Wednesday 31 January 2007

Japan- sexist?

yesterday it was reported that one of the Japanese cabinet (Yanagisawa) said - and I quote -
Women are child bearing machines
He was not asked to leave despite many politicians outrage, what message is this sending out to the young women of Japan , if their Prime Minister doesn`t address such obvious sexism? There are also some other worrying developments since Abe`s arrival. The sacking of teachers who teach some facts about the second world war, the new rule that to graduate students must be deemed patriotic...http://www.tokyoprogressive.org/index/weblog/comments/becoming-an-ugly-and-dangerous-nation/

I will go to a talk about education on the weekend, keep you posted...

About being happy
I watched Will Smith`s The Pursuit of Happyness last night http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454921/plotsummary Yes it was cheesy in a Forrest Gump kind of way but the fact that it was based on the life of a real person made it more substantial - Chris Gardner http://www.chrisgardnermedia.com/index.htm
The film showed his commitment to something more than yourself, to keep going even when it gets really really tough. In his case it was his love for his son and desire to provide that motivated him even when he was homeless living in a shelter and toilet. What are our motivations? Its good to learn how to care for yourself in a healthy way, how can this be translated into a giving? IS being happy the ultimate goal. I read the Dalai Lamas book the art of happiness a while ago and from what I remember it talked about happiness being in letting go and surrendering. When I try to be happy I am often not happy, when I catch happiness it is ephemeral and wonderfully different each time.

About me and others My friend recently said by helping other people I help myself too. They give back to me too I have so much respect for that.

Love your neighbour as you love yourself. But I think this is often misunderstood as don`t think about yourself...You need to do both, you need self respect and to give yourself what you need before you can help others but its a symbiotic relationship. For me giving to others is good if I am doing it not out of guilt but out of joy and respect. I am so lucky to have what I do and I am grateful for that, but when I see homeless people in the park in Ueno or Yoyogi or anywhere I think that could be me so easily given certain circumstances, In October I came back from Australia and had no-where to live, my friends helped me, what if you don`t have that? I don`t think its wrong to be comfortable and have a home and things but the trick is to share with people maybe...

I will volunteer for a Japanese NGO this weekend called Second Harvest. They give out food to people in the Park. I am happy to be able to have the time to help, I can`t do a huge amount but I can start where I am.http://www.secondharvestjapan.org/

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