Hindsight

Lost in Translation isn’t so much about Japan. In fact, there is very little of Japan itself in the spotlight. It is about relationships. Loneliness. Dealing with decisions, personal lives, abandoning them for a night or three, finding out more about yourself. Japan serves as a backdrop to place two of these people in a situation where they have more of a reason to connect and look into their own lives. In a way, watching “Lost” was a way to reflect on how I felt at times living in Kitakyushu.

I loved it. My ability to understand most of what the Japanese cast said (subtitles are not provided in the entire film, which makes perfect sense) was an added plus. I brought with me to the theater the bit of enthusiasm and nostalgia I’ve always had for Japan since I returned.

Can’t say much more. I was pretty moved by the final scene. I recall having a note jotted down for a video project very similar to it. I want to see it again sometime, so I’ll most likely acquire it once it’s out on DVD.

These are some of the first pictures I took when I bought my first standalone digital still camera, one year ago today. They are of my apartment when I was living in Kitakyushu. The place was called Kanada Kodan and my room was in Building 7, Room 206.

I was co-teaching at Hanao Junior High School at the time, in Yahata-ward, west of Kokura I believe.

One year ago.

It’s now 2003 and I wake up to face a kitchen at around noon. My sleeping schedule is “routine” - I go to bed at four or five in the morning, wake up at the break of noon, eat lunch and go about my day. The problem is that there isn’t much.

I sit at the far seat in the center at lunch everyday and have been doing so almost consistently for the last month or two. I don’t turn on the TV, I just sit there and eat.

Somehow I sense that Jack is actually listening to me sometimes. He is never directly facing me, but I think he listens to all the times I could be talking to myself, letting an expletive out while playing a video game, or some such. I’m not quite sure, but his presence has never disturbed me. One of my friends from High School gave me Jack.

It would be an understatement to say that I’ve been in an extreme emotional slump in the last few days. I haven’t gotten word from my employer, though I know that at worst I will start “sometime in November”. I don’t know my start pay. I am riding on this and if it doesn’t work out then, well, I’ve lost nothing. It’s just another month to go with.

Right after finishing my Statement of Agreement video I thought about tackling on another project - I found myself so focused when I was working on a video, it’s always like that. But right now I can’t think of anything, let alone focus. Personal issues seem to get the best of me at times like this, but I do keep myself busy.

I have forty dollars in my wallet and I’m in the red on my bank accounts (read: negative). Considering all that is happening right now, I would say that I’m doing a pretty damn good job of staying alive.

I always say that I’ll get past it. And I always do. I just need to start working, because I have far too much time to think right now. I’ve done most of my eBay auctions, made a video, played my video games, contributed to a database. I would like a buffer where I can space these out. I am quite a workaholic, looking for something to do.

I just need to start working where I’m supposedly hired.

Statement of Agreement
view Quicktime .mov (25mb)
download .zip (20mb)

The subject of this post is the song used in the video I finally completed this evening. After going over it several times and tweaking things here and there, it’s done. “Killing All The Flies” is by Mogwai, from their album “Happy Songs for Happy People“. I have listened to it so much this week that I am surprised I have not died tired from it. It has staying power.

I have spent most of my days in my room. I started getting into the project last Monday, so I’ve spent each day working on my video to some capacity.

The piece contains a bit of everything: things I received from my students while in Japan, digital stills and video from both my digital still and miniDV cameras. It was very frustrating at times to get things just to work, but I knew enough to workaround any problems with using the different formats. With all said and done, I’m happy with the final edit.

It’s got very little “video” considering, but it’s something I was meaning to work on since I got back. I spent a good amount of time this week working on it for output to miniDV video, so now I have a work that looks fantastic on a TV screen. In the future, I hope to put the video onto a DVD once I have the means.

If you watch it, please leave comments/feedback either here or at The Hindsight Project. I hope you enjoy it.

I love Domo-kun.

Domo-kun is the mascot for NHKs satellite service (known as “BS” - don’t run with it). I found out about him a few years ago by way of those “everytime you nani-nani god kills a kitten” images, in which a cat is running from two menacing (but cute) Domo-kuns.

This page is a good start for Domo fans, including a 100MB Quicktime .mov file that features the first run his commercials. How he came to be and such. It’s priceless.

This Domo-kun FAQ is also worth your time.

Sissie gave me a Domo-kun plush last year when both of us were in Japan. She’s still running with the ALT scissors, so to speak. Domo sits not too far from my bed now.

NHK = Nippon Housou Kaisha? Nippon broadcasting company, am I right?

I’ve always felt that Derek’s “Gaijinworld” is an intellectual cut-above some other weblogs I read, and I always find his style entertaining and insightful. He wrote to me on several occasions. Notably, before I left for Japan, when I had to decide my fate (to leave or not to leave) and also when I left my post.

Mr. Hannah has made the switch to Movable Type. Here’s to more Gaijinworld.

Speaking of Japan: I had ramen today. This morning I asked myself what was on my agenda, and there was nothing to do. One day to put away the supposed “productive-ness” of eBay auctioning or gaming. I met up with Clayton and the gang after they invited me to meet up with them at Shinsengumi.

Whereas I may have felt foreign to the menu a year ago, the listings of Hakata style ramen, gyouza and other goodies reminded me of my home that once was. It made the day pretty nostalgic - prior to dinner, Mari had brought some tapes over for everyone to watch, including taped shows of Utaban and another comic Japanese TV show whose title escapes me. Supreme nostalgia. Natsukashii.

(Taken on my last romp through Tokyo. I don’t remember which station it was, do you?)

Through Greggman I found Yamanote29, a weblog of sorts about the Yamanote Line (the central train line in Tokyo).

I have many fresh/fond memories of Tokyo, and much inspiration just being around the stations that ran along the line.

Move along to Yamanote29.

The final month (July) of pictures for Statement Agreement is up.

http://www.jameswong.com/japan/pictures

Even though it’s my last night in Bangkok, I am compelled to post a memorable picture from July 14th. The girl furthest right is Rumi - one of the most positive and friendly 2-nensei students I’ve co-taught. Never afraid to try english, never afraid to walk up to say hello and communicate.

I returned from a nice, relaxing vacation at Rayong, about 30 kilometers past the tourist-heavy Pattaya beach. It, too, is a beach area. Given that it was a weekday, almost no one was on the beach. In fact, we were the only ones swimming about at our beachside hotel.

I’ve taken a slew of pictures that will have to wait until I return home (which has a broadband connection)…

Once again I’m finding it difficult to place all my thoughts into one post. Tomorrow morning I’ll be on a flight to Los Angeles International. Right now I’m “touristed” out. I don’t need anymore introductions to new foods or customs or temples or anything for that matter. I’d just like to find a sense of the familiar.

Of course, being in Kitakyushu became the familiar.

I really miss my kids.

I’ve enjoyed most of my time here in Thailand, and I do miss Japan quite a bit. So this is how it feels, I thought to myself. This is how it is.

Tomorrow is the start of the next chapter I suppose. Blank, unwritten, without an outline.

I’m going home.

If I were to attempt to place all my thoughts this posting, it would go on forever.

I spent my last day meeting up with Nanae in Ueno and then sending off some emails at a net cafe in Akihabara. The evening was spent packing (it was harder than I thought) - I can’t wait to meet customs agents. Not so much those in Asia, but the guys in Los Angeles. You know, the “warm” welcome they give whether you are local or not.

***

Back home, a year doesn’t do very much to you. You change a job here and there, you go through a bit of personal drama on the side (or in the foreground perhaps). But it is nowhere near the experience of being abroad. And especially in Japan. Outside Japan, looking in, it’s impossible to experience and see all the subtleties of daily life and interaction. The ups and downs, so on and so forth.

It’s been easy for everyone not in Japan to sympathize, but to empathize? No one who has lived here abroad (more so after college) can come close. Ask Dion, Alex or Chris. Hell, ask any other ALT out here. We’re on the same track so far. Now, though, I’ve chosen to head back.

I’ve said the same thing over and over recently. Prior to this opportunity, I never worked with kids. Even now I still consider myself a pretty serious type of guy. But I’ll say (and happily) that they got to me. Reciprocation. Interaction, internationalization, communication - call it what you will. It was fun. I miss them, you know. I imagine going to the school just to talk to them and say “hello” today. But it’s over now. It’s time for me to go home.

I’ve had my ups and downs. Looking back, that’s supposed to happen, isn’t it? I flashback through moments of laughter with the kids and/or staff, to the moment I stood in my doorway for five minutes because I had no idea what to do that day and no one to talk to. I think about the drunken stupor of yesteryear or the best 3-nensei class at Chiyo. There are so many thoughts - I’m glad that I wrote a bit of them down throughout the year. I’ll be referring to them often.

Some wonder if the JET Program is worth it. It’s worth it. Like people will say, it’s what you make of it. Chris said a year ago that “it changes you”. And how can I not change after being so far away, for one year? Yes, it goes by fast, but what a change.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So rather than say goodbye, I will say this:
Until next time, Japan. Until next time.

Overcast made way for Clear today. The sun is out and the weather is grand. It’s been awhile actually - with tsuyu (rainy season) having come around, I’ve seen more gray then blue for awhile now.

This morning I am at Necca again checking my email. Am meeting Nanae to catch up and chit chat before I leave for Bangkok tomorrow morning.

This trip has been a fast one. I have a rare moment to write down all my thoughts about this time in Japan. One year (slightly cheated by a trip for two weeks during Christmas/New Year’s). I’ll definitely write more about this once I return home.

***

I arrived at Akihabara a little early this morning, so I walked around. One street had a full-on line of (mostly) males, presumably for some game release or what not. I walked up to someone who wasn’t in line and asked him, in Japanese of course, what was going on.

“They’re in line for a game.”
“Oh? For…”
“Ero-game,” he said, referring to an erotic, or adult themed game. He let out a small, modest chuckle. “Zenbuu otaku,” he continued, making a wide gesture to explain that everyone in line was an otaku just waiting for their loot.

Such is Akihabara sometimes. I took a picture of the line, but it wasn’t very interesting.