The Japanese and cars are really weird. I've already mentioned that sometimes they aren't very polite when they're in them, which is quite weird by itself. However, there's more. Their cars all have really expensive audio/visual systems inside of them, often costing the same price as the car. Many of them have a video screen which plays DVDs, receives broadcast TV (or satellite), plays CDs, receives the radio, and has a satellite car mapping system. They get a map of their current location, along with voice instructions to go to a destination of their choosing. High density traffic areas show up on the map, so you can steer around them. It's really great, and they are very popular. I keep thinking that if you had something like that in America, your car would probably get broken into. However, that doesn't seem to be much of a problem in Japan.

Perhaps it's because of the amenities of these cars, or maybe a lack of privacy and space in the houses, but Japanese people love to sit in their cars in parking lots. Businessmen especially seem to like this. If you go to a park after work on a nice day, you can often see lots of cars, each with one man sitting in them watching TV with the windows rolled down (normally smoking, too). Quite frankly, I'd rather enjoy the park than sit in the parking lot, but they seem to like it. I get the feeling that the Japanese family is not a close institution, but is in a small space. So many people like to take some time on their own before going home. The alternative is to go out and drink, go to strip bars, etc. before going home. That also seems like a popular option.

Another thing about Japanese drivers, they don't turn on their headlights in the rain or snow. I think this is fairly dangerous, but it's not the law to do so. They seem to have a thing about keeping their lights off as much as possible. Maybe they think it will cost them extra money to have them on. Because of this, there aren't any cars with running lights that I've seen in Japan. I find this especially strange since some of the first cars to come with standard running lights that I remember were Toyotas and Hondas. When I rented a car in the fall, I kept the lights on the whole time I was driving, and other drivers kept flashing their lights at me to tell me to turn them off. Another time, Iguchi-sensei was driving me to another prefecture, and we passed through a series of tunnels. All the drivers will turn on their lights for the tunnel, and then turn them off when they exit, even if the next tunnel is about 500 meters away.

Dana was fine too, in fact for a big earthquake, it did little damage. There have been two earthquakes that people in Toyama have felt this year, but so far I haven't felt any of them. Toyama is actually known for having the lowest amount of damage caused by earthquakes, so it's doubtful I will feel something too big.

We're taking a trip to Tokyo this weekend, which should be fun. It's paid for by our city hall, since there is a business conference Monday-Wednesday. The only other time I've gone to Tokyo was when I arrived for the orientation. It will be much different now that I know lots more about Japan than I did then.

I've already got a plan to meet up with Joanna Jordan there, who has an internship with a law firm in Tokyo.

Last night I started working on the webpage for Toyama prefecture. I'm the webmaster for the next year. The web page needs a lot of work, but it looks like it will be fun to do. It was good to do something which requires more complex thinking, kind of a kick-start to the brain. I figured out how to merge two javascript scripts I found online to make a slideshow that does what I want.

Apparently there was a big quake near Sendai today. I didn't actually feel it, but my friend in Tokyo did, so it must have been pretty big. I talked to Jane, Victoria's friend, and she's fine. However, I haven't heard from Dana. I'm assuming she's fine though since I haven't heard of any big problems resulting from it. I read it was offshore, so the epicenter won't cause much damage to buildings.

Well, my computer is back. Yay! It only took 6 weeks to fix. I really won't complain much if it is truly fixed this time. I just hope it really is fixed, since I had so much trouble with it breaking repeatedly.

Today I found myself once again pondering the mysteries of Japanese relationships. We had a class where the students were supposed to ask one question to about 7 girls and 7 boys. However, the students almost totally refused to talk to members of the opposite sex. These students are 14 and 15, so you'd think they would be pumped full of hormones and desperate to talk to members of the opposite sex. Instead, they have no interest in talking to each other at all. In fact, they often seem afraid of each other.

Some of us were talking once, and someone commented that it is a miracle that the Japanese ever manage to have relationships, much less children. I don't know at what point things change, but at some point they seem to start liking each other. I've been told they don't really associate very much in high school either, which is even stranger. Victoria and I have observed college students mixing in public though, so perhaps that is the turning point for many Japanese people.

However, even after they are older and in relationships, very traditional gender roles are still quite dominant. It's likely that the modern woman has a job, but also has responsibility for all the cooking, cleaning, and some of the child care. Grandmothers tend to fill in the child care roll during the day if a woman has a job. Many women in Japan are quite surprised that I cook dinner. I guess single men just eat out all the time.

It doesn't seem to be changing much with young people. Many 25-year old women talk about how they really need to be married, and that they are getting ugly so they can't get a husband now. Getting a husband seems to be the most important thing for many women. It's not really a good state of affairs, in my opinion.

Western men are generally highly estimeed as boyfriends, or at least have a reputation for being good boyfriends, because they have less traditional ideas. In fact, one of the high school teachers at a good high school asked her students why they wanted to study English. Most of the girls responded that they wanted to snag a Western husband. Crazy, huh?

So I finally got some good news. My computer is going to be fixed today or early next week, so I should get it back soon. It will be over 5 weeks though, so I'm quite frustrated. I don't even remember what my computer looks like anymore (okay, not really). I hope it is really fixed this time.

Victoria and I saw something interesting on TV last night. We saw a news show which talked about recent Japanese legislation that gives their army more powers. Currently the army has to ask permission from every local government when it wants to do an operation there, even if Japan was invaded. They want to give the army a more central command in the case of an attack or an emminent attack. I think it is an important issue right now because of tensions with North Korea. What was interesting was a look at steps the legislature had taken throughout the years. We thought the legislature would be very polite, calm, and bureaucratic. Instead, we saw several scenes where it looked like all the legislators were rushing at the microphone and trying to yank it away from each other. It looked a little more like a rugby match than a legislative meeting. We had a theory that if you could tear up the other person's legislation, then maybe you could kill a bill. It was quite strange to watch. I'll have to ask a teacher about it.

Well, it's been nearly a month since I wrote anything on my blog. Unfortunately, I haven't had my computer during this whole time period. It's taking forever to fix it. I don't get as much chance to write on my blog while at school, since I have to hog the only shared computer in the office to do so.

Recent exciting things include:

Victoria and I took a four day trip to Sendai and visited Jane (Victoria's roommate in college), and Dana Watson (went to the Unitarian Universalist fellowship with me). It was lots of fun.

Monique Thomas from high school (and junior high school) came to visit me last weekend. We went to a Tulip Festival in Tonami. There were lots of tulips there. However, Victoria was sick that weekend, so she had a rough time walking around the festival.

The JET Charity Show is approaching in June. I'm starting to get everything ready for the set and props. It should be quite fun, I hope. It will keep me busy too.