Of Books

I haven't had a whole lot of time to read in the past few months, but I recently managed to finish a few books that have been neglected on my shelf.

First was started a LONG time ago. It's a book that nearly all JETs have heard of, or have read a passage from at the very least. Hokkaido Highway Blues by Will Ferguson, took me forever to finish. It's not a difficult read at all. It's easy to swallow, suited well to chunk reading (some would say "toilet reading") as he hops from city to city, driver to driver. I suppose the book is a bit dated now, since it was published 10 years ago. Things have changed in both the JET programme and Japan. It was entertaining, but often struck me as a tinge racist. Nothing flagrant, but you could sense a deeper vibe of the author being disenchanted with Japan as a whole, that just increased as you went on. Some of his interactions were rather embarassing, and really frustrated me, as a foreigner living in Japan. It's the same reaction I have when I see a foreigner behaving in a particularly obnoxious manner. In North America, or Europe there is more of a blend of races to meld into and the average caucasian isn't particularly noticeable. In Japan, however, the group is judged based on the actions of the few. It's an issue of culture and perspective, but I like to see travelers take consideration of how their actions effect their nationality (or assumed nationality, since the author routinely passed himself off as American) as a whole.

All in all, meh... Some of the authors descriptions of Japan were poetic, and it was interesting to hear about the Japan of recent past. In the end, I really didn't gain anything from the book. I was not as enthralled as I had anticipated being. Zannen.

In more enjoyable book news, I also finished The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. I have heard whinging about de Botton's snobbish attitude coming across in his books, looking down on the intellectually inferior and dumbing down the teachings of famous philosophers into pithy platitudes (the alliteration was completely unintentional). I didn't feel any of that in this book, though. Perhaps I am just not intelligent enough to have been offended by his philosophic handholding. I will be the first to admit I need it! There is no shame in reading a book with your dictionary at hand. I want to understand, I am trying to understand, and if someone out there is willing to lend assistance, then who am I to complain?

Some of the ideas mentioned about traveling and appreciating detail through drawing were really interesting, and helped nudge me a bit into focus again. I have been looking for creative outlets lately. My schedule is fairly brutal, but I need some way to get the crazy out of my head and on paper or at least in some form of media.

In irrelevant news. We have a load of homestay students coming this afternoon, and it seems I have lost a pivotal battle. Tomorrow, we are supposed to hold a cooking class with them, and introducing a Japanese recipe. So what are we making? Curry rice. Sigh... seems the lengthy discussion I had with a co-worker about the origin of curry and the international adoration of sushi did nothing.

Sometimes I really wonder...

Here it comes again

Bubbling up inside, the ever present wanderlust. I am getting the urge to get the hell out of dodge again. I just started contemplating when I will next be able to leave Japan, and it's looking tough. I may head home to the states at the end of this year for a visit, but I am not sure if I will have time to go anywhere between now and then.

Spending the past hour looking at train and river transport in China, Vietnam, and Laos is probably just exacerbating the problem. I don't think J will be in a position to travel during Golden Week, which is really expensive anyways. And the education centre has made it extremely difficult for me to skip the country this summer as per usual, by moving up the new ALT orientation an entire month. So... I could probably pull off some inner-Japan travel. I still have a burning desire to get to Yakushima. Looks like it might happen finally. There might be a few 3 day weekends to hop around and get South Korea under my belt, but who knows.

I realize that I am not thinking like an adult, but I want to go EVERYWHERE. I feel like, living in Asia, I am required to visit as many countries as possible, and will regret it if I do not. The saving for grad school, or just my future in general, is starting to creep up as a priority, however. Can someone please pay me to travel? Then all this will be settled.

Another random note. I studied so much yesterday, I managed to hurt my finger. Finally, after years of writing incorrectly, I have had the negative physical reaction all my elementary teachers warned me about. You are right. Fine. Are you happy now? How did this not happen in college when I was drawing for hours on end?