It Ain’t A Small World after all

“This is a pen” is the basic English phrase that many Japanese learn at school. It’s also a bit of a pun on the famous Magritte painting about a pipe. My time in Tokyo did feel a bit like a step into Belgian absurdity.

Having not really used my Japanese conversational skills in yonks, I was a bit nervous in resuming them, particularly since I was travelling a more Japanese tourist route rather than Western.

I say tourist route, but basically I mean going to and from Tokyo Disneyland.

Once again, I got socked with long lines, but this is mostly my own fault as circumstances found me going to Tokyo Disneyland on the weekend, when families, couples, and high school students all converge on the world’s only non-Disney owned Disney park.

If you do a search on YouTube, you can find many clips of the rides on tap at Tokyo Disneyland, and I must say, there’s a certain charm and precision at Tokyo Disneyland that’s lacking at the other parks. (Et tu, Hong Kong?)

Whether that justifies 3 hour waits for a Winnie the Pooh ride or a jacked up version of the Haunted Mansion, I’m not entirely certain. All I know is that Disney really needs to export the Tokyo DisneySea park to at least Florida, as that was the first Disney park I went to where it felt like it worked for adults as well as children.

But I digress. One of the things that has somewhat gotten me down in this unexpected Tour de Disney is that It’s A Small World seems to be shutdown at virtually every Disney park (except Hong Kong).

Tokyo? Shut.

Florida? Shut.

California? Shut.

(Were it not for factors involving my Chinese visa I would’ve been able to verify as to whether it was shut in France, but I reckon it probably was.)

Now, the ride admittedly is naff, but given what I’ve been through and the hassles of modern day travel, it would’ve been a nice boost to remember that we’re all the same.

I accept that as a writer, I have a tendency to see metaphors everywhere, and this one was written in bold and underlined twice: The World is really not so small anymore.

True we may be able to travel between in continents in half-a-day, but we’ve lost the sense of commonality. Travelling now for nearly 20 days, I get the sense that as someone doing a long trip home, I’m regarded with a touch of suspicion. Granted, 11 September 01 played a major role in this, but why is it so hard to get back almost a decade later?

Just because we have proof that humans are evil buggers, does that mean that we can no longer accept that we have (and that the vast majority of us are) decent people committed towards peaceful co-existence.

Apparently only in Hong Kong, which seems to be the only place where an American citizen permanently residing in Australia barely raises an eyebrow.

And the local Disneyland still has It’s A Small World.

Next destination:  If birthdates would determine where one should live then I should be living there as opposed to its (probably more fun) neighbour. It’s the Antipodean Canada.

World Expo of Queues

As I write this, I’m actually in Tokyo, but before I delve into things here, I wanted to talk about Shanghai.

The purpose of the Shanghai stop was pretty much exclusively to see Expo 2010. See it, I did. See pavilions? I saw some.

Why only some?

The queues.

Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there would be nasty queues at a major global event hosted by a country over a billion people, but it certainly did to me.

Everything had massive queues attached to it. Even the most obscure country’s pavilion that you’d think close to no one (at least in China) would have any interest in visiting had at least a 20 minute minimum wait.

I wish I was exaggerating for effect, but I waited 20-40 minutes to get inside the following pavilions:

- The Caribbean Community (which apparently now includes Guyana & Suriname)

- Kyrgyzstan

- Cuba (which was a bit of a letdown…architecturally stunning on the outside with a beautiful mural of Havana inside, but basically was a shabby stand selling rum and cigars on the inside)

- Slovenia (“I Feel sLOVEnia” is a brilliant slogan, and the wittiest one I saw…in English.)

- Myanmar (Everything’s peachy keen in Myanmar apparently.)

- Timor-Leste/East Timor (I saw everyone walking about with Timor-Leste bags, yet I couldn’t find a single shop at the pavilion.)

- Peru (A trippy journey up a metaphorical Macchu Picchu, and into a Peruvian restaurant.)

It was over an hour’s wait to get into these:

- North Korea (Quite frankly, there was no way that I was going to pass that opportunity, and North Korea had propaganda by the tonne on sale, yet all everybody wanted to buy were stamps and purified water.)

- South Africa (I’d like to cut the South Africans some slack since they did practically blow the national budget on the World Cup, but it was letdown after the exterior featured a very rousing quote by Nelson Mandela. Honestly, close to no mention about being a “rainbow nation?”)

- Venezuela (Full of rhetoric, but extremely moving Socialist rhetoric about equality and striving to improve economic disparity between the races. Coincidentally (or not), it was located next to the Cuban pavilion. The spirit of Chavezism took hold of me and I proceeded to order some empanadas from the staff at the pavilion’s restaurant in Spanish. The Chinese staff stared at me blankly in response.)

- Australia (“Come visit/invest in Australia! We’ve got natural resources galore and a multiethnic population the size of Shanghai.” That was the message I took away from the flashy Mandarin—subtitled in English—film at the Australian Pavilion. Mind you, the Australian Pavilion seemed to be staffed exclusively by Euro-Australians fluent in Mandarin.)

With those sort of waiting times, I didn’t even bother attempting to visit these pavilions:

- The USA (Although for once the US was making a serious effort at a World Expo. Apparently, Congress passed some law that forbids the US government from using money to do a pavilion, so our piss-poor previous efforts are the fault of corporate America being cheap. Amongst the sponsors this time around? Amway. I kid you not.)

- Iraq (located as far away from Iran as they possibly make it.)

- Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan (and every other -stan out there, save for Kyrgyzstan)

- The Netherlands (which was entitled “Happy Street,” and scene of some of the most vicious queuing behaviour I saw.)

- China/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan (As much as I wanted to see any potential friction going down “One Country, Three Systems” street, I was not going to wait 4 hours in the sun for it.

Architecturally, this was an amazing event. Truly it was, I really will be keen to see what Shanghai will do with the pavilions after the event ends on Halloween.

As a visitor, however, this Expo left me feeling a little bit left out. For the most part, the pavilions were more about selling the country to the Chinese as opposed to the world at large. While China may be making millionaires by the second, it still somewhat contravenes the purpose of a World Expo--at least to my eyes--to heavily cater to one crowd as opposed to the world at large. Ironically, the organisers seemed to be selling the Expo to foreign visitors as a way to meet China and the World.

I think something got lost in translation.

It’ll be interesting to see what Yeosu (Korea) has in store for 2012.

Shanghaied

As I type this, I am in Shanghai for the World Expo. I am not certain whether I mentioned this on this corner of the internet before, I considered myself a slight China-sceptic. Politically, I was always in the French vein of Socialism, not Chinese. China just seems to be growing and growing without abandon and that gives me serious pause for thought. Yet, actually being here in Shanghai, I am presented with a very cosmopolitan and just as important, ethnically diverse city. I think it if the government encourages this sort of growth, China will truly live up to the potential given to it. The word "People's Republic," is not just a phrase, it's a genuine belief that I think a lot of countries should aspire to.

Now for the delay in posts. Well, I unfortunately fell sick in London and experienced an almost "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" style hospitalization at an NHS hospital. The illness (I'll spare you the details, but it's not serious) also reared its head in San Francisco and delayed me there. In New York and Los Angeles, I was stymied by my other job (again, I can't be frank about that at the moment).

I believe that work and health will not delay me for the remainder of the trip. (Although that being said, the air here is not the healthiest in the world.)

The next stop shouldn't be a major surprise to anyone who has followed this corner of the internet: it's not Korea, but close by.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Nation at Work?

Let’s just say that my first leg didn’t begin auspiciously. I had an absurdly early flight which led me to absent-mindedly leave my mobile behind back at my hotel room in Milwaukee. Normally, that would trigger a sense of neuroses and a flurry of phone calls to rectify the situation. However it’s a bit hard to do a flurry of phone calls when you are missing a mobile and just barely make your flight because you’re lugging around 2 big pieces of luggage and come across the very efficient TSA at Milwaukee.

So it wasn’t until I got to wet suburban Maryland that I was able to locate a phone store who could do me a prepaid deal so I could beg the hotel to ship it to Stop #2—no shipping service is fast enough to arrive same day. This is where things got interesting: this store (company and specific location will not be named, but it’s a company that has really grown too big too fast) had just opened a few minutes earlier. There were 3 people there already. So I choose to just wait. Suddenly, I get politely accosted by an employee who tells me to use some computer check-in system.

Him: It’s really simple.

Me: Fine.

(He makes a few selections which seem to suggest that I’m already a customer.)

Me: Wait! I’m not already customer.

Him: What’s your name?

Me: Hikaru Freeman.

And like that I manage to bounce to #3 in the queue…according to the screen. According to reality, I am still #4 behind 3 men who clearly have all the time in the world to either buy gadgets for their phone or haggle over charges. The employees seem to be more interested in being friendly as opposed to effective.

The polite accoster is nowhere to be found.

After about a half-hour I manage to get some degree of service by another employee who never quite grasps that I want the cheapest basic phone because I just need one for two days. 

Then there’s a computer glitch.

What should’ve been a 10 minute transaction winds up taking a half-hour.

And this was a corporate store!

After some fun talk with my aunt, I make my way to the hotel, and I start thinking about the DC metro area, especially about how everything seems so hidden down here. You wouldn’t realise that it’s as big as it is because everything is hidden behind hills, trees, and inclines. That’s one thing I really like about the Upper Midwest, you can’t really hide sprawl because it’s so flat.

I was hoping to get some glimpse of a national monument as the car crossed over from Maryland into Virginia, but rain and geography conspired against me.

That said, I will say that Alexandria really is beautiful and quaint. Being the Airline fan that I am, however, I’d rather go eat at the DCA (I am not going to call that airport Reagan) food court.

I am rather struck by the fact that the most interesting thing on television is NHK’s World News/Lifestyle channel. You’d think given the US’s current economic ties that they’d at least have China Central Television’s English Service.

Now onto the hint for tomorrow: It has a twin which is far from a Saint. We’re happy for its rice and Milk, but unfortunately its alien son refuses to completely go into oblivion even though his career trajectory would suggest that would be a wise move.

I’m quite happy to be going there if only for the fact that I can finally unpack a bit by virtue of staying there more than one night.

Goodbye, Milwaukee

Well, it has been probably been one of the most absurd and yet fulfilling months I have ever had. And yet, the ultimate conclusion is that my “home” is no longer here. By “here” I mean not just Milwaukee, not just Wisconsin, nor even the Upper Midwest, but the United States.

Regular readers will probably sigh and think that this is another one of my sly anti-American screeds, but this time, it has more to do with just where my life is at as opposed to politics. It really has more to do with (cue music) “when I think of home.” I think of seeing Karl Stefanovic make a tit of himself every morning; I think of ordering a Schooner while looking at Central Station; to be honest with you, I think of all the clichés of a Qantas advert.

Yet, going to my new home won’t be as simple as jumping on the Flying Roo. Actually, it’s going to involve a bit of work and travel across the US, Europe, and Asia. Therefore, this new chapter of this corner of the internet will begin with a travel diary. I’m not going to tell you where I’m going until I actually get there, but you can guarantee that the final stop will be Sydney.

Some parting thoughts on Milwaukee:

• I used to dream about living in Downtown Milwaukee, now that I’m staying Downtown, it’s shockingly dead. Considering that Tom Barrett (as well as Norquist) have done a lot to bring life to Downtown, there remains even more to be done. There’s only little bit of “there” here, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein’s famous comment about Oakland.
• Wisconsin is in the midst of both a Senatorial and Gubernatorial race. The Senate race is between Russ Feingold (D) and some cornball in-over-his-head company owner Ron Johnson (R). Johnson is one of those types who swears up and down that all Washington needs is “common business sense.” The funniest thing is that this lot seems to think that they are going to succeed where many others have failed. Frankly, after a failed MBA presidency (GWB) the last thing the US needs is another business owner.
• The Gubernatorial race is much more interesting. The incumbent Democrat Jim Doyle is running, so Milwaukee’s mayor Tom Barrett is running to replace him with Jim McGreevey-lookalike (and possible act-alike) Scott Walker running for the GOP. This race is going to be nasty as hell. Scott Walker seems to be playing the no-jobs and high-taxes card and Barrett is working sympathy (he got beat up defending a woman at the State Fair a few years ago). I will be very honest here and admit that I loathe Walker. He instituted a very comprehensive public smoking ban for one main reason: making money from the fines. He also just looks…dodgy. Seriously, Wisconsin politicians are either saints (Feingold, Kohl) or massive sinners (Thompson, Joseph McCarthy). I totally see a big scandal coming down the Walker path.
• After driving down to O’Hare for the last time, I truly believe like all of my fellow Statesmen and Stateswomen that Illinois drivers are insane.
• Apparently inter-political affiliation marriages are quite the shocker in Milwaukee. I made mention of this is in my eulogy and people were just SHOCKED that my parents married despite being political polar opposites.
• Milwaukee is still the best city to drink beer in.
• This last one is not so Milwaukee-centric, but more America-specific, but we really need to start taxing the churches. The clergy are getting away with living the high life while their flocks are stuck trying make ends meet. That’s not cricket.

Easy hint as to my first post-Milwaukee destination: It’s what Canberra wishes it could be, what Auckland thinks it is, and what "Pretoria" still is.

Vale

Well, to be honest, August was not a good friend of mine.

Late in July, I received a call from a family friend that my mother’s illness had gotten worse. I jumped on the first flights I could in order to get from Sydney to Milwaukee. From that point onwards, I was very fortunate spend the month of August with my mother. Sadly, last night (CDT) she passed away.

I would like to mention several of my mother’s accomplishments:

• She performed in the title role in a production of Carmen at Howard University.
• Also, while at Howard, she toured South America with the university’s choir (beating out an unknown Roberta Flack for a spot).
• She was one of the first ever management consultants to specialise in affirmative action in the United States, heading up her first business in New York City during the late 1960s.
• In the face of many local (Milwaukee) critics at the time, she was able to build her second business into a nationally respected firm surpassing the success of her first.
• She openly encouraged everyone that she met to truly believe that they can succeed at their dreams and aspirations provided they truly believe in them and work hard at it daily.

My mother & I, both being only children had a very special bond. You often hear about parents trying to be their children’s friend instead of being a parent. I can truly say that my mother succeeded in both areas.

Mother told me that upon hearing that her only child resided in Australia, people would express shock that she could feel comfortable with the situation. She would respond with a smile and state that it would be a sign of poor parenting if she never allowed her own child to go his own way.

Mother’s passing marks a major transition in my life, as you’d expect. You see, as an only child from a very small family (both immediate and extended), I find myself in the position of no longer needing to be in the US for any extended length of time in the future. She marked my closest and arguably sole reason to come here. Her passing now means that I have to say goodbye to the US as well.

My mother’s family has long believed that good parenting is that which allows the child to go as far as possible with the proper tools to deal with it.

I believe that I can deal with being away from the US for the rest of my life, courtesy of my mother. She will always travel with me no matter where life finds me.

Thank you, mom.

It’s Been A Rough Day

At least for me. The kind of a day where a little pop music list would just do the trick.

Via Twitter, I found out that Defamer Australia is doing a list of “The Greatest Australian Pop Songs of All Time.”  If you think Australian pop is all Kylie Minogue, think again.

As for our Antipodean cousins, take a look at NZ On Screen’s very thorough music video section.

Good for what ails ya!

RIP Satoshi Kon

Satoshi Kon, a real visionary of the anime world has passed away.

I’ve always enjoyed everything that Kon ranging from the TV series Paranoia Agent to films like Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika.

His work was touching, but also thought-provoking. He eschewed the ultra-cute type of characters prevalent in anime, preferring instead to create multi-dimensional characters in fantastical, but very real situations and worlds. His work definitely inspired me as a scriptwriter and playwright, and I’m looking forward to seeing his final film.

In tribute, this is the opening of the TV Series Paranoia Agent.

Wednesday Jukebox Says Imitation is…

…the sincerest form of flattery…getting attention without effort.

At least in Korea.

It should be easy to guess which “controversial” video by two worldwide successful artists was the inspiration for Mamma Mia.

 

Good thing that the song isn’t too bad, though the video helps it…majorly.

Election Day Aftermath

Is it really an aftermath when to some extent it’s not decided.

The ABC News Homepage at the moment says “Deal or Deadlock.”

The House of Representatives is at 70 Labor, 72 Liberal/National, 1 Green, and 4 Independents. Convincing the 4 Independents and the 1 Green (Yay!) to side with either Labor or the Coalition will decide which party will rule, albeit as a minority.

Rational thinking puts Labor as the better suitor, but you can never rule out randomness in Australian politics.

So perhaps we’ll call it Election Day Ceasefire? Election Day Stalemate?

The really big silver lining: The Greens now hold the balance of power in the Senate, so I’d say that whoever does the courting would be wise to swing to the Left.

Australia will likely get Same-Sex Marriage before California.

Hours Away…Election Day

In the coming hours, Australia will either legitimise its first female Prime Minister or give it to a North Shore freak show who knifed his colleague.

Since voting is compulsory in Australia*, I won’t trot out my “voting is a right that many people have died for” spiel, but I would just encourage anyone in Australia to really make a concerted effort to think about what they’re being asked for at the polling booth:

• Should we do something more about climate change?
• In this day and age, should we continue to withhold rights from same sex couples?
• Do you feel that you’re sharing in the prosperity they are always talking about in the news?

* Technically it’s only compulsory to show up at the polling station to have your name crossed off on the electoral rolls, but most people do the right thing and vote.

Have a laugh before and after you vote…

Election Comedy in Australia

Via Daniel Burt, I found this selection of Lego comedy sketches about Election 2010. Nothing beats Australian political comedy.

My Little Political Dilemma

As this election season goes on, I find myself at a bit of a crossroads. Shortly after moving to Australia, I figured I was an Australian Democrat (centrist, although still rather left by American standards).

Then the Liberal Party (centre-right, although centre by American standards) put Malcolm Turnbull in charge. I started out indifferent towards Mal, but despite his Republican (as in turfing the Monarchy, not as in GOP) sensibilities, Scrooge McDuck background, and disinterest in same sex marriage, he actually seemed rather decent and willing to make the Liberal-National coalition more moderate. He also was more charismatic than Rudd.

Through some bizarre twist that oddly mirrored how Rudd fell, Mal got the boot in favour of Tony “Mad Monk” Abbott…by one vote. Poor Mal said that he was going to leave politics, but fortunately stayed. Still, he’s not leading the Coalition at the moment, so the Liberals got struck off my list.

As for Labor, I’ll be honest with you, I did not like Kevin Rudd at all. He seemed too socially conservative and travelled too much as opposed to dealing with domestic concerns. I was happy when Gillard took the reins (although as an American, watching Westminster-style politics in action is very strange…it comes across as almost too secretive and devoid of public input).

Now the AusDems are making a play for disaffected Liberal voters (particularly those who are horrified by the Mad Monk), and by all intents and purposes, I should be quite happy for the party to be gaining strength.

Yet, I now find myself attracted to a party that I used to be horrified by: The Greens.

As left as I am, I just always found the Greens to have their priorities in the wrong place. Call me selfish, but I’m “people over plants.” I care about the environment, but not enough to make it a political ideology.

The Greens must have heard enough people with similar reservations, because they have moderated their message.

Health, infrastructure, and in favour same-sex marriage, I’m sold…for now.

Just keep things sane, Bob. Please.

Running Scared of the Churches...in Australia?

Granted ever since Mark Latham started riding the crazy train, I generally ignore everything he says, but he has come clean on why he did support the ban on same-sex marriage during the Howard era: he was afraid of parish priests.

In one of the most non-churchgoing countries in the Western World?

Still, as the GayNZ.com article posits, what's Julia's excuse? She's an atheist and open about it, so the religious argument doesn't hold much water with her already being PM.

Monday Jukebox is Like A Queen

One last jukebox clip for today. I’ve posted the first person POV version of Like A Queen previously, but I discovered that there was another version which has its own charms. Enjoy!

For a Japanese jazz-pop video, both versions seem to be shot in Sydney, or a part of Japan that is very similar to it.

Recovery Jukebox Catches A Wave

After a day in hospital, and a day and a half of doing the fun logistics of insurance and home repair, I wish it was the early 1980s and I was a surfie listening to neo-Beach Boys pop as performed by Tatsuro Yamashita.

A Little Comedy Interlude

I was raised pretty much religion-free, and I pretty much intend to do so whenever I have a child. There will be some out there who might think this clip is blasphemous, but I think it’s hilarious myself.

Drum n’ bass and taking the piss? Priceless.

Thursday Jukebox Says Go-Go KPop

So there’s another Korean girl group…Wait!

Seriously, there is no need to run for the hills. The group’s name is Secret and their latest Madonna, is actually pretty decent. Apparently, the Go Go revival which Amerie and Beyonce began has finally caught up to Korea. If there’s any auto-tune going on in this song, then it’s pretty well-hidden.

Bonus: New Zealand has kind of a burgeoning soul music scene. Prime example: Fat Freddy’s Drop. This is their rather well-executed video for Boondigga.

My New Electoral Home

Yep, the other half & I have moved on up to the East Side…to Wentworth

I lurve Australian politics.

“Normal” Service Resumes

First, I want to thank all you out there for your patience during this unscheduled hiatus. Over the past few weeks, I’ve moved neighbourhoods (swapping Redfern for Darlinghurst) and now come across a bit of a bad trot health-wise.

Now onto the fun!

You know, I was eager to rip into Penny Wong with regards to her bizarre choice of toeing the party-line with gay marriage, but let’s start out with something uplifting…Antoine Dodson.

The sudden interne celebrity rise of Dodson first made me think that this would be yet another case of inner-city crime turned into hipster fodder, but actually, I’m quite pleased to find that higher profile is helping raise funds for him and his family via the iTunes auto-tuned version. (Buy it!)

Now, Ms. W®ong.

I think she’s done her soul a serious disservice by supporting the party line, but I think it’s also important for those not familiar with Australia to know a few things about the gay marriage debate in Oz.

In Australia, more than in the US, it’s ultimately a debate over the word “marriage.” Australia is one of the least religious countries in the Western world, and the idea of “shacking up” is not as frowned upon. Both gays and straights use the word “partner” to refer to their significant others.

What we Americans call “common law” marriages are called “de facto relationships.” These de facto partnerships effectively are equal to married couples in all the states and territories. For example, unlike the US which would require marriage for an American to stay with their foreign partner, the foreign born partner of an Australian can remain in Australia under the interdependency/de facto visa scheme (which interestingly enough is the same visa that many Australian men used for mail-order brides).

The interesting thing in Australia is that the popularity of de facto partnerships along with the Australian sense of fairness has led to a majority of Australians supporting same-sex marriage in poll after poll. So it really is an argument over a word, and in my opinion the government should either get out of the marriage business or declare civil unions (and de facto partnerships) for all. *

The religious argument that often colours the same sex marriage debate in the US and other countries doesn’t really hold much water in Australia. Case in point: a Family First senatorial candidate in Queensland has gotten a serious public bollocking in the media for homophobic tweets comparing same-sex marriage to child abuse. Queensland has a strong redneck reputation. It’s where Pauline Hanson (she who would gladly have the White Australia policy back and the Apology to the Stolen Generation rescinded) is from. If those comments don’t work in Queensland, they don’t work in Australia full stop. It’s also worth noting that a majority of Queenslanders also support same-sex marriage.

While my partner & I have considerably more legally enforced rights in Australia as a same sex couple than in the US, I am hesitant to paint the Antipodes as LGBT paradise. Why? Well, in New South Wales we have a bizarre law from 2000 which prohibits same-sex couples from adopting, but not LGBT individuals. This restriction may be lifted this month, as the Premier is going to allow a conscience vote on the issue.

The light at the end of the tunnel may very well be in sight.