In the US the Obama administration is pushing to have the swine flu called “2009 H1N1 flu virus”.  It seems that a similar re-branding effort is happening in Japan.  When I flipped on the tv this morning I saw lots of news about 新型インフルエンザ, literally “a new type/strain of flu”.  Up until now it was 豚インフルエンザ, or “swine flu”.  Looking back at the Yomiuri News archives it seems the switch happened late on the 28th or early on the 29th, just about the same time as the US.

One thing the new Japanese moniker has going for it is that it’s easy to say, easy to shorten (right now we’re down to 新型インフル), and looks good in headlines.  “2009 H1N1 flu virus”?  Not so much.

There’s news that the first suspected cases have reached Japanese shores–a woman who flew in from San Diego and a high school student in Yokohama.  The high school student visited British Columbia for two weeks and came back with flu-like symptoms .

If I get handed a mask on my way to work I’ll take it.  I’m not good at using them though–they always fog up my glasses.

I love Japan but it irks me sometimes.  Allow me to vent, starting with this story:

Near the end of last year I was diagnosed with borderline high cholesterol.  This was a shock for me–yes, it runs in my family, but I eat decently and walk a bunch.  Time to walk and exercise some more, the doctor said, and avoid saturated fats.  I managed to get my total cholesterol down to 196 right before I left San Francisco, mostly by cutting out a bunch of red meat and reading food labels like mad.  I love the USDA for spelling everything out for me so clearly.

Look at that thing of beauty.  All of the things I care about–saturated fat, trans fat (usually), cholesterol–all broken down.  I even see the good stuff for me.  80% of my vitamin A for the day, awesome!

Now let’s look at a Japanese food label.  Ken had some instant soup in the pantry.

Some kind of potato something or other.  In “Happy Size”!  I’m sure it has a lot of salt but what else is in there?

I see fat… but what kind?  And how about cholesterol?  No?  Is there anything in here that’s good for me?  It’s a mystery.

At least the serving size is easy–one packet.  Usually it requires major math.  Example:  a bag of eighteen rice crackers weighs in at 135 grams.  The serving size is listed as “per 100 grams”.  You practically need calculus to figure that per cracker!

Back to the soup.  The actual nutrition label ended up a wash, so let’s see what the ingredient list has to tell us.

There’s a lot here so let’s stick to the basics.  The character I circled in red means “milk”.  Milk has cholesterol.  Two of the red characters are preceded by blue circled ones which mean “non-fat”, but still.  There’s an awful lot of them.  Then add the cheese.  And the beef extract.  Not looking so great.

It feels like everything becomes a guessing game.  In the US I did okay by categorically avoiding certain things–mayo, eggs, whole fat dairy, shrimp, red meat.  (By the way, did you know that pork is actually red meat?)  That’s much harder to do here.  Rice ball fillings often have mayo or shrimp.  Sandwiches are “enhanced” with mayo or egg.  Pork is much more common than chicken.  I have only found one kind of low/non-fat yogurt and it was all watery and gross.

Ken has helped by pointing out and buying better alternatives for the house–mayo that says it’s lower in cholesterol, a special healthy cooking oil.  I’m sure it’s a little better, but how much?  The label doesn’t tell me.

What worries me is a lemon drink I saw stateside, in Japantown.  It had “Vitamin C!” emblazoned across the front.  A Japanese label doesn’t list vitamins but an American import label does–Vitamin C – 0%.  Ouch.

Time to rework my diet.

I’ve been watching a Japanese drama about forensic science called Voice.  It follows a group of medical students as they learn about the art of autopsy and determining a cause of death.  The poetic idea is that they pick up the thread of a dead person’s voice to hear the very last thing they wanted to say.

It’s a good show.  The acting is respectable and the stories are interesting.  One thing irks me, though–everyone seems to die for a really, really good reason.  One electrician died after breaking the fall of a boy committing suicide.  A husband accidentally electrocutes himself while trying to make french toast for his wife a la Kramer vs. Kramer.  Even a case that looks suspicious ends up being crush syndrome, deemed the only way to “die of compassion”.  There are no murders in Japan, it seems.

So imagine my excitement when episode four opens with a bona fide crime scene.  Bruises.  A fleeing suspect.  Marijuana.  Finally, some action!

My bad.  It’s a really long story(Japanese link) but he ended up killing himself via anaphylactic shock in order to protect his friends.  Of course.  Yet another good death.

I’ve been trying to figure out why, though four episodes, there has been such an angelic bent.  So far I have:

• It makes for good tv.  You get to cry but feel uplifted at the end.  See!  He really was a good guy!
• The show is more medical than police based.  There’s only one police officer with lines and he’s just there to set the scene before an autopsy.  Feel good story lines minimize arrests and virtually eliminate trials.
• It allows the students to be more touchy-feely and (in a general sense) emotional with affected families.  There is usually a scene where the noble cause of death is explained and the wife/mother/son is deeply moved.  They knew all along the deceased was a good guy and now science has proven it.

I think that there is an even more important reason, though.  Forensic pathology is not popular in Japanese medical schools.  According to the show only 10% of unnatural deaths in Japan are investigated by autopsy.  It’s not for a lack of want but rather a lack of doctors and facilities.  The show is trying to make the profession interesting and glamorous so more people enter the field.  This sort of thing has already happened in the US and is called, you guessed it, the CSI effect.

Finding out that a suspicious, shady person did in fact do the bad thing is interesting but may not encourage people to enter medical school.  Using the amazing powers of science and sleuthing to discover that this guy that looked bad is actually noble and just, and being one of the few people in the country with the skills to figure that out?  Sign me up.

All in all the show is great listening practice and I’m learning a ton.  I don’t know the next time “crush syndrome” is going to show up in my life but at least now I’m ready for it.