So goes the adage,
"幸運の女神は前髪しかない"
(kou'un no megami wa maegami shika nai)
Literally, the goddess of Fortune only has front hair.

The adage points to the notion that opportunities come by chance and must be siezed quickly, as there is no second chance in life.

This adage came to mind as I was informed of two employment opportunities that I could use to secure a working permit in Canada.

I have already secured a cushy job at a securities broker in Tokyo, through the assistance of my father. Yet, deep down in my heart I know that I would prefer to steer my own course in life, rather than live up to the expectations of the patriarch.

As my friend Erick informed me, money is one of the many false-securities in life.

Frankly, the idea of accumulating wealth does not excite me at all, but unfortunately it is at the top of the list of priorities for my father and partner...

Furthermore, the mere thought of corporate life in Japan mortifies me (Here is the reason so aptly summarized by David Marx in his rather bluntly titled article "Work/Life Balance-Never Coming to Japan").

Besides, I find the lucrative business of moving (gambling with) other peoples money a little distasteful for my little mind.

The options I currently hold in my hand is an ESL teaching position in Vancouver, and a translator/interpreter position in Toronto. Either of these positions is fine-- so long as I can save enough money to pursue a Canadian B. Ed. in a few years time.

Fingers Crossed.

Here goes.

(Tired of writing resumes)

The ethnographic gallery is a reliquary of entrapped mana.

Powerrful deities, fetishes, and talisman from throughout the world surround me--objects and subjects begrudgingly sold by indigenous peoples in exchange for the other--all-powerful-- and internationally recognized fetish called currency.

The spirits and energies that flow from these objects are not necessarilly positive; the gallery adorned with flowers feels as if it is perpetually mired in the doldrums. The objects--once the proud ritual possessions of indigenous people are now commodities-- the luster they once exuded in ritual context--long lost by those cultures now irreversably altered by the passage of time and the unrelenting waves of globalization.

The frustration the objects must feel, having lost their agency to speak through ritual. The fetishtic thoughts and memories these objects were endowed with are gradually declining as the cultures they come from abandon old ways.

Their mana is forever entrapped in this ethnographic sarcophogus.

The very forces underlying the collection of ethnographic art are undermining the cultures from which they collect, as a growing number of indigenous artists cater to Western tastes and perceptions rather than indigneous aesthetic needs. From the opposite perspective, this incarceration of ethnographic objects points to a repressed, imperialistic, and--some might say--"necrophilic" desire of ours to define ourselves vis-a-vis the Other--collected.

第三天

For the past month I have been living with blurred vision; a veritable mole in a world dominated by sight, the only objects I could see in full clarity were those that were within arms reach. Yesterday, I visited the optometrist to receive a new prescription, rush ordering my lenses so that I can pick them up later that day.

Experience more by seeing less.

A month without clarity of sight can change your sensory perceptions quite significantly, and even alter your world-view.

People often associate visual perception with mental cognition-- quite literally people tend to think visually.

We often take for granted how other sensory perceptions such as the aural (hearing), olfactoral (smell) , gustation (taste) , somatic (touch) contribute to our understanding of the world.

But as vision recedes, the other four senses become pronounced-- the world is a breathtakingly unfamiliar place.

The sound of birds you never bothered to listen to before.
The sensation of the slightest wind caresses you.
You can feel the rumble of cars pass by, and taste the fragrance of moist grass and earth suspended in the morning air.

Its a wonderful experience, that I wish I had experimented early on.

Anyone up for the challenge?

Today I went to my first interview for a job at an antiquities market. I arrived ten minutes early and slinked by some customers to get a feel for the art and artifacts in the room. The quality of these works were quite astounding, some of them were of a higher aesthetic standard than the one's I've seen displayed in Art museums.

Then the collector, a tall, but rather frail looking woman took notice of me. As I introduced myself to her, she blankly stated that she assumed I was a girl. Oops. Well, not quite. Apparently, women are usually better in handling the wealthy clientele... Then she stated a few key ideas about what she does; plainly put, this is not a research job, this is about sales and pandering the ego of wealthy clientele. She broke from her explanatory note, and drank some tea to soothe her dry cough. She warned me about the unruly customers who will come in and complain about how and where she acquired her works.

I whispered to myself in my mind, "well, of course! these works... are fantastic works that should be displayed and seen by all in national institutions..." Then, I responded, "well, I can understand why...", "You can?, well I can't..." she responded  curtly...

She explained to me that she was a "runner" a dying breed of collector who would scour the field and rural villages for the best works of art to sell to the highest bidder. Runner, treasure hunter, pirate, tomb-raider, whatever you choose to call them, they have no reserves about cultural patrimony... to them an artifact acquired is as good as a piece of gold in their hand.

She coughed into her hand and clutched her stomach, explaining to me how she was planning to go on her run again in the winter to search for new objects in Southeast Asia, but that the doctors had advised her against it until she became well. I could not help but feel sympathetic watching the glaze of sorrow drown her eyes, as she seemed to reminisce about her past adventures. Suddenly it occurred to me, that I was cast under the spell as well-- the romantic life of a cultural pirate--travelling the world and scouring for treasure.

On the other hand,

the thought of selling such works made the art historian in me cringe and my subaltern soul cry.

This is the art market

From Sothebies to the small town art markets--the global market takes no pity on cultural patrimony... everything is commoditized.
And the sad reality is, without it Art historians would not have an audience to write for.
We cater to the aesthetics and understandings of the rich, while speaking of making art accessible to all. The relentless forces of the market drives everything and influences the livelihood of collectors and scholars in the West, and tomb theives and tribesmen in the developing world. 

For my partner and I to survive,

I have no choice but to be complicit.

or do I?

The art objects and I will become good friends...
for the next few months this veritable pirates cove will be my refuge from school life.

Have you ever heard of Cultural Patrimony claims?
 These are attempts by polities to reclaim art and artifacts that are claimed to be the sovereign possession of that nation and the culture(s) and ethnicitiy or ethnicities it represents.

Many artifacts in museums and private collections were plundered from their point of origin in times of financial and political insecurity and eventually hoisted into the art market for the highest bidder. At times national institutions would intervene and patron such displays as grand manifestations of imperial or cultural might-- the right to catalogue, display, and interpret the Other.
The most famous examples are the Rosetta Stone from Egypt, and "Lord Elgin's marbles" from the Parthenon, which are both held in the British Museum. A less savoury example would be the sacred body of theTzeachten First Nation Medicine man that was displayed in the Burke Museum Seattle...

Ok, so I won't be helping in the upkeep and sale of such controversial art and artifacts (should the Medicine Man even be treated as one!?), and chances are the works I will be dealing with won't be the target of patrimony claims. It is more likely that no one knows they have been unearthed. But Han dynasty terracotta and wooden Buddhas makes me a little nervous. How were these objects obtained and who is really benefiting from them? Not to go all Indy-Jones and say "It belongs in a Museum!" but they do really belong in Museum in China if anything. and imagine the even greater discoveries that could have been made if excavated under archaeological processes?
--- no wonder archaeologists and art collectors don't get along.

Frankly, I don't care for much of the fetishistic purchase and displays of conspicuous consumption that characterizes the antiquities market.

What I do care about is how these works came into being and who produced them for what reasons. I feel uncomfortable about taking works out of context, plundering tombs and subjugating very personal objects to our scrutiny. and to top that off-- selling them.

... Seems like I will be doing a little bit of soul searching in the next few weeks.

Concerns over a "greying society" is just one of the many issues that developed nations will have to meet in the coming years, but for the world's most prosperous economy this shift in demographics has taken an interesting twist as recent headlines such as "Wifeless future for Chinese men" and "China to act on gender imbalance" reveal. Communism in China has failed to stamp out an entrenched Confucian mentality that places a social premium on male heirs. If its manifestation in female infanticide and the abortion of female foetuses continues unchecked, in fifteen years China will have 30 million more men than women-- accounting for the largest gender imbalance of any country in history.

Although the social implications of this massive demographic phenomena are only beginning to show in things like the abduction and trafficking of marriagiable women in rural areas, an even frightening future can be gleaned from works of historical literature where similar phenomena led to banditry and ultimately rebellion against the government.

反了把！(fanleba) Let's rebel!

This heartful incitation of rebellion was spoken by the bandit Li Kui from the popular early vernacular Chinese novel Shuihuzhuan æ°´æµ’ä¼ , Outlaws of Liangshan Marsh. The novels follows the rise and fall of a historical band of rebels that rally against corrupt local officials of the 11th century Northern Song court. The rebels who gather at the marsh of Liangshan are composed of men who have been wronged by officialdom; with no spouses, no heirs, and no ability to fulfil their filial task of providing heirs for their family-- these "frustrated bachelors" turn to the brotherhood of bandits for emotional solace from a society in which they would otherwise be marginalized. 

The comparison between contemporary China and this literary portrayal of Song China is not entirely without warrant, as the censored Survey of Chinese Peasants/Zhonguo Nongmin Diaocha (2003) reveals a sharp increase in rural unrest against corrupt and inept local governments. Now imagine 30 million men with no wives, no children, only parents to whom they are unable to fulfill their primary filial obligation of producing a family heir. Marginalized by their society-- these men will have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by militating against the system.

Swept underneath the celebrations of Beijing 2008 is a demographic time bomb just waiting to explode.


Addendum:
Here is an alternative scenario of 'cooption' posited by Poston and Morrison of the International Herald Tribune in their 2005 article "China Bachelor Bomb":

"Past societies with large numbers of unattached men have on occasion turned to a more authoritarian political system, perceiving threats of violence. Such societies have also sought to harness their surplus of men by recruiting excess males into military occupations, pursuing expansionist policies aimed at developing unexplored territories or colonizing neighboring ones.

The tensions associated with so many bachelors in China's big cities might tempt its future leaders to mobilize this excess manpower and go pick a fight, or invade another country. China is already co-opting poor unmarried young men into the People's Liberation Army and the paramilitary People's Armed Police."

I think the way others interact with you is a reflection of who you are and how you appear in the eyes of others. You have to put up with yourself reflected in the behavior of others everyday!
... hm, so if I did meet myself, perhaps we would just negate one another... and cease to be... no... that makes no sense either.

The very notion of "progress" still reeks of the Enlightenment project and the idea that science and its facilitation of technological will bring forth a society radically improved, ordered, engineered, and mastered. Although I recognize the many benefits of this historical endeavor-- free inquiry and rational empiricism of the sciences that have brought an unprecedented proliferation of ideas and technology-- and yet, the history of the last two centuries casts a shadow of doubt to my mind.

We live in perilous times; in an increasingly populated world with dwindling resources, our systems are sustained by limitless want, and maintained by the principle that private vices will yield public benefit.

If we dare to wave the flag of 'progress' again, its best that we learn from the past and develop an enlightened self interest characterized by a concern and respect for communal rationality and mutual understanding.

Ultimately, it will be our descendents with the benefit of hindsight who will pass judgement upon us.

Its been a month and a bit since I purchased this "Super-chilli" from the neighborhood green-grocer for a bargain price of 50 cents.  If you look closely you'll notice that it has flowers that resemble jasmine, but without the fragrance. An East facing window-sill and long summer days means that pretty soon this Chilli will ready for the picking. : )

Tis the exploration of the individual amidst humanity. An ambiguous convergence of the journey and the destination. It is the longing for resolution, the cultivation of potential, and the promise of permanence, in our transient moments of our unforgiving present.

It should come with a warning label. "Warning this is a potent social adhesive, which applied in the wrong manner can tear humanity apart; glue is not an opiate."