culture quest(ions)

With much nicer weather than when I first arrived, this has, more or less, been my view for at least 5 hours a day all week. The other 5 hours in the van are spent in complete darkness after nightfall until we are freed-no earlier than 10pm. Though at times I wish I could sue for infringement upon my auditory space, the offenders being techno music and excessively loud portuguese conversation, I'm also grateful to be shuttled between castings. Because; a) I get to spend my days above ground rather than on a subway, and b) being absolved of all navigational responsibility, I'm free to do other things, such as discuss Japanese culture with my Jack Johnson, Tupac, and Bob Marley-listening driver, 'Tats.' Tats is the bomb (used to run a restaurant in Nairobi: major coolness factor). Anyways, today we drove by a lineup of homeless people waiting for food in a random park (homeless people are a rare sight here-most of those found sleeping on benches simply got too wasted after work the night before and passed out) and delved into a comparison of the issues surrounding homelessness in Vancouver and Tokyo. This of course led to the topic of mental illness.

According to Tats, many young people in Japan are being affected by mental illness these days, particularly depression. More people (30,000 a year if Tats' stats are right) die from suicide than in car accidents. One of Tats' friends killed himself because his girlfriend broke up with him. The popularity of blow-up sex dolls and cafes where men can go and pay girls to play boardgames with them both seem indicative to me of a culture of loneliness, though of course further investigation over the next seven weeks may lead me to other conclusions. Tats was saying it's interesting how in Kenya where everyone is so poor, suicide is pretty much a non-issue, whereas in developed/rich countries the problem just seems to be getting worse. I wonder, are certain cultural values more conducive to mental stability? Or is it simply that people who have 'less' manage to gain a better understanding of what is truly valuable? Afterall, as Seneca wrote, "It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor." Is our 'more, more, more' culture driving us insane?

I clearly get a lot of time to think these days
dewa mata (see you later)