History Lessons

I always loved the first day of school. My favorite part of the day was receiving crisp, new, clean textbooks. I love the smell of a brand new book. I always associate this scent with the beginning of an adventure. We trust textbooks to provide information -- after all, we expect to learn the truth in school, right? The ongoing controversy concerning evolution in American science textbooks is not news. But as far as I'm concerned, this debate doesn't affect our daily lives too much -- the belief may shape our world view but, ultimately, life began the way it began, regardless of what we believe. But what if debates about our history textbooks -- from which we glean perceptions of our world that do affect our daily behavior -- were as highly politicized?

Well guess where that debate is vitriolic? Since you're reading this blog, you can probably make a very educated guess! I did a research project on Japan's "rekishi mondai" (history problem) last year. The more I learned about it, hte more important it became to me. This isn't just a matter of lying -- or, at best, telling half-truths to generations of young people. It's also a matter of foreign policy.

The issue is this: in the build-up to World War II, Japan's weak and ineffective parliamentary democracy (some things don't change!) was violently overthrown by the Japanese army. In order to secure raw materials for the country's rapid militarization, and in an attempt to demonstrate its parity with imperialist Western countries, Japan bestowed the beneficence of its rule on China, Korea, Manchuria, and Southeast Asia, euphemistically dubbed the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japanese, like any conquering nation, were not especialy honorable during the process. In particular, the Rape of Nanjing and comfort women are issues familiar to most people. Unless you're Japanese.

Here's the thing about these textbooks: in order to be published they must be approved by the central government. The government, then, controls both public and private school curricula. The Ministry of Education has the right to "recommend" changes. New textbooks are written and approved every couple of years; the list of revisions is usually made public. And every cycle, there are protests in China and Korea (never mind the anti-Japanese bias in their texts.) That's because the Ministry, in the interest of freedom of speech, always approves at least one book that denies the atrocities committed in World War II happened in the first place. Not only does this bolster anti-Japanese sentiment amongst its neighbors, but it reinforces amongst Japanese people the opinion that Koreans and Chinese are, as a rule, unreasonable and bitter. These tensions have very real impacts on East Asian relations.

I brought the topic up with my host mom once, and all she had to say was, "It couldn't be helped; it was a war." I'm pretty sure using live civilians for bayonet practice or cutting pregnant women open for jollies are not wartime necessities, but I'm equally sure that most Japanese people don't know that such things occurred. In fact, it is this defense that textbooks used to exonerate the grandparents and great-grandparents of today's students: most civilians didn't know it was going on, and anyway army officers are evil. I found in my research that the language in Japanese history textbooks tend to use the passive voice, removing agency from enlisted soldiers and, effectively, individuals in general. In fact, some sentences conveniently leave out subjects altogether, creating the effect of attaching blame to no one.

Conservatives claim that by talking about these issues, young people will no longer be proud of their country. It will be interesting to see what will happen now that the comparatively liberal Democratic Party of Japan is in charge, but these extremists are still active and powerful. Even the National Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, which is devoted to preserving the memory of a different atrocity, disputes, as most history textbooks do, China's estimates as to how many were killed in the Rape of Nanjing.




Lest you become smug, America is not free of such problems. As an article in the January/February Washington Monthly illustrates, it might not be long until we have to fight for the sanctity of our history textbooks. Texts are approved by the state, not the federal government. As such, publishes tend to slant their texts to the standards and tastes of the states with the largest market shares. Since California is a bit short on cash, this means that Texas, whose Board of Ed has recently been taken over by a bloc of extremists conservatives, gets to call the shots. If they have their way, Joe McCarthy will be remembered as an honest if ruthless defender of American values, and the impact of MLK and popular movements in general will be significantly downplayed.

We don't have to look far to see what will happen if they actually succeed -- all we have to do is hop across the Pacific. History education is pretty much non-existent in Japan -- none of my Japanese peers could answer basic questions about anything after the Meiji Restoration in 1868. (It should be noted, then, that general history education ends at around the point of Westernization, which spurred Japan's imperialist ambitions to begin with.) When history is reduced to a series of facts to be memorized and forgotten, its impact is lost upon us. If we want to improve the world, we have to know why it's in the shape it is today, and for that we have to look at least as far back as 1868. We have to confront the less pleasant aspects of our national narratives, because we have as much power to chose our history as we do in deciding when and where we are born.

A lot of people in the US -- educators and students alike -- see history education as Essay Writing 101 with some vaguely interesting content thrown into the mix. But that's simply not the case. When taught correct, when the contributions of all people who make history (i.e., you and me) are accounted for, history classes can call us to action. History teaches us how to shape the future.

Repatriation

Happy New Year! (Or akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!)

I apologize for not writing for the past -- what, five weeks? After I finished my foreign policy paper, there was only two weeks left in the semester. Considering it consumed my soul for an entire month, I didn't feel like doing anything I didn't have to, especially since the Japanese 400 professors, in their infinite wisdom, decided to give us one test every day for the last week of class. (Seriously, did they stop to think about their curriculum plan at least once? Maybe a little? For ten seconds?)

Anyway, between all of that, packing, "studying" for finals (which actually meant playing pachinko and visiting finally going to the Higashiyama zoo), and sleeping for the entire first week of vacation, I haven't had much time or inclination to post. But there are still a few reflections I have yet to post, and you'll see those in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure as I continue to absorb the last semester I'll have more to share.

I was expecting to experience some kind of violent culture shock as soon as I got home, but really all I got was a violent stomach ache from all of the cheese and grease I hadn't been eating for the past four months. However, here are some things I've noticed.

I sat next to two sweet middle-aged ladies (who insisted on referring to themselves as obaa-san or grandma). Unfortunately, I was in the window seat, so any time I wanted to get up they had to get up as well. The first time I climbed over them, which they thought was the funniest thing. When I came back, they basically said, "You can step over us again! Isn't it funny?" I believe this was hour six of the flight, and it was then that I realized that I had been treated like a pet for the past four months. Why is seeing Europeans speak Japanese [i]still[/i] a novelty after 400 years of contact? Where else would an adult (me, ostensibly) be asked to inconvenience herself because two old ladies thought it was hilarious to watch me struggle? And in what other country would they be so nice about it?

The customs agents (at least at the gate) were extremely rude and pissed off. A lot of them clearly had not been born in the States, so it seemed a bit unfair to me for them to be so grouchy with all of the folks who had just gotten off a 14-hour flight and probably would have had trouble understanding them even if they were awake. It was at this point that I realized that it's actually pretty neat that we have immigrants working in jobs like that. Sure, it's because most Americans don't actually want to do the work, but at least in this country there are still opportunities for people whose first language is not English. Unless you teach English or run your own "ethnic" restaurant, if you don't speak Japanese in Japan you're pretty much hosed. As for grumpy custom agents, it turned out everyone else in the airport was helpful and polite.

Something else I realized was that I was much more uncomfortable with the lack of a tipping culture than I thought I was. Also, I didn't think the way one treats people in the service industry in general was so different until I got back. It's nice chatting with waiters or cab drivers or whoever. People in America talk to each other so [i]casually[/i]. I appreciate it, because it really does mean that you recognize the inherent equality of the person you're talking to: it's a mutual acknowledgment that he or she has feelings and a purpose beyond his or her job and should be treated accordingly, even if all you're doing is to tell him or her to get outta the fuckin' street.

We talk about the decline of the American empire, but the fact is our culture really is vibrant and dynamic in its own right. Even as America's real power wanes, our cultural influence (or soft power, which we've never really concentrated on) will continue to be strong for quite some time. Considering what's been floating around in popular culture recently, do you think that's a positive thing?

Addendum

Just wanted to make something clear -- I didn't mean to make my post about my host family gripe-y. They're very good people and I have a lot of respect for them. They're about as hard-working as anybody. I really admire my host mom's energy -- not only is she working two jobs, she's also running the house. We have a good time joking around; she's really a jovial person.

As for my host sister, after I finished this post and went downstairs to hang out, she offered to show me her own blog. I haven't had a chance to read it yet -- I'm curious to see what she has to write about. I gave her some of the Whoppers mom sent me and she loved them, so I'll definitely send her a care package when I get back.

I'll miss them when I come home for sure, and I hope to keep in touch for a while.

My host family!

First order of business: GUNDAM CONDOMS.



And my PJs. On to our regularly scheduled topic. However, I think condoms and discussing my host family are tangentially related. (I'll let you connect the dots on that one!)

So I realized I've gone about three months without talking about my host family. There are a couple of reasons for the delay (see below.) We went on an overnight trip to a town called Magome in Gifu province. Like most Japanese tourist spots, it was a town that was kind of vaguely important a couple of hundred years ago. It's been restored to look the way it did "traditionally". Interestingly, "traditionally" tends to mean during the Meiji Restoration, which was only 200 years ago.





I believe I win the award for hottest host dad. Which is a prize in and of itself. I'm not sure why Nodoka (who just turned fourteen) looks so pissed off in those pictures, especially since she's largely responsible for the dark circles under my eyes (and if you can't see them in those pictures, you will be seeing them when I get home.)

As can be expected after living with a bunch of strangers for four months, these people are pretty damned interesting.

My host dad is a paramedic (he was very insistent on making sure I knew off the bat that he wasn't a salary man.) He occasionally rides a BMW motorcycle, but usually he bikes to work, so I've never seen him in his uniform. A couple of weeks ago he had some kind of training meeting at the local hospital, so he had to wear a suit, fortunately for the rest of the world. The man can wear a damn suit. If it had been Armani, he would've given Obama a run for his money. He's also one of the more intellectual people I've met here -- and he chose not to go to college. Coincidence? You tell me. I think he was a crazy mo-fo when he was younger, though -- he told me once that he used to play pachinko (it's like slots, but more confusing) when he was younger. He was also on his high school rugby team (baller alert!) He grew up in Nagoya, but he's told me several times that he would prefer living in the country. (People living in Nagoya who wish they weren't? There ought to be a frickin' support group, and it would probably be the size of the entire city.) He and I probably get along the best. He can't speak English well but he has a huge vocabulary (in that sense, he complements my host mom pretty well.)

I was worried that I'd get stuck with some asshole of a host dad who was maybe around on the weekends and took his wife's hard work for granted. Well, the guy has been on at least four week-long vacations since I've gotten here, and he usually has Mondays and Tuesdays off. For a while he'd make dinner when it was his day off, but lately my host mom's been taking care of that whenever he happens to get home. I'm not sure how much housework he does, but I've seen him help wash the dogs. He and my host mom talk to each other as if they're actually equals, which is a big contrast from the host family I stayed with in high school. They used super-polite language with each other, even though it was obvious that they still adored each other. My current host parents are a lot more reserved.

You can see that my host dad has a retro '40s style going on. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop at his clothes (which I would describe as Dustbowl Farmer -- this style is pretty popular amongst guys here.) He's apparently a World War II buff. And since wearing a Rising Sun in East Asia is kind of akin to wearing a swastika anywhere else he...has clothing with swastikas? I first discovered this when I opened his cell phone to explain to my host mom how Japanese and American phones are different (he was in the bath) and was confronted with an actor playing Hitler. I felt myself turn white. My host mom insists that he only likes German culture. He also has a camo baseball hat with a swastika and a totenkopf. I mentioned that in America and German, the Nazi swastika means that you generally want to kill Jews and blacks (they know I'm Jewish.) He apologized really off-handedly and I haven't seen the hat since. The creepy thing is that there's a factory somewhere in China or Indonesia that's churning out thousands of these things, and there are people out there who actually are neo-Nazis buying them.

I mean, I totally get why anyone would think Nazis are cool. Thanks, Christian Dior, for making the worst people in history the best-dressed. (I mean, look at the jacket my host dad is wearing.) Also, a flipped swastika is a Buddhist symbol, so I guess I can see where the misunderstanding would come from. I don't think that my host dad is a neo-Nazi, but for a while things were extremely uncomfortable from my end, which is why I didn't talk about the fam in my first few posts. There have been a couple of awkward moments since the Hatgate, but at this point time is so short I'm willing to let them slide.

My host sister, Nodoka, is fourteen. That should some it up well enough. She's a complete otaku (and not in a good way.) My host dad and I were trying to explain the meaning of the word to her (it also means "house"), and I had to bite my tongue so hard not to say, "You know, like what you do." She's a really good artist and wants to be a mangaka. She wants to go to a design high school and/or college, but mom and dad aren't fully behind it. (She also needs to get a damn good score on the high school placement test, and school isn't exactly her strong point.) She can be really sweet when she wants to be, but usually she's just surly and pissed off from school. She's also starting to test her boundaries, which my parents seem to be responding to by pretending it'll stop soon. She also listens to her music really, really loud until really, really late and then sets her alarm for really, really early and doesn't turn it off until it's been going for a really, really long time. And these walls are thin. Fortunately, I got permission from her to come in and turn the radio and/or clock off if she's asleep. But for a while there I thought I was going to punch through the wall.

My host mom's probably the most interesting piece of the puzzle. I talk to her the most but I'm don't really know what she's like, simply because she does the whole Japanese-wife-put-your-best-face-forward thing. She's a manager at a local coffee shop (they only serve lunch) and works as an English tutor at a conversation school. The kids she works with range from pre-school to high school. In other words, she's extremely busy. She follows a sect of Buddhism where the reward for doing good deeds is ensuring your place, your ancestors', and your descendants' place in Heaven. One time she went to a Wednesday night service and when Nodoka asked where she was, my host dad said very dryly, "She's praying for the world's happiness." I can't tell if he thinks it's a crock of shit or not, but for some reason I found his answer hilarious. Since she and my host dad both work on the weekends, we usually don't do too much together (the trip to Magome was a big deal.)

I don't have a curfew and I live within a half-hour's walk of campus. As long as I get to a nearby train station before midnight my host mom will pick me up. Other than that whole sympathizing with genocidal maniacs thing we get along pretty well. I'll miss them (and keep in touch), but I'm also looking forward to getting back to my real family. Only two more weeks!

Wacky Wednesdays!

Forget the weekend -- everyone at CJS looks forward to Wednesdays. Everyone gets out at 11:00, and there are no more classes for the rest of the day. Today I went to Osu, which is the "young" area of town. Lots of shlocky clothing and ridiculous shops. Today's results?

I am currently listening to a band called Bullshit. The picture of the band on the disc showed them all wearing cowboy hats and snarling. It was only 500 yen, so I figured, why not?

If you've ever heard the Pixies' "Silver", the entire CD pretty much sounds like that -- punk rock with a country backbeat and steel guitar solos. It wasn't what I was expecting, but for 500 yen I'll take it. A single by a more popular band in that store cost 800. PS - one of the songs totally sounds like "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything".

Before I left for Japan my grandfather gave me a nice chunk of money to buy a kimono. I bought a yukata (the outer layer) in Kyoto and bought the obi (sash) and tie for it today...for significantly less than what I was given (score!)

We also went to a nearby doujinshi shop. Doujinshi is independently produced manga; they're usually about popular anime, manga, or movies. Copyright infringement? Absolutely. Also, the stories are usually "slash" (same-sex erotic pairings.) At Mandarake there was a large selection -- even RPS (Real Person Slash) -- Viggo Mortensen and Sean Bean, anyone? I got a Boromir/Aragorn manga. I also got some souvenirs for a certain Harry Potter fan and a certain Mario fan.

When I asked for the Harry Potter section, the clerk smiled at me in a "Oh -- of course you'd look for Harry Potter" kind of way. Later, when I asked her if there was a section for Disney or Mario, the conversation went like this:

"My friend likes this stuff, so...do you have any Disney or Nintendo characters?"
"Nintendo?!"
"He doesn't like it as porn! I just think it'd be a good joke."
"Oh...well...I think we have some Super Smash stuff this way."

I also found something called "Girls Only" in the "by-and-for-girls girl on girl" section. This was my mistaken thought process: "Well, if it's made by women, it can't be as horrendous as the regular stuff. Might as well give it a go."

After I paid for the book, I joined my friends who were still browsing. I opened the shopping bag and paged through the book (most books in Japan are shrink-wrapped) -- and immediately began to dry-heave. I handed the book to one of my friends. When they were ready to check out, one of my friends realized she had misplaced the manga she wanted, so she want back and got a different copy. As we were leaving, my bag set off the barcode detector.

So not only was I feeling mildly disgusted with myself for buying raunchy, raunchy hentai, but now I had to explain that I wasn't a shoplifter, since saying I accidentally put my friend's book in my bag by mistake. Fortunately, they believed me eventually. Anyways, I'm thinking it's best if I don't go back to Mandarake, but I recommend it if you're into doujinshi or laughing. Or narsty hentai.

As for the book, I "read" it when I got home. I thought I'd give you guys a play-by-play as a joke, but it's actually not funny. At all. It seems to me that the Japanese view sex as an icky but necessary thing (I wish I knew why -- they love eating nato and that shit is like eating baked beans and jizz). So most depicitons of sex in porn (regardless of who's involved) looks a) painful, b) really goopy, and c) is usually against someone's will.

Here's the first story in the anthology: a manager at a tennis club has a crush on one of the tennis players. The tennis player is sleeping with her coach, but when she finds out the coach is also sleeping with one of his other students, she gets pissed. The next scene shows the manager hanging out in the locker room.

Here's how this would go if it were an American story (Mom, Dad, don't think too hard about how I know this): A) manager walks in on tennis player crying, "kisses" her tears away; B) tennis player confesses love to manager, since she realized she's not that into dudes anyway or C) manager comes on to player. They have rough sex on the locker room floor. Maybe with a tennis racket.

Here's how it actually ends: turns out manager masturbates with the tennis player's racket and clothing when she's not around. Tennis player walks in on her and begins to spank her with the racket, then forces the racket into places where manager was putting it anyway. In the end, tennis player becomes manager's BDSM dom.

The next story was even more bizarre.

It's not like the majority of these were necessarily disturbing, it just begs the question: why? Seriously -- who thinks of this stuff?

Guess I'll go back to that Aragorn/Boromir slash.

Circles

Again with the circles. I once met a kid whose grand unifying theory of life was that instead of reincarnation, we constantly travel in an orbit. These orbits intersect with other peoples' and when we feel deja vu, it's because we are remembering that instant from a previous orbit. It may sound silly now, but it was pretty impressive when I was 11. This past weekend IES led a trip to Kyoto. I went to some of the places on our itinerary back in high school; I was looking forward to going back. I know that [i]they[/i] hadn't changed, but Lord knows I have.



Here's a picture I took of Kintakuji in high school. The fall foliage hasn't really come out yet, so the place doesn't look so different. Except this last time it was a mob scene.

And here's us in front of Kiyomizudera:



I miss that t-shirt; there's a hole in the armpit and I believe a bleach stain on the side. I guess I could still rock it with that jacket, though. Except the jacket feels to small now. (Doesn't that sound profound?)

So let's see...at the time, I had a massive crush on a fellow named Aram, I knew I was going to go to U Chicago, and I still liked anime. If Cowboy Mouths Voodoo Shoppe hadn't come out by then, it did shortly thereafter. I had also just discovered this band called The Refreshments. Since Tessa, Christina, and I were the only girls on the trip, we were in close quarters pretty much the whole time, and by Kyoto we were starting to lose it.

Now? Well, I can't explain that whole having crushes on guys thing, but I do know why I was so angry and scared all of the time. Part of me misses having that ball of spleen in my stomach that drove me forward, but mostly I'm glad I've calmed down. In college I've managed to make some excellent friends (hopefully they're reading this!), really advance my Japanese (I managed to get myself to a hospital and explain my symptoms -- couldn't do that in high school!); I've come out and I've helped run one of the biggest and most important clubs at Haverford. And my GPA isn't too shabby either. For some reason I've had a giant collapse in self-confidence (maybe I never had it, and the aforementioned spleen covered it up). It'd be nice if I could regain that by graduation, but I'm slowly picking up the pieces. There's no question I've matured a lot over the semester.

There were a bunch of bizarre deja vu moments -- random shops or buildings along the Kamo River (the main river in Kyoto) that I had seen four years ago. At Kiyomizu-dera, I made a point of buying green tea ice cream from the same place I had bought it the first time.

As I left Kintakuji (and remembered leaving it four years before), I wondered what I had been thinking back then. At the time, I knew I was going to study abroad here. But now? I know I want to come back to Japan, but I'll only have so much money and time -- especially as a grad student/teacher. Also, there are so many places to go in the world, and other than Canada this is the only foreign country I've been to so far -- not to mention there are so many places within the states I want to go to.

I'm not so sure if life is a circle, like my friend thought. Maybe it's more like a Moebius strip; certainly we can see how the present overlaps the past, but the future is still twisted. Either way, it's a single unit, and there's no question in my mind that the beginning and the end connect.

Fall Break: Pt. 2 -- Better than before!

Side comment: I ATE FISH SPINE YESTERDAY.

Moving forward.

So much for catching up on sleep over break.

We took the local train to Nara, which is to the south of Nagoya. (For only 1700 yen it was definitely a deal.) The train took us through the real boonies of Japan -- despite how crappy the towns looked (endless rice paddies, abandoned factories) it was nice to see that Japan isn't some kind of Stepford country.

Nara was the terminus of the silk road in Japan and was the capital of the country back in the 790s. Here's an example of how wealthy the city was:

That pagoda was RESTORED in 1719.

As you can see, the weather was not too fantastic when we got there. Shortly after this picture was taken (and on our way to Toudaiji, the most famous temple in Nara) it basically pissed rain. Since we hadn't expected to check in to our hostel 'til 9, all of our stuff got wet.


Nara is also famous for its deer. As in Miyajima, since deer are considered messengers of the gods (Princess Mononoke, anyone?) they're allowed to roam the city (they mostly stick to the touristy parts, though, since that's where the deer food dealers tend to hang out.) Here's one fellow waiting for food in the rain:


Unfortunately, by the time we got to Toudaiji, it was closed. We checked into the hostel early and dried off. The only other foreigner staying there was a Canadian named Mike who spoke about two words of Japanese, so we invited him to dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant.

The next day we got up bright and early to see Toudaiji. The temple is massive, which is good since it needs to house a gigantic Buddha statue. Here's his hand:


Most of the important shrines in the city are lumped together in a large park. We spent our only full day in the city walking through the park. We also climbed Mt. Wakakusa. It only looked like a small hill from the bottom.


This is not a trick of the camera; the hill is actually that steep.

In one of the shrines we had visited earlier, I befriended some middle-schoolers (we taught each other the word for "maple tree" -- or momoji). They were from Osaka, which is known for the yakuza (Japanese mafia) and cheap goods (connection?) Osaka has a special dialect; it's basically the equivalent of a Bronx accent. They taught me "nan de ane?!" which basically translates into "Hey! What the fuck?"

While we were climbing the trail we ran into those kids again. They saw me first and called out, "Hey! Hey! Nan de ane?!"

The ensuing conversation was basically this:

"What the fuck?"
"What the fuck?!"
"What the FUCK?!"
"What the fuck!"

Living proof that not all Japanese middle schoolers are trolls, just the ones exchange students have to live with.

Climbing the mountain was probably the high point of my time here so far. Here's one of many pictures:


Nara is small but it's a really cool city. There are art galleries, independent fashion designers, clubs, indie record stores...all of the stuff a city is supposed to have...unless you live in Nagoya. Or so I thought.

The guest house we stayed at was a fantastic place -- I almost had more fun chilling with the other guests than I did wandering around Nara. One of the women I met was interested in Buddhist art, so she quit her job and published a book on Buddhist statues for the layman. Another guy was an architect from Tokyo who grew vegetables on his terrace. On the second night we were talking about cheap places to stay and he turns to one of the other guests (whom we had just met) and said, "Hey, how do you say 'love hotel' in English?" Winner of the best Japanese sentence I have ever heard.

I felt disappointed when I left Nara since it was nice to see a city with some kind of subculture. After class on Wednesday (we got back Tuesday night), one of my friends and I took a walk around the neighborhood near Nanzan and found a store called Village Vanguard (named after the bar in New York, I assume) -- it's like Ricky's or Hot Topic in the sense that it's pre-packaged counterculture, but the manga selection is incredible -- all of the "indie" stuff that you'd have to wade through the Shonen Jump to find anywhere else. They also have some indie music. So next time I feel like I have money to burn, I'm planning on heading there. All I had to do was look a little harder.

Only five more weekends here...I guess I'll spend them looking for the counterculture in Nagoya. But tomorrow, I'm off to Kyoto!