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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

This Is The Hour






Ok, everything worked out, had good Christmas classes where we watched The Snowman and the Garfield Christmas Special.  Exchanged gifts with that JHS girl who I'm ridiculously not objective about (love her!) and addresses so we can also send each other New Year's cards at her insistence.  Leaving the island soon, looking forward to the cat cafe!
To end this entry on a somewhat high note, here, have a quiche recipe from Orange Page. It's delicious.



Spinach, Ham, and Cheese Quiche

One piece=286 calories

Ingredients

Frozen Pie Sheet 18cmX18cm or 150g

Spinach    100g

Ham 5 sheets (seriously, it's what the recipe said)

Cheese 70g

Filling

Eggs 3

Cream    1/2 cup

Milk    1/4 cup

Salt    1/4 tsp

A dash of pepper



  1. Set the pie sheet out to thaw. Add salt to the spinach, boil briefly until just cooked, and then douse in cold water to keep the bright green color. Cut off the ends of the stems and then cut the rest of the spinach into 5cm long bits. Cut the ham and cheese into 1cm squares. Mix the filling together in a bowl and add the spinach, ham, and cheese. Mix well. Preheat the oven to 200 °C
  2. Put the pie sheet in the pie pan and smoosh it around until it fits. If you want to make your own healthy pie crust here is orangepeeleater's recipe; 2-2 1/2 cups flour, 2/3 cup oil, 1/3 cup milk. Also, a little bit of salt so it doesn't taste like flour. Mix and mold together but keep in mind that once you roll it out once, that's it. It isn't like cookie dough that you can moosh together over and over again.
  3. Pour the spinach/ham/cheese/egg mixture into the pie sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. If your oven is evil like mine and burns the living crap out of exactly half of whatever you put in there, then put tin foil over the quiche until the last 5-10 minutes, then regularly turn the quiche to get it nicely browned. When cooked, remove and let cool, and then slice into 6 portions.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Black or White

Japan is a land of contradictions. On the one hand, it is made up of very subtly shaded gray areas, but on the other hand there is black and white with no gradation whatsoever. Honne versus tatemae, uchi versus soto, Nihon versus gaikoku, etc. This black and white "us vs. everyone else" ideology can lead to some pretty shocking attitudes from the last people you'd expect to hear broadcasting wholesale ignorance or outright racism. Here are three episodes from only the past week.

On Tuesday I was at a certain elementary school. As ALTs who go to elementary schools have probably noticed, it's "let's studying multiplication" time for the ES second grade students all across Japan. Second graders across the country recite their multiplication tables, forwards and backwards, for teachers so that the teachers will sign off on their little progress card. Well, on Tuesday one of the little boys had just recited for the vice principal (he didn't get a signature, though; he was using his fingers to count while reciting) and the fourth grade teacher came up to me and asked in a very loud voice "do you have multiplication in foreign countries??" I was shocked! An educator, a young woman (late 20s, early 30s) who is responsible for education youth, apparently thought that only Japan studied multiplication! After giving her a bit of a look and replying that yes, of course we have multiplication in other countries, she then proclaimed "oh, but only Japan studies with multiplication tables, of course." I have to admit, it was a little enjoyable to sketch the multiplication tables that I learned with which didn't go to 9, like Japanese tables, but all the way up to 12. She then made a huge, theatrical deal about how amazing it is that other countries study just like Japan, and that was the end of that. Or so I thought!

The next day I was at a completely different school halfway across the island from the Tuesday school. It was the lunch break, and I had my iPod out because I was writing a parody of Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Heaven on Their Minds" from Jesus Christ Superstar and I needed to listen to the lyrics to get the meter right. Well, a teacher came up to me, did a double take, and then innocently asked me "oh, you also have iPods in America?" Also? Also? The iPod was invented in America, Apple is an American company, Steve Jobs is American, this is a huge industry, and you think that it originated in Japan? I have to admit, my jaw dropped. This is a woman who has lived abroad. She's in her early 30s. She was a member of my English Conversation class for awhile. I was stunned to hear that from her of all people.

Thursday was the last episode. This didn't happen in a school; it happened in my coworker's adult eikaiwa class. The class had just finished reading a selection about how important time-saving is in the US. Half of the selection talked about how supermarkets began so that people could do all of their shopping in one place without having to go to the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker separately. The second half talked about fast food, where you can order, receive, and eat your meal in 20 minutes or less. After finishing reading, a young woman raised her hand and asked "Can Americans cook?" I nearly threw something. This woman is a pharmacist at the local hospital, she speaks English, she is educated and has been to college, and yet her reaction to an article in a textbook that mentions fast food for one paragraph is to posit that the entire population of the USA can't cook. As if Japanese people can't cook because the instant cup noodle was invented here. Luckily I wasn't the only one flabbergasted as a number of the other class members immediately jumped in to say that yes, of course Americans can cook, and that the article was probably talking about people on their lunch breaks which only last 45 minutes or less at most companies.

All three of these people are young, connected, and educated. Two of them are responsible for educating impressionable young children. Yet from these three people have come some of the most ignorant and even racist statements I have ever heard. I would never even consider asking a Russian, Arabian, or German person if they have multiplication. I might not know every brand, but I know that Volkswagon and Toshiba aren't American. One thing I've thought of is whether or not there's a Japanese equivalent to the well-known English expression "think before you speak." I would really like to think that my coworkers are not as unaware as they sometimes come off. It would be so much more palatable to believe that they weren't taught that basic concept of thinking before you speak because your first thought is probably really dumb. In any case, it makes me miss the US where at least racism is viewed as negative and ignorance is something to attempt to eradicate.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Feel Good Inc.

It's coming up on hibernation time here in Japan. As the days and nights get colder it gets more and more difficult to leave warm covers in the morning. Returning from work means a beeline to the kotatsu, and kotatsu's seem to be specifically designed to entrap you and keep you from leaving their delicious warmth. Basically, being at all active is about ten times more difficult than normal. Add in the seasonal movement to delicious nabe, or Japanese stew, and you'll never leave your house.

Now, I've been taking a bit of a vacation from being healthy. I entered a marathon in June, went home, started treating my anxiety, and decided to just relax. Well, I'm done with that now. Back to the gym, back to cooking, and back to discovering new, healthy, easy to cook Japanese recipes! You see, I make my own lunches instead of eating kyuushoku. Since I work at a mix of elementary schools and junior high schools I spent my first year and a half here being forced to eat much more than I wanted to since I was eating lunch with the kids and most of my schools didn't let anyone leave any leftovers. I've gotten some bento (lunch box) specific cookbooks, but there's one major problem with them; I'm pretty sure they're aimed at the stay-at-home mom that is still so prevalent in Japan. I made a couple of the recipes in there and each took about two hours to make. Now, that's all fine and dandy if you're a stay at home parent, but I have work, I have eikaiwa, I go to the gym, basically I've got other stuff to do. So I've been focusing on a publication called Orange Page. I love Orange Page. For a long time I thought that it was only a cookbook, but it turns out it's actually a monthly magazine! Score! So I will share with all of you lovely people the Soybean Chili Con Carne from the November issue of Orange Page, translated into English. I made it this morning and it only took 30 minutes!

Soybean Chili Con Carne from Orange Page's November Issue

Serves 2    471 Calories

Ingredients

Minced beef 50g (合いびき肉)
small onion 1/2
soybeans 1/2 cup (大豆の水煮)
garlic 1 clove
penne pasta 150 g
olive oil 1/2 Tbsp
parsley for garnish


Sauce
tomato ketchup 2 1/2 tbsp
Worcestershire Sauce 1 tbsp (ウスターソース)
miso 1/2 tsp
spicy dried red pepper 1/3 tsp (唐辛子)


1) Finely chop the onion and garlic.  Boil the penne according to the directions on the bag it came in.
2) Heat the olive oil and garlic in a frying pan over low heat until the garlic becomes fragrant.  Increase heat and add the minced meat, onion, and soybeans.  Once the meat is cooked through add the sauce and continue cooking, stirring often.
3) Add a little of the water the penne was boiled in, and add the rest of the drained penne to the frying pan.  Stir until the penne is well and evenly coated.  Serve with parsley garnish.

I highly recommend it. It's very filling and easy to make. I'm going to try adding carrots and mushrooms next time to flesh out the flavors, but yes, definitely a quick and easy delicious recipe. I love Orange Page!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I come from a family of strong women. When I was younger I took it for granted. My mom and grandmother would get me books about being empowered as a woman and I was insulted! "I'm strong as a person, not because of or in spite of the fact that I'm female," I thought. I resented those books that told me about a reality where being a woman set you at a disadvantage. I hated being told that it was a great triumph to be strong as a woman instead of a given, because it sent the implied message that the base state of female is weak. I refused to read the books.

I was able to keep my illusions through high school. I saw my mom continuing to be strong and never settling for second best. There were strong women in my high school, and I took leadership roles in orchestra, marching band, and the drama club. I never thought that my femaleness was a barrier to overcome. My love to read which marked me as a total geek was more of a hurdle than my ovaries. I followed my mom's example and refused to accept second best. Every book I read had the brown-haired girl who liked to read painted as the eternal mouse who never spoke up, never went out, and never did anything big. My immediate, visceral response to that stereotype? Screw that!

Cracks started to show in college. I began to get my first taste of the institutional prejudices that live in society. I saw the effects of rape culture where victim blaming is the norm, and I am ashamed to say that I also, in my ignorance, victim blamed. I remember talking to friends about how women at parties need to be more vigilant, not drink too much, look out for each other, always walk in groups, and so on and so forth. I didn't hear the underlying message that I was sending, that if something happened then it was the victim's fault for not protecting herself well enough instead of the attacker's fault for not taking no for an answer, not attacking somebody walking home with only a couple of friends, or not taking advantage of someone who is impaired. Nothing happened to me, but I saw and heard about it happening to other people, and I regret that I contributed to the hostile atmosphere even if it was only in private conversations with friends.

Being in Japan has given me a lot of time to learn and to re-evaluate my own innate prejudices. The fact of the matter is Japan is a much more misogynistic country than the US. This is a country where women are officially hired into banks to eventually marry the male employees. Women who don't follow the social script and marry soon enough don't get promoted; they get transferred to the butt end of nowhere in an attempt to force them to quit and open up a position for a younger, more marriageable lady. Sexual harassment and double-standards are alive and well. Women in higher level positions are few and far between. For example, at my BOE there are 18 employees; two are women, and one of those women is temporary. This isn't even touching on the inherent racism throughout Japanese society. Yeah, I love my students, I love my island, and I love the ALT community, but there are very good reasons for why I'm not staying for a fourth year.

I'd say that the most important thing I've become aware of is the variety of derailing techniques used when talking about these inflammatory subjects. The tone argument, where people say that they aren't going to listen to the argument you're making because you aren't being nice enough, polite enough, or understanding enough. On the surface it makes sense, but if you look at it more deeply it fails. Why is it another person's responsibility to make you feel better about being racist, sexist, or misogynistic? The forced equalization attack is one that comes up a lot. "You talk about sexism in Japan, but what about in Western countries? We can't have a dialogue about sexism in Japan until there's zero sexism in Western countries, otherwise you're just an anti-Japan bigot!" Well, by that logic, we can't talk about any problem anywhere until the problem is eradicated somewhere else first, and it's nearly impossible to eradicate a problem if you can't even mention that there is a problem. What a catch -22! Finally, the Anecdotal Offensive. "You have made a statement, but that statement does not apply to my exact circumstances!" No matter how many people come forward to offer their own supporting anecdotal evidence this derailing tactic stays strong. It distracts from the focus of whatever issue is being discussed and gives people the excuse to stick their fingers in their ears and go "la la la la I'm not listening."

These things drive me crazy, but thanks to the example my mom gave and continues to give me every day I won't give up. I still believe the same thing I believed in elementary school; I am a person first. Maybe the world doesn't agree with me yet, but that doesn't mean I can't change it.

Monday, December 6, 2010

In Your Eyes

Ok, this is going to be about perspective, and it's probably going to get me a ton of hate comments or something, but I've just got to say it. I hate Red String. I hate it with a passion. I read a lot of webcomics, and I have for years. My first foray into webcomics was Sluggy Freelance which still has a fond place in my heart even if the plot moves slower than molasses on a glacier and I haven't checked it in months. I like webcomics because they're free, they're ubiquitous, and as a rule they can be much more creative than printed comics. Of course, this means that there are a lot of unbalanced comics out there. Comics with great plot and characters but horrible art. Good art but horrible writing. Terrible writing, terrible art, and an incredible fan following for some reason (I'm looking at you, XKCD). Now, if I was just reviewing Red String for its writing and art it would fail right there, of course. Red String dialogue is stilted and unnatural. Multiple panels in any given update are wasted on pointless reaction shots that only serve to take up space. It's like a laugh track for a comic! Look, they're laughing, this means something funny or awkward happened! The timing is awkward where cliffhangers are abrupt scene changes that don't invite curiosity so much as they read like the author ran into a wall and shouted "look over there at that other thing while I figure this out!" There are way too many storylines running in any given chapter meaning hardly any plot movement happens and the focus is weak. The art, well, ugh. Let's just say that apparently everyone in Japan walks around looking sheepish with their hands welded to the back of their necks. Proportions are kind of screwed up (gigantic chins!) and poses are awkward, but most of my issues with the art beyond that are how badly the art connects with the dialogue. Facial expressions very rarely seem to be at all related to whatever the character is supposed to be feeling.

What really drives me nuts about Red String, besides all of the above, is the picture it paints of Japan and how it glorifies Nice Guys™. It's hard to explain. Red String paints a picture where arranged marriages happen like clockwork between high school students and being out as a lesbian is easier than being overweight. While arranged marriages do still happen in Japan, they pretty much exclusively happen between consenting adults going through a matchmaking agency. Gay people may not be as actively persecuted here, but it's not nearly as easy as the Red String universe portrays. In Japan you are pretty much forced into the closet. Don't talk about it, don't show it to us. I am terrified for the students who don't appear to be fitting into the accepted gender norms. Some of them are starting to act out and be violent. Some of them are shutting down and going completely internal. The sunniest one, who is still in elementary school, will be going to one of the most conservative junior high schools on the island soon. The teachers at that school are actively homophobic, call effeminate boys girly-men and berate tomboy girls for not being feminine enough in front of their classmates. The pressure to be "normal" here is insane. A closeted coworker had to leave work indefinitely due to stress from coworkers to follow the accepted script, get married, have children, etc. To have that whitewashed is frustrating to me, and I'm not even gay.

The Nice Guys™ thing almost goes without saying. Glorifying the kind of unhealthy relationship where one person sacrifices all for the other person, where people don't take charge of their own lives and then whine about it, where it's a good thing for a guy to pine after a girl while pretending to be her friend just hoping that eventually she'll date him. Where friendship and "niceness" is a coin that can be exchanged for a relationship upgrade. Yuck yuck yuck.

Contrast this with the relatively new comic, Fried Chicken and Sushi. Dynamic, clean art, that sets the tone for the comic. A look at Japan that doesn't put everything behind rose colored glasses, but still makes positive observations. Even if FC&S wasn't a semi-autobiographical tale from a former ALT it would be obvious which author has actually lived and worked in Japan and which author has read copious amounts of manga. I heartily recommend Fried Chicken and Sushi. Go read it!

PS: Check out today's page in Red String as an example. Hand glued to the back of the neck? Check. Screwy proportions (super long torso in panel 2, head vs. neck size in panel 3, wonky eyes in panel 4)? Check. Really obvious cliffhanger? Check. I called this about a month ago. I am 99.9% sure that Kazuo has committed suicide/is in the process of attempting suicide. .01% is leftover as a possible psychotic break leaving him senseless. Shoujo manga (girly manga) 101.

Friday, December 3, 2010

These Boots Were Made For Walking

Japan's public transportation system is much better than the US public transportation system. It's affordable, it's widespread, it's always on time, and it's easy enough for even non-native speakers to navigate. Many bright-eyed and bushy-tailed foreigners look forward to taking advantage of this wondrous system during their time in Japan. They dream of their first mama-chari bicycle and how easy it will be to take the subway. Oh, how much money there is to be saved when one doesn't have to buy a car, gas, snow tires, and all the other bits and bobs that go along with driving. Then most ALTs get their placements and realize they're up a mountain and their nearest school is a 45 minute drive away. Whoops!

It really surprised me to find out that the image of the Japanese person who walks, bikes, and/or public transports around doesn't really exist outside of the big cities. On my island everyone drives, and they drive everywhere. After two years they've gotten used to me walking everywhere, but for the longest time they would react with shock that I had walked 20 minutes to the supermarket. Not the somewhat polite shock of "eeee, you can use chopsticks?!" Actual "I'm surprised your legs didn't fall of or you didn't get hit by a car" shock. I've been pressed to take rides from the conbini that's a five minute walk away back to my house. When I wanted to walk home from tai chi practice once, a walk that takes all of 15 minutes, my fellow tai chi members honestly seemed to think that I was crazy for not taking a ride with one of them.

One of the things that people in my prefecture (the Japanese equivalent of a state) are told is that even if you don't want to drive you're probably going to have to just to get to and from work. Before I came we were told pretty flatly that people who don't drive tend to turn into world-class mooches where we live. Right now I only know two other people who don't drive; my direct coworker and one guy on the mainland. Everyone else drives. However, when I got to Japan it became clear that in my placement a car was not necessary. Also, I didn't know how long I was going to be in Japan and didn't want to spend the money on a car if I was only going to be here for one year. In hindsight, what with being here for three years, a small part of me wishes that I had gotten a car.

A good friend of mine has had so many adventures driving. You see, Japan has very narrow roads. Driving in Japan is almost like a dance where cars often have to stop, back up, and practically fall into a ricefield to let the other car pass. In fact, one of the most common pitfalls for foreigners new to driving in Japan is falling off of the road into a ricefield or the drainage gulch beside every road. If that happens, you have a few options, of course. One is to get a log and try to lever your car out by yourself. If you're lucky, an entire bus full of your students will see your trapped car and help you push it back onto the road, as happened to orangepeeleater.

All in all, I love walking. It really helps keep stress down and recharge my cultural fatigue bar. Also, this island, while wonderful, is not the most happening place in Japan. The time I spend walking is honestly just time I would be spending under my kotatsu otherwise. At least this way I'm getting some fresh air and exercise. So I will continue walking everywhere and freaking out my fellow islanders. I just hope I can find some waterproof boots before it starts snowing!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Rock Lobster

Japan is very proud of its four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I guess the surrounding countries don't have four seasons? I don't really know, but it's a thing here. I remember first getting here and people being disappointed because I didn't react with the appropriate amount of shock and wonder over all four seasons. Some people got defensive when I mentioned that the US also has four seasons and were very clear that Japan's four seasons were better. For example, we have 紅葉(kouyou), or changing leaves, they would say. Why, so do we, I would reply, and their faces would fall.

    Japan is very connected to nature. Every season has festivals and events connected to specific parts of nature at specific points in time. Autumn is the time to see the 紅葉 (momiji) or maple trees change color.

(Psssst. Did you notice something there? The kanji for kouyou and momiji are the same but pronounced completely differently and have different meanings. Japanese is so much fun!)

Momiji turn a beautiful shade of red. A popular place to see them is a small island near Hiroshima named Miyajima. It's a riot of color. Just be careful not to have your map eaten by one of the dozens of tame deer or your camera stolen by one of the less-tame evil monkeys.

    Unfortunately, a trip to Hiroshima was out of the question, but there's plenty of nice scenery closer to home. The ALT Art Club got together after our annual training seminar and headed out to a gorge with a beautiful view. We got there in the late morning and set up at this little ledge. We had various bits of cardboard to sit on, including a boat and a giant turtle, which elicited any number of weird looks as we carried them around. All in all, it was great! It was so relaxing to sit there and sketch or paint for hours. There were plenty of people taking walks, from elderly couples to families with toddlers to other artistic types taking photographs. It was a really friendly atmosphere where everyone was saying hello to each other. I managed to get my next project sketched out and inked in, and I look forward to really diving in to needle painting. This will be my first time really trying to do a realistic "painting" with embroidery.

    After a few hours we realized it was cooling down what with being able to see our breath and not feel our feet and all, and decided to move on to the next phase of our trip. We all piled into the same car, turned on the heater, and ate our conbini or bakery lunches while waiting for our feet to wake up. Then we walked across the road to a lovely little 温泉(onsen), or hot spring, that was the perfect size for the four of us. For only 500 yen, about 6 US dollars, we were able to use the beautiful open air onsen. Since it was only about 1:30 in the afternoon we were the only ones there, and it was glorious. After the cold morning of sitting on a rock with our body heat slowly leaking into the ground a soak in hot water was absolutely lovely. We soaked until we looked like wrinkly red lobsters and then headed back to our respective cars to begin the long ride home feeling completely, absolutely, and gloriously relaxed. We'd woken up at 7:30 AM and finished our artistic outing at slightly before 3:00. It was a Saturday well spent.