Puzzling tidbits...

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“I’m worried that Japan may have become just like foreign countries…we have to think of a good way to prevent such occurrences.”

This, the reaction by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda following a December fatal shooting at a sports club.

Seems like I, Greg, can't go a week without a Japanese person telling me how peace-loving and harmonious Japan is.

OK, I get it already. Japanese people are desperate to erase their past and recent history of colonialism and imperialism in Asia. So, in an effort not dissimilar to the government's poker-faced lying about its whale hunting, the Japanese People are continually bombarded with messages of peace. Ever seen a group photo of Japanese kids minus them making a peace sign with their fingers? It's not likely to happen.

In the same way, the government seems to propagate a sort of "Japanese inherent superiority" theme that seems blatant to outsiders, but apparently they see nothing dangerous about it.

Immediately following the sports club shooting the Japanese press scrambled to find out who dun it. When reports started coming in that the shooter may have been tall, it wasn't long before media outlets began calling the shooter a foreigner. The idea that a Japanese person could do something like that is unconscionable.

I was talking with two of my adult students during our most recent lesson about Jessie's bicycle being stolen. They didn't let me finish the story before insisting that it must have been a foreigner -- "One of those Spanish people (Peruvians and Brazilians who live in the area)"

I was parked at a store close enough to another store frequented by foreigners. And that was enough evidence for them. Now, maybe it was a foreigner. But, I'm going to at least reserve my judgment.

On another note, the annual whale research expedition near Antarctica has been cut short. The whalers caught only 508 of their 860-whale goal, but had to turn back because of a fire to the main boat.

(silver lining) Good news is, the 508 whales must have been big ones, because the children of Minami-Alps City ate some of them in their school lunches Wednesday.

Jess said most of the children "researched" the whale meat, but few liked it.

But don't worry, whaling is a tradition in Japan, so it's OK, just like the annual dolphin kill: http://www.eurocbc.org/seashepherd_film_dolphin_kill_29oct2003page1352.html

In other news from Japan, isn't it annoying when someone in a quiet room (maybe even church) clips their finger nails -- all the while thinking they're somehow the only one who can hear the "click -- click" of the clipper. We'll, imagine you're teaching English in a Japanese middle school and when you turn around from the white board you see students clipping their finger nails in class. That happens quite often. OK, no big deal, it's a different culture...

Now, imagine you're teaching English in a Japanese middle school and when you turn around from the white board you see your Japanese co-teacher CLIPPING THE FINGER NAILS AND TOE NAILS (foot in the air) OF ONE OF THEIR STUDENTS while you're trying to teach...


...welcome to rural Japan...


It's not all crazy, but some of it is. We're going to have lots of funny stories to tell. But reallty, people are people -- we're just quirky in different ways. Our Japanese friends are incredibly gracious and generous, so we're having a great time.

More to come.

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Photos

Cruisin'...
Here she is. We'll have to make some adjustments because it's closer to a kid's bike than an adult's - but it's red.

Comments

[Bethel]

cliping finger nails is classified as private
In child care we are not allowed to clip a child's nails because it is private and we would be over stepping the parents. I do carry a clipper in my back pocket just incase I break my nail and need to do a repair job.