Field Notes from My Master's Project in Japan 1997: Week 8

Week 8

Monday & Tuesday, September 1-2, 1997 - Kawabe, Japan
Pump up the Jam, Pump it up, Pump it up
Pump up the Jam, I am going to throw up
I have been sitting in the same classroom at the same short table on the same short stool. My knees are black and blue where I habitually try to force them under the table. I forgot that furniture is smaller in Japan. In an effort to make life a little more fun here in this concrete room (no kidding the walls are concrete), I bring music on CD that I can play on this computer. BUT the only music I have access to on CD is from the son of my friend where I am doing the homestay. He is pleased to let me dive into his collection of trashy house and retro dance music from the late 80s and early 90s. The beat is the same on all 8 CDs, just the words change. Oh, and if I want a little diversion from the toe tappin’ hip-gyrating tunes of yesteryear, he has the entire collection of LL Cool J CDs.

The past two days have been spent doing the same thing which is why they only get one entry. The epiphanies and realizations are sort of mixed together in one big stew. Trying to sort out the meat from the fat as I feel myself dancing right out the door has been the main task at hand. Monday I submerged myself in old people and babies, looking at the midwife stuff in preparation for my trip to Tokyo where I will go and visit the birth center, and looking at my nursing home stuff to get a grasp on how much more I have to do there. This was a good start. I got to see how I was shooting at the beginning of coming here and after I have been shooting a month. I am happy to report I have definitely improved.

I noticed a repetition of shapes in both of those bodies of work. For the Baby Health Mirai, the birth center, the repetition is in hands. I think I am going to use that to unify the work. And now I am excited to go back for another visit with this in mind. For the Kawabe So, the nursing home, there seem to be a lot of circles or near perfect circles emerging. I have a few things that I want to reshoot or capture like the bath machine for the residents that cannot walk, Mrs. Noto praying in the morning, Miya in her garden, Yoko, the care worker making her rounds though I have a nice shot of her lying next to a resident who has her hand resting on Yoko's head, also I want a shot of Noriko taking care of her mother who is also a resident. The way I look at it, Kawabe So is not only a repository for elderly whose family has left, but also for those who cannot care for the elderly on their own, who have had to adapt to the modern times. This may not make it into the final essay, but we will see.

Today, Tuesday, I went over everything else. The work on the farmer seems to be dominated with straight and squiggly lines. It seems strange that each body of work has a dominant shape. I have never noticed this before with any other work of mine. The farmer needs more work and more time. I am not totally comfortable there yet. I am not sure how psyched they are about having me around but then again I haven't spent a ton of time there yet. I want to get more on the kids. They have three sons. The deal in Japan is that the eldest son inherits the land and the other sons must leave and fend for themselves. But the eldest son does not really seem into farming. I really want to spend some more time with him and find out a little more about him. He used to be one of my students which means either a) he is terrified of me and is not going to be very open b) I may have better access than I think. Access is great with the farmer, I just have to work on his kids. The 12 year old and I have a good relationship. I need to get with the older ones. The middle son goes to high school. In the rural towns there are no high schools, so they all take the train into the city. I want to get a shot of him at the train station with all the other kids in uniform catching the train. Another sign that the rural areas are underpopulated. There is no high school, all the kids must ride at least 30 minutes into the city.

I also looked over my film from the festivals and the Obon week. There is some good stuff and lots of garbage. I remember that time I was really worn down and was kind of running from event to event. As I went through it, it is clear to me that I knew what I wanted to get out of that time shooting. I was looking for the relationship between young and old. But beyond that I got a bunch of pictures of old people cleaning the shrine, and young kids in kimono fishing for goldfish. Mind you, some of these will work in my essay. I am still kind of hung up on the rituals being the bridge between the young and the old, kind of a way to keep them alive. I guess it is like Christmas. It really is for the kids, and the older the child gets the less meaningful it is, until you have kids and then the excitement starts again. I am still wrestling with how this fits into the nursing home and farming family which are really dialogues on how rural Japan is adapting with depopulation and decrease in rice production. I suppose just showing the older people working without any younger ones is telling that the younger ones have all gone to the city. For the final product, I am thinking of having an mini-essay as an introduction, played to the Taiko drum beat and then launch into nursing home and then the farmer.

I think my next task at hand is to find a few younger adults who have migrated to the city or work in the city and play in the city. Ideally, I would like to find a woman, but strangely enough all the women are absent. I only know young men who live at home and work in the city. This might be telling in itself in that all the women have gone to the bigger cities like Tokyo or Osaka. The daughter of the family I am staying with now lives in Tokyo and works as a nurse. She rarely comes home any more, I am told. I am going to meet her when I go to Tokyo and hopefully will take some photos.

Wednesday, September 3, 1997 - Kawabe, Japan
16965!!
Kazuko loaned me her car. Ahh the open road, listening to music, freedom. So where did I go? It was pouring rain and I needed to buy some presents to take to people in Tokyo. I went to the Mall. I walked around kind of in a stupor looking at all the merchandise for sale. Had a drink and went to the bathroom. As I squatted down on the squatty potty, I looked over and it said place your hand in front of the red light to flush. Then I noticed the number 16964. Hmm. I flushed and guess what number flush I was that day.

Thursday, Friday September 4-5, 1997 - Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Shoe Shine
Arrived in Tokyo in the afternoon, as I rode the escalator down I noticed the word Shoe Shine. I peered in and saw two men both wearing blue suits and black shoes with their legs spread as two middle aged women polished their shoes. Irrelevant to my project only except for the fact that I was in the BIG CITY with one pair of shoes that have been worn in rice fields and cow barns. Needed to spiff up for meetings.

In the afternoon I met an MU graduate student who is working for an English language paper here as a copy editor. I told her about my project and she thought it sounded interesting but I got little feedback. She said she was going to introduce me to a guy at the paper who would know more about photography.

Friday, I met Bob Kirshenbaum and we went for lunch at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Tokyo. I have a guest membership there now until I leave. This is great because they have a library with all the English publications, and a clip file which I read on aging and elderly to see what info I could dig up. BING! This year is the first year since they have been counting in 1950 that the number of elderly (over 65) has exceeded the younger members (under 15), 15.5 percent compared to 15.46 percent. Also they are predicting that by 2000, Japan will have the largest percentage of elderly any where in the world, and by 2025, 35 percent of Japan will be over 65.Yum. These statistics are all from the government and were cited in all the major English language papers. A friend asked me what the American stats were, I sheepishly said I did not know, yet.

At lunch, I told Bob about my project. he seemed genuinely interested and was very excited by the nursing home, but really offered no feedback nor presented me with any new information. I guess this is comforting that I at least have been a good researcher. Unfortunately, all I had to show him was negatives, because I could not find a scanner. Being the busy man that he is, he said he would wait until I had prints. This actually sucks because although I have found a scanner to use at the Associated Press, I can't use it until Tuesday and he will be gone on a business trip. I have tried to contact several other photographers here but they are all working and out of the country. I have called three that I know. So here I am halfway through this project with no actual feedback on the work except my own scrupulously composed notes that I made about each photo that I liked. Shoganai. Not much I can do about this. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. This experience has really heightened my own editing skills. I never used to be very confident in editing my work. I feel like that has changed. I have a much stronger sense of what makes a strong picture (but I would love feedback). That could be partially due to the internship this summer. I have also been devouring photo books and magazines, if I can find them. The Arts college that I do my work at has all the art and photo magazines and many books that I read when I take a break.

Tomorrow I go to the midwife center. I do not think any babies are being born but it will be nice to see everyone.

Friday night
Pointer
Dr. Saito and I have communicated by fax for a month and a half. Each time I get a fax from him he asks me to fax him. I felt like this was some CIA undercover operation. I taught Dr. Saito English about 9 years ago at my undergraduate college. When I lived in Akita, I used to proofread his medical articles that he submitted to journals. We always get together and have deep intellectual conversations on Japan, past, present and future. He went to Todai which is like our Harvard or Stanford, but better. If you go to Todai, then your life is set. Todai grads regardless of how well you do or don't do (most don't study), are automatically connected to the pulse of Japan in any field. The influence and power of the Todai alumni is awesome. In Japan now, EVERYTHING is done because of connections (although this is changing). I mean from buying your groceries or renting an apartment, to entering school or getting a job. If no one has heard of you or no one who is considered important will vouch for you, then life is not very easy. With one phone call, these connections can change laws and lives.

Dr. Saito is now president of Kyorin Daigaku, a large medical university. He's a big gun now. When we met for dinner, I brought him a nice bottle of Chivas Regal and he presented me with a small box. But before he did, he said that six years ago when he took me to a very expensive and nice dinner, he made the comment that Japanese people are rich. The way he put it, I said directly flat out "no they are not rich, they may have a lot of money, but they are not rich." He said that for six years he has been thinking about that comment and told many people, young and old, this story. While I do believe that is true, money does not mean wealth, here I am six years later totally embarrassed because I was a little too direct six years ago. Then I opened the box. Inside was a pointer that is used for teaching. He said thank you for teaching me about Japan. I almost fell under the table (in Japan you are sitting down so you cannot fall down) at his thoughtfulness.

I told Dr. Saito about my project. He also thinks I am on a good track and mentioned that not many young Japanese people are thinking about these ideas today.

Saturday, Sunday September 6-7, 1997 -Tokyo, Japan
Went to the birth center. It felt good to be back. There were no births, but I was able to make a few photos I had not seen before of breast feeding and the visiting fathers and children with their new baby. I kept looking for the hands theme. I kept thinking about how to tell this story, what is the story. I sort of felt like my work was finished there although I would have liked the opportunity to shoot another birth. The free time also allowed me to get to know Ms. Fusako Sei, the head midwife, better and to do some follow up research on midwifery in Japan, and the birth center itself. In fact, Sunday night I helped her translate a brochure from English. As I did I was totally flattered because she started to talk to me about a staff problem she was having with one of the midwives. This woman is having an attitude problem and has been using sharp language with the mothers and other midwives who come to study at the center. In fact there used to be a study group that came and spent the night there, but because of Kuniko they now drive back to Tokyo at 9:00 in the evening. We talked at great length about why this young woman may be having problems. Kuniko is 30 years old and has committed herself to working at the center for three years. She is not married and has little opportunity to get out and meet friends because she lives at the center which is in the middle of nowhere. Yet all day long, all week long she helps birth and care for women most of who are her age and their babies. Then she says goodbye as they return home with their baby and husband. That must be hard. I told all this to Fusako. She genuinely listened as I told her I think she needs to talk to Kuniko (the woman) and tell her feelings. Then she called Kuniko in and told her all of this as I was sitting there. I was kind of embarrassed about this, but I was the only one. I felt like I was really part of the family as this was happening.

Sunday afternoon, September 7, 1997 - Tokyo, Japan
Catching crows in the watermelon patch
Sunday afternoon I found myself driving down the road listening to "Do the locomotion" with one of the only revolutionaries I have ever met in Japan. Mr. Matsubara is the husband of one of the mothers who had just had a baby. An interesting couple for Japan, he is 40 and she is 26. They just got married last month and she had the baby three days ago.

As we were driving down the road, he shared his philosophies on Japan. People are miles apart here none of the generations are talking which is creating big problems according to him. Three entirely different lifestyles exist under one roof right now. Parents are torn because their children and the grandparents are so different and the gap so wide. He said there is no leader in Japan right now. The really old people are driving the country, the 40-60 year olds are giving the directions and earning all the money, and the 20 and 30 year olds are dealing with the technology but really just thinking about themselves, shopping, and playing. He said that he is going to change Japan, by himself. He used to think that this was impossible, but now he thinks he can do it. In the next sentence he said he no longer talks to the Prime Minister because he is so angry at how he has handled many things. This seemed strange to me in that he has a house in what is the equivalent of the Japanese ghetto. He took me on a wild journey in and out of the hearts and minds of many different types of people. Our first stop was his personal project and farmland. He spends his energy and money now on a special type of farming that mirrors organic farming but is actually incorporating an old Japanese way of fertilizing and spraying chemicals. He pulled out an old book that had been highlighted and earmarked telling how to produce this liquid that basically is distilled charcoal. Surrounded by pieces of metal and farming tools, we sat under this white tent that had Farm Tsukuba (his town) written in big letters on it as he explained to me his farming philosophies. Tsukuba is an experimental town. The Japanese government created it for laboratories.(STORY) He predicts that there will be an increased demand for organic goods as more and more vegetables in Japan are drenched in chemicals, and more and more vegetables lose their flavor. I think he is right.

We visited a big field with hundreds of rotting watermelons lying next to carefully built rows of soil. This was his father-in-law's field. He picked up a nice looking watermelon and cracked it open and handed me a bite. It was sweet and delicious. He then said in a disgusted tone "the farmer can't sell this watermelon, Japanese are zeitaku (living a luxurious life)." Any fruit or vegetable no matter how delicious, won't sell in any store unless the shape is perfect. This is my Japan, he muttered wiping a dirty hand across his forehead. Picking his hat off the ground and placed it over the wild spray of hair that radiated stiffly in all directions, he turned to see who was coming as the sun began to set.

A short old man with a permanent smile baked into his face emerged from the K-truck. A K-truck is a box car version of a pickup truck. He was Matsubara's new father-in-law, though the two are closer in age than Matsubara and his wife. His father-in-law brought out a bunch of rusty steel contraptions that had mean looking jaws. Now illegal in this town, these traps were to catch the crows that had been coming and preying on the new broccoli seedlings planted in the soil that once nurtured the rotting watermelons. A cool breeze blew as I was standing on brown soil in a field full of rotting watermelons at dusk as two men and one college student set and camouflaged six traps in the hopes of outsmarting the crows. Matsubara wrinkled his mouth and said these crows are smart, maybe smarter than me. The evening ended with a nice meal of eel over rice. Then I went back to the birth center.

I spent the rest of the time asking questions about midwifery in Japan.

Monday, September 8, 1997 - Tokyo, Japan
Earthquake
Awoke to an earthquake measuring a three. No one seemed to be too alarmed or even to notice it. I arrived in Tokyo to pouring rain. Went to the Foreign Press Club to continue reading about the elderly in Japan and try and find more info on midwives.

Had dinner with the eldest daughter of the family I am staying with in Akita. She moved from Akita and never went back. She is 30, unmarried and working in Tokyo. She is perfect for the project. She said that I could photograph her. Now I am trying to figure out when I can get back to Tokyo.

Observations as I walk around Tokyo:
1. Everyone is young, the differences are startling when you walk around small towns.
2. Older men meeting really young girls. I have read about this kind of mild prostitution where the men pay lots of money for the young girls to go on dates with them.
3. Virginia Slims is doing a huge cigarette campaign here in the bars. Beautiful women walking around handing out cigarettes for free to smokers in an effort to encourage them to switch to this American tobacco. Seems very smart and very evil. Evidently these jobs pay BIG bucks, and they are only part-time.
4. High School girls in really short skirts. The young girl helper syndrome is like another form of prostitution, these girls prostitute themselves for money so they can buy small cell phones and expensive cosmetics. Materialism at its worst.
5. High heels. Girls all over Tokyo wear these ridiculous high heels. I mean how in the world can they walk one block?
6. Gap between ages- Friday night saw a verbal fight between a guy about 55 and girl about 20. She was drunk and talking loudly on her handiphone(cell phone). He yelled at her saying to be quiet, that she was being annoyingly obnoxious. She yelled back and continued mouthing off. He continued mouthing back. I have never seen this before. No picture of this yet, but would really like to try and illustrate it.