Wednesday, December 14^th: All You Need is Ai

“All you need is love.” That was a mantra touted in the 60s after the legendary Beatles crooned to their teenage fans. Not only did the mop top boys transform the definitions for pop cultural icons and establish themselves as music heavyweights, but their messages ring true today, particularly in times of rampant war and political divisiveness.

Therefore it seems most appropriate that Japan’s national kanji for 2005 is 愛, ai, or “love.” Since the great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, a new kanji is voted for annually to represent events and feelings amongst Japanese. Many polled claimed that they chose ai because of the Royal Princesse’s marriage to a commoner, losing her imperial title and privileges for none other than love.

But I think the idea transcends the literal meaning, as was displayed to me beautifully tonight at a Fulbright reception I attended in Osaka.

With the holiday cheer wantonly festooned throughout Osaka, complete with elaborate department store displays, jolly Santas in red suits, and “Happy Christmas” signs displaying the seasonal pride, I skipped through downtown Umeda to attend a lecture on “Postwar US-Japan Cultural Relations : John D. Rockfeller III and the ‘Dulles Peace Mission’ of 1951" by the fascinating Matsuda Takeshi.

Surrounded by professors, salary men, retirees, current students, Europeans, Japanese and Americans I realized how truly blessed I am to be in an environment where free cultural exchange runs wild. After the brilliantly engaging lecture, the 2005 grantees and the American Consul General were honored at a fabulous reception where we were able to discuss our projects and introduce ourselves, in complete Japanese of course.

I met several Osaka University colleagues who were excited to hear about my human rights research, one woman so much so that she invited me to speak at her lecture tomorrow on “Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: Facial Expressions.” If there is one thing I have learned in Japan, it is that the Japanese often use monotones and straight faces when they speak. Compare this with my overly animated feelings that I emote and my buoyant voice, it is no wonder that I am usually stared at as though placed in display in a museum. While I usually laugh it off as, “oh don’t worry about the silly gaijin (foreigner),” I am quite excited to be in an intellectual environment and hear how other foreigners and natives view the dichotomies between the very different ways in which we engage one another.

Another example of “ai” was when the Consul General himself, who I admit I have a bit of a crush on, asked me to join the consulate in the future to “debrief” them on the local human rights environment in Osaka. You certainly don’t have to pull my arm for that one! Trying not to swoon, I happily accepted, and also agreed to begin to organize video-conference lectures with some of my colleagues back in the states who would be interested in providing their opinions on a miscellany of Japanese subjects. How exciting! The idea of asking my former professors and friends to represent present their views to a rapt audience of interested foreigners!?! That is exactly what Senator Fulbright envisaged when he wrote about being a “cultural ambassador!”

Before I could jet home with a smile a mile wide, I was once again given the effulgent gift of sake. At the last Fulbright reception one of the kind alumni overheard I enjoyed this Japanese rice wine and ran to a nearby convenience store to purchase a bottle for me since this was the one item the bar was lacking. To my avid surprise he presented me with the bottle and we kanpaid (said cheers) together. My friend remembered my love for this delicate drink and once again we opened a bottle together.

The evening concluded brilliantly. My three months in Osaka have literally flown by, like the brisk winds that have brought winter to my home in Kansai. As I sit in my cozy apartment, surrounded by my makeshift decorations of Christmas lights and two foot tree, I am so thankful that in Japan, there is plenty of ai to go around.

December 13, 2005: Popping the Bush Bubble

For those of you who also happen to live in a bubble (or possibly under a rock or in an Iraqi cave) the title of the blog is referring to the now infamous Newsweek article depicting W. as bubble boy, intimating that the president is so isolated that he is completely cut off from the rest of America. And the world. And reality.

We knew that the president was comfortable disassociating himself with his critics, but when he doesn’t even read the newspapers or magazines, as he admitted this week to NBC’s, Brian Williams, he is just as dislocated and illiterate as the half of the nation that doesn’t even open up a book each year. From battle ships to naval academies, Bush seems to surround himself with a cadre of safe, unassuming supporters, enough so that even Condy has warned others not to upset Dubya with bad news. Bush makes those of us who are open to new ideas and ready for verbal combat seem like warriors, when in reality, this is precisely the reason why democracy exists. A democracy with grandiose public forums where ideas are traded, problems are discussed and issues are resolved daily.

It is engagingly piquant (and downright timely) that historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has published a historical multiple biography of the genius behind Abraham Lincoln’s political savvy that allowed him to create a Team of Rivals. Rather than protect himself behind yes-men like ours truly, Lincoln’s cabinet encompassed a fathom of diverse and head-butting gentleman whose combined knowledge created one of the strongest cabinets in history. You can guarantee that Secretary of War Edward Stanton did not claim that we go forth into war with “the army we have and not the army we want.” And no one every heard Secretary of State William Seward claim that torture is an effective interrogation tool.

If only more vocal critics like Maureen Dowd and Newsweek’s own Evan Thomas and Richard Wolffe would transcend the media and go straight to the public, forcing us to demand the truth. The facts. After all, the president answers to us, even if he won’t listen to us. I constantly find myself having to justify America’s presidential choice to inquisitive Japanese who wonder whether I, too, live in a bubble alongside W. I always jest by saying that I left the states precisely because of his lack of connection to the American people (well that, and he mistook Africa for a nation), but unfortunately that does not solve the problems inherent in the status quo. If we continue to demand transparency in our government, maybe, just maybe, W. won’t seem so washed up. After all, bubbles are fun to poke and prod, but with a little pressure, they can pop easily!

December 6th: We Meet Again

Returning from Tokyo today after a long weekend of LSAT testing, bithday celebrating, and story-telling has left me tired but thrilled to have a large hurtle in my law school applications process completed. The test went well and it was wonderful to meet up with friends in Tokyo, which is one of my favorite cities in Japan, a place that emits electricity that one cannot help but seize and run with.

So now I embark a petite adventure: attempting to blaze my way through the last few weeks' adventures including Thanksgiving and ponder my latest thoughts and experiences through the written word. As the holiday season has arrived head-on, my sentimentality has taken me by storm as I am so thankful to have the opportunity to be in Japan and celebrate the Christmas spirit.

Thursday, November 24^th: A Very Thankful Thanksgiving

There are certain moments in space and time, where we have the rare clarity, a split-second moment, where we can lucidly sit back amidst the fantastical banter and joy that comes with enjoying the pleasures of life, and think to oneself, “life cannot get better than this.”

I was truly blessed with a wonderful Fulbright extended family once I arrived on the island of Honshu Japan, and on Thanksgiving day, most of the Fulbright Fellows gathered in my quaint Osaka apartment to share our adventures, trials, tribulations, and antics that we encountered the past three months.

Early in the day, I met the fabulous Takara as she arrived from Sendai, which is an 8-hour bus ride away. As we giggled about everything from Japanese men to female couture, we girl-talked our way back to my apartment to start cooking food to accompany the thaumaturgical masterpiece of the 12-pound turkey we had found in nearby Kobe. Joined by my fellow Kansai chica, Kavitha, we opened up a fabulous bottle of California red wine, and created scintillating dishes like bruschetta, gingered fruit salad, Takara’s family macaroni recipe and the time flew by as slowly and surely the other fellows joined in the merriment.

The months that we had not seen our fellows immediately melted away as we laughed about Luke and Katrina’s Hiroshima adventures, and David’s exploits in Nagasaki. Alex and Joe, our resident taiko drumming experts, arrived with their near-professional cooking skills and culinary creations of Kahlua-flavored stuffing, yams and sour cream mashed potatoes. It was as though an explosion of fantastical food had burst in my kitchen, complete with loud peals of laughter and wide-eyes at the fact that we had managed to procure a traditional, American-style meal.

After the turkey was carved and our plates were loaded with ample food, we sat down together and took a moment to go around the table and say what each of us was thankful for. With classical music in the background, the intoxicating smell of turkey and pumpkin pie filling our nostrils and candle-light flickering off each others’ faces, it was a perfect moment in time, amongst all the clamors the world places in our path, to carve out a fleeting glimpse of utopia; our own petit microcosm of friendship and caritas.

Bing Crosby had it right: there is not place like home for the holidays, but when you are surrounded by beautiful, compassionate people, experiencing adventures together, Japan can be my home away from home any day of the year.

December 3rd: T-1 Day Until the LSAT....

If you've noticed an apparent lack of attention to my blog, this time I have a better excuse than, "my dog ate my blog." When in doubt, blame the LSATs! I leave in a few minutes time to Tokyo, via the shinkansen, where I will be taking the exam at Temple University. If I weren't so nervous about a test that could possibly determine the rest of my life, I would chuckle at the ludic analogy of naming a university "temple" of all things in the land of shrines and toriis, but for now, I think I'll let the butterflies in my stomach do the talking and just jam out to the now all-famous pink iPod!

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. This is going to be one interesting experience and I anticipate plentiful blogging of this experience and my fabulous fellows Thanksgiving when I return.

As they say in Japanese, ganbatte, or good luck!