Peacock Doing His Thing

  

Poppies at the Zoo

  

Sakura

  

Change in Japan

Spring is symbolic of transformation; and in Japan, both nature and society is experiencing the pleasure and pain of rebirth.

In nature, fresh varieties of fish fill the seas, such as aji (horse mackerel), soon to meet their fate in anglers’ nets and served on tables across the country. Young flora and fauna, such as the peacock butterfly and cherry blossoms, are gracing the landscape with their immature beauty. The cherry blossoms in southern Japan bloomed, giving admirers a chance to throw down a blanket, collect oneself or let loose, sip on their alcohol of choice, and enjoy the beauty of the five petal sakura (cherry blossom).

Hanami (flower viewing) outings and festivals aren’t the only signal of change in Japan. Japan begins the school year in the spring, eliciting a long exhale from stressed out students. As I witnessed in the junior high, students work their bodies to exhaustion preparing for their tests in the winter. Come spring, they have taken their high school entrance exams, relaxed briefly, and started anew.

Along with a new school year come new textbooks. Of course, China and South Korea assail the revisions in the new texts, criticizing their remittance of information about disputed lands, the historical context of World War II, and the inert war heroes/criminals resting at Yakusuni Shrine. While the new texts and history, or lack of it, are a cause of disagreement, the essence of the issue might be natural resources.

Japan’s upper class, however, continue to fortify their wealth and stuff their pockets full of dough. An economic recovery in Japan, nevertheless, is limited to a few. Simultaneously, the middle class shrivels while those in poverty multiply. The Japanese government is also seeing that there is more oversight and less "entertainment visas" given to foreigners. The policy aims to reduce the number of women working in the sex trade in Japan.

In Tokyo, if you have the cash and looking for excitement, you can easily get a Hummer. The luxury goods market, as a whole, is doing well in Japan. It is doing so well in fact that even doggies are cruising in style and enjoying their own luxuries.

Finally, in the story of change, the U.S. will soon be packing up their Hummers and sending them to Guam. Japan and the U.S. have reached an agreement on the realignment of U.S. troops, costing Japan billions of dollars as they foot over half the bill.

Hypertext

My posts from now on will contain hypertext, the blue-underlined text, linking my blog to other sources of information on the internet. Don`t forget to click on the links if they interest you. Furthermore, I will be linking extensively to news sites that request user membership, which is free, and news sources that are dynamic, so the links might become dead rather quickly. These news sources include New York Times, Japan Times, and CNN. If you want to sign up, but don`t want the spam, then make sure all the "free offer" boxes are unchecked when you finalize your subscription. I highly recommend signing up for The New York Times and Japan Times because I don`t receive spam from either source.

One More Year

For all who I haven`t informed by email or phone, I`ve signed another contract with my employer for one more year. The winter was harsh, but the positive aspects of work and life in Japan, such as teaching experience, pay, and a low-stress working environment, certainly outweigh the difficulties. To celebrate, I`m hightailing it to a secluded island. I`ve used little of my paid vacation time, so I`m going to be taking a week long furlough during Golden Week, which is from the end of April to the beginning of May. Because of the four national holidays occurring in Golden Week, it is a popular week for the worker bees of Japan to exploit their vacation time. An employee only has to take two days of vacation to get an entire week off from work. However, most of the people I work with aren`t going on vacation. Instead, they are planning to do activities with students, such as camping, and spending the remainder of their holiday "sleeping".

I have a different attitude toward vacation time. If it isn`t going to be a nuisance to my employer or coworkers, then I`m going to use it. As a result, I will be cruising 11 hours by ferry from Kagoshima city to the island of Amami-oshima. It is the third island of the inhabited string of islands trailing away from Kyushu. I will meet a friend, whose name is Jeremy and who I`ve recently become acquainted with, in the largest city in Amami, Naze. From there, I will stay at another ALT`s house, whose name is Ian and who, to my benefit, is letting me bunk in his house and rally his car while he is away visiting Okinawa.

Jeremy taught English as an ALT in Amami for three years, so he is well fraternized with the Island. In one week, he plans on showing me as many of Amami`s treasures as possible. He is a firm believer that Amami is one of the few jewels of Japan that has been left untouched by extreme industrialization, development, and tourism. We plan on snorkeling along vibrant coral reefs, canoeing and hiking through Amami-gunto National Park, and hopefully giving surfing a shot. In between staying at Ian`s house, trekking around with Jeremy, and unwinding on the beach, I just want to sit in the shade and finish One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish title: Cien años de soledad)--For those familiar with the book, the family lineage is making my head spin, so I need to map out all the Úrsulas, Remedios, Aurelianos, and Josés.

Traveling with a local is the best way to travel. These are the type of trips I look forward to. A local usually knows the mom and pop resaurants serving home cooked flavor and the hidden attractions tucked away from the oblivious tourist. The tourist traps always suck the energy out of me, leaving me bereft of my desire to travel and wishing why I`d come in the first place. This trip will most likely fill me with the desire to return.