Illiteracy Rules!!

Even when I go on vacation, I find a way to work. Ok, so maybe this technically isn't a vacation. If you read yesterday, you knew I was teaching a class today. Not so bad if I had to say, but I think I may have been too much for the kids. I definitely didn't get the feeling that they were used to the teacher interacting with them very much and my jokes were definitely better in development than they were in delivery. That's probably partly due to the language discrepancy, or at least I'd like to think so. When I asked questions, even though they're supposed to be rhetorical, I saw nothing but blank stares. The start was humorous to me. The note / worksheet I made for them got copied incorrectly so the first page was on the right, the second page on the left. Yeah, it was an accident. They don't read from right to left unless it is in columns, and then they read down and go left when it is in columns. Once we figured that out, we at least had something workable. Probably not my piece de resistance but it definitely reminded me of my early days in the teaching gig. It was fun for me, I just hope it was 'fun' for them. Learning is always fun, right?

Here are some pictures of Neill-sensei in action. Sort of, in a stationary action kind of way. I edited them best I could. If you think they stink, remember, if I wanted your opinion, I'd give it to you.
Lighting is weird, but a great shot of my thinning hair!
zzzzz....
Domo, arigato, Mr. Roboto
The great American pasttime, other than murder and fornication

I left the school early today. I had to pay my rent at Ninomiya House before the office closed, but first I had to go to the post office, the only place I have found with an ATM for international card systems, because they only take cash. Sort of like going around your bum to get to your elbow. It's rather troubling to make a withdrawal in the amount of 60,000. I have to remind myself that it's Yen, it's YEN!

Had dinner with Dr. Sekine, his daughter Mizuna who is a student at Oxford University, Dr. Koizumi and a grad student named Masa, for short. Here are some pictures after we got fat at an Asian restaurant. They didn't serve food from just one region, sort of like a melting pot but for food, the way it was intended. Enjoy! I did.
Left to right: Dr. Sekine, Dr. Koizumi, Nathan, me, Masa
Dr. Sekine and Mizuna
The whole Japanese crew

I also found a picture I took in Shinjuku, a district in Tokyo. Sorry I missed posting this one earlier. The closest American analogue I have to Tokyo is New York City. It's still not the same, just the closest I know.
This one reminded me of Times Square

And last part of today's multimedia cavalcade, I shot a short video today. You'll see the dangerous shooting conditions when you watch it. The risks I take to share Japan with you. It's of the main entrance to Doho Park, one of the larger Tsukuba parks, located in southern Ninomiya district. I pass it and the awesome smelling bakery you see briefly on the corner everyday. Too bad the bakery opens at 8 and I have to be at Meikei at 8:15.
(Wouldn't recommend the video without a decent connection speed, but it is sort of short)
Doho Park Video

I hope you enjoyed MuddyVision 2000 today. Until next time...

I really didn't realize how much Microsoft influences my life until today. No, I'm not praising Bill Gates for having the most popular OS in the world. Rather, I am just realizing how well I know the Windows system and especially the MS Office software. Let me explain fully.

So, I have been asked to lecture in a chemistry class tomorrow about oxidation / reduction reactions to students the equivalent of an American 11th grader, at least age-wise. Not a problem, I actually know the process pretty well and I managed despite the fact that I brought zero prep materials with me and all of theirs were in Japanese. You have to love the Internet. Well, I made my lecture notes and ran them by the chem teacher. He said it was good, but to help them, maybe I should make a guiding worksheet, mostly to compensate for the fact that I am lecturing in English, not the native language of most of these kids. No problem! Expecially since he also told me I could use PowerPoint. Double sweet! Now I can worry less about finishing in the 45 minutes I have. Ok, now to get to a computer and get busy. Well, at least as soon as I figure out how to get the thing to word process in English. After tinkering with every known menu, which were in Japanese by the way, and clicking on anything that looked like it had to do with changing the font I gave up. After asking some passersby who didn't understand my problem, I gave up and tried to figure out a plan. Maybe I could go back to the apartment and use a computer there. Well, don't know if they have any of the Office programs. Maybe, they're Windows XP, I think it's pretty standard to package those with it now. Keep thinking... Well, after more time than I would like to admit, I had a eureka moment. Why don't you ask someone in the English department? What a novel idea you idiot!

Well, now that language isn't an issue, let's get to work. Oh, great! All of the menus are in Japanese. On every program. Well, that's okay. See, here's where my statement from earlier originates. I knew what almost every menu selection was. I'd have to think a little, but I knew where they were. I can't say I wish I didn't, heck it even came in handy. It did take me a little more time than it would have on a regular English speaking box of circuits and wires, but I was able to do everything I needed to, down to the superscripts and subscripts for which my keyboard shortcuts were negated because it was a Japanese keyboard. What I'm saying is that good ol' BG done me right this time. Either that or I spend way too much time at the computer.

I know I am making some UNIX aficionado's head spin while simultaneously vomiting and expelling excrement from their bowels. Sorry dudes, but sometimes you have to use what's offered to you. Last I checked, not too many school systems using UNIX operating systems on their employee machines. To credit you guys though, I can say this. A lot of the people in education follow the old adage, you know, the one that goes "Those who can do, those who can't teach." Do you really expect someone with an undergraduate degree in Education to be able to handle UNIX? Now that you're settled, let me direct you to a site to help you clean up.'

PS - As a shout out to my buddy Josh, I heard a musical rendition of Springsteen's "Born in the USA" while I was grocery shopping yesterday. Now I have to respect their Muzak selections, too?!?!

Why I Love the Japanese

Ok, maybe not love, but definitely a reason I respect their overall culture a hell of a lot more than I do the dominant American culture. In America, if you get busted for doing something bad, you are punished and for those with a conscience, a feeling of guilt typically sets in. For the majority, it seems like the only real punishment is guilt, even if only for being caught. I know that's pretty much how I felt most of the time when I was in trouble. But for the Japanese, it seems to be different. For the majority of the Japanese people, they seemed to be more concerned with honor, or from the perpective of the punished, you have shamed either yourself, your family, or both. I'm not being naive enough to say that most Americans don't experience shame or that the Japanese don't have guilt, but rather I am making an observation about what I perceive as the most influential component of the punishment systems in the respective geographical locations. I am getting the feeling that most times when I experience a miscommunication between myself and a native, it is because they are afraid they will appear dumb to me because they don't understand what I'm trying to communicate. That's totally not the case, I know I feel really stupid when I ask them to repeat things several times, but somehow I manage. So to tie together all of the incoherent babble above, I get the feeling that the shame component of their culture is a huge motivation for the Japanese people to be good people. There is more fear of being looked down upon than of being deprived of some privilege. No phone for a week doesn't seem to be as effective as my mother telling me that I have dishonored my family. Aretha summed it up when she sang about the Japanese culture, though I always thought it was just a catchy tune. Respect, not just for others but also from others. I will refrain from debating the obvious religious differences between the Japanese and American cultures, I don't feel like I have enough education about the Shinto and Buddhist religions to write an informed comparison with Christianity; however, in a simple statement I feel that the differerences in the fundamentals of the religions aid in creating the aforementioned differences. I think the honor issue may also explain the motivation to do well in school that seems to dominate not only here, but also among the students of Asian descent at home (how PC-sterile does that sound). I know that I feel like I have honored my mother by being 'successful' in my educational pursuits. Unfortunately, only simple arrogance and naivety make me feel honored among my peers.

Missed posting on Monday due to network problems at Ninomiya House. Well, that coupled with the copious amounts of fermented beverages imbibed at dinner.

Dinner last night was awesome. A bunch of people from Meikei took me out to dinner at a true Japanese restaurant. This place was genuine Japanese. Real Japanese home cooking. The place seemed like someone's home, and it very well may have been, but made into a restaurant in the downstairs portion. We were at the only table in the joint and it required a deposit, I think. I don't know the name, can't read kanji, but it was just outside of Tsukuba in Tsuchiura, a neighboring city. First, the floors were tatami mats. You have to take off your shoes and sit on the floor. Not so bad after a while when your legs finally cease communications with the rest of your body. (just kidding, it was fine) The table was already set ablaze with food, ranging from sashimi to tempura. We also had some soup that had some small fish called a 'loach.' It is funny though, because they were saying 'roach.' I could tell it was fish and not insect so it was not a problem that I didn't find that out it starts with a 'L' until today. We also had some soup with rice in it and some fruit, like watermelon and canteloupe. But the food was only part of the experience. Keeping the nature of the restaurant I described earlier in mind, we stopped at the 'store' on the way in and they purchased an assortment of fermented beverages. Ok, I'll stop speaking in pseudo-intellect code, they bought a 3 liter big gas (or big ass, either way works, check out the picture below) can of beer and a 1.5 liter bottle of cold sake. We had six people actually drinking a measureable amount. That works out to approximately .75 liters per person, assuming it was split evenly, which it probably wasn't for reasons discussed later. Yeah, these guys know how to have a good time. It is definitely a change from home where most people have two drinking modes, not drinking and binge drinking. You might think it was based on the amounts I described, but we were there for almost 3 hours! Yes, a lot of socializing goes on at meals with the Japanese as well as a lot of eating and a lot of drinking. It was definitely an experience I would recommend even to my enemies.

Here are some pictures from the meal!!
A lively discussion
Check out the beer can and sake bottle. Both empty at evening's end.
Thank goodness forthe timer setting. Finally, my ugly mug in a photo!
Why are they blushing?

Let me explain the red faces in the last photo. From what I understand from multiple sources, some Japanese people lack the gene for making an enzyme that helps to metabolize alcohol. Alcohol in their system makes them turn red with even slight amounts and they may get really sick if they drink too much, not relative to how much a 'normal' person can typically withstand. If I am correct, it is actually common among East Asian people, not just in Japan. But still, they can drink, they just have to be careful. Probably advice we could all use. Luckily, most of the others and myself didn't seem to suffer from this condition, hence my comments from earlier. Don't get me wrong, the boys could still put 'em down.

There was a dangerous side to the evening, however. No, it wasn't choking on fish bones or enduring cartoon porn, it was a much more serious issue. Drunk driving. No, no one was stupid enough to drive a car while intoxicated! That would be stupid. Instead, I went straight for ludicrously insane status. What I'm trying to get to is that first, I'd like you to remember that my main mode of transportation is a bicycle. Then, take into consideration that we left from Meikei by car, not my apartment about 2-3 km away from Meikei. Then figure out how I got home. Drunken bicycle driving is seriously an exprience. Luckily, they have a separate bicycle road along the main road so I was in no real danger, other than from gravity and friction, had I actually had severe issues while biking home. And the increased heart rate was not helping matters at all. It would definitely make a much cooler Olympic 'sport' than ballroom dancing.

Learned some new kanji today. Well, I might be able to recognize them. I learned about how they name cities and regions. To describe all of Japan, you would say todofuken. After village, town and city, you get the bigger regions. To, as in Tokyo, means metropolitan area. Do means larger area, but not necessarily highly populated, like Hokkaido, the northern most major Japanese island. Fu, a larger area, but highly populated, like Osaka-fu, Kyoto-fu. And biggest of all, sort of like a "state," is the ken, also known as a prefecture. For example, the city of Tsukuba is within the Ibaraki-ken, or the Ibaraki Prefecture. Put them all together and you get all of Japan, or todofuken. Funny, that's something I like to-do, too!

And let me explain my pictures so far. What is difficult is capturing what I feel is the Japanese culture. It's very easy to take a ton of pictures, especially with digital storage and what have you. But what is difficult is capturing the culture. You can take pictures of buildings, signs, houses, trees, sculptures, art, and lots of other stuff like that, but I don't personally feel that displays the culture, at least not in its entirety. Those things are physical manifestations of the culture, but the culture is really the people, how they act, how they interact. It is really uniquely different from America in that respect but it's really hard to capture on camera. Most people have a natural tendency to change or exaggerate their behavior or they just look uncomfortable when someone points a camera at them. If you notice, I used stealth techniques I learned from a ninja on my rooftop to take some of these recent ones. Not perfect images of the culture, but getting closer than just buildings and statues. Please don't misunderstand me, those objects help to fill in gaps, help refine or redefine definitions, and in many cases they are, quite frankly, visually stunning.

Let me close this evening with an observation that was finally expressed to me from the correct perspective by my buddy in the shop-at-home-you-fat-lazy-good-for-nothing-American business, Mikey B. After all, he had better know about advertising if he's in the television industry!

Japanese advertising. It is...unique. Let's just say that there have a definite 'no strings attached' mentality when it comes to hawking their goods and wares. Nothing is subliminal. Mikey put it best when he wrote, "[Japanese advertising is like], 'You want pie? Pie is this much! Get pie here! All flavors! SUPER FUN YUM!'" I don't think I could have said it better.

Holy crap, network just ate all of my hard work. Why did it have to disappear when I clicked on post if the connection was going to time-out? I'll give it another go, but I don't know if it will be as good. I guess I will know to do a copy before clicking on the submit button next time.

What do I have to do to be allowed to pay for dinner around here? Well, barring going by myself, of course. The Japanese culture places much emphasis on treating guests and visitors well, much more emphasis than I am comfortable with at least. I probably sound very unappreciative, but I really would like to be allowed to pay just once. You'd think by the third meal, I'd be allowed to pay, right? I was even clever this time, thinking it would be the easiest way to get away with paying this time, I watched where the bill was kept. It was even cleverly hidden in a tray underneath the table corner, on the opposite side from myself. I grabbed it and stated my intentions on paying the bill. Not good enough. I might have gotten away with it had I been clear of the table, but I was cornered. Dr. Ahmadyar insisted that I let him have the bill and he was not budging. I even felt like he was ready to resort to fisticuffs over it. After pleading failed, I resorted to explaining my daily allowance and that I would really like to return the favor, it was no problem. Not good enough, buddy. Once again, I found myself the victim of a selfless Japanese act of goodwill and generosity. I know I sound like an unappreciative jerk, but that's really not the case. I DO appreciate the gesture. However, I'd like to foot the bill just once, to feel like less of a mooch, to maintain a decent frequency of outings not based on someone elses budget, but mostly, to return the favor. He says "When I come to America, you can pay." What are the chances he will be in Atlanta if he does come? Not good enough for me. Maybe, in the four more weeks that I am here, I will be able to get away with at least one tab.

Addition to the list of non-standard foods consumed on this trip: cow tongue. It was actually quite good, in contrast to the tasteless, blubber-like beef tripe consumed last week. I'd even recommend it to friends visiting Eastern Asia. I still don't understand why they don't just make hot dogs out of the leftovers.

Ok, not as good as my first attempt. I am sure my old one is somewhere... floating in cyberspace... a lost, wandering set of 1s and 0s...only to be seen or heard by the electrons and optical fibers of the vast Internet. Will it go to Internet heaven? Will that first post have a good afterlife? What if the Egyptians were right? I haven't the time or resources to give it a proper burial...heck, I can't even find the remains.

Saturday, June 28, 2003

I missed posting on Saturday. Sort of. If you don't consider 3:30 am technically Sunday then I am okay. In reality, I missed posting on Saturday. It was a long week. Getting up at 6 am builds up during the week, not to mention the fact that I bike virtually everywhere and that I literally walked for 10 hours on Friday in Tokyo. Well, I don't know if you remember, but I will remind you anyhow. Meikei has school on every other Saturday. Guess which one. I had to get up at 6 am on a Saturday. And I wasn't even doing anything cool, like going hiking or anything. I usually depend on Saturday to catch up on the week's missed sleep. Not this time, buddy. So, after going in, going to lunch, then browsing in the shops for a little while, I came back home. I was tired and I wanted to take a little nap at about 4:30 pm. I figured I'd wake up around 8 or so and go to dinner, then come back and get to bed at a decent hour. I woke up at 12:30 am. 7 hours later with no dinner. The bad news, no Waffle House!! I have yet to find a place open past 10 pm. Not saying it doesn't exist, but I have not found the local detox center that I am accustomed to having at home. I am going to need some serious therapy from Mary Welch Rogers when I get home.

The Japanese call this place the "Land of the Rising Sun." I now understand why. I couldn't figure out why I kept waking up at 5-5:30 every morning. I was probably not really thinking all too well at the time due to that whole half awake/half asleep thing that happens when you awaken from coma-like sleeping. But when I woke up at 4:45 am, it finally clicked. The freaking sun rises before 5 am. I have always thought that the whole Daylight Savings Time we do in the States is a stupid idea. "Let's fool nature and change our clocks ahead so we can have daylight hours during normal business hours." Well, now I am starting to appreciate it. You probably are sitting there saying, "Why don't you just close the blinds or close the door or figure out some other way to make it stay dark." Well, the blinds ARE closed and if you have checked out my pad at all, you would notice that the "bedroom door" is really one of those Japanese paper doors that let the light through. Some other clever people are probably thinking that it might be one of those further north, more daylight hours during the summer phenomena, but I am one step ahead of you so I'll save you the time of looking it up. Tsukuba is pretty close to the same latitude as Nashville, TN. Not too far north of Atlanta. No, I'm just beginning to understand the superiority of Americans. Afterall, the greatest invention of all time came from America.

Take, for example, their currency. If I had my camera with me in this library I would take a picture, but instead, let me direct you to a website. As of right now, $1 US currency is the equivalent of about 120 Japanese Yen. That puts 1 Yen at a value of just a little less than a penny. So, 100 Yen is 'almost' a dollar. Well, it you looked at the link I provided, you will notice that the first printed bill is 1000 Yen. About $10. $12 if you want to get technical. Now, think about the types of bills that most Americans carry around in their wallets and substitute them with coins for anything less than a $10 bill. How much 'change' is in your pocket now? If you're not like me, either a millionaire or prone to carrying tons of cash around, you probably don't understand my dilemma. Let's just say that I hope I don't fall into any lakes or rivers anytime soon. I guess my main concern about the money issue is for the aspiring young actresses and models that are just 'making ends meet,' whatever context you would like for that to mean, dancing the nights away in the showbars in various states of disrobe. In the US, it's easy to slip a $1 bill or two into the garter. But for the girls here, I mean, I know there's a change slot and all, but isn't that just a little too personal??