Taxi Drivers

Eric and I recently (hahaha, in March) took a trip back to the states during Spring Vacation.  We boarded the bus, assuming that it would take us all the way to the airport.  Unfortunately, the bus schedule had recently changed and the direct bus was no longer available.  Instead we had to change to a different bus at the Traffic Center in Kumamoto.  Wouldn’t you know it, our bus was late and we missed the airport bus by 4 minutes. 

Being without any other option, we decided to catch a cab.  We walked over to the large group of waiting cabs and asked the first one if he could take us to the airport.  The driver had been chatting with the next driver in line, and the two of them loaded our 4 large, heavy bags into his cab.  It wasn’t long before we passed the airport bus, which made Eric and I feel much better about the entire situation.  The driver probably noticed we were a bit stressed and he took every yellow light in order to get us there as fast as he could.  He let us know how much it was going to be ahead of time and stopped the meter once it reached that price.  Once we got to the airport, he even helped carry our bags all the way into the building and over to the baggage check area.  He was kind and polite and so helpful.  Tips are included in the price of everything in Japan, so even if you try to give someone a tip they won’t accept it.  But I have never genuinely wanted to give someone a tip so much in my entire life.

Now this might seem like an isolated incident, where we just happened upon the best cab driver in the world, but I imagine the situation would have been similar no matter which taxi we had taken.  My experiences with cab drivers in Japan have always been incredibly positive. 

Don’t think of Japanese cab drivers as taxi cab drivers.  To get a clearer view of the level of service and care they offer think of them more along the lines of limo drivers.  Cabbies in America are often seen as angry, rude, and low class.  But cab drivers here are serious, polite professionals.  They wear suits and ties with white gloves and hats.

I eat on buses and on trains, but I would never eat in a taxi cab.  Every cab I have ever been in has been pristine.  The seats are usually covered in lace dollies.  I know the drivers pride themselves on offering a clean environment to their clients, and I would never do anything to mess it up for them. 

If you ever take a Japanese taxi cab keep in mind that you never have to touch the door.  The driver can control the opening and closing from his seat, and they prefer if you don’t try to close it yourself.  Cabs are still usually an option of last resort, as they can be very expensive, especially in larger cities, but at least I know that I’m getting quality service for the money.

Long overdue update – Disaster Observations

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, but I assure you that it had nothing to do with the recent disasters Japan has faced. I didn’t feel any shakes from the quake and even though I’m on an island, there were only minor wave swells here. I’m in the south of Japan, far from the epicenter of the quake, and not on the Pacific Ocean side. If you want to see some maps of where I’m at check out this post.

I’m sorry I did not get a post up sooner, but it took a while for me to get my thoughts in order (and then I was on vacation…). Here are few things I’ve noticed, from an outside-inside perspective (outside the disaster area, but inside the country).

When I got home from work the day of the earthquake and turned on the TV I was a little shocked to notice that the coverage was all that was playing on every channel. I guess this is just a sign of me still not being used to not having cable. I only have 6 channels. But in watching the coverage in the following days, I was sad that I couldn’t distract myself from the footage of all the destruction with something “normal.” Don’t get me wrong, the warnings and information that were being broadcast were very important and I’m glad that it was all so easily available, but I did miss the ability to turn on something else.

It was incredibly comforting when I found that one of the channels, run by NHK, was broadcasting the warning messages about the tsunami in English, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese. Although I could understand from the graphic that my area was not one of those that needed to evacuate immediately, it was nice to hear everything clearly in my native language.

On Friday afternoon, when many stations were broadcasting live from areas still feeling aftershocks, many of the reporters were wearing hardhats while on air in case of a sudden tremor and falling debris. Several of these hardhats had the television station logo on them. I really doubt there are any television stations in America that have their own hardhats on hand for just such a situation. It made me realize just how much Japan stresses preparedness for natural disasters such as these.

Commercials returned to television on Monday. I thought it was odd that I hadn’t even noticed that they had been missing until they came back. So from Friday afternoon until some time Monday morning all channels were showing 24 hour news coverage of the events. On Tuesday some prime time programming returned, although about half of the stations opted to continue their continuous news coverage. It was certainly nice to again have options (beyond which horrifying footage of a tsunami swallowing a town to watch). Also convenient was that one of the stations that opted for news has a bilingual broadcast option for a few hours, allowing me to follow things much more easily.

At the height of the disaster we had almost half a million people living in shelters. That’s a staggering number of people, many of whom lost everything but the clothes they were wearing. In the following days I realized that my perception of the word “shelter” was totally different from the situation at hand. A shelter, of course, is a place you can go to for help and protection. However, when I think of a shelter, I think of a place stocked with supplies, a place built and prepared for the purpose of sheltering people, along the lines of a bomb shelter or a homeless shelter (or an animal shelter in the case of our furry friends). Obviously, there is no town that has a tsunami shelter built somewhere with supplies stockpiles for the whole town in case of a massive disaster. So they are staying in whatever building is safe and large enough to hold them. A huge number of survivors are staying at schools.

Let’s look at that point for a moment. Now that I think about it, a huge number of schools are built on high ground. This had never occurred to me before, but I have a feeling that, when constructing schools, many towns build them with this in mind. It makes sense, as schools are central areas in a community that pretty much everyone knows the location of. There are lots of rooms and a gym that many people can gather at. And in a disaster, the first thing you would want to know is if your children are safe. If the school is built as a shelter, parents would be able to have some peace of mind.

I have heard some stories of people who picked up their children after the initial quake to flee to different shelters, but were then caught up in the tsunami and separated. In some of those cases, if they had remained at school, they would have been safe. That being said, I have a feeling that school age children will have a higher survival rate than some other demographics in this disaster due to the fact that the quake hit in the middle of the school day. I’m sure it’s something that will be analyzed to improve evacuation policies in the future.

But back to the shelter situation. Think about your high school for a moment and the supplies that it had on hand. Schools in Japan are not much different. They simply don’t have a bunch of food, water, or medical supplies lying around. One of the hardest things in the aftermath of the devastation was trying to establish contact with all the shelters to get them supplies and information. Many areas were without electricity and couldn’t contact the outside world to let them know where they were and what they needed. And even after contact was establish, getting to the various locations was challenging. Not only were roads and train tracks wrecked, but there wasn’t enough gasoline in affected areas for trucks and ambulances. All of this on top of gathering the supplies in the first place and figuring out a distribution system to help as many people as possible.

Unlike America, most schools in Japan do not have central air or heating. In the north, where it gets very cold in the winter, the schools often rely on kerosene heaters to keep everyone warm at school. It’s the end of winter, so I’m sure many schools only had a small supply of kerosene on hand at the time. After the tsunami hit it snowed in many of the affected areas. So even if they had electricity, it was very difficult to keep everyone warm.

One of the most frightening things about the whole situation is that the area that was the most devastated by the tsunami was also probably the area of Japan that was most prepared for that type of disaster. They had regular tsunami drills and policies in place so that people knew what to do and where to go in case of a tsunami. But this was the biggest quake to hit Japan since records have been kept and one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world. There was simply no way to prepare for a disaster of this magnitude. Many people who followed the normal evacuation procedures simply weren’t able to get high enough to escape the massive waves.

I really have no idea how the American media (or any other country for that matter) is covering this event. But if you want to see the kind of thing I’m seeing on TV, check out this video which I actually watched on television. It’s astonishing how quickly that water rises. To see the extent of the damage, check out the link here. The bar in the middle of the photos is a slider that you can move back and forth to compare before and after shots. For my friends in Japan, or those who are studying Japanese and perhaps trying to follow the Japanese news reports, here is a list of useful vocabulary that someone compiled.

Now, I don’t want to leave everyone feeling too sad, so I do have some uplifting links to finish off. Here you can find a story of a tiny miracle amidst all the destruction. And if you have facebook you can take a look at these heartwarming posts made by people on twitter following the disaster. Both made me cry.

I really want to say thank you to everyone who thought and worried about me when they heard about the situation in Japan. My parents have reported fielding many phone calls from concerned friends and family, and even after I posted we were okay on facebook many people took the time to comment and say how glad they were that we were okay. It’s really nice to be know that you have been remembered and be reminded that you are loved. Please continue to keep those who were more directly affected in your thoughts and prayers. 

Things have been very routine here and school and work continue as normal. I can’t stress enough how normal things are here. We have had no shortage of supplies where I am, and we haven’t suffered from any power outages. Some people seem to think that Japan is very very small and that anything that happens here immediately affects everyone. So they may think that the entire country stands in ruins, and that those of us who didn’t lose everything are huddled in our homes in fear eating dust off the floor. I can assure you that this is not the case, and the majority of the country is functioning more or less as they did before any of this happened. This is not meant to downplay the devastation that was caused, but to offer a bit of perspective, and hopefully reassure anyone who is still worried about me.

As for the incident at the nuclear reactor, I can only assume that the media is having a field day with the event. Radiation is one of those magical words that makes everyone lose their minds. The situation at the plant is serious, because there are very hazardous materials involved. But unless you live very close to the reactor, it is not going to affect you directly. And that includes me and likely everyone who will read this blog. I got a higher dose of radiation making the flight to America from Japan than I have as a direct result of what is happening in Fukushima. There is pretty much zero chance of me being evacuated because of this. I don’t glow in the dark and we’re not all walking around in radiation suits. I’m sure the media is very selective about what images they show and this could lead to people thinking that Japan is one big ball of panicked radioactivity. If you are truly interested in the situation, I advise you to step away from the mainstream media and look to experts who understand the situation and are not trying to garner ratings.

Thanks for putting up with this incredibly long post.  Hopefully the next one will be on a lighter and happier topic.

"I can..." Lesson

A while back my junior high first graders (7th graders) learned about "can" sentences.  To introduce the topic the teacher and I decided to use animals as examples.  I thought this was a pretty good idea because in the 6th grade textbook the kids are first introduced to "I can" with a penguin, a hippo, a flying fish, and a bird.  I mentioned it briefly here. 

So we went into class a little early and the teacher asked me to draw a few animals on the board.  It was at this point that I really thought about the animals I had to draw and realized that I had possibly never drawn a few of them before in my life. In class, I told the kids that this was "Amanda's zoo."  We asked them what each animal was before we went into the sentences, and thankfully they were able to identify all of them.

First up was a kangaroo.  I'm not sure I've ever drawn one of those before.  This was actually the last animal I drew, as I started from the bottom and the animal I was most familiar with, and worked my way up to the top.  But then I sort of ran out of room and the kangaroo had to be shortish.  And then as I drew him he was...fatish.  And his tail was kind of Tyrannosaurus like.  I was worried that the kids wouldn't be able to tell what it was so I added some jumpy lines.  But the kids were really cool about it.  I kept saying that it was bad, but one of the kids said, "I know it, I know!" which made me feel really good.  The sentence for the kangaroo was "I can jump."

Next up was a cheetah.  Again I'm not sure I've ever drawn a cheetah before.  So I went with the idea that a cheetah is just a big cat that runs fast.  So I drew it to kind look like it was running and then gave it a bunch of spots.  Again, I'm really not sure how cheetah like it came out, but the kids knew what it was, so success!  His sentence was, "I can run fast."

Third was a dolphin.  I know I've drawn dolphins before, but as far as I can remember they have always come out crazy deformed.  But this one came out surprisingly great!  I'm not really sure how that happened.  His sentences were, "I can swim.  I can jump."

And last, but first to be drawn, was a penguin.  Of course, I have plenty of practice drawing these little guys so it was no trouble at all to knock one out for this lesson.  His sentence was "I can swim."  The best part of the entire lesson was when I asked my students, "What's this?"  One of my super energetic students shouted out, "It's Amanda-sensei!"  Do my kids know my or what?

It's all pretty basic stuff, but it was a really fun way to introduce the topic to the kids before we tried to get them to think of their own sentences.  It was a great class, and provided some great little stories for me to share with you.

What’s your type?

Consider the following:

You are having a chat with someone you have just recently met. In the course of conversation he asks you, “What’s your blood type?” By your best guess he is:

• A. a vampire, trying to decide if you will be pleasing to his pallet.
• B. a concerned blood bank worker who is about to inform you how many liters of your type they need each day.
• C. in possession of a large quantity of excess blood and is determining if you would be interested in his surplus (for emergency transfusions, of course).
• D. trying to learn a bit more about your personality.

If you are in Japan, the answer will most likely be D.

How many of you reading this actually know your own blood type? I’m guessing it’s not many. Well, perhaps this entry will convince you all to ask your doctors next time you are in for a visit. In the interest of learning more about yourself.

In Japan it is “believed” that your ABO blood type reflects certain aspects of your personality, temperament, and compatibility with others. I say “believe” in quotations because it’s like astrological signs. People ask about it, but most people don’t take it too seriously. And like astrology I’m sure there are some people out there who take it really really seriously. But most people from my experience do not. It’s just for fun.

However, they do ask about it. This is just a normal question that people ask when getting to know each other. It’s kinda like the Japanese version of “What’s your sign?” except without the connotation of being asked predominantly by creepy guys trying to pick you up in bars. It’s estimated that 90% of the Japanese population know their blood type, although it’s impossible to tell if this is the cause of the “blood typology” phenomenon or a result of it.

Because compatibility is a factor, blood types are almost always listed in magazines when celebrities give profiles of basic information about themselves. So you can tell which if your favorite singers and actors are perfectly suited for you. Matchmakers and dating sites often use this information to help find you a match. Many politicians, including the former Prime Minister Taro Aso, seem to consider it important enough to list on their official profiles on the Internet. A good portion of the top selling books each year tend to be related to blood type and personality.

Knowing this all ahead of time, I wasn’t surprised when a class of forth graders asked me my blood type. At least, not once I understood what they were asking… I knew whatever the student was asking sounded familiar, but for the life of me I couldn’t place it. So the inquisitive kid used a very successful technique to help me understand. He started listing off all the possible answers. “A, O, AB” and suddenly I was like “OHHHH!” Smart kid. My junior high kids eventually got around to it too, although they asked in English (after some coaching from the English teacher). And, in case anyone is curious, my blood type is A.

While writing this entry I came across an interesting explanation for why this fad is popular in Japan and why it’s never really caught on overseas. In Japan, people are very similar genetically (such as similar hair and eye color). But they don’t want to seem the same. Interestingly though, the population of Japan has a fairly even distribution of blood types. So, if you group people by blood type, diversity is created. In Europe and America, however, the vast majority of people are type A or O. So most people would fall into only two of the categories. It’s not nearly as interesting that way.

I searched the internet for a bit and discovered that, at least of the sites in English (you know, that I can read…), not all seem to agree on what the traits are of each blood type. This didn’t really surprise me, since it is basically a horoscope. And since translation is obviously involved, it may be somewhat of a result of different people saying things different ways and stressing different things. But reprinted below is the one that seemed to fit best with what I had previously been told, so here it is in all its glory along with some notes on compatibility.

A Blood

People with A type blood have a deep-rooted strength that helps them stay calm in a crisis when everyone else is panicking. However, they tend to avoid confrontation, and feel very uncomfortable around people. A types are shy and sometimes withdrawn. They seek harmony and are very polite, but all the same feel that they never really fit in with others. A types are very responsible. If there is a job to be done, they prefer to take care of it themselves. These people crave success and are perfectionists. They are also very creative, and the most artistic of all blood types, most likely because of their sensitivity. Most compatible with A and AB.

B blood

People with B blood are the most practical of the blood groups. They are specialist in what they do. When they start a project, they spend extra time understanding and trying to follow directions than others might. When they are doing something, all of their attention is focused on it. They tend to stick to a goal and follow through to the end, even if it seems impossible. They are often cheerful, but can be a bit selfish. They tend to be less than cooperative, as they like to follow their own rules and their own ideas and can be seen as eccentric. They are individualists. B type people pay attention to their thoughts a little more than their feelings, and therefore can sometimes seem cold and arrogant. Most compatible with B and AB.

AB Blood

AB type people are unique, are hard to categorize, and are rather mysterious. They can have characteristics on two ends of the spectrum at the same time. For instance they are both shy and outgoing. They easily switch from one opposite to another. Because of this they can be unpredictable and indecisive. AB people are trustworthy and responsible, but can't handle it when too much is asked of them. They don't mind doing favors or helping out, as long as it’s their own conditions. People with this blood type are interested in art and metaphysics. Compatible with all blood types.

O Blood

O type people are outgoing, energetic and social. They are the most flexible of the blood types. They easily start up projects but often have trouble following through because they give up easily. They are flighty and not too dependable. O types always say what's on their mind, and how they feel. O types value the opinion of others, and like to be in the center of attention. Also, people with O blood are extremely self confident. They are curious and generous, but can be stubborn. Most compatible with O and AB.

This actually falls under the “things I learned from anime and manga” category. You too may have noticed that character profiles from anime, manga, or video games that come from Japan will often include blood type along with other stats like height, eye color, and birth date. When I first noticed this I was reading a lot of action series, so I thought, “Well, are they telling us this because those characters need a lot of blood transfusions?” And then in an anime magazine I stumbled across an article that explained it all to me.

You see, it’s almost a cheat. The creator is offering you a shortcut to the character’s personality. By saying a character has Type A blood the creator has already told you a lot about the character and how they might respond in certain situations. If you are Japanese anyway. Because while blood type in real life is determined by genetics, in fiction the author gets to fit it to his whims. So the personality fit will likely be much closer.

Of course, there is a slight darker side to the craze. The word buru-hara means harassment or discrimination based on blood type. Some job applications started to have a blank for blood type and people were asked about it in interviews. Since there are positive and negative traits for each type some companies were discriminating people based on their blood type. I don’t think it is very common anymore, but it made waves at one point.

So how does yours fit? Oh, wait. Perhaps you are like most Americans and don’t actually know your blood type. Well, such a revelation would shock my Japanese friends. After I told my students my blood type, my English teacher turned to me and said in a disbelieving voice, “The last ALT I worked with did not know his blood type.” It was as though he was telling me that he hadn’t known his birthday or what color his eyes were. This is just basic information here. I told him most of my friends don’t know their blood types and he was really surprised. ALL of my students know their blood type. I asked many of them after I told them mine. The kids who were A like me smiled in a sort of “we are the same” way that made me smile too.

Aren’t you curious now? There could be hidden factors to your personality lurking just below the surface. Or not, but hey you never know.

An Extra Helping of Whale

So yesterday a friend of mine mentioned on facebook that she ate whale during school lunch. Today I casually glanced at the school lunch calendar and, as fate would have it, we were having whale today!


The key word here is くじら


Many of you have read my previous post about eating whale, and for a looong time it was the most popular post on this blog, which I was not expecting. Unlike last time I was expecting what was set before me. And this time they asked me if I knew what it was BEFORE we started eating. AND THIS TIME I GOT PICTURES!!

Probably not as epic as you were expecting...

Because I know you were all dying to know what my whale looked like. It was prepared differently than last time, and it wasn’t as tasty this time around. It was a bit hard on the outside, but it tasted like meat and wasn’t too bad. I asked a bunch of the kids if they like whale and got a variety of responses from turned up noses and “nos” to “so-sos” to emphatic “yeses.”

This time I got a little more of an explanation as to why we were eating whale. I mentioned to my teacher that my friend had also had whale. It seemed a bit too coincidental that both of our schools had decided to have whale in the same week. He told me that this week is the anniversary of the school lunch program. Because of this, we have special menus all week. Our menu today was similar to what they had for lunch sixty years ago. They used to eat a lot of whale for lunch at school so now once a year we do as well. My teacher said that school lunch is the only time he has whale, so he only eats it once a year.

There are a few other activities during school lunch week. The students write thank you letters to the staff who prepare school lunch. Yesterday (at my other junior high), several of the school lunch ladies came to eat with the kids. Eric told me that one of his schools once sang a bunch of songs about how good the food was for the school lunch staff. It’s a nice gesture for the kids to remember that other people are working hard to provide them with a nice meal at school and a good opportunity for them to show their appreciation.

Common Japanese Fairytale Themes

I’m a really big fan of fairytales and legends and mythology from other cultures as I think it gives you an insight into the culture. I have been reading a bunch of Japanese fairy tales and I noticed some really common elements. I’ll share some of them with you here, along with the values they seem to reinforce.

1) Childless people

It has gotten to the point that if a story starts “There was once a man and his wife,” I can instantly tell that the next line will likely be something along the lines of, “They were very kind people but one thing troubled their hearts for they were childless and longed for a child to bring them joy in their old age.” In one book I must have read four or five stories that all started this way. Often the couple is older and has no child, but sometimes it’s a younger couple who work very hard to have a child. In one story the couple had a dog that they spoiled like a child. The virtue here seems to be that children are the greatest treasures of all.

2) Wicked Neighbors

It seems that beside every kind elderly couple lives a wicked elderly couple. Whenever the kind couple stumbles into some fortune or other the wicked couple grows jealous and tries to gain the same thing for themselves. This usually backfires, often due to their own greed, but instead of blaming themselves for their actions which led to trouble, they grow to hate their neighbors even more. This seems to be a pretty clear lesson of don’t covet your neighbor’s goods.

3) Horrid Stepmothers

Poor step-mothers. They really get a bad rap in fairytales the world over. Why is that exactly? The Japanese examples I’ve seen involve the step-mother being jealous of the attentions her new husband gives to his daughter. And the stepmother often tries to kill the girl, or at least tries to have her driven away by telling lies about her to her father. The stepmothers are always found out in the end and they either repent and learn to love the child or are driven away themselves. At first I would think that this was a lesson to be kind to your children, but the primary focus always seems to be on the daughter who endures the hardship patiently and remains dutiful to her stepmother despite her obvious malice. While I think both messages persist in these tales (especially when the stepmothers repent and learn to love their stepchildren) the big message always seems to be honor your parents no matter what.



This picture has nothing to do with stepmothers,
buuuuuuuuuuut I didn't have a picture for that one.



Islands of dreaded exaggeration

A while ago a link on facebook caught my attention. It is a blog entry about Amakusa, my current hometown. The facts seem pretty accurate, and the author clearly did some research, but his tone and impressions of the place are just downright depressing. He came here looking for things to be run down and depressing, so he ignored everything that wasn’t and then basked in whatever he could claim as such. He claims in his comments that some of it is meant in jest, but I’m afraid his sarcasm or humor didn’t translate to me very well.

I debated whether or not I should link this article on my blog, and finally decided that it was worth it to see another person’s point of view (although I will taint you all with my opinions first). Keep in mind that this guy is but one view of the area and that my view is very different. Amakusa has its fair share of problems, and perhaps even more than is fair. We are the fastest depopulating area in Japan and we have some major issues with gambling related poverty (Hondo alone has at least 4 pachinko parlors, which is far more than I feel any town the size of Hondo should be able to support). We have a rapidly aging population as does the rest of Japan, although it is probably more noticeable here. But despite what this article will have you think, we are not constantly within a cloud of gloom and doom. The sun does shine. Children laugh and play outside, people smile and greet you on the street. He fails to mention some of the rich culture here, such as the Haiya festival that draws in a good amount of tourism every year.

Reading this article I had to stop several times to laugh and roll my eyes. It really isn’t as bad as he makes it sound. For example, he speaks of the closest train station in Misumi as “utterly deserted and overrun with grass and weeds.” This is gross exaggeration and I don’t even think that the picture he posted gives the impression he was trying to convince his readers of. The trains run about once an hour, so if he wasn’t there near a time when a train arrived of course there weren’t going to be many people. No one hangs out at Misumi station. And we have a station attendant, so the place is never really deserted. And while there is some grass visible on the tracks (which by the way they are doing on purpose in many places as a way of helping the environment, though I don’t know if it is the case here) it hardly appears overgrown. Things only get worse from there.

He presents many statistics to try to back up his gloomy narrative, but doesn’t present some obvious possible explanations for them. For example, he relates how the passenger volume on the Misumi line declined substantially between 1986 and 2007. He seems to see this as evidence of Amakusa slowly dying. However in the previous sentence he mentions how express services stopped in 1986. Hmmmmm… That is the same year that the decline started. Is it possible that with the loss of the express services people realized that the train now took just about as long to get to the city as it would take to drive their own cars (which anyone from Amakusa would have to drive to the station anyway)? He also brings up our depopulation but uses a stat comparing the number of 17 year olds to the number of 19 year olds. Seventeen year olds are still in high school, which Amakusa has several of (although a good number of students do attend high school off of the island). However, a nineteen year old could be a university student and Amakusa certainly isn’t large enough to support one of those. So any university student is clearly not living in Amakusa at that time. I’m not claiming that all of the nineteen year olds are in college as some have joined the workforce straight out of high school, but it is something to consider while analyzing the statistics. A better comparison would have been 17 year olds to 25 year olds. By that age, those who attended university out of Amakusa and returned would be accounted for. And in fact it would probably be better to compare 14 years olds who are still in junior high school rather than 17 year olds who may or may not have already left the area for school. This statistic could very well be similar to the one he presents but I feel it would be a more accurate comparison to analyze the depopulation of the area.

I feel this quote really sums up his attitude, “Where was the spectral gloom for which I had come in quest?” He actually seems disappointed when his first impressions of Amakusa are not horrible. But instead of praising Amakusa for what it has avoided, he selectively presents only those things that can somehow support his preconceived notion of the area. Perhaps the thing that makes me the saddest is that it is a very well written piece. This is not some bit of drivel on the internet that can easily be overlooked and ignored. The author is well spoken and paints a picture for his readers so they can easily come to share his view. I hate to think that many people who had never heard of Amakusa will now think of it as such a dreary and depressing place. I have never, not even on my most depressed days where I hate everything about Japan, seen Amakusa in such a negative light as he does. He does not come to Goshoura, although part of me is morbidly curious of what he would have thought of my island.

You can find the post here and judge for yourselves. Oh, and I advise staying out of the comments as it kind of devolves into bickering and isn’t really insightful in anyway. It is a long piece and hardly light reading, so tackle it when you have some time on your hands. I don’t want to leave you all sad and depresses though, so once you finish reading come back and enjoy these adorable pictures of T-shirts that my students made about Goshoura that are sure to make you smile.