Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Hiroshi66
Moderator
Global user (premium)
Registered: 02-2004
Location: Northridge, California
Posts: 10791
|
|
Quote
|
|
Re: J-Documentary: グッと！地球便 (Global Messenger)
Both segments in this weekend's episode were very interesting and moving to watch. The producers of this show are really doing a great thing by giving worried parents in Japan a glimpse of how their child is doing living in a foreign country thousands of miles away from home. I got the impression (especially in the second segment, with the son living in Papua New Guinea) that many of these people may not have access to a computer or phone in their new homes, and thus are not able to keep in direct contact with their parents. Thus, it's such a perfect opportunity for both the parents and their children to be connected to one another through this program. What a blessing.
The first segment was about a 31-year old man living in Guatemala and working as a swimming instructor in a municipal pool. He is fluent in Japanese and Spanish, and mentioned that he wanted to teach swimming to as many children as possible so that he can motivate them and prevent them from joining street gangs. In Guatemala, many parents leave their children behind to go find work in the city or other countries, and so there is a huge problem with children joining gangs and committing violence. Another issue worrying the man's parents back in Japan was Guatemala's very high crime rate. In fact, the man had been mugged at gunpoint when he first moved there. Now, however, it looks like he gets along with the local population, has a great command of the language, and even has a group of 'regular' students. One of his students could not afford the swimming classes when the city began charging a monthly fee, but the man was able to convince the boy's grandmother to pay for the classes again.
The gift sent to him was a good-luck charm from Japan, to keep him safe. The bag carrying the good-luck charm was made from the man's favorite pair of jeans from when he was still a teenager.
The second segment was about a 35-year old man who had moved to Papua New Guinea because he as fascinated with the culture and the country. He worked at a university there (one of the best in the nation) and had gotten married to a native woman. They had a child together (a 1-year old baby boy) and were starting a family. This man was also fluent in the native language, and he pretty much had a family of his own there. I think his father back in Japan was moved by seeing all that.
There were some issues that I think the father in Japan mentioned, such as his desire to have his grandson educated in Japan until middle school. However, he promised to either go to New Guinea to see his grandson, or have his son and his family come visit him in Japan. However, he promised not to make any demands on his son to move to Japan. Hopefully the father and son will be reunited soon. The gift he sent to his son was a watch handed down to the father by his own parents, and which his late wife had worn. The man in New Guinea promised to pass it on to his son one day.
Excellent and heartwarming program. I really enjoy it. The announcer is great too. He's not pushy at all with his questions and seems to be moved himself while watching the video clips.
|
|
12/24/2011, 3:01 pm
|
Link to this post
|
sylia74
Member
Global user
Registered: 08-2006
Location: Hollywood
Posts: 297
|
|
Quote
|
|
Re: J-Documentary: グッと！地球便 (Global Messenger)
Thank you so much for adding this discussion topic! I really love this show and look forward to watching it every week. I wish that they had an American equivalent as I think people would be interested to see how people live in a different culture.
I got the feeling that the man in Papua New Guinea (like the fellow in Palau last week) was not close to his father. It seemed like he and his father hadn't spoken in awhile.
Every episode is like a mini-geography lesson. I have learned something interesting about each of the countries (besides the trip to Boston) so far.I also find it interesting what people choose to send their loved ones. So far we've seen everything from home made sweets to a metal hot water bag.
|
|
12/25/2011, 1:26 am
|
Link to this post
|
nchristi
Moderator
Global user (premium)
Registered: 03-2004
Location: Hotel California
Posts: 11573
|
|
Quote
|
|
Re: J-Documentary: グッと！地球便 (Global Messenger)
I thought the New Guinea sea tour guide story was really a close look into the battle of traditional values v the quest for freedom. The son was raised to be a filial son, yet just couldn't stand that life. As the only son, it is expected of him to take care of the parents until they die. He was overcome with emotion when he said he was fortunate to have a sister who took care of the parents instead. He would have had a miserable life in Japan following all the rules, yet his conscience really bothers him about deserting his parents—when he has to think about them.
Still, to the father, his son is the personification of selfishness. How detestable that his only son ran off to seek his own pleasure in life, casting his responsibility to the wind, letting it all fall on the daughter's shoulders. I can certainly understand how the father would have great difficulty in forgiving this in his son. Not only would the father feel disappointment and anger, but I also think of the shame he must experience among family and neighbors that his son turned out so "selfish" and unfilial.
Yes, Global Messenger is a program I've really been enjoying, too. Unfortunately, I missed the last episode.
Thanks for the official topic, Hiroshi. I was wishing we had a dedicated thread to it, but I didn't get around to asking for one before my computer died... again. It's still not fixed and I'm shocked that I have internet connection right now... so I'm taking advantage of it. In the meantime, if I'm not around later, my internet is down... which also means I'm not able to access my e-mail, either. Ahhh, the joys of our changing times....
|
|
12/27/2011, 7:08 pm
|
Link to this post
|
Hiroshi66
Moderator
Global user (premium)
Registered: 02-2004
Location: Northridge, California
Posts: 10791
|
|
Quote
|
|
Re: J-Documentary: グッと！地球便 (Global Messenger)
You're welcome, Nchristi! Yes, I'm glad we have an official topic for this wonderful program now. This way we can have all our discussions and comments in one thread instead of in the UTB General Info topic. I'm so sorry to hear that your computer died! Glad that you were able to access the internet for a little bit... hopefully it won't go down again! I know what you mean, now that we rely on the internet to access so many things, it's really a big deal when the internet goes down or the computer suddenly dies. I hope that your computer will be up and running normally real soon! 
In this last episode, one of the segments (about a son who went to New Guinea, got married to a local girl, and is now raising a family there) sounds very similar to the story of the New Guinea sea tour guide you mentioned from a previous episode. In this story, too, the father was struggling with his son running off to New Guinea and pursuing his own life there, while his father was living alone in Japan. In this episode, too, we saw the issue of traditional values (filial piety) v striving to live freely and independently. What's ironic here is that even though the son cast aside his traditional life in Japan, he is now living in an even more traditional society in New Guinea! So it's like he cast aside Japanese traditional values to go live in an even more traditional society in New Guinea.
In this story, I think the father was actually living alone. His son who left for New Guinea was his only child, and his wife had passed away a few years before, so I got the impression that he was living alone in Japan and actually rather lonely. His son hadn't visited in a while, and it didn't look like the father wanted to go to New Guinea to visit him, either. Now that the son had a child of his own, I think the father was a bit more inclined to go visit his son and meet his DIL & grandchild. On the other hand, he didn't look too thrilled about the prospect, and wanted his grandson to be educated in Japan—something he knew his son would never want. It was a little sad to see all this, but it left me hoping that the father and son would reconcile their feelings.
Great program. I'm really glad UTB chose to air this!
|
|
12/28/2011, 8:36 am
|
Link to this post
|
Hiroshi66
Moderator
Global user (premium)
Registered: 02-2004
Location: Northridge, California
Posts: 10791
|
|
Quote
|
|
Re: J-Documentary: グッと！地球便 (Global Messenger)
This was another intriguing episode. I really appreciate the information they provide about the various countries that are featured, especially those countries that are less well-known—such as last week's segment on Papua New Guinea or this week's episode about Tanzania. It makes this program both informative and interesting to watch, as well.
I just realized after watching this week's show that the announcer/host of the program looks a lot like Kame from Partners! From far away, it almost looks like they are the same person or closely related!
The first segment dealt with a man who had moved to Tanzania with his Japanese wife. In the day time, he worked as an employee for the Japanese consulate, and in the evenings, he was a judo instructor. Some of his students had even gone on to participate in judo tournaments in East Africa. As part of his work with the consulate, the man had helped work on an orphanage/school for orphans who had lost their parents to AIDS. All of the students were very smart, and even though there was a shortage of food (the lunch that day was Jasmine rice) they all loved the orphanage. I found it moving just how assimilated the couple were to life in Tanzania—they even seemed to be quite fluent in Swahili.
I also found it inspiring that the son had essentially funded his own education. His father had passed away when he was 2 years old, so the son had funded his own education and did not let his mother even know how much his tuition cost. He took various jobs (newspaper delivery, etc.) and worked very hard. The gift that the mother had for her son was the son's favorite meal—hot pot. They used to enjoy this meal together, and it moved both mother and son to tears.
The second segment covered the life of a man who was living in Paris and studying under one of France's living national treasures, studying the design of various brass instruments. The man had an enormous task in front of him - he was supposed to learn all the skills of his teacher, and pass them on to the next generation in France. Quite a daunting task, but one that the man was determined to follow through with. His mother sent him the tools belonging to her late husband, the man's father. He was also a mechanical engineer, and seeing the gifts moved the son to tears. It was so nice seeing the close relationship between the teacher and his pupil. The teacher mentioned that he viewed his student like a son. It must have made the mother feel better seeing that her son was in good hands.
|
|
12/31/2011, 2:55 pm
|
Link to this post
|
Add a reply
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6
You are not logged in (login) –
load();fixup(); 5/17/2012, 12:17 am
|
J-Documentary: グッと！地球便 (Global Messenger)
