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Jean Pearce
For Jean Pearce's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Aug 27, 2000
Home sweet home
WASHINGTON -- As a born-again nonsmoker (when I was three a great aunt tied a white ribbon around my wrist signifying a commitment never to smoke, a promise on my behalf that for years I chose not to honor), it is a joy to be in a country where smoking is all but prohibited. Here there are neither smoking nor non-smoking areas; like airplanes, all smoking is forbidden. It is a hardship for smokers and I sympathize with them, finding isolated out-of-doors corners where they can assemble with their like-minded addicts for considerably limited enjoyment of a cigarette.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jul 12, 2000
With love, Jean
When I first arrived in Japan more than 40 years ago, one of the first words I learned was sayonara and that it meant "goodbye." As I stayed on, I began to learn that sayonara did not mean goodbye in the sense of "till we meet again" or "God watch over you" as such phrases are used in the West. The literal meaning of sayonara is "if that's the way it is" with a little implication of sorrow and the unspoken hope that if things must be different, perhaps there will be other pleasures somewhere, some time, in another future.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jul 9, 2000
Take a chance
Here is a quick summary of some of the activities that are available as you look for ways to fill what should be, but rarely are, the less demanding summer months.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jul 5, 2000
Sometimes too late
Several readers have asked me to repeat my favorite column. That is quite difficult. Actually, there would be two but neither was ever written. There are many questions that are never selected to be in a column.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jul 2, 2000
Remembrance
"Sensei." Along with "sayonara," that is one of the first words most of us learn when we come to Japan. Though the image has been somewhat tarnished in these recent years of school disorders and juvenile delinquency, traditionally the word sensei, or teacher, has been one of the most honorific terms that can be used in Japan, and throughout most of East Asia as well. Elementary-school teachers, college professors, Diet members, all are called sensei, but sensei has an even deeper meaning. The original reading of the Chinese characters is "born before," signifying the Confucian respect for elders, those who have preceded us. We respect them and rely on their wisdom. It is a comforting word, signifying both closeness and deference. I don't think there is any way to express an equivalent of this feeling in English.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 28, 2000
Online education
A high school graduate who wants to wait a year before going home for her university education was invited to attend the University of Maryland University College graduation in April. There she heard reference to a program that provides online courses at a global university. She wonders if she could take a few courses here in Japan. She knows the university has facilities on the various U.S. military bases where military personnel, as well as civilian employees, can obtain a university degree, but she does not have that option and would like to try this new system of education.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 25, 2000
Again and again
A part of this is from a column written in 1993 about "ijime" (bullying). It was not the first, and today I can't even recall that specific case. There have been so many. At the time I objected to the newspaper comment that ijime had been a serious problem for a decade. Brutal discrimination against those who did not fit in with the group was certainly not unknown when I came to Japan 40 years ago. It could be a sports club bullying a member who wanted to resign. When the bullying resulted in death, it was reported. Sometimes there were deaths when nonconformist youngsters were being disciplined. Remember the girl who was crushed by a heavy metal gate at her school as she tried to make it through so as not to be tardy, a serious offense at her school? Some comments reflected the view that it could have been avoided if she had been on time, somehow tilting the responsibility a bit toward the girl, a bit away from the teacher who shut the gate.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 21, 2000
Forgetfulness
Does it happen to you? You are looking for something which you can't find, but what you do find are all sorts of things you have looked for previously but have not been able to locate. One "something" I found was about indiscreet remarks by politicians, many of whom are still making similar indiscreet remarks today.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 18, 2000
Never too long
I have perhaps the world's longest list of You have been here too long if. . . It is often easy to see oneself in such lists, recognizing a trait you have absorbed since living here. It has become an automatic reflex, unnoticed until you return home and realize that no one else does it. My moment of truth came with: You have been in Japan too long if you get a ruler whenever you want to underline something -- and I realized I do, yet I don't recall when it became an established habit. It has become important to have things look right. This is no loss, and I question the suggestion of "lived here too long." Many of the actions or words that we take on are an improvement, a refinement, over our previous actions or words, the general politeness to those around us, the consideration of other's feelings, the preference for being neat and orderly, even though we considered ourselves quite sufficient in these characteristics before. I think of how few times I have heard voices raised in anger, seen anything even close to the use of physical violence, and I suggest the emphasis should be changed. It is not that we have lived here too long. It may be that we are just getting started. And I know, wherever I am, I will reach for a ruler whenever I want to underline something because it looks better. Here are some entries selected from the master list.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 14, 2000
Winding down
In Sunday's column, I told readers why I will be leaving Japan while, appropriately, explaining what is required for foreigners to get married in Japan, which is what we did. I also said I would explain what would replace this column. Actually, I can't do that. It is up to you. I know there are a lot of talented writers among our readers and here is a chance to propose a column to replace this one. You must be able to show how you can continue it over a long period of time. I would suggest a question and answer format; it is helpful to have feedback from your readers. It should include information on what is happening in Japan and new services/opportunities. Write two or three to show your way of writing and the topics you could cover. Decide on a length and stay with it. Mine run close to 3,558 characters without spaces.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 11, 2000
How to say goodbye
I have over the years researched readers' questions diligently, but never have I been quite as well prepared as for this column, on how to get married in Japan. I would like to tell you why. On May 25, William Sherman and I proceeded through the process as outlined below. Bill has had three postings here with the U.S. Embassy, the last from 1977 to 1981 as deputy chief of mission to Ambassador Mike Mansfield, and we have been good friends for more than 30 years. A Japan specialist, Bill did our translations, an ability I greatly admire. A number of longtime friends were with us when we took the oath at the embassy, and we completed the procedure at the Minato-ku Ward Office. We waited a half hour for a beautifully executed certificate in Japanese, which will look very nice indeed framed on the wall of our combined office soon to be in Reston, Virginia. I have been writing this column for more than 36 years, or some 3,776 columns and around 3,577,280 words, and I will miss Japan and my work with The Japan Times tremendously. I have for the last few years been trying without success to find a place I wanted to be after Japan, and now it is not only a place, but a place with the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. What a happy way to say goodbye.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 7, 2000
A beginning
A recent column question dealt with a problem that faces many parents today: Their children have completely lost interest in school. These are often bright, motivated students who are dissatisfied with the system. Foreigners tend to feel that Japanese kids are too occupied, that something is planned for every moment, there is no time for play and their entertainment comes only from comic books and TV. There are hundreds of other suggested causes but so far, no solutions. The Japan Times recently featured an article on plans for a "free school" in Fujisawa to provide an alternative education which would free children from oppressive controls and allow them to think, act and learn on their own. Such projects face tremendous barriers because there is no provision for them within educational directives, but the desire for them is increasing throughout Japan. It is not always easy to find out what is happening in one's own area, but the place to start is always the same, your ward and city offices. Take along an interpreter if required.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 4, 2000
Songs to be sung
Some of the world's most beautiful poems were sung in Japan well before the introduction of writing to record them. The writing came from China some 1,200 years ago, the songs are an even older oral tradition that was not recorded in words and preserved until the 8th century. The poems demonstrate the feelings of the Japanese people before they were influenced by other cultures. In these songs, the permeating idea of sadness, pathos and resignation seem not yet to be known.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 31, 2000
Musical festivals
It's time again for the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto. The first was held nine years ago when many outstanding Japanese musicians gathered together, as they have every year since, to honor their teacher, Hideo Saito, with a combined musical performance.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 28, 2000
Only yesterday
Sometimes this column is credited with far more than it can do. It cannot turn back the calendar to long gone days and bring back the past, except to present it in the form that whatever-it-was has now assumed. Take, for example, traditional Japanese architecture, the lovely old houses we once could see everywhere, rich in tatami, shoji and pleasing forms. Those houses and their carefully crafted gardens are now gone, replaced by large apartment buildings that rarely present a sense of stress-soothing harmony. Of course, we have skipped lightly over much that was built hurriedly in the postwar period, and well we should. It was a time of limited materials of poor quality, of corrugated tin roofs and cheap stucco walls. But the good past is still preserved in odd places, like restaurants, especially those serving inexpensive Japanese specialties, where you will often find the wood-tatami-shoji look we often crave, and the temples and shrines are there as they always have been, small pockets of tranquillity wherever you find them. Our cities change, but there are parts of them that remain the same.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 24, 2000
Contrasts everywhere
We all know generalizations are dangerous, we shouldn't make them, but we do, especially when there is considerable evidence to support them. Japanese conformity is an example, though we must acknowledge that there is much to suggest a contrasting, imaginative individuality. For example, five perfectly matched cucumbers in a package contrasted with . . . contrasted with . . . well, there must be something other than the youth culture which has always been a bit on the wild side. What prompted this thought was curiosity over the Japanese reaction to the buses covered with ads, another small effort toward balancing Tokyo's budget before we all sink into bankruptcy.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 21, 2000
Dreams come true
Today I am happy to tell you about one of this column's most successful accomplishments. It began last October when I received a heartfelt letter from Chip Bozek, a teacher in Hokkaido. He wanted to find someone who could give him a "chonmage" haircut like the old-time samurai wore. He had asked his Japanese friends to try to find a samurai barber, with no luck. People suggested a wig, but that wasn't what he wanted. It must be his own hair, now well below his shoulders. I asked him why he wanted it. (There is always a price to pay for such special services.) It was for a friend's wedding, he said. At another wedding, he had the couple's initials in a heart "carved" into his short clipped hair at the back of his head.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 17, 2000
Street entertainment
Honoring Golden Week, Omotesando lined its streetside with wondrous bamboo sculptures. I recognized the deft hand of flower master Hiroshi Teshigahara; he had once filled his Sogetsu headquarters building with similar fanciful forms, a display that visitors could walk among, and those of us who did will probably never forget. Here they beautified trees, enhanced mailboxes, decorated posts and stood alone in swirling, free-form designs. A few may still be there.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 14, 2000
Adjusting traditions
Before we get too far from the holidays, I wonder how many of you were aware of yet another dilemma for Japanese trying to follow traditions in a world where they no longer fit. Among the most spectacular sights of Golden Week that we are suppose to see are the carp streamers hoisted on long poles and swimming in the winds to honor boys on their day. Supposedly they represent the number of boys in the household, but this rule is not enforced and there can be exaggeration and/or misinterpretation. Still, carp are symbolic of masculine strength because they can swim upstream. I have seen some beautiful kakemono with carp even swimming up waterfalls, all very spiritual. Check just about any postcard rack for a picture of a thatched roofed farmhouse with several brightly colored carp banners two or more meters long, open-mouthed, catching the wind and swimming in great style.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 10, 2000
We all have problems
A foreign man, engaged to be married to a Japanese woman, has a problem. They have decided they want to buy a mansion (apartment) rather than pay rent for someone else's property. He has heard that foreigners wishing to buy property or arrange a mortgage are required to have permanent residence status, but he was told that he must live here five years before he can apply. This has been generally true in the past, but a law passed in 1998 allows a person, married to a Japanese and living in Japan, to apply for permanent residence after three years. However, this should be checked at his local immigration office because there can be different applications of general rules. Unfortunately, the change will not help him though it may benefit other readers. He is not yet married, and they want to buy their house now so it will be ready to move into when they are.

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