The origin of my name: Alejandro Romero

I never liked my name. I always thought it was rather common and unremarkable. This became more apparent during high school, when I shared most of my classes with others whose first names were “Alejandro,” and others whose last names were “Romero.” That, along with the fact that I was never given a middle name, made it hard for me to distinguish myself. So, while I may resent the ubiquity of my name, I hope to find some new appreciation for it in it’s etymology.

My given name, Alejandro, is the Spanish version of the name Alexander, which comes from the Greek name “Alexandros,” meaning “Protector of men” (Koltach 1980, 12). The name was made famous around 340 BC by Alexander the Great and since then has been the name of saints, martyrs, and Scottish royalty (Duckling and Gosling 1983, 7). Nearly every European language has a variation of the name: In French, Alexandre; in Italian, Allessandro; in Russian, Aleksander; and even in Gaelic, Alasdair. So, essentially, it’s been around for over 2000 years and is extremely popular.

My surname may be a bit more interesting. The name “Romero” comes from a Spanish nickname given to people who would go on a pilgrimage to Rome (Hanks 1988, 456; Smith 1956, 461). It is a combination of the name of the city of Rome and the Spanish suffix ‘-ero,’ which is generally used to form an occupation or group from a noun. It is the 28th most common Hispanic surname in the United States (Platt 1956, 16). That’s it. All I can conclude from this etymology is that at some point, I had an ancestor who travelled to Rome once. While it is interesting to know that I had an ancestor who was devoted enough to travel from what was likely Spain all the way to Rome, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

While my surname is something that I’ve inherited, my given name is something that my parents had a choice over. Why would they call me “Alejandro?” Did I have an ancestor that they loved and respected enough to name me after him? Did they want me to grow up to become a “Defender of Men?” Did they want me to carry some great legacy? And so I asked the one who named me to reveal the logic and reasoning behind my name:

“Hey, Mom, why did you name me ‘Alejandro?’”

“Oh, it just sounded nice.”

(really, I just love hearing people complain about how I’m not suppoused to upload video of Lego universe. They’re so jealous!)

Let’s talk about Suicide!

I remember a while back watching the movie “Suicide Club,” which features a gory scene early on in which cheery school girls happily hold hands and jump in front of a moving train. Fantastic, I know. Them crazy Japanese filmmakers really know how to come up with ridiculous ideas. People don’t really kill themselves that way….do they?

I’ve lived here for about 3 months, and I can certainly tell you that it happens. It may not happen as much as in the aforementioned movie, but it happens often. Like every day. Involving trains. Yeah. I know this because as a resident of Tokyo, it affects me just as much as everyone else.

On most trains in the city, there are 2 monitors above every door. One just streams silent but still somehow loud advertisements, and the other displays relevant train information. Stuff like a map of the train line, what station is next, and of course, train delays. Train delays are special cause when they are displayed, a nice 4 tone melody plays to alert you that delay information is being displayed. I hear it often.

You’ll see what train line was delayed, what area is affected, what the current status is, and the reason why. Reasons can include ‘Wind,’ ‘Fog,’ ‘Cable Trouble,’ but by far the most often I’ve seen is ‘Accident.’ It actually displays the word ‘Accident’ in English. ‘Accident’ could mean anything. Maybe someone dropped a piece of luggage onto the tracks. Perhaps trains collided somewhere (although they would probably stop running the trains altogether.) Maybe someone, somehow managed to put their body in front of a moving train. Now we’re getting somewhere.

It says Accident in English, but the Japanese term used to describe this incident is much more revealing. “人身事故.” “Jinshinjiko” if you care to pronounce it. Literally “Human Body Accident.” The dictionary on my iPhone defines it as a “Traffic accident resulting in personal injury or death.” One could assume that the writers of this dictionary would know that this term is used mostly for such ‘accidents’ occurring in traffic.

Anyway, I know at this point, some people are thinking, “Just because it says ‘Human Body Accident’ doesn’t mean they’re all suicides.” I remember there was a problem in Chicago a while back with kids who would walk along train tracks and end up killed because of it, so I’ll give them that much. However, here in Japan, it happens way too much to be legitimate accidents. We all know what’s happening here. People are killing themselves.

I can’t really say why they’re killing themselves (sorry to disappoint.) All I can say is that it is a complete inconvenience for the rest of us. There have been a couple of times when I have been making my way to school, and someone decides to throw themselves in front of a train on my line. I am now stuck on a train for a while, unable to get to my destination, staring at the monitors waiting for the word ‘Accident’ to change to ‘Clearing Tracks.’ Once when I was on my way home, it happened and I ended up waiting at the platform for an hour waiting for a train that wasn’t completely packed to it’s limit to arrive. It’s frustrating. It’s so much of a problem that the families of those who kill themselves are forced to pay a ¥5,000,000 penalty for “public inconvenience.” It’s a great way to go if you hate your family.

But what’s being done to prevent it. Most stations on the subway lines have 3 foot high barriers, and some even have barriers that reach the ceiling, but most above-ground stations have no barrier at all. Stations on the Yamanote Line, the busiest line in Tokyo, are fitted with blue lights intended to calm people down. That shit isn’t going to do anything. There is a certain station on the Chuo Line, the line with the most suicides, that has a mirror facing the platform, so that those who stand on the edge with the intention of jumping will take a good look at themselves. I like that idea better, but what if someone is killing themselves because they think they’re ugly? That would just reinforce it.

While I complain about the problem, I can’t really offer much in solutions (once again, sorry to disappoint.) This is more intended to open peoples eyes. To give people a quick look into the real side of Tokyo. A look past the sugar-pop happiness of Japanese pop culture and the chic styles of fashion. A look into what Tokyo really is.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this. Leave a comment below, if you’d like. Or you could follow me on twitter. It’s all good. Thanks for reading!

Expect more exciting topics soon such as waiting for trains and using the vending machine!

Roppongi

Roppongi is an upscale area in Tokyo. It’s quite a nice place and is home companies like Ferrari Japan. It’s popular with foreigners and not too far from the school.

However, there are reports of people being lured into bars, having their drinks spiked, and having their credit cards stolen. This seems to happen at night and mostly to foreigners looking for a good time. It’s gotten so bad that the US Government has issued a warning to it’s citizens to be careful in the Roppongi area, and to just avoid it if possible. Even during the orientation at school they warned you over and over again not to go there. However, since when do governments and schools stop anyone from doing what they want.

About a week ago, a few people from the dorm went out to said area to get drunk and have a good time. What do you think happened next? They got lured into a bar by (fyi: this is the word they used to describe them) “Nigerians.” The “Nigerians” offered them all they could drink for just ¥3000 (about $30 (which isn’t really a good deal (i don’t know, i don’t drink.))) Before they knew it, they woke up owing the bar a lot of money (hundreds (of dollars)). They didn’t have enough to pay, so the “Nigerians” escorted them to an ATM of take out as much as they can. One of them ran off and escaped. The rest lost more than a few hundred bucks.

What’s the lesson here? Don’t fucking go to Roppongi!!! The warnings weren’t scare tactics, they were warnings!!! You know what? I feel no pity for them. They were warned. They failed to listen. They got what they deserved. I know I’m going to sound like a complete dork right now, but do you honestly need alcohol to have a good time? They came half way around the world to do what? To get drunk and not remember what happened? Whatever.

Interesting day today, though. Today I was browsing around my local Tsutaya, which is the biggest chain of video rental stores in Japan. So I pass by the small desk with the applications to open an account. Curious, I take a look at the forms needed to open an account. A store clerk sees me and asks me (in japanese) is i needed any help. I reply (in japanese) that I’m fine, and proceed to grab a form to start pretending to fill it out so that she would go away. Instead, she comes to help me. A few broken Japanese phrases later, she realizes I don’t understand much of the language. She calls a coworker who speaks english and is able to help me. Problem is, that person had just been hired a few days ago, and is not all that familiar yet (I remember earlier that i saw her drop a stack of movies, in typical ‘moe’ newbie fashion.)

So, the three of us spend the next hour all helping me open an account and going over the necessary information in sort of a double tier translation. The experienced employee explains the rules and regulations to the newbie, who then explains it to me in English. We all laughed all the way through the jumbled mess of complicated japanese, broken english, and general awkwardness, but in the end, I got my Tsutaya card! Gaijin success!

Now, the thing about Tsutaya is that it also rents CDs. Yep, CD’s. Actual audio CDs. They’re all in the display cases already, and you can test listen to them in the store (they have a listening booth where you can just pop in the CD from the shelf.) Only in Japan could you do this not get every CD stolen. People could just literally walk out with a unpaid CD, and get away very easily. And on top of that, they sell blank CDs and DVDs in the store! And it’s all perfectly legal!!! (Although, I’m sure they have a good reason, like the company pays royalties straight to the publishers. Still, It’s mind-blowing (at least for me it is!))

I didn’t actually rent any CDs then. I rented The Matrix. I figure the only things I couldn’t very easily download off the internet were English movies dubbed in Japanese. So I plan to start watching movies i’m familiar with in Japanese without subtitles as listening practice! I figured it justified the 200 yen it cost me to open the account.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to drooling over that apple tablet that’s about to be announced.

On saturday, I bought a cell phone! Got myself a 931P with the carrier Softbank (Pictures at Bottom.)
Pretty nifty how It opens two ways so it’s easy to use the built-in TV and 8.0 Megapixel camera. The screen is super detailed, almost looks fake. Problem is that it’s kinda complicated to use. There’s so many menus so it’s easy to get lost within the phone. The same carrier also has the iPhone available, and in retrospect, I kinda wish I had gotten that instead. Oh, well. What’s done is done.

Most of my sunday was pretty uneventful. Nothing of interest happened until about 8 PM, when Tim Rogers (of Kotaku and ActionButton.net fame) posted on facebook an invitation for anyone who wanted to see his band perform. I quickly replied, and a few hours later I found myself in a small studio in Koenji watching Large Prime Numbers perform for a total of 3 audience members. Spent the rest of the night at his apartment playing Uncharted 2 and discussing the various problems of random subjects (such as Dianetics.)

Got home at around 7 AM, and got 4 hours of sleep. At some point, I found out that Danny Choo (blogger and Dancetrooper) was going to be at Shibuya for the Coming of Age ceremony, which celebrates all the people turning 20 this year. So, at around 12 PM I was at the Starbucks at Shibuya Crossing keeping an eye on the streets for anything Stormtrooper-esque, and sure enough, he was there. As he moved from Shibuya crossing to the C.C. Lemon hall, I joined his entourage of cameramen in taking pictures. Soon we arrived at the hall where people were gathered for the ceremony. All the women turning 20 were in kimonos and all the men turning 20 were in suits. I was able to chat for a while with Choo, but after a while, everyone began to enter the hall. I wasn’t sure wether or not I was allowed in, so rather than risking embarrassment, I headed home. Anyway, here are some pics.