This Week in Joel

I got off the train on Friday, and noticed it was unusually smoky in the air. Even the train conductor was coughing as he stepped onto the platform.

I could see a cloud of smoke coming from the direction of my apartment, and thought, “Ah great, the neighbors are burning their weeds again.”

(Of the many things that bug me about Japan, the habit of burning all your weeds and grass in your back yard has to be near the top. It can’t be good for the environment, it’s completely unnecessary (you could easily compost it) and I can’t begin to count the number of times I've been smoked out walking down the road or sitting in my apartment. My neighbor in Ajimu used to burn his weeds all the time without so much as a warning. I’d be reading a book in my apartment, and smoke would start pouring in through my windows.)

Anyway, the neighbors over here have continued this tradition of burning their weeds and rubbish in their back yard, which is right under our apartment window. Bugs the hell out of me. And a lot of those green plants and stuff can produce a lot of smoke, so it wasn't unusual to see a big cloud of smoke coming from their yard.

But perhaps you can tell where this is going.....As I got out of the station, I noticed lots of people were lined up along the train tracks, and talking about the cloud of smoke. I went over the footbridge to get to the other side of the train tracks, and there was a father pointing out the fire to his children.

At this point I could see the neighbors were not just burning their weeds, but their whole house was on fire. There were two fire trucks there, a police car, an ambulance, and the TV news cameras.

Let me tell you, nothing brings a neighborhood together like a fire. As I walked back to my apartment everybody was outside gawking at it, people were calling the kids out of the house or calling their friends on their phone. People were chatting about it outside, and taking pictures with their cell phones. I met several of my next door neighbors for the first time that afternoon.

Because the house in question was directly behind my apartment, I had a hard time making it through the smoke to my own living quarters. And I even questioned whether it was a good idea to go straight back to my apartment, but once I was inside it didn't smell that smoky. (Fortunately we had closed all the windows that morning before leaving for work). Besides, there was nowhere else I could go really. There was no chance of getting my car out with all the crowds and fire trucks.

Sensing a blog entry in the making, I searched the apartment for Shoko's digital camera. (We finally have her digital camera up and running now, so hopefully you’ll see more pictures on this blog in the future). Turns out Shoko had the digital camera with her that day, so I had to content myself with cell phone pictures. Which, as you can see, aren't that great.

I’m not sure you can even tell what is going on in these pictures. And one of them is rotated at a 90 degree angle. (Without the benefit of photoshop, I’m not sure how to fix that. Just turn your head for now). But for what it is worth, these are pictures of the fireman putting out the fire, taken from my bedroom window.

Shoko took a picture on her digital camera the next day. The excitement was over by this time, but you can still see the house was gutted. (This picture was also taken from our bedroom window).




As far as I know, no one was hurt. And I’m still not sure what the cause of the fire was, although these houses out in the Japanese countryside are often fire hazard waiting to happen. (Old and wooden, all cooking done with gas stoves, all heating done with kerosene space heaters. I’m also told by my students that most house fires are a result of smoking cigarettes indoors, which, as anti-tobacco consciousness is a few years behind in Japan, is still very common).

In other news:
I didn't do much for my birthday, partly because this Saturday was a work day for me, partly because I wasn't feeling great owing (I think) to the all you can eat Japanese restaurant we went to on Thursday night, after which it took me a couple days to recover.

Link of the Day
The Washington Post today had a couple of great editorials
Some People Love Guns. Why Should the Rest of Us Be Targets?
I agree with this almost completely. My only reservation is that I have resolved not to criticize hunters until the day I become a vegetarian. But I wouldn't mind a bit if they had to give up their guns and use bows and arrows.

And next this column on the management style of Wolfowitz at the World Bank:
Does He Hear the World's Poor? Don't Bank on It.