Volunteering in Tohoku - The Major Write-Up

Two things before we start. First, this is long — 1400+ words. I make no apologies for that. Second, let me paraphrase myself from the end: We do a good job in the first world of responding to crises, but the news spotlight moves on quickly. Six months may seem like a long time, but the healing in northern Japan is far from done. Support disaster relief efforts, wherever your heart may take you.

“I’m going up to Ishinomaki city in Tohoku to volunteer for a week.” I kept saying that the last few weeks leading up to my volunteer trip but, like with many things, I had no clue what it actually meant at the time. Not only was this my first time doing disaster relief volunteering, it was my first time doing so for an entire week, never mind being in Japan. Fortunately, despite some minor speed bumps along the way, the result has been fantastic: a true life-changing experience in many ways.

How did I get here? Six other JETs in Nagasaki prefecture organized the trip in accord with AJET, the national organization. We volunteered with Peace Boat, a Japanese NGO that spreads the message of international cooperation by traveling throughout the world on their cruise ship. They also have specialized in disaster relief, and have been helping coordinate efforts in Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture since shortly after the March 11 disaster struck. Our group needed one more person, I pulled everything together last minute, and got prepared for the trip.

I took off from Nagasaki prefecture bright early on September 16th. Peace Boat trips meet in Tokyo, so the group of us caught various flights to the capital city and eventually met up at orientation in the late afternoon. After orientation and dinner, we met again in Shinjuku, near the Center Park, to embark on the night buses that would then take us up to Ishinomaki. Three bus loads of volunteers journeyed into the night - more than 90 volunteers going up for a week together.

I would apologize for the bizarre coloration of the picture, but it's my camera's fault, not mine!

It was about this time that I, frankly, got crabby. Tokyo was still hot, luggage is heavy, and buses are not ideal sleeping quarters. Rest was hard to come by. However, we eventually arrived at Ishinomaki Senshu University, where Peace Boat had a small tent village set up to house week-long volunteers. This was a little frustrating - we’re staying in tents?! That didn’t improve things much. After arriving and changing, we organized in groups and headed out for the first day of volunteer work.

My team was one of those slated to do beach cleanup. Since we got a late start to proceedings it was a short day, but good work - the beach we were cleaning was a major tourist spot and, importantly, we could tell conditions were improving at the end of the day. We collected trash on the beach, including larger logs, driftwood, etc. that had been sent everywhere during the tsunami. The mountain of garbage near the beach was a reminder of just how much work had been done already; the driftwood floating in showed how much was left. Other groups at our camp were involved in other ways - some helped move a boat that was still inland from the tsunami, others untangled nets and worked with salvaged fishing equipment. Peace Boat is there to help, but they coordinate every day with groups in the city to see what work is needed. It can be a bit exciting and “giri-giri” - last minute. After returning to camp I walked with other Nagasaki JETs out to the nearest convenience store; this would be a recurring theme. I don’t remember when I went to bed that night, but it was well-deserved rest.

On that first day, I didn’t bring a long-sleeve shirt or a hat to the beach; of course, I got sunburned. I packed accordingly for day two, Sunday, but halfway through the day I was out of gas. Since we work outdoors in the summer sun, Peace Boat leaders and our group leaders are worried about heat stroke and hydration. I think that was a part of it, but I was also drained emotionally - I’d been on the move since 5 am Friday, I was doing hard work in one of the cities hit hardest by the tsunami, and it was all a bit much. It was definitely a “what have I gotten myself into” moment. After taking time to rest and drink a ton of water, I worked more in the afternoon, and things got a bit better from there.

Our camp ground was out in the sports fields at the university, and as such we didn’t exactly have normal bathrooms. We had restrooms (which were like posh port-a-potties) but no showers. However! Volunteers there had the chance to go to a large local hot springs facility three times during the week. Success! Cleanliness! Nothing like a hot shower and hot springs bath to raise morale. The complex had the baths plus a restaurant, gift shop, open rooms, and a small market and convenience store attached - all the trappings of civilization. Perfect. After the trying afternoon, this was a welcome change.

Monday was fantastic, another day of working on the beach but with cooler temperatures and overcast skies. For this Portland boy, the weather felt just like home. It was also on the third day that communication and relationships started smoothing out a bit. My group had another JET from Nagasaki, two others from different prefectures in Japan, and a bi-lingual Japanese team leader - I was the only guy. We got along well quickly but communication and building relationships with other groups took time. Card games and chats during break time broke the ice; by the end of the week, we were one much larger group instead of disparate teams.

The plan began to shift on Tuesday. The weather began to worsen as a typhoon approached. Some groups only worked a partial day Monday thanks to wind or rain, while mine was held back Tuesday morning and given a break. Work shifted inside for the afternoon, as we made jewelry out of slate tiles normally used for roofs that were recovered after the tsunami. And then the decision was made to abandon the camp site and move to another facility used by Peace Boat - a former clothing factory cleaned up by Peace Boat after the tsunami whose owners let the group use it as housing. Having a roof overhead and more communal space helped bring everyone together; riding out a typhoon together didn’t hurt things, either.

Wednesday we worked for a short time indoors, helping a fishery to clean cans recovered after the tsunami; the other group continued with jewelry. That only lasted half the day before we returned to our base thanks to worsening weather. The weather only got worse throughout the evening as the storm grew stronger; we never lost power, but there was cleaning done in the evening for water leaks and preparations to clean in shifts during the night. Fortunately that was canceled, as it would’ve meant waking at midnight and 3 am to help with the efforts.

After the storm, on Thursday we set out to downtown Ishinomaki to help clean up after the typhoon. We broke up into our teams and tackled different areas of the city, cleaning up trash and other stuff that had floated loose during the typhoon. This part of town was still in a really bad way from the March 11 tsunami, and the heavier-than-expected typhoon weather was not helping anything at all. The river was still swollen badly from the tsunami and now rose even higher; streets flooded a good bit as well. We had to stop and pull back in the afternoon, as rains made some areas impassable or dangerous for volunteer clean-up.



The JET Groups - the Nagasaki seven, two girls from JETs of African Descent, and our two Japanese team leaders.

On Friday, we packed up from the clothing factory, spent one last day cleaning at the beach, and made a final return back to the university for our last night. Only half (or even one third?) of the group had worked at the beach, so it was great to introduce the others to “our” working spot. It’s a beautiful stretch of coast, kind of reminiscent of the southern Oregon coast to me; our Japanese advisers kept saying that we could help raise spirits in town by cleaning the beach for use, and it’s hard to disagree.

By that last night I was glad to be done with work, but not terribly ready to leave. It was nice to not have to do more work, but I had finally started to break down barriers with the volunteers and get to know them. Many were Japanese college students, and others were also quite young; it was great to meet many peers and make connections. For many of the Japanese students, it was probably the most time they’d spent with Americans or other westerners at all; some had studied abroad, but all were receptive to talking and suffering through my Japanese. Importantly, I’m of course now closer with the group who came from Nagasaki, which is important.

By the time we returned back to Tokyo, the goodbyes were tearful. We’d bonded as a group doing necessary work to lend a hand to people who still desperately need assistance. Ishinomaki still needs help, and Tohoku as a whole still needs help, too. I’m glad to have gone and helped out; I might have to go again next year. To my JET friends: if you’re thinking about it, go. It will be amazing and rewarding in ways you can’t imagine. To my friends back home in the U.S.: it doesn’t matter whether it’s Japan, Haiti, New Orleans or anywhere else, disaster relief and aid is important, and though we’re good at reacting, we tend to forget things quickly. Try not to forget after the initial news has slid out of the spotlight, because recovery takes time.

Doug in Japan - More from the first month

As promised, more details and pictures - PICTURES! - from the first month of life in Japan.

First, a little about my town. It’s located in Nagasaki prefecture and is right on Omura Bay. Nagasaki is in the north-west of the island of Kyushu, which is one of four main islands of the country - Hokkaido is the farthest north, Honshu is the long main island that stretches a ways, and Shikoku is the little island just saddled under Honshu. Honshu is also where the mega-cities of Tokyo and Osaka are located.

Kyushu is an interesting microcosm of Japan. While it’s almost subtropical, there are also really big mountains - like the rest of Japan, it’s very hilly. Roughly 10 percent of the population is here, and roughly 10 percent of the GDP comes from here too. To make comparisons even starker, there’s one big metropolitan area (Fukuoka), a couple smaller ones (Kitakyushu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima), then a lot of countryside...just like much of the rest of Japan.

Obligatory rice paddy picture

Sorry for the geography lesson but it’s important to understand how that’s shaped where I am now. I’m not in the big, bright lights of Tokyo or Osaka; I’m out in the countryside, with rice paddies and tea fields galore. Nagasaki city feels like a really large town when in actuality it’s “only” 400,000+ people, which Portland trumps pretty handily. The city of Portland alone is a little bit larger but the metro area is over 2 million people, which is more than Nagasaki prefecture in total. Moreover, though the name Nagasaki has immediate impact to American ears, it’s not a major city within Japan; however, living a bit on the outskirts is pretty normal to me as an Oregonian. It’s home but hardly New York City or L.A.

This is Nagasaki city (not quite sure why it's so red-tinted, might've been all the firecrackers).

And let me say it again: My town is small. Tiny. Roughly 9,000 or so people live here. I joke with other Nagasaki prefecture JETs that it’s the low ebb of civilization on the train line between Nagasaki and Sasebo, and I’m not far off - the next town either direction is bigger, and they get bigger as one continues into either city. I haven’t lived in Sonogi long enough to really pass judgment, but it’s an interesting trade-off.

While Japanese geography has its charm I’m sure more people are interested in what every day life is like. First: it’s hot. Summertime is really hot (after a brief respite of days in the upper 70s it’s rocketed right back up over 90 degrees) and its pretty humid, too. Walking anywhere you feel okay but as soon as you stop moving you get what one British JET described as the catch-up sweats. You stop and it’s like somebody turned on the tap. Hell, I get them just walking to and from work; no wonder I’ve got the A/C on so much.

My apartment was super furnished when I arrived but it’s still taken time to adapt to living in it and making some improvements. Step 1: putting up the posters, pictures and stuff I brought with me. Step 2: getting my wireless adapter working after receiving my Internet modem last week. Let me know if there are aspects of daily life you’d like to hear about; I’ve adapted to so much so quickly already that things seem pretty normal already.

Importantly, most all of the Japanese people I’ve met have also been incredibly nice and accommodating so far. I still feel like I’m struggling a little with the language sometimes, but people help either to translate or simplify something so I understand. I’m coming out of my shell in terms of feeling afraid to make mistakes in Japanese or speak perfectly every time, which is good, because I botch what I’m saying all the time in English and it’s rarely such a problem. Importantly, people go the extra mile and help out even if I’ve just met them - already I’ve been driven home a few times after events. Maybe it’s just me cashing in all the times I drove people home over the years, who knows, but it’s a reminder of the nature of humanity and generosity.

Same goes for my fellow JETs, too, who have been welcoming straight away - both the other newcomers like me or the returning veterans. Apologies if I’ve said it before but it’s fantastic to already feel like a member of a community. I’ve been able to go out and be active every weekend, and even get together with others on weeknights from time to time too. It really helps that summertime is festival time, allowing ample opportunity to get together and share the whole "holy crap we're in Japan now" experience.

And that’s life in Japan at the moment. Beautiful spot of the world (weather aside), fantastic people, the opportunity to do something wonderful and to have ample time to explore and grow as a person...I’m incredibly fortunate.

Doug in Japan: Arrival and Beginning

What feels like it began a long time ago - last November when the application was mailed in, three and a half years ago when I applied the first time, almost ten years ago when I first started studying Japanese - has finally come to fruition. I'm now on the JET Programme, living and working full time in Nagasaki prefecture, Japan.

This was originally started as a blog for a journalism class at the University of Oregon a long time ago, and older posts reflect my usual interests (cars, video games, music), but from here on out I'm invisioning this as a "hey guys Doug is living in Japan and here's what he's up to!" site. Which is fine; there are many like this, but this one is mine. My friend Julia from the Portland State MIM program has been running her own site in the same vein on living in Shanghai. It kind of is The Thing To Do in this situation, but screw it, I need some place to write.

Plus many friends said I should do this, so here we go.

On July 30, I took off from Portland and through the magic of the international date line, touched down the following day at Narita Airport outside of Tokyo, Japan. Let the JET Programme begin in earnest! After collecting baggage, we piled onto buses - I say "we" because groups from Toronto, San Francisco, and a couple other cities landed around the same time as the Portland group - and headed into the city. I was a little taken aback at how dark Tokyo looked this year; last March it was lit up like a Christmas tree, but with "sendetsu" (electric savings) being a necessity in the wake of the earthquake and nuclear issues in March, so goes the neon. I roomed in Tokyo with two others from Portland, Jim and Ken, who are now in Tottori and Niigata prefectures respectively. Dinner and early to bed was the result of the first night.

The JET Orientation began in earnest on the first full day, Monday. Keynote speakers! Presentations! Lots of jet-lagged people stuck in suits or formal wear! Rooms without windows! The orientation itself was alright, but god, after flying over the last thing I wanted to do was sit in a suit in rooms without windows. We could have been in Japan; we could have been in Spokane for all I was concerned. On the first night we also had a huge reception where we got the chance to talk with more people from our prefecture. We'd all met earlier in the day but that was so formal and official. Even better, after the reception, word spread around - "8:30, lobby, karaoke." That was all I needed to hear.

The second day, Tuesday, included even more presentations and lectures about teaching and adjusting to life in Japan. In the afternoon, we were instructed how our travel down to Nagasaki prefecture would go on Wednesday; we also had to drop bags off Tuesday evening so the buses could be packed and ready to go. Tuesday night I wandered around Shinjuku (the district of Tokyo we stayed in) with my roommate Jim, finding dinner and wandering through the huge electronics shops. We also went to Uniqlo, a huge Japanese clothing chain; I think their largest size of shirts might just fit me, which is great news.

Wednesday was when things really got going. Up and out to the airport in the morning, a nice quick flight from Tokyo Haneda down to Nagasaki, and...here you are. This is where you live now. I was picked up from the airport by my supervisor, Okaki-san, and my predecessor, Sho. From there it was a whirlwind tour of my new little town - the Board of Education building, the town hall, photos taken for my Alien Registration Card (aka "gaijin card"), even more. It was a touch overwhelming, to be honest; getting to rest in what was now my apartment was a welcome respite. That night I also had my first "enkai," or party, which was hosted by the Board of Education and had other top figures in the town there.

Thursday and Friday featured tours of the schools where I'll be working in a couple weeks. One of the best moments was at Sonogi Middle School, where I'll be spending the most time. Though it's the summer break, school clubs and groups still meet; the baseball club and a brass band were both practicing when we visited. After meeting the teachers (including the English teacher), we (Okaki-san, Sho and I) came back outside and the kids gave Sho an impromptu performance and show of their appreciation. I think he almost cried; I wouldn't have blamed him.

Since then I've been working at the BoE on weekdays and hanging out with other JETs in the area on the weekends. The first weekend included a trip up to Sasebo to see the Seaside Festival and fireworks; last weekend included an all-you-can-eat and drink party in Omura, followed by traveling south to Nagasaki city proper for the Obon festivities on Monday. Tomorrow I'm going up to a beach party north of Sasebo. Gotta keep busy! All the other JETs I've met, whether in my group arriving this year or returning ones, have been great, interesting, wonderful people.

Apologies that this is so long and there aren't any pictures; once I get an Internet connection at home, that will definitely stop being a problem.

Doug's favorite albums of 2010

A week or so ago, my buddy Nick — another one of the co-editors at Silicon Sasquatch — threw down a blog-post gauntlet. He wanted each of us to write about our albums of the year now gone, as a way to reminisce on music and try to produce more content for our respective sites. One can't survive writing about video games alone, can they?

Of course, I instantly ran into a dilemma. Unlike others, I actually can't put together a top 10 albums of 2010 list solely with music from this year. I just checked my iTunes collection again, and I don't even know if I have 10 albums from 2010 on my computer. But since this is my damn opinion on things, I'm going to change the rules — here are 10 albums, both from 2010 and years previous, that I have listened to, been inspired by, discovered or just in general loved in this past year. Six are from 2010, three are from the 1980s or before, and one is from 2009, but they're all representative of my taste in music and what I've had on throughout the year.

So now, in no particular order BUT broken down into "2010" and "before 2010" groupings...

Six Favorites from 2010

The Roots - How I Got Over and Wake Up! - Okay, so I'm bending the rules again, but it's because The Roots released two great albums this past year. How I Got Over is the most recent studio disc that continues the band's descent into darkness, introspection, and philosophy, and it sounds great. Wake Up! is something different — a cover album recorded along with John Legend with a bunch of soul and R&B songs rotating around the theme of protest and social enlightenment. Regardless, this is the best band in hip-hop and one of my absolute favorite artists.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - If pushed to decide, I think this is my choice for Album of the Year. Such a wonderful advancement of the Arcade Fire's sound, The Suburbs has great song-writing and fantastic sonic themes. As a child who spent teenage years in the suburbs, it's sad to relate to the album so much, but it makes it all the more resonant.

The Black Keys - Brothers - I feel bad it's taken this long for me to discover and appreciate The Black Keys. They're like the White Stripes but without the gimmick and, arguably, a better sound. At least, it's a sound that I like better. I love some down-home, dirty, old-fashioned blues rock, and the Black Keys provide that in spades.

Broken Bells - My favorite debut of the year. Okay, it's hard to say it's a true "debut" when one half of the group is the lead singer of The Shins and the other half is DJ/producer Dangermouse, but combined together and it's a slightly airier, poppier sound than Dangermouse has found in the past. I have something of a love/hate relationship with Dangermouse, loving his sound while loathing that it's so recognizable; I think James Mercer and his talents really stand out on the disc, though.

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach - I was down on this album for a long time. I've loved Gorillaz, Damion Albarn's private psychedelic reel, ever since I first heard "Clint Eastwood" almost ten years ago; however, it took me a while to wrap my head around what this disc was all about. It wasn't as dark as the previous album, Demon Days, but instead reminds me of the first self-titled debut album in that it's a mish-mash of pop styles. However, this time it's executed much, much better. It's hard to find standout singles on the disc, but let it flow through your ears as an entire album, and it's wonderful.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Ah, yes, Kanye West. This album is....an album. It's certainly something. The beats and the topics are at once way out there (see "Monster") and on the other hand ridiculously personal and introspective ("All of the Lights," "Runaway"). The guest spots are great and, yes, Kanye's not the greatest rapper ever. Who cares; there's conviction and something captivating in Kanye. It's the rare piece of mainstream pop that delivers on the critical level.

Four Favorites of 2010

John Lennon - The John Lennon Collection - Just a week ago was the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder. Between continuing to listen to the remastered versions of The Beatles' albums and taking a trip to the John Lennon Museum while in Japan, I got a hold of his older greatest hits collection and listened to it quite a bit this year. This is quite possibly the great eye-opener for me this year; listening to some of Lennon's back catalogue and putting his solo career into context has been a great inspiration. That I went to the Lennon Museum is due to a friend from grad school who wanted me to visit and get him a T-shirt; what I left with, instead, was great respect for an artist and man.

Al Green - I'm Still In Love With You - My dad loves this stuff - old soul, R&B and funk. There's a timeless quality to a Reverend Al, and this is great music to listen to while driving or working on homework or doing anything else, really. I need to get the turntable out again if only to play this on vinyl.

The Beatles — Abbey Road - I have a favorite Beatles album, and it is this — their final album together. Some may point to the new territory broken by the earlier Beatles singles and albums, but man that stuff has not aged well to my ears. However, songs on Abbey Road and Let It Be clearly defined the next thirty-plus years of rock and alternative rock, and for that I am grateful. Sure, I bought this in 2009 and listened to it a bunch a year ago, but there's a good reason my copy of the remaster has a worn-out case — it's lived in my car because I never know when I need to listen to that B-side medley.

Mastodon — Crack the Skye - Sometimes you need a little blood and thunder in your life. I hate to say I've come around on metal, but a couple bands — Mastodon, Iron Maiden, and others — are in my regular rotation of music to listen to. Mastodon does a good job toeing the line between heavy and listenable (take your cookie monster sound-alike vocals and get the fuck out of here) while also being interesting sonically and, daresay, lyrically. It's heavy and drags and plods and shakes the earth with every step, then the solo starts up and the guitar lines soar. It's such a base and simple thing, but that doesn't make it less awesome.

A long-overdue update

Last I logged in on this site, it was to provide updates on my Masters of International Management program's three-week trip of Asia in March. Being away from home for four weeks was a trip in and of itself; traveling outside of the United States for the first time was just as daunting. Doing all that, with 70 of my closest friends for the first three weeks, was a rolling ball of chaos and insanity that made for an amazing time. Following that with a week on my own in Tokyo was a whole other sort of situation, one where I seemed to learn quite a bit about myself and my personal goals in life.


Tokyo — Ginza, I think. Just because I didn't post any of these photos on here.

Since then, through the spring and summer terms, I've been incredibly busy with school, friends, and trying to figure out what's next. I've been to Crater Lake with international students, about a half-dozen Portland Timbers games, and far too many Portland Australian Football Club practices. I've seen friends get married, friends get drunk, myself gain and lose and regain facial hair, and gone through a number of potential career choice possibilities.


Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, Portland Timbers!

With that all done and gone, I've got an idea where I want to go. My one-sentence resumé aim for myself is that I am interested in working for a multi-national corporation, making use of my communication background, graduate business education, East Asian studies, and multi-cultural experience. I would love to either stay close to my Northwest roots, or be able to travel abroad widely and experience the world; hell, even doing both would be great!

The other thing I've been working on quite a bit recently is Silicon Sasquatch, the video game-centric web site myself and two colleagues from the illustrious University of Oregon School of Journalism — Nick Cummings and Aaron Thayer — have run for nearly two years. We've had our ups and downs and taken some lumps over that time, but we've been able to re-dedicate ourselves and get the site running better than ever. We have some high goals to reach in the next year or so, and hopefully we can make this into a profitable venture — even if its just barely profitable! I am putting my writing skills to use, and learning a great deal of organizational skills and gaining great experience...even if it is managing two others doing something we love.

MIM Trip - China, in two parts

One of the photos China really didn't want you to see — outside the Forbidden City at night

Beijing

Apologies for the delay, but Blogger was one of the many things locked behind the Great Firewall, and I was too busy discovering Tokyo to write this up then. Thank god for boredom on airplanes, then. Plenty more photos from China available here.

Finally arriving in China was something of a wake-up call. Compared to the more western-oriented nature of Japan and South Korea, at first the Olympic city appeared to be much the same — driving into town from the nicely-appointed airport, you can see a variety of new skyscrapers with impressive Chinese national and international brands. Here, Sinopec tower; there, one for China’s offshore oil company; just down the road, one of a couple of banks.

Beijing looks very nice, modern and new if you are looking up — at the skyscrapers or streetlights or even the city traffic. Watch your feet, though, and you can see the weariness of winter and the truth that, while not third-world, China is still a developing nation in many senses. Broken, dusty sidewalks happen in the United States too, but there’s a certain sense of dilapidation in parts of Beijing. Walking along the wall of the Forbidden City toward Tiananmen Square, you see all sorts of small stores, shacks, and side-streets that run toward Beijing’s poor (middle-class?) areas away from the upper-middle-class boom.



China is also culturally very, very different from anything else I had ever experienced before. Chinese traffic is indicative of many things (ranging from waiting in line at McDonalds to doing business and planning) — it’s busy, noisy, and conducted with elbows as you force your way up toward the front. One of my grad school friends joked that something “wasn’t impolite, we’re in China” was very true — politeness certainly is relative to the context, yes, but for somebody who’s only ever been in the west (and the west coast of the United States at that), it’s a strong shock.

[This is without even going into too much detail on cab rides in Beijing and Shanghai, which were harrowing to say the least. Cheap, fast, and efficient seems to be the order of the day, though you might be a bit frightened].

Being an American tourist of even modest means in China makes you feel like a black-card-strapped rock star back in the United States. Want to share a multi-course meal at a very nice Chinese restaurant, complete with a couple rounds of Tsingtao and dessert afterwards? $15. Subway fare almost everywhere in Beijing was 2 yuan (which had to be state subsidized to drive people onto the trains and away from driving); the exchange rate is roughly 7 yuan to $1. Hit the ATM, pull out $200 and walk away feeling like a rap star with a much, much fatter wallet.



On one of the last nights in Beijing, a group of students went out to a party hosted at a bar on the other side of the city from where our hotel was located. All-you-can-drink until midnight at a bar that was a converted houseboat? 100 yuan, or (roughly) $15; taxis weren’t even close to that. A good time was had by all for sure.

This also translates to shopping in China, especially in the markets where haggling is the name of the game. Beijing has a few famous markets, the Pearl and Silk markets, where the legitimacy of the goods is questionable and the first price you’re quoted for anything is nearly 400 percent too high. The merchants are very aggressive and know enough English to catch onto some things — a few students were walking through one of the markets and one of them accidentally said the other’s name, which led to the poor sap being called out by name throughout the rest of the market. The slightest eye contact toward something while browsing will lead to merchants falling over themselves trying to offer you twelve of whatever that is, whether it’s leather goods (wallets, bags, etc.), clothes, or electronics.



The dance that ensues when you do want to buy something is complicated. Step one is to ask the price for something else, then immediately cut that price in half. The haggling then starts, once you figure out where the price floor is; then, you ask about what you really want, stay firm on the price, and even walk away to prove your point. They’ll come asking for you to come back, and accept your price.

This is how you get fake decent-quality fake North Face jackets for $20, or string upon string of pearls for $20 total. I’m really not good at this sort of haggling, and even had a moment of conscience when I realized my price was incredibly good within the context of American prices, if not the “market goods game” that developed within the cohort. Sure, you can be an ass and get your “I Climbed The Great Wall” T-shirt for 25 cents, but what’s the point? Just pay $2 and be on your way.



I don’t know if I could live in China — more on this when I talk about Shanghai — but being a tourist there is a certain kind of fun. Your dollar goes a long ways if you’re smart, sights like the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, the Olympic stadiums, and the Great Wall were amazing — the Great Wall was one of the best experiences of my life — and the sights were definitely eye-opening.

Shanghai



It might be a very obvious observation, but Shanghai just feels like a much more developed, more westernized and older city. It and Tokyo feel similar; I’m led to believe Hong Kong is about the same, and my personal theory is because all three were developed earlier than cities like Seoul —they had outside influences from the late 19th century on, instead of post-WWII like the South Korean metropolis. That said, there’s just a purpose and genuineness to the skyline in Shanghai that just didn’t feel there in Beijing. It’s like comparing Spokane and Seattle — they both might have downtowns, but you can tell which one walks the walk.



That said, I liked the neon and hustle of Shanghai. I went out a couple nights with students from China on our program — notably Michael, who’s from Shanghai and seems like a boss in his hometown — and got to enjoy an entirely different experience than I would have had otherwise. Nothing like an elaborate, multi-dish Chinese dinner full of things I can’t remember and that they certainly don’t serve at any restaurant I’ve seen in Portland (or the United States, really). Didn’t try the bullfrog; probably should have, in retrospect, because when will I again? Our night out at a hot pot dinner was also a lot more fun and, yes, kicked the crap out of doing hot pot in Portland. Most of the food followed such a pattern on this trip, honestly.



I felt like just being out in the neon of Shanghai — and washing it in from the backseat of a car, feeling the skyscrapers bear down — was a different enough experience that things like trying bullfrog didn’t seem as necessary as they probably will when I look back on this trip. However, making a fool of myself at a karaoke box surrounded by my friends and the Chinese students in our program? Definitely an experience I got behind, even if the Chinese girls put a bunch of Backstreet Boys and N’Sync into the karaoke mix for the three Americans out that night.



Ah, Shanghai. I could probably ignore China’s myriad problems (like censorship, reason no. 1 why I couldn’t update this site at all during my Chinese trip) if you threw me into doing business in Shanghai, but man, learning to drive in China might be a bridge too far. I don’t know if I’d honestly want to make the personal sacrifices necessary to work and live overseas in order to live in Beijing, however; despite the PRC’s best efforts, I still don’t think I could believe in Beijing. Shanghai for the money, Beijing to be a tourist for four or five days.

MIM Trip - A little bit of Seoul

At Hyundai's Asan manufacturing plant, where they make roughly 1,200 cars a day. Yikes

I will readily admit that, of our four cities and three countries on the MIM Asia Trip, Seoul was at the bottom in terms of preference; I've studied Japanese so long that finally making it to Tokyo was great, Shanghai is a massive modern metropolis, and Beijing is host to a wide variety of fascinating Chinese history. Seoul? Eh.

(I don't think it helps that I was not terribly happy with the travel getting to Seoul. From hotel to hotel in about 10 hours? Arriving after midnight? Whacking my head in the airport tram at Incheon? Big baby right here).



The parking lot at Hyundai Asan is also a fair representation of Korean roads: Good luck finding something that isn't Hyundai or Kia.

However, because I had such little knowledge of the city and country, it's been a big surprise. Tokyo felt very tight — even the major roads were very, very narrow, the raised highways frighteningly so — but Seoul feels a lot wider, bigger, much more like Seattle or Portland than Tokyo. Also, the drivers are a bit crazier here (on my unofficial driving scale, going from little old lady going to church at one end to Los Angeles on the other, Tokyo is close to Portland, whereas Seoul tips toward L.A. China is apparently batshit crazy too). Also, EVERY car here is a Hyundai. Dead serious. Gotta love strict importation laws preventing competition...



This is also definitely my "stranger in a strange land" experience as well. Sure, Tokyo's on a different continent, but it's fairly westernized, I've studied Japanese forever, and I've been reading my travel guide for Tokyo religiously. You can get around Tokyo with zero Japanese very easily. Seoul, however....not counting brand names for western companies, I've seen more signs and markings in Japanese around here than I've seen signs in English. Gaijin charades abound, especially since only one of my graduate cohort is intimately familiar with the Korean language. That said, the place seems nice enough — right near our hotel is a big downtown shopping district, kind of halfway between the excesses of Shibuya in Tokyo and what I'm anticipating the Silk Market in Beijing will be — that is, while there are real stores with legit goods down these alleys, it seems like a good chance to find fakes.



While we had a lot of time to hop around Tokyo on our own, we've been really limited in Seoul. The first full day here was basically dedicated to a DMZ trip, which was fascinating in ways I couldn't comprehend without being here. What you might not be able to wrap your head around is that this is a country still at war. Of course it's not an active, hot war, but when you hear from your tour guide about when Korean men generally get their required army service out of the way, and you see barb wire fences and guard posts lining the highway in the last few kilometers leading up to the DMZ...you start to get the idea a bit.





The above is just about all they'll let you take photos of at the DMZ — actually, what they'll let you keep photos of, I should say. There's a large yellow line about twelve or fifteen feet behind the rail and, while they'll let you go up and look through binoculars to peep at North Korea, you really can't get any kind of photos.



Our tour also went down to Tunnel 3, which is the third of four found tunnels dug by North Korea trying to...well, I don't know. Prepare for an invasion? I guess. Our guide said he believes the South Korean army knows that 13 or 14 tunnels exist, including the four that have been found; chances are there are more and, considering the short 30-mile distance between DMZ and Seoul (which has about 40 percent of South Korea's population in the vicinity), it's not too shocking. The North denied Tunnel 3's existence and, apparently, North Korean soldiers painted the walls black to say it was a coal mine; the South turned it into a tourist trap and profited, upsetting the North to no end. They wanted a cut of the profits!



It's indicative of a very complicated relationship between South and North. I get the feeling that many in the South feel pity for those stuck in the North, and save their hatred for a pig-headed and dogmatic regime that's fractured what was previously a country united for centuries. The hope for re-unification is strong and romantic; there's very real issues that will need to be addressed if and when that happens — the north/south gap is far, faaaaaaar worse than West and East Germany were — but the most cynical of South Koreans just want to delay the cost instead of saying they don't want to address it at all.





The example that really drove this into my mind is Dorasan Station. It's the northernmost train station from the South before going into the North, and it was used for a few years early in the century by the tourists who were allowed from the South to the North to one of a very, very few tourist locations. It's standing still, and as nice a station as any I saw in Japan — it's now a symbol of hope, an extended handshake just hanging in the air until such a time as it's needed. There's still a departure gate for Pyeongyang, and...it's hard to explain. It's just a very palpable, romantic thing to actually see in person.



Hyundai Asan was fascinating for other reasons. Remember what I said about every car in South Korea seemingly being a Hyundai? Here's part of the reason why. Nearly 350,000 cars a year roll out of Asan for the world market, namely the Sonata and Azera (which are both available in the U.S.). Seeing a huge production plant — one that can roll out a completed car once a minute — was absolutely stunning. I've seen plenty of documentary shows on Discovery Channel and the like about auto manufacturing plants (thanks dad!) but seeing one, walking through one, seeing the robots spot weld, check each body with a laser...seeing cars born right in front of my eyes was spectacular. It's on an enormous, unfathomable scale, made even more impressive because Asan is a highly vertically integrated facility — from raw sheet metal waiting at one end of the factory, to finished Hyundais at the other end, everything can be done at Asan.



So I leave South Korea with a much greater respect and understanding for the country, an amazing sense of sympathy for a country that desperately wants to be one again, and a strong suggestion to give Seoul a chance if you have the opportunity. It's not quite as cosmopolitan as Tokyo, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

MIM Trip — Shashin de hansshiteiru

Remember that old cliche about photos and thousands of words? So much has happened between the first post on my Asian excursion and now that I feel the need to drop some photography in here. All of my photos from the trip so far are available from my Flickr account page.

A variety of photos from Tokyo:









Enjoying (ahem) lunch at a plant tour

Photos from a day trip out to Hakone, approximately 2 hours outside of Tokyo by train











Fuji-san! (aka Mt. Fuji)





More shortly about South Korea.