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?