January 20, 2009

A Page Out of History

Why do I feel like this is my moment too
As do millions out there echo
My sentiment by their presence
And voices raised out loud.

Why do I feel as if
A new dawn has risen
On a new era
Full of fresh hope and inspiration.

Why do I feel like
I am one with millions of multitude
Braving the coldest winter chill
In the coldest month of the year.

Falling in line
Flying in from all over
A nation who once again
Can stand up brave
and proud.

Why do I feel
Even though I do not belong
To this country
The same pride and overflowing joy.

To bear witness to
A Man who does more
By being himself
Than by transforming himself.

A Man who might
And will bring
Transformation and Redemption
Through Unity and renewed Courage.

I am so stoked
And so proud
And so humbled
And so lucky to be.

Part of the generation
Who bears witness
Who extends welcome
And open hearts.

To the Man
Who represents
Not only himself
But all of us
Who came from everywhere and nowhere.

4 Comments

• At February 4, 2009, Avi wrote:

  Ellen, thank you for putting what so many of us feel into words.

  And WHAT WORDS you have selected!TRULY PERFECT! You have greatly honored TSUKUBLOG by posting your poem here. I just hope that this venue will give it the exposure it deserves.

  with respect

  Avi

• At February 4, 2009, Angeline wrote:

  Alas! A true sign of change!

  An inspiration for all who pursues it

  Who desires it, treasures it

  Like water and salt

  The most essential element in life

  Yes, we all definitely can ... and will ..... CHANGE!

  my 2 cents.

  Regards,

• At February 5, 2009, Ellen wrote:

  Dear Avi,

  Thank you so much for such a compliment coming from a true writer like yourself. It brings such joy to me and a lump in my throat to have my simple poem be appreciated by a person as eloquent as yourself, who comes from a different background but who is as inspired and as awestruck by the pure beneficence of Obama's coming like a Messiah into a world wracked by abject poverty, chaos, disunity, racial divide and indifference. Yes, he is like a beacon of hope. My only fear is that too much expectation might undo the man. I hope he is as big as he appears to be..or that our hope is as real as it appears to us.

• At February 5, 2009, Avi wrote:

  Ellen, as a whole the poem works wonderfully, and some of the phrases : a man who does more by being himself-

  The man who represents himself, not only himself, but all of us, who came from everywhere and nowhere -

  are absolutely brilliant images which TRULY capture the occassion. Your poem shopuld be in school curriculli!

  Im also very stoked by your suprising inclusion of that word in your poem .

  Thanks

  Avi

1. Changes to the rules regarding bicycles driving on the sidewalk

You may ride your bicycle on the sidewalk under the following conditions.
- If there is a sign that specifically permits riding bicycles on the sidewalk.
- If you are under 13 or over 70 years of age.
- When you have to because of road or traffic conditions.

Cyclists must ride slowly on the part of the sidewalk that is designated for bicycles. However, if there are no pedestrians on the part of the sidewalk that is designated for bicycles, or if there are no pedestrians who are trying to walk on that part of the sidewalk, then cyclists can go at a safe speed using proper and safe riding techniques. Pedestrians must also make an effort to avoid the part of the sidewalk that is designated for bicycles.

2. Children must wear helmets when riding bicycles or when being carried on a bicycle that is being driven by someone else.

3. All passengers must wear seatbelts, including those in the back seat. If the driver or any of the passengers are not wearing a seatbelt in a car that is driving on the toll highways, the driver will be punished.

4. Elderly drivers (above 75 years of age) must display an "elderly driver" mark on their cars. People between the ages of 70 to 75 years of age "should" display the mark. (The elderly driver symbol is in the shape of a tear drop. It is cut down the middle and the left half is orange and the right half is yellow.)

5. People who are hard of hearing are now able to get a driver's license if they use a special wide mirror. They must display a "hard of hearing mark" on their cars. Other drivers are forbidden from cutting off or aggressively passing cars with such marks. (The "hard of hearing" symbol is a green circle with a yellow butterfly inside.)

More Information

• Ibaraki Prefectural Police Website (Japanese)
• Topics on Traffic and Safety on the Police Website (Japanese)
• Amendments to Traffic Laws (Effective June 2008, Japanese)
• Amendments to Traffic Laws (Effective September 2007, English)
• Basic Traffic Safety Instructions (English)

2 Comments

• At May 24, 2008, Anonymous wrote:

  it seems you should insert "not" in your first condition.

• At May 24, 2008, Shaney wrote:

  I'm not sure what you mean. Can you please elaborate?

1. Littering
It is forbidden to litter anywhere within the city. Punishment: official warning.

2. Pet Droppings
It is forbidden to leave pet droppings anywhere within the city. Punishment: official warning.

3. Graffiti
It is forbidden to deface anything within the city with graffiti. Punishment: official warning, possible misdemeanor.

4. Printed Matter
It is forbidden to distribute printed matter and not clean up the area where it was distributed. Punishment: official warning to the person who distributed the printed matter, or the person who ordered the distribution.

5. Smoking While Walking
It is forbidden to smoke while walking in designated areas (anywhere within the area enclosed by Kita Odori, Minami Odori, Nishi Odori, and Higashi Odori, anywhere near the Tsukuba Express stations [Tsukuba Station, Kenkyu Gakuen Station, Banpaku Kinen Koen Station, Midorino Station], the road on Mt. Tsukuba starting from the big, red gate).

6. Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor advertising is subject to laws and regulations.

7. Bicycles
Bicycles must not be abandoned within the city. Abandoned bicycles may be removed in accordance with the Tsukuba Abandoned Bicycles By-Law.

8. Land Management
Land must be managed in accordance with the by-law.

In addition, companies that operate vending machines must provide litter bins, attach reflective stickers, and assign someone to be responsible for dealing with litter.

Source: Tsukuba City Newsletter, November 1, 2007

1 Comments

• At November 2, 2007, Dan Waldhoff wrote:

  Bravo and about time!

The most important things to remember are (1) to withdraw some money before the banks and ATMs close and (2) to make sure you take your garbage out before the trucks stop coming!

Garbage

The last day of garbage collection is tomorrow (Monday, December 29). The next garbage day will be Saturday, January 3 and burnable garbage will be collected on that day in all parts of Tsukuba. The Clean Center is also closed from December 30 to January 2 so if tomorrow is not a burnable garbage day in your area and you cannot take your garbage to the Clean Center, you have to keep it until January 3.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html

Joyo Bank

Every bank is different, so I will just mention the situation for Joyo. The banks will be operating pretty much as normal on Monday (29) and Tuesday (30). They will then be closed from the 31 to the 4th and open up again on the 5th.

ATMs will have limited or no service between December 30 and January 4. All ATMs will be closed on January 1. This includes accessing your Joyo account through an ATM at 7-11. Some ATMs will be in operation on the other dates, but not all, and the ones that are in operation will mostly be on "holiday" hours. Regular ATM service will resume on Monday, January 5.

Online banking will be completely unavailable on January 1 and will have limited availability on December 31, and January 2 to 4th. All online transactions that occur after December 30 will not be processed until January 5. (So if you want to send money to someone by online furikomi and you want it to arrive before January 5, you will have to send it on December 30 at the latest.)
Sources: http://www.joyobank.co.jp/top/20081217.html and http://www.joyobank.co.jp/access-j/info.html

Postal Banking

Postal banking will be available as usual on Monday (29) and Tuesday (30). Teller services will not be available between December 31 and January 4. Regular teller services will resume on January 5.

Postal ATMs will be available as usual on Monday (29) and Tuesday (30) and they will close early (between 5pm and 8pm) on Wednesday (31). ATMs will not be available between January 1 and 3. They will open again between 7am and 9am on January 4. They will operate as usual on January 5.

Online banking will not be available from 11:50pm on December 31 to 6:30am on January 4.
Source: http://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/news/2008/news_id000345.html

City Hall

Tsukuba City Hall is closed from December 27 to January 4. The Sakura Branch office will be open on Sunday January 4 for limited services relating to issuing certificates such as inkan certificates or certificates of registered matters for foreigners. All branches will resume normal operations on January 5.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html

Library

Tsukuba Public Library is closed from December 28 to January 5.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html

Community Centers

All community centers (公民館, kominkan) will be closed from December 29 to January 3.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html

Children's Centers

All children's centers (児童館, jidokan) will be closed from December 27 to January 4.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html

Tsukuba Express

The trains will continue to run throughout the holidays, but will be on "holiday" schedules from December 30 to January 4.

Some extra trains have been scheduled on December 31. The last train that will reach Tsukuba on the night of December 31 will leave at 12:40am from Akihabara and arrive in Tsukuba at 1:37am. It will stop at every station. (Three trains will leave after that time, but they will all terminate at Moriya and will not come to Tsukuba.)

The last train to leave Tsukuba will be at 11:47pm and it will arrive in Akihabara at 12:45am, stopping at every station.

Source: https://www.mir.co.jp/uploads/20081211092155.pdf

TsukuBus

TsukuBus will run as usual.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html

Emergency Services

Call an ambulance (119) if there is an emergency where time is of the essence. In case you ever need to call an ambulance, you should memorize how to say your address in Japanese, and keep a copy of your address in romaji posted near the phone or on the refrigerator so others can call from your house.

Call 029-241-4199 to find out where to bring a sick person whose condition is not in need of urgent attention.

There is also a hotline to call for advice about whether your sick child needs immediate medical care or not: 029-254-9900 (or #8000 from a regular phone or cellphone).

In all cases, you will most likely have to speak Japanese.

The following hospitals will have some services available on the following days (but it is probably better to call 029-241-4199 to find out where to bring a person first).

December 30: Tsukuba Kinen Hospital
January 1: Tsukuba Soai Hospital
January 2: Tsukuba Gakuen Hospital, Tsukuba Kinen Hospital
January 3: Tsukuba Chuo Hospital
January 4: Tsukuba Soai Hospital

Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html

I hope you have a very happy holiday! (Just don't forget to get some money out before the banks close!!!)

New Long Term Residency Requirements: Japan recently modified its Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. The law now requires that long-term residents provide satisfactory evidence that they do not have a criminal record in their home country when renewing their resident card. To obtain such proof, U.S. citizens with long-term resident status in Japan need to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and provide it with a copy of their fingerprints. To request such service, please follow the guidance listed here. For more details about the Japanese requirements, check with the nearest immigration office in Japan.

Source:
U.S. Department of State
Consular Information Sheet: Japan

I am getting really annoyed at being treated like a criminal suspect just because I am foreign. What is it with all this action against foreigners these days? We seemed to be moving nicely away from that trend in recent years with the fingerprints being removed from our Alien Registration Cards. I am feeling distinctly unwelcome, these days, in the country I have called home for ten of the past twelve years...

Correction

It seems that this law has something to do with people of Japanese descent (Nikkei) who immigrate to Japan. I don't understand the particulars, but people who are not of Japanese descent should not have to do this. If I can find more information about this, I will post it here. In the meantime, it seems that the page above on the Department of State website is misleading.

1 Comments

• At October 5, 2007, Christine wrote:

  Guilty until proven innocent?! I am feeling equally discriminated against and outraged.

History rewrites itself ...

What a historic, epic moment
There will never be a time
Captured for all eternity
That will thrill and dazzle
As today.

When a Man of Color
Stands in the threshold
Of a portal so long
Open only, so it seemed
To the Whites in color and race.

When a Man of two races
As diverse as black and white
Origins as divergent
As East, West and North
Comes to the pinnacle
Of ultimate power in the
Western world.

Will such defining moment
Help redeem the world as
It stands on such turmoil
Material as well as spiritual
That it needs a country
As huge and overpowering
Led by a certain kind of Man
To turn it right again?

And will the Man of Color
Stand true to his promise
To make a difference
To serve the world
Even outside borders
And heal all rifts and
Bridge all divides
Of color and faith.

Will such an event
Be a momentous
Triumph of the human spirit
As it strives to redefine
Itself into what is right
And Fair and destined by Fate?

Ask me later, not today
For who can foretell
What will transpire
Beyond the glory and sheer greatness
of today’s special moment in history.

1 Comments

• At November 6, 2008, Avi wrote:

  There are dramatic and historic moments which have come to define each generation.

  I remember my grandparents asking their contemporaries- Where were you when you first heard the news of Pearl Harbour?

  My parents would ask friends- where were you when Kennedy was shot?

  It is common to ask- Where were you when the World Trade Center was hit?

  While most Americans probably learned of Obama`s victory at home, as it was late at night in the US, those of us in Japan yesterday first heard the dramatic news sometime in the afternoon(because of the time difference).

  Thus, we can ask each other- Where were you when Obama won?

  Well, let me tell you where I was.

  I was teaching a Tsukuba City sponsored class called Singing Song of The 1960`s.

  We study the lyrics of the great protest songs- anti-vietnam war songs, songs of the civil rights movement etc...

  Yesterday, we had just finshed a rousing version of If I had a Hammer( its a hammer of justice, its a bell of FREEDOM....)

  and were studying the lyrics to Dylans Blowin in the wind(how many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?)

  It was then I got a call from a friend giving me the results.

  I knew it was about the election so I took the call, and announced the results.

  There were tears in many students eyes.

The committee has just completed one project and is looking for suggestions about where to focus its energy next. If you have any ideas about how to improve international relations in Tsukuba, please feel free to get in touch with me. Your ideas could include:

• ways to make Tsukuba a more international city
• ways to make Tsukuba more appealing to foreign researchers who are invited here
• ways to make it easier to live in Tsukuba
• ways to increase the profile of Tsukuba in the world

Feel free to "think big" and brainstorm, as well as coming up with ideas that just need a little bit of work to implement. Your ideas can be in point form, or you can write out a full proposal -- anything is fine. I cannot promise that your ideas will be implemented, but I will promise to pass your thoughts on to the committee so they can get an idea of Tsukuba looks like from our perspective and how we might like to improve things.

I am not sure yet when the next committee meeting will be held, but it will probably be in about one month or so. If you come up with any ideas in the meantime, please feel get in touch with me (through TsukuBlog).

The election will be held on October 26 and he is officially allowed to start campaigning on the 19th. Have a look at his website and get in touch with him at jon@aishiterutsukuba.com if you want to help him with his campaign.

1 Comments

• At October 28, 2008, TsukuBlog » Jon’s Stunning Victory wrote:

  [...] Heese, who ran for City Council this past week, has amazed and impressed his supporters (and possibly even himself!) by coming in [...]

Tatsuro Igarashi (LDP) came first with 4,463 votes and Jon (no party) came second with 4,011 votes. Forty people ran in the election with 33 people being voted in. A total of 89,364 effective votes were cast. The full record is available on the City Hall website.

Jon says that his first order of business will be "to try and get Joyo and Kanto banks to make their machines bilingual. Ideally they will also allow their customers to withdraw money 24 hours a day, if only from the Seven 11 machines."

The Tsukuba community congratulates Jon on his impressive win! We look forward to hearing about his adventures in politics!

Last week when I walked into one of Tsukuba`s Kominkan ( Community Centers), I was greeted by one of the staff members, whom I know well, as if he/she had being waiting for me arrive .

Instead of a usual greeting, all I got was an excited- " Look what`s been published!", while to my surprise I was proudly handed a set of stapled-together sheets of paper, which at a glance  I could see  was a color-copied version of an issue of the respected British science journal NATURE.

What stood out most about what I had been handed was the unusally striking cover illustration- which I instantly recognized as being what is called outsider-art, works of art created by patients diagnosed as being  mentally ill- and in fact, reading the heading I saw that this issue, that of November 11th 2010, was a special on schizophrenia.

Now I realize that some must see me as being more than a bit strange, and I certainly AM moody, but I couldnt for the life of me imagine why I had been so enthusiastically given this specific material to look at.

I was then told that this internationally esteemed journal had published something about Tsukuba City. And since it was all written in English, my native tongue, it seemed that everyone thought that I would want to have a look. They also wanted to know what I thought of it ( since the text was written in print so small and packed together as to discourage any of them from trying to read it).

When I opened to the first page past the cover, I saw that indeed there WAS an article about Tsukuba. I could not help but chuckle when I saw the  title- A TALE of Two Cities- and wondered if the writer knew that this article would be part of the schizophrenia issue- which made that choice of a heading seem so witty ( Get it ? Schizophrenia,......a tale of Two Cities?!). Could it have been an INTENTIONAL pun?  

Leafing through the text I found that there were in fact SEVERAL separate articles on the Tsukuba Science City, with plenty of color photos ( with TWO pics of Mayor Ichihara!?), and all in all it ran for quite a few pages. In fact, a large portion of the schizophrenia issue seemed to be devoted to Tsukuba!

"What is this", I thought to myself.

Then I noticed written on the top and bottom of EACH page, in small print, ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE and NATURE MAGAZINE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF THESE ARTICLES.

When the expectant KOMINKAN staff , eagerly awaiting my reaction to the articles, asked me what I thought, I bluntly responded- "Its an advertisement"!

Maybe I should have used more tact, because they seemed to be genuinely disappointed, even hurt.  The way these texts had been presented to them by the city office, with an order to display them, they were led to believe that these were articles which  a famous magazine had to have written as a special feature on Tsukuba. In fact, the Japanese language explanation sheets which were provided to be part of the display at the kominkan merely said that an internationally respected journal had published a special feature on Tsukuba.

I could understand why they would be disappointed.

They were even more upset by the fact that these Tsukuba articles appeared in the special schizophenia issue ( they didnt realize that until I explained it to them. And in fact, within the next couple of days the city had special covers printed up so that the original cover could not be seen! They did not want Tsukuba`s name to be connected with a mental disorder.)

I was a bit disturbed myself. Sure , I think its a good think to promote  our city, and putting an ad in a journal like NATUREl is probably good publicity. But why try to pass the advertisement off as a REAL ARTICLE. Why fudge the facts? For face? Did the mayor`s office imagine that the citizens of Tsukuba would  feel proud of such an article  and as an extension have positive feelings about the mayor?

What would be wrong in simply stating the truth- that a certain amount of public money had been spent on advertisements in Nature as part of a publicity drive? The ads could then be displayed to show in the spirit of showing what types of work the publicity division had been doing.

But instead, the mayor is trying to pass them off as REAL ARTICLES!

Very strange. Especially when considering the fact that the ad-articles in Nature try to impress readers with the fact that Tsukuba is a city which embodies GOOD SCIENCE and scientific INTEGRITY.

Well one thing for sure is that FUDGING THE FACTS to try to look good does not mesh well with scientific thinking, or scientific ethics.

I mean, it`s hard enough for Japanese scientists  having to overcome all the various inherent obstacles to doing good science  which exist within traditional Japanese culture ( especially the sempai-kohai, senior- junior system which makes presenting new ideas, different from those of your teachers or seniors extremely difficult), without having a citygovernmentl which acts with such little integrity.

I think City Hall should be setting a better example. 

( but then again it would be difficult to explain why the taxpayers money should be spent for puttuing TWO photos of the mayor into NATURE. Maybe not the best move from a publicity point of view!)

This story illustrates just how great a gap there is between the institutes and laboratories of the Tsukuba Science City, where great efforts are made to do real  and meaningful science, and the conservative Tsukuba City Government for which FACE and appearances are all important.

Yes, it apparently really is a Tale of Two Cities. 

When I called the mayors office to ask how much was spent on the article ( and then changing the cover for display in Tsukuba) they said they could not tell me the sum at this moment!

Hmmmm.

The Japanese language explanation provided for display does NOT mention that the article on Tsukuba was commissioned and paid for by Tsukuba City

I also think that NATURE should be more considerate of its Japanese customers and more sensitive to Japanese culture. In Japan, people are very sensitive to connections and symbols. When something positive is being presented, there should be no negative or inauspicious symbols involved. Tsukuba City should have been informed that the very expensive advertisement it was placing would be in an issue dedicated to schizophrenia. If they had known that, I am sure they would have asked the  material to be printed on a different date.

The advertisement-article on Tsukuba on display with a new, non schizophrenic cover at all community centers in Tsukuba

3 Comments

• At December 12, 2010, Dan Waldhoff wrote:

  Aloha,

  My Beautiful and Charming and I went for a walk to, and then through Doho, yesterday. We were delighted and soon after charmed by the Mogura tunnel debris. Those little guys are so important for aeration, etc. and then … so damned cute!

  Hey! I'm half blind and not nearly so damned cute!!!

  Dan

• At December 13, 2010, Mamoru Shimizu wrote:

  Thanks, I enjoyed this article very much, somehow humorous, somehow ironic.

  ① Funny story about human “NATURE”.

  ② “Pass off the facts” by the Mayor’s office looks their usual way of dealing.

  ③ Good idea of to present ad of Tsukuba-city in “NATURE”, next time I hope it in “SCIENCE”.

  ④ Ad of Tsukuba city in “Nature” of “The Schizophrenia issue”, it drew attention of Scientists all over the world. Very ingenious idea! If mayor’s office has known this before hand, I would like to praise them. Anyway I don’t think ordinal readers of “Nature” would not confuse Tsukuba-city and Schizophrenia. They might remember Tsukuba-city better. But in the future when some of them have to visit Tsukuba, they would invent their way of protection methods. Few scientists are too innocent like me.

  ⑤ Senpai-Kowhai culture (senior-junior relations: seniority is important because usually they have more experiences and more knowledge) is our traditional culture, usual Japanese accustoms this culture. Scientists are rather unusual people who usually do not care much about seniority especially in their specific fields even in Japan. There are rather especially queer and strange peoples (KIJIN, HENJIN), So we are better to take good care of queer Scientists for innovation.

  ⑥　Japanese tax-system, tax deduction before real payment is a main cause ignorant for public spending(for hired workers). Pity. But good system to gather Tax.

• At December 18, 2010, Alan Engel wrote:

  Tsukuba City displayed this issue at the Ecoproducts 2010 show last week.

  The money likely came from some national subsidy (there are so many). For a full page, perhaps 120万円 or so, plus the cost of the writer. The total cost should be marked clearly in the city budget if it came out of city funds. And whichever department placed the ad evidently did not know that magazines make their editorial schedules available to advertisers. The city could have avoided this issue if they had known.