The Court of Peeves, Crotchets & Irks

It is currently Day 2 and Japan, and I finally feel like World Tour has started. Sydney and New Zealand were very similar to the United States, but Japan is, well, different. Yesterday, we sang a long concert yesterday in Fujisawa, a suburb of Tokyo. I am not kidding when I say it was long: the entire thing was over 5 hours with 3 intermissions! I think this demonstrates that there are some serious undercurrents of sadism in Japanese culture. I couldn’t imagine an American audience sitting through the whole thing.

It began with a big jazz band from Tokyo University performing what would have constituted an entire concert by American standards. Next was an Okinawa-style drum dance group. This was quite fun to watch, but, again, quite long. The dancers have varying sized drums, and stand in rows, doing very athletic dance moves and banging along to the music that is playing over the speakers. It reminded me of Bangra, except with drums. After that, there was a smaller jazz quartet, but we didn’t see them because we had to go get changed.

We came on last and sang the longest set I have ever performed in an a cappella concert. Our portion of the set lasted over an hour and a half, and we sang almost all the songs we know. Afterwords, there was a reception with lots of sushi, gyoza, buffalo wings and beer. They asked us to perform a few songs at the reception, and then we really did exhaust our entire repertoire–they heard literally every song we know except for Rachmaninov’s Ave Maria.

Here is a picture of us rehearsing before the concert:

After the reception, we all parted ways and headed back to our home-stays. Each whiff had his own host because the houses are too small and no family has enough room for more than one guest. My home-stay family is very nice, although sometimes we have trouble communicating. The father is an urban planner, so we have some common interests. He spent his childhood from age two to age eight in Chicago, so he is very interesting to speak to. When he does know what to say, he says it in a Chicago accent. But his command of English has faded some over the years, and he sometimes thinks to himself in Japanese or asks his wife for help. So his speech alternates from what sounds like perfect fluency to the broken English that is more common. (Of course, knowing hardly any Japanese myself, I am extremely grateful that the entire country has taken the time to learn my language, even if it sometimes less than perfect).

Today was a free day with no concerts. I had intended on meeting with a group of Whiffs at a nearby train station, but the station was bigger than I realized, and for some reason, I was unable to find them. It would have been nice to meet up with a few other people, but I decided to make lemonade, and I started out on my own. I decided to make my way to the Imperial palace (why not?). The first step was to figure out where I was on the train network. I have had a lot of experience wrangling it on my own on the train networks of London, Bangkok, Paris, Rome, and New York. None of that prepared me for Tokyo. I knew that Japanese people liked trains (I had even taken a few in Kyoto when I went five years ago for my brother) but the Tokyo train network is truly colossal. There are more trips made in a single day here than in an entire year on Amtrak, and the map of all the lines cannot be contained in a single drawing.

This is a picture of the map in my guidebook. It looks like spaghetti, yet it does not even contain all the stations on the express lines, much less the local ones:

I made my way to Shinjuku station, which I believe is the busiest in the world by traffic. After a few wrong turns, I managed to get onto the circular Yamanote Line and make my way to the Palace grounds. I was proud of myself, but still a little sad that I was all alone–many of the signs were in English, but I wished that there was someone to ask questions.

As I thought this, a group of four Tokyo University students approached me and asked if I spoke English. “Yes,” I replied. They were looking for someone to practice their english with, and they offered to show me around the Palace and the city. We spent the rest of the day seeing the sights and getting to know each other. We walked all around the Palace and the garden, explaining everything as we went, and then they took me to the Meiji shrine across town. At the end of the afternoon, we exchanged e-mails and parted ways.

Here is a picture of my new friends at the Palace gardens:

At the Meiji shrine we came across a Japanese wedding procession:

I’m in Auckland right now—more on that in a later post. But before it fades too much into the past, I wanted to write a bit about one of the crazy experiences in San Francisco: a visit to the Bohemian Grove. This, I discovered, is a private encampment in the redwood forests about two hours north of the city that is owned by an organization called the Bohemian Club. This is a fraternity composed mainly of two groups of people: rich Californians and artists. They have a clubhouse in downtown San Francisco, but for three weeks every summer, most of the membership (1000-1500, I think) treks out to the Grove for what they call a “Jinx.” This involves camping, hiking, eating and drinking together, singing, playing instruments, listening to shows and speeches, and socializing. I had never heard of the place before the Whiffenpoofs, so it isn’t quite famous, but everyone in San Francisco that we talked to seemed to know about it.

The Grove is organized into about 130 “camps,” and each member belongs to one of these. They have weird names like “Aviary,” and “Hill Billies,” and vary greatly in size and aesthetics. Some are very rustic with hardly any permanent structures. Others have posh cabins. A few have teepees. The most important feature that they all have in common is an open bar. In the evenings everyone wanders from camp to camp. There are no boundaries once you are inside, so little, in fact, that you are allowed to obey the call of nature on any tree except the ones that are marked with what looks a “No Parking” sign but whose meaning is slightly different.

When we walked in, the CEO of Wells Fargo was giving a speech about the economy to a large gathering of people around a lake. After settling in to our camp, Aviary, we enjoyed a few cocktails at some nearby camps, and then went to dinner. This meal and breakfast are eaten collectively at a central dining area. On the walk over we could hear organ music, which I later found out was coming from a large outdoor theatre built into the hillside where they stage an annual musical. After dinner, we sang at a variety show that included a really good saxaphonist, an big-band jazz orchestra, a comedien, a troupe of people who had done a really funny voiceover for a John Wayne movie, and a guy who juggled on a unicycle while playing the guitar. For the rest of the night, we wandered around and enjoyed the hospitality of various camps.

The coolest experience for me was the walk to breakfast the next morning. By the same lake that hosted the speech the previous afternoon, there was a full orchestra set up playing Tchaikovsky,with the forest in the background. They were mostly old men, and amateurs, but they were very enthusiastic and quite good. Unfortunately, because the club is quite secretive, I couldn’t take pictures outside of Aviary, although I would have liked to snap one of that lake. Here is one of the Aviary camp from a distance, showing our sleeping quarters.

This is one of me standing in the common area of Aviary.  The bar is directly in front of me (behind the camera). The posters in the background are posters for shows and performances that had been put on by the men of Aviary in the past.

For the next three months, I will be saying farewell to college by hopping around the globe with my a cappella group, the Yale Whiffenpoofs. To keep in touch with everyone and to preserve better my own memories, I am retrofitting this blog from a soapbox for my occasional rants and musings to a public journal of my adventures.

For reference, here is a rough summary of the itinerary:

May 27 - June 1: San Francisco
June 1 - June 6: Queenstown, New Zealand
June 6 - June 11: Auckland, New Zealand
June 11 - June 20: Japan (several cities, including Tokyo and Kyoto)
June 20 - June 24: Beijing, China
June 24 - June 27: Shanghai, China
June 27 - June 30: Bangkok, Thailand
June 30 - July 3: Phuket, Thailand
July 3 - July 7: Kathmandu, Nepal
July 7 - July 11: Udaipur, India
July 11 - July 15: Mumbai, India
July 15 - July 20: Capetown, South Africa
July 20 - July 27: France (several cities)
July 27 - July 31: GROUP BREAK (I’ll probably spend this in Paris or Brussels)
July 31 - August 4: Greece
August 4 - August 8: Istanbul, Turkey
August 8 - August 13: Israel (several cities)
August 13 - August 21: US Northeast

Because I have an (unfortunately) high tolerance for dealing with tedious and buggy technology, I have taken on the role of group photo-uploader. I purchased a pro account on Flickr, and will upload edited sets of photos to the following address:

flickr.com/photos/andrewstegmaier/collections/72157619028954698/

The edited sets contain what I think are the best photos. But because everyone has different tastes, I am also uploading complete sets that include every single photo taken by every Whiffenpoof–those in the edited set, plus many others. The complete sets are available here:

flickr.com/photos/andrewstegmaier/collections/72157619054318910/

There will be one edited set and one complete set for each place we visit on tour. So far, I have uploaded all the photos from California; the first New Zealand photos should be up soon too. Because I am uploading what I can, when I can, you will probably notice that sets will grow over time. So even if you’ve already looked at a set, there may be photos there that you haven’t yet seen. Also, free to share these links with anyone you know.

A few technical notes about Flickr: First, the the best way to view any set on your computer is to click on the “slide show” link. Second, you can also download the full-sized version of any photo that you like by clicking on the “all sizes” link above the photo, clicking on the “original size” option, then clicking “download original size. Finally, for some odd reason, the photos seem to look better on Safari than they do on Firefox or Internet Explorer on Windows or Mac. I think this has to do with the way that the browsers deal with what is called a “color profile” (I’m new to this too). I’m working on sorting this out, but in the mean time, if you have a choice, look at them in Safari–the colors will be more vibrant.

That’s all for now! Check back later for stories.

Although I don’t watch television news on a regular basis, I have been confronted on several occasions by examples of the bias at FOX News. Typically, this will involve my roommate casually walking over and saying something like “I can’t believe what Sean Hannity said today…”

Now its time to return the favor:

As Barticles points out, the CNN reporter is badgering this guy “with talking points that sound as if they were prepared by the White House Office of Public Relations.” Whatever your opinion is about who’s right, this exchange sounds more like it is coming from the Keith Olbermann show than from an interview by a field reporter of an average event participant.

My roommate might point out that in spite of the reporter’s failure to conceal her opinions, its quite possible to listen to this and get a sense of what is going on. Fair enough. But the same could be said of FOX—its the news, but with a little spin designed to get you to evaluate it one way or another.

I have no interest in defending FOX or any other form of television news. But the moral indignation directed solely at FOX’s (admittedly real) bias strikes me as a bit misplaced.

This is a real-life conversation between my roommate (”NG”) and an HP tech-support representative (”Harpreet”). He was having some trouble with his printer, so went online to chat with an “expert” about how to solve the problem. This is what happened:

(it doesn’t get truly otherworldly until the end, so read it all the way through)

NG : replaced the black ink cartridge. Black text no longer appears in my printed documents. However, black text appears properly on diagnostic page.
[An agent will be with you shortly.]
[You are now chatting with Harpreet .]
NG : hello
Harpreet : Welcome to HP Total Care for IPG. My name is Harpreet. Please give me a few moments while I review your problem description details.
Harpreet : As per the records with me you are referring to HP Deskjet 6980 printer, with WIN XP installed as an operating system on it. Am I correct?
NG : yes
NG : can you see my responses? I attempted another support chat earlier and the technician could not view my responses.
Harpreet : Nathaniel, please let me know more on the issue so that I may be able to assist and get the issue resolved at the earliest?
NG : ok, I replaced the black ink cartridge because it was empty
Harpreet : yes, i am bale to see you r responses..
NG : i tried to print several documents
Harpreet : sorry able to see
NG : from different programs (microsoft word, photoshop, etc)
NG : and the black text portions of the document do not print
NG : occasionally some “shadow text” appears that is very light grey
Harpreet : make sure the cartridges are filled?
NG : yes, all the cartridges are filled
NG : when i print a diagnostic page
NG : (by holding the power and cancel buttosn on the printer)
NG : it is fine
Harpreet : did you tried with another set of new cartridges?
NG : but when I print any documents from any software programs, the black text does not show up on thepage
NG : yes
NG : 2 different sets
NG : i have also tried cleaning the cartridges
Harpreet : ok, since when are you facing this issue?
NG : 2 days ago when I first attempted to replace the black ink cartridge
NG : i have rebooted the printer and the computer several times
Harpreet : please power off the printer.
Harpreet : unplug all the cables from the printer.
NG : ok
Harpreet : Press the power button for 35 seconds and plug back the cables.
Harpreet : turn on the printer.
Harpreet : try to print a test page and let me know.
NG : the microsoft word document still has no black text, except some very small blocks that look like the tops of words on 3 random lines
NG : however
NG : a diagnostic test page
NG : (by holding the power and cancel buttons on the printer) prints properly
NG : with color and black text
Harpreet : ok, please give me a moment
NG : ok
Harpreet : i am sending you alink, please open it and check how to know ink level, please tell me i am waiting. In the page, please check step 5.
Harpreet : http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00584666&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=467982&rule=22398&lang=en
NG : The print cartridges I’m using are remanufactured
NG : so they do not properly show the ink levels
NG : but they are both brand new
Harpreet : you mean to say are these cartridges refilled?
NG : THey were purchased as “remanufactured” ink cartridges, which I assume means recycled or refilled
NG : when I inserted them, a message appeared explaining that because these were not original HP cartridges, the ink monitors would not be accurate
Harpreet : this is what exactly happens when you use inferior quality cartridges in you Good HP printer
NG : I would blame the cartridges
NG : except
Harpreet : I am afraid if you continue to use it further it may permanently damaeg the hardware of the printer’
NG : when i print the diagnostic page, everything is correct
Harpreet : thats only because the printer is of superior quality
Harpreet : and as the stand alone prints due to internal memory of the printer
Harpreet : & it does not require a driver so it is printing
Harpreet : this indicates that still now there is life in the printer
Harpreet : which will soon go out with this inferior quality cartridges
NG : i have used these cartridges before with no problem
Harpreet : its my sincere preyer to you that please dont damage your beautiful printer for the sake of saving few dollers
NG : i appreciate your time and advice, though I must admit I am not convinced that this is the source of the problem
Harpreet : This means that you are trying to kill your printer gradually
NG : i will procure genuine HP catridges
NG : but if the problem remains I will be very upset
Harpreet : however its the best time
Harpreet : to stop
Harpreet : using refilled cartridges
Harpreet : THANK YOU

There is no doubt that the majority of Europeans are very happy that the majority of US voters chose to elect a Democrat—perhaps even more so than they would on a typical election year. As far as it goes, European good will is a nice thing to have. But the real benefits that “repairing our image abroad” is supposed to allow us to reap have to do with the areas of the world that have actually been causing problems for US  interests. And on this front—the most important front—it is far less likely that Obama’s image will be able to accomplish anything of substance, unless he drastically changes US policies to appease the governments that don’t like us—changes that would not be in our interest. I tried to make this point to my Obamaphile friends before the election, and it didn’t seem to have too much of an impact. After all, I’m just one voice of opposition in a sea of blue. But it looks like I’m finally getting some rhetorical help from, of all people, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad:

If you talk about change it must put an end to the US military presence in the world, withdraw your troops and take them back inside your borders. … If someone wants to talk with us in the language that [President] Bush used… even if he uses new words, our response will be the same that we gave to Bush during the past years.

I love that warm feeling you get when you read something by an author you respect that beautifully articulates something you already believe. In this case, I discovered that Charles Taylor, who is a genius, basically shares my assessment of Alisdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue. Here is a quote from Sources of the Self that I discovered today:

The sympathies of this type of outlook [one that rejects modernity root and branch] tend to be rather narrow, and their reading of the varied facets of the modern identity unsympathetic. The deeper moral vision, the genuine moral sources invoked in the aspiration to disengaged reason to expressive fulfillment tend to be overlooked, and the less impressive motives—pride, self-satisfaction, liberation from demanding standards—brought to the fore. Modernity is often read through its least impressive, most trivializing offshoots.

…

A penetrating book like Alisdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue can create the impression in some readers [me!] of dismissing the Enlightenment Project simply as a mistake.

This image is from the front page of the DisplayPort website. DisplayPort is a new video interface technology that aims to replace the DVI ports that are currently used to transmit video data from computers to monitors.

Pro-rail politicians have seized on the recent spike in gas prices as weapon in their rhetorical arsenal. I was happy to learn that Virginia and the Feds have decided to invest $13.5 million in improving the Richmond-DC rail link. Congress also passed a law, which President Bush will most likely sign, that, doubles Amtrak’s funding. How the railroad thinking of spending its extra cash? By sinking it into money-loosing long-distance routes.

In many cases, like between DC and Richmond, there is a good economic case to made for spending money on rail.  It is impossible to expect private money to fund rail to compete with our socialized road system, and there is sometimes reason to beleive that increased rail infastructure is what the free market would provide if it existed. However, the money-holes that are Amtrak’s long distance trains provide no such reason. The political nature of Amtrak’s funding insures that it will continue to make descision based more on bringing home the bacon than on effecient investment. This is why Amtrak should die and be replaced by inter-state cooperation on a more flexible, ad-hoc basis, and maybe, after de-socialization of roads, by private investors.

An interesting editorial in today’s Times-Dispatch discusses New York’s Riverside Church, whose pastors have been famous for combining active liberalism with Christianity. One such pastor was William Sloane Coffin (a former Yale chaplain), who, among other things, strenuously advocated gay rights, draft resistance, and global citizenship:

Coffin also conveyed insights that transcended partisanship, such as: “One trouble with guilt is that it often seeks punishment in order to avoid judgment; for while judgment demands a new way of life, punishment, by assuaging a bit the guilt, makes the old bearable anew.”

This is not the first time I have met someone attacking “guilt culture” in favor of “shame culture”. He doesn’t use the words “shame culture,” but the thing he does advocate —feeling the “judgment” of our peers (and, I would presume, not being afraid to judge them in return)—is essentially the same thing. As Helen remarks in her article, you can tell the opponents of shame culture by their slogan—“Don’t judge.”

Coffin practices a “hard” liberalism, the opposite of the bleeding-heart variety. In 1979, he accepted an invitation to minister to the American hostages in Iran so that he could lecture them against “indulging in self pity” (quoth wikipedia). If you beleive “hard liberalism” is not an oxymoron—and I think Coffin’s case proves that it isn’t—then you must also accept that there is nothing essentially liberal or conservative about guilt or shame culture. This make’s Helen’s argument much easier to swallow.