Sunday, November 28, 2004

Craigslist, in Tokyo?

Well, looks like it just launched because there are few posts on it, but Craigslist now has a Tokyo branch. But, things don't exactly look promising, because it's already starting to fill up with mildly threatening job offers (for 'escorts' and 'modeling' for 'asian ladies'). And there's only one couch for sale. But hey, maybe in the future it'll be a good outlet for getting rid of all my furniture. . .

My days are starting to fill up, though I'm nowhere near productive yet. I went to a conference yesterday at Hosei Daigaku on the Overseas Chinese studies. It was expensive. They charged me 4000 yen for their in-house journal (the first issue! might be worth something someday). The previous day, I went to an informal coffee session with the other new fulbright grantees. Well, that was pretty perfunctory, but not that useful. I still don't feel like I have much direction.

Simply recounting the days events doesn't seem to be that meaningful. I guess I'm trying to figure out why nothing that happens here means that much to me. I wish I were young again, and living as irresponsibly as I was back in 1996. That was a different age, and a different me of course. But why is it so little fun to stay up all night now?

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

I'm tired of love. I need a pet.

So I'm sitting in Manbo, a cramped internet cafe with kind of grimey cubicles, at the tail end of another wasted day. I had to come in here, you see, because I needed to print some documents. Well, it costs 500 yen an hour, so I'm making use of that, but ultimately, you know, wasting even more of my day.

I picked up the first issue of 'kimi wa petto', and frankly it's pretty bizarre. I caught some episodes of the drama on TV, but didn't realize that it was based on a manga. Perhaps I should have known. It's about a career woman caring for a younger, pretty-boy type like he's her pet dog. It's not really as kinky as that (and quite different from that Stooges song 'I wanna be your dog'), but actually a weirdly touching commentary on our urban lifestyles, and the fact that we no longer have time for love anymore. Or something like that. I think though, that I still wanna be your/her dog.

Bleh. So I spent most of the day looking for an internet cafe to print my file, but I also got a haircut. It cost all of 800 yen. No, I didn't misplace a zero. It was quick too. Next time, when I actually have an idea of what hairstyle I want, maybe I'll pay more for my stylist. This time it was fine.

Oh, and the landlord stopped by. Apparently he's back from Paris for a week or two. Nice guy. Dropped off some wafers and some Italian coffee. Whoohoo. But other than that, I wasted my day.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Nov. 21 2004 Jiyugaoka

The jury (MY jury) is still out about this town. The old-fashioned shopping street near my home is quite nice, with some mom-and-pop grocery stores and bakeries, but the main cluster of stores and restaurants around Jiyugaoka station is a mess. I mean, it seems to be fashionable enough to be well-known around Tokyo, but doesn’t have the polish and gleam of the shopping arcades of Kobe, or even Okayama. The fact is, you can hardly walk on the streets of Jiyugaoka, because they’re filled with pedestrians, bicycles (going either direction, on either side of the street), parked cars, and moving cars. It’s really impossible to walk without constantly looking over your shoulder for passing cars, because you have to step into the middle of the street every few feet to avoid people, signs, bikes, cars, etc. It’s really kind of a zoo. I’m actually kind of amazed that people try to drive their cars through it all the time (including taxis, who must do it on a daily basis) without learning their lesson. I’m also surprised that people don’t get hit on every street corner. But maybe that’s because I lack spider-sense.

Nov. 16th 2004

Finally got a bank account here, which wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I guess I was holding back because of the perceived trouble it would entail. The folks at Tokyo Mitsubishi were ultra friendly, but in a way that absolutely prevents any form of personal interaction. I mean, ‘robotic and professional’ when I say ‘friendly’ perhaps. But they made it easy to get my bank book in a matter of 5 minutes.

Dinner today, since I’m watching my budget was fried eggs and tomatoes, a starving student standby. But considering that fruits and vegetables are much more expensive now in Japan than I have ever seen. With tomatoes costing about $1 each, this dish wasn’t really that cheap after all.

On TV, I somehow found myself watching some new anime called ‘Yakitate! Ja-PAN’
A fitting translation might be: “Freshly baked! Japanese BREAD!” But that neatly avoids a very bad pun: ‘pan’ means ‘bread’ in Japanese (it’s a loan word from Dutch). I guess it sticks to the genre of battle food anime.

Another show just taught me the right way to eat nigiri sushi. V6 were the guests on “Manner Cats” and they all failed in the eyes of three very severe looking judges. The most egregious infraction? Dipping the rice into soy sauce. (C’mon, I knew that already.)

Saturday, November 13, 2004

'Self-inflicted gun-shot wound'

I am dedicating this column today to the late Iris Chang, who was found dead in her car on the 11th of November, off of a California freeway. The CNN obit is here. Most of your may know her from her controversial book 'The Rape of Nanking'.

Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. I believe I can safely say that I've reached the point in my life when I'm starting to see the endings. I met Iris in the fall of 1998 when a couple of undergrads and grad students at the University of Illinois were organizing a conference on Japanese war atrocities in WWII. Iris was to be the guest of honor, garnering a sizeable honorarium for a lecture at UIUC's Foellinger Auditorium. The lecture itself was well-attended, and enthusiastically applauded. Iris was full of fire and conviction, freely quoting facts from her book, and denouncing a historical coverup of massive proportions. In the end, she received a standing ovation.

The actual conference was a bit more contentious. A few professors were on hand to offer their own appraisal of her book, and the situation clearly did not favor Iris. The problems with Iris's book were significant, if not critical. Iris had relied on others' translations and interpretations for the most part, and her treatment of the Japanese people as a whole was scandalously close to demonization. Nevertheless, there was a whiff of academic jealousy behind the attacks, since her work had garnered far more media attention than any of those of her critics. History was defending its turf, so to speak, and Iris left feeling betrayed. I distinctly recall her complaining to Mark, the undergrad who headed the organizing body why they had invited her there if they were just going to criticize her.

My own feelings about her and her work were and still are ambivalent. She represented all that I thought was wrong with academics: she was a media darling, confident to a fault, and beautiful. To me, she seemed to be flash over substance, and that's why I appreciated her message, but worried over the way she conveyed it. If her arguments were too clumsy, wouldn't they just give ammunition to the war atrocity deniers on the other side?

I considered the 'story' of my encounter with Iris provisionally closed a few weeks later, when I received a card from the Chang family thanking me for my time and effort.

But now she's gone, and I strangely feel a sense of responsibility, at least for misjudging her demeanor, her air of stubbornness and invincibility. My conflicted feelings toward your work notwithstanding, Iris, but I will never forget you.

Friday, November 12, 2004

Sick. sic.

Ok. National health insurance is a good thing. I just went over to the neighborhood doc (Dr. Kawasaki), and got a consultation and 5 meds for Y1543. That's about $15.00. I think the co-pay on Columbia's insurance for every prescription is about $20. Think about that. Dr. Kawasaki also speaks pretty good English, and we reminisced a bit about Kurashiki.

But happy as I feel about the clinic, I am still sick. Even writing this is making me kind of dizzy. And that's a shame since it's friday, and the rest of the world is going out tonight to celebrate the end of another cycle of capitalist exploitation, and here I am, my own body's machinery being exploited by tiny viruses . . .

In other news, I now have a table, a small couch, and a bike. All of which are kind of diminuitive by American standards. But hey, living small ain't so bad, even when you're used to living large.

Tomorrow: an anthropology conference at Waseda. Not sure if I can attend yet. It all depends on my body.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Nov. 5th – 6th – 7th, 2004

There are plenty of reasons to be discouraged and disappointed. It doesn’t seem like Tokyo University will allow me to connect to their network with my computer. The paperwork looks prohibitively annoying. The sofabed didn’t fit up our narrow staircase, so we’re out the shipping fee and had to cancel it. I still don’t have a bike, and Yahoo BB ADSL won’t be here for another ten days. And I’m still not speaking much Japanese.

Focus on the positive:
Maguro Ichiba – this restaurant chain is now my favorite form of fastfood in the world. It’s laid out like a Yoshinoya, with a U-shaped counter over which the staff hands your food. But that’s where the similarities end. Their specialty is not beef or pork over rice, but fish. Their version of ‘oyakodon’: salmon roe (ikura) and grilled salmon over seaweed and rice. With miso, Y750.
Tokyo Univ. cafeteria – Despite the fact that it’s underground and looks like a nuclear bomb shelter, this is a seriously good place to save money. I had a HUGE dinner set for Y600, including soup, grilled fish, and a bowl of chirashi-zushi. Free tea, and being surrounded by nerdy Todai students (almost all male at this cafeteria?) a definite plus.

Borrowing privileges at Tokyo University library – Whoot! I can take out 3 books! I was told that getting borrowing privileges would be difficult, so this is a pleasant surprise. Besides, the library has a room for watching CNN and CCTV (keeping an eye on the enemy I guess?).

Muji coffee maker, and Kinokuniya coffee – I have a picture of the coffee maker. No further comment needed.

Kinokuniya cranberry bread! A loaf for only 300 yen. (no picture, cuz I ate it) – Kinokuniya is a way-up-scale grocery store around the corner. I had to jostle for room in the aisles with elderly women dressed in fine kimonos.

Komazawa Kôen (park) – This was one of the sites for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and is still a cool place to go to work out. I especially like the 2.2 km running course, and the fact that it’s only 2min 30secs from my house (jogging) makes me quite happy.

Don Quixote – Ok, so Tai says that this chain is being sued for unfair business practices, but ever since I visited the Shinjuku location, I have to admit that other stores have a reason to be scared. They sell just about everything, from the downright weird (cosplay outfits?) to the practical (I got a nice 2.1 speaker system for under Y4000.) Love my new subwoofer, but the neighbors probably hate it. Love this store cuz’ it’s open 24 hours and is CHEAP, but its competitors probably hate it.

Finally, on the 8th, my phone line is here - So give me a call whenever you feel like it.

As for my pictures, I put some under the jiyugaoka folder at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/gd1303

Nov. 4th, 2004 Tokyo, Japan

. . .Home. . .
It’s day four in Japan.
Liberty Hill is how the more fashionable stores in the area translate Jiyûgaoka, and that’s where I live now. A place where modish couples browse for $1000 dinner tables, and pet shops seem to outnumber restaurants. Around the corner, I see a porsche parked in a garage every time I walk to the train station. Speaking of the train, I’m close to 20 minutes away on foot. Not a perfect situation, but out here, you almost never hear any traffic (just the squabbling of cats and dogs *not a metaphor*).

Must be a record somehow. In four days, I now have a cellphone, national insurance, an apartment, library card, student ID. . . and I’ve applied for my foreign resident card, DSL, a land line. . . and ordered a bicycle, a bed, washing machine, desk, chair, sofa bed. . . I’m productive at last, busy trying to build something, if only a workable life here. But I ran into a wall today, when I no longer had anything to special order, apply for, or office to hurry to. On the way back from Tokyo University, having just checked out the library, I realized how little I had thought out my day after all the errands were done.

I sat down on the Hanzomon subway line, and just let myself miss my stop. Past Shibuya, to some place called Sangenjaya. Just got off to see what there was to see. A busy street, and lots of cafes and bars. Ok. Bought a can coffee, and hit the subway again, back to Shibuya, transfer to Toritsudaigaku. Off the train, and wandering the streets. Found a yakitori restaurant, a cool internet cafe (not sleazy at all), and then happened upon the Yagumo Chuo library and community center. It has a gym, which costs 200 yen per visit, but works out to be much cheaper than a private gym if I only go about twice a week. The library was amazing though; a vast glass and reinforced concrete structure, it must have been built during the bubble years, because it’s hard to imagine this town having the funds to construct it now. Compared to the Fukasawa library, the district where I live now, it was at least much better lit . . . Anyway, I can see myself jogging out to this place several times a week.