What do you believe?

Over the last couple of years I have become more and more sure in my atheism. I'm not a militant atheist by any means. I'm not going to convert theists. But I do enjoy my spiritual journey much more now that I am not feeling guilty for not believing what I was taught to believe.

I recently took one of those meaningless quizzes on the internet to figure out if I am as much of an atheist as I proclaim. Apparently I am not. The site recommends these as the religions that are most closely aligned to my beliefs.

1.	Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2.	Secular Humanism (93%)
3.	Theravada Buddhism (87%)
4.	Neo-Pagan (86%)
5.	Liberal Quakers (78%)

Am I surprised? A little. If I had ranked them myself in the first place I would have probably done it in the order of 1. Non-theist, 2. Secular Humanism, 3. Neo-Pagan, 4. Mahayana Buddhism, 5. Liberal Quaker.

Of course, being in Japan does give me a different perspective from the writers of this quiz. Our door-knockers are just as often from Buddhist sects as they are Mormons or Jehovahs Witnesses.

I do believe that it is nye on impossible to choose a religion by multiple choice. I believe in a lot of "probably but coulds." There is probably no afterlife, but our essence could be reincarnated. There is probably no reckoning, but karma could take care of evil to give cosmic balance. Just more questions on my spiritual journey. If I had all the answers it would be a damn boring journey, wouldn't it?

What do you believe? Take the quiz here.

So Long Life-Time Employment

The job losses at Canon, Toyota, and Sony last week are hitting hard. The mood around here is not happy- in fact, this is the bleakest I've seen it since I arrived. Japan's economy was a bit shite from the moment I arrived, but with no inflation whatsoever and a consumer price index that fell from its height of the bubble era, people could make do.
How do they make do now?
These companies basically prop up the little towns in which they are located. Outsourcing is a huge part of their succcess- so it's not just the thousands of temp workers who have been fired, but also the small parts business which are going bankrupt. So many of the little factories in my neighbourhood are going to go belly up in the next few weeks, just because one of these companies is cutting production in our town. The snowball effect isn't going to leave anyone unscathed. There's a little family-run alcohol shop by our house, which is owned by a couple the same age as my husband and I. They had been doing quite well- they are open at odd hours which is good for a 3-shift factory system, and our neighbourhood is peppered with workers from that big factory. On Sunday the husband told me he will have to decide whether or not to close by January 15th. That's how scared they are.
Honestly, I was shocked that Sony cut thousands of full-time regular (seishain) workers. Those of us who are seishain work hours that are too long without overtime pay for the main reason that our jobs are supposed to be safe as long as the company doesn't go bankrupt. That's not the case anymore. I hope my co-workers realize it's all a big fallacy and they might as well spend time with their families now. I doubt it though.
I, too, am scared. My husband's work depends on the local economy justifying his branch's existence. He won't get fired, but if his branch closes down he will be commuting for hours a day in a car we don't own (because the trains don't run at the time he has to go to work), and I won't stand for that. I have so few precious fucking hours with him I don't want to lose any more. But what can we do? I want him to try to find other work now, but he has this stupid sinking ship mentality.
What can anyone do? Sacrifice more Ichiban noodles to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I guess.

Attack of the Killer Foot Massager

Three people who used a foot massager for a neck massage died when their clothes got caught in the uncovered massager.
The manufacturer has recommended not taking the cover off of the massager.

Why not just recommend taking your clothes off first? Makes sense to me!

Sending New Year's cards to online friends and enemies

December has rolled in again, and like most people in Japan, I am busy scribbling addresses and the same boring greeting to all my colleagues, bosses, and acquaintances in Japan. Things have gotten easier over the years. You can buy custom printed cards and even use your computer to print the addresses on (if you can figure out how, which I decidedly cannot).

Mixi, the myspace of Japan, has figured out how to make things easier on you if you want to send new year greetings to your online friends- by introducing an SNS greeting card service. The apparent plus point is that you can send this but still be anonymous. If your mixi screen name is kawaii-kitty-chan-daisuki, that's the name that will be on your greetings. No fussing about with learning the real names or addresses of the people you flirt with online.

Maybe it's just me, but I find this creepy. My foyers into the Mixi world haven't been very interesting, so I might be biased. I do find that Japanese web forums, all stemming from the totally anonymous 2-ch, lack the community feeling that most English-language forums have. I'm also scared that anyone I meet on Mixi might end up inviting me to a suicide pact forum, but that's probably just irrational. Probably.

If I like someone online so much that I want to send them a new year's greeting, why wouldn't I already know their name and where they live, or at least have the balls to ask them for that information? I guess it would stop pervs from getting the addresses of 12 year old girls, but there should be something in place to stop this happening long before these pervs are getting close enough to send them cards.

Who do I want to send anonymous greetings to? Certainly not people I like. Prime Minister Asshole is on the list, as are most goverment ministers. Bullies I have worked with in the past and the nutjobs who commit crazy crimes around Japan are at the top of my list. They wouldn't be the normal greetings, which are basically just a plea for people not to hate you (thank you for everything last year, please like me next year too). It would be more along the lines of, I hope you get attacked by this:

Or, since 2009 is the Year of the Bull/Cow

I like this idea better and better.

Burning Question

Why is there no Chicken Soup for the Atheist Soul? Everyone else has one. I like sappy overly moralistic stories as much as the next chick, just without the whole Jesus element. I think they're missing out on a serious demographic here.

Want to improve the economy? Get diabetes!

The newest idiotic scheme to improve the Japanese economy from the people who brought you "cement every river" and "work 100-hour weeks" is: eat more rice.

Huh?

Shigeru Ishiba, the Minister for Agriculture and Idiocy, suggests that an additional bite of nutrient-free white rice at every meal will save the Japanese economy. Oh rly? He wants Japan to be more self-sufficient.

How is this going to happen? Even though tariffs on imported rice exceed 700%, rice is still imported. If it wasn't, Mikasa Foods wouldn't be in a world of trouble after the tainted rice scandal earlier this autumn. Even if Japanese people do increase their average annual rice consumption from 60kg to 63kg, that money might be going into the pockets of a farmer in California, Kunming, or the Philippines. Personally, I am not opposed to that, but I'm pretty sure Minister Ishiba's tighty-whities would be permanently knotted if that happened.

The big problem with increasing rice consumption? It's bad for people's health. With all the focus on the Japanese "metabo," a made-up "disease" which takes attention away from the real health problems of diabetes, stomach cancer, and heart disease, you'd think that the Japanese government would try their damndest to get people to eat healthier food, right? Wrong.

White rice is pointless. After the war it was a luxury people could not afford before the war. Just like ugly Louis Vuitton knockoffs, eating white rice is a holdover from the poor days of Japan's past. Everyone in Japan wants to ignore their lack of central heating by pretending they are rich. Eating brown rice (you know, the stuff with nutrients in it) is looked down upon. My own mother-in-law told off my midwife for suggesting it for post-baby regularity. Good thing she's never looked in my pantry.

It's not 1946 anymore. It's time that Japan stopped its focus on unhealthy white rice as its staple food and returned to its roots- by eating high fibre carbohydrates including brown rice. It would be nice to see whole wheat pasta and bread on store shelves as well. The price should be lower than white rice or white bread, because they don't need to overprocess the food to take out all the taste.

Unless the Agriculture Ministry is working with the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare to ensure jobs in the future for Filipina nurses who will take care of those dying due to their unhealthy lifestyle choices.