, the Vietnam War, and the Philadelphia police department. Who knows, maybe I'll have a new perspective on politics when I get if this comes up.

I had an okay weekend. Spent most of the time with my supervisor. Ryan (the other JET in town) had a friend come and stay for the weekend. (Which reminds me, I haven't gotten any visitors the whole time I've been here. I can't believe it). No, just kidding. Actually Ryan's friend was another JET, so she was already in Japan anyway. anyway, I did some sightseeing, we went to a waterfall in Ajimu on Sunday, an African safari on Saturday, and I just did some hiking by myself on Friday. (There are so many places to explore out in the mountains. I'm getting in my fair share of hiking).
Glad you liked the political test. There's a string of disclaimers that really should accompany it, but I think I've talked to you about most of them. Next time I revise it I would really like to change the wording on a lot of those questions. I think it's rather akin to intellectual masturbation, as it uses more big words than it has too, and isn't very subtle on other points.

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Dear Mom,
Sorry I've been a bit lax in communication over here lately. Things are still going well. I get a phone installed this Wednesday and it should be much easier to call after that, so I'll talk to you soon.

Note:

This post was originally various emails that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Talking about Politics

I've got a car here, like I told you last e-mail, but it's a manual transmission. I was a bit intimidated by this at first, but after the initial shock I'm actually glad about this, because this is one of those things I would have to learn eventually. I went out driving last night with one of my Japanese friends Issei, and it was a disaster. I stalled at every stop light. Although mind you it was the first time I had ever driven the thing, so I'm sure I'll just get better from here on out.

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Dear Mark,
Being overseas I can really identify with your story about anti-American attitudes. Not so much from the Japanese. The Japanese still adore Americans in a starry eyed sort of way, and think every American is a movie star or something. But I do get attitude sometimes from the other English teachers: the Brits, the Aussies, the New Zealanders, and even sometimes the Canadians. It's interesting to gauge my own reaction, because I've never considered myself a big patriot, but it's amazing how defensive I get when an outsider is attacking my country. It's something I have to watch myself on because I've caught myself defending things about US foreign policy I would never ordinarily defend.

I once saw a Noam Chomsky video once, and someone asked him if he thought we could ever be proud to be an American. Chomsky answered we could be proud of the American people at times, but we should never be proud of the American government, because governments are inherently violent institutions.
Anyway, I'm sure you are one of the good Americans. You, and me, and maybe Nate are the good Americans. The rest are just bloodthirsty capitalists.

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Dear Peter,
You know that I, like yourself, am a very political animal. Unfortunately I'm a bit cut off from English speaking media at the moment, so even though I'm living in Japan I really don't know much about recent political events here.
As for where I'm living, the short answer is that I'm out in a small town in the middle of nowhere, but if you want to try and locate me on the map, I'm on the Island of Kyushu, in Oita Prefecture (in the Northeast corner of Kyushu) near the city of Usa, in a little town called Ajimu. (Although good luck finding Ajimu on the map).

Anyway, the little bit I do know about current Japanese politics is that the Prime Minister is an LDP, and even though he does have a tendency to buck his own party, I think he's still a rightest at heart. (Perhaps like the John McCain of Japan). I'm sure you've been following the whole textbook/ visit to war criminal shrine controversy, and I imagine you are better informed about it then I am given how far removed I am from English media. (I do occasionally check news sites like CNN.com, but this computer at the Board of Education is so slow that I mainly just use it for E-mailing purposes.)

I do think the whole controversy is disappointing and represents a step back for Japan, but my Japanese supervisor explained it to me in a bit of a different light. He said that the reason the Prime Minister went to the graves of war criminals was to pray for peace, and that by going to the graves of war criminals he was trying to make a point about how devastating the war had been, and how Japan must remain peaceful. I don't know how much that is worth, but I guess it does represent a different perspective.

As for the current economic depression, that is something I hear about occasionally. For example I've met one or two young Japanese people over here who moved to Ajimu to get jobs. It seemed a bit strange to me because they moved from the big city into the countryside to find jobs. I think in America during a depression the migration would be in reverse, but there's a lot of bureaucracy in Japan so they need people to fill civil servant positions in the town hall in the Japanese small towns.

Other than that it's the same old same old over here. I'm still just hanging out in the office everyday while I wait for school to start. I've met some of the other English teachers in some of the neighboring towns. Sounds like you're more physically active than me. I haven't really gotten into an exercise routine since I got to Japan.

I went to a prefecture orientation in Beppu last week, and met a few of the other JETs in the prefecture. Mostly though I just hung around with people I had already met at the Tokyo orientation. But of course at the Tokyo orientation I also met a lot of people who were going to all different corners of Japan, so it was nice to meet more people close by.

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Dear Ben,
Things are going pretty well here. I still can't get over how beautiful these mountains are, although I suspect once I've been here a while maybe they'll fade into the background and I won't notice them as much. I did finally get a hold of the car you left for me. Issei took me out driving last night. I'm not used to a manual transmission, so he showed me how to work it. I still stalled it at every light, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
I've hung out with Aaron from Innai a couple times. He took us to the Innai O-bon festival, and invited us to the Jamaican festival, which was a lot of fun. (By us I mean me and Ryan, (Charlie's successor)). Ryan and I have been hanging around a lot, being the only two English speakers in Ajimu. He's also managed to acquire a car.

School hasn't started yet, but I don't mind hanging around the office. For one thing it's the only place where I have internet access, so I spend half the day just doing e-mail. Secondly it's a nice place to study Japanese. I'm pretty much at ground zero in terms of language ability, so I'm trying to get as much under my belt as I can while my enthusiasm is still high. I've heard encouraging stories from 2nd and 3rd year JETs about how much it is possible to learn in the first year.

******
Dear Ryan,
Okay, here is the deal as far as I can work out. I ran things by my supervisor like I said I would, and he said it was okay for your friend to come with us tomorrow to the African Safari park, but it looks like his generosity won't extend to paying for her ticket. Not to worry though. If you pay for 1/3 of her ticket, I'll chip in 1/3 as well. I asked what time we should be ready tomorrow, and he said about 9. I think he's probably picking us up in his car, but the word bus was mentioned a couple of times. I'm not sure what it all means. For now just assume that you're getting picked up, and I'll try and drop a note off by your apartment if things change.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject I should clarify that I'm not entirely sure where the price of your ticket is coming from. My supervisor has paid for everything else we've done together so far, and as I've mentioned he said something about having a friend who worked there or something, so I'm not sure if that means he can get us in for free or not. Because of his limited English and the language barrier I'm never really sure what is going on. I'm sure you can identify.
Anyway, hope this helps.

Note:

This post was originally various emails that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Reggae Festival

Thanks for the message Ribsy. Sorry the first one got lost when Hotmail crashed. If it makes you feel any better, that has happened to me as well on Hotmail. Frustrating, isn't it? If you find something that works better than Hotmail, let me know. Otherwise maybe you could type it out on Word Perfect and then cut and paste it over to hotmail. Because I do appreciate those long messages. I mean, I know I've only been gone a couple weeks, but I really do want to be kept updated on the homefront, and I'm counting on you because, let's face it, I think contact with the rest of the boys is going to be sporadic at best. Bless their hearts, but most of them aren't regular e-mailers. (Although thus far I did get one e-mail from Rob, and I one from Brett).

Yes, it is too bad we couldn't hang out more this summer, but that's how things go. I understand you were really busy with the new job and everything. Besides, we had a good four years of hanging out at Calvin, right?

What's up with me you ask? Well I don't remember what I wrote you last, so you'll have to excuse me if I repeat myself.

First of all, it's amazing how much I stand out here. I guess that's just stating the obvious, but it is hard to get away from out here.

I got back from orientation in Beppu yesterday. Beppu was a big city, which was nice after a week and a half of small town life. But things in my town aren't bad either. I've been finding ways to keep occupied out here, and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. 

What else, what else? Oh, they have these things in Japan called hot springs. It's kind of like a big hot tub or something, but everyone goes to them naked. (They're not co-ed though. At least usually they're not co-ed. All the ones I've been to have been all male). The first time I was taken to one, I didn't know about the whole naked thing, and that really caught me by surprise.

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I've been having a good time so far, and managing to make some friends. There is one other English speaker in my town, a New Zealander, and we hang out a lot. And there is a Welsh JET in the neighboring town just 10 minutes away. Otherwise when I'm talking to Japanese people I just talk slow, use lots of gestures, and don't say any big works. Most of the time it seems to work. So I'm not completely miserable.

There are lots of stories about JETs returning back to America and having a hard time speaking English again, and I can certainly understand some of that. I'm already starting to do some of my thinking in broken English.

Last weekend I went to a Reggae festival in the neighboring town, and danced to Japanese Reggae and ska music. It was a bit surreal, but a lot of things here are. For example Tuesday night we went out to a club with a 1950s theme, and saw Japanese Elvis and Buddy Holly impersonators.

I indicated I was interested in the Japanese Peace Movement, and my supervisor has been helping me locate books about it. He even took me to talk to a few of his friends who had been involved in the Japanese student movement. (Classes haven't started yet over here, so we've all got a bit of time on our hands at present).

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Dear Brett, Good to hear from you old buddy. I've got a couple of funny stories I've been saving for you because I don't think anyone else would appreciate them quite as much. I went to a Jamaican Reggae festival this weekend, which was a trip in itself, seeing all these Japanese people who were really into Reggae, and all these Japanese groups groups singing Reggae music, and Japanese people wearing punk shirts and with dreadlocks. I guess in and of itself there's nothing too weird about that, but it felt weird because it didn't fit my image of Japan. I expected everyone over here to act Japanese all the time, but they do a lot of the same stuff we do over here, only everyone looks different and speaks a different language. At times it feels like I'm in some sort of parallel universe or something.

Anyway, Ryan, the other JET from my town and I went to this festival on Saturday. On Sunday it was blazing hot, so we decided to spend the afternoon by one of the waterfalls, and go to the festival later. Because this is a mountain town, there are lots of beautiful waterfalls around here, some of them are more crowded than others. The one we went to was kind of a tourist spot. It's still beautiful, but with lots of people around. Kind of like that waterfall we went to Senior Year Spring Break with Bear and Prodigy.

In other news: school still hasn't started yet. School will start on September 1st. Until then...well I don't really know what is going on between now and then. More of just sitting around the office at the Board of Education I think.

The town I'm in is only 8,000 people. It's not too big, but there are towns even more rural than this that JETs get put into, so I guess I'm doing all right. And there's a bigger town only 20 minutes away. The weather is pretty hot and humid. It's not unbearable. It's about like West Michigan on a bad day, but the killer is over here they have that kind of weather every day. But they love their air-conditioning over here. Every place I go has the AC blasting. I thought as a foreigner I would be the one unused to all the heat, but the locals complain about it more than I do.

We do get a bit of rain, but it always seems to be in short dashes. I think the mountains may have something to do with that.

My apartment is pretty nice, a lot like Rob's studio apartment actually.

That's all the news that's fit to print for now. Until next time...

Note:

This post was originally an email that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Talking about the Japanese Student Movement

Sorry its been a while since my last e-mail. I don't have e-mail access during the weekends, and then this Monday-Wednesday I was at another orientation. This time around it was the local orientation for the prefecture. We went to the town of Beppu, which was a decent sized city, so that was nice after the past week and a half of hanging out in a small town. At the orientation I hung out with some of the same people I met in Tokyo, and I even got to meet a few new people. It was a lot of fun, but my inbox really filled up and now I'm really behind on correspondence.

School hasn't started yet, but I manage to occupy myself all right. I get taken out to dinner a lot by the people in my town, so there is fun to be had around here.

I got a car today. (Actually my predecessor left one for me). It's a stick, and I only know how to drive automatic. But I think this is all for the best, because learning how to drive a stick is one of those skills I would have had to pick up eventually. Still, this is a difficult place to learn. I mean, it's all these windy mountain roads, so I'm constantly speeding up and slowing down and shifting shifting shifting.

The food you ask? Well not to bad. When I first got here, everything was an adventure, and I really got into the fun of eating exotic stuff even if it tasted a little funny to me. Then, I got sick of it, and yearned for a pizza, or even a little Debbie snack cake. Now, my body is going through a bit of an adjustment, because it's not used to all this Japanese food, and not everything is moving through the old system as smoothly as it used to. (If you know what I mean). They say this stage usually hits about two weeks, and it was almost two weeks to the day when I got hit by it. So for the time being I'm eating Western food when I can find it, but once I get back to normal I think I'm going to jump back into the whole "eat whatever they put in front of you" adventure.

Things are going good here. My supervisor is helping me find Japanese history books in English. I indicated to him that I was interested in the Japanese student movement and the Japanese peace movement (which are both subjects I had trouble finding decent English sources on back in the states.) He got really excited and took me to meet a lot of his friends who had been in the student movement. It turns out that Tokyo University had dormitories organized by prefecture, and the Oita dormitory had so many radicals in it, and was so strongly controlled by the Zengakuren (The SDS of Japan) that the governor ordered it dissolved, and they all had to find new dorms to live in. (One of his friends told me, "It was always us versus the governor.") My supervisor wanted to study in the United States, and apparently only 3 people were chosen each year for the program, and so he was not able to get involved in the Student Movement, but he was sympathetic to its goals. He spent a year at MSU in 1969 and he said students in Japan were much more active than students in the US at the same time.

Then his wife wanted to talk to me about the peace movement. She had gone to Okinawa with a choir group back when she was in college (back when Okinawa was still under US control) and she saw young American soldiers on their way to Vietnam. She was so affected by this that she joined the Peace in Vietnam Committee when she got back to Tokyo. (Which was an interesting group, started by Japanese novelist Oda Makoto, run according to anarchist principles, and they even took out two full page ads in the New York Times encouraging American soldiers to desert and offering to hide them in Japan). Anyway, I asked her if she had ever been involved with the Zengakuren, and she said that she went on marches organized by the Zengakuren where students threw rocks at the police. Then my supervisor added he also used to march in Zengakuren demonstrations when he could. Those were all the details I could get. Their English is not perfect, and my Japanese is non-existent. (Oh, if only I hadn't wasted all that time this summer when I could have been studying).

Anyway, apparently since the Oita prefectural dorm was so radical, a lot of people working in Oita have a history in the student movement. Like I think a couple of the principles at schools I will be teaching in were quite involved in the student movement. My supervisor even indicated he had a couple friends in the Japanese Red Army faction. 

Needless to say this is very interesting for me. Just a couple of years ago I was reading about the Japanese student movement, and it was all an abstract idea. And now I'm actually meeting people who were involved in the events I was reading about. Unfortunately there is really no good English source on this whole movement, which I think is a shame because there are so many English sources on Japanese wartime aggression, but not on the Japanese peace movement. I would love to collect some stories from some of the people around here and bring them back to the US (maybe post them on the Media Mouse website, or something like that), but I'm going to have to learn some Japanese first, so this is all a bit down the road.

Note:

This post was originally an email that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

A Few Book Recommendations

Any books to recommend you ask? Oh, I've got a bunch. That's a dangerous question to ask me.

I'm currently reading "The November 1918 Revolution" series by Alfred Doblin, which I'm enjoying. It concerns the socialist revolution in Germany at the end of World War I. Doblin mixes historical characters such as Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht with his own fictional characters. The historical parts of the book are great. Doblin is vivid in his descriptions, and he also makes fun of a lot of the historical characters which brings a refreshing humor to the story. Of course, if you're not familiar with World War I era German history (and let's face it, who is?) then there are a lot of strange names to keep track of. I was a history nerd, so I don't mind keeping track of strange names, but be forewarned.

Unfortunately the fictional characters are not as intriguing as the historical characters. They seem a bit flat, unrealistic, and Doblin's portrayal of his fictional female characters is somewhat dated (to put it nicely). Doblin was a Christian Anarchist, and he primarily uses the fictional sections of his book to flesh out both themes. And he tends to get heavy handed and preachy with both the Christianity and the anarchism.

Anyway, there were four books originally. The first one for some reason was never translated into English, so you have to jump into the middle of the story (which isn't too hard to do, although it does give the series a feeling of incompleteness). The second two books have been translated together into one volume, "A People Betrayed" and the last one is "Karl and Rosa" the book I was racing to finish at the end of the summer. Calvin library interesting enough contains a commentary on these books, but not the actual books themselves. The Grand Rapids public library has both books. (You can also get them online for cheap, which is where I got "A People Betrayed" which I'm currently working through).

Another good book I read this past winter was "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo. The original version is quite long, and Victor Hugo tends to go off for several pages (say 50 pages or so) describing things that are connected with his general themes, but not his story. Many people are happy picking up an abridged version of "Les Miserables" but I have yet to find an abridged version I like. Many abridged version (including all the ones in Calvin's library...I checked) end up cutting out pieces of the narrative as well as the digressions. If you don't care about missing bits and pieces of the story, go ahead and get an abridged version. If you tend to be uptight about missing details, like I am, then just check out the unabridged version, and skim over the parts that aren't important. I think this is best because it allows the reader to become the editor, rather than having someone else make these decisions for you. And once you get started, you'll figure out pretty quick which sections of this book can be safely skimmed over.

I also read "1984" recently. I imagine you've already read this, but if you haven't run to the library right now and get a copy. It's a must read. I can't recommend it enough.

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Greetings from Japan. I hope all is well back home (or where ever you are) and I hope to hear back from all of you as to what has been happening in your lives.

I'm here in a little mountain town in Southern Japan called Ajimu. I've been here for a little over a week now, and getting to know my way around and getting to know a few of the local people as well. (Although the names are killing me. I was bad enough with names back in the States, but Japanese names are so unfamiliar to me that I have trouble remembering a single one of them. and to make it worse, everyone seems to remember my name.)

But lest I sound too bitter, I really am having a good time here so far. There are not too many other English speakers around. There's one other guy from New Zealand here, and that's it. so I'm trying to pick up a bit of Japanese.

School hasn't started yet, but because of the emphasis on teamwork here, I have to show up anyway, even though there is not much for me to do. It's not too bad though. It's a bit of a rough change from my workaholic lifestyle back in the United States, but I'm adjusting slowly. During my free time at the office I do e-mail (like the one you're reading right now), study my Japanese, and I've been trying to pursue my interest in the Japanese peace movement. My Japanese supervisor has been helpful in helping me find books on the Japanese peace movement, which I've been reading through, but there are so few of them in English. But I read whatever I get my hands on.

This week is the o-bon festival for the spirits of the dead. People have been trying to teach me the 0-bon dance, but you know me, I'm not very good at anything that is choreographed, and my feet are too big to be graceful.

Let me know how all of you are doing, and take care for your health.

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Email to my Japanese supervisor:

Thank you very much for you help in locating books for me. I know it's very hard to find English books on the subject. I had the same problem back in Michigan when I was writing my college paper on the Japanese Peace Movement. It is a shame, because there are so many English books on the Japanese Wars, but so few on the peace movement. I think people should study peace movements as much as military history. I hope to learn a lot while I'm here, and bring the knowledge back home to the United States when I leave Japan.

Note:

This post was originally an email that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

My Television Appearance

I went to the O-bon festival last night, which is some Buddhist celebration, but it was pretty cool. I went with Ryan (the other JET in my town) and a Welsh JET who has already been in the area for two years now. The Welsh guy was pretty cool actually. I guess at festivals Japanese people like to offer a lot of sake to the foreign guests and get them really drunk. (I noticed this at the festival I went to on Monday. They were always passing me sake). So anyway, the Welsh guy brings his own jug of sake with him and offers it to the Japanese before they can offer it to him. It was pretty funny to see him at work.

Also, there is some sort of big Jamaican Reggae festival in the neighboring town this weekend. I think I'll go check it out.

School hasn’t started yet. I just sit in the office all day and do e-mail or practice Japanese. It’s kind of silly, but I have to show up everyday because of the emphasis here on being part of a team. I don’t mind it too much, although all the free time is a rough change from my workaholic lifestyle back in the United States.

Yesterday I was part of a panel discussion for a coming of age ceremony. Then apparently the footage was broadcast on TV last night all over the prefecture. (I think the Japanese prefectures are like the equivalent of our states). Don’t worry though, my fame hasn’t changed me.

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THE COMPUTER SEEMS TO BE STUCK ON CAPS LOCK HERE, SO I’LL TRY AND KEEP THIS MESSAGE SHORT. (Editors note: Key boards in Japan occasionally function a little different than the US. It turns out, to get the computer off of Caps Lock, you need to hold down the shift key while pressing Caps Lock. You’ll be happy to know I figured it out in the following years). THE APARTMENT IS FINE. ABOUT LIKE ROB’S. (OF COURSE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ROB’S PLACE, BUT THE POINT IS I’M NOT DOING TOO BAD). FOOD IS AN ADVENTURE. I GET TAKEN OUT A LOT SO I HAVEN’T HAD TO BUY MUCH OF MY OWN FOOD, BUT I’VE EATEN A LOT OF STRANGE THINGS. SOME OF IT IS QUITE GOOD ACTUALLY, SOME OF IT LESS SO.

THE PAST COUPLE DAYS HAVE BEEN PRETTY COOL. I WAS PART OF AN INTERNATIONAL PANEL FOR THE COMING OF AGE CEREMONY. IT CONSISTED OF ME, RYAN (THE JET FROM NEW ZEALAND) AN INDIAN STUDENT WHO MADE A SPECIAL TRIP OVER FOR THE OCCASION, AND TWO LOCAL JAPANESE GIRLS. WE WERE ON TV ALL OVER THE PREFECTURE. IT WAS KIND OF SILLY, BUT THEY MADE A BIG DEAL OF IT. THEY EVEN TOOK THE FIVE OF US SIGHT SEEING THE DAY BEFORE, AND THEN OUT TO EAT, AND THEN THEY PUT US UP AT A HOTEL, EVEN THOUGH I HAD AN APARTMENT IN THE SAME TOWN. AFTER THE COMING OF AGE CEREMONY, WE GOT OUR PICTURES TAKEN WITH ALL THE COMING OF AGE PEOPLE (THE 20 YEAR OLDS).

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DEAR HANNAKE AND JIM,
THANKS FOR THE E-MAIL. GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU. SORRY WE MISSED YOU CAMPING (editors note: camping trip we went on the Weekend of July 13-15th, shortly before I came to Japan). PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPITALS. I’M ON A STRANGE COMPUTER HERE AND I CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT. ANYWAY, CAMPING WAS A BLAST. YOU WOULD HAVE LOVED IT. WE DIDN’T HAVE ANY WILD ADVENTURES OR ANYTHING, BUT IT WAS JUST QUALITY HANGING OUT AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL.

ANYWAY, I’M IN JAPAN RIGHT NOW. I’M ON A TEACHING PROGRAM HERE ON A ONE YEAR CONTRACT. IT’S A NICE LITTLE ADVENTURE FOR A WHILE, BUT I’LL BE BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD WHEN I GET HOME.

Note:

This post was originally emails that I sent on this day.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Coming of Age Day

Things are going alright over here. My first couple nights were a little slow, but now I’m getting invites everywhere and making new friends. Today I was part of a panel discussion.

It was a little weird actually. Apparently 20 is the coming of age year in Japan, so they had a ceremony today for everyone who turned 20 in the town during the last year. Usually they have a famous speaker at the ceremony (or relatively famous, locally famous, you know, whatever they can get. Kind of like a college commencement ceremony). But they've had some problems in the past with the young 20 year olds getting rowdy and throwing things at the speaker. Not in my town, but in some of the other towns. (Surprising isn't it? It doesn't really fit my image of Japan).

So, to make things more exciting this year, they had an international panel where me, the New Zealand guy, and an Indian student from Asian Pacific University in Beppu (the next town over) talked about stuff. The funny thing though was that we were asked mostly about ourselves. Why did you come to Japan? What do you hope to learn from Japan? What do you like about Japan? Etc. I don’t have a clue what it had to do with the occasion. The only question that seemed to have any relevance was that once they asked us what coming of age day was like in our own countries.

Anyway, the audience didn't throw anything at us. But they were very visibly bored. And who can blame them really. Who wants to hear why Joel Swagman came to Japan at your coming of age ceremony. Afterwards however many of them were very eager to meet us. A couple of the girls there asked me to join them for lunch, but I had to go out to lunch with the school board instead. I’m really kicking myself now for not getting their numbers, but I just wasn't thinking at the time.

The town is pretty small, about 8000. I did meet the Mayor, although I think this isn't anything special. I think most JET’s get introduced to the Mayor during their orientation, at least briefly. And my meeting was very brief. The Mayor handed me a certificate, and I got my picture taken with him, but he didn't speak any English, and I don’t speak Japanese (Yet :)).

I can only hope I’m making a good impression. Everyone is very friendly and gracious to me, but of course the Japanese are famous for not letting on when they’re upset, and I’m sure I've been committing many faux pas. 

The food isn't bad, and I've been a bit adventurous trying things out. But I do have to be somewhat careful because they eat a lot of raw stuff here that my Western stomach isn't used to (lots of raw egg and fish in particular). I've already heard stories of westerners getting sick from the food.

Note:

This post was originally emails that I sent on this day.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Obon Festival and Exploring the Town

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.

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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, got off, and we were still in the middle of downtown Tokyo.

My apartment is pretty nice actually. About as big as Rob’s current place back home. 

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

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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. [Ed: note--It wasn't actually in the mountains, but it was nearby mountains.]  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).

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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 drinking. 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.

Note:

This post was originally emails that I sent on this day.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

Settling In

Yesterday I went hiking around through some mountain trails. It was good fun, and turns out the peak is only about an hour walk from my apartment. I met some young Japanese people on the trail. They were about my age (I think all three of them were 22) and they were very surprised to see this American tromping around through the trails out in the middle of nowhere. They were very nice. They showed me the way down the mountain, pointed out a few interesting sites, and even gave me a lift home. I’m finding out that I get a lot of special treatment around here just for being me.  [Ed. note: The "mountain" that I mentioned was really more of a hill.]

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It turns out there is only one other JET in my town, Ryan, a New Zealand guy. I met him briefly at the orientation. But aside from that many other towns are within driving distance. Last night another JET drove over from the neighboring town to hang out with me and Ryan. It was nice to be able to speak normal English. Usually I have to speak English very slowly and use a lot of gestures. The other guy, Aaron, is from Wales, and has been here 3 years already. He was saying that sometimes it is hard for Americans to make friends because many of the other JETs have resentment against Americans, but I haven’t encounter this yet. {ED. Note: Nor would I}.

Things are going good over here. They don’t have too much for me to do around the office just yet, so I can write e-mails and study Japanese. After my work-aholic life style in the United States, it is hard for me to just sit around and not do much of anything, but I’m getting used to it. 

No car just yet. There seems to be some confusion about it, so I’m trying to get that straightened out. The school board has been generous enough to loan me a bike, which is a very nice gesture, although the bike is a little small for me. My knees are almost hitting my chin when I ride it. And, for some weird reason, there is apparently no bathroom at the Board of Education office. So no place to change clothes. I have to wear my nice clothes while I bike around the town. {Ed. Note: In fact there was a bathroom on the first floor. This turned out to be a misunderstanding. I tried to use my Japanese-English dictionary to ask where the bathroom was, and ended up asking where the bathing room was. They told me I had to attend to that at my own apartment, and I thought this meant no one used the toilet at the office}.
Anyway, I’m sure I look pretty silly, picture me riding around town this Japanese town on a small bike in my nice slacks.

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I see a lot of things around here that remind me of you Bear. Mostly Anime actually, but people over here really take their Anime seriously. In particular I’ve been hearing a lot about “Princess Mononoke, which I believe was one of the Anime’s you used to talk about. It must have been a big hit over here, because everyone knows about it. I’ll have to check it out someday. Actually I’ll probably wait till I’m back in the States so I can see it with English subtitles.)

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Dear Mom, I don’t have a phone number yet. That still needs to be set up, and I was told it would take a few days. (Which seems reasonable. I’m sure it would take a few days to set up a new phone line in the States as well.) Maybe I can use the phone card to call from a public phone, although the time change would be a bit of a pain in the neck. I don’t know my address yet, but I’ll let you know of it when I find out. I’m already thinking of a few things it might be nice to ship over, but nothing urgent.

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I’m having a good time over here, although a lot of the differences are interesting. Japan is not, shall we say, on the forefront of the feminist movement. Maybe it would be different in a big city, I don’t know. I haven’t seen any major injustices, but I’ve picked up on a lot of little things. The way the woman always serve tea to the men at the office, and then clean up after them. And there's also the way boys are always called on first in school and stuff.

I’ve modified my no-drinking policy over here to a two drink policy. I figured it was the only way to have a social life, since so much of Japanese culture revolves around drinking. And I figure two drinks never hurt anyone. The only thing is I still haven’t acquired a taste for alcohol, so the beer tastes bitter going down, and I have to hide my reaction from my hosts. Oh well.

Note:

This post was originally an email that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.

The first few months I was in Japan I was very prolific with the e-mails. These are bits and pieces cut and pasted from various e-mails I sent to various people on August 12, 2001

Introductions

Continuing on a theme from a previous post, I thought I’d reproduce more of my e-mails from Japan. By the time I started this blog up, it was my 3rd year in Japan and I was passed the wide eyed stage of wonder that filled my early e-mails, so I thought it might be interesting to reproduce them here.
Most of the e-mails are part of a correspondence and contain a lot of references to things outside of general interest to a 3rd party (discussions of movies and politics, references to questions and mutual friends, etc), so I’ve gone through and clipped different parts from different e-mails and tried to make it into one piece.

8/9/01...I live in a one room apartment, not much bigger than a dorm room, but it suits my needs just fine. And it’s furnished very nicely. My predecessor left several things behind that were above and beyond what we agreed upon. I imagine it was because he didn’t have room to pack it, but it works out nice for me. He left a stereo, several CDs, a play station and games, books, videos for the VCR, and even a bag of small change (small coins and stuff mostly, but I think it adds up to the yen equivalent of a few dollars).

I don’t know when school starts yet. Right now is still summer break. I have to come into the office every day, even though there is nothing for me to do. The Japanese place a high value on team play, and such, so it is important that I show up even with nothing to do. I imagine this could get boring if extended for a few weeks (which hopefully it won’t be) but right now I don’t mind too much. I just do e-mail or practice my Japanese.

My co-workers are pretty cool. No one speaks very good English, but a couple of them speak broken English. Most of them are quite a bit older, but one of the guys is just a few years older than me. He took me out last night with his friends. It was a lot of fun. Nobody’s English was very good, and my Japanese is pretty much non-existent, but we still managed to have a few laughs. I tried to pronounce everybody’s names, and they laughed at my inability to do it.

I got introduced to the everyone in the town hall yesterday. It was kind of weird, and very formal. We’d go into a room, and everyone would stand up, and the director would rattle off an introduction about me in Japanese, which I didn’t understand. I kept hearing the word “Protest” being used in reference to me, and I thought, “Boy, they’ve really got my number. How in the world did they know that?” But then I finally figured out they were talking about my religion, and introducing me as a Protestant. Language can be a funny thing.

About the British friends: I haven’t been to Europe as of yet, so this is really my first introduction to British culture. I have a hard time taking anything they say seriously with that accent. I just kept thinking of Monty Python. Did you have that when you went to England? Does that feeling go away after a semester?

I've Arrived In Japan

 Greetings from Japan. First of all, sorry about this mass e-mail. I know it's impersonal, etc, but I thought for starting out this would be the best way to go. And some of you receiving this have also been guilty of mass e-mails in the past (you know who you are).

And, a word about the randomness of the recipients. I have some free time now, and I'm by a computer, so I thought I'd just send this e-mail out. So, I didn't bring my e-mail address list with me, and I just went and clicked on the names that were already in my address book, and then added those of you who have easy to remember e-mail addresses. So, if someone could forward this to the people I forgot about, I'd appreciate it. (Sigh, no one is going to do it. I know you guys too well. Seriously, if someone can take the time and do that for me, I'd appreciate it.)

And one more word of business before I get started on the message. I realize this might be of minimal interest for those on the chimes listserve who don't know me very well. Just hit the delete key and no whining.

I am in Ajimu-Machi now, arriving here yesterday afternoon. I've never been to Japan before, but it is everything I pictured a small Japanese town to look like. Very scenic too, right up in the mountains.

Japan is kind of like a bad science fiction movie. The kind of movie that you watch and think to yourself, "This is so fake. If they have the technology for laser guns and hoover crafts, why are they still living in caves?" Okay, so the analogy is a bit of a stretch, but it's interesting here. Lots of their little gadgets and gizmos are much more advanced than the stuff available in the US, but the big things like central heating, insulation and decent roads are all very primitive.

I arrived in Tokyo on Sunday night, and had two days of orientation. Unfortunately, we were so busy during orientation I didn't get a chance to see much of the city, but we went out a little bit at night (while fighting jet lag).

The rest of the JETs are from all over the world. Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and even some places I didn't expect like Singapore and Germany. I know this is old hat to all you international travelers, but it is a new experience for me, and I like meeting a lot of cool people with weird sounding accents. I met a guy from Liverpool (with an accent so thick I could barely understand him) and I said, "Ah, Liverpool, where the Beatles are from right?" And he said, "I'm so sick of everyone saying that." Similarly, I've discovered people from Australia don't like it when you bring up Crocodile Dundee. The British Embassy had a night where they hosted all the British people. I didn't go (naturally) but it was funny to hear the Brits talk about it. Apparently the ambassador was saying things like, "Jolly good that you're here lads, now go out there and have a bloody good time." And someone complained to me, "This is the last thing we need. That's why everyone thinks we Brits are such tarts, isn't it?" (By the way, I've discovered that Brits use "isn't it" or "wasn't it" in the same way Canadians use "eh.")

Hope to hear from you all (I'm still easing my way into the office here, so I'm hesitant about using e-mail. I only use this machine when I'm offered, but I think as I get settled in I'll be able to write longer and more frequently. We'll see how things go on a day by day basis)

Note:

This post was originally an email that I sent.  I didn't actually start this blog until October 14, 2003.  But in order to preserve a complete record of my travels, I have added in some of my old emails from my Japan days, and backdated them to the date that I originally sent them.