December 27, 2004
Shock.
It's hard to believe things like this can actually happen.
And all I can do is give them my money.
I hope Alanna is all right.
Posted by Ben at 12:01 PM | Comments (1)
December 26, 2004
"The Amish Problem"
Legal Affairs has a truly heartbreaking article on rape and incest in the Amish community.
From a legal standpoint the solution is obvious (more active policing and prosecution of these communities), but from a social one (preserving the traditional lifestyle) the answer is less clear. I need to read more about these kinds of communities before I'll really know what to think, but it is a difficult problem.
Posted by Ben at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)
Pre-Comiket Purchases
Quite a big haul from Kyoto today in the manga department:
Yokohama Kaidaishi Kikou Vol. 1
Ichigo Mashomaro Vol. 1
NieA_7 Vol. 2 (w00t)
Genshiken Vol. 3
and
Rule by Range Murata, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment-- it's more pictures of merchandise than art (except for a short manga by him and ABe in the back starring the Pinky:St characters he designed).
By the way, Karl, if you're reading this, Pinky:Cos has been discontinued. But I'll keep my eyes open at Comiket.
Posted by Ben at 07:28 AM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2004
Gaaaaah!
I fell down some stairs and sprained my ankle and now I have to keep telling everyone "I'm OK, I'm OK" every five seconds even though it hurts like A MOTHER!
Not too swollen though. Probably be better in a few days. But HOLY CRAP does it hurt!
Other than that, there's finally a used
English-language bookstore in Kyoto! It's at Kawabata Marutamachi and it's called Green E Books. I'm going to see if I can go while I'm here, it sounds really nice.
Posted by Ben at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2004
Those Crazy Reporters
Just got back from the Ryukyu Shimpo office where I spoke to an editor (Hiromori Maedomari) about economic stuff, received a copy of his book and a few other useful pieces of prefectural- or newspaper-published material. His arguments mostly centered around practical matters -- he told me it's too late for the Free Trade Zone ("Now that the WTO is all over the place it'd be like subsidizing tuna bait for a fished-out lake") -- and we talked for a while about how deeply the bases are engrained in the economy and how removing them suddenly would be like "pulling your own spine out." With his metaphors it was like listening to a live editorial.
Also met, briefly, an executive vice president (Ken Miki), and they invited me to a party (Maedomari-san: "There will lots of Okinawan BIPPU [Japanese pronunciation of VIPs] there!") later on tonight. So now I'm trying to read this newspaper so I'll have something to talk about. Eesh.
Tomorrow I return to Kyoto after eight months away. I can't wait.
Posted by Ben at 01:41 AM | Comments (2)
December 21, 2004
So far, so good...
And as if today wasn't already exciting enough, I just found out I've made it to the interview round of Princeton-in-Asia. "The hard part" is Jan. 14 and 15. Note to self: dig through closet for necktie.
Posted by Ben at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)
Ben's Important Day (Plus Goat and Pig's Feet!)
Today was full to the brim. Caught a bus to Koza to meet Tomiyama-san and Tomon-giin again and we headed up to Henoko (near Nago) to the protest against the transfer of the Futenma base to a platform built across 3.5 km of reef. This was the climax of the candlelight vigil from yesterday (which was in both papers today but alas, they went with a picture of cute kids with candles over me). I spoke to (or rather was spoken to by) Oshiro-san, a former Communist Party activist who seemed the angriest of the people I spoke to. He gripped me by the sholders and said, "So you're here to see what your government is doing? Well, look closely at what America wants to do to this place!" As we walked away from the platform toward the mooring his voice reverberated, not just in my mind but also over the speakers. Even out on the water, a little later, I could still occasionally hear his speeches jutting out from the shore.
Out near the boats I talked some more to several more people (wow am I glad for my iPod voice recorder because holy crap did my lack of Japanese fluency smack me in the face-- it was all I could do to keep up and ask questions that had some relation to what had just been said) including two eighty-five year old grandfathers who lived through the war and are now out several times a week to protect the ocean that had been their livlihood when they were younger. The first man went on at length and with great passion about wanting to preserve this place for his grandchildren and for the fishermen who still make their living here. He told me (ordered me) to write about it and make sure the Americans know, because "right now Americans are welcome here and can come here, but if the military keeps doing things like this and trying to destroy our lives, then Americans will be hated. Write about this. Make sure Americans know." I felt overwhelmingly young.
Then he said, "Can I ask you one question? Just one?"
"Of course," I said.
"Don't get upset. Just one question."
"Go ahead." Of course at this point I was prepared for the worst: "How do you sleep at night knowing your government is gradually killing the world's inheritance?" or something like that. It was all I could do to keep from trembling.
"How many times do you look in the mirror every day?"
I was so startled I had to ask him to repeat the question. "Once or twice, I guess."
"And what do you think when you look in the mirror?"
Here comes the guilt trip, I thought. "Um, it's usually really early in the morning so since I'm not awake yet I don't really think anything."
"You should thank your mother and father in your mind for your charming" (that word was in English) "face." And he broke out into a big smile. "No, you are a very handsome boy. You should be very grateful. You even have dimples! Dimples are very cute!"
Everyone started to laugh.
As I was called away he said, "Promise me! Promise me you'll thank your mother and father when you look in the mirror from now on."
I promised. So now I have something to think when I look in the mirror in the morning!
Finally, I was able to go out on the water with Tomiyama-san and two city councillors from Nago and Gushikawa. Not only were there several boats out on the water with banners, but there were people sitting on platforms to keep the construction from proceeding. They waved. (You can see the current marine base in the background of that picture). It was really stunning to see firsthand how large the planned construction would be. The platform people shouted at the fisherman who took us out and told him to take us around the whole construction area, but over and over he said, "Mou ii," "I'm done," and took us back. We were the last group of the day and he'd already been out five or six times.
There were a few gaijin there, and I talked for a while to the executive director of Greenpeace Japan, who shared my opinion that they'll probably never get this thing built.
Then I was interviewed by NHK for the 6:10 news, and I'm told they used my voice but didn't show my face, which worries me-- I'm sure people thought, "Geez, that guy's Japanese is awful!"
On the way back we stopped at the platform, where a seated musician (whom Tomiyama-san tells me is famous in Okinawa) was singing his signature song, a very, very sad one with lyrics weaved in against war, etc. When that was over and he stated concluding his performance, Tomiyama-san said, "Now he's going to play something happy and everyone will dance. In Okinawa, no matter how bad things are, we don't like to send people home sad."
And sure enough, he started playing an upbeat, funny song, and just as Tomiyama-san said, lots of people got up to dance.
Suddenly the jii-san's "one question" to me made more sense.
Tomiyama-san and Nantoko-san and one other man whose name I've unfortunately already forgotten then took me to see the place where the army is building a new practice range, which is eroding the mountainside and turning the ocean a crimson red. Even the current governor, Inamine, is against it, but they're doing it anyway.
Whenever we entered a new city Tomiyama-san told me a new story about the "incident" that had happened there. It seems every place here has had its history stained somehow by the bases. Kin was where the girl was raped in '95. In Kadena in the 60s a plane crashed into an elementary school during class and killed most of the children. In Nagato, of course, a helicopter crashed into the University last month (fortunately class was not in session). She told me more stories than I could remember.
Kadena airbase, which basically takes up most of the room in Kadena city. The runway was clearly visible from an overlook set up for that purpose and it really brought home to me how much these constant take-offs and landings must mess up people's lives. At least ten aircraft took off or landed while we were standing there.
After that was FEASTING. Holy mackeral. Or rather, holy beef sandwich, doughnut-like things, crepes ("popo"), hechima (a gourd-like vegetable) with ham, pig's feet (disgusting), goat meat (not disgusting, though the soup was pretty... new), and ice cream (at Chatan, a big mall district built on land taken back from the Kadena base that looked eerily Southern California-ey). And lots of tea. And they gave me mikan to take home. I thought I would burst.
Conversation ranged from different animal sounds in different languages (which is always a good place to start if the conversation's lost you, I've found)-- in Okinawa cats say "Maya" -- to other Okinawan expressions -- if they're to be believed (and I'm not sure they are, Nantoko-san and his friend kinda struck me as a pair of Okinawan Bill Holmeses) "hubba hubba" means "hurry up" -- to drinking water after eating ice cream -- Tomiyama-san does it and I don't, which led us all to conclude that it must be a general cultural difference between Americans and Okinawans; I did mention that I drink water after potato chips (Tomiyama-san didn't) and it was thus universally decided that my next project should be on "Potato Chip Culture in America and Okinawa."
They sent me home happy.
In my room again, sitting on the bed, a little overwhelmed, it came to me that I've spent the last three years lamenting the fact that I've never had a chance in my life to do anything that I've felt is really important (I know, that's dumb, but there it is). Well, it occurred to me, this is it. This is my first "Really Important Thing." If I can make Americans aware of all that's happening and everything that's being done in their names to these wonderful people who've suffered so much already, I can make A Difference.
I've got a lot of work to do.
Posted by Ben at 08:45 AM | Comments (4)
December 20, 2004
Lift-off!
Today I finally met Tomon Mitsuko, a Shaminto representative from Okinawa in the Japanese House of Representatives.
We've been playing phone tag (which is hard when one side doesn't have a phone) since last week, but finally I got through to her secretary, Tomiyama-san, from Koza, where I'd gone to an English bookstore to pick up a copy of this, and it turned out Tomon-giin lived about eight blocks away and was going to drive into Naha about fifteen minutes later and would I mind talking to her in the car on the way? No, I wouldn't mind at all, of course, and I set about walking the longer-than-anticipated route and worrying about the fact that I wasn't prepared, didn't have a pencil and on top of that happened to be wearing this today. Yow.
Tomon-san didn't seem to care. She talked and talked and made me very happy to have my iPod voice recorder. She's very bright and incredibly kind. In Naha I joined her at the candlelight vigil against the Henoko relocation project. I even marched around the block with her, though it occurred to me people might be confused to see a gaijin marching behind the Socialist Party banner.
Anyway, Tomon-san is putting me in touch directly with loads of people (not only Gov. Ota, but also Profs. Nakachi and Shimabukuro at Ryukyu University and Yamashiro Sei, a prefectural official who should know quite a bit about my topic), so it's going to be a busy next few days. I also met Yamauchi-san, Gov. Ota's treasurer.
Everyone was so supportive. I only hope I can make an impact and give something back to them someday.
Posted by Ben at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)
December 19, 2004
Karl = CRAZAY.
For he is doing a commentary on the new Sealab DVD. Dude.
Posted by Ben at 08:46 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Crazy Latin Okinawa Music GO!
Last night I went to the 大琉球祭り王国 (The Great Ryukyu Festival Kingdom!) in Ginowan. Though the evening show was sold out I managed to get in on the waiting list. In line I was surprised to find that most of the people around me were in fact from Okinawa and not from the mainland, which is I suppose what I was expecting having passed so many tour buses on the way in. I figured out why soon enough. The first act was essentially a much-better-produced (serious) Okinawan version of the show from Waiting for Guffman. It was amazing, and told the story/legend of a local castle lord from Katsuren-gusuku (which is where all the kids were from). It started with two junior high girls wandering into the castle grounds at night-- one gets frightened and wants to leave, and the apparition of some king and his attendant (?), Henza Hattori (who was played by this SUPER-genki high schooler and was by far the most fun character in the show) come and explain the story of Lord Amawari, the famous aji (feudal lord) of the castle who dies tragically through unavoidable circumstances despite his undying loyalty and kindness (of course). The ending has the girl realizing that she shouldn't be afraid of the castle ruins because the castle protected her ancestors for generations.
There were extremely dramatic musical numbers extolling the virtue of this lord in loud rock opera fashion and legions of barefooted dancers representing the Shuri army and a whole bunch of other guys. The costumes varied a bit in quality and I could just picture their moms sitting at home painting the tomoe onto their black cloaks the week before. It was really great.
At the end during the bows the star thanked the audience and he and everyone on stage started to cry, genuinely and really for quite a long time. It was so wonderful to see what this experience must have meant to them.
I had a very nice conversation with the ladies at the booth after the show, who explained that all the performers were middle schoolers and high schoolers from Katsuren and that they put on this show at the Convention Center every year.
After that, heard Ikeda Suguru, a singer/shamisen player with two backup instrumentalists. Apparantly he's from a VERY small town on Iriomote-jima (which is itself pretty small) and he played up the furusato natsukashisa for all it was worth. Interesting point: he took an impromptu survey of the audience, asking everyone from Okinawa-ken to clap, and he was visibly startled by how many natives were there. He then asked the mainlanders to clap. It was interesting to see how I was not even a conceivable demographic for his performance. Granted, though, I must've been one of maybe ten gaijin there at most.
After him was Diamantes, a Latin Okinawan rock group (I'm not kidding). I didn't want to be rude, but after about thirty seconds I just had to plug my ears. The concrete floor was vibrating, for heaven's sake. The music itself was wonderfully bizarre, but I finally couldn't stand it anymore and left, which was lucky because I got to the bus stop two minutes before the last bus back to Naha. Someone's looking out for me.
On the way back I spotted an A&W drive-in restaurant. Yes, DRIVE-IN. With a big mural of a blonde waitress on rollar-skates. This place is such a cultural Twilight Zone.
Today I spent sitting at the Starbucks (see, Dad? You can come here! They have a Fred Refilling Station!) trying to read the book of collected public opinion surveys I had taken pictures of with my digital camera at the Kokusaidai library. Interesting factoid: with the exception of the "Nixon Shock"/reversion period from 1971-1974 Okinawans have, since at least 1966, agreed that the self-defense forces are necessary, though that doesn't mean they like having their bases on the island. Seriously, sometimes it seems like the more information I have the harder my project gets to write. That's just wrong, isn't it?
Posted by Ben at 07:06 AM | Comments (1)
I bought a shirt!
Posted by Ben at 06:37 AM | Comments (1)
December 18, 2004
At Shuri Castle v2.0
Wednesday:
Shuri Castle was the seat of the Ryukyu government until either 1609, 1873 or 1879, depending on your point of view. We destroyed it along with most of everything else in the Battle of Okinawa.
This didn't really sink in until, going into the castle, I overheard a tourist guide pointing at a dragon-shaped spring and explaining, that stupid smile still plastered on her face, that this tiny statue was the only piece of the original castle to survive the destruction.
Later, the museum impressed that fact into me even more deeply. The Ryukyuan "Ogoe" were elaborate portraits of the kings, a chronicle of the royal line that went on for centuries. They were all destroyed, and what now hangs in the museum are black-and-white copies taken from plates made before the war. In ninety days (and in the following dislocation of the population) we wiped six hundred years or more of history off the face of the earth, forever.
The rest of the castle was rebuilt as the economy recovered.
The sinks in the bathroom were a hoot.
I had some very nice conversations with the guides, who were dressed in what I assume was traditional costume. They seemed startled but not unhappy to find someone actually interested in the castle itself amongst all the tittering high schoolers. There are so many here. It seems like every school in Japan takes its class trip to Okinawa. I don't know yet how to feel about that, though Matthew Allen helped a bit.
Posted by Ben at 08:58 AM | Comments (4)
December 17, 2004
Here I am in Naha, Okinawa. Arrived Tuesday, and the flight that morning from Haneda was the closest I've almost missed a plane ever. I lost some time somewhere (I still can't figure out where) and arrived at Minowa station at 5:40 AM for a 6:50 flight. Fortunately I made an excellent connection at Ningyocho and managed to get to the airport at 6:30. RAN up the escalator and through the lobby (which is not easy with three bags) and breathlessly handed them my credit card. They pushed my ticket back at me and I RAN to the plane, where someone was waiting to grab my luggage and shove me on. It occurred to me after I was seated (in the front row-- woohoo leg space) that no one had ever checked my passport or any form of ID at all other than my credit card. This sure ain't the states.
Takeoff was like a commercial for the airline. We rose into the sky and lifted above the first thin layer of clouds to a lovely view of Tokyo Bay and then lifted above another layer of clouds to watch the sunrise shine down on Mt. Fuji.
When I arrived I had lunch at A&W (BECAUSE IT WAS THERE) and wandered around for two hours looking for the hostel. By the time I arrived I was totally exhausted, and I think I reached some sort of psychic limit because I just kind of wandered around the city in a daze for the rest of the day.
Wednesday went to the Prefectural Museum. It was small but good. They were actually renovating about a third of it so on my way out I spontaneously offered to edit the translations of the displays if they needed help with that. I told them I was writing a thesis on Okinawa and blah blah blah and left my contact info. I don't think I freaked them out but I'm not very good at perceiving when I'm freaking someone out and when I'm not. Even when everyone speaks English.
Next was Shuri Castle (or at least the reconstruction; the US destroyed the original), which was very cool and I have tons of pictures. I'll post about it later.
Yesterday I took the snail bus to Itoman for the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, which was stunning and fantastic and I'll post about that later too.
Today was Okinawa International University library, which Jess Berlow (the KCJSer Fulbright scholar) recommended to me for research. So I researched and researched and oh boy did I research. Reading Japanese is VERY, VERY hard. You'd think I'd get tired of realizing that over and over, but every time I try to read a book in Japanese it hits me all over again.
Ate some very tasty donburi at a place across the street from the University called Restaurant Makishima. Everything on the menu was ¥350. Wish we had that at Northwestern.
Now I'm back in the Internet cafe in Naha, taking care of business. Man I hope the program takes my receipts for all this stuff.
Posted by Ben at 06:20 AM | Comments (4)
December 12, 2004
It ain't Christmas yet, dammit!
Yesterday woke up wonderfully late. The sky was overcast and it rained off an on all day, a total contrast to the day before.
Headed over to St. Mary's Cathedral in Edogawabashi for 12 pm Mass. The church is at the top of a winding hill in a riverside residential neighborhood. I would never have thought I was in the middle of Tokyo.
The cathedral itself was stunning. It drew me in and focused me completely. Very sparse and effective. I'd never seen anything like it.
After wondering why I couldn't understand anything the priest was saying for a few sentences I looked down at my hymnal and realized the Mass was in Korean. Which was too bad, but it meant I could meditate in the church, which was fine.
It also meant I could write poetry.
Homily
Speaks eternity
Stretches luxuriously
Tones drift, so do I...
Good God, if this Word is yours,
Couldn't you have been a little more concise?
Yeah, that about sums up my emotional arc over those thirty-five minutes.
After the Mass I thanked the priest. It looked like they were setting up for a wedding next.
Then I wandered down to the river. The park on the riverside was a perfect place to walk in the afterglow.
Decided to go down to Odaiba and spend some time reading. Had lunch at Kua Aina, that burger place I'd been to with my mom last year (remember?). Very satisfying. Wandered around in the shallowness until I couldn't stand another nonsensical English-language Christmas song.
Headed back to Ginza for dinner. Kyushu Jangara Ramen. Tasty! On the way back I saw what may be the most hideous dresses ever.
Ended the day by returning to Odaiba to see Howl's Moving Castle. It wasn't one of Miyazaki's absolute best (very, very sappy) but it was still fun.
This morning finally got around to Tsukiji Fish Market at 5:15 am. Every five seconds I felt like I was going to be run over by a forklift or a motorized cart or an zealous old person. Crazy huge fish!
Now off to the library for some actual, um, work.
Posted by Ben at 07:56 PM | Comments (3)
December 11, 2004
Pictures!
Clicky to see a selection of pictures from yesterday.
The National Museum
Benten-do across the pond, Ueno Park.
Synchronized seagulls in Ueno Park.
Shibuya. No comment.
Posted by Ben at 06:04 PM | Comments (2)
Now, from Tokyo
Woke up bright and (kinda) early and headed off to the National Museum, two Metro stops away, which apparantly is no longer free on the second Saturday of every month. At least University students are only 130 yen. Interesting things seen there included:
A sculpture called "Mountain Peak" (参上) depicting a man looking up.
Swords from the 10th century that were still 100% unrusted and SHARP. Those things must have taken forever to make.
A Kamakura-era sculpture, Seated Monk Yuiken, which I will find a picture of and post here.
Then Akihabara to buy an adapter and two copies of this, one for me and one for Karl. I ended up accusing the guy before me in line of counterfeiting because I didn't know about the new 1000 yen bill style. Oops.
The National Diet Library is so cool. It's not a library in the traditional sense. You get one of those EPROM cards to enter and then stick it in at a computer console, pull up the catalog record and then fill out a request form... and the book comes on a conveyor belt from HYPERSPACE and your card number pops up and you pick it up. CRAZY.
After the library closed, went to Tower Records and bought the new Susumu Hirasawa (Kaku P-Model) CD and wandered around Shibuya for a while.
Ben spent 1390 yen on food today. BOOYAW!
240: "Breakfast" at Lawson's (Chou cream and salmon onigiri)
650: Tendon at a salaryman joint near Ueno.
500: Dinner at McDonald's. They had a new croquette burger so I couldn't resist. Unfortunately it turned out to be way overly mayonnaisey. The cabbage was also infinitely inferior.
Posted by Ben at 07:00 AM | Comments (1)
December 08, 2004
Hirasawa's new project
It's called Kaku P-MODEL, based off the first group he was ever a part of, and there's a sample song here. I am told it is to be referred to as "glitch punk pop." All I know is I love it.
Posted by Ben at 02:16 AM | Comments (1)
December 07, 2004
The beginning!
This is to make sure I'm doing this right. Huzzah!
Posted by Ben at 07:36 PM | Comments (3)