The Monster Flower

Hi, April, and thanks for your comment. I always a...

2009-07-10T16:39:52.400+09:00

Hi, April, and thanks for your comment. I always appreciate your viewpoint for the very reason that your views are not colored by Japanophilia or vested interest. There are a lot of people who are stuck here and know they can't get out (because of kids or work) who pretend none of these things matter because they don't want to be angry or feel bad about living here, and thankfully, you're not one of them!

I can see where you wouldn't put up with the police harassment, but I think that people like me and my husband are in a different boat. Our situation is considerably less secure since neither of us is Japanese. The police are far less likely to push a case too far if someone has a Japanese spouse or advocate. We don't have anything like that, so we'd have to cooperate if they pushed us.

I don't know if they are targeting foreigners of non-European descent or not, but I can say my husband has been stopped and asked for I.D./had his bike serial number checked as stolen property in the last 6 months and he's pretty damn white. That being said, he has dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He's not a Swede, but his skin is pretty pale.

I would imagine, however, that these are just more measures to selectively target various groups of people. Some of the white people might get pulled into the net on occasion, but I'm guessing the bigger target is the people they've been hoping to bribe into leaving (Peruvians and Brazilians with permanent resident status). But my concern, as is yours, I'm sure, isn't only with protecting my own pearly white skin. However, we both know that that is what motivates a lot of the indifference out there. People who think it won't affect them don't care.

If I were married to a Japanese person, I wouldn't want to raise a child here. If I did, I'd seriously hope the kid looked Japanese rather than "hafu" or European so that he or she wasn't discriminated against in the future like Debito's daughters (one was denied access to an onsen while the other was allowed because the former didn't look Japanese enough and the latter "passed" as Japanese).

Thanks for your comment!

Girl: I wouldn't say "truckload", bu...

2009-07-10T08:12:46.915+09:00

Girl: I wouldn't say "truckload", but there are quite a lot of them (24). We just leave them in the fridge for months until they are gone. I actually haven't been eating them as I'm trying to eat better these days. No one is more surprised than I that I can resist. ;-)

Shawn: Yes, the radioactive meat continues to be consumed on a regular basis! By the time we grow back, the CH is going to glow!

CMUWriter: Hi there and welcome back! We're not returning until 2012, so it's not immediate. We're not the types that can just pick up easily and walk away from a place! Thanks for coming by again! I've got two other blogs now, incidentally. :-)

Sheri, I have not visited your blog in a long time...

2009-07-10T03:36:37.000+09:00

Sheri, I have not visited your blog in a long time and was shocked to read that you're coming back to to the States! I'm pretty excited for you. Also, I couldn't live without Reese Peanut Butter Cups.

And the nuclear bologna makes another appearance! ...

2009-07-10T01:01:15.120+09:00

And the nuclear bologna makes another appearance! My eyes darted right past the reese's and intercepted the beacon of pinkness in the corner ;)

Ah...... buy them by the truck load.. "giggle...

2009-07-09T23:02:39.806+09:00

Ah...... buy them by the truck load.. "giggles" okay I can at least freeze them or send them to some of my friends here...

Opps Meant fell in love... (and meant know instead...

2009-07-09T22:56:22.863+09:00

Opps Meant fell in love... (and meant know instead of now) ... but you get the jest of it.. you know what I meant.

Heh, heh. You can get those Reese's cups from ...

2009-07-09T17:47:23.127+09:00

Heh, heh. You can get those Reese's cups from the Foreign Buyer's Club. That's where my husband bought them! :-)

My sentiments exactly luv, but I don't have an...

2009-07-09T17:14:26.039+09:00

My sentiments exactly luv, but I don't have an easy out... not sure what to do really.... as I did not come her because i LOVE the culture and the history but because I feel in love with this Mr. that happened to be Japanese.

What choices do I have? Although I've never been treated like what you are describing cause I just wouldn't put up with that shit NO MATTER what and will tell a coper to shit in his hat...

But this is happening to others, I wonder if they are keeping away from the "whites" and using this as a way to go after those who are not of European decent?

It makes me sick to my stomach... One of the reasons why I don't or now sure about having kids, or having them here and raising them here... I don't do or like PTA as they make it seem mandatory... and I don't want me child growing up being called a "hafu" fucking idiots should start educating the children so they can educate the parents... (you know the old school idiots).

Oh my gosh.. I don't mean to be rude but I ski...

2009-07-09T17:06:46.001+09:00

Oh my gosh.. I don't mean to be rude but I skipped everything you wrote and my eyes just geared toward the Reeses.... I can't find them HERE ANYWHERE!!!! This is ONE thing I miss dearly...

Well, 2012, it's not so soon. However, it is n...

2009-07-05T10:31:03.528+09:00

Well, 2012, it's not so soon. However, it is not so far. :-)

There's always a chance our plans will change, but we're hoping to go.

Remind me to come by your place for divine bread a...

2009-07-05T09:25:13.736+09:00

Remind me to come by your place for divine bread and tea!!! This looks and sounds DELISH!

You are leaving Japan soon? No, say it isn't ...

2009-07-05T09:24:14.700+09:00

You are leaving Japan soon? No, say it isn't so?

Actually, my blogger blog is new, but my livejourn...

2009-07-01T23:09:35.644+09:00

Actually, my blogger blog is new, but my livejournal (http://djlosangeles.livejournal.com/) has been up and running since I got here 4 years ago.

Hi, DJ, and thank you for reading and taking the t...

2009-07-01T19:24:42.492+09:00

Hi, DJ, and thank you for reading and taking the time to comment!

I see that your blog is fairly new. I hope you'll continue to build on it. I'm always looking for new and interesting Japan blogs.

I just moved to a house that has the same problem....

2009-07-01T18:16:39.665+09:00

I just moved to a house that has the same problem. I'm going to try your solution and see how it goes. Thanks for the tip!

Hi, Wally. Long time, no see. :-) I hope you'r...

2009-06-29T23:05:15.243+09:00

Hi, Wally. Long time, no see. :-) I hope you're doing well!

I would probably have more empathy for the teacher if he weren't so pushy and didn't brag so much. I realize that these things are just as much a manifestation of insecurity, but he's the one with the power. Since she is powerless, I feel very bad for her.

I can guarantee that she is not plagiarizing or copying since I help her cultivate her ideas and I have tutored her all along. If she's "copying" anyone, she's copying (at least in part) my lectures as I'm interpreting the text for her and discussing ideas with her. But I see that as no different than a student digesting a teacher's lectures and using the content based on notes to help write papers. It's what is supposed to happen. And it is what would happen if she ever had a teacher who actually taught her!

Thanks for commenting and for coming by. :-)

I feel for your student, and, in another entirely,...

2009-06-29T22:48:21.294+09:00

I feel for your student, and, in another entirely, for the teacher who is in over his head and doesn't know it. As someone remarked (and I am afraid I cannot give the exact citation), "Steal from one person and it's plagiarism; steal from many and it's research."

Unless your student has copied other people's work word-by-word, she has stolen nothing. And the air is full of ideas, and the last I heard you cannot copyright an idea per se.

My student didn't have to write an apology. Sh...

2009-06-29T16:51:01.353+09:00

My student didn't have to write an apology. She wanted to write one because the e-mail he got from her seemed so angry and she wanted to smooth over the situation. She doesn't want to have a bad relationship with her teacher (quite understandable). She just wants to do a good job in the class and cooperate, but she also didn't want him to think she stole her work or copied other people's ideas. It turns out that it might have been better if she had copied other people's ideas because he wants her to always say someone else thought up what she wrote rather than she came up with the conclusions and thoughts on her own.

The thing that annoys me is that, while I doubt there are many absolutely unique thoughts out there, it is possible (and even likely) that someone who studies a topic for awhile can take what they've learned and reach a conclusion without having it spoonfed to them via an external source. Hell, I do this all the time! I find it pointless for someone to work something out in their own head and then be told they must have gotten it elsewhere or even if they didn't, they are now obliged to find someone else who said it. It's just a waste of time and seems to undermine the whole idea of applied learning or analytical thinking.

One thing about language learning in particular is that it's important to know that people don't all take to languages. Some people are good at them and some people are not. Language learning is no different than math ability in that way. For some reason, people accept that there are some people who find math hard to fathom, but they don't accept that not everyone has the best cognitive capability for languages. People always thing that anyone can manage as well as everyone else as long as they make an effort. That's simply not true!

Thanks for your comment!

I sympathise with your student. Good diagnosis of ...

2009-06-29T16:18:27.034+09:00

I sympathise with your student. Good diagnosis of the teacher himself - you may have mentioned this before, but is he from the States?

As a westerner I'm amazed that your student felt she had to write an apology letter, but as you say it's very easy to make Japanese people, especially women, feel like they're the ones in the wrong.

A bad teacher can put you off for life. I never felt confident in my German class because the teacher didn't understand that I found some things difficult. She simply thought I was being lazy. I found after I left school I could manage perfectly well though!

I hate bullies! Someone - anyone - should level with them about the pathetic failures in life they really are.

Yum! That looks delicious!

2009-06-29T16:12:37.655+09:00

Yum! That looks delicious!

Those are all excellent points, Sherry. I agree wh...

2009-06-28T13:18:47.147+09:00

Those are all excellent points, Sherry. I agree wholeheartedly.

I can't tell you have many times students have mentioned the "special" New Year's food (osechi-ryori) with a smile and when I ask them if they look forward to it or especially enjoy it, they say, "no" with that same smile. As you say, they say they like this or that, but overall, I've been told the quality of the food is very low.

I think you make an excellent point that we all do it in all countries. We complain, but we do it anyway. Doing it anyway doesn't mean it's a big deal. It just means it's tradition and we want to to do what everyone else does as part of the season. And, as you said, this tendency is more pronounced in Japan where you have more pressure to go along to get along.

Very good points all. Also, don't forget the ...

2009-06-28T13:08:32.464+09:00

Very good points all. Also, don't forget the whole importance of tradition in Japan. People do things because they have always been done and must always continue to be done, even if you don't like them. Just ask any Japanese person how they feel about the special food they eat on New Years Day. You will almost always be told that they hate the majority of it, although there may be one or two things they like. They keep paying insane amounts of money for it and eating it anyway every year and acting like it is something special and important because it is tradition.

As for kakigori specifically it is a summer thing in Japan like bbqs and baseball are in the US, for example. It doesn't mean that everyone loves it or anyone is excited about it or they all partake of it. It is just there in the summer.

Everyone in every country does this. How many Americans think Christmas is a huge pain in the butt, yet they keep celebrating it the same way every year, especially if they have kids. It is much easier for us as foreigners to not participate or "be over" something in Japan because we have no emotional attachment to any of it. It is harder to give up traditions from your own culture even if you don't care about it or don't like it.

Japanese who live here all of their lives don'...

2009-06-27T13:22:42.578+09:00

Japanese who live here all of their lives don't find things like kakigori exciting. I have talked to my students about this, particularly in regards to things like seasonal specialties and festivals. All of them (and this is just my experience) said they loved those things as kids, but are relatively indifferent to them as adults.

Mainly, most of the traditional stuff is a way for them to get together with friends and partake of a group experience. For instance, they don't like the idea of going to shrines on New Year's Eve or seeing fireworks for the umpteenth time, but they do like having a chance to hang out with friends and share in that atmosphere with others. It's not the experiences per se, but the opportunities they present.

Last New Years, I had 12 students. Only one of them did the New Year's thing (fireworks only). None of them enjoyed the tanabata festivals or visited a shrine on New Year's Eve, though several did go on New Year's Day to pray for luck (though none of them expressed it as anything they enjoyed so much as just something they did in a rote manner because that is what you do on that day off).

I think that Japanese people tend to discuss their culturally differently with us than they really feel themselves. They are attempting to point out what they see as unique, not necessarily what excites them. I've talked to many, many students (thousands) and I can say that things like kakigori never get mentioned. The top "favorite foods" that I hear about are sushi (infrequently eaten), fruit of many stripes, steak, hamburgers, and noodles.

Also, I think there is often a strong element of nostalgia. People will talk wistfully about certain things because they remember it being great as a kid, but when you ask them how often they take advantage of such things, they'll tell you once a year or less often (unless they have children, then they go with them). The same happens in all countries. We talk about how great something is, but what we really mean was how great it once was for us.

So, I think the premise that Japanese people (as adults) are actually still excited about such things is not something borne out either in their actions or their words outside of trying to cast a spotlight on various nostalgic experiences which would be novel for the tourist. I think that taking along a foreigner for such things is much like taking their children. That is, they can relive their memories and feelings by being with someone who is experiencing it for the first time.

Interesting reading, Orchid. I find it interestin...

2009-06-27T11:54:25.739+09:00

Interesting reading, Orchid.

I find it interesting that you no longer find such things like Kakigori exciting, while Japanese who live there all their lives still do. Why do you think that is? Because it's not an ingrained culture thing? And this is just a question that stuck in my mind because I found it interesting. It's in no way a needle or an insult, just something I wondered. :)

I'm pretty sure that the Japanese people we me...

2009-06-23T10:30:00.767+09:00

I'm pretty sure that the Japanese people we meet have similarly secret and not so nice nicknames for us. ;-)