Clare's Adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun: G..

It's been a long while, in fact it's been 8 months (blimey!) but everyone's favourite editorial is back! And we're rolling onto... G!

G is for..

Government

The Prime Ministers of Japan have it tough. They scarcely make it to a year before plummeting public confidence and support ensures they are kicked out of office. Now the current Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, despite announcing his resignation in June within his first year of office, has broken the trend by insisting he won't step down until the 'Nuclear Crisis is Over'. But that will be months!!!

Kan: A headache for Japan?

Why is Naoto Kan so unpopular anyway?

Certainly Japan's debt, which is the only country in the world to have reached a debt at over 200% of its GDP (compare with the UK at just over 76%), is hardly his fault.

He has tried to improve relations with South Korea, though at the same time worsened relations with China (the fishing boat incident last September).

He relocated some of the controvertial US military troops to a Northen part of Okinawa.

He tried to weaken the out-of-control Yen vs the Dollar, though the effect proved only temporary.

On the other hand, he has made a couple of blunders, hinting at doubling sales tax, and my students insist he's useless or "junk" because he's not "assertive" and "bends to foreign pressure easily", though this behaviour is very typically Japanese.

So until a youthful, confident and assertive under-50 year old is appointed, who can come along and magic away the debt without touching taxes, I think I'll be stuck with hearing about my students whine about the Prime minister for the next several years.

G is for..
Gaming
I'm a Gamer, and I've been playing video games since I received my Gameboy when I was 7.
Games are huge in Japan, particularly the DS and PSP as they're portable. Smart Phones have also introduced a lot of serious gaming on cell phones too. At least half the people on trains nowadays have their faces glued to some portable device or another.

Trading Pokemon on the train with Yoko

But aside from the shocking marriage of a Japanese man to a character from the DS game Love Plus, the Japanese are pretty tame when it comes to obsessing over games...

Let's take a look at the rest of Asia!

In March 2010, the death of a 3 month old baby in South Korea was attributed to the parents' addiction to internet cafes where they were playing a game raising a virtual child. Link here
In January 2011, so-called young Game Addicts could be sent to a Boot Camp in South Korea to overcome their addiction and get some fresh air. Link here
Last month a 21 year old died in Incheon, South Korea from excessively playing for 3 years. Link here
Last month a 20 year old young man in the UK (not Asia, I know) died from excessive XBox playing. Link here

Grandma, don't play on your Wii too much!!!!!

G is for
Go-ko
The Go-ko （富士五湖） are also known as the Fuji Five Lakes, and as it happens, a couple of weeks back I took a trip there with my long-term internet friend, Stargate and University friend, Mel.

It's hard to rendezvous in a big city when the other person doesn't have a mobile phone, but we managed!!!