My trip to Stavanger, Norway and for a few days, New York, was wonderful. I got back to Tokyo on Wednesday and stuck around just long enough to kick some jet-lag. I’m heading to Taipei this evening and will be back in Japan on the 22nd. I’ll be spending most of the time over the next two weeks reading in coffee shops with Sayaka, doing some sightseeing with her, and otherwise not rushing to meet any deadlines that might lurk out there.
Author: Muninn
Tale of a Norwegian Soldier
On April 9, 1940, Norway’s neutrality came to an end when German naval forces launched their attack. In less than 24 hours, Narvik, Egersund, Arendal, Trondheim, Bergen, and my hometown of Stavanger had all been occupied. Oslo and the rest of the country were quickly taken. The king and the rest of the government retreated northwards as they resisted the German advance, but both abandoned the country on June 7th and set up a government in exile. By mid-June organized resistance was squashed and Germany ruled Norway relatively quietly until the end of the war. Perhaps the only major upset was the fact that, unlike their occupation of Denmark, they were unable to take Oslo in time to capture the king and legally elected government, which they had hoped would continue ruling during the occupation. Instead, they fled and the exiled government officially joined the allied cause.
In my family, mom is the expert on Norway’s experience of World War II, or at least that part of it fought on the oceans. She has a massive website dedicated to Norway’s war at sea and my grandfather’s part in it. The vast majority of Norway’s merchant marine joined together to form the world’s largest shipping company, Nortraship, and would become a vital support line supplying the Allies throughout the war. Some 30,000 Norwegian sailors participated and almost 4000 sailors lost their lives (see some stats on my mom’s site here and here).
I’ll let mom handle the ships and some of the untold stories of their many sailors. Today’s post is but to mention the tale of one Norwegian soldier, a Sverre Ryen from Sel in Gudbrandsdalen, which I found retold by Karsten Alnæs in his Historien om Norge volume four, En Ny Arbeidsdag (Gyldendal 1999). I have a particular interest in his case, and those like it all over the world during his time. Below I translate a few of Sverre’s own words, admittedly stripped of their context, in order, I hope, to reveal a certain element of continuity between this soldier’s experience and those of millions of others like him.
Continue reading Tale of a Norwegian Soldier
Umbrellas
My last day in Stavanger this time around, it started raining in the morning. I biked into town from my uncle’s office and was getting soaked along the way. I remember the many times my Japanese friends have asked me, “Why don’t you use an umbrella?” and I have either explained that I really don’t like umbrellas, that I have lost every umbrella I have ever owned, and/or made the rather non-scientific claim that, “They don’t use umbrellas where I come from.” So as I rode into and through downtown Stavanger in the rain (it had been raining for about 2 hours before I started riding), I decided to do a little survey. I counted how many of the first 100 people I passed on my bicycle who were carrying or using an umbrella. The result: 7 people out of 100. Lots of people had rain coats on, but I don’t have the brain power to manage the count of more than one variable.
Letter to the Transportation Security Administration
I found myself really annoyed by some TSA officials (run, I believe by the Department of Homeland Defense) at JFK airport in New York today on my way back to Stavanger. I wrote a letter of complaint as I waited to board my flight and I will be sending it off to the TSA as soon as I get a chance. Below I quote my letter in full, which outlines what happened and my recommendations to the TSA. Recommendations for changes welcome.
Continue reading Letter to the Transportation Security Administration
Conference: Technology and Chinese Language Teaching
I just spent a few days in New York attending the Third International Conference and Workshops on Technology and Chinese Language Teaching at Columbia University. I presented a short paper in which I argued that flashcard study in language education is one area where there is great potential for the separation of form and content in educational technology and shared some ideas on how this could be done and why I think it is useful. I also gave two of the workshops at the conference, where I showed everyone my new version of the OWLS software that I will be releasing July 1st under the GPL open source license, and let all the instructors work with the software throughout the workshop. I doubt my paper presentation left much of an impact, but the workshops were warmly received and I hope this translates into some use of the software by instructors in the future.
Continue reading Conference: Technology and Chinese Language Teaching
Article: Losing the Soul of Japan
I have written an article for Chanpon, a wonderful website dedicated to mixed up cultures, identities, and a multicultural Japan. In the article I talk about the use of foreigners, especially those who have a deep appreciation for Japan’s traditional arts, in advertisement campaigns attempting to instill a sense of “lost culture.” I talk about some of contradictions that inevitably result from this and emphasize the illusory nature of an essentialist view of a national culture.
A Culinary Guide to My Existence
I bring you a culinary guide to my breakfasts, lunches, and some of my snacks growing up. This is not quite complete, as the pictures include only one trip to the local grocery store in the middle of some kind of strike. As you can see, it is a very balanced and healthy diet – providing about equal servings of both categories of the food pyramid: grains and dairy products.
Movable Type Update
Movable Type has updated to 3.0. This blog, as well as about a dozen other blogs I manage and host for friends runs Movable Type. Another dozen or so blogs I manage and host for friends runs WordPress. Following the new licensing restrictions of Movable Type, I regret to say that I will no longer be installing or updating any of the Movable Type blogs. Any future projects I will be doing involving blogs will be using WordPress or other open source software like it. Furthermore, I have donated $20 to WordPress and hope its developers continue to add features and further support for international and multi-lingual blogs. And if they don’t, being open source, anyone else can come along and add these features themselves. I encourage others to donate to them, especially those among my friends who I have installed the program for.
Continue reading Movable Type Update
Barne TV
Monday is 17th May, big nationalist holiday in Norway. Lots of flag waving, hot dog eating, song singing, band playing, people marching, and occasional Sweden bashing. I’ll be following my cousins Alex and Frida around and will do whatever they do. I saw something interesting on “children’s TV” this morning, which I was glued to with Frida. They were doing lots of 17th of May stuff, and being patriotic and all when suddenly one of the announcers jumps out in a Sami costume and says to the kids, “Norway has two national days, the 17th of May and February 6th. February 6th is when we celebrate the Sami people.” Then things got even more interesting. A line of kids made a dragon thingy, lining up under a green dragon outfit and the show cut to an explanation of Chinese dragon dances. Then some other kids come out wearing costumes from other cultures. “Hey, how about if we have a 17th of May parade combining all the cultures together!” The band then tried play a dozen different tunes at once. After it was over, the announcer adds, “Wow, this was sooo cool!” before going on to the next activity. Interesting…I don’t know where to start on this one…
Nostalgia
I finished my second full day back in Stavanger, and it has been marked by almost continuous nostalgia. I have been away this time five years, but this city, where I have spent a decade of my life, is the closest thing I have to a home. I have been “watching” myself and my reactions to things very closely and I have also tried to look around me with a much more critical eye. Overall, however, it feels great and very natural to be back here.
Continue reading Nostalgia