My Trip to Big Bear

I’m up here in Big Bear, about 2-3 hours from the Los Angeles and San Diego areas. It’s very similar to the quaint town of Karuizawa, the mountain resort that’s popular with Tokyo-ites who need to get away from the concrete-and-asphalt jungle that is Japan’s sprawling capital city. (Karuizawa pops up in anime and manga quite a bit, including Please Twins, Kyou kara Ore wa, Ouran High School Host Club and the Genshiken manga.). I’m enjoying it up here, not least because it’s at an elevation of 7000 feet, which means it’s quite cool, at least compared to the lower areas of Southern California. Last night I took my sister’s family out for dinner, and paid for the meal with a credit card. When it came time to sign for the check, the lady at the restaurant handed me a red pen to sign with, which gave me pause. It’s really bad luck to write a person’s name using red ink in Japan, which is some kind of old cultural holdover from ancient China.

I feel bad for being in a cool and comfortable area, though, since the unrelenting summer of ’11 is continuing back in Japan, with temperatures hitting 98 degrees in J-List’s hometown of Isesaki, with 74 percent humidity. The problem is made worse by the fact that the 35 nuclear power plants across Japan’s islands have been idled in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and Fukushima crisis, including those that were not directly damaged by the earthquakes. Yesterday a Trade Ministry official named Yoshifumi Ohno — the last name is pronounced “Oh no!” — said that the government “couldn’t say when” the idled nuclear plants would be restarted, and that the government is reviewing the situation and making plants to test each plant, though there’s nothing concrete on the horizon. The reality is that there’s a sudden strong distaste for any kind of nuclear power by Japan’s voters, and as usual Japan, which should be showing bold leadership (in one direction or another, at least) is unable to decide anything. So things frozen in limbo, with all the nuclear power plants ready to be reactivated or dismantled but no decision is coming either way.

Using a red pen to write someone’s name is bad luck.