Afirmative Action

My daughter took a test for admission to a very fine private high school in Tokyo.  Well over 200 kids were allowed to apply for 50 positions, 25 positions reserved for boys and 25 positions for girls, though as my daughter was quick to point out the boy's scores are always lower than the girls.

Nice of them to give the boys a chance I guess, unequal thought it may be.  Though it is not so nice as the medical schools used to be.  I recall a student of mine, a woman at a top medical school telling me  that her school only allowed 10% of the admissions to be female that year, in spite of significantly higher score.  This was about 15 years ago now.  Another friend at another medical school says that they admit now purely on merit.  It the memory of the old system that causes me to select a lady doctor over a man when given a choice.  My odds are better with the lady. 

I recall the old joke, "What do you call the person that graduates last in his class in medical school?"  The answer is of course that you call him, "doctor."

Rush hour

I guess I've  got the train ride inside me now.

spring cleaning

Cleaning out the computer for the first time since we bought it, how many years ago?  Wish we could find a market for dust.

Kevin Gray, at the Dickens

Went out to Ebisu  to the Dickens pub to see Kevin Gray and his band.  Nice pub that does not try to be found, no sign on the street, or even a name in the elevator sign going up.  This seems a trend with the gaijin pubs in Tokyo, not the Japanese chain English pubs, but the older pubs, a certain disregard with the general public.  The Ueno pub too has let all its flags be blown away and it's big painted sign has rotted completely, leaving nothing but its metal frame.  If you do not know it already you will have a devil of a time finding the place..  Though some people still do.

Friday night at the Dickens was quite full by 10 O'clock.  I was not surprised by the smoke, the Ueno pub has even more.  The surprise at, "What the Dickens," was noise.  Some of the audience seemed to be fans of Kevin Gray, but still they talked through the entire set,  loudly to make themselves heard over the music.  Funny sorts of fans.  But it seemed to be the way at Dickens.  Kevin himself was fine, great original songs, the sort you do not get a chance to hear every day.

Just up the street, past Dickens on the left, is a great little Sri Lankan restaurant, street level, I stumbled into by mistake.  Worth a visit on its own.

How was your 2010?

One busy parts of my last year was painting fusuma.

 This is a 4 door fusuma for a medical clinic in Kinshicho, Tokyo, the building just completed at the end of last year.

There were 3 others, 2 sets of 3 and another 4 door fusuma for a residence in Kamakura, the theme of this Kamakura painting was much more traditional. As requested I tackled one of the oldest themes in Japanese painting, the 7 drunken saints in a bamboo grove.  This was the first fusuma I started, thought it in fact took me 7 years to finish.

one of the seven saints

The Industrial revolution, New Year musing

No one expects the Spanish inquisition, nor did they expect the industrial revolution.  England bloomed, and was the rich center of the world in 1851.  By 1890 they were in the crapper.

           I came to Japan in 1989, the top of the bubble, bookstore windows around the world advertised the Japanese Economic miracle.

           Try to find a book on Japanese principles of business management now.

           Japan’s economy has been in the toilet for the full 21 years I have lived here.

           Is there some connection to England’s ride with the industrial revolution?

           One similarity stands out to me, the education systems, Oxford, Cambridge, the classics.  The British were doing there best to teach Hebrew and Greek, while the Germans, the French, the Belgians, and the Americans were learning hydraulics, chemistry, and mechanics.

           Japan is still running the same cram school, pack as much wrote learning into their kids head to pass the same standard entrance to university they were running 30 years ago.  Meanwhile we are already deep into a new revolution.  Japan has done its best to keep its brightest minds behind.

           In our daily changing information age the two things that has been long banned from Japanese schools are creativity, and personal initiative. 

Have you ever visited a Japanese elementary school?  I have - Clean, well funded, bright shining teachers and students, all in a sit down and shut up situation.  Everyone is helped, encouraged to get the right answer.  But it is always the answer that is expected.  No one deviates from the path and survives.

           Have you ever visited an exhibition of Japanese elementary school art?  Every 3^rd grader’s work is the same.  Every 4^th grader’s work is the same.  It sends chills up your spine.

           I teach in University.  Even in art University the students are well trained to find out and do exactly what is expected.  Japan is the easiest place to teach in the world because the students are so well programmed out of questioning authority.

           On the bright side, as Mr. Leonard Cohen reminds us, it is from the cracks that the light come in.  What college did Bill Gates graduate from?  Steve Jobs?  Where did Thomas Edison attend university?  Or Sir Richard Arkwright, for that matter?  Most everyone knows the answers are none, none, none, and none.

           Japan has a thriving game culture. And manga have replaced the Japanese management books of a generation ago in bookstore windows.

           And right this holiday second, walking the back streets of Akihabara, between the maid cafes and used computer shops may yet be the drop out hope of Japan.

Happy New Year

 Painting with silver this New Year's Day.