So reading about the post war years for Japan in the book Embracing Defeat, by John Dower. It's pretty exciting and amazing to picture this place changing and being changed so much in so short a time. And the way the Japanese react to and take part in those changes is telling about the Japanese character and human character in general.

Imagine being told all your life that this one person is a manifestation of God. And from this person on down for as long as anyone can remember is a strict hierarchy of who does, gets and says what, goes where and stays or leaves when. The war could have been over for the Japanese at least a year before the dropping of the bombs, and many advisors close to the emperor advised him to surrender, but instead he chose to fight what everyone knew to be an un-winnable war, and conditioned his populace to sacrifice themselves to the last man, woman and child like "one hundred thousand shattered jewels". They prepared to fight off invaders armed only with sharpened bamboo poles. Then came the bombs.

And in an instant, that whole structure was gone. It's really an amazing story, from the hubris of the "supreme commander" at SCAP to the outpouring of voices from liberals, communists and the marginalized thinkers and feelers to the tragedy and pathos of the thousands of homeless and hundreds of thousands kept from returning to their homeland... anyway, a good read.

Hey, I went windsurfing yesterday! It took me about 20 minutes to get out into the middle of the harbor. And then the wind died. 2 hours later I coasted feebly to shore, or at least close enough to shore to "butterfly self rescue".

Today went to a culture festival at John's alma matter. He's a JET from Manchester. I ate my weight in yakisoba, takoyaki, onigiri, doughnuts, mochi, and a bunch of other stuff I don't know what is. I think I'll write more on this experience later.