海の見える街

This is another one of those random isn't-Japanese-culture-cool posts. Waaaay back around February I went to the Tokyo-Edo Museum with a friend's mom who I'm fond of. If you like Japanese history or replicas at all, it's definitely worth a stop. The museum's claim to fame is this huge (read: true to size) replica of 日本橋, the wooden bridge around which the mercantile district of the same name grew during the Edo period. (FYI 日本橋 is now a major business/financial district.) I know, I read wikipedia too much for my own good.

Pfft, bridge- whatever, right? But the 日本橋 district was where Japan saw it's first department store and the precursor to Tsukiji fish market. I don't know about you, but I love a good "before" and "after" comparison, so it's pretty cool to see what Tokyo looked like in bygone eras compared to now.

Another reason I really dug the museum is because they had an exhibit on the development of 浮世絵 (ukiyo-e, woodblock prints). While the kind of traditional paintings you'll find in other museums are pretty and all, ukiyo-e are especially interesting because they give you a little insight into everyday life in the Edo period. Since the prints were made for the masses, the subjects range from scenic beauty to naughtier subjects like so-called pleasure districts.

The museum also had a little section on Hokusai. Chances are you've seen one of his woodblock prints from his series called Thiry-six Views of Mt. Fuji (富嶽三十六景). Of those prints, the most famous one is called The Great Wave (look up).

I think what I like best about Hokusai is how eternal his works are. Nowadays you can find his works on everything from cell phone decals to the JR Rail passes. Not only that, but people are always recreating this classic image. Below are a few of the cooler portrayals I found. There's even a bible-themed one here.

The Wave of the Future made for an IBM users group.

Cover of issue 28 of Giant Robot Magazine done by kozyndan

I Fought The Law

I figure a year is a long time not to have at least one run in with the law, so let's talk about Japan's legal system! If you're been keeping up with the news of late, you've probably heard of how Japan is in the midst of transitioning to a citizen-juror system. That's right... up until now the Japanese have gotten away without the time-honored inconvenience that we Americans know as jury duty. (I actually think jury duty would be cool, but that's just me.)

First off, we should go over the court set-up since it's a little bit different from that of the U.S. If you look above, you can see the public prosecutor on the left and the defendant's attorney on the right, talk about showdown. In the back, the three professional judges in the middle are flanked by six citizen judges. When witnesses give testimony, you'll notice they sit facing the jurors (scary!) and not the general public.

Citizens jurors are reserved only for more heinous crimes so if you do have any legal problems you shouldn't have to deal with twelve jurors (hopefully). From what I gathered from an NHK documentary on the new system, citizen jurors are wary of being too lenient and usually end up being more harsh in their sentencing than the professional judges so watch out!

As a field trip, the law class went to Yokohama's regional courts and watched a few cases. It was a cool experience, but also kind of sad. The first case we saw was against a homeless man who rode in a taxicab without paying because he wanted someplace warm to stay. (Sidenote: Japanese cabs are really clean and comfortable so I can totally sympathize.) Another was against a woman who had illegally entered Japan and was working with a bogus visa/passport since what she could make working in Japan in a week added up to about what she could make in one or two months back home. It was actually her second or third(?) conviction for the same offense so the public prosecutor was pretty adamant (read: harsh) about getting it across that she would not be allowed in Japan again. Sigh.

On a second field trip with the law class, we met with a public prosecutor and got to talk to him a little bit about his job experience. I'd say the most amusing part was his story on how he decided on his career path... because he read a really cool manga where the lead character was a public prosecutor. All the more reason to stop by Book-Off more often I suppose- maybe I'll find my true calling.