Hello again from J-List. Once again I've made the hop across the Pacific and am safely back in Japan. Of course between the dreary wetness of Japan's rainy season and the unending humidity that waits to greet me when the rain stops, part of me is wishing I were back in Texas...
Japan is making big changes to its legal system as a way of modernizing its institutions for the 21st century. Amazingly enough, Japan doesn't have enough lawyers, to the point where most people aren't able to perform some of the normal legal functions needed in their daily lives. They really are rare, too -- I've lived in Japan for thirteen years, and I've never met a single lawyer, and in the past the Japanese Bar Association has had to dispatch lawyers to provide legal services for citizens living in very rural prefectures. To help ease the problem, the Japanese government has encouraged the opening of several new law schools whose students started graduating this Spring. While I certainly don't want Japan to become a land of lawsuits like America can be, a functioning legal system is part of any healthy democracy. Unlike Western countries, where the legal system can be an important part of social progress, here the courts and social changes as a result of lawsuits are not a factor in society at all.
Another big change coming to Japan's courts is the introduction of a "lay judge" (i.e., jury) system. By 2009, the Japanese expect to have a six-member jury system in place for trying serious crimes, which will allow average citizens to sit in judgement against their peers. Currently, trials are conducted by three judges who hear arguments and render a verdict, but this system is very flawed -- there's a big difference between having one's fate decided by possibly jaded, cynical judges and a trial by one's peers, after all, and Japan's current judge-only system results in a shocking 98 per cent conviction rate. There are big risks with a trial-by-jury system, though, due to problems with the way the Japanese psyche works. Since Japan is a very group-oriented society, I am concerned that anyone sitting on a jury would feel pressure from the other members in the group to agree with them, despite personal doubts they may have. Also, too, there seem to be certain Japanese who are irrationally stubborn -- like the man who still refuses to sell his land so they can complete Narita Airport, even after 30 years -- and individuals like this would make a jury system difficult to execute. So any attempt at enabling individual Japanese citizens to make fair judgements of people accused of crimes would have to accompany a great amount of education, including explaining how jury systems work in other countries. I believe the system of having average Japanese citizens get involved in the legal process is a great idea -- maybe the experience will make them understand their own society better.
Near our house, we can see the Sphinx, the Statue of Liberty, and many other interesting wonders of world. These are pachinko parlors, a major source of entertainment for many Japanese men and women in Japan. An odd game which I don't pretend to understand, you basically buy a bucket of balls for $50, then sit for hours trying to hold a controller in just the right position to make most of the balls go into certain holes in the pachinko machine, which gets you more balls then you started out with. Since "gambling" is illegal in Japan, except for certain events like horse, boat and bicycle racing, you don't win money -- you get valuable prizes instead, which you redeem for cash at a shady building next to the pachinko parlor. Pachinko is quite a competitive business to be in, and operators (who always seem to be getting involved with some crime or another) work very hard to bring in the newest machines in -- with little video screens or cute anime-style characters printed on them, for example. They have interesting names to attract customers, like Win or Soar or Victory -- there's one near us called Al Pacino. Despite the efforts of the pachinko industry to make the activity seem like a friendly and family-oriented thing to do, pachinko always seems to go hand in hand both with the yakuza and shady North Korean Mafia figures.
The JMATE.com website has been updated again, with new reviews of various cool DVDs you can find here at J-List, as well as English interviews with top JAV idols, including the lovely Riho Nanase. The URL is http://www.jmate.com
Remember that J-List carries excellent magazine by our "reserve subscription." This means that you can get great anime, JPOP, fashion and other magazines sent to you as soon as the new issue is out in Japan -- a few days earlier than newsstands receive them here, in fact. We recommend great items like Young Magazine Uppers, a superb manga magazine that features Shirow Masamune's newest posters in special issues as well as great comic art from some of Japan's best manga-ka (manga artists). Payment through any method is fine (credit card, check or money order) and you can stop your subscription at any time.
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Greetings from J-List June 10, 2004
Hello again from J-List. Once again I'm prepared to head back to Japan, laden with Pop Tarts, tortilla chips, salsa and various omiyage (oh-mee-YAH-gay), or souvenirs for the J-List staff in Japan. But first, an update.
Have you ever noticed the "peace sign" (aka the victory or V-sign) that Japanese people make with their fingers whenever they're having their photographs taken? It's almost the Japanese National Gesture, and quite puzzling to foreigners who wonder why every single Japanese seems to make this gesture in every photograph, especially cute girls. While the origins of this strange pose are not known, I would guess that U.S. soldiers probably made the sign (meaning "victory") while posing for photographs during Japan's occupation, and it entered the Japanese mind set at that time. When you say "peace" your face naturally smiles, the same as saying "cheese." Another way the Japanese get you to smile for a photograph is asking, "What's one plus one?" (in Japanese, "Ichi tasu ichi wa?"). The answer of course is "ni" (two), another word that naturally makes you smile for the camera.
There's a new social problem in Japan: young people meeting on the "suicide chat" sites, forming death pacts and committing suicide together. While Japan's suicide rate is astronomically high (over 30,000 annually for the past few years), the odd trend of young people meeting online and deciding to end it all is new and very alarming. Ever since the suicide rate started to climb during the 1990's, the Japanese government has been trying to find a way to deal with the problem, even studying ways to make buildings harder to jump off of. Train suicides are a big problem too -- in Tokyo, every couple of weeks the trains halt and the JR staff announces a "bodily injury accident" (a euphemism meaning someone has killed themselves by jumping in front of the train), which among other things results in a big fine to the deceased's family for the inconvenience caused by the victim. Part of the problem is that the idea of counseling doesn't really exist in Japan, and in Japanese daily life, it can be easy for people to keep their problems bottled up inside themselves until they're ready to explode. Plus, suicide is sometimes thought of in romantic ways (c.f. seppuku, the samurai's ritual suicide, or shinju, the ritualistic double suicide of lovers). Personally, I can't understand their viewpoint at all -- life is great, and if it's not for some reason, just be positive and change it until you like your life better.
Part of Peter's Unified Theory of Japan is that America is a country of idealists while Japanese are generally pragmatists. In many areas of society, Americans really reach for the stars, trying to attain great goals like total sexual and racial equality, holding down taxes down while guiding democracy all over the world, including Iraq. Japanese, on the other hand, have a national "joshiki" (a "common sense" that all Japanese tend to share), which tends towards more realistic goals. While there are laws against sexual discrimination or harassment in the workplace, the roles of men and women are more clearly defined in Japan. For a family to be happy, the husband should be the "daikoku-bashira" (lit. "big black pillar") that supports the house financially, and so, the number of women who desire high-paying careers is much lower here than in the West. Kids should go to school and learn and receive an education that makes them feel that they're a part of the larger society, and so, there is no homeschooling in Japan. You wouldn't find Japanese pursuing lofty goals like trying to change the society of another country -- when a problem comes along that can't be changed, the Japanese bring out their mantra, "sho ga nai" ("it can't be helped").
For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you, including super new magazines (with the new Urecco and several others), great photobooks (we loved Eriko Satoh's bold new offering best), great DVD titles including the excellent brand-new Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone series 2, super anime toys, an art book by the creator of Brave Soul, great items for Transformers and Blythe fans, tasty snacks including seaweed (it's good, trust us), new manga and "wacky" items, and more! Please browse all the great new items our staff has posted for you -- it's all great.
Remember that J-List carries the excellent region free DVD players by Lasonic, which allow you to enjoy DVDs from all countries, not just the U.S. and Canada. Whether you want to watch the high-end indies or anime DVDs from Japan, or enjoy European release discs, the Lasonic players we've got are excellent for you. The players also play just about anything you can throw at them -- VCD, DVD-R/RW/R+ and more. But best of all, they're incredibly affordable, starting at just $78 for our lowest-priced model. All players are shipped out of San Diego for your convenience and we ship daily.
Have you ever noticed the "peace sign" (aka the victory or V-sign) that Japanese people make with their fingers whenever they're having their photographs taken? It's almost the Japanese National Gesture, and quite puzzling to foreigners who wonder why every single Japanese seems to make this gesture in every photograph, especially cute girls. While the origins of this strange pose are not known, I would guess that U.S. soldiers probably made the sign (meaning "victory") while posing for photographs during Japan's occupation, and it entered the Japanese mind set at that time. When you say "peace" your face naturally smiles, the same as saying "cheese." Another way the Japanese get you to smile for a photograph is asking, "What's one plus one?" (in Japanese, "Ichi tasu ichi wa?"). The answer of course is "ni" (two), another word that naturally makes you smile for the camera.
There's a new social problem in Japan: young people meeting on the "suicide chat" sites, forming death pacts and committing suicide together. While Japan's suicide rate is astronomically high (over 30,000 annually for the past few years), the odd trend of young people meeting online and deciding to end it all is new and very alarming. Ever since the suicide rate started to climb during the 1990's, the Japanese government has been trying to find a way to deal with the problem, even studying ways to make buildings harder to jump off of. Train suicides are a big problem too -- in Tokyo, every couple of weeks the trains halt and the JR staff announces a "bodily injury accident" (a euphemism meaning someone has killed themselves by jumping in front of the train), which among other things results in a big fine to the deceased's family for the inconvenience caused by the victim. Part of the problem is that the idea of counseling doesn't really exist in Japan, and in Japanese daily life, it can be easy for people to keep their problems bottled up inside themselves until they're ready to explode. Plus, suicide is sometimes thought of in romantic ways (c.f. seppuku, the samurai's ritual suicide, or shinju, the ritualistic double suicide of lovers). Personally, I can't understand their viewpoint at all -- life is great, and if it's not for some reason, just be positive and change it until you like your life better.
Part of Peter's Unified Theory of Japan is that America is a country of idealists while Japanese are generally pragmatists. In many areas of society, Americans really reach for the stars, trying to attain great goals like total sexual and racial equality, holding down taxes down while guiding democracy all over the world, including Iraq. Japanese, on the other hand, have a national "joshiki" (a "common sense" that all Japanese tend to share), which tends towards more realistic goals. While there are laws against sexual discrimination or harassment in the workplace, the roles of men and women are more clearly defined in Japan. For a family to be happy, the husband should be the "daikoku-bashira" (lit. "big black pillar") that supports the house financially, and so, the number of women who desire high-paying careers is much lower here than in the West. Kids should go to school and learn and receive an education that makes them feel that they're a part of the larger society, and so, there is no homeschooling in Japan. You wouldn't find Japanese pursuing lofty goals like trying to change the society of another country -- when a problem comes along that can't be changed, the Japanese bring out their mantra, "sho ga nai" ("it can't be helped").
For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you, including super new magazines (with the new Urecco and several others), great photobooks (we loved Eriko Satoh's bold new offering best), great DVD titles including the excellent brand-new Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone series 2, super anime toys, an art book by the creator of Brave Soul, great items for Transformers and Blythe fans, tasty snacks including seaweed (it's good, trust us), new manga and "wacky" items, and more! Please browse all the great new items our staff has posted for you -- it's all great.
Remember that J-List carries the excellent region free DVD players by Lasonic, which allow you to enjoy DVDs from all countries, not just the U.S. and Canada. Whether you want to watch the high-end indies or anime DVDs from Japan, or enjoy European release discs, the Lasonic players we've got are excellent for you. The players also play just about anything you can throw at them -- VCD, DVD-R/RW/R+ and more. But best of all, they're incredibly affordable, starting at just $78 for our lowest-priced model. All players are shipped out of San Diego for your convenience and we ship daily.
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