Proletariat Art at Kichioji

 

Last week I saw a fantastic show out at the Kichioji Art Museum on social movements and the proletariat in mid-twentieth century Japanese art. The exhibition was small, but powerful.

 

 

The show was titled "We Are Real 1920s-1950s From Proletariat Art to Reportage" and included four galleries packed with political art, art which attempted to raise the status of the worker, and art related to war.

 

 

Not only were the selected artworks powerful in their message, but the way in which the pieces were closely placed, including cases of published materials, made for an intense experience.

 

 

After viewing the exhibit, I wandered back to the station through the many vibrant, lively shopping streets in the area, pausing for a fantastic piece of black-tea flavored cake at a sunny little shop.

 

Call to Action!

Today, March 28, is the National Day to Demand Action.

It has been 100 days since Newton, CT. Please join and call your Senators to demand sensible gun control laws in our country.

Thirty-three people die every day from gun violence in America. Just last week a university student was shot during a robbery in his home here in Kansas City. Another senseless tragedy.

Call and demand universal background checks on all sales. Call and demand a ban on high capacity ammunition magazines. Call and demand stricter laws for straw purchases and gun trafficking. Call and demand a ban on assault weapons. Call and demand an end to online sales and stockpiling of ammunition.

It is harder to purchase beer than it is to purchase a gun in this country.

People say that these measures- common sense measures- won't stop the violence. Sure, speed limits don't stop all traffic deaths. Drug laws don't stop all abuse. But they do make an impact. We need to start somewhere. What if we could save just three lives a day? Twenty-one lives a week?

Gun extremists say that gun laws make their lives "inconvenient." Well, it's inconvenient to register one's car at the DMV, but we all see the benefits in having insurance and registration for automobiles. There are more gun shops than post offices in America- it is not inconvenient to prevent someone from dying. It is called being a responsible citizen. It is called caring for humanity. It is called caring for your community and for your neighbors. It is called being a patriot.

Call now. E-mail now. Be a part of the solution. Save the life of a parent, of a sister, of a child, of a friend. Your life depends on it.

http://www.demandaction.org/events

Rape Culture

People are often confused by the term "rape culture." The coverage of the Steubenville Rape Trial exemplifies America's rape culture.

The rape trial in Steubenville was pretty straightforward: high school football stars rape a drunk classmate, post about it to social media, text their friends, and try to deny it all later. The evidence shows their guilt- they are rapists. The courts have deemed them guilty. Their statements show their misogyny and their completely flippant attitude towards the horrific act of violence that they committed. Their language was graphic, their photos lewd. They only apologized once they realized that the victim intended to press charges, and their only true lament was that they photographed and documented their actions. They are predators. They deserve to be in prison for far longer than they will be. They deserve no sympathy for the punishment that they received for the sexual assault that will haunt their victim for so many years. They are rapists.

The sick thing is how our rape culture tries to twist the scenario- she shouldn't have had so much to drink, they shouldn't have posted their exploits to social media, they are all young and didn't know what they were doing. This is all b.s. Sure, she shouldn't have been drunk, but this is no excuse to rape. Blaming the victim is a sign of a rape culture- one where rapists are excused and the victims are made out to be the problem. The victims intoxication harmed no one but herself. She would face the consequences of a hangover, of poor health, of social embarassment. Their rape was a direct assault. The only thing it did was to harm an innocent victim. One of the Kansas City news stations called the trial a "lesson in posting to social media." This is just as twisted as blaming the victim- blaming the evidence. How about this is a lesson in not being a rapist?!? Yes, their posts and texts made for easy evidence of guilt, but the wrongdoing was in the original act, not in the evidence that they created. Yes, part of Ohio's rape laws include digital rape- the non-consentual photos- but they also physically raped their victim. And their remorse should be for the action, not for the fact that digital media and social media was what caught them.

We as a society need to stop rape culture. We need to stop blaming victims. We need to stop caring about the fate of the football players who violently assaulted a young woman. We need to start caring about the future of that young woman- the victim.

Starting anew

 

It's been one month since the Newtown massacre. 

The post that I wrote on that horrific afternoon has attracted a good deal of attention. It has been re-posted to people's Facebook walls, found in Google searches, and brought more traffic to this blog than any other single post I have written in the past seven years. I usually have a few readers a day, a few hundred a month. I had nearly 500 readers in the two weeks after Newtown. Even this week the Newtown post had 21 page reads. These aren't people who come to the blog, but who specifically click on that post.

In light of this, I have found it difficult to post something else. All our holiday fun, winter play, baking Christmas cookies, all of that seemed so shallow in light of the loss of life in Connecticut. 

I decided today that it is time to start anew. The terrible violence of that day is not something we should move on from. It is not something we should forget. We all must continue to fight against the NRA as a powerful lobby that advocates for the economic interests of gun manufacturers. We must fight to ban military-style assault weapons for the civilian population. We must fight to ban large capacity clips. There are simply no rational reasons for the civilian population to have these things. There are plenty of historical and Constitutional precedents for banning items that were previously legal. 

Two groups that are working to this end are One Million Moms 4 Gun Control and Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Over 800 people have died from gun violence since Newtown. Over eight hundred. We have a firearm homicide rate in this country that is nearly twenty times that of other wealthy countries. This has nothing to do with mental health (people are mentally ill in other countries), violence in the media (Japan has violence in popular culture and virtually zero gun violence), or fortifying our schools (Columbine had armed guards, as did the second VA Tech, and the Ft. Hood shooter was surrounded by armed military). Our extremely high rate of gun homicide is simply related to our lax gun laws and the prevalence of firearms in our society. It is time to take action. To stand up. To have our voices heard. To take back our country from the militarization of the civilian population.

For now, I'll be returning to my usual banter of random art, politics, travel, and food. Gun violence is something that has long concerned me, so I'll keep posting when something of interest comes up. The above photo is a close-up of the winter white flowers I bought at the grocery this evening. Something pure and crisp to brighten the chilly days of January.

Tomatoes and Education

It's fascinating how education changes our opinions.

This is true of everything from the Affordable Care Act to vegetables. As a supporter of health care equality for all, I'm frustrated when I read that the majority of Americans support the individual provisions of the ACA, but because of the propaganda they hear on t.v. or in other media, do not support the law as a whole. I strongly believe that if educated about the ACA, only the most cruel among us would chose to deny care to 45 million people, to deny care to people with pre-existing conditions, to take away coverage from people when they fall ill, or to systematically discriminate against women by forcing them to pay higher rates for no reason other than gender, which are all things that the ACA protects us from, and are all things that exist in our current system and will remain if ACA is repealed. I have yet to hear an argument for why the Affordable Care Act is not a good thing, unless the argument involves lies such as the always hilarious Sarah Pailn's claim that there are "death panels" involved. And I'm fascinated to hear the conservative rhetoric today about repeal. This was a conservative bill, the ideas of which were originally introduced by the conservative Heritage Fountadion, was the same style as Romney's health care in Massachusetts, and was approved by a conservative Supreme Court which in their written opinion discussed limitations on the Commerce Clause- a huge conservative victory. Why are they complaining?

In the parallel world of food (also related to health), I read a fascinating NPR story on mass produced tomatoes, and why they taste so poor. I read this while eating lunch on the patio and eating leftover pizza that we made with farmers market heirloom tomatoes and arugula. We did cheat and bought the Trader Joe's pre-made refrigerated pizza dough, but topped it with tomatoes of all colors and sizes. The purple ones were particularly delicious, which got me thinking about why people think they want a uniformly red store-bought tomato when heirloom local varieties are so much better. My best guess is education- that people are not aware of what they are missing. That combined with marketing and habit. I'm still waiting for my three varieties of heirloom tomatoes to ripen in my garden, but tomorrow is market day, and I can't wait to pick up more tasty orange, yellow, and purple varieties for the week, and now, thanks to the story linked above, I know to look for green shoulders. Education.

Super Simple Weeknight Pizza:
Roll out refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough (either your own, or store bought) on a pizza stone. Top lightly with pizza sauce, this could be tomato sauce, pureed tomatoes from a can or jar, or store bought pizza sauce. Toss on a liberal amount of chopped tomatoes (about two cups), top with chopped arugula (we bought one bunch from our farmer, so about two cups), add about a cup of shredded mozzarella and sprinkle with dried oregano and basil. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Yum!

A Voice of Reason from the Supreme Court

Indeed, it was a great day.

I came home from the gym this morning, checked my e-mail and was so pleased (overjoyed, perhaps) to find out that I passed the French translation exam that I took last week. And then, as I open the New York Times to do a five minute review of the news before getting to work- bam- my day got even better- the Affordable Care Act was judged constitutional by the Supreme Court! Finally, the U.S. is getting closer to the basic standards of health care enjoyed by every other industrialized nation on Earth. Finally, children won't be denied care because of a pre-existing condition. Finally, those who work for themselves or for small companies won't be punished by being denied affordable coverage due to their desire to work outside of the large corporate system. Finally, the working poor will have access to preventative care. Now if only we could create a system of health care not based on profits, we'd be closer to the care other nations have, but I'll take this small victory as a first step.

Thank you, Supreme Court. America just became a better place to live.

Voted

Really...

Obama!

Wow.
It`s been quite an afternoon. Thankfully I only had to teach in the morning today, and for the last 4 hours or so, I have been anxiously watching the election results online, switching between news websites, watching livestream tv, checking in with friends and family via phone, text messages, e-mail, and facebook. The Japanese teachers have been poping in from time to time, and my Australian co-worker has been watching with me. I am certainly grateful to live in a world that is so connected, and I am thrilled to be able to watch this election happen live.
I just watched Obama`s victory speech in my hometown of Chicago, teary and with chills running down my spine. What an amazing day for America. What a great moment in history. How pleasant to have an election that was not marred by issues in the electoral college or with disinfranchsement. I am so proud of my country, something that I have not said much in the last 8 years. Today is also my birthday, and this is the best birthday present that I could ever imagine.
Thank you America, and thank you Obama!!

Two things I love- Obama and Japan

A video made by citizens in the Japanese city of Obama. Very reminiscent of Japanese television. Hilarious.

Tonsilitis 扁桃腺炎

I've been reading my friend Erin's blog about her life in China this week and I realized that I have posted very little information here about daily life in Japan. All of my blog posts revolve around politics, photos, art, or travel, which says alot about my personality. I am resolving to be more well-rounded in my blogging- let me know what you think!
So today I had a very "real" daily life experience- I took a sick day from work and went to the doctor. For about 2 weeks now I've had a cough and sore throat. I've been putting off going to the doctor hoping that I would get better on my own, which is my usual strategy for combating illness. Well, I haven't been sleeping well because I have been waking up a few times with coughing spells in the middle of the night, and last night Joe complained during my 3 a.m. spell that I was being loud (though he didn't remember saying this in the morning), so I figured it was time to put my socialized health care coverage to the test. It was amazing.
First let me say that I love the idea of socialized medicine. I loved Sicko. I really loved the Frontline special Sick Around the World; so much so that I used it as the basis of a speech I had to give in my Japanese language class last year (if you haven't seen it click on the link, you can stream the entire program on the internet). So I was pretty excited to try out the system.
I rode my bike to the local hospital, about 10 minutes away (here one goes to the hospital, not a family doctor). I entered and spoke with the greeter (for lack of a better title) at the door who assisted me in filling out the short form for a first time visit. I then took this form to the check-in counter where the receptionist helped me fill out a form detailing my illness. I took this form to the Ear, Nose and Throat department and waited for about 35 minutes before seeing a doctor. The doctor (a specialist at that!) poked around in my throat and asked me a few questions, most of which I understood. At this point I was feeling pretty good about my Japanese, I've cheked in, explained my condition, we've had some exchange. Then he declares my condition, but I don't understand. He sees the blank look on my face and writes the English word "tonsil" on a sheet of paper before I can look up the Japanese word in my dictionary. So I have tonsilitis. Visit finished. I get a sheet of paper from the department receptionist and head back to the front waiting area. I turn in the paper and wait about 5 minutes before I'm called up to the payment counter. Total cost of visit: 1,800 yen, about $18. Then I deliver my receipt of payment to another window where I receive yet another document which I take to a desk where three ladies stand behind fax machines (all 3 of these last windows are within 10 feet of each other). The woman shows me a map of the hospital parking lot which has four pharmacies surrounding it and asks which one I would like to get my prescription from. I ask which is best, she says they are all the same. So I select the one that is closest to the bicycle parking, my prescription is faxed over and I'm done. I walk over to the pharmacy and by the time I get there (3 minutes) they know who I am when I walk in the door. I show my insurance card again and fill out a short form, wait for 5 minutes and walk out with my prescription. I received 2 sets of pills that I will take for 5 days 3 times a day, an antibiotic and an anti-inflamatory. Total drug cost: 700 yen, less than $7.
All told, I left my house at about 10 a.m. and was home with a take-out lunch by 11:30. The total cost of my visit and drugs was less than my co-pay for a doctor visit in the U.S., and the amount that I pay monthly is much less than what we were paying for our insurance in the states. I have to say that my care was faster, more efficient and far more pleasant than what I have received at home. Sure I had to wait 35 minutes, but when I tried to get an appointment with my doctor in Kansas in June I was told it was over 2 weeks for non-emergencies. All this AND I rocked my Japanese language skills (at least in my perception!).
At my last dental visit in the U.S. the dentist lectured me about the perils of socialized medicine while he was doing the exam. How I would have to wait for any visit or procedure and how the care would be sub-standard. I couldn't argue with him then because my mouth was filled with dental instruments, but I can ceratinly argue now, especially after having such a good experience today. I know that every nation has issues with health care, but I certainly think that the U.S. has alot to learn (ok, so I got political afterall...).
Here's to hoping that in 5 days I'm all healed!

Side note: I have started linking information within the text of this blog- if you see a highlighted word you can click on it to link to additional information on the web. I can't guarantee that this info is accurate (as in the case of Wikipedia, etc.), but I will attempt to find legitimate sources.

Day eight- Yokosuka and Yokohama

Our last day in Tokyo was spent to the south at Yokosuka Navy base. For someone of my political leanings, this was not the easiest day, but in retrospect I learned alot, even if it was uncomfortable. The military people we met were very nice on a personal level, even if our ideas about larger issues such as military spending, Iraq, and percieved threats are at odds. We had a tour of the base with a Commander, and heard from two Admirals about the role of Yokosuka in Asia, and how they percieve China and North Korea from a Navy perspective, as well as defense agreements between Japan and the U.S.
































After lunch, which was very American, we heard from the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. The Ambassador is an old friend of Mr. Bush, so his political perspectives were a bit interesting. My favorite moment was when he commented on the perception that the U.S. wants everyone to be like us. He stated that he did not think everyone should be like us, but rather that the U.S. only wants for all people to select their own leaders through democracy. A facinating comment considering the U.S. involvement in instating puppet leaders all over the world, and also considering our recent military activities abroad. I also enjoyed his statement, "democracies do not go to war with each other because people have the chance to choose their own government." So, why is it then that considering our historic status as a democracy that the U.S. has such a large military? And what's today's statistic on how many U.S. citizens approve of the current war? I am sorry to report that I was not selected in the question and answer period, and that the Ambassador only accepted a few questions. Facinating perspective on the world, though.
















After our political talk we spent the rest of the afternoon touring the U.S. ship the Blue Ridge, and then a Japanese Naval ship located across the harbor. The sailors on the ship were very hospitable and interested in discussing what life is like at sea.
































On the Japanese ship.




































We left Yokosuka in the late afternoon and headed over to Yokohama, the Chinatown area of Tokyo for dinner and some free time.

Fall Break

So, I have some catch-up blogging to do. This post is really about our mid-October Fall Break. KU gives us a four day weekend in mid-semester, which turns out to be a good time for a four day weekend, as the leaves are usually changing, but the weather in Kansas is still pleasant. Joe took some time off of work, and we had planned on taking a four day camping trip, but alas, the weather was not with us. So, we instead took a one night camping trip at nearby Clinton Lake State Park, and spent some serious time in the kitchen, making butternut squash ravioli and homemade pasta, as well as pumpkin pie. It was quite the fall feast. In a way it was a nice harvest celebration, as we were using the last of the local organic veggies from our farmer co-op, Rolling Prairie. For those of you not in the know, a farmer co-op is like a vegetable subscription service. We give a downpayment in early Spring, and commit to getting veggies from a group of 8 farmers all season long, which is about half of the year in our climate. Every week we pick up 6-8 servings of seasonal local veggies and pay our fee at the begining of each month. So, we had some pumpkins and squash to use, and the sage in our backyard garden was also in need of use. Anyway, it was fantastic weekend of cooking, camping, hiking, and relaxing. :)