Anxiety and Anger

First I will start with the Anxiety.

Well, the past 5 months have been pretty stressful with a karate tournament, Japanese language tests, work and work related meetings. But the overarching, anxiety producing nugget is my future, or lack of a future plan. Not knowing what I want to pursue as a career has me caught me in a bit of a whirlwind. I know that whatever it is that I do, I want it to use Japanese. Over the past few weeks, since the completion of my language test, which I had been using as a procrastination tactic, I have begun thinking of things that I might like to get involved in and ways of making that happen.

Japanese History or Culture
This would involve going back to grad school for at least 2 years, possibly 6. This is an ideal situation if I can find a nice place to study and someone to pay for it it all. At the moment, the East- West Scholarship in association with the University of Hawaii seem like the best choice. Somethings I need to flush out before I apply (next November for the Fall 2012 year): GRE scores, letters of recommendation (fairly easy to get), a specific subject and area of Japanese history which I want to study or can contribute to. I am thinking about Buddhism's relationship in war in ancient Japan and the role that sohei played in these battles.
Pros:Seems like an ideal job doing and teaching what I like. Cons:It's extremely expensive and will take a long time to get there.

Japanese Language Teaching
This would also involve going to graduate school to receive a MA in Foreign Language Education or something along those lines. The added kicker would be the amount of supplementary Japanese courses I would have to take before even getting to the MA program. Pro:I would force myself to become fluent in Japanese. Con:I don't know how I would like teaching Japanese. Probably about as much as I like teaching English...

Translation
This would also be a really fun job, I think. I find that while studying Japanese, one of my favorite parts is translating the garbled mess that is a Japanese sentence into beautiful English. This would mean that I would have to stay in Japan, possibly on the JET program, to perfect my Japanese while I work to get myself out of debt from LMU. I would have to increase my Japanese level a lot to get into this business and Japan would be the likely place of my employment. There is not much call for translating Japanese into English in the states. Pros:Work from home. Good money. Forced to perfect my Japanese. Get to stay in Japan. Cons:Could take many, many years to get up to an acceptable level of Japanese

If anyone has any comments or ideas, please let me know.

Now for the anger.

Salvation Army discards donations because they promote 'witchcraft, vampires, and werewolves'

Apparently the Salvation Army does not want to give children Harry Potter and Twilight toys because they promote witches, vampires and werewolves and they go against Jesus and Christianity. WHAT?! Now, I can understand the desire not to give children toys from Twilight (it is just terrible - seriously terrible), but Harry Potter is a wonderful story about good overcoming evil and love triumphing over hate. Do they not understand the hypocritical nature of these actions? Jesus, if he existed, was an undead cannibal, zombie who used magic all the time before disappearing into the ether to once again return to earth to destroy/save the world. That sounds right up the same alley as witch, vampire, Bond villan and werewolf if you ask me.

"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor. Not a spiritual advisor."

Prayer In Medicine Survey

I had a brain aneurysm concerning this unscientific hogwash of a survey, but I think that everyone should take the survey as an example of the state of conversation in the US. In short, my problem is with the style of questions. The questions assume that it is okay for a doctor to advise you on anything but medical matters. Sure there is an argument here that people with faith use that faith to help overcome emotional problems, but giving the medical doctor the leeway to "approach healing holistically" is bunk nonsense. Doctors are trained to deal with medical problems. Asking them or being hold by them about faith or spirituality on the hospital bed seems like a bad idea to me. It is like going to a mechanic to get your car fixed and while he is trying to fix your transmission asking him to give you legal advice on your upcoming divorce. "Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor. Not a　spiritual advisor."

The silly part of the whole survey is that you have choices for some questions (Very likely, likely, unlikely, N/A) which don't even correspond accurately to the questions. When the question says something to the effect of, "Will you seek spiritual or faith based information from an information packet?" Where is the "No Fucking Way" button? 'Unlikely' and 'N/A' don't satisfy my survey destroying blood-lust.

I was turned on to this survey by the science geeks over at Pharyngula.

Perhaps I will find some inspiration and write something of my own today after lunch. Maybe...

Rap I Can Get Behind

Now this is an artist I could get behind, though it isn't exactly my style of music.

A New Direction for This Blog

This blog started 2+ years ago as a way for me to share my experiences in Japan with my family and friends who cared to read my dribble. Seeing as I have been very busy lately and have not had the time to go out and have adventures worthy of repeating, I am going to try a different direction. In addition to the occasional stories about my life, I am going to also be posting commentaries, articles, and comics which I find interesting for one reason or another. This will be a useful way to spark up more comments and interaction on this blog and perhaps increase readership.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/11/15/ilist.japan.englishization/index.html

It is certainly a unique idea coming from a Japanese. It certainly would force internationalization.

As someone who teaches English in Japan (or attempts to) there is something to be said about the "Japanese complacency" to which the CEO quoted in the article alludes. Of the perhaps 1000 students I have taught over the past 2 years I can remember maybe 10 that planned to use English in their daily lives. Nearly all of my students have resigned themselves to the idea that English is too hard and if they never leave Japan and join a typical 9am-8pm office job they won't ever have to learn any other language because Japanese people speak Japanese.

A Japanese friend of mine calls this, "The Complex." The Complex is, according to him, a fear of speaking English. It is a silly fear, but one I am rather acutely aware of in its reverse, i.e. my fear of speaking Japanese and Spanish. But the Japanese complex with English is rather, to risk stating the obvious, complex. English as a foreign language, though it has changed and adapted over the many years, has been taught in Japan for nearly 60 years at the junior high school level. (I cannot be certain of the validity at the moment, but this article seems to point to a long history of English in Japan). This relates to "The Complex" because even though modern Japanese have a long history of learning English, in some cases more than 8 years of formal instruction, many feel as though they cannot speak a word of it. There are many reasons for this but the main one being that Japanese English education is focused on the grammar and vocabulary of the language and not the speaking.

For those unfamiliar with the Japanese education system, everything is based on test scores. To get into high school, you must take a test. To get into a university, you must take a test. So in a response to shoddy international English test scores, the Japanese government will force elementary school students to learn English in an attempt to boost English education. But who knows if that will work? It might have the opposite effect and make students hate school and English even more than they already do by high school.

As a side note, I have come across many wonderful English speakers in my travels and bar hopping in Kyoto. Many of whom had no interest in English as students but learned English through day to day interaction with foreigners. The focus on an international business language could lead more people to seek English as a second language as a way to better themselves in the business world. It could be a good step to revitalizing Japan, though the implementation of this will undoubtedly be met with resistance.

The comments on this CNN article are hilarious, which is to be expected from people who comment on CNN articles. Somehow the mandatory speaking of English in the office of one particular business became the supplanting of the Japanese language and culture in all things throughout the country. One thing I would like to see happen within the Japanese language is the removal of katakana-ized English loan words. Sometimes it is impossible to understand what they are. Then again, in English we say, "carry oh key" and "car a tee" instead of "ka ra o ke" and "ka ra te".

These ideas are pretty interesting to me. Of course, as I already speak English, they are inherently selfish.

Update

It has been a long time since I have come up with anything entertaining to write about on this blog. Life has been relatively calm in the last few months. I broke up with my girlfriend in April, passed my 1 kyuu (last brown belt) karate test, started a new school year in Japan, bought a Playstation 3 and a bunch of Blu-ray movies, started a low-sugar and low-carb diet which has resulted in the loss of a couple of kilograms and two belt notches, and I have seriously started studying Japanese.

I have been reading the news every day and it has me in a worried panic for the continued existence of the human race.

I have finally come to terms with my atheism and I am proud to be able to share that. Years of consideration and wishy-washy flip-flopping aside, I am much happier now than I ever was as a Catholic. The realization that this life is all I have, while short and seemingly uneventful so far, is a great motivator to get out there and live my life as I deem fit. It is an amazingly freeing feeling. Though this outlook can be bleak at times, I believe dealing with the reality of the world around me is more useful than worrying about the unlikely eternity awaiting me beyond the grave.

This is the season where old JETs begin to pack their bags and head home as their contracts expire in the next month or so. I have already said good-bye to a couple of good friends last year and there are a few more leaving (one is already gone) this year. It is sad, but I envy them for being able to pull the trigger and make a decision to leave this cushy job for the uncertainties of the Western world job market. Currently I am exploring the idea of staying in Japan and doing a Master's degree. It seems like a good idea now, seeing as I really enjoy living in Japan and teaching English as a foreign language is quite entertaining. If only for the occasional hilarious "Engrishisms" that pop up now and again. I also feel that mastering a second language will be useful in the job market. Whatever market that will be in the future...

As to the Japanese language progress; I have made a significant leap in my listening ability. My speaking is still sub-par, but I have a few Japanese friends with whom I attempt conversations. Attempt being the key word. I have been studying for a test next December, so I hope I can stay dedicated to my study methods. I have also started a new Kanji learning method which is based on associating elements inside the kanji characters with English meanings and using those vague meanings to create stories so that I can easily remember the English definition and the shape of the character. Over the past 4 weeks, I have "mastered" the writing and definitions of over 300 kanji. That, in addition to the other 200+ kanji I have come across over the 2 years that I have been here, should be enough to help me pass the test in December. I have also been studying grammar and reading manga in Japanese.

Well, I have successfully wasted the last 30 minutes of work today writing this update. So let's call it a day.