Okinawan Age

This morning, one of my teachers told me that her mom is 86 years old. Then she amended that to say she is 88 in Okinawan years.

For you Japanese dorks, this is called 数え年 (kazoedoshi). I'm not sure if this is limited to just Okinawa, but the teacher did say "In Okinawa, she is 88."

Where do these two extra years come from?

First, the clock starts at conception, so by the time a baby is born, he or she is already one year old.

Second, people in Japan tend to give their age by how old they will be in a given year, regardless of whether or not their birthday has occurred. For example, if I am 27 now, but I have a birthday in November, I will tell people I am 28.

For this teacher's mother, she is currently 86. A year is added to that because her birthday is later in the year. Then another year is added for the time she was in the womb, and now she is 88.

As an extreme example, imagine a baby who was born on December 31. On that day, they are already 1 year old. The next day will be the new year, so another year is added because the baby has a birthday in December.  So this baby, who is only 1 day old, is now 2 years old.

Kijoka

(from air)

(from land)

Typhoon #7

Just like Florida has its hurricane season, Okinawa has its typhoon season. For the past three years, many typhoons have skirted around the island, but I had yet to experience a direct hit...until last Tuesday.

There were actually three typhoons in the area. Typhoons are known by their numbers and the one that hit Okinawa was Typhoon #7. The internet is calling it Typhoon Kompasu, so I guess typhoons have other names outside of Japan. Typhoon #8 is called Typhoon Lionrock. That's sure is a lot cooler than, say, Hurricane Earl.

Anyway, news reports said the storm would hit at around 160 kph, or 100 mph, and judging from all the damage in the area, I would say they were correct. I've experienced many storms in Florida, but there was a big difference this time...my housing.

Prior to the storm, I was reassured my building would be okay because, 'Okinawa buildings are made from concrete.' Great, but I soon learned that my doors were not exactly sealed for typhoon conditions. I had water leaking in and debris flying through my fan that let's out smoke when I cook, but the worst problem for me was the noise. With all my doors and windows rattling for about 4 hours, I couldn't focus on anything and just laid on my futon.

Oh, and I lost power for about 30 hours.

Here are some pictures I took the following Wednesday morning:

Some guy's destroyed office.

I helped some old men flip this back over.

How NOT to prepare your yard for a storm.

There was lots of this.

And of course, Wednesday was the first day of school. After a brief 1st period assembly, the kids spent the rest of their morning doing yard work. I made myself useful by taking pictures, of course.

Around the Futenma Problem in 80 Seconds

"Cliff-sensei, have you ever been to war?"
"No, stupid girl, I haven't."
"Yes you have, liar! You're American!"

The above is a (somewhat true) conversation I had with a 2nd grade girl during lunch last week. After she made her acute observation, she went back to eating her rice and started talking about how poo stinks. But what brought her to ask that question in the first place? I think she most likely heard her parents talk about Futenma over dinner.

But what is Futenma and what does it have to do with war? For the three or four friends/family members that read this blog, I will give a brief rundown of a political issue that has been making daily headlines in Japan since last October.

After World War II, Okinawa was under US administration. The currency was the dollar and people drove on the right side of the road. Then, 27 years later, America gave Okinawa back to Japan, but...America still controlled about 20% of the land through its military bases.


Fast forward to last August and a big election was held. A new party overthrew the old one that had been the major ruling party since 1955. The new prime minister that was elected was Yukio Hatoyama, and to show that he meant business, he announced he was going to review an old military base transfer treaty that called for Futenma Air Station to be moved out of a major city in Okinawa to a non-major city in...Okinawa.

(Futenma MCAS in Ginowan)

That non-major city, Nago, is the closest thing I have to a city. It's about a 30 minute drive south and it is where I do my karate, Japanese lessons, and food shopping.

(It takes about 90 minutes to drive from 'Me' to 'Futenma Base')

Why would Hatoyama want to review the old treaty? Because people in Nago don't want the base coming to them and most people want the base out of Okinawa completely.

But what are some of the benefits of hosting a base? Local businesses get a huge boost, for one. Also, municipalities hosting the bases get money and jobs are created for 'the locals'. From an economic point of view, hosting a base would seem like a great idea! Also, we can protect Japan from Russia...no Vietnam...I mean China, wait...North Korea!

So why do most Okinawan people not like military bases? Well...

• Old people don't like the military because 1 in 4 civilians died during the Battle of Okinawa.
  
• Middle age people don't because we rape their junior-high school daughters (here and here), and crash helicopters into universities and planes into farms.
• Young women don't because we act like douches. Or in more extreme cases, we tell a girl, 'I'm leaving for Afghanistan tomorrow', get her pregnant, then after she bumps into us a few weeks later and learns we lied to her, we pretend like we don't know her.
  
• Young men don't because...well...I don't know, but they didn't let me join the local soccer team.

Who does like us? Kids! They love us!

So when Hatoyama said he wanted to review the treaty, Okinawa rejoiced. But instead of telling America that Okinawa doesn't want the base and to move it somewhere else, Hatoyama became responsible for the relocation. (Which to me is America saying, 'YOU move us.')

Hatoyama tried very hard. People have to give him that. He took his time making his decision because he wanted to review all possible options. But it's hard to appease everybody when everybody is protesting at you. America was protesting against the review, Ginowan people were protesting against the base's existence, Nago people were protesting against the base's transfer, and when the media found out of a possible relocation site outside the prefecture, those people protested, too. The guy couldn't catch a break.

But finally, this week, about 8 months after saying he was going to look into the issue, Hatoyama has made his decision. He will...go along with the original treaty.

I don't have a strong opinion about the whole thing (I try to avoid them), but I do think I can objectively say that this is how most Okinawan people feel right now:

(putting my Digital Arts degree to use)

Disclaimer: Yes, I know not all military people are bad. I have a lot of friends in the military. Also, Okinawa does not hate me. Most people are intelligent enough to differentiate between a person and a cause. Finally, if the bases were moved out of Okinawa, all those Japanese people with jobs on base would become unemployed. That would suck.

The main reason I made this post was because I wanted to include the above photo. Cheers.

Living to 101

Apparently some BBC documentary makers came to Ogimi a couple years ago, and now you can check out what they did on YouTube:

Obon Superstition

Last Thursday, I had a day off from school because of Obon. Okinawa celebrated Obon, or Kyu Bon (旧盆), this year in September because they follow the lunar calendar. I made an Obon post two years ago, but to do a quick summary, Obon is the time when dead ancestors come visit the homes of their living descendants.

The oldest son of a family keeps a Buddhist altar (仏壇) in their house to pray (うーとーとー) to their ancestors. During Obon, all the family's relatives will come to this house to sit around, eat food, and use the altar to pray. When the oldest son and wife die, the altar is passed on to the next oldest son. I was told it is difficult for a woman to marry an oldest son (長男) because she is responsible for serving and preparing the food for everyone during this time.

There are also many Obon superstitions held by Okinawans, such as the claim that many accidents occur to people who don't show proper respect. For example, a teacher of mine tore a muscle in her calf last week when playing tennis on Obon. She said it was because she hadn't prayed at her family's alter yet at the time. I asked her if she had stretched and she said no.

The biggest no-no during Obon is that one is not suppose to go swimming. I originally thought it was because when the ancestors travel from Heaven to Earth, they go by sea. Then I asked an Okinawan if that means Heaven is in the ocean. The answer is, no, the ancestors that come by sea are only the ones that have died at sea. So if one goes swimming, they have a chance of being dragged down by some angry drowned fisherman making his way to land.

As all my ancestors are wandering around North Carolina, I spent my Obon afternoon riding my friend Vaughn's motorcycle. I really need to get a bike.

I then went down to Nago in the evening to take photos of eisa groups. I learned taking pictures of moving objects at night is quite difficult.

Click on the photo for more pictures!

Mind Candy is Bad...Mmkay?

The front page of all the Okinawa papers last Saturday led with the story of two JET English teachers who were arrested for trying to import an illegal drug called Mind Candy. Here are some links my friend Vaughn dug up:

The first article that was run the night they were arrested: (Japanese)
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/news/2009-06-19-S_009.html?PSID=822364d2e9392ddf3e9851f8e4b65311

The article that was on the front page this morning: (Japanese)
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/news/2009-06-20-M_1-001-1_002.html?PSID=1a893f13cf30730cfebedd4adfc7082a

ALT Dave Webb's own blog post. (English)
http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/2-foreign-teachers-arrested-in-okinawa-for-importing-illegal-substances

And finally, Vaughn's translation of one of the articles:

2 American English teachers arrested for violation of the Narcotics Control Low

The prefectural organized crime division arrested two ALTs on charges of violating narcotic and psychotropic drug control laws (import). The two arrested denied the charges, stating "we didn't know it was an illegal substance."

The departments investigation reveals Lawrence ordered 44 pills of the narcotic (so called "mind candy") on April 10 and had it shipped to Japan via airmail. *(another story indicates the order came from the UK)

According to the department, the Tokyo Narita Airport Customs branch office discovered the drugs , and using Lawrence's address, alerted prefectural officials. Prefectural police carried out the arrest.

I had met one of the girls at a marathon and I did not know the other girl. The girl I met was real nice, but what she did was just plain dumb...if you are going to do something illegal in a foreign country, don't get caught.

A tip for not getting caught: Don't order 44 pills over the internet and have it shipped to your front door. To give some perspective of how much that is, according to one of the UK supply websites, a packet comes with 2 pills and costs £6, or almost $10.

But what I can't seem to find any information on is what Mind Candy is. It's 'marketed' as a plant fertilizer and I'm guessing it's some mild psychedelic.

What will happen to them? According to the US Department of State website on Japan (also found by Vaughn):

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1148.html

CRIMINAL PENALTIES:

Persons violating Japanese law, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned.  Persons arrested in Japan, even for a minor offense, may be held in detention without bail for two to three months during the investigation and legal proceedings.

Illegal Drugs:  Penalties for possession or use of, or trafficking in illegal drugs, including marijuana, in Japan are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and fines.  In most drug cases, suspects are detained incommunicado, which bars them from receiving visitors or corresponding with anyone other than a lawyer or U.S. consular officer until after indictment, which may take several months. Solitary confinement is common.

So yea. When they eventually do get out of jail. It's pretty likely they will have no jobs and will be deported.

Finally, I have heard some teachers express worries of some kind of racist backlash against them from all members of Japanese society. I think this stems from their own stereotypical views, not to mention if there was a person to hold some kind of grudge against all English teachers, that would represent that person only, not all of Japan.

And for the record, not a single teacher, nor my supervisor or superintendent, has even brought this to my attention.

Swimming and Opera

One of the big summer school activities is swimming lessons. Ogimi has four elementary schools, but only one of them has a pool. During the summer, the different schools will load the kids onto a bus and invade that school's pool for a couple of hours.

The fact that there are people who do not know how to swim is a concept I am slowly grasping with. This concept is further inhibited by the fact that these kids live within walking distance of the ocean. Yes they are from Okinawa, but I am told repeatedly that Okinawans only LOOK at the water. One of the mom's from Real Japan told me the kids there can swim. So I think this is an Okinawan thing only.

It's taken two summers now for me to finally understand that there are people who really can't swim. Maybe it's because I grew up in Florida and had a swimming pool, but even the actual question of 'Can you swim?' was foreign to me coming to Okinawa. Why would someone even bother to ask that question? Of course I can swim, who can't? It's like asking 'can you walk?'. And these aren't the kids asking me this, but the adults.

So last week, I went with the kids to help teach swimming. The kids wear what I consider to be normal swimming attire. A bathing suit. The teachers wear what I would consider to be normal swimming attire if I were allergic to water. They wear a bathing suit with a long sleeved wet shirt, swimming cap, and goggles. They look like they are ready to swim in a triathlon. I always feel a little bit awkward strutting my hairy white self into the open, but then again, the moms do seem to become more talkative.

The teaching part is fun, even if the kids really do suck.

But the most interesting part of the day was when everything was over and I was getting into my car, I was approached by a couple mom's asking if I can site read opera music. Random, but okay. I said it depends on the music and I headed back to school.

When I arrived, there was a lady waiting for me. This lady turned out to be an opera singer and is a friend of one of the student's mom's. She had great English and she said she speaks German even better. She lives in Tokyo but studied and lived in Vienna for 10 years. She hands me music and says we are performing in 30 minutes. Luckily the songs were easy enough to pick up in that time, but I did postpone lunch (yes, that's a big deal for me) in order to be ready.

Then the whole school files in (all 40 of them) and we gave a performance. The lady was amazing and I've been invited to visit her and her husband if I am ever in the Tokyo area.