I have been reading a book lately that has caused me to think a lot about our modern society, and how the global economy is so interdependent now. Since I've begun reading this book, it has really made me take note of news stories I can recall seeing for the past few months at least. Such as this one, and this one, and this one, and this one. Although the scariest short term implications, for me, are the impending rise in Japanese beer prices, when they are already atrociously high for someone used to living in America.
Reading "Collapse" has reminded me of something else I had been studying a few years back: Peak Oil. The thing about peak oil that so completely captivated me in the first place is that it isn't a theory or possibility... it is a certainty. Although some sources of news about peak oil don't really help to legitimatize the coming danger of catastrophe, I do believe that it is a real certainty and can only hope that the American government is secretly perfecting alternative energy sources even as we speak.
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In a completely unrelated note, this article basically says that my former employer, NOVA (now under new and even worse management), has currently reopened 195 schools in the country and plans to have almost 1,000 open by one year from now.
One of two scenarios is going to happen, due to their plan to cut costs by changing their teachers' salaries from formerly on the upper side of average for the industry, to down among the lowest in the industry. Also, they no longer want full time instructors, just part-time. This is combined with their generally poor management, dumb business decisions, and extremely bad treatment of employees.
As a result, they will either be forced to change their plans and offer full-time contracts at average-for-the-industry wages or better, or their schools will fail. I thought that it was a possibility that they would achieve low quality lessons taught by idiots who couldn't get a decent job in the eikawa (conversational English school) industry, but after thinking about it, there simply isn't enough teachers who would or could live on such a low salary, even if working a second job.
It will be interesting to see how things turn out for my former employer, because we are all quite shocked at their stunningly idiotic business decisions and lack of respect for the one single commodity that makes their industry possible; foreign teachers who speak English as a native language.
Although I suppose none of that will really matter when peak oil happens and the world economy crashes. At that point, I merely hope my savings or citizenship will be enough to get me on a boat, at least, headed back for the homeland.
When I was little, I often read stories and watched movies about World War II, and naively thought about how cool it was that the world was in such a state of transition and uncertainty back then, and how everything seemed to hinge on what regular guys and girls were able to manage in extraordinary circumstances. I used to think that a time like that would never come again, and I desperately wished I could have lived back then, in more interesting times.
It is said that there is an old Chinese curse: May you live in an interesting age. It may turn out that my longings as a child were for naught, as my own time seems to be turning out to be quite interesting, indeed.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Cherry Blossoms Are In Bloom
I've been saying this for over a year now! Japan has a very low birthrate, a rising retired population, and no prospects for the future. Other countries would naturally think of immigration, but not Japan. Japan is for the Japanese. They love for people to come and visit Japan, and they genuinely hope that we leave Japan with a nice, positive experience, but they put a lot of stress on the part where they hope that we leave.
Anyways, every month there's some big news story about another breakthrough in robotics, and half the time the robots are attractive females that look and feel real, and everyone knows that really they are trying to build sex bots because that would be a huge industry in this country. They already have life-sized mannequins that you can go and pay to "be with", and the longer I stay here the more worried I become about my perception of normal behavior. Regardless, I've been saying for a while now that I think they will really build robots sophisticated enough to take over a lot of menial labor tasks in Japan, freeing up Japanese to work at other jobs and overall making Japan an even stranger and more surreal country.
So anyways, the cherry blossoms are in bloom. This is a really big deal in Japan. In fact, I would say that if you want to experience Japan, this is one of the absolute must-see things that Japan has to offer. I remember in America, the stereotype about how Japanese are crazy for their cherry blossoms, and how in uni my Japanese friends would talk about cherry blossoms, and I always thought the obsession was a bit peculiar. Now, I'm converted.
There is absolutely nothing more wondrous and beautiful than enjoying a picnic underneath a canopy of cherry blossoms in bloom. Every gentle breeze showers a cascade of the pink petals down around you, and you can relax and enjoy the weather and see the blue sky and sun through the blossoms, yet they afford you enough protection that you're not too hot or worrying about sunburn after the long, cold, pale and pasty winter. Altogether the experience is something that Americans could never understand.
Usually, these parties have the cherry blossom "viewing" as a pretext at least. In reality its a chance for everyone to have a big party and get krunk. Krunk is like drunk, but to an extreme. Also, there's delicious food; fried meat mostly. So its a drinking party with a feast of fried meat at a beautiful setting.
Last night, though, there was no pretext. I was invited by my Japanese friend who works until midnight, to go to a flower viewing party after work. So we went to a park and got drunk in the dark, with no pretext of being there to look at flowers. And it was very fun and delicious! But the main purpose of this post is what I saw on my way to the park where we had the party: a trash truck. Since it was midnight, I guess they turned the music off, but this one had racing stripes. Like, ridiculously well done, beautifully painted racing stripes and checkers and overall looked really pimp.
My conclusion is that they really are serious about glorifying garbage disposal in Japan. And by the way, since my dad asked: Japan is crazy about recycling, in a way that Americans can't imagine. Large businesses are fined if they don't deliver their recyclable garbage presorted. People in apartments have to sort their garbage for recycling as well. Every public trash can is actually three to six trashcans, each with a few words in both English and Japanese, along with a silhouette picture, of what you should put into this particular trashcan.
It makes sense given that Japan is uniquely a first world nation with almost no natural resources of its own; pretty much everything important to a modern industrial nation has to be imported, so they are understandably hardcore about conservation and reuse.
In any case, I'm hoping to eventually put my pictures of Japan on the internet, and if I can ever manage this, hopefully my posts will be a lot more fun to see.
Until next time,
paint your garbage trucks.
Anyways, every month there's some big news story about another breakthrough in robotics, and half the time the robots are attractive females that look and feel real, and everyone knows that really they are trying to build sex bots because that would be a huge industry in this country. They already have life-sized mannequins that you can go and pay to "be with", and the longer I stay here the more worried I become about my perception of normal behavior. Regardless, I've been saying for a while now that I think they will really build robots sophisticated enough to take over a lot of menial labor tasks in Japan, freeing up Japanese to work at other jobs and overall making Japan an even stranger and more surreal country.
So anyways, the cherry blossoms are in bloom. This is a really big deal in Japan. In fact, I would say that if you want to experience Japan, this is one of the absolute must-see things that Japan has to offer. I remember in America, the stereotype about how Japanese are crazy for their cherry blossoms, and how in uni my Japanese friends would talk about cherry blossoms, and I always thought the obsession was a bit peculiar. Now, I'm converted.
There is absolutely nothing more wondrous and beautiful than enjoying a picnic underneath a canopy of cherry blossoms in bloom. Every gentle breeze showers a cascade of the pink petals down around you, and you can relax and enjoy the weather and see the blue sky and sun through the blossoms, yet they afford you enough protection that you're not too hot or worrying about sunburn after the long, cold, pale and pasty winter. Altogether the experience is something that Americans could never understand.
Usually, these parties have the cherry blossom "viewing" as a pretext at least. In reality its a chance for everyone to have a big party and get krunk. Krunk is like drunk, but to an extreme. Also, there's delicious food; fried meat mostly. So its a drinking party with a feast of fried meat at a beautiful setting.
Last night, though, there was no pretext. I was invited by my Japanese friend who works until midnight, to go to a flower viewing party after work. So we went to a park and got drunk in the dark, with no pretext of being there to look at flowers. And it was very fun and delicious! But the main purpose of this post is what I saw on my way to the park where we had the party: a trash truck. Since it was midnight, I guess they turned the music off, but this one had racing stripes. Like, ridiculously well done, beautifully painted racing stripes and checkers and overall looked really pimp.
My conclusion is that they really are serious about glorifying garbage disposal in Japan. And by the way, since my dad asked: Japan is crazy about recycling, in a way that Americans can't imagine. Large businesses are fined if they don't deliver their recyclable garbage presorted. People in apartments have to sort their garbage for recycling as well. Every public trash can is actually three to six trashcans, each with a few words in both English and Japanese, along with a silhouette picture, of what you should put into this particular trashcan.
It makes sense given that Japan is uniquely a first world nation with almost no natural resources of its own; pretty much everything important to a modern industrial nation has to be imported, so they are understandably hardcore about conservation and reuse.
In any case, I'm hoping to eventually put my pictures of Japan on the internet, and if I can ever manage this, hopefully my posts will be a lot more fun to see.
Until next time,
paint your garbage trucks.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Not about Japan, but..
I saw that there is a big uproar in America about a new ad campaign by Absolut vodka, which depicts a "perfect" world in which Mexico never lost the territory that now comprises the American Southwest.
Needless to say, many Americans are responding negatively to the ad campaign, which is only displayed in Mexico and for obvious reasons not targeted at Americans. In spite of this, many are offended and the responses by people safely anonymous behind the protection of the internet have many colorful and offensive ideas about paving over the entirety of Mexico or fighting off an invasion by the Mexican military.
I have noticed something very interesting about Americans and American culture, in contrast with every other European-based culture; Americans have a sense of entitlement. In some ways, I believe that this is a good thing and is part of what inspired America to have such a strong economy and to become a superpower. On the other hand, left unchecked, I believe that this is ultimately going to be our downfall.
This is why our nation has such a huge welfare program; people feel entitled to have the government give them money and food stamps. This is why you can be sued if a burglar injures himself while trying to steal your property due to unsafe conditions in your house, or if you happen to hurt the burglar after discovering him or her in the act. This is why the White House dictates other nations' policies and launches preemptive invasions of sovereign nations on the flimsiest of pretexts.
Manifest Destiny was the name given to the justification for invading Native American and Mexican lands. Note, I am not in any way saying that I wish things were different; playing a what if game with history does not change history, and I am quite happy with an America that is coast-to-coast. The American Southwest is one of my favorite areas of America. I'm not a "traitor", but for anyone who wants to tell me to "git out" because I disagree with your opinion, note that I already did.
Some of the responses to this ad campaign were perfectly reasonable; "I find this offensive and unnecessarily divisive", wrote one person. I can understand that. I can even agree with it, in part. But most of the responses showed me the things I don't miss about living in America... the ignorance of our history, the ignorance of how the rest of the world has a right to an opinion even if it disagrees with America, the ignorance about how an ad campaign and a declaration of war are rather far from each other, and the ignorance about how "America should make X a parking lot", where X happens to be Mexico this time rather than some Middle Eastern nation.
Now, to be honest, there's just as many ignorant and nationalistic people in Japan, and in some ways a lot of the common public ideas and opinions are much worse than the ignorance demonstrated by the American responses to this ad campaign, but the thing is I can barely speak Japanese. I get to live in a world of blissful ignorance, (ironic, that), where I don't have to deal with any glaringly bright and ignorant public opinions.
I still crack a smile every time I think about the US Congress trying to force Japan to admit/apologize for various "bad" things it did in the past, because it is just so hilariously ironic. Read a book about the Philippine-American War some day.
Needless to say, many Americans are responding negatively to the ad campaign, which is only displayed in Mexico and for obvious reasons not targeted at Americans. In spite of this, many are offended and the responses by people safely anonymous behind the protection of the internet have many colorful and offensive ideas about paving over the entirety of Mexico or fighting off an invasion by the Mexican military.
I have noticed something very interesting about Americans and American culture, in contrast with every other European-based culture; Americans have a sense of entitlement. In some ways, I believe that this is a good thing and is part of what inspired America to have such a strong economy and to become a superpower. On the other hand, left unchecked, I believe that this is ultimately going to be our downfall.
This is why our nation has such a huge welfare program; people feel entitled to have the government give them money and food stamps. This is why you can be sued if a burglar injures himself while trying to steal your property due to unsafe conditions in your house, or if you happen to hurt the burglar after discovering him or her in the act. This is why the White House dictates other nations' policies and launches preemptive invasions of sovereign nations on the flimsiest of pretexts.
Manifest Destiny was the name given to the justification for invading Native American and Mexican lands. Note, I am not in any way saying that I wish things were different; playing a what if game with history does not change history, and I am quite happy with an America that is coast-to-coast. The American Southwest is one of my favorite areas of America. I'm not a "traitor", but for anyone who wants to tell me to "git out" because I disagree with your opinion, note that I already did.
Some of the responses to this ad campaign were perfectly reasonable; "I find this offensive and unnecessarily divisive", wrote one person. I can understand that. I can even agree with it, in part. But most of the responses showed me the things I don't miss about living in America... the ignorance of our history, the ignorance of how the rest of the world has a right to an opinion even if it disagrees with America, the ignorance about how an ad campaign and a declaration of war are rather far from each other, and the ignorance about how "America should make X a parking lot", where X happens to be Mexico this time rather than some Middle Eastern nation.
Now, to be honest, there's just as many ignorant and nationalistic people in Japan, and in some ways a lot of the common public ideas and opinions are much worse than the ignorance demonstrated by the American responses to this ad campaign, but the thing is I can barely speak Japanese. I get to live in a world of blissful ignorance, (ironic, that), where I don't have to deal with any glaringly bright and ignorant public opinions.
I still crack a smile every time I think about the US Congress trying to force Japan to admit/apologize for various "bad" things it did in the past, because it is just so hilariously ironic. Read a book about the Philippine-American War some day.
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