For the first time since arriving here, I went to a real sushi place. I.e., not kaiten-zushi, and not convenience store sushi. I went with a friend of my advisor's and his family. We sat at the counter in front of the two sushi chefs and all the raw fish (and a tank). It was...indescribable. We ordered, they made, and then we ate it. Everything was super clean. When they finished making something, they would just put it on the counter in front of us (i.e., straight on the wooden counter, no plates or anything). I was kind of surprised by that. The best things I had tonight were sea urchin (uni) which was sooo good and negitoro temaki (fatty tuna and green onions in a hand roll). Freshly made sushi has nori that is crispy! I can't remember the last time the nori that my sushi was wrapped in was crispy. Usually it's refrigerated and soggy. I also had, for the first time, a variety of shellfish annnd....FUGU! Yes, the poisonous puffer fish. The fish itself tasted fairly normal, but the sauce was really amazing. And no, my lips and tongue did not go numb. I suppose the poison was quite thoroughly removed.
And a funny moment. There was one shellfish--I think abalone--stuck to the side of the tank. We ordered it, and it appeared in front of us, beautifully presented and prepared. No longer in tank. I dunno...it just...makes me feel funny, eating a raw abalone that was alive just a few minutes ago. Can't get fresher than that...
The meal was quite a treat, and not just for me either. Their daughter, ~11 years old, had also never been to such a sushi restaurant in her life. And the mom pondered for several minutes before deciding that maybe she's been to this kind of place once before. Wow. I suppose because Japanese food in the US is synonymous with sushi and sashimi, I naively assumed that Japanese people eat sushi and sashimi when they go out to eat too. Apparently, it's even more rare and special here than it is in the US! Probably it doesn't help that the meal probably cost a fortune...easily could have spent more than $60 per person. Of course, though...their family is super-rich.
It was so amazing that I'm posting pictures on facebook.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
nevermind about preening...
...because I have 7 mosquito bites on my face. I look like I have chicken pox! But, it's all for a good cause, because I got them on a trip to Ise Shrine. This weekend, I went on a trip planned by the international center of my University to Ise Shrine and some surrounding areas. Ise is a very old very famous shrine, dedicated to Amaterasu the Sun Goddess. It has been around for thousands of years, and Amaterasu is the most important Shinto god (from whom the emperor is said to be descended). Ise is often called "the heart of the Japanese people." It was amazing. Very beautiful, very woodsy. Would have been more spiritual if it weren't so crowded! But I did come away with two Shinto-priest-blessed charms, one for me (academics!) and one for my host mom (for a safe delivery of her baby). It's kind of fun. They are only supposed to last for a year, because you are supposed to visit the shrine yearly. Often, people visit shrines during the New Year's holiday to get their blessings for the new year.
After the morning in Ise, we spent lunch and part of the afternoon on a street next to the shrine (Okageyokocho). It is a street full of little shops, built in the old style, selling traditional and local foods. Very cute place. I was just in time to catch a taiko performance on a small stage in the center of the area. There were three performers: a man in the middle playing three drums, flanked by two women playing one big drum each. They were incredibly good. At the risk of sappiness, I'll admit that I was moved to tears by their taiko performance. Something indescribable about the purity of the rhythm, the way they moved their entire bodies to pound the drums...I don't know. It was moving.
Other highlights of the trip--a huge aquarium, with lots of enormous tanks. It was awesome, though a bit rushed and I didn't have time to see everything. Also, we visited a museum dedicated to ninja. Well, I knew nothing about ninja before and now I know a little bit more :-)
Overall, the trip was great fun. I did enjoy my one night's stay in a Japanese style room, mosquito bites notwithstanding. I just feel very grateful that I have such a supportive international center here at my school, who plans trips like this so I don't have to think about it. There were a total of 20 or so international students going together, and I got to know a few of them much better. We've become quite the community...I feel warm and fuzzy.
Pictures on facebook :-)
After the morning in Ise, we spent lunch and part of the afternoon on a street next to the shrine (Okageyokocho). It is a street full of little shops, built in the old style, selling traditional and local foods. Very cute place. I was just in time to catch a taiko performance on a small stage in the center of the area. There were three performers: a man in the middle playing three drums, flanked by two women playing one big drum each. They were incredibly good. At the risk of sappiness, I'll admit that I was moved to tears by their taiko performance. Something indescribable about the purity of the rhythm, the way they moved their entire bodies to pound the drums...I don't know. It was moving.
Other highlights of the trip--a huge aquarium, with lots of enormous tanks. It was awesome, though a bit rushed and I didn't have time to see everything. Also, we visited a museum dedicated to ninja. Well, I knew nothing about ninja before and now I know a little bit more :-)
Overall, the trip was great fun. I did enjoy my one night's stay in a Japanese style room, mosquito bites notwithstanding. I just feel very grateful that I have such a supportive international center here at my school, who plans trips like this so I don't have to think about it. There were a total of 20 or so international students going together, and I got to know a few of them much better. We've become quite the community...I feel warm and fuzzy.
Pictures on facebook :-)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
a moment to preen
So...I am second author on a manuscript in preparation. It's on draft 7, and is from my short stint at MGH. !! I think I have seen an earlier draft of this manuscript, but then sort of dismissed it as not going to happen anytime soon. So seeing this draft gives me a nice warm feeling all over again. It's kind of cool to recognize some of the figures in the paper as the same ones I prepared for my Biochem91r report. I sort of can't believe I'm second author? I'm ahead of another post-doc, the technicians, more ppl. I suppose after my own post-doc, who supplied most of the brainpower and did all the writing and all the other figures...my own meager 2 or 3-figure contribution counts as second. But still--it just blows me away. Even though I worked my ass off commuting to MGH and dealing with those mice and labeling their cells and such.
Just skimming the draft makes my head hurt. It's been a long long time since I've had to think about the "story" behind my and my postdoc's research. And boy, it is a complicated story, even more complicated than the usual immunological story. Even while I was actively doing the research, I kept getting confused about my post-docs story (my part of the research was a much smaller bit of the larger story, and at least I could keep my bit straight). Do I have any major comments to give to my post-doc? Oh God, if he and the PI have already hashed through that many drafts, then I doubt I'll be able to give any major constructive comments. Especially since I have to reacquaint myself with the story. I wonder if any remnants of my own text (from the 91r report) remain in the paper. Again, after so many drafts with an incredibly detail-oriented PI, I highly doubt it. It makes me doubt my own abilities to ever write a publishable paper, since I was quite proud of my 91r report! If this is the work that's necessary, the level of ...abstruseness...then I am doomed for sure.
But then, switching to reading papers about BMI and such in my current field gives me hope again. "Look! Their data is shitty too! Mine's only a little bit shittier...and I'm doing a very similar analysis. Maybe I have hope after all".
Just skimming the draft makes my head hurt. It's been a long long time since I've had to think about the "story" behind my and my postdoc's research. And boy, it is a complicated story, even more complicated than the usual immunological story. Even while I was actively doing the research, I kept getting confused about my post-docs story (my part of the research was a much smaller bit of the larger story, and at least I could keep my bit straight). Do I have any major comments to give to my post-doc? Oh God, if he and the PI have already hashed through that many drafts, then I doubt I'll be able to give any major constructive comments. Especially since I have to reacquaint myself with the story. I wonder if any remnants of my own text (from the 91r report) remain in the paper. Again, after so many drafts with an incredibly detail-oriented PI, I highly doubt it. It makes me doubt my own abilities to ever write a publishable paper, since I was quite proud of my 91r report! If this is the work that's necessary, the level of ...abstruseness...then I am doomed for sure.
But then, switching to reading papers about BMI and such in my current field gives me hope again. "Look! Their data is shitty too! Mine's only a little bit shittier...and I'm doing a very similar analysis. Maybe I have hope after all".
Saturday, November 10, 2007
neat lighting trick
I forgot to mention a neat lighting trick from yesterdays Beat Street show. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but it sure was cool.
So, Beat Street set up a "stage" in one area of the school cafeteria. By which I mean, they cleared a space and they put up a huge backdrop with the letters "beat street" graffiti'd on it. At first, I thought that in addition to the huge speakers, they actually had lights! I kept looking for the lighting person with the board. Then, I realized that the lights never changed--every piece, all the time, was a dark and moody blue. I got hungry and went to the second floor of the cafeteria to get some food, and AHA! I realized where the cool moody blue lights came from. The cafeteria normally has an atrium-type thing, where there's a hole in the second floor so that the first floor can look through all the way to the ceiling. This large hole is exactly over where Beat Street set up their stage. Of course, this would be a problem for staging because of the light pollution. To solve that, they tied a huge blue painter's tarp (clean of course) over the hole to cover it. Voila! Instant almost professional-looking lights. The tarp ensured that the stage was a moody dark color suitable for dance, and the blueness ensured that any light that leaked through was a nice blue color. Perfect, economical way of getting a show-look. Because we all know that a show put on with fluorescent lights look pathetic.
So, Beat Street set up a "stage" in one area of the school cafeteria. By which I mean, they cleared a space and they put up a huge backdrop with the letters "beat street" graffiti'd on it. At first, I thought that in addition to the huge speakers, they actually had lights! I kept looking for the lighting person with the board. Then, I realized that the lights never changed--every piece, all the time, was a dark and moody blue. I got hungry and went to the second floor of the cafeteria to get some food, and AHA! I realized where the cool moody blue lights came from. The cafeteria normally has an atrium-type thing, where there's a hole in the second floor so that the first floor can look through all the way to the ceiling. This large hole is exactly over where Beat Street set up their stage. Of course, this would be a problem for staging because of the light pollution. To solve that, they tied a huge blue painter's tarp (clean of course) over the hole to cover it. Voila! Instant almost professional-looking lights. The tarp ensured that the stage was a moody dark color suitable for dance, and the blueness ensured that any light that leaked through was a nice blue color. Perfect, economical way of getting a show-look. Because we all know that a show put on with fluorescent lights look pathetic.
student festival!
I had such an amazing time today at the student festival! Apparently, most schools (not just universities) have a yearly student festival. For my university, all the student groups set up booths all over campus and sell mostly food, though some sell other things as well. The performing groups perform around campus on various stages too. I didn't think it would be that exciting, but I went today and actually had a great time!
I got to see my university's "beat street" dance group perform. As you might guess from their name, they are a hip hop / breakdance / street dance group. They were really, really good, and their collaboration routine with the cheerleaders was probably better than any routine I've seen at Harvard, and I've lit/watched a good number of dance shows! Of course, the cheerleaders had their plastic smiles the whole time while doing the hip hop moves, which made them look very cute--but no disputing, they were good. Much cleaner and more together than college groups I've seen in the US. I felt a little bit...hmm...nostalgic? when I heard all the hip hop/rap music. It made mt want to dance! And, a part of me really doubts that the dancers know what "crunk" means, but you never know. At their show, the front row was filled with cute little Japanese kids. Good thing you can't be corrupted by lyrics you don't understand!
There was also tons of great food. Many of the international students set up booths next to each other on the second floor of the dining hall. I got to sample some thai food, vietnamese food (yay pho!), taiwanese food...and I will return tomorrow for Korean and Nepali food. I got too full to eat it today. After asking around, I discovered that there aren't really any Vietnamese restaurants nearby. Bummer. I'll have to go without pho for awhile.
AND, I waited in like for more than half an hour to get in to a haunted house. I was having doubts as many of the people in line were high school students (could tell by their uniforms), and as the wait turned out to be much longer than I thought, I figured it wouldn't be worth it. But it was fun!! They did a great job of jumping out at you at unexpected times. Ahh...I haven't done a haunted house since grade school. A bit late for Halloween, but that's okay. I've made up for missing it.
I think, though, that besides the cool performances and good food, one of the things that really made me happy was seeing everybody and saying hi. As I walked around, I saw many of my host dad's students and said hi to everybody...then at the international food fair I knew a lot of people too, from orientation together. Then I met some new people (through people I knew before). There was one guy who is a linguistics grad student, specializing in generative grammar. He explained to me that he really loved grammar, and especially English grammar, and is always looking for someone to speak English to. I have to say, his English is probably the best I've heard so far. So I hung out with him and his two buddies (whom I knew from before) for quite awhile. Through them, I met a bunch of other linguistics students, as well as a Nepali student studying American literature (!), specifically Theodore Dreiser. Amazing. And then, through my friend the German international student Janina, I met a Japanese-English translator (she's Japanese), and two ALT's at a local high school, who were from London. Annd, on my own, I met some people from Malaysia who sold me amaaaazing crepes with curry. Everybody was so friendly and eager to talk and say hello. I'm ridiculously proud of myself, being social all day loL. Even the guys I was with were surprised, saying "you know a lot of people!" which is so ironic considering my generally introverted and loner nature. But today I really felt...connected. That's saying a lot. Maybe it's because I have low expectations--I've never expected people I know only slightly to say hi to me randomly and start talking and joking. I rarely said hi to people at Harvard, figuring they didn't know or remember who I was, and perhaps as a result of that people rarely stopped on the street to say hi to me. But here, being an international student is sort of an instant bond. And since I know only a few Japanese people here (well, few people in general) whenever I see them I make sure to say hello, even if I don't remember their names, as is often the case since Japanese people have complicated names, and I suck at names in general. (They can't have forgotten meeting the American!)
It occurs to me that I have never had so much fun at a Harvard's Yardfest, and that we didn't have anything similar to this matsuri. Perhaps ARTS FIRST is the closest thing I can think of, since all the performers all over campus are student groups. But the organizers are still "adults," and they run the food and the show and program and stuff. Here, there is a lot of "ownership" I suppose. The students run the festival. Student volunteers clean up after everything. There are student volunteers at every trash station, waiting to help you properly sort and throw away your trash. I find that to be amazing! Who in the US would volunteer for such a job? I don't think I've ever seen a janitor here. Well, they must exist, I just don't know about them. It seems to me that the students do a lot of things. At my office campus the other day, I saw 2nd and 3rd graders weeding the planters on campus! That would never happen in the US.
I forgot to bring my camera today, but tomorrow I'll go back and perhaps take some pictures. I saw a guy dressed as Batman, running around. Well, "dressed" would be an overstatement. Let's say, the only thing he was wearing was underwear (not even shoes!) and he was painted from head to toe! Painted black all over, with the Batman logo on his chest. Oh well, I guess he was also wearing a black garbage bag as a cape. He had some buddies too, one of them painted as Doraemon and the other two I don't know what, probably other characters I don't recognize. Mmmm...yeah. Those painted dudes beat out even the guys dressed in drag, some of whom even made pretty convincing and halfway attractive girls.
I got to see my university's "beat street" dance group perform. As you might guess from their name, they are a hip hop / breakdance / street dance group. They were really, really good, and their collaboration routine with the cheerleaders was probably better than any routine I've seen at Harvard, and I've lit/watched a good number of dance shows! Of course, the cheerleaders had their plastic smiles the whole time while doing the hip hop moves, which made them look very cute--but no disputing, they were good. Much cleaner and more together than college groups I've seen in the US. I felt a little bit...hmm...nostalgic? when I heard all the hip hop/rap music. It made mt want to dance! And, a part of me really doubts that the dancers know what "crunk" means, but you never know. At their show, the front row was filled with cute little Japanese kids. Good thing you can't be corrupted by lyrics you don't understand!
There was also tons of great food. Many of the international students set up booths next to each other on the second floor of the dining hall. I got to sample some thai food, vietnamese food (yay pho!), taiwanese food...and I will return tomorrow for Korean and Nepali food. I got too full to eat it today. After asking around, I discovered that there aren't really any Vietnamese restaurants nearby. Bummer. I'll have to go without pho for awhile.
AND, I waited in like for more than half an hour to get in to a haunted house. I was having doubts as many of the people in line were high school students (could tell by their uniforms), and as the wait turned out to be much longer than I thought, I figured it wouldn't be worth it. But it was fun!! They did a great job of jumping out at you at unexpected times. Ahh...I haven't done a haunted house since grade school. A bit late for Halloween, but that's okay. I've made up for missing it.
I think, though, that besides the cool performances and good food, one of the things that really made me happy was seeing everybody and saying hi. As I walked around, I saw many of my host dad's students and said hi to everybody...then at the international food fair I knew a lot of people too, from orientation together. Then I met some new people (through people I knew before). There was one guy who is a linguistics grad student, specializing in generative grammar. He explained to me that he really loved grammar, and especially English grammar, and is always looking for someone to speak English to. I have to say, his English is probably the best I've heard so far. So I hung out with him and his two buddies (whom I knew from before) for quite awhile. Through them, I met a bunch of other linguistics students, as well as a Nepali student studying American literature (!), specifically Theodore Dreiser. Amazing. And then, through my friend the German international student Janina, I met a Japanese-English translator (she's Japanese), and two ALT's at a local high school, who were from London. Annd, on my own, I met some people from Malaysia who sold me amaaaazing crepes with curry. Everybody was so friendly and eager to talk and say hello. I'm ridiculously proud of myself, being social all day loL. Even the guys I was with were surprised, saying "you know a lot of people!" which is so ironic considering my generally introverted and loner nature. But today I really felt...connected. That's saying a lot. Maybe it's because I have low expectations--I've never expected people I know only slightly to say hi to me randomly and start talking and joking. I rarely said hi to people at Harvard, figuring they didn't know or remember who I was, and perhaps as a result of that people rarely stopped on the street to say hi to me. But here, being an international student is sort of an instant bond. And since I know only a few Japanese people here (well, few people in general) whenever I see them I make sure to say hello, even if I don't remember their names, as is often the case since Japanese people have complicated names, and I suck at names in general. (They can't have forgotten meeting the American!)
It occurs to me that I have never had so much fun at a Harvard's Yardfest, and that we didn't have anything similar to this matsuri. Perhaps ARTS FIRST is the closest thing I can think of, since all the performers all over campus are student groups. But the organizers are still "adults," and they run the food and the show and program and stuff. Here, there is a lot of "ownership" I suppose. The students run the festival. Student volunteers clean up after everything. There are student volunteers at every trash station, waiting to help you properly sort and throw away your trash. I find that to be amazing! Who in the US would volunteer for such a job? I don't think I've ever seen a janitor here. Well, they must exist, I just don't know about them. It seems to me that the students do a lot of things. At my office campus the other day, I saw 2nd and 3rd graders weeding the planters on campus! That would never happen in the US.
I forgot to bring my camera today, but tomorrow I'll go back and perhaps take some pictures. I saw a guy dressed as Batman, running around. Well, "dressed" would be an overstatement. Let's say, the only thing he was wearing was underwear (not even shoes!) and he was painted from head to toe! Painted black all over, with the Batman logo on his chest. Oh well, I guess he was also wearing a black garbage bag as a cape. He had some buddies too, one of them painted as Doraemon and the other two I don't know what, probably other characters I don't recognize. Mmmm...yeah. Those painted dudes beat out even the guys dressed in drag, some of whom even made pretty convincing and halfway attractive girls.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
the yakuza?!? oh wait, no...
So today, I finally had the motivation to workout and I get interrupted twice. The first time, I was surprised by my doorbell ringing. Calling out "chotto matte!" (= "wait a sec!") I grabbed a shirt to pull on and went to the door. I peered through the peephole and saw two young men, dressed in all black suits, carrying black leather briefcases. One of them was even wearing a black trench coat, I think. My first thought was...gee, they look like the yakuza. No kidding. But Japan being safe, I decided to open the door a crack. One of the guys reached into his suitcase and pulled out a little pamphlet. My next thought was oh God! Jehovah's Witnesses!! Which was pretty much what slipped out of my mouth. "Are you religious? Jehovah's Witnesses?" All I got were some blank stares from the young men. It occurred to me that from the way they dressed, they could be Mormons. So then I asked "Are you Mormon? Latter Day Saints?" and I got some more blank stares. I explained that I was American and didn't read Japanese much, so I didn't need their pamphlets. Finally, I asked "Are you Christian?" to which they said "ah! yah! Christian!" and nodded vigorously. "I'm not Christian" was my reply, and finally I ended with "have a nice night!"
I figured I got rid of them forever, since they didn't speak any English. Returning to my workout, I mused that I would never find out whether they were Mormon or Jehovah's Witnesses. But, before my workout was over, another doorbell! Surely, not the same people! But yes. One of the young men had returned with a young woman, who was NOT dressed in intimidating yakuza-like all-black. Although she did look nice. Apparently, this young woman speaks some English and so the original young man brought her back to talk to me! "Do you know, Jehovah's Witnsses?" Aha! My first (second?) thought was right. I explained to them that I have relatives who are Jehovah's Witnesses, and I figured that's what they were from their pamphlets, which looked a lot like the Watchtower. Then followed a short discussion on my religious beliefs, how I wasn't raised in Christianity and so find it hard to believe in God, and how I didn't need their pamphlets because I already know about them through my cousin (the last of which is only a half-lie. But I really, really don't want their pamphlets. More paper to sort and tie up and recycle! And I was afraid that the English speaking lady had come back with English Watchtower's and Awake's too). So again, I ended with a have a nice night. I feel vaguely bad about being somewhat curt, and also about the English speaking lady who came from goodness knows where just to talk to the English-only foreigner on the 4th floor. Man, but these people are persistent. And I had no idea there were active Jehovah's Witnesses in Matsuyama. Amazing.
Actually, quite a few people have come door to door to sell their wares, whether religious or not. I got a guy come by the other day to advertise his fortune-telling studio. He tried to read my palm and tell me that I was an emotional person prone to cry while watching TV. He was exceedingly difficult to get rid of! I wonder what is the polite Japanese way to get rid of these ppl--as I figure the American tactic of slamming the door or just saying NO! would be considered overly rude here. Of course, I could just stop opening the door to strangers, but I'm afraid that I'll miss somebody actually important, like the gas company man (he's come by before) or a package delivery man (although those guys are in uniform, so I just have to learn and spot the uniforms) or maybe somebody else I don't know about but who could potentially be important.
I figured I got rid of them forever, since they didn't speak any English. Returning to my workout, I mused that I would never find out whether they were Mormon or Jehovah's Witnesses. But, before my workout was over, another doorbell! Surely, not the same people! But yes. One of the young men had returned with a young woman, who was NOT dressed in intimidating yakuza-like all-black. Although she did look nice. Apparently, this young woman speaks some English and so the original young man brought her back to talk to me! "Do you know, Jehovah's Witnsses?" Aha! My first (second?) thought was right. I explained to them that I have relatives who are Jehovah's Witnesses, and I figured that's what they were from their pamphlets, which looked a lot like the Watchtower. Then followed a short discussion on my religious beliefs, how I wasn't raised in Christianity and so find it hard to believe in God, and how I didn't need their pamphlets because I already know about them through my cousin (the last of which is only a half-lie. But I really, really don't want their pamphlets. More paper to sort and tie up and recycle! And I was afraid that the English speaking lady had come back with English Watchtower's and Awake's too). So again, I ended with a have a nice night. I feel vaguely bad about being somewhat curt, and also about the English speaking lady who came from goodness knows where just to talk to the English-only foreigner on the 4th floor. Man, but these people are persistent. And I had no idea there were active Jehovah's Witnesses in Matsuyama. Amazing.
Actually, quite a few people have come door to door to sell their wares, whether religious or not. I got a guy come by the other day to advertise his fortune-telling studio. He tried to read my palm and tell me that I was an emotional person prone to cry while watching TV. He was exceedingly difficult to get rid of! I wonder what is the polite Japanese way to get rid of these ppl--as I figure the American tactic of slamming the door or just saying NO! would be considered overly rude here. Of course, I could just stop opening the door to strangers, but I'm afraid that I'll miss somebody actually important, like the gas company man (he's come by before) or a package delivery man (although those guys are in uniform, so I just have to learn and spot the uniforms) or maybe somebody else I don't know about but who could potentially be important.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
image vs content
A tentative judgment about Japanese society: the Japanese value presentation and image much more highly than American counterparts. And the corollary: content or value is downplayed. To minimize the risk of generalizing, of course, by American I mean me and by Japanese I mean my experiences of Japanese!
Over and over again, I'm reminded by how much the Japanese love presentation, display, protocol. One example is the nuclear power plant disaster management training I got to take part in today. My advisor is one of the responsible doctors for the Ikata power plant, which apparently provides power to all of Shikoku. As such, he was able to arrange it so that I could participate in the training, masquerading as a doctor. We had a fake patient who was supposedly injured by something radioactive in level 4 security. (Level 4 security is such that basically you need to get naked before entering! Thankfully, we started the simulation just outside that area, though I did see a lot of old men and occasionally young men going through in their underwear.) There were several public health nurses with all sorts of equipment, including a stretcher (!). The two 'doctors' (i.e., me and my advisor) were wearing white lab coats. Everybody was wearing yellow vests that said "training" in big letters. The fake injury was really just a piece of rubber made out to look like a gash to the bone, with something (actually) radioactive stuck in the wound. I watched as the public nurses taped on the rubber wound to the fake patient's leg, then bandage over the rubber wound, then splint the leg, then put the leg in a plastic bag, then tape the plastic bag shut. All with the utmost care. Then, we sat around and waited. And waited. And waited. Apparently, we were on a time table and so we weren't supposed to leave that area until exactly 9:20. Finally, the patient heaved himself onto the stretcher (so much for realism here). He was wrapped in a towel, and zipped into a body-bag like bag, supposedly to minimize radiation contamination of the surroundings. The nurses took several tries to figure out how to configure the stretcher into its various states of collapsed-ness. We wheeled him downstairs, to right outside a huge door. And then, we waited some more! Still ahead of schedule. Finally, at exactly the specified time, the huge garage door opened and we were greeted by the press and an ambulance. More fiddling with the stretcher. I watched again as the ambulance stretcher was oh-so-carefully and slowly wrapped in plastic. The patient was transferred to the other stretcher, and into the ambulance, and was off to the hospital! We actually did make the drive to the hospital…with the ambulance stopping at each stoplight. I actually rode in a car behind the ambulance. So much for realism, again. In fact, the whole thing was so ridiculous with the timetable and the slowness that rather than reassuring me that "Wow! This power plant is so careful, it trains its personnel about disaster management every year!", I am now absolutely convinced that were an injury actually to happen on the premises, the poor person would no doubt die or suffer massive radiation poisoning as the nurses fiddled with the stretcher and checked things off their clipboards. In fact, the whole thing had the inescapable feeling of being a show, a mockery, a display for the press. See? We're responsible. See? We're prepared. Nevermind that this is nothing like real conditions. Nevermind that this kind of training would be absolutely useless for real conditions. I had the idea that this kind of training would focus on speed, efficiency, etc. That they would time how long it would take to get the poor patient into medical care. But nope. Anyways, so that was a long-winded example from today.
One of the things that got me thinking about this topic came up in Japanese class. One of our exercises had to do with analyzing different types of apologies. In Japan, whenever some scandal hits a company, it isn't unusual to see the whole board bow deeply to the press, and the CEO crying in remorse, apologizing over and over again. In our exercise, we had a cartoon of two different CEO's apologies. In one, the CEO was crying, bowing profusely, and saying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! There's no excuse! It's all my fault! I'm sorry!" etc. over and over again, in the humblest of language. The other CEO was sweating, saying something along the lines of "It was reported to me during construction of this building, there was something amiss with the numbers. I will prevent this from happening in the future" or something like that, focused on investigation, reasoning, and prevention in the future. Of course, neither apology is perfect, but we were discussing how the Japanese would overwhelmingly prefer the first apology, while the second apology would be considered grossly unsatisfying. During the discussion, the teacher explained to us that in Japan, when one apologizes, the remorseful expressions come first. I'm sorry! No excuse! I'm sorry! Etc. You have to look like you feel bad, and be polite. It helps to cry--drums up sympathy. But the reason for the mistake is merely secondary. She pointed out that in Western cultures, when one is late, one typically emphasizes the reason like "AHH! The traffic was so bad today. There was an accident on the road." The listener then has some sympathy for you--it was out of your control, not your fault, It's okay, you don't need to apologize. Whereas, Japanese people don't want to hear the reason until you've already apologized sufficiently remorsefully. Who cares why you're late? You're fucking late. So in the case of the construction company screwup, I was totally amazed that the Japanese would prefer the remorseful display to the reason. (Of course the second CEO probably should have apologized in his statement somewhere). I feel like for Americans, saying "I'm sorry" is an empty expression unless one can back it up with action. Americans want to know why. Americans want a full-scale investigation, with criminal accountability. Americans want compensation. Americans want guarantees that this shit will never happen again. Saying I'm sorry is basically useless, though sometimes helpful for PR. Again, Americans seem to prefer action and content over displays of remorse.
Finally, she showed us a small TV clip from some sort of variety show contrasting Japanese and American CEO apologies. It was made out to be quite absurd, such that even I laughed at the funny American CEO. But one of the hilarious-at-the-time explanations for why Americans are not so quick to apologize was Christianity. A screen flashed up with a cartoon of Jesus kneeling and praying while looking upwards. The narrator then said "God will forgive me!" The whole class burst out into laughter at that point because it was just so ridiculous. However, it really reminded me of Zielenziger's arguments about the lack of Christian influence in Japan (see earlier post about that). According to him, a lot of Japanese culture can be explained by the lack of Christianity. Without Christianity, he argues, there is no inner sense of right or wrong, no inner moral compass. "Right" is determined by society or social consensus. So, to apply it to this situation, the Japanese value apologetic displays so much because they are designed to elicit sympathy from society and from the wronged. The Japanese want more than anything else forgiveness, which can then pave the way to social harmony and peace again. Whereas in Western culture, such extreme social harmony is not as important as inner harmony and peace. If all is right with God, then all is right in my soul. It doesn't matter how the external masses judge one. I think the explanation has a point.
And finally, something lighthearted and amazing. My teacher exhorted us to write our assignments neatly. Mind you, these are short in-class assignments, done on the fly in a few minutes. She said, if you are using a ballpoint pen, please use white out and don't scratch out your mistakes. That way, your writing will look better, you'll make a better impression on the teacher, and I won't be ashamed to show your work to other teachers. My jaw nearly dropped. Neat handwriting, sure. But white-out? Obviously, it's all about presentation and impression on the teacher. I'm used to thinking that the content of my writing is of paramount importance to the impression I would make on the teacher. On an in class essay exam, nobody is keeping track of whether you start a word, scratch it out, and restart. So long as its legible and not totally inane, it's okay. Apparently, I should start using white-out. Or a pencil.
Over and over again, I'm reminded by how much the Japanese love presentation, display, protocol. One example is the nuclear power plant disaster management training I got to take part in today. My advisor is one of the responsible doctors for the Ikata power plant, which apparently provides power to all of Shikoku. As such, he was able to arrange it so that I could participate in the training, masquerading as a doctor. We had a fake patient who was supposedly injured by something radioactive in level 4 security. (Level 4 security is such that basically you need to get naked before entering! Thankfully, we started the simulation just outside that area, though I did see a lot of old men and occasionally young men going through in their underwear.) There were several public health nurses with all sorts of equipment, including a stretcher (!). The two 'doctors' (i.e., me and my advisor) were wearing white lab coats. Everybody was wearing yellow vests that said "training" in big letters. The fake injury was really just a piece of rubber made out to look like a gash to the bone, with something (actually) radioactive stuck in the wound. I watched as the public nurses taped on the rubber wound to the fake patient's leg, then bandage over the rubber wound, then splint the leg, then put the leg in a plastic bag, then tape the plastic bag shut. All with the utmost care. Then, we sat around and waited. And waited. And waited. Apparently, we were on a time table and so we weren't supposed to leave that area until exactly 9:20. Finally, the patient heaved himself onto the stretcher (so much for realism here). He was wrapped in a towel, and zipped into a body-bag like bag, supposedly to minimize radiation contamination of the surroundings. The nurses took several tries to figure out how to configure the stretcher into its various states of collapsed-ness. We wheeled him downstairs, to right outside a huge door. And then, we waited some more! Still ahead of schedule. Finally, at exactly the specified time, the huge garage door opened and we were greeted by the press and an ambulance. More fiddling with the stretcher. I watched again as the ambulance stretcher was oh-so-carefully and slowly wrapped in plastic. The patient was transferred to the other stretcher, and into the ambulance, and was off to the hospital! We actually did make the drive to the hospital…with the ambulance stopping at each stoplight. I actually rode in a car behind the ambulance. So much for realism, again. In fact, the whole thing was so ridiculous with the timetable and the slowness that rather than reassuring me that "Wow! This power plant is so careful, it trains its personnel about disaster management every year!", I am now absolutely convinced that were an injury actually to happen on the premises, the poor person would no doubt die or suffer massive radiation poisoning as the nurses fiddled with the stretcher and checked things off their clipboards. In fact, the whole thing had the inescapable feeling of being a show, a mockery, a display for the press. See? We're responsible. See? We're prepared. Nevermind that this is nothing like real conditions. Nevermind that this kind of training would be absolutely useless for real conditions. I had the idea that this kind of training would focus on speed, efficiency, etc. That they would time how long it would take to get the poor patient into medical care. But nope. Anyways, so that was a long-winded example from today.
One of the things that got me thinking about this topic came up in Japanese class. One of our exercises had to do with analyzing different types of apologies. In Japan, whenever some scandal hits a company, it isn't unusual to see the whole board bow deeply to the press, and the CEO crying in remorse, apologizing over and over again. In our exercise, we had a cartoon of two different CEO's apologies. In one, the CEO was crying, bowing profusely, and saying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! There's no excuse! It's all my fault! I'm sorry!" etc. over and over again, in the humblest of language. The other CEO was sweating, saying something along the lines of "It was reported to me during construction of this building, there was something amiss with the numbers. I will prevent this from happening in the future" or something like that, focused on investigation, reasoning, and prevention in the future. Of course, neither apology is perfect, but we were discussing how the Japanese would overwhelmingly prefer the first apology, while the second apology would be considered grossly unsatisfying. During the discussion, the teacher explained to us that in Japan, when one apologizes, the remorseful expressions come first. I'm sorry! No excuse! I'm sorry! Etc. You have to look like you feel bad, and be polite. It helps to cry--drums up sympathy. But the reason for the mistake is merely secondary. She pointed out that in Western cultures, when one is late, one typically emphasizes the reason like "AHH! The traffic was so bad today. There was an accident on the road." The listener then has some sympathy for you--it was out of your control, not your fault, It's okay, you don't need to apologize. Whereas, Japanese people don't want to hear the reason until you've already apologized sufficiently remorsefully. Who cares why you're late? You're fucking late. So in the case of the construction company screwup, I was totally amazed that the Japanese would prefer the remorseful display to the reason. (Of course the second CEO probably should have apologized in his statement somewhere). I feel like for Americans, saying "I'm sorry" is an empty expression unless one can back it up with action. Americans want to know why. Americans want a full-scale investigation, with criminal accountability. Americans want compensation. Americans want guarantees that this shit will never happen again. Saying I'm sorry is basically useless, though sometimes helpful for PR. Again, Americans seem to prefer action and content over displays of remorse.
Finally, she showed us a small TV clip from some sort of variety show contrasting Japanese and American CEO apologies. It was made out to be quite absurd, such that even I laughed at the funny American CEO. But one of the hilarious-at-the-time explanations for why Americans are not so quick to apologize was Christianity. A screen flashed up with a cartoon of Jesus kneeling and praying while looking upwards. The narrator then said "God will forgive me!" The whole class burst out into laughter at that point because it was just so ridiculous. However, it really reminded me of Zielenziger's arguments about the lack of Christian influence in Japan (see earlier post about that). According to him, a lot of Japanese culture can be explained by the lack of Christianity. Without Christianity, he argues, there is no inner sense of right or wrong, no inner moral compass. "Right" is determined by society or social consensus. So, to apply it to this situation, the Japanese value apologetic displays so much because they are designed to elicit sympathy from society and from the wronged. The Japanese want more than anything else forgiveness, which can then pave the way to social harmony and peace again. Whereas in Western culture, such extreme social harmony is not as important as inner harmony and peace. If all is right with God, then all is right in my soul. It doesn't matter how the external masses judge one. I think the explanation has a point.
And finally, something lighthearted and amazing. My teacher exhorted us to write our assignments neatly. Mind you, these are short in-class assignments, done on the fly in a few minutes. She said, if you are using a ballpoint pen, please use white out and don't scratch out your mistakes. That way, your writing will look better, you'll make a better impression on the teacher, and I won't be ashamed to show your work to other teachers. My jaw nearly dropped. Neat handwriting, sure. But white-out? Obviously, it's all about presentation and impression on the teacher. I'm used to thinking that the content of my writing is of paramount importance to the impression I would make on the teacher. On an in class essay exam, nobody is keeping track of whether you start a word, scratch it out, and restart. So long as its legible and not totally inane, it's okay. Apparently, I should start using white-out. Or a pencil.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
good beef don
The past couple of days, I've been struck several times with inexplicable happiness. I was walking up a road to a bakery, listening to music as usual and singing along and just feeling...happy! I still can't believe I'm here. That was a rainy day. The day before it was sunny and gorgeous and very California-like and it struck me that I already love this place more than I ever loved Harvard. For no especial reason. It's not particularly pretty; God knows the campus is in ruins right now due to construction, and even if it weren't under construction it would be a dismal concrete mass. My apartment is a dismal concrete mass. The city is criss-crossed with power lines, half the streets don't have sidewalks, and...well...it's generally ugly. It's nowhere near as cute as Cambridge. Of course, the castle is gorgeous, and there are various traditional-style houses and buildings that lend character to the city. But still! I've rarely (if ever? can't remember) felt just happy to be at Harvard, walking down the street, singing along to music, going somewhere nice by myself. I don't know if it was the workload, the people, or the atmosphere. But here, everybody is extraordinarily nice and I'm generally relaxed.
Along those lines of being happy, I had really great fastfood gyuu-don (beef donburi, or beef over rice) today for lunch. Mmm! A bowl of beef don and a mini bowl of udon cost me only 640 yen. Beats American fast food any day. Ahhh....
Part of the reason I had to eat out for lunch anyways was because I spent all morning in the hospital. My host mom, who is heavily pregnant, was scheduled to go to the hospital across from the university for a checkup. She invited me to go with her to get a look at how the Japanese hospital system works. I suppose it's about the same? Some differences included that for all the basic pre-seeing-doctor checkup stuff, like getting a blood test, blood pressure checked, urine sample, etc...had my poor host mom running all over the hospital, visiting this and that nurses' station. Well, in the US one hardly ever sees a doctor in the hospital unless one is actually admitted to the hospital. Most of the time, patient visits are in outpatient clinics, and in those places a nurse or technician does all the pre-seeing-doctor exams in one place, the exam room! Saves time and trouble that way. I spent all the waiting knitting a hat for the baby (gave her the matching booties that morning). I cast on after I got to the hospital, and was nearly done by the time the morning was over! In fact, I finished the hat just now. It's in gorgeous Noro Transitions color 19, beige-ish naturalish, with beautiful gradations in color, and soft and fuzzy and lovely. It's so nice I want to knit myself a hat in it too--still have two big skeins left.
But anyways, I got to see my host mom get an ultrasound (very fun). Cute baby? Well, it's hard to say that anything on an ultrasound image is cute. But I see the potential for cuteness. Unfortunately, she looks like she could might be delivering prematurely. She's not due until the end of December, but something about the baby suggests that she might deliver any moment! So she's been prescribed bed rest, which must suck royally. And on top of that, her husband (my host dad) has already scheduled two trips out of town next week for work, and so he can't stay with her. As a result of all that, they decided to admit her to the hospital right then and there! She's going to stay for at least 3 days, and then be re-evaluated. That's definitely something different from the US. I imagine that somebody prescribed bed rest in the US wouldn't be admitted to the hospital to stay indefinitely. Nobody to take care of you at home? Tough luck! Deal with it. From what I know, nights at a hospital are kept to an absolute minimum, reserved for those who are critically ill or dying. New mothers go home right away!
Along those lines of being happy, I had really great fastfood gyuu-don (beef donburi, or beef over rice) today for lunch. Mmm! A bowl of beef don and a mini bowl of udon cost me only 640 yen. Beats American fast food any day. Ahhh....
Part of the reason I had to eat out for lunch anyways was because I spent all morning in the hospital. My host mom, who is heavily pregnant, was scheduled to go to the hospital across from the university for a checkup. She invited me to go with her to get a look at how the Japanese hospital system works. I suppose it's about the same? Some differences included that for all the basic pre-seeing-doctor checkup stuff, like getting a blood test, blood pressure checked, urine sample, etc...had my poor host mom running all over the hospital, visiting this and that nurses' station. Well, in the US one hardly ever sees a doctor in the hospital unless one is actually admitted to the hospital. Most of the time, patient visits are in outpatient clinics, and in those places a nurse or technician does all the pre-seeing-doctor exams in one place, the exam room! Saves time and trouble that way. I spent all the waiting knitting a hat for the baby (gave her the matching booties that morning). I cast on after I got to the hospital, and was nearly done by the time the morning was over! In fact, I finished the hat just now. It's in gorgeous Noro Transitions color 19, beige-ish naturalish, with beautiful gradations in color, and soft and fuzzy and lovely. It's so nice I want to knit myself a hat in it too--still have two big skeins left.
But anyways, I got to see my host mom get an ultrasound (very fun). Cute baby? Well, it's hard to say that anything on an ultrasound image is cute. But I see the potential for cuteness. Unfortunately, she looks like she could might be delivering prematurely. She's not due until the end of December, but something about the baby suggests that she might deliver any moment! So she's been prescribed bed rest, which must suck royally. And on top of that, her husband (my host dad) has already scheduled two trips out of town next week for work, and so he can't stay with her. As a result of all that, they decided to admit her to the hospital right then and there! She's going to stay for at least 3 days, and then be re-evaluated. That's definitely something different from the US. I imagine that somebody prescribed bed rest in the US wouldn't be admitted to the hospital to stay indefinitely. Nobody to take care of you at home? Tough luck! Deal with it. From what I know, nights at a hospital are kept to an absolute minimum, reserved for those who are critically ill or dying. New mothers go home right away!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
