I'm not a total failure at food/cooking, but I am far from a success.
Tonight's dinner was not terrible, but the slightly edible kinoko rice from yesterday was even more so slightly edible today. Oh well. I blame my rice cooker, maybe.
In general I find it slightly difficult to make food for myself alone. At least I know my Nanban Chicken is still pretty baller...
I got back from a long vacation, maybe I'll talk about it. But today and yesterday I felt violently thrust back into my normal life and it has been a bit jarring and honestly kind of lonely. But, I still want to keep on for awhile despite this sudden depression.
So there is this guy called Mr. News. His job here is basically to take the big topics in the news and put into 1-2 hour episodes in front of various Japanese entertainers called geinojin (the scourge that they are of TV) hoping that people may actually watch something they should probably watch in the first place. Some episodes are better than others.
Anyways, the episode on China is on right now. While there has been some moments of insight, most of it is find questionable things China does and we, the geinojin, scowl. laugh, looked surprised as foreboding music plays in the background.
I'm all for pointing out the things that are unsavory that China does, or that any country does, but in an atmosphere that is "lets all come together and use serious problems of another country as a perverse, collective entertainment" I lose the ability to take it seriously. And that is the point I think. There are big problems, but taking them seriously is a drag - let's make a TV show about the news instead of watching real news, so after the show is over its like the end of an episode of my favorite drama not part of the world out there.
5 months later. I have been in Japan for about 4 months, I will be for at least 8 more, hopefully 20 more. Anyways.
So I am sitting in my apartment and pick up a book left around (not mine, I won't get into why a library of books just happen to be in my apartment) entitled: The Japanese Educational Challenge: A Commitment to Children by Merry White, who was of, at least at the time this book was published, Harvard.
I am just into the introduction when I read: "And, when Japanese children test higher in math and science than any others in the world, the battleground of competition seems to be shifting to schools. The subject of internal criticism and movements for reform for much of the post-Sputnik era, education in the West now seems to face a new "Sputnik": the Japanese child, as goad, goal, and measure of success." (p.2).
I find this pretty funny in regards to the new PISA 2010 results being called by many people, including Chester E. Finn Jr in the Wall Street Journal (btw that name is so white) in his Dec. 8th article "A Sputnik Moment for U.S. Education".
I see Japanese students everyday, they are no Sputniks. I'm sure the one's in Shanghai are no different. They are just students in a society that values education. I just find it kind of problematic that students are used in such a nationalistic analogy, even if schooling has obvious nationalist aspects, as the Space Race.
I for one am all for more funding for schools and better education back in the homeland - too bad it takes some nationalist fear for people to see the value in educating themselves. It may be worth putting in the time, effort, expertise - all of which I lack for a blog post - to see where high achieving students such as those in Shanghai end up going on to for post-secondary education and later employment (because you know companies don't cross borders and the US is like, not a destination for Chinese students).
World Cup has been going so I have been watching too much of that. Also, getting my Japanese level back up to near JLPT 2 where it should be. Quick rundown of things clogging the blog pipeline: Chinese currency, Daremo Shiranai still coming, more Cadiz goodies, and some other assorted things. Hopefully around July most of this will be up.
The following is the beginning of a series of posts about my recent adventure in rural Ohio visiting relatives. There will be at least three more of these kind of posts with more pictures included!
The Arrival
Cadiz sits in Harrison County in the southeast part of Ohio near Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The area is rural, rolling, and rusting. I know little about the area, but what I do know probably trumps what the vast majority of people know about this small, aging coal town whose largest claim to fame is as the birthplace of Clark Gable.
Cadiz is the hometown of my mother and my grandfather. From their recollections the only reason Cadiz ever existed was because of coal and it was in between some other places that mattered. Today there are still miners, but no coal – the miners commute to where there is coal. Things also move faster so that which exists between places of some import are more prevalent and closer in time. Cadiz just is and that is all there is to it.
It may seem I am giving Cadiz a bad rap, but I am not…entirely. It is the type of place that is important in history, important to my childhood, and like many things that just are you cannot hold it against it. It is strangely scenic, and not just in the beautiful decay aesthetic. It is rural, it has farms, it has green fields broken by patches of trees, it has rolling hills and old ponds with graying wooden piers. It has a different culture, a culture which I only know from my mother, her father, and my step-grandmother. The last person from Cadiz that I met outside of the circle of my family was when I must have been in 8th or 9th grade – a decade ago. It truly is worlds apart from a Chicago, a New York City, a Los Angeles let alone a major foreign city. It may have more in common (the good and the bad) with a tiny, dying town somewhere else across the globe.
Fujiyama
I am visiting Cadiz for the first time in a long time. It will be the last time I visit for another undetermined amount of time because I am leaving for Japan in August and will be there for at least a year, more likely two. It is time to visit the Mikesell(s, plural is pending on further deliberation), my mom’s side of the family.
My mother and I fly into the airport in Pittsburgh. With bags in hand we ride down an escalator and a poster overhead proudly proclaims – “Yesterday’s airport of the future”. Times must be tough if you have to advertise the fact you were once upon a time on the cusp of modernity. But recently just gave up.
We walk outside and I look to the right to see a figure that I guess is Leeanna, my step-grandmother, so I hesitantly walk her way. At first I am unsure, they must have got a new car and gotten rid of the boat of a Lincoln. Soon my doubt washes away as Leeanna becomes visibly excited waving at me, clad in a bright pink top and white pants that match her teased, short hair. Greetings are exchanged.
My grandfather recently had surgery on his eyes. Leeanna says they put lenses in his eyes. I am no expert on this process so I am not exactly sure the nuance of what happened, but the point is he is wearing giant sunglasses enveloping his normal glasses to keep out the harsh rays of the sun. I am sure everyone has seen these before, but it was nonetheless jarring to see these on my grandfather.
As we drive away from Pittsburgh to eastern Ohio, Leeanna mentions there is a Japanese restaurant near Cadiz. I can hardly wait. Leeanna asks me about food like lo mein and kimchi (which, to my surprise, not only exists out here, but she says she enjoys) and asks me if lo mein is Japanese or there is something like it in Japan. I tread lightly. Leeanna then asks me what ‘Fujiyama’, the name of our dinner destination means in Japanese. This is a tricky question, but I guess it is Mt. Fuji (Fujisan...). So we are going to Fujiyama.
Fujiyama is a Japanese steak house. The idea of the Japanese steak house or hibachi grill is pretty much an American invention. Not to say Japanese people do not eat beef cooked over a hot plate or open flame, but is not steak, and it is not a steak house, rather a yakiniku or teppanyaki place. Hibachi is a Japanese word but is not used as a cooking word. A hibachi is a brazier where coals are kept for heating purposes. Hibachi in the US is nonetheless similar to teppanyaki in that you are cooking meat and other foods (or okonomiyaki) on a hot griddle. This whole genre of dining started in Japan to serve, ironically, Western style food. The theatrical style of cooking the food did start in Japan, but was more popular with foreigners than Japanese people and migrated to the US.
We walk into the restaurant, which was once a Hardees, and besides the differing signage looks the part. The waitress, who has dirty blonde hair with fading pink highlights, has to be in or just out of high school. “Do you want to sit on the hibachi side,” she asks. “Um, hibachi side is okay,” I tell her. That was beyond stupid of me. Personally I do not like the hibachi deal much at all, but I am also with my middle-aged mother, step-grandmother and 88 year old grandfather who still calls Japanese ‘Japs’, so I should be trying to keep things tame. The last situation I should be putting us in is a theatrical dining experience at a Japanese restaurant of questionable repute. I blame Leeanna.
The chef is at the table next to us and gives us a preview of what we are in for with the party of people who came in before us. He starts by igniting a fire ball on the grill. We can feel the heat from across the room. Remember how my grandfather has to wear those glasses because being in the sunlight is a tad bit too intense for him. I begin sweating slightly with anxiety. The anticipation builds further as he tosses food out to the other patrons coaxing them to catch it mid-air. Adding to my growing uneasiness is the liberal spraying of water and saké. I am not sure how we will all come out of this unscathed mentally and physically. What if my grandfather passes right before my eyes amidst dining?
Drink orders. Thank god there is some sort of alcohol list. My mom points out they have the usual Japanese beer assortment; I take a Yuengling. The chef wheels his cart of tricks out and recalls our orders to us. His English is not that great so I do my best to tell the rest of my party what he is saying (note: the server is not Japanese which is by no means odd to me, but mind-boggling to Leeanna).
It starts exactly like the last time, my grandfather’s eyes light up in front of a fireball rising above the skillet a foot from our faces. I am about ready to die. I laugh nervously. He dances around with an egg before breaking it and beginning to cook it on the hibachi. Everything will be ok I tell myself until the chef begins coaxing us to catch pieces of egg that have been cooking on the skillet. I begin to wonder if the young, Asian chef thinks this as some sort of retribution for dealing with middle-America patrons in a dying town in West Virginia by tossing hot, runny egg in their general direction. One thing is for sure, he seems to not recognize that an 88 year old man who can hardly read the menu has no desire to “play with his food”. Intervention is the only option before my grandfather who is in the process of “tolerating it” from having runny egg thrown at him by some “Chinaman”.
I will sacrifice myself for my family. I make it apparent to the chef that I am his target, this is a showdown. All food and liquids that travel through the air will be directed at me. Hot egg flies above my head onto the floor (offending my grandfather’s Great Depression sensibilities), hits me in the eye and run down my cheek like a hot tear, and finally lands in my mouth. This must be some sadistic game. My mother is emboldened and after a few misses, one grazing through her hair, she is successful.
After a volley of water by some strange squeezey-toy of a little Asian boy with his pants down, and some cooking in between, out comes the saké. The saké is in a clear container that you would use to squirt different sauces. A cunning weapon. By this time any shame has gone out the window and the more I give in to my captor-gourmand the faster it will all be over. I close my eyes and open my mouth wide as he begins the spray of saké close and moves farther away. Saké makes it into my mouth, cheap, cheap saké. It also makes it in my nose, runs down my cheeks, and basically all over the rest of my face. The sexual innuendo is just off the charts. The session of culinary S&M draws to a close and my partner rolls his cart away to the kitchen.
I ordered the shrimp. It sucked. The food wasn’t even good.
Thus ends the first chapter of my Cadiz, Ohio adventure. We left Fujiyama satisfied (?), stronger and wiser people. I do not have a real pithy comment to add to the end of this, maybe the other anecdotes will, but what can I say about a massive collision of culture and generations in such an absurd setting that does not speak for itself.
Oh yeah, this was the only part. Oh well. (12/11/2010)
East Asian Multilateralism - Francis Fukuyama and Kent E. Calder
Speed Tribes - Karl Greenfeld Taro
Discourses of the Vanishing - Marylin Ivy Gold Rush - Yu Miri
Pacific Alliance - Kent E. Calder Yakuza - David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro Sexual Violence and the Law in Japan - Catherine Burns Hiroshima - John Hersey
International Relations of Asia - Shambaugh & Yahuda eds.
In Progress:
Korea's Place in the Sun - Bruce Cumings
I am a Cat - Natsume Soseki
中国行きのスロウ・ボート 村上春樹 Slow Boat to China - Haruki Murakami (Short Story Collection)
Goal is to finish all of these before leaving for Japan!
So in case you have not noticed, things are getting real on the Korean peninsula. There has been military and rhetorical escalation accompanied by suspension of official and economic relations between North and South Korea, which is disconcerting. Anyways, I have been reading around and trying to make sense of the situation. I think it would be easy for me to say who knows, and that may be a conclusion I come to anyway, but I figure I should at least write something out to brainstorm how this will play-out for Northeast Asia and the U.S.
An interesting development so far has been the call by other nations, namely South Korea, Japan and the United States, for China to respond to the actions of North Korea[1]. It is fairly common for 6-party nations to point to China as the North Korea deal breaker. Therefore, it is not surprising the call is being made, but it will be interesting to see how China responds. If China swings to North Korea and gets out of step with the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, it could signal a chilling of relations between all countries involved. I will try to give a rundown of the event itself, reactions by relevant parties, and the impact of their reactions.
The sinking of the 天安/Cheonan
On March 26th the South Korean patrol boat Cheonan (the characters in the title was taken from a Japanese news source, if the Korean to Japanese is correct then the ships name would be translated into English as ‘Heavenly Peace’ or something in that regard[2]) was sunk around the North/South Korean maritime border[3]. After investigation and deliberation by South Korea (and an international team of inspectors) it was only recently determined to be an external explosion caused by a North Korean torpedo[4]. There have been 46 reported casualties in the sinking of the Cheonan. North Korea has denied any involvement but evidence is fairly convincing otherwise.
Back in late March/early April when I first heard of this, I was not particularly fazed or alarmed because incidents of this nature are not an uncommon occurrence. A history of similar clashes between North and South Korea is detailed in a Christian Science Monitor article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0416/Sinking-South-Korea-s-ship-wouldn-t-be-North-Korea-s-first-provocative-act . North Korea also has a history of nefarious behavior with other neighbor countries like Japan. Point being North Korea is no stranger to acting provocatively, but the reactions coming from usual suspect countries has been quite stern.
Reactions
The reaction by South Korea running up to the findings of the recent investigation has been commendably measured. South Korea was quick to, well, be prudent. After multilateral consensus about the causes of the attack South Korea has bolstered its military vigilance and spending, stopping trade and commerce between the two, and an increase of radio/loudspeaker propaganda traffic over the DMZ border. [5]
North Korea has responded to South Korean threats by ending formal relations with South Korea and exiting the non-aggression pact[6]. The fate of the Kaesong economic zone is also up in the air, changing as I write this[7].
The response by the Japanese government is sternly behind South Korea. Japan has begun discussion on ramping up sanctions[8], suspending financial activity between Japan and North Korea, increasing the vigilance of the JSDF (Japanese Self-Defense Force)[9], and calling for action at the UN.
The United States has so far condemned North Korea and asked China to act responsibly to the situation (more specifically US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while touring Asian countries). The United States and Japan have also begun talks in regards to the future of North Korea on regional security[10].
China has called for nations involved to act calmly and act only to maintain peaceful relations on the peninsula[11].
Fallout and Impacts
I doubt conflict will be the ultimate conclusion of the recent turn of events. It is simply in no one’s interest for conflict to occur. There remains interesting implications for how neighboring countries in East Asia and the United States view each other afterwards.
If China continues to play soft with North Korea it will not add legitimacy in the eyes of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. It is constantly harped on in news sources and from experts that North Korean stability is important to China because of their concern of a possible flood of refugees from North Korea. This is often indicative of China’s motivation for how they handle escapees of North Korea currently. While stability is important for more than just China, the status quo of stability is not favorable to the long term security of northeast Asia. In kind, China’s refusal to provide impetus for reform in North Korea is viewed by the 6-party nations as irresponsible. If China acts in a way unfavorable to South Korea, Japan, and the United States it will only support the idea that although China’s economic and military power has increased dramatically its ability to act as a responsible political entity in the Asian community is questionable. Alternatives fall onto the Japan-US alliance in the Pacific and in general leads to a greater faith in these countries from South Korea. The call for China to be responsible comes not only from the US, but also South Korea as seen in a Chosun Ilbo editorial[12].
The impact for South Korea is so far quite negative. The uncertainty about the escalation has affected the South Korean stock market adversely and the reunification/peace process has undoubtedly been set back. Naturally if war ends up erupting it is not good for either country, North Korea more than anyone, but South Korea could also be in grave danger (think massive amounts of artillery that is pointed at Seoul). It should be mentioned that elections are looming in South Korea and it will be interesting to see how President Lee Myung-Bak will be affected.
I will group Japan and the United States together because there are some impacts that are unique to these two countries. It appears this event will bolster the U.S.-Japan security relationship because the event shows a material reason for having U.S. presence in Japan when the Futenma issue is still very much alive. Also the U.S. and Japanese response in juxtaposition to China’s extended shrugging-of-shoulders makes the U.S. and Japan more viable partners in the eyes of South Korea in the future. I would not expect this impact to be close to a major shift, China is here to stay, but it does not reflect well when you do not take a harder line against South Korea’s now “number one enemy”[13]. Both the U.S. and Japanese military are going to be on guard, but naturally this will affect the U.S. more than Japan.
It is difficult to gauge what is going on and what will happen in North Korea, especially in the upcoming days. There are some things to think about though. The past year has been an interesting one with North Korea, namely in regards to the poor monetary choices by the North Korean government which made North Koreans wealth even more worthless. Succession is also a fast-approaching possibility. If war actually broke out and China cut North Korea loose it could be the beginning of the end and East Asia would have to brace for a collapse in North Korea.
Something Like A Conclusion
My main conclusion is this issue is probably more important for how it reflects on relations between East Asian countries rather than an actual military conflict occurring, at least hopefully so. More specifically it could easily be another case of China refusing to act in a responsible manner. While China is correct in hoping for peace to be maintained, the status quo it supports is not very conducive to stopping brinkmanship or long-term stability. In general China’s position to North Korea is based on economic engagement and procuring natural resources. In and of itself this is not a bad thing because of the leverage it provides China. Personally, this aspect of China’s North Korea policy is important to look at when we think of the effectiveness of sanctions. If China does not engage in sanctions then sanctions become counter-productive, but also it highlights why sanctions are not a particularly effective strategy. Imagine if the U.S. had a similar relationship with North Korea and actually used said leverage responsibly. That is an issue of too little too late, so we can only ask China to do what China should do if its legitimate neighbors should trust China.
Note on sources: I tried to use a variety of sources when looking at this issue and I am sure there are many good ones I missed. I have referenced the Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Reuters, Koreas’ JoonAng Daily and Chosun Ilbo, China’s Xinhua news service and Japan’s Yomiuri.
Most misleading article title I found while doing this entry: "Okada's Japan thrown into chaos by Korea". I thought the reference was to the Foreign Minister Okada...nope it was the soccer coach of the Japanese national soccer team that was defeated by South Korea 2-0...
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