yakihito

メリークリスマス！

Defense Minister Ishiba, On the Job!

I love that this is what the Japanese government talks about. First it was the existence of UFOs. Now it's how to defend against said (still not confirmed to be real) UFOs. Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the first person ever to hold this controversial new position, pondered the legalities of defense against extra-terrestrial attack, as quoted in Japan Today:

Ishiba indicated it would be difficult to determine on what legal grounds the SDF may be mobilized when, for instance, there is a violation of Japanese airspace but the violating subject is not hostile.

"Would that be mobilization for an act of defense? That would not be the case if they say, 'Everyone on the Earth, let us be friends,"' Ishiba said. "Or what can we do when we can't figure out what they're saying?"

Tough decisions, surely. How about if the danger came not from space, but from a more familiar, Earth-bound enemy? A known terrorist, let us say?

"If Godzilla comes, typically it would require mobilization of SDF troops for disaster relief," the minister said, citing the monster character in the famous movie that destroys buildings and other things in sight. "It's the same with Mothra," he added, citing another character.

What if it were the Moguera? That's both alien and kaiju! Let's hope Ishiba gets this all worked out before the Mysterians arrive.

Plastic Surgery For World Peace

This makes me sad.

As spotted on Japan Sugoi.

Language and Gender Identity

Recently, as I've been studying Japanese, I've been thinking about how differently English and Japanese handle gender, specifically as it relates to the way you address someone. For two years I worked with a man who was born biologically female. Although I fully respected and comprehended that he lived as a man, I would still occasionally slip up and say "she" in reference to him, even in his presence. I always felt bad and apologized, but it made me realize how ingrained gender conditioning was.

Recently I wondered: if I hadn't been burdened with a choice in pronouns, would I still have made a similar mistake? Japanese doesn't often use pronouns. Generally, if you use a subject in a sentence (Japanese often omits subjects if the meaning is implied by context), you refer to someone by their name or a gender-neutral "you." Even name suffixes tend to be gender neutral. "San" can mean Mr. or Mrs. or whatever. True, the diminutives "chan" and "kun" tend to be for girls and guys, respectively, but the rules aren't hard and fast. Recently there's been a move in workplaces (or so I've read) to affix "kun" to women's names rather than "chan," which can have a tone of sexual harassment. Going the other way, men can have the "chan" applied, such as for grandfathers (Ojiichan) or little kids.

Contrast this to English, which has to specify a subject, whether it be name or pronoun. Once the name has been said once, it's all pronouns after that. Third-person pronouns are gender-defining. To reference someone is to codify their gender identity. This is very interesting and doesn't have to happen in Japanese. You can say 彼 "kare" for "he" or 彼女 "kanojo" for "her," but it's not as common. (In fact, these two words more often refer to boyfriend and girlfriend.) As I stated before, you generally use the person's name until it becomes obvious about whom you are speaking. It would appear that in English, gender identity is largely reinforced from without.

In Japanese, gender identity is projected from within. It's not the words others use to refer to you, it's the words you use to refer to yourself that make this distinction. In English we say "I." Gender neutral. In Japanese, you can use the polite (and gender neutral) わたし "watashi" but, depending on whether you identify as male or female, you will more often use a different word. Men have the choice of 俺 "ore" or 僕 "boku," while women use あたし "atashi." Actually, it goes deeper than this. Japanese is spoken very differently by men and women. The words you use, the way you end sentences, many things demonstrate this. Thus, gender identity—at least where the language is concerned—appears to come from within in Japanese.

Returning to my original question, if I hadn't been burdened with pronouns, would I still had made the name gender mistake? I don't know how growing up speaking Japanese would affect me, but had I been speaking Japanese at the time, it wouldn't have even been an issue, as I would have just used his name (or no subject at all).

Halcali and the Hipster Self-Loathing Syndrome

I can't stop listening to Halcali's latest, Cyborg Oretachi ("Robot Us"). It's not particularly good, nor do I really like pop music. So what gives? I have, I've decided, finally given in to my self-loathing and embraced garbage music.

This, what I've dubbed the Hipster Self-Loathing Syndrome, has gripped the Western world. It used to be that hipsters wouldn't be caught dead listening to top 40 pop music. But two things happened: pop music courted electronica and alternative musicians and paid them big bucks to write songs for their engineered stars; and the internets brought everyone together. Now it's no big deal to have Britney and Justin and Broken Social Scene all in the same playlist. iTunes has become the great equalizer. All music is good; all music is garbage.

I'm an old-school hold out. Even back in high school, 1987, when local radio station Live 105 started playing bands I liked like New Order and Love and Rockets, I was such a hipster I abandoned the music I liked to burrow ever deeper underground. That's a lot of work. No wonder kids these days just listen to whatever. However, I still can't listen to Justin Timberlake, despite his overwhelming (and inexplicable) street cred. People I respect go crazy for his music. To me it sounds like throwaway Chicago house circa 1989, but then for some that might be a brand new sound. I'd rather listen to dusty old Trax records any day.

But here's where my hypocrisy emerges: I'll gladly listen to any J-pop, no matter how throwaway. Maybe it's because a lot of the J-pop I like was written and produced by musicians whom I have previously enjoyed and respected, like Fantastic Plastic Machine, Tamio Okuda, and the Blue Hearts. It's also the music itself. I grew up in the '80s, so I have not only a love for that singular '80s sound but also for '60s pop, which was the retro rage then. Both of these pop styles still permeate J-pop. Yes, I can both dismiss Justin's music for being a hack retread of dance music and can love J-pop for being a hack retread of summer of love pop. Bear witness to the complexity of the human soul.

Yeah, so Halcali. Two teenage girls who do something akin to rapping over highly polished beats. Apparently on their debut album, Bacon, way back in 2003, they were less manufactured. Although really, they were created by hip-hop powerhouse Rip Slyme, so how "real" can they be? I only recently discovered them so I don't have any of those "back in the day" associations with them. But Cyborg Oretachi is admittedly pretty poppy.

The highlight is "Twinkle Star," a high-speed drum and bass/hip-hop workout that samples the theme to The Magnificent Seven (the back and forth cultural exchange in that boggles the mind). It's the best example of the girls' rap skills, which, on "Twinkle Star," is pretty good. Elsewhere, like on "Doo THE HAMMER," and "Togenkyo," there's more singing than rapping, and you have to wonder how much post-processing was done to keep these kids in key.

If Cyborg Oretachi has a real downfall, it's that it isn't visual. A major part of the appeal of these girls is in their image, and it was the video for "Twinkle Star" that made me fall hard. I picked up the DVD edition of the album, which contains five music videos. I can't tell if their amateurishness is calculated or just tolerated, but it certainly works for me. Most of the time they look like they're goofing off in a class project video, never sure where to look, messing up the lip-syncing and their silly dance moves. Of course, they're also adorable, but it really is this accessibility that makes them so appealing.

Maybe that's the difference between the J-pop I like, like Puffy, and Justin Timberlake. Puffy, despite their extreme celebrity, are still accessible. When I saw them live recently they were so gracious. It's just so endearing. Halcali have that same quality. There's a video online of Halcali dancing along to their "It's PARTY TIME!" video at a booth at the Japan expo in France while people confusedly look on. I mean, come on, how cute is that?

So, please allow me my J-pop hipster self-loathing and I'll try not to hate on you for liking Justin Timberlake, or whatever the hell fake gangster crap is hot this week.