hikkikoiloveyou

Japan’s Hidden Youth… Amy Borovoy

“In the spheres of education and mental health care itself, there is what might be described as a kind of ‘‘antipsychology’’ or ‘‘antipsychiatry’’ bias in Japan… not an opposition to psychiatry itself but, rather, a web of ideas and institutions that militate against pathologizing the individual and that, instead, make it possible to view a vast array of human differences and distress as potentially manageable and containable through reliance on self-discipline, coping and support from family and others” (554).

“treatment discourses [to help hikkikomori] emphasized accepting these youths as they were—slowly drawing them back into social life through strategies such as setting small goals, big brother and big sister programs and continuing parental care. The issue was chiefly how to reintegrate these isolated individuals into mainstream social participation” (555).

“Since 1992, the Japanese Ministry of Education has stated that the refusal to attend school, seen as a related problem, … must be regarded as a socially produced problem, rather than an individual or a familial one” (555).

“The psychiatrist Saito Tamaki, one of the most widely cited and respected specialists in hikikomori care, also sees hikikomori as evidence of constraining social structures rather than individual problems… Saito sees hikikomori as a ‘condition’ (hikikomori jotai), not itself a disorder or disease, rooted in a malfunctioning of the communication system among individual, family, and society; the system then reproduces itself” (555).

Behavioral problems are rarely linked to psychological illnesses and parents are considered responsible for their child’s health rather than health care professionals.

“Ethnographic studies of Japanese early education (preschool through elementary) reveal that teachers are quite tolerant of chaos and hyperactivity (or what we might call hyperactivity) and are similarly casual in dealing with hitting and other bad behavior. What they tend to flag as worrisome or unacceptable is children’s failure to participate in group activities” (560).

Japanese schools place special needs children in a regular classroom, assuming that the “stronger children” will overcome prejudice and the disabled children will “benefit from mingling with mainstream peers. At the same time, inclusion is undeniably linked to an ideology of ‘‘sameness’’—and the pressure to hide problems and assimilate into mainstream values” (560).

“The flip side of this emphasis on equality is that for those who fall behind, the road is ambiguous. According to counselors and teachers, students may spend wasted years, sometimes getting bullied or frustrated in their inability to keep up. Some students are bullied; others withdraw” (561).

“The small group of students who populate school counselors’ and school nurses’ offices often befriend one another, creating their own small social unit… Such a coping method defines the hikikomori phenomenon, and one could argue that such spaces of withdrawal exist in other corners of Japanese society, beyond the home and school. One wonders what other unnamed havens exist in Japanese society: internet cafes, where it is reported that disenfranchised youths increasingly spend the night, homeless encampments or even locations outside of Japan, where Japanese youths increasingly seek escapes that become long-term” (564).

My Lovely David

My lovely David,

I haven't written you a letter for a while. I'm writing because I mess you so badly my stomach is aching. Sometimes I ache for you so badly I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm crazy, like those whiny, needy girls in movies that the guys always try to get rid of. I'm writing parly to stop myself from calling since I spent the entire day with you and i already called once and it's late anyway. Besides, I got the feeling you were a little annoyed with me today. It could just be Osore, but... Sam and Jordan are going through a stage in which they're on each other's nerves. Mom says it's a normal stage that happens after two years. When she told me, I thought how we could get through soemthing like that, especially if we knew it was coming after a couple years. But now I'm a little paranoid. What if it happens sooner -- if you get annoyed with me sooner than two years does that mean that you're not going to want to be with me? It's so scary. I worry that if I force you to guess the problems with that you're going to leave me after a while. I have this feeling I'm going to lose you. It could be Osore, but it could also be a legitimate concern. So, if it will help, I'm going to tell you exactly what happened yesterday.

Wednesday night after I dropped you off at home I started to miss you horribly -- worse than usual. So, I decided to go online to see if you were on. This was after I decided to a few times not to call because I knew you'd be talking to your mom and you don't get to spend much time with her, so I didn't want to interrupt. Then, it got late, so I thought I'd get on Facebook. You were on, but idle and I did't want to talk to you first because I was afraid I would be annoying you, since it would be your time to talk to your online friends. So to make sure, I though I'd wait until you spoke to me to make sure you really wanted to talk to me. So, I commented on your status about Azudaioh and messed around a little. That's when Ashley commented on what I had said. And, for some reason I thought she was making fun of me -- then I wasn't sure. The thought that me, your girlfriend, wouldn't be liked by your other friends hit me and I was scared of what pain that would cause you. It would be awful. then I started feeling left out a little because I could see how much fun you have with them and it reminded me that there are parts of your life that I haven't begun to be part of. So, I thought about how it would be nice if I started being friends with them too and we could all be a happy circle of friends. But i was reminded of my uncertainty whether Ashley was making fun of my comment and felt embarrassed again. Then you logged off and I stayed on another half hour just putting off going to bed 00 maybe stayin gup so late actually contributed to my weird emotional-ness yesterday.

So, yesterday, I was thinking about that whole thing when I remembered we couldn't spend Sunday together like normal and I really, really wanted to see you before you left for camp. But, of course, I didn't want to invite you out so soon -- the same thing as waiting on FB until you talked to me -- to make sure you really wanted to be with me.

AND I'M JUST FILLED WITH DOUBT AND CRAP AND I'M TIRED AND I MISS YOU AND I FEEL LIKE I'M LOSING MY MIND!

I guess it just boils down to I'm feeling really insecure about myself and I'm SO afraid I'm going to irritate you and you'll leave me.

I feel like I need you to tell me you love me, but you did all day today. So, it must be something wrong with my head. Like the pipes are clogged or something.

David, you're so amazingly precious to me. Look up the word "precious" and apply that to you smile, you laugh, your music, the smell of your face, the way I fit when I lay my head on our shoulder, apply it to your jokes, your silly little songs you make up about random things, how you geek out about the musical correctness in K-ON!, the way you look at me when I say something stupid like "I'm so ugly", the way you laugh when I hiccup and give me muwaasens, the blush in your cheeks Wed. when I stared into your eyes, the way you give up a day of relaxing and playing guitar to be with me, how you blow in my nose, how you care enough to spend hours trying to find out what's wrong so you and I can get past it, get past it and hold each other, kiss each other, move toward our future, our marriage, get past the idiotic crap I think will hurt you, break our beautiful relationship -- but I underestimate you! You're so much stronger! Youre so wise! So strong! You're a man, David! A powerful, gentle but reckoning man.

(I'm sorry... I'm getting stunned by you -- I mean, turned on, but not in such crass words -- something amazing! More significant than how we talk about it, something eart-shattering! I feel your love changing me as I sit here. Suddenly I feel strong. I don't know what's happening. David, it's seriously strange. An my heart is either frozen or beating so fast I can't detect it.
I think I just had an epiphany.

David, I love you more strongly than I thought. I love you, with such potency that my worries seen. So stupid. So insignificant. Like a mosquito hit by a Hummer going 250 mph!

None of this piddling shit matters -- not nearly as much as it seemed. David, I'm confident in my love for you. Confident that we'll make it a lifetime, stage of annoyance be damned! And if your love for me ever diminished, my love for you is so strong that I'll just continue to love you so brazenly that it'll be enough for our relationship to be okay until you love me more again!

David, I have so many fears. The biggest is losing you, especially through my own stupid actions! But, I have the love for you that's need to be forever. If you'll have me,

I'll be with you forever,
always,

My sunshine! My only sunshine....

I love you,

Emily

Chapter 02 Part 3: In which Panda wraps up the Hero's Journey of Woman Hollering Creek in "Eyes of Zapata"

Woman Hollering Creek

“Eyes of Zapata” follows Ines, the cursed wife of revolutionist Emiliano Zapata, and her tragic Hero’s Journey to remain with her lover.

Ines’s journey is unique in that, traditionally, the hero embarks on a quest to improve life, usually for a group of innocent people; however, Ines’s stubborn refusal to leave Zapata actually endangers not only her life, but the lives of her family. After accepting the Call to Adventure – by kissing Zapata under the avocado tree (Cisneros 107-108) – her father disowns her, saying “You’ve turned out just like the perra that bore you,’” (89).

Her father is a Threshold Guardian, someone who attempts to block the heroine from beginning the Descent into the adventure. During the Descent, the hero makes allies and enemies; after defying him, Ines makes her father an enemy. He is also a victim; one of Ines’s trials is the capture of her father (Cisneros 91).

Ines suffers many other trials including hard labor (89); lack of food (93, 102); and burning down of her house by Zapata’s enemies (103).

Ines’s greatest trial, however, is Zapata’s infidelity. “I saw you asleep next to that woman from Villa de Ayala” (98).

Zapata seems to have the role of God/Tempter; however, he is an alteration of the archetype. The Temptress’s role is to test the hero by tempting him to leave the quest. If he overcomes it, he proves himself. Instead of tempting Ines to quit, Zapata tempts her to continue the journey despite the growing destruction it has on her life.

However, Ines insists that she has power over Zapata, a Spiritual Weapon, which lures him back to her after he commits adultery (Cisneros 99).

Ines’s actual Spiritual Weapon is prophesy; she is convicted of being a witch (105). “The women in my family… always had the power to see with more than our eyes,” (105).

It is only through her visions that she is able to return to her Eden; “My sky, my life, my eyes. Let me look at you. Before you open those eyes of yours… Before we go back to what we’ll always be,” (113). They “become her source of power” because they are “able to create an acceptable world...” (Thomson 421).

In the end, the only Boon Ines receives are the nights Zapata comes to sleep with her. Ines has essentially achieved her goal, yet her life has become a Shadow of what it was. This outcome usually results when a hero has failed his quest.


Psychologist Carl Jung viewed the Hero’s Journey as a process of individuation, reconciling the conscious with the unconscious. To him, heroes are “a metaphor for the human search of self-knowledge and wholeness.” Despite their success or failure to achieve their desired goal, the three heroines come to an understanding of their identity and take an active role in their destiny; according to Jung, they have completed their Hero’s Journey.

Thomson states: “This is the power of Cisneros’s women, to see and to remember, to master the pain of the past and understand the confluence of all things… they become themselves through the honest acceptance of the world beyond the body” (416).


Additional Reading:

Thomson, Jeff. "What is Called Heaven: Identity in Sandra Cisnero's Woman Hollering Creek." Studies in Short Fiction 31.3 (1994): 415-24. Acedemic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.

Chapter 03; In which Panda blatantly photoshops someone else's picture to tell Penguin she loves him

(Originally Misuzu from Air by sakuramori-sumomo)

Chapter 02 Part Two; In which Panda examines the Hero's Journey in "Never Marry a Mexican"

Woman Hollering Creek

Sandra Cisneros

“Never Marry a Mexican” embodies a different version of the hero myth than “Woman Hollering Creek” because its heroine, Clemencia, is more of a conqueror than a woman in search of liberation.

Clemencia essentially fails her Hero’s Journey to be with her lover, Drew, and subsequently takes revenge on him by seducing his son, therefore transforming from a hero into the Goddess, or Temptress, in the life of her lover’s son.

Clemencia’s Call to Adventure is her mother’s warning, “Never marry a Mexican,” (Cisneros 68). Clemencia obeys her mother and becomes the mistress of Drew, a white man. Clemencia’s Road of Trials, unlike Cleofilas’s, are outcomes of her conquest on Drew’s life.

She calls Drew’s house one night, drunk; his wife answers (77). Clemencia dares herself to let Drew’s wife know about the affair. In the narration, she tells Drew’s son about her last night with Drew: “I don’t know how to explain what I did next… I went around the house and left a trail of [gummy bears] in places I was sure she would find them,” (81).

The greatest trial to Clemencia’s conquest was the birth of Drew’s son, (74-75).

At the Final Battle, when Clemencia meets Drew and his wife at an art exhibit, she realizes her defeat: “And he comes up to me… and says in the most sincere voice you ever heard, ‘Ah, Clemencia! This is Megan.’ No introduction should have been meaner. This is Megan. Just like that,” (79). After her failure in the Final Battle, Clemencia begins to seduce Drew’s son and he becomes her Boon.

Using her Spiritual Weapon, her sexuality, she becomes the Temptress of the boy’s Hero Journey. Campbell’s Goddess “embodies both the nurturing and protective power” but also the power of destruction. According to an article by Jeff Thompson, Clemencia’s “power rises from the misuse of sexuality.”

Like his father, Drew’s son desires the comfort of Clemencia’s maternal nature and the pleasure of her sexual nature (82). However, Cisneros does not share his hero’s journey.

Clemencia’s closing words reflect these attitudes: “Sometimes all humanity strikes me as lovely. I just want to reach out and stroke someone, and say “There, there, it’s all right, honey.” She wants to both comfort and control these “hollow ‘guitars’” (Cisneros 83).

Further Reading:
Thomson, Jeff. "What is Called Heaven: Identity in Sandra Cisnero's Woman Hollering Creek." Studies in Short Fiction 31.3 (1994): 415-24. Acedemic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.

Chapter 02 Part One; In Which Panda examines one of her favorite devices: the Hero’s Journey in one of her favorite books: Woman Hollering Creek

Woman Hollering Creek

Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros, a prodigious writer of Chicana literature, creates true-to-life heroines who face the hardships of poverty, disappointment, and familial strife. Her work includes Caramelo (a novel), House on Orange Street, and Woman Hollering Creek.

The women in Woman Hollering Creek are on what Joseph Campbell called the Hero’s Journey. Campbell states that all hero myths address the transformation of one’s consciousness by a Road of Trials.

In a series of three posts I will examine each heroine of the three longer stories in the collection: “Woman Hollering Creek,” “Never Marry a Mexican,” and “Eyes of Zapata” in terms of the Hero Myth, and will evaluate the heroine’s success or failure to mature as a hero.

“Woman Hollering Creek” tells the story of Cleofilias, a once naïve young woman who marries too early and leaves her family to move to America with her husband, Juan Pedro. When he becomes abusive, Cleofilias begins her hero journey to escape the abusive hand of her husband, saving her unborn child.

Each Hero’s Journey begins with the Call to Adventure which offers Cleofilias the opportunity to face the unknown and gain something of physical or spiritual significance. Cleofilias’s Call to Adventure comes from the telenovelas she watches, which embody the life she covets. Through viewing them, she realizes how miserable she is:

“Not that he’s not a good man. She has to remind herself why she loves him… This man who farts and belches… this man, this father, this rival, this keeper, this lord, this master, this husband till kingdom comes,” (Cisneros 49).

The creek, La Gritonia (translated: Woman Hollering) behind her house becomes her Spiritual Weapon: a power used to overcome the antagonist. The creek is a symbol of escape and freedom from abuse.

The first time Juan Pedro beats her “she was so surprised she didn’t cry out or try to defend herself… She had done nothing but reach up to the heat on her mouth and stare at the blood on her hand,” (47-48). Cleofilias remains passive through most of the narrative, relying on Graciela, a nurse in the hospital, to be the deciding force that helps her accept the Call to Adventure and leave Juan Pedro. Graciela, therefore, is Cleofilias’s Spiritual Mentor.

If the story had ended with Graciala’s call, Cleofilias would have failed as a heroine; however, her transformation is revealed after facing the Final Battle as she waits at the Cash N Carry for Felice to drive her back to Mexico. “All morning that flutter of half-fear, half-doubt. At any moment Juan Pedro might appear in the doorway,” (Cisneros 55). Cleofilias doesn’t break under her fear and as Cleofilias rides over the bridge (the Final Battle), she begins her Triumphant Return to “Eden:” her father’s house.

Felice, the Trickster archetype of Campbell’s Hero Myth, who embodies the mischief and desire for change, gives Cleofilias her Boon, or, reward for her new level of awareness that each hero much acquire.

Her Boon is Felice’s yell as they cross over Woman Hollering Creek, (Cisneros 56). The final step in the hero’s transformation is a moment of death and rebirth, symbolizing the part of the hero that must die in order for the new part to begin. Felice’s yell proves to Cleofilias that women can have power. She is reborn, realizing she can have it, too.

I highly recommend Woman Hollering Creek, even if you’re not familiar with the Hero’s Journey.

Further Reading:

Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek; and other stories. New York: Vintage, 1992. Print.

Campbell, Joseph. Hero with a Thousand Faces. Novato, California: New World Library, 2008. Print.

Chapter 01: In Which Penguin Describes His Love For The Mountain Goats And Says Not A Word About Fish.

Penguin Here! While I develop my musical chops to the point where they can be presented to the public, I'll mostly be writing ABOUT music. Lots of fun albums coming! Kimya Dawson, Joanna Newsom, Baby Dee, Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, and others will be releasing albums this year. Until then, lets take a trip back to 2004, when the Mountain Goats' equivalent of a musical epiphany was released.
Riding on the heels of the success of 2002's "Tallahasee" One of John Darnielles'(Head man of the mountain goats) MANY concept albums, this one about his famous "alpha couple", about whom he is rumored to have written upwards of 50 songs, John was ready for a change.

The mountain goats are one of the most prolific bands in music. John started making albums under this name in 1991. The songs recorded in this time period, which spans all the way to "Tallahassee", were recorded on a boombox in his living room. He seemingly never stopped recording, and by 2004 had 11 full lengths, 21 eps, and 3 compilation albums under his belt. But all these songs, all 700+ of them, were not about HIM. His frantic, literate lyrics usually described down on their luck couples, vagabonds, metalheads, and all other types under the sun. 2004 changed all that.

In "we shall all be healed", John finally breaks down to write of his own experiences, which are jolting and heartbreaking enough to fit right in with his many characters. The album describes many months he spent in Belgium in his teen years, living in a small, rented shack, smoking methamphetamine with friends. His time there, as he describes it in these songs, was full of humor, heartbreak, love, hate, death, and memories, both good and bad.

Song by Song review.

Slow West Vultures: The album starts out triuphantly, with John Furiously Strummed Guitar, mixed with strangely arranged strings and marching band-esque drums. In a Nasally growl, he describes his arrival in Belgium, and the wild panic the group felt, hyped up on meth and youth.

Palmcorder Yajna: The Mountain Goats old boom-box fuzz makes a reappearance for this song. John sings here from the point of you of a friend, who's declining mental state makes him begin to question life, and fills him with disdain for the situation he finds himself in.

Linda Blair Was Born Innocent: A tribute to his friends who died in the the throws of drug addiction, John here shows the hopeful youthfulness that was trapped inside each of them, only to have it needlessly taken away.

Letter From Belgium: John again. takes the form of a friend to construct a letter home from Belgium, full of surreal imagery, which under it has a sinister, worried air, almost as if he's crying for help. Johns fuzzy yell is in top form here.

The Young Thousands: This track displays his worry for the new generation, and has a poetic warning for all new drug addicts. Of note here is Johns triplets on his guitar, which show his interest, and former involvement, in heavy metal music.

Your Belgian Things: After one of the groups meth labs exploded, the gig was up. John writes of how no situation like theirs can ever hold up. He also shows genuine love and affection for his companions in this track, and longs for his former girlfriend, with noone to help in his time of need.

Mole: After getting clean, john visits one one of his several still addicted friend in an IC unit, recalling the naivety of his time in Belgium, and wishing better for his friend.

Home Again Garden Grove: Returning in his memory to Belgium, John talks of his time there in graphic detail, using jarring imagery to illustrate the pain felt by all there for the loss of their innocence.

All Up The Seething Coast: John describes a relapse several years on, using increasingly strange language to illustrate is paranoia, and his desperate shame during this time. This is one of the few MG songs to feature finger picking.

Quito: In this song, which recalls his early, more upbeat tracks, john talks about his recovery, or rather its attempt, and thinks about the days to come.

Cotton: In this, a kind of summing up of the album, John talks about leaving the past behind him and moving on with his life, in a landscape of shimmering pianos, warm electric guitar, and experimental drums courtesy of John Wurstenburg.

Against Pollution: John takes the roll of a friend one more time, taking a look at the life of one of the few that didn't end up dead or in jail. It chronicles his murder in self defense of an armed robber and his conversion to Catholicism. The references to religious imagery here are a foreshadowing of johns increasing interest in the subject, leading to his 2009 Christianity inspired album "The Life Of The World To Come".

Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into The Water, The Triumph Of; In this, the final song on the album, John Takes The form of a Biblical demon, begging not to be returned to hell. Its a strange, but fitting ending, to this triumphant album.



There you go panda! I know it ran on and on, but it felt REALLY good to finally talk about my thoughts on music! I promise the next one wont be so long! Love you! ^^.