Category: Japan

Japundit gets it wrong on MOAG

Japundit is celebrating its comment-generating post about the “controversy” over the Memoirs of a Geisha movie with a victory lap. But really, who cares? The blog, I assure you, is just playing into marketers’ hands.

What no one seems to be mentioning is that putting a Chinese woman in a Japanese role was more than likely an intentional decision by the filmmakers to generate buzz. Or even if the initial casting decision wasn’t made specifically to ruffle feathers, the race mix-up angle has been played up way out of proportion for that reason. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the race-sensitive Asians and their apologists (at Japundit, MutantFrog.com, or other public forums) would get their panties in a bundle if those ignoramuses in Hollywood confused Japanese and Chinese people, so why not exploit that to get people talking about a movie that would otherwise not be very appealing to an uninitiated audience?

Because realistically, a movie about a “geisha” probably couldn’t sell itself. Enough people in the States are vaguely aware of what a geisha is to the point of it showing up in the dictionary, but are Americans dying to see a tragic tale of star-crossed love between two stiff, unemotional Asians? Most people would understandably say, “Geesha what?” And as we all know, Japan isn’t nearly as sexy as it once was, and with Japan-China tensions being the hot-button issue that they are, a good bit of controversy never hurt anyone.

So when you go see this movie, enjoy — but just remember that your thoughts on race relations, your expectations of artistic authenticity, and all else you hold dear are all being carefully manipulated by well-paid and savvy hucksters.

Curse you, yen!

When I was packing up to leave Japan at the end of the summer, I checked the forward rates to see if it would be worth it to change my leftover yen (a pretty big chunk of money) back into dollars. The 6-month forward was pretty stable back then, so I took my Japanese cash home with me and stashed it away.

Well, that was one hell of a mistake. The yen is now down from 110 to 120 to the dollar, with not much sign of coming back up, and Finance Minister Tanigaki and BoJ President Fukui don’t seem to have a problem with the situation. Bastards.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch, or Don’t Teach English in Japan

This story from Japundit was pathetic enough to finally end any illusions I had as to whether teaching English in Japan is “real” work. It is the best argument I’ve yet seen against ever considering English teaching in Japan as a career option.

There are thousands of people like David who come to Japan expecting a free lunch. This guy did even worse than most, starting close to the bottom because of some sort of hipster condemnation of “the man” and working his way down from there.

Of course, he learns his lesson at the end of the story, right?

Then why is he still in Japan working as an underqualified “teacher” of English?

Let’s get one thing straight: Eikaiwa is not teaching in any meaningful sense of the word. Since Japanese society has a backwards, racist view of language learning the vast majority of people are convinced that the best way to learn a language is to sit in a room with any random native speaker of that language. This is WRONG. The eikaiwa schools’ “learn-language-quick” approach to something that always requires motivation and years of patient hard work is nothing less than a scam. And just because the suckers are all too happy to part with their money that doesn’t make it right! Doesn’t it make you sick to your stomach to know you’re a fraud? David’s bad attitude toward the students speaks volumes:

I’ve been teaching English to children from ages three to 10, or at least trying to do so. Ah, children! They’re not just our hope and future, they’re also gaseous balls of snot and flatulence filled with demonic energy out to leech the very life from our bones. No, seriously, this experience has taught me to love kids, especially in lemon and butter sauce. Accompanied with a light Chianti, they can’t be beat.

Now, I don’t mean to pick on David. There are tons of other eikaiwa teachers out there who are bitter at their lot in life but are too chickenshit to do anything about it. It can’t feel good to be approaching 30 and still not have any marketable skills under your belt.

(On a side note, I don’t get why he doesn’t seem to have a problem when small-timers scam people out of their money but chafes at “the system” if a business is successful and grows large. Jealousy perhaps?)

More boats, please

Quoth the Bloomberg:

Japan’s Coast Guard has sought a 68 percent increase in its budget to buy additional boats and planes to boost patrolling in the East China Sea and Senkaku Islands, the coastal defense agency said in a statement today.

The coast guard plans to spend 24.2 billion yen ($201 million) on new patrol vessels and airplanes and on increasing inspection in the year ending March 2007. Next year’s plans include buying 21 new patrol ships, 3 airplanes and 4 helicopters, the statement released in Tokyo said.

The Sankei newspaper today said the coast guard will spend 350 billion yen during the seven years starting April 2006 to conduct more patrols, including 24-hour monitoring, in the East China Sea and around Okinotorishima Island, the nation’s southernmost island.

Quite a turn considering that the JMSDF has been slowly downsizing over the last decade, thanks to the end of the Cold War and a perceived lack of nearby threats. Assuming this budget increase is approved by the government, it could signal that Japan’s Asia policy is harder than just uncompromising words. They’ve got seaman ship, too!

I really like this photo

BV(Source: Washington Post)

For those of you who don’t know, that’s Chiba Lotte Marines Manager Bobby Valentine following his team’s first victory in the Japan Series for 31 years. For some reason, footage of the Japan Series after-celebration always makes me smile.

I love that the players are so happy. I love that the cameramen always come prepared, wearing rain slickers and having wrapped their cameras in plastic. I love that the players actually put on goggles to keep the beer out of their eyes. And I love that no one whines about the fact that they actually use real beer instead of Gatorade.

Memoirs of a Geisha: If it isn’t one inauthenticity, it’s the other

Curzon pointed me toward Tom Barnett’s take on the new movie, citing it as evidence that Barnett “is a complete git.” Let’s quote:

Unfair to have Chinese playing Japanese? About as unbelievable as having Brits and Aussies play Americans? Or Americans playing English? Or Canadian Mike Myers playing Austin Powers?

Puh-leeze. Marshall went with these three ladies because they’re simply the biggest best stars available. Globalization, baby.

The hubbub over Chinese actresses playing Japanese characters is a bit misplaced, I think. It’s not directly comparable to Mike Myers playing Austin Powers: it’s closer to, say, Patrick Stewart playing Jean-Luc Picard. When it comes down to it, almost all of the visible differences between Han Chinese and Japanese are in language, mannerisms, and (often) dress. A well-coached Chinese person could play a Japanese person convincingly enough, but probably not with their default skill set. So Barnett’s take… not quite “git” in my book.

What bugs me more than the movie’s lack of racial purity is that the characters, who are supposed to be in old-school Kyoto, speak horribly-accented English for hours on end. And the Chinese actresses are speaking in Chinese accents… totally different from Japanese accents. I can’t foresee sitting through the whole movie without throwing things at the screen. Maybe it’ll be tolerable on mute.

On a related note, this is a snippet from a conversation I had with Adamu concerning the HBO series “Rome,” which, I should add, Curzon really likes.

[10:20] Adamu: does everyone have a british accent
[10:20] Joe: yup
[10:20] Adamu: good then its authentic

Control yourself, man!

Pop quiz: You’re a man sitting on the train in suburban Japan, minding your own business. The attractive lady sitting next to you nods off and unknowingly rests her head on your shoulder. You:

a) Pretend like nothing is happening
b) Wake her up — she’s distracting you from your Yukan Fuji!!
c) Silently appreciate how safe Japan is since this kind of thing happens all the time
d) Seize the moment — cop a feel!

If you chose d) then you might one day end up in jail like the not-too-bright fellow featured in this report from Nikkan Sports:

JR [West] Employee Fondles [Woman] on Fukuchiyama Line

The Takarazuka Precinct of Hyogo Prefectural Police arrested JR West employee Takao Ohashi (39) on November 29 for a red-handed violation of the Prefectural Nuisance Prevention Ordinance for touching a woman’s breast while riding on the JR Fukuchiyama Line.

According to police investigations, Ohashi works for JR West’s Osaka Construction Office‘s Keiji (Kyoto-Shiga) Office. The man, who had the day off, is suspected of touching the breasts of a woman who sat next to him on the express train while it was traveling from Kawanishi-Ikeda Station to Takarazuka Station at 12:15pm.

The woman raised her voice, upon which another rider who noticed took Ohashi off the train at Takarazuka Station and reported him to the Precinct via a station employee. Ohashi has reportedly told police, “The napping woman‘s head cuddled up on my shoulder, so I couldn’t help but touch [her breasts].”

［2005/11/29/19:43］

More Makiko Fujino Hijinks

This is from a little while ago, but whatever:

LDP’s Makiko Fujino under fire after skipping Diet session for talk show

Newly elected Diet member Makiko Fujino has come under fire for skipping a plenary session of the House of Representatives to attend two talk shows in Fukuoka.

Fujino, a food researcher, explained her absence from Thursday’s session by saying she had made a promise to appear in the shows, but some residents remain critical of her actions.

Fujino traveled to Fukuoka on Wednesday evening and on Tuesday afternoon she gave a food-related charity lecture and appeared in a cooking talk show titled “Beautiful Italy,” before returning to Tokyo.

Her appearances resulted in her missing a plenary session of the Lower House, in which the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) presented an explanation of its counterproposal on postal privatization and various parties presented questions over a period of about two hours and 20 minutes.

The 56-year-old Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member’s secretary defended her actions, saying she had decided to keep a promise.

“One of the shows was a charity effort to build houses in Sri Lanka, which was hit by the tsunami, and she had promised to attend before being elected. She was unable to change the date and fretted over her decision, but in the end she gave preference to keeping her promise,” the secretary said. “She will receive an explanation of the session from another Diet member and bureaucrats once she returns to Tokyo.”
Continue reading More Makiko Fujino Hijinks

Japanese Peruvians: the rest of the story

The recent Fujimori ruckus reminds us of the often-forgotten diversity in Latin America. Besides Native Americans (yes, they live in South America, too), there are about 90,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in Peru.

Japanese immigration to Peru started in 1899 with a boatload of 790 people, arriving in Callao to make a new living as sugar plantation workers. But, as in the United States and other American countries, immigration ended in the early 20th century, and a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment swept the country in the 1930s (when Fujimori’s family entered the country), culminating in mass riots in 1940. Although Peru waited until 1945 to declare war on Japan, the government froze Japanese assets immediately after Pearl Harbor, confiscated Japanese-owned property, and deported some Japanese individuals to U.S. concentration camps beginning in 1942. Even after the war, it was not until 1955 that assets were un-frozen, and Japanese could not enter Peru until 1960 (and were even then subject to strict quotas and eligibility requirements).

Of course, by then, the job market in Japan was much better than in Peru. But Peruvians in Japan were few and far between… until 1987, when Tokyo began issuing visas for ethnic Japanese in South America to return to Japan as workers (a practice called dekasegi). And the Peruvian population swelled in response: from 500 in 1985 to 10,000 in 1990. Despite the unimpressive Japanese economy of the 1990s, Peruvians in Japan quadrupled in number between 1990 and 2000. Brazilians grew by a similar proportion.

Now, there are 55,000 Peruvians in Japan, making them the #5 foreign nationality after Koreans, Chinese, Brazilians, and Filipinos. Since most are ethnic Japanese (or at least pretending to be), they are hard to distinguish from natives, especially when they speak the language and have Japanese names (as they commonly do). There are enough in the major cities that you’re likely to meet a few if you hop around enough bars and clubs.

So while Fujimori’s story is far from usual, finding a Japanese in Peru or a Peruvian in Japan is far from unusual.

My new life in Japan


Conversation I had with MF a few weeks ago while we were taking a look at Japanese satellite TV operator SkyPerfecTV’s channel offerings:

MF: you should just quit your job and fly to japan next week
MF: screw the apartment
Adamu: dont tempt me
MF: you can get a job at nova
Adamu: haha
MF: and then go home to your sweet, sweet tv
Adamu: ok now that IS sad
MF: and a big can of kirin
MF: or asahi dry
Adamu: asahi
Adamu: id have to have a good tv
Adamu: maybe i could get those tv goggles
Continue reading My new life in Japan