I took this photo with my camera phone and did all the editing on it too. Haha, isn't that cool? Japanese keitai are so cool.


I took this one with my phone too. These were the clouds I saw as I walked home today. They were much more breathtaking in real life, trust me.

I wonder why the clouds in Japan are so much more dramatic than American clouds. You know how in that one scene in Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service where she and that nerdy guy are biking and you see these huge white clouds amidst a perfect deep sky blue sky? I've seen that here! Amazing.


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In my Manga class today, we talked about cuteness in Japanese society. We read an article about how cuteness is used to soften power relations and social hierarchy...as if everything is more okay because it's cute. It works though. My friends and I have been suckered into things all the time because of how gosh darn cute they are.

1. Today, I was walking to school and a garbage truck passed me. The garbage truck plays this really nice song and has this recording of a very pleasant, higher-pitched-voiced woman telling you that the truck is approaching. The two things together make the sanitation business a lot less disagreeable and, dare I say, cute, even.

2. My buddy got a really good job at a big insurance firm in Japan. This is good because once you secure a job, it's likely that you're set for life. Anyway, she told me that as part of her training, they taught them how to speak in a high-pitched, pleasant girly voice because they are in sales...and that is more appealing. Image is important.

3. The police and the fire departments have these adorable mascots that represent them. The police mascot smiles sugary-sweet above a sign displaying how many people have died or been injured in the last month.

Being cute is important because to be cute means to indulge or to be indulged; being cute reinforces subservience, perhaps. Being cute is so gosh darn easy here. Everything and everyone is so freaking cute. I buy into all of it.


Haha, that sounds cynical, doesn't it? Part of me is cynical about it. Part of me thinks that there is much more to it than meets the eye.