As I'm sure everyone's aware of... Japan was hit by a huge 8.9 quake, followed by a series of tsunami waves that decimated many towns around Tokyo. And there's the issue of radiation as well. Luckily, all of my friends there are okay for now and will hopefully be safe in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, in Nanjing...
We're pretty far away, so we didn't even feel the quake here. I still have the awful expat tendency to live in a bubble and missed the news about the quake until a friend phoned me about in two hours later. China has sent aid to Japan in the form of a rescue team.
The majority of people I've talked to here have been keeping Japan in their thoughts, worried about the lives lost and long term damage. On the internet especially, people have been voicing praise about how orderly Japanese civilians have been during the chaos. Unfortunately, there are a few people (Particularly some of the younger kids that can't quite explain why they hate Japan) who are cheering for Japan's misfortune; Nanjing and Japan have a pretty sketchy history, in case you didn't know. But the most heartening thing is that for every person who has reveled in the destruction, many more have told him or her to more or less shut up and grow a heart.
However, there has been some fear going around the city in regards to the radiation, particularly between tech-savvy 20somethings. A text message went around today about not going outside in the 'acid' rain without a rain coat, lest you get radiation poisoning.
Allow me to give you the rundown I gave some Chinese pals today:
1) 'Acid rain' comes from the use of coal, not radiation.
2) Regardless, a rain coat won't protect you from the amount of radiation that you'd want to evacuate a city from anyway.
3) If people in Tokyo aren't being evacuated, surely Nanjing is okay.
4) Weather usually hits China BEFORE Japan and moves in a west-east motion anyway.
We're too far away to feel tremors, but for the most part everyone is keeping an eye on the news.
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Japan in Nanjing (Originally posted Dec. 15, 2010)
December 13th marked the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre during WWII by Japanese troops. During the morning the army bases around the city blasted their sirens to commemorate the anniversary, much to the excitement of school children and confusion of their foreign teacher.
Before I came to Nanjing, a few of the guidebooks I read mentioned in the etiquette section that one of the few topics to avoid speaking about in China was the Japanese, this holding especially true in Nanjing. (Other things to avoid discussing until you’re good pals includes Tibet, politics, Tiananmen… What you would expect.) A decent amount of the young children I teach have expressed a severe dislike of Japan, going so far as to put huge X’s over the country on maps in their textbooks and express extreme confusion when I inform them that I used to live in Tokyo and loved it. Not all students are like this, of course, but to be honest the vast majority of the elementary students I teach dislike Japan. I’m unsure if it’s a taught behavior from their parents and/or grandparents, or something they picked up innately. It’s unlikely to be learned in a classroom setting, however; they’re much too young to be learning about WWII out of a textbook in their courses yet.
As for the older students I teach in their early teens, fewer of them have the same dislike of Japan--a lot of my 7th graders enjoy Japanese anime and some even take the language as an elective in school. For the most part, the students seem to grow out of their hatred for Japan as they learn that the people who committed crimes during WWII are not necessarily the same people living in Japan today.
***
Recently there have been many anti-Japan protests around China; Japan is still seen through a different lens than, say, how most Americans view Japan. These protests stem from the recent fallout between Japan and China over the Chinese fishing captain who was detained in Japan. He has since been released, and the conflict in North and South Korea has suddenly taken center stage on the political level.
Sometimes in my mind, I feel like… if eastern Asia was a big family, China would be the oldest brother and Japan would be the next oldest, but suddenly ‘grew up’ very fast and had a few crazy years where he acted poorly. His siblings still haven’t quite forgiven him for it yet, and China’s still thinking, “Who does this guy think he is? Doesn’t he remember I’m the oldest?”
Well, that’s certainly an over-simplification, but it helps explain some things to my 7th graders anyway…
Before I came to Nanjing, a few of the guidebooks I read mentioned in the etiquette section that one of the few topics to avoid speaking about in China was the Japanese, this holding especially true in Nanjing. (Other things to avoid discussing until you’re good pals includes Tibet, politics, Tiananmen… What you would expect.) A decent amount of the young children I teach have expressed a severe dislike of Japan, going so far as to put huge X’s over the country on maps in their textbooks and express extreme confusion when I inform them that I used to live in Tokyo and loved it. Not all students are like this, of course, but to be honest the vast majority of the elementary students I teach dislike Japan. I’m unsure if it’s a taught behavior from their parents and/or grandparents, or something they picked up innately. It’s unlikely to be learned in a classroom setting, however; they’re much too young to be learning about WWII out of a textbook in their courses yet.
As for the older students I teach in their early teens, fewer of them have the same dislike of Japan--a lot of my 7th graders enjoy Japanese anime and some even take the language as an elective in school. For the most part, the students seem to grow out of their hatred for Japan as they learn that the people who committed crimes during WWII are not necessarily the same people living in Japan today.
***
Recently there have been many anti-Japan protests around China; Japan is still seen through a different lens than, say, how most Americans view Japan. These protests stem from the recent fallout between Japan and China over the Chinese fishing captain who was detained in Japan. He has since been released, and the conflict in North and South Korea has suddenly taken center stage on the political level.
Sometimes in my mind, I feel like… if eastern Asia was a big family, China would be the oldest brother and Japan would be the next oldest, but suddenly ‘grew up’ very fast and had a few crazy years where he acted poorly. His siblings still haven’t quite forgiven him for it yet, and China’s still thinking, “Who does this guy think he is? Doesn’t he remember I’m the oldest?”
Well, that’s certainly an over-simplification, but it helps explain some things to my 7th graders anyway…
in which we begin to scratch the surface (Originally posted Sep. 27, 2010)
American Teacher: "Okay, class, draw a map of China during the Ming Dynasty."
Chinese student: "Japan was still a part of China then, right?"
Teacher: "...huh?"
Student: "Yes or no?"
Teacher: "Uh, Japan never belonged to China."
Class: "Yes it did! A long time ago!"
Teacher: "N-no... Japan has had one of the longest running dynasties in the world, if not THE longest. It never belonged to China."
Student: "I think it did."
Teacher: "...please just draw China without Japan, I'm not going to get into this..."
Yes, there are issues afoot.
Chinese student: "Japan was still a part of China then, right?"
Teacher: "...huh?"
Student: "Yes or no?"
Teacher: "Uh, Japan never belonged to China."
Class: "Yes it did! A long time ago!"
Teacher: "N-no... Japan has had one of the longest running dynasties in the world, if not THE longest. It never belonged to China."
Student: "I think it did."
Teacher: "...please just draw China without Japan, I'm not going to get into this..."
Yes, there are issues afoot.
Kamakura (Originally posted March 23, 2009)
About an hour from Tokyo is the little beach town of Kamakura. It's not a place you'd really want to go swimming, and you shouldn't walk and eat at the same time--or else the hawks will get your food.
There were vendors selling grape lollipops at the first temple we visited.
We fed some giant koi fish. I was told that koi never really stop growing, so you can imagine there were a few biggies in the pond.
Getting ready to hit the beach.
THE MIGHTY PACIFIC. It was the first time a few people had ever seen it.
Don't let it fool you; there was so much glass all over the beach that I didn't bother to take my shoes off.
Then we hit another temple which was the most beautiful one I've ever seen. It's called Hase-dera, and it's amazing.
Then off to the Daibutsu, a giant Buddha statue. The temple around it got burned down a long time ago, so now he just chills out in the open.
Supposedly those are his sandals.
And my favorite picture I took that day:
There were vendors selling grape lollipops at the first temple we visited.
We fed some giant koi fish. I was told that koi never really stop growing, so you can imagine there were a few biggies in the pond.
Getting ready to hit the beach.
THE MIGHTY PACIFIC. It was the first time a few people had ever seen it.
Don't let it fool you; there was so much glass all over the beach that I didn't bother to take my shoes off.
Then we hit another temple which was the most beautiful one I've ever seen. It's called Hase-dera, and it's amazing.
Then off to the Daibutsu, a giant Buddha statue. The temple around it got burned down a long time ago, so now he just chills out in the open.
Supposedly those are his sandals.
And my favorite picture I took that day:
Ueno Park (Originally posted Feb. 26, 2009)
Went to Ueno Park back when it was still sunny in Japan. It's been raining for days--today it even snowed! But yes, Ueno Park is a wonderful park that, come spring, will be filled with sakura cherry blossom trees and hundreds of people gathering around to take pictures of them. A few lone tress have started to blossom, and already people are swarming around to take photos.
There are signs around that say not to feed the cats but... I didn't see any. There are a fair amount of homeless in Ueno park though. I read a pretty interesting documentation about this here. The homelessness situation in Japan is quite different from in America; for instance, you'd be hard-pressed to find a homeless person begging or pan-handling in Japan. I've been trying to put my finger on what's different about it, and I think that's one of the big things. Ueno Park is a really interesting place when you think about it. It's huge, larger than most parks I've been to. It's interesting to think that there are hundreds of homeless people in a place that has shrines, museums, a concert hall and a zoo.
Speaking of which... There are three museums in Ueno Park as well, all of which of course closed when I arrived. The art museum has one of Rodanthe's Gates of Hell works which is an identical replica of... the one in Philadelphia! And also very scary. It's located outside the museum to technically you can see it for free.
At the main temple, you can buy these beautiful boards and write your hopes on them and then hang them up. They'll eventually be burned by the temple. Some people bring their own boards with them, and a lot are elaborately decorated. I saw boards written in Japanese, Korean, French, English, and even Russian.
Then, right beside the place for the boards, the are rows and rows of beautiful stone lanterns:
This little monument is dedicated to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As it goes, a man returned to his family's house after the bombing and found it on fire caused by the bomb. He took a flame from the house and kept it lit as a show of defiance and remembrance. The flame in the center of this monument is the same flame. It's a bit like the eternal flame in Arlington Cemetary, if you've ever seen that; it never goes out.
Some shots of the temple:
The park is also home to a beautiful pagoda:
Outside of the temple:
One of several huge 'monster lanterns' in existence, built centuries ago. It must look awesome when lit:
There wasn't any sign that I could make out explaining this section of the park, but I'm guessing it to be Buddhist in nature?
There's a large pond (where you can rent paddle boats, yay!) with shrines on an island in the center:
Sometimes people perform in the park; there were acrobats there when I went. I was impressed by the guy's pants more than anything else:
So far only one lone cherry tree has bloomed:
A Shinto temple. I believe you should ring the gong before entering? Then inside there are good luck charms--kind like a four leaf clover, hm?--and incense for sale.
A small memorial to samurai who died in the area I believe during the warring states era? Wow, I need to start taking better notes when I visit these places.
And then this guy is Saigo Takamori, a man who opposed the government back during the early 1900s. After the disgrace of defeat, he killed himself. And while technically an enemy of the government, so many people admired Takamori for his bravery that the government really had to do something to commemorate him years later. However, you'll notice that he's in casual garb and not a military outfit...
By the statue you can look off a cliff down to the road and see the train station.
Just a small note... At big touristy attractions like this, there are folks who speak English and approach people who look like they speak English and ask for donations to various causes. They show you a little print out laminated and a basket and expect a small donation. At Ueno Park, it was a man with an information sheet about a recent earthquake in Taiwan. Now, since I'm a giant dork, I get The Geologist newsletter and it's been rather quiet about this 'earthquake' soooo...
Long story short, I started speaking Spanish and he left me alone.
Mmmmhm. Right. It always struck me as a little suspicious that they only approached people who spoke English or looked like tourists, and now I have a good idea why.
There are signs around that say not to feed the cats but... I didn't see any. There are a fair amount of homeless in Ueno park though. I read a pretty interesting documentation about this here. The homelessness situation in Japan is quite different from in America; for instance, you'd be hard-pressed to find a homeless person begging or pan-handling in Japan. I've been trying to put my finger on what's different about it, and I think that's one of the big things. Ueno Park is a really interesting place when you think about it. It's huge, larger than most parks I've been to. It's interesting to think that there are hundreds of homeless people in a place that has shrines, museums, a concert hall and a zoo.
Speaking of which... There are three museums in Ueno Park as well, all of which of course closed when I arrived. The art museum has one of Rodanthe's Gates of Hell works which is an identical replica of... the one in Philadelphia! And also very scary. It's located outside the museum to technically you can see it for free.
At the main temple, you can buy these beautiful boards and write your hopes on them and then hang them up. They'll eventually be burned by the temple. Some people bring their own boards with them, and a lot are elaborately decorated. I saw boards written in Japanese, Korean, French, English, and even Russian.
Then, right beside the place for the boards, the are rows and rows of beautiful stone lanterns:
This little monument is dedicated to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As it goes, a man returned to his family's house after the bombing and found it on fire caused by the bomb. He took a flame from the house and kept it lit as a show of defiance and remembrance. The flame in the center of this monument is the same flame. It's a bit like the eternal flame in Arlington Cemetary, if you've ever seen that; it never goes out.
Some shots of the temple:
The park is also home to a beautiful pagoda:
Outside of the temple:
One of several huge 'monster lanterns' in existence, built centuries ago. It must look awesome when lit:
There wasn't any sign that I could make out explaining this section of the park, but I'm guessing it to be Buddhist in nature?
There's a large pond (where you can rent paddle boats, yay!) with shrines on an island in the center:
Sometimes people perform in the park; there were acrobats there when I went. I was impressed by the guy's pants more than anything else:
So far only one lone cherry tree has bloomed:
A Shinto temple. I believe you should ring the gong before entering? Then inside there are good luck charms--kind like a four leaf clover, hm?--and incense for sale.
A small memorial to samurai who died in the area I believe during the warring states era? Wow, I need to start taking better notes when I visit these places.
And then this guy is Saigo Takamori, a man who opposed the government back during the early 1900s. After the disgrace of defeat, he killed himself. And while technically an enemy of the government, so many people admired Takamori for his bravery that the government really had to do something to commemorate him years later. However, you'll notice that he's in casual garb and not a military outfit...
By the statue you can look off a cliff down to the road and see the train station.
Just a small note... At big touristy attractions like this, there are folks who speak English and approach people who look like they speak English and ask for donations to various causes. They show you a little print out laminated and a basket and expect a small donation. At Ueno Park, it was a man with an information sheet about a recent earthquake in Taiwan. Now, since I'm a giant dork, I get The Geologist newsletter and it's been rather quiet about this 'earthquake' soooo...
Long story short, I started speaking Spanish and he left me alone.
Mmmmhm. Right. It always struck me as a little suspicious that they only approached people who spoke English or looked like tourists, and now I have a good idea why.
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