clouded in grey

Charles and Margaret Mackintosh (Scottish, 1868-1928; 1864-1933)

Japonica (Chaenomeles speciosa), Chiddingstone, Kent, 1910

Passiflora, Cintra, Portugal, 1908

Japanese Witch Hasel (sic, Hamamelis japonica), Walberswick, Suffolk, 1915

Married artists, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh collaborated so closely that it is difficult to distinguish their work.

- Sacheen Littlefeather in Reel Injun (2009), dir. Neil Diamond.

Marlon Brando was the Don in The Godfather, and in 1973, he was nominated for and won an Academy Award for it. However, he was also a huge Natives rights activist, and boycotted the ceremony because he felt that Hollywood’s depictions of Native Americans in the media led to the Wounded Knee Incident (which I was always taught as “the second massacre at Wounded Knee” but apparently that’s not the real name). He sent Sacheen Littlefeather, an Apache Native rights activist, in his stead. Wikipedia’s article on her explains the rest:

Brando had written a 15-page speech for Littlefeather to give at the ceremony, but when the producer met her backstage he threatened to physically remove her or have her arrested if she spoke on stage for more than 60 seconds.[5] Her on-stage comments were therefore improvised. She then went backstage and read the entire speech to the press. In his autobiography My Word is My Bond, Roger Moore (who presented the award) claims he took the Oscar home with him and kept it in his possession until it was collected by an armed guard sent by the Academy.

Yukiko Okada was an 80’s pop idol from Nagoya, Japan; she was introduced as an idol after winning the t.v. talent program: Star Tanjo! in 1983. Her particular style of singing wasn’t particularly extraordinary, but as a young female pop artist in the 80’s she showed plenty of dedication to her music. In fact in two short years she released four studio albums and four best of albums.

Her song’s subjects were fairly traditional, mostly fantastical or circling around young love, but, in my opinion, there always seemed to be a sense of reservation or melancholic distance in her voice. Although she climbed the ranks and quickly claimed the #1 spot on the Oricon charts with her 1986 single “Kuchibiru Network”, her career and life came to a sudden halt immediately after. 

Tragically, on April 8th 1986 at age 18 Yukiko took her own life after two failed suicide attempts earlier that day. It isn’t know exactly why she killed herself, nor will the subject be a point of focus on this blog, but it created a string of copycat suicides that became known as “Yukko syndrome” (Yukko being a common abbreviation of her stage name). 

It does bring up an important point though, Idols are by nature people intended to be seen as someone larger than life. They are seen as an image and therefore become a thing of worship for many different types of reasons, and for many different types of people. However, this isn’t the case in reality. No matter how they present themselves or how prefabricated their music, image, or even their personality may be; a pop icon is no more than an occupation, or depending on their intent a way to present their music. They are real people who live real lives and it’s important to separate art from it’s artist (or in this case the art would be the image of the icon and the artist would be the person themselves). It is a shame that we lost a talented young adult and fans should never forget what they’ve left behind, but they should never commit suicide in mourning or as a “homage” to the artist. 

Small town police interview rooms are pretty dismal. File under “new experiences in Japan”.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I’d been sexually assaulted by another ALT. It was a pretty messy situation - he assualted me, apologised profusely, then tried to rape me a month later.  He was a friend of mine, someone I liked and spent a lot of time with. Someone I trusted.

I decided to make an official complaint, so I had to stop talking about it for a while - until the guy who assaulted me was interviewed by his BOE, and until I made a statement to the police. I decided not to pursue legal action, but I registered my details with the domestic violence and stalking department in case anything else happens.

In all the JET orientations - pre-departure, Tokyo, prefectural - there’s always talk about how to deal with sexual harassment from colleagues or students, but never about what to do if it’s another JET. When I chose to make this official, we found there were no policies and no processes in place - here in Saga or elsewhere in Japan - to assist us.  

Japan isn’t famous for pro-woman attitudes, or for dealing well with sexual violence. I do feel like I’ve been very lucky in the amount of support I had - from my friends, my PAs, my supervisors, the people in my BOE, the people in the International Affairs Division.  Everyone was willing to make so much time for this, to meet with me and each other, after hours and on weekends, to write numerous reports. They didn’t suggest I was at blame me for what happened (well… mostly).  They made my safety and my mental health a priority. They believed me. 

But the outcomes have been fairly toothless. The prefectural BOE backed out of their promise to me that there’d be a clear statement about consent and the unacceptability of sexual violence at an upcoming conference. The guy who assaulted me will most likely go unpunished. There was some talk about him not being allowed to recontract, but that is entirely at the discretion of his BOE.

The support I’ve had has been wonderful, and I will always be so grateful for that. The lack of decisive, unambiguous action confirming that what happened was morally and legally wrong, and unacceptable for a JET participant (or any public servant), will disappoint me for a long time.

So, should you be assaulted by another JET, what would I recommend? 

Have evidence. My word was good, but being able to produce text and facebook messages supporting my claims were very helpful. I wish I’d taken photos of the bruises and bite-marks that were left on me, but whoops - I guess I’ll know for next time. 

Be prepared to humiliate yourself. I told my supervisors everything, explicitly. I used no euphemisms, I softened nothing; I had already been violated, so what did a little more matter? I wasn’t sure how seriously I’d be taken if I wasn’t very clear on exactly what had happened. I also figured that if I have to live with what he did, I may as well share some of the trauma.

Call your embassy. I got some good basic legal advice, the name of a good lawyer, and an offer to call my BOE to make sure my case was being dealt with seriously enough. 

Be less forgiving. If someone demonstrates that they don’t really respect “no” or “stop” or your stated boundaries once, they probably never will. No matter how genuinely sorry they seem.