this is karai.com

I finally posted a utility I wrote called the Universal Text Lookup Tool. It was designed to solve the problem of looking up text on your computer, especially when it may not be in your browser. Instead of the usual flow of things when you want to look up a term you may see in a Word document:

1. See the term.
2. Load your browser.
3. Navigate to a search engine.
4. Type in term.

All you need to do is select the term and press ALT-F1. I orignally wrote this program to speed up foreign language searches. Instead of constantly copy and pasting search terms into my browser, I consolidated the entire process to a key press.

Some of the functionality of this program has been replaced by things like Microsoft Office’s Translate feature and Firefox’s right click + Search for this term option. Since there is still no operating system feature that does this, there is still a place in the world for this program.

Rearranging the Landscape of the Gods : The Politics of a Pilgrimage Site in Japan, 1573-1912
By Sarah Thal
University of Chicago Press, 2005, 344 pages

Thal’s book is a study of the Kotohira Shrine in Shikoku, which was also known as the Konpira Temple before the Meiji Restoration. She seeks to explain how it and the gods enshrined there have changed over the years. By understanding how the gods at Kotohira shrine have changed we can better understand the history of Japan and how the structures of the nation have changed in response to various events: whether political, social or cultural. As Thal notes, almost nothing about these sacred sites has stayed the same. The gods of Mt. Zōzu and Kotohira have undergone many changes, not only in name, but also in what we would consider religion. For pre-Meiji Japan, the syncretistic Buddhist-Shinto-folk mixture of faith at Kotohira would not have been considered unusual. These old beliefs would never completely die on the mountain, though they could be forgotten about for a long period. When it came to the most important priority of all, money, the old gods could be dusted off and reintroduced.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Bullshit
By Harry G. Frankfurt
Princeton University Press, 2005, 80 pages

The buzz surrounding this book is just a little over the top. It seems like everyone is talking about the book, and it has even been featured on 60 Minutes and The Daily Show. I also saw it discussed in a Financial Times column. I didn’t actually think much about it at the time; I’m notoriously dense when it comes to buzz, hype and popularity. Then my friend bought the book. “How absurd,” I thought, “to spend $9.95 on a tiny little book.” (Plus it’s a university press, so no discounts.) So I one-upped him, and borrowed the book through interlibrary loan. (Remember the library? It was the place where people stole intellectual property before the Internet!) It took about an hour to read all 67 pages of essay.

The basic theme as I see it is: bullshit is bad because it has no relationship to the truth. The bullshitter does not care if statements are true or not. The liar, on the other hand, knows that there is a truth, and by actively trying to deceive us from that truth, at least maintains a relationship with it. And why is there bullshit? People are often supposed to have opinions on everything and people are often called to speak on subjects they are not experts on, both situations that lead to bullshit from a lack of being knowledgeable.

Overall, what does this book actually tell us? You can sell thousands of copies of a serious philosophical essay as long as it’s about a bad word. I have to wonder how many people will actually read it or if it’ll mainly be given as a gag gift. I guess the joke will be on all of those who give it as a gag gift.

The National Diet Library offers two interesting databases:

The Digital Library from the Meiji Era, available in Japanese only. This database offers images of books published in the Meiji era and held by the NDL. As of July 2004, 54,349 volumes, almost all whose copyrights are confirmed to have expired, excluding children’s books and books in Western languages, are available.

The Rare Books Image Database, is mostly useful for its large collection of ukiyo-e style prints. This database is only available in Japanese. These images (approx. 33,000 items) are from the collections of the NDL and published mostly during the Edo Period.

The National Archives of Japan features two databases.

The Digital Gallery is probably the most interesting. It has public records which include, “Digitized images of 99 items of records including the original of the Constitution of Japan, and others such as “Picture Map of the Shimbashi-Yokohama Railroad” and “Photographs of the Aizu Wakamatsu Castle” are available.” The cabinet library section includes, “digitized images of 124 items of materials are offered. Among them are those of 83 items of ‘Tempo no Kuni Ezu,’ maps of provinces compiled by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1848, designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan.”

There is also a link to the Digital Archive System, which contains in the public records section, “descriptions of about 570,000 volumes of the records which were transferred from the ministries and agencies of the government of Japan are offered. About 120,000 flames [sic, do they mean files?] of digitized images of about 2,500 volumes of records including those of the cabinet meetings concerning the postwar reforms such as the formulation of the Constitution of Japan are also offered.” The cabinet library section has, “descriptions of about 430,000 volumes of Japanese and Chinese books are offered.”

The Japan Center for Asian Historical Records - The “Asian Historical Records” that form the content of the JACAR database are “Japan’s documents and other records having importance as historical records concerning Japan’s relationship with neighboring Asian countries and other countries in modern times.”

On May 12, 2005, Richard J. Samuels, noted Japan scholar from MIT, came to PSU for a lecture presented by PSU’s Center for Japanese Studies on Japan’s security policy.

Dr. Samuels was an excellent lecturer with a welcome sense of humor. Unfortunately for me, there was little new material presented. These general lectures don’t provide me with the depth and detail on Japan that I crave now.

One of the more entertaining parts of the lecture was on Japanese military enlistment ads, featuring the infamous “Seaman Ship” video. The video is available here. That ad led me to ask Dr. Samuels, “Just how successful are these ridiculous enlistment campaigns?” The answer, of course, is that they are not very successful at all. Even more interesting however was Dr. Samuels’ mention that he will include a chapter on the sociology of the Japanese military in his upcoming book. That sounds like a very interesting area of study and now I am eagerly awaiting his book.

This is the “GO!GO!PEACE!” enlistment campaign poster featuring the all-girl manufactured idol group Morning Musume. The article states that it’s the first time Japan Defense Ministry has produced a poster with models not in uniform, and the campaign is targeted at high school students. The copy on the poster states, “Doing your best feels good! GO!GO!PEACE!” It was posted everywhere one of the times I was in Japan. It didn’t particularly inspire me to want join the Self-Defense Force, but I’m sure I’m not their target audience.

These ads and the question of the sociology of the Japanese military is interesting in a number of ways: Who are the people attracted to join the military by these enlistment ads? What kinds of people are in the military now? How do these soldiers differ from other soldiers in the world? Are they embarrassed about these enlistment campaigns? What kind of image do they want to project to the world?

I guess we’ll have to wait for the book to see if Dr. Samuels answers these questions.