China-Japan relationship over East China Sea (10-10-10)

With Fujita Corporation’s four Japanese workers released from detention two days ago, the hostage game between China and Japan has finally ended, which began with a Chinese trawler ramming into two Japanese patrol ships on September 8th.

Notwithstanding the upshot, the impact of the incident was heavy enough to keep Japan concerned about the whereabouts of the neighbor, like its military expansion, even more, as the world’s attention is paid to the country and Japanese broadcasters continue to provide issues about it.

Diplomacy and democracy are the key things China needs to better practice, to prove a global leader, though.

China is no longer considered an emerging economy, having taken over the world No. 2 economic status from Japan. China is already a major market, and the demand for appreciating the yuan is constant to make trade relations with other countries better balanced.

More and more Chinese are becoming global-minded and indeed going overseas. Meanwhile, it’s ideal for Japan to have a mutually beneficial partnership with China, as, although public concerns about it have been developed through the Senkaku (or Diaoyu in Chinese) islands issue and an incident in which toxin-spiked frozen dumplings imported from China were sold and consumed, the two neighboring countries have been building a better relationship as well.

Doubtless, there have been unwanted cases for Japan in its relationship with China, though, it’s also true that many Chinese expats in Japan are pretty friendly. While it’s telecast that there was a slew of cancellations of tour packages from China to Japan as a reaction against the detention of the trawler’s captain, according to my experience no Chinese resident in Japan has been blamed by Japanese. (In turn, if there are Japanese companies which position Chinese workers under exploitative conditions such as marginal wages, they should immediately address the situation.) When I was studying Mandarin, the cheerful atmosphere between the teachers and the students was identical to that in English classes. Indeed, despite intensified tensions between the two countries, mid- or upper-class Chinese tourists continue to come to Japan.

As long as China keeps showing economic growth, meanwhile, to see their military scaled up and strengthened may be normal. When the objectives of the military expansion are uncertain (about rightfulness, for example whether the forces are intended to fight the Taliban and/or Al Qaeda), surrounding countries have a fair reason to have reservations, though, China, with the renewal of the economic status and the recognition from the world, can and ought to be receptive to their opinions and avoid stoking their concerns. In the context, in the autonomy issue in Tibet for instance, China should not press its brutality on the weaker. Instead, China must recognize and practice the greater sense of responsibility and leadership, respecting the global perspective and standards.

Back to the trawler incident, what the crew insist is actually out of question. It’s insensible for China to claim the territorial right of the Senkaku islands, because according to what was telecast in the Japanese media, the territory has been under Japan’s authority since the Treaty of Peace with Japan was concluded in San Francisco in 1951.

To reinforce the credibility of this information, in the October 6th edition of the International Herald Tribune had an article on the matter, which read: The day Mr. Zhan [the trawler’s captain] returned to China, he said he planned to go back to the Diaoyu islands. About three years ago, an official document circulated in Shenhu County, where Mr. Zhan lives, telling fishermen not to go to the disputed waters, said Mr. Chen, an employee at a local information center. But there has been no such warning in recent years, he added. [what’s the significance of this quote vis-à-vis your thesis?]

If China’s military is a manifestation of cracking down on its citizens, censorship is the other. There is no way to credit Beijing as a global leader if it doesn’t allow its people broad access to world affairs.

Unfortunately, yet, China is much behind other developed countries in the area of providing citizens with the right to learn the facts, as Google, for instance, has moved its search engine to Hong Kong and the service is not accessible to ordinary Chinese.

Besides this fact, Beijing’s imprisoning one of the most influential dissidents against it, Mr. Liu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, was also disappointing to the world. [or perhaps just US allies...?] Being aware of universal sentiments, Beijing must reconsider the manner of treating him.

It’s the colossal Communist Party which manages to bind its citizens. However, as of something seeming to be a watershed moment, China is asked which course it opts to take—toward either greater communism or greater democracy. To whatever extent Japan’s structure of democracy can be seen as demonstrative, there are items China with its people can take into account:


1. Openness to world information


It’s disappointing if the immediate shutting down of airing the nomination of Mr. Liu on the NHK (Japan’s semi-national broadcaster) TV news in the land of China is true, while Chinese tourists in Japan or some country else are free of the restriction.


2. Freedom of speech


3. The government’s heed to citizens


Under healthy democracy, people’s opinions should be reflected by the government.


4. Education


5. High Quality of Life (Q.O.L.)


Citizens in all social classes should ideally receive each decent set of those entitlements.


While being able to have a greater say, China sees its presence felt more than ever, as its compliance with universal norms is becoming more meaningful. If it chooses to become a country with greater democracy, it should definitely happen that its citizens are entitled to have larger freedom of thought and expression, and responsibility with a sense of independence.

The New York Times article on the Diaoyu islands dispute also read:

The Chinese Navy uses civilian vessels in several ways. One is to command militias consisting of fishing vessels. Another is to coordinate operations with five maritime law enforcement organizations similar to coast guards, most notably the Fisheries Law Enforcement Command, which is charged by the Agriculture Ministry with enforcing fishing bans and operates regularly in disputed waters. Some fisheries officials now go out on boats wearing uniforms and carrying firearms. [why is this quote important?]

Then, my question is: Which social class their soldiers and marines belong to in general?

Takeko's air-borne journey (10-6-10)

The sky drops dark early and the cool air breezes through Tokyo’s jungle of high-rise buildings.

Though in step with the arrival of autumn’s climate, the seasonal switchover of clothing came appreciably early this year. Seen here and there around the necks of women were warm scarves; boots were active as if they were swings. All the attire was making a remarkable contrast to that worn in one of the most sweltering summers on record.

Takeko, a female Cavalier, had harbored future visions with her recently-turned, but already ex-, boyfriend. In a casual conversation, Takeko was emphasizing the concept of a family. In the simulation, Takeko was a mother while he was a father. There were two kids. Takeko was a homemaker while he went to work and the kids did to school. All of these pictures ended up in illusions, however. He was yet gone, even when the periodic recurrence of such a dream of Takeko kept afflicting her mind.

Mike sometimes met her when both of them could afford to make time sometime in the p.m. He did so today, the day of the Autumnal Equinox.

An Italian-style restaurant was located near Ryogoku Kokugikan, the traditional stadium for sumo. The weather was bad, as rain was beating the stadium’s green roofs. Nonetheless, the bewitching air spewing from the stadium was powerful enough to cover the entire Ryogoku and color the area to be distinguished. Despite the rain, many foreign visitors wrapped with strips for holding cameras and other electric items were excited to begin moseying around right off the ticket gates of the Ryogoku station.

Inside the restaurant, most of the tables were occupied by customers as today was a public holiday. The square table between Mike and Takeko was covered with a white cloth, yet it reflected orange light which equally provided a sense of warmth to all the customers.

“What would you like, Takeko?” When Mike had to speak up against noisy chit-chat from other tables, his face was effectively hidden under the brim of a cap to avoid confusion after disclosing his celebrity status.

“Are there any dishes for a dog?” said Takeko.

C’mon, Mike grumbled in mind and he ordered the boiled vegetables for a starter, the spaghetti with tomato sauce, a margherita pizza, and a piece of cream-covered cake, assuming that she had a sweet tooth. All these dishes were of course on his treat, as he hoped again that they would help shorten her convalescent period.

After lunch, holding umbrellas and having avoided splashing in the rows of puddles on each sidewalk section, Mike and Takeko arrived at the entrance to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, set in a colossal building that, suspended by four giant legs that extended to the fifth floor, resembled a spacecraft.

The museum showcased historical events that had happened since the beginning of the Edo era (1600~). Two major events, the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and the Great Tokyo Air Raid (1945), made for remarkably popular exhibits. Although the visitors partially assimilated with the common touch of Japanese people who lived in each difficult period, as they were not refugees it was not the case that the museum had to rescue them by flying away. [nonsensical]

The whole fifth floor was looked over by people from a balcony on the sixth floor: it was all the universe of darkness bearing down on lit showcases and other things on display. The ceiling was so high that cool convection was allowed to flee from the fifth floor up.

The fifth floor was divided into The Edo Zone and The Tokyo Zone. The former zone was composed of Daily living of bushi, Life in the city, Publications and information sources, Cultural city Edo, Beauty of Edo, Theaters and geisha house settlement, Four seasons in Edo and amusement quarters, Commerce in Edo, and Villages and islands associated with Edo. The latter zone was composed of the Industrial revolution and Tokyo, Mass Culture and Entertainment Hall, Historical background of Westernization, The Great Kanto Earthquake, Westernization of Tokyo of the Meiji Era, Modern Tokyo, Air raids and the masses, and Reconstructing Tokyo.

Along with dioramas which showed miniature old-style houses and clothes, there was a family tree of the Tokugawas, the shoguns.

“Do you know Tsunayoshi, who prescribed the Edicts on Compassion for Living Things?,” Mike pointed to the fifth shogun in the tree.

His following attempt to assuage Takeko’s sadness went with, “How about Francisco Xavier who first brought Christianity to Japan?” As Mike ostentatiously raised the brim of his cap, his face with a proud goatee pretty resembled that of the founder of the religion.

“Actually you may not be so funny, but thank you,” although Takeko was perplexed into momentary dumbness by his unexpected action, she soon translated her gratitude into a smile. Surely, whether consciously or not, Takeko respected Mike as personally important as a psychological mainstay, beyond just a palm-reader, a consultant, or a celebrity. Simultaneously, Mike knew how she thought about him and could not forsake her.

Just at a short distance from the model of a two-storied building, The Choya Newspaper Publishing Co., Mike and Takeko were side by side on a two-seater rickshaw in The Tokyo Zone. The real sense of sitting down on a seat helped imagine what service with the sleek black taxi people in the past paid for.

“If you could fly to wherever you wanted by this, where would you? Close your eyes,” said Mike in the hope of helping Takeko get out of the persistent thinking circuit based on her ex-boyfriend.

And, she was feeling a little easier with her eyes closed.

“Just imagine, we are floating off the floor slowly but surely. The roof of the museum is opening to give us a way. We are soaring higher and higher through the opening, and let’s see, already getting past thick dark clouds which had rain fall. The skies are unimaginably clear and infinite. Yes, these are infinite. We are flying above the ocean which is harmlessly blue, and heading for somewhere very pristine and safe. Look! What is that ahead? Is that not an island?” Mike kept whispering into the ear of Takeko.

Such a ruse of his seemed working well until the moment when a ringtone went off.

That was coming from Takeko.

“Oh, someone sent me a text message,” Takeko furrowed her eyebrows, but awkwardly fumbling with her cell-phone obviously indicated that she had expectations about her former boyfriend.

“It’s from him!” yelled Takeko. The grade of her exhilaration was a sign that the message was the first after the break-up.

“What does he say?” asked Mike as he couldn’t guess what the message was.

While reading it nervously, Takeko didn’t make a word out.

Only seconds later, she was willing to say something.

“Mike, I understand that it’s quite an asking, but could I possibly borrow some money?”

Mike immediately felt as if his face was trampled down after all his pro bono dedication to her, but luckily he had professional skill to put his temper under control: he scotched the emergence of frustration successfully. And he thought that she would have been exploited if she didn’t quit the fruitless relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

“No, you can’t,” Mike snipped the asking off.

As Takeko turned her wavering eyes down from a small stage on which the rickshaw was placed, there were families of humans too.

“I still have future plans with him,” Takeko was in tears.

“I understand your feelings, but I’m sorry. I can’t lend you money.”

Seeing the dog sobbing and unable to move on her own, Mike gave the fluffy body a piggyback and descended the steps of the stage for her future.

difficulties in finding jobs for high school grads (9-23-10)

The probably common phenomenon across developed countries is that as a result of each increase in the number of universities, job offers to high-school grads are fewer.

At least in Japan, the situation seems true in which stronger emphasis is put on what university students have entered and followingly graduated from rather than actual productivity they will exercise in workplaces. Indeed, many high-school students acknowledge how essential a diploma of university, hopefully that of a prestigious one, is in securing a job. Further, it’s said that once students enter university in Japan, it’s easy to get a degree, in comparison with the cases in other developed countries.

However, as a result of universities which have flourished over 800 nationwide, some of them are given a competition ratio less than one and threatened with bankruptcy.

In the meantime, most examiners in job interviews are university grads themselves. In this situation, it’s plausible that the examiners favor university grads more than high-school grads. This mechanism must be another driver to urge the importance of graduating university on high-schoolers.

Yet, while prestigious universities constantly yield competitive grads who will be contributive in each professional field, a question could be cast at some of the rest of Japanese universities: What differences do they make of their grads to high-school ones? One of the answers to this question might be social skills, for example. In university, students communicate with a wider variety of people including representatives of companies in a job fair to make it essential to abide by etiquette.

Most high-school students have high morals, meanwhile. Most of them are fairly disciplined even when they don’t aim to enter university. In their school life, club activities may teach good discipline while the process of dealing with mandatory study must also test self-control. (Facing textbooks and reference books to pass the entrance exams of university must add to stress.) However, high-school students with high degrees of morals would be unfortunate if they were subsumed under the same reputation smeared by other students who didn’t have them, especially when all of the students wore the same school uniform.

Mastering the contents of compulsory subjects found just in textbooks is mostly not enough to make students competitive against passing a series of entrance exams of university. Students must use additional books. In a mid-level public high school in Tokyo, in classes the pace and depth in each subject are far short of cram schools’. In other words, just graduating from an average high school is usually not so difficult. Notwithstanding, while practicalities tested by the entrance exams of university, like those about English and classic Japanese, are often discussed also by experts, it’s an interesting scene that the minds of some students who barely survive semester exams fall in the state of desperation as they, in the senior year, find themselves wanting to advance to university. Students of this kind may likely lack both morals and social skills.

Still, some universities are reputed high for the practicality of their students/grads despite their not highest ranking based on the standard deviation, a grading system on which the marks of top-tier universities like the University of Tokyo are somewhere around 70 while those of average universities are 40 or 50. According to a spin-off book of PRESIDENT magazine, these practicality-minded universities provide programs that meet the requests from companies, about gauging students’ abilities, and those from students, about appealing their caliber to companies.

A case out of the magazine is the following:


“Although my university has a nice outlet, its contents are completely unknown to the public,” begrudged Koji Furuya, the chief of Kogakuin University’s Global Engineering section.

“It isn’t true that industry-oriented universities can’t promote students to renowned companies unless the university’s rating on the standard deviation is high,” he insists.

At 40 or 41, standard deviation-based marks of many industry-oriented universities are not so high to high-school students, according to Yoyogi Seminar, one of the most known cram schools. However, the graduation ratio of such a kind of university is close to 100 percent every year and a range of companies which give unofficial decisions on employment includes Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Isuzu, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu and Canon.

The most prominent feature of the GE section in Kogakuin University is its governing principle, being different from one of a typical industry section. That is: To make students focus chiefly on laboratory work.

“Whether it’s the science and engineering course, universities appeal their laboratories which students belong to. But companies prefer flexible students who can adjust to a change in markets’ need to students who follow an isolated theme assigned by the professor. ”

There are two points of note in the GE section’s education: one is studies in collaboration with companies and another is emphasis on English. In addition, instead of being similar to sections at other universities, in which students take laboratory education focusing on the professor’s own research interests, in the GE section, joint industry-university education and a research program named ECP--Engineering Clinic Program--are implemented during the junior and senior years. Based on themes presented by 11 companies like TDK and Nissan, students tackle assignments together with the companies’ engineers. They deal with studies keeping the actual manufacturing process in mind, like the development of (a line of) medical robots, or software. This situation is identical to letting students participate in development projects inside companies, and companies evaluate students highly as their “colleagues.”

Another focal point is English.

“Now engineering is active around the globe. Although many science and engineering majors are not good at performing English, they will lose a chance after entering companies unless they overcome the difficulty,” says Mr. Furuya.

Being scared of English and avoiding travel overseas will result in limited performance in the maker and adverse effects on promotion. In the GE section, studying overseas is mandatory in the third year regardless of the concentration on engineering. Students who were initially not appreciative of the plan talk about their experiences once they come back, and will start engaging in English study enthusiastically. In cooperation with Berlitz--a major English-conversation school--classes are twice as many as those at typical engineering-oriented universities, and such five classes are held each week during the first and second years. Amongst the students who have shed antipathy toward English, there is an example who improved his TOEIC score to 905 from 385. Mr. Furuya insists that high English skills with an engineering major will help go far ahead of colleagues after the student joins a company.

“Makers can’t survive hiring on the standard deviation. My students are rated high because they have learned basic things and can adapt to changes. I want to expand the recognition across the examination industry and parents,” says Mr. Furuya.

Like the cases of the engineering section doing well giving graduating students an edge in their job-hunting activities, it must be best when applicants for university have researched the features of academies and ideally take the perspective of potential companies to work for.


Unlike the excerpt above, universities which don’t offer substantive programs for arming students with practical skills look as if squeezing the throats of hopeful high-school job-seekers during the job-hunting period of uni students which mostly start in the third year. It’s untrue that this sort of universities do nothing for society, as students find jobs around the campus and there are concerned staff, like professors and recruitment agents, who make a living around it. However, it’s probably time that the government should heed to the voices of high-school students confronting the difficulty.

It was telecast that the business of a zero-interest loaning program for high-school students with an eye to matriculation was facing difficulty after an increase in the demand began imposing more constraints on the budget. (Meanwhile, private loans with the same kind of function for high-school students require an interest rate of 4 to 5 percent.) The Democratic Party of Japan’s plan for nullifying the fees of public high schools will help households save money and allocate the surplus for the fees of a cram school or those of a university. It’s just highly improbable that this scheme will solely be sufficient to reduce the unemployment rate which is currently standing about five percent. Including this, still, every possible measure should be carried out holistically.

Despite the general perception of the difficulty in finding jobs for both high-school and uni students, what has yet been made known is that around four small- to middle-size companies give offers to one university student while about one major company does so.

However, smaller companies are relatively vulnerable to collapse in maintaining their businesses. In the case of Japan, meanwhile, changing companies halfway less likely leads to better conditions like a higher salary and easier working hours unless the worker’s skills, which are suggested by educational and occupational records on the resume, are prominent. Being hired by a major corporation usually necessitates passing a series of tests and a job interview, yet still many uni students opt to rally up to the narrowest and thorniest, but most promising entrance.

I just wish that companies had high acumen or serendipity, and leniency. There must be many talented high-school students who can contribute to the productivity of each company. Why do companies not make more job offers to high-school students? Given how old they are, those may not perform as skillfully as mature employees. Yet, neither may many uni students. Regardless of what school he or she has come from, the aptitude for each job is tested during apprenticeship. After starting from the common square one, he or she may be successful down the road. Otherwise, it’s a flop. There is no need to be overly pessimistic in the earliest stage, before light comes in. There are some exemplary presidents heading major companies with no uni diplomas. They deserve honor.

Meguro sanma festival (9-14-10)

Japan is a secular nation. Although she has mostly been following Buddhism since it was introduced to Emperor Kinmei from King Song Myong, or Seimei of Paekche, in the sixth century, memorial services have come to have only the vaguest religious undertones for many. This reduced popularity of Buddhism is an understandable result after the living standard of the public has shown dramatic improvement. On the contrary in the Kamakura period (1192-1333), for instance, stressful living conditions of ordinary people had them seek hope through the easy access of reciting a prayer to Amitabha to elevate the popularity of the Zen sect.

Just reciting a prayer was the easiest method but therefore accompanied binding power enough to embolden ordinaries to rally up against feudal lords and intimidate them into the mental state of paranoia.

Indeed, the three-time risings of Buddhist peasants against the government of Nagashima in present Mie prefecture between 1570 and 1574--which followed the suppression of temples’ intervening into politics mandated by Nobunaga Oda, the shogun--resulted in the destruction of many other temples, as the famous Enryaku Temple in Shiga prefecture, the base for militancy with Buddhist monks, was destroyed by the military force of Nobunaga in 1571.

However, high taxes and food shortages were fueling the popularity of Christianity to urge the Edo shogunate (1600-1867) to persecute the religion. In reaction, a number of protests were staged against Buddhism from the Edo period through the Meiji period (1868-1912). During the Edo period, with the shogunate’s aim to proscribe Christianity, temples were commissioned to administer people by registering their activities such as traveling, moving and marriage. This restriction also angered people to vandalize Buddhist statues and sutras.

Yet today, Japan is secular. Take dress codes for example. Just on occasion garb connotes a religious inclination incontrovertibly. I, meanwhile, take myself to Tokyo’s city-centers as often as every other weekend, not to wear an expensive outfit, and see other people, including couples, looking better in a designer one.

Through my recent weekends, a question popped out regarding those well-dressed-up people. That is, “What do you all mean to me, by sprucing up yourself every weekend?” I can even implore them, “Please lower the quality of your clothes for me!” Of course, such an outburst would never be heard by anyone. Yet it’s a fact that Japan remains amongst the top economies and its citizens have the right to spend on what to wear. And sure, weekends are supposed to free men and women from wearing formal attire, and this freedom of choice diversifies people’s appearances to help complete the trendy atmosphere in each entertainment place, say, those in Tokyo. Meanwhile, it’s probable that each outfit usually doesn’t accompany any special meaning.

From the universal viewpoint, meanwhile, the general personality of Japanese people is often described as reserved. At a cost to uniqueness, they less likely push their opinions forward unless the situation is right and there is a purpose.

Even if this given stereotypical image of Japanese is true and regular Japanese don’t look so interesting, however, they have a strength in teeming up.

With a look into public places, there is a perceptible sense of safety, which is made by modesty and community-mindedness. Architectural works themselves were built by not only the finesse of construction workers but also cooperation between them, architects and project executives. Those buildings look organized well to underline (relative) peacefulness.

Still, Japan has so many traditions like festivals and a multitude of historical structures, thanks to which the citizens can more easily identify themselves. Foreign visitors can take advantage of Japan’ almost secular, or quasi-Buddhist status, and high safety standards too, when the country has thus lots of attractions, though at present the strong yen is working negatively in tourism.

***

Amongst numerous summer festivals which ranged over sorts and sizes is Meguro Sanma Festival. It was held a week ago in Meguro, a three-rail-station distance from Shibuya, one of the most condensed transportation hubs in Tokyo. Set up on an urban street, the source of a mouth-watering smell afloat in the air was sanma, or sauries which was ceaselessly sweating juice on the grills. Hand fans were being busily flipped for allowing the smell to travel far. People bothered waiting and queuing up in long lines to receive delicious dishes for free. A stage of Awa dance close by the section was easing their impatience.

In immersing myself in the festive mood, I first quelled my hunger with skewered pieces of beef. Then, although a saury dish was really a giveaway, a view of long lines of waiting people dissuaded me from joining them. Instead, I bought a cup of shaved ice shot through with lemon juice from the top.

Street vendors who lined the street were selling not only saury-related dishes but several other varieties. They were yakisoba--stir-fried noodles with Worcester sauce--tonjiru--miso soup with pork and vegetables--takoyaki--a small round piece of pancake, containing a tiny piece of octopus--and others, seen in seasonal festivals of Japanese local communities. The sellers kept yelling to draw the attention of prospective buyers. On the sidewalk along the queues, the human-size mascot character of a feudal lord symbolized that in an old anecdote which had made Meguro known for sauries: A feudal lord bumped into a cooked saury, a food for the hoi polloi. It tasted good enough to make him obsessed about the food.

For this season, the implementation of the festival was traced back to the effort of sponsors as Miyako, Iwate prefecture, which transported sauries to Meguro met with a small catch. It was reported that the catch was smaller than half the usual figure and 7,000 sauries, which had been frozen since July 31st, helped make up the preparation. Although a number of saury-featured festivals were canceled nationwide, Meguro Sanma Festival was spared the deficiency and held successfully.

***

After the festival, the expensive-looking outfits of passers-by threatened me to head for Ikebukuro and buy clothes. I bought two shirts, a short-sleeve one and a long-sleeve one, and a belt at an apparel shop. The price-tag of the long-sleeve shirt on the shelf suggested 1,900 yen. But at the checkout counter, the actual price turned out to be about 2,900 yen. The discovery was shocking, but I bought the shirt.

Arrietty in East Asia (9-1-10)

I saw “The Borrowers Arrietty,” an animated film by Studio Ghibli, at a movie theater in Tokyo two weekends ago. I envy the small bodies of those pygmies in the film; if I were Arrietty, a melon would become a much greater deal. On the other hand, Arrietty wouldn’t seem tasty to real me by any cooking method.

I wish Japan had a commensurate population to its size. The living standard of the nation would be more sustainable by the same load of exports. Anyhow, a host of grandpas and grandmas whose brains suffer from dementia, roaming around disoriented, wouldn’t come in the market for international marriage. [nonsensical]

Unfortunately, the situation is converse. As the yen hit the record high of 83, exporting goods remains difficult.

In the ’80s and ’90s, the production of compact automobiles sporting the utmost comfort, and high-quality electronics goods, like audio systems, accrued according to Japan’s caliber while greatly helping open the door to the country’s economic boom. Symbolized by the rising sun, Japan saw the summer solstice only once. Yet thereafter, it’s now preparing for winter while a snowballing number of retired protagonists in the economic heyday appears to be putting out a sense of being endangered. [??]

When home-oriented machines that look satiated in quality satisfy buyers, often coming into eyes and ears are those of Samsung. With the well-performing airline hub Incheon, South Korea, the weakness of the currency, won, champions the yen.

It was written early this year that the total amount of international freight at Incheon airport already surpassed that of Narita. Furthermore, the airport is slated to grow five times in size, double its runways to four, breed the annual customers to 100 million, and increase flights to 480 thousand.

Meanwhile, China’s economy, with its 1.3 billion people, has unseated the second-highest status of Japan. Leaving alone continuous nagging from other developed countries to appreciate the renminbi, a situation which goes with membership in a group of countries with least expensive exports and labor force, emboldened by rich resources like rare earth metals, China sees the enthusiasm of its engineers for mastering skills and technology of front-runner countries dwarfing the presence of Japan. Surely, China is drawing the attention of the US more than ever.

Despite the widening wealth gap, the Chinese upper class has money and their traveling is extensive.

Take a look into downtown areas in Japan. Flocking amongst electric appliances on display are scores of Chinese tourists. Considering that the issued application sheets for receiving a refund in eco-points after purchasing environmentally friendlier machines are losing momentum to pique potential buyers’ impulse while supplies are fulfilling their demand, resorting to tourists from China is an alternative strategy. Not to mention that an announcement of putting off the closing of the eco-points scheme may have given another encouragement to Japan’s market, bumping up the weight of the tourist industry is a way to run the country’s economy more smoothly.

In line with this idea, it’s a convincingly lucrative arrangement that has been already decided to lower the required minimum annual income of Chinese tourists to 60,000 yuan from 250,000 yuan.

In addition, the more flights to Japan airlines make available, the more Chinese will come to the country. While the transportation minister, Mr. Maehara’s recent verbal pledge to develop the medical tourist industry to treat visitors to medical facilities at the meeting between China, South Korea, and Japan, remains a question, there are pieces of good news. One is the inauguration of the fourth 2,500-meter runway at Haneda airport, thus increasing the capacity for international flights. Another is the growing number of Low Cost Carriers. These strategies lead the government to project a tenfold increase in Chinese tourist visas to upwards of 16-million Chinese households. (More than one million Chinese people toured Japan last year.) And there is All Nippon Airways’ determination to double its customers and increase the freight amount sevenfold in sales. This mindset sounds ambitious in the economic overcast of Japan.

Still, Japan has concerns in China.

Although rare earth metals imported from China are the mainstay of electric products (as the reliance ratio rises up to 90%), Japan suffered a 70% drop through the July-September period from the same period last year. And, to provide China with advantages could also mean to back its repression on Tibetans about the autonomy issue and the authoritarian state of North Korea when China doesn’t stop aiding it.

Despite these, well-heeled Chinese tourists can possibly give Japan suffering from such an adamant yen a bit of salvation. The relatively short distance between the two neighboring countries is a boon. While universal views should be respected, signing up mutually beneficial deals with China will help Japan make a living.

(Give it rare earth metals, please.)

Japanese pension system; Hatsushima (8-15-10)

Seeing seagulls cutting through gusty winds, I was on a ferry off Hatsushima Island in Atami, in the eastern tip of Shizuoka, when one of my limited male friends from high school forwarded to my cell phone a word, “Free?,” meaning, “Could you make time for hanging out together?” Though, considering his asking difficult to meet I didn’t make any quick response.

I don’t clearly remember when we shared conversation in depth the most recently, but at least several years ago he was a part-timer at an outlet of a major convenience store chain, working the nightshift and receiving a decent hourly wage.

A lack of deep knowledge about his family doesn’t help explain his case, but scads of self-employed and part-time workers are said to be negligent in filing a final income tax return and paying into the national/public basic pension plan. To support the latter, the Daily Yomiuri, the morning edition of today, cites 60% of the population who meet the pension duty.

The national pension plan is intended for anyone who wants to become a beneficiary, while the employees’ pension plan or the mutual-aid society pension plan (for public servants) is added on top of the national pension plan. The pensions of the last two plans depend on the pensioners’ incomes.

Back to my high-school friend, again it’s so far unknown to me whether he complies with the government’s intention to make all the population fulfill their pension duties. Yet at least his case piqued my curiosity and led me to consider how individuals should contribute to our society, involving consumption.

Excuse me for hypothesizing that he regularly visits neither the tax office nor the ward office, but even in this situation his prodigality shown back then convincingly reflects him as a contributor to Japan’s aggregate consumption and economy, possibly effective enough to cover the lack of paying pension premiums.

While some people might not have any fulfilling hobby to spend money on, Morning Musume, an all-female Japanese pop band, became his raison d’etre. Back then, I and he went to a karaoke room in our area almost every Saturday night. If there was any rational reason, not a glass but two of Kahlua and milk ordered were reposing on the table, before him. He thus nicely imparted a mood of idiocy to the room. Such a place was communal also for us.

After being formed in a then-popular TV show akin to “American Idol,” which selected singers through a series of competitions, the girls band, to be followed by other ones and singers, was getting all the rage to prompt even young men and women who don’t go to concerts to sing in karaoke rooms.

Although he was initially in this kind of group, with his fervor for Morning Musume further fanned by its more redoubtable popularity, he later began telling me what concerts he had gone to. (He had quite a few times.) For example, he told me that he had made use of two consecutive days off, staying overnight outside a hotel, a little stupid act; On a separate day, he explained to me how the audience had made a somewhat rambunctious parade from the concert venue to its closest station and police officers had been called in to deal with the mess.

I am sure that he didn’t save money. Here, another piece of evidence: In an attempt to collect the photo cards of all Morning Musume members, he ran trial and error, buying one box of cards after another. He even deigned to grant me overlapped sacrifices. [??]

Again, it remains unclear whether he volunteered to report his annual income which is subject to taxation and pay for the national pension plan. Nevertheless, his such economic contribution--obvious, counting in the five percent consumption tax--could point to another probable demographic in contrast: there must be some who don’t fail to do bureaucracy to pay a final income tax every year, but don’t buy things so much.

Despite the favorable economic results after the introduction of the eco-points program, which would encourage the buyers of eco-friendly products to purchase additional items, it’s said that some experts project the phenomenon won’t last long because the economy-stimulating plan is going to end in this year. In addition, while it’s said that flat-panel TVs are selling well due to the systemic switchover from the analogue to the digital next year, a sales downturn will likely ensue after a good performance.

However, in view of sustaining the lives of aged citizens growing in number, constant consumption is increasingly becoming important for the upkeep of the nation’s money flow, as part of the aggregate revenue is to be allocated for pensions.

I was shocked by a fact: I had believed that I had been paying for both the national and the employee’s pension plans for my own future. Yet in actuality my expenditures on them are for helping present beneficiaries make a living. This mechanism even doesn’t specify a self-employed person whose business performance might not be so good. Moreover, the future return will already generally be lower than the monthly payment of 14,660 yen in the national pension plan. The sentiment of those who refrain from visiting ward/town offices may have some understandable part.

Notwithstanding the above, retired elderly people should never be forsaken. In the face of the stark 60%, the government has to make the national pension system more bindingly collective.

The leading Democratic Party of Japan with its coalition partner has been suggesting Sweden’s model as ideal in budgeting pensions. Under this model, a minimum distribution is guaranteed for low-income earners in collaboration with tax revenue while beneficiaries in the middle- and upper-class brackets are unspecified. (The model differs from the Canadian one in which pensions for people in the middle-class are also augmented.) With the Swedish model, although the wages of the high-school mate of mine are decent, to me he with a certain degree of contribution to the national economy seems to deserve the entitlement.

To avoid paying into the national pension plan and instead save money while living frugally may be a way formed due to present financial difficulty and/or fear about surviving the future, a decision made by knowledge about pension schemes in Japan. Nevertheless, unless overall consumption is kept at a satisfactory level and a pace apart from spikes formed after each economic stimulus is taken into effect, Japan’s future prospects are not bright.

As my friend demonstrated, finding something critically important for his or her life will likely lead to unfettering them from being stingy.

Several years ago, he was after Morning Musume. And now, I believe he is after AKB 48, a separate band of the same ilk. And, my answer to his question is that I got this essay done after coming back home on Sunday.

Acting for life (8-2-10)

On a recent day, a semi-comatose guy in his 20s asked me, an X-ray technician, at work: “Is there any reason to live?” Although his condition, which I was not completely familiar with, and the unexpectedness of the question took me by surprise, my life of 35 years and both physically and psychologically normal state helped almost improvise a reply: “Because there is a reason, you live, I suppose.”

Momentarily thereafter, I considered my answer as perhaps irresponsible and too simple to such a profound question, after recalling the dire living situations of certain developing countries with scores of people suffering. Followingly, yet, my somewhat indifferent manner of perceiving him created another irresponsible remark, “You will be ok.” He had a tattoo on his shoulder, something unusual for regular Japanese who are doing well in society, and the casual outfits of his companions (a middle-aged man and a young lady) had me speculate in what environment and how he had lived to date. I might have overestimated his psychological state, but I felt he would be ok looking at his good physique and sanguine skin, and projecting how energetically he would move.

Although I was neither his personal mentor nor close friend and therefore my response was able to become provisional, to some extent I could afford to sympathize with him since my younger days had not been immaculate too. I had mornings when I really hated to come back to reality which ruthlessly filled me with anxiety, waking up.

Mornings can really divide people into either a happy world or the other. They in the latter are unfortunate for individually different reasons. Yet at the same time, their desire to escape from difficult situations can prove genuine and powerful when and because these are real. When the strugglers demonstrate upturns or recoveries, therefore, memoirs can supply a lot of encouragement to an arid world.

In daily life, people sometimes look for motivation from seeing inspiring stories and exemplary acting. Such pieces are successful because of a consistent story and the depth (in expression) of actors who understand the reason behind each inch of action and each word. As for a quality play, the audience are permitted to sentimentally assimilate with key characters, and non-fictional stories can effectively be encouraging and/or uplifting. All this is why actors must grab the details of given situations. (Fictional works, especially those with unearthly settings, must rely much on acting skills.)

While some actors are innately gifted, the rest dominate the majority. At an amateurish level, across a range of professions, genders and ages, a significant number of people define an acting school as their another home place. The reason for going to the kind of school depends on the individual.

On a personal note, more than a decade ago, a major acting school in Shinjuku, Tokyo, assigned to a class the scripts of only the climax scene of a fictional story. The provided scripts started from a scene, in which Soji Okita, the protagonist, a samurai who really existed in the mid-nineteenth century and was a member of Shinsengumi, a special police force of the late shogunate period, had time-traveled to the present time and was somehow chasing Yuki, the heroine, to a park, having left a party. “Wait, Yuki!” Soji shouted, but she was ballistic.

“You should keep dancing with those ladies!”

But Yuki asked Soji why he was eventually favoring her.

Soji’s response was straightforward: “Because I love Yuki!” And they ended up hugging each other with Yuki’s exclamation, “Soji!” (These are just the gist. The real scripts were lengthier.)

Although the given text was just part of the entire story, students had better research who Soji was and what circumstances he lived in, in order to deepen the understanding of his personality and characteristics, and then to adapt the optimum combination of emotion and an expression to each action scene by scene. This kind of research was much more demanding than today as there was no Internet technology available. Just some limited number of students looked to have done a good job.

While professional actors can move the hearts of an audience, stories with realistic scenes can be the most effective denominator. Take the case of a film, “My sister’s Keeper,” for example. A couple, both of whom suffer from leukemia, nevertheless (or therefore?) offer lessons about what life means. Real patients racked with leukemia must have helped craft the story, but in return the couple’s instructively good attitudes on-screen should work as additional medicine for them.

Back to the young guy who asked me the question, I must admit that my response was a bit at levity then. My retrospection soon followed: a person whose birth was primed well by the parents with good vision and who has been raised under their high logic must confront fewer unnecessary troubles down the road. Although there are still inevitable obstacles in the course of life, if the right living manner is practiced he/she is not alone as somebody must keep an eye on the subject. Additionally, to rescue sufferers from some psychological trauma onto the right track, professional counselors are supposed to be able to activate high sympathy to get in the shoes of patients or clients, armed with special skills and knowledge. Parents or friends with genuine affection for the subject may be able to play a role as counselors as well.

After all, I think Yuki possessed absolute qualities as a human and Soji found them conspicuous amongst women he had seen in both time zones. Vise versa, according to records, despite the factual slaying of his enemies Soji was distinctively humane—a quality that enables his character to be interpreted so that it can resonate with Yuki’s.

Although I may have been as mature as my age suggested, making an adequate response was still a difficult job.

Yet I only hope someone will give the young guy this message:

“Even if you could return to the past to change your status quo, the actual encounter with your younger self would end up causing a massive explosion. Instead, it will be safe to meet yourself in the future and receive an answer to your question.”


PS: I still remember that acting scene in which I played Soji and hugged a young lady. Going back to the small group of her female friends, she said something like, “He is kind of muscular!” Thank you very much.

umbrella witch (7-19-10)

While Tokyo and other largest cities welcome each stream of new young residents, aged couples who have decided to live the rest of life at a condominium on their own might be causing a sense of insecurity to others nearby.

This morning, the exact day of this writing, a stocky woman, who appeared seventy-something and like a witch with a gray bob, and lived on the third floor of my four-storied condo building, gave me a nauseating encounter again.

The first time must have been about two weeks ago. When I went out to throw away trash in the condo’s trash room, she was unexpectedly going the same way.

Then, the words she cast at me were perhaps something like (excuse me for my bad memory as I tend to let go of inconsequential things), “What is your name?” Both her countenance with out-of-focus eyes and demeanor reflected creepiness.

Yet, this morning was just the onset of a series of events, horrific enough to mark in my life history.

Later during the day, I found a piece of cloth reposing in a corner of my small backyard. I took the cloth and left it in front of the security room of the condo, with a memo meaning that someone had dropped it. And some time later, the witch rang my doorbell and thanked me. Things seemed normal, just until she began repeating the very same kind of misconduct over some days, although cloths were varied. It was an oh-my-god sentiment which coincided with my mind being roiled, had me procrastinate and let rain drench a cloth. Subsequently, a plastic bag which was looking doing its utmost to hide the wet content might have been feeling more comfortable in the trash room than before the security room. Yet this action was hoped not to be interpreted as representing the maximum disrespect to the cloth, but as one of normal responses.

A blood-curdling event happened exactly one week after the day with the first cloth. In the morning, I woke up and opened the curtains. Then, sparrows’ peaceful chirping got disillusioned into a catastrophic state of my backyard: There must have been some kind of disaster which left bundles--two?, or three?--of umbrellas, veneers, rubber pots, ceramics, plastic bottles which were full of water, a large plastic box and other smaller everyday items throughout my backyard. A large round plastic table which had sat in the middle of the backyard sported a large hole at its center. In a state of shock, I would rather say thank you to the sun for allowing me to taste such an exclusive view.

While thinking about who should deal with these wastes, I hated to let the witch’s husband through my rooms to confirm the situation, though after some following consideration I eventually permitted him in to have him remove some key objects. (Other residents in the same condominium who had learned of the situation told me that she was sustaining dementia.) He, however, neglected a promise to reimburse me for the broken table.

I had to come up with a question: Is there anyone who likes to get involved with troubles caused by a family of just grandparents?

Although I loathed dealing with the mess, no one would substitute me; My cowardice about coming across the witch preferred an open garbage place outside the condo and night-time.

As it was impossible to move the entire load all at once, I divided it and reciprocated between my condo and a garbage place three times. Each round of walking took 15 minutes or so. (I tossed the broken table and plastic bottles into my condo’s trash room the latest.) Whether those items still stood as personal ones, I disposed of everything without the husband’s consent.

On a more recent day, I heard from a female neighbor that the witch had thrown umbrellas from the third floor to the front yard where parking spaces for bicycles were laid. To prevent actual injuries, the police were called in. However, upon receiving squarely the husband’s pledge to keep his eye on his wife around the clock, they merely promised to take action when someone had gotten injured.

Their attitude probably explained the status quo of the police in Japan, even partially. As I reflect on the behavior of policemen in public places, they show an increase in their number to catch cyclists and check their bicycles’ registrations during a patrol, ostensibly under the title of reducing accidents during the campaign.

At the same time, there was a case that a concentration of dispatched policemen looked too much: During the world summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, two years ago, the alert level on Tokyo’s subway routes was visibly increased with hosts of policemen while vending machines’ openings were shut with tapes.

Then, I came up with another question: Is it not the police’s responsibility to relieve citizens by squashing potential damage in a communal scope, even if the size of it is assumed small? Or, “Should the police take only heavy responsibilities?”

With the population growing, Japan is seeing itself becoming older and adding forlorn families. In the trend, it may be natural for the aged demographic to show residents with dementia.

According to the latest census about the national population, people aged 65 or over make up 22.1% of the total population of about 127 million. On top of this data, according to the statistics of the Metropolitan Police Department released this year, murders and violence committed by citizens aged 60 or over were respectively 25 and 420, or 23.4% and 15.1% of all the cases in each category. Although these figures might not look outstandingly high, they might have exempted cases with the subjects suffering from dementia or lack of a sensible mind.

Whoops, cutting-edge wheelchairs and/or other technologies, leveling the floor across thresholds and/or installing handrails will not only ease their daily lives but could help harm people. Like my case, high-rise condominiums might accompany such implicit danger.

After all, in my opinion, it’s perhaps best when living threats with potential manslaughter are identified and have family members who watch their behavior responsibly. I hope that the central government discusses the issue.

(Getting out to waste garbage, I noticed the witch sitting on a bench in the front yard and staring at me. Where was her husband? Anyone, please help me.)

Shosenkyo gorge (5-23-10)

The consecutive holidays in May, so called “Golden Week,” lasted from the 2nd (Sunday) to the 5th (Wednesday) in my case this year. My mother’s birthday sneaked on the 5th.

What present did she expect from me? The answer would customarily be some cod roe, but for this year I settled on a different idea. We planned a trip to my father’s hometown, Yamanashi prefecture, to go on together. I had two major purposes: making prayers to the graves of my father and grandparents, and leisure.

My mother had a feud with my grandmother when she was alive, which was formed through a gap between their social statuses. Their mutual hostility developed steeply after my father passed away more than twenty-five years ago, when I was 8.

Although I myself asked my grandmother for my staying overnight almost every consecutive holidays--and I did so as her schedule allowed my stay--after her husband passed away, this uneasy relationship prohibited my mother from going to Yamanashi until my grandmother was hit by a brain stroke which led her to being hospitalized and eventually drawing her last breath in 2007, when she was over ninety.

My mother suggested this trip with me, which would be the first time for her in quite a while after having talks with other relatives at funeral gatherings held on the death of my grandmother. (The talked-on issue was about inheritance.) Although praying for my father and his parents was in the first place, I also hoped that a sense of union would work as an integrated present for my mother’s birthday and Mother’s Day on the 9th.

We met up together in the morning on the 4th at the Ikebukuro rail station in central Tokyo. I respected the 4th for my filial piety and scheduled a visit to the graveyard for the next day.

To get to Kofu, the capital city of Yamanashi, while limited express trains from the Shinjuku station are an enabler for a 90-minute boarding, connecting local trains is still in a range of comfort adding about 40 minutes. (The latter way requires 1,950 yen while the former does 2,210 yen.) Either way gives passengers shifting views from the seas of buildings into idyllic villages which are enclosed by tree-covered mountains. In particular at night, as soon as the train gets out of the long Sasago tunnel, what comes next is a fantastic view of artificial lights sprinkled colorfully over a distance!

My grandparents’ two-storied detached house was located in a town of Ichinomiya, one of those which sat vineyards and peach farms. A range of verdant mountains and the bluish Alps oversaw the lives of the local people from afar. My grandmother and grandfather used to teach Japanese and history respectively at Hikawa high school. (He became the principal once.) An a-few-minute walk from their house, there was a mansion of honke, the main family. Such a clan sharing the same surname was rather frequently seen just within a borough.

As I look back to the days when both of my grandparents were alive, the local community kept high standards of discipline and etiquette. The atmosphere around my grandparents’ house must have been redolent of a sense of pride or pedigree.

In my childhood, there were some things I hated on every visit to Yamanashi. Having worked in education, my grandmother frequently gave me questions about kanji/Chinese characters written on fliers. She would never approve of me reading comics. Separate from school-associated inculcation, it was really irritating to memorize the names of train stations in the right order. She bristled at seeing me eating mandarin oranges with peeling just the thickest skin off, and had me cower, while she herself never neglected to do the thinnest skins right on the wedges. (Which way would do more harm to the stomach?) And she ran a meticulous calculation after I washed my hair with hot water out of the bathtub!

Meanwhile, the personality of my grandfather was seemingly milder, as he was partly passive-aggressive, and leniency was probably one of all the charms of his, for which many of his students bothered to make a distant visit on their days off, some of which overlapped my vacations.

Across a tablecloth-covered short rectangular wooden table on tatami, he was sharing conversation with a guest, a total stranger to me. My grandmother was busy catering, moving back and forth between the kitchen and the living room. Where was I, meanwhile? In many cases I opted to play a hand-held video game before the début of Nintendo or in my older time read something for kids upstairs.

Still, my grandparents didn’t allow me to speak and disturb the sounds of the TV news during dinner, a family in which my father grew up.

However spiteful my grandmother was perceived, it was unimaginable for me to completely leave her alone after my father and grandfather were gone. (The latter probably did so about 12 years ago when he was 73 or some age quite near.)

Through the loss of her husband, interestingly, there was a visible change in her attitude to me. Every time I met her, she expressed gratitude for my coming, something which had never been seen before as far as I remember. Despite hateful kanji questions--this time around, mainly from the names of people--and less frequent nagging, she cooked vegetables which she with a distinctive stoop had grown on her own, using a corner of the yet defunct vineyard behind the house. Along with eggplants, sticks of okura and so on, there were cherry tomatoes. She ate only their skins, eliminating seeds. At a meal or more, a somewhat funny scene was when she was not conscious of her denture off the palate. Still, it just took her seconds to begin criticizing after finding me reveling in reading a video-game magazine, an item which helped feel nostalgic.

We took a bus ride to Kofu when her mobility was better. Still, in the process of getting to the closest bus stop, I walked further ahead of my grandmother because she didn’t want her acquaintances or the members of the main house to identify us together on the way. Meanwhile, we had another custom of sharing lunch on the day of my returning to Tokyo at a branch of the Fujiya restaurant chain near the Yamanashishi station. Yet as her age accrued, she began preferring delivering sushi and getting some vegetable-based sides to taking a taxi to the restaurant. This revised custom with cooking lasted until my latest visits.

Now, I, with my mother, yet in Kofu, felt like coffee in the Yamako department store near the Kofu station, since I and my grandmother had relished a cup at a cafe many times. I suggested some walking to my mother, but when my memories were nevertheless not completely clear about the location of the cafe, my mother could hardly suppress irritation. Her face was being lined. In response, I was irritated, shouting in my mind something like, “Don’t make a face at me, please!” In the absence of a good relationship with my grandmother, unfortunately, she had nothing to do with the coffee place.

She actually wanted me to go to Shosenkyo gorge together. There was convenient bus access from a terminal in the rotary before the Kofu station: To get to Shosenkyo Taki Ue, a bus stop at the highest altitude, required only 50 minutes and 870 yen. (To get off midway meant each smaller figure.) Walking up a slope would have likely promised impressive views, but we got off the bus at Shosenkyo Taki Ue for the sake of convenience.

As this was my second Shosenkyo visit after the first one which was also with my mother on a different main purpose, we forewent having time in the museum of shadowgraph near the bus stop.

A long ascending street took tourists to a ropeway terminal. There was a street vendor selling skewered iwana fish cooked with immediate fire, but we passed the chance up this time.

The street was lined with restaurants and souvenir shops, as many as all of which sold bunches of Amethyst and other kinds of jewelry. Although a dog was sitting in a storefront, I hesitated to approach the dog because my right index finger had recently been bitten by a puppy. Regardless of the shadowgraph museum for us, a separate museum named CRYSTAL SOUND which displayed jewelry would serve us our first visit. On the second floor of the building, what would impress me a lot was a selection which was immaculately glittering in the darkness behind the glass wall: each jewel symbolized a birth month. After we left the jewelry museum, a magnificent landscape seen from the peak bore testimony to an article of the Yomiuri Shimbun, which was put up inside the cabin of the upper ropeway terminal: the second best sightseeing spot in Japan. After all, we ate mitsumame, a Japanese sweet, at a sweets-featuring restaurant and later iwana on our way to a health center, a kind of recreational center with spas, where we were going to stay overnight.

Isawa-onsen was the second stop from the Kofu train station. A walk to the health center from the Isawa-onsen station probably took 20 minutes or so, though my mother used the center’s shuttle bus. I and my mother were accustomed to staying in each TV room, which was separated by gender and filled with sets of a TV and a reclining bed, and which helped us reduce accommodation charges to some over 3,000 yen per night. As this pay even included a de facto pass for taking spas, using the Internet and reading comics, the cheerful, homey atmosphere which suffused the building gave a lot of challenge to hotels. Take just spas, for example. A variety of them, like one laced with tea leaves, carrots or something else, a milky one, or one with slight electricity, were in good harmony. Wish there were no barring to tattoo-worn customers!

Yet in the morning as I was indulging myself with spas after breakfast, the second time during the stay, I would hardly get in time for the check-out. As soon as I checked my cell-phone in the spacious locker room, it was found that my mother had called me. Then, an announcement went around, communicating that my mother was looking for me. This embarrassing moment was soon followed by quibbling. I only wished: Please don’t release your frustration as freely as you want!

The graveyard was closely off a street, between my grandparents’ house and the closest bus stop. We took a taxi at the health center. My mother acted out of turn again: In getting out of the taxi, she preset the time and said to the chauffeur, “We will come back in 15 minutes, so please wait here.” My following thought was like, Hey, only 15 minutes? Is praying for them not the main reason for this trip? I had opposed the 15-minute limit, but sadly her recalcitrance found no effective backfire from me.

Although I retained some memories of where the gravestones of my father and grandparents were, ferreting those out of other analogous ones couldn’t be easiest. During the search, I was sensing as if the sun was intensifying the heat. This is! Yet I first found a pile of stones with one inscribed with my grandmother’s name and briefly made a silent prayer to her spirit. Followingly, after running inspections from grave to grave again, I found my grandfather’s and conducted the same way. Where is my father’s? All of a sudden, an unexpected answer to my quest flew from my mother: “The time is up! We’ve got to go!”

It was obvious that she didn’t pray for any of them and I could not help asking questions in mind: What were you doing while I was searching for the right gravestones?; Who was your husband? As I was confidently unable to change her such nature, I had to grovel, shouting quietly, “I want to go back to Tokyo ASAP!” And we shut the door of the taxi to head for the Yamanashishi station on our way home.

Afterwards, I don’t mind saying that the moment I came back home I felt as if I was a released prisoner, although I hadn’t committed a crime.

My condominium is located minutes’ walk from Tobunerima rail station. This station is right next to the Kamiitabashi station which is the closest to my mother’s apartment.

I know well how bad my mother’s temper is. Her untidiness is incurable, to boot. Though, I also understand how much she has solely devoted herself to me even awkwardly: In order to make a living and prepare my school fees, she kept redeeming a given quota every month at a major health insurance company for more than ten years. I chose and bought the condominium at the location and started a refreshed life about three and a half years ago. I conventionally tend to be allergic to my mother’s behavior, but I don’t regret my choice.

As I have heard from someone whom I don’t remember exactly that both my mother and father eloped together in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture, from Tokyo where my father’s university was located when my grandparents were unwilling to approve of their romance alluding to a gap in social status, as the paternal side might have looked to earn a little higher public recognition. My father must have spotted long-sought freedom deep within my mother’s personality and character. (Meanwhile, strangely, my grandmother might have found it easier to praise my maternal grandfather and Junichiro Koizumi, the former prime minister of Japan, after her husband passed away.)

The hospital to which my father was dispatched by an ambulance after he suffered a brain stroke is located between the Tobunerima station and the Kamiitabashi station. When I and my mother are asleep at each home at night, so may my father at the hospital. Then, we, in these three separate locations, might look a kanji character “川 (sounding kawa)” which means a river, like when we used to sleep together in the same living room. My grandmother may be looking at our area from the sky, while tossing a denture inside her mouth.

After all, I would say, that was not that bad a trip for me.

a rainy Tanabata night (7-4-10)

A combo of crises have gripped the world in the second half of this year: the catastrophic tremor in Haiti, the eruption in Iceland, the Greek financial crisis, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While felicitous events such as the ongoing World Cup delight people as much as expected, tragic ones are mostly unpredictable to give damage.

On Japan’s front, although the scale is smaller, recent unexpected resignation of the prime minister Yukio Hatoyama after the going of the leading government last year--the Democratic Party of Japan came to power toppling the Liberal Democratic Party which had hogged the position more than fifty years with no cessation but once in 1993--had the citizens’ jaws dropped.

According to a number of the media sources, however, the average approval rating of Naoto Kan, the succeeding head of the DPJ stands around 40%. This figure represents a modest recovery from the lowest around 20% during the Hatoyama administration, but no one can conduct an accurate prophecy to suggest seat-winners in the Upper House election scheduled to take place on July 11th.

Now, under the cloudy skies about noon, Shinjuku city, Tokyo, the commercial center, looked hectic being riddled with the full-throated voices of political candidates on the stump; the portraits of them were put up on the slates as their campaigns continued.

In such a disconcerting mood, Mike, aged 50-odd, was taking refuge at a cat-cafe on the eighth floor of a tall building, its highest floor. The shape of the building looked akin to how scrawny he was. As he was not interested in any political activities nor even voting, those loud campaigners were nothing better than annoying to him; So were a crop of pedestrians attentive to what those politicians were speaking boisterously in front of the Shinjuku station.

Mike just wanted peace and quiet and consolation apart from people’s affairs, as he was a public figure frequently appearing in TV shows; his book with his whole-body picture, which went together with stylish clothes, on its cover jacket was selling well; he was a past up-and-coming, already popular palmist-cum-TV personality.

Typically or not, he was a late bloomer. His career as just a TV personality had rather practically been moribund for a couple of decades until he was enlightened by a teacher in palm reading whose insight shed light on Mike’s aptitude.

The small room looked to have about twenty cats, each unique variety. While Mike was sitting cross-legged on the gray carpet, one of them crawled up from his jeans to white T-shirt under a green street jacket, and tried to reach for his goatee which was connected to his mustache. Mike swayed back off the paw, and gently held her body back onto the floor. Cats were mischievous and perhaps naive and incompetent, but therefore he could be relaxed at the cafe which was independent of corrupt human activities.

As he was eating some spaghetti in the afternoon here, the sky was still overcast and threatening. Although it was the rainy season, the total precipitation of it would have likely been less than the average this year.

On the way back to his own palm reading shop, on one side of the street he found an argument between a different palmist and a customer irritating other queuing ones.

“How can you say that you can’t read my palm!” A female dog (Cavalier) was upset holding her left paw forward. Facing the scene, Mike immediately gathered a sense of responsibility as he was the person who had ignited the boom of palm reading. Not to anyone else, but Mike sneaked to raise his sunglasses to surprise her and both hid themselves into an alley.

Neither was Mike able to read the paw of a dog, but she, Takeko, was craving.

“You know tomorrow is Tanabata. I really want to know what my palm lines foretell for my future with my boyfriend! Please!” Takeko was almost crying.

Mike gathered his wits and took out a marker from his bag and drew lines on her left paw: long and thick ones which would indicate the personally destined states of life, brain, feelings, and marriage. For a human body, the last one which piqued Takeko’s interest the most ran short and horizontal on an assumed pinky’s side of the hand and right under the finger. Adapting to the shape of good fortune, he stroked the line sharply upward to the bottom of the pinky.

“Very thank you, Mike! Now I’m confident for tomorrow! Bye!,” Takeko was cheerful.

The fable of Tanabata was: Orihime (Weaving Princess), the daughter of Tentei (Sky King) was good at weaving and diligent in doing the job. They resided on the west side of Amanogawa, the Milky Way. While Tentei was concerned about her indifference to marriage due to her such commitment, Hikoboshi (Cattle-herder Star) was good at taking care of cows and toiled with the job. He resided on the east side of Amanogawa. Then, arranged by Tentei, Orihime and Hikoboshi got married. However, happiness based on marriage made the couple no longer work hard and resulted in Tentei getting upset and splitting them to both sides of Amanogawa. Ever since, Orihime and Hikoboshi were never permitted to meet together but on July 7th. On the day, a bird, a kasasagi (/European Magpie), flew from nowhere to build a bridge over Amanogawa. If it rained, nevertheless, the flood prohibited their one-day reunion. As such, rain on July 7th was deemed as tears of both Orihime and Hikoboshi.

The next day, Tanabata, customers were forming a thick line after their fates to be read by Mike, as his shop in Shibuya was packed. Some were couples whilst single women dominated the majority. If a customer yet had a partner, Mike must have worked nervously and carefully as a misremark could lead them to breaking up. And this sensitivity required skill in learning a customer’s background to make Mike partly a consultant. Indeed, he was also good at reading the face of a customer. Now, as pouring rain outside was making him nervous due to the fable, he presented himself as someone potenter than a kasasagi and explained to his customers that he could connect a basket of destinies to another one.

Rain was still heavy as Mike had yet finished his work of the day. Outside, what loomed out of darkness into his eyes was Takeko, completely drenched. She was standing upright, without an umbrella.

“Hello, what’s up?” Mike suppressed the volume inferring any sad cause which had failed her into the state.

Without a word, Takeko immediately rested her face on his chest.

“I went to Yokohama as promised with my boyfriend. But it turned out that he was with a female cat! He didn’t follow through on our future plans!”

Having a look at the lines he drew yesterday, Mike discovered them all messed up by rain. He furrowed his eyebrows and sought for somewhere to free his focus, but failed.

“Let me offer an umbrella to you who is thoughtful about the future more than any stupid person,” said Mike as he brought her body into his jacket.

Roent-gen gishi trauma (5-16-10)

As my hospital’s annual health check-ups are starting this week, on the list are the names, professions and ages of my colleagues. Although my career in the hospital yet exceeds a decade, I usually don’t have unnecessary communication with them: a few young (female) nurses and maybe-seven male caregivers, most of the latter are over thirty, amongst other predominant entries aged over fifty. Many on the list are just colleagues to me. Yet when those caregivers come to the focus of attention, the urgently needed profession in aging Japan, all of them are unmarried (or there might be an exception).

While it would be intrusive to ask about the salaries of caregivers, some TV programs suggested the need of raising them to be fairly worth strenuous work.

Japan with its aging population sure will need more caregivers. However, a somewhat stigmatic image as blue-collar given to the profession, however true the reputation is, might be prone to make male caregivers unpopular to ladies. What women with university degrees would designate these guys as boyfriends? In particular, the diplomas of prestigious universities tend to mean a high status. The situation seems tough to male caregivers as Japan today sees half of high school grads advance to university with no noticeable gender bias in the number of new students. The national effort to produce more caregivers is thus likely hitting a snag in the convolution of a higher demand for them, the raised academic level of Japan and the traditional manners of paying respect to the opposite gender.

On a recent Friday, a sales rep of Fujifilm dropped into the X-ray section of which I am in charge and we shared time. The rep who appeared aged around sixty made a little stunned face and pointed to a name card on my chest, which described my occupation as “Roent-gen gishi”, as a gishi meant a technician. He said with his usual a bit raucous voice: “Does your hospital still use this expression?”

The question immediately had me recall the conversion from the previous “the law for shinryo-X-sen gishi” to “the law for shinryo-hoshasen gishi,” which also revised the official way of calling the occupation. (Both X-sen and hoshasen means X-rays as a type of radiation, while shinryo means medical.) According to the revision, a Roent-gen gishi is yet an obsolete title in practice.

(A parenthetical piece of knowledge: To be different from the US, Japan doesn’t differentiate between X-ray technicians and radiologists. It’s said that in the US the latter has more things to do with diagnosis.)

“Team-iryo” is a term which means when a doctor/doctors and co-medicals collaborate together to treat a patient. Under this principle, professionals from each section are supposed to have specific quotas and meet them. If the team harmonizes well as a whole, the patient will be served with treatment of quality and each professional will be proud of the profession more highly. After giving the successful treatment, the medical staff should have increased motivation to deal with another patient while the quality of their service can be further improved by making and receiving feedback.

Before changing its name in 1968, X-sen gishi, commonly called Roent-gen gishi in society, was not as respectful a profession as it is today. According to information I have gathered since I began being involved with this specific category about radiation, X-sen gishi worked at the disposal of doctors: They were supposed to merely follow doctors’ instructions as precisely as possible. In addition, the Fujifilm rep touched on the principles of nurses in which sectors in the medical field consisted of just “doctors, nurses, and others.” The position of Roent-gen gishi was incorporated into the third group.

However, generally speaking, this status of X-ray technicians, which was not totally irrelevant to servitude, is no longer in place.

Thanks to their passion which has been passed down from one generation to another toward serving more advanced medical exams and treatments since Roent-gen, the physicist, produced and detected X-rays in 1895, now the certificate enables the area of their work to cover CT and MRI scans, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, mammography, fundoscopy, radiation and isotopes. Furthermore, following the case of nurses, those proficiency tests have been set to give classifications in each kind of exams or treatment, like radiation therapy. For example, there are special users of CT scanners under the system. One of the purposes of setting up the classification system may have been providing a medical facility with higher credibility with the presence of a classified technician. Society should feel easier as they benefit from medical facilities, the quality of each of whose services has been improved.

As for how the related education system has changed, universities with X-ray majors have flourished in number, in accordance with the national trend in the number of universities. There were eleven of them a decade ago, but they have multiplied to twenty-five according to a list released in 2007. Now, the door is open more widely for wannabe X-ray technicians.

Certainly, doctors and scientists are front-runners to move the overall quality of medical treatment forward, leading each new generation. At the same time, only the largest hospitals can apply cutting-edge medical approaches to difficult diseases. Yet still, workers in smaller medical institutions should keep obliged to improve their routines by the day.

The Fujifilm rep brought up an anecdote: An elderly woman could not reach an X-ray section in a university hospital because there were no signs with Roent-gen midway. C’mon, if I were in the hospital, my name card would have helped her!

I also found my name, age, 35, and profession, Roent-gen gishi, on the list for health check-ups. I, however, in no time tried to deny the reality, thinking, “I am different from those caregivers!”

Objectively speaking, although my profession and working environment are not the same as theirs, differences may not be as much as I believe.

Outside the hospital, there are many cool men appealing a higher salary and a higher status than mine. When a man is perceived by women to be capable enough to guarantee the future of someone out of them, he is closer to marriage than the have-nots are.

Even though a trait of human beings has developed this formula in mating, should it not yet become out of fashion? I actually don’t take this change as realistic, but if there is a successful couple with reversed balance in status--the woman’s is higher than the man’s--their miraculous case may serve as a meaningful influence on the nation.

about TV purchase (5-3-10)

After the Lehman collapse, the economic state of Japan is in the grip of a deflationary spiral which does not simply indicate recession. In the spiral, not only meals but as well products play on the competitive ground, as their prices are set as low as possible. Leaving department stores behind, which are closing one after another as a result of failing to tailor to what shoppers want or need, discount stores are doing well.

(To highlight the predicament department stores are facing, according to a weekly economics magazine, arms of Mitsukoshi-Isetan, Matsuzakaya and Sogo (or Seibu) closed; their total sales dropped by somewhere between 15% and 17% in March last year over two years.)

Mega electronics stores with their gigantic buildings are the paragon: these stores have been replacing the role of department stores, dealing with a broad variety of items beyond electric/electronic products. Some of them even sell retro toys, in addition to greatly reduced prices. And, I know one store has a restaurant floor.

Taking advantage of economic incentives, these electronics stores are thriving, attracting a host of shoppers. One of the measures is the introduction of eco-points for enviro-friendly machines, put into effect by the central government, which benefits consumers by enabling them to barter for other items. Amongst the products, TVs are in line with the ecological policy as it’s stated that Light-Emitting Diodes are more efficient in interpreting electricity for brightness and kinder to the environment. Furthermore, it’s said that LEDs enable pictures to be depicted more vividly and smoothly. With all these advantages emphasized, the purchase of TVs on the newest line is pushed nationwide to get in accordance with the conversion to digital terrestrial TVs from those on the analogue platform next year.

As for my sole TV, “he” and I have cohabited ever since I became independent in 1998. Bulky though, well, this Victor’s 21-inch display is surely among my best old friends; back then I visited an outlet of an electronics store chain which offered discounts and retrofitted my studio with a TV, a refrigerator and a washing machine, all with just basic functions. As it was probably a common understanding that these appliances were virtually necessities, for me as well there was no way but to purchase them. I did so, and don’t deny that arranging my own living circumstances accompanied a lot of excitement.

Recently, a TV program introduced and appealed the comfortable living in a residential complex some decades ago (it must have been in the ’70s). In a short movie, within the room a TV, if there was no other one, was among all the decorations. Suffice to proclaim, “my roommate” is eliter than this previous role model.

As of now, TVs with LEDs, a larger screen and a reduced thickness are on display in stores. Their such low prices (in comparison with those of former lines of TVs) might appear a little presumptuous even with available eco-points to shoppers who recently started living on their own. Meanwhile, to those who have families, renewing TVs is thus in season. Panasonic’s VIERA, for example, is demonstrating three-dimensional pictures to allow shoppers to see them and expand the range of their options. (My first experience of seeing 3D pictures was in a superstore in my neighborhood, free of charge.)

Well, when there were seductive women right before you, money can be out of the question. But no worries, adults can make a wise decision to settle on a choice. [non sequitur]

Although I am not so enthusiastic about 3D TVs, a wave of films that require viewers to don special glasses in movie theaters might either undermine or encourage the impulse of potential buyers of 3D TVs.

Surely, acknowledging the best qualities hands-on will lift the standards of TVs for each shopper and motivate them to buy a new model, as eco-points will be back. Indeed, even TVs that don’t have superlative functions on the descriptions show clear pictures with sharp contrast.

Some physics taken, Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC curve) indicates how accurately pictures are translated from original objects. For instance, if a system of rendering pictures has a high ROC curve, viewers can identify one thousand cogs when a real gear wears the same number of them. With the same kind of measuring method, LED-embedded TVs should get high scores while 3D TVs brandish separate features.

I only recently learned to some extent about trendy TVs in electronics stores. While the most reasonable price tag persuaded me to decide on a certain model with its own specifications, the booklets of the products abounded in contents:

Again Panasonic’s VIERA line-up puts emphasis on the Internet accessibility with the services of skype, acTVila and YouTube; and appendages like DIGA (recorders), rack theater (a rack with an audio system) and digital cameras.

Sony’s BRAVIA line-up appeals high resolution in another dimension (120 Hz or 240 Hz); the Internet accessibility with YouTube, U-next and acTVila; aplicast (a channel for getting contemporaneous public information); and the router which enables archived contents to be viewed from somewhere distant in the same home.

While touting the collateral TV stand with its built-in audio system, SHARP’s AQUOS line-up warbles that the company pays great attention to its manufacturing process against environmental damage.

TOSHIBA’s REGZA line-up seems to succinctly promote clear pictures; that the series’ peak brightness (1250 cd/m2) excels that of all other counterparts in the industry, one of the key features. The REGZA line-up also offers accessibility with YAHOO!JAPAN, acTVila and Hikari TV. And the TV stand incorporates an audio system.

To conclude, I would buy a 40-inch TV made by either of the manufacturers above, for some over 90 thousand yen. The thing is, regardless of all the explanations down to here, the model which I have decided on doesn’t contain LEDs. (A staffer in an electronics store described LED-embedded screens as brighter, but I didn’t notice any difference in the quality of pictures between those two types, despite the gap of about 20 thousand yen. I chose the seemingly second best.) Nonetheless, as the model was classified as enviro-friendly, the eco-points amounted to approximately 20,000 yen. Sure it’s timely to buy domestically-made machines making use of eco-points before the scheme ends at the end of this year (although its closing time has once been prolonged).

Although the new friend is coming, the settlement doesn’t persuade me to part with my old friend. I will own two televisions in my home. Otherwise, I would rather organize a funeral for the old one, in the style of Buddhism.

After all, catching up with the rapidly advancing technology is quite challenging to me (aged 35). I may usually prefer sauntering in public parks, which are surrounded by those tall buildings in which businesses seem to require changing their mechanisms to avoid collapsing into desert, and sensing nature to staying sedentary before a TV.

Futenma Air Base relocation issue (4-18-10)

As the May-end deadline for making a decision in relocating the US Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa, draws near, pressure against the Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama seems most intense after his party, the Democratic Party of Japan, took power unseating the Liberal Democratic Party last year. In a recent press conference, Mr. Hatoyama was fielding questions from reporters and critics who were censuring him for the possible default on his pledge made when his party came to power: It would transfer the Futenma Air Station somewhere outside Japan. He said “Trust me” on the issue last year, and the deadline was set for the end of May. During the conference, the amount of Mr. Hatoyama’s perspiration was so much that the entire situation looked as if an extraterrestrial alien was being captured.

Surely, Japan has sometimes been said as responsible for winning the understandings of residents in the relocation area, perhaps either Henoko in Okinawa or Tokunoshima Island of Kagoshima, although it’s unknown to what extent the issue is taken seriously in comparison with other global news. At least, it might not sound so closely related to me, a Tokyoite. (I’m sorry to say this.)

Whatever attention is paid to the issue from the world, at a minimum the result of the issue could be critical to Mr. Hatoyama after his approval rating dropped to 23.7% and his disapproval rating rose to 56.5%.

He is unlucky: Had he held onto the leadership alone, consequences after a couple of scandals would have possibly been a little easier. Mr. Hatoyama was heckled by opposition parties after a fundraising revelation--his mother kept providing him with assistance money totaling some 1.7 billion yen from 2001 through 2008. Meanwhile, underreporting by the secretary general Ichiro Ozawa went public, though he, with the strongest authority in the party in effect, has not volunteered to abdicate from the position.

According to the allegation, Mr. Ozawa did not report dubious money which he had lent to his fundraiser Rikuzankai. Having borrowed 400 million yen from Mr. Ozawa, it purchased land in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward in 2004 and paid back in 2007. It’s speculated that the lent money was tribute paid under the table by Mizutani Kensetsu, a construction company. Yet, no evidence has been found to pin down Mr. Ozawa as a violator of the Political Funds Control Law while three men around him were indicted.

The media are also a mighty foe to Mr. Hatoyama. While Mr. Ozawa lurks in a cozy place, a volley of critical remarks is directed at the prime minister to make him keel over into a UFO, though this manner of the media is perhaps just normal.

What makes those scenes more frenzied are new political parties being formed, although they haven’t manifested specific policies against the LDP’s until now. Kaoru Yosano and Kunio Hatoyama, the younger brother of the prime minister, both from the LDP, Hiroshi Yamada, from the New Frontier Party and the former governor of Tokyo’s Suginami ward, and Hiroshi Nakada, independent and the former mayor of Kanagawa’s Yokohama, are front runners in the movement.

Despite the last-minute commotion before the Futenma Air Station-concerned deadline, I can still afford to acknowledge feats of the DPJ. The ruling coalition has surely realized these followings: It has increased the capacity of the budgets by eliminating unnecessary costs; rearranged administrative structures across politicians and bureaucrats; set special subsidies for kids; nullified fees for high schools; been working on revising the national health insurance policy for the elderly; and been reviewing transportation systems. Given all, although all the attempts of the DPJ could have hardly led to flawless outcomes, I would rather identify the upsides which the former ruling coalition had failed to achieve.

Back to the Futenma issue, regardless of the bluff of Mr. Hatoyama, which was probably made for the sake of his approval rating, in reality there seems to be no perfectly suitable solutions to the issue. On TV, fifteen thousand people of Tokunoshima Island, or about half of its populace, were rallying against Mr. Hatoyama after it had been cited as one of the possible alternative places.

On a morning TV show, the exact day of this writing, among the small population there was a man who supported the invitation of the air base to Tokunoshima. He (politician?) raised economic expectations with things like construction works projects, considering the low average income of the local residents. According to the TV show, the average is about 1.6 million yen while that in Okinawa is about 2.0 million yen.

Meanwhile, not a small number of them must put nature preservation in the first place, as must residents in Henoko. However, such a desire of Tokunoshima residents might find light in an integrated proposal. This is, for example, to turn the island into a more enchanting tourist spot touting its priceless nature. In return, some additional urbanization while the island was made more accessible from other parts of Japan would have improved the living standards of the local residents.

Noise pollution by aircraft is what local people hate so much. Yet while residents in Henoko continue to protest against the air base coming, Ginowan, where Futenma is situated, has a denser population to subject it to engine sounds more effectively.

Sure in a region with fewer people and a greater deal of flora and fauna the impact of noise must be less. These living circumstances would probably be more immune from seeing troublesome cross-cultural relationships than an urbanized city if the air base and marines/navies came to the area. (If Japanese relate to those who stay in Japan far from America, having this kind of empathy is the first step in the process of bridging some initial misconceptions between different nationalities, if there are.)

In addition, in more rural areas the incidence of aircraft accidents is expected to be smaller: Fewer buildings would prevent the recurrence after a CH-53 chopper crashed into a university in 2004.

Beware that a UFO with the prime minister appears to be flying more precariously than a chopper, as the result of the Nago--where Henoko is situated--mayoral election held in January, that independent Susumu Inamine against accepting the air base in the area won, is inconveniencing the decision-making of Mr. Hatoyama.

Having been living in Tokyo since birth, I “can’t” have complete sympathy for compatriots who live in the southern regions, but don’t hesitate to say that there could possibly be good new relationships between different nationalities after the national government concluded discussions on the topic. Once it happens, the attitudes of the local residents toward Americans may be opposite to previous ones--and, vice versa.