JL #34 "Cross Cultural Crisis Exchange!" JSA Roll Call

 Here are the Justice Society member profiles from 1999, in their debut from JUSTICE LEAGUE 21. I *almost* drew additional portraits of new members Mr. Terrific, Star Girl, and Obsidian, but eventually decided against it. Maybe next time....? ;-) 

continued after the jump---! 

JL #31 "Going Home!"

JL # 30 "Yesterday, Tomorrow...and Today"

JLA #31 "Going Home" Roll Call

JL #29 "The Christmas Eve Terror!"

JL #30 Next Issue Blurb....!

Next Issue is our LAST ISSUE!

Next time, someone is going to QUIT the Justice League!

Who could it possibly be!?

Look at the members shown on this page and see if you can guess...!

Don't miss our next issue:

Justice League #31

"Going Home"

Ken-Bun-Ki "Hero"

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from May 8, 1997. 

"Who is your hero?"
This question is used often in American elementary school English class assignments. It's very popular. "Who do you respect? Why do you respect them?" This type of homework question was asked probably once every year for my twelve years of school.

Elementary school students write about fantastic characters or heroes from their favorite stories. Boys write about characters like Batman or Tom Sawyer; girls respect characters like Nancy Drew or Cinderella. Junior high school students usually write about famous people. For example, President Lincoln or Helen Keller, or more recent choices like professional basketball players such as Michael Jordan are all popular choices to this age group. Everyone wants to grow up to become somebody like the people they respect. High school and college students write about people they actually know or people around them. For example, they write about their grandfather fighting a disease, or a friend confined to a wheelchair, or a friend who is putting himself through college because his family is too poor to send him. At this age, the people we (Americans) respect are the people we know who are working and doing their best against terrible odds.

In Japanese there are various levels of polite and honorific speech. In English there really are no special vocabulary words that automatically show respect ("Would you...?" is better and shows more respect than "Will you...?" but that type of example is about the extent of English "honorifics.") However, this doesn't mean that we do not have respect for people. Each American has his/her own heroes.

As for my heroes, all of the names mentioned in this article are my heroes. I respect those people who overcome life's adversity and live their own lives. Who is YOUR hero?

This is the last installment of Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki, which has been published for approximately one year. Were you able to understand different cultures or different ideas? It's natural that people's opinions and ways of thinking are different. "Internal relations" means looking at others as well as yourself. It begins with knowing your own country and town.

Thank you!

Post-Script
Well, that was the last official "Russell Ken-Bun-Ki" article. I always wrote my articles a week or two before the intended published date because the editing, type-setting, and publishing efforts took so much time. I had written this sometime at the end of March, before I had gotten the word that the Mayor or whomever had decided to "cancel" me. My editor (who was my wife, Yuko) had already prepared this one, too, and knew it was a good one. So a month after the new fiscal year had started in April, my column ended on May 8.
I never got an official word as to why it was cancelled. "We are going in another direction" was all I ever got, kind of conversationally and kind of "please don't ask me..." So I let it drop. After all, writing these things was fun, but it was work. For the rest of my time in Miyazaki (I left four years later) various people would come up to me and tell me their favorite columns or the ones they disagreed with me on or what have you. So....I'm immensely proud of them, which is why I wanted to get them out there.
By the way, I hereby reject something I wrote here sixteen years ago. In my opinion athletes are not "heroes." I think it's become much more clear over the past 15 years or so that they and actors and comedians etc are not "heroes" whatsoever.
This article is the last official column. However, next week I will present for the first time anywhere the only "Russell Ken-Bun-Ki" article to ever be censored and rejected for publication by the Assistant Mayor of my town.

Ken-Bun-Ki "American Festa"

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from May 1, 1997. 

May 25 will see The Aya American Festa come to Aya. The site will be the open filed in front of the Health Center. The event will run from 10 AM until 3 PM.

The festival will include traditional American games and culture, interaction, and food. There will be American Football, basketball, horse-shoe tossing, and darts among the seven games of chance in the carnival corner. Also there will be special games for elementary, middle, and high school students such as sack races and a cake walk that everyone of all ages can enjoy. The prizes are great, too! All of them are "made in USA" that have been imported to japan or that we got from US companies in Japan. At lunchtime you can enjoy the flavor of a true US barbecue lunch. And by barbecue I do not mean Japanese "yaki-niku." Our menu will be a US hot dog, a drink, and potato chips for a true "in America" feeling. Please lok forward to it!

This event is a continuation of Kunitomi's Southern Festa from two year's ago and last year's USA Carnival in Amagajo in Takaoka. Kunitomi Co-Ordinator of International Relations (CIR) Ben Brown and Takaoka's CIR Michael Hatch are just two of the foreigners from all over the prefecture who are scheduled to appear. This will be a fun international experience, so be sure to bring your family and friends!

Tickets are on-sale now for five hundred yen. Ticket price includes the meal ticket, a drink ticket, game tickets, and a lottery ticket. Quantities are limited. Please talk to the Education Office for more details.

See you there!

Post-Script
This was basically an advertisement for our huge international event, The American Festa. Aya is the name of the town where I worked for 14 years; Takaoka and Kunitomi were the two towns next to Aya. We each had our own CIRs, and for these four years we were all Americans. Ben, Mike, and I worked together for various events such as speech contests and cooking classes. In his first year Ben in Kunitomi was told he had budget money for a larger event for his town, and he came up with the idea of pooling our resources to have a HUGE event. My town and Mike's town agreed to cooperate if we would agree to take the show on the road. That first year we also had Beth in Saito City (on the other side of Kunitomi) help out as well. We did Ben's town first, then Mike's, and then mine. Mine was the last, because the summer of 1997 saw Ben and Mike leave Japan (Beth had left in 1996). The group was broken up, and I went back to being a solo act, haha.

We had a large group of friends who were happy to attend, not only to hang out with each other (and speak in English) but to play football and darts and to have American hot dogs for lunch. We all spoke Japanese and had contacts to get things imported, so we did a heck of a good job planning these things. It was a success.

Here are some photos from Ben's American Festa in Kunitomi. It would have been in 1995. And there is one photo of this particular event that was printed in the Aya Newsletter a week after the event occurred.

 Vegetarian Chili and dozens of hot dog rolls (the bbq is off camera)

The lottery for US made products....in this case, a t-shirt from Atlanta.

That's Mike in the vest, Beth on the podium, and Ben on the right. 

And me in my Russell Athletic sweat-shirt

In this shot you can see the Basketball Free-Throw game in the foreground

as well s one of the Football players standing around in the center. 

They were from the local university and put on an exhibition game

for us. It was a lot of fun. 

JL #28 "A Day In The Life..."

JL #28 FORWARD

This issue I did something I hadn't done before and never did again: I presented solo adventures of six members in lieu of one adventure featuring six members. When I first started this series back in 1991 I wanted to balance out the main JLA comic with individual's stories. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to do this. So although I did do one Wonder Woman solo story (which I might upload here after this series is finished) I didn't get to the Green Lantern, Aquaman, or Batman stories I had tentatively planned. Of course, this whole thing started with individual Batman stories, so in that sense I went full circle. 

Ken-Bun-Ki "Employee Transfers"

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from April 10, 1997. 

As of April 1 we have started a new fiscal year. This brings various job transfers, right? School teachers have transferred in and out, and company employees have moved to different departments or branches. Everyone in Japan thinks this type of job transfers are normal, but in the United States they are virtually unheard of.

First of all, regarding school teachers moving, because there is no national Ministry of Education that controls these things, there no set job transfer policy between schools in the US. Every school in America is run independently. In each town or city the school superintendent, the school principal, and the teacher him/herself decides on transfers. Therefore if the teacher does not ask for a transfer, one almost never occurs.

It is not that company employees do not have any transfers, but not to the extent that occurs in Japan. For example, an associate good with numbers and strong in accounting doesn't get moved out of that section. And a person who has a way with words and phrases is kept in a field to take advantage of that talent. Each associate's ability and history are taken into account when considering transfers. Also, bosses tend to listen to their associates' requests. They do not move people to new jobs who have no interest in new challenges. Each transfer order is given after sounding out the intention of the associate in question. There are almost no individual postings away from your family. Working for the company away from your family is practically unheard of in America.

And if there is a transfer along with a promotion, the associate will often go home and talk it over with his/her spouse before answering. Maybe half of these types of promotions are turned down?

Post-Script

This is another one of the columns that I think I need to explain to my American audience. In Japan, the Ministry of Education (Mon-Bu-Sho) runs the entire nation of public schools, elementary to secondary (middle) to high. They control who works where and who gets promoted to be principals (and who doesn't). So every March teachers who are on "the fast track" get moved from school to school. In places like Miyazaki, where I lived for 14 years, all teachers get shuffled around from so-called "town" schools and "city" schools so that they can experience "both sides of the track." 

Likewise, in companies people who have worked in the accounting department get transferred to the agricultural section. People in the tax section get moved to the education section. In my office, which was the town hall,  it was more dramatic because everyone was hired in as non-specialists. However, the man who ended up being the Superintendent of Education was originally a farmer and spent most of his career in the agricultural department. And he had the nerve to tell ME how to better teach kids English! (sigh)

In Japan there is a term for workers (men) who are sent to a different branch office to live alone while his family stays in their hometown. Can you imagine? Even now, as I work for a Honda supplier, I find men who live here in the US as their wives and children stay in Japan. Un-be-lievable. 

Ken-Bun-Ki "Being Called 'Papa'"

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from March 27, 1997. 

Last week my daughter caught a cood with a bad cough and a temperature. My wife took care of her, but after I got home from my evening classes at about 10 pm she was still awake watching a video. She welcomed me home by saying to me, "Papa, watch this with me!" with a big grin on her face. My daughter knows I have to work, but she is happy whenever I get to spend time with her. Her happiness shows in not only her smile but in her whole body. Not ten minutes after I sat down with her, she fell asleep in my lap.

Do you all have similar experiences? Fathers in America work just like in Japan, as hard as they can. However, in American  the family is more important than the job. We work to support our families. When the children are young, we go home every night to have dinner together. We talk about how our days were, without the television on. I sometimes go out with my Japanese family to eat ramen, and when I do I always look at the other families. The children ware reading comic-books and the parents are watching television. There is no conversation at all. I know it is none of my business, but I always think this is a shame.

Recently there is a commercial with the tag line, "Today let's play with Dad!" There is another commercial with children saying the line, "There's a shooting star! Let's wish for Papa to come home early tonight!" When I see these commericals I think that fathers ARE important. For all you fathers out there, doesn't it feel great to be called, "Papa"?

Tonight, why don't you get home in time to read your child a bedtime story?

Post-Script
This is one of the columns that I *think* is a little bit out-dated. Even at the time I wrote this sixteen years ago there already was a movement among younger fathers to spend more time with their children. My buddies at the time, for example, were not spending endless hours at the office, especially if their children had a play or a concert or some other school event he had to get to. Fatherhood and families were two themes I liked to write about because I felt there were real differences between the US and Japan models; they made for thought-provoking columns.
Nowadays, of course, if you go into an American restaurant the children AND the adults are all busy on their devices, texting or playing. It's the same old lack of communication going on. We have all this technology in order to communicate, and then we're alone in a group of people. It's sad.

New Pronunciation Key

In JL #27 I introduced a new system of pronunciation keys for the English words. If you don't know how Japanese works it's kind of difficult to explain, but over each Japanese word (such as Justice League in the title shown directly below) I write smaller Japanese characters as pronunciation. However, because the Japanese sounds are fewer and more stringent than English, words like "cup" and "cap" end up being given the same pronunciations in Japanese. I added a "dot" or a "triangle" to try to help differentiate the sounds. Obviously, it didn't work. :-) 

JL #27 Next Issue Blurb

NEXT ISSUE: 

Why did the six absent members not participate in this adventure? Next issue, we see the six members' individual stories! Don't miss JUSTICE LEAGUE #28!!  

Ken-Bun-Ki "About Auld Lang Syne"

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from March 19, 1997. 

This is graduation season (in Japan). And when you think of graduation ceremonies, you think of "The Light of the Fireflies." (This is the Japanese title for "Auld Lang Syne.") My daughter is going to sing this song at her kindergarten's graduation ceremony, so she has been practicing it a lot recently.

In America this is not a graduation song; it is a song sung to welcome in The New Year. We all sing it together at midnight on Dec 31. So when I firt came to Japan and started hearing this "The Light of the Fireflies" every March I always wondered, "Why?" It was a mystery to me. So last week I finally did the research and found out WHY. 

The melody is an old Scottish folk song. The writer is unknown. However, the lyricist is Scotland's most famous poet, Robert Burns. He used this folk song's tune and wrote the words to make "Auld Land Syne" in 1794. These lyrics are a mixture of Scottish and English, so the average American does not know the actual meaning to the song! I asked one of my British friends. he told me that in England, this song is not just sung at New Year; it's also sung at the end of parties with friends. Everyone locks arms together and sings it as a group. 

The first publication of the Japanese version was in the November, 1881 first edition of the Ministry of Education Musical Selections for Elementary Schools' Choirs book. The title was "Fireflies." The lyrics at the time symbolized young men leaving their country, going off to battle to help protect it. Nowadays, of course, it is sung at graduation ceremonies by the underclassmen, bidding the graduating class good-bye. Scotland's "Auld Lang Syne" is simply about friends saying good-bye to each other. 

Post-Script 
If you research this song on the internet you will find that there are reports that the Japanese lyrics were written by lyricist Chikai Inagaki, whose pseudonym was "Shinjiro."

Here are the actual lyrics by Robert Burns:
Should old acquaintance be forgot 
And never brought to mind
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne my dear
For auld lang syne
We'll take a cup of kindness yet
For days of auld lang syne

Here are the Japanese lyrics:
(first verse only)

Hotaru no hikari 
Mado no yuki
Fumiyomu tuki hi kasanetsutsu
Itsu shika toshi mo sugi no to wo
Aketezo kesa wa wakare yuku 

The light of the fireflies
The snow on the windows 
Days and months of reading books 
Went on and on 
Hours in to years
Open the door of Japanese cedar
This morning we're parting 

Ken-Bun-Ki "Graduation"

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from March 6, 1997. 

March is the graduation season in Japan. So today I want to write about graduation ceremonies in America.

First of all, in America elementary, junior high, and high schools are all one system, with only one graduation ceremony. In America's system each town has its own elementary, junior high, and high schools. We do not say 'Junior High First Graders" or "High School First Graders." We have "7th graders" or "sophomores." Also, elementary schools and junior highs do not have their own graduation ceremonies. There are "good-bye ceremonies" but that is it. There is only one graduation diploma given out after the twelve years. 

Also, the ceremonies in Japan and America are totally different. In America, graduation season is in May. Therefore, most ceremonies are held outside instead of inside. The graduates all wear gowns. When the graduation ceremony is over, the graduates will throw their caps into the air. Many of you have probably seen this scene in movies.

The order of who graduates is also different. In America, the graduates are not usually divided by gender. The graduates receive their diplomas in alphabetical order. Historically boys and girls were divided, and blacks and whites were also separate. Several decades ago, however, in order to be a more equal society, American standardized all ceremonies. In America it is considered discrimination to treat anyone differently.  We have various minorities  in America, so it is very important that everyone be treated the same. The first time I attended a Japanese graduation ceremony I was a little bit surprised when the students did not graduate in AIUEO (Japanese alphabetical) order but were presented traditionally, boys before girls, (in birth order). 

Anyway, for those graduating this month: Congratulations! Do your best on your new life path! 

Post-Script
This is another one of those articles that tells the Japanese audience about the US culture, so I have to tell you about the Japanese version now.
In Japan the elementary, junior high, and high school experiences are all totally separate. You get a graduation certificate at each location, and there is a graduation ceremony at each school. There's also a "graduation" ceremony at kindergarten/nursery school, but that is not considered in the same way as the others.
Each school hands out a "diploma" in the American sense, which boggled my mind. Mandatory education in Japan is similar to the US, as you have to by law go to school until you're 13 or 14 years old. So in that sense, I guess a junior high school diploma makes sense. In my farming community there were several kids who simply did NOT go on to high school. Still, the idea that your formal education is twelve years long was very strong in my head, so the Japanese system seemed odd to me.
Also, the graduation ceremony itself reminded this sentimental American of some regimented German or British system (Japan took many of their educational cues from Europe). The children stand up as one row of seats, march to the stage as one, march across the stage when their name is called, and then march off. There was absolutely NO spontaneity or emotion in 99% of the ceremonies I ever saw. Plus, the boys all got their diplomas in the birth order before any of the girls got theirs. So the youngest boy was graduated before the oldest girl, which to me seemed odd.
I am not sure if the traditions have changed, but when I asked/called the principals and superintendents out on this, they told me "this is the traditional way" and did not make any moves to change it.

JL #27 "The New Members' Press Conference"

JL #27 "The New Members' Press Conference"

Up until this point I hadn't done too many "poster" type covers. From now until the end, it is all I will do. This is based off an illustration of The New Warriors by Steve Scott & Walden Wong, reprinted below. I never read the book, but I saw the illustration in a catalog and liked the postures of the characters. I didn't know the artists, so incorrectly attributed the entire illustration to "Walden."

Ken-Bun-Ki "Let's Go To The Library!"

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from February 27, 1997. 

Last week I wrote about my hobbies. This week I want to continue on that theme; about a happy discovery I have made.
A few years ago the Miyazaki Prefectural Library was built. It's a beautiful building, but this past November was the first time I had ever visited it. This is because from the time it opened I just assumed that there would be no English books. However, last November my wife went there to find a specific novel, so we went as a family and walked around inside. That is when I realized with surprise the high number of English books that they did have! I got a library card immediately and borrowed two books that day.
I have loved books since I was a child. I remember well my father reading me bedtime stories. In elementary school I can remember reading famous books like Tom Sawyer and The Three Musketeers. I remember in junior high school one of our punishments when we misbehaved as a class was to have to copy over the dictionary into our notebooks. To me, this wasn't a punishment at all.
Why do I love books so much? I think it's because books open doors to other worlds. What type of world was 1963 America? Read a book about the Kennedy assassination and you can get a small idea of the answer. What kind of trouble would people have trying to live in space? Read an SF novel and you can get a small imagination of what it might be like. Books are my interesting friends. So when I found out that the Prefectural Library had English books, I was very very happy.
Please, visit the Aya Town Library. If you can't find the book you are looking for, ask one of the staff members for help. They can communicate with the Prefectural Library and if that Library has the book you want, they can get it to you and you can borrow it for free! I'll see you at the library!

Post-Script
One of the first books I borrowed was CASE CLOSED by Gerald Posner about the Kennedy assassination, which is why I referenced that in this column.
I lucked out when I moved back to the States where libraries are concerned; in Portland, Indiana Jay County's Library is *awesome.* When I first moved there my then-boss said that the library had just been rebuilt but that he had never been inside. Needless to say, I went often. Now that I live in Columbus, I'm even happier. Columbus Metropolitan Library has been called the best in the nation. Similar to the Miyazaki network, I can request a book that exists anywhere in the state of Ohio and then pick it up at my neighborhood library a few days later. I love it!
If you are not using your neighborhood library, you are missing out on a lot of free resources. Not only do they have books (duh!) but most libraries now have CDs, DVDs, and Graphic Novels. Stop by your local library; I promise you, you won't be disappointed.

Ken-Bun-Ki "My hobby is..."

 Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996-97. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from February 20, 1997. 

Whenever I am asked, "What is your hobby?" I answer, "Reading." However, that isn't the only hobby I have. I enjoy listening to music, watching movies and television, I write, and I draw pictures. Also, whenever I am asked, "What kind of music do you like?" I don't know how to answer. This is because I like all types of music, including pop, rock, rap, instrumentals, jazz, and country. For movies, if there is a good story I will watch any type of film. Books are the same way. I don't just read science fiction, suspense, or romance novels; I also have an interest in biographies and historical dramas.

These hobbies help me relieve stress. I also like to do jigsaw puzzles. It's like a game, to look at the little pieces and put them together to form a larger image. I can lose myself in doing this for hours. It's a great stress relief.

I also have many things I would love to try. For example, I want to travel the world, I want to study another language besides Japanese, I want to write a picture book, and so many other things. however, life is short and I'm sure I won't be able to do everything I would like to. In this world there are some people who know all about their specific area of expertise but have no common sense. Instead of that, I'd like to look at everything with a sense of wonder. I think it's better to live my life with an interest in everything. I want to challenge myself as much as I can.

Post-Script

Well, since I wrote this 16 years ago I *have* studied another language (Korean) and given it up because it was too difficult/close to Japanese for me to remember. I can still read some hangul, though. I haven't traveled the world yet, but I have seen a lot more of the United States and Japan. I started a book but haven't finished; it wasn't a picture book, though. 

Let's all "live like we were dying." It's more fun.