What others are saying about
The Many Roads to Japan
"Mr. Norris's description of the world of adventure as well as that of misery reminds me of Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, or Herzog.... Norris's story of a symbolic life is a gift from his own experience, and it gives us something good, meaningful, and inspiring.... The comprehension questions, exercises, and discussion/essay questions are quite useful in helping Japanese students to think in English and in encouraging them to express themselves in English as well. This is the ideal textbook I have been looking for, and while using it, I am happy to say that I can steer clear of the traditional grammar-translation method, which I find so time-consuming and ineffective." -- Professor Kazushige Sagawa, Aoyama Gakuin University
"Excellent! I was mesmerized by the visual descriptions of all the places seen by the narrator and the struggle he went through to find the meaning of his life, and what he really wanted to do with the rest of it. I think it's a great learning tool for any student, and it was certainly well written. I'm putting it in my keeper file. There's a lot of information in there you'd never find anywhere else. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down." -- Beth Anderson, author of Night Sounds, Murder Online,and Second Generation
"The Many Roads to Japan influenced my students a lot, not only in studying English but also in searching for their own identities and thinking about how to live their lives." -- Kazuyo Yamane, Peace Studies lecturer at Kochi University
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THE MANY ROADS TO JAPAN
A Search for Identity
by
Robert W. Norris
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PUBLISHED BY:
The Many Roads to Japan
Copyright © 2010 by Robert W. Norris
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
* * * * *
THE MANY ROADS TO JAPAN
A Search for Identity
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Introduction
Japanese people often ask foreigners why they came to Japan. It is not always an easy question to answer. There are many, often complicated, reasons that bring foreigners to Japan. The Many Roads to Japan tells the story of the adventures of one foreigner who had to follow many twists and turns in his life journey before finding his niche in Japan.
College-aged students will find they have much in common with John Banks, the main character of this story. As with today's youth, who find themselves in a world that no longer offers them any guarantees and yet demands from them crucial decisions to be made at an early age, so it was with John Banks and his generation, who in their teenage years were also faced with making important decisions in a turbulent, changing world. The decisions made between the ages of 18 and 22 can have a strong effect on the rest of one's life and even catapult one in unimagined directions, both emotional and physical.
The key event in John's life was his decision to refuse to fight in the Vietnam War. This decision launched him on a search that ultimately led him around the world and finally to Japan. The Many Roads to Japan chronicles that search. I hope that The Many Roads to Japan, in showing how John's perseverance and faith in himself helped him survive many ordeals and realize his dreams, will serve as a source of inspiration for young readers facing an increasingly uncertain future.
The various exercises at the end of every chapter are designed both to provide a review of the most important information contained in the chapters and to give practice in skimming for main ideas and scanning for specific kinds of information. If done in class, the teacher should use strict time limits to encourage the development of these important reading skills. The discussion/essay questions are meant to involve students personally in the story by asking them to respond to the events in John's life and relate them to their own experiences. I have provided links to historical events, names, and places so students who are interested in doing further, more detailed research can do so.
For more details on how best to use this book in the classroom, interested teachers can check my two articles on how I think literature and reading should be taught to ESL students. Click on the titles to see the articles online.
1. "Getting Students More Personally Involved: An Alternative to the Yakudoku- and Lecture-Dominated Methods of Teaching Literature and Reading"
2. "Getting Students More Personally Involved in Their Reading and Literature Classes: A Case Study"
Teachers and students can use my podcast for listening practice. All chapters can be accessed by clicking here. The final chapter is at the top of the page. Scroll down to see the earlier chapters. Teachers can also obtain a free copy of the answer sheet for all end-of-chapter questions by e-mailing the author. I would also appreciate any comments, criticism, suggestions, and reactions about this book.
I would like to thank all the many people who have encouraged me in the writing of The Many Roads to Japan: Tetsuya Yokoyama and Hideyaki Haruna of Osaka Kyoiku Tosho for doing the original print version in 1996; Yoshio Tanaka for designing the original cover; my good friends Kuniyasu Ichikawa, Toyoko Ikeda, and Shinji Fukuda for their unwavering support and intelligent comments throughout the entire writing process; and my great buddy Bill Cornett for his wonderful friendship and computer advice. To the readers of The Many Roads to Japan, I would like to say this: I hope you enjoy this book and continue to read many other books in English. Also, please remember that dreams can come true.
Robert W. Norris
Fukuoka International University
Chapter 1
John Banks, like all the young men of his generation, had to register for the draft when he turned 18. In John's senior year in high school the draft was carried out through a lottery system based on the individual's birthday. John's was one of the first numbers picked.
John did not want to be drafted and face the prospect of ending up on the front lines of the Vietnam War. The thought of killing another human being repulsed him. A viable alternative seemed to be in joining the Air Force or Navy. He paid a visit to the local Air Force recruiter, who guaranteed John would never have to carry a weapon. John joined the Air Force in September 1969.
He knew he had made a mistake the day he arrived with a group of other enlistees for six weeks of basic training at Lackland Air Base outside of San Antonio, Texas. It was a lonely and arduous time, but somehow he survived the constant screaming of the drill instructors, the hours of marching, the physical conditioning in the desert heat, the training in the use of weapons, the barracks inspections, the scrubbing of toilets and floors, the tasteless food, and the classrooms where the soldiers were inculcated into obedience and conformity. For the first time in his life, John was exposed to young men from all over the nation, each with his own particular prejudices and dialect and mannerisms.
Near the end of basic training he was given his job assignment order. He would be trained as a military policeman. He had to remain at Lackland Air Base for ten more weeks of specialized training. The hand of irony had p
layed a dirty trick. He had joined the Air Force with the idea he would not have to carry a weapon, but now he was to be trained in the art of combat and the use of deadly weapons. He passed through his training without incident, but during this period of time there grew within John an inchoate attitude of rebelliousness.
From Lackland, he was transferred to Beale Air Base near Sacramento, California, where he began his job of guarding B-52 bombers that were so huge they seemed like gigantic prehistoric birds of prey. Thus began his days and nights of walking in lonely circles on the flight line in the heat and rain, thinking, changing, growing, wondering what the purpose of his life was.
John began thinking seriously about Vietnam for the first time. He had a gut feeling that the war was wrong. He began listening to the words instead of just the melodies of popular songs by Bob Dylan and the many others who were protesting the war. He also began to read the underground newspapers that were finding their way onto the base. These papers were filled with anti-war and anti-government stories about the atrocities committed in Vietnam, the Kent State shootings, the shooting of Ralph Bunch at the Presidio, and the hysteria running rampant on college campuses around the country.
Eventually John's order to go to Southeast Asia came and he was given 30 days of leave before having to report to a base in Texas for a month of intensive war training. From there he would be sent to a base in northern Thailand near the Cambodian border. The war at this time had been escalated (illegally many believed) into Cambodia, where B-52 bombers were dropping tons of napalm and agent orange. When he left Beale Air Base for the start of his 30-day leave, John knew he would never make it to Texas.
For two weeks, he did much soul searching. He had only three options: follow his order and go fight in a war he believed was wrong, run away to Canada, or go back to his air base and apply for conscientious objector status and probably go to prison. He chose the third option.
John returned to Beale Air Base. It amazed John how easy it was to check back onto the base without anyone questioning why he had returned instead of going to Texas. He was told to stay in the transient barracks until he received a work assignment. He had no idea how to apply for conscientious objector status, so he began just hanging out at the gymnasium, playing basketball, and going to movies at the base theater in the evenings.
One day about three weeks after returning to the base, John ran into David Yavitz, another security policeman who asked John what he was doing back on the base. They went for a drive and John, feeling relieved to have someone finally take notice of him, confessed everything. David told John that he too was involved in the underground movement against the war and was writing for an anti-war newspaper being printed secretly off base in Yuba City by a man who had been discharged just two months before.
Over the next few days, John found himself involved with a group of five other airmen stationed at the base, each of them in his last few months of military service. All were opposed to the war and were actively spreading anti-war propaganda around the base. They spent many hours together discussing pacifism, Gandhi, Thoreau, and the duty of civil disobedience. They were supportive of John's belief and encouraged him to go to the legal department to find out what his rights were and to set his conscientious objector application into motion before it was too late. It would not be long before the base clerks discovered he had not followed his order to go to Southeast Asia. John was told he should see a lawyer named Jerry Turnbull, who was said to be sympathetic to the anti-war movement.
Jerry Turnbull was very interested in John's case. Jerry told John that he had spent eight years of school studying to become a lawyer. When he was drafted he considered going to Canada, but decided he could work better from within the system rather than throw away his career and those eight years of schooling. After asking John about the details concerning when John had returned to the base and what he had said to the clerks and other security police, Jerry said he thought John had a chance to successfully receive conscientious objector status.
They worked very hard together to set into motion John's application for conscientious objector status. Jerry set up a series of meetings and interviews with a variety of officers and military chaplains who asked John many questions to determine if John's beliefs and feelings were sincere. Before each of these interviews, Jerry counseled John on how to answer the questions.
John's commanding officer found out about what John was doing. The commanding officer wanted to make an example of John to the other soldiers. He did not want any more soldiers to refuse to go to war. He called John into his office. John felt as if he were a captured enemy soldier undergoing interrogation. In front of many witnesses the commanding officer threatened John with a court martial and five years in prison. He demanded John tell why he had changed, who the people were who had influenced him, where they lived, if he was part of some organization, and if he was connected with the filthy communist newspaper spreading propaganda around the base.
John gave only vague answers to all the questions. The commanding officer, frustrated and incensed, gave up his line of questioning and formally gave John the final order to go to war. John's answer to the order was: "I don't feel I'm mentally or physically able to go."
John was charged with the military crime of willful disobedience to a direct lawful order. The maximum punishment for this crime was five years of hard labor in a military prison. It was also possible he would be given a dishonorable discharge. The court martial was scheduled for October 8, 1970.
The court martial took an entire day to complete. Many witnesses were questioned by both the prosecution and defense attorneys. John was called to the stand. There were no questions from the prosecuting attorney. Jerry asked the questions they had rehearsed many times. The words flowed from John's mouth in a mechanical stream, quotations from famous pacifists and resisters to the procession of history's wars. At the end of the questioning, John was given the chance to make a final statement.
He said, "My belief that the war in Vietnam, or any war, is wrong will not change. My conscience will never allow me to participate in any form of war. My feelings are the same as those of Eugene Debs.
"Eugene Debs said, 'I am accused of having obstructed the war, of being unpatriotic. I object to that accusation. It is not true. I believe in patriotism. I have never uttered a word against the flag. I love the flag as a symbol of freedom. I believe, however, in a wider patriotism.
"'Thomas Paine once said that his country was the world and to do good was his religion. That is the sort of patriotism I believe in. I am an Internationalist. I believe that nations have been pitted against nations long enough in hatred, in strife, in warfare. I believe there ought to be a bond of unity between all these nations. I believe the human race consists of one great family. I love the people of this country, but I don't hate a human being because he happens to be born in some other country. Why should I? Like myself, he is the image of his Creator. I would infinitely rather serve him and love him than to hate him and kill him. Thank you very much.'"
John rose from the stand feeling dizzy. A wave of emotion and relief swept over him. He had never been as nervous in his entire life. Jerry smiled at him. The court martial was over. The court recessed for the judge to come to a decision. An hour later the judge emerged from a grey and dingy room and called John before him. The judge said John was innocent of the charge of willful disobedience to a direct lawful order, but guilty of the lesser military crime of negligent disobedience to a lawful order. John was sentenced to six months of hard labor in a military prison.
This was John's first exposure to the power of language. The day's proceedings had boiled down to the one sentence he had used in response to his order to go to war. He had not said a direct "no." By saying instead that he felt he was not mentally or physically capable of going, he had been spared a possible four and a half years of prison time. It was staggering for him to think about.
A military policeman placed
handcuffs around John's wrists and led him to a patrol car waiting to take him to the base prison. Jerry followed John to the patrol car. John forced a smile and said, "It could've been worse."
Jerry shook John's hand. "You were very brave today. I was proud of you." John got into the patrol car. The sun was resting on the rim of horizon. A cloud of dust rose behind the car as it headed toward the prison. John looked back and saw Jerry grow smaller through the brown haze until he was a tiny speck in the distance. Then John turned around to face the future.
Review for Chapter 1
I. Comprehension Questions
1. What kind of job did John have to do after he finished his Air Force basic training?
2. What were the choices John faced when he was given his order to go to Southeast Asia?
3. What was the military crime John was charged with and what was the sentence he faced if found guilty?
4. How long did John's court martial last?
5. Why was John's punishment shorter than expected?
II. Put the following events in the correct order.
___a. John was given a prison sentence.
___b. John became involved with other soldiers in the anti-war movement.
___c. John met a sympathetic military lawyer.
___d. John underwent military training, met young men from many parts of the country, and became a security guard.
___e. John was interviewed by many military officers who questioned him about his beliefs.
___f. John made a speech at his court martial.
___g. John refused to fight in the Vietnam War.
___h. John began to believe that the Vietnam War was not right.
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