Japanese Election

So the historical Japanese election was today. For the second time in some fifty years the opposition party of Japan will take the reins of power. From what I can tell by seeing snippets of news here and there it looks like the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan, Minshutou, the opposition party, yattou) has been not only promising chickens in every pot but ponies and sunny summer days forever. The only I like the best is the promise to start paying people about $270 per month for each kid they have. This is the plan to get people to have more babies as a Japan has an aging problem. Though they have refused to say how they will pay for this. This is the trillion yen question. Can't tax the old because they are already drawing government pensions. Can't tax the married because that is who you are giving the money to. Can't tax companies because they are already hurting from the economy. Can't tax the young and single because well, most of them don't have a job. Can't raise the sales tax because the Japanese domestic market is already anemic. Japan needs the Japanese people to spend to create growth at home as their exports dry up. So the money problem is one I am very curious to see how they get around it. Perhaps they will have to tax the foreigners living in Japan.

There has been a lot of ink splashed in Western papers about Japan's unpolitical youth. I have to say, despite the Time's piece's hopeful optimism in Japan's youth becoming involved in politics, it is not at all true. I had lunch with one of my young Japanese friends and she said she didn't bother to vote nor did anyone she knew. The general feeling is that everything will stay the same, just the name has changed.

Conan could never make it in Japan

I was meeting with a friend today to buy his bicycle before he left for Ozzie-land. So we were talking along the main street here in Hiroshima and one of his past students spots him and comes over to us. I guess she is studying English at the womens college but we talk to one another in a mixture of Japanese and English. So she starts with the "Nihongo ga jouzu desu ne!" (Your Japanese is great!) Which is crap but the Japanese like to be nice to foreigners learning their language. So I start making jokes about how she is wrong and I'm so stupid "Washi wa chou-bakananoda do." Which prompts another spout of efferessent praise for my Japanese ability "Chigaimasu! Maji de jouzu da!" (No! It really is great!) So I shake my head and say "Iie! Washi wa baka, debu, minikui, kitanai, bimbo, kusai da yo!" (No! I'm stupid, a lard butt, ugly, dirty, poor, and smelly!) My Australian friend is laughing at me because he is getting the self-depreciating humor. At this time another group of his ex-students catch sight of us and come over. Whilst he is talking to these new comers, the first girl touches my hand very tenderly.
"Joe."
"Yes?"
"Please use positive thoughts!"
She had such a look of caring I couldn't bear to tell her it is just a joke.
"Ganbatte ne." (Try you best, okay?)
"Ganbarimasu." (I will.)

It's Been A While

Yeah, like I said in the title, it's been a while. I do have a really good excuse, I swear. For the past several months I have been studying Japanese really hard and that has left me not feeling like writing. So hopefully you will forgive me.

If you have been following Gail's blog, then you know we have been traveling all over the place with Gail prying those yen from my tight fisted grip. (Or you will know all about it soon.) Despite the significant pain I feel spending money, I have really enjoyed traveling around and seeing Japan. Though some places were more boring than I thought they would be (Hagi) other places were pleasantly surprising (Tsuwano).

I think our next big Japan trip will be in February. The plan, currently, is to tour parts of Kyuushuu. We want to see Beppu (hot springs), Aso (huge volcano), and Kumamoto (one of the three must see castles of Japan). I would love to figure out a way to work in Yakushima (wild island with huge trees) but it looks like it might be a bit expensive to realistically work it into the schedule.

At some point we need to make it back to Tokyo. Yeah, we haven't been back to Tokyo since we arrived on JET nearly two years ago. Maybe that will be a March trip? Who knows?

Ninoshima

Last Friday I had an extra day off while Gail had to go to work. So I decided to take a trip to a small island called Ninoshima just offshore from Hiroshima. The island is technically a part of the city's South Ward but has a vibe all its own.
It can only be reached by taking a twenty minute ferry that leaves about once an hour from Hiroshima Ujina Port. There aren't a lot of cars on the island which is good because there isn't a huge amount paved roads either. There was a coffee shop near the dock but if it opens, it certainly doesn't on Friday.

The main reason I came to the island is to climb Aki no Kofuji Yama. This translates to Aki's (the old name for the Hiroshima area) Mini-Mount Fuji. It gets its name from the fact that from the Hiroshima shoreline it looks like a perfectly conically shaped mountain just like Mount Fuji. Accord to one of my co-workers, many areas have their own mini-Fuji that they call their own. I guess this mountain is a famous in the Hiroshima-city area because many elementary schools take a field trip to climb the mountain and leave a small plaque tied to the fence around the antenna on top of the mountain.

The hike up the mountain was uneventful except perhaps a bit more over grown than I would have thought it would have been. I made it to the top and was really glad that I brought a lunch with me. I enjoyed the view of Miyajima, Hiroshima, and Kure City as I munched the hard-boiled eggs I brought for lunch.

On the way down I decided to go down the other side of the mountain. When I got almost to the bottom I found a really large slide that took you the rest of the way down; maybe 30 or 40 feet. I couldn't resist and plus I could fit onto this monstrosity. The top half was just a sheet metal slide but the bottom was a bunch of rollers. I almost shot off the end of the slide and I really picked up speed riding over the rollers.

At the very bottom, on this side of the mountain, was a large public park with plenty of grass and things for kids to play on. Which is rare in Japan, or at least in Hiroshima as most of the parks around my house are just barren dirt fields. There was even an 18 hole frisbee golf course which I was very surprised to see. Next to the park was a small water park with a few water slides and a lazy river. ALl these places were completely empty.

All in all the island was really peaceful and when I caught the boat back, I was quite content with the day.

Pandemic

Japan, along with a few other Asian countries are going apes**t over the swine flu, or officially H1N1. Right before we land in Tokyo the flight attendant came on over the intercom to tell us that we will need to stay in our seats when the flight lands so the Japanese government can do an on plane check of the passengers for swine flu. The announcement was repeated in Japanese. This is bad news for us.
Gail and I have to make a connecting flight at another airport across town. (Almost all international flights come into and out of Narita while domestic flights are handled by Haneda.) The two airports are a little over an hour apart if the traffic is good. We land at 3pm and need to get to the other airport to catch a 6:30pm flight. What was looking to be a tight schedule before now seems to be impossible.
So we land, taxi up to the gate. The plane connects to the boarding gate and the Japanese health officials come on board. They are decked out in scrubs and surgical face masks. They have also requested that everyone wear these masks while in the airport. (The face masks don't do a whole lot but make your face hot and fog up your glasses.)
The officials walk up and down the aisles scanning everyone with a thermal imaging camera to see if anyone is running a fever. About ten rows or so in front of us, the man operating the camera points to a fellow and they start putting stickers on the seats all around him. Curious.
After this they announce that everyone can get off the plane except those that have a sticker on their seat. This little check takes 1 hour and 20 minutes. We finally get off the plane at 4:20pm with our little yellow sheet saying we are infection free for now at least. Making that 6:30 flight doesn't look good.
Thankfully Japanese immigration and customs in nothing like the US. Since we are residents of Japan we get to go to the re-entry permit line that has no one in it. Our bags are already off the carousel and waiting. We load them up and are waved through customs. We are out the door by 4:34. Caught the bus to Haneda Airport at 4:40 and arrived at 5:45. Through check-in and security by 6:00 and at our gate by 6:05pm. Air travel IN Japan is relatively easy. I don't think it has ever taken more than 15 minutes to get through check-in and security when going through a Japanese airport.
Lucky for us and for those sitting infront us, the sticker marked chair people turned up negative for swine flu. Bad news is, the flight after us from Detroit (which we would have normally have taken) had four people with swine flu on it. I am so glad that I wasn't on that flight. I am sure the people they quarantined are in Hell right now.

Home Again

This morning I woke up in a bed so large three of me could fit on it, in a house so large it is beyond Japanese imagination, and next to a woman so beatuiful it makes me happy to be alive.
Tonight I will sleep separately, in an apartment a fourth the size of my bother-in-law's, on a mat barely big enough for one on the floor.

26 hours of traveling sucks.

How To

Gail decided to join the neighborhood movie rental shop. So last weekend we went to check out their selection. One of the stores sections was "How To" videos. This is what we saw:


Look close, maybe click the picture if you have to. There in the "How To" section are the Jackass videos. It is scary to imagine that somewhere in Hiroshima some Japanese kid is trying to learn how to be a Jackass by watching this video.