Japanese Cultural Revolution

I have always felt that "Razor Ramon Hard Gay" was a champion for social change. This is especially true with his encouragement that even yankī aren't too cool to honor their father. Although he seemed like another crazy comedian stereotyping "homosexual behavior", I've felt that there was more going on under that pleather biker cap.

One of the toughest parts of being an English teacher in Japan is seeing a lot of really sweet kids run their lives into the ground. It's half their own doing, but society has some of the blame too. I've found myself on occasion arguing with teachers that we can't just give up on these kids now and label them as hopeless at 12. I know enough about child development to know that giving up on such kids at this age is the worst anyone can do to harm a whole life. But there is a culturally encouraged tradition in Japan to cast off people who are deemed "unworthy".

This is why it makes me really happy to see men like Yu Waki try to make an effort to turn things around for Japan. The Mainichi has a fairly good article on his work, and his book can be found here. The Japanese have a strange comfortable attitude about their organized crime popularly known as the "Yakuza". Someone once told me that they are the modern day representation of the Samurai clans. Although for the few more powerful families this may be factually true, I think it's a dangerous and manipulative myth in which the gangs put out. If you want to know more about the Yakuza, I'd suggest Tendo Shoko's book Yakuza Moon: Memiors of a Gangster's Daughter, and Robert Whiting's book Tokyo Underground: the Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan. I actually sat in on a presentation by Hiroyuki Suzuki on his efforts of rehabilitation of members of the Yakuza. It's more of a chirstian based effort, but his movie "Jesus is my Boss" is pretty interesting to watch despite the low production values. I think small movements like this will inch Japan towards real social change that is rooted in the community and culture of Japan and not merely an acquisition of western ideas of social progress.