Pushing the limits of Japan..

Hello everyone,

Today has been a weird one. I'm not probably going to get away from today without some sort of disciplinary action, but you know what I really don't care. I have been here close to 11 months now and excuse my language but I really don't give a fuck about how people view me. It all started yesterday. I got this weird e-mail from the Tokyo JET alumni association. I had no idea why I got the e-mail or who sent it to me. The fact the the alumni association has my e-mail to begin with is a little unnerving. Who is giving my personal e-mail out, I thought. Anyway, so I read the e-mail and found out its about a private screening of

The Cove

I have wanted to see the movie but it was not released in Japan for obvious reasons. If I thought getting the e-mail was weird, the part in it about 'this being a private invitation only event' told me I was in for a wild night. I was supposed to RSVP on some website but I forgot about the e-mail until the day of so I called the number posted to ask for directions. An older hippy lady answered and was very straight forward. She said she would put my name on the list and gave me the directions to the place. Though I didn't know it then the event had been moved 3 times! It was now in Yokohama and I would have to rush out of school to make the train. I did make it lucky and got there just as some other jets I know, Ben and Kendall, who actually live in the same area, got off the train too. We all walked up and talked about what we thought the event would be like tonight. It turned out Ben was the one who sent me the e-mail so that was a little reassuring. I was not expecting much of the event, but it turned out the man behind the movie Rick O' Barry was supposed to show up and give a open discussion after the movie. I had never heard of the guy but I guess he was behind the popular TV series Flipper! He started the whole Dolphin training movement! Unfortunaly he never showed up. He was giving a lecture at a local university while we watched the movie and was supposed to show up at 7:30. We all had our suspicions but i really think he got in some trouble with the police. I think they were following him or something. We kept getting reports about his were abouts but then they stopped at about 9:30. The other people at the event were all environmental activists so it was great anyway. It was bizarre but I felt like this was a special night and i was meant to be there.
After a short talk by another man involved in the movie they started the Cove. I guess Rick wanted us to watch the censored version because that was what was getting released in Japan next month(in select theaters). After watching the movie I realized why the e-mail was so specific about invitation only event. The people in the Dolphin killing business were serious and it was not uncommon for protesters to receive Death threats or even get killed. I was shocked! Not only were there 23,000 Dolphins being killed in this small town every year but everyone also seemed to be okay with eating it!! This was atrocious, brutal and every bit of it deservedly. I was outraged. I don't want this to sound as though I am some kind of Japan-basher, or that Japanese people are painfully ignorant. There are plenty of great Japanese people and I love many aspects of their culture. But this needs to stop!!
So today what did I do? Well as a souvenir last night I was given a promotional poster for the Japanese release of the movie. Some how in my sleep deprived long train ride back home I thought about disseminating this poster. I was going to become a radical activist, or at least not be an 'in-activist'. So this morning I got to school early and jumped to the copy machine. I made 20 color copies(already probably getting me in trouble) and 50 b&w copies. I immediately asked a teacher I trusted if I could hang the poster up outside the teachers offices of every classroom. I was given a harsh 'Japanese' NO! Then before classes started I made my rounds to every classroom I could and gave a short speech in my broken Japanese to the students. Telling them about the movie and to go see it. I was nervous and full of adrenaline. The response was just as shocking. I was given a round of applause and a standing ovation in one class! It will not stop here I am sure. I still have half my copies and I will use propaganda on the Japanese. HEll the gov't here does it why can't I?

Ch. 9 Visiting the Zen temple...

Hey Everyone,

I just had another pivital experience in of my time here in Japan. I was not expecting on a Wednesday of all days to take part in mind altering experience. It was the middle of the school week after all. But I know a guy who is an ex-JET living here and has spent the last year or so practicing Zen Buddhism in Japan. My friend Zack is also interested like me so we both talked to this guy, Ben and next thing we knew a date was set for the following week. If anything i knew I was getting into a very different meditation from any i have ever done before. Yet this barely touches the tip of the ice burg; the session I sat in on(a weekly mediation open to the public) was unlike anything i would have thought and this being Japan was about as intense as driving 100 mph down a narrow mountain road.

I guess I will start with how things are going lately. So have my high week of sports festival the next week was awful. I guess I wasn't prepared for real classes to start up again. That and work sucks after you've been on vacation. Other then that I was bidding my time until my birthday frantically trying to figure out what to do. I decided to just have a picnic dinner on my b-day and then go out to an Israeli restaurant on the weekend.

The day started off great. I had 4 classes which is average for me and I was excited to get them over with. Almost to much in fact because I kept looking the clock in class wishing it to go faster. I made it through the day without becoming a anxious wreck but i became very nervous at the end of the day because I needed to leave early in order to catch the train to Tokyo. I sat at my desk for awhile until things quited down after cleaning time and i hastily made my escape realizing the whole time that I forgot to change my block to red (a kind of Japanese time card). Oh well I thought I wasn't actually leaving that early i thought. I took the faster way home but on the way decided to stop at my local bakery. It is the best bakery Ive found but Ive constantly pondered how they stay in business offering only 10-20 baked good. Well today I found the answer. The place was filled with breads of all kinds, sweets and pastries. I was shocked and quacking grabbed a demi-baguette and a slice of pumpkin bread with walnuts and raisins. At least now I knew I would have some good eats on the long train ride. I rushed home to quickly changed opting for a v-neck sweater over my v-neck undershirt and some jeans. Not quite the most appropriate wear for a Zen meditation session but I was comfortable, if anything I was too hot. I then looked at the clock and rapidly turned my baguette into a cheese and butter sandwich. I also filled my water bottle and grabbed a book. I was ready. Once again speeding down the main street on my little biking pedaling my feet as fast as I could go. I made it down the the station in time again, in fact I was early but i am traumatized and extremely fearful of missing trains since I did it so often when i first arrived. I boarded the train to find it filled with the suits and some high school students. It was hot and I opened the window up a bit and through on some shades. I knew this was going to be a nice commute for once.
I made it to Chiba to change trains and met up with Zack. We ended up talking the rest of way and the hour seemed to fly by. We made it to the tiny subway station early and split the sandwich and pumpkin loaf. I was feeling ready to take on anything, naively flying high after a great day but I really didn't know what I was getting my self into. We met Ben and had a rice ball on the way. Walking to the temple we talked about what we were going to be be experiencing and how long it would be. Ben was under the misperception that there was a beginner class every Wednesday at 6:30 but unfortunately when we got there we found that was not the case. In fact if you are a beginner you are supposed to call ahead and make a reservation. The monks were kind enough to bring us in the entry way and we just had to fill out our names on a form. Then we were awkwardly carted around for awhile seeing if we would get instruction or not. Then we were told to change. You had to take off all jewelery and basically anything that would make noise. then you were supposed to change into anything that made you most comfortable. Not thinking of bringing extra cloths I stuck with what i was wearing at the time. Which was not bad but being nervous I was sweating like pig. Next we entered a kind of antechamber. People were already sitting and meditating. We stay there for about 5 minutes awkwardly trying to sit. Then our monk came and brought us back to the waiting room with our little pillows. We were given a short instruction on how to enter the meditation room, walk in the hallways, puff your pillows, bow before sitting and sit down. It was about enough to make my head start spinning but then another patron came over and started giving us tips about meditating for the first time. He spoke pretty good English and was very kind but in a rather annoying way since i was already nervous and hardly needed more stuff to remember and worry about doing correctly. Then the moment came. We were called out of the room and entered the meditation room. It was a big room that had a huge window facing a courtyard on one side and a shrine with a Buddha and ornaments on the other. We were put into the far corner away from the window facing a yellow painted wall. I guess you are supposed to stare at something with least distractions. The air in the room was thick almost like stepping out of a air conditioned house into a humid night. People told me i might be cold but the temperature was perfect. I immediately performed the said entry rituals and began trying to get comfortable sitting on this little pillow. My other great worry was trying to get perfect posture. It is something I had as a kid and now have lost my ability to ever sit straight. It was a back aching challenge. Sit for two 40 minute sessions with perfect posture. In between there would be a 10 minute walking meditation. After all that the head monk would do a reading and we would do some zen chanting. The most interesting part was actually the singing bowls and the gourd drum. It was much less rhythmic and more caotic then I thought.
Though all of it was intense, what had me on edge the whole time during the sitting meditation was the head monks' stick. Yes there is a stick that is carried around for the purpose of 'correcting' people, if they have incorrect posture or are falling asleep. As you would be just into the rhythmic breathing you would hear a Whack and I not sure but I think people were getting between the shoulder blades. It was not the most pleasant sound and I thought a few times I was in for a right smack between the shoulder blades. It didnt end up happening but the head monk did come by me and 'straighten' my back with his stick. The whole this was just bizarre. It was a whole other world experience. Though this is not uncommon in Japan.
The most surprising part was how laid back everyone was when the session ended. Some guy asked me to go drink some beers with him and the monk were all out chatting and laughing. I could understand why my friend Ben likes to go there so often. It has something frequently lacking in Japan.. Community. Not just a sense of it, Im talking the real thing. People getting together who are liked minded and sharing their experience. Once again i am humbled by Japan, a country that never ceases to awe me...