Comments on: That 9.11 Incident

By: John Stolzenbach

John Stolzenbach — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:52:32 +0000

I remember reading (some years back) an article in, was it Bungei Shunju? positing a real causatory ink between the Japanese kamikaze and the current Islamic fundamentalist bomber, going back to the Red Army terrorist who blew himself up at Ben Gurion airport in 1970 or so. Before that point, claimed the article, the idea of suicide to advance a cause was not countenanced under Islamic mores — but now the example of the Red Army terrorist inspired upcoming generations of terrorists to come. Make of this what you will.

By: M.G. Sheftall

M.G. Sheftall — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 05:47:32 +0000

Oh, what I would give to have students who ask questions, Jonathan! As a teacher, consider yourself blessed in that department.

I also envy (that word seems quite strange in this context, I realize) your being in the States on 9/11. Being where I was on that day– and still am — i.e., in a provincial city in Japan with a two-digit ex-pat American population, felt like being on the far side of the moon. My world, my country, my city was bleeding, and here I was in a peaceful (if slightly gritty) burg in Central Japan writing up Communications Skills syllabi and trying to finish a paper on introversion and group reticence in Japanese EFL that suddenly seemed about as relevant in the Big Scheme of Things as what I’d eaten for dinner on 9/10.

As I mentioned briefly in my otherwise long-winded self-intro of the other day, in the wake of 9/11 I experienced long months of doubt and angst not only about the state of international affairs, the humiliated, heartbroken agony of my homeland and the abrupt derailing of (what I had long mistakenly believed to be) some semblance of positivistic collective historical human progress towards “better things” (world peace? multicultural understanding and appreciation? elimination of famine and diseases?), but also about my own contributions — or lack thereof — to all this mess. Pushing forty, raising a family, nursing a waxing waistline and a waning hairline, I suppose I should have been happier about my station in life, ensconced in the Japanese national university system as a Japanese civil servant, living a safe — if rather mundane — existence in a prime position for sitting out what seemed (and still seems) to be turning into the nastiest sh*t-storm to hit humanity since the 14th Century. But instead of feeling comfortably reassured about that, I just felt redundant.

In a way, everything I’ve been doing since has been an attempt on my part to repair the wound opened in my heart — and in my faith in the basic decency of the human species — by the events and aftermath of “That Day” five years ago, and to utilize all of the bad energy resulting from those wounds in some way that will be constructive, helpful and meaningful. Sometimes I feel that the only thing that keeps me from seriously considering ex-planetary retirement options is the belief that there are still more people out there doing their best to improve the world than there are people trying to accelerate Armageddon and blow it up. God help us all if that scale ever tips the other way.

On a brighter note, nice to see you on Frog in a Well, Mary.

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:17:10 +0000

I very much agree that education should be as much about ways of thinking as it is about content, and I try to include the relevance of information, when it is relevant, in the discussion. Part of my problem is gauging interest: what I think is relevant and interesting may not, in fact, have any relation to why students are taking a course; as a result I try to stick pretty close to my stated syllabi, and moderate digressions based on what’s actually happening and questions students ask.

By: Mary Reisel

Mary Reisel — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:04:15 +0000

Hello Jonathan,
I’m new in the group, just joining after Mr. Sheftall introduced me to this interesting group, but even before my official introduction I would like to refer to your 9/11 remark.
Coming from Israel and serving in the army there I can easily understand and identify with many of the things you mention. However 9/11 has changed my attitude to teaching in Japan. It made me rethink somewhat more philosophically what am I doing here besides a PhD and what is my mission here as a foreigner teaching Japanese people. Am I here only to go through the teaching material be it whatever it may be? I have also realized that many of my students are interested in world politics, the meaning of religion to religious people and the new balance of power in the world even if they don’t feel comfortable enough to mention it in class. They are more worried about what is Islam than the missiles from North Korea. I am trying now to find ways to filter more information and place for discussion about these issues and so far with good feedback from most of the students.
I don’t know where we stand as historians, anthropologists or other professionls in Japan, but let us remember that teaching is also educating. It is about leading people through new ways of thinking and opening paths they haven’t seen before.