Fall 2021 | Leaver's Edition by The TRAM

f al l 2021

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE 1

Let ter from t he Editors

Leavers 2021 Yearbook

2021 JETFest Photo Contest

MasterChef Junior Champion: An Interview w it h Nat han Odom Josh R. Mueda

Digit al Art Miranda Reeder

Man vs. W ild: Re-Examining a Popular American Narrat ive Tiana Steverson Pugh

Watercolor Paint ing Amelia Knight

Indie Makeup Brands: Ones to Try and Reasons W hy Devon Redlin

Pink Magnolia Amy Ether

Oil Paint ings Michelle Paterok

Red Devon Redlin

Doing Social Just ice on t he JET Program Eric Jutila

Let 's Talk about Japan Books: Nat sume Soseki Made Easy Ian Rogers

A Time Not Long Ago Miguel Rischmaui

Cont ributors' Bios

Cover Josh R. Mueda

Dear TRAM ily, This might be the last time we talk? We also owe you an apology: This special Leaver ?s Issue was originally scheduled for a summer release, before the majority of departing JETs left Toyama for their next big step. Unfortunately, the TRAM is a HUGE undertaking with many moving parts, and this issue wasn?t something we (Ian and Tiana) could handle alone. Fortunately, the issue was saved by none other than Elaine Yuan, editor and designer extraordinaire who co-edited the TRAM during the 2018-2019 JET year. Elaine was ridiculously generous in offering her talents in doing the layout for this issue, and we?re happy to have her artistic eye and style back on the team! All three of us have finished our JET contracts and left Toyama, but putting the TRAM together is important to us, and for the enjoyment of those both in and outside Toyama we wanted to make sure this issue saw the light of day. Which brings us to our next point: This might be the last TRAM issue ever. The Japanese government?s restriction on new worker visas due to COVID has led to trying times for the JET Program as schools across the country remain understaffed. Lack of new teachers has also meant trouble for Toyama AJET, which is in need of members to fill crucial roles? one of them being for Toyama?s Random-Ass Magazine, the TRAM. With the future of the TRAM uncertain, we?re REALLY hoping someone out there will want to take up the TRAM mantle sometime in the future, even in a limited 1

capacity. Unfortunately, like most other things in the age of COVID, nothing is certain. As a result, we?ve pulled out all the stops for this issue. Not only will you find Leavers profiles, superlatives, and photo memories from departing 2021 JETs, but we?re proud to bring you Josh Mueda?s interview with Nathan Odom, 2015 winner of the MasterChef Junior TV series, and Nanto CIR Eric Jutila?s pivotal article about approaching controversial issues in the Japanese workplace. You?ll also find the inside scoop on indie makeup, a busy people?s guide to Japan?s most well-known writer, and photo highlights from this year ?s JET Festival photo contest, plus tons of other great art from current JETs and alumni. The TRAM?s been running in some form since at least 2008(!), and if this really is the last issue, we want it to kick some ass. Finally, if you?re a Toyama JET reading this at some point in the future and think running a local art and culture magazine (or even a newsletter!) would be fun, it?s never too late to break off a hiatus. Hit up the current AJET team or drop us a line at the email address below? someone on the other end will help you get started. It?s been great, everybody? hope to see you again soon.

Elaine Yuan, Tiana Steverson Pugh, and Ian Rogers ajet.newsletter@gmail.com

2021 j et f es t phot o cont es t A

A - Tiana Steverson Pugh B - Mika Post C - Mathieu Glacet D - Wei Jia (Joey) Zhu These photos (along with this issue's cover photo by Josh R. Mueda) were exhibited at Takaoka?s JET Festival photo contest, which took place on Feb 7, 2021. The contest theme was ?The Toyama we see.? The JET World Festival is a yearly international event organized by the CIRs of Toyama Prefecture with the help of ALTs, international students, and local residents. 19

Mast er Chef Junior Champion: An Int er v iew wit h Nat han Odom By Josh R. M u eda

A nostalgic run down the rabbit hole of cooking TV history would help anyone recognize Nathan Odom. Raised in San Diego, California, Odom, now age 19, established himself in the culinary landscape early on at the age of 13 when he was dubbed the winner of Master Chef Junior Season 3.

But while many may know Odom through his presence on television screens across the US, I know him through the quiet backstreets of Toyama, where he?s been working as an apprentice at high-level Japanese restaurants, a far cry from his television stardom and southern California roots. In fact, to me, Nathan was simply the passionate and knowledgeable young man who?d walked me through each course at Yamazaki (2 stars in the 2021 Hokuriku Michelin Guide) until we met for dinner at his current place of work, Shirohacha in Sakuragicho, where I asked why Gordon Ramsay was following him on Instagram.

As t h e w in n er of M ast er Ch ef Ju n ior , it seem s you h ad a n at u r al af f in it y t o cook in g f r om a you n g age. How did you r in t er est in cook in g st ar t , an d h ow did it evolve t o t h e level of bein g able t o w in su ch an est eem ed com pet it ion ? My interest in cooking probably started before I was self aware enough to realize how much I loved it: I was in the kitchen helping my mom and Nonie starting around age 3 or 4, and by the time I entered middle school I was a borderline obsessive cook with a pension for baking and pastry. I made a batch of macarons multiple times a week for months on end until I perfected them. I think it?s that obsession with cooking that?s allowed me to progress to the level I?m at currently.

Knowledgeable beyond his years and passionate to a degree that reflects his talent, one must wonder what brought this young man from in front of the cameras to behind the counter. Fortunately for us, Odom himself is able to answer our questions.

You in it ially cam e t o Japan as a h igh -sch ool st u den t . How w as t h at exper ien ce an d w h at is you r biggest t ak eaw ay f r om t h at t im e? Foreign exchange was amazing! I initially just wanted to learn more about Japanese culture and study the language in a

more immersive setting, and since I had the funds to study abroad I figured it?d at least be better than my high school back home. I?ve always been interested in Japanese food and culture but was surprised to find that I fit in pretty well here, which is what inevitably led me to live here after graduating. My biggest takeaway from foreign exchange was that not only is it possible to assimilate into Japanese society as a foreigner, it?s actually pretty easy if you have a good attitude. Wor k in g in cu isin e at t h e level you do is som et h in g m ost people w ill n ever exper ien ce. Wh at is som et h in g you w an t people t o k n ow abou t w or k in g in a k it ch en of su ch caliber , be it good or bad? I fully intend on opening my own restaurant someday and have very high aspirations for it (Michelin stars here I come!), but it?s no exaggeration to say that I absolutely despise kitchen culture in high-end restaurants, both in the US and Japan. The idea that I should spend sixteen hours a day six days a week at my job and drive myself to the point of physical and mental exhaustion is not something I agree with. I did it for a couple years and all I can say is that it?s not healthy. Sustainable fine dining doesn?t seem unachievable, so I?m looking forward to someday creating a friendlier working environment and making the effort to take care of my cooks?health.

Wh at h as been you r biggest t ak eaw ay f r om you r k it ch en exper ien ce in Japan in r egar ds t o you r ow n cook in g? One major aspect of Japanese cuisine that I?ve fully incorporated into my own cooking is its emphasis on the seasons and exclusively using local, seasonal ingredients. I?ve learned how to do a lot with vegetables and how to filet and work with fish as well, which has expanded my repertoire a lot. One dish I made recently that I was pretty happy with was a Hida beef roti (made in a classic French style) served with some distinctly Japanese vegetables that I put my own twist on; a shin-jagaimo sauce, hanawasabi with the stems lightly stewed in soy sauce and dashi, thinly sliced udo and shin-j agaimo chips. I have a habit of fusing Japanese and French cooking while trying to respect tradition, but sometimes I break barriers a bit and I?m not ashamed of that. Whatever tastes good, y?know?

Is t h er e an y aspect of w or k in g specif ically in t h e r est au r an t in du st r y in Toyam a t h at you f in d n ot ew or t h y? Toyama is a seaside prefecture, and as such the amount of seafood used here is absolutely insane. At my last job I wasn?t allowed to work with fish but lately I?ve been learning how to filet, skin, de-shell, and prep a ton of different seafood, which is a first for me. Growing up, my dad absolutely hated fish, so it wasn?t 23

really something I could practice at home without him complaining about the smell. Now I finally have the chance to master seafood and that?s going to help me a lot when I open my own place. Aside f r om t h e est ablish m en t s you ?ve w or k ed at , w h er e ar e you r per son al f avor it e r est au r an t s in Toyam a? I usually stick to local places like Hige Ramen, my favorite bakery Charlotte, and a couple other izakayas in Sakuragi-cho that I frequent on a regular basis. The food at Kinsen, Ginsen, and Dousen is to die for. There?s also a nice Italian spot called Girasole that I?m obsessed with, by far my favorite Italian in the city. Wh at do you f eel t h e f u t u r e h olds f or you an d you r car eer in cook in g? Sh ou ld w e be on t h e look ou t f or you r ow n r est au r an t som ew h er e in Japan , or do you see you r self pu r su in g ot h er pr ospect s, even ou t side of cook in g? Honestly I don?t know where the future will take me and I?m trying to keep my options open (who knows, next year I might be studying koto or flower arrangement or tea ceremony or calligraphy, there?s so much to do here) but as of now the plan is to someday open a fine dining establishment somewhere in Japan. I really want to create a space where I can share not just my food but my unique life experience with Japanese and foreign customers alike. As for when I?ll make the big 24

move, I don?t have quite enough confidence to open yet, but definitely stay on the lookout! A sim ple qu est ion u n r elat ed t o cook in g, w h at else do you lik e t o do in you r f r ee t im e? Most people are shocked by how many hobbies I have outside of work. It feels normal to me, but usually when I tell my friends what I do in my free time they?re like ?What don?t you do?? I play several instruments, including but not limited to: viola, guitar, piano, koto, shamisen, and erhu. I oil paint, bind books, DIY the hell out of my apartment, play with my corgi, read? the list goes on and on. I?m not trying to talk myself up or anything, I genuinely just like doing everything in a casual capacity. The only thing I care about being number one at is cooking. Wh at ?s on e t h in g you m iss f r om h om e, an d on e t h in g you ?d m iss if you w er en?t in Japan ? I may be super into fine dining and good food, but I also love junk food, so my parents send me a care package full of sugar-loaded snacks every couple months. I don?t think I can live without an occasional bowl of Fruity Pebbles when I?m feeling extra stressed. That being said, snacks here are way better in general, and having to give up convenience store meat buns and milk tea would suck if I decided to go back home.

Wh at ?s som et h in g you ?d lik e t o exper ien ce in Japan ? I really want to go to northern Japan and see some of the scenery up there during the winter. Hokkaido seems like a beautiful place and I want to try the seafood there when fatty fish is in season. I?ve been to most of central Japan and some of the south, but I fully intend to travel the entire country when I have a bit more independence from work. There?s one restaurant in Kyoto called Arashiyama Kitcho, which has basically been the mecca of Japanese cuisine for generations that?s on my list as well. Fin ally, w h at 's you r go-t o bever age w h en it ?s t im e t o r elax? Hot, black coffee and bottled milk tea are my go-tos, but I try new things out all the time. I also have a major sweet tooth so boba, smoothies, and frappuccinos are regular staples in my diet.

Amy Et h e r

Pin k Each morning, the blinding daylight predictably bleeds into my tatami room and with it, the perpetual monotony that has become my life begins. At some point, I just stopped drawing the curtains. This is the Land of the Rising Sun, after all, and one simply cannot flourish when hiding in the shadows. With that in mind, I pull my duvet over my eyes. I'll rise if I must, but I solemnly refuse to shine today. A light grumble initiates my tortuously familiar routine. Drink that coffee. Comb that fringe. Tuck that shirt. Oh, and don?t forget to smile. Once more, with feeling, I taunt myself. Sure, I?m wearing a mask today, but somehow they still know. Dammit, how do they always know? 27

Ma g n o l ia By the time I reach the car park, I?m already counting down the hours until the next time I can stop smiling. Reluctantly, I climb into the driver ?s seat with the knowledge that for the next forty minutes I?ll be imprisoned in this metal box on wheels, just as I was yesterday and the day before that... I spend forty meandering minutes on the same road. Forty minutes of the same six songs on repeat, a selection of six relatively obscure indie-ish songs from the last decade.? They weren?t smash-hits when they were released, and they?re certainly not more popular now, but I like them. I?ve been playing those same six songs all week? Or has it been all month? Hell, maybe it?s been all year? I don?t

remember, nor do I particularly care. I mean, what?s the point of going on autopilot if you still have to pay attention? Sometimes I think about deviating from those six songs, but then I realise I might have to listen, and I don?t do that anymore.

At least it's no longer winter, I tell myself. There?s only room for one of us to be so hostile and cold.

For the first time in months, I can distinguish the sky and the road from my ghostly complexion. They're no longer the varying shades of lifeless they were last week. After the 28

most bitter of seasons rendered my soul weak and resentful, you are the first sign of hope, restoring blood flow to my anemic cheeks. Others find healing in the mighty sakura, but not me. In a journey with a hundred delicate cherry blossoms, you boldly stand in isolation. I can never remember exactly where you are, but I always remember to look for you. A feast of pink, your flowers alone possess the power to break my tunnel vision. On approach, we lock eyes from afar and you are as enchanting as ever. Your colours, so wonderfully radiant, remind me that my smile can be sincere at times. Sweet magnolia, how intimidating your beauty can be.

Our time together, though fleeting, means more than you will ever know. Soon, you?ll be gone from my sights. Your pink petals, crushed into the road, and my bittersweet memories of the mornings we shared will be the only evidence that you were ever really here. Usually, I console myself with the fact that you?ll return next spring. This time, however, it?s different. I know you?ll be back next year, but I won?t.

My love for you, though non-committal, feels unwavering nonetheless. Yet, any promises of eternity would be a lie. Just like your allure, my feelings won't last forever. Nothing ever does. Eventually, your colours will fade and with it your beauty too. I?ll try to appreciate you 29

regardless, and remember you for what you once were. Over the years, I?m sure to think of you less and less. But occasionally, something will trigger me and my embellished memories of our time together will come flooding back. The tidal wave will rip through my mind and leave me drowning in the nostalgia of what once was. My heart will swell and my eyes will water. I?ll lie and tell people they?re happy tears, but in reality, they?ll be tears of relief. Relief that I escaped when I did; when you were still beautiful and I still loved you. ? Fire on Your House ? Trevor Hall First Class ? Rainbow Kitten Surprise Georgia ? Vance Joy Gone ? Ziggy Alberts She Burns ? Foy Vance Take This Heart of Gold ? Mandolin Orange

Mi chel l e pat er ok

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Mi chel l e pat er ok

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Wal k t o t he s ea

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Doi ng Soci al J us t i ce on t he J ET Pr ogr am By Er i c J ut i l a

When I was growing up, I was always taught that it?s important to be vocal about your beliefs and fight injustice. I suppose that?s why I ended up majoring in politics and working as an environmental activist that fought to shut down the Line 5 oil & natural gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac (Google it!). So when I applied to be a CIR with the JET program, one of the most jarring things for me was how participants are discouraged from being involved in political activities. I think the rationale for this is that it?s not appropriate for civil servants like CIRs and ALTs to be politically active. While I understand the need for civil servants to work at the pleasure of elected officials in a democratic society, civil servants are also private citizens with rights of their own. The way I see it, so long as one?s political activities aren?t getting in the way of the goals of the elected officials one works for, a civil servant should be able to engage in whatever legal political activities they see fit. 34

However, doing social justice through one?s job is another story; it requires a lot more work within the system in my experience, even if it means being persistent in trying to persuade one?s supervisor/coworkers. Working under the constraints placed on civil servants has been somewhat of a challenge, but I believe I?ve found a methodology that works for me to advocate for social justice without stepping on too many toes. Before talking about my experiences, I?d first like to highlight that I have an incredibly lenient and understanding workplace that gives me a lot of autonomy, and I understand that many people may not be in the same situation. Many things that I?ve tried aren?t going to work everywhere. However, this brings me to the main point that I want to emphasize.

You don?t k n ow t h at t h ey ?ll say ?No? u n t il you ask . This is such an obvious piece of advice that I feel like it?s super easy to forget (maybe I should tattoo it on my wrist? ). I?m often surprised by all the things I assume will get a ?No? that actually get a ?Yes.? For me, it seems that just making an effort is 90% of the battle. Even if I?m likely to be told ?No,? my employer isn?t going to punish me for asking, so I?ll usually just ask. Of course, if I were to do something provocative without asking, it could be a problem, but when I ask and try to negotiate, a win-win solution can often be found. However, it just requires patience and communication on both sides. Here?s an example. As a CIR, I get several public speaking opportunities a year where I can talk about culture in the United States. As someone who?s studied the significance of identity in American culture, I wanted to talk about race since it?s so important to how we as Americans understand ourselves, our communities, and our history. I made it clear from Day One that I wanted to talk

about race and got lukewarm support mixed with several passive comments about how ?There?s no need to talk about such complicated topics.? The worry was that the average Japanese person would have trouble understanding something so ?complicated,? and that they would prefer presentations about ?everyday? things. I, however, find race to be an everyday thing worth talking about, so my response was that ?if people find it complicated, then I just have to find an easy way to explain it.? After months of back-and-forth discussion, we finally came up with some solutions that made both my coworkers and I happy. One of them is an event called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (Eiga de Amerika bunka, American Culture Through Movies). For the event, I would explain the background knowledge required to enjoy a specific American movie, and then we would watch the movie. All I had to do was pick a movie that was educational about race relations in America. Super-simple, right? Sadly, there was some heated back-and-forth between my coworkers and I about how to select the movie, which we solved through democratic means. First, we did a not-so-controversial movie (Groundhog Day) during the first event as an introduction, then took surveys about what kinds of movies people wanted to see. Then I used the survey results to select a genre (drama) and made a list of roughly fifteen movies I would be willing to do an event about? and almost all of them were about race. The list included films like Selma, BlacKkKlansman, Remember the Titans, Gran Torino, Dances with Wolves, Hidden Figures, and Green Book, to name a few. I let my coworkers narrow it down to three or four choices among themselves by voting, and I then picked the winner out of their choices. The movie ended up being Green Book. What was great about this method was that my coworkers felt involved throughout the entire process. If I?d handled the whole thing by myself, I would have probably been met with a lot more resistance, even if I?d chosen the same movie. While the movie

wasn?t my first choice, it was an excellent teaching tool for educating people about segregation in America and the methods used to maintain it. The event ended up going well, and I think everyone left feeling like they learned quite a bit about American culture. The one rough point was that I may have scared a couple of people when discussing discrimination. If I were to do the event again, I?d ask people to think about the importance of discussing discrimination in their own communities as a way of helping them feel they could take some sort of action after the event was over. The point I want to emphasize with this story is that ?No? is not always the end of the conversation. Whether you?re a CIR giving a speech or an ALT giving a lesson, sometimes you just need to be innovative with your solutions and workshop lots of ideas while explaining why you believe talking about the issue is important. Win-win solutions are hard to reach, but not because they don?t exist? it?s often because the effort was never put into finding them in the first place. Some additional tricks that have worked for me when advocating for social justice through my job include: 1. Using issues in my home country as illustrations of broader issues in the world without overtly criticizing Japan. 2. Providing information for educational purposes while leaving out overt opinions about that information (although I do break this rule sometimes depending on the situation). Instead, I let the information and the way it?s presented do the arguing for me. 3. Running everything by my coworkers and/or supervisor and making sure to communicate with them openly. 4. Being willing to negotiate with my coworkers to find solutions that work for everyone. 5. Not getting confrontational. 6. Not using demonizing or othering narratives. Instead, I use inclusive ones, even toward people I fervently disagree with

and/or dislike. People need to attack ideas, not people, and work to find allies who agree with your issues, even if you disagree with them on others. (To give an example, many of my fellow environmental activists voted Democrat in American elections, but a large portion of our donations came from Trump supporters. Just because a person had a Trump-Pence lawn sign didn?t mean they weren?t supportive of environmental issues? I find many Republicans also like having clean drinking water.) 7. Asking my coworkers/supervisor to set up a specific time to meet when I?m having trouble finding time to communicate with them. I find it?s best to prepare proposals ahead of time with handouts and/or a PowerPoint to make it feel more official. 8. Gathering info from my audience directly to see what they?re interested in learning while providing concrete examples to choose from. 9. Talking about social justice issues through normal, everyday conversation. 10. Working to generally build rapport with your coworkers. As I?ve said, these are just some of the things I?ve found useful. As the JET mantra goes, ?every situation is different.? Even in my SUPER-understanding workplace, discussing these issues has been a struggle, but that didn?t stop me from trying. If you believe in something and want to be vocal about it, go for it? it?s made my experience on JET more meaningful as a result.

A Time Not Long Ago By Miguel Rischmaui Th er e w as a t im e n ot lon g ago, In a lan d so beau t if u l an d r ich w it h lif e, cu lt u r e, an d people. Wit h n at u r e bloom in g as f ar as t h e eye cou ld see. A lan d so w on der f u l an d m u lt icu lt u r al, Tr aveler s cam e f ar an d w ide t o cat ch a glim pse of it s m agn if icen ce. Not lon g ago joy spr ead t o ever y cor n er of t h e lan d. People dan ced an d san g all day an d n igh t . Wit h deliciou s cu isin e f or all t h ose w h o lived t h er e an d t h ose passin g t h r ou gh . A w on der f u l an d spect acu lar lan d bloom in g w it h all aspect s of lif e. Th at w as u n t il they cam e. At f ir st , t h ey cam e lik e an y ot h er , bu t t h ey did n ot leave. Nor did t h ey peacef u lly st ay. Th ey k ept com in g in m asses Claim in g ou r lan d. Tak in g w h at w as ou r s. Bu t t h ey didn?t st op t h er e. Th ey didn?t w an t t o peacef u lly coexist . Th ey w an t ed our lan d without us in it . 39

Th ey w an t ed t o r em ove u s an d ou r cu lt u r e u n t il t h er e w as n ot h in g lef t . Th ey w an t ed t o er ase ou r exist en ce u n t il w e w er en?t even in h ist or y book s. Th ey cam e n ot t o live, bu t t o dest r oy w h at w as alr eady t h er e. To t h em w e w er e n ot h in g. To t h em w e are n ot h in g. Th ey didn?t ju st st op w h en t h ey h ad con t r ol. Th ey st ole ou r h ou ses, dest r oyed ou r cu lt u r e, u pr oot ed ou r an cien t t r ees, Set f ir e t o ou r lan d, k illed ou r people. An d t h en t h ey called us t er r or ist s. Th ey t h ou gh t w e w ou ldn?t r esist . Bu t w e did. An d w e ar e. We f igh t f or w h at ?s ou r s. Ou r lan d, ou r cu lt u r e, ou r lives. We f igh t f or ever yt h in g w e lost . We f igh t f or t h e days w e can live in peace. Th e days w h en people can coexist on ou r lan d lik e w e u sed t o n ot so lon g ago. We f igh t t o get back ou r w on der f u l, m u lt icu lt u r al lan d. Ou r lan d w h ich w as on ce f illed w it h beau t if u l n at u r e an d t r adit ion s. We f igh t u n t il w e ar e f r ee.

This poem was written to bring to light the things happening in Palestine, which began years before Israel was created. While the poem is geared towards Palestine, it also applies to many other countries and people. 40

mi r anda r eeder

book s and s t uf f 42

Man vs Wil d: Re- Examining a Popul ar Amer ican Nar r at iv e by t iana st ev er son pugh Shark Week ruined oceans for me.

and I was a sucker for shows like Giant Squid: Caught on Camera.

Shark Week is an annual week-long block of TV shows about sharks that I watched religiously as a tween. The programming mainly focused on the deadly characteristics of different species of sharks and shark attack stories. Before Shark Week, I was set on becoming a marine biologist when I grew up. I had fish and shark encyclopedias, the wallpaper in my childhood room was an underwater scene,

While I had no problem reading about sharks, watching great white sharks leap out of the water to snap up seals year after year eventually got to me. Convinced that the ocean was a shark-infested death trap, I decided around age twelve that I didn?t want to be a marine biologist after all. I would eventually learn that you?re more likely to be killed by a lightning strike than a shark, but

to this day, I still don?t like swimming past the shallow part of the ocean.

Doesn?t Have Suburbs: How Movies Like Black Panther Can Help Us Save the Planet.? She argues that TV shows and movies like Avatar and WALL-E take it as a given that humans are going to destroy the planet, and draws a connection between this defeatist climate narrative and the push to move into space. Because some people can?t imagine a livable future on Earth, they see space colonization as the only way for the human species to survive. As someone fascinated by the power of stories in TV and movies, I wanted to do a similar exercise to the one Pierre-Louis does in her piece and examine the narratives I learned through TV shows.

Nature programming like Shark Week shaped not only my view of oceans and sharks, but also my view of the entire natural world. My reaction to these shows gave me firsthand insight into the power of environmental storytelling. En vir on m en t al St or yt ellin g Although I?ve been consuming environmental stories since I was young, I only recently became aware of how big a topic environmental storytelling is in the climate movement. Activists, academics, and Twitter users alike constantly ask questions like ?Is it better to tap into fear or hope when creating messaging around climate change solutions?? and ?What?s the best way to highlight the stories of people impacted by environmental racism?"

I watched a variety of naturebased shows as a kid, but the ?scary? ones naturally left the biggest impression on me. One of my favorite shows was Man vs Wild, a survival show where the host, Bear Grylls, would give tips and tricks for staying alive when stranded in remote locations. I?m sure the show had some useful information, but the biggest impression I got was

Climate reporter Kendra PierreLouis explores the relationship between story-telling and attitudes about climate change in her Time article ?Wakanda 44

that venturing outside of a city would inevitably lead to you eating bugs and/or having to drink your own pee because you ran out of water. Two animal shows I enjoyed were I Was Bitten and World?s Deadliest Animals. True to the title, I Was Bitten was about people who survived venomous bites, while World?s Deadliest Animals taught viewers about the twelve deadliest animals in specific regions of the world. After watching these shows, I vowed to never visit Australia because it has too many poisonous animals. Besides I Was Bitten and World?s Deadliest Animals, another of my go-to shows was River Monsters. The series followed a biologist and extreme wrangler Jeremy Wade as he investigated stories about ?freshwater fish with a taste for human blood.? While River Monsters did try to demystify fish attacks, it still made me wary of rivers and swamps. I probably should have stopped watching these shows after I labeled a whole continent as ?too poisonous to travel to.? But at the time, I was hooked by the sensational stories and interesting facts. My poor decisionmaking aside, what?s striking is how easy it was to find shows with a negative narrative about nature, specifically, the narrative that humans and the environment are separate and that the environment is hell-bent on killing humans.

Th e Pu r it an Nar r at ive

Americans who lived there.

The American version of this narrative, which I?ll refer to as the ?Puritan narrative,? dates back to early Puritan colonists. In Of Plimouth Plantation, William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth, described New England as a ?hideous and desolate wilderness full of beasts and wild men.? Writing in 1662, the clergyman and poet Michael Wigglesworth labeled the land beyond the settle-ments as ?A waste and howling wilderness / Where none inhabited / But hellish fiends, and brutish men / That Devils worshipped.? These writings were representative of how the colonists saw the US landscape and the Native

The narrative these Puritans created did not die with them. In the eighteenth century, frontiersman Daniel Boone used similar language to Wigglesworth in describing Kentucky, which he saw as a ?howling wilderness? inhabited by ?savages and wild beasts? before the arrival of civilization. In this Puritan worldview, the new land was a separate and dangerous realm. It was not only physically dangerous because it contained wild animals and ?savage? Indigenous people, it was also spiritually dangerous. Nature was the realm of Satan, and if the colonists weren?t careful (i.e., didn?t believe in God), they

could fall prey to its evil influences and become like the Indigenous people they viewed as subhuman. The Puritan narrative wasn?t the only environmental narrative in the US (nor was it the most racist), but it was and still is influential. Shark Week is still going strong, and Man vs Wild ran for seven seasons (2006-2011) and had four specials. It would be flat-out wrong to say that the environment doesn?t have dangerous elements. There are plenty of poisonous animals and plants, and thanks to climate change, people around the world are dealing with bigger hurricanes, deadlier winters, and more brutal fire seasons. Though humans have always used cautionary tales to warn each other about potential dangers and thus survive as a species, the Puritan narrative is a cautionary tale taken to the extreme steeped in racism against Native people, which should make us think twice about using it. But even without the anti-Indigenous element, the Puritan narrative is problematic. Like most things, the environment is neither wholly benign nor wholly dangerous. It has many faces. Focusing only on how the environment can hurt humans flattens out the complexities of human-environment interactions. Without a clear understanding of these complexities, it?s easy to exaggerate existing dangers or make them up. Then, in our rush to address these dangers, we can inadvertently disrupt ecosystems and processes that benefit us.

Idah o Gr ay Nar r at ive

Wolves

an d

t he

Pu r it an

The response to the reintroduction of gray wolves in Idaho is an example of the Puritan narrative in action. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services reintroduced gray wolves to central Idaho in 1995 as a way to balance out the ecosystem and save the species from extinction. However, ever since their reintroduction, there has been pushback. Some ranchers see the gray wolves as a threat to their livestock, and hunters prefer the huge elk herds that crop up when there are fewer wolves. In response to calls to reduce the wolf population, Idaho?s governor recently signed into law a measure that allows practically unrestricted hunting of wolves. Ranchers? and hunters? reactions to the reintroduction of gray wolves aligns with the Puritan narrative, where wolves are a part of untamed nature and thus their existence threatens humans. In the Puritan telling of the story, the logical solution to this conflict is to 48

kill the wolves. Once nature is beaten back, humans can once again thrive. This is a compelling story, but it?s missing some key details about the impact of gray wolves on humans and on Idaho?s ecosystems. First, wolves are not as big of a threat to livestock in Idaho as some ranchers claim: wolf kills make up less than one percent of livestock losses in the state. Second, if the goal is to reduce livestock kills, then killing wolves may have the opposite effect. According to Jim and Jamie Dutcher, two experts on wolves in the US, reducing wolf numbers can actually cause livestock attacks to go up. When wolves don?t have the numbers necessary to bring down elk, they go for easier prey like livestock. Third, there are many benefits to having wolves in Idaho?s ecosystem. Wolves make elk herds stronger by culling sick and weak members. They also increase elk herd movement, which reduces overgrazing. Less overgrazing leads to less soil erosion and more time for plants to regrow. Because soil erosion can cause mudslides and water pollution, reducing erosion further benefits humans. And we need as many plants as possible drawing carbon out of the atmosphere to slow climate change. Taking these details into consideration when examining the impact of gray wolves on the ecosystem allows us to avoid the inaccuracies of the Puritan narrative and tell a more holistic version of the story, one that shows

how humans can benefit from healthy ecosystems.

Sweetgrass, and from movies like Kiss the Ground. They?re stories about reciprocity between humans and their environment that are rooted in Indigenous knowledge (Navajo in Race to the Sun and Powatomi in Braiding Sweetgrass) and include farming practices that enhance ecosystems and increase biodiversity.

Con clu sion

Now, when I encounter animals like the bats that fly around at dusk in Takaoka, I try to replace my fear with caution, curiosity, and trust in every bat?s ability to distinguish me from a bug. I?m hoping that by working through my own aversions I can move beyond the Puritan view and embrace environmental stories that reflect the messy, but often beneficial, relationship between humans and the rest of the planet.

Writing this article was a way for me to examine and question a narrative that I?ve long taken for granted, and hopefully help other people understand its flaws as well. However, I?d be lying if I said that I now have a clear view of what we can replace the Puritan narrative with. What I can say is that I agree with Pierre-Louis?s proposal to create new stories like Black Panther that can help people imagine a positive human-environment relationship. I also like the idea of creating narratives that are more complex than the Puritan narratives, and I?ve been learning new environmental stories through books like Rebecca Roanhorse?s Race to the Sun and Robin Wall Kimmerer ?s Braiding 50

amel i a k ni ght

bi g cl oud ener gy 51

In d ie Ma k e u p Br a n d s : On e s t o Tr y a n d t he Re a s o n s Wh y By Devon ?Red? Redlin Editing and additional research by Amelia Knight The image of the general Japanese makeup market is natural and minimal. While there are many beloved products on Japanese cosmetics store shelves, their selection can be limited to some, and it can be hard to find products that complement a wide range of skin tones and styles. So where do you go when you can?t find these in Japan? Well, one place is in die br an ds! 52

Wh at ar e in die br an ds? They?re brands that are independently owned and run, without corporate money. They can vary in size from small one-person operations to large companies with multiple teams.

competition in the marketplace. More competition leads to benefits such as lower prices, more innovation, technology advancements, etc. This is especially important with minority-owned brands because supporting them will help bridge the wealth gap. Minority owners and creators often have less access to startup capital and networks that allow their businesses to flourish, so early support can be crucial to their long-term success.

For those of you thinking, ?Wh y sh ou ld I bu y f r om in depen den t br an ds?? here are some things to keep in mind. Globally, most of the makeup in stores is owned by only seven parent companies: Shiseido, Johnson & Johnson, L?Oreal, Coty, Proctor and Gamble, Estée Lauder, and Unilever. The value of your dollar goes so much farther in a smaller company than with one of these large conglomerates. For example, money spent at one of the multinational firms listed above might be just another dollar of revenue, but what you spend at an independent brand might go directly towards a child?s college fund. Buying brands

Furthermore, many trends in the makeup industry are actually created by these small brands. By purchasing from them, you put the money, respect, and recognition for their innovation back in their hands. Beauty trends such as novel ingredients, creative packging styles, clean/sustainable products, non-traditional colors, and inventive marketing strategies can be traced back to independent brands, such as the rainbow

from independent also creates more 53

brands that continue private labels as well.

highlighter trend that originated from Bitter Lace Beauty in 2016. Many of these things are now widespread due to mainstream beauty conglomerates ?borrowing? these visionary concepts from the independent scene.

Setting aside trends and economic reasons, another issue to address is the lack of inclusivity with makeup for all skin tones. This is a worldwide issue. Makeup companies will only aim for the skin tones in between fair and deep because these tones are more common and become the main target for marketing. Some indie brands start up because of the lack of inclusivity and decide to take the lead by catering to a shade range that?s traditionally been ignored. Everyone deserves to have their own shade and feel beautiful.

Though most small or start-up companies may not have many employees, they can still put their concepts into production through alternative methods. Some brands start out as private labels, meaning that they pay a factory to use a set formula or product and sell it under their name. It?s a common startup practice before the company has enough capital to create their own formula, packaging, and ideas, and it leads to more competition. The ability of these small creators to make their ideas a reality without the interference of a traditional cosmetics giant means more creative products will be brought to the consumer faster. However, there are still some indie

Ultimately, one final, simple reason to support independent companies is that you?re contributing to someone?s dream and values that may align with your own. Nonetheless, we shouldn?t just buy from indie brands because it?s trendy or giftgiving season. Purchasing from indie brands can create 54

a lasting impact in underrepresented communities and the economy. We must support small brand owners? in cosmetics and beyond. You may be thinking, Wh at ar e som e br an ds I sh ou ld k n ow abou t ? Here are some I suggest looking into: (Disclaim er : I?m n ot sponsored by or affiliated with any of these companies, and this article will mostly discuss American brands because that?s what I?m most familiar with.) M idas Cosm et ics: This company is run by an Afro-Latina, Rocio Nuñez. Their objective is to be an inclusive and diverse brand. They have a wide selection of cruelty-free and vegan eyeshadows, cake eyeliner palettes, lip products, face products, and glitters for nail art. The first products I recommend from them are the NeonMUA x Midas collab called the Dusk to Dawn collection. It?s a series of face palettes that have every skin tone in mind, including light, tan, dark, and deep dark. If you?re of a deep complexion, I suggest looking into these. The Midnight palette was created for people like the influencer Nyma Tang, and she actually does use it. The face palette contains a highlighter, blush, contour, and bronzer. I also enjoy their coffee eyeshadow quads. I own the Green Tea Macchiato and the Pumpkin 55

Spice Latte palettes. They?re neutral, but a step up in terms of pigmentation. The company?s customer service team was professional and quick to find a solution when I had an issue with my tracking number. Keep your eye on this brand because I believe that they?re only going to get bigger. Necr om an cy Cosm et ica: As you can tell by their name, this is a gothic-themed brand. It?s run by a couple, Desiree Rodríguez and Salvador Pérez, in Puerto Rico. They specialize in lipsticks that are vegan, handmade, and cruelty free. Their lipstick shades range from nudes like Divine Flesh to unique colors such as the metallic forest green, Ophidian. My favorite of theirs is a mint blue-colored lipstick in the shade Ghoul Queen. Recently they launched an eyeshadow and pressed pigment palette called A Gothic Romance in the shape of a book that fits in the palm of your hand, and it?s perfect for travel! While their international shipping is expensive at $26 USD and doesn?t include tracking, the quality is worth the wait for me. Another reason to support this brand is that they also run a cat shelter called The Cats of Necromancy and they often give shoutouts to other small and local companies. Giving back to the community along with great products, what?s not to love? 56

Su gar pill Cosm et ics: This is my favorite indie brand, and the most well-known on this list. If you love sparkles and all the colors of the rainbow, this is the brand for you. The company is owned and operated by an Asian American woman, Amy Doan. Their products are cruelty free and mostly vegan. They?re proudly associated with the LGBTQ+ community? you?ll even see many drag artists using their products. They sell eyeshadows, lip products, and fake lashes. I recommend their eyeshadows and lip glosses. Due to how big their eyeshadow pans are, you can often use them as a blush or highlighter. Their lip gloss formula is comfortable and not too sticky. All of them contain sparkles and are creamsicle scented. They often have sales on their website, so I recommend waiting until a sale for your first purchase if you?re hesitant. Kaleidos Cosm et ics: This is a space-themed brand from China that sells eyeshadow, face palettes, lip products, brushes, and highlighters. Highlighters are their specialty, with colors you normally wouldn?t see such as red, blue, and fuchsia. Their standout highlighter is Space Age Prophecy, which is multichromatic! They?re very glittery, so if that isn?t your thing, I wouldn?t recommend these. When you?re done with the product you can reuse the 57

tin or recycle it. Their eyeshadow formula is out of this world (haha). The mattes are easy to blend and very pigmented, and the shimmers are unique and shiny. The company?s shipping and customer service are okay. I think I experienced the worst of it when I ordered a limited-edition product that sold out quickly. However, customer service was kind to me when I messaged them, but they weren?t the best at communicating about the delays. Shipping to Japan will take twenty-one days and the online tracking won?t always be consistent with their updates, but they do inform you of that when you make a purchase. I did receive my products with no other issues. Although the delay was annoying, I would give them a second chance because of their product quality and selection.If you?re curious about other indie makeup options, you can explore indie makeup online through company Instagram pages, the online blog The Indie Mood, the Reddit page Indie Makeup and More, or a quick search. I hope my recommendations will benefit you, and that you?ll find a new holy grail product. while supporting small businesses and the passionate people behind them.

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model & phot os : Dev on r edl i n

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l et 's t al k about Japan books!

Nat sume Soseki Made Easy

by ian r oger s 62

Natsume S?seki (1867-1916) was the most important Japanese novelist of the Meiji era, and his works are still studied in?

elementary schools.

Wait ! Don?t leave yet? I promise this is going to be interesting! Look at it this way: Maybe you haven?t actually read Moby Dick, but what would you think if you mentioned Moby Dick to someone and they thought the title referred to a person instead of a whale? Or if they tried to bullshit you while clearly knowing nothing about the book? (Which is, coincidentally, the premise behind the 1983 Woody Allen movie Zelig.) Well, that?s what Japanese people will think if you don?t know who Natsume Soseki is. Natsume Soseki is to Japanese literature what Mark Twain is to American literature and Charles Dickens is to the British. In addition to having a rockin? Meiji-era mustache, he was on the one-thousand yen bill from 1984 to 2004, his novels (or excerpts of them) are regularly assigned in Japanese schools, and I even see kid-friendly versions of his works in 63

Soseki (whose real name was Natsume Kin?nosuke) was born in Tokyo (still Edo at the time) as the youngest of six children. As an adult he worked as a schoolteacher in Shikoku and Kyushu and was later sent abroad by the Meiji government to study English literature at University College London (Soseki described living in London as ?the most unpleasant years of my life?). Upon his return he worked as a professor at Tokyo Imperial University (later Tokyo University), but he found academic life sterile (future grad students take note!) and quit in 1907 to write full-time. If you?re ever in Kumamoto I recommend checking out the house where Soseki lived, which is now a museum and literary tourist site. (The owner of the hostel where I stayed seemed impressed when I asked for directions to the house, so I definitely made a good impression as a foreigner.) If you don?t actually read any of these novels, my feelings won?t be hurt? this review will at least give you the gist of them in the

Moby Dick sense, which can both help you avoid embarrassment and earn you some literary brownie points. (Also, you don?t really need to read Moby Dick either? it has a cool plot, but damn there?s a lot of stuff about whales in there.)

Botchan (? ? ? ? ? ,1906) The word botchan translates to using ?Master ? to refer to a young boy in the old-timey sense, which is what Alfred calls Bruce Wayne and how my greatgrandfather used to address my birthday cards. It also refers to the narrator, a streetwise 23-year-old from Tokyo who?s just out of school and takes a teaching job in the middle of nowhere Ehime prefecture. Comparisons to the JET Programme aside, he spends the novel getting tangled up with his pretentious, gossipy, and allaround controlling coworkers while being pranked and ridiculed by the students. Botchan is short (143 pages in my Penguin edition), easy to read, and has a fast-moving plot. It?s the kind of slobs vs. snobs story I grew up seeing in Caddyshack and The Goonies, and Botchan gives his coworkers colorful nicknames that differ depending on your translation: Redshirt (? ? ? ? ? , Akai shatsu) for the manipulative vice-principal, Tanuki ( ? ) for the oblivious

principal, and Squash (? ? ? ? , uranari) for Redshirt?s rival in winning the hand of the local beauty Madonna (? ? ? ? ). I recommend checking Botchan out? it?s short, fun, and a good introduction to Meiji-era Japanese lit. It also takes place in the real city of Matsuyama in Ehime, where both the city and nearby D?go Onsen feature plenty of Soseki lore, though this is a literary pilgrimage I have yet to embark upon?

I Am a Cat ( ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , Wagahai wa Neko de Aru, 1905-1906) This is probably Soseki?s most famous work, and it?s long? like, 470 pages of small font and 250,000 words long. Though it?s incredibly funny and clever at times, it?s one of the most difficult books I?ve ever read, mostly because it just goes on, and on, and on? The premise is simple: an unnamed cat from the streets takes up residence with a local schoolteacher (Mr. Sneaze, or Chinno Kushami ? ? ? ? ? in the Japanese), who, despite his respectable social standing, is a fool. Like most fools, Mr. Sneaze loves pontificating on important-sounding subjects he knows little about, and spends roughly 70% of the novel doing this with his equally pretentious and idiotic friends. 65

Laced between their VERY long conversations are observations of human foibles from an animal?s perspective, with the joke being that only animals can see how stupid we humans really are. Don?t get me wrong, when the cat?s observations hit home, they?re, like, the greatest things ever. There?s an amazing passage in Book 3 berating pretentious scholarly writing in universities (?where incomprehensible lectures are both deeply respected and popular, while those whose words are easily understood are shunned as shallow thinkers?). Or, when Mr. Sneaze?s house gets broken into, instead of doing actual detective work to find the thief, the police make him fill out a detailed list of his stolen belongings in a scathing rebuke of Japanese bureaucracy. One of the idiot friends is also writing a thesis entitled ?The Effects of Ultraviolet Rays upon Galvanic Action in the Eyeball of the Frog,? but rather than start the actual research he just wastes his time polishing glass balls down to nothing in his attempt to create the perfect sphere that will imitate the frog?s eye? a fairly accurate portrayal of grad school life. Still, these moments of brilliance are buried within pages of verbiage that, as funny as they may have been in 1905, are nearly incomprehensible to us now. It?s good to 66

know this book exists, but unless you?re really interested in Soseki or literary experimentation, this one should probably stay on the shelf.

Kokoro (? ? ? , 1914) One of Soseki?s final novels, and one of his most serious. The story follows an unnamed narrator who befriends a mysterious man he calls Sensei, who carries a dark secret and who regularly visits the grave of a mysterious old friend. The narrator spends the first half of the novel getting to know Sensei and his wife, while the second half takes the form of a letter where Sensei himself narrates a tragic love triangle from his past. Kokoro is a far easier read than I Am a Cat but far more serious than Botchan. Like Soseki?s other writing, it deals with Japan?s rapid modernization during the Meiji era, though instead of making fun of pretentious Japanese characters who copy Western culture like in I Am a Cat, Kokoro treats the country?s loss of tradition as a tragedy, which sparks the return to a Japanese devotion to one?s duty and culture. The Meiji era ended shortly before this novel was written, and Soseki includes both the death of the Meiji emperor and the seppuku suicide of his loyal general 67

Nogi Maresuke, whose story (spoilers) has thematic consequences for Sensei?s as well. Kokoro also demonstrates Soseki?s understanding of the Western literature of his time? its story-within-a-story structure echoes British novels like Wuthering Heights (1847) or Heart of Darkness (1899) where a separate narrator reads or listens to a story about another character who?s the main focus. I Am a Cat owes a similar debt to the madcap structure (but not the sex jokes) in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759), with both novels demonstrating how Soseki integrated Western literary influences just as the rest of Meiji-era Japan integrated Western food, clothing, and technology. All in all, Kokoro is worth a read if you?re looking for something serious, though I still recommend Botchan as the best Soseki starting point. Or, you know, you could always just stop at this review? I?m pretty sure that, other than Botchan when they were in high school, most Japanese people haven?t read these books either .

CONTRIBUTORBIOS 1. 2021 JETFest Photography M ik a Post is from Aurora, Colorado, USA. She lives in Nanto, teaching mostly in elementary school. Her hobbies involve watching movies, reading, playing niche games, learning languages, and traveling. She likes to look out for cool animals and nice views. Tian a St ever son Pu gh was a 2nd year ALT in Takaoka. She likes taking pictures that make people go ?huh, that?s interesting.? M at h ieu Glacet was the 5th year English Language CIR and CIR PA for Toyama Prefecture. Originally from a small village in southern France, he will insist you call the French chocolate pastry ?chocolatine.? You can find him in sake bars, ski resorts, and exploring random mountain roads and abandoned villages all over Toyama. Find him on Twitter @iamhoneythief and Instagram @hirakanai. Hailing from the bilingual city of Montreal, Canada, Wei Jia (Joey) Zh u majored in music theory before starting as the CIR of Takaoka City. She loves traditional Japanese culture and is obsessed with dressing all of her friends in kimono. Fall is her favourite season; it makes her lousy shots look so much better!

2. MasterChef Junior Champion: An Interview with Nathan Odom Josh R. M u eda was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and its associated suburbs, but was fortunate enough to have been born into a family with a high appreciation for travel and food. He moved to Toyama in 2018 and Tokyo in 2021. Follow @crunchy_tuna_roll on Instagram for an array of 69

food photos and film photography.

3. Pink Magnolia Am y Et h er is a former JET from Aberdeen, Scotland. As a keen mountaineer and martial artist, she enjoys climbing and fighting things in her spare time.

4. Sunflower Field, Walk to the Sea, and Last Drive M ich elle Pat er ok is an artist from Edmonton, Canada. Her favourite medium is oil paint, and her work can be found on instagram @2ndmichelle.

5. Doing Social Justice on the JET Program Er ic Ju t ila is the Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) in Nanto City. He majored in Comparative Cultures and Politics at the James Madison College of Michigan State University in addition to Japanese, and has a background in environmental activism and government. Check him out at NanTourism on Facebook and @nantoexplorer on Instagram.

6. A Time Not Long Ago M igu el Risch m au i is a third-year JET in Takaoka. He is from Palestine but was born in Chile and lived most of his life in America. Follow @taka_migi on Instagram to see more of his work.

7. Books and Stuff M ir an da Reeder works as an in-house Japanese translator/ interpreter for an auto parts supplier. She taught English through the JET Programme for three years in Toyama prefecture. She just finished her first novel and enjoys making novel games in her free time. You can find her work at https://harlevin.itch.io. 70

8. Big Cloud Energy Am elia Kn igh t is a former Himi City ALT who now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. Traveling, baking, and ice cream making bring her joy. When she isn't studying Japanese or business, she paints. Find her on Instagram @MarsKnightArt

9. Man vs. Wild : Re-Examining a Popular American Narrative Tian a St ever son Pu gh is a former Takaoka JET who was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She spends most of her free time listening to podcasts, reading fantasy novels, and styling her hair. You can find more of her work at https://tianasp.wixsite.com/portfolio.

10. Indie Makeup Brands: Ones to Try and Reasons Why Devon ?Red? Redlin is a 6th year JET from America. She likes to express herself through fashion and colorful makeup. Her Instagram is @red.wolf.girl11. Am elia Kn igh t is a former Himi City ALT who now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

11. Red Devon ?Red? Redlin is a 6th year JET from America. In her free time she likes to experiment with different art styles and mediums.

12. Let?s Talk About Japan Books: Natsume S? seki Made Easy Since leaving Toyama, Ian Roger s has been teaching university English in Yokohama and still enjoys making fun of pretentious academic life almost as much as Natsume Soseki did. MFA Thesis Novel, his comic novel about this very subject, will be published by Vine Leaves Press in early 2022. He blogs at https://butialsohaveadayjob.com. 71

THANKYOU! ARIGATOU! Thank you to everyone w ho made t his issue of t he TRAM possible. Cont ributors

Special Thanks

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2021 Leavers

Mathieu Glacet Eric Jutila

Editors

Amelia Knight

Tiana Steverson Pugh

Josh R. Mueda

Ian Rogers

Michelle Paterok Mika Post

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Devon Redlin

Elaine Yuan

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