Departures

Departures

              I went into watching Departures not looking forward to it thinking it would just be a serious Japanese movie about funerals; not much fun you can have there.  However, to my surprise, from the opening scene in the movie where he discovers that the dead girl has a "thing", I was laughing quite a bit.  The director of the movie was clearly a very creative man because he made me feel melancholy and happy at the same time in the funeral scenes, which clearly is no easy task.

              The aspect of the movie which fascinated me the most was the job of working with dead bodies and mastering the art of Nokanshi.  It did not surprise me that this job was an undesirable due to what one has to deal with in that line of work, but Daigo reluctantly accepts it because of the large amount of money involved in it.  I was quite shocked to see that when his wife found out what his job was she nearly left him because it was so evident the love that they had for one another.  I think leaving someone you love because of a job they have is stupid, even if society frowns upon it.  I respect Daigo for keeping his job despite what others thought since it was clear that what he did made those grieving much happier. 

              In addition, I thought the movie had an excellent display of men and women in society.  The secretary at the funeral parlor was always responsible for preparing the tea for Daigo and his boss.  As for Daigo and his wife, he held the job supporting their family while his wife did all the housework and cooking.

              Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to all of my friends to watch.

Reaction Paper #2

Reaction Paper #2

            We have discussed many more topics about Japan since the last reflection paper we had to write; here are just a few of the topics that I found to be most interesting.

            One of the points I enjoyed learning about was Soshiki, which is the ritual funeral practice in Japan.  Even though the Japanese never really consider themselves to be religious, when a funeral comes around Shinto and Buddhism practices come into effect.  A funeral director will cleanse the body and apply make-up to make the body look nice without embalming it at all.  The body will almost always be cremated, and after this the family mourns for 49 days because it is believed that is how long it takes for their dead ancestor to reach the afterlife.  The family is in a sovereign state for the entirety of this period.  I find this extremely different from what my family practices.  Although we are all very sad that a loved one has passed, this only lasts for a few days.  After the funeral takes place and the body is buried, we celebrate our loved one's life by having a party.

            Another topic I found interesting was Sempai-Kohai, which is basically the respect given to different people.  Basically, if you are older, you automatically get more respect than a younger person, which is also typical in the United States.  What I was surprised to hear was that in the job market just because you have much more skill than someone does not mean you will get a better job.  Being older typically means you will get promoted over someone with more skill, which still puzzles me.  I suppost it could be because someone older could have a stronger relationship with someone in the company, making them a better asset to the corporation they work for.

Reaction to Earthquake Video

Earthquake Video

           I remember hearing about the earthquake that occured in Japan that caused a tsunami, but I never really thought much of it since I just figured it was like any other normal natural disaster.  After watching this video however, I can see that my thoughts were clearly incorrect.

          From just seeing one of the opening scenes where there were hundreds of cubes of scrap just sitting on a beach immediately opened my eyes to the magnitude of the situation.  Even though it has been about a year and a half since the actual event occured, little progress has been made.  Cities still have rubble, junk is organized but not yet disposed of, and many people still live in shelters.  Because no gas was available, people would often search on foot for lost loved ones, usually ending up at some shelters hoping they made it there.  More often than not however, people would be out of luck locating their relatives. 

          Some of the people who were interviewed I found fascinating as to what they did before and after the earthquake struck.  One man had a chef's license, but did not think his skills would make a difference since thousands upon thousands of people were in need of food.  His son however told him to definitely get involved because Japan needed him.  The happiness he felt from helping out was evident on his face, and he even joked about his kid saying that he should take a break from it.  Another woman taught piano and was a swim coach.  Since the post earthquake however, both her piano and the pool was destroyed.  She hopes to someday be able to get another piano but what surprised me is what she explained about her future with swimming.  She does not think she would be able to teach swimming because all the water scarred her along with potential students since so many people drowned/were killed by the water.

           Overall, I thought the video was very informative about Japan's current situation and it really showed that a little bit of help can indeed go a long way.

Japanese Fishing

Japanese Fishing

              When we think of Japan, one of the firsts things that comes to mind is the beautifully made sushi that chefs all around Japan create with much time and effort.  Japan was able to develop this fine tradition of culinary art mainly because of where Japan is located.  Japan, as we know, is an island engulfed by the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Pacific Ocean.  These waters are abundant with some of the world's tastiest fish, and believe me, Japan takes advantage of that. 

              The tiny island of Japan is responsible for about 8% of the world's fish.  Back in 2000, Japan caught nearly 5 million tons of fish, resulting in being the number three supplier of the world's fish.  In Japan alone, nearly 11,500lbs of fish are consumed a day, so the 416,000 registered fishing boats Japan has are always busy.  Japan earns close to $15.5 billion dollars yearly for exporting fish to other countries, which as you can see is a vital portion of their economy.

               What most people don't know is that Japan is the top whaling country in the world.  Japan not only uses whales as food, but also creates byproducts from them such as oil and soap.  In 2000, Japan caught about 16,700 toothed whales which made up a whopping 82% of the world's whale supply.

                Japan has tried to fish in many other areas of the world as well, such as in Canadian waters for salmon, the Sea of Okhotsk near Russia, the Arafura Sea for pearls from oysters, and in the United States, particularly the North Pacific and Alaskan waters.  However, these nations verbally fought against Japan and passed fishing laws banning them from those regions.  To fish in these areas, the Japan must either first pay or have an agreement passed by the other nation's government.

                In addition to venturing out into the ocean to find fish, the Japanese often cultivate fish as well.  Last year, Japan produced an additional 1.5 million lbs of fish just with cultivation alone.  The most popular sea life that japan breeds are laver, yesso scallops, Pacific cupped oysters, and Japanese amberjack.  Japan also cultures seaweed to be used in preparing certain delicacies and pearls to be sent to jewelers around the world.

                 As technology develops, do you think Japan's video game industry will ever prove to be more important economically than Japan's fishing industry?

Shinobi

Shinobi

           Today, when people think of the shinobi, more commonly known as ninjas, they first think of a black hooded figure running swiftly across a rooftop.  After jumping off the roof they may break into a home, sneak up on a victim, and end their life right then and there.  This is how we typically view ninjas to be, but what is really the history behind them?

           Japanese folklore states that the shinobi descended from a demon that was half human and half crow, however, history shows that they more likely developed from "samurai gone bad".  The fighting styles of the shinobi most likely came to Japan by ways of Chinese monks in about 1020.  The first ninjas were said to be Daisake Togakure and Kain Doshi.  Daisake was a samurai during the 12th century, but after losing a battle and refusing to perform seppuku (which was against bushido), he fled his home and never returned.  In about 1162 however, he met Kain, a Chinese monk with whom he developed the guerrilla warfare fighting style known as ninjutsu.  The first school was built up in the mountains by Daisake's descendants; it was called Togakureryu. 

           The main difference between samurai and ninjas is the absence of the samurai code of bushido, which basically states that honor and loyalty come before all else in battle.  Samurai would enter battle wearing brightly colored robes in order to represent what family they were apart of.  He would then single out an opponent, annouce his challenge along with his history as a fighter, and then attack.  The shinobi on the other hand solely cared about completing their assignment by any means necessary.  This could mean that the ninja used either poison, seduction, or sneak attacks to eliminate opponents; things a samurai would never do.  Unlike samurai, women could be kunoichi, a female ninja.  These women usually carried out missions using more disguise tactics, such as infiltrating an enemy castle as a servant or a dancer. 

            Because samurai lords could not taint their honor and loyalty, they would often hire ninjas to perform tasks in battle.  Economically the system worked well since the often wealthy samurai lords would pay the low class ninja very well, which distributed money nicely.  Samurai liked using ninja on their side in battle, but at the same time also feared them since someone else could hire one to be used on them.

            The tradition that ninja wore all black with only their eyes showing is actually untrue, they just used that in kabuki theater.  Ninjas would wear clothes that made them blend in with their enemies for missions during the day, but would wear navy blue outfits in night missions.  For weapons, the shiboni used shinobigatana, bo, naginata, shuriken, shuko, and tessen.

            In today's world, do you think honorable fighting should still take place?  Or is getting the job done by any means necessary more important?

Skype Sesh #1 Reaction

              Going into the skype session, I was unsure what to think of it since I am not a very video-chat oriented person.  I had many questions going through my head...How many people are we going to be talking to?  Are they going to know far more information on Japan than me?  Am I going to look like an idiot conversing with the others?  I went into the session with a few butterflies in my stomach but also with a curiousity to find out how it would be.
               After entering class and getting acustomed to how the chat would work, we began talking about subjects such as the relationships between men and woman, the IE system and ikuji.  When we started talking with the Swedish student, it was at first difficult to understand, but after a while there was little to no trouble at all understanding him.  As we conversed more and more, I discovered that he was a student just like us in the sense that he was just learning as well, which was reassuring to me.
               Overall, I'm happy to say that I am looking forward to the next chat even though I was at first uneasy about how it would turn out.

Reaction Paper #1

Reaction Paper #1

            Well, I think it's safe to say that Japanese culture certainly isnt how I thought it was.  Going into Asian Studies 150, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what life was like in Japan, but what I knew just grazed the tip of the iceberg.  What perhaps surprised me the most was the way that both children and adolescents were both raised.

            I was shocked at the video we watched in class when we got a look at a preschool/kindergarten class in Japan.  I thought it was insane that the institution allowed both boys and girls to run around outside shirtless to play in temperatures close to freezing.  This in my opinion is a bit of an extreme way to "toughen up" the youngsters.  The children can get very sick from such exposure and it was evident that there were quite a few children who were uncomfortable with the situation they were put in.  If they wanted to toughen up kids or instill discipline I dont understand why they can't just have them play sports or something or learn not to be a sore loser if they don't win a board game for instance.

            Another situation we discussed was Ikuji, which are the childrearing practices in Japan.  As opposed to here in America, Japanese families focus on teaching their kids good and bad by reasoning or by playing with their emotions.  For example, when I was a tot I used to throw everything that I picked up, which would sometimes result in breaking something fragile.  My mom would yell at me and hit me on the hand which would both scare me and cause me pain.  Not wanting to experience either again, I slowly but surely stopped throwing things.  On the other hand, if a child was to do that in Japan, he would be told not to do that because he hurt the broken item's feelings, rather than just tell him not to do it because it is wrong.  Even though the American way is more extreme, I believe it gets the point across better to the child.

            The last thing I remember in particular about raising kids has to do with girls in the process of becoming Geisha.  These girls are required to move into a Geisha training center and to break all connections to family for an extended period of time.  This is around age 15-16, which I feel is an age where parental guidance is key to the development of a young adult.  On the other hand, Japanese school girls get to do travel Japan's cities, have technology, and wear whatever they'd like.  Quite different upbringings for teenage girls.

                     What is your opinion of how children are brought up in Japan and in the United States?

Sumo Wrestling

Dan Breen

Takamiya Sensei

AS150

Sumo Wrestling

            When people in the United States think of a sumo wrestler, they often think of an overweight, unathletic, bowling ball of a human being who just pushes another person out of a small arena for a living.  However, they fail to realize how much determination, sacrifice, and dedication these athletes put in in order to become great at their sport. 

            Around the age of fifteen, boys in Japan serious about becoming sumo wrestlers enter one of the fifty-four stables located around Japan in order to begin their training.  Besides housing the trainees, the stables also house hairdressers, ushers, referees, the oyakata (a retired sumo wrestler who leads the training) and the okamisan (the wife of the oyakata).  The main job of the latter two people is to pass on the traditions, teachings, and disciplines of sumo wrestling to the newcomers. 

            There are six different ranks a sumo wrestler can be.  Starting from the lowest, the ranks are jonokuchi, jonidan, sandanme, makushita, juryo, and makuuchi.  Wrestlers only receive a small allowance per match until they reach the rank of juryo, in which they receive a significant pay boost.  Once a wrestler becomes a sekitori, they are allowed to wear keshomawashi before matches, which is a long apron-like cloth that goes down to about their ankles.  They may also choose the color mawashi they get to wear during fights, rather than always having to wear black in the lower ranks.  As sekitori, they are granted people who basically take care of any needs that the wrestler has, such as forming his top bun, which is supposed to represent a leaf from a ginkgo tree. 

            A regular day of training starts at 5 A.M. in the stables.  They start by doing ritual stomping, or shiko, in order to improve their leg strength.  Afterwards, the lowest ranked wrestlers start practicing first.  The wrestlers may also practice teppo, which teaches them to move their hands and feet in rhythm, or matawari, which involves the wrestler to open his legs 180 degrees on the ground and have his stomach pushed against the floor.  This develops excellent leg flexibility which is key if you want to be a good sumo.  Wrestlers then begin to engage in moshiai, which are practice matches.  The winner keeps going until he loses.  The wrestlers eat twice a day, once at 11 A.M. and once at 6 P.M.  Both meals consist of chanko, which is a food with a lot of carbs, protein, and calories.  The wrestlers eat mostly chanko stews, sashimi, deep fried food, and hamburger steaks.  After these hearty meals, the sumo will often take naps in order to further assist their desire to become bigger.

            Do you think you could live the life of a sumo wrestler?

All About Me

Hey my name is Dan Breen and I am a sophomore at Gettysburg College majoring in Health Sciences.  I am a center on the school's football team.  When I am not doing things for school, I enjoy playing a variety of instruments and watching my favorite football team, the New York Jets, on television.  I hope by taking Asian Studies 150 I will get a better understanding of Japan's economy.

Nintendo Origins

Dan Breen

Takamiya Sensei

9/10/12

Nintendo

            Today, the Japanese company Nintendo is quite possibly the most well-known video game manufacturer in the world.  However, Nintendo wasn’t always the multi-billion dollar industry it is today.  Nintendo, meaning “leave luck to heaven”, was founded as a playing card company by Fusajiro Yamauchi in 1889.  They manufactured Hanafuda cards, which were all handmade from normal paper.  As demand increased for these cards, the company hired many workers in order to meet the public’s desire for these cards.  Years later Nintendo began manufacturing their cards out of plastic, which was the first time anybody in the industry tried that method.  These more durable cards were a huge hit and raised Nintendo’s profits dramatically.  In 1956, new owner Hiroshi Yamauchi visited the United States in order to obtain new marketing ideas.  He visited the United States Playing Card Company (known as possibly the best card manufacturer in the world), and to his surprise, their headquarters was actually a very small company.  This was perhaps the turning point for Nintendo, since Yamauchi realized that the playing card business could only expand to be so big and that he could not get his company to where he wanted it to be by selling cards alone.

            By 1963 Nintendo began trying out other methods to make money besides selling cards.  It set up a taxi company, a food company that specialized in the selling of instant rice, a vacuum cleaner company, and even a chain of love hotels!  However, these endeavors were all unsuccessful, so unsuccessful in fact that within a year Nintendo’s stock dropped from 900 yen to only 60 yen.  Fortunately, just before Nintendo was going to shut down, Yamauchi created the “Ultra-Hand”, which was basically an extendable scissor-designed contraption that could grab objects from far away.  It was created just in time for the Christmas season, and over a million units were sold, which in turn saved the company.  Following the ultra-hand Nintendo created the ten billion barrel puzzle (similar to the rubix cube), a baseball pitching machine, and a love tester.  All of the devices helped to raise the overall profit of the company. In 1977, Nintendo will make the best move it ever made: the hiring of Shigeru Miyamoto.

            By 1975, Miyamoto spearheaded the creation of games such as EVR Race, Radar Scope, and the game that perhaps launched Nintendo’s career selling video games, Donkey Kong.  Months later, Mario Bros. would be created for arcade machines in addition to their first hand-held game, Mr. Game and Watch.  During this time, small video game companies began illegally creating video games that would work inside Nintendo video game systems such as the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System).  These games were so horrible, that people began to stop buying Nintendo merchandise completely, once again causing their stock to plummet.  To fix this, Nintendo began to use a special “Seal of Quality” in order to distinguish their games from phonies.  Nintendo also began to use a chip called the 10NES to only allow Nintendo’s games to be played on their systems. 

            Today, Nintendo is one of the top three video game industries in the world, competing against Sony (Playstation) and Microsoft (Xbox).  Their newest devices include the Wii, the 3DS and soon to come out, the WiiU. 
              Do you think Nintendo will ever have to adapt what it sells again in order to compete with the economy?