Having grown up most of my life in Kansas, I have a particular interest in the continuing debates about the teaching of evolution in school. Growing up there I thought of myself as quite liberal. After moving around some more, particularly going to law school in the DC area, I discovered I was a midwestern liberal or perhaps a bipolar conservative. (More on that discussion in another blog.)

My family and I have been living in Tokyo for several months now and there are alot of interesting things to do. We went to the National Science Museum, http://www.kahaku.go.jp, in Ueno recently. The adults of the group were very (pleasantly) surprised to see evolution very clearly described and represented. The exhibits were interesting and well organized to describe the scientific processes involved at various stages of the Earth’s history. The family makes frequent (usually a couple times a month but in the past several times a week) trips to the Smithsonian National Natural History Museum. It’s of note how different the presentation of evolution “feels” recalling the exhibits and then seeing those in Ueno.

This evening again there was a very interesting children’s program on NHK 3 (one of the Japanese national public broadcasting stations) describing theories on early development of life on Earth. The kids found it very interesting. That kind and quality of programming is difficult to find in the U.S.

While anectdotical, I am convinced there is more and more of a program distinguishing religious from either politics or science. As a result the Constitutional separations of church and state are being actively dissolved, and Kansans (such as myself) are prohibited from evolving. Perhaps without the ability to evolve ever higher intelligence I won’t have to worry about any changes in my government structure.

Ahah! Must be natural selection at work again..