Read this article!

in its entirely. please.

It's not about RED STATES or BLUE STATES anymore. It's about a GREEN COUNTRY: The Power of Green

Inconvenient Laundry

In Tokyo 'clotheslines' are the norm but in other parts of the world (read: America), some people hang clotheslines to fight global warming.

Ever since I saw an Inconvenient Truth I've been conscientiously trying to reduce my own 'carbon footprint', as they say. Given that I already don't drive a car I feel like I'm starting out ahead, but I do try to do things like turning off my computer instead of letting it run all day and keeping the heat low and wearing a hoodie to make up the difference.

In my old apartment using a dryer was a no-brainer. We didn't have one! Everyone in Tokyo airs their futon on the balcony (which everyone has), and dries their clothes, towels and sheets on some variation of a clothesline. But my new landlord, in his infinite generosity, installed a dryer for us in the house. (!) So now I have to make a decision...

...(please humor me, I feel a digression coming on) This reminds me of the time in college when I had a brief existential crisis over buying toothpaste. I was at the Walgreens at 55th and Lake Park in Chicago, wrestling with the choice of buying the expensive but environmentally friendly Tom's of Maine toothpaste or the much cheaper but non-evironmentally remarkable standard toothpaste. I must have spent at least 15 minutes in the toothpaste aisle trying to make the decision:
I care about the environment, right? Well this is my chance to make a difference! C'mon, its just toothpaste! And it's so much more expensive! Yes, but if I really care about it I should be willing to make a sacrifice. Oh please, all this over toothpaste? This is ridiculous! Well no, it's a small thing but it's the principle of the matter. Am I going to put my money where my mouth is?
In the end I bought the Tom's of Maine. It tasted disgusting. The tube was already pretty small, and I don't quite remember if I finished it. But whether I did or not the next tube I bought was certainly the standard toothpaste that probably also tasted really minty and whitened my teeth.

So back to the dryer question. For my first couple of laundry loads I refused the dryer, but then I used it once, with a bit of guilt. I've (obviously) given this some thought - probably moreso today because I'm doing laundry - and I'm wavering between two solutions: to use the dryer only for towels or to not really use the dryer for anything, but to put my towels in there to soften them up after drying outside.

If there is one thing I learned from my Tom's of Maine experience - besides the fact that I really am a Crest girl - it's that you can't force environmentalism on yourself. While guilt is a powerful and useful tool you can't guilt yourself into a habit that you'll be unable to keep, or even worse, resent keeping; especially when there are so many ways to reduce your carbon footprint. So, maybe I will put my towels into the dryer... and maybe a linen skirt too.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/

Epilogue to the Nippon 5-0

In a recent post I mentioned how in Japan crimes against Gaijin are often not taken seriously. Case in point, a recent article in the Japan Times, Reported stalking cases likely just tip of iceberg. This is actually a current issue as a British Nova teacher was recently murdered in the home of one of her private students. I've heard a few different versions of the police investigation, that
a) when the police went to question the man he somehow got away
b) when the police went to question the man they let him get away
or, the most infuriating but quite possibly true
c) the police questioned him but did not arrest him, then he escaped who knows

I can't find a link to any of the related articles, but of course who knows if the article would be protecting the police or telling the actual story.

How do you know when you're home?

A new teacher at my branch recently asked me if I felt at home here. I do and I don't. It's hard to feel completely at home in a place where I can't buy hair products for curly hair, pantyhose for brown skin or shoes for larger feet. On the other hand, I'm waaaay excited about the most recent development in Tokyo's transportation system - the Passmo card!

There are something like over 60 companies in the Tokyo area that operate different buses and trains. While some companies operate on the same ticket system, there are a few different systems. Going to work I use two different companies: JR and Keio. So, I have my commuter pass (tekky) for the JR lines (on a Suica card), my tekky for the Keio Inokashira line, AND I have a Passnet card that covers the Keio line (for when I can't use the commuter pass), Tokyu Tokoyo line, the Tokyo Metro lines, Keihin Tohoku line, and a few other lines. So at any given time I have 3 cards, but it's actually more complicated to transfer using 2 different cards than it is using tickets. The Suica card is re-loadable, but the Passnet card is not; neither is my Keio tekky.

So why is the Passmo so great? You can use it for EVERY single line in Tokyo - and it can be your commuter pass - and you can store money on it. So all you need is one card to ride any train or bus in Tokyo. It's incredible! It gets better. Previously, you could only use the Suica card on the JR lines, but now that too can be used for any line. And I already have a Suica card!

Without knowing anything about the Tokyo transportation system I'm sure this is all ridiculously confusing; but trust me - it's also very exciting! And that might be something that only a person who feels at home in Tokyo could say.