DPJ WON!

Yesterday was the Japanese elections and I, for one, am SO glad it’s over. There have been cars and vans driving around with megaphones on all sides of the car. They are like ice cream trucks on crack, blaring commercials for political parties that you can hear even in your apartment. It is truly that loud. If you get stuck behind one of these cars WATCH OUT! You won't be able to hear your music or even think and are in danger of becoming deaf. I saw them on the morning of the elections, lined up like sharks at the prefectural office, getting ready to circle their city prey with their huge white posters and fin-like loudspeakers. They drive around waving and playing these really annoying records of some lady telling you to vote for their party. I cannot ever see this happening in another country. If this happened in the US, I would be motivated to specifically vote against that loud annoying party. As a side note, it is interesting that most of the people I talked to, and I would say Japan as a whole, don't care that the Democratic Party of Japan won. They don’t think anything will change anyway. The other party, the Liberal Democratic Party has been in charge of Japan for the past 50 or so years, so it is actually a semi-historic moment. In Japan, the people vote for a party, and the winning party votes for a leader in their party to become the Prime Minister of Japan. It will be interesting to watch how and if Japan changes because of the party change. I have heard many people tell me they want Obama to be their president. Then they say, "Yes we can" ;) I don't know of a pre-schooler who DOESN'T know that line. Are you listening, Obama?

Sitting Test

I know this is going to sound really strange, but I have been building towards being able to sit on my legs Japanese-style for 2 hours. I want to be able to do a tea ceremony here, and for that I need to be able to sit for at least two hours without moving. When I first got here, I could only sit on my legs for a few minutes, then they would fall asleep and I would have to move them a lot. When we talk about this sitting style amongst our foreign selves, blood clots and circulation always comes up. But I am determined to conquer this sitting test; if they can do it and not die of a blood clot, so can I. Being able to sit on your legs for hours is what people consider part of the Japanese identity. It's kind of like this; one time this preschool teacher pulled back her eyes while pointing at mine and said "We're Japanese, we have eyes like this. Cassandra sensei doesn't, so she's not Japanese." She could have thrown in; "and we can sit on our legs for hours without moving, and she can't." (This is a generalization of course because there are plenty of people here that can't) Throughout the year, I have gotten through endless school ceremonies by watching the clock and timing how long I could sit on my legs. I am very thankful for the number of practice sessions I have had because of them. During these ceremonies, all of us women teachers watch each other out of the corner of our eyes and agree on an unwritten rule: the last one to move their legs wins. The first time I beat some of the older ones, I could see them watching me closely whenever we stood up to see if I would stretch my muscles or wince in pain. It isn't enough to sit on your legs for hours, you also cannot show pain or stretch. They believe that it should come as natural as using chopsticks for you to truly be Japanese. One teacher visibly moved her head up and down my body and said 'Doesn't it hurt you?" Nope. They are amazed at how long I can sit and are determined to uphold their view that only true Japanese can sit on their legs for hours. However, I am just as determined to shatter their beliefs. I can now sit on my legs for an hour and a half without moving. As soon as I can sit for two hours, I will celebrate with an actual full-on tea ceremony. I think I can make it by December ... that will be my final sitting test.

To Peel or Not to Peel?

I sat at the lunchroom table with the teachers, contemplating the 3 grapes on my metal plate. I was waiting for the grape eating to commence, and trying to figure out how to stealthily eat my grapeskins without anyone knowing it. They started peeling off the skin of their grapes, and I slowly bit into my grape sucking the insides out slowly. By the time they swallowed the grape inside, I had quickly swallowed the grapeskin. Grape One down, two more to go. They only eat the inside of the grapes, not the outside, so I always hear it from the younger kids who are quick to let me know that I don't know how to eat grapes. They pile grapeskins on their plates like animal fur. I wanted to see if it was possible to not be noticed. Grape Two, oh I was spotted, but not caught in the action, so I have one more grape to go with everyone waiting to comment. By Grape Three I lost my undercover status and drew it out in the open, and making a big production, letting everyone know it was ok to talk about it. We began discussing how foreigners eat the outside of fruits like peaches and apples. By the time lunch concluded, we came to the agreement that the skin on Japanese fruits are tougher and more bitter than their Western counterparts and perhaps that explains the reasons for peeling. There weren't enough grapes or I would have had them do an American challenge and eat the darned grapeskin.

Have Have-Not

Weeds grope anxiously
To reach the hanging pot where
Sleeping flowers lie

Can you feel me?

Deserted mountain 

reaches up to pierce the sky

and take its raiment

broken worthless car

why did you abandon me

when i needed you

never-ending days

my soul awoke to realize

it's the dead of night

snickering pigeons

teepee cities as they please

teaching their children

VoteforaParty

Yesterday the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to my town। Hatoyama is his name, throwing out Prime Minister Aso is his game. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been ruling this country for the past 50 years, but has recently lost voters because of the bad economy, bad leaders, etc. They are on their 4th Prime Minster in 3 years, and getting ready to vote for a party in August, who will then choose the Prime Minister from among themselves.
Why do you even care? The US and Japan are close friends, with Japan being the second largest US export market in Asia (China recently surpassed) and Japan’s second-largest import market (aka We sell our crap to them the second-most, and we buy their crap second-most). Japanese firms are the United States’ second-largest source of foreign direct investment, and Japanese investors are the second largest source of purchasers of US treasuries (aka They lend us money to buy crap like cars and houses). The following graph is very concerning, to both America and Japan since our economies are so interdependent. Let’s face it kids, we’re in a symbiotic relationship, and what happens to one will affect the other (aka, we’re married, so we should pay attention to what happens to each other.).

Japanese Driving