where cider meets condensed milk: Kobe-- more than beef and earthquakes!

where cider meets condensed milk

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Kobe-- more than beef and earthquakes!

Benefits of being an occasional minion of the Ministry of Education, Sports, Science, Magic, Improper Use of Muggle Objects, and Technology: staying in fancy hotel rooms, being paid in crispy 10,000yen notes, and breakfasting with a view of sprawling cityscapes. Also, I keep stealing my namecard holders.

I went as a CLAIR lackey to the conference for recontracting JETs in Kobe for 3 days, which I mostly missed last year due to being in the hospital, so it was lucky to get a second chance to soak in the fun and general busyness. Nikki (my partner-in-crime/moderator) and I were stressing like crazy, but we had well over 100 people at every session, and a few people told me that hers was the most inspirational workshop they attended. (Hell, even I was motivated to be a good second year ALT after clicking through for her powerpoint!) Amazing Nikki has been running the JET Habitat for Humanity group this year, and has a position on the Peace Boat this summer when her contract ends. I also finally met Sylbeth, who took over Go MAD (the charity group) in the middle of last year, even though she was already coordinating the peer support network and a volunteer program in Vietnam. Sylbeth is a rockstar beyond belief! She took us to a great Turkish restaurant, which may have been my first. In general, I met so many neat people this past week that my head is still spinning.

My workshop topic was quietly changed in print to "Volunteering in Japan," minus the "social activism" segment under which I had applied. I couldn't officially do "social activism" as a representative of The Salaryman, especially since I was addressing topics such as whaling. Moreover, whaling is not a controversy because the whales are used for scientific research, and thus no one has the need to oppose it. No need for social activism when there's nothing ethically/morally/environmentally wrong to activate against. Apparently. Or at least in print. It wasn't really censorship, but more of a chance for me to make an awkward stab at being diplomatic. (I still brought up whaling, though under a thin veil of neutrality.)

On top of being overstressed and underslept, I stayed out far too late in the shiny lights of Kobe both nights, which helped with the stress issue but compounded the lack of sleep problem. I was knackered when I had to show up at work on Saturday morning! In a complete daze on Friday before heading home, Clairette and Vickywhiki and I stumbled across this Hostess Piggy-chan in Chinatown, to you who know true value. The area was an even bigger disappointment than Yokohama's. You'd think that Japan is close to China, and the food is similar, and a Chinatown would have decent shopping/eating, but Vancouver and San Francisco have the added advantage of lots and lots of Chinese people. Just like Japan to focus on style and forget the substance, like actual grains and nutrients in the bread, or permitted independent thought in schools after the age of 10...

posted by Raychaa @ 9:45 PM

3 comments:

At 1:27 PM, A said…

If your Kobe presentation was as inspiring as your blog entries have been, then I am sure you have motivated some new folks to get out in the world and participate. Thank you for being YOU!
At 5:07 PM, Anonymous said…

Rachel's presentation rocked the house. I, for one, was proud to see a big Okayama crowd present.
O-Ken, reprazent! [insert gang-like hand-gesture here]
At 2:55 AM, Anonymous said…

WHAT!? Is Rachel dissin' on hometown Yokohama Chinatown? Why you be trippin' yo???

PS. It is rather small in comparison to American Chinatowns... But at least its clean.