Is TEPCO really to blame?

TEPCO, doing what they do best (source)

I imagine you're staring at your computer screen thinking nothing more needs to be said about TEPCO (if you are up-to-date on Japanese events). You might want to read this article, though.

In a similar by-line, I never thought I would post more about TEPCO (or want to) given my prior post: The Beast that is TEPCO. However, here I am.

It is true: TEPCO is a corrupt company, and even after a complete firing of their upper management, corruption is still in the Japanese news. And if it's in the Japanese news that means it was likely OK'ed by the government. (Is it safe to say that?)

The article I recently read was a simple one declaring that the recent indictment charges against TEPCO were dropped because TEPCO could not be held legally responsible as they "could not [have] predict[ed] the real dangers of such a massive earthquake and tsunami." The article goes on to say that the company's "failure to carry out countermeasure construction after it projected in 2008 a scenario of a huge tsunami of more than 15 meters, cannot be considered socially irresponsible behavior."

申し訳ございません. How many times can they apologize? (source)

Yes, the article was simple, but Alas! the implications were great.

The first large implication can be understood through a few analogies. Five earthquakes have occurred equal to or greater than the Tohoku earthquake in the last century (source). I know the the US plans watersheds, zoning, and planning based on at least 100 year flood plains. And that is just for a flood! A nuclear plant, in earthquake-ridden Japan, on an unprotected coast...wouldn't you think they would have to prepare for a bit more? In that situation, the plant owners should have been thricely as cautious and prepared. "Preparedness for a large-scale complex disaster was insufficient; and they were unprepared for the release of a large amount of radioactive materials into the environment" (source). What are (or were) the current standards for the protection wall (which was flooded by a long-shot)? 

In 1964, Alaskan Good Friday earthquake had a magnitude around 8.4 and spawned a 201-foot (67-meter) tsunami in the Valdez Inlet (source). Of course this was a rogue wave with the perfect circumstances, but that happened in the last 50 years. Furthermore, that wasn't the biggest tsunami by a long-shot.

Japan even birthed the word Tsunami! - 津波 (source)

The other great implication is that it is likely TEPCO was only admitted it's negligence when the government forced them—and sometimes the apologies were decades late. Why would a company apologize out of the blue if they had thought their misbehavior went undetected? That's just it. I'm sure the government knew a lot more about the TEPCO follies (essentially having them by the balls). So, when TEPCO didn't cooperate with the government (maybe even in terms of bribes), the government tells TEPCO to admit to past incidents. (Is it safe to guess that?) Also, there are countless other times that TEPCO has hidden illegal incidents. Look for yourself...I'm not even going to try to cover it here.

So who really is to blame? Sure, TEPCO is a backwards company. Even after the mandated upper-level restructuring (to put it politely) TEPCO continued to be the naughty little boy it always was. Covering radiation-reading equipment with lead? Come on. But there are scumbag companies in every country. America is not one to point fingers. The real question is: Who watches TEPCO? Might I suggest: the Japanese government?

I'm afraid this 1987 epic comic by Alan Moore beat me to the punch.

Yeah, definitely the government. And the Japanese citizens, the 大人しい bunch that they are have mostly rebuilt their homes and lives—most without pointing fingers or theorizing the point of the chain-of-command that may have been a little negligent (to say the least). Besides the few local residents and activists that had filed the criminal complaint against Kan and his ministers (two years after the events) and a handful of other smaller organizations looking for justice, there isn't much Japanese activity surrounding the event that has had a devastating impact on the domestic agriculture, economy, food-supply, power-supply, and general health as well as global effects (some still unforeseen).

Freakonomics and Sumo Wrestling

The Birth of Sumo Dude - a nod to Botticelli

It's almost two years now since the Sumo match-fixing scandal went public. Remember that? A winning wrestler would offer another a victory just so to keep his higher title (and higher-bracket paycheck). This was happening often. In fact, according to Levitt from Freakonomics, there was a 75 percent chance a 7-7 (wins/losses) Sumo wrestler would win against an 8-6 wrestler in a tournament. This means that every time the opportunity appeared for a 7-7 wrestler to lose, not advance in the tournament, and lose money, that wrestler won 75 percent of the time. So, that's like a 50 percent chance of cheating, huh?

The word 八百長, or yaochou, is the Japanese word for "match-fixing". The kanji literally translate to "800 leaders". Hmm, I don't get it. But that often happens when you're learning Japanese.

Prior to the big press stink, often a related skirmish would surface concerning some foreign Sumo wrestler. The truth is though, "the Japanese-born seemed to be just as corrupt as the foreigners" according to the statistics (source). I guess when someone got wind of the cheating, everyone tried to use the foreigner as the scapegoat. Oh, Japan.

This isn't just a problem of xenophobia either. The Japanese media is very conservative and likes to protect the country's image. Here's another clip from Freakonomics:

The moral of the story: go watch Freakonomics and check out their blog.

Nintendo woodblock prints (part 2) and video

Illustrator Jed Henry, discussed earlier, is making some progress with his work re-imagining Nintendo characters as woodblock prints. I mentioned the complexity of creating one finished piece of work from this method. Each block of wood is carved in a different way to stamp a different color onto the finished product. Scroll to the video at the bottom to see Jed working on just one of the 11 colors in his Mario Kart piece.

Kirby - the finished piece

Pokemon - check out the guy that burnt his hand

Star Fox - Star Fox used to be a bunch of "3D" planes with crappy color (it has come a long way)

Here is the video of Jed Henry in action. Do you think you could make it through 11 woodblock carvings just to add color to one finished product?

Here is the finished Mario Kart piece from the video:

Thanks to Buzzfeed for the update.

A battle version of Sudoku for iPhone and Facebook

There's a new application on iPhone and Facebook allowing two people to battle over a game of Sudoku at the same time. This beats the current tradition of one person holding a pencil while the other one tells them they've made a mistake.

The new application, called Challenger Sudoku, became available for the iPhone last December and has just recently gone live on Facebook. The game requires friends to challenge (or be challenged by) friends to a game of Sudoku and allows them to play head-to-head in real time.

As you solve each row or main square (consisting of nine single squares) the field highlights in your home color of blue. If your opponent solves a field first, the field becomes red.There are also various bonuses along the way, even one for the first to 777 points. Making mistakes will also take points away and transfer them to your opponents score. With the real-time spinoff, Challenger Sudoku can be very unnerving, especially if you are watching the puzzle light up red as someone solves it faster than you.

Through winning against opponents of your level or higher, you can raise your own level from Student, Senpai, Sensei, Grandmaster, and, highest of all, Sudoku Samurai. These aren't levels you can just relax at, though. If you lose too much or remain inactive you will drop a level.

If you ask a native Japanese speaker to play "Sudoku", you'll likely get an odd stare. In Japan, they generally refer to Sudoku as nampure (short for "number place"). In fact, the game was only recently titled Sudoku by a Japanese game company and later becoming an game of international popularity in 2005 (source). The Japanese had most likely appropriated it from the French, who apparently have had a thing for number puzzles.

Well, anyone up for a challenge?

Japlish Friday - Sorry We're Open

This English is so bad it teeters on the edge of an ironically funny t-shirt, or even a fashionable one. If you can't read the smaller writing between the two Indian hands, it says "YOU ARE WELCOME".

"Sorry, we're open, you are welcome." The fact that this is printed on a shirt and displayed in the shop window on what seems to be in or close to the center of a shopping district (see: pedestrian traffic, brick pavers) seals this as a definite product of Japan. And by "product", I mean it is birthed of Japanese culture.

In no way do I say this out of spite or ill-will. In fact, I have come to fully embrace Japan's loose usage of English to the point that this horrible mash-up of an incorrect sign and an English phrase book preliminary makes me reminisce of my time in Japan. That fact that these two phrases are probably one of the first few phrases a foreigner in the the US would learn, this shirt almost becomes かわいい, or "cute", in the Japanese sense. For these reasons, I would wear the crap out of this shirt.

If you have any qualms with my hypothesis that this is indeed a Japanese location, refer to the store banner in the reflection that in clear katakana says コンタクトレンズ, or "contact lens".

Update: I have been informed a sign with this written on it is in the US, too. I'm not sure which came first, though. Anyone?

Nintendo characters as Japanese woodblock prints

Illustrator Jed Henry is in the process of making some pretty serious Japanese woodblock prints. When I say pretty serious, I mean Nintendo-serious. He is re-imagining many Nintendo characters as Japanese woodblock prints. Pretty awesomely, too.

What is a woodblock print? It's basically a piece of paper that is stamped by one or many carved woodblocks. Woodblock prints, or ukiyoe (浮世絵), are especially hard for three reasons: (1) the negative space of the image has to be carved, (2) the image will come out mirrored so it's necessary to envision the opposite, and (3) have you ever carved wood?

Maybe you've seen this woodblock print before:

"Behind the Great Wave at Kanagawa" by Katsushika Hokusai

Hokusai was a master and included Mt. Fuji in some way in 46 of his famous woodblock prints. Can you find Fuji-san in his print above? I always thought it was part of the wave...


Without further ado, Nintendo woodblock prints by illustrator Jed Henry.

Donkey Kong - notice the cherry blossoms in the foreground

Kirby - an unfinished piece

Link, from Zelda, slaying the dragon

Mario and Bowser from Mario Kart - love the squid

Megaman - love the ink... is the wolf a newer addition?

Samus Aran from Metroid - Google her and see how saucy she is without the suit

Simon Belmont from Castlevania - I always sucked at this game

Many of the guys from Street Fighter - Who can you identify?

Be sure to check out the Ukiyo-e Heroes on Facebook for upcoming debuts!

Facebook, a difficult community for many Japanese

Oh, so you thought it was a fun social site?

On April 5, 2012, a study was released assessing Japan's views on Facebook. Nearly 70% of the Japanese surveyed said Facebook gives them at least occasional stress (source). The stats are a result of 500 people ages 15 to 59 surveyed in Japan's two biggest metropolitan areas.

When asked to be more specific about the cause of stress, the most frequently given answer, with 34.3%, was due to lack of privacy when engaging in interpersonal relationships in a frank manner. The second most stressful factor, with 31.1%, was that users felt besieged by meddlesome solicitations (invitations or pitches). Third, with 27.1%, was that they felt they were put on the spot by people’s requests to become “friends” and had difficulty refusing. And fourth, with 26.5%, was that users found it annoying to receive messages or notifications from friends of friends, or other parties with whom they had no direct relationship (source).

Of course, I'm sure Americans are sometimes stressed by Facebook, but there are a lot of cultural differences in Japan that understandably make Facebook a more difficult environment. For a quick reference point: if one of my American friends complained about a friend request and whether or not they should add the person in question I would most certainly transmit the message, "Oh, grow up," in at least my facial expression and/or posture.

While Twitter is still on top, Facebook has a grip on Japanese social structures

In Japan, relationships, community and respect are much more important. Social roles are even more strict for older generations and for certain groups. While teaching an eikaiwa (English conversation class) class in Japan, I remember being irked  by the older students asking each other their class years to establish seniority. Seniority in that eikaiwa class effected everything from who got to talk first to who had to do all the grunt work for special events.

If a community English conversation class can be justifiably manipulated by the seniors of the group, you could imagine what kind of social pressures run rampant on the Japanese Facebook platform. Imagine if you felt obligated to accept a friend request from your boss and a few coworkers and now feel pressured to attend a non-mandatory work function posted on Facebook because most of them are and you don't want to seem like the bad egg. And all you wanted to do was see pictures of your friend's kids.

"I'm sorry I missed the enkai last night, but I was nursing my sick cat. Check my status updates."

In contrast, people in the US tend to not shed a tear for those that are hung up on event invitations or friend requests. I may be speaking in generalizations now but it seems the Western Facebook users are bound more by the survival of the fittest rules in which only the weak are bogged down by social stress; anyone smart enough has learned to navigate Facebook stress free.

I'm sure if the same study was done in the US, the researchers would find the following unimpressive data:

1. Most people are slightly addicted to Facebook.
2. Half of users have complained about certain users complaining on Facebook.
3. 90% of users are sick of getting Farmville requests.
4. 10% of users are sick that no one will accept their Farmville requests.
5. 45% of people are still upset about not getting a "dislike" button.
6. A third of all users are upset that you have to be friends with some people to see their photos.
7. 60% of all college users have spent over 10 hours "stalking" other users.
8. 4% are excited about Mark Zuckerberg's wedding photos.

And maybe, one or two more in-tune users might comment on Facebook's ever-shifting privacy policy. If you get my exaggerated point, the US seems to adopt a use-it-or-don't attitude (in part, because we've had it since 2004) whereas Facebook could potentially trap, coerce or exploit Japanese users for only respecting traditional social norms.

If you'd like to read more including some personal accounts, check out the article.

How to locate castles in Japan

So, where to?

Are you planning a trip to Japan? Are you wondering where to travel on your surplus of nenkyu days? Why not make a pilgrimage to the most interesting castles in Japan?

Luckily, Japanophile Daniel O'Grady has mapped many of Japan's 300 castles for us. For 11 years he has been exploring and documenting Japanese castles culminating in his Japanese Castle Explorer website.  The easy-to-navigate site includes a navigable map of Japan (above) with satellite images of each castle, most with street views.

Each castle has its own profile and many are rated in 5 areas: scale, buildings, earth/stonework, accessibility, and the surrounding area. Many of the castle profiles have a timeline of important events surrounding the castles (some castles have been burnt down or destroyed and completely rebuilt) as well as historical recognition of each castle or components. This site is basically a virtual Lonely Planet guide to Japanese castles.

Okayama Castle, nicknamed the "Crow Castle" because of its black exterior

You can browse the castles in different ways; you can explore the map in Japanese; you can peruse the 190 plus blog articles; you can even flip through castle photos by category (if your in search of something specific). Many of the castle profiles include various pictures and video walkthroughs which are informative and rather humorous. Some profiles even include pictures of ancient wartime maps.

The inner defensive enclosures, Himeji Castle

Basically, if your interest in Japan is anywhere near that of creator Daniel O'Grady, you might get lost in the site (like I get lost in Pinterest). Enjoy!

Japlish Friday - foriegn ladies who wait in the road

(photo)

This one's not so bad. I get it. No hookers. Don't bring hookers inside this place. You couldn't really disobey this sign and then say you didn't get the gist of it without looking like an ass.

This sign is probably on the outside of a Japanese love hotel. And, in this dodgy area, I'm sure the foreign hookers wait on the road to get business from drunken guys leaving bars and izakayas. Although Japan is generally a very safe, community-like place, I would be sure to steer clear of the dodgier parts of the city at night. These can be recognized by the abundance of flashy lights, crowds of young drunken people, countless bars, izakaya, and liquor stores, and the general cheap and/or suspect looking massage parlors and love hotels.

It may be interesting to note that the Japanese are usually pressed for alone time. Many young couples looking to get intimate utilize love hotels as if they were a vending machine. In fact, many of the love hotel electronic room choice boards resemble that of a vending machine.

"The Japanese Tradition - Sushi" mockumentary

Here is a comical video on eating sushi at a sushi bar. There is a lot of culture here, but, a lot of the things these comedians do are downright absurd so it might be hard for some of us to pick up on. Guess what is wrong in this video in the comments below!

Here's my favorite part:

In the case of business colleagues the lower ranking staff must pour for their superiors first. "Maa maa maa maa". You must say this when pouring a drin.k The person receiving the drink must say, "Oh toh toh toh." "Maa maa maa maa." "Oh toh toh toh." "Maa maa maa maa." "Oh toh toh toh." "Maa maa maa maa." "Oh toh toh toh."

Maa maa (まぁまぁ) means something like "Now, now" or, in this situation, "Here you go, have a lot." Otto (おっと) means something like "Oops" or, in this situation, "That's far too much." So, while the one guy pours a lot and says, "Here, drink up," the other guy is saying, "Ok. Ok. Woah. Too much!" While it is Japanese tradition to pour for others and offer lots, you might see how this over-the-top repetition and insistence is not exactly customary at a sushi restaurant—or anywhere for that matter.

Softbank and Paypal team up pushing new smartphone card reader

Masayoshi Son, richest man in Japan, with the striped tie. Make money, make money.

Softbank, a telecom and internet corporation, is teaming up with PayPal on the joint venture "PayPal Japan". The companies will each invest $12.5 million to "revolutionize digital payments in Japan" (source).

It's no surprise Hiroaki Kitano from the Softbank side will serve as the CEO of the business agreement; while revenue for PayPal is in the early billions, Softbank revenue reaches into the early trillions. Kitano is a senior vice president and director of Softbank Mobile Corp, with relevant experience from his time with Yahoo Shopping (source).

The joint venture will also push the Paypal Here credit card reader that plugs into the audio jack of a smartphone. The card reader add-on will retail for 1200 yen, or about $15. (When the card reader is released in the US, it will be free.)

After viewing the demo via the PayPal introductory page, I've become very skeptical of the whole process. I can't imagine a NYC pretzel vendor or cabbie handing the customer his smartphone to type in a tip and sign the transaction. What's stopping the $2.50 pretzel consumer from running away with a $200-$400 smartphone plus a pretzel? In Japan, I don't see this as being such a problem with such low crime rates as a result of their general family-like moral system.

Also, unless I had a special stylus signing pen, I'm pretty sure my signature on a smartphone would look like a few pixelated circles and lines. How's that going to sit with my bank that is tirelessly scanning for fraudulent charges?

Currently, Japan is a very cash-based society. I'm wondering the speed as to which something like card reader might catch on. It's strange that Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries but still largely operates outside the lines of credit.


Softbank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son hopes that in five or ten years from now, Japanese consumers won't need to carry wallets (source). As for me, I find any statement from this guy (the richest man in Japan) laughable.


The irony here is Masayoshi Son supposedly directs some of the Softbank commercials which include what are thought to be hidden messages that dishonor Japan. (Son is Korean but later naturalized as a Japanese citizen.) In a line of popular commercials, a black man has a dog for a father (which doesn't sound so crazy for a commercial plot). The black man, then, is inu no ko, which in Korea is one of the worst curse words. Given that there exists a stereotype that Koreans don't like Japanese or blacks, you may see some of the disputed evidence.

 Here another example, for obvious reasons:

When a bunch of Japanese celebrities march out of a dog's anus, it really makes you start to think...

Japanese master making a traditional bow from scratch

Doesn't this just look cool? (photo)

Sometimes I get frustrated with the painstaking efforts of Japanese artists. You might have seen one of these documentaries (the camera pans in on the light playing off a wooden shape):

Here, Osaragi-san slowly polishes the outside of his cedar bowl with his fingernail. He blows the dust away through filter paper as to not impose his own germs upon the art. He will now place the bowl outside for 5 days moving it to always face the sun. If the humidity reaches 65 percent this bowl will be abandoned and used for scrap wood. To think, the finished product is only 19 weeks away from its last shellac coat.

I jest only because this kind of art is something of which most Americans are just not capable. I don't have the patience to "perfect" anything artsy. In fact, I usually cut a lot of corners when the going gets rough and compromise my original intention selling my soul to the devil of sloth. I'm guessing the average Japanese might understand my complete indifference with such tedious perfection as well. But Japanese artists have this special capability as if it's genetic.

Master Kikunaga is simply a master in this same vein. In this video it's apparent he has this unwavering patience to create a zen-like masterpiece of a bow, or yumi. Also, more importantly, the video is pretty darn interesting (excuse the subtitles and German voice-over).

Japanese centenarians help longevity study

Dan Buettner, discovering the secrets of longevity. photo

Diets only work on two percent of any population.
Exercise routines are usually given up within 10 months.

If you're trying to live healthier, these quick fixes probably aren't working for you. Or at least that's what this guy is telling us.

To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and team study the world's "Blue Zones," communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. At TED, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100.

Buettner studied groups in Sardinia (Italy), Okinawa (Japan), as well a community in Costa Rica and Seventh-Day Adventists in California for their extraordinarily high rate of centenarians.

In Okinawa, Buettner has found that, aside from eating healthy and meshing exercise into your everyday life, the natives don't have a word for "retire". (The two years you are most susceptible to death are your first year, and your retirement.)

Instead, the Okinawan people have the word 生き甲斐, or ikigai, which roughly translates to one's reason for living, or as Buettner puts it, "the reason you wake up in the morning". When Buettner asked these Okinawan's what their ikigai was, they each could spout it instantly.

It kinda reminds me of that scene in Fight Club:


Guys, What Do You Wish You'd Done Before You Die?

It makes sense, though, that having your life goal(s) figured out would definitely add a couple years to your life. Now, what do I want to be when I grow up?

Suprisingly, "community" is among the top factors. Buettner says, "We know that isolation kills. Fifteen years ago, the average American had three good friends. We’re down to one and half right now."

The Kotatsu and other Japanese winter rituals that seem like good ideas but definitely aren't

Naked Man Festival : Japanese runners representing the feeling you will get reading this article

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The Japanese have such a multifaceted society. They are at once global and parochial, fraternal and isolating, uber-modern yet archaic. All of these features manifest in positive ways; the modernity of Japan can be summarized in their ground-breaking technologies while the archaic side reflects the wealth of their heritage accessible to many. In a large contrast, some of these facets have negative sides (cue dramatic, bleak music that plays to the end of this article).

In fact, Japan's booming technology makes a joke of their archaic heating systems. Back in Japan, I wrote a blog on Catching One's Death from the winter cold. In America, the truth is that those who don't have central heating are poor. In Japan, those with central heating are probably rich. But central heating isn't generally a coveted item for the Japanese (as for the ex-pats, it is). In fact, although many Japanese will complain about how samui (cold) it is, they are very accustomed to their thin walls, high electric bills, and walking around their house generally a little bit cold.

Also, there's the kotatsu idea. It's a table with a heater underneath and over it is draped a blanket--so you imagine sleeping under it would be a good idea. It looks so cozy! Then you wake up as if from a drug binge with a soar throat and body aches. The table is designed so that you can heat your legs the entire time you sit under it. The problem is, sitting under the table is the only time you have heat, unless you are pumping kerosene into other heaters strategically placed in your house (also requiring electricity).

The kotatsu seems like a great idea, until you want to get up. (photo)

In Japan Times, in his hilarious article entitled "A Winter's Tale: cold homes, poor lives in wealthy Japan" Gianni Simone gives an interesting anecdote about those that live in the colder northern Japanese areas like Hokkaido. He says:

According to architectural adviser Keiji Ashizawa, [...] "Only in Hokkaido is there such a thing as the Law on Cold Residences, and the Government Housing Loan Corp. gives financial assistance to homes protected against the cold. They say that people from Hokkaido catch colds when they come to [southern places like] Tokyo, because they traditionally live in houses insulated and warmed through central heating."

Now, I generally am a complainer but the ubiquitous Japanese cold really takes the cake for aggravations. I love winter, and even play sports in the cold, but sitting still in a barely-heated room is like torture. Interestingly enough, most Japanese students endure this torture every winter. I remember my feet being so cold for so long in schools that some of my toes wouldn't contract right. If that doesn't sound impressive for heating mishaps, try walking without three of your toes.

Now go read that Japan Times article.

Japanese pen spinning

16 year-old Ryuki Omura won the 2008 pen-spinning championship

Now, I've seen people spin a pen around their thumb in the US. The first time I saw it I was kind of amazed and tried it for awhile. It was kinda like the tech-deck (mini-skateboard) fad.

But, in Japan, my students were on a different echelon of pen-spinning. Students could spin a pen around a few fingers. Now that I remember it, some of my students had one of the special elongated spinning pens. I had thought they had purposely added another pen cap and, well, in my efforts to get said students to focus on English I was just simply frustrated rather than interested.

Official pen-spinning weight and size--considerably longer than normal pens

The truth is this isn't just a little fad in Japan. In fact, there are Japanese tournaments, the Pen Spinning Association of Japan and even a Pen Spinning Club at certain universities, the first rule of which is to not spin pens in class (good idea). Here's a bunch of Japanese pen spinners:

And, if you really want your minds blown (on a small pen-scale level) check a trailer for the 2011 World championships:

Is it a sport or just a silly hobby? I'll leave that decision up to you.

English Education in Japan (and Why It Doesn't Work)

English is muri.

So, rounding up two years teaching English here on an island in Hiroshima, Japan I have a few things I like to say about the failing English system in Japan. As a JET some think I will swoop in to a town and everyone will speak English fluently. Others look at the track record of English programs and how little has improved and are already guessing the fateful outcome. The problem is that there isn’t such a definitive correlation between native English teachers in Japan and “successful” students. (The quotes are there to question what success means in Japan which is based on the short-term goal of written tests scores—you can already see how the road to success has become rather complicated).

Wait, native English teachers don’t really affect the English system in Japan? Well, I’ve tried my best (and did a damn-good job) getting students enthused about English learning while pushing students to understand the absurdity of those of their classmates that are unmotivated to learn or even try in class. Also, for students that are truly motivated, I give them special attention in and out of class to reinforce their English and praise their success. Furthermore, I’ve paid special attention to phonics and native English patterns to teach such points that normally go under the radar of traditional education. But my method only goes so far in terms of molding perfect English speakers. 

Seriously though, all interests should be encouraged.

In fact, when I leave the class and when the student goes home that day and for the whole week (or two) I don’t see that student he is flooded with the Japanese language and usually only English that has undergone the 5 vowel-sound transformation of Japanese. So when I teach “How is the weather today?” the students are learning by environmental reinforcement to change it to “Hau isu za weza- tude-?” One teacher can only influence so much. Imagine if outside of Japanese class, students had no one from which to learn or hear native Japanese. Then everyone would realize how little class actually does to reinforce the subject. How much trigonometry or chemistry do you actually remember? Not much if you’re not currently in a field related to one of those subjects. 

Wait, there are plenty of opportunities to learn English outside of the classroom:

In my opinion Japanese is taught rather poorly in Japan. Sure, it’s enough. And sure, there are Japanese intellects birthed from this system that excel in grammar, seem to know every kanji and are specializing in archaic Japanese. These students are exceptions which occur with no help from said educational system. Well then, why can everybody speak Japanese in Japan? It’s pretty obvious that considering a student’s family and community already speak fluent Japanese that each student has constant reinforcement of a subject that is under-taught and overestimated. Again, it’s enough, and even not-so-bright students pop out of the system with fair language skills. Evidence of this is in dialects like Hiroshima-ben which aren’t exactly cool dialects (considering old people love using it) but some people can’t stop using a dialect which their community and family has taught them.

The other reason a native English teacher in Japan has no weight in the educational system of Japan is that a lot of times their suggestions (and gripes) go unheard. Case in point: I talk with my team-teaching teacher about next year’s text book. I suggest choice E even though it is a little challenging because A and B (the normal choices teach in a way I think would confuse the students, while choice C is way too difficult, and D has grammatical errors (come on, you can’t start a sentence with “and”…and you’re teaching this to 7^th graders?). So even though I have influence my team-teaching teacher, and her in-depth report makes it to the principal, there seems to be an interruption before the recommendation hits the Board of Education (which further elucidated the excess of Japanese paperwork that gets stamped and goes overlooked).

Good luck to all you new JETs!

What happened to my good intentions? I spent nearly a full day reading through textbooks A to E and made intellectual recommendations based on my two years working in Japan. Maybe the B textbook company has given the BOE a can’t-be-beaten offer for their 2011-2012 set (which hasn’t changed much since the previous year). Or maybe they just stuffed some money in their pockets. The truth is the BOE has little connection to actual schools even though they make all the final decisions concerning education. So, even though there are continual gripes about education such as the lack of focus on English speech, the focus remains on writing and nothing can be changed. (Our students need good test scores, you know.) When I push a little I am met with such responses as, "The problem is that English is just really difficult." What they have neglected to say is, "English is a language just like Japanese. So it's reasonable that we teach them in the same rote methods."  Yappari. 

Ramen in America

Bon appétit! - photo

America, freshman year of college, 2003. This was my first experience with ramen. You know, the cheap brick of noodles you can buy in economy packs. I remember the high-sodium seasoning packets, stepping on dropped and forgotten noodle bits, and dorm room arguments about whether ramen was meant to be a soup or a pasta dish. I even remember ramen bargains dropping somewhere around 15 cents an individual package! My understanding of ramen has come a long way since then.

Ramen is basically a Japanese noodle dish appropriated from Chinese hand-pulled noodles (hence its katakana/loan word writing (ラーメン). Its original name, "shina soba", was actually an ethnic slur. That's a good change, good change. Ramen as we know it today was first produced by Nissin Food Products who still have the majority of the market at 40 percent. Ramen was especially popularized in Japan after WWII with the influx of cheap flour from the US and the subsequent return of Japanese soldiers from East Asia countries with a taste for the noodles.  

Normal ramen in Japan. Whaddya think, 15 bucks or so? 110? photo

In Japanese ramen restaurants it isn’t uncommon for a quality bowl of the noodles/soup to run somewhere between 10 and 20 dollars. An average bowl includes bean sprouts, green onions and a few slices of pork. The list of uncommon ingredients is infinite, spanning from hard-boiled egg halves to fish cakes to cheese and curry. The most expensive bowl of ramen tops at about $110 a bowl in Tokyo at Fujimaki Gekijo which consists of 20 different ingredients (the actual noodles being free).

Of course, Japan has the square blocks like Maruchan and Top Ramen as well as cheaper $3-a-bowl restaurants. But you can see how some things have been appropriated and/or lost in translation. Peering back stateside, there is actually a big community of people who invent new recipes with ramen. Imagine: the ramen burger, ramen spaghetti, ramen pizza, ramen hotdogs, etc. Yeah, that definitely sounds like the good ol’ US of A. I'm not sure I'd hop on this bandwagon though, considering that most packets of ramen come close to (or exceed) the recommended dietary allowance of sodium in a day. Yikes.

If you're still interested in the starchy dish, peruse this endless blog of "official" ramen news, miscellany and DIY recipes.

The Japanese: Cute and Physically Fit

Here are some super-genki pre-schoolers. photo

This time of year happens to be the time for Sports Festivals at most (if not, all) schools in Japan. (It really irks me that an outdoor sporting event like the Japanese Sports Festival would happen to coincide with the beginning of the rainy season. But that's another topic.) So, when I say "all schools", I mean all schools from high school on down to nursery schools. Everyone spends about a month practicing strange events. (If you're a little lost now, please refer to my Undokai Article—if only for the pictures...)

Every Friday I travel to one of my farther elementary schools to teach English.There is a nursery school right across the street. From where I sit in the teacher's office, I can hear when all the little nursery kids are outside playing. Now, you may or may not know that I love kids, especially the little ones. I gush over the new first graders that when given a chance to ask me any question can't seem to form a complete sentence or ask a real question. It goes something like this:

Teacher - Okay kids, now you can ask Mr. Dan anything you want. What food does he like? What's his favorite color? Let's find out!
Me - Ummm, you! (pointing to one of the serious-yet-seriously-interested face kids).
1st Grader - What's your favorite bug?
Me - Hmm, I like butterflies and ants! Okay, next...you!
Next 1st Grader - (stands up, pushes his chair in) I go to English class on Wednesdays.
Me - Oh really?
Teacher - That's not a question. Nice try. Remember, ask Dan-sensei a question.
Me - Ok, you, in the back!
Another 1st Grader - This morning, I woke up and my dog was barking at the. (sits down with blank expression)
Teacher - That doesn't make any sense. We can understand what you are trying to say. Okay, hmm... Kotaro, ask Dan a question.
Kotaro - Do you like bugs?

I guess my problem here is with the teacher. Either that or the confines of my job. I just wanna lay down on the floor and help these kids build a block castle while they tell me about their barking dogs.

This kind of conveys my feelings.

But this scene is very low on the adorable scale when compared to nursery school kids participating in Sports Day. They have their little reversible red or white hats on. They march like dandy little soldiers with their arms swinging higher than their heads. There's always a few kids that are either just too young or they forget everyone is watching them so they tend to drift off into la-la land and/or pick their nose. This is especially funny when the gun sounds for a race and one kid is left standing at the starting line until the teacher scrambles out on the field and gives him or her a push in the right direction. And that's not to mention when the kids finally does start running it becomes obvious he hasn't exactly fine-tuned his motor skills yet and is still about 5 years off from understanding the concept of "dork". So, his strides are way too high and wasteful while his small arms (ending in plump fists) pump in strange directions.

I could just squeeze that kids cheeks till they split open. Out of love, of course.

So, every Friday, sitting in the teacher's room, I can here those little romper-stompers lining up for the pre-Sports Day stretch. Now, it may be important to know that Japanese schools seem to be underfunded, and nursery schools seem to be in an even worse position financially. You can tell this by the Dumbo-like character statues planted in the playground right next to jungle-gym equipment that make John Travolta (circa Saturday Night Fever) seem like someone from I-Robot. This school also has a fantastic metal slide from the second floor balcony all the way to a sandbox in the playground. (I haven't seen this used, though, so I'm guessing it was outlawed along with lawn darts and the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab which included uranium ore).

So, of course, their warm-up/stretching song is this little gem called "Hoto Poppo" maybe from the 1950s or 60s. Please, indulge in this throwback, and imagine it blaring at unsafe sound levels out of scratchy speakers.

Pigeon Coo Coo

(roughly translated)

Coo, Coo Coo
Pigeon coo, coo
If you like beans
Come down
Let’s eat altogether

Coo, Coo Coo
Pigeon coo, coo
If the beans are delicious
Eat one and fly away

You might not have noticed, but everyone is laughing because these brave actors are mimicking little preschool kids. Now imagine that song with these kids:

Now what's funny about warm ups like this is that it's not just cute little grade-schoolers and toddlers doing these stretches. In fact, they're quite common in the Japanese workplace. Here, a bunch of construction/factory workers (?) warm up with their work belts on.

And this next clip is of the business man variety with the most popular "Radio Calisthenics" which used to be broadcast every morning (it might still be).

 Go Go Japan! Stay Genki! Let's healthy body! This concludes the Japanese lesson. Bow. Thank you.