What's racist?

I was discussing the "Mr. James" ad campaign at McDonald's here in Japan with some friends (see here and here), along with whether or not it should be considered racist. I thought that yes, it was rather racist, while another American thought it was all in good fun and that I was being over-sensitive. A Japanese friend thought nothing of it, just that it was amusing.

I had a long screed written about this, but it's probably better to just get the backstory from the above two links. I wonder when is something considered racist/offensive? Does intent factor into it, or can there be unintentional offense? Not to mention the international aspect of this. If something is considered offensive in one country, does it carry over to another as well? Watch this:



It's pretty obvious who the monkey is supposed to be. But in Japan, there isn't the same derogatory association of monkeys with black people -- rather, foreigners in general are associated with apes, with pretty much the same connotations as in the USA. But, monkeys are also cute. And monkeys are also considered clever: a samurai watching a monkey bathe in a hot spring was the inspiration for onsen. So, is the Obama monkey video racist? I guess in one way yes, and in another way no. Another example of this would be the controversy over Little Black Sambo here in Japan. The drawings of an odd black boy with giant red lips and big eyes has definite historical racist connotations, but in Japan that sort of thing is just cute. Yet the book was pulled in Japan about 20 years ago because some people took offense at it.

I guess stereotypes, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. But a little sensitivity from McDonald's Japan would be nice as well.

The perils of working in Japan

I've had a pretty easy time of it here in Japan. It's not hard work, and I've had mostly positive experiences. A huge part of that is that I'm still single and thus avoid all the complications that go along with family life. Like, you know, the death of an unborn child. I don't know what I would have done in this situation, but I do know some of the people involved (not the main person, however), and I used to work for the company. I can't believe this would happen. Well, actually I can. This is how Nova was, and how many smaller companies act. Foreigners are a very vulnerable population, as we are at the mercy of our employers much of the time. Japan has very strict employment rules, so even a small slight can cause huge delays and potentially a non-renewal of your visa. I hope I never have to suffer what this guy has suffered through.

Go read.

L/km or, I'm not crazy after all!

A while ago, I was having a friendly debate with someone who always has to be right. Being the same type of person, I wasn't giving up, either. We were talking somewhere about gas mileage in cars, and I mentioned my car in high school/college. It was an old BMW with a little computer thingy on the dash that would show different types of data like the temperature, time, average speed and gas consumption. Being American, I stuck a pencil in the little hole and changed the settings from metric to US standard, something I had to do every time the battery got disconnected (or ran out of power, something I often did by leaving the headlights on).

Gas consumption fascinated me, mostly because I always got lower than the rating, and also because the metric gas consumption was listed in liters per kilometer (or 100 km, I can't quite recall). Now, this guy, let's call him M, said that was a stupid thing and couldn't possibly be right. We appealed to his French co-worker who said they measure it in km/L. I was quickly voted down and that was that.

Today I came across this story about a typo on Fox News, and lo and behold, in comments some Australians remarked how mileage in their country is measured in L/100 km, and how it makes perfect sense if you want to figure out how much is needed to go a certain distance. I'd surmise this would be useful going to the Moon or across the Outback, but not so much in suburban America.

Sadly, I won't get to lord this over M. One night he drunkenly berated me for disliking the black vans that drive around waking me up in the morning, telling me I have no rights in this country. Not hanging out with him again.

Money in, money out

I just got my hefty tax return from the government, which will allow me to pay off my shopping spree from being home. And on a whim I bought some tickets to Australia, so this summer I'll be going to visit Ana and Damien in Brisbane, with a stopover in Singapore to see a couple friends there.

So far, I'll leave Japan on July 24th, stay in singapore a couple days, then up to Kuala Lumpur, fly out on the 29th to Brisbane. I'll stay there until the 11th or 12th, then fly back to KL, stay there a day or so, over to Singapore and back to Japan on the 17th. I got the Japan-Singapore leg through ANA, and the KL-Brisbane flight is through budget carrier AirAsia. I've flown them several times before, but only on short hops around Malaysia and over to Borneo. The short trips are nice, but I wonder how they'll hold up on a 7 hr flight.

Of course, there's the small matter of getting from Singapore to KL. I'll have to look at another AirAsia hop, which would be short and moderately priced, or a $10 bus ride that isn't bad, but wastes about 9hrs all told. I also just realized that Singapore won't allow me to take alcohol through, so if my friends want anything, they're gonna have to find another supplier.

Things to do with your free time

Make the largest LEGO ship ever. That's quite impressive. It's a 6.6m model of the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever built. The original fired her guns only a couple times in battle, then was sunk, killing nearly all of her 2,700 crew. It's got kind of a cult following in Japan, as some sort of symbol of big dreams that suddenly go ker-plooey.

Reason #6,835 I'm glad I don't live in the US Texas

Some lawmaker in Texas thinks Asian names are too difficult and suggested they take new names to make it easier on the ignoramuses who think everyone in America is a white Christian. I especially loved this part:

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Yes, "your citizens", because people with slanty eyes can't possibly be Americans.

The first weekend home

Mmm, I've had some good beer and food since I got back. I got to the house around 5ish, and headed with my folks to the Friendly Tavern in "downtown" Zionsville. I got a good prime rib with sauteed cabbage and some friend mushrooms. The cabbage wasn't so great, I was expecting saurkraut, but oh well. I also had a great Blue Moon wheat ale and a Sierra Nevada pale ale. The pale ale wasn't so great, it was a little too bitter for my taste. I had another bottle later that night when I met some high school friends and it was really different. Go figure.

Having home cooking was great, Mom's mexican soup was great, and last night Dad cooked up a turkey breast. I'm working my way through my list of must-eat foods. Tonight I'm going to have a Qdoba burrito with friends Sam and Jessi while we watch the Battlestar Galactica finale.

Speaking of which, I'm gonna be late if I don't go now. More on the weekend later.

Travel time sucks

I'm packing things right now and wondering what exactly is wrong with me. I've hardly got anything in my suitcase. The largest thing is a giant backpack I'll presumably use as a second piece of luggage if I end up buying large amounts of clothing and booze to bring back.

I know I'm missing something, but what? Planning on buying new clothes in Indy, so I've hardly packed anything. I've got some old ratty things at home to tide me over.

Upholding the curtains

I'm taking a break from one of my quizzes (hooray for untimed, open-book quizzes!) and browsing through the class forums. We've been discussing morphology, and how some words don't really relate to their meanings once you remove their affixes. One person brought up some words like 'downhearted'. Our text says there's no other relation to 'hearted' (even Firefox spellchecker agrees), but this student came up with 'kindhearted'. I was thinking about 'hearten', as in gaining courage or morale from something.

Another one was 'upholster'. The etymology is quite fun, according to Dictionary.com, it came from a 19th century Americanism 'upholsterer', the profession name. And that came from a 17th century term where a person was employed to install furnishings, or to literally 'up-hold' the curtains.

Transporting goods

I made a list earlier of all the things I want to get for myself when I'm home:

couscous
lentils
creme eggs
reese's pb cups
shirts
shoes (oh, Born, how I love your shoes!)
jacket (actually, never got my secret santa present, which a little birdie informs me is of this ilk)
Settlers of Catan
SD flash card

The couscous and lentils are dependent on price. I'm pretty sure lentils are dirt cheap in the US. I might buy a bunch and ship them freight or something to save weight on the airline. Of course I'm going to add a few bottles of wine. Anything I'm missing?

Even better is the list of things people want me to bring back for them. We have Twix, Combos, Frito Lay guacamole dip, and several dozen cadbury eggs. I might just reserve one suitcase for those.

Coming home

Well, I've been bad about blogging here. Too much with life and new classes and work.

But, the big news: I'm heading home from March 20th to April 5th. So anybody with free time that wants to hang out, let me know.

I believe the phrase for this is f'ing HILARIOUS.



In other news, I am actually alive and around, just haven't really done much worth blogging about. Maybe later this week.

Talk about long shots

I once met Italian girl I'd met in a random hostel in a tiny town outside Valencia, Spain in 2001. It was just after Las Fallas, a festival in Valencia where giant paper mache statues are created and burned on the final night. She and I and a selection of other Europeans and a couple Argetinians would stay up til the wee hours, drinking wine on the beach, chatting. I don't have any of the same emails as I did then, and we haven't spoken since emailing a couple times that year.

But tonight I got a Facebook request from her. How strange.

A Public Servant Announcement

When I come home in March, you're going to have to get used to metric. Here's a handy guide:

Movie Backlog

I'm watching SiCKO now. The crap people have to go through is appalling. I'm planning on going home for a visit in March, and this movie prompted me to look up my insurance plan. I found this little gem in the FAQ:

7. Will my cover be affected if I return to my home country?
No - provided it is within your chosen area of cover*.
* Except if you are a citizen of the USA, and are returning home. If this is the case, cover will be terminated when the time spent in your home country exceeds 180 days continuous stay in one plan year.

Ah, America.

Happy New Year

Went to my friend Kim's house party last night. I wound up catching a bit of a cold, so it's probably a good thing I caught the first train home and didn't join them in their quest to jump into the ocean at sunrise. Though, I'm told the sunrise was really nice, and Fuji looked awesome at 6:30am.

So Happy New Year, I'm off to attempt to scrounge up some food, hope something's still open.

Gone skiing

Leaving tomorrow for a few days. I'm going to Nagano with some friends, where we'll do some skiing and soaking in onsen. It should be a good time. I went out and bought a new hat. It's a lot like the ones Ana and Damine had when they came earlier this month - earflaps to keep my extra-long lobes warm. Last year they almost froze off because my hat was too short. *Sigh* Japan.

Anyhoo, I'll be back on the 31st, when I'll then have to rush off to a house party down in Yokosuka, near the US naval base. My friend Kim is having a countdown party. Hope I can stay awake after 3 days of skiing.

Merry Christmas

Santa brought me a hangover this year! It's like the adult version of coal.

On another note, today doesn't seem like Xmas. It's (relatively) warm and sunny out. Last year I was in Hokkaido where it was below freezing with snow and ice everywhere and my tongue stuck to the bus when I tried to lick it. Here? I just get my tongue dirty.

Going to a friend's house for a Christmas dinner. Should be rather nice.

Give money!

I don't know if this is the best time, economically speaking, to do so, but the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the ubiquitous Wikipedia and many other similar wikis, has issued a call for donations. I often link there for explanations of various Japanese terms and cultural references, not to mention using it for everything from learning about movies and books to looking up historical events.

I've plunked down a bit for them, I hope you'll consider doing the same.

That's what I get for sending money home two weeks ago

Back then, 96 yen to the dollar. When I got home from work today, 89.8.

Wow.