Month: June 2009

  • Shinto Controversies Course — 4th Lecture

    Today (and I think I might just get this article finished today) I went to the fourth of the Shinto controversies lectures at the Open College at Kokugakuin University. Again, the lecturer was Professor Okada. This time, he was talking about the origins of Shrine Shinto, and its basic characteristics in the classical period. The…

  • Multicultural Social Workers

    Yesterday I went to the meeting of the Kawasaki City Representative Assembly for Foreign Residents (the home page is mostly in Japanese, but there are links to some English resources as well). This body was established by city ordinance about 15 years ago, and it sits for two years at a time, reporting to the…

  • Flowers Against Crime

    Suginami City in Tokyo had a reputation as a burglary hotspot, with over 1700 burglaries in 2002. In 2003, the city introduced cameras and patrols by retired policemen, and the number of burglaries dropped to about 1,000. However, in 2006 the number went back up to 1,200, so the city officials decided to look into…

  • Say “Please”

    We all eat dinner together as a family, although Mayuki shows a variable amount of interest in the food on offer. I wouldn’t say that she’s picky, but what she decides to eat varies from day to day. Sometimes, she decides that she wants to be fed, and asks Yuriko or me for food. It’s…

  • Shinto Controversies Course — 3rd Lecture

    Yesterday, I went to the third lecture in this year’s open Shinto course at Kokugakuin University. The topic was the Sacred Marriage hypothesis. In this context, this is the claim that certain Shinto rituals originally included an act of ritual sex, as a central part of the rite. The lecturer, Professor Okada, does not believe…

  • Global Phenomenon

    I listened to yesterday’s Yomiuri Podcast this morning as I was having a walk. Susan Boyle failing to win Britain’s Got Talent was one of the news items. A genuine global phenomenon.