I always like to comment on the social quirks I encounter here in Japan. One of my favorite quirks is Hello Kitty. Though Hello Kitty is known in the west, the sheer quantity of Hello Kitty merchandise available is staggering. Many Japanese toy stores and department stores have entire sections dedicated to items depicting her mouthless feline visage. McDonald's stores in Japan use her as a logo. Every McDonald's store has countless signs depicting Hello Kitty in her McDonald's uniform (including the pink shirt and gray skirt that women wear), being a good employee, carefully conforming to the rigorous expectations of Japanese restaurant managers. Because Japanese society emphasizes conformity and working with the group, I decided to explore this phenomena on a more personal level. I went Hello Kitty shopping. I sought an inexpensive item emblazoned with a colorful depiction of this Japanese icon. I went to "the store" in Kamogawa--Jusco. This four-story monstrosity would not let me down in my quest for conformity (at least the level of conformity that can be achieved by a 6'3" caucasian in Japan). I was not disappointed. Here is a brief listing of the Hello Kitty items I found: -A life preserver -Plush toy in summer clothes -Paper Clip -Stationary -Lunch boxes -Lunch box wrappers -Colorful t-shirts -Bags, Backpacks, Purses -Chopsticks -Pens, Pencils, Markers -Cellular phone ornaments -Radios -Clocks -Books -Comics Alas, there were no Hello Kitty ties. I decided to get the plush toy in summer clothes and the paper clip. My desire to conform to this social norm was so strong that I was unwilling to hold out for the plush toy in fall clothes, though the fall wardrobe was likely to be more tasteful than the summer garb. Todd Swanson, the graduate medical director at Kameda, left town on Thursday. Mr. Wocher held a party for him at his house. We dined on salmon salad, fruit salad, and stew. All of it was very good. We also had a few beers and some excellent wine. At the end of the evening, we watched the Everest DVD. Earlier this summer, I read "Into Thin Air," a book describing an Everest climb. The movie was much more interesting to me based on reading that book. Mr. Wocher has a region-free DVD player, so he can rent DVDs here and import them from the United States. That situation is most beneficial. The following night (Todd's last night in town), Todd, Jon Collings, and Dr. Charu (a doctor from India) and I went out for pizza. The name of the restaurant was Stuffs. Pizza here is okay, but they haven't discovered the use of tomato sauce yet. I really miss American pizza and plan to eat it the night I return to the US. Last Thursday was a holiday in Japan--Ocean Day. We all took the day off. I spent it relaxing and trying to get some rest. I walked around and took some pictures in the late afternoon. I have yet to understand the point of having a holiday on Thursday and returning to work on Friday, but what can you do? Thursday seemed like a Sunday to many people and threw off our schedules quite a bit. Increasing numbers of alcohol related revelations are coming down the pipeline. Apparently, many stores sell two and three liter bottles of beer. The bottles look like the clay jars used to hold moonshine that are frequently depicted in cartoons and movies about the South. I have a morbid fascination with this alcohol delivery instrument. I must sample it before I leave. Speaking of beer, I discovered yesterday that they give free samples of alcohol products in the grocery store. They had Asahi beer and some wine cooler drink available for sampling. I know Asahi well and passed on that opportunity. The wine cooler drink was not very good. A cooler should be identified by its Kool Aid-like flavor and lack of alcohol. This tasted like alcohol. How are twelve year old girls supposed to get drunk on something like that? Perhaps that's the point. Those who have read these journals religiously will remember a drinking episode I had with Dr. Kokubo. He is the pathologist at Kameda and can drink sake like water. He took Mr. Wocher's English class out on Friday night. As a teacher, I was included. After the last time I drank with Kokubo, I made a vow to never drink beer and sake together. That vow was broken quickly that night. Under the pretense of learning about social arrangements in Japan, I was slamming down sake and beer. Without getting into much detail, I will say that the reason for my vow was clearly remembered the following morning. I was not hung over, but it was extremely hard to get going. The combination really wiped me out. Lacking an appropriate transition, I won't use one...Sumo has been on TV in the last several days. I have developed an appreciation for the sport. You basically have two guys weighing between 400 and 700 pounds trying to push each other out of a ring or to the ground. The matches are very short, usually less than 30 seconds. There is a lot of preparation involved before the matches that they show--throwing salt and looking menacingly across the ring at your opponent. A particularly large sumo competitor, Akebono (640 lbs) won the tournament after a long dry spell. They gain their weight by eating a special stew. On hot days, sumo competitors are not up to their full strength, because the amount of stew they can consume is much more limited. The weather for this tournament has been more favorable and few complaints have been registered about it. Jon Collings' mother arrived in town on Friday night. Jon and I gave her the grand tour of Kamogawa, focusing primarily on the Jusco department store and places to eat. We spent much time walking around outside. I don't think I have ever been sunburned so many times in one summer. It seems like every time I go out, I end up with many lobster-like characteristics. The Japanese desire to put English texts on the labels of products has led to some interesting transliteration problems. On a Green Life brand flashlight: "User-friendly quality" "Express your personality in a freer and more individualistic manner." That seems a bit extreme for a flashlight, but what do I know? I am leaving here in about three weeks. I looked at my flight itinerary and noticed that I arrive in Oklahoma City four minutes before I leave Tokyo. The jet lag implications are interesting. I didn't suffer too much on the way over. I hope I am similarly blessed on the way back. There is not much to report from work. The vancomycin resistant infection project has been tabled. The poking around done on the project (or maybe it was a coincidence) has yielded action. A new policy is being put in place to more carefully control the use of vancomycin at Kameda. The work on the web use is an ongoing battle, though I am working on setting up Front Page 2000 on Mr. Wocher's computer. The big project right now is the informed consent project. I have done a pretty thorough literature review and have a lot of articles supporting the wider use of informed consent in Japanese hospitals. We are also going to do a survey to find out what factors might cause a Japanese physician to inform competant patients of a serious diagnosis. This should be a good paper. This seems like a good way to wrap up.
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