Site 15: Queens
The Professor rushes out of the lunch to see the Tanabata Queens across the street!
Themes:
1. CROSS-CULTURES
2. baseball in Japan
3. culture shock
4. learning English
5. Mitsuko
6. Queens brochure
EXTERIOR: ACROSS STREET FROM SHOE STORE
(TANABATA QUEENS)
Unexpectedly, Professor Miyagawa notices Tanabata activities across the street from the shoe store. He goes to investigate.
PROFESSOR MIYAGAWA
July 4; 12:08 pm. I’ve been a terrible guest and left everyone at the lunch table. When I saw the Tanabata Queens arriving I couldn’t resist. There’s the mayor! This is great! It reminds me of the fairs we use to have in Alabama. I feel like a kid.
CAME TO THE STATES
TUSCALOOSA
1962
AWAY IN THE STATES
Shigeru’s mother, Mrs. Miyagawa, relates:
“My husband, Ichiro, had gone to Duke University in 1956 for post-doctoral work. He returned to Japan in 1959 and was looking for a professorship in Japan but could not find one. Then he was invited to Duke by a professor he had worked with there. This professor also spoke to the army people who got us our green cards. We came to Duke with the family in 1962. But my mother-in-law was alone -- fortunately, her good friend agreed to live with her. My husband was Visiting Assistant Professor at Duke.
“In 1965, the University of Alabama offered a position to my husband, and we moved to Tuscaloosa. We were the only Japanese family at the University. Gradually, the economy in Japan picked up and students came. Now we have over 100 [Japanese] students at the University.”
PREFECTURE
Japan is divided into 47 prefectures grouped into eight separate regions. Each prefecture is administered by a governor and assembly members who are elected by residents of the prefecture.
BASEBALL
MASAICHI KANEDA
Baseball appeared in Japan almost as soon as Abner Doubleday introduced it in America. Japanese fans have created a lasting boom in baseball, a boom which is only slightly eroding now due to the introduction of European-style football, or soccer, and the incredible popularity of the Japanese league.
The Japanese professional teams recruit some American players, but they have to play by Japanese rules, and the tendency to favor Japanese homerun hitters, for example, has sometimes caused irritations.
Another difference is the preference for a tied game, which no one likes. The “World Series” in Japan is not played by professional teams, but by high school league leaders. This series or games is broadcast on television nationwide from Osaka and draws a huge audience. It is very passionately played and the winners and losers both break into teams at the end.
SPAM
Registered trademark of Hormel Foods Corporation, Austin, MN. A canned meat product. “Fully cooked, ready to eat -- hot or cold...Ingredients: Pork and Ham, Salt, Water, Sugar, Sodium Nitrite.” (from label)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2006 Visualizing Cultures
