Take care of your animals!

On Monday as I almost all the way to the university, when from up on an abutment of the highway I heard the mewling of a kitten. Being the animal sucker I am I stopped. "I'll just help it down," I told myself. However, after having looked at it and touched it, it was clear that it hadn't eaten in some time, and it had an infection around its eyes and nose. I decided to take it to the nearest convenience store to get some food. I got canned food and tried to feed it that, but it wouldn't go for it. I guessed it was either too scared from a bicycle ride in a basket or just too small to eat the food. Thank goodness there is a vet right near the convenience store, so I ended up taking her there. The vet opened at 9am, so I waited decided to wait for about fifteen minutes. In the mean time, the vet had started to pull out of the clinic in his car, probably going to run a quick errand before office hours. He immediately pulled the car back in and came to see what we were doing in front of his clinic. I showed him the kitten and he said that the infection was serious, and that he had already lost one eye to it. I would have to give it medicine to make sure it didn't die. When I said that I had cats of my own, he said that I couldn't take it home until the infection was cured, that it would spread to the other cats. He went off into his clinic and got some medicine, some drops for his eyes and nose, and showed me how to administer them. I thanked him and offered to pay, but he rejected it, and said that he was happy enough that I would take care of the cat.

The honest truth was that I had no idea what to do with it. I couldn't take it home, and the vet said that I could spread the infection to my cats by contact with my shoes and clothes. I had to find something else to do with it. It couldn't even stay in my office. Well, I got some food and milk, the kitten was dehydrated according to the vet, and a box to put the kitten in. I came back to school and put the kitten outside in the box until I could find a student to volunteer to take care of her for a couple of weeks until she got over the infection. Then I would take her home. I found a student to take care of the cat and made all the arrangements to transport it and so on.

But, when the student went the box where I had put the kitten, she was gone. She had somehow escaped from the box, and was nowhere to be found. I was crushed. I knew that if we didn't find the kitten she'd die. I had to submit some paperwork to another teacher at around 5:30, and was waiting for him when I decided to buy some juice from the vending machine near the cafeteria. As I bought the juice, a young woman came around the corner carrying the kitten. She had found it near the box, and didn't have the heart to put it back in, so she just took it. I couldn't have been happier. I told her the story, and confirmed that she would take care of it. I happened to have the medicine in my pocket, so I gave her that, and the food that I had bought. I showed her how to administer the medicine, and sent them off to live together after I gave her my card and told her to call me if she found that she couldn't keep the cat or in about six months when the kitten could be spayed. I would pay for the procedure.

Take care of your animals. In our neighborhood there are often dogs or cats that have been dropped off by people who don't want to care for them anymore. One of our neighbors is very generous and finds homes for them or keeps them herself, but it is sad to see animals hurt or sick. Some people think it is inhumane or cruel to spay or neuter their pets, but it is truly cruel not to and subject the babies who are born as a result to the horrible, short lives they have. I was at a park in Kumamoto with my son some years ago. The maintainers of the park were apparently having some problems with stray cats at the time, so they were rounding them up, putting them in plastic crates, and drowning them in the pond. Fortunately we were in the car as we passed the grisly scene, and he couldn't see outside at the time, and of course I never told him with was happening, but if he had seen that, what would he have thought? What brutality he would have witnessed.

Voting from afar

As I sit here in Yokkaichi, thousands of mile away from my home state of Georgia, votes are being counted there. Mine should be there, too, as an absentee voter. It is a tremendously valuable right, and becomes even more precious when compared to Japan, where Japanese overseas have only recently been given the right to vote.

Being so far away from the US during the election campaign has some bright points. I don't have to listen quite so much to the nastiness. That is a big one.

On the other hand, there are many more drawbacks. I would like very much to work with others to make a change, but there are very few Americans here, and those who are aren't as politically inclined as I. I would like to participate in protests, registration drives, discussions with candidates, and possibly even consider a run for myself for local office.

There are so many problems that face our societies now, nuclear proliferation, environmental degradation that threatens all life, war, injustice, and religious strife. These elections offer chances to remedy these problems directly, so it is very empowering to be able to participate, even in this limited way.

Another 6-week Community College course

Last night was the first six classes in this Community College set of offerings. I teach two classes on Tuesday night. The 6:30 class is labeled with my name! The second class is an advanced class. It begins at 8:10 and goes on to 9:40. This is a dedicated group of people, and we use a "conversation cafe" format in the class. For discussion topics, I gave the participants their choise from the list here. The participants chose to discuss food, rich and poor world, travel, and education. We discussed fashion last night, and in honor of the show trial of Sadam, crime and punishment for next week.

Another 6-week Community College course

Last night was the first six classes in this Community College set of offerings. I teach two classes on Tuesday night. The 6:30 class is labeled with my name! The second class is an advanced class. It begins at 8:10 and goes on to 9:40. This is a dedicated group of people, and we use a "conversation cafe" format in the class. For discussion topics, I gave the participants their choise from the list here. The participants chose to discuss food, rich and poor world, travel, and education. We discussed fashion last night, and in honor of the show trial of Sadam, crime and punishment for next week.

rainbow over Yokkaichi U

There was a beautiful rainbow over Yokkaichi University this morning. From this picture, you' d never know where the rain was coming from. It is a windy but beautiful day otherwise.

rainbow11.6.06 Originally uploaded by Yokkaichi 1.

全日本きもの装いコンテスト世界大会、All Japan Kimono Contest

I have gotten myself into the 2007 All Japan Kimono Contest for the Tokai-Chubu Area. It will be held in Yokkaichi this year on November 23. There are several divisions in the contest, women's casual and furisode, men's, and there is a "foreigner" category. I originally signed up for the foreigner division, but was rejected because I have been in Japan too long. They put me in the men's division. I'm not really sure what to make of that, but I'll at least be putting on a kimono at the contest.

"terrorists win and America loses" Huh?

"The Republican goal is to win in Iraq, " says the President. I thought America had already won. That's what the President said on the deck of USS Abraham Lincoln. "Mission Accomplished" is what the banner read.

persimons

Burnt orange against light blue backdrop of sky persimons suspended Are you sweet or bitter only the monkeys know for sure Autumn decorations include persimon trees. They are bright and taste great unless you get one of the bitter variety. The monkeys leave these until they are really hungry. In our yard we have a persimon tree that is bare. The monkeys have gotten all but the few of our sweet ones that we could salvage . These bitter ones will stay on until it gets really cold, and the monkeys are really hungry.

persimmons Originally uploaded by Yokkaichi 1.

Japan and world tourism

I was listening to the NHK radio news this morning, and there was a segment on the low numbers of international tourists visiting the country and the new push promote Japan as a tourist destination. I was curious about what kind of numbers there actually are, and was shocked to find that Japan isn't even in the top 25 travel destinations, according to the World Tourism Association. I mean name 25 other countries that you would like to visit. I would be hard pressed.

Here's a list of the top 25:
France Spain United States China Italy United Kingdom Mexico Turkey Germany Russian Federation Austria Canada Malaysia Ukraine Poland Hong Kong (China) Greece Hungary Thailand Portugal Netherlands Saudi Arabia Macao (China) Croatia Egypt

One of the frustrations that I have a tourist here is that the Japanese is really difficult, and the English explanations are very few. For example if you go to a museum, you may see a sword with the word sword written next to it in English. Then in Japanese there is a two paragraph explanation of the thing. I know it's a sword. The English helps me not one bit, but if I could understand the two paragraphs, I would be very happy. Now, you might say, "Well why don't you know that Japanese?" It's not just the words, it's the historical context, but it's also that the words are special ones that I don't come across in my usual life.

A fine example of this is the Visit Japan Campaign web site. On the Japanese buttons, you can navigate to 5 different places. On the English buttons, you can go to two. One being the contact details and directions to the office. The welcome message is written in six different languages, but on the menu there are only two. Can't they imagine that someone would want to use their information in other languages?