Infernal Rustication: January 2007

Baby Making Machines

Japan's population is aging, and with a fertility rate of only 1.29, one of the lowest in the world, it doesn't look like Japanese women are about to give up their lifestyles and careers to return to the traditional role of wife and mother any time soon.

Having 71 year old health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, who has already voiced his archaic views on women in the past, call Japanese women "baby-making machines" isn't going to help matters either.

The JSDF wants YOU

The Japanese government renounced warfare to settle disputes and declared they would not maintain forces with war potential when they wrote the constitution in 1946 (perhaps under the pressure of the Allies?).

Since then, their policies on defence have kept them from becoming a major military power and stopped them from developing nuclear weapons. Their main role tends to be disaster relief, peacekeeping, infrastructural reconstruction, logistical support, and policing. In most situations they are not even able to carry weapons. Sounds like a cushy job, no?

The fact that civilians control the Defence Force and enlistees are still civilians mean that personnel are popularly thought of as glorified civil servants who couldn't get a better job elsewhere. Pay scales are similar to that of a civil servant regardless of rank.

Most volunteers come from the Japanese countryside. And next month, they'll be in Niimi looking for recruits.

How can you say no to a cute little military mascot like "Prince Pickles"? Can you believe that officials in Tokyo are calling him "the cute offensive"??

l missed the train

How was I supposed to know it was snowing? It's hardly snowed all winter! And how did I expect to arrive at the station on time when the snow was an inch thick on the ground and blowing in my face as I cycled? With my train leaving at 7.13 and the next one not until 10.50, I had no choice but to wait around for a teacher to pick me up on their way to school.

While I waited I took photos of the snow. I like Niimi under snow. It looks clean.

Ah'ma gonna eat yuuu little piggy!

This year is the year of the wild boar, or inoshishi. See how cute!

At the beginning of each new year, schools, businesses, and homes are adorned with ornaments depicting that year's animal of the Chinese zodiac, like so:

But it's not every year that your Japanese friends cook up a feast using a traditional irori fire pit and hanging nabe pot to cook you the meat of that year's animal.

Another first for me in Japan. Mmmm, steamy.

But not to worry animal lovers; they get ugly before they get eaten.

Observation or Obligation?

The first anything of the new year is important in Japan. The first sunrise, the first bath, the first dream, the first sports practice.....the list is endless. Perhaps the most important first of all is hatsumode, the first visit to a shrine or temple. It's a solemn event occurring from New Years Eve onwards, when thousands of Japanese flock both to their local shrines and temples as well as the more famous ones in their prefecture. At this time of year, even Japanese who say they are neither Shinto nor Buddhist visit a shrine or temple.

My friends and I chose to visit Takamatsu Saijo Inari, a shrine dedicated to the god Inari. Inari is a popular multipurpose deity, looking after fertility, rice, agriculture, industry, and worldly success. And in the tradition of the Japanese ranking system, this particular temple is one of the three most famous pilgrimage temples of the Inari sect.

Inari is often depicted as a fox.

Hatsumode is all about praying for the new year. You do this by lighting candles and incense.

By stepping under the shimenawa rice straw rope to throw coins and pray.

And by writing wishes for the year on wooden ema boards.

It is also time to return last years omamori good luck charms to be burnt and purchase new ones.

Once hatsumode business is concluded, the nakamise shopping street has enough take-home shrine souvenirs, lollies, and snacks to tide you over for the traffic congested ride home.

"Defend yourself from fatness"

I still haven't got my head around Japanese cuisine. I blame the language barrier, but really it's because I'm a lazy arse.

There is one traditional Japanese ingredient, eaten for over 2,000 years apparently, that has caught my eye. In Japan it's known as konnyaku, but it's also called konjac, or devil's tongue.

The amazing properties of konnyaku come from glucomannan, which is found in the fibrous tubers of the plant. It is high in dietary fibre, low in calories (only 2 kilocalories per 100 grams), and fat free. When consumed in gel form, the glucomannan expands giving a feeling of fullness. It also slows the absorption of carbohydrates, and lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Because glucomannan can't be absorbed by the body, it also cleans out the digestive tract.

In Japan, konnyaku is sold in various flavours, usually in block or noodle form.