Let's See Rekishi

The End, Three Goodbyes

2009-07-02T06:45:00.001-07:00

Na-roshima looks happy (perhaps because she is finally able to get away from us?) She's heading "home" to mom and dad near Hiroshima. Perhaps the somewhat angry JR station man behind her is jealous? She was a wonderful and happy addition to our tour, and we missed her on our last day in Sapporo.
You say goodbye, and I say Hello Kitty. Steve gets into Hello Kitty's head here, but managed to keep his Hello Kitty product consumption to reasonable amounts on the trip. Steve is now on to China, where he will be able to find where they actually manufactured all of his Hello Kitty items.
This is the closest Alex ever came to seeing Mt. Fuji. Otherwise, not a single regret for the best trip he's ever had. Our rough guide here is weather-beaten, and we are exhausted, but we have learned much, we managed not to kill each other, and I think we have become better friends for our troubles. Now Alex is off to the UK to go into Abraham Lincoln overload (he's already read WAY too much about him throughout this trip.)

Thank you for reading this blog. When we return from our journeys more pictures will be posted, as well as more thoughts on Japan's government and economy. Hasta,,

Alex and Steve

Sapporo, July 1

2009-07-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

Alex, Steve, and Na-poro found their way back to Sapporo to observe the final stage of the life-cycle of Hokkaido's wheat and barley crops. Things to note:

Alex becomes part of the advertising campaign.
The most impressive part of Sapporo's establishment is their museum floor dedicated to their advertising history. Early on they used women in most of their ads.
Some time in the 60's they started using men more frequently.
In the obligatory exhibit on how beer is made, Sapporo has provided an unusual twist. They have made it into a children's exhibit, with cute little toys explaining the steps to a frothy brew. We aren't sure that the little guy swimming on the giant beer mug at the end provides the best role model, but then again, we're imposing our prudish American ideals about imbibing certain beverages.

Road Trip through Central Hokkaido, June 29 - July 1

2009-07-02T06:14:00.001-07:00

The doors to the cabs are always open, and the engine is always running (we think this cuts into their profit margin pretty heavily). The cabs are immaculate, but in Asahikawa they were all lacking for customers.

We found our way to the most agrarian settings in Central Hokkaido (the advantage of having a car for a few days.) Alex has decided it's going to be a good wheat harvest this year.

Alex couldn't get to milking a real cow, but this plastic one didn't object to his clammy hands on its udder. We observed the cheese-making process in Furano, and at the end we sampled some cuttlefish ink cheese (yum).

We have nothing enthusiastic to say about Asahikawa. We went to the movies. Harry Potter wasn't out yet, so we caught Star Trek (which both Steve and Na-hura liked.)

Below are three unrepentant flower shots.
Alex frolics among the flowers that we can't name.
Nao-vender is caught candidly smiling, as Alex tries to get her to pose for the right photo among the lavender fields of central Hokkaido.
Steve.

Saffro Capsule Night, Sapporo, June 28

2009-07-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

One of our cheapest nights in Japan occurred in the nightlife district of Sapporo at the Saffro Hotel with 3 floors for men, one for women, and a deluxe "super-sized" capsule for two. The hotel also offered a deluxe Japanese bath with a ornate "powder room" for men. At 4100 yen, the capsule offers one of the best deals in Sapporo where simple business hotels are more than double that rate. Twelve capsules per floor with a hallway narrower than our office at Lowell, the downside to the capsule is not only limited space, but snoring in adjacent capsules, men entering other men's capsules to chat, and people climbing above our heads on small ladders. As one enters the hotel, you are required to get a key to lock your shoes; in turn, said key must be exchanged for another key that opens your locker in the bath to store personal items. Alcoholic consumption is monitored and those with tattoos are not allowed.

Alex enjoying his night in a 2.5 x 2.5 x 6' capsule room, akin to a pigeon in a Skinner box while Steve has trouble entering his capsule--and even more trouble sleeping.

Alex's future Faux-Yoga Website Photos, June 27/28, Toya

2009-07-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Actually, I'm not founding a faux-yoga website. But Steve says that the photo below is reminiscent of all those annoying yogi websites. After leaving Hakodate, we traveled along the coast, and up a hill to the mountain resort town of Toya. Toya has a large lake, an active volcano nearby, and supposedly excellent skiing a short drive away. So why were we there? Two reasons: R and R, and to visit the G-8's 2008 conference site. The town was transformed by the appearance of Bush, Brown, Putin, and company last year and we wanted to see why they came all the way up here. It's very pleasant, and frankly, we could have spent another day or two in Toya, but we couldn't help feeling that the town had built itself up a little too much. They did re-do their waterfront, with a series of avant-garde sculptures dotting the walkway by the water. So after noting the effects of the G-8 on the town, we decided to play a bit, here is evidence that we had a little bit of fun.

Performance art?
Alex takes one on the chin from this guy, who is the ad-man for this company that sells sweet-potato cookies that "taste like the real thing!"

Na-Toya and Alex enjoyed volcanic-rock roasted REAL sweet potatoes that were sold at a road-side stand, and the real thing is about 1,000 times better than the cookie.

But the real punch was packed by the volcano next to the town (last eruption was 2000), which hurled rocks into this elementary school house wall and nearby home: a reminder of the impermanence of Toya, and indeed us all.

Fretting over our own mortality makes us hungry, so we stopped for ice cream: not just any ice cream, but wasabi ice cream, one of two flavors that Na-Toya insisted we try. It's surprisingly tasty, but Alex is still recovering from the ensuing heart-burn which left him unable to try the other unusual flavor offered: edamame ice cream!

Steve: "Let's go on a paddle-boat on the lake"

N and A: "Sounds great! Let's go pay." [ed note: both of us confirmed later that we were only enthusiastic about it because Steve was so excited.]

Steve: [after paying] "No, the waves look too rough, you guys go ahead"

N and A: "grr."

At the end of every day in Toya they set of fireworks. Inspired by this revelry, we decided to purchase sparklers at the 7-11 and set off some of our own. We bought Hello Kitty sparklers, and the result was less than sparkling, but there were a few great moments anyway.

Alex briefly decides to worship Satan in the night.
Na-Toya makes the ghost of Mickey Mouse appear.

Steve is disfigured by Na-Toya's careless handoff of the sparkler.

But no worries: A little cosmetic surgery and a few days of wearing a Hello Kitty mask, and Steve looks almost normal.

Fish Market, redux

2009-07-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

Two words: Canned Ramen. In case you're with out heat and water, but can't go with out noodles.
Despite appearances, Steve and Nao-kadate are quite well enjoying this uni (sea urchin) served right in its spiny shell.
The Hakodate Fish Market had a decidedly different feel to it than the Tsukiji Market. This one was more about selling the final product. Like a farmer's market in the US. Good buys and earthy aromas were to be found everywhere: we breakfasted on the juiciest melons on the planet (ok, that's a bit unqualified), uni, toasted dried squid, and then big donburi bowls filled to the brim with crab that was caught that morning. Hokkaido is renowned throughout Japan for its food products (it's the breadbasket of Japan) and our stop in the gateway to the island did not disappoint in that regard. We finished our donburi bowls off with a free cup of squid-ink ice cream, which does have a distinct taste, but not one that I could easily describe. It's tasty either way.

Our train ride from Tokyo to Hakodate was something quite different though. After enjoying the shinkansen from Tokyo to Hachinohe (at the northern end of Honshu), we took what amounted to a local train through the longest undersea tunnel in the world to Hokkaido. It was standing room only, and the crowd put rush-hour Tokyo's subways to shame. It was also three hours long.

Hakodate has a rather large mountain next to it, so Nao-kadate and Alex took the tram up to the top to observe. You can't see the city lights all too well in the photos, but I assure you it was nice up there. Alex's camera may have gotten a good picture, but we'll have to wait and see...

Tokyo Highlights

2009-06-28T05:55:00.001-07:00

Drinks atop the Park Hyatt Hotel, in Shinjuku. It's the most amazing view of Tokyo's skyline. We tried to emulate Bill Murray and look depressed (like Lost in Translation) but just being up there is too good a time.
Here we are with Hajime Funada, one of the most senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Representatives. He's a very friendly guy, and loves all things related to space travel (if he hadn't become a politician he would have been an astronaut.) We are nobodies in the world, and he is definitely somebody, but he still scheduled half an hour for us with an election season about to begin.

Alex will have MUCH to say about visiting the national parliament building, but here we are with Mr. Suzuki (a good guy who helped us out with getting a behind the scenes tour of the Diet building, including a walk through the tunnel that links the office building and the capitol) and a familiar looking person we will simply call "Not A Funada".
Also in Shibuya, this is purported to be the busiest intersection in the world. Find Alex!
Shibuya's shopping district, where teenagers and 20-somethings find unlimited shopping opportunities. You can also get a Hello Kitty rhinestone covered guitar for only $2500.

Alex and Steve went to the Parasitological Museum, where they have an exhibit of the longest tape worm ever extracted from a human being (it's in the blue case there.) Then we had a dinner of noodles.
Knock-off Kitty. Hand-made in Kamakura for Y100, but quality control is an issue. This is why Disney so carefully guards its product image in the US.
Diabutsu (Big Buddha). He's forty feet tall.
where's Alex?

Alex gets rid of his useless 1 yen coins on buddha statues. 1 yen coins are even more useless than pennies. They don't yield good or bad luck. Supposedly 5 yen coins (which are pretty useless) yield good luck when you put them on statues. 10 yen coins are bad luck, but I think that's just because the vending machines still accept them. In any case, the series above are from a side trip to Kamakura, an hour south of Tokyo. We were joined by a spectral entity that we called Naomakura
Steve and Alex on the 52^nd Floor of Rappongi Hills Tower.

Alex, Steve, and an anonymous tourist that looks similar to a colleague (let’s call her Nachiko) pose at the statue of Hachiko, a famous memory-impaired dog who for ten years showed up at this spot in Shibuya, waiting for his master, never understanding that he had passed away.

Alex, Steve, and an anonymous tourist that looks similar to a colleague (let’s call her Nanime) enjoy sweet treats at a Maid Café, where waitresses dressed in anime outfits are extremely nice and provide very attentive (but entirely innocent) service. Hello Kitty Cuppucinos are by request.

Kiddy Land, in Harajuku, where you can buy anything for children, ages 0 to 100. Maturity level can be a bit low. For the record, these are USB drives. Alex managed to spend more money here than Steve.

Employees

2009-06-28T05:53:00.001-07:00

Focusing on the labor market for a bit: there seem to be an uncommon number of people employed who are tasked with greeting you or making you feel welcome as you shop/browse/are entertained. At the Mori Art Museum, there was a guy at the bottom of the escalator whose two jobs seemed to be direct people to either the bathroom or up the escalator, where another greeter awaited us at the top (in case we were confused or got lost on the escalator?) Inside the exhibit, one white-gloved woman’s only job was to make sure a shiny silver ball that had a remote control and aimlessly rolled around a room didn’t hit the wall. At Takashimaya Department store, there are five women at the tea counter (one of whom seemed to be entirely devoted to Steve smelling each and every flavor.) Service-based employment is, by our eyes, wasteful. However, it does make you feel special, and perhaps this is an important stimulus to a nation of savers. Still, it provides the ultimate contrast to the Toyota factory, where the only worker who didn’t seem to have enough to do was the guy we saw who was training with another man. My dad has suggested that the company that owns 7-11 has tried to apply its distribution strategy to the US (and has run into problems). It’s easy to see why it works in Japan. Even at the convenience stores, there are at least three employees (usually more) one of whom is straightening shelves and constantly stocking more products.

Controversy, thy name is Yasakuni, June 22

2009-06-28T05:51:00.000-07:00

We have one photograph of the Yasakuni Shrine from a distance. You’re not supposed to take photos of the shrine itself. 2.5 millions souls are enshrined here: anyone who died in a war since 1869, 2 million of whom died in the Pacific War. It includes everyone, which means that war-criminals are equally likely to find themselves admitted along side your noble grandfather. In the mid-80’s, a Prime Minister visited the shrine and broke with the Japanese constitution’s requirement of separation of church and state by signing “Prime Minister” to the guest book. In any case, to figure out what the big deal is here, all you have to do is go to the Memorial Hall for a little re-education. There is a little book at the end of the Hall where museum-goers are allowed to write comments. Some idiot family from Los Angeles wrote “They learned a lot from this outstanding museum.” We just decided to write what we “learned” and let you decide.

Gandhi was inspired by the Russo-Japanese War in the liberation movement for India. Ho Chi Minh, Kwame Nkrumah and pretty much every non-Western liberation movement looked to the Russo-Japanese War for guidance.

Japan was called on by the various ethnic groups of Manchuria to help them maintain national sovereignty.

The Nanking “Incident” was provoked by the Chinese.

The US provoked the bombing of Pearl Harbor by illegally refusing to sell oil to the Japanese war machine.

Japan sees itself as having liberated the Asian nations subjugated by European powers, during World War II.

Korea annexation was necessary for Japanese national security.

I left my (shark) hearts in Tsukiji Fish Market, June 22

2009-06-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

Alex gets over-eager and tries to enjoy the sashimi tuna before it's ready.

Bleary eyed from a 4:55am alarm, we quickly dressed on Monday morning excited to catch the early action at the seafood auctions. Miraculously, we ran into an English-speaking Japanese tourist that looked like one of our colleagues. We never did get her name, so we simply dubbed her, Na-uni.

A trip to Tsukiji Fish Market is a simple study in factor markets. Your land resource is the fish. Tuna is the big star at the market (These are gigantic fish, about six feet long and frozen through. High quality tuna is actually pretty scarce, which is why some of the fish being auctioned was going for upwards of $100,000.) We then observed stages of production in the resource market where this natural resource is transformed using labor and capital. Workers take big metal hooks into the tuna and put them on flat-bedded wagons. For such a valuable cargo, the workers are oddly cavalier about smoking around the frozen tuna that is lying somewhat unceremoniously on an asphalt floor in the auction room. To be frank, there is so much smoking here that Steve and I are a bit ashamed to admit that we’ve taken up second-hand smoking.

Mmmmm. Shark hearts a great delicacy. Somewhere. I don't know where. I hope to never go there.
This guy's sword is shorter, but he patiently saws through the tuna anyway.

The auction for tuna goes fast and furious. Those are whole fish, frozen solid.

The tuna are dragged bodily over to their stalls – about 30 feet by 10 feet areas, where in approximately 60 minutes they’ll become smaller pieces of fish to be sold to the retailers. There are over 1500 wholesaler stalls, and we found ourselves being pushed aside constantly by busy men with large Styrofoam crates on their way through the compound. Wherever you are, you’re in the way. Tourists feel somewhat welcome, although Alex got the nastiest glare from a man who didn’t like the flash as he was sawing through a piece of tuna. In some cases, men cut the fish the old-fashioned way: with long bladed saws about twice the length of a samurai sword. For smaller fish, a cleaver will do: a live flapping fish lost its head in front of us (thankfully there was a splatter-guard.) The workers are precise and extraordinarily fast. They have to be because the retailers are already on the prowl by 7:00 am. When they are ready to make a purchase women finally get involved. There seemed to be two little old ladies in each wholesaler’s stall, ready to take tens of thousands of yen from their customers.

We finished off in the product market, at Sushi Dai, the most popular and crowded sushi place in a series of little stalls built as an adjunct to the market. These factors of production are taken and assembled in the resource market to create a finished good (i.e. sushi meal). Though you might be hesitant to have sushi for breakfast, you suck it up (you can have beer too, but all of us declined) and you’re treated to the best sushi of your life. The tuna melts in your mouth, the uni is fresher and tastier than that brined mess you find in the US, and if you look closely, even though your unagi is cooked, it still feels like it might be quivering. It cost Y3500 ($36) but by my reckoning, I’ll save money in the long run, since I don’t think I can ever eat sushi that isn’t that quality again.

Yes, the Tsukiji Fish Market is a compact view of the circular flow model, but there is one little wrinkle in the system. On the way out you can’t help but notice perhaps the king of the negative externalities: the colossal pile of eco-unfriendly, bio-destructive Styrofoam. The mountain is constantly being shoveled down by forklifts, but the pile is also constantly growing. For a country that is supposedly at the forefront of the environmental movement (hello, Kyoto Accords) the Japanese are decidedly wasteful when it comes to packaging. We buy rolls for breakfast, and each comes individually wrapped in plastic, then wrapped again in a larger bag. We buy bento boxes for lunch and the plastic boxes are wrapped in paper, wrapped again in a lovely piece of cloth, and then placed in a large paper bag. You can ask them to not over-wrap your items, but looking around, few Japanese people do.

A very eco-friendly country.

Mighty D'Antona at the Bat, June 20

2009-06-28T05:28:00.001-07:00

We didn’t want to take a chance on the Tokyo Nomuri Giants being sold out, so we decided to see Tokyo’s other home team, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows at Jingu Stadium. It was an outdoor stadium, and contrary to what we’d heard, we were able to walk up easily and purchase tickets (to be honest, we got the sense watching them that they were not exactly the best team in town.) We were given the chance of sitting on the home team side or the visitor side, which seemed curious to us. At first we regretted choosing the home team, because the Seibu Lions scored first and their side was louder, stronger, and seemed much more fun than our sedate, sad-sack Swallows (the quite anemic team cheer: GO, GO, SWALLOWS!!!!!!!) That is until the lone American, Jamie D’Antona strode to the plate. Free swinging Americans that can’t lay off the breaking stuff in the Big Leagues find their way to Japan, where they tend to hit a lot of homeruns, and we happened to catch D’Antona on a day where he couldn’t miss. He tied the game with a single-run homer, and the crowd came alive, umbrellas raised in defiance of the rain gods, in joy for their beloved and mighty Swallows. Still, things looked bleak, down 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth, when once again our lone American gunslinger took the batters box, and then the crowds’ hearts by storm. D’Antona blasted a three-run shot that tied the game and had umbrellas pumped in excitement. Already THREE hours long, the game was destined for extra innings. With men on third and second base, and the Swallows’ most popular player, Aoki, up to bat, the cowardly Lions walked him (much to the fans’ chagrin.) But fear not, for a third time, our fellow gaijin came to the plate, this time with the bases loaded. He poked a single through the left side of the infield for the game-winning RBI. Final Score: Gaijin 5, Swallows 0, Lions 4.

An amusing side note: an ex-A’s player, Aaron Guiel was another foreigner on the team. Guiel is from Canada, and the Swallows fans had Canadian flags and joyfully sang “Oh Canada” to support him.

Tepid Fan Pic. The Japanese fans take turns cheering. Your side is only allowed to cheer when your team is up to bat.

Umbrellas = fun. I convinced Steve he didn't want to lug a souvenir umbrella around for another month, but he is a dedicated fan in his heart.

Cheerleaders at a baseball game?!? Yes, they have their umbrellas.

Sweet Child o' Mine, Tokyo

2009-06-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

The Tokyo portion of our trip is all about observing economic behavior, which gives us license to explore neighborhoods and watch people. It's really pretty interesting, although the rain on Sunday kept people indoors and the crowds muted. I think it has been best to wait on posting anything about Tokyo until we completed our time here: to process it at any given moment is a bit overwhelming. On the long train ride to Hokkaido, we will start to really assess. Still, here's something:

Red bean soup. Mochi. Dried, candied beans. Sweetened rice crackers. Pumpkin with Red beans. Many sweets here are not too sweet. Supposedly, the Japanese don't have much of a sweet tooth. Certainly, we have generally found that dessert isn't part of restaurant menus, unless you go to a dessert cafe. But if you put the dessert in the form of a fad, the Japanese seem to line up. Below, Steve poses with one of about 15 employees of an ice cream shop that sold only single scoops of vanilla ice cream covered in your choice of caramel, chocolate, or mango hot sauce. The theme of the place was pink, and walls looked like they were covered in Pepto Bismol, which would be appropriate because we got stomach aches afterward. Further below is a recent American "classic", but if you can't tell, the line in front of the Krispy Kreme is out the door and snaking back and forth at the Shinjuku branch of the establishment.

Genuine Imitations, Takayama, June 18

2009-06-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Alex carefully tends a rice plant in a rice-paddy near the Hida Folk Village in Takayama. It's not yet harvesting season, so Alex is just making sure that the plants are properly watered and not infested with bugs.

Steve makes a wish and with a mighty swing, rings the gong in the Hida Folk Village.

IMMEDIATELY IT COMES TRUE!!!! (That's why Alex went to tend the rice paddy alone.)
Later, Steve, concerned about open flames in the Gassho-zukuri, tries to play the hero and put out the fires.
Alex fancies the thatched roofs of the houses would make a lovely hat. The steep sides of the roofs are designed so that snow in this mountainous region will fall right off (I wonder if that means more works shoveling snow for the kids...)

We visited the Hida Folk Village in Takayama. The quaint village-life of the Hida region has been recreated by gathering the few remaining actual homes from the Hida region, and assembling them in an outdoor museum. The damming of the Sho-kawa River in the 1960's, as well as migration of young people to the cities, led the community to a desperate effort to preserve their culture. However, that's a costly a business: to thatch a roof costs upwards of Y20,000,000. So in the 1970's the Japanese government began to subsidize the preservation of the village (and two others like it). The government may actually be making a profit on the matter, as the area is swamped with (literally) millions of tourists a year. Hida Folk-Everything can be acquired, including, yes, you guessed it, Steve's favorite little character...

Rice-crackers are everywhere in Hida: you can even buy them raw and toast them yourself. Steve actually resisted the purchase of these...

I'm not sure about the authenticity, but the local cuisine is earthy, tasty, and full of mountain vegetables. This is a sansai ryori. We liked it so much, we had it twice. If you look at me with my chopsticks, you can see the hoba miso (miso with mushrooms) cooked on a magnolia leaf, over a charcoal brazier. Alex indulged in a local, hand-crafted beer (partly to make brother Pete jealous that he's had a beer he can't enjoy). The local craft-beer movement that is so pervasive in the US has come to Japan, and so it's worth noting that the "villagers" have figured out that they can market those craft beers at quite a premium (Y800) to the tourists (of course, it's still a good deal relative to coffee.)

Alex hits his head again

2009-06-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

One sign of economic prosperity is that the average height of a population goes up. We have noticed some very tall young people, so that seems to fit. Still, it's a country that was built by a shorter generation, and Alex's head has taken a beating on every possible door frame and low stairwell...

Toyota Automobile Factory, Toyota City, June 17

2009-06-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

We visited the Toyota car factory while staying in Nagoya (it was a busy day there!) We were interested to learn that the company began as a loom manufacturer. In 1929, financed by the sale of the patent on their loom, the company began to develop automobile engines. In 1937 they founded the motor company. We didn't see anything noting that their first major contract was for building trucks for the military when Japan attacked China. We visited the Tsutsumi Plant, which had 6,000 workers total. They manufactured several models in this plant, however the day we were there, it was almost entirely Priuses (Prii? Prius? Prion?) which fits with the company's goal to make themselves "eco-friendly" (more on that later.)

Photographs in the plant are not allowed, but in the gallery exhibition hall where the tour begins, you can take pictures. Here is a rather silly robot that impressively plays Disney music and other tunes on the horn. It fits with the Toyota philosophy of automation, as we learned that over 90% of the factory is run by robots. Robots cost an average of Y4,000,000 per, and last 8 to 10 years. At roughly $40,000 for a robot, a company that is hell-bent on efficiency makes the obvious choice to automate. To be honest, from what we observed, there were still a few humans that could have been replaced along the assembly line...
This is the Toyota IQ. Steve hopes it is sold in America soon, as it will be his next car. It was like a SmartCar, except it felt safe.

Fun observations/questions we had answered for us:

There are two shifts for employees: 6:40a ~ 3:40p and 4:00p ~ 1a. The way the line is designed, the entire line must shut down for lunches and breaks. Everyone eats lunch on the morning shift at 10:45. They have a 10 minute break every two hours. The team basically eats, works, and poops together. When something has gone wrong on the manufacturing line, a worker pulls a lever and the entire line shuts down. We actually saw this happen, and everyone works feverishly to solve the problem (for us it lasted no more than 15 seconds.)

The plant is committed to zero landfill waste, and energy-efficient lighting (a refractory system, so that they didn't have to use too many bulbs,) and design. They even had "photocatalytic paint" on the exterior of the building, which helped turn CO2 into oxygen. We kept our comments to ourselves, but we thought it interesting that while they took pride in the manufacturing process and its environmentally-friendly set-up, they neglected to mention the environmental impact of raw resource acquisition as well as the sheer fact that 8,500,000 automobiles that are made will sit in landfills at some point. Negative externalities are very easy to sweep under the rug...

Burakumin and the Problems Therein, Osaka, 6/16

2009-06-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

We saw this young woman at the train station near the Liberty Museum. Steve has composed a haiku that sums up his feelings on things:

In the Buraku,

Trains will not even slow down

for short-skirted girls
Alex pretends to drum, along with this statue commemorating one of the cultural bright spots in a dreary community.
This photo may not look like much, and that's the point. We thought this apartment building looked like something you'd find in Soviet-era Eastern Europe, not modern Japan.

No photographs are allowed in many of the facilities that we toured over the last few days, apologies for that.

On June 16 we travelled to Osaka to visit the Liberty Museum, which serves as a sort of clearinghouse for all of the minority groups in Japan that are discriminated against. We stepped off the train and were somewhat mystified by the industrialized and marginal area that we found: why would they build an important museum in this wasteland? We were further confused as to why there were three shops selling large wooden drums right next to the train station. We found the museum after walking past run-down apartment complexes and factory warehouses, at one point passing a grocery-store that looked worse than the worst 99 cent store you've ever seen. The museum is somewhat informative. On the plus side, it highlighted groups such as the buraku (a class of individuals who were cast as untouchables due to the fact that they dealt with death, specifically slaughter and removal of hides from animals,) the homeless, AIDS and HIV positive individuals, and the Ainu (indigenous peoples of Hokkaido) who do not receive much coverage in the press. We felt that it suffered from the same flaws that the Atomic Bomb museum in Nagasaki did: namely, it didn't seem to acknowledge the complicity of individuals in the problems in Japan. There were myriad photographs of people protesting to the government (often successfully obtaining concessions,) but we felt that there wasn't anything examining the real roots of the prejudices these people face. As such, the message that these individuals are deserving of human dignity was compromised. To use an analogy: if I were to simply show a few photographs of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement of the 50's and 60's in my class, I would be wasting my students time. It is absolutely necessary to examine, discuss, and explore Jim Crow segregation in the South, discrimination in the North, the successes and failures of Reconstruction, and the roots and effects of slavery to even scratch the surface of how pervasive a problem racism was and is in America.

In any case, the burakumin were our primary focus and reason for going to the museum. Afterward, we were going to try to find a buraku neighborhood, having an extraordinarily vague idea where there was one in Osaka. We knew that the areas of a city that were associated with buraku were always economically depressed, and that non-buraku didn't want to move to those neighborhoods, for fear that they and their family names might be tainted with the label (buraku are ethnically exactly like other Japanese). While in the museum, we learned that drum-making (wooden drums with animal skins stretched over them) and drum playing were well-celebrated elements of buraku culture. As we left the museum, planning to seek out a buraku neighborhood, we looked around and realized that by coming to the museum in the middle of this industrialized wasteland, we HAD come to one.

Swine-flu and a pork-based diet.

2009-06-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

I kept forgetting to take a picture of this, but finally I remembered this. When we landed in Tokyo on June 7, we were delayed on the tarmac while doctors came on board and surveyed our potentially swine flu-infected plane. Before clearing customs, we had to clear the doctors, who gave us this lovely badge of approval to take with us on the next leg of our journey.

While I have been able to avoid the swine-flu, I have struggled mightily to keep pork out of my diet ("No pork." "No pork." "No pork?" "No pork. Just pork broth." "Ugh.")

Nagoya means Unagi!

2009-06-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

This has little to do with Econ or Gov, but this blog is many things to many people, so there you are. Any how, we discovered that Nagoya is famous for its unagi (eel) dishes, so we promptly went to a well-regarded restaurant at the top of a downtown department store. We saw the painting above and we were so amused by it that we decided to have a "Haiku Duel" where we each wrote a haiku, and whichever was better would be posted. Mine won :)

Unagi, bodies

intertwined, her curves sublime,

his lithe, serpentine

The English translation of the instructions on how to properly eat Unagi in Nagoya. We got ours with "white soy sauce". If you have the opportunity, indulge in white soy sauce. I don't know how they do it, but it was worth the extra couple of dollars.

Delay in posting

2009-06-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry, dear readers for the long delay: we have, oddly enough, struggled to access the internet. Now we are in Tokyo, and have access in the room, so expect picture and entries to be updated for the last week or so in the coming days. Also, a colleague has joined us on some of our adventures in Tokyo, and she'll accompany us for much of our travels in Hokkaido.

-A.S.

Interview With Katsu Hibino, Nagoya, 6/17

2009-06-22T05:27:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon in Nagoya at Kawaijuku, a vocational school Japan. We interviewed Mr. Katsu Hibino, a former teacher and executive for the school. We have many, many thoughts on the interview, but I thought it best to first post my notes (we find that people don't want to go on camera.)

-- The Trident Schools (Kawaijuku) have been around as a "prep school" for 75 years.

-- 30 years ago, they spread all over Japan. At that time, they founded the vocational program. The vocational program offers courses in architecture, English, Computer Science, Hotel Service, Athletic Training, and Acupuncture.

-- The school has two parts: the vocational students are 18 year olds, graduates of high school. 90% are 18, 19, and 20 years old. Programs are two years, except for acupuncture, which is three years.

-- Job placement is critical to guaranteeing the company's (school's) success, so it is guaranteed. The design school remains a headache when it comes to placement.

-- They accept all applicants that properly apply to their program.

-- They do offer scholarships.

-- The gender balance depends on the vocation: for English, 80% of the graduates are female. For computer science, 80% are male.

-- There are no mechanical schools. Students who wish to pursue jobs at factories go to industrial high schools.

-- The recent economic downturn has lead to a decrease in students. This has been problematic for the school, since they derive most of their revenue from tuition.

-- The economic downturn has had minimal effect on the students, who are committed to the program, and have not yet sought to be placed in a job.

-- In general, young people have changed in the last 10 years: they no longer stay with the same company for very long.

-- Alumni who have lost their jobs may return to the school for additional placements.

-- The government provides minimal cash supports to the school: 1% of the revenue comes from the government, with strings attached. [ed. note: later we confirmed what we find to be an important subsidy of the company, that educational institutions, even private ones, are tax-exempt.]

-- Japanese companies to do not aid universities or vocational schools: instead they often give money to the top American universities (who actively seek their funds, with offices in Tokyo) to recruit the best and the brightest in the world.

-- The government does not directly control the curriculum, they only control how donated funds are spent (example given was that computers must be accessible, etc.) The vocational school does prepare students for licensing examinations.

-- Vocational schools service 18% of the Japanese population, following high school (by comparison, universities service 50%, and colleges (like our community colleges) service 8%.)

-- Many of the 15% or so of the young people who do not pursue an industrial job, or some sort of schooling after high school do so out of being unable to afford one of the other options. However, concerns about the "parasite" generation of young people who do not wish to pursue any career and continue to work in menial jobs while living at home are on the minds of many Japanese. The 15% is growing rapidly.

-- Prep schools in Japan prepare students to take the college entrance examinations (similar to SATs.)

-- Students go to a Prep school either full-time after graduating high school, or part-time before graduating high school. Some students will attend prep schools for 2 or 3 years before obtaining the scores necessary to obtain entry into a top university (often medical schools.) Tokyo and Kyoto Universities are considered the top schools in Japan.

-- Seven subjects are on the exams (we weren't clear on exactly which ones were required, and which ones you had the option of choosing from): Math, English, Japanese, Chemistry, Physics, History/Society, Geography are among them.

-- The gender balance is equal in the prep schools.

-- Companies often don't want to hire PhD's because they are "over-qualified", so Trident Schools are able to hire PhD's as a result.

-- Test preparation focuses heavily on the fundamentals.

-- Tests are given in the middle of January. The school year begins in April.

-- English is most important, with conversation skills becoming increasingly part of the curriculum (he identified the written language as more important when he was young.)

-- Having spent time in the US, Mr. Hibino felt that the US teacher had far greater autonomy in the classroom: teachers could assess the mood of the class, and adjust their plans accordingly.

-- Japan has always been governed by rules, with large class sizes and little room for personal interaction. That is changing, and classes are getting smaller with student discussion being introduced as a valid pedagogical technique.

-- A "juku" is a K-12 private school. Essentially, tutors to help students along and get them ahead for entrance into competitive schools.

-- The perception of the world is that the Japanese are remarkable for their students' success despite the government spending comparatively little on education. While the government spends less money, the Japanese people spend quite a bit -- private yen supplement the child's education very often.

-- Taxes on citizens include: income taxes, "citizen taxes" (this sounds like poll taxes,) property taxes, and sales taxes (which will double in three years, supposedly.)

-- There are no formal barriers to impede women from entering the workforce. They are allowed one year of maternity leave.

-- In the political arena, women have lagged behind in participation.

Morning, June 10: Matsuyama, the oldest tourist spot in Japan

2009-06-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

Pictures from our trip to Matsuyama are not available, but I wanted to note that when we went to Naoshima, we we went to arguably the newest tourist spot in Japan. The previous day, we had been in Matsuyama, whose "Dogo Onsen" is supposedly the oldest tourist spot in Japan. What made Matsuyama fun was that it was famous for being the residence of the Japanese poet who broke open the haiku form. No longer did it have to be about nature, but it was open to the experiences of the author, whatever that those experiences might be. The city today has boxes where you can drop in your haikus and the best ones will be published by a committee that evaluates them. Here are my rather silly ones. I've become enamored with the idea of "Pocari Sweat". I'm writing a story about it, I'll have to publish that at some point.

Harmony Kitty

rode the expecation wave,

unsure were she Lands.

Fifty yen towels

soak up more than sweaty brows

and physics allow.

My pet Pocari

sweats until he thirstilly

drinks unto himself.

June 14, Arashiyama Monkey Park

2009-06-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

While we both fixated on the sophomoric humor of the line we are pointing at, we should have heeded the fourth line: both of us were "attacked" by monkeys that didn't like it when we looked at them a little too much.
Does this several weeks old monkey count as a monkey on your back? He's called "Momo" by the way. (we asked.)
We are inspired by our visit to ask about the government's position on animal rights. We have not been hearing good things...

Fun with Pricing Schemas

2009-06-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

Correctly match the following prices with the drinks we have purchased in Kyoto

Prices: Y650, Y550, Y500, Y425. (Y95 = $1)

Beverage: Iced Tea at “Seattle’s Best”, Sake at a sake bar on a Friday night in a hip area of Kyoto, Iced Coffee at a hip Kyoto coffee shop, a cold Asahi on a hot day near a tourist trap in Kyoto.

Coffee: Y650

Sake: Y550

Beer: Y500

Tea: Y425

The tea and the coffee are entirely outside of what we are accustomed to. We have noticed the phenomenon everywhere in relation to coffee houses (you can purchase an inexpensive canned iced-coffee in the vending machines.) You pay a major premium for being at the coffee shop (actually, since it would be the same price to-go, for buying from a coffee shop). Prices are somewhat lower at the chain stores than elsewhere, but still well outside of what we think they should be. And few coffee houses offer internet or wi-fi either. To further complicate the matter, food remains within what we’d expect at those coffee shops. At the fancy coffee shop we could have purchased dinner for Y800.

Fushimi-Inari Taisha, June 13

2009-06-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

We climbed a mountain but had the foresight to purchase our water before embarking on our quest. A good thing, since you can observe what happens as the elevation increased: a classic demonstration of the changing elasticity of demand as your desperate thirst sets in.

Alex walks the path toward enlightenment, all 233 meters (elevation) and 10,000 vermillion torii gates of it. The black lettering on the side of each gate identifies the name of the company that has donated the money for that gate, asking for success in business. We are not sure where the company puts this sort of fixed cost in their business plan.

Harmony Land will have to wait...

2009-06-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

For our beloved readers who are waiting to see Steve reach Nirvana in the form of a Hello Kitty theme park, we regret you will have to wait until the end of our travels, so that we may sort out some camera issues we're having. None-the-less, when we find Hello Kitty, we photograph her in all her splendor. We were ready to purchase the granite Hello Kitty below, but it put Steve's suitcase slightly overweight.

Kyoto, June 11

2009-06-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

Alex cowers behind a pole as a gaggle of giggling girls emerges from the train, en route to school in Kyoto. We find ourselves confused, as there are children in their school uniforms every day, every hour, every place in Kyoto. The Japanese are not lacking for a work ethic.
Steve poses with the very hip cafe owner in Kyoto near the Shunkoin Temple, where we are staying.

Economic Revitalization of Naoshima

2009-06-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

June 10: Naoshima, an island in economic decline, scarred by an industrial waste recycling plant, has been transformed into a tourist destination due to a private company's commitment to creating art projects. They are supposedly pushing to be one location in the next Bond movie (apparently one of the books is set there) which seems particularly relevant given what we learned yesterday about the desperate need that local governments have to find creative sources of tax revenue.

The "Art house project" in the little village of Honmura (where we stayed), where houses were turned into art exhibitions. Look carefully and you will see Steve, in one of the few pictures we have of him (since Alex's camera isn't working properly :(
Kusama Yayoi's "Pumpkin" is the island's icon. Is Alex falling in or falling out?
Alex enjoys his book with goat boy and art man on a bench.

Morning With Mamo

2009-06-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Assuredly, pictures are coming to the few of you who are following this, but we are having problems downloading pictures from the fancy-shmancy camera. Apologies. Our diversion to Harmonyland requires much effort to portray :) In addition, we were out of internet contact when we spent a day and a half on a small island in the Seto Inland Sea which has become famous for its art projects.

In the meantime, today (June 13) we met up with two volunteers from a club at a Kyoto university. The club has English-speaking guides that will take you around the city. We asked for the less than touristy spots, which I think threw our main guide for a loop. She was really quite sweet though. We toured the Daisen-In and Ryogen-In Zen Temples' rock gardens, and the girls struggled to explain to us what was going on. Shimmon took some time to explain to them the metaphors that they were trying so hard to explain to us. In the end, I suspect the two girls learned as much as we did. But now they will be able to do a better job with the next tourists who come along.

None-the-less, on the walk to the temples I was chatting up Mamo (the main guide, the other one was an apprentice and I forgot her name.) Mamo, it turns out, was studying "law and politics" at her university, and so I was able to ask her about a few basic government themes. To note: she said that family size is decreasing (and thus the tax base is decreasing) because women must choose between a family or a career. Businesses do not allow for women to have families (at least if they want to move up in the company.) Devolution of power to local governments is a major theme from the last ten years, although it seems to have come with a classic short-coming of devolution: the national government is loathe to give up the tax money to help pay for the services that it burdens the local government with. Local government revenue comes from what sounded like the equivalent of excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol, as well as tourism. The economic crash last year dropped tourism 50% in Kyoto alone, which has meant the city has struggled to keep up. Ironically, a decrease in smoking has hurt local tax revenue as well. The reason for the decrease in smoking: the high price of cigarettes due to the taxes imposed by cash-starved local governments. Other tidbits to investigate more: the government is considering upping the sales tax dramatically. Right now it is 5%, but there is talk of 15%. I'm skeptical that she had this part right, but it's something to ask the Diet member we'll speak to.

"School" of Economics

2009-06-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

we struggled with technology the other day, but I wanted to add this from Nagasaki. This less than exciting hut was the first building of the school of economics in Nagasaki. Very unglamorous beginnings.

Parking Lots and Rice Paddies

2009-06-09T16:18:00.001-07:00

Something to ask about on Hokkaido: what’s the deal with zoning? There are rice paddies in-between buildings in places – I saw this as we took the train to Nagasaki from Fukuoka. Granted it wasn’t in the city center, but it was still clearly within the urban boundaries. And I saw this throughout the train-ride in mid-sized cities as well. Within the cities, mixed-use zoning of restaurants/shops and apartments seems common. It seems a little chaotic, which certainly wasn’t the expectation I had coming here. The only US city that I’m aware of that has few zoning restrictions is Houston, and it has a reputation for being very decentralized and awkwardly designed (I admit I’ve only transferred planes in Houston, so I suppose I should confirm this.) In any case, it’s something to keep an eye out for as we head north, and when we get to Hokkaido, I’d like to find out if possible how much control over zoning the local autonomy laws provide.

Punctuality and the Economy

2009-06-09T16:15:00.001-07:00

I’m in charge of getting our team from point A to point B, and so I think this is on my mind more than Steve’s. Still, it’s an issue that should resonate in economics and government classes. We keep getting to places way too early. With two MUNI breakdowns last week that cost me 65 minutes of my life trapped in tunnels, and after 10 years in the Bay Area riding (off and on) public transit, I have been trained to expect and plan for tardiness. Now that we are in Japan, I haven’t adjusted my mindset yet, and so we find ourselves waiting at train station after train station, even though I can clearly plan to arrive five minutes before departure. It’s a cultural thing, not just a funding/structural issue. (Is it the respect that a timely train implies? Or the generally ordered and structured world they help create?) Even leaving SFO for Tokyo, the plane actually took off early (Steve and I strolled down to the gate with 20 minutes to go after lingering at the coffee shop only to find that we were the last ones to board!) I’d like to see my students brainstorm a list of the positive externalities created by timely public transit, and just as importantly, look at the negative externalities created by poor public transit systems. It might be worth thinking about as they think about the supposedly staggering cost of building public systems.

The Atomic Bomb Memorial

2009-06-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

We intend to provide a little levity to our entries normally, but our visit to the atomic bomb museum is one occasion to avoid that. To enter, you spiral down a ramp that takes you to the basement floor of the building. The walls have been brushed in such a way that it looks like smoke is billowing up, a reminder of the smoking rubble the city was left in after the bomb was dropped. We are left with a few very stark impressions, mostly the images of the aftermath: a photo of a woman breastfeeding a baby that has burns on its body (you learn that the baby later died,) a woman standing looking dazed next to the charred body/skeleton of man (maybe a boy) with mouth agape (I’m pretty sure that he died screaming), and a battered looking helmet with the rather casual caption of “Helmet, with skull fragments.” I learned something I didn’t know: the US government dropped pamphlets warning Nagasaki of its destruction on the day AFTER the atomic bomb was dropped. Still, despite the sadness and sympathies we felt for the victims of the bombing, the item that struck us the most was the exhibit on the actual conflict that lead to the bombing. Since we couldn’t take photos, we copied down the following caption:

“Japan was engaged in war constantly for 15 years, first from the Manchurian Incident in September 1931 to the outbreak of war with China, and the Pacific War which ended in August 1945. The prolongation of the war with China caused the enforcement of a controlled economy and government domination in Japan. Its policies of southern expansion meanwhile brought Japan into conflict with America, Britain, France, and the Netherlands and led to the hardships of the Pacific War. The people of other Asian nations were also dragged into the conflict and victimized in various ways.”

I guess it comes down to this: the whole thing is written in the passive voice, and the way we read into the experience at the atomic bomb memorial is that the Japanese are willing and happy to play the tragic victims of nuclear devastation, but unwilling to accept their role in the deaths of millions during the war. That dichotomy is troubling, although it’s unfair to characterize it as universal. The gentleman in the Diet who we will be interviewing later in the month is supposed to be quite progressive in this regard, but I am still very unsure of whether it is even possible to broach the subject.

Allocative Efficiency on Airplanes

2009-06-08T07:17:00.000-07:00

Shimmon got an aisle seat for the long flight from SFO to Tokyo. He was up constantly, able to use the bathroom at will, and spent much of his time doing yoga in the back (ask him about adjusting the yoga posture of the uber-cute stewardesses on your own time). I, on the other hand, was trapped between “consume mass-quantities of any food provided-watch five and a half movies-and get up to pee only once” guy on my left, and “get loaded by drinking as many free alcoholic beverages as possible-and pass out quickly” guy on my right. With longer legs than either, too much fidgety energy to sit still, and despite a veteran teacher’s bladder a desperate need to pee more than once in a ten hour period, I was trapped in my own uncomfortable hell. Clearly I avoided all jealousy of Shimmon :) but I was unable to prevent my mind from concocting the following new seating scheme for airlines: base seating on personality type. The guys next to me should be in the middle. They’re not moving, ever, and they don’t need an aisle. But whoever buys their ticket through an agency that allows them to choose their seat in advance gets priority seating, followed by the person who shows up to the ticket counter early. No one is going to decline the offer of an aisle seat (unless they want the window seat) so you end up assigning seats to people who have no intention of using them properly. Now you might rightly say that I could have bought a ticket through an agent that would let me choose the seat. But I’m on this trip on someone else’s dime, and I’m not going to pay any more for a seat on the plane than I have to. If it were all my money paying for this trip, I suppose I’d have to think hard about the trade-off between paying more by purchasing my ticket through an agent versus paying less by purchasing through Orbitz, but I don’t think I should have to. If the ticket purchase websites could just add a few brief yes/no questions to their roster (Is your ideal flight one that includes 90% sleep-time? If given free alcohol would you consume more than six drinks? Would you rather watch “Marley and Me” than stretch your legs?) then we could all get a little bit more of what we need.

Nagasaki

2009-06-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

Alex cradles ubiquitous symbol of Nagasaki. Affectionately dubbed, "Butter Boy".

Men of hats stand together at the Glover Garden. The gentleman on the right is Captain Walker, Thomas Glover's partner in establishing Japan's first soft drink company, producing "bonzai lemonade", eventually leading to Kirin Brewery.

Contemplating Nagasaki Bay from the Glover Garden in the Dutch quarter of Nagasaki. The Dutch wrested favored status as foreigners from the Portuguese in the late 16th C.

Steve gets a pat on the head from Kitamura Seibo's "Peace Statue", described by one critic as a policeman directing traffic.

How much is this doggy in the window? At current exchange rates he'll set you back $1550.

Test YouTube Link

2009-06-04T22:37:00.001-07:00

This has nothing to do with our trip really, but I was thinking about the best albums of the decade and since Japan is on my mind as we prepare to go, it seemed appropriate.

Itinerary

2009-06-04T00:13:00.000-07:00

Every day new contacts pop up and surprise us, so the itinerary isn't set in stone. This should give you an idea of where we are at any given moment though.

June 7, Fukuoka
June 8, Nagasaki
June 9, Oita
June 10, Matsuyama
June 11, Naoshima
June 12, Osaka
June 13, Kyoto
June 14, Kyoto
June 15, Kyoto
June 16, Kyoto
June 17, Nagoya
June 18, Takayama
June 19, travel to Tokyo
June 20, Tokyo
June 21, Tokyo
June 22, Tokyo
June 23, Tokyo
June 24, Tokyo
June 25, Tokyo
June 26, Hakodate
June 27, Toya
June 28, Sapporo
June 29, TBD (central Hokkaido)
June 30, TBD (central Hokkaido)
July 1, Sapporo
July 2, Sapporo
July 3, Alex goes to London, Steve goes to Shanghai!!!!

27 days, all four of the big islands!

What is rekishi?

2009-05-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

Rekishi means "history" in Japanese. We're going to see history, but really this blog is about Government and Economics. If we make history, that'll be another story. Something tells me that any history we make wouldn't be the good kind though.