1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, 8.C. V7M 2H4 PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) Bowg Foot . Comptroller Operations Manager ” "985-2151 (939) 985-2131 (188) * Managing Editor. "fae & Marken Date | 85-2131 ae SHEN ara) rte "Malerla Stopheasea ' Classified Manager ‘sea-osti (tes) - BG-L222 (212) , pis bufon Manage | E1887 (124) eezint Hoth Shore Next, founsied in 1969 as an - Independent suburban newspaper and qualified “under Schedule 111, Maragraph 121 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday end Sunday by North Shore Free Pres Ltd. and distribuved to every door on the North , Shore, Canada Post Canadian Pubtications Mail “Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238, Mating e rates available on request. , ! SDA DIVISION z 61,582 tavern Gitentation, Wednesday. ay Fey & Surutay) ee* aN _ Entite canients ‘© 1995 North Shore Free Press Ltd. * news 5 ‘HELLO REPAIB?.. TW ACIURE 1S GETING STMALLE®, AND THE AUDIO. 18 GETING FAINTER AND ' PAINTER... viewpoint | Pe SRR AE DURE td tO Lali SON Ie Ete Pet NER AAT LEU BE ADSENSE RTO RE LR BUTTON IER KIEL 2 | _ ! HMM... SOUNDS LIKE YOU'VE TUNED: INTO THE CBC. atiwe i lave 5 THERE i is any bright light at the end of. the local native versus non-native land development tunnel, its source is Burrard - Band Chief Leonard George. ‘The leader of the’ Tsleil-waututh Nation - appeared at a Nov. 29 First Nations Futures . Juncheon. as part ofa panel on co-operative. development. between native bands ,and municipalities. ‘The subject: of the co-operative effort dis- “cussed at the luncheon was the business part- nership between the Burrard Band and North Vancouver. District that will. result in the development ofa much-needed nyclti-sheet ice ‘rink on band land located in the district: It is _a. worthy venture and will helj) relieve pres- ~ sure on other North Shore rink facilities. But more important, from Chief George’ s point of | view, it will promote the development of busi- ness skills i in Burrard Band members. DURING my recent, first time trip to Japan our host “there gave us a most memo-— rable book. I only wish I'd read it before arriving... | LEARNING TO BOW: Inside the Heart of Japan by Bruce S. Feiler, {. (Ticknor & Fields, New York, 1991) is required. reading for Western visitors to that fascinating. land. It answers many questions about the split identity of the Japanese that one quickly senses. Feiler spent'a year in Japan teaching English and the American culture. With a charmingly light _ touch he describes what his stu- Itisa ‘homegrown solution to a ‘host of band and district problems. And therein lies the thrust of George's luncheon speech and the thrust of his enlightened philosophy: individu- tions to cheir problems. They should not wait for government to provide the answers. Governments invariably complicate and obfuscate. - yf Canadians, .as George observed, suffer from a debilitating disease’ of’ self-inflicted ‘helplessness and dependence on government. | — Complacency in the land of plenty has robbed ' us of: initiative and rendered us a collective |. band of whiners, bureaucrats and self-made 7 victims. ‘Once we realize that (commits an and peo- ” ple are the reai solution’ not. government, then there really. will be light at the end of a fot of _ Canadian tunnels. / * Group- thinking breeds authori- : tarianism, which the Americans tried to eliminate from the schools after the war,,But rigid discipline ’ has crept back — outwardly sym- - bolized by strict dress codes, espe- cially the forbidding Prussian miti- tary-style uniform in many boys’ schools. The old caste system—the noble samurai, then in descending order fanners, artisans, merchants and finally burakumin (the former eta’ or “people of filth”) — is, in theo- ~ ry, long dead. But it still colors Japanese thinking, as in one sad: - story Feiler tells about a buraku boy driven to suicide by school- _ dents and Japanese teaching col- leagues taught Aim — all the way from the curious Japanese bath rit- ual to rules for picking up a . Japanese girl, But there’s nothing superficial about his analysis. Throughout the book the Japanese emerge as warm, polite, highly disciplined people who, at the same time, tend to be totally dependent — emotionally and socially. — on those particular _.cireles in which they live and work. . Not for thent thei ins yours “face, amie Sede wed i individualism so prized in North America, All-important are family, school, the empioyer company, the group. The key lies largely in " Japanese history and geography. » We are small islands and have ; always been surrounded by ene- mies.” explains one character.in the _book, So traditionally they have. always hung together against the“ outside world. Even today school textbooks still tend to portray J apan ‘cas a victini.of the West in the: Second World War. mates’ taunts about his lowly class. And despite Ametican efforts, women's equality has still some way to go, Women's basic role is still seen as that of wives:and mothers. In colleges dnd.universi- ties—where they tend to take hone economics or fiterature -— they are. still outnumbered two to one by males, . : “Internationalization’ is a buzz- ‘ word in modern Japan, English- aching a growth industry. Enthus! mt for the aaterial culture sh oe HOM ae Why ours remains ta srange: society | Dear Editor: ; ' . Ours is a strange society. ; Due to population. pressures on parkland, West. Vancouye! expects ‘a. withdrawal. from’ team - games and. plans “in’ North: Vancouver to. provide: limited playing fields in a park. ‘area bordering on the: moun: tain’ forest © are _ opposed “int - favor. of saving the trees . Concurrently, Richar Gwyn, flogging his new boo on the state of being Canadian;: > points out that we.are the only / country. in. the, world \that:n longer enjoys an. exclusi el spent on- both, Soa, "BMC a: basketball “als must retake the responsibility to find solu- | : province ; cannot “afford ‘facilities that make it possible ‘for enough of our young ple: to: enjoy . the : benefits 0! ities, T y can’t even dream 9} ig Sports heroes them: , of the West ominates the younger _ urban scene. But under the surface spiritual pendency of th Japanese on their own social. group and their rejection of raw," ~ American-style individualism Yet after reading Feiler and. meeting the Japanese at home, one hopes the younger generation won" become too completely » Westernized, Their traditional ¥: ues of loyalty and discipline, blend ed with ‘a healthy dose of Western : devotion to personal independence could produce a pretty fine human hybrid. : : _ PANDORA'S Vox! ladies present’ “Trebles With A Claus’. Friday and Saturday, at 8 p.m. in.Mt. Seymour United Church —~ tickets $12-$13., at the door or reserve by calling’ » 922-4147 ...And happy birthday Thursday, Dee. 7, to:West Van's” Renate Griffiths and Kiwanis Brock Webber, ‘