Rotten beans

Despite all the talk of Japan being difficult for a vegetarian, there are a few traditional restaurants that serve only tofu concoctions. The kanji for "tofu" (above) literally means "rotten beans," though this is a butchered translation. The first kanji--"to"--can also be pronounced "mame" (as in "edamame") and refers specifically to soybeans. The second kanji--"fu"--means, for lack of a more appetizing word, "rotten," but a better translation would probably be fermented. Many Japanese dishes are made from soybeans fermented or "rotted" in some form. Miso (the paste used in miso soup) is actually ground soybeans mixed with salt and mold culture and canned for close to three years. Natto is--well, natto is actually literally rotten soybeans, often mixed with raw egg. So anyway, this particular tofu restaurant's chef grows his own crop of mame on the outskirts of Hiroshima, and he makes his own miso, tonyu (soy milk, but with more of a tofu flavor), tofu, and various other traditional tofu dishes whose names escape me. A dinner set typically comes with miso, tonyu, plain tofu, agetofu (battered and quickly deep fried), ground soybean paste with ginger and garlic, mashed tofu with edamame beans, rice, and soy ice cream for desert.

In other news, here I am rocking the yukata I wear around every day after work.

Finally, here is a good overview of Japanese postal privatization in the context of the upcoming elections.

Buddhist ceremony at Tamon-in Temple

This morning I attended services at a Buddhist temple at the foot of Hijiyama. It lasted roughly half an hour, and only about nine people were in attendance. The ceremony was in honor of a sort of proto-deity representing music, and throughout the chanting--Japanese transliteration of the Sanskrit text--the worshippers shook wooden sticks with metal rings, the clanging sounds representing music.
The monk promptly departed after the conclusion of the service, and an elderly woman served o-cha (tradiational green tea) and kumquat gelatin to all in attendance--myself, my coworker Teramoto-san, and about six ladies in their 40s and 50s. This temple is not particularly noteworthy to the passerby and eludes most travel books, but the elaborate graveyard houses the descendants of Rai Sanyo, one of the most renown Japanese Confucianists, painters, and calligraphers. Buddhist scholars' graves are frequently marked by short conic headstones; note them in the photograph below.




All Buddhist temples have a large bell near the temple itself. The significance of Tamon-in's bell is that it was obliterated in the A-bomb blast, but the wooden housing survived with minor structural damage. Note the splintered wood--still in tact--as well as the replaced bell's nascent inscription, "No More Hiroshimas." A near by concrete tower was also damaged (slightly twisted, below).

Newsweek pro-Koizumi propaganda

This week's Newsweek International Edition features two cover stories on Koizumi. The leading article by correspondent Christian Caryl refers to anti-Koizumi LDP members as "rebels" and practicioners of "old-crony politics," the latter label corresponding to Koizumi's legacy of union cronyism quite nicely. The piece attempts to depict Koizumi as a man taking a stand against wasteful public works projects financed by the LDP, and yet he has made no attempt to address these issues directly. Employing hyberbolic (and prevaricating) rhetoric, Caryl describes the Japanese President as a "revolutionary leader," comparing him to Boris Yeltsin. If neoliberalism and globalized capital are revolutionary, then the author is right on point. The only thing Koizumi and Yeltsin have in common is perhaps a tendency towards relative privatization, though in completely incomparable contexts. The author is correct in pointing out that the LDP priveleges an elite group of multinationals and unions (though he could be more explicit), but inaccurately protrays Koizumi as a member of an LDP faction that scorns this cronyism. Imagine Cheney calling for the privatization of social security and giving Republican deals with Kellog, Brown, and Root as the rationale! The privatization of Japan Postal, the world's largest bank, endangers the holdings of the Japanese people and repositions $3 trillion against labor interests. The solution is not to privatize the bank, but to scrutinize and reform LDP-endorsed spending policies.

Give postal privatization the boot!

On September 11--two weeks from Monday--nationwide elections will be held in Japan. These elections are arguably among the most important in Japanese history, as they could displace Junichiro Koizumi's reigning Liberal Democratic Party, a party which (aside from nine months in 1993) has not been in the minority since the end of the US occupation. The postal service is currently in the public sector and serves as a sort of national investment bank. Valued at over $3 trillion, it the largest bank in the world, and likewise Japan holds the largest stockpile of foreign reserves of any nation. Last month, Koizumi tried to force through a privatization bill that would in effect place the postal service in the hands of private corporations, much the same as Bush's attempted privatization of social security. Not only would this allow for the outsourcing of taxpayers' money (remember Argentina?), but it would privelege a few elite LDP unions and multinationals with Koizumi ties. After the bill was defeated in the legislature, Koizumi purged his party of all opposition, forcing all anti-privatization LDP members to form a new coalition for the upcoming election. The LDP has made a calculated effort to run pro-Koizumi politicians against the center-right opposition in every (yes, every) prefectural race on September 11. The historic gravity of this election is that it greatly diminishes the monolithic powerhouse of the LDP, creating a vacuum in which the Democratic Party of Japan (the center-left party) have a chance in the race. Koizumi's call for early elections, however, would leave open the possibility of a far right LDP (purged of all opposition) winning the elections. Imagine a US Republican Party purged of its McCains, Hagels, and Warners! I am not arguing by any means that the DPJ are the would-be saviors of this trend towards extreme neoliberalism, but I am wary of very drastic changes that have occured in Japan during Koizumi's stint as President. Consider: the Self Defense Forces deployed internationally (Iraq) for the first time in post-WWII history, an illegal (under the infamous Article 9) army larger than that of Britain, the fifth largest navy in the world, the twelfth largest airforce (larger than Israel's), consistent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine honoring 13 recognized war criminals, four prefectural sanctions of revisionist history textbooks that all but ignore pre-war Japanese imperialism, and now a massive statewide postal privatization bill. For a country with single-payer health care and whose poorest fifth hold the greatest share of the GDP in the world, Japan--the Japanese people--must be wary of this attempt to rob them of their wages for the profit of LDP's inside elite and US-based multinationals. As the banner above (translated, of course) reads, "Give postal privatization and Koizumi the boot!"

View from my apartment window atop Hijiyama

Hiroshima Castle

Colleagues at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation

Taiko (traditional drum) concert in Shoujikimura

Mitaki Temple

Miyajima Fireworks Festival

Hiroshima Carps [sic] maintain eternal last place