A few days ago, my roommate and I were riding along the Saigon River on a wide and immaculately paved highway in District 1. The road had two separate lanes; one was for cars and the other for motorbikes, and the traffic lights were configured to account for both types of vehicles. The sides of […]
Making Sense of the Saigon Heat: How the Vietnamese Do Hot Dogs and Basketball
The Saigon Heat is Vietnam’s team in the ASEAN basketball league and they are currently down 0-2 in a best of five playoff series with the Kuala Lumpur Dragons of Malaysia. I had seen a couple of their regular season games on TV but I was still very curious as to what a professional basketball […]
Community spaces, community dance lessons at 6am
This morning I arrived at Reunification Park, formally known as, and sill commonly referred to as, Lenin Park, at exactly 6:25am. I paid the entrance fee of 4,000VND, equivalent to roughly 20cents USD and walked around the lake taking pictures of as many activities as I could until 7:30am. I was in awe of […]
Trap Trap Trap Trap Trap
What the fuck is a Vietnam? According to Swedish academic, Victor Alneng, Vietnam is a lot of things. She is yesterday’s news, a tourist destination, a unique culture, but most importantly, “Vietnam is a country, not a war.” (Alneng, 462) After having been in Vietnam for 3 weeks studying abroad, I can agree that Vietnam […]
Cracking Open a Fresh Can of Deregulation and Environmental Racism; An Analysis of Coca-Cola
Check out my post about Cracking Open a Fresh Can of Deregulation and Environmental Racism; An Analysis of Coca-Cola!
Management of Forests and Land: The Pacific Northwest to Japan
Here you can find my latest blog post comparing forest management practices in the Pacific Northwest and Japan.
Little Dog in Big Japan: Dachshunds in Japan as Evidence for Local/Global Forces
Dachshund being held at festival in Enoshima. As I continue my journey in Japan, I have been introduced to many novel ways of looking at everyday life activities that relate to the situated themes of this program. The local/global theme is one that I see constantly whether I am in the depths of downtown Tokyo, […]
The Influence of Mt. Fuji’s Inscription as a World Heritage Site On and Around the 5 Lakes Region
Header Image: Tourists gathering around one of the famous ponds at Oshino Hakkai The Imagining the Global dyad “local/global” was very pertinent during my research days on the north side of Mt. Fuji. There I was able to visit some very historic areas and to observe and work with the Fujisan Club, a non-profit organization that leads trash […]
From amusement parks to neighborhood dogs: a mix of global and local culture in Japan
While being strapped into a roller coaster called Eejanaika at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park, I could almost swear that I was at Six Flags or the Santa Cruz Boardwalk back in California, given the lines of smiling tourists in shorts and flip flops, smells of churros and soda pop, and muffled, indiscernible words blasting […]
Culture, Consumerism, and the Cult of Mt. Fuji: Reflections on Overseas Scholarship in Japan
Looking around, I had a strange feeling at the Sendagaya Fuji-zuka shrine in Tokyo. Utilitarian scaffolding and other metallic construction equipment were strewn about the grounds at the Fuji-zuka (“Fuji mound”)–a religious miniature replica of Mt. Fuji, of which there are many and which are often constructed from actual stones taken from Fuji herself. A typical […]