my life in japan

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I wish I had more time for this blog. Hopefully in the future, I will. 

I got stopped on my bicycle for the first time today. I was out in the middle of no where, literally nothing around me but rice fields; but it was a wide road with an even wider sidewalk. A patrol car pulled into the sidewalk in front of me and the doors opened. Rather than give chase, I stopped and let them chat with me.

The first thing they wanted was the ID card that all foreigners must carry at all times. I kept my arms relaxed and didn't say anything, trying to remember what it is I'm supposed to do when this happens. Finally, I just politely asked, "what's the problem?"

They were speaking really fast, and I had no problem following what they were saying, but there's absolutely no way I can get down what they said verbatim. I'll note they were very polite and in a phony sort of way downright obsequious. But they kept asking for my foreign ID card. They asked if I had it.

I told them, of course I had it, but I didn't reach for it. They were asking questions about one a second. I just told them, "I haven't done anything wrong."

They started going at again, so I said, "look, I understand you are doing your job. And there's some policy that you are supposed to carry out, right? But basically, you saw I had white skin, so you pulled me over. I know it's not your fault, but whatever the policy is, it isn't good. That's not a good way to do things." [That's not precisely what I said, but it's close enough.]

They told me it had nothing to do with me having white skin, and that it was a spot check as there have been lots of bicycle robberies recently, and I just happened to be the person going by at the moment. (They had scoped me out actually and followed me from a different street. What they were saying was disingenuous at best, how'd they know I wasn't Japanese? There probably have been bicycle robberies recently. That's a constant state of affairs. It's a given they weren't stopping anyone Japanese.)

Anyway, as I was playing offense, they got defensive. They asked how long I'd lived in Japan. I told them 15 years. They asked if I had a permanent visa, I told them yes. They thanked me for speaking Japanese, assured me I hadn't been stopped for being a foreigner, apologized for bothering me and left. I never bothered to show them my card. I guess, speaking Japanese was enough to demonstrate my innocence. Whatever. It's wrong what they did.

Arudou Debito has a lot of useful information up at his web site about what to do in a situation like this. However, I can't ever remember the details, nor did I ever expect to be stopped as I don't live in a big city. I guess it's time to start paying attention.

I was basically going to tell them I will comply with the law, but first please tell me which law it is that allows them to stop and question me and ask for my card. If they couldn't answer, I was just going to stand there till they went away or they handcuffed me and put me in the patrol card. It never got that far. I'm happy for that.

I saw this in the news this morning, Cameron's next movie could be about Hiroshima:

After Pandora, director James Cameron's next film could be about a new book that follows a handful of Japanese who were lucky – or unlucky – enough to survive both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.

Charles Pellegrino, author of The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, said the survivors' shocking story could make it to the big screen in 3-D. It is the result of lengthy research, including extensive interviews with the survivors and those who dropped the weapons towards the end of the Second World War.

He and Avatar director Cameron met one such person, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, not long before he died earlier this month aged 93, and Pellegrino believes it is their duty to commit his story to film. "Mr Yamaguchi called us to him, literally to hold hands with him and gave us each this assignment [of making the movie]," he said.

This is rather interesting, but I have mixed feelings about it. There has been more than one movie that has covered this in Japan. I don't have anything specific in mind, but usually around the time of the anniversary there are both movies and animation that deal with the topic on TV in Japan, just like Moses used to always be shown on TV in America before Easter.

When I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum many years ago, there were very young elementary children outside being instructed to draw pictures that gave their impression of the museum. There were a lot of really grotesque pictures based on recreations that they had seen in the museum. These children will probably never be taken to a museum in China and shown what Japanese did while they were there, and then subsequently asked to draw pictures about it. (Think about it, should Japanese children be asked to draw pictures of comfort women being raped or people being massacred in Nanking?)

In the museum the actual articles, like melted bicycles and so, just looked old to me, and not particularly terrible or impressive. There were several wax figures that showed people with skin peeling off of them and so on. There were videos of interviews and footage taken after the explosion.

When I left the museum there was by chance a reporter there doing a story for the local NHK affiliate in Hiroshima. I was asked what I thought about the atomic bombing. You know, sort of standing there in the middle of a bunch of young kids drawing gruesome pictures of what America had done to Japan. I was well aware of the various controversies and different viewpoint surrounding the bombing, but had never studied the issue carefully. I didn't want to commit to any particular viewpoint. So I deferred and said all war is bad, and we should all strive to avoid it. It was a pretty evasive and weak answer, but I was told I'd be on the news at 6:00.

One thing that strikes me is to what degree many individuals view these issues through a nationalistic lens. Through a nationalistic lens we all remember the sins committed against us by them, but those committed by us against them are quickly forgotten (or explained away -- justified). If we view these happenings through the lens of individualism, very quickly the blame falls on the institution of the state itself. Nationalism and nationhood great games to be waged by those who should know better. Maybe some day we'll learn.

From Seattle Times, Japanese superstar Utada Hikaru finds her way in the U.S.:

Q: Would it have been different if you had started your music career in the states instead?

A: I don't think I would be anywhere near where I am if started in the states. I can't imagine what I would be like, or where my music would have gone. ... There aren't as many genre boundaries in Japan ... so I have complete freedom in what music I make, without worrying about if this is going to be on urban radio stations, or Top 40 radio stations.

Knowing nothing about the music industry, I find this a rather fascinating comment. Is it true I wonder?

Okay, riddle solved. For years now I've noticed something in many public restrooms called Picoeye. (Pronounced a bit like peek-o-eye.) It's a device attached to the ceiling that looks like this:

I understand the "eye" part alright, but the "pico" I thought could be either "peek" or "picture". I thought that there were actually people putting security cameras in public restrooms. However, finally I looked it up on the Internet, and as it turns out, it is a fire alarm, sensitive enough to pick up the strike of a single match.

So if you are in the rest room in Japan and see one of these rest assured that pictures of you doing whatever you are doing aren't being capture by at least *this* specific device. One less thing to worry about ...

This blog is not that active, and I didn't think it would be a problem for me to switch off the comment moderation as I have a good spam filter but ...

Having done so, I got one comment that read, "Japs are weird." I regard this as pretty offensive, and will delete any comments that contain racial slurs from now on.

Another commenter said under my post about aimai: "I would say that most Japanese are incredibly thin-skinned,... that they have a low opinion of humanity, and that the main aim of life is to not make mistakes, rather than to succeed."

You know what? People actually say things like that. When I talk with other foreigners in Japan I've heard those who talk like this. So does that mean that I will accept it in this blog as a comment? No. This comment will be deleted along with any similar comments in the future. Comments like this are too broad to be very useful, and could easily cause harm. People need to attempt to talk in specifics when saying things like this.

I was rereading my post on aimai, and it occurred to me that potentially its intent could have been misinterpreted. I have put a small message into the post to explain my intent, and will update that entry when I have time. I will also be more careful from now on.

Also, I have put up some temporary rules for posting comments here. I regret I had not put up any rules prior to this.

I will consider putting moderation back on if I continue getting comments like this. I will delete any comments from now on that I consider inappropriate. I will also look into other options for this blog. I really do want to encourage discussion here ... so I will be thinking about this.

All this hassle for a blog that isn't even updated that often ...

I'm wondering if this article, Tokyo man marries video game character, has any real purpose at all. The article gives the details about a man who marries a video character, then from this draws the conclusion (via the hand selected expert) that ultimately:

"There are many others who can't express themselves like Sal can, and those are the cases we worry about," says Ashizaki. What's important to note, Ashizaki says, is that Sal is a representative of many of Japan's young gamers. "Today's Japanese youth can't express their true feelings in reality. They can only do it in the virtual world," Ashizaki said. "It's the reverse of reality that they can only talk about what they feel to a friend in the virtual world."

Supposedly it is the strange antics of the main character in the story that help us make this realization. However, the person in question is obviously extremely social. He actually held a wedding for this event and a lot of his friends came and were entertained. So this was all just for fun, clearly. And guess what, the expert even notes this:

... what is healthy about Sal is that he can communicate with people enough to do an interview on CNN and webcast a half-serious wedding, Ashizaki said.

Right, and again many people showed up for his wedding as is seen in this youtube video, by the weird Japan expert, Lisa Katayama:

I suppose I should also note that even in English, this guy's comments were tongue in cheek. So I guess his actions were just an excuse to make some psycho-babble about Japan and the Japanese that might appeal to CNN's viewership. And the fact that the report is actually misleading doesn't matter? I reminded of all those CNN alerts I got over the Tiger Woods issue and when Michael Jackson died ...

You might actually accept the claims made by CNN's expert, and think that as this silly piece attracts attention to that issue, everything is fine, actually. I would say that his remarks could potentially apply to anyone on this planet who uses the Internet; just look at Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. So to the extent that the experts remarks might actually have some truth, it is not a truth unique to just Japan.

If you've an opinion please state it below.

 I have removed the requirement that comments need to be a approved. The current spam filter seems to be doing a good job, so I should have done this a long time ago. Sorry about delays in sending through comments previously.

I am currently working on more than one project that is not relevant to this blog, so posting will be sparse for now. If you'd like to connect with me via facebook, you can do so here (but please mention this blog). I look forward to when I can post more about anarchy and Japan. 

I've been commenting here and there on the Savoie case in Japan, where the father is now in jail under suspicion of having abducted his own children. I hadn't seen it as useful to comment here because there were so many other people commenting about it, it seemed superfluous. But I've gotten some specific questions from someone, so here are my answers for those who have an interest.

I saw your posting on Community in Japan...for a guy into philosophy I am surprised at your post....

Hm. So if I'm into philosophy, I should know better. Okay. That's cute.

... of course the Savoie case is beneficial to all. It has clearly brought to light Japans backwards Family Law System and inequity in "justice" But it is a difficult situation with Chris Savoie. We are stuck on this one. It has the most media coverage to date, but has issues. And all divorces have issues. There is no pretty divorce.

"There is no pretty divorce." I would have thought the same. But actually reading this at mutant frog changed my mind. I guess just like most of us aren't murderers or thieves, most divorces aren't so bad. Perhaps we need the law most when things break down ...

Here's the deal... None of us has any desire to condemn a fellow American who is facing the same level of hopeless desperation, as each one of us have faced since the first day we understood the reality of the Japanese policy on this issue. But Chris was intending to break the law in Japan, and was intending to do something that would be against the law here in the US. Abduction or re-abduction is wrong.

Okay, you're straddling the fence here between what's moral and what's legal. Think about it. That's basically what the whole book_A Time to Kill_ is about, right?

If I had to decide about the morality in this case, that is who should be with the children and how much, I tremble because it's a vast murky swamp.

However my main point is this. The mother of the children had entered into very detailed legal proceedings in America. In the context of these proceedings she undoubtedly agreed to many very specific things, probably under oath. To the degree that no one coerced or physically *forced* her to make these commitments she should be obligated to fulfill them. Despite that, the state of Japan is actually *protecting* her from having to fulfill these agreements. Why is that appropriate?

The father's actions are legally questionable to say the least. However, they do serve to highlight that the state of Japan is protecting the mother from fulfilling her own agreements. His actions highlight what I stated above. In a lawless situation, people behave unlawfully.

Put this in your philosphy-check machine...If we are to take a principled and objective stand against Japan on our issue, we cant be seen to CONDONE what Chris did.

I'm not necessarily into this *we* thing unless you can define it more specifically. I have mixed feelings about what Chris did. Ultimately, I don't know him, his children, his ex-wife, his new wife, nor all their combined life experiences. So I can't really condone or condemn him. I can merely point out that if there was a legal way to pursue this issue, people would be less inclined to do stupid or desperate things. His actions certainly highlight that.

We totally understand his feelings and empathize with him entirely. My heart goes out to him entirely. This thing has to end up focused on how far out of sync Japan is with the rest of the major industrialized societies of our world on social justice, family law, children and human rights, and a whole host of other facets. AND NOT focused on us allowing Chris a free pass to break the law, even though we would like to give him one. We cant have it both ways. Its a bitter pill, but we all must take it.

I'm not at all sure he broke the law. I guess if he physically harmed his ex-wife, then that's a serious issue. However, I'm not even clear on if he was divorced in Japan. If you're at the playground and your children refuse to come home, so finally, you pick them up and carry them to the car, are you "abducting" them from the playground? What if you wife wants them to play some more? How terribly confusing.

Who knows what's really correctly legal here? That's just the problem. Japan doesn't have any structure in place for dealing with this problem.

From JapanToday, Number of citizens residing in Japan rises for 2nd straight year:

The total number of citizens residing in Japan now stands at 127,076,183, up 10,005 from a year earlier, when calculated based on the number of citizens listed on basic resident registers nationwide, the ministry’s data showed. Japan saw more deaths than births, translating into a net drop of 45,914, but the decline was offset by factors including an increase in the number of Japanese people returning from overseas.

Of course, the front page of the Nikkei Shimbun today had a different headline, it read something like "Biggest natural decline in Japan's population ever ....."

A population drop purely in and of itself is not necessarily a problem for any economy. However, in the case where you have several government programs that are totally underfunded and dependent on the future collection of taxes, combined with an increasingly old society, you begin to have a serious problem. This could be an argument for all kinds of things:

1. Balanced budgets

2. No government pension funds (a bit late for that ... but maybe in the future?)

3. The need for immigration.

My personal feelings are that allowing immigrants into your country so they can pay for your older citizens pension funds via tax collection is a bit ... I don't know ... it doesn't really seem right to me, and I question whether that really works to solve the problem.

Anyway, I'd like to see more immigrants in Japan, that's for sure. The more there are the less lonely I feel. I say let them in because there's work to do, and people who want to pay them to do it. (Of course, right now the situation might not be exactly that good, but nevertheless the point is the same.)