Solo Cooking for a Sustainable Planet is a cookbook I wrote in part as a protest because of friends who said to me, "I live alone so I don't cook," as if one is not worth cooking for. Or worse, a doctor's wife said to me, "I don't care what I put in my stomach. That really did it.
So, since I am also concerned about sustainability of our fragile planet facing multiple assaults on all fronts, I began working on this book. Because meat-eating on the American scale is unsustainable and leads to the highest rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity in the industrial world, this book contains no meat recipes. Rather, the approach is vegetarian and pescetarian, a diet approximating the Mediterrranean or traditional Japanese diet. There is a reason why the record for longevity is held by Okinawans living on the island south of the Japanese main island.
Recipes in this book are simple enough for the most reluctant cook to follow, and again, the book is designed for reluctant cooks, though anyone can profit from its use. The book also encourages experimentation in the kitchen, with suggested variations with many of the recipes. The idea is that cooking is fun, and it often produces the most delicious results.
Since I have spent many years in Japan, India, and Southeast Asia, many of the recipes reflect those influences. Those who use this book have a good chance of living to a healthy old age.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
REACHING NINETY
Ninety is a big number, so close to one hundred. I never expected to reach this advanced age. I guess I thought 75 would be my lifespan, the year 2,000 a nice round number. That years I made a photographic autobiography.
So now, reaching ninety, how does it feel? a friend asked. It means some reassessment, some musing on what this long life has meant to me or to anyone else. I can't speak for others--my family, friends, former students.
I can speak for myself. I know that I now have an acute Buddhist sense of transience, of the major importance of each day, each hour, often each minute. Live aware of the importance of each day, hour and minute, and live the best possible way that I can. Extreme mindfulness. Of course my body doesn't do at this age what it used to do. But I am walking still, not sitting in a wheelchair. I still enjoy life, good friends and food, nature. I still have fun.
I also know that it's imperative that I tell friends and family, those I care about, how much they mean to me, have meant to me. I am now doing this. I said, for example, to Paul Wood, that I could never forget how he helped me craft The Scent of Sake and Sugar and Smoke, or the imaginative poetry class he taught, when he thanked me for remembering him. He helped me follow my correct path. I know this is what I'm here on the planet to do: tell the stories of the voiceless, the subjugated. He was one of my most significant teachers. Some people remember grade school teachers. I don't, and of high school teachers I remember only Miss Glenn, who taught journalism, and Miss Denzel, choir director. University teachers I recall with varying degrees of gratitude.
And of gratitude, it is something I feel strongly at 90 because I have been so blessed, so lucky, during my long odyssey. I recall that Al Lagunero once said to me that he feels gratitude constantly. I think I do too, though maybe not as consciously or consistently as Al does. More of this later.
At 90, I'm also more aware of things of the spirit, that mysterious realm. Many examples have impressed me acutely: being unable to get out of bed one day in London though I was perfectly healthy. It turned out to be the day my mother died in Minnesota; the Easter morning when a dove walked into my Maui apartment as my friend Sue died; my two unexpected out-of-body experiences; or hearing Zsuzi's voice call me while swimming a few days after she died.
One evening sitting in bed with a yet unopened book in my hand, I had a sudden epiphany: it came to me that time and death are gifts, because if we had limitless time nothing we do would have the poignance or meaning they have given limited time.
Awareness suddenly of our mortality always causes people who recover from a near death illness to say, "Now I know what's important."
I must say that I have been so blessed, so lucky beyond luck, that I feel I must acknowledge my gratitude further. Too many examples come to mind to mention them all. In India I had the help of Col.G.S. Dhillon during my research in north central India on the Rani of Jhansi, research I could not have done without him. He was one of three national heroes tried for treason by the British for fighting for independence.
Or being offered a fellowship age 82 to the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore simply by asking Director Kesavapany if he knew where I might find funding to research the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army. Then being given research and translating assistance by a Malay-speaking Indian woman who also had me hosted by her daughter and five teen-age grandchildren in a town in Malaysia.
Or yesterday when I fell on the moving walkway in the Kahului Airport and was immediately picked up by a strong man behind me and never broke a bone!
Are these examples part of some unseen master plan protecting me, or simply plain luck? Psychics always tell me I have spirit guides, that we all have spirit guides who help us on our way. In any case, I am always grateful.
March 16, 2016
So now, reaching ninety, how does it feel? a friend asked. It means some reassessment, some musing on what this long life has meant to me or to anyone else. I can't speak for others--my family, friends, former students.
I can speak for myself. I know that I now have an acute Buddhist sense of transience, of the major importance of each day, each hour, often each minute. Live aware of the importance of each day, hour and minute, and live the best possible way that I can. Extreme mindfulness. Of course my body doesn't do at this age what it used to do. But I am walking still, not sitting in a wheelchair. I still enjoy life, good friends and food, nature. I still have fun.
I also know that it's imperative that I tell friends and family, those I care about, how much they mean to me, have meant to me. I am now doing this. I said, for example, to Paul Wood, that I could never forget how he helped me craft The Scent of Sake and Sugar and Smoke, or the imaginative poetry class he taught, when he thanked me for remembering him. He helped me follow my correct path. I know this is what I'm here on the planet to do: tell the stories of the voiceless, the subjugated. He was one of my most significant teachers. Some people remember grade school teachers. I don't, and of high school teachers I remember only Miss Glenn, who taught journalism, and Miss Denzel, choir director. University teachers I recall with varying degrees of gratitude.
And of gratitude, it is something I feel strongly at 90 because I have been so blessed, so lucky, during my long odyssey. I recall that Al Lagunero once said to me that he feels gratitude constantly. I think I do too, though maybe not as consciously or consistently as Al does. More of this later.
At 90, I'm also more aware of things of the spirit, that mysterious realm. Many examples have impressed me acutely: being unable to get out of bed one day in London though I was perfectly healthy. It turned out to be the day my mother died in Minnesota; the Easter morning when a dove walked into my Maui apartment as my friend Sue died; my two unexpected out-of-body experiences; or hearing Zsuzi's voice call me while swimming a few days after she died.
One evening sitting in bed with a yet unopened book in my hand, I had a sudden epiphany: it came to me that time and death are gifts, because if we had limitless time nothing we do would have the poignance or meaning they have given limited time.
Awareness suddenly of our mortality always causes people who recover from a near death illness to say, "Now I know what's important."
I must say that I have been so blessed, so lucky beyond luck, that I feel I must acknowledge my gratitude further. Too many examples come to mind to mention them all. In India I had the help of Col.G.S. Dhillon during my research in north central India on the Rani of Jhansi, research I could not have done without him. He was one of three national heroes tried for treason by the British for fighting for independence.
Or being offered a fellowship age 82 to the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore simply by asking Director Kesavapany if he knew where I might find funding to research the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army. Then being given research and translating assistance by a Malay-speaking Indian woman who also had me hosted by her daughter and five teen-age grandchildren in a town in Malaysia.
Or yesterday when I fell on the moving walkway in the Kahului Airport and was immediately picked up by a strong man behind me and never broke a bone!
Are these examples part of some unseen master plan protecting me, or simply plain luck? Psychics always tell me I have spirit guides, that we all have spirit guides who help us on our way. In any case, I am always grateful.
March 16, 2016
Monday, December 28, 2015
THE BUREAUCRATIZATION AND CORPORATIZATION OF AMERICAN ACADEME
Over the past seven decades a continually escalating bureaucratization and
corporatization of American higher education has occurred. Accompanying this
process has been a dramatic escalation in the cost of a university degree, with a consequent rise in student debt. This process has also raised questions in public perception about the value of this expensive education in terms of access to higher paying jobs.
The root cause of this escalation in the cost of a university degree can be traced not simply to the increase in all costs associated with the general rise in the cost of living. A more fundamental explanation is the burgeoning number of university administrators--university presidents, provosts, chancellors, vice chancellors in an ever-increasing number of areas. These university administrators who formerly were more academicians with specific educational specializations have morphed more recently into individuals without academic specialties but rather who are bureaucratic administrators dedicated more to the concerns of a corporation, an organization focused on economics rather than the academic mission. As such, these university administrators often award themselves with salaries and raises many times the salaries of the university faculty. The result is a distortion of the goal of higher education and an escalation of student debt. Students and faculty are basically paying the high salaries of university administrators.
corporatization of American higher education has occurred. Accompanying this
process has been a dramatic escalation in the cost of a university degree, with a consequent rise in student debt. This process has also raised questions in public perception about the value of this expensive education in terms of access to higher paying jobs.
The root cause of this escalation in the cost of a university degree can be traced not simply to the increase in all costs associated with the general rise in the cost of living. A more fundamental explanation is the burgeoning number of university administrators--university presidents, provosts, chancellors, vice chancellors in an ever-increasing number of areas. These university administrators who formerly were more academicians with specific educational specializations have morphed more recently into individuals without academic specialties but rather who are bureaucratic administrators dedicated more to the concerns of a corporation, an organization focused on economics rather than the academic mission. As such, these university administrators often award themselves with salaries and raises many times the salaries of the university faculty. The result is a distortion of the goal of higher education and an escalation of student debt. Students and faculty are basically paying the high salaries of university administrators.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
ON DEATH
I know from experience that the physical body and the spirit are not identical, that the spirit exists apart from the body and does not die together with the body. What's my evidence? As follows:
Twice my spirit left my body unintentionally. I was lying in bed on my back when suddenly my body became totally stiff and I felt my spirit leave from my feet, go up my body and out the top of my head. Another spirit came into the room and I tried to have a casual conversation, but didn't like
this red-headed male spirit. Fortunately, later my spiirt returned to my body. This experience was
repeated the second night. I was rather frightened and spoke to an Edgar Cayce devotee, a friend.
She told me to put my cat out, sprinkle salt in the room and in the bath, recite the Lord's Prayer,
23rd Psalm, and another Psalm, which I did. The experience was not repeated the third night.It happened during a full moon.
The day my mother died I was in London, unaware that she was dying that day, but I was, though
healthy, unable to get out of bed that day. When I returned to Boston my brother told me that was
the day my mother died.
When my close friend Sue died on Maui, it was Easter morning and my brother was visiting.
The patio door was open and just as she died, a dove walked into my living room, the first
and only time that happened. The dove is a symbol of the human spirit, I later realised was
Sue's spirit saying good-bye as she died that Easter morning. When a couple of week later I went to church and was returning,a dove flew along beside my car on the driver's side.
Another friend who was regarded as the "Upcountry Mayor": on Maui, having brought water
to parts of the Island, died. Her children took part of her ashes to scatter on some pipes that
were on the road. Though there was no wind that day, when they scattered some ashes,
they rose straight up in a circle. Later, when her son was shaving one morning, the light went
out. He said, "Mom, if you did that, please turn the light back on." The light went back on.
These events serve as a constant reminder to me that the human spirit does not die with the body, which is a temporary vehicle for the spirit.
My friend, Pastor Heather Mueller, commented that these experiences were a gift, giving me the
assurance of the enduring life of the spriit.
I know from experience that the physical body and the spirit are not identical, that the spirit exists apart from the body and does not die together with the body. What's my evidence? As follows:
Twice my spirit left my body unintentionally. I was lying in bed on my back when suddenly my body became totally stiff and I felt my spirit leave from my feet, go up my body and out the top of my head. Another spirit came into the room and I tried to have a casual conversation, but didn't like
this red-headed male spirit. Fortunately, later my spiirt returned to my body. This experience was
repeated the second night. I was rather frightened and spoke to an Edgar Cayce devotee, a friend.
She told me to put my cat out, sprinkle salt in the room and in the bath, recite the Lord's Prayer,
23rd Psalm, and another Psalm, which I did. The experience was not repeated the third night.It happened during a full moon.
The day my mother died I was in London, unaware that she was dying that day, but I was, though
healthy, unable to get out of bed that day. When I returned to Boston my brother told me that was
the day my mother died.
When my close friend Sue died on Maui, it was Easter morning and my brother was visiting.
The patio door was open and just as she died, a dove walked into my living room, the first
and only time that happened. The dove is a symbol of the human spirit, I later realised was
Sue's spirit saying good-bye as she died that Easter morning. When a couple of week later I went to church and was returning,a dove flew along beside my car on the driver's side.
Another friend who was regarded as the "Upcountry Mayor": on Maui, having brought water
to parts of the Island, died. Her children took part of her ashes to scatter on some pipes that
were on the road. Though there was no wind that day, when they scattered some ashes,
they rose straight up in a circle. Later, when her son was shaving one morning, the light went
out. He said, "Mom, if you did that, please turn the light back on." The light went back on.
These events serve as a constant reminder to me that the human spirit does not die with the body, which is a temporary vehicle for the spirit.
My friend, Pastor Heather Mueller, commented that these experiences were a gift, giving me the
assurance of the enduring life of the spriit.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
The Two Most Important Things I've Learned in Life
I decided recently to ask all my friends, relatives and even people I meet casually this question:
what are the two most important things you've learned in your life? The variety of responses has been fascinating. I quote them here as I heard them, without editorial comment. My own two things appear after all the other quotes. I do not identify any respondent or the respondent's work in life. I quote the two together for each respondent. In some cases a respondent could give only one reply. The response the importance of family was so frequent that I have not repeated it unless it was accompanied by a more unusual response. I discovered that people under about forty are usually unable to reply meaningfully.
Most of the things I was taught are wrong.
Raising two sons successfully far outweighs the satisfaction of any award I've received.
My word is my bond.
Take each day at a time. The importance of family.
Love is a spiritual dimension. The importance of strategizing and prioritizing.
If you have love and work you have everything.. The need to prioritize in life.
Having the courage to do what I want to do. Having respect for friends, family, all whom I meet.
The importance of patience. That there's a limit to tolerance.
The Importance of friendship and compassion.
My brothers are from Mars and I'm from Venus and I need to accept them for what they are.
No matter how hurt you are, time does heal.
Don't build your whole life around one person. It's more important to make memories with your children
than to buy them things.
Everyone wants the same thing: love.
Don't take anything for granted. Treat others as you want to be treated.
Life is to be shared--requires love. Stay the course--requires faith.
You can find good people wherever you go. Nothing in life is final; everything can be worked on.
To love my wife. That I can arise each day.
Not to harbor resentment--let it go. To do the most I can to make others happy.(102 year old person)
Be nice to your kids. They'll choose.
Just be yourself. Treat everyone as you want to be treated.
To be with Jesus Christ. To love my husband.
To love my wife. This life is just a small slice of eternal life.
Showing consideration in everything you do. Being on time.
You have to train people how to treat you.
I can do whatever I put my mind to. Exercise improves both my physical and mental health.
Religion is nonsense. Death is no big deal.
Relationships are the most important to me.
Luck is the most important determinant of success: good genes, growing up in a democracy, access to education, loving parents.
Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Importance of work.
Never stop learning and share what you know. Remember how it felt when you first figured something out.
shaare that feeling with others.
Be nice. You don't have to be kind. Nice is good enough. But kind is good too.
To speak my mind. To know when to shut up.
To work. Gratitude to my parents for letting me do what I wanted to do.
To be able to meet people from a variety of backgrounds and relate to them.
To appreciate each day.
Take each day at a time. Nothing is more important than family.
The older I get, the more compassionate I am.
It's important not to judge, to separate the act from the person.
You need to decide your goal for the future by age 21 or so. Life is a series of random events, and despite planning, you should take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
The separation of nature and nurture is artificial; the two are intertwined and can't be separated.
Life is a crapshoot.
To focus on what you're doing or thinking. Time and death are gifts; if we had limitless time nothing we do
would have any meaning.
what are the two most important things you've learned in your life? The variety of responses has been fascinating. I quote them here as I heard them, without editorial comment. My own two things appear after all the other quotes. I do not identify any respondent or the respondent's work in life. I quote the two together for each respondent. In some cases a respondent could give only one reply. The response the importance of family was so frequent that I have not repeated it unless it was accompanied by a more unusual response. I discovered that people under about forty are usually unable to reply meaningfully.
Most of the things I was taught are wrong.
Raising two sons successfully far outweighs the satisfaction of any award I've received.
My word is my bond.
Take each day at a time. The importance of family.
Love is a spiritual dimension. The importance of strategizing and prioritizing.
If you have love and work you have everything.. The need to prioritize in life.
Having the courage to do what I want to do. Having respect for friends, family, all whom I meet.
The importance of patience. That there's a limit to tolerance.
The Importance of friendship and compassion.
My brothers are from Mars and I'm from Venus and I need to accept them for what they are.
No matter how hurt you are, time does heal.
Don't build your whole life around one person. It's more important to make memories with your children
than to buy them things.
Everyone wants the same thing: love.
Don't take anything for granted. Treat others as you want to be treated.
Life is to be shared--requires love. Stay the course--requires faith.
You can find good people wherever you go. Nothing in life is final; everything can be worked on.
To love my wife. That I can arise each day.
Not to harbor resentment--let it go. To do the most I can to make others happy.(102 year old person)
Be nice to your kids. They'll choose.
Just be yourself. Treat everyone as you want to be treated.
To be with Jesus Christ. To love my husband.
To love my wife. This life is just a small slice of eternal life.
Showing consideration in everything you do. Being on time.
You have to train people how to treat you.
I can do whatever I put my mind to. Exercise improves both my physical and mental health.
Religion is nonsense. Death is no big deal.
Relationships are the most important to me.
Luck is the most important determinant of success: good genes, growing up in a democracy, access to education, loving parents.
Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Importance of work.
Never stop learning and share what you know. Remember how it felt when you first figured something out.
shaare that feeling with others.
Be nice. You don't have to be kind. Nice is good enough. But kind is good too.
To speak my mind. To know when to shut up.
To work. Gratitude to my parents for letting me do what I wanted to do.
To be able to meet people from a variety of backgrounds and relate to them.
To appreciate each day.
Take each day at a time. Nothing is more important than family.
The older I get, the more compassionate I am.
It's important not to judge, to separate the act from the person.
You need to decide your goal for the future by age 21 or so. Life is a series of random events, and despite planning, you should take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
The separation of nature and nurture is artificial; the two are intertwined and can't be separated.
Life is a crapshoot.
To focus on what you're doing or thinking. Time and death are gifts; if we had limitless time nothing we do
would have any meaning.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
LETTER FROM TOKYO
November 16, 2013
I decided to make another trip to Tokyo this year to show my friends there who had visited me in the hospital last year when I had my hip replacement that I'm not disabled. I stayed as usual at the elegant International House of Japan situated in a famous ancient garden, a serene oasis in the midst of Tokyo's frantic pace. The most exciting event at I House during my stay was the appearance of the Empress to attend a meeting. As I stood at the railing of the stairs up which she was scheduled to climb, I was moved back from the railing by one of the forty-man security detail, since no one is ever allowed to look down on a member of the Royal Family.
The day following my arrival, Caroline Kennedy, our new ambassador tro Japan, as well as the Dalai Lama arrived. And on November 16th Bill Clinton and Adam Powell both arrived to participate in an international conference. This confluence of world power and wealth is a daily feature of Tokyo. The choice of Caroline Kennedy for ambassador was greeted enthusiastically, people lining the streets to catch a glimpse of her as she rode in a horse-drawn carriage to present her credentials to the Emperor. Papers report that she has been studying the language, including the world's most difficult writing system. Japanese have a fondness for the last survivor of Camelot, and her choice as ambassador was propitious.
Beyond this confluence of wealth and power at the top, drastic cultural changes are ocurring at other levels of society, amounting to a social revolution. Many young women turn their backs on the traditional role of
wife and mother, and this extraordinary negative attitude toward marriage is shared also by men. While they may choose to live together, co-habiting does not include choosing to have children, as in the U.S. I pointed out to a successful career woman that this demographic shift would have drastic consequences for Japan as the government struggles to provide health cafre for the elderly. She replied, "Why should I care about the future of Japan?" This absolutely shocked me, such a shift in attitude toward one's nation. She, like many in her position, feels no sense of responsibility for the consequences of her choice.
The broader range of life choices for women today, accoding to economists, has not provided women with greater equality.. Wealth and powoer still gravitate to men in what remains an androcentric society. If women choose a university course in the arts rather than in sciences, this choice perpetuates a track leading either to clerical employment or to marriage and children.
There is general scepticism about what the government is telling citizens, something aggravated by the tsunami and nuclear disaster and fall-out, with the accompanying dissembling by Tepco. One friend said to me, "It's like World War II, when the government told us we were winning."
I had two opportunities to walk around on the sidewalks, one day in the Nippori kimono and fabric area in old Tokyo, and another on the Ginza on a Sunday, when the whole street is closed to traffic and the resulting surge of pedestrians offers arresting sights. The contrast between the two areas was stark: the Nippori district marked by rows of small shops, vestiges of old Edo, and then the Ginza with rows of up-scale stores selling designer goods from Paris, Milan, and other fashion centers.
Walking in Tokyo can be hazardous, since apart from the crowds, many pedestrians have their heads down, eyes glued to the phones in their hands. Collisons are inevitable, and the general response is just to keep walking rather than to apologize.
On the Ginza I spotted many men carrying babies in chest slings and not one woman carrying a baby on her back, the traditional method that allowed her to keep working. Several women had small dogs, each dog coated despite the warm weather. One young man had a baby carriage for his little dog. Chairs and tables dotted the center of the road, where people sat enjoying the weather and the passing scene. Another Ginza sight attested to the prosperous consumer economy: shoppers not only carrying large bags but also trundling suitcases to hold their many purchases.
Japan has long been known as a country whose people are so honest that if someone loses a wallet, not to worry. Some kind, honest soul will take it to the nearest koban, where it will be kept safely until the owner appears to claim it. The Japanese community police system, with a police box at every major intersection, has been cited as a model for other countries. This too is changing. The crime rate has risen dramatically,
in particular for cell phones and other high-tech products. I gained insight into this phenomenon when I could not find my new iPhone and reported it stolen. This necessitated international phone calls to my insurance company, to Apple, and to AT&T. I had to visit the ward police station to report it stolen. For two hours I sat in a grubby interrogation room while a young police officer spent the entire time re-writing the same page by hand on endless pieces of paper, jumping up and down to get more paper as he balled up many he had written with errors. When I asked why he didn't use a copy machine, he vigorously replied, "no copy." At the end of two hours all I gained was a case number. I was left wondering what had happened to the vaunted police efficiency in Japan, and whether this paper-pushing frenzy could ever result in solving a crime.
I later found my iPhone in an unobtrusive pocket in my carry-on, much to my chagrin.
As I prepared to leave Tokyo I told friends this was my last trip. I said the same thing last year, but this time it somehow felt different.
Aloha,
Joyce Lebra
November 16, 2013
I decided to make another trip to Tokyo this year to show my friends there who had visited me in the hospital last year when I had my hip replacement that I'm not disabled. I stayed as usual at the elegant International House of Japan situated in a famous ancient garden, a serene oasis in the midst of Tokyo's frantic pace. The most exciting event at I House during my stay was the appearance of the Empress to attend a meeting. As I stood at the railing of the stairs up which she was scheduled to climb, I was moved back from the railing by one of the forty-man security detail, since no one is ever allowed to look down on a member of the Royal Family.
The day following my arrival, Caroline Kennedy, our new ambassador tro Japan, as well as the Dalai Lama arrived. And on November 16th Bill Clinton and Adam Powell both arrived to participate in an international conference. This confluence of world power and wealth is a daily feature of Tokyo. The choice of Caroline Kennedy for ambassador was greeted enthusiastically, people lining the streets to catch a glimpse of her as she rode in a horse-drawn carriage to present her credentials to the Emperor. Papers report that she has been studying the language, including the world's most difficult writing system. Japanese have a fondness for the last survivor of Camelot, and her choice as ambassador was propitious.
Beyond this confluence of wealth and power at the top, drastic cultural changes are ocurring at other levels of society, amounting to a social revolution. Many young women turn their backs on the traditional role of
wife and mother, and this extraordinary negative attitude toward marriage is shared also by men. While they may choose to live together, co-habiting does not include choosing to have children, as in the U.S. I pointed out to a successful career woman that this demographic shift would have drastic consequences for Japan as the government struggles to provide health cafre for the elderly. She replied, "Why should I care about the future of Japan?" This absolutely shocked me, such a shift in attitude toward one's nation. She, like many in her position, feels no sense of responsibility for the consequences of her choice.
The broader range of life choices for women today, accoding to economists, has not provided women with greater equality.. Wealth and powoer still gravitate to men in what remains an androcentric society. If women choose a university course in the arts rather than in sciences, this choice perpetuates a track leading either to clerical employment or to marriage and children.
There is general scepticism about what the government is telling citizens, something aggravated by the tsunami and nuclear disaster and fall-out, with the accompanying dissembling by Tepco. One friend said to me, "It's like World War II, when the government told us we were winning."
I had two opportunities to walk around on the sidewalks, one day in the Nippori kimono and fabric area in old Tokyo, and another on the Ginza on a Sunday, when the whole street is closed to traffic and the resulting surge of pedestrians offers arresting sights. The contrast between the two areas was stark: the Nippori district marked by rows of small shops, vestiges of old Edo, and then the Ginza with rows of up-scale stores selling designer goods from Paris, Milan, and other fashion centers.
Walking in Tokyo can be hazardous, since apart from the crowds, many pedestrians have their heads down, eyes glued to the phones in their hands. Collisons are inevitable, and the general response is just to keep walking rather than to apologize.
On the Ginza I spotted many men carrying babies in chest slings and not one woman carrying a baby on her back, the traditional method that allowed her to keep working. Several women had small dogs, each dog coated despite the warm weather. One young man had a baby carriage for his little dog. Chairs and tables dotted the center of the road, where people sat enjoying the weather and the passing scene. Another Ginza sight attested to the prosperous consumer economy: shoppers not only carrying large bags but also trundling suitcases to hold their many purchases.
Japan has long been known as a country whose people are so honest that if someone loses a wallet, not to worry. Some kind, honest soul will take it to the nearest koban, where it will be kept safely until the owner appears to claim it. The Japanese community police system, with a police box at every major intersection, has been cited as a model for other countries. This too is changing. The crime rate has risen dramatically,
in particular for cell phones and other high-tech products. I gained insight into this phenomenon when I could not find my new iPhone and reported it stolen. This necessitated international phone calls to my insurance company, to Apple, and to AT&T. I had to visit the ward police station to report it stolen. For two hours I sat in a grubby interrogation room while a young police officer spent the entire time re-writing the same page by hand on endless pieces of paper, jumping up and down to get more paper as he balled up many he had written with errors. When I asked why he didn't use a copy machine, he vigorously replied, "no copy." At the end of two hours all I gained was a case number. I was left wondering what had happened to the vaunted police efficiency in Japan, and whether this paper-pushing frenzy could ever result in solving a crime.
I later found my iPhone in an unobtrusive pocket in my carry-on, much to my chagrin.
As I prepared to leave Tokyo I told friends this was my last trip. I said the same thing last year, but this time it somehow felt different.
Aloha,
Joyce Lebra
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
BOULDER'S THOUSAND-YEAR RAIN
For many months, in fact over two years, Boulder had been suffering from, if not drought, at least insufficient
rain. Everyone hoped for rain. Then on Monday, September 9th, it began to rain, not a gentle rain but a genuine monsoon rain. This was not the formerly common gentle afternoon rain of Boulder summers, but a torrential rain. Tuesday all day and night the rain continued. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it continued
and residents of much of northern Colorado were horrified.
The results of this monsoon were catastrophic, especially in areas of Boulder that sat in a flood plain.
And Boulder was not alone. Whole mountain towns were obliterated. Rushing rivers changed course, destroying over two hundred miles of highways. Houses were uprooted and people scrambled to
safety. The town Lyons was totally cut off from the outside. Mountain towns such as Jamestown
were a thing of the past. The Red Cross opened a shelter in the YMCA to accommodate evacuees,
and some churches also provided shelter for those who had lost their homes.
Boulder's most costly retirement residence, Frasier, had to evacuate all assisted living and total care
residents to other facilities, not only in Boulder but in Denver and environs. Some residents in independent living there had to evacuate apartments flooded with mud and grease. There is at this time no known plan to rebuild these destroyed facilities.
In the nearby Bramford, where I live, we were high and dry and feel very fortunate. We were totally
spared, just a block from the trashed Frasier, where the flooded garage also destroyed cars in the
mudslide.
It will be many years before Boulder and surrounding towns can be restored to normal and also
until Colorado residents can breathe more easily in this region so subject to flooding and also
to forest fires. It is in large part due to the warnings of internationally known geologist Gilbert
White that Boulder did what planning it did to avert even more serious consequences of this
disastrous flood.
rain. Everyone hoped for rain. Then on Monday, September 9th, it began to rain, not a gentle rain but a genuine monsoon rain. This was not the formerly common gentle afternoon rain of Boulder summers, but a torrential rain. Tuesday all day and night the rain continued. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it continued
and residents of much of northern Colorado were horrified.
The results of this monsoon were catastrophic, especially in areas of Boulder that sat in a flood plain.
And Boulder was not alone. Whole mountain towns were obliterated. Rushing rivers changed course, destroying over two hundred miles of highways. Houses were uprooted and people scrambled to
safety. The town Lyons was totally cut off from the outside. Mountain towns such as Jamestown
were a thing of the past. The Red Cross opened a shelter in the YMCA to accommodate evacuees,
and some churches also provided shelter for those who had lost their homes.
Boulder's most costly retirement residence, Frasier, had to evacuate all assisted living and total care
residents to other facilities, not only in Boulder but in Denver and environs. Some residents in independent living there had to evacuate apartments flooded with mud and grease. There is at this time no known plan to rebuild these destroyed facilities.
In the nearby Bramford, where I live, we were high and dry and feel very fortunate. We were totally
spared, just a block from the trashed Frasier, where the flooded garage also destroyed cars in the
mudslide.
It will be many years before Boulder and surrounding towns can be restored to normal and also
until Colorado residents can breathe more easily in this region so subject to flooding and also
to forest fires. It is in large part due to the warnings of internationally known geologist Gilbert
White that Boulder did what planning it did to avert even more serious consequences of this
disastrous flood.
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