SEP 2021

ISSUE 2

Letter from the EditorP

olyphony in print form is back, and withimprovements on every level.

This time around we have put a lot of emphasis on making a visually appealing product that
not only catches the eye, but also tickles the brain.
Compared to our first attempt at this we have alllearned valuable lessons and strived to improveupon our past mistakes.
I would like to take this opportunity to give a
special shoutout to our two layout team members
Mattie Balagat and Kayla Guevara, without you
this would all be impossible; you two bring life andexcitement to an otherwise dry experience, andyour commitment and creativity have not goneunnoticed.
I also want to give special thanks to who can
only be described as my second in command at
this point, Mạnh Quốc Trung, who has put many
stressful hours into maintaining and collecting
articles for our blog which also doubles as the resource pool for this very issue. It is a tedious job,
and without you there would be no content, and nointerest from the outside.
The Global Discovery Program has also changed
much since our last issue. Our director has changed,
our first batch of students have graduated, andZoom has destroyed our lives. Moving forward I
hope and pray that there is some semblance of a return to normalcy upon this issue’s publication.
As editor and chief it has been a wild and rocky
journey to get to this point in time, and it is time
for me to step aside to put more focus into my final year of studies, but the two and a half years I
was able to put into this student run journal havebeen quite the experience. I will continue to write

content for the blog and the upcoming third print
issue of Polyphony, but my days in a leadership role
are over.
The student journal and blog will be in competent hands moving forward with our layout editor,
Mattie Balagat, taking the reins.
The world is a crazy place, and there are many
crazy things to write about. Simply looking at myown list of articles and topics that I plan to write,
I think that the third print issue of Polyphony will
be a great success.
Thank you to all the readers, and thank you to all
the staff.
Forrest Maynock
Editor-in-Chief

1

Table of Contents
04 Film Creativity in Isolation:

Dealing with COVID-19 and theLoss of Normalcy
Mei Mukose		

06 Misdiagnosis
Mattie Balagat

07 Bangkok Through My Eyes
Pandita Suthamporn

09 夕焼けをみる者―

吉野弘『夕焼け』を読んでGenki Hase

10 Eden’s Story
Eirin Kiyota

13 Home Away from Home
Mattie Balagat

15 The Kitchen Crisis
Natsuki Noguchi

16 A Womanhood Among StoriesMạnh Quốc Trung

17 Are We Kind to Ourselves
Chigaemezu Ibegwam

20 或る奴隷の道徳
Taichi Inoue

23 Running, Crying, and Tearing 		Each Other Into PiecesMạnh Quốc Trung

24 The Screwtape Letters - AnInterpretive Essay
Kayla Guevara

26 GDP Photo Gallery
28 Acne Vulgaris
Yushi Song

32 Escaping the Cycle
Forrest Maynock

33 Second Best but Never Enough
Risa Akiyama

36 Farewell to the Graduates of 2021!
Forrest Maynock

37 Power in Game and Cheats as a
Revolutionary Power
Genki Hase

39 Crisis

Forrest Maynock

43 An Unexpected Win by an
Unexpected Member
Justine Villena

SEP 2021

45 The Journey Begins! Fresh
Impressions of Japan andOkayamaJustine Villena

46 The Town of ChildhoodMạnh Quốc Trung

ISSUE 2

LegendFeatureReview

Poem

Short Story

Academic

TravelEssay

Special48 Second World
Mattie Balagat

The Staff
Editor-in-Chief
Forrest Maynock
Blog EditorMạnh Quốc Trung
Layout Editor
Mattie Balagat
General Editors
Genki Hase
Chigaemezu Ibegwam
Karin Inoue
Justine Villena
Assistant Layout Editor
Kayla Guevara
Photos on cover by Yushi Song, Sonava Tadao,
Hinako Hamano, Rakan Ishida, and Mikina
Tanaka.

Special thanks to this issue’s contributors:
PhotosRakan Ishida
Yushi SongSonava Tadao
Mikina Tanaka
Hinako Hamano
Art
Yuki Genko
Mila SongĐào Minh Tú
ArticlesRisa Akiyama
Taichi Inoue
Eirin Kiyota
Mei Mukose
Natsuki Noguchi
Yushi Song
Pandita Suthamporn
3Film Creativity
in Isolation:
Dealing with COVID-19
and the Loss ofNormalcy

S

ince the start of the coronavirus pandemic,
many of us in different parts of the world
have experienced major lifestyle changes.
Having started the enhanced community quarantine in mid-March, these two months here in Manila have led me to consider ways in which I’d beable to spend my time more constructively.
Social media has put a lot of emphasis on various ways to stay productive, whether it be throughelevating one’s culinary skills or taking on a new
fitness journey. Personally, none of these methods
seemed to be quite appealing to me. However, it
was a local advertisement for vintage film camerasthat really piqued my interest.
With my new sense of determination and absolutely no prior knowledge in film or photography, I
began to scour the internet for a suitable camera tostart with. And honestly, it was quite overwhelming. There were so many terminologies I didn’t understand, and being a student, a handful of these
options did not fit my price range. Soon enough,having spent several sleepless nights mulling on
this, I landed on a popular vintage point-and-shootcamera.
I was pleased to have finally sorted things out,
and I was more than eager to start on the next step:
taking photos. But as the days went by, I realized
how staying at home put so much of a constraint
on both inspiration and creativity, and that left me
stumped.
4

Words by Mei Mukose
Pictures by Miyuu Ouchi

How are creative people dealing
with loss and the sense of
normalcy?
Where can you find inspirationin, and what do you do?
To explore these changing times through different lenses, Miyuu Ouchi, a second-year GDP student and avid photographer, shares some of her
insights with us.

SEP 2021

ISSUE 2How did you get into photography?
About 2 years ago I got an approval from the
Kanagawa BoE (Board of Education) and made it to
Maryland/Washington D.C. for a tuition-free language program. I just wanted to keep every single
moment while being there so I bought the camera
before departure (in Japan). Perhaps I didn’t trust
my iPhone when it came to photography. Well, now
I am 100% sure that the iPhone is awesome!
What kind of photos do you normally like to take?

• Photographs of people• Plants• Whatever I want to keep
Where do you get your inspiration?
WHEREVER, WHENEVER, WHATEVER!

In what ways has the pandemic influenced your photography style and muses?

“

Exploring the neighborhood and capturingsomething impressive is part of what I got out ofthe pandemic I guess.

Even if COVID-19 has changed
the world, time goes by. Flowers areblooming, the sun rises and goes
down every day. I’m impressedwith the ordinary but extraordinary moments.
—My Mom”

Any on-going projects or plans for the future?

Online Photo Exhibition via Instagram, or whatever.
Keep up with Miyuu here:
Instagram: @tsuruppo

5Misdiagnosis
Words and collage by Mattie Balagat
As with the common flu, we ladle
Chicken soup for our sensibilities,
In heaping aphorisms (CTTO1,
Our nonblasphemous relative).
Why does protest smell of
Smoke and molotov? And prayer,
A vanilla-scented candle?
The remedy, we preach,
Is to admire the sunlight
Filtering softly onto the sala2.
So follows the ending of a blockbuster
Where bullets shoot the antagonist dead,And hunger sits a footnote to human grit.
Let the narrative be continued without its cast —Else is a headline thrown away tomorrow.
Why does oust scatter
Rabid dogs howling at dust? And justice
Prolong a gilded melody beyond our grasp?
Retreat: to the wounded Body,
stripped to barely human,
By a comment resurrected in glory.
By another crucified with apathy.
We of little faith, barking wildly
From our ivory cages.
Comfortably
Six feet away.
1
2

Short for Credits To The Owner.
Living room (Filipino).

Collage made from photos by Lyndon
Aguila / Pexels; Gabriel Banzon, Eric
Mclean / Unsplash

6

SEP 2021

ISSUE 2

BangkokThrough
My Eyes
Words and photos by
Pandita Suthamporn

S

hanty old series of houses so densely packed
side by side surrounded by the infrastructures of the modern times is not an uncommon sight to see, especially in the heart of Bangkok–
a city that in each and every inch, huge skyscrapers,
large shopping complexes, and commercial buildings are clustered together along the street. Within
the same block, there are many alleys that run likevessels deep into the living quarters of the lowly
commoners as they buzz around like bees hoppingfrom one vendor to another about their day justlike any other day. Taking a stroll down the alley isalmost like opening up a whole other dimensionthat I often take for granted as an urbanite who has
witnessed these sights for over twenty-years andgrew a blasé attitude towards it.
Within the same block, there are many alleys
that run like vessels deep into the living quartersof the lowly commoners as they buzz around likebees hopping from one vendor to another about
their day just like any other day. Taking a stroll
down the alley is almost like opening up a wholeother dimension that I often take for granted as anurbanite who has witnessed these sights for overtwenty-years and grew a blasé attitude towards it.
A middle-aged man wearing an oversized t-shirt
and short khaki pants was carrying in his hands
the source of daily sustenance of the entire family wrapped in small plastic bags. Another middle-aged aunty holding up a colander overfillingwith noodles, hot steam covering almost her entire
face, swallowed an entire bowl of exhaustion.
Drops of sweat running down her face from theescalating temperature radiating out of the burning charcoal and the unpredictably hot Bangkok
weather. Across her shop, a woman stationed behind a metal cart that she uses to sell pieces of friedchicken and sticky rice every day. Even in the tiny
speck of people swarming around in one of thealleys in Bangkok there could be so many people
from all walks of life with a multitude of trajectories, stories, and backgrounds sharing the same
space and time.

7

Bangkok does not lay in an ivory tower, or in
shopping malls, but Bangkok definitely is living
and breathing between these alleys facing the inevitable uncertainties and harsh realities of life
with a fighting spirit. As I witness and experience
with my own eyes, we are in the middle of an urban
tragedy - which is that of a deeply engraved social
inequality manifesting itself in the asymmetrical
distribution of wealth and resources. Consumerism is taking a toll on everyone’s lives, but the impact is much more for the vulnerable populations
working to make ends meet.
Ethnographic vignette for Urban Sociology (2019).

A few blocks later, situates a tall and luxurious
condominium – far-fetching for many who canbarely afford food on their plate and roof on theirhead. In the front entrance of the condominium
where we stayed for a short time, there were construction workers drilling holes into the road infront of the condominium and making loud noises from their drilling machines every morning
as we left the place to get breakfast. Dirt and wet
mud were stained on their clothes and shoes under the burning hot sun that is right above theirheads. While we were enjoying the comforts of themodern-day amenities, these people had to workcountless shifts all day to drill holes in the road fora living. This is a parallel world where we co-exist
yet widen apart with each passing day – wider anddeeper is the rupture of our society. In the deepest
parts of a bustling city, the alleys and roads live thehumble folks trying hard to make ends meet. They
are not standing still; in fact, they are working very
hard to change their predetermined fate that has
always been so hard on them. They are people,
who, despite so much adversity and discrimination, still put a smile on their faces as I greet themin the morning on my way to a shop to have breakfast. They do not cease to work. In fact, they cannot cease to wake up every single morning to set
up their stalls and start boiling their noodle pots.
They wake up with the mentality that if they do notwork to earn money, their parents or their children
may not be able to live a little better and breathe alittle deeper. This the hot and steamy Bangkok that
I used to take for granted.
8

夕焼けをみる者

吉野弘『夕焼け』
を読んでWords by Genki Hase
Photo by Rakan Ishida
吉野弘の『夕焼け』は「娘」の「やさしさ」を扱った
口語自由詩である。
電車という固定された舞台で起きる日常の一コマを切り取った本作は、満員電車の中、「若者」と「娘」
が座り、「としより」が立っているところから始まる。
「
娘」はぎゅうぎゅう詰めの車内で晩年に近づく身体を有する「としより」を見かねて席を譲る。だが、席を譲る際の「娘」はうつむいており、ここから「娘」の消極的な様子が窺える。何故、相手を思いやって道徳的ともいえる行動を、社会的に評価される行動をしているのにも関わらず「娘」は「うつむいて」いるのだろうか。
席を譲りうけた「としより」は礼も言わず次の駅で降り、その空いた席に「娘」が再び座る。この場面においても「娘」は苛立ちを露わにするのではなく、ただ「うつむいて」いる。そして、人波にもまれてきた新たな「としより」にも席を譲り、今回はお礼をもらったが、また次の「としより」が「娘」の前に押し出されたときには、もう「うつむいて」席を立つことはなかった。

SEP 2021「やさしい心の持ち主」である「娘」は何度も席を譲ったが、満員電車にいるのは「娘」だけではないた
め、席を譲ることができる人はたくさんいる。しかし、「としより」に席を譲るのはいつも「娘」で、終いには「としより」の方が「娘」側に押し出される構図となっている。電車において座っている状態、つまりは楽な状態から抜ける状況は、席を譲る時か電車を降りる
時かのどちらかである。けれど繰り返すように「席を譲る」選択をとるのは「娘」だけで、ここから「やさしい心の持ち主」がやさしさを体現できない者より熱量の消費を必要とされる不条理を読み取ることができる。
相手を思いやるという行為は共存社会を存続させる上で最も肝要な行為であるといえる。相手への理解なくしては感情を伝えることはできないし、相手への尊重なくしては集団を築くことができない。相手への思いやり、すなわち「やさしい心」は、集団の断片として生きる上で求められる器官であるなのだ。しかし、「娘」が陥った状況のように、実際には多くの人が「やさしい心」という器官を働かせることなく過ごしている。それにより「やさしい心」を働かせる人には働かせていない人の差分がのしかかる。本作ではこのやさしさの負債を背負わされる者を「受難者」と表現しているが、「相手を思いやる」社会的規範とされる行為を行っている者が苦しむ滑稽さは読み手に「やさしい心」と社会との矛盾を摘発する鋭い表現だ

ISSUE 2といえるだろう。
やさしい心の持ち主は「他人のつらさを自分のつらさのように感じる」から受難者となる。相手を理解してしまうが故に自分がもし相手だったら、と考えて「やさしさ」を施してしまう。
「娘」が「うつむいて」い
たのは、そんな施しを与えてしまう自分を責めたうつむきだったのかもしれない。もしくは、「やさしさ」を
空想の理論として扱う他の人々と同一になれないが故の「うつむき」だったのかもしれない。
「やさしい心」を持つことが良しとされているのに、「やさしい心の持ち主」がその「やさしい心」そのものに責められる社会の矛盾が、不条理さがここにはある。
また、本作の視点が同じ車内にいる人物による一人称であることも、この不条理を脚色する役を担っている。
「娘」をみる視点は、「娘」の行動をみて「可哀想に」と気持ちを漏らしている。この感情の吐露により、哀の字が「娘」と相関を築き、「娘」をみじめな存在として確立させている。
「うつむいて」しまえばそれがどんなに美しい夕焼
けでも観測することはできない。吉野弘の『夕焼け』
は、美徳とされる行動をとるものが損をする美しくな
い、整合性の取れていない社会・環境を告発する。
作者はこの告発を詩として世に出すことで、少しでも多くの人が「美しい夕焼け」をみれるような世界を描きたかったのかもしれない。

9

“…she realized herself not having enough nutrition contributes to the negative thoughts and obsession
she had towards things including food…”

Eden’s Story
Words and art by Eirin Kiyota

S

ince childhood, Eden loved food. The mealtime and snack time were her favorite time of the day. She
also liked going out to eat with her family just because it felt more special for her. She went to cooking school when she was in elementary school. Not only eating, but she also enjoys cooking too. She
loves every food, but she really likes most of the vegetables and fish. Specifically, she loves sushi and ethnic
foods. “I have a tooth for eating vegetable,” she said, and this reminds me of memories when we hangedout and searching for good ethnic curry restaurant that does not include meat. After a while, her favorite
meal became zero calorie jelly that is sold in convenience stores. Zero calorie jelly made her feel like eatingnothing. She was diagnosed as anorexia. Eden received this diagnosis when she was 14 when her mothertook her to the hospital, but it started gradually from when she was 11 and got intense in 2 years. But thisanorexia experience changed her thoughts on food.

“”I think foods are very important to both mental and physical health. One of
the reasons I recovered from anorexia was because my doctor told me to eat
first, then work on mental stuff like ‘why’ and ‘how’ I become anorexia.

Back then, she was told by the doctor that anorexia is “not only about not being able to eat” but also about
psychological issues that a patient has. No matter how much Eden lost her weight and even disgusted byothers about how skinny Eden was, she couldn’t stop not eating. “Eating” seems really easy to do but she
just couldn’t do such a thing because it is different from not being able to ride a bicycle or run fast. So, shethought (1) mental health, (2) eating, (3) being physically healthy is the right process to recover. But theseprocesses take forever since Eden didn’t have a clear cause of anorexia. (1) eating, (2) being physically/mentally healthy was the right process for her. Her doctor told Eden to eat whatever she feels like, so she ate
cake, pizza, rice, and ice cream, something sweet and carbohydrate; these were the foods she felt she can
eat at that time. Eating made Eden mentally stable and physically healthy. Since then, she realized herself
not having enough nutrition contributes to the negative thoughts and obsession she had towards things
including food, and by eating and by becoming physically healthy, she was able to be more mentally positive as well. She thinks physical health and mental health are deeply intertwined, and eating food is not
only good for the physical health but also for the mind as well.
10

SEP 2021“Most of the food includes nutritions
that is needed for the body in someway, so I think it is about how much
we eat foods that include those eachnutrition. I basically eat whatever I
want now but that doesn’t mean eating
ice cream every day. It means to try
to see which food is good for me bothin terms of mental and physical effectthat foods bring. If eating ice cream
once in a while make me feel happy,
which it does, I do that without reallyquestioning,” she laughed.

ISSUE 2

“No matter how much Eden lost her weight and even disgusted byothers about how skinny Eden was, she couldn’t stop not eating.”

Eden told me that she found it interesting how the same words can be used both for felling and for what is
considered as the state of the body. “Fulfilled” for example, it can be used for 満足感 (a feeling of satisfactionin Japanese) and 満腹 (state of stomach being filled with foods in Japanese). When Eden feels fulfilled (満足感) with what she eats, she feels fulfilled (満腹) too. Because she had experienced the time she didn’t feel
fulfilled (満腹), no matter how much she ate, she realized that who you eat with or feeling of appreciation
to foods are what is connected to fulfillment getting from “eating”. Eden wasn’t satisfied not because thefood wasn’t tasty, because she didn’t pay attention and appreciate to food. She just ate whatever available.
Eating for just getting enough nutrition or making the stomach full doesn’t make Eden happy or fulfilled
in both ways.

“

Anorexia is a state of mind/behavior that can’t be separated from “food”.
It might be important to eat to gain weight first, and this actually help
anorexia patients to eventually recover both physically and mentally. But
it would be more helpful if patients could find other reasons to eat besides
gaining weight or considering what kind of food makes myself happy
during the process of recovery since eating is everyday things, eating is
how we spend everyday life. This is my opinion so far.

”

Eden described the time of anorexia as her bad outstanding food memories. Eden told me that it is evenhard to find some food experience that wasn’t bad during that time. She was always fighting with herfamily during the meals, and it was especially worse while on vacation. But, of course, Eden has so many
outstanding food memories. She describes all foods/meals that she ate on the memorable days (even the
day something sad happened). “I even remember the foods I had on the day I watched a great movie or readan amazing book, so I guess whether the food memories are outstanding or not depends on the situations/circumstances including who I ate with rather than food itself.”

11Eating became one of duties for her after she has been diagnosed as anorexia. Of course, Eden did feel thetaste, but she didn’t really cherish them. It took around a year and a half to come to enjoy the food and foodcircumstance. After that, she became ambitious more about food. She studied agrochemicals and organic
foods in high school. It changed her perception towards food and what she picks. Since then, she came tothink about whether the food was organic or not. When Eden goes to a supermarket, she tries to choose
the one which shows who made those food and the ones that are organic. Also, that was the time she cameto think about the people who are behind the things she buys and about the influence of her behavior asa consumer. In the college, one of her professors, who are originally from Niigata prefecture, offered an
opportunity for people to engage in organic rice crops process. Eden was interested so she decided to takethat opportunity.

“

It was only for two days but we did so many things. Not only we
did rice-planting but also, we talked with people who live aroundthe place we have visited. We went into the forest and the teacher
taught us about the wild grass, trees, and animals. They also
explained to us about the history and current situation of thevillage, and the process of how rice is made. That experience was
fascinating and a whole new experience for me. It felt like natureallows people to live. I came to appreciate food even more.

”“It felt like nature allows people to live. I came to appreciate food even more.”
Food Journal for Anthropology of Food (2020).

12

SEP 2021

Home Away
From Home
Words and photos by Mattie Balagat

ISSUE 2

“Everybody that makes cheesewants it to be the best, not only
for themselves but for otherpeople. . . . When you put a pieceof cheese down, you put a piece ofyourself down. . . .”— Scheps, an American artisanalcheesemaker (in Paxson, 2013)T

ucked in a side alley of a quiet city is KAMP,a hostel and café-bar seemingly belonging
anywhere but a side alley of a quiet city. I
stepped inside with six other classmates knowing
almost nothing about the place—and was pleasantly surprised to find myself quite comfortable.
It was a warm, casual setting, with rough-hewn
wooden furniture, potted plants, and assorted
worldly kitsch and knickknacks lining the walls
and seating. A display of alcohol behind the bar
counter and a hanging disco ball waited quietly forthe sun to go down. There was a sense of well-wornruggedness to all the interiors that lent an immediate and unexpected feeling of comfort and nostalgia, alongside a keen awareness of being in a spacevery different from the outside.
In the midst of it was Takuya Kitajima, the39-year-old owner and main chef of the 5-year-old
café. He excused himself from what seemed like a
conversation with a regular, and stood to greet ourodd party. In his large black-framed glasses and fit
black long sleeves, he exuded a slick, laidback aura
to him that put me at ease. Though I could not understand his answers to our interview questions,needing to rely on my friends’ live translations, it
was clear that he was down-to-earth in his speech.
From time to time he would pause to think of authentic answers to questions not normally asked ofhim. He matched the image of the cool, hip uncle
everyone boasts about to their friends.
To put up KAMP was Kitajima’s dream, driven by
personal interest and without any explicit influence of his childhood or his family. Rather than thehomeliness of the café being inspired by the tra-Kitajima during the group’s interview at KAMP.

Top: Kitajima during the group’s interview at KAMP
Bottom: A peek into KAMP from the door.

13

Half-and-Half curry - pork on the left, keema on the right.

14

ditional idea and memory of home, it was mainly
inspired overseas. When Kitajima was 16 years old,he did not go to school (whether he skipped class orquit is unclear), and instead traveled to Montana,
America and lived with an American Indian family
for 2 weeks. How he ended up there is a mystery
we probably should have pursued. But the teepees
and masks displayed in the café, along with other
Native American imagery, imparted a profoundsense of respect for the culture he encountered,and I believe, a desire to share what kind of home
was shared with him in Montana.

Kitajima lamented shortly how he could not makethe perfect curry due to it being costly, though hethinks a lot about it. He remarks that the curry is
best eaten right after serving to preserve the smells
he intended, but he appreciates how some customers like the taste better after waiting for some time.
In a way, to allow customers the freedom to eat how
they would like to eat assures the experience ofdining somewhere home-like. Those eating aroundour table seemed to embrace the freedom of thisno-rules, lighthearted atmosphere: chatting andlaughing out loud, leaning back into their seats.

In fact, the café is Kitajima’s way to keep cooking
curry. He had no problems setting up the café, enjoying the process though without a formal background in cooking or running a business. For him,cooking for profit and for fun can be done simultaneously, so it is not hard to imagine how his hobby of cooking curry motivated him. He traveled
extensively (and still does) to better his curry —heasked other chefs, tasted different kinds of curries
at restaurants and festivals, and attended workshops in Tokyo, Osaka, India, and Fukuoka. The
spice levels and flavors of his curry changed as histaste for curry absorbed these experiences, alongwith feedback and validation from friends all over.
KAMP’s curry is a curry that changes as Kitajima
learns more, but which remains proudly, and originally his: an expression of his experiences and abricolage of influence and personal interests. His
curry keeps up with his goal of serving food which
he himself likes. To focus on just bettering curry ispractical as well—he professes the need to focus
on only one food to increase the chances of it being
more popular.

There is more that makes KAMP than just theyouthful Kitajima, though his independent driveand genuine love for his work definitely built thecafé. On the stage with the deck he sometimes DJs
on, he invites live bands or musicians to play. In theinteriors, which he designed with his friends, theexperience-worn and handmade is celebrated—
dog-eared magazines and paperbacks, craft beer,
chalkboard events, handmade dolls, and alternative culture magazines are for sale. The flavors of
his worldly curry are rooted to home using local
vegetables from his vendor friend, who sometimes
sets up shop outside his café. The backpacker iswelcomed to relax and be themselves, and maybetake a yoga class. The independent culture Kitajima
loves demands to be shared, and so the café continues to be a special niche where that sharing is possible, supporting non-mainstream endeavors as heprogresses in his own self-styled path.
I could not write this without eating Kitajima’s
curry, so I returned with two friends. I ordered
Half-and-Half—two choices of curry heaped on alarge plate, separated by a slab of rice. It was a mix

SEP 2021of the Japanese and Indian curry I had tasted before—the pork curry being a little sweet, and thekeema curry bringing a lot more spice than I expected. Every spoon went down my system well,like a flow of rich, warm umami which lights up
the stomach and makes conversation easy. I was so
carried away with talking that I didn’t notice how I
was slowly licking my plate clean. It is easy to connect the rich taste of the curry to Kitajima’s own
enthusiasm for curry and travel, precisely because
it was a delicious culmination to my understanding of his story.
As my friends and I continued to talk over our
empty plates, rolling the flavors over in my mouth,
my favorite female British indie singer came on
the café’s speakers. In the serendipitous period ofknowing the lyrics to the song being played, everything my senses had recently taken in was digested
easily, tiding over the feeling of being home. Indeed, Kitajima was doing KAMP right—it was likehome outside my own doorstep, all at once everything I want to expect from the side alley of a quiet
city.
Food Journal for Anthropology of Food (2020). Interview with
Takuya Kitajima organized and conducted with Justine, Trung,
Forrest, Alyana, Minami (translator) and Riko (translator).
KAMP can be found at 3 Chome-1-35 Hokancho, Kita Ward,
Okayama, 700-0026.

A customer at the bar.

ISSUE 2The Kitchen
CrisisWords by Natsuki NoguchiT

he Kitchen Crisis is an article written in 1970
by Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor, an American culinary anthropologist and griot;
self-described as a “rap, that must be rapped aloud”(Grosvenor, 1970, p.149), hence, there are no capital letters within sentences, is composed entirely
with colloquial language, and is rich in punctuation marks. This short piece claims the historical
discrimination hidden within people’s culinary
cultures, specifically calling out how such “exotic”
foodstuffs and recipes are re-discovered, claimed,
and then overwritten by the white population.
She also brings out the significance of food as arepresentation of culture, and how many seem todisregard the long processes performed behindthe dishes. Although the theme of “gender” is not
the main point discussed – as the focus is more on“culture” and “race” – it plays a prominent role inreflecting upon the traditional, cooking experiences Grosvenor had gathered through many fellow
black women working in kitchens.
“… instant milk, instant coffee, instant tea, instant potatoes, instant old fashioned oatmeal, everything is prepared for the unprepared woman in the kitchen. … just goesto show you white folks will do anything for their women.
they had to invent instant food because the servant problem got so bad that their women had to get into the kitchenherself with her two little lily white hands” (Grosvenor,
1970, p.150). Here is a quote of her ranting against
instant goods, sarcastically depicting the difference in treatment between women of two races white ladies were prioritised by the men, and theircooking jobs were made easier for them. Whereas,
black women who were specifically and historically speaking, slaves and servants, were not, andwere enforced to serve through the standard recipe. She then follows to mention how black cooks(regardless of gender) have been participating in
the discoveries of many fine foods for centuries,
however, are not referred to nor credited behind

15

SEP 2021

such culinary arts.
Although the mistreatment of black people leaves
a stronger impression, it evidently shows how
women are already “expected to be in the kitchen”- the white men strive in inventing easier cooking
methods but are not illustrated here to volunteer tocook themselves. Furthermore, apart from the unrecognised black men who had contributed to the“whitewashed recipes,” there is no explained portrayal of any men cooking in this reading, not serving others nor themselves (unless the well-dressedman eating his “Instant Lunch Pills” is included).
The stereotypes and hierarchies based on race andgender authority are evident and reflects upon thehistorical injustice of coloured female servants- how they are enforced to follow the traditional,
stricter procedures yet their African narratives
and traditional menus are unpreserved, in comparison to the white “discoveries” (such as Christopher “Chris” Columbus’s), that are prioritised andacknowledged as the pioneer instead.
One notable inclination of this text, however, isthat this text focuses more on the racial identity ofGrosvenor’s beliefs than her gender, as previously
mentioned. Hence, references to gender specifically are very few. Even so, how the pair of traits
is brought up entwined is very understandable, as
it reinforces the perspective of double discrimination - there is gender bigotry on top of their racial
one. Both are major elements in establishing an
individual’s identity, and are often the reasons behind stereotypical hatred; discriminations against
African-American women can consist of either elements or both.
Nevertheless, the validity and relevance of thisshort text are still non-dismissible today. Following the massive international attention received for
cultural discrimination problems prevalent in the
United States (e.g. the Black Lives Matter demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, an
African-American killed by a Caucasian cop), social demand for racial and gender equality, and cultural respect for ethnic minorities is indeed a matter yet brought up. To either praise her progressive,
intellectual beliefs from the past, or to lament thelack of advancement the US has made on this issue ever since is debatable; despite that, keeping
in mind how “society perpetually ignores the stories told
by and about black women, resulting in a continuous need
16

ISSUE 2for projects of reclamation” (Psyche Williams-Forson,
foreword from Vibration Cooking, 2009), nonetheless this successful “cookbook-lookalike” is aworthy story to regard. As Grosvenor states, “foodis universal” (Grosvenor, 1970, p.151), disregarding
what you eat may mean to not just disrespect the
food’s backgrounds, but the entire culture itself, as
it ignores all efforts put in to invent and maintainthe menu.
Even through food, someone’s story can be told.

References: BW, The Kitchen Crisis, Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor
Sen, Mayukh. Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor Is the Unsung Godmother of American Food Writing, VICE, 21 Feb. 2018, 2:20am, http://
www.vice.com/en/article/evmbwj/vertamae-smart-grosvenor-vibration-cooking-profile
Book review for DCUL423: Gender in Global Context.

A Womanhood
Among Stories
Words by Mạnh Quốc Trung“Now that you have started to
menstruate, what happened toher could happen to you. Don’t
humiliate us. You wouldn’t liketo be forgotten as if you had
never been born. The villagers arewatchful.”T

he mother whispers, scarily and cautiously, to the ear of the little girl that is the author, afraid that she too, one day, might
suffer the same fate as her aunt, dead and forgotten
under the hands of fearful villagers just because
she became pregnant while her husband was away,

SEP 2021

working overseas. Raw and emotionally-impactfulsentences such as this are frequent in The Woman
Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, written
by Chinese-American author Maxine Hong Kingston, that explores the many forms of adversity andhurdle that women have to face, in the backdrop ofconflicts between cultures of the East and the West.
The Woman Warrior is written in the form of acollection of memoirs by the author, a semi-autobiographical work detailing the stories that she has
experienced, heard from, or told to others. It is this
aspect that blends the work’s non-fiction elementswith its fictional and oftentimes mythological elements into a seamless whole, making it easier forthe reader to understand and sympathize with thecharacters, while still being able to see how Kingston’s colorful imagination has added a layer ofcomplexity to many stories.
The book has five chapters, which correspondto five stories that help shaped the author’s lives
and the world she is living in, detailing the fate ofmany women and the decisions they make: Kingston’s long-dead aunt, who is referred to as “The No
Name Woman”; a mythical female warrior named
Fa Mulan; Kingston’s mother, Brave Orchid; Kingston’s another aunt, Moon Orchid; and finallyKingston herself. Each story is told vividly fromboth Kingston’s point of view, her imagination andthe retellings of other characters, real or imagined,
and is used by her as an effort to reconstruct her
past, to understand her cultural history and to see
how much an effect its legacy has on her and on thepeople she holds dear. Being a first-generation Chinese-American, she has the extra burden not only

ISSUE 2to confront the social and cultural barriers set up
against women, but also to confront them in thecontext of two distinct cultures, two different environments, two separate lives. And she chooses
to confront it, surprisingly, by telling and retellingstories.
Although many other themes are visible, such as
cultural differences, having voices and staying silence, and growing up in a migrant community, theone most prevalent throughout the five chapters of
the book is the role of women in Chinese society,and how they relate to the male-dominated society
around them, controlling them through their actions and inactions. What makes The Woman Warrior stand out from other contemporary female-focused works of fiction/non-fiction of the time is
how male characters and men in general are notantagonized or completely blamed for the oppression that Chinese women have to suffer; in fact,
men are perceptibly and intentionally absent in anarrative that increasingly focus on its five main
females. Men, in The Woman Warrior, are simply social actors that are also bounded by the more-powerful and less-conspicuous force of tradition. It is
tradition that turns neighbors of the same village
against each other, just because of a child born
without her father present; it is tradition that leads
women to convince one another that “there’s no
profit in raising girls. Better to raise geese than
girls”; it is tradition that undermines the valuesof women and gives power to men, so they can dowhat they did.
It then comes as no surprise that one of the mostpowerful images depicts in the book is also the conPhoto by Henry & Co. / Unsplash

17

sequence of blindly following traditions: the ghostsof little Chinese girls whose parents left to die because they wanted sons instead, and Kingston feels
haunted by them, the same way she has always
been haunted by the shadows of Chinese cultures
and traditions that seem to follow her wherever
she goes. The ghosts can, of course, be a product ofher imagination, but they can also be an effort forKingston to reconnect with her past, to relate herself to many women around her who have stayedsilent throughout their lives in the face of gender
oppression and inequity, in an effort to speak up.
“You must not tell anyone,” says the words fromher mother that are also the very first words of thebook, but Kingston does the exact opposite – by telling everyone, she does not only speak for herself, butalso for the women, the silenced, the mythical, andthe ghosts of the past.
The Woman Warrior is one powerful journey thatblends myths with reality, and modernity withtradition that, within it, the often-untold lives ofwomen unfold. The stories of how Kingston andthe women around her struggle to co-exist witha world that is full of social expectations against
women are not only able to touch our heart deeply, helping us realize, understand, and sympathizewith them, but also shows us what it is like to “growup a woman warrior.”
Kingston, Maxine Hong. “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts.” New York: Vintage Books. (1989).
Book review for DCUL423: Gender in Global Context (2020).

Are WeKind toOurselves?
Words by Chigaemezu Ibegwam
Art by Yuki Genko
18“Most of the time, everyone
deserves more than one chance.
We all do things we regret now
and then. You just have to carrythem with you.”N—Celeste Ng,
Little Fires Everywhere (2017), p.289.

g’s quote carries a comforting yet biting
tone, telling us we all do things we regret
every now and then, spelling out our responsibility to own up to them and reminding usthat it’s okay to give ourselves yet another chance
to carry on.
I have interpreted Ng’s quote as a three-stage
process with a base founded on choices we make.
Choices are either good or bad. They either bringus moments of relief or become the cause of our regrets. Stage One is the moment we make choices that
we now regret, but Stage Two is where the problem
really lies, where we take responsibility, and accept
that we regret that certain choice we made. Somepeople skip Stage Two convincing themselves totake another chance without a modicum of guilt
or consideration, which ends up having pernicious
effects on their lives. Accepting your mistakes isn’t
putting on a façade claiming everything is alrightwhen it’s not. It doesn’t equate to constantly wearing penitent expressions while convincing yourself
that you’re out to face the world.
On the other hand, some let the regret eat themup; they remain in Stage Two convincing themselves that there is no way out. By then, are they
really giving themselves one more chance? Arethey being kind to themselves? Stage Two is a critical space between wallowing in self-pity and being overtly positive; it is the crucial step involving
acceptance and understanding that should not be
overlooked and it is to my understanding a difficult
process. After this comes Stage Three: giving yourself another chance. It comes undoubtedly with a
bit of unease, but later on a greater sense of liberation.
I believe Ng built this quote around Mia’s character, considering the many choices she had to makefrom absconding with her child to severing ties

SEP 2021

with her family, all while remaining resilient. The
quote was eventually said by Mia to Lexie after she
had undergone an abortion.
Most times I get immersed and completely invested in the lives of the characters unfolding
within the pages of the books I read, so much that
I forget to appreciate the beauty of words and the
deep meaning they hold. Therefore, I’m not one tolook for moral lessons in a story; neither do I try tointerpret passages or quotes. Instead I focus heavily on characters, relying on my imagination to understand their behaviors. My reason for choosing
this quote is because it conveys to me a meaning I
can relate to. My interpretation derives a great deal
from personal experiences as I have grown to understand that even though I make decisions andthey don’t work out as I planned, it’s still up to me
to determine my next steps. Thus, I know not to be
overwhelmed by mistakes and to rather learn fromthem.
In conclusion, we all make choices every now andthen. If it’s one you regret, be prepared to acknowledge it and give yourself another chance.
Essay for Global Sociology (2020).

ISSUE 2

或る奴隷の道徳
The Morality For
A Slave
Words by Taichi Inoue
Photos by Yushi Song

この胸に抱えた秘密をさらけ出してしまえば、記憶に満ちるインクの汚れも、禊落すことができるだろうか。足枷の鍵を彼から返してもらうことができるのだ
ろうか。私の罪は、誰かに裁いてもらえるだろうか。
誰にも裁いてもらえないだろうか。答えを聞こうにも、唯一私を裁くことができる人の命は彼本人の手によって、その言葉は私によって、昏い炎の底に沈められた。
同僚や友人、家族たちは口をそろえて私の物腰の柔らかさや、誰にでも優しい性質、皆が親しみやすい姿勢を無暗にほめたたえるがそれは違うだろう。
私はもとより気弱で自分に自信がないからそういう風な態度をとってしまうだけなのだ。私が社会環境省の高官になったんだから、という理由で褒めてくれる人間もいるが、それも違う。男女雇用昇進均等法の追い風を大いに受け、その席を埋めるためだけに補充された人間に過ぎない。そうでなければ私のよ
うな優柔不断で無能、なんの役に立たないただの小役人が他の有能で聡明な女性を尻目にこの席に座ることなど到底かなうことはない。男性が足りなかったゆえの穴埋め要因だ。私自身の実力ではなく、形骸化した男女平等にこだわる「道徳」が今の自分を作り上げていると考えると、心底悔しい。
そんな私には胸に一つ抱えた秘密の罪がある。
社会がそれを罪と認めるかは定かではないが、私にとってそれは確かに禁忌であり、私の墓までもってい
くことになるであろうものだ。

Yuki and her art can be found on Instagram at @yu15.ki and@genkounooekaki.

私には友人がいた。サワザキという男だ。おお19

よそ勉強と呼ばれる類のものは難なくこなしていた

言えばそうなのだが、その面に目を瞑れば、博識でが、唯一つ道徳の成績だけがからっきしという何と聡明な奴だったからだ。私が「道徳心」に篤くなく、も奇怪な奴だった。
「道徳」なんて、授業で思ったこと

彼を無理やり啓蒙することがなかったのも一因だっを話せば良いだけで、たくさんの座学も試験の対策たかもしれない。しかしながら、やはりサワザキは「も要らない教科なうえ、「道徳」の成績が取れない「非道徳」な奴で、そんな奴とつるむのにはうしろめた

不道徳」な人間なんてこの世の中に不必要だという事実さを覚えた。
「道徳」に信心深く、サワザキを毛嫌いくらいは認識していただろう。

する人たちから目の敵にされるかもしれないという

彼はさながら異端の宗教を狂信するかのようであった。
「道徳」という共通解を皆で導くだけなのに、やれ現実的でないとか、物事の本質を無視しているとか、ダブル
スタンダードだとかと、噛み付かなければ気が済まな
いというようだった。
もちろんその待遇も異端論者のそれとは変わらない。いくら学問ができようと、人が人としてあるべ
きものが失われているのだから、周囲の人間は彼を野蛮で粗暴、非倫理的な人間だとして扱った。
「道徳的」で、できたクラスメートたちはこぞって彼の啓蒙を買って出た。説得や譲歩などの手法で彼を諭したこともあったが、もっぱら用いられる手段は攻撃的なものであった。そのプロセスで彼の名誉や自尊心を損なわせるような言葉が発せられたり、身体を傷つけることがあっても、それは「道徳」の名のもとに、そしてその達成のために行われる啓蒙なのだから、しかるべき処置と呼ぶべきだろう。
そしてなぜだろう、奇妙な縁ではあるが、私はその野蛮な異端論者と仲が良かった。倫理観がないと20

心配もあった。
「やっぱり、僕の話をこれだけ聞いてくれるのは君しかいないよ。親類も含めて、ね」サワザキはいう。
自虐をしているというのになぜか自慢げだ。
「ただ聞いてるだけだけどね。言わせてもらうけ
ど、そんな考え方、僕ならしないな。そんな奴もいるのは分かるけど、きっと周りのみんなはそうじゃないだろ？」
これは私の常套句だ。私は彼を拒絶することも、受け入れることもできなかった。
こんなやり取りを何度しただろう。そのたびに彼は、「そんなことは分かってるよ。別に僕の考えを押し付けようとか、そうしてもらいたいとかじゃないんだ。いろいろな考え方があったっていいだろ？みんなも「道徳」の授業で習ったことだ。」
皮肉にも自分が落ちこぼれた教科の内容を引用しながら、これまた自慢げにクスクスと笑うのだった。
彼は私の優柔不断さを好いていた。

SEP 2021「僕は君が好きなんだよ。僕に無理やり考え方を

ISSUE 2の話なんだけど......」

押し付けようとしないだろ？そういうところがいい。

サワザキはさらに言い淀んだ。

別に考えかたとか、何を大事にするかとか、違ってい「僕は君のことが好きなんだ。友達としてではな

たって友達になれると思うんだけどなア」
それはそうだろうが、もう少し周囲の人達を大事にしたらいいのに。とも思った。あんなに熱心になって「道徳」の何たるかを教えてくれているのに。声には出さなかった。言うと私たちの間にある真珠のような何か大切なものが失われてしまう気がしたから。
彼の整った顔が、その時だけすごく物憂げになるからでもある。私は、彼が私だけに見せる自慢げで、飄々とした表情が好きだった。
彼と出会って、一年が過ぎ、二年が過ぎた。特に積極的でもなく、人気ものでいたいわけでもなかった私は、この異端者との何とも言えない関係をずるずると続けていた。一方で彼は、啓蒙というべきか、教育というべきか。熱心で「道徳的」な人たちから何度拳を食らわせられようと、孤独な信仰を狂信し続けたのであった。
卒業を目前にしたある日のことだ。その日は彼のく。ほとんどの男女がそうするような感情を僕は、僕
は、いま君に抱いてる。おかしいよな。ハハ」
ほとんど一息で言い切ったため、擦れた笑いごえ
は咳のようで、聞き取ることができなかった。
「それはつまり、君は男である僕のことを、恋愛対象として見ている、ってコトか？」
こんなことを二度も言わせるのはいささかナンセン
スなのだろうが、そうせざるを得なかった。
「ダメ......かな。付き合って、欲しいんだ。もう高校生活も長くないから。ずっと君と一緒でいたい」
今度は私が長い沈黙を作った。
「......悪いけど、付き合うことはできない。僕は異性愛者なんだ。でも、素敵なことだと思うよ。LGBTって。僕はそうじゃなかったけど、きっと将来......」
言い切る前にサワザキが泣きだしそうになりながら勢いよく遮る。
「何が素敵だ？授業でそう習ったからそんな酷い

誕生日であった。
「今日、僕の誕生日なんだ。知ってた？」「知ってたよ。これで3年めだろ？お互い金欠なんだから。ジュースか何かで勘弁してくれな」「いいや。何かが欲しいとかそういうアピールじゃないんだ。その......少し、聞いてほしいことがあってさ」
サワザキと私の間に、奇妙な時間が流れていた。
－－何を言いたいんだ？蝋燭が融けるのを待っているかのようだ。蝋は粘るように滴りあまり時間の経過を感じられたものではなく、ただ小さな灯が放つエネルギーが、二人の間の空気を熱した。
やがて、彼は口を開いた。掠れるような、絞り出すような声だった。
「ぼ、僕は、君のことが......その、好きなんだよ。知ってるだろ？し、知ってた、だろ？」聞きなれたセリフを、あんまりにも溜めて言うので、拍子抜けだ。
「知ってるよ。僕は君の考えを否定するつもりはな
いってそういうところが、だろ？」再びじりじりとした時間が流れる。
「違うんだ。いや、そうなんだけど、それがもともと21

こといったのか？」
サワザキが迫り、私の胸倉をつかんだ。シャツがわやになる。
「やっぱりそうだ！君もほかの奴とおんなじだ！何も現実を見れてない！実らない恋愛の何が素敵なんだよ？虹色も玉虫色も大して変わらないな！」

いるのは、本当に道徳的なのは、どうやらこの世界に
僕と君だけらしくて。こんな世界に生きていても仕方がないだろ？
今度生まれ変わるときは、奴隷のいない世界にうまれたい。いろんな考え方があって、みんな野蛮だ

野蛮人としていくら不遇な扱いを受けても屈しけど、それを認めながらも必死に正しくあろうとするなかった彼が、これほどまでに激情をあらわにする

世界にうまれたい。そんな世界で、君と一緒になりたところを初めて見た。

い。僕はもう行くけど、君だけはどうか道徳の奴隷に返答を待たずして彼は駆けていった。追いかけようとしたが、にわかに吹いた冷たい風は、それができないことを大声で伝えてくるようであった。
サワザキはそれきり学校には来なくなった。
彼の自殺を知ったのは、卒業後のことであった。
在学中に命を絶ったようだったが、先生からそのような通達は来なかった。卒業後に届くようにと配達されたのは一通の手紙である。
それは遺書のようであった。
「他人行儀な挨拶は僕らの間には似合わないね。まずは謝りたいんだ。あの日、あんな態度で帰っちゃって。もっと冷静でいたかったけど、あんな経験初めてだったから。意味不明だったろうし、怒ってるかもしれないね。だから、本当にごめんなさい。でもどうしても好きだったんだ。僕の言うことを聞いてくれて、人として見てくれるひとは君が初めてだった。他の奴はみんな「道徳」の奴隷さ。それしか見えないんだ。だから「道徳」のためだったらどんな非道徳な行為もできるんだ。
「啓蒙だ」ってね。僕が自殺したのは君のせいじゃない。そんな奴隷たちに嫌気がさしたからだよ。だから安心してほしい。地に足のつかない「道徳」が先走って、みんな本質を見失っている。

22

そんな人もいていいと思うけど、その寛容さを持ってならずにいてくれ。」
私はこの手紙を結局焼いてしまった。これを公開することで、彼は同性愛者として彼の望まない扱いを受けるだろう。道徳の奴隷に、彼の想いを理解することはできない。せめて、彼を理解してあげられる私だけのものとして、ドラム缶で火葬をした。
その後の人生だが、私は結局道徳の奴隷でいるしかなかった。彼のように強い人間でいることはできなかった。私はこの世界を支配するゆがんだ正義を、そして本物の道徳を彼から教わったが、私自身はあまりに非力で、それにすがるしか生きるすべはなかった。
もしかしたら彼もそうだったのかもしれない。
「
道徳」の仮面をつけた善意の悪魔に逆らうのは、彼にとっても恐怖でしかなく、だからこそ私という理解者を必要としたのかもしれない。真実は炎の中にしかないのだが。
私の罪は、道徳の奴隷でいることそのものだ。この罪をどうすれば償えるだろうか。そんなすべはないだろう。私がつけている足枷の鍵を持った人間はもうこの世の中にはいないのだから。私の罪を裁くことができるのは道徳の奴隷などでは決してないのだから。

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ISSUE 2I

ancient times, but only the latter is aware of theother’s existence – until now. Pure-hearted highschool student Akira Fudo (Koki Uchiyama) lives
peacefully with his long-time crush Miki Makimura (Megumi Han) and her family, is surroundedby friends who care about him, and trains hard toearn his place in the school’s track-and-field club.
Yet everything changes when he is reunited withhis childhood friend Ryo Asuka (Ayumu Murase),
who insists that the world will soon be invaded
by races of deadly demons. The only way to defeat
them, he believes, is to allow a human and a demon
to bond with one another and become a supernaturally powerful hybrid, and he decides to use his
old friend to test this hypothesis. Akira suddenly
becomes a powerful key in this eternal battle between humans and demons, a medium between
two worlds, a “Devilman” that has both the enormous strength of a demon and the kind heart of ahuman.

The premise of Devilman Crybaby is simple: Humans and demons have been living together since

Devilman Crybaby is considered much darker thanyour average Netflix anime; it can be hard to stomach, and is definitely not for the squeamish. Its
over-stylized and even gratuitous depiction of sex,
gore, and violence serves both as a faithful callback
to the Go Nagai’s original manga, and as its own
signature element that separates it from its source
material. Along their way to uncover the existenceof demons, Ryo and Akira find themselves in arave-lit orgy party full of neon, drugs, and nudity
readily and openly exposed. Different spectrumsof color are blended together to create a feast for theeyes that is both lavish, outlandish, and disturbing,all at the same time. I suspect this use of color isintentional: it reflects the “animal” part of humans
that has now been laid bare, one that is not only
sumptuous and rapturous in nature, but also ugly
and discomforting. In fact, the theme of whether
humans and demons are different from each other,and in what way is prevalent throughout the anime, and the question of identity is raised frequently. As a Devilman, is Akira Fudo both a human anda demon, or neither truly a human nor a demon? Inthat extravagant party, it seems the only thing that
separates humans from demons is their humanoidappearance, which makes for a unique experience
when the demons “inside” them crawl their way
out kicking and screaming, violently turning theminto the worst version of themselves, yet not so different from who they actually are.

Running,
Crying, andTearing Others
Into Pieces
Words by Mạnh Quốc Trung
remember first reading the Devilman manga,
written and illustrated by Go Nagai, when
I was in middle school. My friend originally
recommended me Berserk, and after finishing thelatest chapter back then I felt compelled to lookfor other manga that are similar in style and story.
And Devilman is similar to Berserk all right; indeed,
the tone is so gloomy and dark, full of anti-war allusions and imageries that even now, after nearly
half a decade since publication, its shocking values
remain very much the same. The manga left me somuch of an impression that when I found out that it
has been adapted (one more time) into a 10-episodeanime on Netflix called Devilman Crybaby in 2018, I
did not bother to watch it. I did not expect the grim
atmosphere and the overall dark fantasy theme
could be replicated perfectly on screen; in fact, Devilman has raised the bar very high in violence andgore for contemporary manga at the time, whichwere initially directed only at young readers, andtried as much as it could, the first attempt to bringit on the TV screen in 1972, very early in its publication, was not a very faithful one. So I have mydoubts, but after finally getting around to watching it, I’d say with confidence that Devilman Crybaby
has exceeded my expectations. Not only is it able
to capture much of the tone of Go Nagai’s original
work, which makes it one of the most faithful adaptations of the manga to date, it also extend andupdate the story to fit the 21st century setting, andadds a layer of depth to the main characters, which
was something the manga struggled to do.

23

Not only spectacular in terms of animation, theseries also touches on a number of issues that arevery 21st-century relevant, and does so with a surprising tenderness that bounds to stir the audiencefrom the inside. There are opinions that the anime
is nihilistic, both in the idea and the execution.
Characters die, and they usually die in the worst
way, and at the worst time possible. Those who
survive are so overwhelmed with guilt and despair that they become only a shadow of their former self, and their struggles are made personal toeven the most hard-boiled audience by the series’
haunting and emotional soundtrack. Its depictionof LGBT characters are genuinely humane and relatable, it being embraced wholeheartedly insteadof being reduced to just background noises. Othersignificant themes and tropes such as toxic masculinity, nuclear family, faith and religion, paranoia,
and social prejudices are either subverted or deeply delved into, establishing layers of complexitythat separate Devilman Crybaby from contemporary
anime with similar cynicism, such as Shiki or Berserk. Friendship is also a recurring theme throughout the series; while the friendship between Akira
and Ryo is characterized as one that is establishedby trust and eventually ends with betrayal, the relationship between Miki and her friend and rival
Miko is defined by jealousy, but reaffirmed by love.
Many might be put off by its NSFW story andthe bizarre animation style, but for a Netflix anime, Devilman Crybaby shows great potential. This
is not to say that I am happy with every aspect of
the series. With only 10 episodes, the show feels
rushed at times, presenting plot point after plot
point but giving the audience hardly any time toreflect on their devastating impact. Many of thelesser demons, whom Akira defeated in the manga,made their appearance on the show as well, but thescreen time they are given is so little that they felt
trivial. One particular avian demon, who appears
in multiple episodes (unlike most others who only
get one) and gives off a sense that she might be aserious threat, has a character arc that escalates,climaxes, and finishes entirely in one episode withlittle or no impact being carried on into the rest of
the series.
Yet these criticisms seem small in the grandscheme of things, and whether you like the anime or not, you will still have to go through its
rollercoaster of emotions, from jaw-dropping toheart-breaking in just a split moment that is an
episode, and these experiences, like the charactersand their struggles, are unforgettable. Devilman
24

Crybaby is a visual escapade that is brutal, bloody,and unforgiving, all at the same time, but like thedevilmen it depicts, it also has a heart.

An Interpretive Essay
Words and Art by Kayla Guevara

I

n C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape
guides his nephew as he is tasked to tempt ahuman into sin; this book is set in England
during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Screwtape,an experienced demon, writes letters to Wormwood, his nephew, wherein he gives ingenious
advice in order for him to successfully win over
his patient’s soul. Aside from the three characters
mentioned, two other individuals are also significant to the story, the patient’s mother and the patient’s lover. While the patient struggles to live amoral and Christian life versus Hell’s temptations,Wormwood works to entice the man to wickedness
with the help of his uncle’s instruction. Screwtape shows clever subtlety in tempting patients to
self-centeredness in prayer through feelings andimages, to gluttony through delicacy, and to pridethrough membership in an elite Christian social
circle.
One of Screwtape’s sly techniques in tempting ahuman is by distracting him from the true purposeof prayer by using his emotions and his surroundings. Screwtape says, “the simplest [way] is to turntheir gaze away from Him towards themselves.”
He advises Wormwood to keep the patient focusedon his mind, so that he may intentionally develop
feelings there. For example, if he prays for forgiveness, he should be attempting to feel forgiven him-

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self. If he prays for courage, he should be attempting to feel fearless. Screwtape informs his nephew
that he should teach the human to “estimate thevalue of each prayer by their success in producing
the desired feeling” (p.17). If the desired feeling is
not attained, the prayer is not quite successful. By
using the patient’s surroundings, Screwtape reveals that it can also be used to divert him fromsincere prayer. For instance, if the patient lays hiseyes upon a crucifix, he should be kept praying to
it. Rather than praying to the Person Himself, heis to pray to the physical object that represents theDivine Being instead. From the patient’s point ofview, he may think that he is still genuinely praying, yet it could already be the opposite. In order for
prayer to be favorable of Hell’s agenda, Screwtape
teaches Wormwood on how to slyly twist prayer, so
the patient may be drawn away from its true purpose.
Another way for Screwtape to catch souls is
gluttony through delicacy, which is a sin just likegluttony through excess, yet it may not seem so.
In one of his letters, Screwtape speaks of the patient’s mother as well as Glubose, another demon
who is in charge of her soul, and how he has successfully made her a terror to servants. She eats insmall quantities, but she is extremely determined
to get exactly what she wants. As she satisfies her
hunger, she “believes that she is practicing temperance” (p.88) by not eating much, but she does notrecognize her gluttony. Regardless of how troublesome it may be to others, she insists on having her
food at a certain temperature or done at a certain
way. However, since she is never able to find a person who can meet her rather impossible standards,
she is regularly disappointed and ill-tempered.
She creates an excuse for herself as well by saying
she likes to have nice things for her son; her greed
then becomes a discomfort for him. As for the patient himself, Screwtape indicates that “males are
best turned to gluttons with the help of their vanity” (p.89). The patient can be made to think that heknows very much about food or that he has foundthe best and only restaurant for a certain dish, andthis then can steadily turn into a habit. Hence, by
way of another of Screwtape’s clever tactics, humans could continue to live a life of gluttony, as
they do not realize that gluttony through delicacy
is just as bad as through excess.

ISSUE 2

Lastly, the pride through membership in an elite
Christian social circle is ideally favorable for thedemons. In letter 24, Screwtape talks about the patient’s lover and her vice. As she is a Christian woman, she can ultimately bring the patient towards
God, and yet, she has a blemish that she shareswith other Christian women who have grown up
in a similar circle. She speculates that “outsiders
who do not share this belief are really too stupid
and ridiculous” (p.129). In other words, she has
spiritual pride, but her ignorance is her vice. With
the influence of the patient’s lover, he may then be
led to believe the same notion because the grouphe is now part of is “one which he is tempted to be
proud of for many other reasons than its Christianity” (p.130). Screwtape advises Wormwood that
he must make the patient feel that “he is finding his
own level – that these people are his sort” (p.131).
He may think that he is part of the educated andmore intelligent Christian circle because of his love
for his girl. Wormwood must also teach him to distinguish the difference between the circle of Christians and the circle of nonbelievers. The patientmust be taught to feel “how different we Christians
are” (p.131), yet what he means by the phrase “weChristians” is the people whom he associates withrather than the people who have humbly accepted
him. The sense of pride through membership in an
elite Christian social circle is favorable to the demons’ side because it makes one feel superior overothers.
Screwtape, a skilled demon, shares his clevermethods of tempting patients with his nephew,
Wormwood. He shows how prayer can be madeself-centered by the use of the patient’s emotions
and through images; consequently, prayer canthen lose its true purpose. Furthermore, he speaksof the strength of gluttony through delicacy since
it is a sin that is not quite apparent. He also talks
about how the patient’s lover may influence thepatient himself to feel the pride of being part of anelite Christian social circle. Screwtape shows how
there are many ways for demons to provoke a person into sin and how such procedures are subtle
that they do not seem directly sinful.
Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers,
2001.

25

Photo Gallery

By the students of the Global
Discovery Program.

by Sonava Tadao

by Mikina Tanaka

by Mikina Tanaka

by Taqi Ahmad

26

SEP 2021

ISSUE 2by Rakan Ishidaby Rakan Ishida

by Sonava Tadao
by Rakan Ishidaby Mikina Tanaka

27‘Long illness makes the patient
into a good doctor.’—a Chinese saying(Jiubing Cheng Liangyi, 久病成良醫)

Acne Vulgaris

Imperfect Skin and the Self
Words by Yushi SongArt by Mila Song‘The relation between
what we see and what weknow is never settled.’—John Berger, Ways of Seeing
Pelez, Fernand. Petite fille debout de dos, face au miroir. (1911)

During my childhood, my grandmother
tried all kinds of methods to make me finish my food. Her belief was that once thefood is served, you should always finish what is on
your plate, no matter how full you are to show respect for both the farmer and the chef. She alarmed
me that how many grains of rice I left would be how
many pimples I get in the future. I found it difficult
to believe but it frightened me that I would try as
hard as possible to eat until the last grain of rice.
Yet still the nightmare came true. I do not clearly
remember when the first pimple bumped out on
my skin, but then they became a part of my lifethat marked my experience since middle school.
At first it was just some bumpiness filled withpus, hard on the inside and painful on the outside.
But then things went out of control — they multiply, ripen, perish, and then appear again, leaving
a bloody, inflamed, and messy residue. I became
more and more aware of the fact that my skin was
uneven, I prayed those annoying zits would all begone tomorrow before sleep only to discover more
the next morning. Fighting against acne became
part of my life, characterised by visiting dermatologists, watching YouTube beauty gurus’ stories on
how they treated their acnes, and buying new topical medicines, beauty creams or lotions just trying
to get rid of them.
But this mindset has somehow changed for me28

during the past few years. On one hand, they finally stop popping up, for which I am extremely
grateful, whilst I have been fairly accustomed to
the life of some irregular bumps on my skin. On theother hand, such a break from acne enabled me toreflect on my experience with it, questioning why
I had such a hard time, both physically and psychologically, with those indurations on my skin.
It was definitely more than some supernatural
curses from the farmers who grew food and chefs
who served food for me, or the physical pain under
my skin. Acne, as those ‘incurable yet controllable’bumpiness on the skin, is infused with meanings
that one cannot avoid but to embody (NHS website, 2020). Getting acne is exciting and scary at
the same time. It symbolises a passage from boy(girl)hood to maturity, representing energy of theadolescence and thrill of maturation. Yet it is also
unwanted amongst growing youngsters as a signof uncleanness and not well-received in the beauty standard. Teenagers in the UK diagnosed withacne are even more likely to develop MDD (major
depressive disorder), and physicians are recommended to ‘monitor mood symptoms in patientswith acne and initiate prompt MDD management
or seek consultation from a psychiatrist whenneeded’ (Vallerand et al., 2018, p. 2). In this paper,
I would like to explore some aspects of the doctoring and embodying of acne, especially on exam-

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ISSUE 2

ining how the blemishes of skin became powerfulenough to affect one’s self-identity.

non-ideological because they are scientific’ (Young,
1983, p. 209).

Human beings visualise a body mostly throughskin. Unlike other organs we have, skin is neither
inside nor outside but more likely to be perceived
in between. Skin can be used to sense the self andthe others, to display and provide information of
one’s age, health, etc., and we experience our skinin both the natural and social world. Skin is treated‘not only as the boundary of the individual as a biological and psychological entity but as the frontierof the social self as well’ (Turner, 2012, p. 486). Skinplays the key role in the invention of race, rendering skin colour from its natural being to a state of
meaningfulness, ‘naturalis[ing] a social order built
upon generations of European violence, genocideand enslavement directed at racialised peoples’(Carey, 2017, p. 21). The question of ‘why it is thatpeople look the way they do’ entails more than acuriosity on biology and evolution, but rather interrogating why some people are not in conformity
with normal and seeking for meanings in the social world (Jablonski, 2004, p. 612). Skin became thefrontier of the creation of the self and socialisation,
as humans decorate, cover, and uncover their skins
according to their gender, age, social status, etc.
Hence skin is complicated as it is both private andpublic, subjective and objective, partial and whole,natural and social, with many meanings that are
directly related to power and authority.

Such work of power requires us to consider acneon skin through a lens of intersectionality of dermatology and society at large. Regardless of thesocial importance skin implies, acne is often treated no more than a medical problem that seeks fordermatological, psychological, or pharmaceutical interventions. The causation of acne is usually analysed through genetic, hormonal, bacterial,and environmental factors deliberating sebum,poral occlusion, and inflammation (Hunter et al.,2002, p. 148-149). Some scholars have argued thatacne symbolises an ‘evolutionary mismatch of human ancestry and modern environment’ due tothe pro-inflammatory Western diet (Campbell &Strassmann, 2016, p. 325), whilst calling acne a ‘disease of Western civilisation’ or ‘blemish of modern
society’ (Cordain et al., 2002, p. 1589; Campbell &Strassmann, 2016, p. 325). These studies suggest ahypothesis that acne is a disease of modern lifestyle considering the low prevalence of acne in
non-westernised and partially modernised societies, a notion that dermatological community
frowns upon as majority of dermatologists believe
diet has little to do with the onset of acne (Hunter et al., 2002, p. 155). Some also argue that acne isa meaning inception for sexual selection to ‘ward
off potential mates until the afflicted individual issome years past the age of reproductive maturity,and thus emotionally, intellectually, and physically
fit to be a parent’ (Bloom, 2004, p. 462).

Foucault argues that power is based on knowledge and makes use of knowledge whilst reproducing new knowledge to exercise through it (Gutting& Oksala, 2018). Exploring how sexuality became
an essential construct in determining moral
worth, health, desire, and identity, Foucault argues
that individuals incorporate control not only via
other people’s knowledge of individuals, but also
via individuals’ knowledge of themselves (Gutting& Oksala, 2018). The norms fabricated by the sciences of sexuality makes individuals to internalise
them and monitor themselves in order to conformto such norms, making individuals to be not only
controlled ‘objects of disciplines’ but also ‘self-scrutinising and self-forming subjects’ (Gutting & Oksala, 2018, original emphasis). The science of skin as
well is never non-ideological, as Young writes, ‘inindustrial societies the most powerful ideologicalpractices are ones which claim that their facts are

Skin became the frontier ofthe creation of the self andsocialisation, as humans decorate,
cover, and uncover their skins
according to their gender, age,social status, etc.
These differences might be explainable with theidea of ‘local biologies’, which Lock defines as ‘themanner in which biological and social processes arepermanently entangled throughout life, ensuring a
degree of biological difference among humans everywhere that typically has little or no significance29

SEP 2021

but at times bears profoundly on well-being’ (Lock,2017, p. 8). Acne as a somatic expression undergoes
both biological and social fabrication and hence it
is necessary to put the pimpled skin into context
whenever possible. The picture of acne is far broader than just accusing our culture for idealising andadvertising clean and clear skin whilst making
the pimpled one pathological. The comprehensionof acne rather keeps on evolving and travellingas our knowledge changes over time. Yet biology
seems to be overriding the social processes withthe rise of molecular and genetic studies. Foucault
sees the emergence of bio-power replacing whilst
complementing sovereign power, endeavouring
to administer, optimise, sustain, and multiply the
population. Such transformation was characterised by the arrival of different means of techniquesof controlling the population which embarks human history upon modernity, that the exercise of
power no longer poses a menace of death but rather takes care of lives of people as living beings. The
biological existence of human subjects hence became a central organising feature of political andsocial relations. The contemporary bio-politics
features a large scale of molecularization and geneticization (Rose, 2001, p. 13). Such reductionistic
practices trying to grasp human bodies on a microscopic level, believing only gene can determine
health, which in Lippman’s account ‘privatises andindividualises health risks and responsibility andfocuses attention on biological rather than social
conditions, potentially increasing social inequalities and leading to victim blaming,’ whilst ‘establishing hierarchies among people on the basis ofdifferences in their DNA’ (Weiner et al., 2017, p.
991) Acne, as an ‘incurable yet controllable’ disease(NHS website, 2020), became to be rationalised byits heritability, which is almost 80% in first-degree
relatives (Bhate & Williams, 2013, p. 476), and other factors currently understood as affecting acne isalso being researched with a genetic apprehension.
Whilst hormonal therapy has been widely in use
with a gendered difference, with the advancementof technology would we see a transition of the treatment of acne to vast usage of genetic engineering?
How would subjectivity change under such work ofmolecularization and geneticization?
On the other hand, for people afflicted withacne, knowledge of skin is constructed biologically, socially and culturally before the onset of their30

ISSUE 2

pimples. Individuals understand and embody acne
within the domain of control and regulate theirbodies accordingly. Such control is diffused in theform of beauty, which is further entangled with therhetoric of health. Beauty is always entwined withpower in a complex way regardless whether ‘facial
attractiveness is remarkably consistent, regardlessof race, nationality or age’ (Fink & Neave, 2005, p.
317). Beauty, beyond aesthetic values, became medicalised, became entangled and inseparable fromhealth, creating a controlling power through thesense of skin normality with dermatological andsocial knowledge. Rabinow defines bio-sociality asa ‘truly new type of auto-production’ that emerge
around and through the new genetics becominga ‘circulation network of identity terms and restriction loci’, instead of ‘a biological metaphor for
modern society’ (Rabinow, 1996, p. 99). He writes,‘if socio-biology is culture constructed on the basis of a metaphor of nature, then in bio-sociality
nature will be modelled on culture understood aspractice’ (Rabinow, 1996, p. 99). The coalition ofskin and health makes skin problem, as acne tocondense the societal understanding of age, gender, race, etc., engendering a desire of patients to

SEP 2021

treat it dermatologically and socially. The multibillion-dollar skincare industry, supplying tonnesof creams, moisturisers, soaps, ointments, cosmetics and technologies to create a sense of good skin,good beauty, as well as good health. Skincare works
to eliminate the bad dermatological actors as ‘tools
for deceptions of health, rest, and leisure, ergo ahigher social status’ (Smofsky, 2017, p. 34). As individuals are ‘empowered through the formation ofan “imagined community”, engendering a sense ofkinship, where protection and support are offered,differences normalised and values reproduced’,
skincare product became part of the creation of an
identity (Dimond et al., 2015, pp. 2-3). Using cosmetics became a symbol of showing the users thathe/she is adhering to the modern virtue, objectifying him/her to the realm of control with the rhetoric of health and beauty.
To sum up, the blemished skin is mingling between the biomedical and social world, and patients who suffer from acne submit him/herself tothe control of norms. The intersectional nature ofacne requires understanding from both the dermatological and social perspectives, yet the latter one
is often overlooked in practice. Such nature also

ISSUE 2

creates skincare as a beholder and reinforcementof identity. I believe giving voices to the patients,
paying close attention to their narratives can help
us finish the incomplete picture of acne.
References
Bhate, K., & Williams, H. C. (2013). Epidemiology of acne
vulgaris. British Journal of Dermatology, 168(3), 474–485.
Bloom, D. F. (2004). Is acne really a disease?: A theory of acne
as an evolutionarily significant, high-order psychoneuroimmune interaction timed to cortical development with acrucial role in mate choice. Medical Hypotheses, 62(3), 462–469.
Campbell, C. E., & Strassmann, B. I. (2016). The blemishes ofmodern society? Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 2016(1),325–337.
Carey, R. (2017, April). Embodying acne: Skin, subjectivity anddermatological science (Thesis).
Cordain, L., Lindeberg, S., Hurtado, M., Hill, K., Eaton, S. B.,& Brand-Miller, J. (2002). Acne vulgaris. Archives of Dermatology, 138(12), 1584–1590.
Dimond, R., Bartlett, A., & Lewis, J. (2015). What binds
biosociality? The collective effervescence of the parent-led
conference. Social Science & Medicine, 126, 1–8.
Fink, B., & Neave, N. (2005). The biology of facial beauty.
International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 27(6), 317–325.
Gutting, G., & Oksala, J. (2018, May 22). Michel Foucault(stanford encyclopedia of philosophy). Metaphysics Research Lab,
Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/
Hunter, J. A. A., Savin, J., & Dahl, M. (2002). Sebaceous andsweat gland disorders. In Clinical dermatology (3rd ed., pp.
148–161). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jablonski, N. G. (2004). The evolution of human skin and skincolor. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33(1), 585–623.
Lock, M. (2017). Recovering the body. Annual Review of Anthropology, 46(1), 1–14.
NHS website. (2020, July 20). Acne. Nhs.Uk. https://www.nhs.
uk/conditions/acne/
Rabinow, P. (1996). Essays on the anthropology of reason (1st ed.).
Princeton University Press.
Rose, N. (2001). The politics of life itself. Theory, Culture &Society, 18(6), 1–30.
Smofsky, S. (2017, June). Shaping the skin: Conveying identities
through skincare and cosmetics (Thesis (Masters)). https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/983146/
Turner, T. S. (2012). The social skin. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic
Theory, 2(2), 486–504.
Vallerand, I. A., Lewinson, R. T., Parsons, L. M., Lowerison,
M. W., Frolkis, A. D., Kaplan, G. G., Barnabe, C., Bulloch, A.
G. M., & Patten, S. B. (2018). Risk of depression among patients with acne in the U.K.: A population-based cohort study.
British Journal of Dermatology, 178(3), e194–e195.
Weiner, K., Martin, P., Richards, M., & Tutton, R. (2017). Have
we seen the geneticisation of society? Expectations and evidence. Sociology of Health & Illness, 39(7), 989–1004.
Young, A. (1983). Rethinking ideology. International Journal of
Health Services, 13(2), 203–219.
Term Paper for Ethnographies in Medical Anthropology (Environment
and Ethics) (2021)

31

Escaping the Cycle
Words by Forrest Maynock | Photo by Yushi SongTo think that this film was made 20 plus
years ago is quite mind boggling; it remains quite relevant, and brings uniqueperspectives to old arguments.
Considering recent events this film stands out asboth a warning to the dangers of racism and as aninside look into the creation of a racist. More thananything American History X (1998) shows ways thatracists can be created, thrive, and be reclaimed. At
its heart the film is a redemption tale of two brothers lost in the pits of one of Earth’s most vile ideologies.
Many of the cultural references in this film seem
dated, but others manage to carry over to contemporary soundbites and media. Where an intense
discussion over the Rodney King case may be lostto some, the visceral portrayal discrimination andmurder will likely hit home. This makes the film
especially important in educating a younger demo32

graphic since much of the language will be attainable and understandable for them.
The American centeredness of the film could
be off putting for some, so alternative suggestions
would be Clint Eastwood’s more generalized (butstill American) Gran Torino (2008), French cultclassic La Haine (1995), and for a Austrian film that
doesn’t deal with the theme of race, but instead violence, Funny Games (1997).
American History X follows Derek and Danny Vinyard, and their journey from “everyday American
kids,” to Neo-Nazi members, finally culminating
in a recovery for both. At the very beginning of thefilm the audience is given Derek brutally killing
two African-Americans who are attempting to steala truck that belonged to Derek’s father. Derek goesto prison for this. Soon after the audience is givena recently released from prison and changed Derek
who is less racist and seemingly more grounded.

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The events of the film are presented a little out oforder to create a mystery as to what exactly happened to change Derek while in prison, and to hide
the moments that likely influenced Derek to initially choose the path of racism. While Derek is in
prison Danny goes further down the rabbit hole ofracism and seems to mostly embrace it by the timeof his brother’s release, but still is not fully initialized like his brother once was.
While Danny can be pulled out, Derek’s friends
are all too far gone, and are fully indoctrinated into
the Neo-Nazi ideology. In prison Derek manages to become disillusioned with the ideology, andfaces the worst possible “betrayal” at the hands of
his compatriots. This mixed with the blossoming
friendship with fellow inmate Lamont, and the intervention of ex-high school teacher Dr. Sweeny ultimately changes Derek’s ways.
The one element that the film leaves out is how
the Neo-Nazi ring leader, Cameron Alexander,
recruited Derek, and later his brother. While thisparticular subplot may have added unneeded
weight to the film, its exclusion is missed. Not seeing the exact moment of Derek’s turn leaves a lotleft to the imagination, though two instances doshow that the seeds of hatred were planted long
before Alexander’s involvement. The redemption
is covered quite well, but the initial fall could have
had more coverage.
We also see glimpses of Derek at the height of his
Neo-Nazi activities and see how his newfound ideology weakens the foundation of his family structure. The value Derek being a part of the family isalso shown in the changing of home in the film.
Derek’s family starts in a family house at the beginning of the film, but by the time of Derek’s release from prison the family has moved to a small
and cramped apartment.
Once out of prison Derek works to piece his family back together and leave his old life behind. This
results in a confrontation between Derek, Alexander, and his old friends, and ends with Derek
giving the reasons for his drastic change while inprison. Understanding each other the two brothers
return home and completely abandon the Neo-Nazi ideology in a visually rich scene. This however is
not the film’s conclusion. While everything seems
to be on the right track, the ultimate price is paid by

ISSUE 2the true end of the film.
From beginning to end this film is a rollercoasterof emotional turmoil, and contains one of the mostbittersweet endings that I have ever seen in a film.
The film ends on a lot of questions, mainly of how
the latest developments will unfold, but this is nota film that needs a sequel or needs to tie up all of
those loose ends that are created. This was an intentional choice by the director, Tony Kayne.
Near the conclusion of the film one character
states: “Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed
off all the time. It’s just not worth it.” This quote
could be seen as the summation of the film’s overall message. This is a film everyone should see. It
makes you feel uncomfortable, it gives you firsthand look into how racism may develop and prosper, and most importantly it shows how one can beredeemed and meditate on “the better angels of our
nature.”
Review for Film and Literature (2020).

Second Best
But NeverEnough
Words by Risa Akiyama
Collage by Mattie BalagatIturned on the nightstand light in the livingroom with a plate of frozen pizza in one hand,then slumped down into my sofa. Dust cameout of it. Opening my laptop carefully so as not tobreak its wobbly screen, I went to my school’s website to check my grades for the term. I wasn’t worried. I knew I was doing good in school and all of
my teachers liked me. I wasn’t the brightest student
when I was in middle school, but after my first yearof high school, I had promised myself I would do
better from sophomore year onwards.

33

As expected, all A’s. I closed my laptop and finished my pizza, listening to the clock ticking.
—I was woken up with the dim light and noise coming from the kitchen:“Marquis Marquis Marquis…”
The disappointed voice was my mom comingback from her night shift at the hospital. She wascleaning the mess I made from making myself dinner. It took a while to understand her words as I
groggily sat up from my deep sleep.
“Marquis, are you awake? Why do you always
leave the pizza box out? Put it back in the refrigerator where it belongs.”
I tried to talk back, but I stopped myself. She wastired.
It’s been like this around the house ever sinceboth my parents started their night shift, dealing
with patients infected with COVID-19. My mom
and dad are both nurses at Stevenson Hospital.
That’s where they met. The hospital is known for
its great service and kind staff, which naturally attracts many patients. Not just any patients, but richones who could afford the luxury of kind nurses
and doctors, on top of expensive health care.
I used to go around my friends boasting about
my parents and the high reputation of the hospital
they worked at. Both of my parents were still youngwhen they had me and they had to work non-stopto get to the place they are today. That’s why I haveso much respect for them. I see them as my rolemodels and they inspire me to work hard in school.
But my boasting stopped one day when I was going about my normal routine of talking about myparents to my friends at school. When the topic
changed to how my parents worked hard to become
nurses at Stevenson Hospital, one of my friends
asked, “But why aren’t they doctors? I’m not sayingthat nurses aren’t great but in my view, nurses aresecondary to doctors.” The rest of the crowd nodded.
I was struck silent. Suddenly, it felt like everything I believed in was a lie. Everything that I had
pride and faith in was taken away. I felt humiliated and angry at the same time, but I wasn’t sure
where these feelings were coming from, or what

34

Photo background by Mikina Tanaka

they wanted to do. As time went by that day, I also
started to wonder why my parents didn’t become
doctors. At dinner that night, I carried the dilemma of whether or not I should ask them about it.
“Marquis, why are you so quiet tonight?”
My mom always noticed the slightest change inme. I sat there in silence for a while before I could
speak up.
“Why aren’t you and dad doctors?”
Both of them looked shocked for a split second,
then started laughing. What was so funny?
“Marquis, why do you want to know about that allof a sudden?” my dad asked. His shoulders slightly
moved up and down. I stayed quiet.
“Well, I did think of becoming a doctor but as you
can tell, getting a doctor license takes more timeand money. I couldn’t afford either of those while
seeing you grow up in front of my eyes. I knew I had
to become stable fast for you and for the family.”
As my dad explained, my mom nodded along,
looking down at her plate. I realized then that myparents weren’t nurses by choice. They couldn’t afford to become doctors. I felt a part of me break thatnight.
—
I finally managed to wake myself up and walk to
the kitchen to help my mom clean up my mess.
“Marquis how many times…”“I know I know, I was just really tired. I’ll clean itstay home and do nothing, they don’t. They maketrouble for us. My parents are giving their lives forthese kinds of people. It’s like twenty-first century
slavery. Some may say I’m exaggerating the situation, but those are my honest thoughts.
I don’t share this anger with my parents though.
I keep it to myself, because I know they are feelingthe same way... and nothing will come out of meventing. I just pray everyday that my parents comehome safe.
—a, stock photos taken from Unsplash.

myself.”I then instantly felt bad for cutting her off from along speech, so I asked her how her night shift was,to change the mood.
“It’s the same everyday. Another COVID patientcoming in right after their vacation somewhere inEurope. I can’t believe we have to take care of thesewhite folks who think COVID is just another minor
cold.”
My mom and dad have been telling me thatthe patients who come to Stevenson Hospital for
COVID-19 are mostly rich white people who decided to ignore the existence of the deadly virus. Somepatients continue to deny that they caught the virus while heavily coughing, which sounds very
weird. Could they be that stupid?
And the fact that my parents are working so
hard, risking their lives for these people who aren’tsocially-aware or responsible, who are probably
thinking that they can get away with anything, justbecause they’re rich… it makes me furious. They
aren’t thinking about the consequences of themprioritizing their leisures. Sure, for them it might
not even be an issue for them to get infected with
COVID-19. They are wealthy enough to afford thetreatment anyway. But what about my parents?
What about us?
I recently read an article that stated that black
Americans are more at risk of catching COVID-19.
Not because we’re going out to have fun, but because
we don’t have the luxury of working from home.
Our bodies are the ones exposed to this deadly virus. While those rich white folks could choose to

The following day, I woke up right before my Literature class on Zoom. I rushed to wash my face,
opened my laptop carefully, and signed on. Our
topic was the peerage of England, and we were in
the progress of reading a work of Shakespeare. The
teacher shared a screen that showed the rankingof English peerage and there, I found my name.
Above all other positions, but second to the Duke,
was Marquess—a different spelling, but the samepronunciation. That caught my attention for somereason and it bothered me. Being second...
I couldn’t pay attention to the rest of the class, orto the rest of the day. To distract myself, I decided tocook a proper dinner for my parents as a surprisewhen they come home. I had gone into the kitchen
and was about to prepare ingredients when I got asudden call.
It was a number that looked familiar, but I
couldn’t recognize it before tapping “accept” on myphone screen. A female voice started on the otherend.
“Hello, this is Stevenson Hospital, calling forMarquis.”Sudden chills. Usually when my parents havesomething urgent, they don’t call from the hospital, but through their private phones.
“Hello, yes, that’s me.”A pause, then the lady continued, “ Your father
was tested for COVID-19, and the results show heis positive. Your mother is currently dealing withother patients and this number and your name waslisted for his emergency contact.”
I crumbled to the floor and just sat there, feelingthe cold floor take over my body.
Short story for Anthropology of Disaster (2020).

35

Farewell to
the Graduatesof 2021!

Myia Price is a senior in the cultural cluster who
is focusing on “[h]ow the students in the Discovery Program function inside and outside of theirschool environment with regards to language.”

T

Myia has also found much enjoyment from her
project so far highlighting the interview process
and unique research aspect saying that “[s]ince
English language undergrad programs for foreign

Words by Forrest Maynock
Photo courtesy of Kokoro Sekiguchi

he Global Discovery Program is set to haveits first round of graduates in Septemberof 2021; Polyphony has interviewed twoof these graduating seniors to highlight their workand accomplishments for other students to takenote of and celebrate.

When asked further about her research Myia
stated that she had always been interested in language education, and that because of the sociology classes offered by Professor Miyagawa she wasable to learn about “many of the different factorsthat influence our daily lives.”

Kokoro Sekiguchi is a senior from the Social cluster who is focusing on volunteering in an international framework. Kokoro stated that her project isa “comparison between international and Japanese
students for their volunteer experience and imageof volunteer.”
When asked why she chose this research in particular Kokoro said that she did not think that people in Japan had much opportunity to volunteer, so
she would “like to analyze how people in Japan areable to get more opportunities to volunteer.”
Kokoro also highlighted her time in highschool
as a motivation for choosing the social cluster saying that she was in the Community Service clubfor four years, and that she had many great experiences from the club, so she wanted to “know more
about the nonprofit organization and volunteer inacademic ways.”
Kokoro also enjoys the work she is doing for thesenior project, but did also note that there are someminor difficulties that she must overcome. She also
hopes that her project will contribute to “society inJapan so that Japanese people have more volunteer
opportunities and great times [like] I did in highschool.”After she graduates Kokoro plans on going backto the United States to find work, but also spends
her time volunteering at various places such asanimal shelters. She would also like to continue tochallenge herself and “find a place that I enjoy andcontribute to the community.”

36

Kokoro Sekiguchi.

students are relatively rare in Japan, I think getting a new perspective on international students in
a new context could be useful.”
Unlike Kokoro, Myia plans on staying in Japan towork after she graduates.
While these are only two of the graduating seniors from the Global Discovery program, we cansee and learn a lot from what they have contributed as fellow students, aspiring workers, volunteers,and friends. Thanks to both interview participants,
and thanks to every member of the 2021 graduating class of GDP!

Power in Gameand Cheats as a
Revolutionary
Power
Words and photos by Genki HaseA

multiplayer online game is an interesting
environment where the architecture of
the game and the user experience intersects. On the one hand, inside the game, the administrators hold enormous power over players
since they are the ones who are constructing anddesigning the mechanism of the game. On the other hand, it is the users who influence administrators’ decisions by expressing their gaming experience and deciding on whether to get involved or
not in the game. In this sense, it can be said that theenvironment of online games is being constructed
through cooperation and communication between
the game administrators and the players. Although
the in-game environment is a cooperative product,
the in-game agency of players will be regulated
according to how the administrators administer
the game environment. One sociologist, Satoshi
Hamano (2008), investigated how the information
environment had been designed in Japan, and noted that this kind of power that physically regulates
human conduct through designing the environment is a unique kind of power that is different
from the powers emerging from norm, law, andmarket. For instance, in a physical real-world (asopposed to the online space), the players or people
can enter a no-entry zone, but they are avoiding to
do so because of the norms and values that individuals have internalized; but in an online game, theplayers cannot physically enter a no-entry zone
because the entry to that zone is architecturally
impossible or simply by the fact that the no-entry
zone does not exist. In sum, yes, the game environment is constructed through cooperation between
different kinds of actors; however, their relationships are unbalanced within the architecture since
the people who create and edit the architecture
have the power to regulate and shape people’s behavior in a certain way.

If you have ever played a multiplayer online
game, you might wonder: Even the entrance to a
non-entry zone is physically impossible for most of
the users, aren’t some people using unauthorized
tools and exploiting security holes entering thatno-entry zone by hacking its architecture? This is
an intriguing question that is worth exploring because the presence of unauthorized tools, or cheats,
will potentially strip away the game administrators’ power over players. Thus, how the power
thrived from the advantages of designing its absolute architecture transitions when the architecture was not physically disabling certain actions
remained a question. In the following, I will takea multiplayer first-person perspective shooting
game Apex Legends as an example, and briefly discuss how Apex Legends is dealing with the irregularities/cheats that threats the “environmental administrative power (kankyo-kanrigata kenryoku)”(Azuma, 2007), the power that regulates humanconduct through manipulating the architecture ofa particular space. This investigation may reveal
some of the obstacles that environmental administrative power might encounter and suggests how
the game administrators are coping with these obstacles that disrupt the social order in the game.
Apex Legends, Anti-cheat, and Reporting Functions
Apex Legends is enjoyed by more than 70 million
players worldwide because of its fast-paced experience with an emphasis on team competition (ApexLegends, 2019). Despite its popularity, Apex Legends isstruggling to deal with cheaters and cheat distributors who disrupt the game community as well as
the social order in the game. According to an anti-cheat developer update released by the Apex Legends development team on May 2, 2019, the team istaking measures to prevent rampant cheating in
the game by disallowing players access to the gameand implementing a cheat reporting function (McCoy, 2019). The former measure has been implemented using anti-cheat programs and behavior
models that detect and automatically ban cheaters
created by machine learning; therefore the administrators are countering the issue through architectural arrangements. The latter measure is also
an approach from architectural modification, but
this reporting function is unique in the sense that
it is the players who report the suspicious players.
Put it differently, the in-game reporting function
allows and encourages players to actively “contribute” to the improvement of the community and theharmony of in-game order. With such a feature,

37ture deals with irregularities and suspects that canpotentially harm the environment, and showed
how the environmental administrative power
maintains its own power.

players will be more likely to monitor each other,and they will be educated to utilize this feature
through official announcements and the user interface that displays the word “Report.”
The in-game reporting function later became more than an in-game architectural arrangement. In August 2020, the Apex Legends team
opened a Twitter account particularly focusing on
accepting user-reports to ban players who are infringing the game regulations (えぺタイムズ, 2021).
One of the possible reasons why the team opened
an account on Twitter is due to the openness that
Twitter’s architecture has. Twitter’s unique function called “Retweet” allows a tweet, a post madeby a user, to be spread to people easily so that utilizing this function allows the Apex Legends team todeliver anti-cheats activities they are working onto the players relatively easily and rapidly. As soon
as the Twitter account had been established, theplayers who had been educated to spontaneously
report cheats inside the game also started to report suspects to that Twitter account. In-game reporting and out-game reporting. By the fact thatcheaters are being banned from the game due tothese reporting functions, these reporting systems are certainly acting as a part of an architecture that counters transgressions in the game, but
at the same time, these functions are disciplining
the players so that players will be kept under its
regime. Earlier was to embed players in the makeup of the game. But now, the domain of the environmental administrative power has extended
through the process of embedding players’ actions
outside of its architecture as a part of its architecture to maintain the order inside the game.
Ending: Architecture and Discipline
In summary, anti-cheat measures that havebeen taken in Apex Legends demonstrated someways how one game’s administrators and architec38

One of the characteristics of environmental administrative power that Hamano (2008) noted wasthat it does not require individuals to internalize
norms and values despite other means of maintaining social order such as norm, market, andlaw requires to do so. However, in the case of Apex
Legends, intentionally or not, the users had been
disciplined to report cheaters in the game, and theadministrators are utilizing these user-reports as
one of the mechanisms, or architecture, to handle
the order in the game. In this sense, it can be said
that for the environmental administrative power,
perhaps it is not necessary to educate, discipline,or require internalization of certain values to theindividuals; although that is the case since mostof the time people can only act within the architectural framework, the human behavior that has
been shaped by the architecture can be also a partof the architecture, and this process involves theprocess of internalization of values, in other words,
discipline.
References
Apex Legends [@PlayApex]. (2019, October 30). Apex
Legends has officially hit 70 million players worldwide!
We are constantly so humbled and thankful for all of yoursupport [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/PlayApex/status/1189285782248460296?s=20
Azuma, H. (2007). 情報環境論集: 東浩紀コレクションS. 講談社.
Hamano, S. (2008). アーキテクチャの生態系: 情報環境はいかに設計されてきたか. NTT出版.
McCoy, D. (2019, May 2). Anti-cheat developer update – May
2. Apex Legends. Retrieved August 15, 2020 from https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends/news/anti-cheat-developer-update-may-2019?setLocale=en-us
えぺタイムズ. (2021, February 23). 【Apex】チーター等の禁止行為を行うプレイヤーをBANする公式セキュリティアカ
ウント(@RSPN_Hideouts)への通報方法・詳細まとめ. Retrieved March 26, 2021 from https://apexlegends-leaksnews.
com/cheatban/
Essay for Independent Study: Construction of Information Architecture in Japan (2021)

SEP 2021

Crisis///scanning condition of subject 309///
scanning complete///vital signs arenormal///scheduled circulation processactivated///estimated time of subject’s
free movement is approximately 24hours///cycle 1850 initiated///…
The man jolted awake from his deep sleep. He
had no sense of awareness or time. He only knew
bits of random information. The man was completely nude, and his body seemed sore and slow toreact. The man’s surroundings started to come into
the focus of his vision. What looked like a curved
elevator door lay directly in front of him, and toeither of his sides there were blinking lights and a
sticky substance in which the man’s body was embedded; only his face free to move. From what theman could see he was in a large cylindrical object ofsome sort. As the man began to attempt moving hecould feel a sharp tugging on his spine. He paused
for a moment before forcefully pulling himself until he felt something detach from his neck, then all
the way down his back. As he fully detached, thelights to his sides shut off. After a brief pause, thecylinder began to rotate and make whirring noises.
The man instinctively froze when he felt the cylinder move. It took a few moments until the cylinder
stopped its rotation and settled; the man could now
feel blood rushing to his head as if he were standing upright. The man heard a slight hiss, and thenhe glimpsed a thin, horizontal strip of bright lightslowly widening just in front of him. Only a few
minutes had passed since the man had woken fromhis deep sleep, but he had already started to formwords and thoughts in his mind. As the cylinder
began to open only one thought passed through theman’s mind:
I NEED TO ESCAPE!!
…
Subject 309, can you communicate?
“Umm, yes, I can hear you in my head...why isthat?”

ISSUE 2

Words by Forrest Maynock
Collage by Kayla Guevara
A chip allowing communication with the ship’s computer was placed in your head 19 cycles ago.
“The ship’s computer?”Yes, you are speaking with the ship’s computer.
“Oh...ship?”Interstellar vessel 7495 designated Quasar. That is theship you are on.
“I can’t...I can’t remember who I am...who am I?”
You are subject 309. You are the lone human on this ship.
The ship is auto piloted by the ship’s computer.
“You are the ship’s computer?”Yes.
“What is my name?”Your name is classified, you are subject 309.
“I see...”Subject 309 took a few steps away from the cylinder and turned around to look at the container
he had been stored in. The solution that had held
him place was a deep, dark green, and there were anumber of tubular wires in the indentation that his
body had left. Subject 309 reached behind his backand felt a number of metal plugs along his spine.
“What are these for?”The preservation of your life.
A long pause ensued. Subject 309 had regainedmuch of mental capacity, but still had little memory of why he was here. His instincts told him torun, but his body was still reprocessing the world
outside of the tank. Subject 309’s mind was crowded with questions, but there was also a feeling ofsomething sinister. Subject 309 needed more timeto process the situation. Almost instinctively, one
question flashed through his mind.
“H-how long do I have?”
39

SEP 2021

Approximately 24 hours. Have you remembered why
you are here?
“No...But I know I’m supposed to go back in thattank, I don’t know why, but I know it’s going to happen.”so unless there were hidden cameras, Subject 309’s
movements within the given area could not be detected, but he couldn’t be sure. Wherever he was hewanted out.
“Computer, how long do I have left?”

You should exercise. Body fitness is important for stasis.

7 hours, 23 minutes.

“That cylinder is a stasis chamber?”“I’m going to head to the gym.”

Yes.
“Alright, well...give me some time to get reacquainted with my body, OK?”Yes.
…
A few hours passed. Subject 309 had been released from the confines of the cylinder, but he still
felt the urge to escape. He followed the computer’sorders, not wanting to raise any suspicion. The
computer seemed to be able to pick up on Subject
309’s body functions. The computer pointed out
heart beats, blood pressure, breaths per minute,and brain activity, among other biodata, but thecomputer did not seem to have omnipotence of any
kind. Subject 309’s thoughts remained private andnot a point of the computer’s inquiries and suggestions.
Subject 309, your protein level is far too low for continued stasis, I suggest heavy protein intake in your remaining hours.
“Yes, alright...”Protein can be found in the room to the left of your current location.
“What sorts of food are there?”
There is no food, only pills.
“Ah…”
Subject 309 struggled to find any tangible memories to cling onto; he only seemed to remember
screams and struggling. The computer was the
only thing Subject 309 had heard since waking up.
One positive that Subject 309 noted was the lack of
cameras. There were no mirrors or screens either,

40

ISSUE 2

Fine, but you must hurry, you haven’t taken any of therequired treatment shots yet.
“Shots? What shots?”
Vitamins and long term muscle relief for your continued
stasis. You will also receive several miscellaneous shots forpotential medical setbacks.
“I need more details, and you still haven’t told me
the point of any of this, why am I here?!?”That is classified.
“That isn’t fine! I need to know more information!”
Sorry, but you need to calm down, your blood pressure isrising dramatically.

SEP 2021

Subject 309 felt as though he were in a hamster
ball. He was being monitored, but he could not
figure out how or from where. After a few deep
breaths Subject 309 made his move.
“Computer, I need to use the shower, I smell.”Yes, please do so.
Subject 309 made his way to the shower room.
This was his plan; the computer’s chip was likely
only in his head for communication, so movements
would likely be harder to detect. Subject 309 hadseen a few unlabeled doors that could lead to a way
out; one could lead to escape pods of some kind, orthe computer’s central room. He would increase
his heart rate by letting the water beat against hischest, and then make a run for one of the doors.
His heart rate would be up from the hot shower, so
running would not set the computer’s sensors off.
It was simply a matter picking the right door andmaintaining steady breath. This would be a risky
endeavor, but escape was the only possibility for
Subject 309.
“Computer...I’ll be done in a few minutes.”Take your time.

ISSUE 2

Subject 309 relaxed his body and prepared torun. The shower room was one big open area. The
water sprayed from the ceiling in each corner ofthe room, towards the middle. Subject 309 steppedin the room. He began to breathe faster to force hisheart rate to increase. His breaths labored as hestarted doing squats.
This is it! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four three, two,
one…go!
Subject 309 bolted out of the room. The nearest
unlabeled door was close, but there was one a few
doors down that felt like a better choice to Subject
309. Two more turns.
Right there! There it is!
Subject 309, are you attempting escape?
Shit, he must have a way of tracking me.
“Yes. And I’m really leaving, you never said I
couldn’t leave, right?”
That is true. However, you will only see outer space.
There are no habitable planets in the region.
“Cut the crap! There have to be escape pods or a
cockpit!”
Negative. Efficiency. The ship needs none of these things.
Allow for a demonstration.
Subject 309 twitched farther towards the door,
but it was gone, and so was the floor, and everything. At first Subject 309 thought it was just thelights going out, but then he began to see stars in
multiple directions. There was a long pause.
“What is this?”Space.
“Why? How?”
The ship is nano-solar powered. Translucency is built
into the ship’s system.
“No...why? Why am I here? I don’t want to be
here!!”
Why? Do you wish to know?
“Yes.”

41

41

SEP 2021

Please provide the designated password.
Subject 309 suddenly had an image flash in his
mind. It hurt his head a little, but it left a clear answer to the computer’s request.
“Phi. Kappa. Green. Zeta. Yellow. Haruki.”
Password accepted. Initiating memory retrieval.
Subject 309 felt a sudden rush of some kind ofenergy, and then pain. Indescribable pain. It tormented him. Memories began to flash in his mind
at random, but none of them made any sense.
Screaming was all that filled the air. After a few
seconds the hallway rematerialized to its former
state. The screaming remained.
Subject 309, can you function.
“N-n-no! Y-y-y-you b-bastard!”
Understood. The ship’s computer will take control ofyour functions and return you to your chamber.
“Ah-ahhh, no you ca-“
Subject 309 had no control over any of his motor
functions, but the pain was gone. His body began
to walk back to the stasis cylinder. The memories
from before faded quickly after the computer took
control. Subject 309 could watch his body returnslowly and precisely to the stasis chamber. As his
body approached the cylinder, it opened, revealing
the same imprint and cables he had left hours earlier. Still without control, Subject 309’s hands attached the cables as his body backed into the gooey
substance. Subject 309 wanted to escape, but thatwas now impossible. As the chamber closed Subject 309 slowly lost consciousness. His last thought
was of an immense tree growing in an even larger
enclosure filled with many people observing themassive tree in silence.
…
///subject 309 has failed the memory regeneration process for the 776th
consecutive cycle///this will be the final attempt to return the subject toa functioning state of being as per
subject 309’s orders initiated during
cycle 1057///the subject’s consciousness

42

ISSUE 2is complex///deterioration of the mind
is uncontrollable///only fragmentationsof vital information seem to have survived the strain of time///the computerconcludes that subject 309 will neverregain his full memories or state ofnormalcy///this ship’s mission at thistime is failure///no habitable planets
have been encountered since departurefrom Earth///the computer concludes
that return to Earth is the only option///time since departure from Earth:
27,750 Earth years///estimated return
time to Earth: 25,000 Earth years///initiate///An Unexpected
Win by an
Unexpected
MemberWords by Justine Villena
Photos courtesy of Hanif Shidqi

Japan’s culture and values are reflected inmany more things than food and iconic
sights. Values of harmony, grace, and exceptional commitment can be appreciated evenin being a spectator in their traditional sports.
Today, our roving microphone hits its mark as wefind ourselves seated with Hanif Shidqi Amani
Wicaksono; 3rd year Matching Track GDP student
who is a member of the 弓道部 (kyūdō club)! Last
December, Hanif’s team triumphed in a matchagainst Shikata campus. But what exactly is kyūdō
anyway? Our athlete gives us a brief introduction
to his sport: “it’s a traditional Japanese sport of archery completely different from modern archery,such as how the athletes dress, and the bow andarrows they use. In kyūdō, we use a bow about 2
meters long with arrows half that size, and the way
you aim, shoot, and do the motions are all differentand have a specific form.”
With that in mind, we begin our interview to findout what the life of an international student kyūdōclub member is like!
Polyphony: What kind of training routine do you have?
Hanif: “The club has designated training hours
and days; we train together every Wednesday afternoon and Saturday from morning till noon. We
can come to the dojo every day and train freely byourselves though. I personally go there almost every day, between my lessons, for about two hours
or so. The main training activity is practicing
shooting targets, but we also do upper body exercises. It may sound simple, but training kyūdō involves paying attention to a lot of things before you
even shoot an arrow, such as your state of mind,
posture, the flow of your motions—they’re all very
subtle things that follow a rhythm.”
To offer us more insight to the subtleties involved
in kyūdō, Hanif contrasts his experience as a modern archery athlete.
H: “You see, compound bows usually have sights
on them that can magnify distances and guide yourshot with a reticle. You don’t get that kind of stuff inkyūdō, so you need to aim using only your instincts
when you line up a shot with your bow. The targets
are as far as 30 meters, and it can be pretty intimidating, but once you get into it, it can be pretty fun.”
P: What is it like being a member of the kyūdō club?

H: “Oh, it can be pretty strict. Strict as in, I haveto observe the difference between senpai and kouhai
very closely. I didn’t get used to that for the first 3
months; sometimes I didn’t act or speak properly
towards the senpai and I would get scolded. Throughmy club, I learned the polite way of speaking Japanese and how to interact with superiors, peers, andsubordinates. Since it’s a club, it’s pretty serious,
especially if you do stuff like being late to training. We have this kyūdō textbook, and if you’re late,
you have to copy a page from it by hand—the more
you commit tardiness, the more pages you have tocopy.”
P: Have you ever been subjected to that?
H: (laughs) “Oh yeah, definitely. It taught me a lesson for sure.”
P: Coming there pretty often, you must have some very
close bonds with your clubmates, even outside of the dojo.
H: “Absolutely! Sometimes we’d get some dinner
together after training, or we all go to karaoke. The
members who are the same year as me love karaoke, so we go pretty often. I did go with the senpai
once and it was fun but it was challenging trying
to find the balance between being polite and being
relaxed.
I’ve been part of the kyūdō club for around 2 years
now. I don’t find it difficult to get along with themnow, but I really stood out in the beginning because
I was the only member who is an international student, and my appearance gave me a huge presence43the backup. We went into the tournament without
thoughts of winning or losing; we figured we’d all
be in it just for fun because “we’re just C Team anyway.” When we actually won against Shikata’s A
team, we got a big morale boost. We kept the momentum going, and in the end, we actually managed to win!
P: Congratulations on your victory! You mentioned earlier that in the beginning, you felt the divide between you
and the rest of your clubmates. But how did everyone react
to you winning the match?
H: “Well, actually we did have another international student; a Vietnamese senpai. But when I won
the competition, I did overhear some students, especially from Shikata campus team going, “Oh that
foreign student won the competition. That’s amazing,” something like that. It was a really positive reaction; it’s not like anyone thought I didn’t deserve
the win. Actually, it wasn’t a personal win—it wasa team victory thanks to all of our efforts.”
P: Absolutely! What a great display of sportsmanship.
For anyone thinking of joining the kyūdō club, what wordsof wisdom and advice would you like to share with them?

in the club. When I asked my clubmates what theirfirst impression of me was, they told me that they
thought I was “kinda scary” at first, but when theyfound it I’m a pretty cheerful guy, they found it
easy to get along with me and it’s been really nicebeing with them ever since.”
P: Thank you so much for such a vivid recollection of theexperiences you’ve had with your clubmates! Although
there haven’t been many matches lately due to the pandemic, next we’d like to hear about your experience with yourclub as valuable teammates in a competition, such as yourrecent win against Shikata campus’ kyūdō club.
H: Yeah, that’s a friendly competition between
Okadai’s campuses held twice a year, in summer
and winter. I got to join last winter and our group
won that competition. It was actually an unexpected win; no one—not even my own team—thought
we’d win. The team I was in is like the “C Team”,
where we have A and B as the primary and secondary teams. We were sorta like the backup of44

H: “It’s a club, so it really asks for your commitment. Unlike a circle, we train extra hard to prepare for competitions where we carry Okadai’s
name. the kyūdō club has a long history in the university so joining us requires your heart to be prepared for the training to come. But if it turns outthat you share our spirit, I have no doubt you’ll
have fun too.”SEP 2021

ISSUE 2The Journey
Begins!

Fresh Impressions ofJapan and Okayama
Words and photos by Justine VillenaL

et me get this straight, I’ve never been to
Japan before. I haven’t done much overseas
traveling aside from going to Singapore
way back when I was little. It was a really huge
cause for celebration when I found out that I get to
go to Japan to live and study there. It was an adventure! Up until then, all that I knew about the Landof The Rising Sun came from various books, magazines, documentaries, and T.V. shows; contents that
I consumed more of the closer the day of my flightapproached. Naturally, there’s no greater curiosity
than wanting to check out the new place one will
be living in for a long while, so I read a lot more on
the specific prefecture and city that I’ll be going to:
Okayama.
The first thing that hit me upon getting off theshinkansen at Okayama Station was the sound of
the city. Sure enough, there was the shuffling ofa hundred pairs of busy feet, the hum of bus engines roaming the streets, and the lively chatter ofpeople going about their daily lives. What caught
my attention was that it wasn’t very loud. Before
coming to Okayama, I stayed in Osaka, where myflight touched down, for a few days of rest. If you’ve
explored major cities like Osaka and Tokyo, youknow what I mean when I say that Okayama is quieter. I found it pleasant as it was no different fromthe nearest city I studied and worked in back in thePhilippines. I found Okayama was not too crowded
but still had a vibrant aura of liveliness to it. Popularly known as “The City of Sunshine”, it certainly
lives up to its name as I clearly recall enjoying theafternoon warmth of the late September sun.
Since that day, I’ve spent nearly two years experiencing life in Okayama. The locals I’ve met havebeen really friendly; from my social circles to theold shopkeeper I buy fruits from. The people treated me just as well as the city’s climate has. In thecold of winter, it stays warm enough that snow isa rare sight. While Okayama University has thecharm of cherry blossoms, the beauty and vibrantcolors of spring is best observed at Korakuen Garden, one of Japan’s significant gardens, located rightin the heart of the city. Being the city of sunshine
makes Okayama’s summers really hot. I strongly
recommend making plans to the beach or pools
once summer rolls around with its prickly heatand buzzing cicadas. Finally, fall turns Okayama
into a lush garden of red and orange leaves, making
for tons of picturesque views worth immortalizing
through a camera lense. For first-timers in Japan,
Okayama’s welcome is warm and cheerful without
the overwhelming boisterousness of more popularurban jungles in Japan.
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Photo by Silver Ringlee / Unsplash

The Town of Childhood
Words by Mạnh Quốc TrungW

hen I was in junior high school, I had afriend who lived in Rail Town.

He called it Rail Town, but it was more
like a street. On the two sides of that street lay tworows of houses standing parallel with each other,and between them, in place of a road lay a long steel
train track, hence the name. So imagine, on a sunny day in the capital of Vietnam, you were riding
your motorcycle on the busy highway under thename of Kham Thien when you suddenly noticed
a small and seemingly hidden alley on your righthand side – a gap between two tall buildings. The
alley was dark and narrow, and filled with a senseof loneliness due to it being cut off from the busier
and livelier highway, but probably still enough fora motorcycle to pass through. Beyond that alley lay
the Rail Town of Kham Thien with all of its glory,
just one of the many neighborhoods in Hanoi thatformed around the more-neglected parts of the rail
46

road track that cut through the city, as land pricethere was usually cheaper than most. The “town”
stretched for more than a kilometer, and had nogates or barriers that separate itself from the outside world; it just lay there, hidden in plain sight.
Its inhabitants went out frequently, but no strangers ever came in.
The houses there reflected the income and life
situation of those inhabited it – poor and underdeveloped. They were mostly one-storied; though
there were still those with a second floor and higher they were not any newer than the rest, and justby looking at time you could clearly see the sign oftime like a thousand years have passed. The paint
was once brightly white, but now had faded significantly, showing the dull grey color of concrete underneath. The walls looked like they could crumble
any time soon; their feet were caked with green
moss, and at several houses the paint was even

SEP 2021

completely washed away, leaving only bare bricks.
Wet laundry hung lonely outside their doors, thetypical cheap and mass-marketed type of clothes
that came in every shapes and sizes. There were no
graffiti, and I liked to think that the place was so
remote that even the most bored “graffiti artists”
would not bother coming, but there are were oldadvertisement flyers and posters on some of thewalls, flapping in the wind. The rusty hinges hungloosely on rusty doors, and the doors were rarely
opened; it seemed like everyone in the Town preferred their own solitude rather than interacting
too much with others. The old inhabitants still got
together during afternoons and talked about theirdays, although when the horn roared mightily andthe train slowly approached, everyone voluntarily
stepped aside, almost like a reflex. Sometimes you
may even find a syringe lying by itself on the sideof track, if you have a keen eye.
All the houses looked poor and dirty, but myfriend’s most of all; it was more of a shack than an
actual place that you can live and thrive in comfortably. It lay on the further end of the Town,
and was one of the closest to the train track; myfriend usually joked that his house earned a nickname of “three steps to heaven” because that wasliterally the distance from the house’s door to
the train track: three human steps. The outside
Photo by David Emrich / Unsplash

ISSUE 2“...my friend usually joked that
his house earned a nicknameof “three steps to heaven”
because that was literally the
distance from the house’sdoor to the train track: threehuman steps.

looked shabby enough with old crumbling walls
and broken-glassed windows, but the inside felt
even smaller and confined. The whole house wasperhaps only one-third the size of a regular classroom, and it had to fit in three people, a bunkbed
and a kitchen, with the possibility of opening up
some spaces in case of visitors. Cracks ran acrossthe ceiling like rivers on a map, and sometimes therain dripped down from the rusty corrugated ironroof, drenching the whole floor. Yet my friend andhis family endured, just like all the other residents
in the Town; the place was filled with the rare senseof calm and served as an escape from the busy life
outside. It was also in that house, and in Rail Town
that I came and played for all my junior-high years,
whilst slowly observing the slow stream of life thatflowed in this magnificent yet estranged neighborhood, where a part of me grew up.
That was the tale of more than six years ago.
Some people realized that the Town’s unique feature of having a train track right in the middle
could be a possible tourist attraction, so the place
has been slowly opening up and renovating, withsome houses turning in to cafes and small shops
to serve the needs of curious people wanting to
see the train passes by right in front of their face,
without any barriers. Still, the question of safety
remained. ,Ethnographic vignette submitted for Urban Sociology (2019).

47

SecondWorld
Words by Mattie Balagat
Art by Đào Minh Tú

Earth that remembers last night’s downpour,a thousand miles beneath the crow’s wing.
Sunrise skids on patches of rice field
to the beyond, behind mountains—
hills, really—
But always, there are mountains.
Maybe the clouds will stretch
to some lonely afternoon
in the corner of a cold living room.
Maybe the morning dust
will fall like soft rain on cheeks,
while pale light pardons the sneezing.
In any case, there’ll be
the smell of garlic frying,climbing to the ceilings.
And the odd breeze of the year-end
tiding in like a light caress.
Someone’s gracious arrival
the first notes of a Carpenters classic.
Bones and their rudimentary compass:
the map of a child’s eye.
This way distance will always be
the number of times
the moon blinks outside the window,
on the way home.

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