I decided to review the past 20 years of telecasts, to determine just how often the national broadcast lets the ASL rendition slip by unnoticed by television viewers. Unfortunately I couldn’t find an online version of Harry Connick Jr.’s 1992 performance, where deaf athlete Lori Hilary was the first to perform the national anthem in ASL at the Super Bowl. Here’s the rest of the rundown:

• 1993 – Marlee Matlin is shown throughout. Not only is she standing right next to Garth Brooks, but when the camera pans away, she is kept in a bubble in the corner. She tweeted this morning that NBC execs wanted her off-screen, and Brooks had to insist that she was shown.
• 1994 – Natalie Cole turns in a great performance, but Atlanta Falcons cheerleader Courtney Keel Foley is nowhere to be seen.
• 1995 – Perhaps owing to her status as reigning Miss America, Heather Whitestone is shown in a bubble the entire time; it’s not clear how close she is to vocalist Kathie Lee Gifford.
• 1996 – Based on this photo from Mary Kim Titla’s Facebook page, it would appear she was right next to Vanessa Williams. Unfortunately, she isn’t shown in the broadcast.
• 1997 – There is a brief glimpse of Erika Rachael Schwarz at the beginning, before she has started signing; she is not shown at all during Luther Vandross’s performance.
• 1998 – Tony award-winning actress Phyllis Frelich is shown way off to the side during Jewel’s performance; she can be seen at the lines “bursting in air” and “o’er the land.” You can’t tell who it is, you just see someone is signing.
• 1999 – Cher is accompanied by the group Speaking Hands, which turns in a very artistic performance. They are shown in a bubble throughout, but the bubble is too small to get the full feeling of their unique style.
• 2000 – The deaf and hard of hearing program at Briarlake Elementary School sent their choir to perform alongside Faith Hill. They are shown throughout, and this time there are cuts and you can see both individual performers and the group as a whole.
• 2001 – Tom Cooney is seen signing “ramparts” but that’s it. Presumably he signed along with the entire Backstreet Boys performance, but all we get is a good full shot of him signing “ramparts.”
• 2002 – New Orleans police officer Joe Narcisse is shown at the beginning, but has not yet started to sign. Perhaps Mariah Carey insisted the camera focus only on her and no other performers.
• 2003 – The Dixie Chicks perform but Janet Maxwell is not shown at all.
• 2004 – Suzanna Christy is completely left out of Beyonce’s performance.
• 2005 – There are a lot of people to get on camera, as many combined military choirs perform. There is a tiny glimpse of Wesley Tallent after the line “bombs bursting in air,” just after the camera pans over the veterans in red coats. He’s standing in the middle of the field, and you can barely see him, but you can tell he’s signing.
• 2006 – There is a tiny glimpse of Angela LaGuardia as Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin sing “o’er the ramparts,” but that’s it.
• 2007 – After years of being almost completely ignored, Marlee Matlin finally brings the spotlight back on ASL. She is shown for several seconds, as Billy Joel sings “the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air.” She’s not onstage as she was with Garth Brooks, though – she’s on the field.
• 2008 – Here’s where we finally learn why they even bother with an ASL performance: turns out everybody in the stadium gets to see it on the Jumbotron! As Jordin Sparks sings “our flag was still there,” a shot that includes the Jumbotron reveals it’s showing A Dreamer, an instructor in the Interpreter Preparation Program at Phoenix College.
• 2009 – Kristen Santos is shown on the Jumbotron too, during Jennifer Hudson’s performance. She is seen at the line “dawn’s early light.”
• 2010 – The Jumbotron brings us Kinesha Battles, shown in split-screen with Carrie Underwood. Battles can be seen a few times, including during the line “gave proof through the night.”
• 2011 – Candice Villesca is nowhere to be seen…perhaps just as well, considering Christina Aguilera’s notorious mistakes, that undoubtedly confused Villesca – as they did everyone else shown on screen during the performance. (See below for more info.)
• 2012 – I sought this one out even though it was just last night, because I thought maybe everyone had missed a Jumbotron appearance. Nope – Rachel Mazique just isn’t there. Kelly Clarkson’s bangs are instead!

Maybe next year I’ll get to update this post and congratulate the network for including ASL prominently in the telecast?

Added: A friend of mine chatted with Rachel Mazique the evening of the Super Bowl. My friend had watched the game on the NBC Sports website, which showed multiple angles, and did catch a glimpse of the ASL performance. Rachel is frustrated and very unhappy with what happened, and she wants to make sure this doesn’t happen again! Let’s cross our fingers for a 1993-style side-by-side for next year, shall we?

Added: The media coverage begins with the Daily Herald’s article, published this morning. Don’t miss the petition to get ASL recognized by NBC and the NFL commissioners!

Added: It looks like Candice Villesca, the 2011 performer, may have been shown after all. There’s a news article here, with captions, that shows her performing on the field, but it’s unclear what the source of that clip is – the news article is from a Fox affiliate, and the Super Bowl was broadcast on Fox in 2011, so perhaps it’s footage that was shown nationwide – or maybe it’s just from their vaults. At any rate, it’s great to have a bit of her signing on video! You can also catch a vlogger’s interview with Candice about her Super Bowl experience here. Thanks to commenters Chris and Sam for the video links!

• Cat Magic – Shinjuku Sanchome
• NekoMaru – Ueno
• NekoMaru East – Kinshicho
• Nyan – Machida
• Nyan 2 – Ikebukuro
• Hapineko – Shibuya
• Nyafe Melange – Ebisu
• Nekorobi* – Ikebukuro
• Calico – Shinjuku
• Calico 2 – Kichijoji
• NekoCafe Club – Jiyugaoka
• Mi Neko – Jiyugaoka
• Cat Prince – Shimo-Kitazawa
• Nekochaya – Sakura-Shinmachi
• Cateriam – Shimo-Kitazawa
• Rien – Oyamadai (reservations required; Norwegian Forests only)
• Asakusa Garden – Asakusa
• NyanMaru – Omori
• Cats Cafe – Ebaranakanobu
• JaLaLa* – Akihabara
• Chamamo* – Meiji-jingumae
• Whimsical Cat – Akasaka
• Curl Up Cafe – Nishikoyama (reservations required)
• Tamaneko – Tama Center
• Nekonote – Kinshicho
• Cat Room Korune – Ogikubo
• Nyan da Cafe* – Odaiba Seaside Park
• Tokyo Cat Guardian – Otsuka
• Mellow Cafe – Kichijoji

So Monday I went to the store and bought it. Because I am an idiot, or something. I felt guilty, but I did it. I should be saving money for Japan, but I dropped $200 on the iPod touch. Whatever.

Then, Tuesday night, I discovered the damn rear camera is less than one megapixel which puts it on par with cameras sold in 1998. I checked…there were 1MP cameras available in 1998. And this is what Apple saw fit to put on their iPod touch. Now, originally I thought well, it’s just to keep the price down. Surely the iPad, an expensive luxury item, has a better camera. Nope…same crappy sub-1MP camera. What the hell, Apple? How can you put a very well rated camera into the iPhone 4S, and such bullshit into the other iDevices?

So I’m going to return it. The rear camera is shit, and while the FFC is up to normal FFC standards, it’s $200 for a front-facing camera, so to hell with that. I’m going to return it tomorrow…was going to be today until I realized you have to use the computer to do a restore operation, so I’ll do that tonight, and then return it tomorrow.

Instead I’m looking into putting this into my existing cell phone, a Samsung Vibrant. There are lots of tutorials out there for it, and I once replaced a malfunctioning camera in a Blackberry Curve 8310, so I think I can do this. Reportedly you have to use a custom ROM to get the FFC working, which I didn’t want to do because the Vibrant can’t call 911 with a custom ROM installed. But I’m going to Japan for a year, and they don’t have 911 there anyway, so…no big deal on that front.

Of course, what I really want is the myTouch 4G Slide, which is what I would have gotten if I hadn’t gotten the job in Japan. But that is $350, so I can’t get that. I am going to spend the $25 or whatever on the FFC, do the mod, and cross my fingers.

I will bring some books for work, though. I purchased the ASL Curriculum, Methods, and Evaluation book from the Green Books series, to help me better understand how to teach ASL – I know the grammar and culture, but not how to teach it to others! I will also bring Deaf in Japan and the English JSL dictionary.

I’m trying to decide if I want to bring some of my other books as well. I have a large library of ASL books, including some that might be useful, like Signs Across America, What’s Your Sign for Pizza, and a medical dictionary as well as a computer dictionary. But I have many others I could bring in addition to those, and I just don’t think I want to drag along 8 million books!

I’m trying to decide if I should bring my Through Deaf Eyes DVD or not. It only has English-language subtitles, not Japanese, so I don’t know how useful it would be. It’s available from Amazon.co.jp but that one only has English subtitles too! (I have been making a list of stuff I want to purchase from Amazon.co.jp…just to get me started if I can’t find that stuff in stores…)

Of course, they charged me $25 to make the reservation over the phone. Except you can’t make a one-way Star Alliance award ticket reservation on the internet, you have to call. You can do round-trip Star Alliance online, and you can do one-way United, but not what I wanted. So I guess I’m paying $25 for the privilege of on-demand video…it’s worth it. Trust me.

I haven’t been able to upgrade to Premium Economy yet, though. The rep said it would be possible, but I don’t see where to do it on United’s site, and ANA’s site is a little hard to navigate (I remember this from my last flight with them). I think it’ll only be a couple hundred bucks, and once again…worth it. If I can’t manage it though, I will survive, because I have that wonderful on-demand video system. It has videos in numerous languages, with subtitles in numerous languages, and you can pick what you want, when you want. This is imperative for a 14-hour transpacific flight, I’m telling you. The extra legroom is highly desirable, but that on-demand video system is essential. I’ll try to call ANA in the morning, they’re not 24/7 like United, hopefully they can hook me up with the Premium Economy purchase. It was far more important to me to get on ANA though, so if I can’t get Premium Economy, I will survive. Also, ANA is just much friendlier than United, somehow…better run, nicer flight attendants, and hello, it’s Japanese! It’s like getting to Japan as soon as you’ve boarded the plane in the United States.

I’m not sure yet if I will actually be able to leave on the 1st. You’d think that would keep me from booking the ticket, right? Nope. I am just going to cross my fingers that my work visa works out so I can leave on the 1st – I got the paperwork in today, I’ll return it tomorrow, it takes a month to process, then I get the certificate to bring to the embassy here, then it takes four or five days to get the visa. Hopefully I can tell them “I’m arriving March 2nd” and they will say “okay, your visa will start March 2nd” but who knows. I also hope the apartment building I want will have an eligible room right away, but if not, I can handle a few nights in a hotel or hostel until that place opens up, or I’ll just end up somewhere else, who knows.

The important thing is, I have my ticket. Also, it’s supposedly no fee to change my flight if I keep the same route and airline (no fee from United maybe, dunno about ANA), $75 to change if I want to change that stuff, and $150 to recredit the miles if I decide to completely cancel, which is not happening. So the ticket has cost me about $250 so far – $225 to top off my miles enough for the award ticket, and $25 for the phone booking fee. Hey, even if I have to pay to change my flight around, it’s still cheaper than buying the ticket outright. Hooray for frequent flyer miles!

I’m kinda excited….yeah!

It was an easy decision, because of my experiences there in 2010. Contrary to popular (American) belief, Japan is not a haven for vegetarians – there’s meat everywhere, of all kinds. And in a land where a famous saying is the nail that sticks up gets hammered down, being a vegetarian is…weird. Making special requests at restaurants isn’t usually done. Asking if something has meat at someone’s home is definitely not done. And neither of them are done at all if you don’t speak Japanese. It’s inconvenient, socially awkward, bland, and expensive to be vegetarian in Japan. Yeah, you can do it (especially if you look the other way on bonito flakes and broths), but it’s hard. It’s also not healthy – junk food is pretty reliably vegetarian, so I found myself eating a lot of it during my internship, and that’s not good.

So I had already decided, when I applied for the job, that if I got it I would quit vegetarianism. The United States is a culture where being a vegetarian is easy, culturally acceptable, and healthy. Japan is simply not set up that way, and if I’m going to be in a different culture, I should adapt to them – this goes for any culture, but especially one as obsessed with conformity as Japan. I was kind of looking forward to the idea, but I wasn’t going to quit until I actually got the job – no point changing my principles early.

When I got the job, on the 1st, I had some cheeseburger Doritos – yes, they exist, and my wife tells me they taste like the real thing. They have beef flavoring, so technically this was my first meat. On the 2nd, we went to a local Vietnamese place. :A: got grilled chicken with lime, and I had a little bite…it was so good. I got chicken pho, and picked out most of the chicken (brought it home for later). I was a little appalled to realize what body parts I was eating, and it felt so strange to put them into my mouth, but I did it. Since then I’ve had a bite of pork burrito, a bite of chicken tamale, a small McDonald’s fries (honestly I don’t think the beef tallow spray makes them any better than anyone else’s fries), two pieces of pepperoni and sausage pizza, some of the leftover chicken, and…beef stroganoff. That was tonight, and it was amazing. The initial “Alice down the rabbit hole” feeling I had when putting meat into my mouth has only faded by about 10%, but it is fading. It’s what people have told me all along: meat tastes good.

There’s so much I want to try before going to Japan. I posted on reddit to ask for the best burger place, and they recommended several; I think I’ve picked Elevation Burger but I want a Five Guys burger too. I want a tuna fish sandwich. I want a ham and cheese sandwich at Subway. I want BBQ at Famous Dave’s down the street from me. How do you eat ribs? I don’t know yet! I want Lunchables, maybe, though they’re kinda weird. I want some kind of sweet jerky thing. I want…so many things!

I don’t know if I’ll go back to vegetarianism when I return to the U.S. in 2013. Right now, I see advantages both ways. I am curious about so many things I won’t have time to try, so maybe I’ll try them when I get back, and maybe I won’t. Maybe eating meat will become a regular thing, and I won’t feel weird when I have a bowl of gyūdon there, it’ll be normal. Or maybe I will come back and decide that my principles – the ones I’ve held for 18 years – are more important than my taste buds, and now that I’m back in the land of meat analogues and gummy vitamins, I can go back to vegetarianism. I don’t know. But meanwhile, I’m enjoying this very interesting journey into the land of meat. I hear bacon is good…