Last Blog Post!

Hey!

So this is my last blog post - I hope you guys have enjoyed reading! I finished the rest of my time in Karuizawa at the international students conference, which went really well.

I then took the bus back to Tokyo, where I stayed with my uncle for a few days! (Below is a picture I took of a huge crowd taking pictures of a cat on top of an owl statue... I think the people are more amusing than the cat)

... Anyways! Some highlights of my time in Tokyo include coffee at Misuta Donatsu (mister donuts), visiting my old school (the day before classes started some people got together to pray for the school year), and hanging out with my way cool cousin:

Mister Donuts was celebrating 40 years of... donuts... so we joined in the festivities at an exhibition centre:

In case you were wondering, now I'm back in Vancouver (finally!). I flew back yesterday from Narita Airport I thought it would be interesting to do a breakdown on distance travelled (excluding intracity travel):

Shinkansen (3613km), Express Train (1134km), Bus (1389km), Airplane (15146km), Car (80km) = 2262km

and a breakdown of locations I slept at (overnight only - in order of travel)

Airplane (1), Tokyo Dome Hotel (4), House in Higashi-Kurume (2), House in Chiba (5), Ristumeikan Student Residence in Kyoto (4), 'Business Hotel' in Hiroshima (3), Inn in Nagasaki (3), Highway bus travelling from Osaka to Tokyo (1), Internet Cafe in Sapporo (1), Night Train travelling from Sapporo to Aomori (1), Inn in Otsu (2), Highway bus travelling from Kyoto to Tokyo (1), Union Church in Karuizawa (1), Attic of Cabin in Karuizawa (6), Apartment in Tokyo (4) => 39 Nights

Thanks so much for keeping up with my blog! If you are in Vancouver, I look foward to seeing you sometime soon!

Shopping, Matsuri, Conference

So I'm still in Karuizawa, enjoying the cooler mountain weather! There's an outlet mall near here that is similar to the outlet malls in the states... except things are a bit more interesting... take a look at these jeans:

Here's the Nike outlet. I think the shoes might be more colorful though!

You even need to look fashonable when camping with your ukulele:

In the evenings, there are sometimes Matsuri with fireworks and it is very much like a carnival. The one we went to today had a lot of people, but yesterday we went to a Taiko drumming one which had less people and was a little bit eerie...

Otherwise, I've been keeping myself busy hitting the streets with Manga tracts and visiting the local sightseeing places like Shiraito falls, which are only 3m high but come out of the earth and span quite a distance:

The conference also started, which I registered for and am really excited about. It's actually not a conference for international students, but a training for international student ministry led by a group of people from Seattle who have done a lot of work in this area. The people who are at this conference are mostly japanese people who have studied abroad and now are wanting to get equipped to reach out to foreign students studying in Japan.

Anyways, this conference couldn't be more perfect as I think about the coming year (ask me what I'm doing next year with IVCF at UBC!). International student ministry I think is one of the most strategic and impactful yet often overlooked or underrecognized areas of work there is! Perhaps it's the only ministry where you can travel to every corner of the globe and communicate through educated leaders the gospel without leaving your university campus--

Everything I've been doing this trip like the volunteer work with hikikomori, peace tour with multinational students, and now this conference I think can be connected together in a way I hope affects my everyday life when I get back home! I've been learning that perhaps I too quickly form a framework for what I think is happening before really listening and seeking to understand what is going on!

..

and in case you're still reading, here is a random video I felt like uploading of a few of us internationals setting up for telephone pictionary!

Peace ceremony in Kyoto & Karuizawa

On august 15th, I went to a university in kyoto to hear from a few people talk about peace (the 15th being 65 years since the japanese surrender). One guy we heardfrom above is a world war II veteran who fought for the Japanese. Though he was trained to be a kamikaze pilot, because of a chance change of assignment, he was relocated to another location. I wonder about what it must have been like for him to begin training alongside other kamikaze pilots, knowing that his work was to prepare him for a single flight where he would fly with a tank half-empty into battle (no reason to waste valuable fuel on a one-way flight). I can't really imagine what it must have been like to hear news of his reassignment and how he felt towards the people he had been training with. Perhaps this experience has been part of what has made him into the person he is today- who now (after living 4 times longer than expected) speaks in front of japanese university students to encourage them to really think for themselves what peace means.

Afterwards, I went for dinner with a few other people from my trip of peace proliferation in Kyoto, then took the night bus to Tokyo (its an adventure finding your train as you can see:)





After this, I went to another station and took another bus to Karuizawa, which is located near Nagano (think winter olympics 98'). It's a bit cooler up here in the mountains, and right now I'm staying with a missionary family that I know through my family. It has been interesting learning about my family history (my grandparents were missionaries in Japan) and meeting the people staying here.

This morning, some people from pro-life Japan were here, so I worked with them handing out tracts around karuizawa. We set up just outside the church (where I slept last night):






Heres Hidenori Kumai, who wrote for the pokemon manga here in Japan:





Right across this street are some tennis courts where the emperor of Japan met his match (I mean by that the Empress Michiko):

Tomorrow, about 30 or 40 Japanese international students will come here for a conference -- this is what I will be involved with for the next few days.. next post for more on that!

The rest of Sapporo & Tendai Buddhists

In case you guys haven't seen the NHK world TV series yet click HERE! Part 3 of the video covers our peace tour (I appear briefly twice in the segment. once wearing a pink hat folding cranes next to Hiroko and John- in my peace family as you may have read in a previous post, and once with my back turned wearing a purple shirt). Also look at part 1 and 2 if you are interested in learning more about the bombings and this years events.



I spent the rest of my time in Sapporo enjoying the cool weather and looking around town. Places I visited include the "sapporo factory", "clock tower", city hall, and the Odori park. In the winter, ice sculptures are featured in the giant Odori park, which is about a dozen blocks long and cuts through the city leading up to the Sapporo TV tower. However, in the summer time, this space is used for several public beer gardens (in case you didn't know, that is what Sapporo is famous for).





"Irasshaimase" (heard many times in the above clip) is an honorific expression used to welcome people, usually into a place of business. I then returned via night train back to Honshu (the main island of Japan), and then took a couple shinkansen (bullet trains) to Kyoto. Here I met up with some buddhist priests, who are indebted to my father for repatriating a Kesa (piece of ceremonial clothing). Today, I travelled with them by cable car up to the place of the grave of the Kesa owner for a short ceremony, as he died this day many years ago.






I then had a lunch of Shojin Ryori with them (traditionally for priests - no meat or fish)




Tsuzumi, the head of the society for the person whose tomb we visited, has been taking care of me. We also visited the Tendai head office and met the president of Hieizan Enryakuji Temple. Unfortunately, he could not accept the Kesa, which will for now be kept in another temple. All of the people I travelled with are super old, but seem still to have a sense of humor (perhaps they aren't as boring as I thought!). One of them, Yamashita, is the leader of the "Nippon Origami Association in Kyoto". They were also interested to hear about my peace studies.

Now is the obon season, where many people return to their hometown to honor/worship the departed spirits of ancestors in Japan (I realized the implications of this as I tried to book travel to who knows where for this week). It's a buddhist tradition and national holiday and so it's customary for people to get time off work. One belief is that every year, the spirits of the dead return to their tombs to meet the people. I was listening to one of the buddhist monks talk about the tomb we visited (which is located in the middle of the forest and has a giant structure, shown below) and how nice it is:

He commented that anyone's dream would be to after death rest in a place as nice as this and it made me think about what hope there is in their thinking. Is having a final resting place such as this really the greatest thing we can hope for?

Until next time!

Untold Stories of Nagasaki

I left Hiroshima yesterday early in the morning by shinkansen (bullet train). A lot of my experiences in Hiroshima made me think about how huge of an effect the bomb has had on the people of this city- everything from the baseball game we went to to the newspaper had a focus on a movement towards peace in these last few days. Here's a snippet of one of the many pages of the newspaper "mainichi shimbun" which has a picture of a hibakusha and a couple foreigners praying at the moment of silence (8:15 am, exactly 65 years after the bombing):











I'm going to try and summarize the most impactful events of the past couple days, so sorry if this blog post is a bit long! (It's getting pretty close to the end of this Hiroshima Nagasaki trip!). I'm going to divide the next bit into 4 sections. First i'll talk about how incredible different Nagasaki is from Hiroshima, then I'll talk about a seminar with a hibakusha physicist whose work is in blatant disagreement with the RERF, then my experiences at the Oka Masaharu museum for Japanese war atrocities in Asia and finally about the Atomic bombs effecting the time of the end of the war (or not?) . Even though it might seem long, I REALLY think a lot of these things are important so PLEASE read and understand as much as you can =) !






1) From the back of a brocure I found at the Tourism Section of Nagasaki City Hall: "Opened by the Portuguese in 1571, Nagasaki flourished as a busy trading port and center for Christian missionary activities. In 1641, after the adoption of a national ban on Christianity and the expulsion of the Portugese, the Dutch trading post and Chinese settlement in Nagasaki became Japan's only points of contact with the outside world. This monopoly lasted for more than 200 years and created in Nagasaki a unique blend of cultures and a liberal atmosphere unheard of in other parts of the country. The atomib comb catastrophe turned a dark page in Nagasaki's turbulent history, but the city is now a center of peace blessed with the beauty of nature and numerous places of historical and cultural interest which still exude therich flavor of old Nagasaki"





The rich culture and testimony of Christians in Nagasaki is something probably most people from outside of Japan haven't heard too much about. As I mentioned in a comment earlier, while Hiroshima has preserved the a-bomb dome as it was after the explosion, there is no entire bulding preserved the same way in Nagasaki. There was a movement by the government for the Urakami Cathedral to be preserved in a similar way, however, this was mysteriously stopped (and Nagasaki given a generous amount of money from the US for an alternate exhibit) for reasons the other canadian student is investigating as part of her thesis this trip. Even though wikipedia suggests that this preservation of the cathedral exactly where it was (as a few destroyed walls) didn't happen on the request of the church, my canadian friend is thinking that perhaps this Cathedral, being the largest Catholic church in east asia at the time of its construction, was unpreferable to the US as a symbol of the power of nuclear weapons (as the US did in less than a minute what the Japanese Imperial government couldn't do in 200 years in regards to wiping this religious history off the map)





The general impression of our group is that the Nagasaki museum is preferable to the Hiroshima museum both in terms of academic insight and in emotional involvement. I personally felt that from a physics point of view, the description of the bomb was quite comprehensive and there are many moving images and statistics that clearly demonstrate the power of nuclear weapons as well as Hiroshima, if not better. Yet Nagasaki remains largely shadowed by Hiroshima, perhaps because it was the second bombing, but also maybe because censorship by the US to the events of Nagasaki was even more intense than that at Hiroshima. Below is the monument at the bomb hypocentre and in the background is a pillar from the Urakami Cathedral relocated to here.











2) I went to an open house a few days back in Hiroshima of the RERF (Radiation Effects Research foundation) which has a controverisal history as it used to be the ABCC (Atomic Bomb Casualty Commision) which conducted tests on the hibakusha after the bomb. This organization is now jointly run by the US and Japanese governments and continues to analyze the hibakusha.

Today, we heard from a physicist named Shoji Sawada, who was sleeping in his bed at the age of 13 when the hiroshima bomb destroyed his house. He barely managed to escape the rubble as he turned to see his mother who was trapped beyond his ability to help. As flamed came closer to the building his mother said "you should survive, you should become a good person by studying well" and he escaped crying "forgive me, mother!".





65 years later, Shoji continues to do just that, publishing his work on the cover-up of damages by atomic bombing and severe effects of internal exposure by residual radiation. The RERF suggested that the effects of residual radiation was quite low to almost nothing. When an atomic bomb goes off, there is the Blast (50% of energy), the Heat rays (35% of energy), and the Radiation (15% of energy in the form of neutrons and gamma rays]. I don't want to get too much into the physics of it (actually I do, but you probably don't) BUT essentially Shoji said that the effect of the radiation messing up stuff which moves and does bad things in the area is hugely underestimated, as shown by things like the frequency of abnormal birthrates falling proportionately from distance away from Bikini Atoll atomic testing site. Basically, people in many places are using information from the RERF and are UNDERESTIMATING the effects of radiation on the body, which is hugely important for people ranging from nuclear power plant workers to atomic bomb testers.





I asked the RERF people one question (and got an unsatisfactory reply) which I also asked Shoji in regards to the difference between the intensity of radiation exposure between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The hills in Nagasaki (look at the video at the end of this post) mean that less people died as a result of the initail explosion but the intensity of the radiation in Nagasaki was about 1.4 times more than in Hiroshima because of the construction of the bomb and use of plutonium instead of uranium. Peter (one of the American university profs) said that this made sense to him considering that the deaths from the atomic bomb in hiroshima rose from 140 000 to 200 000 over 5 years while the deaths in Nagasaki rose from 70 000 to 140 000. He asked the speaker if it could be possible that there is some correlation with the intensity of radiation emmitted by the bomb and he said most certainly, considering the residual radiation in the fallout from the Nagasaki bomb was much more.












3) Another moving thing for me was going to the Oka Masaharu Museum whose purpose is to "reveal the aggression by japanese army and irresponsible attitude of our govenrnment, also to demand its honest apologies and proper compensation to victims". This museum is not very big, not very air conditioned, and not quite as english friendly but it is VERY important to understanding the greater picture of WWII. There were displays on horrors such as the forced workers from other colonies of Japan, "comfort women" and attacks like the Nanking massacre. Many forced workers died from food loss and disease (but then again, a huge amount of Japanese casualties were because of the same things. After WWII 54,000 Japanese in China died from the same things- the image of people who die in war is usually from enemy attacks but I think starvation and disease are hugely underrepresented)






Tonight I was talking with a Ristumeikan student looking from Inasayama Hill (see video at end) and thinking about this museum. She expressed her concern over the lack of comprehensiveness in the Japanese school system in regards to the depiction of these events (only a very small space was spent talking about the experiences of these victims and she learned many new things for the first time today). Comparing this conversation to another one I had with one of the Chinese members of our tour, I'm becoming more and more convinced bias is everywhere. She expressed her experience where the Japanese are portrayed as a terrible people that students are made to hate in the educational system today. Upon coming to Japan and meeting Japanese people, her thoughts have changed and she told me about her experience here. (Perhaps there is some similarity between the differences in this story told by Japanese/Chinese schools and the story of the bombings told by American/Japanese schools)





[don't worry we're almost there!]






4) Perhaps some of you were surprized when I said that I thought that the dropping of the bombs didn't really have much to do with the time of the ending of the war -- I want to let you guys know that I take it back.





I'm now starting to think that perhaps the development of nuclear weapons by the US and decision to use such weapons on Japan actually made the war last longer, increasing casualties on both sides. In 1945, Japan was looking for surrender (as intercepted by American decoders) yet remained fixed over the issue of the surrender terms and keeping of the Emporor. It was always in the best interest of the US to keep the japanese emporor (or else they would have ended up with something like Iraq) but this idea was not expressed as the US demanded an unconditional surrender until after the second bombing. Perhaps the US was waiting until the dropping of the bombs.






__________________







Before coming to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I guess I was under the impression that coming here would help me experience what the hibakusha went through. Maybe going to the places that the bomb was dropped and talking with survivors would enable me to paint a picture for what it must have been like.





As I listen to hibakusha talk about there experiences (one speaker yesterday lost her entire family and yet continued to go through her incredibly diffucult life while struggling as nagasaki rebuilt itself to live despite the adverse effects of the radiation) I realize that I really can't imagine it. This person pictured below after being badly burned received no care for a month then was hospitalized for 3 years - the first 21 months of which were spent not moving on his front. They continue to cause him great discomfort to this day, even though he has had 23 operations.








Somehow I can't really describe what it was like to hear first hand this guy talk about his life. I don't know what will happen after the hibakusha (all of whom are at least 65) pass away but I do know that it's important to hear them now. Anyways I kindof feel like I'm not doing it justice but... tomorrow is an early start, its around 1, and this whole week I've had between 3 and 6 hours of sleep so I think I'll end it here!





[movies of Nagasaki peace museum and Inasayama hill]

oh yes and the prize winner for today is Steven G from Vancouver (you have been contacted!)

This will likely be the last *Big* post for my trip.. I don't feel like I need a question today, please comment in whatever way you want .. also link for NHK world - the archive with a part including our trip will be online sometime .. also we're in a newspaper

65 years since Hiroshima

Today marks the 65th year exaclty since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.


Yesterday, I forgot my memory stick.. so no pictures from then. But basically I had a canadian students mid-tour defrief, went to Hiroshima castle (where dozens of huge right-winger trucks protested by basically making bad traffic) Visited Sadako's elementary school (the 1000 cranes leukemia victim), Walked in a park where victims saught refuge (a focus of Hiroshima, a book we read), met with the Mayor of Hiroshima himself (he was very nice), went to the RERF (Radiation effects research centre, which used to be the ABCC- atomic bomb casualty commision), and a Hiroshima Carps baseball game where we won with 4 runs (it was a special 'peace game' so there were some random intermissiony peace message things).


Today we attended the multi faith memorial service before getting seats in the crowd of a lot of people.. (I don't really know how many.. probably like 30 000? it might be online..). Here there were many guests and the UN secretary general was present and gave a speech. At the finishing of the mayor's speech, doves were released.












Again, this ceremony was huge not only becasue of the appearance of the US ambassador and other representatives from 70 countries, but also because nuclear disarment is at a very interesting time right now. After, we took a bus ride then on a boat to miyajima ferry. There was some fresh oysters, one of the 3 sights of japan (its a temple that becomes surrounded with water when the tide goes up), and many other things.





SUPER aggressive crazy deer too:

ok they don't look that bad.. but this is like right before this deer eats 3 people's map of Miyajima.

The rest of the afternoon was spent going to talk with past Mayor of Iwakuni to discuss US Air bases in Japan and looking at the Iwakuni air base. The issue of these bases is highly complicated but one thing is certain - the way Japan currently relates within itself and to the US when it comes to issues pertaining to these bases is not ideal (past prime minister of Japan stepped down because of this one issue).


Though the weather recently has been incredibly hot, I found it hard to complain today in light of the fireball of several million degrees created 65 years ago today. After the lantern ceremony, where lanterns are sent down the river to remember the souls of the people who were lost, I looked up into where about I thought the explosion was. Judging the height to be around 8 times that of a nearby building, I thought about how strong the blast must have been to have had maximum damage at just under 600 m. Hiroko was telling me about her family who experienced the blast and as I looked into the sky I began to feel for the people of this city deeply for the first time. I had a bit of an emotional breakdown so wasn't able to return with the rest of the group but instead stayed with one of the Student Coordinators until much later.


Though I've learned a lot about the atomic weapons and war in general these past few days, I have to say that this was the most meaningful time for me. I believe that if a time comes when we are no longer able to experience the human emotions associated with such a tragedy as this, it is this day that we lose part of what it means to be human.

Hiroshima

So now the trip has officially started since we're in Hiroshima! Here's a picture of me in Kyoto at jishu Jinja:



There are 2 stones here about 6 metres apart and apparently if you can make it from one stone to the other with your eyes closed, it is a sign that you will be fortunate in love. Those who need assistance in making the crossing will require an intermediary to help them find their mate. Somehow, I managed to make it all the way across (unlike some people we saw!).

When we arrived in Hiroshima, there were some TV people on the platform waiting for us (kindof weird hey?). They followed us around for the rest of the day but because I couldn't put up with being filmed awkwardly as I exited the station, I decided to film them back:

.. Lets see how they like that. Anyways we went to the museum and saw the place where people dedicate the peace cranes:

There were also thousands of people doing some kind of march while we were there:

And here is where the ceremonies will be later this week:

Our seminars today went well. One of my peace family members (having served in the army and having a POW grandfather) expressed his gratitude to our third speaker who discussed the dozen or so allied POWs who were hit by the hiroshima bomb. We also learned about the States and nuclear nonproliferation which might be happening less than people think and the role of the Korean forced labor hibakusha after the war.

Going to the museums, listening to the hibakusha, participating in the discussions, going to seminars sometimes feels like too much for me to think about and handle. I've been thinking though that even though this is the case, its really important to be listening and understanding from the hibakusha who will no longer be with us shortly.

today's winner is rachel from vancouver (yay!). You'll be contacted soon about the prize. In case people stuck thinking of things to comment about... let me know your opinions on the justification of the dropping of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs! I think that there are bits left out (or emphasized) depending on where you study, which makes collaboration with a number of different countries represented useful!

Stay in Kyoto!

Hey guys!

Things have been getting a bit interesting around here! Today we had some seminars and also some sightseeing in kyoto. My first seminar today was about this guy who basically thinks the use of the two atomic bombs by the US was both militarily unnecessary and morally unjustifiable as the entering of Russia into the war and changing of the surrender terms to allow the emperor to continue was what caused Japan to surrender. He said that the US had already proven it could destroy entire cities (100000 dead in Tokyo due to fire bombings in one day; Toyama 99.5% destroyed by area by bombings) and Japan’s navy, air force and army were all on the brink of defeat after the Saipan battle with Japan conducting studies on how to end the war. (I agree with him)

Anyways, (the other two seminars were “Martin Luther and the anti-nuclear Movement” and “New Forms of War, and Meaning of Nuclear Posture Review”) We also watched a documentary of the dropping of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs which was shown at the UN nuclear nonproliferation conference earlier this year (the producer must’ve done something right as UN secretary general purchased 2 copies of his DVD). It was also cool because we got to meet him later on in the day to ask questions about his movie.

I’m starting to realize more and more of what it means to be Canadian (Ironically as I spend time outside of Canada) as I find my role in this awesome mix of students with different backgrounds. Even within my own peace family as we have an activist, soldier, Japanese-war victim descendant, Japanese victim of war descendant, Japanese student with a bizarre tie to the west and Western student with a bizarre tie to japan (that’s me). Bridging the gap between American and Japanese students both linguistically (the other Canadian student and I have the best Japanese of the non-japanese) and culturally, I’m finding these last few days to be really interesting!

I’m starting to think that my ideas about the differences between the Japanese and Western school systems aren’t as crazy as I thought (see past blog post about my volunteer work at New Start) as I talk to more and more Ritsumeikan students about their experiences in high school. Yesterday I talked with some Japanese students late into the night while folding extra peace cranes (we want to make 2000) for the Hiroshima ceremony.

I also did some kyoto sightseeing with my group!

Tomorrow we will be going to hiroshima (and getting ready for the ceremonies!) Apparently this is when the tour actually starts so I`m looking forward to it!

Also since I didn`t get much of a response for the questions for the japanese school students here, I`m going to extend the question to today as well!

If you have any questions you want to ask the ritsumeikan students, please post below! they can be related to school, what we`re talking about related to the bombs, or life in general.

Hiroshima/Nagasaki trip Start!

Hey guys!

Soo a lot has happened since my last post! Yesterday I left Chiba and went to Tokyo station, where I had some lunch. I went to subway (eat fresh)! You can tell the food is fresh because… well they grow the vegetables inside the restaurant:

Anyways then I went on the Shinkansen (or bullet train – these fast trains connect most of Japan together under the JR or Japan rail system) to Kyoto.

In kyoto I met the head of a Buddhist organization for dinner (more on that later this month) before meeting up with my Canadian correspondent for the Hiroshima/Nagasaki trip. Unfortunately, the American students were held up at the airport because there was a suicide on the train line. The whole line was put to a halt for a couple hours as the police and JR line figured things out (suicides are fairly common in Japan with 33,000 reported every year and likely many more not).

The other 2 Canadian representatives and I decided to head to the Ritsumeikan dormitory before the American group arrived. We met student coordinators Wash and Mao (I got to know these Ritsumeikan students a little bit- they’re really cool!) and got into our rooms… The American University students arrived shortly after midnight- many of them had not been to Japan before so now they always come to me for help with various things related to Japan.

In the morning we went off to orientation. We got a brief outline of what this trip is about and also got to listen to everybody introduce themselves. This tour has an amazing combination of students- we’re divided into small groups for travel purposes called our ‘peace families’ . Let me introduce you to my peace family (from left to right):

Hiroko is our first local guide who is a Ristumeikan student from

Hiroshima studying business administration. Her great grandfather was working in a factory in downtown Hiroshima 65 years ago this Wednesday when the first nuclear bomb was dropped. Her grandfather was doing military training in a nearby prefecture and went to look for him the next day. However, his grandfather found neither his father nor any kind of remains.

Mei was born in New York, but moved to Osaka when she was only a baby. Now is an international relations major student at Ristumeikan University and she is our second local who will be our guide.

John is a History major student at AU (American university in Washington, DC). Before beginning studies there, he served with the US armed forces. He spent a year in Iraq, where he was an infantry soldier.

Linda is a phd student at Organ State University (History of Science) who walked 3200 miles across America in 1986 (took 9.5 months) in a march called the “great peace march for global nuclear disbarment”. She is very active in peace movements today.

Li is one of the three people on this trip from China. Currently, she is attending Asia Pacific University, where she studies business administration.

Then there’s me. I’m really excited to be getting to know this group more and more! Afterwards, we went for lunch in the university cafeteria then went to the Kyoto Museum for World Peace at the Ristumeikan University. I was impressed at the comprehensive covering that this university provided of the events in the last century. It seemed to me much different than a war museum or a memorial as instead of glorifying war or serving as a memorial, it encouraged viewers to move towards peace given the events that happened. It was very direct and explicit in stating some of the things that Japan did during the second world war (I was a little bit surprised at how direct some of these things were, such as descriptions of how militarism effected the way the school system functioned).

We went to two seminars in the afternoon. One was with a WWII veteran who was part of the Japanese army while the other was with koko kondo, who will be continuing the tour with us. This hibakusha (or a-bomb survivor) gave her testimony of being affected by the blast as well as her experiences with the ABCC (Atomic Bomb casualty commission) which conducted research on hibakusha. She went to the same school as Sadoko (who tried to fold 1000 cranes in the children’s storybook before she died of leukemia from radiation exposure) and described how her opinion on the crew of Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the bomb) has changed from hatred to sorrow.

We had a kick-off dinner before retiring to our rooms. (right now im borrowing internet from someone.. not sure when I can blog next!)

For discussion today, we will be continuing with part II of the series where you can post questions for local people. If anyone has any questions they would like to ask a local ristumeikan university student, please post them below. I will check the comments while I post my next blog so that 2 blog posts from now, I will answer your questions with their answers.

Also today’s draw winner is PAX from Vancouver. You`ll be contacted soon about your prize! I will also post details about NHK and the television showings (our trip specifically will be aired internationally). Also it looks like Yumiuri Shimbum, a japanese newspaper, will do a piece on our trip (the biggest newspaper in the world by circulation).

Last Day in Tokyo

Today was my last day volunteering with New Start and also my last day in tokyo (for a while at least). I painted some Japanese wind chime things earlier:

And also worked in the cafe that new start has. We have a variety of drinks as well as curry - its a very relaxed cafe... In the morning I went shopping to get ingredients for the curry and we put it all together in the time between attending to customers. In the afternoon it was a bit slower.. we have a lot of time standing around as you can see from this video a friend of mine took:





My time at New Start has been really awesome. It's been crazy learning more about this organization and hikikomori by actually meeting and working alongside them. I feel like leaving just as I'm getting to get comfortable finding my way around!

Afterwards, I went downtown one last time tonight and met up with a friend of mine from UBC (my university in canada). We were about to go purikura but then saw this sign that said the area was blocked off to everyone except 'female and couples'.

Actually after seeing that sign we didn't want to go purikura anyways. Instead we went to a games centre and watched a horse race. Many people were betting on the winners but we just watched and it was fun enough for us.

... okay so maybe I got your guys hopes up with the horse race. We thought it was too funny how serious some of these guys were when they placed their bets though. There were 2 other horse race centres on the same floor.

Thinking about Hikikomori, I feel like a lot of the causation behind this issue has to do with the educational system and parenting that is shaped by society. While the easy answer would be to say that Japan needs to shift its thinking to be more like north america to alleviate the pressure and stress, I'm not sure that this would be best. I recently read a book called "do hard things" about how western society has set too low expectations for the youth growing up today and that youth have adapted to these expectations in a society with less of a regard for working hard. While its true that Japan has higher suicide and depression rates among youth, it's also true that the prevalency of crime and drug use is much lower. Todays question is what do you think about the differences between these two ways of thinking? What do you think needs to happen to help combat these issues? (again you don't need to talk about this to leave a comment.. its just to help you if you are having problems thinking about what to say so you can be entered into the draw =p )

And thats it for Tokyo (for now)! I'll be activating my Japan Rail pass tomorrow and going to Kyoto, where I'll meet up with Japanese and American students for our study tour to Hiroshima and Nagasaki (about 40 in all). I'm one of the 2 canadians on this trip so it's really special! Also its super super special because NHK world and Hiroshima will be doing a report on us, AND the american ambassador John Roos will be at the Hiroshima ceremony while UN secretary general Ban-Ki Moon will be at both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki ceremonies.

Also, next post will be the second drawing for the starbucks card (you can double your chances by commenting on this post as well as the last one!).

Thanks for reading guys! Below I have the answers to those of you who asked the hikikomori questions. Some of them were surprizingly hard so sorry if answers are sparse haha:

_______________________________________________________________

@ TTYL (happiest memory/something they would like to do)

When I was talking with them about the happiest memory, a couple who answered talked about elementary school (so I'll answer that below) One hikikomori I talked with said that for something he wanted to do was to travel (actually specifically interested in Canada)

@ Rachel: (traits to describe self & outside world/where to travel)

Nobody I talked with could really clearly think of traits to describe themselves. I asked one hikikomori on his thoughts about Japan ('outside world' was a little hard for be to convey everything in japanese). He described it as "polite" and "industrious". Mentioned above, one really wanted to go to Canada. When I asked why, he said to learn english and to live there. I couldn't really understand much more than that of his reasoning. Another person I talked to really wanted to travel to Indonesia. when I asked why he said because he knew a couple people there and also there are many bugs (see more on this below).

@ taking photos: (what was elementary school like?)

One person I talked to said he remembers elemtary school as a happy time, because he had many friends. When I asked about his happiest memory, he said it was going on the class trips to temples and such. Another person said that his happiest memory was in elementary school during the breaks looking for bugs (I think this person is somewhat obsessed with bugs; he showed me his fan which was painted with blue cockroaches)

@ Matt (where do you see yourself in 5 years?)

This was a very diffucult question. The bug person thought for a short while then said he really had no idea (bug person is in the photo above, holding a wind chime next to me). I mentioned to him he should look into doing something with bugs. The interested-in-canada person said he sortof dreams that he would be in canada. When i asked doing what, he said maybe working for a travel agency. The people at New Start are at different stages of their withdraw-ness. Some people that I worked I honestly never heard their voice while others I talked with. My impression is that by the time someone is able to answer your question completely, they will no longer have a need to be at New Start.

Bakery & the US

So today I fufilled my life-long dream of working in a Japanese Bakery! I helped to bake many different kinds of bread and pastery like things before the bakery opened around 10. New Start owns this bakery as something that the hikikomori can get involved in with other volunteers. It's a little bit different from a typical japanese bakery as it opens a bit later and also has more room for.. creativity. Here is a picture of me opening the oven while another worker washes something:




I made these turtle breads! Aren't they cute??


I had probably waay too much fun working here...

In the afternoon, I returned to the place where I'm staying and left with the family I'm staying with to go to a bible study they help to lead every wednesday. It was a couple hours away and most of the people who attend are americans who live very close by.

Afterwards, I went onto American soil for dinner where I had Burger King (good thing I brought my passport! - they searched the car and everything as we left Japan). In case you were wondering, there are about 50 blotches of the USA dispersed all throughout Japan. These pieces of land, known as the US military installations in Japan or US Bases, have remained ever since shortly after the end of WWII. The USFJ (United States Forces Japan) HQ Yokota Air Base, which is about 136000 square metres and houses 14 000 personnel is where I had dinner today. It is the main base for airplane repairs and maintanence throughout Asia. To get on base you need to have a base sponsor (for obvious reasons I didn't want to upload a picture of my base pass) and US dollars are used as currency.

In high school, I would go on base often for cross country and track meets, where I met with on base schools for competitions. While some view the bases as an intusion of Japanese space, others think that it is necessary for Japanese safety. There has been a huge amount of media attention recently espescially about the Okinawa base (the PM of Japan Hatoyama was elected promising a closure to the Okinawa base- however after his inability to do so, he stepped down in June of this month, the 5th prime minister in 4 years)

My question for today is what do you guys think about the US presence in Japan? This may seem a bit random, but it has a lot to do with the rest of my trip in early August as I travel to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to learn more about the history of WWII.

Also today is the first post for the contest results! Today's winner is Bianca from Vancouver -- congratulations (you have been contacted regarding your prize)! To everyone else, comment below to participate in the draw 2 posts from now! (if you're interested in the drawing procedure, check out my post on the wall of the facebook event page)

Thanks to those of you who replied to my last post! I'll post any answers to the hikikomori questions next time!

Heya!

It's Tuesday night in Japan - today at New Start I volunteered at the main centre. We had some older people (here below) who I helped to take care of along with a couple of the hikikomori (for some reason it was really easy for me to get along with the older people.. quite friendly despite my limited english).

It's a challenge for me to relate to hikikomori as much as I probably would with typical students- maybe this is partially because they think I don't understand what they've been though or what it's like to be them (which I don't). Perhaps if I spoke better Japanese, I would tell them more about my intentions in volunteering... I don't think it would do very much though. For now I'll hope that they can see that I care as I debone fish, clean tables, and make stir fry the best I can. Perhaps the difference in language is a good thing as actions speak louder than words.




Heres a Video of me at lunch sitting with an Italian volunteer and other hikikomori.





I was at New Start until 5 today cooking, cleaning, and having tea with old ladies. After I went to Shibuya. Here's a picture taken in one of the busiest starbucks in the world of the Shibuya scramble crossing. Afterwards, went for dinner at a nice restaraunt (we left shortly after realizing how 'nice' --> expensive it really was) then to mcdonalds.



Purikura is very popular in Japan (abbriviated of purinto kurabu or print club). Users take pictures then edit them and receive electronic and paper versions of their photos:

These are a couple of the less edited photos... Features include adding everything from pen marks to clip arts to changing hair colour. Reflecting back on the day, I'm really excited to be spending time getting to know some hikikomori more and more. They are so interested when I give them little trinkets from Canada like a key chain or a pen -- even my drivers licence is interesting.

As for today's question, I'm interested to know... Does anyone have any questions they would like to ask a hikikomori? I'll read any comments tomorrow then take them with me the next day to New Start -- Then I'll post any answers I get 2 blogs from now! (if possible, something that could be asked using simple japanese)

Also next post I'll announce the winner of the first draw! Any comments on the post or the previous one each count for one chance!

First Day at New Start

Today was my first day at new start. I took 3 trains from higashi kurume to Gyotoku station, where New Start is (note to self: never take trains in tokyo during rush hour again - all boundries of personal space are lost in an effort to fit as many people on the train as possible).

At New Start, I began working with a few other people to make lunch for everybody. First off, we went to a local grocery store (you can see my little cart which I'm pushing on the left). Many things are more expensive and also often smaller than north american counterparts (a watermelon was 1200 yen).


We returned to the kitchen and prepared lunch.



Afterwards, I went to the cafe and met up with Robert (who was doing a shift there). Takeshi (I have changed his name here for pricavy reasons), one of the hikikomori, usually meets up with Robert on mondays to practice his english. But because I was here today and Takeshi was interested in travelling to Japan, he had a conversation with me instead.

Takeshi has a story not unlike many of the other hikikomori at New Start. Finishing high school, he didn't get a very good score on his university entrance exam (think SAT... only way more intense). So, he became one of the many ronin in Japan. Ronin is a term used to describe a samurai who lost their master (either because of death or disownment) during the feudal period of Japan. It has now come to be used as a term used to describe a graduate who has failed to enter school at the next level, and thus is studying alone for a year to pass the exam the following year. As the student has no school, they in a sense are like the feudal ronin who have no master to serve.

Takeshi was ronin for 4 years before finally giving up and having neither the energy nor the will to continue on with studies or anything else became full fledged hikikomori. His parents, not knowing what to do with him sent him to New Start. Takeshi looks like he will spend the rest of this year with New Start and then is interested in getting out of Japan. He actually wanted to travel to Vancouver, so I talked with him about Canada and Vancouver for an hour.

Afterwards, I met with Ayako and Robert and learned how to drink tea. (Video below)

Next, I visited the dormitory style residence where the hikikomori at New Start. It's very different than probably any typical residence in the sense that everyone here does their own thing and quietly doesn't interact with anyone. Thinking about Ayako's idea in relation to the experience of Takeshi, it makes sense to me that he ended up the way he did. What do you guys think of this 'single track' thinking that Ayako suggested defined much of the Japanese educational system? To what extent can it be blamed for hikikomori? Comments about the ronin in Japan?

(these questions are to help you guys if you are thinking about ways to comment... If you want, you can just say hi instead! This is the first post where comments count for the contest so best of luck!)

I'm at a family friends' place now in Kamihongo station, where I'll be for the next few days...

See you soon! (by see I mean like see you guys commenting =p )

Weekend in Higashi-Kurume

So I spend Saturday and Sunday night in Higashi kurume (where I used to live when I went to school in Japan in grade 9). On Saturday morning I said good-bye to my aunt and took a couple trains and a monorail to Tennozu isle, where I helped a friend of mine with her english class. We met in someone's apartment building where you can rent rooms:

I carried a backpack with everything I'll need for this trip around in it (quite heavy) as I took the JR Yamanote Train (the most central line in tokyo operated by Japan Rail that goes in a circle continuously and stops at all major hubs of tokyo) to Ikebukuro then the Seibu line to higashi kurume. The Seibu line is somewhat confusing because there are local, semi-express, commuters' semi-express, rapid, commuters' express, express, rapid express, and limited express...(all of which travel the same line and take different amounts of time because they stop at different stations).

After having dinner with my friend Aaron, we heard loud rumblings from the sky. Looking up, we saw some kind of electrical storm which we got some video of:

Lightning Storm

I went to KCC (Kurume Christ Church) on Sunday. Worship in Japanese was really awesome -- I was also reminded of what its like to attend a service not in your native language... I think about my church back at home with many Chinese people listening to the translation.

Afterwards did some shopping (its the one time of year when I actually buy clothes.. in japan). As you can see, a lot of other people in Harajuku had the same plan as me:

Tomorrow is my first day volunteering at New Start. It is also the first day of the contest so... any comments starting on my NEXT post will be entered for the draw! Best of luck!

Thanks also to the owners of the house which I have stayed in the last 2 nights!

(sorry I used the green towel. )

Friday in Tokyo

I woke up today at around 6 in the morning with a bit of a Jolt (quite literally) as the whole room shook back and forth. I later found out that it was all of Tokyo shook as there was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake just off the coast of Honshu, Japan (I was about 60 km from the hypocenter).

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1071030/1/.html

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Several continental and oceanic plates meet around Japan, resulting in frequent earthquakes (and the presence of many volcanoes and hot springs). Around 20% of the world’s most powerful earthquakes strike Japan – most earthquakes aren’t noticeable without equipment though.

Anyways, early start to my day – had my usual breakfast and dennys before taking a walk to Iidabashi station to buy my ticket and get on the train. (if you want, click below to see me buy a ticket and board a train..)

Arrived at Gyotoku station, where I walked 15 minutes to New Start for my orientation. I met up with Ayako Oguri, who I had made email contact with earlier. I took a tour of New Start and learned more about what this NPO does to help hikikomori (shut ins).

A dutch broadcasting company interviews people at new start:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gIx6hZweHc

New Start site (google translated from Japanese) :

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=www.new-start-jp.org&sl=auto&tl=en

I visited the Café, Bakery, support centre, English classroom and kitchen where I will be spending most of my time next week volunteering. Afterwards, I spoke with Ayako about New Start and Hikikomori in general. We talked for a couple hours about the potential causes, steps the government is taking to address this issue, and the difference between western and eastern thinking in regards to the way society, parents, culture, and educational system shape the youth of today.

Robert from Italy who was working in the café at the time also joined in our bilingual conversation – he believes that the primarily it’s the parents who allow hikikomori to live their lifestyle. Ayako believes that the parents are more the victims, and that society has shaped peoples thinking in an unhealthy way.

She drew a picture of a common way of Japanese thinking – where there is one line from junior high to high school to university to work. Youth are so tracked into the idea of ‘success’ and moving along this track that there is no room for deviation.

Pressure to make the grade and fit the expectation is too much and so many people simply drop out – New Start is an NPO for people like this. Ayako said that one thing that is emphasized in New Start is that this way of thinking isn’t the only way – she hopes for hikikomori to realize this, which is partially why New Start likes international students (who are outside the pressure and norms of Japanese society) volunteering alongside hikikomori.

It was a pretty awesome conversation, where the three of us compared and contrasted Asian, European, and North American views of different ideas in broken English and Japanese. Afterwards I had lunch at the kitchen with everyone else who was there then took the train back to suidobashi, where I met with my aunt and uncle.

For dinner I ate with my aunt and cousin (seen below) in the hotel.

Theres also a place in the hotel where people get married. Its like a chapel on a floating platform right on top of the hotel lobby.

Anyways sorry this post is a bit long! Hope you all are doing well!

Sydney

Arrived in Japan!

As I looked out the window from the "friendly airport limousuine" (It's actually just a bus) that travels between Narita airport and downtown Tokyo, I realized how much I missed Japan. Maybe its the very japanese 7/11's that sell bento boxes and onigiri (1577 branches in Tokyo) or the box-like cars that drive on the left side of the road - or the subways that simply and convieniently stop everywhere you need to go:

I'm staying right now with my aunt at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, where outside the window I have a view of the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium surrounded by tall buildings. Theres also a ferris wheel with a roller coaster going through the centre (before you ask, this was very necessary).

I had dinner with my cousins and also saw my uncle. I'll be visiting friends and family for the next few days before starting my volunteer work in Chiba on Monday. Tomorrow morning I have orientation at New Start -- the place I will be volunteering next week. New Start is an NPO that helps hikikomori (shut-ins) reengage themselves with society.

I've been eating a lot at Denny's (also under the same ownership as 7/11, called 7 & I-holdings) which has a very bizzare mix of eastern and western cooking. For example here is a breakfast with rice, miso soup, natto (fermented soy beans), seaweed, bacon, and egg served with a coffee.

Anyways thanks for checking out my blog! In case you weren't aware, I'm doing a sort of contest starting on July 26th for commenters of the blog (you won't be entered for posts here.. but feel free to comment anyways haha!). I'm really new to this blogging thing so any advice would also be appreceated!