thoughts

Over the last couple of years I have noticed how we're so much more aware of our bodies. And this isn't just the 'obesity crisis', but is related to and outside of the public health issue of obesity in developed nations. We've arguably always been extremely aware of our bodies, especially for specific identity groups, such as women (though, arguably all people to an extent). But this awareness to me, has changed and come out in two forms; awareness of our bodies in a frame of acceptance on one hand, and on the other awareness of our bodies in a frame of striving for perfection on the other. As an example of each, there is the anti fat-shaming and body-positive movement, and then there is the clean eating and 'health goals' movement, both which are mostly enacted on social media. On the surface, neither of these two examples brings feelings of negativity in their names; 'We're loving ourselves for the shape we are!' Or, 'we're trying to ...

As you may or may not know (though probably don't know because I kept it relatively to myself), I got COVID during March. I am (mostly) recovered after testing positive just over 2 weeks ago, and let me tell you, it was not an enjoyable experience. I want to talk today about COVID in our lives, getting COVID, and its impacts on New Zealand right now. Let's go back to the beginning of the pandemic, COVID was pretty scary as a concept, and especially last year I struggled a lot with the fear of what COVID would do to me. Especially as for the majority of 2020-2021 in New Zealand, COVID was a foreign concept that we did not have to deal with in our lives. We had no cases in the community, no fear of transmission, it was this big scary virus that existed in other countries where it maimed and murdered almost what seemed indiscriminately. There was a lot of caution on the part of our government to ensure that we could keep this COVID free life, which was, looking back on, something ...

Rather recently, I did a thing where I stopped eating meat. This is the second time I have done this in my life (unless you count the time I declared becoming a vegetarian at a family gathering and then promptly stuffed my face with salami as a tween). Round two is a little different to the first time though, because, as I am sure you know by now, I'm living in Japan. I tried to find a picture of me stuffing my face with some sort of meat product. This is the closest I could get; me taking a picture of a bean burger at burger liquor in Wellington a few years back. I have always leant towards the meat-free options. So, why does my dietary change in the context of Japan warrant its own blog post? Many, many reasons my sweet fren. And a lot to do with food culture. It's fascinating! Who knew that conceptions of food and health would be different in a country that is not where I am from (shock horror). Firstly, the cultural conception of a well-rounded diet in Japan much mor...

It seems I now find myself in the middle of flu season in Japan. Slowly, more and more children are disappearing from classes, whisperings of 'infuruenza' abound. The room is freezing cold from the windows having being left open for the last 5 minutes. I look down at my remaining students and most, if not all, are half-hiding their faces with the ever popular face-mask. And I scream internally. Because to me, this is all wrong . Let me backtrack, and begin with a point that I believe you will all be familiar with: it really upsets me how Japanese people don't wash their hands thoroughly, if at all. Which is an issue, seeing as it is now 'influenza season', and for me at least, I have been taught that one of the best ways to prevent the spread of influenza is to wash your hands (plus cover your mouth with your arm when you sneeze and cough; you know, standard stuff). Therefore, this lack of hand-washing is an increasing source of frustration for me. However, it s...

Lets talk about bodies; the physical manifestation of humanity. As someone who did a cross between social and biological anthropology at university, I of course am extremely interested in the body, both from a social and biological perspective, and how these two things overlap to create the human experience of the body (which is different everywhere because culture, but you should know that). Being here for four months now, I have become aware of Japanese physicality, my own physicality in contrast, as well as how foreigners (including myself) pick up 'Japanese' physical habits or behaviours. These experiences, and differences, in experience range from the my perceived difference in expectations of how someone else exists in their body, such as when other foreigners display outwardly Japanese bodily behaviours, or the noting of obviously different Japanese bodily habits, the importance placed on certain bodily 'chores', such as washing hands, and how my own physicalit...

Every so often, I stumble across ads on social media by the Health Promotion Agency targeting young women warning them not to drink if they think they might be pregnant. You may have seen them - the account is called 'Don't know? Don't Drink' and have appeared to me on Facebook and Instagram as sponsored content. For some reason, these ads make me feel uncomfortable; I can't quite seem to put my finger on it, but every time they come up I feel uneasy and a little bit frustrated at their continued existence. Essentially, the whole campaign is really hinged on the idea of not drinking if you don't know if you're pregnant. Being a cis-woman, honestly I can tell you that until that period arrives, I don't know 100% for certain if I am pregnant. Heck, I don't even 100% know WHEN I get my period. We're all aware of that one friend of a friend who continued getting periods and never showed the whole of her pregnancy until one day SURPRISE she have a b...