japanI write this lying in my own bed, the one that I have had since I was a teenager, in my parents’ house in Illinois. I have been home for a little under a week now and am still adjusting. I had planned to do a great deal many more things than I have so far because of a small problem that I ran into upon my return. Allow me to paint the picture for you:
My total trip was as follows: Osaka to Tokyo via Bullet Train; Tokyo to Beijing, Beijing to LAX, LAX to Chicago (all via airplane). Dragging my luggage around Japan with only trains and over-priced taxis to help was a story unto itself… let’s just say that if you have multiple heavy bags stairs are not your friend. But what I experienced after landing in Chicago was far worse despite not having to shlep anything around anymore.
I felt a bit queasy after stepping off of my final plane. I wasn’t ready to throw up or anything, just a little on the “tender tummy” side. I figured it was the fatigue and stress so I dismissed it, gathered up my luggage and found my brother for my ride home.
On the way my stomach got worse and I felt as if I really needed to vomit. I contained myself until I got home, but then did indeed throw up. I felt a little better and thought it must have been something I ate (even tho my girlfriend ate from the same plate earlier that day). A few hours later I threw up again, this time around 1 am. Then again at 1:30. And again at 2:00 or so.
By this time I figured I must have had a stomach flu or something as I was mostly dry-heaving. But this wasn’t ordinary sickness I was experiencing. Vomiting was a Herculean task despite the extreme nausea. I strained and hacked each time I knelt at the toilet and each time I felt weaker and weaker. By the dawn I lost track of how many times I threw up but the nausea wasn’t subsiding. In fact, it was getting worse.
Whereas before I was dry-heaving, I was now having trouble keeping anything down, including water. I started to get so weak that I could hardly stand up on my own power and my vision was starting to blur. No medicines would stay down, so I finally conceded that hospital care was in order. An ambulance was summoned and I was whisked off to the ER.
Now, it was my decision to not go to emergency earlier, so despite many of my family members blaming themselves it was my fault that I fell into such a state of dire illness. The doctors told me it was a condition known as Ketoacidosis, a curious and very serious condition affecting diabetics and occasional alcoholics. When one is affected the fats in one’s body begin to metabolize causing one’s pH level to drop and more stored glucose to be released from muscles. The short explanation? My blood was turning to acid because of the sugar in my system which was releasing more sugar into my system which caused my blood to become even more acidic.
I was burning from the inside. My body was in a vicious cycle that would have put me in a coma had I waited 12 more hours and killed me had I let it go another day or two. The cause? Unchecked blood glucose levels due to a lack of insulin. I also had no way to check my blood glucose levels because I hadn’t had test strips for almost five months. This led me to realize something. Japan almost killed me.
I saw doctors about my Diabetes while I was in Japan. They took my blood and urine samples, but never showed me any numbers that would co-inside with them. Every month I had to visit the hospital because they would never give me a prescription and pick up my supplies which amounted to two(2) Humalog insulin pens, two (2) Lantus refill cartridges and seventy (70) pen needles.
For those of you without insulin dependant Diabetes let me break that down for you: That’s not enough. It’s not enough medicine because it just barely would last me a month. Here in the states I get five pens at a time. Five. That’s enough for two and a half months, but they call it a monthly prescription. I also get 100 pen needles, which again covers about 35 days worth giving me enough time to refill my prescription before running out. I also get blood glucose test strips out here, something which I only randomly received in the land of the rising sun.
Don’t get me wrong, I asked many times about getting more medicine. I was told “the National Health Insurance won’t cover that”.
“I’ll pay for it. I need it” I would say.
“No, sorry. We can’t do that” They would reply.
So in short I was denied medicine. I had to ration out what I had less I run out. It becomes even harder when you realize that rice is served with every meal and that almost doubles how much medicine I should be taking.
So all throughout October I unwittingly abused my poor body by denying myself insulin and eating cheap foods of mostly rice or McDonalds. My blood sugar was going out of control and ketones (those nasty acid maker things) were building up. I felt fine for the most part, although I was getting very tired very easy. But by some miracle my body was able to fend off the potentially fatal illness until after I arrived back in my hometown where my friends and family could take care of me.
What would have happened to me if I was afflicted in Japan? I shudder to think. I fear I may have actually died. The medical system seemed uncaring and cold, barely concerning itself with whether I was even properly medicated. I had my fair share of bad experiences with hospitals in Japan, some going so far as to tell me to not come anywhere near them simply because I hadn’t ever been to them before (yea, I still can’t figure that one out either), but I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if my life was actually on the line.
Fortunately that wasn’t the case. I spent one night in ICU being closely monitored on an insulin drip and IV feed. By the next day I had no more nausea and could once again see properly. The nurses and doctors were very nice and caring and I was given prescriptions for everything I need. Even better, I was given enough free medicine to last me a very long time… something unheard of where I was just two weeks ago.
But now I am back in full health. I have a new team of doctors treating me for my diabetes, most of which offer their counseling free of charge. Some may see it as a pretty crappy way to come home, having to be rushed to emergency right away and all, but I see it as just how much I need my friends and family… and by extension my country. Japan may have almost killed me, but the good old USA saved my life.
-Maru!
First, what I already know: The Japanese Diet is essentially broken up into two major parts: the House of Representatives (also known as the lower house) and the House of Councilors (also known as the upper house). The main responsibilities are voting on laws and public guidelines and final vote for Prime Minister of Japan. It was introduced prior to Meiji era reconstruction as the Imperial diet, but is now known as the National Diet. Voting is done in a parliamentary style similar to the one used in Great Britain.
Now let me look up a little more here on Google...
oh... wait...
Um, I'll be back soon with my thoughts and the Japanese Diet craze that is based on the book "Japanese Women don't get Old or Fat". Until then, vote early and vote often!
-Maru!
I showed this article to a lot of my friends and they all really liked it, so I will post it here. It's not all 100% researched, so take it with a grain of salt.
As every foreigner knows, Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the civilized world.
So, just why is crime so low here in Japan? I’ve been reading many-an-article about the strange phenomenon and I’ve been able to split the arguments into two groups:
- Crime is low due to tight gun-control laws.
- Crime is low due to the unique Japanese culture.
I personally agree with point 2, and I will explain why in a moment, but first I will explain the two positions a little more.
Most of the articles that were written by casual observers (read: laypeople who are not native to but are living in Japan) seemed to cite reason 1, tight gun control laws, as the reason for low crime. One in particular uses the basic “chain of logic” approach, which is as follows: no guns = no gun crimes = fewer overall crimes = safer people = ^_^. This logic is fundamentally flawed and plays more off of emotions than critical thinking, but let’s look at the facts for a moment.
Gun control in Japan was actually set into law about 200 years ago. The law is quite concise: with the exception of military and select police personal, no person living in Japan may be in the possession of a firearm or firearms or sword or swords. Pretty simple, and it effectively makes owning anything other than a single, small caliber, fully licensed hunting rifle completely illegal. Even then, sales and possession of hunting rifles and their ammunition is closely monitored and recorded. No small arms may be kept at any time. Shotguns are also out of the question. Same goes for blades longer than six and one half inches.
Because of these gun laws there really are fewer gun related crimes. In fact, there really are fewer crimes in general and criminal acquisition (capture and conviction) is an astounding 97% (in 2004). Pretty impressive, but 97%? The US averages around 30% (weighted average of all crimes committed)… if that seems a little fishy, it’s because of reason 2.
Japanese culture is oriented around the group. That means personal sacrifice is not only expected, it is pretty much forced upon the individual. In the case of crimes, privacy and human rights are often waived in lieu of a more streamlined legal system. Torture, illegal search and seizure practices and forgery are often used to illicit confessions from suspected criminals. Whether or not they are guilty seems to take a back-seat to getting a conviction. Once the person has confessed, they are sentenced and the case is declared closed. Now the extremely high conviction rate is starting to make a little more sense…
Police officers will visit the homes of the people in the neighborhood they are assigned to at least once a year to say “hi!” and make sure they know who lives in the area. This also affords them the opportunity to enter peoples’ homes without a warrant and take a quick look around. (Just for the record, “plain sight” laws do not apply in Japan.)
Often they will try to find anything suspicious and record possible “dangers” such as pornography, an abundance of knives or anything else that could be used as a weapon, messiness (I’m not kidding), unusual sleep patterns and any books or periodicals that might seem like that person is planning something. Police in a bad mood have been known to confiscate items such as these with stern, somewhat threatening warnings such as “get a new hobby”. If a complaint is registered about the officer it is at best ignored and at worst reported directly to the offending officer. Because police do not change beats in Japan, this could lead to a long period of animosity towards the person who complained. There have been stories about people who have pissed off cops and when they needed police assistance there was none to be had. These stories are mostly unconfirmed tho.
But most people out here are more than willing to give up the rights to firearms and privacy to keep criminals off the streets. Again, it benefits the group. It also, incidentally benefits the government. In Japan, police organizations are directly associated with the national government, not local municipalities, so law enforcement is basically one of the tasks controlled by the national diet. The militaristic, somewhat fascist methods of the police could probably be attributed to this fact… it would also explain why the police are allowed to carry small arms.
So police can enter your home unannounced, arrest you under basic suspicion with no evidence, torture you to produce a confession and lock you up without the ability to appeal. All this so you can walk the streets at night and feel safe, as the people who just adore Japan are apt to say. Of course, if you do walk the streets at night there is always the off chance that you might suddenly be a suspect (hey, why ARE you out so late anyway?) and then who would run to your rescue? Like the saying goes, “When a criminal attacks, you call the police… but who do you call when the police attack?”
This is where the argument for less gun control comes into play. When you give this much power to the police (and by direct association the government) you are pretty much asking to be oppressed. What guns in the hands of citizens does is even the odds a bit. Police will be less likely to hassle people if those people may be able to fight back. Sure, it’s illegal to shoot a cop, but police are people too… they probably value their lives enough to think twice about picking on people who haven’t committed a crime that they are aware of.
But the fact is that gun control in Japan is absolute. It’s hard to say whether a loosening of this iron grip on firearms would lead to an increase in crime or if the Japanese “crime-free” culture would prevent that from happening, but I personally think the crime rate would remain essentially static. The Japanese love how the rest of the world looks at the numbers and “ooo”s and “ahhh”s over the perceived state of serenity… but taking a closer look you see a nation that is under constant surveillance and has had its basic rights to privacy (rights that are guaranteed in the Japanese constitution) trampled upon.
There is a trade off when it comes to safety. You can either say that you want all arrested suspects to be convicted and sentenced so that they do not have another opportunity to commit crimes, or you want a system that makes fully sure that the offending party is truly guilty before dolling out any sort of punishment. The consequence of the first option is what Japan has, a scenario where suspects are guilty unless (not until) proven innocent. Under this system you run the very real risk of becoming a criminal yourself. With such loose regulations about searching and trial, police in a bad mood looking to take it out on someone may arrest you despite the fact you have done nothing, pin a currently open case on you and convict you just to keep up that 97% average. If you try to appeal your paperwork will likely “get lost” or be put at the end of an endlessly long queue.
The opposite is also true. With a system of criminal rights and suspect rights in place, you get criminals who know how to skirt the law and use the legal system to their own advantage. Fewer convictions means more open cases and less “walk at night” safety. Anyone could commit a crime at anytime, and there is always the possibility that they could get away with it.
However, for all its flaws I much prefer the latter. Because like the adage that I quoted earlier infers, I would rather be shot by a criminal who got a gun illegally than a police officer who was given one by the government that is supposed to protect me. And in the end, I really do like the ability to shoot back.
-Maru!
http://www.j2fi.net/2008/09/17/japan-sucks/
This article goes through the "If you don't like it, LEAVE" mentality that drives Americans nuts. When used in the American context, it usually goes like this:
"Goddman immigrants! Still speaking their language and observing their customs! If they love their old country so much why don't they just go the hell back there?!"
It's very backwards thinking, but outside of the USA (or North America in general) it is accepted thinking.
"You don't like how the Japanese do things? Sorry, you aren't allowed to dislike it. You are in their country, so you should just keep your head down and accept things for how they are. It's not your call to make. Just go home."
Even what I wrote above is fine in my opinion, after all, I am going home soon. What got me about Jason's article was the tone. Jason would offer the very good advice of "if the situation is not to your liking, remove yourself from it." That's practically my philosophy. But Jason takes it one extra step and explains why you should go home. You're a loser. You sucked in your country and you sucked in Japan, that's why you are unhappy and whine. You will go home and mope in your parents basement.
Nice. Very mature. I'm surprised he didn't end the thing with "Just kill yourself now! God I hate you!!" Actually, it's foreigners like our Jason here that have disappointed me about Japan the most. Anyone from my home continent that I have met out here has been annoying. Most of the Asians and Europeans have been great and I can't wait to visit them in their own countries... or for them to visit me in the USA, but the North Americans have been very, VERY irritating (read several posts back about my drug addict roommate, Troy, for a good example of what I mean).
Even more hilariously this "Jason" is just white-knighting his beloved Japan, which is a common trait amongst ex-patriots from North America. Many people who come to Japan and stay for awhile begin to either hate it or defend it with amazing fervor. Some go so far as to try and "preserve" old Japanese stuff through community efforts and fund raisers, so that way old forests and temples and the like won't be torn down or anything to make way for new buildings. Saving the Japanese from themselves, as it were.
Anyways I wanted to address two things from the article, first the three questions:
- Do you have a plane ticket home, yet?
- Have you packed your bags?
- What will you do when you go back to your home country?
- Yes, I have a ticket home.
- Yes, my bags are packed, although the boxes for shipping are only about 80% done as of this writing.
- I have so much planned for when I get back home, I'll just put "get married" here to give at least one concrete answer.
-Maru!
So after being bombarded with various flash cartoons explaining why I am killing the environment I thought, "well, I don't really care, but what the hell... maybe I'll still ride a bike to do errands when I get home. It's healthy and ecologically friendly." But here in Japan I live in a pretty big city... nothing is more than about two or three miles away. Any type of bike will get you to where you are going and you don't have to think much about pacing. In America I live in a suburb of either Chicago or Detroit, both of which are very spread out. I figured if I wanted to continue riding a bike in the States I should look up some tips on what to buy, types of bicycle, etc.
I looked up "commuter bicycling" and a couple variations of that phrase and came up with mostly personal web pages and forums discussing the use of a pedal bicycle as a commuting vehicle. Now, I had heard before that environmental people can be very annoying at times, and that those who ride bikes to commute are very "holier than thou". I didn't really believe it until I started reading the web sites. I looked up about 10 pages, and each and every one was written by a douche bag.
The first I saw was written by some old guy who goes on about how in order to really commute on a bike you must ride something like twenty miles a day and train on the weekends. Basically he is a true bicycle enthusiast who is trying to get others to become the same through a combination of guilt and oddly empty promises (you will be more sexually attractive if you bicycle more!) He also included one of the dorkiest things you can on a website, a list of "ways to know you are a cycle enthusiast". (I don't have the link at the moment, I'll post it when I find it again.)
The next site starts out telling you that you ride a bike wrong. Pretty much no matter what, unless you follow the same regiment as these people, you ride a bike incorrectly. Again the author comes off as a douche and tells you once again that in order to simply commute to work you must train in your free time. I also find it amusing that on both websites they list "companionship (ride with a friend!)" as a perk to bicycle commuting. I personally would never want to even hang out with these people, let alone ride a bike with them.
Douche bag #2's site:
http://www.bicyclinglife.com/PracticalCycling/commuteguide.htm
The forums were all the same: Bicycle folks complaining. They complain about other, "poser" cyclists, they complain about cars, they complain about not having bike paths, they complain about the bike paths they have... it's just silly. Occasionally they will have a thread about equipment or technique, but as far as I could see it always just degraded into a "my way is best! NO! MY way is best!" style argument.
So after doing some research I have decided not to continue my cycling when I return to the United States. According to everything I have read I will have to devote a fair amount of time to simply getting in good enough shape to ride a bike as a commuter, and after that I will have to use a lot of my free time to keep up that condition. Other bike commuters will cast a very critical eye on me and most likely judge me as a "fair weather" environmentalist or poser or whatever. Even if I did get into good enough shape, I would apparently become an elitist asshole with a subtle but biting sense of unwarranted self importance.
So there you have it, I have been convinced to use only motor vehicles by opponents of motor vehicles. A word of advice to commuter bicycle proponents: Don't tell people they suck at riding then say they should ride a bike. It's confusing.
Also, as a personal note, they never addressed my main excuse for not wanting to ride a bike: I don't want to and it wouldn't be fun.
-Maru!
My kids part 11
Unique case 4: The Sweetest Little Girl Ever
It’s really not all bad. For this, the final installment of My Kids while I am still working (Well, I worked today so I think that counts), I have chosen my absolute favorite kid, The Sweetest Little Girl Ever. She is in the second grade, meaning I only get to see her in class once every two months or so, but I do get to see her in the halls and outside of school.
I always talk with The Sweetest Girl. She makes real attempts to learn as much English as possible and always speaks very clear Japanese to me. It’s rare that I even have to ask her to repeat herself. She will often ask me how to say things in English and, unlike pretty much every other student I have, she actually remembers about 90% of what I tell her. She has made amazing leaps in her language learning since I met her last year. She is the only kid that I teach who uses articles (the, an and a).
The Sweetest Little Girl has a soft voice and she never yells or uses an annoying accent. She smiles a lot and loves to play games. Usually when I see her, she will tell me a story about her family or friends, like what they did on the weekend or what they plan on doing soon. She tells me about her mom, what she had for dinner, her favorite books… pretty much anything that she views as important. She has this adorable manner about her, so no matter how mundane the subject, I find myself enthralled. When she does speak English her accent is surprisingly good despite the fact that she only gets an hour of class every two months (I asked her once, and no, she has no outside English classes).
When I first started teaching I tried to make a point to never touch the kids in any way so I could avoid misunderstandings. However, every time I had The Sweetest Little Girl in class she would always run up to me. I would greet her with a happy “hello!” (note: not “harro!”), but she would stop about three feet in front of me and just smile. I found out later that she asked her teacher if I didn’t like her.
“Why wouldn’t I like her?” I asked the teacher.
“Because you don’t give her a hug.” She replied.
The next class when The Sweetest Girl made a beeline for me I ducked down and sure enough, she ran right into my arms and gave me a great big hug. I embraced her back and after that class began. I have to admit I felt pretty happy for the rest of the week.
The Sweetest Little Girl Ever always makes my day brighter every time I see her. When I have kids one day, especially if I have a daughter, I want them to be exactly like The Sweetest Girl Ever. I want them to be gentle, inquisitive and respectful just like she is. I would even hope that my daughter looks a little like her, because she is just as cute as a button. I know that once I go home I won’t see her again until she is on TV for curing cancer or something. I know she will grow up and do great things.
It’s very strange. Even though the ratio of good to bad kids is so terribly stacked in the bad column’s favor, this one kid has made my time working here worthwhile. After teaching The Sweetest Girl, I understand what they mean when they say “if I can reach just one kid, then it was all worth it”. Because I did… and it was.
My kids part 10
Unique case file 3: Choice-kun
A strange oddity indeed is the one I have come to know as Choice-kun. He is an archetypical Captain Faggot: Junior High School student, bleached and teased hair, fake tan, low pants, ugly jewelry… but Choice-kun holds the distinction of being just a little stranger.
Choice-kun gets his name for his odd habit of yelling out the English word “choice” at the end of sentences. This started one day when I was handing out papers. I gave one to Choice-kun and he looked at me and just said, “Choice!”
“Um, what?” I asked
“Choice! Sensei… CHOICE!” he repeated.
“Uhhhhhh…. HUH?”
“Sensei, kono koto ga CHOICE da ze!”
This stuff is choice. Okay, it makes sense as American slang, but why is he using it? It sounds like the kind of thing a guy who drives a Camero would say about some girl (“bitch is totally choice, bro”). I asked if he knew what it meant, and he repeated “CHOICE!” I decided to leave it alone.
Later, Choice-kun got worse with his new word. I was handing out fans as a prize for a game, when suddenly Choice-kun yells out, “Senaei! Uchiwa CHOICE! CHOICE ne? Ne sensei? Boku mo uchiwa hoshii CHOICE!” (an uchiwa is a type of fan that does not fold up)
Translation: Teacher! Fan choice! Choice, right? Right teacher? I want a fan too choice!
Needless to say, I don’t think he really knows what that word means (inconceivable!). He will go about saying “choice” pretty much all day and he will use it regardless of context. The funniest part about Choice-kun is that he will say his word with such conviction; he almost makes you believe that he knows what he is saying. I think he has even convinced himself that saying “choice” all the time is not only acceptable but it makes perfect sense! I mean, choice, right?
Choice-Kun is only annoying in the strictest sense of the word. Sure, he is loud and obnoxious, but he is harmless and, quite honestly, funny. He just really likes to say choice! Nothing wrong with that. As my kids go Choice-kun is one of my better liked. He isn’t really rude or mean, just weird. I only hope that if he decides to go to an English speaking country he breaks his habit of saying “choice” all the time… I think it could lead to some undue confusion. Don’t you think so too CHOICE!
Please not that I have other kids who repeat a single word like Choice-kun, but they are no where near as amusing. They usually speak with a terrible accent and with no conviction. When Choice-kun says “choice”, by God, he means it!
My kids part 9
Unique case file 2: The worst kid in the world.
There are annoying kids, there are rude kids, and there are violent kids. So what happens when you combine all of these traits into one horrible little package? Why, you end up with The Worst Kid in the World! A hell spawn of unimaginable proportions, The Worst Kid does everything to let you know that he is a horrible little brat. From using English swears to speaking in a retarded accent to hitting other kids, The Worst Kid does it all.
I have even personally been assaulted by The Worst Kid in the World once or twice. He just walked up to me and said (in his retarded little accent), “Aw, Herro! Ai amu… Unchi! (poop) Pii pii!” then proceeded to start punching me in the thigh and knee at full force. The kid can cause some surprising damage for being so small. The teacher grabbed him, thankfully and he just started laughing. As far as I can tell, he thinks causing harm is hilarious.
He will often get up during class and walk over to other students at random, punch them (sometimes in the face), then return to his seat like nothing happened. I sometimes feel like the kid has a form of Attachment Disorder, a mental disease that makes it impossible for a person to ever like another human being. Even the other kids that like him (bullies, all) seem a little afraid of him.
On his best days he will just throw his desk to the floor and laugh at the loud bang. On his worst days it’s like he has declared all out war on everything around him. The teacher in his class often has to restrain him using both arms in a bear hug. I guess we can be thankful that he is pretty small. I have ceased playing games in his class because The Worst Kid will always ruin everyone else’s good time. If you give The Worst Kid a handout, he will make sure you see him crumple it up and throw it out. And lucky me, I get to have this kid in class every week.
There is nothing good to say about The Worst Kid in the World. He has never given me any reason to like him and I don’t think he ever will. He strikes me like a young sociopath and I don’t know how he can be in class, unless he only acts this way during English lessons (which would mean you can add “racist” to his already overly long laundry list of problems). Of all the things I am glad I will be escaping when I quit my job, The Worst Kid in the World is the one that I celebrate the most. The Worst Kid is unique in the worst possible way, but thank god there is only one.
