the japan issue

THE STUDENT WEEKLY SINCE 196903.31.11

THE JAPAN ISSUE

Inside: Totoro, Holi, and Harvard for Japan.

ti

Friday:A Sense of Schumer: A Conversation with Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer: A public servant for over three decades, Schumer is a leader in the Democratic Party and a vocal advocate for New York State. Location: Kirkland House Junior Common Room. Time: 12pm – 3pm$2 Burritos at Boloco! Eat delicious burritos to raise money for Mission Hill After School Program! All proceeds will be donated to MHASP. Location: Boloco on Mount Auburn Street. Time: 4pm – 6pm.Take Her, She’s Mine: First showing of a classic romantic comedy with a 21st century twist, directed by Madeleine Bennett ’11. Location: Adams Pool Theatre, Time: 8pm

Saturday:Stepping Out: Celebrating the Bright Stars of our Future: tribute to Black Men, sponsored by the Association of Black Harvard Women.Tickets are $20 and are available at the Harvard Box Office – this event is SEF eligible. Location: Anthony’s Function Hall. 156 Highland Avenue. Somerville, MA. Time: 7 pm

Sunday:Spring Brunch by the Institute of Politics: brunch with your favorite IOP program directors and fellow IOP members. Location: JFK Forum. Time: 11:30am – 2pm

03.31.11 vol. xlii, no. 19

2 [email protected] 03.31.11 • The Harvard Independent

The Indy is sending its best wishes to Japan.

Cover photograph courtesy ofWIKIPEDIACover art by MIRANDA SHUGARS

Staff WritersMichael Altman '14 Peter Bacon ‘11 Arthur Bratolozzi ‘12

Colleen Berryessa ‘11 Arhana Chattopadhyay ‘11Sayantan Deb ‘14 Levi Dudte '11 Gary Gerbrandt ‘14 Cindy Hsu '14 Sam Jack ‘11 Marion Liu ‘11 Hao Meng ‘11 Alfredo Montelongo ‘11

Nick Nehamas ‘11 Steven Rizoli ‘11 Brad Rose '14 Kalyn Saulsberry '14 Marc Shi ‘14 Jim Shirey ‘11 Angela Song '14

Diana Suen ‘11 Alex Thompson ‘11 Christine Wolfe ‘14 Sanyee Yuan ‘12 Faith Zhang ‘11 Susan Zhu ‘11

Graphics, Photography, and Design Staff Maria Barragan-Santana '14 Chaima Bouhlel ‘11

Patricia Florescu ‘11 Eva Liou ‘11 Lidiya Petrova ‘11 Schuyler Polk ‘14

www.harvardindependent.com

News and Forum EditorArts Editor

Sports EditorDesign Editor

Columnists

Meghan Brooks ‘14 Zena Mengesha ‘14Brett Giblin ‘11 Alexandria Rhodes ‘14Sam Barr ‘11, Luis Martinez ‘12

Point/CounterPoint: Power Play

Disaster Hits Home

a Fine Feast

FaCts anD Figures

6.2%HaPPy Holi

arts For aiD

minD oF miyazaki

unCommon Folk

a national Pastime

As Harvard College's weekly undergraduate newsmagazine, the Harvard Indepen-dent provides in-depth, critical coverage of issues and events of interest to the Harvard College community. The Independent has no political affiliation, instead offering diverse commentary on news, arts, sports, and student life.

For publication information and general inquiries, contact President Weike Wang ([email protected]). Letters to the Editor and comments regarding the content of the publication should be addressed to Editor-in-Chief Yuying Luo ([email protected]).

Yearly mail subscriptions are available for $30, and semester-long subscriptions are available for $15. To purchase a subscription, email [email protected].

The Harvard Independent is published weekly during the academic year, except during vacations, by The Harvard Independent, Inc., Student Organization Center at Hilles, Box 201, 59 Shepard Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Copyright © 2010 by The Harvard Independent. All rights reserved.

President Vice President

Editor-in-Chief Business Manager

Production ManagerExecutive Editor

Associate Business Manager

Weike Wang ‘11Whitney Lee ‘14Yuying Luo ‘12Amanda Hernandez ‘14Miranda Shugars ‘14 Riva Riley ‘12Eric Wei ‘14

Picks of the WeekBy INDY STAFF

FORUM345677

arts8910

SPORTS11

[email protected] 3The Harvard Independent • 03.31.11

indyForum

Point/Counterpoint

The effects of Japan’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami are heart wrenching. While it will take years to rebuild Japan, one of the more lasting issues raised might not be natural disaster recovery, however, but rather nuclear disaster prevention. The force of the quake caused extensive damage to four of the Fukishima nuclear power plant’s reactors, releasing nuclear radiation into the atmosphere and groundwater and creating an unstable and dangerous situation whose solution remains unclear. Although it does not appear at this point that Fukishima will become another Chernobyl, the question still remains: how do we prevent this type of disaster from happening again? Unfortunately, the answer is a simple one. The key to disaster prevention is phasing out nuclear power all together.

Advocating the closing of nuclear power plants is not a recommendation I make lightly, hence the “unfortunately.” Nuclear power has been an ally in the fight against fossil fuel dependence around the world, and currently provides CO2 emission-free electricity to hundreds of millions of people around the world daily. Nuclear plants relieve some of the pressure our oil and coal dependence places on the earth and its atmosphere, and are unquestionably better for air quality than their fossil fuel-burning cousins. For these reasons and others, time and time again nations that have seen the danger that nuclear power plants can become first-hand have decided to continue their nuclear programs, and from an energy policy standpoint, nuclear power is an excellent short-term fix for many of the supply and expense problems that energy-hungry countries face today. This, however, is exactly the problem: nuclear power is a short-term cure for fossil fuel dependence at best, a “cure” akin to plugging a hole in a dike with paper towels. Although nuclear power is

helping us now, it can only hurt us in the future.

The most apparent danger of nuclear power is the kind of reactor meltdowns that Japan’s Fukishima plant is experiencing right now. Although this particular incident of radiation leakage has not yet proved fatal, those exposed to the radiation in doses even as small as 100 mSv are at risk for developing cancers and could pass significant genetic damage to their future children. The risk of radiation exposure is not confined to those living in the immediate contamination area either. Radiation particles can contaminate ground water and food sources quite far from the site, and heightened levels of radioactivity have been measured as far away as California.

Despite a persistent fear of nuclear meltdown, however, the issue that poses the gravest long-term challenge is that of waste storage. After rods of nuclear fuel are spent they do not finish expending radiation. Such waste can remain radioactive for thousands of years and is not actually entirely containable. Furthermore, after the 2009 scrapping of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear storage dump, the United States has nowhere secure to put its radioactive waste, posing a threat to the integrity of water tables anywhere in the proximity of a nuclear plant.

In the end, although it is clear that alternative solutions must be found to fossil fuels, nuclear power does not represent an intelligent alternative solution. Radioactivity is dangerous, and purposely creating it is irresponsible. However, if yet another nuclear accident and a fifty-mile evacuation radius aren’t enough to scare an energy-hungry world into action, I don’t know what is.

Meghan Brooks ’14 (meghanbrooks@college) is all for rethinking ways to meet our energy needs.

Nixing the Nuclear OptionBy MEGHAN BROOKS

Hysteria isn’t something that’s new to humanity. Every few months, some grand event washes over the media, and before long people explode into a wild fervor. Two years ago, it was the swine flu. Millions of people got vaccinated and were worried out of their minds after a few highly publicized (and tragic) deaths. About three weeks ago, a massive, devastating earthquake and an ensuing tsunami killed thousands of people in Japan.

Yet today, in America, people are not calling for the reexamination of earthquake-related building codes and tsunami warning systems along the volatile West Coast. Instead, people are buying every single Geiger counter and snake-oil radiation detector they can find. The public perceives nuclear power as a threat to America and to everyone’s existence, which is preposterous.

As has been stated in numerous “calm down” human interest segments on TV, radiation is literally everywhere. Bananas contain a radioactive isotope of calcium that exposes you to a little bit of ionization every morning. Sitting on a granite boulder to eat your lunch while camping will infuse you with even more. People have forgotten the chemical realities of the world.

What happened at the Fukushima I reactor complex is, from an engineering standpoint, inexcusable. Japanese regulators should have enforced security and inspection standards, and the plant was designed in a way that assured problems in the event of flooding (with backup generators on-site and on low ground). The reactor containment structures themselves were early models, lacking more modern features to effectively prevent meltdowns.

There have been many serious consequences to this weak planning, not the least of which is the potential for serious health problems for the heroic cleanup workers and residents of the area. Yet it should be said that this poor planning was a one-off, and that what is currently taking place

— a relatively strong response — is effectively preventing further loss of life.

Despite the recent problems in Japan, nuclear power is not a threat. It is not going to hurt the people of America. While it is imperfect, especially considering the vast amounts of nuclear waste that governments have refused to deal with, it is a low-carbon-intensity, sustainable source of power. New technology — the molten-thorium-salt reactor — is being developed, technology that would be far less dangerous. If implemented, the molten-thorium-salt reactor would prevent meltdowns by improving containment and reducing heat production, would not produce extremely radioactive byproducts, and would rely on a source of fuel that is found in the earth’s crust at the same concentration as lead.

T h e u t o p i a n g o a l o f a n y environmentalist, myself included, is a world with a power grid saturated with the electricity of wind turbines and solar panels and recovered energy from car tires (belonging, of course, to electric and hydrogen-powered marvels). For now, nuclear power is an important resource that America and the rest of the world cannot afford to ignore. What happened in Japan has been tragic — no one will deny that. However, considering the immense destruction caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, the problems with the reactors at Fukishima are secondary at best, and certainly do not deserve the fear-mongering media coverage they have received.

So before we condemn nuclear energy, let’s do what we did after similar nuclear accidents. Let’s step back, take a few deep breaths, remember nuclear energy’s true benefits, and learn to love the atom once again

Gary Gerbrandt ’14 (garygerbrandt@college) knows that nuclear energy ≠ nuclear apocalypse.

After Japan: Nuclear or No?

By GARY GERBRANDTLet’s Reinvent the Atom


Forum

March 11 started off well — it was my first day at home over spring break, and I

had just sent in the last paper in a string of assignments when I finally got around to checking my e-mail. The New York Times had sent me a news alert: “Tsunami Hits Japan After 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Off Coast.” The images I saw were of sheer devastation, and I immediately thought of the people I knew in Japan or who had family in Japan.

Over the next day or two, all of them updated their Facebook statuses or e-mailed to assure their friends that they and their family members were okay. Heartbreakingly, for many others in Japan, this would not be a reality. Still, from a selfish standpoint, I sighed multiple breaths of relief each time someone I knew declared that he or she was safe and sound.

In the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, I had a lot of time to reflect on the disaster. I had some political considerations, wondering how many nuclear reactors were situated along our west coast, and whether or not the US would be prepared to handle such a crisis, considering that the Japanese government seemed disorganized and confused, hardly the sort of reaction one expects from a country known for perfectionism and detailed organization. Some of my reaction was personal — I’m moving to California after graduation after having spent my life on the east coast, and the thought of earthquakes scares me. However, after reflecting on the devastation and its effect on my emotions, I realized something about Harvard that brought the disaster in Japan closer to home than any fear of California earthquakes. I

realized that this college has actually made global disasters more personal, because after attending this school for four years, I almost always know people whose lives are directly affected by such tragedies.

One of the greatest benefits that Harvard has to offer is the diversity of its student body. The first time I thought about this was freshman year, when I met people from Texas, California, Alabama, West Virginia, Oregon, British Columbia, Ontario,

Japan, Bahrain — literally all over the place. It was cool thinking that wherever I went, there would be someone I could ask to stay with, or at least to recommend some places.

After the tsunami, I realized that Harvard had introduced me to people who were either from Japan or who were now studying there. I had a stake in this disaster — I had friends there. That simple fact made this disaster very much unlike the Indonesian tsunami of 2004. Both

instances were tragic, but in the first one, I sent money without having worried about friends. This time, I actually panicked about people I knew. By introducing me to students from across the world with interests that range across the academic spectrum, Harvard has made me a more global citizen.

Harvard is certainly not unique in having a diverse student body — you could say the same of many private institutions. However, considering

that a fifth of my Pennsylvania high school ends up going to Penn State, I think it is comparably more significant here. I do not mean to belittle state schools; I think it is absolutely wonderful that they offer a quality college education with a price tag that is much more accessible than Harvard’s (and they have way more school spirit than we do), but if I had gone to Penn State, I probably would have met a lot of Pennsylvanians. Now, I’m not saying Pennsylvanians

are all the same and that nobody ever leaves the state, but leaving and coming to Cambridge has introduced me to people whose nationalities I would never have encountered at home.

A few weeks before the tsunami, I met someone from Tunisia through participating in the same senior dance as her in Ghungroo, a case of a Chinese-American meeting a Tunisian by dancing in a South Asian cultural show (you can’t make

this stuff up). All of a sudden, the revolutions spreading across the Arab world, which had started in Tunisia, weren’t just intellectual considerations from reading the news. Here was somebody for whom it really mattered. These revolutions became not just words and images, more than statistics and predictions. At Harvard, even if I will never know all of my classmates as well as I know my roommate, just having met them makes events that are far away much more personal.

This process of personalization is not limited to the global scale. I’ve started saying “y’all” from having so many Texan friends, which makes me sound a little out of place back home in suburban Philadelphia. I feel more connected with the rest of the country

from having been at a college that values geographic diversity. This is something that I did not realize Harvard would help me achieve, but I suppose when the tour guides say that the best part of Harvard is “the people,” they weren’t kidding.

Susan Zhu ’11 (szhu@fas) thinks y’all should support relief efforts in Japan, but do so wisely — pick charities that have been ranked by charitynavigator.org.

The Best Part About HarvardReflecting on disaster.

By SUSAN ZHU

I had a stake in this disaster — I had friends there. That simple fact made this disaster very much unlike the Indonesian tsunami of 2004. Both instances were tragic, but in the first one, I sent money without having worried about friends. This time, I actually panicked about people I knew. By introducing me to students from across the world with interests that range across the academic spectrum, Harvard has made me a more

global citizen.

"

"


indyForum

March 11, 2011 is a date that will undoubtedly be engraved as one of mass

devastation and unparalleled grief for many Japanese. But the heartbreak of Japanese quickly transformed into a universal one as people around the world learned of the scale of the tsunami that had hit Northern Japan and the unpredictable ramifications of several nuclear reactors on the brink of collapse. The disaster happened when many Harvard students were leaving for spring break, but that did not prevent students from springing into action to do what they could to contribute to relief efforts.

One of the most successful events that preceded Harvard for Japan week was the Harvard Students for Japan Banquet held in Winthrop Dining Hall on Saturday, March 10. With hundreds of attendees from Harvard and elsewhere, the event raised over $3000 for the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Jessica Li ’14, the head organizer of the charitable feast, described how she conceived the idea, “I conceived of the banquet on Tuesday morning and the event was Saturday evening. We had about four days to pull it together. I woke up in the morning on Tuesday, and the first thing I noticed was how hungry I was. Then, I read the morning news online about Japan as I have done every morning and became even more depressed. I knew that many wonderful events

were to be planned after spring break ended, but I thought, ‘Why not now? Help is needed now!’ The banquet seemed like the perfect idea. Students were steadily trickling back on campus with no place to eat and we were all anxious to begin our efforts to support Japan!”

Li is quick to give credit to her army of volunteers, which totaled over sixty. “The most challenging part for me was definitely the time constraint. We were really pressed for time!” Li and her volunteers rallied to pull together an event that was widely advertised and well attended. “But what was amazing was that everything came together in the end. The soliciting, publicizing, the cooking, the cleaning, the ushering, the donation collecting—everything came together.” They were able to obtain donations from many restaurants in Cambridge and Boston, allowing them to minimize any incurred expenses.

On the night of the event, over three hundred people showed up to contribute to a good

cause. Lines snaked down the length of Winthrop’s Dining Hall and out the door. Although the peak wait for noodles, dumplings, sushi, pastries, and a variety of other delicious dishes clocked in at forty-five minutes, most attendees were in good spirits knowing that their money was going to a worthy cause.

“Harvard students are really amazing,” Li commented. “Everything that has been going on this whole Japan week has really exhibited the dedication and compassion of students. A contribution of any size is still a contribution, No matter

what, you can always help out. The vast social networks we have access to in addition to the tight knit communities of friends we have here on campus can really be a source of support for any Japan-related effort. In other words, use your connections, create excitement, motivate people, and get people involved!” It is with that spirit that we can hopefully help Japan begin to recover.

Yuying Luo ’12 (yluo@fas) encourages everyone to think outside the box to contribute what they can to the relief efforts in Japan.

Good Food, Good CauseHarvard students throw a feast for Japanese relief

efforts.

By YUYING LUO

Courtesy of AMY YIN

Courtesy of AMY YEN


Forum

The 1906 earthquake that ripped San Francisco apart, set fire to a large part of the city, and

changed the way that California would construct its buildings. It was a 7.9 on the Richter scale. The 2010 earthquake in Haiti that has caused the country’s complete devastation was a 7.0. The earthquake that fissured Chile in 2010 was an 8.8. On Friday, March 11th, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 struck northern Japan, bringing with it a tsunami that washed away homes, stores, schools, and claimed the lives of many citizens of Japan. The ensuing nuclear crisis and rising death toll has put many Japanese in a terrified standstill. While the world has reacted quickly to aid the Japanese — perhaps learning from our mistakes in Katrina or Haiti — there is still much left to resolve in the North Pacific.

I first witnessed the devastation of the tsunami when I looked over the shoulder of someone sitting at a computer. A dark mass was swallowing a town — I soon realized it was a debris-filled wave flooding one of the affected areas in northern Japan. As I sat in the airport waiting to fly home for spring break, the other passengers at the gate and I watched CNN, video after video of terrifying waves crashing over rooftops as someone with a phone recorded from above. I couldn’t help but think of the many Japanese students at Harvard who would long to be in my position, flying home to my family in safety. The havoc that a natural disaster can wreak, I have been told, is unfathomable to someone who has never experienced it, and I believe it.

There are few things that humans cannot control in the 21st century, but the forces of nature are certainly out

of our hands. To clarify the incredible intensity of the quake, it is necessary to describe the measurement of earthquakes. The Richter scale, the historically applied tool with which geologists measure the intensity of an earthquake, ranges from 1.0 to 10.0. According to the United States Geological Service, the largest earthquake ever reported was a 9.5 in Valdivia, Chile, in 1960. As the Richter scale is exponential, a 9.5 is ten times as intense as an 8.5, and nearly 30 times as intense as a 6.9, the measurement of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in the Bay Area of California, which members of my family experienced. The experience

terrified them, so one can only imagine the mindsets of the victims of a 9.5 or an 8.9.

As far as geological concerns go, earthquakes are caused by shifts in tectonic plates in the earth’s crust, which also cause the tsunamis that frequently accompany damaging earthquakes. The Ring of Fire, an area surrounding the Pacific Ocean, undergoes frequent tectonic plate movement, causing a prevalence of tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic activity in that area.

Japan has experienced many earthquakes before, and is indeed more economically prepared for natural disasters such as tsunamis than other nations, but the sheer magnitude of this earthquake has had consequences for the island nation that no politician or citizen could have anticipated. One of the most pressing problems Japan is facing is the leakage of nuclear radiation into their food supplies from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. The plant was damaged in the earthquake, causing the release of radioactive materials that has now infiltrated the agricultural sector that feeds Tokyo, the burgeoning capital of

Japan. Experts issued a warning against drinking the tap water, and bans have been placed on the sale of raw milk and some vegetables.

However, sources seem to disagree on the intensity of the problem — the UN’s World Health Organization claims on CNN that the radiation situation is being watched with caution, but cautions that it is not cause for a panic. However, a recent Reuters article argues that despite these words from the WHO, tensions are rising among Japanese with

regards to their food safety. There is probably not enough data to come to an effective decision about food safety one way or another, but in a country that has been so severely damaged by radiation catastrophes in the past, one cannot help but expect some hesitation amongst Japanese citizens.

Lastly, despite the massive damaging and rising death toll in Japan, since I began writing this article, Japan has fallen from headlining every news outlet to a few brief articles under a separate “News” tab. Our coverage of incredibly serious natural disasters seems to peak quite rapidly and

then quickly decline as other issues rise. Though I do not deny the importance of covering the situation in Libya, it is shameful how quickly an event that has impacted millions of people’s lives, especially in a country so economically and socially tied to the United States as Japan, can fall out of interest.

I encourage my fellow Harvard students to keep their attention on Japan and what we can do to help. The Harvard campus has been sponsoring events for the past two weeks in order to benefit Japan, but there are still many venues through

which you can donate money or your summer, to help Japan recover from this disaster. In doing so, you benefit not only your globalized community in which Japan is an integral part, but also the people in Japan and their families outside the country who have suffered through this disaster.

Christine Wolfe ’14 (cwolfe@college) will keep Japan at the top of her news feed.

Surveying the DamagePutting the earthquake in

Japan in perspective.By CHRISTINE WOLFE

Maria Barragan-Santana / INDEPENDENT


indyForum

Recently, The Crimson came out with a storytitled ‘College Applications Cause Stress.’

The article unravels around that groundbreaking thesis and maneuvers deftly into uncharted waters before coming finally to the conclusion that college admissions will only get harder. But this is a conclusion we know well. As Harvard students who have watched the acceptance rate diminish year after year, we know that our little sisters and brothers, our pretty legacy children will have a harder shot getting in than we did. The question then is what do we do about?

When I was in high school, there was a forum called College Confidential that encouraged students to brag about themselves in

numbers (i.e. GPA, standardized test scores, AP scores) and to ask people for a probability at HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton). The forum is an online hangout for the Ivy League-obsessed. I know this because I tried to be one of them and I went through 17 posts before I realized that I’d rather leave some things to fate on the day decisions came out. And it worked out — for me. But the college application process is undergoing its own Darwinian evolution and moving to weed out those applicants who think college acceptance is a color-by-number process. Maybe it used to be, back in the dark ages when standardized aptitude tests actually measured aptitude, but now, with so much intellectual plastic surgery involved, natural smarts are a rarity.

Now however, I see more and more colleges looking for exactly that. For the most part, HYP is looking past numbers for the personality, the talent. I’ve heard too many ‘sob stories’ at dumpling potlucks about how so-and-so didn’t get into HYP despite the perfect SAT score, the perfect grades, the perfect everything. Please, cry me a river.

I’m a firm believer that talent trumps numbers any day, but now with so many high school students focused on fleshing out a numerical

resume rather than figuring out what they want out of the college experience, we can only expect more of the same. The ambition for HYP has fueled a cookie cutter factory of accomplished but empty test takers. And I can only expect the college boards to respond by accepting more of the different, that is the numerically less accomplished, but the personally more realized individuals.

Weike Wang ’11 (wang40@fas) disapproves of nagging parents.

College Applications Revisited

Holi at Harvard

A view from an almost-graduate.

A first experience.

This past Saturday, I raced back to my room from the gym not to shower and begin my homework

as per usual, but rather to change into a ratty pair of old jeans with a hole in the knee, a sweatshirt older than I am (no joke), and a pair of rain boots. I was headed to the Holi celebration put on by Dharma, Harvard’s Hindu Students Association, and as I was told there was going to be plenty of free paneer before the color throwing began, I didn’t want to miss out. Although I was a little nervous about being a newcomer to a celebration I had no cultural ties to, I was heartened by the huge number of “attending” responses to the event on Facebook. The promise of free food and plenty of fun with friends both Hindu and non-Hindu made my decision to attend all the easier.

My roommate and I arrived at the Winthrop JCR well after the festivities began, however, and had to make our way around a spirited game of Kabbadi in order to join our friends around the food — and what

food it was. Indian “burritos” filled with potatoes and basmati rice were heaped next to cases of Thums Up and Limca, Indian imitation-brand sodas whose tastes were paralleled only by their sugar content.

As we chowed down, Kabbadi continued. For those unfamiliar with the national sport of Bangladesh, the game is a team-based synthesis of tag and red-rover that requires its “it” to mutter the word “kabbadi” over and over again as he or she attempts to touch a member of the opposing team and return without being tackled by them. Unfortunately, when it came time for the sophomores and freshmen to face off against the juniors, there were so many eager players that I, a first-time Holi attendee, decided to sit the round out.

Luckily, the best part of Holi, or rather, the part everyone associates with the holiday, necessitated everyone’s participation. Despite the cold that hung about the air, the crowd flowed out of the JCR

and onto the MAC Quad flushed with anticipation for the festivities that were about to begin. The group formed a circle around the plastic bags of brightly colored rang that littered the ground, and at the signal, rushed in.

Although I had seen photographs of Holi celebrations before, I had not anticipated the battle that was happening around me to be so joyously chaotic and found myself overwhelmed by a shower of green powder moments after it began. Clouds of pink and yellow puffed into the air in front of my face, coating the bodies and obscuring the faces of the people around me. Despite my initial paralysis, I finally managed to get my hands on a bag of brilliant vermillion and let myself enjoy the celebration, smearing color on the faces of friends and throwing fists of powder at people I had never met. The experience was intense, almost euphoric even, and could not even be hindered by the fact that I spent a good portion of my time

spitting purple after accidentally inhaling a cloud of powder a friend had thrown in my face.

Showering the layers of powder off afterwards, watching the pink, green, yellow, purple, and red swirl down the drain as a muddy brown, I was thoroughly pleased to have taken part in Harvard’s Holi celebration, and as I pulled my permanently-dyed clothing out of the dryer two days later, my thoughts were not on stain-removal, but rather on the numerous Holis I would be wearing them to in the future.

Meghan Brooks ’14 (meghanbrooks@college) hopes everyone at Harvard had a happy Holi.

By WEIKE WANG

By MEGHAN BROOKS

Courtesy of Wikicommons


Arts

It is a situation that seems to be occurring alarmingly often: just over one year after the earthquake

in Haiti, the world is now reeling from the devastation in Japan — once again paying witness to new images of destruction are revealed each day, once again watching anxiously as news of the damage grows. And once again, individuals around the world are doing what they can, giving what they can in support of those suffering. Donations of every sort — from money to resources to personnel — are being sent to aid in relief and rescue efforts, and in addition to contributing directly, many are employing their individual talents or popularity to draw attention and funds to aiding Japan’s recovery. From worldwide pop stars to local DJs, artists of all kinds are putting their skills to work and contributing what they can to help those in need. Unique to Japan, however, seems to be the particularly personal connection that many artists, no matter their popularity and success, have to the country, a connection that has only served to bolster relief efforts.

Few are likely as familiar with this connection as Ryu Goto ’11. A senior in Cabot concentrating in Physics, Goto is an internationally-acclaimed classical violinist, having performed in venues in London, Vienna and Shanghai. This past Saturday, he performed with the Bach Society Orchestra in their benefit concert, from which 50% of the proceeds will go to support the American Red Cross. The disaster in Japan strikes particularly close to Goto — he in fact was in Japan when the earthquake hit, his flight landing just minutes before the first tremors were felt. He, along with numerous other Japanese artists, feel “some responsibility to take action, whether through charity concerts or something, to take some initiative.”

T h a t f e e l i n g a l s o seems to be extending beyond those with direct connection to Japan. As with Haiti, many of the most well-known artists and labels today have set to work developing merchandise, singles or collaborations, the profits from which will go towards supporting relief efforts,

particularly through donations to the wwdJapanese Red Cross. Lady Gaga, for example, has designed “prayer bracelets” which can be purchased for $5 from her website, and U2, Bon Jovi, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Justin Bieber are collaborating on an album through the Universal record label, entitled “Songs for Japan,” due to be rush-released in the coming weeks. Many artists and celebrities including Sandra Bullock and Gwen Stefani, have also given personal donations, and numerous other groups and performers, are organizing benefit concerts in support of Japan. In many ways, this work seems to mirror that done 16 months ago in support of Haiti, with many of the top artists in the industry urging their fans to donate.

Their work this time, however, seems to be motivated not only by a need to help, but also by a particular attachment to the country affected. Popular artists have for many years drawn from the aesthetics of East Asian countries, Japan perhaps most of all. Gwen Stefani’s work is a perfect example as she as modelled her style after the Harajuku region of Japan (often identified as the style of “harajuku girls”), and saying, in a statement on No Doubt’s blog, that “I’ve been inspired by Japan for many years and have a true love, appreciation and respect for the Japanese people and their culture.”

Whether the actions of Stefani and other popular artists are in fact signs of “respect” or rather unfortunate misrepresentations is certainly debateable, but the fact is that for many mainstream artists, Japan is not quite the same as any other place, and that personal connection has perhaps motivated a particularly strong desire to help.

At a local level, numerous artists and other groups are also organizing events to raise donations. Groups built around appreciation of various forms of Japanese art — film and animation in particular — have mobilized themselves, and forums dedicated to artistic discussion are now filled with requests for donations. Other groups are drawing upon any connection they have to Japanese culture. For example, the MET Restaurant group, which includes a number of bars and restaurants throughout Boston, will be donating all proceeds from the sale of its “Tokyo Burger” to the American Red Cross up until April 1. Still others are simply using their particular resources to draw in support. Think Tank, a restaurant in Kendall Square, for example, will hold an event on April 2 during which local DJs and painters will come together for “A Night of Music and Art for Japan.”

And ultimately, it is this spirit, this combination of efforts, no matter how great or how small, that seems to typify the reaction such disasters.

With appeals for aid increasingly mediated through Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social networking, individuals from all backgrounds, whether they are personally impacted by the tragedy or no, can find a way to contribute. While this personal connection can only bolster efforts to aid relief in Japan, the driving force behind donation efforts has and always will be the need to provide some support to victims of the earthquake, who, according to recent estimates will be in the process of recovery for many years to come.

Goto, whose tour this summer will stop at a number of places hit by the earthquake, and who will use proceeds from those performances to support relief efforts, notes how many of the audience members in the sold-out performance on Saturday likely did not have any reason to attend other than to provide support, and that in itself is enough. “There are people who are there to support a cause and they are there to support me and that is something very heart-warming,” Goto explains, going on to say that it didn’t even matter very much to him whether they were able to understand or appreciate the music. Goto, who also performed in a relief concert for Haiti, feels that having a personal connection to a cause is not entirely necessary. “It doesn’t really matter whether I feel close to it or not, but just playing the music and…

creating that awareness,” he says, adding, “We have the ability to help, so why not?”

This sentiment seems to have been mirrored across the entire Harvard community, if the reception the concert this Saturday is any indication, where ticket sales alone have likely reached $4000. Whether they came out because of a personal connection or simply a desire to help, Harvard students, like countless individuals around the world, are doing what they can in support of those affected by this unfathomable disaster. And artists like Goto, in showcasing their particular talents, are providing them the means to do so.

Marc Shi ’14 (mshi14@college) is feeling a little more connected himself.

BY MARC SHI

Artists around the world join to awareness and support for Japan.Connecting with Japan

courtesy of ZHI DONG


indyArts

The recent tragedy in Japan has undoubtedly affected us all. What

is amazing about today’s media is that the continuous exposure of all and any news can actually have a positive effect of bringing attention where it is needed and making people around the world feel connected to each other. I was also surprised to see a renewed celebration of Japanese culture in the world today as another effect of the earthquake on March 11. Across campus and across the globe, artists paid homage to a country with an exceedingly rich cultural heritage.

One celebrated art form was Japanese anime film. Here at Harvard, there was a nod to Hayao Miyazaki when Harvard for Japan Week showed his feature-length film, My Neighbor Totoro. Having grown up seeing Miyazaki films (a mother who lived and worked in Japan for five years meant plenty of exposure to Japanese culture), it warmed my heart to see such a beautiful, simple form of art being celebrated in the face of destruction. Here is my small tribute to Miyazaki’s films and a country whose artistic legacy has touched so many.

Spirited Away is one of my favorite Miyazaki films. Like most of his works, there is a strong element of Japanese cultural beliefs regarding spirits and gods and also loving attention to whimsy and fantasy. The main character of this movie is Chihiro, a sullen and slightly spoiled ten-year-old girl. She is forced to start growing up when her parents accidentally trespass on a grand hotel and bathhouse for spirits and are turned into pigs as punishment. Chihiro has to enter the colorful and mystical world of the spirits and work in the bathhouse to get her

parents back. The characters she has encounters with are some of the most fascinating fictional characters I have ever seen. Drawing on Japanese aesthetics and beliefs, Miyazaki creates strange creatures from river gods to a wild and fiery bathhouse owner with a head twice as large as her body, to an awkward Radish spirit who takes up the entire elevator. This story about growing up is refreshingly new yet somehow familiar and easy to identify with.

M y N e i g h b o r T o t o r o represents the c lassical Miyazaki film to me. This sweet film is about two little girls who move to a new house with their father and discover the magical “Totoro”— a forest spirit who lives in a tree in the forest nearby. The girls adjust to life in the new house and school as they become closer with Totoro and his friends and simultaneously deal with their mother’s illness. The story is very whimsical as well and Totoro, who is mostly just a giant ball of fur, is the perfect adorable companion for a sugary and childish story. Like most of his films, however, the story goes beyond the surface story of a childhood tale. The mother’s illness subtly affects the daily life of the family and Totoro’s story is actually a framework for wrestling with the difficult concept of illness.

L ike h i s 1984 f i lm , Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke deals heavily with political and environmental themes. This film is a favorite of many fans who are less attached to the adorable aspect of Miyazaki’s films. Princess Mononoke is locked in a struggle between industrialization and the spirits of the forest, which is being destroyed by towns and factories nearby. The animation in this movie takes

on a different look — thinner faces sharper lines and darker colors, which fans of manga may be more familiar with. The film is also much gorier than most of Miyazaki’s other movies. Princess Mononoke, who was raised by wolves, has no issues with being smeared in blood for various reasons and before the resolution, there is an all-out war between the people of Irontown and the forest spirits. Still, the themes are significant across the globe when the movie was created and today as well.

In Kiki’s Delivery Service, Miyazaki returns to the theme of coming of age and growing up. Kiki is a young witch who leaves home on her thirteenth birthday to live and work in another city, as per witch custom. Kiki starts off as a naïve, if sweet, thirteen year old and has to learn to

work and make friends in a completely new city — with the added complications of being a witch. Kiki becomes the delivery girl for a bakery and spends her year figuring out what it means to be kind, have friends and be independent.

Miyazaki’s ability to create world of enchantment is unparalleled. Though they may seem like escapist fantasies, they actually deal with themes of emotion, human failing and triumph, growing up, politics, and much more. Miyazaki is an artist who represents his country well and brings much-deserved praise to the contemporary artistic world in Japan.

Zena Mengesha ’14 (mengesha@college) is about to check Lamont to see if My Neighbor Totoro is available.

By ZENA MENGESHA

Dive into the world of Miyazaki.

Spirited Away

coutesy of WIKICOMMONS


Arts

In an entertainment world that has gone “goo-goo for Gaga,” live music has

become more of a spectacle than a performance. The Wood Brothers, however, are trying their best to counterbalance the absurdities of pop music with their own authentic brand of rock and roll. Their show last Thursday at the Brighton Music Hall (formerly known as Harper’s Ferry for those wily veterans) lacked the extravagance that coincides with a performance in a sold-out arena. The venue was sold-out, but the guest list could not have been more than a couple hundred people. The trio of Oliver Wood on guitar, Chris Wood on bass (of Medeski, Martin and Wood fame) and Johnny Ricks on drums d idn ’ t seem to mind, however. In fact, they seemed to thrive off of the d o w n - t o - e a r t h atmosphere that lacked the bells and whistles of arena rock.

When the band got on stage and commented on how last Thursday really seemed like a Friday, my mind drifted off into the deep dark caverns where there played a certain YouTube sensation on repeat, and for a moment I was scared. I quickly realized that Rebecca Black would not be on stage that night and when Oliver Wood kicked off the show with some upright bass funk, I was able to breath a deep sigh of relief.

The high level of musicianship from each member of this grassroots trio was obvious throughout the entire show. For most of the crowd, they appreciated. For an annoyingly large minority, it was a time to break out their phones to try and snap a few too many pics or take crappy videos, but I guess that is just a new way for fans to show their appreciation, no matter how much it disturbs those just trying to listen.

All was not lost however, and the band persevered through the chitchat and camera

flashes. The Wood Brothers sound has a southern acoustic soul with some funk added on top. If you squinted your eyes just right, you might actually mistake Oliver Wood for Gregg Allman, and that’s not solely based on looks. Wood is on the other side of 40, and the years of music that he has under his belt can all be heard in his well-tuned guitar chops and raspy, high pitched crowing. It’s like country — without the cowboy hats. Chris, the more famous younger brother, brings a little more youth and

a lot more energy to the band dynamic. His bass did not fall into the background, but instead constantly kept the band moving forward. Wood was not only one of the best bassists I’ve seen in a while, but he is also one of the most enthusiastic. Both he and his brother poured their hearts and souls into every single song and every single solo, and the crowd was more than pleased.

The highlights of the night were numerous — the band truly showed their veteran status by mixing in the right

amount of blues, ballads, and brouhahas. They knew when to play loudly, they knew when they needed to play slowly, and they knew when they needed to quiet down, even if it meant asking the crowd to tone down the chatter. The band was there for the performance, and the party would follow afterwards (hot-tub jokes were present throughout the night).

Being a drummer myself, it would be a sin not to draw attention to the quirkiness of the third, adopted Wood brother, Johnny Ricks. Ricks

was obviously the youngest of the group, and at first I was skeptical on how he would fit into a family duo of wily vets, but his success was one of the bigger surprises of the night. To be honest, I expected a percussion-less duo of guitar and bass, and when I saw the slightly awkward drum set that only consisted of two drums and a few cymbals, I thought it was for the opening act. Ricks stepped up, however, and did his job perfectly. He added rhythm to the Wood Brothers sound, but still left enough

space for them to show off their talents. As a friend pointed out, “He’s a m o d e r n - d a y Charlie Watts.” I agreed that, like the Stone’s Watts, Ricks also acted as a quasi-human metronome, albeit with a little more flair. His acoustic ‘drumetar,’ which he showcased on a few tunes, was another novel yet

worthy treat.The show concluded just

before midnight, but the dream isn’t necessarily over. My faith in rock and roll and music in general had been restored. Although Rebecca Black may have over 50 million views on YouTube and The Wood Brothers only a few thousand, hope remains. All it took was a little brotherly love.

Brad Rose ’14 (brose@college) has new faith in music. And yes…he had fun, fun, fun, fun.

BY BRAD ROSEA review of the Wood Brothers concert.

A Big Surprise

"The band truly showed their veteran status by mixing in the right amount of blues, ballads, and brouhahas."


indySportS

A crucial component of the identity of Japan that many Americans do not know

about is that our national pastime, baseball, occupies a similar role in the Japanese psyche — it is their national passion. Although it would be natural to assume that baseball in Japan became popular after it was imported by American postwar occupation troops in the 1940s, the sport has been around almost as long as the first professional teams in the United States. It is believed that a school teacher named Horace Wilson assembled the first squad in 1872, and the first professional club formed in 1878. Ever since, it has been the sport of choice for many generations of Japanese;

The Japanese pro fess iona l leagues have a rich history. Nippon Professional Baseball (the Japanese version of Major League Baseball) arguably has the all-time home run king, the legendary Sadaharu Oh, whose 868 are more than one hundred beyond any MLB player’s total. The league also has its own version of the Yankees — the Yomiuri Giants. Japan continues to write its baseball legacy, as the country won both incarnations of the World Baseball Classic, the premier international showcase, in 2006 and 2009.

There are several key differences between the MLB and NPB. All Japanese teams are owned by corporations whose interests lie beyond baseball, whereas baseball teams here are for the most part owned by individuals or groups whose investment in the team are separate from corporate finances. In terms of the game itself, the strike zone is smaller, the ball is wound more tightly, the fields are generally smaller, and probably most shocking to American baseball fans, NPB games are halted after twelve innings and may result in ties. There is a limit of four foreign players on each roster, limiting the payroll that can be spent on foreign players and teams overall. It is impossible to imagine MLB imposing a limit of only four foreign players per team, let alone the extravagant bonuses that lure international players to sign with an American team. The player

development for many teams would be severely limited.

As a result of the rules above, both team building and style of play are vastly different in NPB. First, the amateur draft makes a much more direct impact on teams than in MLB, where only one in seven to twelve signees will make the majors let alone make a significant impact. As a result, the annual high school tournaments that serve as a springboard into the amateur draft (along with college and industrial leagues) are nearly as popular as the NPB (whereas here even the College World Series is not nearly as popular).

Despite the passion and history that come with Nippon Professional Baseball, the MLB is still the premiere league on the planet, and as such, attracts players from the Pacific Rim. However, if these players are selected in the Japanese amateur draft, their Japanese team has the rights to negotiate a contract with them. For those Japanese players who choose to make the jump to MLB while under contract with their Japanese team, it is a complicated journey known as the posting process.

The posting process entails that a player must notify his team, which can then elect to present the player to the Commissioner of Baseball’s Office, which then notifies and conducts a silent auction among the 30 teams for the right to negotiate with the player. Should they bid the highest, they have one month to work out a contract with the player, or else no posting fee is paid, and control of the player’’ contract reverts to his former team.

It is through this process that stars such as Ichiro S u z u k i a n d D a i s u k e Matsuzaka found their way to the MLB, while slugger Hideki Matsui simply waited for his contract to expire before signing with the New York Yankees (players must wait nine years in NPB before they can be released from their contracts as free agents). Considering the stature of these players in

Batter Up! By BRETT MICHAEL GIBLIN

How baseball in Japan can bring people together.

Japan, where they are regarded as superstars, there have been questions as to whether MLB was “poaching” the best players from the Nippon Professional League, and whether this arrangement was truly healthy for the league and its players. Another criticism of the process is that it basically leaves the player without any negotiating power. Each team can submit only one posting offer and then once accepted, the player has a limited time period and only one team to negotiate with. As a result the player faces a difficult scenario towards the end of the negotiating period, wherein they may be forced to take a salary well below their market value or otherwise stay for another year in Japan.

Considering that only seven players have been successfully posted by the process versus 42 Japanese-born players who have played in the major leagues, many of the poaching criticisms levied at the posting process simply do not carry much weight. Also, the number of American players who have spent time in NPB after or in the middle of their Major League careers, though difficult to find an exact total, is far beyond the 42 who have come out of the Pacific or Central Leagues (divisions of NPB). However, this situation may be changing. Whereas most MLB teams see signing Japanese amateurs as a violation of a

gentleman’s agreement between two leagues that are sometimes official partners — as in the instance of the Yomiuri Giants and the New York Yankees — in December 2008, Junichi Tazawa, an amateur who asked NPB teams to skip over him in the draft so that he could play in MLB, signed with the Boston Red Sox. Should this become a pattern among Japanese amateurs, then the poaching concerns may need to be addressed by the leagues.

Regardless, spring is a time for baseball all over the world, and just as fans across the country look forward to Opening Day this weekend, those in Japan eagerly await the start to the Nippon Professional season. Although games were supposed to begin this week, in light of the tragic earthquake and pacific tsunami, the games have been postponed until April 12 for both the Pacific and Central Leagues. Although baseball is not nearly as important as the thousands of lives lost and the devastation wrought by the recent tragedies, it will undoubtedly serve to bring together the country over a happier cause, and hopefully will help ease some of the pain.

Brett Michael Giblin ’11 (bmgiblin@fas) is looking forward to great campaigns by the Chibe Lotte Marines, Hanshin Tigers, and Nippon Ham Fighters.

courtesy of wikicommons

captured & shotBy MARIA BARRAGAN-SANTANA

the japan issue

Documents

harvard independent

harvard box office

harvard independentthe

harvard college community

student weekly

japan issue

sense of schumer

student life