Visual Anthropology of Japan

"Tokyo through the Eyes of Shibuya Shantytown Residents"

2008-08-21T19:13:00.005+09:00

(Please excuse the advertisements attached to the film...)

Filmmaker Bob Jaroc recently made this short film dealing with homeless people in Japan. Part of his rationale for the film:

My intentions for the piece were to stay clear of making a patronizing "cry/be angry for the homeless people" thing or a romanticized view of that life. I wanted to distill the experiences of the people who took the time to talk to me and question myself why I ended up going there in search of something to film.

Read more at Boing Boing.net.

Link to "Tokyo through the eyes of Shibuya shantytown residents" on Boing Boing TV
http://tv.boingboing.net/2008/07/30/tokyo-through-the-ey.html

How do you feel about the film? Does it really tell us anything about homeless people in Japan? Is this film visual anthropology? Is it art? If it is art, is it appropriate to use the homeless people in this way? Are food, cigarettes and alcohol adequate compensation? How would you go about making a film on this subject?

Picture Paradise: Asia–Pacific Photography 1840s–1940s

2008-08-19T19:46:00.006+09:00

My apologies, dear VAOJ readers, for the few and far between postings over the summer months. This will slowly change as we get closer to the beginning of the new semester and the end of the author's natsubate ("summer fatigue"). Anyway...

Here is an excellent resource for visual anthropologists. The web site is for a photo exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia that is currently running until November. If you find yourself in Canberra, do check it out. For those of us stuck to the air conditioning and computer keyboard, the web site offers much interesting information. In "Themes" there are sections on Japanese photography and ethnographic photography. Here is the description of the exhibition from the web site itself:

This is the first exhibition to survey the history of photography of our region – from India and Sri Lanka, Southeast and East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to the west coast of North America. It features pioneer local photographers as well as Europeans working in the region. The exhibition reveals the rich heritage and the many outstanding achievements of the first century of photography in the Asia–Pacific region.

This significant gathering of over four hundred original photographs and albums includes gem-like daguerreotype portraits, mass-produced views and portraits on paper made possible by the revolutionary wet-plate and dry-plate glass negative-positive process, and prints from the modern era of small format film cameras and photojournalism.

Picture Paradise presents works from seventeen public and private collections in Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America, many never previously loaned or exhibited. The majority of these works are from the National Gallery of Australia’s extensive photography collection and include the rarely seen nearly ten-metre-long Holtermann panorama of Sydney Harbour from 1875.

Link to Picture Paradise:
http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/PICTUREPARADISE/Default.cfm?MnuID=1

There is also a publication by Gael Newton that goes along with the exhibition (from which I am borrowing the image at the top of this post).

Is this gesture offensive?

2008-08-15T15:26:00.002+09:00

(AP Photo found on NBCOlympics.com. Caption reads: A woman poses with a newspaper showing a photo of Spain's Olympic basketball team making slant-eyed gestures while posing for an Olympics publicity photo, in Madrid Wednesday Aug. 13, 2008 . The photo was originally part of a publicity campaign for team sponsor Seur and is being used solely in Spain. The headline translates as 'return to racism'.

Another story that illustrates the visual power of gesture. Yes, gestures differ cross-culturally, but this particular use strikes me as being culturally insensitive at the very least. What do you think?

Spanish player defends controversial photo

Players on Spain's Olympic basketball team defended a photo in an ad showing the players using their fingers to apparently make their eyes look more Chinese.

The photo, which has been running as a newspaper spread in Spain since Friday, shows all 15 players making the gesture on a basketball court adorned with a Chinese dragon. The photo was part of a publicity campaign for team sponsor Seur and is being used only in Spain.

"It was something like supposed to be funny or something but never offensive in any way," Spain's Pau Gasol, center for the Los Angeles Lakers, said. "I'm sorry if anybody thought or took it the wrong way and thought that it was offensive."

Point guard Jose Calderon said the team was responding to a request from the photographer.

"We felt it was something appropriate, and that it would be interpreted as an affectionate gesture," Calderon, who plays for NBA's Toronto Raptors, wrote on his ElMundo.es blog. "Without a doubt, some ... press didn't see it that way."

International media criticized the photo. London's Daily Telegraph said Spain's "poor reputation for insensitivity toward racial issues has been further harmed" by the photo.

Read the whole AP story at NBCOlympics.com.

Views of Earth from the Space Shuttle

2008-07-31T19:35:00.002+09:00

While not necessarily Japan-specific, the flash video at the url below is quite interesting and beautiful. Among other things it shows night views of the earth and we can see which countries light themselves up more than others (doesn't Japan seem the be the brightest country?), not unlike the picture from a post from May, 2007. You might want to check out other art works from GreatDanePro.com. You will of course see blatant biases in the web page. Still, there is a lot of visually interesting stuff to see. (This posting comes from a message on the EASIANTH listserv.)

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Blue%20Bueaty

MIT Instructional Video: "Doing Anthropology"

2008-07-03T16:05:00.005+09:00

What is anthropology? What do anthropologists do? The usual answer of course is that anthropology is the study of humans and anything that is connected with humans is fair game for anthropological research. Anthropology is intentionally broad and holistic. But perhaps it is too broad and holistic to the point where people really don't understand what the discipline is. Friends I have known for 10 years here in Japan still don't really seem to understand exactly what it is I am doing. Anthropology is obscure and the methods seem strange and odd. They understand that I am doing research, but how can my participation in a deaf group's drinking party be considered research?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Video production has developed a new short video called "Doing Anthropology" that endeavors to explain to the general public what cultural anthropology is and what cultural anthropologists do. You can view the video below.

Link to MIT Tech TV web page:
http://techtv.mit.edu/file/663/

The video does a good job of explaining fieldwork and participant observation. But the odd thing about the video is that all of the anthropologists are working on projects within the United States and two out of the three are conducting research entirely in English. I am not criticizing their projects at all - all three are interesting and important. But anthropology has traditionally entailed cross cultural research. An anthropologist goes to a different country and has to deal with a new culture, learn a new language(s) and figure out how to make their research goals and methods work in a different cultural setting. These are the most challenging aspects, and perhaps the most confusing to the general public, about the nature of anthropological research. These aspects are unfortunately missing from the video. The anthropological method can and should be done in the anthropologist's own country/culture/community. I think the video can serve as a good starting point, but the cross-cultural experiences inherent to anthropology need to be addressed if people really want to understand exactly what it is we anthropologists do.

I plan on using this video in my classes this semester to see if it helps students new to anthropology understand what it is. What do you think of the video?

Update: Takashi Murakami

2008-06-29T13:43:00.005+09:00

(Takashi Murakami Flower ball (3D), 2002. Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 39 3/8 inches diameter, 1 15/16 inches depth. Private Collection, courtesy of Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris and Miami ©2002 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Image borrowed from ssrc.org.)

In April I blogged about the artist Takashi Murakami (link). Today H-Japan provides this announcement:

The SSRC in New York has just published the following feature about Takashi Murakami based on an interview with UCLA sociologist Adrian Favell. This may be of interest to subscribers following the ups and downs of Japanese contemporary art on the international stage since the Bubble years.

Link to "A Sociologist's Guided Tour of © MURAKAMI"
http://www.ssrc.org/features/favell_on_murakami/

English Picture Book about 1945 Okinawa Mass Suicides

2008-06-26T13:36:00.003+09:00

Interesting visual methods are used to describe an important and controversial topic. Article from The Japan Times Online:

Twist in Okinawa mass suicides tale

Teacher based book about civilians ordered to kill themselves on own family tragedy

By MIE SAKAMOTO

Chie Miyagi, an English teacher in Okinawa, has published an English-language picture book to teach her students about the mass suicides involving local civilians during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa.

"A Letter from Okinawa" depicts a girl whose parents kill themselves under orders from the Japanese military on Tokashiki, one of the Kerama Islands. The girl lives separately from them on Okinawa's main island, where she has been drafted into the nurse corps.

The girl, Sachiko, sends a letter to her parents after surviving the war but never receives a reply. She later finds out that her parents died in March 1945 in a mass suicide.

At the end of the story, it is revealed that Sachiko is Miyagi's mother and that the story is based on her mother's life.

[...]

"A Letter from Okinawa," published last November, has an accompanying Japanese translation and is available for ¥700, including tax. For further information, phone Okinawa Jiji Publishing Co. at (098) 854-1622.

Read the whole article (link).

"Documentary on Forced Confessions Screened in Tokyo"

2008-06-26T13:24:00.003+09:00

(Photo by Taro Fujimoto; image borrowed from Japan Today)

From Japan Today (6/26/08):

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) on Monday night screened a short documentary film “Presumed Guilty Creating False Confessions” at its headquarters in Tokyo. The DVD version with English subtitle was also released the same day.

The 45-minute documentary, which the JFBA produced, is about the Shibushi case, in which police and prosecutors forced 12 people, including a local politician, to confess to buying votes prior in an election in Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture, in April, 2003. After being held in prisons in a local police station, known as “daiyo kangoku,” the 12 were tried and all acquitted in 2007.

DVD title: “つくられる自白～志布志の悲劇” (Tsukurareru jihaku - Shibushi no higeki)
Price: 2,415 yen
Available at book shops.

Read the whole article and reader comments (link).

Walking Advertisement?

2008-06-24T13:37:00.005+09:00

T-shirts with company logos and famous brand clothes with their conspicuously located labels/tags have long served as walking advertisements, substitutes for the old fashioned walking sign board. But what is being advertised in this photo? Is this student standing on the bus serving as a willing walking ad for the Golden Arches?

McDonald's in Japan has had some interesting connections with fashion, as can be seen from their commercials.

McDonald's also has connections with pop culture as well. Here's Ronald McDonald doing para para...

Here he is doing a more modern song and dance...

Does this really make anybody feel hungry?

McDonald's is certainly associated with youth culture in Japan.

If McDonald's really has anything to do with the jeans the student on the bus is wearing, I wonder how they control the message. Do they limit the size of the jeans? Would super-size jeans sprouting the Golden Arches really serve as a good advertisement?

McDonald's also serves as an interesting example of globalization. Is McDonald's really American anymore? What is Ronald McDonald doing dancing para para and eating teriyaki burgers and moon viewing burgers? For more on this globalization aspect, check out a post on the subject by one of my students (link). Do American students wear the Golden Arches on their backsides? If so, what message is being sent?

Anthro-Related Resources

2008-06-23T10:50:00.004+09:00

Here are some resources recently announced in H-ASIA that might be of interest to visual anthropologists.

The Institute of Oriental Culture

Description (from their web page): The mission of the Institute of Oriental Culture is to conduct research on Asia through a synthesis of our broad expertise in the humanities and social sciences. The region covered by our studies extends from East Asia to the Middle East, which we consider naturally to include Egypt and North Africa. Unlike studies bound by government and political issues, ours do not have specific jurisdictional borders determined by a map. We study the world with a focus on Asia.

There are many useful links to databases, articles and various other resources.

Link: http://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/eng/front.shtml

The Research Cooperative

Description (from their web page): The Research Cooperative was established in 2001 as an international, not-for-profit organisation. Our aim is to help people anywhere develop skills and discover opportunities for writing, editing, translating, publishing, and other areas of research communication. The Cooperative welcomes volunteers, learners, people with experience, and professional services.

This seems like a good resource for cooperation and collaboration.

Link: http://cooperative.ning.com/

Asia Monitor Resource Centre

Description (from their web page): AMRC has developed over the years, but is still an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) which focuses on Asian labour concerns. The Centre supports a democratic and independent labour movement promoting the principles of labour rights, gender consciousness, and active workers’ participation in work-related issues. [...] AMRC provides information, consultation, publications, documentation, and internships, and conducts research, training, advocacy, campaigns, labour networking, and related services to trade unions, pro-labour groups, related NGOs, academics, researchers, and professionals on labour issues.

Link: http://www.amrc.org.hk/

The China Beat

Description (from their blog): The China Beat examines media coverage of China, providing context and criticism from China scholars and writers.

This is a nice source and example of scholarly blogging.

Link: http://thechinabeat.blogspot.com/

"Visual Experience of Puppetry" and More JSL in the News

2008-06-21T00:37:00.006+09:00

(Image borrowed from Deaf Puppet Theater Hitomi web page.)

Here is an article from today's Daily Yomiuri (link) about a theater company called "Deaf Puppet Theater Hitomi." Throughout the course of my research here in Japan I have been able to see some of their performances. They are quite wonderful - it is amazing how deaf and hearing people work together to incorporate sign language and puppetry into a theater production. If you have a chance to see them, please do.

Article text reads as follows:

Deaf Puppet Theater Hitomi, a theater company that includes members who are hearing impaired, will perform a voiceless puppet show on June 28 and 29 that uses various-sized boxes to represent more than 100 items.

Director Tsubame Kusunoki is said to follow the credo, "a puppet show is a visual performance," something he once heard that eventually inspired him to choreograph puppet shows.

Hako Boxes: Jiichan no Orugoru (Boxes: My grampa's music box) is visually oriented and makes use of puppet movements, including pantomime. The accompanying music is performed live during the show, and for audiences made up of the hearing impaired, the musicians add to the visual enjoyment by incorporating unusually shaped instruments.

The story features the relationship between family and society, and deals with a variety of electrical appliances, from washing machines and black-and-white TVs to cell-phones and computer games.

Beginning before World War II, a little boy named Senkichi becomes infatuated with a girl named Sumi. He one day gives her a music box. Years later, Senkichi comes back from the front and marries Sumi, and later have a daughter they name Yukie. By the time Yukie becomes a mother herself, everything, from their lifestyle to their familial relationships, has changed. Old Sumi begins remembering the past when she brings out the music box.

The Deaf Puppet Theater, which was established in 1980, is the only puppet company of its kind in the world, and has been invited to perform Boxes at an arts festival for the disabled in Cambodia.

"Hako Boxes: Jiichan no Orugoru" will be performed on June 28 from 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and June 29 from 2 p.m. at Setagaya Theater Tram in Tokyo. Admission: 3,500 yen for adults and 2,500 yen for children. For more information, contact Foundation Modern Puppet Center at (044) 777-2228 or visit deaf.puppet.or.jp

Link to Deaf Puppet Theater Hitomi web page (in Japanese):
http://deaf.puppet.or.jp/

Actually, I have been pleasantly surprised by the recent coverage of Japanese Sign Language in the Daily Yomiuri lately. Here is an article from June 12 (link) about the difference between JSL and Signed Japanese:

Japan's evolving sign languages a challenge for users and interpreters

By Yoji Yamahata / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

When it comes to sign language, you have probably noticed that some television news programs feature it, or you may have seen interpreters signing during lectures to convey what is being discussed. Often, the kind of sign language seen in such settings is Manually Coded Japanese--also called Signed Japanese. It is a system in which word-level signs are simply applied in accordance with the word order of standard Japanese. It can easily be learned by the hearing as well as those who become deaf later in life.

In contrast, Japanese sign language (JSL) is something that has developed spontaneously among hearing-impaired Japanese. For those using JSL, it is difficult to understand Manually Coded Japanese. Therefore, some JSL signers who also teach the language released a set of DVDs earlier this year, aimed at sign language interpreters and hearing people.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, there were about 276,000 recognized deaf people in the nation as of 2006, of whom about 64,000 communicated by sign language.

It is believed that modern JSL has its origins in signs that were used at a school for the deaf that was established in Kyoto in 1878. In JSL, which features a different grammatical system from that of Japanese, movements of not only hands, fingers and arms, but also facial features--with the mouth moving as if to pronounce "pa" and "po"--can supply grammatical elements. According to one unofficial estimate, there are about 57,000 people who communicate using JSL today.

On the other hand, Manually Coded Japanese is based on a system used at a sign language organization established in Kyoto in 1963. This type of sign language is often taught at clubs by hearing people.

According to the Education, Science and Technology Ministry, the nation's official education system for the deaf until the 1990s focused on training children to read lips and produce sounds. In recent years, more and more schools for the hearing-impaired have begun teaching Manually Coded Japanese as they believe that it can benefit such children.

Given this shifting history, it is often difficult for many middle-aged deaf people--who only know JSL--to understand people who use Manually Coded Japanese.

"In the case of Manually Coded Japanese, I can understand just about 20 percent of what is being signed," said Kayoko Sakata, 46, a lecturer at Kansai Shuwa College in Osaka, a school that teaches JSL to the hearing and sign language interpreters.

One of Sakata's colleagues, Kazuki Yano, 58, said, "I can feel at ease if we can enjoy service in JSL at hospitals [for example]."

Sakata and Yano are among the producers of a set of two DVDs titled Odoroki no Shuwa "Pa" "Po" Honyaku (surprising sign language: translations with "pa" and "po") released in March this year by Osaka-based publisher Seikosha. The discs, which run to 4-1/2 hours and are accompanied by a 192-page book, feature a list of vocabulary, give advice on how to express feelings and explain how expressions can be different between men and women or between generations.

"If sign language interpreters also have knowledge of JSL, they can give translations that allow the deaf to understand better what is being talked about," said Fumikazu Teraguchi, 42, a hearing employee of Kansai Shuwa College.

Prof. Akihiko Yonekawa of Baika Women's University in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, pointed out that there is often miscommunication among the deaf, saying: "Middle-aged people signing JSL find themselves not understood by the younger generations who are fluent in Manually Coded Japanese.

"It is desirable that [interpreters] can switch between suitable kinds of sign language depending on the audience they are working for and choose expressions that they can understand."

Of course this article over simplifies many things and I have problems with some of the claims and statistics cited, but still I am happy that such issues are being reported in a daily newspaper.

Here's another article from the Daily Yomiuri on June 12 about Meisei Gakuen school (link):

Kids connect at school in sign language

Tomonori Iwanami / Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer

With smiling faces all around, there was lively conversation among students in a classroom at Meisei Gakuen school in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. Yet the classroom remained silent.

Opened in April this year, the private school is the nation's first school for hearing-impaired children offering classes based on Japanese sign language (JSL), which can be acquired naturally as a mother tongue by such children and features a different grammatical system from that of Japanese.

Traditionally, sign language has been discouraged in the nation's education of deaf people, which instead has mainly encouraged children to lip-read and make sounds. This approach was based on the theory that hearing-impaired children have to fit in with the life of the nondisabled, and sign language was thought to be a major obstacle for deaf children when learning Japanese.

However, such training has also resulted in a great burden on hearing-impaired children, said Principal Michio Saito, when The Yomiuri Shimbun visited the school in mid-May.

"They can live a happy life even if they use only sign language," he said. "Creating a school that allows children to study in sign language has been our hope for more than two decades."

Meisei Gakuen currently has 41 students studying in its preschool and primary school. Some of them live in Tokyo's neighboring prefectures, including two who come from as far as Shizuoka Prefecture.

The primary school offers almost the same curriculum as regular primary schools, but one exception is that sign language classes take the place of music lessons, giving students the chance to learn the rewards of expressing themselves in JSL.

Meisei Gakuen is set to open a middle school in a few years.

"It's really fun here," said fifth grader Nanami Miyasaka. "I want to become a kendo teacher in the future."

"What kind of school is suitable for children using JSL? Take a look and you can see for yourself," Saito said.

Many of the students appeared relaxed in class and confidently made presentations in front of other students--scenes that reinforced the principal's comments.

I had a post about this school in April that included a story from the Asahi Shimbun (link).

(Images borrowed from Meisei Gakuen web page.)

Here are two links for more information about the growing movement of accepting sign language as a real bona fide language and allowing deaf children to use JSL as their first language at school:

Link to Meisei Gakuen web page (in Japanese):
http://www.meiseigakuen.ed.jp/index.html

Link to Bilingual Bicultural Education center for Deaf Children web page (in Japanese):
http://www.bbed.org/

Let's hope these positive trends continue.

Monday Morning Fun: Sign Language Star Wars

2008-06-16T09:33:00.004+09:00

Anything and everything can be said with the hands... The question is: would we "get this" if we didn't already know the story? This isn't real sign language per se, but gestures that could accompany a sign language in illustrating the story. Ponder the semiotics of it all, or merely enjoy the video on this early Monday morning.

Link to video:
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/just_plain_stupid/Sign_Language_Star_Wars/

Kyoto Police On Alert To Terrorism

2008-06-14T16:47:00.010+09:00

Kyoto Station is an interesting place on many levels. The atmosphere, architecture and people intermingle to create visual treasures. One of my students did a blog on the "Anthropology of Kyoto Station" (link). Now, however, there is an increased police presence and signs announcing terrorism alerts. With various G8 meetings in Japan this year, Japan has been holding drills and publicizing its efforts to make the world feel at ease and/or increase paranoia. I have written before about the various photos that appear quite often in the Japanese media (link). Here's another example:

(Image borrowed from MSNBC.) The caption reads: A police dog bites the arm of a "suspect" during an anti-terrorism practice at the Tokyo shopping and business mall of Roppongi Hills on June 4, 2008. The training was held for the upcoming G8 Hokkaido summit.

See more photos of Japan's anti-terror efforts at the link below (and please don't ask me why they mixed photos of Mariah Carey in with them...).

Link to Japan G8 Security Training on MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24959708/displaymode/1176/

Back to Kyoto Station. When I was there recently, I saw the sign below.

In case you cannot read the text on the blurry picture (taken on my cell phone camera), it says: With the G8 Minister of Finance Meeting scheduled in Osaka, tighter security measures throughout the Hotel have been recommended by the Authorities. One specific measure that may inconvenience the guests of this Hotel is the removal of paper towels and trash cans during the following period: From Wednesday, June 11, 2008 To Sunday, June 15, 2008. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you in advance for your kind understanding and cooperation.

This observation was confirmed by a recent news article, "Security Stepped Up in Osaka." (Kyoto and Osaka are relatively close and linked together by several train lines.)

Police and other authorities tightened security throughout the city on Friday, both on the ground and across waterways, as the Group of Eight finance ministers meeting got under way here.

The Osaka prefectural police will deploy about 6,000 officers during the event, including guards posted at the Osaka International Convention Center in the city's Kita Ward, the main venue for the meeting, its neighboring facilities and major train stations.

Road access to areas near the venue is restricted until the meeting concludes on Saturday, and all vehicles entering sites near the venue may be subject to police inspections. On Friday, many drivers were asked to open their trunks, and police officers also checked beneath cars for suspect materials.

Many of the trash cans at train stations in the city have been sealed.

Link to "Security stepped up in Osaka" in The Daily Yomiuri, 6/14/08
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080614TDY02201.htm

Train stations in Japan have already been removing (the few and rare) trash cans and coin lockers because apparently terrorists like to place bombs in them. But why the removal of paper towels? Will this prevent terrorists from washing their hands? Luckily, the hotel did not decide to remove the toilet paper.

The hotel sealed the trash cans while the Kyoto Station authorities removed them all. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they removed the public ash trays as well.

Is this all a bit much? (Have I asked this question before?) While I was walking around Kyoto Station I saw a plastic bag with some sort of container in it - apparently litter. But it was suspicious because one rarely sees litter at Kyoto Station - it is incredibly clean. At least two security officers passed by the suspicious bag/litter, almost stepping on it, but did not seem to notice it. Is this the real kind of alert to terrorism that we can expect?

Koshien on a warm summer night...

2008-06-12T18:18:00.006+09:00

Since the Hanshin Tigers are so hot (currently in first place, 8.5 games ahead of the Dragons, and riding a 6 game winning streak), it is difficult to get tickets to games. Koshien fills up and die-hard fans stay until the end and even longer. Sometimes one finds themselves trapped in their seats and only able to communicate with the beer vendors for news of the outside world.

"Interactive DVD for Shy People"

2008-06-06T16:08:00.004+09:00

(Image borrowed from the Avex Miterudake webpage.)

From Japan Today:

Avex Entertainment has introduced an interactive DVD called “Miterudake.” In the DVD, 50 women appear and just keep looking at you. This is for shy people to train themselves to get used to strangers. You can choose people of different ages and nationalities.

External Link:http://avex.jp/miterudake/

2,625 yen
Available from May 23, 2008

Check out the story at Japan Today to see some interesting comments about this "video."

"RACE Project on MSNBC"

2008-06-05T16:03:00.001+09:00

Also form the AAA eNews, June 2008:

Not necessarily Japan related, but a follow-up to an earlier post on RACE (Are We So Different? :: A Project of the American Anthropological Association). It's actually pretty cool, check it out.

The RACE Project’s timeline of racial milestones in U.S. history currently is being featured on the msnbc.com original series: “Gut Check: Multiracial In America.” The Gut Check series includes news stories and interactive media components that explore the growing number of Americans living in multiracial families and the issues they face. View the articles, video gallery, a state-by-state map and, best of all, the AAA timeline on the web.

http://gutcheck.msnbc.com

Anthropology News 2008 Fieldwork Photo Contest

2008-06-04T15:59:00.001+09:00

From the AAA eNews, June 2008:

Anthropology News welcomes submissions for the AAA Fieldwork Photo Contest. AN will publish winning photographs in a fall 2008 issue of AN and online. Selected photographers will also be invited to exhibit their work at the AAA office.

For submission guidelines, see http://www.aaanet.org/issues/anthronews/photocontest.cfm

Deadline: August 15, 2008.

New Discussion Board on HIV/AIDS, Deafness and Disability

2008-06-03T16:24:00.000+09:00

Leila Monaghan has started a new discussion board on HIV/AIDS, Deafness and Disability. She describes it as "a place to share information and ask questions. Any information you can share from all your different countries would be welcome." This is another good example of collaboration and open-access and a good source of information for these important issues.

Link to HIV/AIDS, Deafness and Disability:
http://hivdisability.proboards85.com/index.cgi

This is a scam targeted at deaf people...

2008-05-28T14:22:00.004+09:00

This is a work in progress posting.

Warning, the "announcement" below is a scam targeted at deaf people. I have deactivated all the hotlinks in it. It is a blatant and poorly done as well with spelling mistakes and a strange layout that juxtaposes several different images and graphics. To my knowledge there is no "Confederation of the deaf" nor a "Prince Mayour Ola." Unfortunately it does steal the logo of a legitimate deaf related organization, RC Deaf Missions Malaysia. Its director assures me that they have nothing to do with this and are quite upset that their logo has been stolen and used for such a scam.

Have you received this scam e-mail? It comes as HTML code and has "LUCKY WINNERS OF THIS YEAR 2008 DEAF PROMO!!!" in the subject line. I am trying to ascertain how and why I received the mail and how widespread it is. If you have any information, please contact me or leave a comment.

**************

Dear Winner,

Confederation Of Deaf People™ hereby congratulates you and at the same time informing you that You are among the lucky winners of this year 2008 deaf promo® Money OrderSM sent to you from Prince Mayour Ola has been Approved.®

Money OrderSM : $500,000.00 USD

Winning Number : CZ982032214JH.

Deaf Site : Deaf Vp


	We will like you to get back to us with this information as follow Name: Address: State: City Country:

We will await your response back to this E-mail till the next 48,hours as all winner are to reply back immediately.

Domestic Winners Details
*We are goverment approved
*Non Scam E-mail
*Money Will be delivered to you in cash form no check or money order

We are proudly supported by...............
FBI SCAM PROTECTED
Note: Please do not reply to this E-mail if you are not a deaf, if you do and you were caught you will be handled over to our authourity, because we are GOVERMENT APPROVED

Thank you for reading our E-mail copyright®. We look forward
to satisfy all deaf arround the world because we don't want any deaf to suffer.
Sincerely,
Confederation of deaf people®



****************************** ****************************** ****************************** *******
REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS PLEASE
internationaldeafalleviation2008@yahoo.com
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Please be careful of this and other e-mail scams.

UPDATE: I have contacted various deaf people and deaf researchers but nobody has indicated that they received this e-mail. I on the other hand received the e-mail again on a different e-mail account. If you have any information, please share...

2008 大学日本手話勉強グループ春飲み会

2008-05-27T09:35:00.002+09:00

Another semester has ended and thus it was time for another get together with the kids from the JSL study group and Deaf people from Osaka and Kyoto. We had a record number of 27 participants (15 Deaf, 12 hearing).

This year's event had much to celebrate. N has recently graduated and will enter graduate school in Australia. It was J's 21st birthday. All four sempai (who called themselves the Power Puff Girls) are leaving. Only two members from this semester will be back in the fall. There were many laughs and many cries. I was especially proud to see my students chatting away in JSL to my Deaf friends. Thank you to all who participated. I hope we can continue our friendship and fellowship, and the spread of sign language all over the world.

The JSL Study Group will be on summer break; we will start up again in early September. But stay tuned to VAOJ for more sign language related news.

Japanese Photographer Daido Moriyama

2008-05-26T19:12:00.001+09:00

(The Three Views of Japan No. 3 - Mutsu Matsushima [1974]. Image borrowed from artnet.com)

A life on the streets: Photography museum celebrates Daido Moriyama's 70th birthday

By DANIELLE DEMETRIOU
Special to The Japan Times, May 22, 2008

"I'm not always a stray dog. Sometimes I'm a cat," says Daido Moriyama. "Or an insect."

A stray dog with piercing eyes and a hint of a snarl may be the most famous of the monochrome images captured by the Japanese master of black and white photography. And as Moriyama nears his 70th birthday, it is clear that his feral days of roaming the streets, camera in hand, are not yet over.

"As long as I can walk, I will continue wandering the streets," he says. "The streets are my territory and I still wander them aimlessly with my camera."

Moriyama is among Japan's most important postwar photographers. Gritty and textured, stark and poignant, his images have long cast an unsettling spotlight on an ever-changing society.

Read the whole story:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fa20080522a1.html

Link to Moriyama daido's official web site:
http://www.moriyamadaido.com/

"Photographer Speared by Javelin at Utah Meet"

2008-05-20T18:27:00.004+09:00

This is not Japan or visual anthropology related, but I believe it illustrates the spirit of the Gonzo Visual Anthropologist.

Image and story from The Associated Press.

A newspaper photographer got a little too close to the action at the state high school track championships — and was speared through the leg by a javelin.

Ryan McGeeney of the Standard-Examiner was spared serious injury in Saturday's mishap, and even managed to snap a photo of his speared leg while others worked to help him.

"If I didn't, it would probably be my editor's first question when I got back," McGeeney said later.

The 33-year-old McGeeney, an ex-Marine who spent six months in Afghanistan, was taking pictures of the discus event and apparently wandered into off-limits area set aside for the javelin throw.

Striking just below the knee, the javelin tip went through the skin and emerged on the other side of his leg.

"It wasn't real painful. ... I was very lucky in that it didn't hit any blood vessels, nerves, ligaments or tendons," McGeeney said.

Much of the javelin was cut off at the scene. The piece in McGeeney's leg was removed at a hospital, and he received 13 stitches.

The javelin was thrown by Anthony Miles, a Provo High School student who said when he saw what had happened, "my heart just stopped."

"One of the first things that came to my mind was, 'Good thing we brought a second javelin,'" Miles' coach, Richard Vance, said Monday. He said Miles was "in a little bit of shock," but he assured the athlete that it was not his fault.

With a subsequent throw, Miles went on to win the state title in javelin for teams in Provo High's size classification, 4-A.

Alls well that ends well...

"Cigarette Machines May Get Face Scanners"

2008-05-19T19:07:00.003+09:00

Want to buy tobacco? Look into the mirror to begin age verification. Caution: Looking young may prevent you from smoking.

The Finance Ministry may install automatic age-verification devices on all cigarette vending machines in addition to the identity card readers that are due to be fitted to all such machines by July, sources said.

A complicated application procedure means relatively few smokers have applied for the new Taspo ID cards, which carry a photo of the bearer and proof of his or her age.

Push the button for face scanning to begin. Continue to look deeply into the mirror.

But Fujitaka Co., a vending machine maker of Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, has developed a scanner that can estimate a person's age in about three seconds based on the size and number of wrinkles and pouches around the eyes and mouth. The device uses a digital camera and is built into the vending machines. Customers simply press a button to get the device to check their age.

According to the company, the scanner is about 90 percent accurate. People who are only just over 20, the legal smoking age, or whose age is difficult to verify through facial features can insert their driver's license into the device instead.

Congratulations. You have the necessary bone structure, sags and crow's feet to be eligible to buy tobacco. Now insert money here.

About 1,500 such scanners are in use on a trial basis in 21 prefectures in the Tohoku and Kyushu regions, where the Taspo cards were introduced May 1.

The Finance Ministry has allowed cigarette buyers to use their driver's license as an alternative to the Taspo card to prove their age.

A ministry official said, "We'll make a decision on the validity of facial age-verification technology after looking into whether it can reliably prevent minors from purchasing cigarettes."

Story from The Daily Yomiuri Online, May 19, 2008.

Images borrowed from Fujitaka web page.

Bolded sarcasm courtesy of VAOJ.

See the story, Japanese smokers to face age test, at the BBC web site as reported on May 12, 2008.

Is this more weird Japan? Why is the government trying to make it so easy for people of legal age to buy tobacco? You can insert the special TASPO card, your driver's license, and now your face. The Japanese government owns 50% Of Japan Tobacco, the "Japanese government monopoly corporation for domestic tobacco sales. Also active in pharmaceuticals and food." I wonder why there has been no discussion of such age verification for alcohol and other adult-oriented vending machines?

Subtitles or Voiceover?

2008-05-16T00:25:00.003+09:00

This is a debate that often erupts in Visual Anthropology class. Usually subtitles win out. But here is an interesting article from Japan Today that brings up some problematic (and unfortunate) issues regarding subtitles.

More recently, however, film distributors have become increasingly aware that younger audiences are unable to comprehend subtitles on current films. To simplify things, subtitle producers have been ordered to reduce the number of words flashed on the screen to the bare minimum, and use of Chinese characters has been cut.

But the comprehension problem may also be indicative of the dumbing down of the nation. Young adult moviegoers’ lack of familiarity with many basic historical facts, says the Sankei, in some cases has not progressed beyond middle-school level.

As a result, distributors are rapidly switching over to voice dubbing—not only for animated cartoons, but also for conventional cinema.

Link to 'What are Nazis?' Today's kids can't handle movie subtitles at Japan Today:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/what-are-nazis-todays-kids-cant-handle-movie-subtitles

How America Sees Japan: Sumo Car Wash

2008-05-15T07:15:00.002+09:00

(As seen at Tokyomango...)