Where is the love

Today's blog, unfortunately, has no photographs. There was simply nothing that caught my eye over the weekend. My apologies.

This weekend I attended a Vietnamese New Years Celebration at a local Buddhist temple with my host family. The food was great. For once I got to eat until I was full. The people were also very fun. One of the head priests is the older brother of my host mother and he was especially active. As we went around the congregation make introductions in front of everyone, he would make interjections and jibes that kept the whole thing moving. One such remark was that I looked like Gregory Peck. I'm not sure I see the resemblance.

On a more somber note, the congregation was filled with mostly Vietnamese immigrants. One told a story about when he and 15 other people fled North Vietnam 20 years ago. 2 of them died on the way. Unfortunately, Japan did not offer much relief. They were granted the status of non-citizen with all the rights it did not afford. They had trouble finding employment as well as overcoming the language barrier (some there that day weren't fluent in Japanese, despite living there for many years). They were eventually granted citizen status, but that did not end the discrimination. Even there children, who grew up in Japan, had trouble finding something to do after their 15 years of compulsory education. Colleges wouldn't accept them and their upwards mobility was almost non-existent.

Another of the congregation was from Brazil. His mother was Japanese while his father was Brazilian. Since he was of Japanese descent, he was granted citizenship, but because of his appearance, he was about as welcome as the Vietnamese.

I, being of American Stock (that is to say, the mutt of nationalities), “suffer” something called positive discrimination. I am afforded the utmost respect as a foreigner and this treatment led me to chuckle to myself upon seeing a bar that was open to “natives only”. Make no mistake, today’s Japan still has its problems when it comes to human rights. Another person I met there observed that Japan hid behind a mask of politeness. It is hard to get a true read on anyone because of this.

Hmm, kind of hesitant to publish this under my true name. If you’re a government agent, please don’t kick me out. I really like being here. Much obliged.

Anything, I have to say after this seems sort of pointless. Let me just say this: for everyone reading this, you are very lucky. There are places in life that we have been fortunate enough to be ignorant of, but it is this very ignorance that blinds us to the fortunes of others. You know how this speech runs. Just be aware and do what you can.