Author: Justin

Ewotic

The subject of the spam I just got says:
More info on how to please your partner again, inside
For fuck’s sake, I’m still working – I almost bust a nut trying to keep quiet here! Have some fucking mercy already… Besides, my pleasuring skills have never lacked, inside. It’s the “help with cleaning” and “take me shopping” aspects that get me in trouble all the time…

Pearl Harbor Part 2

Apparently this IS a forbidden subject since I got a dozen e-mails and exactly 0 comments on the post itself. Latitudes and Nichi Nichi linked to the post (thanks guys!) and the comments there were similar to some of the mail I received, and very insightful – they made me realize that I didn’t explain my motive behind posting as well as I could have.
Also, I guess that I didn’t clearly distinguish between a reason behind the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and a justification of it (and to reader Warrin’ G: I dig your handle, but am still unconviced of the government’s intentional role in delaying the receipt of the Japanese Declaration of War, hence “creating” a sneak attack). Let me make this clear: I care much less about the historical reason than I do the current day justification of it.
The Japanese wanted to cripple the Pacific Fleet because it was positioned to attack their interests (including oil supply)? Fine. I can agree with that without researching it much because it makes sense. But to use this argument in the way I heard it, as a justification, is a joke. Here is an approximation of the conversation I had yesterday:
Coworker: “The US is bad for starting wars all over the world.”
Me: “O-tay”
Coworker: “There are many bad men like Saddam Hussein in the world.”
Me: “Yup”
Coworker: “But the US chose to single out Iraq. Iraq cannot defend itself against the US military! Also, preemption is a dishonorable strategy.”
Me: “Who the fuck are you to be talking about honorable strategies? Remember Pearl Harbor?”
Coworker: “No that’s different, the USA forced us to attack by cutting off our oil!”
Me: “MmmHmmmm” (turns away and fires up MT)
It makes me sick to think that this guy actually thinks that there was no alternative to the ultimate “sneaky Jap” move (I use this abhorrent term to make a point – is this not where the term originated?), and like I said, I’ve heard this exact same sentiment from other people as well. I sincerely hope this is not what they are taught in school, and now I’ve garnered enough interest to dig a little deeper… I have a friend that used to run a cram school for junior high school students, so he should be a good starting point.
Then again, even if I find the words, “OUR PROUD NATION WAS A VICTIM OF THE WAR. THE END.” printed in the schoolbooks, what will I have proved? That the Japanese have again changed history and are generally unapologetic about WWII?
Real groundbreaker there, eh?

Pearl Harbor

I swear to God this came up in conversation again today and I realized I probably never wrote about it here, so:
I’m not sure what the hell kids are being taught in school today, but it seems to me that the average Japanese person in their 20’s or above is of the opinion that the Japanese were forced to attack the US during WWII. Specifically, that the attack on Pearl Harbor was (perhaps) a ratbastardshitty thing to do, but the Americans forced their hand by cutting off the flow of oil.
The first time I heard this was from a close friend at my university, and I remember my jaw literally dropping. And I remember thinking, if that’s what they think now, I can see why they needed nuclear persuasion back then.
Even though it’s not funny in absolute terms, I sometimes wish there was an equivalent weapon to use on the Japanese educational system. Because to hear from a friend that the cowardly sneak attack on Pearl Harbor is somehow, to this day, justified in the minds of the perpetrators (as in, our modern-day allies) is a big slap in the face.
Then again, a popular excuse for Japanese not being able to pronounce English very well is that their “tongues are too short,” so maybe I shouldn’t take anything too seriously.

Obligatory Japanese News Link of the Day

If you’re a Japanews Bloghound, you’ve doubtlessly seen this article linked to no less than five times today:
More Japanese men prefer sitting whizzes
I just want to know one thing: If you think so many Japanese men are sitting on Western-style toilets to take a leak, WHY DO I SEE SO MANY OF THEM PISSING ON THE STREET FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYONE TO SEE?
Then again, maybe I’m just seeing imaginary, urinating ojisans.

Hospitales

Ouch. This person obviously chose the wrong career – I’m thinking Corrections Officer would have been more appropriate.
My second year in Japan, I got in a fairly serious accident while riding to work on my motor scooter. A small car ran a stop sign right in front of me. I crashed into its side and flew over the hood into a drained rice field, gasping for breath as the wind had been knocked out of me. I passed out and woke up during the ambulance ride to Tenri Hospital.
All in all, I felt relatively uninjured. They looked me over in the ER, checked especially for head trauma, and everything seemed fine until the doctor brought out the helmet I had been wearing and said I needed additional tests in broken English (I still couldn’t speak very much Japanese at the time). Looking at the helmet, I agreed: It had probably saved my life. The doctor took the dented, deformed hunk of plastic out of the room, and told me to follow him. When I asked where we were going, he looked back at me, dead serious, and said a single word: “Lobotomy.”
To this day, I have no idea if that fucker was joking or not (maybe – just maybe – he meant something else?), but at the time the shit wasn’t very funny.

Black Beauty RX7

rx7spoiler.jpg
Someone should just sit down and figure out the exact equation detailing the relationship of [number of times dropped on head as child] to [height of rear spoiler on car]. By the way, people with cars this expensive should not be spotted in the parking lots of recycle shops… A more affordable solution for cash-strapped Fast and Fuuurious wannabes is a haxx0red copy of Gran Turismo, aight?

The voice in my head just said, “Run away!”

A month or so back, my brother and I found a spot from which to escape from people. Most everybody, that is. It’s a dam up in the mountains just a few miles off a major road, but apparently not very well known. We went there both Saturday and Sunday for a few hours of fishing and just to get away from it all. Saturday I caught a reallyreally small largemouth which attacked a lure not much smaller than itself – and that was it as far as our catch for the weekend – but it was enough. Being out on decently sized lakes with no one else in sight was a reward unto itself. Last week was kind of a tipping point for me, you see. I’d had just about enough of the world, I think.
It all started out on Sunday, when I watched an old man collapse in a pool of his own blood and guts on a white tiled floor. I looked into his eyes after calling for help and saw neither fear nor acceptance – just confusion. That disturbed me on a level I hadn’t experienced since thinking about post-death consciousness every night when I was ten or so. His wife cradled his head and sobbingly pleaded with him to stay focused for the twenty minutes it took for the paramedics to arrive. When they came, they put on surgical masks and gloves before touching the old man. When they left, they tracked bloody footprints out the door. I left out the back exit and felt strangely sick when the sunlight hit my face.
Tuesday I left for a business meeting in Osaka as documented in my previous post. I feel more and more apologetic as the years go on for having to explain why so many of my fellow countrymen are brash, ignorant, racist dunderfucks. On a side note, do you know how much compensation I get from the company for having to spend a night away from home plus 6 meals? Around ten bucks. Ten bucks, as in, fuck me, may I have another? Fuck me. The really sad thing is, it used to be around twenty bucks and people feel really cheated about it having been cut in half. Shit, the last time the union reps came around, I contemplated throwing a handful of pennies at them and saying, “dinner’s on me, assholes.”
Wednesday I came back from said business trip on a bus directly through a fairly major typhoon. Luckily, I was tired as hell and the huge bus windows amplified the lightning into a trippy ambient light show. I zoned out to this and stopped watching the realtime destruction reports on the TV mounted in the center aisle. Crossing over the longest suspension bridge in the world to my island in heavy winds was kind of tense, though (Bus driver on radio to dispatcher: “Advise others to turn back. Brakes are sluggish and we are moving forward even though I’m not using the gas.”). Cool.
Thursday, the pipes under our kitchen sink decided to burst. Fortunately, my girlfriend and my little brother took care of it and I only saw the aftermath: Everything previously under the sink on my kitchen floor, cupboards being dried out with electric fan. Yes, Nam and Adam handled the crisis and my late arrival/presence was superfluous. Genuinely cool.
Friday I got in a huge fight with my girlfriend, but I sucked it all up because I was so tired and in a “gee this isn’t fair, but beat me up emotionally anyway” state of mind. (By the way, the whole fight was probably all my fault, even though I’ll never admit it.)
So by the time Saturday and Sunday rolled around, I was ready for 12-hour slumber sessions followed by the Nature Boy routine. Our new hideaway did not disappoint. Bunny rabbits, deer, and baby bass. And on Saturday, I even forgot to take my cellphone.