Big O

completely unrelated to Japanbut i found a website of horrifying obama clipart:






Yeah don't ask me. I dont know why he's white or in the carnivale mask.

Japan's election coverage

In case you didnt know, Obama is Beautiful World



And if you thought for one second that they wouldnt commercialize the election in an ambiguously racist way...

election followup coverage

First let me congratulate you all on our new president. Job well done, Americans (especially members of the electoral college!) Looks like now i don't have to burn my passport :)

On election day (the night of Super Tuesday was my Wednesday workday), I made a nice GO OBAMA sign for my desk and was super cheerful as i watched those electoral votes climb. The decisive moment happened while i was teaching a class, but it was a very nice thing to come back to find at my desk, the self-refreshing CNN page which now read in big letters "CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA"

I thought i was safe from getting choked up like my friends did, but today i watched the music video to the "YES WE CAN" and nearly lost it. Whatever your political bias, you've gotta admit, the man has a gift for words

The coverage in Japan was interesting. On TV news Wednesday morning, they were talking about the in-progress election. Japan was definitely aware of the race going on, and the significance of a black candidate, but not much more than that in terms of what the difference between Obama and Mccain presidencies would be. I've been doing a bit of explaining the last couple days. So on the news they were trying to educate a little bit about how the two candidates differ, so in a typical newsroom format, they had two anchors having a conversation with a US election specialist. the election pro brought this little poster with a chart on it comparing Obama and Mccain on issues like Iraq, Taxes, etc, but all the information was covered up by individual sheets of removable paper. As the special election guy got to each point, he would remove that piece of paper to show what the stance was, and there would be this big theatrical "NEW INFORMATION" sound, like in a video game of some sort:

Obama is.... Against the war in Iraq! *remove paper* DA DA DAAAA!!!!

Japanese news also has a tendency to feature dramatized stories of individual people to illustrate the broader issue, rather than just talk about the facts. This, i suppose, is intended to color the news emotionally, making it more fun to watch and perhaps control peoples' opinions. So for the election they had Japanese interviewers talking to Americans with hard lives about who they support and whatnot. It's funny to see the Americans talking with the voluum kind of muffled and a Japanese dub over it. 

They also were talking about the issues of racism in this election and interviewed a bunch of rednecks saying they won't vote for Obama because he's not white, and saying all kinds of ridiculous shit. Again, this was very entertaining with Japanese dubs, subtitles, and commentaries. I really really love Japanese TV. It's probably worth writing about again later.

So after i found out about the sweeping victory, my office was of course oblivious and bustling along as usual. It was my lunch break, so i went to the local grocery store to buy some edibles. The owner of the grocery store, Mr. Ishii is quite an international chap. He has toured America several times, speaks excellent English (my standards for this have changed so much in these 3 months) and he was all about being my friend right away when I arrived. He was the first to congratulate me on the victory. I was impressed that he found out so quickly. 

It turned out that this week is the store's 7th anniversery or something like that, so at the same time, they were having an ongoing complimentary tea ceremony. I was invited by adorable little old ladies in kimonos to sit down and was served delicious green tea and sweets. I chatted with Mr. Ishii about the great results until JP called me from skype to be excited together and tell me he was dissapointed that i wasnt sitting at my job watching a CNN live feed. Yes, i probably could've gotten away with it, but it felt a little out of place, and my intuition is really the ONLY guiding force i have when it comes to most Japanese Do's and Dont's. Sorry JP.

Today my vice principal and I were talking about the election. He wasn't really aware of any differences between the two parties, and when i asked him if Japanese people were more in favor of Obama or Mccain, he said they were pretty much supporting Obama, but that many people were concerned because of a switch in party leadership (this hasn't happened in Japan in probably too long. the ruling party has been and continues to maintain complete control, though things are a little unstable and exciting at the moment-----but that's another blog post)

Anyway, I assured him that this kind of switching is pretty normal in American politics, and the spent a good half an hour making him a little table to point out that Democrats and Republicans are quite different. Okay, so it was admittedly it's a little biased and oversimplified, but keep in mind that English is my Vice Principal's second Language, masterful though he is. I may post it later because it's kindve funny.

Well today was very interesting! and that is the topic i originally intended to write about, but here we are left with another post about the election. Unfortunately i have to go pack a duffel for my weekend trip to Osaka/Kyoto, but perhaps if you're lucky, and you think reeeeeally nice thoughts about me, you'll be blessed with a twofor tonight, dear reader :)

don't fuck this up

It's 11 on Tuesday night here in Kyushu, which means it is well into election day in the good old US of A. my computer has 21 minutes of juice left in its belly and i left the power cable at school, but i wanted to blog tonight, at this important moment.

please vote. please please please. just go vote for obama. if you are of my generation, i dont have to tell you that this is the most important election we have ever voted in. I have two friends here in Japan from New York and Georgia and neither of them got off their asses early enough to get an absentee ballot and i can't tell you how dissapointed i am. I know you're reading this, Laura and Patrick. I mean look at Mccain. i mean look at PALIN. I mean look at what's happened to our country in the short time we have been politically aware and active.. I mean this is quite probably our last hope for decency in the world community. One thing i have learned by travelling and living abroad is that the bullshit that happens in our country affects everyone all over the world. It personally affects millions of people who can't DO anything about it. A vote might be shitty and often, yes, completely futile, but it's SOMETHING. especially if you live in a state that is actually debatable, unlike Illinois. Please people. If you are somehow still on the fence about voting please just do it. this matters. it really really matters a lot.

When i wake up tomorrow i hope it's all over. All the bullshit. All the "isn't Obama a Muslim?" All the campaign speeches with no content (that come from BOTH parties in droves). If I wake up tomorrow and John McCain is my next president, i might break my promise to my mother and never return "home" from Japan. I'm sorry, but it's been 8 years of utter bullshit. If we not only fall victim to, but ACTIVELY SELECT 4 to 8 MORE years of it, then i'm sorry but America can no longer be a representative part of my identity. That's not an America I want to be associated with. The polls say that given electoral votes, Obama has an over 98% shot at winning, yet the popular vote is something like 48/52. While i am relieved that he will almost certainly win, I have to ask WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE POPULAR VOTE? Is half the country really willing overlook what can save our dying economy and what can bring us together because of what? RACE? party lines? Some propaganda they heard on TALK RADIO?

WHAT KIND OF IDIOTS LIVE IN MY COUNTRY????

Okay, well i trust that you will all do the right thing and when i wake up tomorrow i will not have to denounce my US citizenship. please vote. just please please vote.

I am really having a rad time recently in Japan.  I'm really striking a nice balance between a comfortable routine, staying busy, and having insane experiences. I have met so many wonderful people in the last month, including many new Japanese friends. I am realizing what i love about life here and starting to not care so much about the frustrating aspects of my work and life. What's more, the weather has been doing some simply amazing things. Every day is still an adventure.

I have been meaning to catch you up on my Halloween lesson, which was really really good, and all the wonderful parties and general merrymaking that went on this past weekend. Things are really great here. REALLY great. every weekend seems cooler than the last. Next week i'm planning a trip with a few friends to Osaka and Kyoto. Should be nothing less than breathtaking.