the governator-san..

so its been quite some time since i wrote, but i'll make it worth your while...arrrrrrrr!

im starting to think that america is not the only country that has a super entertaining political landscape. Japan political scene is rip roaring good time. when we had TV, on any given day you could turn on the TV and see some politician being ousted for fraud or embezzlement. While american politics is rife with personal scandal. The japanese have kicked it up a notch. We were really suprised to see how commonplace it is to have a politician who has been using his parties funds to take a year long vacation. My favorite though is this one little politican Tadahiro Ando, of Miyazaki Prefecture who was foud to be embezzling tons of money out of his prefecture, involved with criminals, and doing some dirty business deals with some high rolling Japanese companies.

What hes accused of is not the entertaing part to his story. The funny part is that he was convicted of all these crimes. The whole country demands him to step down, and every day hes on the TV saying " i dont know what your talking about". I love it.
The kicker though is, the people did infact boot him out and replaced his devious ass with a more trust worthy personality. TV entertainer Sonomanma Higashi !!!! thats him in the picture. I can tell hes a real people person and hes looking out for the national good. you can see his kind caring demenor in the way he raises the roof. PEACE! (picture from the Japan Times Newspaper. www.japantimes.com)

On another note, i have been doing lessons on Japan and the modern world with my students. I really like to teach this lesson because it showcases 3 types of japanese people
1) world-ly japanese people: the type who know japan ( the good the bad and the ugly) and are willing to talk/debate topics
2) crazy japanese nationalists: the type who think japan can do no wrong, and pit the demise of japan on China, Korea (basically any country that isn't Japan)
3) Frozen Japanese people: they are a little motionless face on my ginga net screen. either their camera is frozen or their minds dont work. Either or, they dont say or do much.

So, i love to talk about the declining birth rate in japan. Many of the house wives I talk to are married but have no kids. either they or their husbands dont want kids or the thought never crossed their minds. Its really interesting to see how many adults in japan have no kids of grand kids. There is such a culture of work work work in Japan. I really do fear for the upcoming generations of japanese kids who dont want lives like their parents . I also fear the masses of elderly people in Japan that keep on growing in number. I think the elderly live for ever here. but i have to admit, they can keep on doing what they are doing, cause japanese grannies are so tiny and cute, you just want to pick them up, and put them in your pocket.

Its expensive and hard to have kids in japan. I think thats why so many people for go having kids and have dog babies and cat-children instead. I hate the former and the latter and will dedicate and entire blog to the subject at a later date.

Also, the japanese have this draconian immigration system that is not to friendly. Basically you can become a Japanese citizen if...you're japanese.
So i dont know where that leaves you, but i dont think that many people are becoming japanese any time soon.
you can be living in japan for 50 years and still be considered Gaijin "foreigner", its nuts. Even if your grand ma is Chinese and you were born in japan, you're chinese.

A big news story that happened this fall, was the deportation of this Iranian family from Japan. The kids were all born in Japan, the family had over stayed its visa and had been living and working in Japan for about 20 years. The daughter was even going to university in Japan. But the go'v t said "times up" and booted them out. Gotta love that.

Oh japan. its such an interesting land. Lastly i have a short story about a mum and son that sticks in my head. Me and the mum were talking about the education system for kids and what things have changed in Japan since the 1960's. One thing she said was "there is no where for my son to play". weird enough, she was living in Yokohama, a concrete jungle of a city. So she told me how she and her son were talking and he told her that he couldn't play baseball or any thing cause there is no park, and he wondered if there could be a park built to that he could play with his friends.

so him and his mum sat down and wrote a letter to the mayor of the prefecture asking that a park or play area be built for the kids. They recived a letter back stating something like this
" there is no plan for a park or play space in our prefecture. as you know there are alot of people in japan and space is precious. Land is expensive and realestate should be zoned for more economically important developments such as buildings and housing",

so sad, but true. much of the down town areas (wich are massive) have very few green areas. I think in the whole of down town osaka there is about 2 square meters of grass!!! the schools have a play ground, but its super tiny and all dirt. no grass. I feel for the youth in osaka, tokyo and yokohama. I think in the future they will spend far too much time inside, studying or playing PS2 and not enough time outside, socialising and getting fresh air.

I think the effects of this stiffled generation is being felt. I have met some interesting nut cases at nova, and some really shy closeted teens. i hope my lessons at nova bring a ray of sunshine into someones life.