Thursday, December 15, 2005

A bit of seriousness for a moment…

I was seriously disturbed to hear that a fellow ALT and a good friend was assaulted by a ninensei (8th grade) student the other day. Apparently this kid is a 6 ft. + Goliath, and he straight up punched my friend in the face. It turned into the WWF Smackdown when other teachers intervened, the police were called and my friend had to go to the hospital to get checked out – I mean the works. This anomaly, in conjunction with a string of child murders that have occurred recently, have burst my Japanese-as-gentle bubble. Obviously, in a country with a population as large as this, there is bound to be some straight up what-the-fuckery, but it is something that I, and probably many ALTs, have not given any real thought to.

A few other things are coming to light such as the prevalence of hentai and rape porn and huge big box porn DVD/book stores, a general lackadaisical attitude in addressing problems with students, or just unpleasant problems in general, and a certain cultural isolation. The porn issue is a strange one because Japanese women are, for the most part, quite reserved in dress and action. Save for the high school girls who wear inappropriately short skirts, Japanese women don’t show as much skin as those in the West, if any at all. But there is a culture (I hesitate to call it a subculture because it is so insidious) that demotes women from humans to sexualized things to be consumed and expelled. I’ve seen Japanese porn in its 3-D and 2-D forms and I believe Western porn pales in comparison. I think what is particularly disturbing is how it features young looking characters in school uniforms being penetrated by obscenely huge members and/or things, all the while being depicted as simultaneously crying through and enjoying the experience. Go to any conbini, and you can pick up your own magazine or book. It’s interesting because these products are out in the open, yet there seems to be a sexual repression en masse. I’m not even going to get into my take on marriage, dating, foreign specific dating and sexual relations.

Another issue I’ve had firsthand experience with is the lack of foreign culture interest and exploration. This is to say that it seems than when “the other” enters the Japanese bubble, they are more than willing to ask questions and learn, and that’s great. However, most of my teachers of my school have never left Japan. A precious few have lived in other countries, but from what I can understand from the Japanese folk I talk to, most people don’t want to leave, even for a visit, because they love their country so much. I can understand this, as I love my country very much and I know that I will settle there, but I wonder if there is more at play here. Are they just scared? I don’t know and I’m not pretending to understand this aspect of the cultural psyche, but as time goes by, I hope to gather more information. Side note – I am more than aware that many Canadian and American’s have left their native soils, and while I find this a bit quizzical, it is more understandable as these countries are multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, while Japan is overwhelmingly heterogeneous. Save for international restaurants, multi-culturalism is non-existent here.

I’m not complaining at all, as I believe I have the exception-to-the-rule placement and my people seem to be pretty straightforward, honest, open and progressive (this may be attributed in part to having a sister city in Canada and yearly home stays). But I’ve read a few rants and heard stories from foreigners to backup ethnocentric stereotypes and theories. Regardless of this, I’m truly happy and not at all perturbed by this very alien culture (though the assault of my friend and the spate of child murders are more than a little disconcerting). I try to make no judgments just because things are different here. We all have our faults and I’m grateful that I’m just allowed to live my life the way I want. I guess I just had put this down as a sign that I have both feet on the ground. I have been very fortunate but I’m not naive.

With that being said, I suppose this is as good as time as any to announce that I will re-contract for a 2nd year. Everyone of note has been informed so I can tell my little e-world. I haven’t signed the document yet (they can sweat it out for a little while longer), but it’s pretty damn obvious to me (and probably to you, too). My abstract ideas are becoming more concrete every passing day, but it’s still too early to reveal them yet. Suffice to say, this experience has been above and beyond anything I could have possibly hoped for and believe there is much more for me to do here. And let’s be honest – I wouldn’t be able to fit all my travel plans into 12 months.

Wow, 2 posts in one day. I guess a byproduct of being cold all day is being more energetic. Lucky you, lucky me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shiloh - I don't know you, but if you're a friend of Kaki's you're a friend of mine.

Hope yer alright hun, and happy holidays!

steph

(that goes for you too, Kaki. I [heart] the snow up here, wish we could get together n make snowmen!)

steph

Shiloh said...

Kaki,
Amazing blog, really interesting, I'm going to mention it on my blog so my e-circle can get enlightened on the dichotomies here. Thanks Steph, I'm totally ok. I was a little rattled for a couple of days but i'm back on track. I made an Ampaman Snowman today just to show how Genki I am ;)

K said...

just wanted to clarify that Japan is homogenous rather than heterogenous, though I think you got the point.

in reference to Joseph's comment, I disagree that the Japanese have been stripped of their libido by the Americans. Though some American influence is evident here, I really believe that the Japanese are culturally isolated (self imposed) and their propensity for this kind of porn is self-borne. If we were to compare J-porn with W-porn, I doubt we'd find many similarities other than the highly sexualized depiction of women. God, I could probably write a thesis on that.

K said...

oh joseph, my bad. sorry for the lack of humour on my part - i just didn't get it. so word.

Shiloh said...

KAKI!
HOWS Your Kuni!. ahaha. jks.
Thailand RULES. I thought youd be blogging a little. get on it lazypants.
Hope your enjoying yourself.
Omedeto gozaimas.
love you girl.