Conclusions

Having been back in the U.S. for a little while now, I've had the chance to travel around and mingle with a good variety of people. Always in the back of my mind is a tiny voice suggesting, "rook at differences!" So, for the sake of completeness, here are some hopefully-not-too-cliche observations. For those prone to being offended, I offer the following advice that has served me well: "Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."

After stepping off the plane and back into an American airport, the immediate and undeniably obvious fact is that Americans are absurdly obese. Absurd in number and in proportion. No, it's not breaking news, but considering that we've been aware of it for so long and have done so little to rectify it is appalling. Indeed, more than our ignorance of world affairs, inability to speak other languages, or any other negative stereotype of Americans, the reputation of our corpulence precedes us. It is, after all, striking to anyone who isn't already accustomed to it.

It isn't the purpose of this post to go on about this one point, but I feel it's important enough to be listed first. Not for the sake of our image, but our very health, we have to combat this! The more complacent we are in our obesity, the more culturally acceptable it becomes, and the further we are accomplices to our own decline.

This isn't to say there aren't obese people elsewhere (Japan included), but that train of thought isn't going to help anyone. To draw a comparison, in Japan it was an event to spy a grossly overweight person. A rarity among a mass of daily encounters - seeing people on trains, bikes, walking the streets. It's not that the Japanese are genetically better off, and they don't consciously choose to exercise more than Americans (though urban life offers more opportunities), they just eat better. That's it - that's the big secret. More than any other factor, the diet of the Japanese - rice, fish, noodles, vegetables, tea - allows them to stay slim. There are other helpful factors: in most restaurants, refills are not free; the smallest cup size in the U.S. can often be the largest offered in Japan; and to no-one's surprise, food portions are generally not as large, either.

Give it a try. Incorporate more rice into meals; it will leave you feeling full but doesn't stay with you. Opt for fish over other meats. Substitute a flavorful tea for sugary beverages. Go out of your way to be more healthy - don't drive in circles looking for a better parking spot, park further back and walk. If you watch TV, you can simultaneously practice Yoga or do a stair-stepping exercise. And no, your life is not so fast-paced that only fast-food will suffice. Don't make your body suffer because you're a cheapskate - you'll find that cooking your own food is the most cost-effective way to eat healthy in the United States.

That got preachy fast, eh. On the topic of ingested items, though, alcohol is a big deal in both countries. The drinking age is 21 in the U.S. and 20 in Japan. However, in the U.S. you are asked to provide ID until your hair is white; I've not once seen anyone asked for ID in Japan. Americans have a sin tax on liquor that can make it as much as 20% more expensive than Japan. Sadly, bar prices remain the comparable. At grocery stores, though, Americans seem to have the better variety of wines and beer - especially micro-brews. On the other hand, sake selection is no contest.

As for the use of alcohol in society, heavily indulging in it is a warning sign to Americans. In Japan, it would seem to go hand-in-hand with success in a business career. Walking the streets of a Japanese city on a weekend, one would be hard-pressed not to run into a few cheerfully drunk groups of adult friends or co-workers, an occasional puddle of vomit or two on the sidewalk, and no fewer than five people lying unconscious and alone within a block of the train station. A friend of mine found this phenomenon so prevalent that he's amassed a picture collection of passed-out pedestrians (they're always male, by the way). I couldn't photograph them out of pity, but the most fascinating example I ever saw was a man lying with his back to the ground, head propped up on a bookbag, and a cell-phone held to his ear. It was as if he had almost called a cab to take him home, but lost consciousness at just the last minute. I suspect he rose with the sun and took the train home to a warm shower.

Come to think of it, one of my Japanese co-workers told me he'd come into work Monday morning after waking up along the side of a road. He didn't elaborate if he was in a different city, but he had to make it back to his place in time to shower, change, and bike to work. I asked him if he'd been out drinking alone and he told me that no, his friends were with him. What the hell kind of friends leave one of their group to spend the night alone on a sidewalk or in a ditch? A severely intoxicated group, I'd have to guess. Luckily, the Japanese live in one of the safest societies on this planet, and my guess is this behavior persists because they can get away with it. I cringe at the thought of what would happen if they'd instead passed out in Detroit.

In the States, this kind of thing is usually observed in the vicinity of a university campus or a popular strip of bars and clubs. Girls work harder to balance the statistics, but it may be harder to spot because in the same situation, they get taken home by their concerned friends or exploitative foes much faster than men. Unconscious males may grace any cityscape longer because they appear less vulnerable than their female counterparts.

In spite of alcohol helping people of all cultures to socialize, Americans are still much more apt to approach people outside of their "circle" spontaneously. Both cultures have parties and events where strangers get together to mingle, but in Japanese society, it seems that these sort of events have to be structured. There are parties where people get together with the premeditated expectation of finding a person suitable to date. Now that I think of it, I regret not asking more people where they met their significant others. I dated two girls during my time abroad - both I met at dance clubs. After initial contact, however, dates were instead at restaurants, movies, karaoke, and parks. When asked about dancing, both said they weren't really into it, but it was a good way to go out and meet new people. Although I didn't participate in any club activities, I suspect they serve as one of the most popular way for dates to find one another. I never heard once of co-workers dating (though there was often talk of who was cute or not) - I don't think Japanese office culture would tolerate the idea, and it would be hard for those co-workers to avoid the ever-watching eyes of the gossip machine.

Right, so on the whole, Americans are probably more open to communication with strangers while the Japanese take a mind-your-own-business approach to things. Small talk is abundant in both (especially as you venture into increasingly rural areas), but when it comes to being outspoken, the U.S. takes the cake. Talking in movie theaters is the tip of the iceberg. Shouting at others from your car, or talking back at the TV are easily more Western behaviors. The Japanese usually manage to maintain their composure, even if they're thinking similar thoughts in the back of their head. Even those with high amounts of daily stress from work or school compounded by the strict social expectations, the Japanese somehow manage to treat even the rudest of people with respect.

I think this can be attributed to the difference in culture, and thus, religion. Eastern Shintoism and Buddhism focuses on preserving peace with nature and your social group. Christianity, on the other hand, is more confrontational and full of martyrdom, punishment, and violence in general. Yes, these are generalizations; no, I don't think that impacts my point. Religion might seem like an extremely personal path, but is often simply dictated by your upbringing: if your parents are Christian, chances are you might be as well. If you and your family had been born in the Middle East instead, you would likely be just as whole-heartedly Muslim. Either way, in dealing with others you'd still be prone to fiery righteous indignation, whereas the Eastern religions would leave you feeling more pacified.

No wonder the Japanese have to drink so much - it's the only way they can let loose with what's been on their mind, and nobody can hold it against them because, well, they were drunk at the time. To me, this is also the main reason anonymous BBSs such as 2channel have become such a prominent place for a repressed people to vent their frustrations. To sum it up succinctly, if an American has a problem with you, they will have no problem telling you to go to hell. The Japanese person will smile, treat you with kindness, then go home and write an Internet post about how he wanted to tell you to go to hell. Is either one better than the other? I'll bet you the answer depends on which culture you or your psychiatrist is from.

Since returning, I've approached a lot of things in daily life with this expanded, "it depends" outlook. Even "trivial" matters are rarely black-and-white, as frustrating or inconvenient as that may be. The empathy I've developed while communicating through a language barrier forces me to see things through a minimum of two perspectives, and due to working with people from all over the world, sometimes more. No, I'm not claiming to be some divine emissary of clarity - I'm only human (and an unperceptive male, at that), but it is nonetheless astonishing to see people - from presidents to plebs - so ignorant yet so vainly sure of themselves. Don't worry: we're all in there together to some degree; all we can do is remain vigilant and keep our lamps of knowledge brightly aflame.

If that last paragraph is too "out there," fear not - I can at least say that I've found my calling in challenging people's preconceived notions (not to teach them what's "right" or "wrong," but to illustrate the alternative facets of an issue or situation). Through interactive media, I'd like to help people to be more open-minded at a young age, ideally to the benefit of our increasingly cross-cultural and interdependent world. Think of it as playing Devil's Advocate on a grand scale, but not just to be an argumentative dick. I feel this is one of the best ways I'll be able to "leave the world a better place than I found it."

In the same vein, I've been trying to become more outwardly positive, myself. One incredible aspect of my experience speaking so-so Japanese as a foreigner is that people usually gave me the benefit of the doubt in all aspects of our communication. Misunderstandings happened, of course, but they were never held against me, never used as an example of any ill-will, but just a casualty of my half-baked conversational skills. If you've never experienced this with a foreign language, then likely the last time it happened, you were too young to remember it. Either way, I was very happy that my mistakes were being met with understanding instead of opposition. Each day, there are likely a dozen instances where we judge others' intentions negatively and too quickly - perhaps without even knowing why. Our perceptions never amount to complete information, and that is where problems begin. At the most, we should be inquisitive, not hostile.

If this line of thinking seems like it's setting you up to be exploited, keep in mind that most of the people you interact with aren't going to be sociopaths or con artists. Nope, most of us out here are people just like you - frustrated at the cruelty of the human condition and wondering what it all means. It would take so little and mean so much if we could all calm our selfish tempers and relax our muscles a bit more. Stress won't disappear, but we can't allow ourselves to turn it into a positive feedback loop. No, the way to cancel out that stress is by allowing others the benefit of the doubt. It's surprisingly easy to do - just remember Ghandi's words: "We need to be the change we wish to see in the world."

It's the people wearing suits and smiles in executive offices that you need to watch out for.

Thanks for reading, and take care.

No, I didn't take pictures

It's 7:30AM on a Sunday here, sitting in my room with the air conditioner at full blast, having just stepped out of a shower using only the minimal amount of hot water I could physically tolerate. It is summer in Japan (and has been, for a while!). A sticky, sweaty, and smelly season - but one worth experiencing... inside, usually.

My Saturday began at a meager 3PM (Friday was a karaoke outing), where my friend and I met our group at Don Quixote in Akihabara. The reason? Excellent supply of cheap cosplay outfits. This particular store could outfit enough maids for an entire aristocracy. Going there foreshadows a bit, but before our purchases came into play, we were headed to Asakusa for a fireworks display.

It was more like two or three fireworks displays - the river was aglow with vibrant colors exploding on either side of the bridge. The street leading to it was soon rendered useless as thousands of people packed together in hopes of getting a good view. We arrived late (finding just the right collar at the store proved a challenge) and had no hope of wading through all of those festively dressed bodies, so we took to wandering the side streets and working our way toward the park lining the river. Only then were we able to scale some shrubs and get a less-obstructed view of the action.

Summer festivals in Japan bring out the best in everyone. Women and men often dress up in Yukata and Jinbei, respectively. Also adding to the festive atmosphere are the street vendors offering all manner of treats: dumplings, cucumbers, noodles, squid-on-a-stick, and of course, alcohol. The drinking fuels a majority of the people, and it's not uncommon to find evidence of overindulgence splattered here and there while walking around. In spite of that, there's romance in the air and lots of laughter as well. So you've got fireworks, food, and booze shared with thousands of well-dressed but a bit less well-mannered-than-usual Japanese and a good supply of foreigners as well - what fun!

The police are tasked with herding everyone around and making sure Japan's railways continue to operate smoothly (even if everyone is packed together like colorful cotton sardines). Their efforts are respectable, but it can get annoying to have little barricades erected everywhere you wouldn't expect them and plenty of officials feeding a burning desire to shout into megaphones just because they have them. They did a good job, though - no reported stabbings as far as I know.

After the show, we went to eat instead of spending our time waiting in line just to get on a train to our next destination. We wound up at a little covered market with a nice couple who had maybe 150 years between the two of them. Cold soba noodles - that's the way to survive summer. Even with those little fan handouts one can pick up outside any station, you need to cool your body from the inside as well. Ok - beer and noodles. In a pinch, non-alcoholic beverages can do - those ubiquitous vending machines come in handy - but sobriety isn't recommended... it's just not the custom. When in Rome, and all that.

After eating, the crowds had died down a bit, and we headed for a club called "Marz" in Shinjuku. It's normally a goth club, but tonight's theme was "fetish party" and the flier was a laundry-list of stuff that could make anyone grin. The guys who searched through Don Quixote earlier came out each with all-black full body costumes. They were made of a thin layer of fabric, but covered every inch of their bodies - I guess they could see out from them alright, though there was no visible evidence of their eyes. Those who met up with us at fireworks hadn't known about the club beforehand, but also wanted to go. While dressing up wasn't mandatory (it got you 1,000 off the entry fee), they were good sports and didn't want to "stand out" as being the few without costumes. They visited the one in Shinjuku and came out with a maid outfit, schoolgirl uniform, and a sexy black onepiece - two girls, one guy. Myself, I was looking forward at the chance to reuse my old Halloween costume: Pikachu. Not to suggest that my fetish involves fictional electric rodents or any form of anthropomorphism; I bought a collar beforehand so I could go from cute children's character to being someone's "pet." At one point that evening, I was dragged into an actual pet store (why was it open so late?) and offered at discount prices. I doubt the employees will forget that either.

Our meandering around Shinjuku on the way to convenience stores (most vending machines don't sell alcohol - shock!), costume stores, and the club was easily the most fun I've had in Japan for a long time. Shinjuku didn't have a fireworks festival, but as far as alcohol goes, every weekend is a party there, and people are staggering around or being belligerent at any hour. We weren't surprised when we drew the attention of nearly every person we passed by. We put on a good show, too. The blacksuits would slink around and generally try to creep out anyone nearby - an objective they accomplished without much difficulty for the majority of women. For every "scary" we got a "cute", though - it was a personal parade of general merrymaking as we put smiles on faces by taking the art of challenging social norms to the street, literally.

The club was good, but surprisingly lacking in attendance. The first time I visited, it was difficult to move from one floor to the next. Here, our group was half of a floor. All the more for dancing! The other guests included vampires, punks and the standard goths. Periodically, one of the stage girls would bring out a "victim" who would be bound with rope and suspended from a harness hanging above the stage. She was pretty good at what she did, and she made it fun for her captives by kissing or teasing them. One guy, she'd climbed up on after he was lifted into the air with his legs slightly up and head slightly down; she went to pull his hair back to show his face to everyone, but his hair-piece came off! A casualty of cosplay, I guess.

There was one of these intermissions that outshined the others, and that was a "hooking". To sum it up, this guy sits on a stool while she pushes thick metal hooks into his back - two rows of four. I was astonished at how easily they slid in and out of the skin and how there was no blood. They then thread the ropes from that harness through the first row of hooks in his upper back and slowly raise him into the air - suspended entirely now from four fat columns of skin. The girl then threads through the bottom four and hangs from the guy as he's lifted even higher. In the end, this spectacle is stretching the guy's skin hard, and slowly, little streaks of blood begin to run from those top hooks that are now supporting the weight of two people. The question running through my mind the entire time is "how much weight before it rips and we have to take a mop brake?" I knew this place was hardcore... no wonder the door guy was giving me a rough time about the discount for my cute costume.

We were at the club until it became light out. We grabbed some Matsuya for breakfast and went our separate ways home. For as much as I can rag on Japan (admittedly, it is easy) for all its annoyances, it really is an incredible place - you couldn't get away with this sort of random stuff anywhere else. What fun!

The Sun Shall Rise Again

Last weekend, I was dancing mad with some new acquaintances in a goth club in Shinjuku. The small venue and rising body heat would push large groups outside periodically, much to the horror of many a casual passerby. Light crept into the Sunday sky and - to my surprise - none of the elaborately costumed wraiths chatting outside evaporated in a plume of smoke. I stuck out not because I was a foreigner, but my last-minute, (mandatory if I hoped to get in) all-black wardrobe appeared to be the bare minimum among the regulars who sported everything including ghoul-white skin, full leather trenchcoats, meticulously laced doll clothing, and rare to see full-color body tattoos. The Japanese goth style is a wonderful balance of cute and creepy, but the really shocking thing is how (typically) polite people with metal spikes in their faces can be. Even if someone is cosplaying in an SS uniform, you'll get a thoughtful sumimasen if they bump into you. They're certainly more agreeable than, say, the police... who are all smiles to foreign tourists but sure as shit don't want you living in the Motherland.

While I was calmly snoozing away after a long night of clubbing, a different fellow was making preparations for his big day of stabbing. The only clean black shirt I had before going out that night was one I wouldn't wear much in public, because it expresses my affinity for Akihabara and its shamelessly unique culture; as either native or foreigner, it's bound to draw smiles and stares. Of course, among the various alternative crowds we met that night, it was a pleasant conversation piece, and never taken the "wrong way." It's strange to think that we were carrying on about how wonderful of a place Akihabara is, when a few hours later there would be blood in the streets.

(not the original image, but same message)
Title: I'm going to kill people in Akihabara
Body: I'll hit them with my car, and when I can't use it any more, I'll use a knife. Goodbye, everyone.

Here's the story as reported by one news outlet:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/12-stabbed-others-hit-by-assailants-car-on-akihabara-street
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/mobile-phone-posts-foretold-sundays-stabbing-spree-in-akihabara

It's still unbelievable to all the people I've talked to, but strangely because it's overly real. We've been in those streets, in front of those stores, been a part of that pedestrian crowd on Chuo-dori. Each picture or clip of video that documents the event, we've seen the surreal before - but instead of people dressing up as maids or superheroes, there are people dressed up as paramedics or corpses.

The bustling outdoor bazaar of music, color, and magic is too precious a bastion of raw humanity in Japan to be slain. The crowd may be more solemn in the coming weeks, but this wound is not mortal. One cannot murder a culture dedicated to fun - a culture that spreads at the speed of the electron - laughter is simply too powerful an elixir.

■

And now, most importantly, here's the thing to remember:
Japan remains one of the safest places on this Earth.

Don't let sensationalism get the better of you, please! The thing most disgusting to me after the actions of Kato is how some in the media have handled the event, wasting no time in attacking all manner of things - video games included, of course - as accessories to the crime. It's easy to criticize bloggers or wikis or [insert non-traditional medium here] as being full of shit, but the corollary to this observation is that any information outlet is just as likely to be stuffed with it; Sturgeon's Revelation spares nothing.

Concerned people uploaded newscasts of the event to YouTube and they were quickly pounced on and removed by the media companies. Obviously the dissemination of information is secondary to capitalizing as much as possible on (heaven forbid) an event actually newsworthy. On one of the sites I would have linked you to for the story summary, their video first required you watch an advertisement. Who gives a damn about your pathetic circle-jerk sponsorship when there's urgent news! What's it going to be, "This video clip brought to you by Ginsu - it slices, it dices!"? Thankfully in a country where everyone is born with a cellphone in hand, the all-hearing, all-seeing masses can usually provide the needed footage unfiltered by financial interest.

So instead of noting that Kato once drew a video game character in a yearbook, ignoring the fact that correlation does not mean causation, and clocking out early as an investigative journalist (the word "search" on that Google button is a lot like "investigate", right?), let's look at the real problem in Japan: there's just too much stress, too much pressure on everyone to perform perfectly every time, all the time. You are born and soon fed into the Great Japanese Gearwork, where you soon learn that you have to be the best in elementary school so that you can get into a good middle school and work hard there for the chance to join a prestigious high school that might just prepare you well enough (and there's always after-school cram school in case you're worried) for the immensely important entrance exams that will maybe allow you to get into a university deemed worthy by your future employer because that's the only criterion that matters to them in a sick, foreshadowing manner until you realize - hey - you will never amount to anything special in that company because your most sacred and esteemed elders don't want to hear from that last shred of creativity you were hanging on to after all these years but they would, however, appreciate it if you could volunteer a few extra hours for the company because schedules are tight and it's not as though you had other plans or a family or self-respect but it does explain why you've taken to drinking and smoking like many of your co-workers who supplement their loneliness and desire to feel needed with these drugs and an equally damaging workaholism until the completion of your transformation into a shell of a human who is just as bitter about others who try to escape the system that you have all learned to love.

Granted, some people escape the Gearwork and others come out only slightly maimed, but with many Japanese committing suicide (recently an average of 32,000 per year; 25 out of every 100,000 people; five times the number killed in traffic accidents [Japanese Statistics]) and only very recently a growing concern about mental health (due to cultural stigma), one can see where the occasional rampage comes from. Humans simply aren't meant to constantly deal with that kind of stress - they snap. It's my conjecture that with a high number of people willing to kill themselves, a few of them are going to try and go out doing something extreme since they feel they have nothing to lose and no consequences to face. Kato wasn't suffering from psychosis, he was just sick of living and unfortunately took his frustrations out on innocent people. But he was just one of those annual 32,000 with the capacity - the despair - to do something like that.

Good luck getting a Japanese journalist or politician to run with that one. They're the ones with the problem-solving skills, proposing to censor web sites with information about suicide because, well, people might use it to kill themselves. Clearly, they are the ones afflicted by psychosis, who can't wrap their heads around the fact that the people still want to fucking kill themselves. As The Complete Manual of Suicide demonstrates (likely the only book on Wikipedia in the categories "Suicide" and "Self-help"), there is a market for it. In fairness, the government began legislating social programs aimed to reduce the suicide count to 22,000 by 2010 - an impressive goal only eclipsed by how impressively it will fail. Now, I don't feel it is solely the responsibility of the government to solve this problem, but they could certainly pretend to be interested. They are interested at how low birth rates will ultimately cause the economy to rely more on foreigners (the horror!), but can't seem to notice that all these recent trends have to do with young people who aren't interested in getting married or having kids or otherwise terminating their youth by throwing themselves headfirst back into the Great Gearwork that their government has helped to maintain. The youth of Japan are obviously disgusted at the one-way road that has been laid before them, and are detouring it any way they can, for as long as they can: by just scraping enough money together with part-time work to preserve their freedom, to locking themselves into an escapist reality in their rooms, or by ending their existence altogether.

Japan is still a wonderful country, with truly incredible people, but it has a long way yet to go. I will be rooting for them all the way, though. Not for the nationalistic xenophobes that comprise the government today, but for those renegades who dare to challenge the status quo and inhuman expectations of the world around them. They are the radical dreamers who will usurp the established media and entrenched corporations, paving the way for the next generation of Japanese who will have the passion for their lives and the time to exercise it. They are the ones who fill Akihabara with the spirit that on a sunny day can bring a joyful tear to my eye. Here's to you, NEETs, Freeters, Hikkis - you underdogs of society - take your country back, break down that machine, and save the future generations from their own hands.

But will it blend?

This past week, I was finally able to find a suitable replacement for my ex-laptop. The previous one has moved on to a better place, and thus probably won't mind as I pick apart the body to harvest components that I can pawn off in some Akihabara alleyway. Still, she lasted me much longer than I could have ever imagined, and I'm grateful. My now two-day-old baby is a.. MacBook. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but plenty of people have praise for the operating system, OS X Leopard. For me, the purchase was driven mostly by the fact that I needed some new hardware, and this laptop out-of-the-box plays well with Windows, Linux, and (thankfully) itself. I've held off on doing any additional voodoo just to see what OS X is all about, and so far so good.

One of the reasons I held off on the purchase for so long (about a month) was due to the feeling that since I'm in Japan, I should be able to find some incredible bleeding-edge technology at low cost relative to other countries. The callous truth that took so long to accept is that buying a new laptop (and likely any other gadget) in Japan is likely to be more expensive than anywhere else. Of course it's no surprise that products and prices vary between locations, but I was surprised by a number of examples:

1. Dell's US and JP websites allow you to customize the components going into your computer, but the models available are different. If you find the same model, there's no guarantee that the same hardware upgrade will have identical cost on both sites. Further, the cost will always be lower for the US crowd - I guess people are just too used to handing over large sums of money without much thought (exhibit A: Louis Vuitton bags). Disappointing fact: Dell supports Linux on the Inspiron 1420 for the US market only. Asking the clerks about it in the Dell store here only earned strange looks.
2. Sony offers some impressive Vaio notebooks here, also with the ability to pick-and-choose hardware. In spite of what seems like brilliant hardware design and engineering, their sales website is carefully crafted to be as useless as possible. In fact, I'm still pissed off about it to the point that I'll just skip down one.
3. Actually no, you know what? There was also that music CD rootkit fiasco in 2005 - fuck Sony. Boycott status: active.
   
4. I realize that most of you read this not for its technology coverage, so the short of it is that all the otherwise good or unique offerings for portables wound up way out of my price range. That said, it is possible to get some amazing stuff here; many laptops support more input options than your nearest red light district. One example: Suica cash cards are traditionally used for easy train use - much faster than buying paper tickets from a machine each time you want to ride. Stations then placed vending machines allowing the same wireless payment, and now you can find the capability embedded into laptops for online purchases - just hover the card (or compatible cell-phone) over the sensor and *beep*.

As I reflect on my purchase, I'm happy to have finally made it. I've been recently reading a book titled "The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less", and was able to immediately identify with the author's thesis and lamenting anecdotes. I'd recommend it and my only complaint is that he spends most of the time justifying the (often counter-intuitive and therefore incredibly interesting) observations of why committing to a choice can be so unpleasant, yet doesn't offer too much in terms of overcoming these problems. It's a bit anti-climactic to read essentially "now that I've told you about these depressing things, try not to do any of them", but hey - I'm not sure what else one can do beyond identifying the symptoms in statistics; the solution is philosophical.

While visiting Akihabara for the purchase, I noticed something I hadn't before. There was a group of scruffy-looking older guys spaced out along a construction wall, some standing behind small tables, others attending to curious clients pouring over a binder with photos. The alleys are always a sensory overload, but my eye managed to catch the unmistakable blue hue of a one-piece swimsuit in one of the pictures. Not as if this sight is an uncommon occurrence - there are stories-tall banners dedicated to showcasing anime characters in any state of dress (or undress) in order to sell anything from music CDs to pillowcases to alcohol. After stopping and leaning back against the opposite wall for a while, it became apparent that the album shots were all of middle- or high-school Japanese girls participating in gym classes or sports festivals.

My guess is that these were sample images from the DVD albums they were selling. If not buying directly, one could fill out an order form and have it delivered as well. I'd assume the impromptu storefront wasn't because the collections were illegal to photograph or sell but just due to the fact it would be tough to make rent with a business like that operating on normal hours. Of course, the ethical questions raised about photo-shooting unaware, underage girls in gym shorts to distribute for profit are the meat of this subtle observation. Rather than take a position on it, I figured it would be more fun to point it out and let you ponder it.

As always, there's more to talk about, but I'm done with describing the world around me and ready to head back into experiencing it. If you're the praying type, consider the Chinese earthquake victims - one of my co-workers says her Chinese friends had to take days off from work to look for their families. Shit.

The Midtown Mood

One of the memorable places I was able to visit on my sunny holiday is named "Tokyo Midtown." It's a wonderful little escape hidden among the many other towering buildings of Roppongi. It holds a special place in my heart because in spite of the rich surroundings (and subsequently high prices inside), one can manage to find some good snacks on the ground floor and carry them out for a cozy picnic among the flowers and trees. The interior galleria is worth a walk around if you're like me and at times stunned by the modern aesthetics that billion-dollar properties tend to bring about. It would be simple and satisfying to spend the latter half of a day around the area, then head out to Roppongi or another lively spot once night falls. My visit was in the spring, and the cherry blossoms were gracing the outside with their snowy color and some winery had incorporated their flavor into the bottles they were selling. Up for grabs on the inside were the less tame rape blossoms - I regret not sampling the flavor when I had the chance.
The area isn't limited to shopping and eating, there is both space for living and working in what appears to be the tallest building I've stood under in a long while. Staying a night in a hotel that likely costs more than my monthly salary is only tempting if the company is offering. Dotting the surroundings are pieces from the Suntory Museum of Art, which also has a home inside.
I inform you not because I'm sponsored to, but because the Midtown is one shining example of Japan's ability to mix often conflicting elements and leave you feeling good about it. As always, more info can be found on the pages of Wikipedia.

Monomyth: the Return

During the latter half of this hiatus, I was able to do a whirlwind tour of the Japanese mainland. Accompanied by my family, we traveled as far East as Nikko and as far West as Miyajima. The stops in-between were some of the most famed and popular of tourist destinations, including Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, and Hiroshima. The timing of the trip couldn't have been better, and we enjoyed mostly calm, clear weather and cherry blossoms without any hassle from vacationing student groups.

We enjoyed exploring the country and its massive transportation network, utilizing buses, cars, trains, planes, ferries and our own feet. Our lodgings ranged in price and luxury from compact capsule hotel to royalty-worthy ryokan. In addition to sight-seeing, traveling without a fixed schedule allowed us to leisurely walk the back streets and get a feel for the culture away from the tourist traps. We were also able to go beyond simple stop-and-stare and instead actively participate in some cultural obsessions such as karaoke, pachinko, and even lunch at a maid cafe. I worked to ensure that we covered a good variety of restaurants and unique foods, and I was elated that my family was willing to try most of what was presented to them - natto included.

The time spent traveling together went by so quickly, it's hard to look back and recall that nearly two weeks had passed. Each day was a new adventure, but one that could never be adequately described by the mere page or two in my journal. I want to thank my family for their bravery, patience, and understanding that made this trip one I'll never forget.

Hopefully this much-needed refreshment will serve to energize my efforts for this blog once again. So thanks for your patience, dear reader; I hope you enjoyed your vacation from subjecting yourself to my ramblings as well!

Everyone looks away when the needle darts into the vein

Last weekend I was invited along to go see the new "Gothic" exhibit at the Yokohama Museum of Art. Without too many details up front, it seemed like a good chance to learn about the current obsession with the genre from a new perspective. For the unaware, Japan has embraced all varieties of "Gothic" subculture - from freaky to cutesy. So what exactly does "Gothic" mean? Why do I keep surrounding it in quotes? Simply, language is inconveniently subjective and sometimes one can't attempt define a term without opening up a can of worms. Like most words, its meaning has mutated and evolved over time, and when applied to a culture it becomes infinitely more complex, leaving everyone with their own idea of what the word represents.

That said, I won't try to cover the etymology of anything, but instead focus on the exhibit and what it meant to me. I'll also cease capitalizing and quoting because it's annoying as hell.

The original description of the exhibit promised a look into the contemporary gothic culture in Japan. The first thing that came to my mind was the fashion that is ever-present here. Among the most popular merchandise here are cute characters such as Hello Kitty, which is why I was surprised to find that those from The Nightmare Before Christmas were also branded onto many store items. While each might seem like necessities to counter-culture, the kawaii and kowai (cute, scary) both have a part in this same gothic genre.

At the start was a collection of art focusing on exposing the more macabre side to the meaning of gothic. Using prints taken from 1950s-era magazines, the artist decorated the men and women with elaborate patterns and symbols evocative of death, drawn to look like tattoos (another eerie sight for the Japanese). The original, faded gray feel of the medium made this work well. Later, larger painted scenes of humans and demons with angry or sexual themes also established the morbid feel the rest of the gallery would bring. Each display was more bizarre than the last - examples include human-like portraits being constructed with colorful organs or other imagery cut-and-pasted from medical diagrams, or another set assembled with pieces from dismembered insects such as butterflies.

In spite of the museum's attempt to explain gothic culture, it seemed to instead enjoy shocking the patrons with discomforting imagery. One interesting exhibit was equipped with projectors showing various stages of life, but all in agonizing ways: the baby was left abandoned on a tile floor, crying and trying ot crawl out of its predicament, the middle-aged man was rolling around outside in agony while slowly becoming surrounded by barbed wire, and the older patient had her blood drawn and was painting sunny scenes with it. All in all, it was beyond adequate description, and served to unnerve everyone who was exposed to it.

There were more exhibits, but the only ones describing the Japanese youth and the related subcultures were limited to photography. A collection of (mainly female) people in their rooms, showcasing the various extremes they went to: elaborate, handmade costumes, old-fashioned dolls, Victorian style furnishings, or whatever they happened to take interest in. Those pictured had dedicated most of their living spaces and wardrobe to this alternative style. Some going as far as body augmentation to reach the ideal image they had envisioned for themselves. In fact, the last exhibit was a series of self-portraits following both a mental and physical male-to-female transformation.

While at first things seemed disjointed, after sitting around in the cafe and discussing it, we concluded that the entire purpose was to show how people will form an ideal image for themselves, then work towards realizing it. In a largely homogeneous society such as Japan's, this is one inviting way to break free from the bland. As to why the macabre element appeals, maybe because of its shocking nature, it feels foreign and exciting, drawing in those still possessing a morbid curiosity and driving away those without. The thing I wonder about most when looking at the revealing portraits of Japanese goths, is how long they will continue to live the lifestyle. Surely it is difficult to eschew the norms of society while hoping to earn a living within it.

Either way, I wish them luck in balancing their lives - it certainly makes my day a bit brighter to see fashion that doesn't involve a Burberry scarf or Louis Vuitton bag. And everyone could certainly benefit from exposure to a counter-culture that challenges their everyday assumptions.

Ski ga suki

The week following the amusement park adventure, a huge group of people from the company and their various friends went to Nagano-ken for some winter fun. We had such a massive group that it was useful to rent a night bus of our own to travel there and back. The hotel we chose provided reasonably cheap Japanese-style (futon on tatami, no beds) furnishings and was a short walk from the slopes. When we arrived at 6 or 7 in the morning, it was almost too bright from the sun's reflection on the freshly-fallen snow.

After a bit of confusion trying to check in, we headed to the mountain to get equipped. Most people elected snowboards, but since I had engaged in a winter sport like this only once before, I went with what I knew best: skis. Mind you, I'd only done cross-country skiing one time, and many years before; downhill proved to be a tad different! All things considered, I think I did a damn good job for what was essentially my first time. Physics class finally payed off a bit, and it helped that turning on skis is a bit similar to leaning for turns on a bike or motorcycle.

That said, I'm happy that the snow is significantly softer than concrete, because one consequence of my dive into learning was that I was unfortunately diving into the ground a lot. Yet, I'm proud of my fearlessness in the face of.. face-planting: it enabled me to quickly learn the dos and don'ts - and much quicker than I expected. By the end of the first day, I had even gone down the "intermediate" course (admittedly skiing half and falling half ;) without too much permanent brain damage. (To give you an idea, there are parts to that course where you question if there is in fact a slope or just a cliff in front of you!)

One strange thing about skiing: it's harder to maneuver while standing calmly than while flying at violent speeds down the crowded beginner's course. Even if it was awkward for me while moving slowly, the poor snowboarders have to unstrap on of their feet and shuffle toward a slope since without inertia, there's no way for them to self-propel. It also seemed like you'd fall on your ass a lot more with a board. I think they make up for it with far fewer head-first falls.

The scenery from atop the mountain was absolutely, breathtakingly incredible. It was hard to ski at times because I felt like I was missing another rare sight. Japan has no shortage of mountains, but there's a significant difference between looking up at them and looking down on them. Furthermore, the ones in view were snowy, steep, and adorned with trees. The valley below held a thin veil of fog and the tallest mountains appeared to melt into the clouds above. When looking from the peak, you wonder who was the first explorer to brave his life for this sight - there's a certain romanticism to the idea that the technology in our modern world cannot comprehend.

I took no pictures. I'm pleased with the idea that only my eyes savored the sights on that mountain. Besides, everyone and their mother brought a camera, so I can get the pictures from them without having had to sacrifice any of my concussion-time.

We stayed two days, and the first was significantly more pleasant than the second. The human body is a fantastic and wonderful thing except for when any motion brings you immediate pain; such were the majority of us after waking up. The breakfast hall looked like it was catering to a bunch of vegetarian zombies. (Insert odd Japanese dish here: onsen-tamago - literally hot-spring egg - consists of a half-boiled egg served in cold water from a local onsen. If it were hot, maybe, but wow was that an unpleasant sensation.)

The next day on the slopes was fine and all, but by the end of the day, I wasn't interested in anything besides returning to a mattress for recovery. A few days later (after functioning at about 10% capacity at work), most everything was alright. The only longterm setback has been a jammed thumb, but the swelling and freaky discoloring has gone, leaving only a bit of weakness and pain. It should heal up soon enough I imagine.

The following Friday, I was sick with a fever. By Saturday it had already broken. It was fortunate to have happened on a weekend, and I only missed a half-day of work. Not too bad, except for the many trips to the bathroom in-between. Oh well, one day out of the year isn't bad considering the people here often only wash their hands with cold water and are densely packed on trains.

It's been a while, and a busy while. The weekend after returning from travels, a few of us journeyed to an abandoned amusement park for some "urban exploration." We also wound up visiting an onsen and making some pottery. The next week was yet another trip, this time about twenty employees banded together to go skiing in Nagano. I didn't take any pictures at either of these places - it was too much fun to see and looking at it from behind a camera isn't quite the same. You know how people can sometimes get - they take loads of pictures but don't bother to soak up the scenery with their naked eye. On the other hand, counting on others to take pictures for you has an empty feeling to it. Looking through them, I often feel like there's something missing... like you're reviewing frames from a documentary instead of a home video.

The abandoned amusement park trip was.. amusing. We took the train to Takasaki and a bus ride to the base of a shrine with a thousand steps leading uphill to it. The walk became progressively beautiful as the entire region was slowly revealed behind us. At the top of the climb, one could see out to all the mountain ranges holding back the sprawl. There also happened to be a gargantuan Kannon statue unexpectedly poking out from the trees on the hillside. To our surprise, there was a bus stop, restrooms, and plenty of restaurants in the area before it. We had expected the park to be without a trace of people nearby, but the busy road leading to this parking area proved us wrong.

Ducking under some rope and into the courtyard, the sight was beautiful. The tall grass fighting through the concrete, some funny graffiti, various out-of-place pieces of garbage.. we headed for the dilapidated buildings before us. They consisted of a mess hall, kitchen, traditional-style restaurant, and what seemed to be a gift shop. What made walking through these dusty ruins both interesting and creepy at the same time was the state they'd been left in. The people closing down the place never thought it important to remove the furniture or tableware. Some others had trashed the place a little, so there were obstacles like broken glass around, but in general it felt like a very safe place to wander around. I had expected a hobo commune to be squatting it, so it being vacant was a relief.

The rest of the park was sadly barren. My assumption is that the rides could be dismantled and sold as scrap metal, but it wasn't worth paying to demolish the wooden structures we had rummaged through. There were concrete supports with metal in them still, but everything else had been hauled away it seemed. On one end was a suspension bridge crossing a few lanes of concrete in what seemed to be a go-kart track. It was built well, but still covered with rust and eager plantlife. An odd sculpture of a hand remained with flaking gold paint, and there was another stone carving of two children and woodland creatures with the taint of moss. Also left to rest in peace were the various toilets, though curiously all the sinks had been smashed. I'm not sure if that's standard plumber procedure or the work of vandals, but if it was the latter, they never broke a single mirror - superstition, maybe?

At the far end was a water park complete with lazy river and wave pool. The most elaborate graffiti was done in this area, since there were tall walls still intact; not much litter from it all, either. We did get a little muddy from trekking around, but it was easy enough to pick out with the help of the silverware back at the restaurant. I also grabbed a few beer mugs as omiyage. For our first foray into urban exploration, I think it turned out well. The trick is to have some company so that if things don't turn out as you planned, it's not a complete disappointment. Also, if you break a leg, you won't die alone, hungry and cold.

That will be all for now, I'm hungry.

What do you put in your mouth?

Firstly, you'll have to forgive me for not posting any of the 800+ pictures I've taken from my travels ever since returning home, nor publishing any reflections. Lately I have been investing a lot of my free time in a "self-actualization" phase. This involves doing a lot of reading, thinking, and trying to decide how to spend my time while in Japan and what I want to do afterward. While I am a dreamer, it's rare for me to fully embrace this process - so I'm trying to milk it for all that I can.

I won't use this as an excuse to ignore updating the blog at all, I just wanted to fill you in. I won't detail my personal musings further, since it is beyond the scope of it anyhow. Have a mini-update as consolation:

The best part about the New Year in Japan is not only the time off, but when you get back to work, every employee offers omiyage (generally any type of souvenir, but in this case, snacks) from their respective hometowns. I've sampled many delicate flavors, from shrimp-cakes to rich chocolate - and not only from Japan, but Europe and the United States as well.

This reminds me of another oddity of observation: the holy trinity of flavor in Japan. I about wept with joy at seeing (in my local deli, no less!) some of the most surprising additions to otherwise "normal" foods combined into one edible treat. In case you never heard, Japan has an affinity for certain extras on food - unscrupulously added to just about anything. Some examples that stand out to me the most are corn (flavored snacks, or as a pizza topping) and mayonnaise (topping for salads, fried foods, in rice balls). Advertised in the deli was a tuna-flavored bread roll with corn and mayo toppings. .......wow.

No, I didn't try it.

電車アホ子

Today I write from Himeji, quite far away from where I awoke this morning. I was able to finally visit Ganryujima and complete the last of my pre-planned sightseeing. The serenity the island deserves was unsurprisingly compromised by the modern Japan surroundings - many tall cranes and warehouses lined the cement coasts of Kyushu and Honshu. There was enough greenery on the island itself, and I found it good to take pictures from low angles to capture the life-size statues of Musashi and Kojiro with only the blue sky as their backdrop. There was a wooden boat left on the rocky shore with a length of timber like the one that Musashi fashioned into a weapon prior to the duel.

The remainder of the day was spent traveling via local train along the southern coast and reading. The normal fare would have been at least 7,000 yen but using my "Youthful 18" ticket, it comes to about 2,000 per day. Of course, it takes much longer to get around, but you can do fun things like stop at Himeji and visit the castle in the morning before continuing onward. The other thing I enjoy more and more is people-watching on the train. You never really talk to them due to social convention, but it makes the environment all the safer for my hobby.

Speaking of safe, today was the first time I saw anything dramatic occur on a train. I have on occasion witnessed some "non-Japanese" (being violent, loud, cying, etc. in public) but of course completely human behavior - which can usually be attributed to Japan's relationship with alcohol. The first time I was surprised by an outburst was walking in front of the station late one weekend, when a guy who was drunk and upset about something kicked a plastic safety blockade and it shattered, loudly scattering pieces into the street. If he'd kicked anything else, I doubt it would have drawn the attention it did from everyone nearby.

Today's event was something much more frightening. On the train headed from Hiroshima, there were two young guys sitting together across the aisle from me. Another guy was squatting over the floor in front of the door to my left (in spite of available seating) and quiet for most of the trip. They all looked around 20 years old, but if you aren't covered in wrinkles, everyone in Japan does too. I was reading a book (about body language, funny enough) when the squatter gets up and walks straight over to the nearest of the two seated guys in front of me. He's leaning way into the other's personal space, looking down at him and starts speaking. You don't have to know a language intimately to tell that someone's pissed off, I only wish I could have understood it well enough to say what was on his nerve.

Suddenly, the standing guy reaches his arm back and punches hard into the wall just above the guy's head. To give him credit, the seated guy didn't flinch too much, nor did he strike back in response. The rest of the train car drops to dead silence, and a surge of adrenaline makes me lower the book from my eyes. A few very long seconds pass. The guy yells again, pulls his foot back and kicks into the bottom of the seat just between the guy's legs, making another horrible crashing sound. After receiving no response, he turns and goes back to the squat, mumbling on about them. The pair got off at the next station and the agressor at the next.

The various passengers were still in a state of shock even after everyone involved had stepped off. Nobody addressed the incident while it was happening, but I was surprised that it was so hushed afterward. It makes me wonder had a fight broken out, if they would have done anything beyond staring like deer in headlights. Most Japanese come equipped with cell-phones right out of the womb, but could they really call for the police? Maybe getting a hold of the sole conductor would have been a better bet, but he was at the other end of the train (and busy operating it)! Due to this, my guess is things could have turned ugly - especially since the victim's friend was there and he probably would have jumped in. After thinking over the various ways it could have played out, I'm thankful the guy kept his cool and was humble enough not to escalate anything. I might have tried to break them up if they began to fight, but of course I didn't want to receive a blow like that wall did; I'm also sure the cops wouldn't be too keen on seeing a foreigner involved in any kind of violence with natives...

Most interestingly, nobody seemed under the influence of alcohol. (I wonder where that guy will be in a few years?) The whole event left me unable to return to my reading, so I instead tried to think of how I could have helped to defuse the situation peacefully. Reminds me of Densha Otoko - you should read a bit about if you've never heard of it before. Perhaps anyone who knows the story will be more willing to intervene should such a situation arise before them.