Sunday, November 25, 2012

November highlights


Some of the highlights of the last month:

Halloween on the Embassy housing compound is CRAZY. Tons and tons of kids (and adults) dressed up in costumes and ran all over the place trick or treating. I had about 7 bags of candy. My apartment isn’t the most accessible (I’m on the 6th floor of one of the towers), but I lasted less than an hour. Those people with more accessible apartments were totally mobbed.

On November 9th, my colleagues in the Agricultural Trade Office organized a really interesting sake seminar and tasting at the DCM’s residence. It was probably the only time in my life that I will ever get to try super premium and premium sakes. Very tasty!

Veteran’s Day was spent wandering around Ginza, checking out stores with really fancy, handmade chocolates (YUM!), going to afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason, and seeing this interesting storefront:


Not sure why the gorilla is climbing the wall, especially in a chic neighborhood like Ginza, but it's Tokyo, and I'm learning not to question such things. I also went by the Tokyo Dome, where I saw this huge rollercoaster and ferris wheel. Notice that it goes through the building. SCARY!


A few days later, I went to the grand re-opening of the Hard Rock CafĂ© here in Tokyo. A colleague was one of the VIPs who smashed a guitar to mark the opening. We got to hang out in the VIP room, drink champagne and eat tasty food. The big “these are not my people” moment: when I met a man who was in Tokyo scouting locations for a steak restaurant. Apparently, he currently lives in New York, Beverly Hills and Hawaii – but he spends most of his time in New York right now. Ah. Yes, of course. 

A couple days later, the Embassy had a trivia night. You’ll all be happy to know that The Farmers Almaniacs tied for 3rd place with zero points. Almost everybody bid all of their points on the last Final Jeopardy-style round and lost. But even when we all had points, we didn’t put up too poor of a showing. Next time!



The next day, I took my first drive out of town! I went to the Five Lakes region of Japan, at the base of Mt. Fuji. It was a beautiful day, and the leaves and the mountain were gorgeous. 






We visited a few shrines, drove to two of the lakes, and took a funicular up the side of a nearby mountain for more spectacular views. We also had lunch at a tiny, but yummy, ramen place. 







And then it was Thanksgiving and a four-day weekend, thanks to Friday being Japan’s Labor Thanksgiving day! An Embassy colleague kindly invited me over for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. On Friday, I drove up to Yokota AB to stock up on Christmas baking supplies at the commissary. I got my Christmas shopping done, gifts wrapped and boxes packed. If I can just survive this week – when I’ll go down to Kagoshima to give a very, very long presentation (EEK!) – I’ll be ready to begin the Christmas season!

Monday, November 5, 2012

The Global Gender Gap


The World Economic Forum recently released its Global Gender Gap report for 2012. It’s a fairly interesting report. It “measure[s] gender-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities”, independent of the country’s development level. Based on various factors that you can read about in the report, it gives rankings in the areas of Economic Participation & Opportunity, Educational Attainment (EA), Health & Survival (HS), and Political Empowerment (PE).

Iceland was ranked #1 (out of 135 countries). It’s #1 ranking in EA and PE compensated for a ranking of 98 in HS. (It got a 27 in Economic P&O.) 

The United States was ranked #22. It was also ranked #1 in EA, was ranked #8 in Economic P&O, #33 in HS, and – where we got dragged down - #55 in PE. (I think the big things in PE are that we’ve never had a woman for President, and there aren’t that many women in Congress.)

And then there’s Japan. Japan is ranked #101 out of 135 countries. It ranked 34 in Health & Survival and 81 in Educational Attainment. However, in Economic P&O and Political Empowerment, it was ranked a depressing 102 and 110 respectively. Out of the High Income and Upper-Middle Income countries, only South Korea and 11 Middle Eastern/North African countries rank lower.

I’m not qualified to discuss this much, but I will share a few anecdotes I have heard or observed myself:

* One of my Japanese friends had a family friend that continued in school until her mid-20s. When she finished school, she had a very hard time getting a job. The reason she was given for not being hired: she would get married soon and quit.

* Along the same lines, a Japanese man I talked to returned to Japan from the U.S. with his new wife after graduate school. She had a difficult time finding a job. The reason she was given: she would have a baby and quit.

I’ve heard that these first two are starting to slowly change in response to competition from multinational companies operating in Japan, as those companies will often have more family-friendly policies.

* When I went to a government building with several other American women, a Japanese woman took us up to the meeting room. She happily commented that it was the first time she’d ever been in the elevator with only women.

* In the metro, there are priority seats designated for pregnant women and the elderly. But two pregnant women I know have both told me that men will not stand up for a pregnant woman and are stunned if a pregnant woman asks them if she can sit down. My friends have to be really aggressive if they want to use one of the priority seats on the metro.

* I have yet to see a Japanese man stand to allow a woman to have a seat – even if she’s holding a child. I have both heard from friends and personally observed that when an American stands up to allow a woman to sit on the metro, the women are happily amazed.

I've been told this is a cultural issue for Japan. Legally, women have the same rights as men. If I remember correctly, it was an American woman that got Japan to put that in their constitution after WWII. (Prior to that, only men were legally citizens.) I hope that the culture catches up with the law eventually.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Yasukuni Shrine


I went to Yasukuni Shrine and military museum today.  








It’s an interesting place.  According to the website, the souls of nearly 2.5 million Japanese men and women who died in wars since 1853 are enshrined here as Shinto deities. 












As you may imagine, this is an extremely controversial place. I think I’ll leave it at that and just let you do a little research regarding why it’s controversial if you are interested. I will say that the military museum had a different perspective than what I was taught in school.