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silence and concrete jungles, oct 20 - nov 12, 2001

November 12, 2001 12:21

happy late birthday ana. i didn't remember. i probably won't remember next year, either, so happy birthday in advance. i still suck, don't i?

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--clarification--
==============

ok, the last weekly steve was titled 'no more weakly steve' not 'no more weekly steve'. so, breath a sigh of relief or let out an annoying groan ... weekly steve's are still in effect tho i haven't had much time to send mail lately as you'll see in a second. i've been busy. this issue is long, so read when you get the time or not at all. and i apologize for not sending any individual mails in a while...like i said, i've been busy, as you'll see in a second. ,

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--recentlifeinreview--
==================

what follows is the events of the past three or four weeks in ludicrous speed...

smashbangwizzshoop.....kapwing!

workclimbworkclimbworkworkdrivetonaganocampclimb sleepclimbdrivebacktoworkclimbworkworkclimbdrink blechlatetoworkclimbworkmovieoftheweek"thetalented mr.ripley"disturbedtriedtosleepworkworktokyo shoppingbustotsukubawalk5kmtoerik'splacedrinkwine yumsleepdrivetologcabinlotsofmountainslotsofrain wenttomuseumtosee30millionoldjapanesewomenlookat paintingsdonebyaparalyzedguywhopaintswithhismouth getoverwhelmedintheseaofgrandmaslaughgettologcabin nicebatheat12coursemealdelectableyumyumwakeupto freshlybakedbreadandhomemadejamandstuffeateatyum sleepincartorainyjapanesepublicannouncementhell touristattractionofawaterfallsceneryisabeautiful abstractconglomerationofbrightcolorfulumbrellas gawkingatthebrightcolorfulleavesintheraingetwet andnakedinarathernicehotspringsnicerosebathsilky scentystevedrivebacktoworkworkclimbworkclimbdrink latetoworkclimbworkclimbworkclimbclimbclimb stevie'sfirstclimbingcompetitionclimbclimbtiedfor firstplaceinbeginnerdivision!woohoo!drinkdrink blechboulderingoutsideclimbclimbdrinkblecklate toworkclimblatetoworkclimblatetoworkclimbworkwork movieoftheweek"rememberthetitans"and"doublejeapordy" mmmmmashleyjuddlatetoworkclimbclimbdrinkdrinkblech yakinikuyumgethomeattwelve[editor's note]"get home at twelve" not "get ho meat twelve"[end editor's note]wakeupat4:50drivetonaganotoclimbfeelbadincar hangoversaregreatgettocampsitepoopsleepitoffincar feelmuchbettertrytoclimbgetnowheresohikeandhavefun drivetoyakiniku!yumhomesleepsleepohsweetsleeptoomuch sleeplatetoworktoday.

whew. get all that?

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--nature--
=========

so those of you patient enough to peruse through my recent life in ludicrous speed review might have noted that i have been experiencing a lot of nature lately. camping, climbing outside, going to the log cabin in the mountains. it has been wonderful. i mean, being trapped in the suburbs of tokyo with packed trains and walking faster than the traffic on the highways, it's nice to get up in the mountains where the air is cool and sweet and the smell of trees isn't overcome by the smell of cars and trains. i'm painting a pretty dismal picture...it's not that bad. that describes tokyo pretty well, but where i am it's a lot less concretized...

anyway, there was something sad about the nature i saw, however. i recently read an interesting (though pessimistic) book about japanese culture titled "dogs and demons". the author pointed out all these facets of japanese culture that he found sad and depressing, facets that he said showed that the japanese were heading for a cultural meltdown. now, i don't think that the japanese culture in general is that bad, but when you look at japan objectively, there are a lot of things to back up the author's claims. one of his claims is that japan is run by a 'construction state'. the construction industry is what controls the money, the unemployment rate, and is the reason the country is at least 20% concrete. there are many of other factors and ideas that go into this, but i just want to relate some of the things i saw when i was immersed in japan's nature.

first of all, october and november is the time in japan where it seems like the whole country is under construction. all the city and prefectural offices need to spend all their money in the budget (because leaving leftovers would be bad...) so people start scurrying and almost every road in the entire country has (at times completely unnecessary) guys in construction hats bowing to you as they stop your car or waving you through cones with red flashy batons. so, driving to nagano we took a lot of barely travelled mountain roads. now here's where things start to register...mountain roads usually travel along the side of mountains, right?, one side going off into a dense tree valley and the other side going up in high hills or cliffs to the top of the mountain. along roads with a lot of falling rocks, sometimes people put up those wire nets, or some sort of protection for the cars beneath. we've all seen these in europe, the states, and other places, i'm sure. however, in japan, it seemed like too much. it was like the entire mountain was covered by concrete. at times they are these humongous concrete geometric things making the mountain or hill side look like part of the geodesic dome of disney world's epcot center, and at times there's this really weird rock style concrete pasted over the landscape. then, as a precautionary measure, i'm sure, there's a huge steel net covering the concrete structure to protect the one or two cars that pass through the road in an hour. once i noticed it, i couldn't keep my eyes off of it. on our way the log cabin in gunma we travelled the same kind of roads, and everyone was oohing and aahing at the beautiful colors of the leaves. and in truth it was stunning, but i couldn't keep from noticing all the ugly concrete things lining any hillside or mountainside with a road running near by. sure, maybe the rock in japan is different, maybe things crumble more here and it's more dangerous? maybe there's a logical reason. but ...to tell the truth, i couldn't find it. it was sad and rather depressing.

on our way to nagano for climbing, we stopped off in a valley to do some bouldering (that's climbing on big boulders without a rope for those of you non-climbers in the audience). the rocks were right next to swift running water and the place was soothing and calm. however, 500 m around the corner of the mountains, the entire mountain side was under construction. there were concrete weird things discarded into the river, concrete this concrete that, and not a person in site. it was all this construction in the middle of nowhere that seemed completely irrelevant and unnecessary. just for the beaurocrats to use up their budget, they find uninhabitable land to complete concrete up. this entire road we travelled was through concrete covered mountains...but get this...the road we travelled was a little known GRAVEL road! travelling the back roads in the boonies leads to more construction.

this is all put into perspective when you realize that the highest employers in rural areas of japan are construction companies. people in tiny villages who used to be farmers, no work in construction. that's the only job to be had, so people take it. the result is the unsightly marrings in the mountains and rivers. concrete is a way of life. incidentally, at the museum we went to (the one mentioned in the warp speed thing above) i also saw concrete shaped and painted to look like a wooden log fence! why use real wood when we can employ people and make factories to make wooden looking concrete?! (i saw saw wooden-looking plastic fences in a park in tokyo across from the emeror's castle...weird) anyway, the museum had a nice garden overlooking a beautiful mountain scene with a lake filling the valley below. sachiko mentioned how pretty it was and i told her that i didn't think so. she was a little annoyed until i pointed out that the valley was made by strip mining and the water was stagnant and had weird colors and bubbles up near the shore...

sorry, that was a bit of a digression. but here's one more interesting thing.

====================
--the silence of nature--
====================

the tsukuba gang and i also went to a nice waterfall that is a major tourist attraction in gunma. i mean, it's a pretty nice waterfall in a beautiful valley with lots of cliffs and trees. however, the entire thing was turned into a tourist attraction for some reason, and for another reason i don't understand, every tourist attraction in japan comes with it's very own loud speaker. loud speakers and public announcements are extremely common in japan, so common that people don't even notice them anymore. and the loud speakers always have high pitched female voices because that's supposed to be more pleasing to the ear. i find the high pitched piercing announcements more annoying that way, but whatever. the usually warn of this and that, or tell you why the tourist attraction is so interesting. "we humbly thank you for choosing to come visit . is one of the reaons why is one of Japan's most famous . line because it is dangerous." "do not because it is dangerous" "please refrain from because it might possibly bother other customers/visitors/people in the neighborhood". most of the things they tell us to do is what is usually considered common sense, but for some reason it needs to be announced loudly and publicly for everyone to hear. this isn't only at tourist attractions though, it's something inherent in all of japan. this is a country where the fire truck drives real slow through town with the lights flashing blaring warnings about fire safety, and the police cars drive through town blaring warnings of accidents and to please buckle your seat belts and drive safe. they even go as far as to hire propellar planes outfitted with loud speakers to fly over the neighborhood blaring warnings of accidents, and reasons you should be careful and wear your seat belt, etc, etc, etc. there are some sort of cute things about it though. for example, sachiko told me a while ago that their neighborhood has a loudspeaker and every now and then, since a lot of older people live in (and get lost in) their neighborhood, a message would be broadcast saying "mr(s) so and so, age has not come home. (s)he was last seen wearing in . If you find him/her, please teach him/her the way home." then everyone would go out looking for mr(s). so and so to bring them home. this also works for kids and other people in the neighborhood. all in all, however, foreigners to japan usually find the public announcements unnecessary and annoying. the japanese don't seem to mind, though, it's just the way things are. if you go to the super market, there are tons of tiny tape recorders blasting messages of sale items and saying why a certain item is so good, etc. there are so many of them and they are so loud that no one even knows what they're saying. i am now in the habit of turning them off everytime i see one (as long as not too many people are watching...).

i was talking about playing the piano with a colleague at work a while back. he said there have been incidents with people getting killed over playing the piano too loud in a small cramped neighborhood. he said, "japanese people do not like non-natural noises. they like noises like running water, birds, and wind.". i find it hard to believe that these are the same japanese that blast the fact that "the park that you are visiting is known for it's natural solitude and beauty" over multiple loud speakers. . .

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--miscellaneous funny things--
========================

saw a biker guy in the seven eleven the other day. apparently bikers now find it cool to wear metal armor plated leather jackets and boots making them look like life size cyber-punk action figures. they have these big plastic? shoulder pads and elbow pads with the metal shields here and there. the boots are shielded and plated too, and have numerous unneccessary buckles undone. and of course, the there is the armor logo, so you can make sure you're not wearing last years trends. "ehh, you're wearing death spikes...that's so last autumn...". this biker's wear was called "Battle Gear" and had a cute picture of a skull and cross bones underneath. the name reminded me of a crappy GI Joe like cartoon....wasn't there something like that? battle gear?

saw a nice lady sitting on the train with her two kids. they had just finished shopping in tokyo and were on their way back to the suburbs. she was carrying a bag with the following written in big block letters:

**FRESH STOCK DAILY**
AMERICAN USED AND NEW
     CANNIBALS

(did i send that before-i have this strange feeling of deja vu when i typed that....but it's not in the sent box...weird.)

anyway, that's news for this 'week'...

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