World Series Champs and the Yule Tide Blues

Last weekend my favorite baseball team won a very unexpected world series. During the playoffs and during the world series I had my work computer set at ESPN.com reloading the scoreboard checking the scores. Each time we won and got a little closer to winning, I got more and more excited until finally I sat at home on Saturday afternoon and watched the game cast. We won and I was happy.

I have been a Cardinals fan ever since I can remember. I was born in St. Louis but I have only lived there for a small portion of a part of my life I cannot remember. However, my mother is a St. Louis native and my father grew up a Cardinals fan. Moreover, my mom's side of the family are huge cards fans. Needless to say, even though I never really lived in St. Louis, the Cardinals spirit has surrounded me my entire life. As a child I received signed baseballs and other priceless memorabilia from family members as gifts. Those are gifts that I plan on passing on to my children and grandchildren as heirlooms as well (I may possibly sell them if I ever get addicted to drugs or something like that).

However, while this weekend was great it was rather sad in a way. I have waited my entire life to see my team win a world series, and the year they actually do (a year that nobody had even thought they would at that) I happen to be in a place with no cards fans. Even though I lived in Seattle the two years before coming to Japan, my cell phone had free long distance and I could call my family and friends back in Missouri to bank in celebration. I wasn't able to do that this time. Instead, I sat in my messy room watching a bunch of x's and o's on my computer screen while drinking canned lattes. The Cardinals won, I made lunch by myself, and returned to my empty room. Honestly, it was more fun keeping track of the world series and having the anticipation and hope that they would pull it off. Once they finally did pull it off I had nothing to look forward to.

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In other news, I made the decision to stay in Japan for the holidays. Honestly, I really wanted to go home, but the price of tickets, length of travel, and lack of holidays kept me in Japan. As much as I hate Japanese Christmas and wished they didn't celebrate it (they celebrate it weird) I wish the day meant a little more to them so I could have that time off to go home and see my family.

Now I have to figure out something to do for my week off. I really really really don't want to stay in Gunma prefecture the entire week, so I'm thinking about places to go and things to do. I have a few options right now but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to afford. Here's a list, after number one I really have no preference to which one I decide on.

1) Sapporo and Hokkaido. This would be ideal. Hokkaido is the only main island I have yet to visit. Moreover, I like spending the holidays in a cold climate and this would be perfect...lots of snow and cold beer. However, Hokkaido is pretty hard to get to when you're on a budget, especially around the New Years holiday when airline companies jack up their ticket prices. Looking at prices, I'd have to pay over 50,000 yen for a round trip airplane ticket. Probably not happening.

2) Kanazawa. I've heard and read a lot of good things about Kanazawa. I like going to old Japanese cities, temple hopping, and absorbing the local flavor. Kanazawa doesn't seem too expensive but I don't know if I'll be able to spend more than 2 days there without getting bored.

3) Kansai. The area of Japan where I used to live. A trip to Kansai would be spent visiting old friends and hanging out in Kyoto a lot. If I do go down to Kansai though I'm going to make sure to visit the Bridge of Heaven--one of the three most scenic views in Japan! it's a really long land bridge that penetrates the sea and is surrounded by pine trees. At the top of the mountain you look upside down, with your head between your legs and the view is supposed to be amazing. I can totally see some old monk hundreds of years ago telling Japanese travelers to do that just to give him some cheap laughs back at the temple with his buddies. Anyway, The issue with Kansai would be too much time and money.

4) Skiing. I'm not a very good skier but I enjoy it. Also, one of my host families goes skiing in Nagano every January and I don't live very far from Nagano right now. It's quite possible I'd be able to meet up with them in the mountains and ski for a couple of days. It would be nice too because they still treat me like their own child and would probably pay for my hotel, lift passes, dinner, and even drop me off some place where I can easily get back home from.

5)Asia. I haven't looked into this very much but I recognize it as an option. However, the airline companys would have to be retards if they didn't jack up their international flights during the New Year holiday. But, if it's cheap enough and I can get a visa in time I may go to China, Hong Kong, Thailand, or Malaysia.

6) Tokyo area. Maybe stay at a hostel in Tokyo for a night or two, head to Kamakura for a night, and then tour the Izu Peninsula. These are both places I have designated as weekend trips; but with 10 days off I could do it all. I want to see Kamakura for similar reasons that I want to see Kanazawa...it's an old historical Japanese city. This means that there will be lots of souvenir shops and chances to take my picture.

7) Mount Fuji. I don't know if you can climb it during this time of year but it's something I want to try. I know January is probably hell; but a lot of people climb Fuji san...to say you climbed it in the worst of the seasons may sound crazy, but I think it could be something to brag about.

Manga bringing cultural understanding to the world

I had the TV on tonight and an English program with the host Pak kun came on, broadcasting a visit from a Japanese celebrity and a special on the popularity of manga in the United States and abroad. Pak kun is gaijin talent meaning he has obtained the trust of the Japanese public-speaking the language and thinking like a Japanese person-in other words he has become a tame gaijin. Tonight was another reason I have come to hate these gaijin TV personalities.

The story tonight was on Manga's popularity in the states, and they interviewed some Otaku from San Fransisco. They were the geekiest people I have ever seen-dressed like cartoon characters with greasy hair. Seriously a shower wouldn't hurt from time to time.

Japan is Japan, America is America. It's not going to change. While the Japanese people can take Pak kun's word that Manga is bringing our two countries together, I have another point of view, one that claims the opposite. Having taken two years of formal Japanese in college I can say I've come across exactly the types of people I saw being interviewed for this program. These are the types of people I cannot stand. They claim to have an interest in Japanese culture which was spawned by manga and anime and they expect people to take them seriously. I know that comics and cartoons are very popular here, but Japanese culture isn't a bunch of big blond haired men with spiky hair and petite submissive busty women. Japanese culture is not experienced through reading comic books as entertainment.

I have no academic proof to back this up, but I've seen enough people in my lifetime to say confidently that I am right. In college 1st and 2nd year Japanese classes are impossible to get into. It is one of the most popular foreign languages for undergraduates to study; however, by year 3 and 4 there are merely 2 classes for the entire university (my 4th year class consisted of less than 10 people one term). Why is this? Examining the types of people who take years 1 and 2, many fall into the group that likes manga and anime but wants to be able to understand them without translation. They take a year or two of Japanese and realize it's difficult and quit because it's not worth the work. I agree, I wouldn't have put in as much time as I had in getting to where I'm at with the mere goal of reading comic books. By my 4th year class there were only a few mangaphiles; however, they had other reasons to study Japanese than their counterparts. These people I can tolerate.

Back to the television show...Since I have had experiences with American Otaku this television show really got to me tonight. Most Japanese people don't have problems with Manga and Anime but they think Otaku are weird-just like they do in the states. What the Japanese people don't realize is just how weird these people are in the states. These people have horrible hygiene, don't have social lives, "boff", and believe that fictional cartoons and comic books give them an accurate look at Japan. So Pak Kun, exactly how are they practicing multiculturalism?

If anything they portray a fictional aspect to the country. It sounds great to think that comic books and cartoons will help us understand our differences but try giving an American diplomat an issue of "Gundam" or "Sailor Moon" and lets see how much closer our two nations' understandings get.

This was a slap in my face. I have put in a lot of time learning this language(4 years of high school, 2 years of college, and I'm currently in my second year living here). I get kind of pissed off when the sincere effort that I have made in trying to bridge cultural gaps is paralleled to a bunch of nerds jacking off to cartoons.

Weekend in Gunma

This weekend started off great. Friday the Cardinals secured their spot in the World Series, and while nobody will be watching this series I sure as hell am happy for my team. It seems like every time they do well I'm somewhere where there aren't any fans. Oh well, I still represent. Oh yeah, they also won game one of the world series.

The Cardinals' situation already had my spirits high when I boarded the train bound for Ota. I was meeting my friend and coworker, Steve, to go to the Sanyo-Kobe Steel professional Rugby game. I were joined by Steve's wife and daughter and the three of us met a few of their friends. Sanyo had a few New Zealand players on its team and a lot of the people I was sitting with were the families of some of the Kiwi players and coaches. It's hard to concentrate on a game when you don't know the rules, it's even harder when there are a bunch of cute kids running around the stands playing. Needless to say I watched about half of the game, the little ones taking the other half of my attention.

Being 22 and hanging around this older crowd was different from what I'm used to. I don't have any friends who have kids. It took a lot for me to watch my language and use baby talk that afternoon and it felt awkward having conversations with adults who had settled down and were talking to me on the same level; in other words, we didn't have a lot in common. Anyway, Sanyo won and all were happy. After the game I got to meet some of the Kiwi players and they were all really nice. I felt important being associated with these professional atheletes' families.

After the game I went home and hung out for a little bit. I then got ready and headed out to Kiryu with two of the people in our group from earlier. This last weekend a few bars in Kiryu hosted a live music night with a bunch of bands and DJs and it was called Kiryu Music Fronts. It was a lot of fun and drinks were fairly reasonable. While some of the bands weren't very good, the atmosphere was great. Hopping from bar to bar, drinking gin and tonics, and listening to live music is something I enjoyed and I did it a lot last night.

I met some cool people from the area, mostly Ota, but they were all pretty nice. Most importantly I found a few spots that seem to have things going on at night, so on weekends I'll have places to go. All in all, I didn't get home until 5 am, had a pretty good drunk going, and didn't spend too much money. Time to get ready for another week of work.

More Osaka, feeling sorry for myself, fake priests, and teaching

I'm currently writing without a specific point in mind. I just have a bunch of random thoughts going through my head and I want to spill them. I started teaching private English classes to an interpreter for my company this week, I was surprised by the size of my Internet bill, I've been reading about Caucasians who pose as priests for Japanese weddings, and I've still been thinking about Osaka a lot.

Maybe it's because I don't have any friends in the town I live in. Before leaving for Japan I was surrounded by people I called friends. I was part of a fraternity with some of the greatest people I have ever met. I lived with them, I ate with them, I worked with them and I drank with them. To come here and not have that is rather hard for me. One of the things I have a problem with is the fact that I came to this company and they offered no support for me--introducing me to this town and maybe some of the English teachers that live around here. I know it really isn't their responsibility, but I thought that I would at least have had an opportunity to meet other interns through JETRO. Nothing, they dropped me off at my dorm and said see you tomorrow at 8. So I get home from work, eat dinner, watch TV and browse the Internet until I fall asleep. Everyday.

I went to Osaka last weekend and got to see some of my good friends. It really meant a lot to me because it's not everyday that I get to see them. I didn't realize how much I value good people until now. Even though I didn't do anything extremely noteworthy with my friends in Osaka (we went drinking which is normally what I do with these guys) it was really different this time. For them it may have been just another two nights of drinking, but to me it was a lot more. It's pathetic, I know.

On Sunday I had lunch and coffee with my ex girlfriend which was really weird. I could tell she thought the same, but it didn't prevent us from having a really good time. As I was walking around Umeda with her everything seemed the same as the last time I lived there except the two of us were only friends. Before meeting with her I didn't have any thoughts of getting back together and I wanted to meet as friends and see how she was doing. But it was too nostalgic and I wanted something I couldn't have. I was plagued with memories and thoughts about her that I hadn't had in nearly two years. I thought that maybe if I was back in Osaka things would be the same as they were two years before, and that was one of the reasons that made leaving so hard.

The rational part of me says that that can't be. We all know the story of Jay Gatz trying to go back into the past and rekindle a lost love and we all know it killed him in the end. I know that I was only there for three days and three days isn't very much time. I was still in the shock that I was actually back after two years and the only memories that I could think of were those of two years past. I'm putting that weekend behind me, not forgetting about it, but I'm going to engage myself in new activities to make the thoughts less painful.

I received an email from someone in general affairs asking me to help one of the company's interpreters with English. I kind of wondered why an interpreter would need help with English but it made sense when I met him. He was fluent in Spanish, having lived in South America and Mexico for 18 years and writing Spanish grammar textbooks in Japanese. Being fluent in Spanish doesn't mean one is fluent in English too. I guess the people in my company don't realize that. It looks like they want to save money and when they found out that he could kind of speak English so they hired him for both. I'm not going to say anything because it's not my place, but I hope they learn when they actually use him to interpret technical English.

The guy is nice and he offered to pay me even though the company told him not to. That will be nice because it will allow me to spend more money on travelling. The guy is really nice and a lot more interesting than most of the middle aged Japanese men I work with. He's bummed around the world having visited about 70 countries and he isn't afraid of saying his opinions, making him a lot easier to have conversations with. There's just a few topics I try to stay away from...relationships for the most part. He started talking about his wife and how she left him. Then went on to his son and about how he's a failure. It got a little weird when he said he tried to find a girlfriend who was about my age at one time. As long as he doesn't talk about those things our sessions go great. I bring up grammar points and use example sentences and then he goes off on tangents related to the examples.

It worked out perfectly because the week I started doing classes with him was the same week that I received my cell phone bill and my Internet bill. Just so happens the Internet company decides to charge 12,000 yen for a router, an AC adapter for the router, an Ethernet cable, and some other phone cables cables. If I had known that I would have bought them myself and tried to pay less as an initial fee. Hindsight is 20-20.

So I ran into the other American at the company the other day and he told me about an easy way to make big money on weekends. Only it involves deceit and a Caucasian male to dress like a priest and wed a couple. Japanese people want to have Christian weddings even though they aren't Christian. Fair enough, there are plenty of non-Christians who get married in a church back home. I have no problems with this. However, after researching it a little I became kind of discouraged with the practice because these couples sometimes go to a bridal company under the impression that an actual man of the faith will wed them. In reality it's some English teacher who makes 12,000 yen a ceremony...with ceremonies lasting only 20 minutes these "priests" can do 5 or 6 ceremonies a day and rake in 60,000 yen with only an hour worth of work. I think it's a shame when a couple goes to get married under the impression that the priest who weds them is actually an English teacher doing this on the side to make booze money.

Those are my thoughts for the evening. I'll be back soon to post about where I want to travel in the upcoming months.

I miss Osaka!

So this last weekend I made the 300+ kilometer journey to the second largest city in Japan, Osaka. I called Osaka home for close to a year when I was 19 years old, the year after I graduated high school and the year before I entered college. I attended a high school in the middle of the city and therefore pretty much stayed in the city all day.



Having returned to Japan, I knew I was going to go back to Osaka it was just a matter of time before I could take a day off work and come up with the funds neccessary to pay for the expensive trip. That day came last Friday when I arrived Osaka by night bus. My previous experiences with the night bus were not good-in the past I could never sleep and I would sit there in envy as the entire bus faded off into peaceful slumber. However, this time was different. I slept for about 6 of the total 9 hours-taking a little time to sleep in the beginning, waking up to use the bathroom, and waking up early in the morning. Either way it was nice arriving to Umeda withdecent sleep.

I went to Osaka for a number of reasons-to see my friends from the states, my old school, my host family, and my ex-girlfriend. All of those encounters made my trip back extremely wonderful and even two days after the fact, I'm depressed that I couldn't stay there for the rest of my time here.

I have gone to see friends in other cities before, but I never felt so good about those trips as I did with this one. It was my first time since returning in over two years. On top of that, the year I spent in Osaka was my first year out of the house and I believe I grew up a lot during that time.

The only way I can describe the feelings I had was that it felt like home. I stepped off the bus, walked into the busy Friday morning rush hour and felt like saying "tadaima".When I wasn't too hungover there was a constant smile on my face because the sights, the sounds, the smells all conjured wonderful memories for me. Even more so, seeing familiar faces and hearing familiar voices, some of which I hadn't seen or heard in what felt like ages made me even more grateful for participating in rotary youth exchange and for spending all the money I spent that weekend. I can sincerely say that every yen of the 50,000 I spent on the trip was worth it.

Even though parts of the city have changed a little, the warmth in the hearts of those who accepted me over the weekend hadn't changed at all. In fact, I think returning to the city and meeting some of these people cemented in me the fact that during my year I wasn't just a burden and that people truely cared about me. It was nice to see that kind of reciprication.

Even though I'm not Japanese, haven't lived here for a very long time, I can truely say that while I'm in Japan I will always have a home in Osaka. Not so much because of the city but because of the wonderful people I know who live there.

Gaijin invasion

I found this on youtube. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlHHsjQ7D9Q

Japanese news

I was recently requested to post about the Japanese news. I watched the evening broadcast and was inundated by reports on Shinzo Abe's latest diplomatic missions to China and South Korea as well as the confirmation that North Korea carried out a successful nuclear test. All this with an appreciating dollar and a falling yen in the background. I originally made this a single post; however, after viewing it I realized it was really long and should probably be broken into smaller posts.

Japan, China, South Korea, and Yasukuni Shrine

One of the largest issues surrounding Japan is how its new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is going to strengthen relations with its Asian neighbors. Under Junichiro Koizumi, relations with China and S. Korea were destroyed with the PM's untimely visits to the controversial Yakusuni Shrine. The shrine is a memorial for its war dead: those who have died in wars defending Japan since the Tokugawa era until the modern day, including 12 class A war criminals from WW2. China and South Korea believe these visits encourage a militaristic Japan and support a revisionist view of its history. Koizumi and other conservatives claim it’s their personal right to pay homage to those patriots who died for their country-making references to Arlington National Cemetery and the like.

Honestly, I can see where both parties have strong points. I don't blame Japanese people for wanting to pay respect for its war dead and I can see why this bothers its Asian neighbors. The problem lays within the shrine itself and what it stands for; and the timing Japanese public officials choose for their visits. The shrine is a bastion for conservatives and reactionary nationalists, boasting a revisionist point of view on history-its history museum refutes Japan as the aggressor in world war two; rather it claims Japan was defending itself from western pressures. It claims the executions were illegal and that they died defending Japan from the conquering western powers. With this as a background, you can see why China and South Korea get pissed off when Japanese officials visit-China suffered the Nanjing massacre and thousands of South Korean women were displaced and forced into prostitution. So that is why China got mad when Koizumi decided to visit the shrine immediately returning from a diplomatic meeting in Beijing.

That’s the background of the whole diplomatic mess in a nutshell. Now that Abe is prime minister, SK and the PRC are optimistic for better relations; to me these countries don't dislike the Japanese people, they just want to be treated with respect. And so far Abe has done a pretty good job with this. This past weekend marked the first visit of a Japanese PM to Beijing since 2001 and the two parties, while not discussing anything too major, came out looking forward to a bright future. Similarly, Abe and SK president Roo Moo Hyun had a good meeting which ended with the two delivering a press conference praising each others' nations and provided promising outlooks.

These meetings were for show, the only thing these leaders discussed of value was the North Korean issue, but who already doesn't know these countries positions. We all know Japan is the harshest, S. Korea is kind of iffy, and China is the sole reason N. Korea still functions. It is also known that each of these countries will condemn the North if it carries out a test. So Abe got together with these leaders to confirm the need for 6 party talks, economic sanctions, blah blah. The real test for Japan will be whether or not Abe visits Yasukuni (I think it's a matter of when). A DPJ member questioned Abe on his views of Yasukuni (Abe is known to have visited it in the past and has yet to solidify his stance) Abe replied by saying that under Japanese law, the war criminals aren't real war criminals because their trials were held under foreign occupation. Kind of iffy if you ask me.

North Korea goes nuclear

While Abe was in Seoul, word got out that S.Korea's crazy cousin in the North carried out a nuclear test. This didn't come to surprise to me, as of late Kim Jong Il hasn't cooperated with anything the international community has asked it to. It relies on China for its economic stability (kind of) and China hasn't been hard nosed with the Communist regime. The world now has a new nuclear country, at the hands of a crazy man. Japan holds a tough stance against North Korea along with the United States and S.K. It is unclear what Russia and China will do now. I believe that the resolution of this conflict lies in China's hands.

China has little economic interest in N. Korea (who does?). Sure a few countries do business with N. Korea but that little business is easily replaceable. China supports North Korea because it is a fellow comrade and to support the communist party. Of course this support is based soley on ideological and historical events which I don't think can hold up any longer. China's economy is growing and it doesn't look to be slowing down in the near future. This means that China is trading with countries it wouldn't have under chairman Mao. Does China really want to risk its economic prosperity over North Korea? No it doesn't. That’s why, if the situation in N. Korea becomes too volatile I believe China will abandon N. Korea and jump on the international bandwagon in sanctioning the nation.

Falling Yen=Stronger Dollar

I could keep going on about Japan's news but I'm going to stop it with my analysis of the falling yen. While I am a student of economics and finance I haven't taken any classes that really covered currency markets. Therefore, while I don't know the ins and outs and the magical ways to get rich off this type of asset (yes currency is an asset) I do believe that, based on what I've read and what I know about finance in general, I can give a pretty decent analysis of why the yen is weaker than it was a few months ago.

If you've paid attention to this type of news like I have over the past month and a half, you would have noticed the dollar going up in value relative to the yen (and all other currencies). Last August the rate was around 115 yen to 1 USD and now according to the latest figures on yahoo finance, the rate is 119.06 yen to 1 USD. From the US's point of view the dollar is rising and from Japan's point of view the yen is falling. This is especially bad for me because I receive my money in terms of yen and when I go back to the states I'm going to suffer an economic loss due to currency risk.

Currency risk is the risk one undergoes when dealing with currencies from other countries. Because most currencies are floating currencies, their value relative to other currencies changes. To the currency trader, this risk is similar to any other traded asset like a stock- the price can rise or fall and lucky ones buy when it's low and sell when it's high. I face the same risk only it's slightly different.

Why should I care about the exchange rate since I don't see the prices of goods changing with the exchange rates? I really don't. I know I'm going to get about 130,000 yen a month and I can budget my expenses knowing confidently that the prices for food and my internet aren't going to fluctuate. However, I benefit from an appreciating dollar when I withdraw cash from my American bank account; Moreover, I benefit from a stronger yen when I go home and change my savings from yen to dollars. All in all, it's not that much money to me...but multiply what I deal with by 10 or 100 and it suddenly becomes looks like a lot more.

So why is the yen doing so badly against the dollar? Nobody knows the correct answer to this question. Like the stock market there are an infinite number of variables that change exchange rates. However, some of the major indicators are stock indices, economic data (GDP, unemployment, etc) and interest rates.

Looking at the S&P 500 index, which is probably the best overall indicator of business activity in the United States, you can see the average steadily rising over past three months. This means the aggregate level of stock prices have risen. Why do stock prices rise? because people are willing to throw down more cash for ownership in a company. Why are people willing to do this? Because the value of the companies are rising. Why are the values of the companies rising? Because the present value of future cash flows have risen. This means that forecasters (individual investors and analysts) see the companies as good investments which is a reflection of the investment choices a company takes-it chooses to take on investment opportunities(be it a new product line, bonds, mergers and acquisitions) that yield positive returns. That is how stock prices work in theory. Every bit of information affects the present value of a company's future cash flows and in result the company's stock prices are always changing.

The fact that businesses are becoming more valuable is a good economic indicator. It means that companies are investing their resources in new "positive NPV" projects. It is a good thing to buy stock in these American companies meaning it's a good thing to hold US dollars as the rate of return of investing these US dollars in US stocks is higher than investing them in other places. The American stock market is more attractive than the Nikkei right now-looking at the Nikkei 225 index over the past three months you see a line that has fallen and is rather flat. It makes sense for investors to invest their money in the United States over Japan because of this reason.

Economic data such as GDP, unemployment, inflation, etc. are also large players in the market for currencies as they are aggregate indicators of a country's growth. However, I'm not really going to go into these reasons because I don’t know much about them. haha.

Interest rates play another large role in determining exchange rates. When the FED raises the Fed Funds rate, banks subsequently raise the interest rates they charge to customers. The Fed changes rates as an effort to curb inflation and prevent recessions: rising rates in the prior condition and lowering rates in the latter. To fight against inflation the FED increases interest rates making it more expensive to take out loans making it harder for people to spend as much. Moreover, it becomes optimal to put money in these banks as the return on your money is higher.

Currently in the United States there is fear of inflation; consequently, the Fed has been raising interest rates. However, the equity markets aren't reflecting this. As I'm not a professional and I haven't been keeping up with the news, I'm not sure why this is-my only explanation would be that investors believe the interest rate increases aren't going to last.

This makes the dollar even stronger on the international scene-with higher interest rates and higher returns on its equity markets the dollar is looking pretty good. Investing in stocks will give you a higher return and the interest you earn on putting your money in the bank is also higher than it would be otherwise. This is especially apparent in Japan, where the government is trying to ward of deflation by keeping rates really low (less than 1%). This is why it's stupid to open a savings account in Japan right now-why put your money in an account yielding less than 1% when you can make around 4.5% in the United States?

Is the falling currency bad for Japan? Not necessarily, a too-strong yen was responsible for the bubble era that still has reaping effects on Japanese businesses. A weaker yen means that Japanese imports are cheaper to American businesses-the same yen price is paid in Japan; however the dollar prices that Americans are facing back home is less. It's really a win-win situation as more Japanese products are imported for a cheaper price in the states.

This also helps our trade deficit, as Japanese receive interest payments and coupon payments on US treasury Bonds (in dollars) they are more inclined to reinvest their cash in the American economy where they make higher returns. More foreign investment means more money for companies to employ Americans in expansionary efforts.

That’s my take on the news. It's a really long post and I apologize...I kind of got lost in the moment. peace. Glizz.

NHK

I'm beginning to realize that I write more about the news then about myself. Maybe it's because my life isn't very interesting. The latest news article I read, found in the Japan times, was about NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.日本放送協会)going after people who haven't paid their subscription fees.

NHK is kind of like PBS only people watch it. It is a government run corporation (there's an oxymoron for you) that broadcasts the news and various television programs. However unlike PBS which takes donations, NHK requires its subscribers to pay a subscription each month of about $12. The fucked up part is that every television in Japan recieves NHK, thus making every owner of a TV a subscriber: even people who do not watch NHK.

>Before Japan developed, the government played a large role in its business sector; in effect, helping certain industries thrive while allowing others to fail. In the beginning this was an effective way to jump start its economy and help certain businesses obtain behemoth status. However, there are various other channels where people can get news and entertainment now: why make them pay for NHK?

>NHK has a pretty loyal viewing audience and it would only be natural for the company to earn its revenue in the same fair method all the other TV stations do: commercials. The current structure of NHK is a monopoly and while I'm not familiar with Japan's anti-trust laws, I do know they exsist.

Now, NHK is seeking the courts to prosecute non-payers whom it selects at random. In other words, they are trying to scare the people into paying. This sounds great to NHK, but they forgot to include a clause about what to do with the scoundrels who do not pay! Forking up $12 bucks a month is mandate from the government with no consequences to those who don't. To me it sounds like the law was written with the intention of one day aboloshing the subscription system.

To me, this sounds like NHK's last cry for help and I don't think the court is going to help it this time. NHK has been hit with scandals, ranging from bribery to arson amongst top employees and reporters, and it's revenues have been falling. Remember how NHK makes its money? Anyone owning a television pays for NHK; in theory it's revenue shouldn't be falling as fast as it. The answer my friends is that the natural market forces are prevailing inspite of government interactions: people won't pay for a product they don't want. Simple.

All I want is rice

I read an article in a foreign paper the other day about a new musical directed by a North Korean defector, Jung Sung San. The play was extremely popular in South Korea and now the playwrite wants to take his work of art to the states with the hope that president Bush and other officials in Washington would go see it.

His play is called Yoduk Story and the man put up his own kidney as collateral to raise funds for the play. In my eyes, anyone with that much intensity is bound to create good art. I also wondered where there is a market for human kidneys; I'm pretty sure selling body parts is against the law in South Korea where the writer lives.

I would love to see this musical mostly because of the titles of two of the songs: "All I want is Rice" and "You are Just Like Germs." I also want to see it because it portrays what Jung went through in a North Korean prison camp: a look into what goes on there from an actual survivor. I also like what the man is doing. He was quoted, "my foremost goal is to send a message to Kim Jong Il from the political center of the world telling him to stop killing people." I agree with Mr. Jung, Kim is crazy and needs to stop killing people; I go out on a limb to say that most people in the world also agree with him. However, I find it hard to believe after years of attempts at diplomacy that a musical will have any kind of effect on Kim Jong Il. Anyway, I give Mr. Sung Kudos for fighting the good fight and following his dreams and aspirations.

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I just saw a thing on the news and it showed snippets from the play. It looks amazing. There were people getting whipped and lots of blood. Unfortunately president Bush was unable to watch.

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It's been a while since I've blogged because I've been planning my trip to Osaka. In an effort to find the most economical way to get down there, and stay I have scoured the internet in search of cheap transportation and all I came up with was the night bus. I knew about it all along and didn't want to use it originally; however, when I saw that it would save me about 12,000 yen I decided that I was too poor to not use it.

I also decided that staying in a youth hostel would be my best option when I saw rates for single rooms at only 2200 yen. However, I'm staying near Tsutenkaku (Osaka Tower) in probably the filthiest neighborhood of the city. It's going to be fun.

I had an interesting weekend last week. It started with a call from my pal in Tokyo who said I should go to Tokyo on Saturday for dinner. I said I'd think about it and let him know the next day. So Saturday came and I decided to go to the city for dinner under the assumption that I would be able to crash on his floor if needs be.

Turns out he had plans with his girlfriend after dinner and that I had to go home, the only problem was that I missed the last train home. I decided I could do one of two things, stay at a capsule hotel or go out drinking alone in Roppongi. I decided to check out Roppongi and walked around a bit; however, being unfamiliar with the area, the bars, and being low on cash made me decide to check into a capsule hotel.

It was my first stay at a capsule hotel and while it wasn't much, it did provide me with a bed, shower, and company for only 3000 yen. I met a man probably a bit older than my father who called this hotel home and we talked about American food for about 25 minutes...he wasn't able to get over the fact that Americans don't eat cheeseburgers everyday. My breaks over at work and I have to get going.