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The Japanese Food Report

Expediting

Passport expediting has moved into the technological age. You can now have instant access to frequently asked questions about how to go about getting what you need in a hurry. There is a wealth of information at your fingertips. Applying for the ultra quick processing service has never been easier. All of your questions are laid out plainly and easily online, with their corresponding answers.

Identity

One of the first things you will have to supply to the processing agency will be documents that confirm your identity and your nationality. If you do not have these on hand, it will be difficult for helpful staff to process your application. It is possible, however, to obtain and produce copies of these documents. As long as they are certified, they will be accepted.

Mobile Access

Application forms are available at regional centers. You can also download them from your mobile phone or from specific Internet sites. Going to your local office with the completed application form, your documents and also photographs can mean a bit of a wait but it is one way to secure getting your travel document in one day.

Transmitting Documents

There also exists the option to submit your application electronically. This speeds up the process even more. Be aware though, that you will pay extra for a quick delivery. This is due to the fact that the service you are engaging with requires the use of extra resources.

Online Services

Most people find that either using the services that are located in their local office or online services are the quickest option. Postal applications generally take up to three weeks for processing but at peak times, this figure can double. Going to the government offices with all of your documents and a completed application form will certainly bring you success.

Cost

Payment for United States passport name change will vary. This depends on which service is used and how quickly you want the passport issued. It will also be influenced by the time of year that you are making your application. Holiday periods often see a larger number of applications. For those who find themselves stranded at the airport, issuers can provide a delivery as one of their top-of-the-line services.

The climax of the chorus of the recent chart topping song by teenage girl-band, ‘idol group’ NMB48 is “steel panties,” refering to their collective intention not to take them off for their boyfriend until they are 20 years of age. The song’s title, “Junjou U19″ means “Pure (i.e. non sexual) emotion or affection, and the “U19″ may mean under or equal to 19, since the lyrics mention adulthood which is considered to be from 20. The boyfriends are going to have a long wait in some instances because at least one of the members is 13 years old. Yes, indeed, only 13 years old.

Having seen the video, it seems that it has been created with the intention to include as many ways as possible of allowing the viewers to feel that they can or will see the “steel panties” refered to the in the lyrics, with low camera angles, miniskirts, rotating girls, somersaulting girls, girls lying down, hanging from wires, rolling over balls, on tightropes, a trapeze, podia, and finally fired from a circus cannon. I think it is very inventive, but not to my taste.

Japan is bursting at its creative seams. Donald Richie’s “The Image Factory: Fads and fashions in Japan,” details the many ways in which Japan is a powerhouse of creative image making. Alas, the myriad images that Japan makes are different, and often not popular among those with Western sensitivities.

A big problem for human society, perhaps the biggest, is encouraging men and women to cooperate. There are two extremely effective ways of doing this. 1) Persuade all members of society that they are neutred men. 2) Persuade all members of society that they are wombless, bloodless women. The West takes the former route, Japan the latter. In each case it is imperative that the unattractive parts of the idealised sex are banished: their desire in each case is taboo. Jesus was a man in his ability to lead, be righteous, brave, and strong but there was no one iota of lewdness about him. The idealised woman in Japan is similarly, self-sacrificing and supposedly berift of desire. The Western “gentle” man, and Japanese “idol” stop at the waist, they are castrated, spayed, anaemic, and perfect.

This repression however, gives rise to even greater desire for its disolution, for (in the West) a gentleman who is also an ape man; Tarzan/Earl Greystoke a combination of pure male sex and complete gentrified repression. I think that NMB48 are the Japanese equivalent of Tarzan/Greystoke, pure sex, and pure chasity rolled (often literally) into one steel pantie.

The idealized synthesis of purity and sexuality (Ranger, 2011) is also found to an extent in the British lady, such as portrayed by Audredy Hepburn (who was tremendously popular in Japan) in the naivity of the characters played by Marylyn Munroe (though she was a little too sexy, and not quite pure enough for Japanese taste) and the disembodied chamellion Lady Gaga who almost seems a little Japanese. However, In Japan there is a desire for a more extreme synthesis which is why we see thirteen year old chidren, in miniskirts, singing about sex, wearing “steel panties”.

Other examples of Tarzan, that the Japanese need to import if they are to enjoy, include the macho heroes such portrayed by Arnold Schwarnegger, and Sylvester Stallone, who are an idealised synthesis of testosterone and righteousness.

NMB48 poster by MadAdminSkilz copyright Kyoraku Yoshimoto Holdings Co., Ltd.
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Japanese Culture

The labels indicate the percentage of first year university students that study (out side of class) in each of the time bands. For example nearly ten percent of Japanese students do not study at all, whereas in the US only 0.3% of students avoid study entirely. More than two thirds (66.8%) of Japanese university students study only 1-5 hours per week –at most an hour per weekday– whereas this percentage is only about 15% in the US. The above graph is based on data collected by the Central Council for Education of the Japanese Department for Education and Science, as reported on the front page of today’s (2012/2/16) Asahi Newspaper.

The newspaper reports that, alarmed at these statistics, the Ministry of Sports Science and Technology intends to implement entrance and exit tests to ensure that university students are studying more, with a view to creating graduates that can be major players on the global stage (グローバルに活躍する人材, Asahi, 2012).

There is nothing new in the these type of comparisons. Brian J. McVeigh’s comprehensive, though damning and as yet untranslated, “Japanese Higher Education As Myth,” as well as many domestic commentators, have been pointing out that academically, Japanese universities are allow students to concentrate on their part time jobs, their club and social activities rather than ensuring they study academically. As Mc.Veigh points out, Japanese academic has no academic ethos, little awareness of the value of study, so as soon as escalator of entrance exams end, so does the motivation to study.

The Japanese education department indends to extend the escalator, adding stricter assessments at the end of university life, forcing students to study while they are university if they are to go on to graduate and get a job.

They are going to require that Japanese university teachers become stricter in their evaluations and refused to allow students to graduate even though they have a job lined up. And even though the company ready to employ that student is not nearly so concerned, when compared with US companies, with the academic achievement of the students it intends to employ.

Japanese companies do not care so much about whether students have studied academically during their time at university. If a student has invested time and energy into their club or part time job, achieved a position of responsibility, or shown intelligent, practical, creative endeavour in any aspect of their lives (including academically) then they are happy to hire them. Some companies shy away from students who are particularly academic, perhaps with the belief that having too many scholarly types in the office does not make for successful business. Japanese companies stress ‘on the job training’, and learning by experience so that university graduates start at the bottom and do not come into work situations where they are expected to apply the theories that they have learnt at college.

The education that Japanese universities have provided, therefore, may be argued to be in line with the demands of Japanese society. Theories – which is after all what universities teach – are not as useful, or as lauded in Japan. Providing interesting lectres, opportunities to interact with each other, be stimulated, experience academe and the lifestyle of academics in “seminars,” and to gain life experience in part time jobs and clubs, has provided Japanese students with the social skills training required of them in (non-theory based, non-logocentric) Japanese society.

I set a large amount of homework in my English classes especially. I use online testing to force my students to study outside of class. I believe for students to be competative in a declining economy, academic study is important. But at the same time I fear that Japanese universities are by their attempt to mimic Western universities are going to present fewer opportunities for students to obtain the flexibility and social skills that Japanese society still requires.

One of the reasons why Japanese students do part time jobs is because there are few immigrants, or a ‘working class’ doing them instead. University students are the working class of Japan. The man the pumps, wash the dishes, serve at tables, and work in the fast food restaurants. The same lack of an underclass obviates the need for a university educated elite. Japanese fulfill all roles at different ages of their lives.

The University evolved out of seminaries, training schools for priests. Their original specialisations were theological studies of the Bible and the Koran. Westerners, and those of the “book religions” believe that one can live ones life based upon the advice gained from the pages of a book, by applying theories.

It seems to me that Japanese companies and their employees have been major players on the international stage. So major were their plays that British industry was wiped out by competition from Japan. As Japan mimics the West more and more, and as Japanese university graduates wonder become more and more out of phase with the living tradition of their employers, will the Japanese economic miracle continue to function so well?

I try to encourage my students and colleagues to integrate theoretical learning with practical experience. I have argued that we should be teaching “part-time job theory,” and “club theory,” and encourage students to research and analyse these areas of their lives. I hope there is a middle path.

Japanese Culture

And then…disaster. During our absence, our house had been broken into. They entered through an old side door that we were going to replace or just block up soon, and seem to have done a snatch and grab job. They took, among other things, the food processor, KitchenAid mixer, Bamix stick blender, and one of our hotplates (the more valuable one). They took the microwave/convection oven too. They left the rice cooker, probably because they didn’t know what it was. So now we have even less of a kitchen than before. Besides kitchen stuff they took the TV, my Cinema Display monitor, my computer speakers, the Wii and the few Wii games we had (but they stupidly left the Wii board behind), a bunch of DVDs, my Wacom tablet, the camera tripod (but they left behind our studio lighting setup) and our old and broken Nikon D70s camera. What hurts the most is that they took all of my hard disks except the portable ones that I had with me. All of my backups, all my media data including my music and ripped TV and movie collection that took me years and years to build, all gone. (It looks like I can re-download my previous iTunes music and TV purchases (thank you iCloud!) but not my movie purchases (bummer, and curse you MPAA)).

Thank goodness most of my photo files are on my portable disks. And we’re an all-laptop household so we had our computers with us.

Do I feel angry, upset, violated? You bet. One of the worst things, besides them knocking down a whole bunch of stuff, overturning boxes and drawers and dumping things on the floor, was the footprints. They stepped all over my clothes, the towels, and on my bed. There was a clear footprint on a white towel I had on my office chair, and one of my desk legs is wobbly, probably because they were on the desk too.

The footprints are small. The police think the perpetrators are kids, maybe trained kids from an organized, probably Romany (or gypsy to use the non-PC-these-days term), burglary gang. It seems they are a known problem in this area.

What made me both laugh (and thus gain back a bit of sanity) and really shake my head was that the burglars also took an almost-full but opened bottle of Omo, a clothes detergent, and a full pack of toilet paper. Toilet paper! Maybe they took that and the Omo back to Mom. Heh. And I’ve just discovered that they screwed off, and apparently took (we can’t see them anywhere) two knobs off an IKEA glass cabinet I have in my room. Who in their right mind steals pretty much worthless IKEA knobs? And just 2? (They left 1 behind.)

Last night, I was so upset that I was seriously thinking of just selling up here and moving back to Switzerland, or even back to the U.S. Or spending a very long time in Japan, even if it means barging into my mother and stepfather’s place. This morning I’m a bit more clearheaded. Burglaries occur anywhere after all. It’s not like it’s any safer in the U.S. Switzerland and Japan may be safer, but they are not crime-free either. What really helped a lot was experiencing some immediate kindness, one from a stranger. The building diagonally opposite from ours is also being renovated, into a three-story apartment. The Guy has said hello to the owner-builders, a father and son (the son is going to move in to the top floor apartment when they are done) but didn’t know them beyond that. Last night the son, without us even asking, came over and put up a big, thick board with an iron support beam holding it in place against the broken door. Later on our contractor came over to reinforce the blockage, at 8:30 on a Sunday evening. And another elderly neighbor offered to shoot any intruders if he ever saw them. (I don’t think we’ll take him up on that offer but the sentiment is appreciated.)

Anyway, we have insurance, which should cover the monetary value of the items lost, though probably not the value of the data. And we have to block up that entrance and secure the house better. I guess we’ve gotten a big wakeup call. Even in such an idyllic area, there is crime and we have to protect ourselves appropriately. We have to finish up the construction work and secure the house, and probably put in a security system.

And this week, my radiation therapy starts, to zap the remaining cancer cells in my body.

You know that old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times”? Well, my times right now are sure interesting.

Hoping to return to normal programming soon…as you can understand I’m still quite a bit jumpy.

ETA: It’s now Tuesday and I’m still finding things that are gone, or broken. It’s so disheartening.

ETA no. 2: I really, really appreciate all your words of sympathy. Two things I wanted to address though:

• Let us not get into racial epithets and insults. Let’s just not stoop to that level.
• Several people have offered to or suggested a collection or a wish list or something. I really appreciate the sentiment but I have to say no to that. I am fine, except for the general shock and anger and having to try to clear up the mess and figure out what is missing, and all of that fun stuff. (This morning I found out that they’ve taken our mop and mop heads, cleaning bucket, some other cleaning supplies, the vacuum cleaner parts, an electric drill and some hand tools. Petty theft, indeed.) We have insurance. We can afford to fix things so our house is more secure. My lost data hurts…but much of it is just irreplaceable, like some home videos and documentaries and things that were DVR’ed a long time ago. I’m sure that with time, I’ll be able to replace the movies and things that were on those stolen disks, that I really miss. I had my laptop with me, as did The Guy, and we did not lose our important work data. There are people that are in really dire straits, who really need help. I would feel terrible if I received monetary assistance for my relatively trivial losses. Again, I thank you so much for the sentiment. It is really helping me to cope. ^_^

Just Hungry – Japanese food! Authentic, mostly healthy Japanese recipes for everyone

A Japanese news program about the discovery of a dead shark in Tokyo’s Yoyogi park:

Police officials said that a shark measuring about 1.5 meters in length had been found without its offal. The shark was probably left there between the night of Feb. 18 and the morning of Feb. 19 and officials say it may constitute a case of unlawful dumping.

The news program shows us the exact spot where the shark was found, near a bicycle parking area. Although the shark was taken away, they used CG to recreate what it looked like when it was first discovered.

Last week, a dead shark was on display outside a sushi restaurant about a kilometer from the park. An expert was shown photos of the two sharks and believes that both are Salmon sharks. The owner of the sushi restaurant says it could be the same shark. The restaurant had given the dead shark over to a somebody claiming to be an artist on February 15th and was apparently unaware of what happened to it after that.

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Japan Probe

The angle of the wheels on this Honda Life (light car) is called “Onikyan” which is short for Oni Kyanba- or wheels at a fiendishly inclined camber. Wheels positioned in this way result in degraded performance and very uneven tyre wear so their only merit is their (“rather bad”) appearance.

The creator of this masterpiece said that he wanted to demonstrate his prowess at customisation (he is particularly good with this area of the car). While the car is currently not road legal he believes that it could be driven to local cities such as Hiroshiima and Fukuoka to take part in “dress up” (Customisation) car shows. Approximately half of the revenue of this garage is for “regular work” and half for show-ization (sho-ka) to make cars ready for “dress up” car-customization shows.

The size of the automotive aftermarket parts market is about the same per capita (about 580 dollars in Japan, 2007 figures, to about 600 dollars per capita in the US) but Japanese cars do fewer miles and are on the road for less time and are of a higher reliability, so presumably a far greater proportion of that market is spent on non-essential, customization of the car.

As another indication of the extent to which Japanese people like to pimp their ride, all of the companies (Mode Parfum (Blow Design), Aimgain, Wald, Junction Produce, Anceltion (RIP)) recommended as offering “Vip Styling kits” in this English language article on how to make your car look like a VIP’s (pimp’s?) car are Japanese companies.

Additional evidence that the Japanese are the kings car customization includes the fact that Japanese jargon refering to styles of car-customization, such as “hippari” to refer to stretching tyres onto outsized rims for a super low profile tyre/wheel.

It is my contention that people express their individualism not to others, or even specific internalised others, but to their “generalised other” (Mead) their Super-addressee (Bakhtin), the Other (Lacan), or Super-Ego (Freud) of their psyche, “Thou” (Buber/Nishida) or their gods, which in Japan do not listen but look. The Japanese desire to individuate and enhance themselves in the eye of their Other, since it is from this position that they see themselves objectively as lovable, individual human beings.

The Japanese are no so keen, on the other hand, on tuning up their cars so that they go at a fastest speed from point A to point B. Speeds are purely linguistic achievements. Making it look like their cars are going at the fastest speed (e.g. by “drifting”) on the other hand, is highly descirble as do cars that simply look individual like the example above.

Videos of “Demon Camber” cars (with swearing)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H11E0zwI7QA

Video of this particular car at a show in Hiroshima
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gAlQLH9O0A

Japanese Culture

The most important festival of the Shinto religion is the New Year Festival. At this time Japanese people will visit a shrine, give their children money, and eat certain foods one of which are rice cakes said to contain the spirit of Amaterasu, the mirror-sun-goddess. In traditional homes, such as farm houses, and in some schools and community centres, the rice cakes are made in a traditional way known as “mochi-tsuki” or rice beating.

In a well known Japanese dictionary (Koujien 4th edition) it says that, “Amotsuki” (餅搗）, an old but not defunct word for “mochi-tsuki” which means beating rice to make rice cakes, was used as a metaphor for “boji”(房事） which means coitus.

The rice beating ritual performed at New Year gave me a impression of representing coitus when, as is traditional, a woman turns the rice while her husband beats it.

In the ritual that I saw performed, and took part in, a woman knelt or crouched down beside the “usu” (bowl) and make relatively high pitched noises encouraging a man wielding a big mallet to beat the rice cake, sometimes with a grunt. Apparently quite a lot of males die each year of heart attack as they wield their mallet. The ritual is quite hard work. The men build up a sweat. The rice cake becomes more and more gooey. The thwack, thwack of the mallet (kinu) hitting the gooey rice in the bowl resounds. Finally everyone rejoices partaking of the gooey white rice cake. It is quite a carbohydrate high after all that exertion. Bearing in mind the shape of the tools used, the gender division of labor, their relative positions, and the color and consistency of the final product, I made an interpretation which prompted my my Japanese friends to call me a pervert. Then one day I was reading my dictionary and came across the entry above.

These metaphors may be quite irrelevant and coincidental but since the Shinto-Amaterasu myth is represented in Shinto New-Year’s festivities, the fact that a ritual seen as a metaphor for sex (at least in times past) should take a central role in the festivities suggests that perhaps there is a similarly metaphorical episode in the Susano Amaterasu myth. At least one researcher has suggested that the bit where Susano-O throws a backwards skinned horse into the clothing room of Amaterasu such that one of her weavers dies as a result of a shuttle entering her body, may be a metaphor for coitus.

It would not be unusual that sex is represented in Shinto festivities (examples, click with caution and or or parental advice). One commentator (essayist Ei Rokutsukel,2004) expressed the opinion that many or most Shinto festivities were related to sex.

Christian festivals (Christmas and Easter) represent birth and in the Shinto tradition birth is, or was, the dirtiest most defiled thing, as taboo as sex is in the Christian tradition.

With these reversals of the most sacred and the most defiled — with Japanese and Western religion being so polar — I used to think that war between Japan and the West would be inevitable.

Similar entries to that photographed above from an other edition of the same dictionary
餅つき　２男女交接の例え　Amotsuki (rice beating) is a metaphor for sex
臼と杵　男女の仲がぴったり合うこと Usu to Kinu Pestle and Mortar/mallet very close male female relationship
臼から杵　臼は女、杵は男を象徴する。女から男に働きかけるのは逆であるの­意で）逆であるさまにいう
Mortar to Pestle. Women should not approach/influence men.

Ei Rokutsuke et al (2004) “Matsuri ha Eros de Aru”(Festivals are Eros/Erotic), “Nihon no Matsuri” (Japanese Festivals). Asahi Newspaper. publications.asahi.com/ecs/detail/?item_id=6205

Japanese Culture

Requirements

A person who has never had the document must apply for the document. For those who had been issued with one when they were below sixteen years of age must also apply. Passports are only valid for a period of fifteen years so when this period elapses one should apply to renew it. In case it has been stolen, it has gotten lost or has been damaged in any way one has to get a new one too. Someone also needs to file changes to a US passport when they have a name change, such as a name change due to marriage or going back to a maiden name. This ensures all documentation has the same name.

Citizenship

Proof of citizenship has to be provided on application. It may be a birth certificate, an undamaged passport, a certificate of naturalization, a birth report if one was born abroad and a citizenship certificate. If any of these are questionable, the passport agent may ask for more documentation.

Proper Information

All forms should be filled out correctly, with the proper supporting documents. It is important, when applying in person, to not sign the document until there is a witness. By having a witness it proves that you are the one who filled out the application and are not falsifying federal documents.

Photos

Two photographs have to be submitted for the application. They must be identical two by two inch full color photos. They have to be taken while in casual wear within the last six months. The face must be in full view and the distance between the top of the head and the bottom of the chin must measure not less than an inch and not more than an inch and three eighths. The background can only be either white or off white. No head gear is allowed in this photo. Medically prescribed items such as glasses and hearing devices have to be worn when taking the picture.

Filing An Application

There are certain circumstances that allow for online US pass port renewal application filing or through mail. This normally includes a renewal, or a passport name change. However, filing in person is a good way to go, this way you’re confident that all paperwork submitted was proper and you’re not missing information that could delay the process.

My random wallpaper of the day, Immortal’s main man Abbath Doom Occulta, from last summer’s Getaway Rock Festival in Gavle, Sweden.

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