Saturday, September 30, 2006

the last 2/3 of Jpod by Coupland.

Ok, I take it back, the book wound up being fun after all... and I'd like to be able to say that the plot is what helped it to snatch victory from the jaws of mediocrity, but I don't think that was it. It just managed to take some form, and actually start to feel a little more realistic, with the people acting a little more like people, and less like quick character sketches by the mid-point, and then things just shifted gears to a fun, quick, light-on-the-moralizing-but-still-relevant-to-urbanite-wastrels "jaunt".

his gimmicks are still a pain in the dick though, and I'd just as soon see the interstitials removed, espeically given how terrible they sound... they're no good for an audiobook.

Final score, 3.5/5
(because I still don't really dig light reading much)

Friday, September 29, 2006

money talks, or is talked about.

The secret haze on the horizon that was obscuring my view of everything after my return to Japan has lifted. Money ain't gonna be a problem, I think. I should be able to get settled into an apartment with a bit of liberty to buy furniture, but I'll be in a good sized debt for the first few months.
Family decorum had kept me from bringing it up, and kept the money discussion out of sight and mind, but it's pretty well all resolved now. Chintai + Ikea = my shining new tokyo life.

on your radio dial.

holy crap. With the exception of the 50% of content that sounds vaguely like Creed, I can sing along with modern rock radio. This isn't because I am aware of all the latest trends in radio freindly rock, but because I listened to contemporary music on the radio in 1996-8. The music hasn't changed!
I heard OMC's "how bizarre" and "the way" from Fastball recently, alongside that Everlast song from the nineties. I mean, I knew american radio was lame, but can it really be this bad?

Jpod by Coupland: 2/5stars (prelim score)

I'm reading (read: listening to) Jpod right now, and it's not very good... at least the first third. I'll push through the rest after I make my judgements.

This book, like a lot of ironic would-be hipsterism is the very definition of "becoming what you lampoon". Except, well, I think the lampooning is so half-hearted that he means it to ring somewhat true to life. Maybe if, as the book progresses, he stops leaning on his cleverness and the assumed likability of the narrator, and hands us a plot worth hearing (or reading, if you're so inclined), this book will gain stars. If I have to keep hearing about the everyday almost-wittiness of "ethan" though, there's another half star on the chopping block.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

the sweet sound of a razor blade against glass.

that's how I capped off my day.

Now to think up a new back-up career, because painting doors is no good.

Japan is faggy. (an idea 1/4 developed)

Today I took a trip into San Francisco, and as you might expect, I didn't like it. Even in the financial district and the embarcadero, humans seemed incidental. The environment seemed more at peace with the trash on the streets and the graffitti on the walls than with the people crawling the streets. The most expensive stores were presented inelegantly, the communal spaces were unwelcoming, the trashcans dirty, the restraunts either fast and expensive or slow and more expensive, but by no means good.

If the city doesn't feel designed to interface with humans with a sense of beauty and decorum, what is it designed for? In the case of a city like San Francisco, it feels like the design of most spaces accomplishes only the convenience of those responsible for them. As small a profile as possible to prevent vandalism and excessive cleanup. One entrance and exit to keep people from shoplifting, or dining and dashing. no plants, nothing breakable....me = bitch bitch bitch.

Anyway, what was even more remarkable today than the unremarkability of SF, was all the gay dudes. Not that they were there, but that that they were eyein me up. Given what I was wearing, I realized that it's no wonder they were lookin at me. My pants were expensive and kind of tight, my shirt kind of expensive, with some pink in it, and my shoes, honestly they're pretty gay.

"But" I wanted to protest "these things aren't gay where I come from!" If anything, they're signifiers of youthful male virility. From my two undone buttons exposing a pretty skinny chest to my skin by clinique, my homo fashion statements are standard urban menswear in tokyo.

So if you put 2 and 2 together, Tokyo and Tokyoites come off as pretty gay. Or if you take 2 and 2 apart, Americans are unsophisticated unwashed heathens.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

emperor of the gaijin

I haven't been following closely, but Yomiuri has been publishing a series of essays that amounts to Donald Keene's memoirs. Today I happened one entitled "Oe Kenzaburo and Abe Kobo", and as so many of the previous essays have done it sort of blew my mind. The man was everywhere, like the Forest Gump of Japanese international culture. Check this paragraph, especially the last sentence out:
It was thanks to Oe, however, that I first became friendly with Abe Kobo who became after the death of Mishima my closest friend in the literary world. I had met Abe in New York in the autumn of 1964, when his novel "Woman in the Dunes" was published there. He, Teshigahara Hiroshi (the director of the celebrated film made from the novel), and a young woman, their interpreter, visited my office at Columbia. I was annoyed by the inference that I needed an interpreter and paid no attention to the young woman. Only years later did I learn she was Ono Yoko.

I'm still trying to get all these little quips and quirks of Japan emerging in the world conciousness into my head. He was there.

Oh christ, not again.

I'm a few days behind, but it seems that the Tokyo Courts were forced to rule on a case regarding showing proper respect to the Japanese flag and being compelled to join in the singing national anthem. Here's an english version of the editorial where I got the news, but it's curiously toned down (おかしいwhich has much stronger implications than the English "strange" the way it's used here, and lots of dependent clauses are inserted to soften the message).

The case revolved around an edict of the Tokyo School board (which you may remember from such hits as making japanese traditional arts a required subject, and cutting the time for world history in half, while more than doubling the time for Japanese history), which stated that teachers were required to stand and sing at school ceremonies. The courts said the edict was illegal... but I fear there's a whole lot of politics behind this.
The judges said that the flag and anthem "cannot be recognized as being neutral in religious or political terms." And the writer counters with, "various opinion polls" suggesting that a great majority of the Japanese people "support" the flag and anthem. There is no attempt to suggest that the flag and anthem are without political and religious content, only that that political and religious content is popular. This could only possibly be a response to the Judges words if we understand "popular opinion" as more important than the law. Later "common practice all over the world" and cases where other people stand up and sing without any hassle are brought forth as further proof, hammering home exactly what the author has in mind. This article never explicitly draws out the long knives, but the intentions are clear. Divide those who disagree with government policies and label them as unpatriotic. Where have I seen this before?

Maybe there's some good in Japan arguing in courts and newspapers about issues of personal freedom, but not here. When these issues are brought up in relation to patriotism, no good can come of them.

Friday, September 22, 2006

greatest actor of all time?

you decide.
John Cazale's got to be a font of movie trivia. Everything (literally!) he's been in has been great, and they've all been nominated for best picture.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

contra-momus.

I don't know what it is about momus' writings on Japan that makes me foam at the mouth, but something sure does. You'll see me commenting like the guy killed my father on that post.

The big irony is that I don't really think he's so far off base. He mentions that the girl reminds him of his "non-diaspora" J-girlfriends, and I believe him... to an extent. I don't think he's ever really known very well a Japanese person who speaks no english. I also can't help but think that that one constant in all of his relationships, "momus", is such an acquired taste that it's hard to take any girlfriend of his as "run-of-the-mill". That is to say, I think he's a priori excluded from Japan for Japanese people. Not the most fair way to think of him, I know.

Someone, in a fashion I think is truly american, comments that I'm so vitriolic because I'm "jealous of all the hot babes [momus has] probably nailed, while still remaining in the avant garde." Too right, but I've got another reason for being frustrated with him too. He's like a michael moore. He's fighting the good fight, and he's one of the heros on my side, but he's incautious and a bragadoccio, which makes him interesting, but also so easy to dismiss as an unscrupulous fabulist. While he convinces the choir, he sounds worthy of derision to the congregation.

That said, if I were momus in 15 years, I wouldn't feel too bad about what I'd made of myself.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

the crowd you hang with.

I'm sure they're not all this way... very sure... but it seems that almost every gaijin I run into in Japan has it "together" in some way that makes me self-concious. They hella know this or that, or they're badasses at this sport, or they play a million musical instruments. One way or another they have some talent that they've really developed, and the confidence and pride to show it off genially.

Me, I'm unmistakably a jack-of-all and therefore no-trades. In the name of further dilettantery, I'm sitting around the house reading postmodern novels in Japanese, or biographies of despoitc leaders, or listening to Searle's objections to contemporary philosophies of mind. At the beginning of every new chapter, I sort of cringe in recognition of my recurrent and venial sin, knowing that I am building a sprawling ranch house in a city of skyscrapers.

Then I sit down with people who haven't gone to graduate school and I realize that I've got nothing to talk about with "the common people". What world am I living in where I need to be reminded that not everyone knows 2000 Kanji, not everyone can contrast the constitutions of Japan, the US and Germany, not everyone knew about Girl Talk or Ohm before me?

So yeah, I met up with my extended family today, and it were auk-werd.

the internet debates itself, courtesy of google

"worst fetish ever"

self criticism is the primary duty of the true bolshevik

I suspect that the more I use the word "I", the less interesting my blog is. There is a small set of people for whom my goings-on and whereabouts are interesting, but even they don't care about bagels.
I shall work harder to provide worthwhile content to the fearless brotherhood
we call the "Internet".

the 5:17 triumph

Last night I slept a full seven hours in rough unison with the rest of the time zone. I'm becoming more American every day.

Today will be the first in a series of history-making summits with family members. I have no idea whether it'll jovial after the hello, hugs and kisses or whether I'll be awkwardly trying to justify being a rootless cosmopolitan. Were I a bit more socially savvy, I'd worry less about this, and I'd stop hearing "why do you hate us?" when my friends and family ask if I'm "planning to be in Japan for the rest of my life".

I think we're meeting in a place called Oak Park, but to be honest I confuse the suburb names pretty often. "Tree Name" + "Glenn, Park, -dale, -ton, etc" = wide streets and single family homes.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

quadruple cocktail for apartment searches.

hyperdia (pronounced hyper-DIE-uh, it seems)
+
Japanese Wikipedia
+
Google Maps (Japan)
+
Able (or whatever search site you choose)
_______________
an alright start.

If Japanese Wikipedia seems like the odd man out, look at this. Each train line (JR, metro or otherwise) has a wiki page, from which you can click each individual station's page. With that you've got all the links and some other useful info (like the continuity of train lines).
Knowing all the stations relations to one another lets you know where to search at Able, and Hyperdia will let you know the last trains, and any unforseen craziness to the commute (like interrupted lines, or express trains).
Google maps is just sort of icing on the cake, to give you an idea of the neighborhood.

I'm looking at kosuge and other places on the isesaki line, kawaguchi, and toda right now.

IIIII II

My first seven days in exile are passed. In case you haven't been following every exciting episode, here's a quick recap.

In August my contract with the Ministry of Education, X and T expired, and after a little bit of hopping and fooling around, I set out for the big time. I got to Tokyo on the 12th of August, and started looking for work. The first time was a charm, and Berlitz (wisely) snatched me up before I even managed to apply to a second mega-Eigocorp. After a week and half of all-day, unpaid training, I was set free to wait for my visa forms to come through. The way the calendar worked out, I had a week in Tokyo to kill, then it was Keisei to Narita to SFO, Bart to Oakland Colliseum, Amtrak to Sac and then to the proud suburban paradise of Carmichael via my parents' hybrid electric. And that brings us to last week.

This last week has been about as uneventful as I've seen. Highlights include moving the PPP authentication on my dad's DSL modem to the router so that I could get online, buying a bagel from Noah's and behaving embarassingly in an argument with a friend. Although I have a really strong urge to make something of this time, and not let it be a total waste, I can't seem to find a means to do that. The release of iTunes 7.0 gave me a reason to find album covers for the ~5,000 songs on my harddrive, but that only took about 8 hours. So far I've only come up with one bigger stopgap solution: reading.

3 physical books and 3 mp3 audiobooks later, I've resorted to making meandering blog entries.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Holy shit, man! IRISH SPRING!

Now, I haven't been an evangelical about anything (excluding Japan) since I gave up being a vegan, but Brothers, Sisters (but moreso brothers), I have to share this revelation with you.

IRISH SPRING IS FREAKING AWESOME.

I am a convert. One way or another, a small backup supply of IS is coming back to Toyko with me.

For those keeping tabs, my US purchases will be:
vitamins
motrin
folders (43 and then some)
Irish spring

Saturday, September 16, 2006

about that bagel

I'm actually located very very far from the closest decent bagel. My sister was kind enough to drive me down to the local noah's in exchange for a bagel, my treat. Mine was good. She got a raisin bagel, and I naturally suspect that she's suffered some sort of brain damage somewhere down the line.

Since I'm trying not to take America to heart, I've been mostly hiding in my room, reading and listening to audiobooks. Since I got here, I've read Vineland (not good at all) and The Box Man (pretty good, but not really my thing), and a couple of self-helpy audiobooks. Am now in the middle of a lecture series on 20th C European thought, and a biography of Stalin. I've also just started on "Outline of the US Economy" a publication of the US state department... what can I say, I like my civics with a grain of salt.

I'm reading like a man in exile, which is what I am until that visa comes through.

日本は終了しました。

First thing that surprised me about being back in america: daylight savings time. Should it be dark at 6 in the morning in the middle of September? Evidently, yes it should.
It's about 6:30 as I write this (in textedit, because I still haven't arranged getting online), and the sun is on it's way up. In a few minutes, I think I'm going to set out for the "shopping center", in the hopes of finding a decent bagel. Japan, while having little lumps of dough that they call "bagel" does not have anything approaching the minimum standard of quality here.
The other product that Americans take for granted that can't be readily had in Japan, Mexican food is also on the agenda. I found time to get a $4 burrito yesterday, but it was "vegetarian" at a place that doesnt much care about vegetarians, so it was just beans, rice, cheese, and so on... not so different from a taco bell 7 layer burrito. I should be able to find something better than that next time I go into town.

Where I'm living now, by the way, is not "town". It's northern California subrurbia, on the perfectly regular sense. The street in front of the house looks 100 meters wide, and the yard is expansive. There are tons of trees of all different stripes, and lots of grass, but everything feels quite cultivated and discreet. The trees aren't a part of a former forest or, what would naturally sprout up in the local soil. Each is a conscious decision from 5 or more years ago that this specific brand of tree would look nice here.
It's really really hard not to be aware of your neighbors here, in the sense that there is nothing here but boring little box houses. Someone has to be turning the lights on and off, right?
But it feels like a shame that I'll never have to squeeze past on of them in a hall. They'll never need to keep it down a little in respect of their neighbors. We're all quite inviolate, and have nothing at all to do with one another.

I'm quite in the throes of reverse culture shock to be sure. Still let me run down why this all makes me sad. God died. The people came to appreciate this world as the only one that counts, and adjusted their lives accordingly. Mammonism was a given. Money, nor the love thereof, is especially evil.
But in america, the regular money-grubbing tendency of developed countries got swirled into deep-seeded mistrust of the community and a touch of atomic individualism, so that people started spending extravagant sums of money, not on pleasure or glory, but on fortresses.
The American reading on christs teachings say that "flossing" is sinful, but don't seem to speak of gigantic entertainment centers (!) filled with electronics that manage to alienate not only the view from the community, but from the other viewers as well. At least when the average Japanese woman blows her cash on Louis Vuitton, she's directing her money (and thereby her labor) toward a participatory community, and not selfish fulfillment of desires, and seclusion.

I'll stop there, and get out after that bagel.

(wrote that not long after getting back, have been back a few days)

Monday, September 04, 2006

"how are you, tokyo?"

tokyo= everything is great.

even without money, without a mess of friends, without a decent piece of furniture to my name, it's all great. I just keep bumping into sublime moments when the world is small and cozy. Whether that's meeting a great group of new people at my job training, speaking german for the first time in years, hopping off the train 4 stops early to get to know the neighborhood, happily waiting for the last train, hearing music again, or just building steam, it's all coming together, and I am where I want to be.

and there's the second earthquake in that last two days. so we've got the risk of death keeping us young and alive too.