Winter break

Not too much say in regards to the brief winter break we had! Had a reasonably quiet Christmas Day, although Christmas Even was spent at Kumamoto's Lutheran Church to see Alexa, Christen and Vikki sing Go Tell It On The Mountain with the choir, enjoyed that. Following that we headed out for quite a few drinks.

On the 28th a small group of us visited Yamaga to do some onsen-dipping, an activity I always enjoy.

New Year's Eve was reasonably quiet but enjoyable - Lauren and I were hanging out with my friend Takeshi, who also runs Bar:Colon. We went with him to his friend's house which also happens to be a radio broadcast studio, and had a few drinks and some stuff to eat. Also paid a visit to the local shrine at around 2am or thereabouts.

Highlight of the break was probably the visit out to Arao with Dr Tomei to experience some sword test-cutting.



Following that they put on a great beer + nabe lunch. :)

裸になろう！

On the topic of nudity in Japan, I suppose the first thing that comes to mind is public bathing at onsen and sento. Like a lot of foreigners my first experience (at a lovely spacious onsen up in Hokkaido overlooking a volcano) was a little awkward, moreso for the fact that I was there with a number of classmates and my Japanese teacher. Even now I tend to feel more relaxed when there are fewer friends and acquaintances around me at an onsen, although it's an activity I've come to enjoy quite a lot - I just wish there were some decent ones closer to the dormitory.

From various accounts it seems that mixed bathing was the norm in earlier days, until Western people arrived and expressed their shock and surprise at such apparent lewdness. Back in a time when plumbing and plentiful hot water weren't an everyday commodity it's quite understandable that people would put aside any shame or reservedness about nudity and enjoy a hot bath with whoever else may have been present.

There are a few other related topics I'd like to write about, such as pornography and shunga, although for the moment I may have to save that for another time.

Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize

It's extremely difficult to make an absolute call on whether Barack Obama was deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize this year. It comes somewhat as a surprise considering the short length of time he has held office, and even more surprising when you realise that at the time he was nominated, he had been President for only two weeks.

Whether or not he was a good choice depends on a number of criteria, although at the most fundamental level it is worth taking a look at the Will of Alfred Nobel, which states that the recipient of the Peace Prize ought to be "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

To begin with, Obama had the colossal advantage of being the political successor to George W. Bush, whose gross unpopularity and incompetence was apparent to many Americans and virtually all people outside the United States. So, in a rather oblique way, he managed to become a point of commonality and unity amongst a wide range of people from all parts of the world. However, despite his campaigning point of promoting multilateral diplomacy, the goal of reducing standing armies does not appear to reflect his recent actions; it seems 34,000 extra troops will be headed to Afghanistan next year, for example.

On top of this, it's arguable that there were far more deserving winners of this year's peace prize - Morgan Tsvangirai (Zimbabwe's prime minister) and Hu Jia (a prominent critic of China's human rights abuses) immediately come to mind. Obama, by his own admission, was undeserving. The Nobel Committee is undoubtedly aware of the exposure it can create in awarding a prize, and it would've likely been far more effective in the pursuit of genuine peace to highlight work done by an individual who would otherwise remain relatively obscure compared to Obama. Presumably they were hesitant to risk offending Robert Mugabe or China - personally I believe that no concession or concern should be given to such groups that would react in a petulant or arrogant manner.

Regardless of whatever criticisms are directed at this choice of recipient, most could agree that the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to far more controversial and undeserving figures such as Henry Kissinger and Yasser Arafat. So, whilst it can arguably be said that Barack Obama has contributed comparatively little to world peace, any criticism of him as a Peace Prize recipient falls short in light of what the aforementioned men have been responsible for.

Links:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/09/dabashi.obama.nobel.prize/index.html
http://www.theroot.com/views/why-obama-deserves-nobel-peace-prize
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/2009109152410715115.html
http://en.rian.ru/world/20091012/156432294.html
http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/10/09/why-obama-does-not-deserve-the-nobel-peace-prize/
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/79380.html

Vegetarianism in Japan

I'm not vegetarian myself, and whilst I've had a few vegetarian (non-Japanese) friends living here in Japan, it's not something I had to seriously consider until my girlfriend came to visit over the summer. She's been vegetarian for over half her life, so, as you can probably guess, it's a matter she takes quite seriously.

It's not such a big issue if you have your own residence with a kitchen in which you can make your own meals, although travelling around and frequently eating at restaurants presents a significant problem unless you're willing to frequently eat white rice, edamame, and convenience store snacks. Saying "vegetarian" (or even 菜食主義者) didn't quite suffice - I also had to specify that fish or any other form of seafood is also off-limits, as are animal-based stocks/broths/sauces, which immediately eliminates almost any soup dish and other seemingly innocuous dishes such as agedashi tōfu.

It turned out that places such as kushikatsu restaurants were a good option, where we were able to choose individual items to be cooked. On top of that, the strictly vegetarian meals at the Mt Koya temple in which we stayed were absolutely stunning, and also very filling.

Anyway, I find it curious and also somewhat inexplicable that whilst I have a large number of vegetarian and vegan friends in Australia, I've never met any Japanese people with such dietary habits despite the common notion of Buddhist-based vegetarianism. Most of those aforementioned friends tend to base their vegetarianism on their strong regard for animal rights, and often equal to that, the environmental impact of meat consumption. Whilst the West has a long way to go (and being omnivorous myself, I can only criticise to a certain extent) I feel that the welfare of animals isn't given much consideration in Japan, even when it comes to domestic pets.

Gunkanjima, Nagasaki

I went on a day trip to Nagasaki in early August, but with a specific purpose in mind - to visit the island of Gunkanjima. Here are some figures about the island from Wikipedia's page on Gunkanjima:

Hashima Island (端島; "Border Island"), commonly called Gunkanjima (軍艦島; "Battleship Island") is one among 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself. The island was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility.

In 1959, its population density was 835 people per hectare (83,500 people/km2) for the whole island, or 1,391 per hectare (139,100 people/km2) for the residential district, the highest population density ever recorded worldwide.

It may not have been the most pleasant place to live due to its cramped nature and relative isolation, but it had all the conveniences of any other town (with perhaps the exception of a large park): a cinema, swimming pool, shops, a shrine, so forth. There also existed a school for the children living on the island. Unfortunately it also had a darker element to its existence, as the population also included forced labourers from Korea and China during World War Two.

Since 1974 it has remained abandoned apart from a number of daring urban explorers (of whom I am admittedly quite envious) until recently, when a Nagasaki ferry company began landing tours of the island. Here are a couple of my photos from the trip, click for an enlargement:











Unfortunately, being herded around with a large group of other tourists somewhat ruins the purpose of visiting an abandoned site, but it's currently the only legal option for visiting. It was also extremely hot that day, especially standing on concrete, and the sea walls were sufficiently high enough to stop any sea breeze. But otherwise it was an unusual and interesting experience, and to me it's one of the more fascinating places in Japan of which little is known to most locals.

Anyway, having said all that, I'd certainly be keen to visit Nagasaki again so I can take the time to do some sightseeing around the city itself, something I actually didn't do!

Various topics

Unfortunately I didn't get around to writing anything last week - this week I should get around to it before I completely forget what was discussed last Friday!

In the week prior, the topic of compulsory English language education was briefly raised. I completely support the idea of exposing students to foreign language learning, at least at an elementary or junior high school level, as I support any sort of activity that requires people to use their brains in different ways. (As expected, the part of my brain that deals with language gets a regular workout, although the part that is used for arithmetic has, in all likelihood, completely atrophied.) One of my concerns is that, at least until high school, students are rarely given the choice of what language they would like to learn. Fortunately, in my first year of junior high school I was required to attend classes for French, German and Indonesian (sequentially, not all at the same time) and was then asked to choose one to study for the following year - not such a bad system.

Whilst people undertake language study for a variety of reasons, I strongly believe the process of language learning should be an enjoyable one. If people come to associate language (such as English) with failure, embarrassment and discomfort, then it's understandable they will be hesitant to use it (such as the woman who ran away from Kie) or perhaps even hold a resentment towards it. Hence another reason why believe students should be able to choose a language they find appealing.

Unfortunately, the nature of Japanese society, language and behaviour may also be something of a barrier to effective foreign language learning. Progression in language learning requires you to argue your opinion, to make mistakes, to speak in front of a number of people, and to face negative evaluation - a gross generalisation as it may be, I feel that a large number of Japanese people would choose to stay silent instead of subjecting themselves to these things. The fairly limited syllabary of the Japanese language is also something of a hindrance that (initially) can't be helped, but for example, having such things as katakana furigana for non-Japanese songs at karaoke isn't doing anything to encourage the correct pronunciation of foreign words. Gairaigo (and various portmanteaus/contractions) provides a good base of vocabulary for those learning English in particular, but again, may end up causing confusion.

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough about the topic of language learning in Japan, and the last thing I want to do is discourage Japanese people or anyone else from learning a foreign language. I have a lot of respect for anyone attempting to do so, whether it be related to their career, their hobby, or whatever.

Last Friday my group decided that homosexuality and personal questions were two particular topics of interest for discussion, something I'm looking forward to hearing about. Eventually I'd also like to get around to writing a little bit about food in Japan, but in particular, vegetarianism in Japan.

Cheers!

Summer holidays

It's definitely been a while since I've written in the blog! Hello to everyone from last semester and welcome to all those who arrived this semester. During the summer I spent about a month travelling around Japan, and whilst it cost a lot of money I had a good time. Two weeks were spent catching up with friends and seeing some countryside I hadn't seen before, and the following two weeks were spent with my girlfriend. After about 5 months of being apart I was very happy to see her again, as you'd expect. :) As it was her first time in Japan we visited a lot of well-known spots, especially in the Kansai region. Throughout my month-long holiday I was able to see quite a lot of places - Matsuyama, Tokushima, Kobe, Himeji, Kinosaki, Amanohashidate, Hikone, Kyoto, Nara, Mt Koya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima, and I even passed through the small but well-known town of Obama in Fukui-ken. ;) Here are a handful of photos from the summer:


This first photo isn't so interesting in itself, but it was taken inside a Kyoto townhouse, in which my girlfriend and I stayed for two nights. It's run by Iori, an organisation co-founded by author Alex Kerr which aims to preserve Kyoto machiya and give travellers a brief but wonderful experience of staying inside one. It's far more spacious than a hotel and with much more privacy than a ryokan... unfortunately you have to pay a bit more for these privileges!


This is Kinosaki in northern Hyogo-ken, a beautiful little onsen town where everyone spends the evening walking around in yukata and geta between various hot springs baths in the town. Even the train ride from Himeji through the countryside was fantastic. The baths themselves in Kinosaki aren't too bad, but the water quality in Kumamoto is much better. ;)


One of the vine bridges deep in the Tokushima-ken countryside. The car ride through the mountains is nauseating, but well worth it.


Oku-no-in cemetery at Mt Koya is easily one of the most stunning places I've visited anywhere in the world, unfortunately photos don't do it justice. There's a remarkable amount of history within the cemetery and is apparently quite a surreal and eerie place to visit during the cold and misty times of the year.


I absolutely love whisky, and Japanese whisky has (quite deservedly) been receiving a lot of attention in recent years. I had a brilliant day out at the Suntory Yamazaki distillery between Osaka and Kyoto. Not only are Yamazaki tastings free during the tour, but the whisky bar is unbelievably cheap... so the day descended into a bit of a summery golden haze. This above photo was taken in the "whisky library".


Me fooling around in Nara.


The Awa Odori festival in Tokushima every August 12 - 16 is brilliant, and absolutely enormous. I attended the festival in 2005 and since then had been looking forward to experiencing it again. There's something unique about the atmosphere and energy of that festival I haven't felt anywhere else in Japan, or in the world, for that matter.


My girlfriend Holly and I, on the boat to Miyajima. :)

See you guys next Friday!