Won't Miss #57 - drunkenness as an excuse (reflection)

This topic is one that has been on my mind for other reasons as of late. There are several things that have inspired thoughts about drinking and behavioral control, not the least of which has been the national debate about rape and alcohol in college culture. I took a graduate course in addiction last summer so I have a deep understanding of the effects of alcohol on the brain. It lowers inhibitions, it reduces sensory capacity (you can't hear, feel, see, etc. as well), and it impairs memory. It inhibits bodily control as well as mental control. Alcohol has a profound impact on control. That means that, technically speaking, being drunk is actually an "excuse" or reason for doing things that you wouldn't do if you weren't intoxicated.

That being said, most people know these things on certain levels already. In the U.S., we have drunk driver checkpoints and a judicial system that does not offer more lenient sentences because an offender was intoxicated. In fact, the system tends to be harsher on people who hurt others while drunk. The opposite continues to be so in Japan and, in my opinion, all this does is continue to encourage people not to control their drinking. As long as "he was drunk" means "he was less responsible for his actions," people have no incentive to be cautious about their alcohol consumption. I still don't miss a culture in which drunkenness is considered an reasonable excuse for bad or even criminal behavior.

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A little reminder that my previous post contains a contest to win a free (and beautiful) book about Japan. Check out the last paragraph or so and leave a comment to enter. The contest will end on July 25, 2014. I will announce winners (Tuttle has generously offer two books) based on comment order using a random number generator.

Will Miss #542 - relative income equality

I've lived in two different apartment complexes since returning the U.S. and, in both places, homeless people came by several times a week to poke through the recyclable trash for bottles and cans that could be redeemed for deposit. Though my half of the complex locks its trash containers, the other half doesn't, so I'll see someone with a borrowed shopping cart parked in front of their blue bins looking through other people's junk for something worthwhile.

The thing about this is that I live in an area in which people are in the solid middle class (albeit one of the most ethnically diverse areas of such types in the country) and that borders on or is close to areas which are extremely affluent (Cupertino, Palo Alto). I can see the income disparity in living, breathing form every single day and it makes me very sad and a little angry. Seeing a designer dog boutique selling frozen yogurt and cookies for canines next to a coffee shop at which a homeless person is routinely booted away from bothers me even more. People have money to give their dogs hand-made treats, but not to help the homeless guy living out of a shopping cart.

In Japan, there were homeless people, but the income disparity there is much smaller than it is here. Most people are in the middle with some who are fairly rich and some who are fairly poor. However, the super wealthy don't tend to be clearly delineated between the middle class as they are here. And, while there were homeless, there weren't nearly as many, they weren't as young, and they were often mentally ill rather than down on their luck.

I miss the relative income equality in Japan and the impact it had on the daily living experiences and sense of comfort that everyone had. 

Won't Miss #294 - tragically misguided welfare policies

I realize that the idea of welfare is controversial and many people all over the world resent paying taxes to support people who do not work, but can we all agree that the point at which people actually need that money is when they are at risk of dying of starvation if they don't get it? In Japan, the welfare system is set up such that those who work in the social services offices are obligated to cut services to a certain number of individuals each year regardless of their actual need. The promotion potential of the social workers in the offices allocating such resources are tied to severing benefits. They personally benefit from actions which remove support from people who are in dire need. The result has been that some people have starved to death in one of the world's wealthiest countries. (Note that the linked article is not the only one I have read about this issue.)

I won't miss this cold-hearted welfare policy which bases the promotion of one person on pulling the plug on the life support of others.

Will Miss #170 - "the advocate"

For those who can't read Japanese, the shop's name is "Don Quixote". I place the picture here tongue in cheek.

Most English speakers know the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention". This saying generally applies to technology, but it also applies to social changes. With only 2% of Japan's population being foreign, Japan has not had much in the way of necessity when it comes to the rights or treatment of non-Japanese. In fact, it is my profound belief that most Japanese people have so little experience in dealing with foreigners on a macro level (as opposed to a micro, or personal, temporary level) that they don't even know they are practicing discriminatory behavior in many cases when they do it. What they need, is time, education, and awareness, and now is a good time to start that process with Japan's native population shrinking steadily due to a low birth rate (less than 1.5% per couple) and the prospect of more immigrants. To that end, I think that Arudou Debito, who is often reviled by the foreign community and seen as Quixotic in the issues he pursues, is the first person to step up to the plate. I think assuming that position, whether all of his stances and conclusions are ones that I personally support 100%, is something of great value not only to the foreign community, but to the Japanese as well considering that they will certainly face a more varied ethnic mix in their population as time goes by.

I'll miss Arudou Debito, referred to disdainfully by foreigners who hold him in contempt as "the advocate", and the fight he fights for those foreigners who do and don't appreciate him and those Japanese who aren't yet aware that they need his efforts to help them more smoothly pave the road ahead.