August 7th

August 7^th, 2009

Today I woke up on the top bunk of a really small bunk bed at the Super 8 Hotel in Hakodate, Hokkaido. The room is small and hardly fits the 3 people that co habit it- Victoria, Yuna, and myself, yet somehow over the two nights it has become cozy. I think this is especially due to the fact that it has internet, an enormous luxury for me in Japan. It also helps that the bathroom is so cute and tiny. Our bath water spout rotates and doubles as a sink faucet, and we have a fancy toilet that shoots water at you. Japanese hotel bathrooms supply you with large body towels, toothpaste, and toothbrushes, but no small body towels. This is because many of them are connected to a large public bath. The Super 8 I am staying at has a hot spring, or “ohn-sen” attached to it. Most people go to the hot springs to bathe.

It seems that facilities in Japan are made to help people cohabitate instead of isolate themselves.

Today I ate at lunch at one of Hokkaido’s famous Ramen restaurants, and the restaurant was very small and traditional. The floors were made of tatami mats- long wooden bands of bamboo tied together, and patrons were not allowed to wear their shoes in the restaurant. Our party of 16 was split into two tables and we all sat on the floor on cushions. I felt like this setting made our meal feel much more personal and comfortable. I haven’t had a meal that I didn’t like thus far in this traditional setting. Somehow, Japanese food is not bland like it can be in the United States, it is well seasoned in its native land and filling. It is also very healthy! Even the fried foods are cooked with a conservative amount of grease compared to American dishes. However, the price reflects the better quality of the food. My real ramen-salt ramen, cost me 850 yen, or $8.50. Yet the bowl of Ramen was HUGE and it consisted of large pieces of seaweed, scallions, leeks and pork.

The JASC delegation visited a town named Onuma today. Onuma is a quaint town surrounded by rice fields, cow farms, and forests. I awoke at about 7:19 AM in my tiny room and rushed to wash, dress, and eat so I could ride the bus by 8:45 AM. Our entire delegation of about 50 students fit on these two tour-sized buses. We rode for about an hour and I conversed with a Jascer named Svetlana Ikonomova. Svet has a very interesting story- whenever someone asks her where she is from she always asks them to define “from.” She was born in Bulgaria, lived in Japan for 9 years and now attends Cornell University as a junior engineering major.

Onuma was a pleasant site for me. I find that most areas I have traveled to are surrounded by tall buildings and have many, many people. There is hardly any room for one to enjoy nature, because hardly any can be found!

Hokkaido is surrounded in greenery and beauty. Our location in Onuma was a national park, and it was adorned with lakes, mountains, hiking trails, and even bicycle and paddle boat rentals.

There was a distinct irony between my special topic discussion and the beauty that surrounded us. The Special topic I chose to participate in was “The History of Japan and World War II-Reflections On Peace.” Special topics times for delegates to discuss topics that they are not studying in their roundtable research discussions. Dylan, a history and math double major from the University of Indiana, and Takahiro, a student of the University of Tokyo, lead our topic under a tree in the park. I had been looking forward to a serious discussion about WWII for a long time now, for I recently visited the controversial Yaskuni Shrine a few days ago. The Yaskuni Shrine was created by the Japanese government to honor Japanese WWII soldiers, many of whom are seen as war criminals to Koreans and other ethnic groups. The Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizuma visited the shrine and as a result there was an outbreak of public protest all across East Asia.

Our discussion examined the history of Japan before the war and revealed both Japanese and American explanations for the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. Our examination of history agreed that the Japanese were pressed for resources after the United States cut their supply of oil. I was informed that when the oil supply was cut, Japanese economy was attacked and the nation only had enough supply for about a year. We also discussed the main reason why the United States cut off the resource supply- the aggression of Japanese against other East Asian nations. This resulted in the Japanese alignment with Italy and Germany in the Tripartide Alliance.

Japadeles pointed out that after Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points, the world’s rules of engagement had changed in a way that limited Japanese security and economic expansion into the 20^th century. When Woodrow Wilson declared that nations no longer engage in imperialism, the western world already had many colonies all across the globe, while the Japanese were just starting their expansion. In a push for resources and competition with the West, Japanese sought development the best way they could-foreign expansion. They followed the model that Brittan had used for years and were penalized for it. One Japadele agreed that the Pearl Harbor was not morally right, however, it was necessary for the survival of Japan.

In our discussion, we examined delegates feelings for fallen soliders and the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is just a love of one’s country, however, nationalism honors one’s country above all others and detracts from one’s view of other countries. Many of the Japadeles felt a sense of pride for the fallen soldiers that was difficult to explain. Takahiro gave the example of a war general that marched his prisoners of war without food or water until they died. Even though he committed heinous acts, he said, he was trying to act in the benefit of his country. He admired the general’s sense of purpose and contrasted it with Japanese culture in modern terms. Now, he said, people are so individualistic. They are not willing to sacrifice for others, or think about their loved ones. They only think about themselves. To him, Japan no longer felt like a community of people with common interests, but an island of strangers, where one moves from place to place in crowded cities not knowing, or caring to know about the life of another person. Additionally, he admired the sense of political activism in the past- people tried to become engaged in the world around them instead of isolated from it. Now, he says, Japanese are apathetic about their politics.

However, Takahiro was forced to explain “world” for American delegates. Who felt that a true interest in one’s community extended beyond national boundaries, but into the international community. Takahiro and Hiroka, another delegate explained that in the past, one’s world was based on one’s time period. Traditionally, one’s world was one’s village, and then han, or state. For World War II it evolved into one’s nation. Only in modern terms does it mean “international community,” and they argued that one shouldn’t necessarily hold people of the past responsible for modern day knowledge and understandings of morality.

Our conversation continued in this fashion, back and forth and back and forth for about two hours. I look forward to continuing our special topic in the next session.