tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44882484628441331202024-03-01T14:39:09.188+09:00Sophelia's JapanWith vegetarianism, dogs, martial arts and geekiness.Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.comBlogger271125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-27853727309087220572018-08-08T16:35:00.000+09:002018-08-09T06:09:48.581+09:00Tokyo Medical University Scandal and a Broken Social Contract
Image from https://twitter.com/BFJNews/status/1026697347856838656
Even if you don’t usually follow Japanese news, you’ll have
no doubt read about the Tokyo Medical University scandal by now. In summary,
women were outperforming men on the entrance examination, so the university
began docking the scores of all female applicants in order to maintain a male majority
in both the program Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-88236384990198551892017-07-02T18:37:00.002+09:002017-08-27T07:08:03.078+09:00Pictures are... Gone.So Photobucket have suddenly decided they won't allow hotlinking, and have punished me by suspending my account (and locking all my photos) until I pay them a hefty ransom. Which I won't be doing, because I have no money. So... yeah. Screw them. I apologise that most of the pictures on this blog are no longer visible. Realistically I will never have the time to go through, find them all, Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-13807022974536790272017-05-25T13:48:00.000+09:002017-05-25T13:48:42.916+09:00Over-worked Teachers
A few weeks ago the Asahi Shimbun published an article reporting that public school teachers are now considered at risk of death from over work (karoshi). The article opens with
The minister of education, Hirokazu Matsuno, expressed shock at a survey that shows teachers at public elementary and junior high schools are regularly putting in 11-hour days, placing some at risk of dying from Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-28039333245048026942017-05-02T15:19:00.000+09:002017-07-13T13:35:43.020+09:00Life After Institutionalisation
Copyrighted by Human Rights Watch
Tiger was telling me last-night about an orphanage trip to USJ. They'd gone on the Jaws ride, but he didn't know what a shark was so he didn't really understand it. His main impression was that it smelled funny. Despite the well intentioned efforts of the orphanage staff, the system is filled with these strange gaps where things most children simply absorb Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-13697452226673760912017-04-25T05:00:00.000+09:002017-07-13T13:36:33.791+09:00Habits
Like a fish out of water
I used to think of cultural habits as located in the mind, but since attempting to reintegrate into life in Australia I have found my body far more often than my mind either betraying my acquired foreignness, or reminding me of habits I had never noticed I had before suddenly finding myself practising them again. Bowing is, of course, the quintessential physical Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-52833451803790674852017-04-19T08:02:00.000+09:002017-04-19T08:04:21.383+09:00Monkey Tourists
The past few years have seen some really funny and creative tourism campaigns from Oita, a prefecture mainly known for onsen and monkeys. I never got around to blogging about the international toilet festival, which is a shame because is was amazing... anyway, back to monkeys and onsen. This youtube video did the global rounds at the end of last year:
You can read more about the campaign Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-36988703967671134292017-04-15T17:33:00.001+09:002017-07-13T13:43:22.227+09:00Kyushu Quakes, Remembering a Year On
Taken from this album
On Thursday night we had the strongest quake we'd ever felt. Tiger slept right through it, unlike Hayate. We saw on the news the next day that it had originated in Kumamoto and seven or eight people had died. We checked in with our friends in the area, tidied up the spills and went about our business as usual. The next night a magnitude 7, the highest on the Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-17818826602143721602016-04-05T16:12:00.000+09:002016-04-08T04:06:57.443+09:00Shower Slugs2015 was the worst year for mould yet. Dealing with a little baby and the mould during rainy season was a nightmare, and I was desperate for anything to help. I commented to my sister that it would be great if there were something like aquarium snails that would just hand out in the bathroom eating the mould for me, and she said "maybe there is" and immediately googled this. It sounded good, so Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-38277000686880735012016-02-09T10:19:00.001+09:002016-02-09T10:19:26.561+09:00Leaving<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-35495149083425407912016-01-19T00:30:00.000+09:002017-07-13T13:43:57.931+09:00Bandaids
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Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-70740203147067720422016-01-10T09:08:00.001+09:002016-01-10T09:08:05.744+09:00I Wish My Baby Would Read
Too busy for sleep
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Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-18108305320678342572015-12-22T10:20:00.000+09:002015-12-24T08:15:00.447+09:00Doggy Idioms
I unintentionally made a bunch of people very angry when I commented elsewhere that either of my dogs is more a "person" than an embryo is. On reflection it was kind of predictable, but to me personhood has nothing to do with abortion laws so it didn't immediately register that I was about to get whacked with a 'pro-life' hammer. I'm just really impressed by my dogs f(^_^; I wondered Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-57717620354389750162015-12-18T10:50:00.001+09:002015-12-18T10:50:27.553+09:00Dog Obedience Training Guide (Shiba Inu)
Obedience training is vital to maintaining a happy home life, and anyone can do it~ all you need is patience and consistency. The most important thing to remember, though, is that no matter how intelligent your human may seem, he or she does not innately know what you expect of him/her, and you must explicitly teach any skill you want the human to master. Before we go into specific commands, I Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-19922097963414005972015-11-16T10:07:00.001+09:002015-11-16T10:07:44.062+09:00The Things I Love About Japan are the Reasons Tiger Needs to Leave
I ran into an elderly neighbour at the bus stop the other day. He was on his way to a junior high school reunion. "We're in our seventies now though," he said, "so there might only be twelve or fifteen of us." My first though was how wonderful that was. Can you imagine in your seventies still being in touch with that many people from when you were thirteen?! And for most of you to still be Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-53524265922930618072015-11-10T06:00:00.000+09:002015-11-10T06:00:00.421+09:00Mindful Dog Walking
You’re walking your dog too, but you’re not really there.
Your dog knows it. I see them looking at me and I smile at them,
hoping you’ll notice me noticing them and then realize that at the end
of your arm is a leash attached to everything you’re busy chasing
somewhere else. You really matter to your dog, you know. If you
pay attention, you might feel how important Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-19405517850999791792015-11-03T01:00:00.000+09:002017-07-13T13:45:42.421+09:00Exploitation and Adoption in Japan
Still from the Documentary Shared Below
Some time ago, when researching how young adults cope with life after institutionalisation, I watched an interview with a woman who had become a prostitute after leaving the orphanage and struggling to live alone. "I enjoy feeling like someone wants to be together with me," she said, "even if it's just clients."* it affected me greatly and I still Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-58537658900208312062015-10-31T12:56:00.000+09:002015-10-31T12:56:27.960+09:00I didn't fight the law, and the law won.
Chikako Kobayashi shared this image to facebook
Left, from top: Asahi, Mainichi, and Tokyo newspapers Right, from top: Yomiuri, Sankei, and Nikkei newspapers
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Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-68843717341547509102015-10-26T13:48:00.000+09:002015-10-26T13:48:49.111+09:00The Curious Case of Kumamoto
Photo from this site
In Kumamoto, it is easier to abandon your baby than your dog.
I do not know how to feel about that.
Of course abandoning a dog should be discouraged, I'm not critical of that. It's an awful thing to do, and all too common in Japan. I think it is great Kumamoto City is trying to discourage people who bring dogs to the pound:
When an owner brings in a pet, they don’t take Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-83266227793529693502015-07-30T09:46:00.001+09:002015-07-30T09:46:18.856+09:00Creepers and Life Lessons Learned at the Pokemon Store
A Pokemon store opened a couple of months ago in our little backwater, and Tiger has been dying to visit. First I put him off until the summer holidays, then until payday, then just a few more days, then eventually yesterday I promised we'd go after some running around we had to do in town. It was 33 degrees, the chores took forever, we ran out of time to go before his gymnastics lesson but I Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-1691794694746198562015-07-28T09:18:00.002+09:002015-07-28T09:18:33.739+09:00ReboundLife is crazy and the blog is suffering, so I'm sharing something I wrote to friends last year that isn't really up to blogging standard but I hope may be slightly entertaining. I used made-up names for friends who would find it easier, but you can read a proper blurb over at Stella Lee, from whence I stole this lovely photo:
Too
sick (morning sickness will apparently never end) to do Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-83346249168517734372015-07-05T01:00:00.000+09:002015-10-31T12:37:22.795+09:00Birth in Japan Stories ~ Sunday Surf
http://improvingbirth.org/2014/03/sarah/
The care I received during third stage was just as gentle and
honoring as the labor and birth support. We enjoyed two hours of
skin-to-skin together without any mention of interruption. The room was
filled with women caring for us, celebrating us, supporting us, and
recounting what we had just experienced together. A room full Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-62348887984117872142015-06-10T05:00:00.000+09:002015-06-10T05:00:00.405+09:00Reunion
At the swimming pool the other day a woman approached us and asked if we remembered her. We meet so many people, I put on my fake "ohh, you..." smile and was racking my brains for what school I may have worked with her when a little girl poked her head around the woman's legs and I realised who they were. The girl was just a baby last time we saw her, one of the residents of a baby orphanage weSopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07620119917168999904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-55103927179595354612015-06-08T11:47:00.001+09:002015-06-08T11:47:08.869+09:00Breastfeeding in Japan (the Bad)
Have boobs, have baby... NOW WHAT?!
"Are you breast feeding?" is one of the first questions I am always asked, following "how old" and either before or immediately after "boy or girl". What depresses me is been the number of women who have then continued on to say "it's best, but sadly I couldn't make enough milk." Being actually unable to produce enough milk is incredibly rare and usually Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07620119917168999904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-17441530266193811212015-05-30T15:10:00.000+09:002015-05-30T15:10:00.378+09:00Breastfeeding in Japan (the Good)
Sakura and Breastfeeding
This disclaimer applies to everything I ever write, really, but I'm going to make a special point of restating it here~ these are my experiences, and do not necessarily reflect the situation for others or in other parts of Japan. With breastfeeding in particular, I think my experiences in a rural area with a relatively high birthrate may be very Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07620119917168999904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4488248462844133120.post-44907541604116079202015-05-29T00:30:00.000+09:002015-05-29T00:30:01.103+09:00Here Comes the Sun: A Journey to Adoption in 8 Chakras
I'm so excited to be able to tell you that Leza Lowitz's memoir is now available for pre-order (the release date is July 1st). I shared some excepts a few years ago and have been waiting to read the rest. There is so little information in English on adoption in Japan that a book like this is a real treat. Here's a link to the book on Amazon: Here Comes the Sun: A Journey to Adoption in 8Sopheliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891110033136610235noreply@blogger.com0