No "ho, ho!"??

Nowadays, in many places there's a pressure to be "politically correct", to "protect our children" (guess some things children in my generation saw and did would not be acceptable now...), etc..

But when I read articles like this one, I'm sure we're overdoing it... The original can be found here.

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Santas warned 'ho ho ho' offensive to women
Wed Nov 14, 9:45 PM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.
Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.

"Gimme a break," said Julie Gale, who runs the campaign against sexualising children called Kids Free 2B Kids.

"We are talking about little kids who do not understand that "ho, ho, ho" has any other connotation and nor should they," she told the Telegraph.

"Leave Santa alone."

A local spokesman for the US-based Westaff recruitment firm said it was "misleading" to say the company had banned Santa's traditional greeting and it was being left up to the discretion of the individual Santa himself.

Face and finger, please

So, from November 20th, all non-Japanese, with some few exceptions (“special permanent residents” of Korean and Taiwanese descent who had Japanese nationality before the end of the war and their descendants, diplomats, children under age 16 and those visiting at the invitation of the government) arriving in Japan will be fingerprinted and photographed.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you may want to check articles and posts at Slashdot (check the comments), asahi.com in English and Japanese (interesting to notice the difference between the versions), Japan Times, Global Voices Online, debito.org, Yahoo Brasil (in Portuguese) and Reuters.

And that gives me an impression that they're imitating the US...

I mean, those "fingerprint-and-photograph-foreigners" stuff has been around there since a couple of years after 9/11 attacks. And, like what happened in Japan, before it there were protests. Still, I didn't see any way it could be refuted, especially at the time. Those who could change the decision, US citizens, were more scared of terrorist attacks than worrying about "non-Americans rights" or other stuff...

I only have hopes that people working at those places in Japan won't be so arrogant as those at the same function in the US. Lots of friends have bad stories to tell about arrogant officers, a second of hesitation or a strange answer that guaranteed some minutes at that "other room" or such... Which is sort of ironic since there were posters when I was there for the last time saying that they were "the face of our [US] nation".

What really sounds lame are the reasons the Japanese government gave to justify the measure: terrorism!? Honestly... just admit your real intentions (or at least the other ones) and it will be better for everyone... And doing the same process to long-term residents also seems very fishy...

Anyway, what's done is done. And I don't see many ways on how this could be reversed, since foreigners have practically no political voice in Japan (among other reasons). The only one I can imagine is if tourism decreases dramatically because of that, what I think it's unlikely.

The other way is if other countries (lots of them) follow the principle of reciprocity and Japanese people start to feel what it's like. Well, Brazil did that to US citizens, even though I can't tell what's stupider: saying it's "a way to fight terrorism" or that it's "payback". Besides, it could work the other way around, making Japanese more resentful of foreigners.

Maybe the most ironic article I've seen about this is here. I won't transcript it this time, but it resembles another one I saw before US did the same thing (can't find the link, though).

Still, it could be worse. Considering that every country has its own regulations about immigration, weird things can happen. Like a couple that was denied entry in New Zealand for being overweight.

Wedding... not mine.

There are times that I may regret not being in Brazil, or at least not being able to go there immediately... for either good or bad motives. I mentioned a bad one not so long ago. Time to give an example of the other.

A friend is marrying at this exact moment. A very good friend. And I really want to go to the ceremony... but unless I learn to teleport at international scale or anything equivalent, that's out of question.

Although I can't go there, I decided to do some little celebration of my own here during the same time the wedding is probably taking place, and this post is part of it.

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Quem diria, hein rapaz? Tá preparado pra tomar porrada de pau de macarrão? Heh! Eu podia começar um discurso típico de casamento, dizendo como a gente se conheceu, como você é um cara legal e tals, mas depois da festa você talvez esteja de saco cheio... e a gente já fez uma sessão flashback quanto te liguei desejando os parabéns.

Pena não poder participar da festa... A gente não dá muita sorte mesmo nisso, não é? Já perdi a sua festa de formatura da outra vez que vim pro Japão... A culpa é sua que só marca esses grandes eventos da sua vida quando estou do outro lado do mundo!! Também não vou te convidar pra minha festa de formatura aqui... huahuahuahuahua!!

Mas fica convidado a dar uma passada em casa se aparecer no Nihon enquanto eu ainda estiver por aqui... ou seja lá onde eu estiver e você conseguir dar uma chegada... Pelo jeito até lá na casa do Brasil minha mãe ficaria mais que feliz em te receber com pão de queijo e PS2... mesmo sem a minha presença. Hehehe!

E tô esperando as fotos do casório! Com direito a montagens me incluíndo no meio da muvuca, hein!

Ah sim... e depois quero seus comentários sobre vida de casado. Preciso ter certeza no que posso estar me metendo se um dia essa idéia me passar pela cabeça... Huahuahauahuahua!

PS: Avisa se estiver interessado na faixa preta. E, se estiver, vou precisar do kanji do seu sobrenome.

Bank Heist in Japan?

On November 6th I met a Brazilian student who said that there was an attempt of bank robbery at a bank here in Kyoto. It was the first time I've heard of such thing here. It seems that the police was blocking part of the roads around the area looking for the suspect or something like that, so the shuttle bus who carries students from one campus to another got late.

Since it was an unusual thing and it happened relatively close to where we live (the same city at least...), she looked for something about it on the internet and sent to others. I'll transcribe the Kyoto Shinbun article (links in Japanese):

郵便局に刃物男、局長抵抗し軽傷山科、男が逃走

　６日午前７時５０分ごろ、京都市山科区御陵原西町、京都山科御陵郵便局の通用口前で、出勤してきた佐々木貞仁局長（60）が男に羽交い締めにされ、刃物を突き付けられて「強盗や、中に入れ」と脅された。佐々木局長が抵抗すると、男は走って逃げた。局長は男ともみ合った際に左手を切る軽傷を負った。山科署が強盗傷害事件として捜査している。

　山科署によると、通用口は郵便局の裏側の路地に面しており、佐々木局長が通用口前の門を開けようとしたところ、後ろから男に襲われ、首に包丁のような刃物を突き付けられた。局長が刃物を握るようにして振り払うと、男は何も取らずに西へ逃げた、という。

　男は３０歳ぐらいで、身長約１７０センチ。黒色サングラスに黒色ニット帽、黒色ジャンパー姿で、灰色のリュックサックを持っていた、という。

　近所の印刷業の男性（57）は「『包丁』という叫び声がしたので外に出ると、（佐々木局長が）手から血を流していた」と驚いていた。

　事件を受け、現場近くの鏡山小と陵ケ岡小は集団下校を決めた。

　現場は地下鉄東西線御陵駅の東約２００メートルの三条通に面した住宅地。

For those who don't understand Japanese, a man in his 30's armed with a knife ("kitchen knife"; 包丁) tried to dominate the director of a post office (people can also open accounts at post offices in Japan) before he opened the agency, but the director (who's 60 years old) reacted and the robber ran away. The director had only a slight injury on his left hand, result of his struggle against the robber.

Guess the Brazilians who read this blog won't find it impressive at all. Maybe just a little because it happened in Japan... Japanese robbers may still have a long way to go, either in efficiency or in violence. But, really, it's better they do... That's one of the things I like in Japan and wouldn't like to see changed.

Elite Squad!!

Even though I'm in Japan, I try to keep myself updated about what's happening in Brazil too. And I've received news about a Brazilian movie called "Tropa de Elite" (Elite Squad).

Part of the news were about the film being pirated and available on the internet or at "camelos" way before the official release date.

Other was the response to the movie. It has been a while since a Brazilian movie had such an appeal to the general public. Or at least that's what it seems...

It also generated lots of discussion and controversy. From the Wikipedia article:

"When the film was first leaked, it caused a major controversy for its portrayal of Capitão Nascimento's unpunished police brutality in favelas. At its premier in Rio de Janeiro, the audience cheered Capitão Nascimento in such scenes. Arnaldo Bloch, in an article of O Globo, called the film 'fascist' for justifying the actions of a killer cop and making the audience believe that his behavior should be acceptable. Padilha responded saying that the film is seen through Capitão Nascimento's point of view, but does not justify it. Michel Misse, a researcher for Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, in an interview to Carta Capital, tried to explain why Capitão Nascimento is cheered: 'as the judiciary system cannot keep up with the demand for punishment, some may think civil rights leads to unpunishment. And then, they want illegal solutions. That's why Capitão Nascimento is called'."

My opinion is that Misse is right. Numbers show that a good part of the population approve Cpt. Nascimento's methods, and it may be because they don't have any hope of seeing any solution for problems like drug traffic and urban violence through the "conventional channels". Higher percentages of people in Rio seem to approve his methods. Perhaps because they're closer to that "reality"...

Interesting is how Cpt. Nascimento is being "worshipped" for some; more a less the same way as Chuck Norris at the "Chuck Norris Facts" website. Guess a legend was born...

There are also two other points about the movie. One regards the responsibility of those whose recreational drug use results in the financing of illegal activities. Those users usually belong to middle or high social classes. So, ironically, they finance crime while complaining about public security and urban violence. What goes around comes around, perhaps? But in this case others also pay the price. For example police officers are killed every year by drug dealers and many poor children also end up in the dealers' ranks, finding an early death.

Drug dealers exist because there are people interested in the "product". Market. But users are usually seen as victims rather than part of the problem. Just put more pressure on users won't solve the problem, though.

The second point I'll condense in a quote from Cpt. Nascimento. It illustrates well why so many things doesn't work (not only in Brazil):

"The police depends on the system and the system doesn't work to solve problems of society. The system works to solve the system's problems."

And not only the police... It's some sort of way of saying that the system no longer worries about the society, instead it cares only about itself. Excessive bureaucracy is probably the most visible sign of that.

Here's a "trailer" I found with English subtitles (not official). Even though there are some grammar errors it's probably enough for a preview... As a last comment, I wonder how they'll put subtitles. Many words are street language, very hard to translate.

Jokes: Portuguese X Brazilian

I said that a couple of times already, but as the university has many foreign students, I'm living in some sort of international environment. While it may be a little strange having more friends from many different countries rather than Japanese friends (considering I'm in Japan), I'm really enjoying it a lot. It's an enriching experience.

It's also a good chance to know interesting things.

A recent one is related to jokes. In Brazil, we tell jokes about Portuguese people where they are depicted as fools in general. I've heard that in Portugal it works the other way around: jokes about Brazilians in that same way. There's even a joke in Brazil about that saying that Portuguese people wouldn't be able to make their own jokes and just use jokes from Brazil, changing "Portuguese" for "Brazilian".

Well, thanks to that "international environment" I got some of those jokes told in Portugal from a Portuguese student. I was a bit surprised though for noticing that some of the jokes I've listened to not as jokes about Portuguese, but about blondes. I'm transcribing some here, with some from Brazil as well.

I guess it's understandable that I won't try to translate them, so all the jokes will be written in Portuguese.

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Piadas de português do Brasil

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O português vê uma máquina de refrigerante e fica maravilhado. Coloca uma ficha e cai uma latinha. Coloca 2 fichas e caem 2 latinhas. Coloca 10 fichas e caem 10 latinhas.
Então ele vai ao caixa e pede 50 fichas. O caixa diz:
-Desse jeito você vai acabar com as minhas fichas.
-Não adianta, eu não paro enquanto estiver ganhando!

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Em Lisboa, após um incêndio no pequeno prédio, os bombeiros, verificando os destroços, encontraram apenas um morto.
E justamente o avô do Manuel, que estava de cabeça para baixo, com o dedo indicador apontando para um dos cantos do ambiente.
Ao seu lado, um extintor de incêndio, com a seguinte instrução:
"Em caso de incêndio, vire para baixo e aponte para a chama".

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Joaquim José estava a querer mandar um presente do Brasil para Maria, sua esposa além-mar. Passeando pelas ruas do rio, encontrou uma caixa de fósforos tamanho família. Empacotou e mandou para Portugal.
Meses após no telefone...
- Oh Maria, gostaire do presente que te mandei?
- Oh Joaquim José, gostaire eu gostei, mas todos os fósforos não funcionam!
- Oh Maria! Você não estas a saber usaire! Testei todos antes de te mandar! Acendi um por um e todos funcionaram!!!

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Piadas de brasileiro em Portugal

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O Brasileiro chega-se ao homem no balcão e diz:
-"Olhe, eu queria um churrasco."
-"O senhor é Brasileiro, não é?"
-"Sim.. mas o senhor descobriu pelo sotaque ou pelo prato que pedi?"
-"Bem, é que aqui é o MCDONALD'S"

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Estavam dois portugueses e um brasileiro conversando num bar:
1º Português: - Epá, eu acha que a minha mulher está-me a trair com um pedreiro...
E o outro: - Porquê?
E o 1º Português: - Ontem achei uma marreta debaixo da cama...
E o 2º: - Se é assim, então a minha está-me a trair com um empregado de limpeza...
O outro: - Porquê?
E o 2º Português: - Hoje mesmo, eu encontrei um esfregão debaixo da cama...
Então o Brasileiro: - Ai, então a Maria me está traindo com um cavalo...
E os Portugueses: - Como assim?????
E o Brasileiro: - Simana passada achei um Joquei em baixo da cama...

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- No Brasil:
- Doutor, doutor, me dá uma injecção anti-britânica!
- Anti-britânica que nada. Injecção anti-tetânica.
- Que nada, doutor. Foi com uma chave-inglesa!

You Were Always Invincible in My Eyes...

That was a long period without updates here. Realy sorry for those who still read this blog (anyone?). I can say some reasons, but perhaps only one is worth mentioning.

I got messages from my family telling my grandmother died.

She was the only of my grandparents still alive. Besides, the one I liked the most... and I think she liked me as well. Especially when I got the scholarships to Japan (in both occasions - Himeji and Kyoto) she seemed happy...

Enough reminiscing. Time for mourning is over already. I only feel a little regretful for not being able to return for the funeral...

Well, she had a long life, with ups and dows as far as I know, but a family that loves her a lot. It can be said as a deserved rest...

As for the title, it's an interesting part of "Could it be Any Harder" (The Calling) lyrics. I first heard that music days before I got the sad news, and those lyrics fit well in the situation... at least that's what I thought during mourning.

Now back to the show. I have lots of backlog here...