It happened in...
I want to ride it where I liiiiike
TUES 20 FEBRUARY
If you've driven more than ten yards in Japan, chances are you've hit a cyclist, been hit by a cyclist or had any number of near misses. Younger cyclists especially, who have never driven a car, seem to have less road safety awareness and can often be seen writing emails on mobiles or huddling under an umbrella (or even both, as I've seen on more than one occasion) while cycling. The danger increases exponentially at night with the vast majority of bicycles having no lights. On unlit suburban or rural roads, a cyclist with a belief in his or her invulnerability gets by on luck.And part of the problem for you as a driver is that bicycles can be coming from any direction. You'll see cyclists riding in both directions down both sides of the road. Astonishingly, they'll be doing the same on the pavement.
When I first arrived in Japan, seeing bicycles on the pavement was a novelty to me. As a pedestrian, almost being hit by cyclists who I assumed would get out of a pedestrian's way was a novelty that soon wore off. When I asked locals about this, I got answers ranging from "It's illegal to ride on the road, they have to ride on the pavement" to "It's actually illegal to ride on the pavement but they do it anyway." So which is it? Or is it something in between?
In the 70s when road traffic began to increase significantly, Japan had one of the highest rates among industrialised nations of road accidents involving cyclists. So the government made a provisional revision to the Road Traffic Law to allow cyclists to use the pavement. This was a temporary measure enacted until such time as the road infrastructure was improved. Which it never was. Although road accidents involving cycles decreased, accidents involving bikes and pedestrians on the pavement of course shot up. Japan now has one of the highest rates for this kind of accident too.
It's therefore somewhat surprising to learn that the National Police Agency are pushing for a change in the law that would eventually move all cycle traffic... onto the pavement. Satoshi Hikita of the Bicycle Usage Promotion Study Group wrote an interesting piece on this recently in the Asahi Shimbun, under the headline "Allowing cyclists on sidewalks defies logic".
Mr Hikita states that "no country in the world stipulates that bicycles should use sidewalks. Bicycles are light vehicles which should use roadways as a general rule. Japan is no exception. The law stipulates that cyclists must stay to the left side of the road." He goes on to say how this was confused by the 1981 revision, and a lack of law enforcement has meant a gradual degradation into a free-for-all with no one really sure what the law is.
Having said all that, whatever the government decides, we can probably look forward to the same level of enforcement as the much-vaunted ban on in-car mobile phone usage - namely a week long national 'campaign' after which the police will retire to the koban and forget about it. And everyone will carry on doing exactly whatever they want, be that watching TV in their car or riding a bike full-speed along the pavement scattering grannies as they go.
To finish on a lighter note, perhaps we shouldn't worry - it seems that Japanese pedestrians are really rather well trained...
"Gaijin Crime File"
FRI 16 FEBRUARY
A while ago, a poisonous little tract hit the shelves that was filled with bile and racial hatred. I didn't bother going into it here, as it would have been far too time consuming, there was so much to cover.The item was called Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu ("Foreigner Crime File"). You can read a review of it, and see exerpts from it here. While it purports to be an examination of crimes committed in Japan by non-Japanese, it soon reveals itself to be a vile racially-motivated tirade.
Reaction among non-Japanese bloggers and internet users was predictably strong. Many pushed for a boycott of the stores that carried it, including many national convenience stores, bookstores and Amazon. It's since been removed from the shelves of some of the more right-thinking retailers.
The publisher though was given a right to reply in today's Metropolis (the linked page is most likely overwritten every day, so from tomorrow you'll have to select issue #673 when you get there). I enjoyed the publisher's piece, mostly because he digs himself in even deeper. It prompted me to write to Metropolis as follows -
Re: Mr Shigeki Saka and Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu
Mr Saka, it appears that you still don't get it.
If the content of Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu were not offensive enough, your attempt in today's Metropolis to justify the publication was simply shocking. The 'mook' was simply over the top, but your follow up appears to be serious.
You don't understand why foreign residents of Japan were so upset by your publication? Let me attempt to explain my own feelings then. In the first place, I find it odd that you focus on crimes committed by foreigners at all. If your problem is with crime, then why specify those that are committed by foreigners? By specifying "crime by foreigners" you suggest a causal link between being foreign and being criminal. Indeed you reveal more of your prejudice when you say "many foreigners consider any suggestion that they engage in lewd or criminal behavior to be an unacceptable insult". Do I have to spell it out for you? It is perhaps the fact that by far the majority of us engage in NO lewd or criminal behaviour that we find it an insult. Let me turn it around for you to see in sharper focus - recently there have been stories in the news of Japanese parents who have starved their children to death. Would that fact then permit me to write "Many Japanese consider any suggestion that they abuse or kill their children to be an unacceptable insult"? Of course not. It's ridiculous. And yet you say it.
You say that "The topic of foreigner crime is taboo in Japan". I'm not sure that's correct. I think it would be more correct to say "It is totally unacceptable to single out foreigners among criminals and give a distorted view of risk posed by individuals based on their nationality, racial background or ethnic group". Criminals are criminals, Mr Saka. The average Japanese person is far more at risk from a compatriot than from a foreigner. And yet you'd have them believe the opposite.
You state that the goal of your publication was "a frank discussion of the issue". What issue? The issue of crime in general? That is indeed an issue. Crime committed by foreigners? Well, according to the National Police Agency, rates for such crimes, not including relatively innocuous visa-related issues, are falling (the information is available on their website). Yes, falling. So even the police don't support your assertions.
You say that you don't use any insulting language or imagery in the publication. This is simply untrue. The many instances of what you refer to as "Japanese street slang" are intended to insult, and there is no way of denying that. ("Niga", you claim, is not the same as "nigger". Well, even if that's true, which I doubt, it isn't a compliment either, is it. Telling someone to go back to his home country because he dares to have a Japanese girlfriend? Not insulting?) Also, even a quick glance at the cover reveals the most grotesque racially stereotypical imagery. You do however confuse the issue here - on the one hand you say there is no racially stereotypical imagery or racially-motivated insults, and then you turn around and say "I would ask that they consider how quick their own culture is to view the Japanese as subhuman. In World War II you labeled us 'monkeys', and in the Bubble years you considered us 'economic predators.'" Who is this "you" that used the terms 'monkeys' and 'economic predators'? Who are you talking to? All foreigners? It certainly wasn't me, and you may not use that against me. Are you using past insults of a tiny minority to justify your own attacks on another group? (In which case you'll have to admit making the attack, won't you?) If you recognise one insult, it's strange that you don't see the corresponding insult.
There are other issues I have with you. There is your failure to see the distinct line between "freedom of speech" and "publishing material likely or intended to inspire racial hatred". The latter may not be criminal in Japan like it is in most other developed countries, but does that mean you can ethically justify doing it? That's morally dubious.
You also state "I wonder how many of these puroshimin, or "professional civilians," have read\or even seen\the magazine." Well, you'll have to continue to wonder, but do not assume that people haven't. You may not realise that many scans of many of the pages are available online. Most internet users who commented in forums saw those. And most people who blogged on the issue bought a copy. Do not use the defence "You haven't read it" as not only can you not prove it, it is also highly unlikely to be true.
Finally, having stated that your issue is with "crime committed by foreigners", you published many photographs of interracial couples in the book (with no attempt to conceal identities) doing nothing more than being couples. For example, a man touching his girlfriend's bottom in public might make you squeamish, but it certainly isn't criminal activity. You've no right to comment on it, and it does not deserve the outburst it receives. In fact it seemed like a mere pretext to launch an irrelevant racial tirade.
I'm glad you attempted to justify your publication in today's Metropolis piece. In doing so you unwittingly revealed so much more xenophobia which, while I found it disturbing, I also found it compelling reading.
I know there are people in the media attempting to seriously examine the separate issues of crime and of immigration, and indeed an examination should be undertaken. But to say you are fighting the same fight and to attempt to ally yourself and your publication with them does them a disservice and a grave insult.
The obligatory Valentine's Day post
WEDS 14 FEBRUARY
I'm only doing this because I was surprised to discover this morning that it was St Valentine's Day. Where was the hype? I'd somehow missed it. Which is easier to do if you avoid radio, TV, magazines, contact with people, built-up areas. February - like hibernation, only with more work and less sleep.Fortunately Mrs C and I have an arrangement whereby we ignore the most unromantic day of the year. Plus it's different here - I'm not expected to do anything anyway. As I've probably mentioned before, J-Valentine's Day is a victory for chauvinism. Introduced to Japan by a chocolate company, the 'tradition' is for the ladies to buy giri ("duty") chocolate for pretty much every man they have daily dealings with, single or otherwise, and irrespective of romantic intent. The duty can become somewhat begrudging, and expensive.
Now, famous feminist that I am, I'd love to come to the aid of the downtrodden sisters in their plight, but I've cleared out a kitchen cupboard in anticipation of the haul of choc I'll be raking in from every Japanese woman that I know. (Edit: 10am and the chocolate cavalcade has begun!)
So just as Mrs C is allowed to ignore V-Day, so I am 'allowed to ignore' ("You don't have to get me anything.") the reciprocal White Day (where the tables are turned and the guys take it in the wallet) on March 14, when men in relationships discover that expensive jewellery and designer gear are considered acceptable alternatives to sweets. I just can't wait for that special day.
Ramble ramble ramble
FRI 09 FEBRUARY
I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking of English as my language.This is in part why I have chosen to teach from American texts, as they serve as a daily reminder that my version, far from being the only one, isn't even the mostly widely known.
To me, learning a language properly has always been about studying the culture and history that produced it too. And while you're studying a language unique to a single country, like Japanese for example, you can focus your attentions. But not so with English. And I suppose it's that disappointment - that someone can be interested in my language but not necessarily my culture - that pokes that normally dormant part of any Englishman, that annoying Little Englander, that language snob that likes to get all possessive over the language.
When I lived and taught in London, I took the fact that someone had travelled to the capital of England to take daily English lessons as a sign of not only an interest in English but also in England. And I was far less forgiving. Which set me up for fall after fall.
Teaching outside Europe has demonstrated very clearly the relative position of Britain globally, both in terms of language and culture. Which is often a mere blip on the radar. And nothing fires up your patriotism like that.
So my twin experiences of simultaneous teaching and studying don't actually complement each other. I'm often surprised that people are surprised that I "know stuff about Japan" and am interested and inquisitive. As if I'm supposed to exist within this hermetic bubble of my own culture. Which made me wonder if that's what the Japanese generally do.
And just then on TV I saw a Hollywood celeb approached by a Japanese reporter and asked not about his film, or his performance or character in the film, but about his opinion of the performance of the Japanese actress in the film. It reminded me of the time that golfer Nick Faldo gave a very fierce reaction to a would-be interviewer who accosted him only to ask his opinion of a Japanese golfer's performance. Japanese media doesn't spend much time focussing on international sport unless Japan is somehow involved. I've ranted before about seeing none of the winners at the winter Olympics except the figure skating (won by a Japanese skater). The football round-up programme will show Celtic only if Shunsuke Nakamura played, and even then will prefer to show a near-miss by him than a goal by someone else.
And this is so often how so-called international exchanges go in Japan. It seems that the comparison is often made, not out of curiosity of the foreign culture, but as a way of framing or just affirming something Japanese. Freshly arrived in Japan, I struck up many a friendly conversation with locals. And was asked lots of questions. But most of those questions were about Japan (like the ubiquitous "Can you eat Japanese food?") directly or indirectly. Few if any were open-ended questions about me, my country or my culture.
Being a native English speaker gives me easy access to so many other world cultures that share the same language. This easy access is taken by many Japanese to mean those cultures must be the same and it comes as a surprise to some to be told for example how culturally different the English are from Americans. I suppose sharing a language with nobody, as is the Japanese case, underlines a feeling of separation, of apart-ness that I'll never fully empathise with.
So the more I study Japanese and the more I teach my own language, I guess I see more clearly my place in the world in general and in Japan in particular. Nothing earth-shattering. Just a train of thought I followed to see where it was going.
Intermission
FRI 02 FEBRUARY
While I go off and find some interesting words, please enjoy these pictures.One of the great things about Flickr is the tips and tricks you pick up from group discussions and new contacts. First there was the fake 'tilt-shift' technique which went some way to replicating the effect of a tilt-shift lens, one side effect of which was to make whatever was in focus look miniature.
And then there's HDR (High Dynamic Range) (for the science, click here, but if you can't be arsed, it essentially means producing a picture from a range of exposures, and reproducing something more akin to what the human eye sees. At least, that's my interpretation.) Lots of examples on the web are garish, oversaturated affairs in unnatural colours. That's not what I'm going for though.
I thought a likely candidate for The Treatment would be a re-do of one of my favourites. And so I came up with this.
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Which I rather like. Anyway, that's it for the complicated stuff, here are another couple of snaps. Firstly, the boss (the other, smaller one)...
...and the reason I've been shivering since I got out of my lovely cosy warm bed this morning.
Oh, and an arty dodger.
A message from the boss
THURS 01 FEBRUARY
Back to January?