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Yesterday I read a newspaper article about a woman
in Tokyo who specializes in a certain type of prosthetic
device very much specific to Japan.
Prosthetic pinky fingers. I kid you not.
It seems there is quite a market for these among reformed
yakuza who are finding it hard to get ahead in the business
world with the stigma of missing digits.
In the past 10 years she has made prosthetic pinky
finger tips for about 500 people, and at 150,000 yen
a pop, that turns out to be quite a good living. Not
even counting the fact that each customer usually buys
two of them. (one for winter, and one for summer since
Japanese people can tan pretty darkly and a stark white
pinky on a brown hand would stand out quite a bit)
Growing up in a farming community it was not too rare
for me to see someone who had lost a finger in a farming
accident. It was something I would definitely notice,
but after noting would think nothing more of it. But
here in Japan having a missing pink tip is quite a loud
a blaring advertisement to your past. Japan is a society
that places a lot of emphasis on physical perfection.
This is attested to by the national craze for being
thin to the point of waifishness, and the fact that
when you apply for a job here it is almost always required
that you include a passport type photo to your application
or resume.
And the discrimination does not begin just with the
interview as many job postings list among other requirements,
certain height and age restrictions, especially for
women. It is not too uncommon for a job posting for
a clerical position to list minimum height and maximum
age limitations for prospective applicants.
Sad but true.
--
The prints sale at Yokota went well. I made enough
to buy the next lens on my shopping list, the Canon
100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS. While nowhere near as sharp
as the Canon 400mm f5.6 L prime, the versatility of
the zoom and the image stabilization will come in very
handy for shooting action scenes like Yabusame (Horseback
Archery).
I was also able to make contact with a person from
the American School in Japan located up in Tokyo and
have been invited to sell photos there during a sale
they are holding on December 4th.
This coming weekend I will once again be selling prints
here at Yokosuka.
Man, all this selling prints on the weekends is really
starting to cut into my photography time. But it is
a necessary evil as it pays for my gear and this keeps
me out of the dog house with the wife.
To make up for my lost weekends I am toying with the
idea of making a trip to Kyoto in the next couple of
weeks to catch some fall color. I'll have to check to
see if there are any hotel rooms still open.
--
Because the files my new camera produces are so large
I am in the market for a new portable hard drive to
store images while on vacation. I am thinking about
getting one of the new photo iPods (60GB version) but
I have read about a lot of problems people have with
iPods and the Belkin media reader. Anyone have a type
of portable storage device they would recommend? I am
looking for a minimum of 40 GB of space. I currently
have a 20GB Mindstor, but it will only read CF cards
and not microdrives.
--
Thanks to everyone who has entered this months Sushicam
Prints Raffle.
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