Seasonal celebrations threatened by nationwide butter shortage
People stopped drinking so much milk for some reason a few years ago and the Bureau of Making Bad Decisions got rid of too many cows. Now we're coming up on the winter holidays and people want their romantic Christmas cakes and aren't going to get them. Fortunately, not many osechi items require butter so the crisis is being contained mainly to ex-pats and young Japanese couples. Grandma can still make toshi-koshi soba for New Year's and there will be plenty of mochi for Grandpa to gag on and suffocate to death while trying to eat.
I wasn't aware of a butter shortage. We use margarine at our house. We haven't even shopped for real butter as far as I know, not even when we were baking cakes and cookies together. What's it like to live in a butter-less world now that I know there's a shortage? Why, just the same as before I knew. It's kind of like when I first became aware of the show Big Bang Theory. The chances of my interacting with it made it seem as remote as a space-frog on a distant planet light years away. Butterless Christmas cakes! Idiots wandering around in BAZINGA! t-shirts! Meaningless to me. I am surrounded by a bubble of invincibility these things have no power to penetrate.
Meanwhile we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past where there is butter aplenty and reruns of Cheers.
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Take a look at some Halloween treats...
Over on Let's Look at Japan I posted a few photos of some Halloween candy you can buy in Japan this year. Fujiya's ever-popular Country Ma'am chocolate chip cookies and the like. Strangely, these appeared in September and vanished from our local stores (at least the ones we shop at the most) before October. Also enjoy a spooky scientific skeleton, fall colors and Ray Parker, Jr. Check them out!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Universal Studios Japan's Horror Nights...
Over at my new Let's Look at Japan! Tumbr blog, I've been flood-posting photos from our trip to Universal Studios Japan where we experienced this year's Horror Nights. Or, as their website also calls it, "Universal Surprise Halloween." It's a blast. They decorate the park with Halloween banners, send their costumed characters around for trick-or-treat/photo opportunities with the kids, pipe in a nonstop stream of spooky songs (well, spooky and goofy) and at 6pm, turn most of the park into a haunted attraction with zombie attacks based on the popular Biohazard film series. USJ dubbed it Biohazard-- the Real 2. It runs weekends and Mondays until November 9th, so if you're in the Osaka area, looking for something to do for Halloween night and money is no object (it's not outrageously expensive but this kind of fun doesn't come cheap, either) get thee to USJ.
The Biohazard event starts promptly at 6pm with a bright flash and a loud bang from somewhere either near or within the New York City zone, setting the perfect ominous tone for the cannibalistic disaster to come. If you've downloaded USJ's smartphone app, you get a message warning you some sort of virus has escaped the park's laboratories via an explosive accident. There are street signs scattered around with flashing lights to let you know the areas of major zombie activity. If this is your taste, hover nearby and enjoy the performances. Some of the character actors are incredibly skilled at miming their undead state. The makeup and costumes will freak you out, too, along with some disorienting lighting. You can view the antics from 2013 on YouTube. Apparently, the park projects strange new facades onto the buildings with spooky animated effects, too. We didn't go too deep into that area, so I can't vouch for this year's event, but it's probably the same.
To experience the "Street Zombies" to the fullest, you should buy one of the blinking light eyeball necklaces available in gift shops and sidewalk stands. Signs at the park assure us eyeballs are a zombie's favorite snack. Otherwise, stick to the sidewalks after 6 o'clock and you should be (fairly) safe. If you're squeamish, the kiddie fare Wonderland area is a zombie-free zone. You can also get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and ride out the living dead infestation there while drinking butterbeer and enjoying the soothing serenading of the Hogwarts Frog Choir, a cheerful group of magical students and their chirruping, deep-throated frog accompaniment.
One word of advice-- to enter the Wizard World you need a special ticket you can only get inside the park. I believe one or both express passes allow you to get in, too, but double check to make sure. We weren't able to get express passes because they were sold out at the park. The Wizarding World kiosks are near Mel's Drive-In on a semi-hidden path next to the central lagoon. Look for the park staff members and the long line that seems to be going nowhere behind some shrubs or small trees. Your park entry ticket has a mark each member of your party scans at the kiosk and you'll receive tickets with entrance times. English language is a kiosk option.
It's best to do this as soon as you get into the park before people snap up all the times. We arrived around noon the first day and the next available entrance time to Wizarding World were at 6:30pm. Not a disaster since there's more than enough to do all day. It is an amusement park, after all. The next day we arrived around 10am and the earliest entrance time was at 6:00. The Wizarding World is best enjoyed after dark, so again, no problem. We did see a number of very disappointed people turned away at the Wizarding World entrance because they didn't have tickets. On the other hand, the staff allowed us in a little early both nights. But get those tickets!
On my Tumblr, I call it Mel's Diner instead of Mel's Drive-In. I guess I have Alice on the brain. Well kiss mah grits, anyone could make that mistake. Like the other restaurants we visited, Mel's has three lunch sets (helpfully labeled A, B and C. Just say, for example, "B setto, kudasai. Cola onegaishimasu!" or something similar, or simply "B setto to Cola" will do.) but we only tried the ones with the cheeseburgers. The burgers are large (about Whopper-size) and come with a side of fries and a drink. This was my favorite meal at USJ. All the restaurants are expensive, as you might imagine. The food at the Jurassic Park's Discovery and Amity Landing restaurants was edible but not especially memorable, while the Mel's cheeseburgers were delightfully delicious. One fun thing about Amity Landing is its atmosphere recreates one of those old school fast food fish restaurants, like a 1970s Cap'n D's or Long John Silvers, although the menu features only chicken. The cashiers cheerfully call out, "Next captain, please!" We got a chuckle out of that.
Ah, service. In all the restaurants we went to, the staff enjoyed greeting me in English and shouting, "Happy Halloween!" and "Have a nice time!" Discovery Restaurant added a little Spanish to the mix. The cashier asked me (in English) to say, "Hola!" to the person handing my food, so I did. I really enjoy this kind of stuff, so I laughed and played along and had a grand time. I wish we had tried pizza in the park or the fish and chips courtesy Harry Potter's world, but I have no complaints about what we ate. Well, the price maybe. Still, you don't go to USJ if you're going to experience sticker shock for paying as much for a single cheeseburger set as we pay for two meals at a local MosBurger. Plan for it instead.
More food related tips-- the Boardwalk Restaurant in Amity Village is based on a set from the movie Mystic Pizza, not Jaws. The sign boards offer slushes, but I didn't see them on the menu. I ended up getting a vanilla shake. It was fine. The different ice cream restaurants seem to be all Baskin-Robbins 31 outlets, but we didn't go into any of them because the lines were almost as long as for some of the attractions. And yes, you can enjoy alcoholic beverages at a number of places throughout USJ. Crazed drunks must not be too much of a problem there, but this being Japan you will find people napping on benches and even along curbs despite the noise and bustle of costumed families. Have fun spotting them! Expect lines for any place that sells churros because eating churros is just what you do at an amusement park in Japan. And if you want, you can fill up on cheaper food at one of the places just outside the park in the Universal Walk shopping area before you go in, then hit them up after you finish your day and night of fun on your way out. There's a MosBurger, a McDonald's and a TGI Fridays, among other choices. I couldn't do that because I like to eat all day when I'm running around.
Finally, our boy, Harry Potter. If you're a fan, this is where you want to go. You queue up inside a circle of standing stones with Harry Potter theme music playing and you're primed for an immersive experience. Once you get in, you pass along a lighted path through fir trees. Music and the sounds of strange forest creatures drift through the air. There's a large stone strangely balanced on a smaller one. There's a staff member lugging a plastic bag of garbage for a less-than-atmospheric moment. And then you find the entrance to the town of Hogsmeade and all at once, you're transported directly from Japan into a Potter book or movie.
The town is as J.K. Rowling describes it in her books. Snow-peaked rooftops, quaint little shops, the Hogwarts Express awaiting its next run. I'm not even much of a Potter fan and it enchanted me. For the most part. The shops are packed and difficult to search through for that perfect Potter souvenir and the waiting times for the attractions can stretch past the 2 hour mark. Even just to walk through Hogwarts promises a 45-minute wait that stretched into over an hour for us. We still had a lot of fun there, though. The Hogwarts interior lavishly recreates what you've seen in the movies so there's no disappointment once you're inside. Especially when the paintings begin to move and speak.
The cast members dressed as Hogwarts students greet guests very cheerfully if you run into them on their way to the outdoor stage, especially the young woman playing the lead role. I can still hear her voice, especially during the post-show guest photo opps where she tirelessly worked the crowd while consistently maintaining her character. "3... 2... 1... GRYFFINDOR!" or "3... 2... 1... HOGSMEADE!"
Kids loved her. How these performers keep up that energy remains a magical mystery to me. I couldn't do it. But imagine how fun it must be to do a stint as a performer at USJ if you're a talented young person with a hunger for experience. Which reminds me-- the guy who played our tour boat guide on the Jaws ride was also a real trouper. We got a massive kick out of his performance, and also out of the hard-working Harry Potter cast.
Butterbeer. What does it taste like? How do they get that foam on top that makes it look like real beer? It tastes a bit like a cream soda or a mild rootbeer and the foam adds a butterscotch undertone to it. Kind of what I expected. We did not buy the souvenir mugs. For one thing, they're plastic and we couldn't see much use for them around the house later. And for another, we just didn't feel like carrying them around. You may feel differently. You should try butterbeer. Be warned-- there are two beer wagons on the streets outside the shops. The one you see just inside the Hogsmeade gates has the longer lines. There's another past the stage closer to Hogwarts that has shorter ones. I read on a blog somewhere you can get your butterbeer even faster inside one of the restaurants or bars or whatever it Hogsmeade has. Wizarding halls? We didn't go in, so I have no clue. Do some reading online. Wish we had first.
Oh yeah. I almost forgot. If you're truly tired and your feet are screaming bloody murder at your back that's whining about missing your nice, firm mattress back home plus your mind is on the verge of boiling over from crowd overstimulation and you just can't seem to find anyplace to sit with your churro and your vanilla milk shake, make your way into the fake Central Park underneath the overhead roller coaster. There probably won't be as many people around and you're very likely to find a quiet bench to recoup your energy (and let your mind turn it down a notch or two) and have a little picnic while talking about all the fun things you've done so far. And all the people dressed like Hogwarts students, of which there were hundreds (speaking of costumes-- you can outfit yourself Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw style inside the Wizarding World, but sometimes the prime Gryffindor and Slytherin costume goods sell out, and there was a more conventional Halloween costume shop set up in Hollywood for zombie stuff and sexy police officer dresses if those are your thing).
Central Park also makes a handy shortcut or at least crowd-avoidance route to take between NYC/San Francisco and Amity Village/Jurassic Park.
So that's Halloween at USJ. Check my Let's Look at Japan! Tumblr for more photos and information.
The Biohazard event starts promptly at 6pm with a bright flash and a loud bang from somewhere either near or within the New York City zone, setting the perfect ominous tone for the cannibalistic disaster to come. If you've downloaded USJ's smartphone app, you get a message warning you some sort of virus has escaped the park's laboratories via an explosive accident. There are street signs scattered around with flashing lights to let you know the areas of major zombie activity. If this is your taste, hover nearby and enjoy the performances. Some of the character actors are incredibly skilled at miming their undead state. The makeup and costumes will freak you out, too, along with some disorienting lighting. You can view the antics from 2013 on YouTube. Apparently, the park projects strange new facades onto the buildings with spooky animated effects, too. We didn't go too deep into that area, so I can't vouch for this year's event, but it's probably the same.
To experience the "Street Zombies" to the fullest, you should buy one of the blinking light eyeball necklaces available in gift shops and sidewalk stands. Signs at the park assure us eyeballs are a zombie's favorite snack. Otherwise, stick to the sidewalks after 6 o'clock and you should be (fairly) safe. If you're squeamish, the kiddie fare Wonderland area is a zombie-free zone. You can also get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and ride out the living dead infestation there while drinking butterbeer and enjoying the soothing serenading of the Hogwarts Frog Choir, a cheerful group of magical students and their chirruping, deep-throated frog accompaniment.
One word of advice-- to enter the Wizard World you need a special ticket you can only get inside the park. I believe one or both express passes allow you to get in, too, but double check to make sure. We weren't able to get express passes because they were sold out at the park. The Wizarding World kiosks are near Mel's Drive-In on a semi-hidden path next to the central lagoon. Look for the park staff members and the long line that seems to be going nowhere behind some shrubs or small trees. Your park entry ticket has a mark each member of your party scans at the kiosk and you'll receive tickets with entrance times. English language is a kiosk option.
It's best to do this as soon as you get into the park before people snap up all the times. We arrived around noon the first day and the next available entrance time to Wizarding World were at 6:30pm. Not a disaster since there's more than enough to do all day. It is an amusement park, after all. The next day we arrived around 10am and the earliest entrance time was at 6:00. The Wizarding World is best enjoyed after dark, so again, no problem. We did see a number of very disappointed people turned away at the Wizarding World entrance because they didn't have tickets. On the other hand, the staff allowed us in a little early both nights. But get those tickets!
On my Tumblr, I call it Mel's Diner instead of Mel's Drive-In. I guess I have Alice on the brain. Well kiss mah grits, anyone could make that mistake. Like the other restaurants we visited, Mel's has three lunch sets (helpfully labeled A, B and C. Just say, for example, "B setto, kudasai. Cola onegaishimasu!" or something similar, or simply "B setto to Cola" will do.) but we only tried the ones with the cheeseburgers. The burgers are large (about Whopper-size) and come with a side of fries and a drink. This was my favorite meal at USJ. All the restaurants are expensive, as you might imagine. The food at the Jurassic Park's Discovery and Amity Landing restaurants was edible but not especially memorable, while the Mel's cheeseburgers were delightfully delicious. One fun thing about Amity Landing is its atmosphere recreates one of those old school fast food fish restaurants, like a 1970s Cap'n D's or Long John Silvers, although the menu features only chicken. The cashiers cheerfully call out, "Next captain, please!" We got a chuckle out of that.
Ah, service. In all the restaurants we went to, the staff enjoyed greeting me in English and shouting, "Happy Halloween!" and "Have a nice time!" Discovery Restaurant added a little Spanish to the mix. The cashier asked me (in English) to say, "Hola!" to the person handing my food, so I did. I really enjoy this kind of stuff, so I laughed and played along and had a grand time. I wish we had tried pizza in the park or the fish and chips courtesy Harry Potter's world, but I have no complaints about what we ate. Well, the price maybe. Still, you don't go to USJ if you're going to experience sticker shock for paying as much for a single cheeseburger set as we pay for two meals at a local MosBurger. Plan for it instead.
More food related tips-- the Boardwalk Restaurant in Amity Village is based on a set from the movie Mystic Pizza, not Jaws. The sign boards offer slushes, but I didn't see them on the menu. I ended up getting a vanilla shake. It was fine. The different ice cream restaurants seem to be all Baskin-Robbins 31 outlets, but we didn't go into any of them because the lines were almost as long as for some of the attractions. And yes, you can enjoy alcoholic beverages at a number of places throughout USJ. Crazed drunks must not be too much of a problem there, but this being Japan you will find people napping on benches and even along curbs despite the noise and bustle of costumed families. Have fun spotting them! Expect lines for any place that sells churros because eating churros is just what you do at an amusement park in Japan. And if you want, you can fill up on cheaper food at one of the places just outside the park in the Universal Walk shopping area before you go in, then hit them up after you finish your day and night of fun on your way out. There's a MosBurger, a McDonald's and a TGI Fridays, among other choices. I couldn't do that because I like to eat all day when I'm running around.
Finally, our boy, Harry Potter. If you're a fan, this is where you want to go. You queue up inside a circle of standing stones with Harry Potter theme music playing and you're primed for an immersive experience. Once you get in, you pass along a lighted path through fir trees. Music and the sounds of strange forest creatures drift through the air. There's a large stone strangely balanced on a smaller one. There's a staff member lugging a plastic bag of garbage for a less-than-atmospheric moment. And then you find the entrance to the town of Hogsmeade and all at once, you're transported directly from Japan into a Potter book or movie.
The town is as J.K. Rowling describes it in her books. Snow-peaked rooftops, quaint little shops, the Hogwarts Express awaiting its next run. I'm not even much of a Potter fan and it enchanted me. For the most part. The shops are packed and difficult to search through for that perfect Potter souvenir and the waiting times for the attractions can stretch past the 2 hour mark. Even just to walk through Hogwarts promises a 45-minute wait that stretched into over an hour for us. We still had a lot of fun there, though. The Hogwarts interior lavishly recreates what you've seen in the movies so there's no disappointment once you're inside. Especially when the paintings begin to move and speak.
The cast members dressed as Hogwarts students greet guests very cheerfully if you run into them on their way to the outdoor stage, especially the young woman playing the lead role. I can still hear her voice, especially during the post-show guest photo opps where she tirelessly worked the crowd while consistently maintaining her character. "3... 2... 1... GRYFFINDOR!" or "3... 2... 1... HOGSMEADE!"
Kids loved her. How these performers keep up that energy remains a magical mystery to me. I couldn't do it. But imagine how fun it must be to do a stint as a performer at USJ if you're a talented young person with a hunger for experience. Which reminds me-- the guy who played our tour boat guide on the Jaws ride was also a real trouper. We got a massive kick out of his performance, and also out of the hard-working Harry Potter cast.
Butterbeer. What does it taste like? How do they get that foam on top that makes it look like real beer? It tastes a bit like a cream soda or a mild rootbeer and the foam adds a butterscotch undertone to it. Kind of what I expected. We did not buy the souvenir mugs. For one thing, they're plastic and we couldn't see much use for them around the house later. And for another, we just didn't feel like carrying them around. You may feel differently. You should try butterbeer. Be warned-- there are two beer wagons on the streets outside the shops. The one you see just inside the Hogsmeade gates has the longer lines. There's another past the stage closer to Hogwarts that has shorter ones. I read on a blog somewhere you can get your butterbeer even faster inside one of the restaurants or bars or whatever it Hogsmeade has. Wizarding halls? We didn't go in, so I have no clue. Do some reading online. Wish we had first.
Oh yeah. I almost forgot. If you're truly tired and your feet are screaming bloody murder at your back that's whining about missing your nice, firm mattress back home plus your mind is on the verge of boiling over from crowd overstimulation and you just can't seem to find anyplace to sit with your churro and your vanilla milk shake, make your way into the fake Central Park underneath the overhead roller coaster. There probably won't be as many people around and you're very likely to find a quiet bench to recoup your energy (and let your mind turn it down a notch or two) and have a little picnic while talking about all the fun things you've done so far. And all the people dressed like Hogwarts students, of which there were hundreds (speaking of costumes-- you can outfit yourself Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw style inside the Wizarding World, but sometimes the prime Gryffindor and Slytherin costume goods sell out, and there was a more conventional Halloween costume shop set up in Hollywood for zombie stuff and sexy police officer dresses if those are your thing).
Central Park also makes a handy shortcut or at least crowd-avoidance route to take between NYC/San Francisco and Amity Village/Jurassic Park.
So that's Halloween at USJ. Check my Let's Look at Japan! Tumblr for more photos and information.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Canadian journalist in Japan tests negative for Ebola
Canadian journalist in Japan tests negative for Ebola
I suppose it was inevitable the story would include Japan. I don't think of Japan as a big tourist destination. It's far, it's pricey. But journalists are well-traveled, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the big news story of the moment. So I'm not surprised the first Ebola-related incident in Japan involves a journalist. It was either going to be a journalist or someone working in medicine. I wish him all the best on a simple human level, not because I'm afraid Ebola will spread in Japan. His chances of having Ebola are very slim, but the fear-mongering and confused response has not been our finest hour as people on this planet.
I suppose it was inevitable the story would include Japan. I don't think of Japan as a big tourist destination. It's far, it's pricey. But journalists are well-traveled, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the big news story of the moment. So I'm not surprised the first Ebola-related incident in Japan involves a journalist. It was either going to be a journalist or someone working in medicine. I wish him all the best on a simple human level, not because I'm afraid Ebola will spread in Japan. His chances of having Ebola are very slim, but the fear-mongering and confused response has not been our finest hour as people on this planet.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Sunday's Halloween parade in Kawasaki: Trick or treat
Trick or treat
Just a fun photo you should see. It's Halloween week in Japan. Yesterday we saw the same two Halloween-themed TV commercials a couple of dozen times.
Halloween's popularity seems to be surging this year. I hope so. Out of all the fun holidays I imagine Japan would do better than any other country, Halloween is the main one. Much more so than Arbor Day or Take Your Kids to Work Day. Japanese horror has a dream-like quality I find superior to that of my home country, and this is the place where some genius or group of geniuses invented cosplay. Add in some of the frenetic qualities of Japan's homegrown local festivals and you're going to end up with something truly insane. Halloween as it was meant to be. A graveyard revel. Death made kawaii.
Just a fun photo you should see. It's Halloween week in Japan. Yesterday we saw the same two Halloween-themed TV commercials a couple of dozen times.
Halloween's popularity seems to be surging this year. I hope so. Out of all the fun holidays I imagine Japan would do better than any other country, Halloween is the main one. Much more so than Arbor Day or Take Your Kids to Work Day. Japanese horror has a dream-like quality I find superior to that of my home country, and this is the place where some genius or group of geniuses invented cosplay. Add in some of the frenetic qualities of Japan's homegrown local festivals and you're going to end up with something truly insane. Halloween as it was meant to be. A graveyard revel. Death made kawaii.
Cabinet OKs changes to law that bans late-night dancing
Cabinet OKs changes to law that bans late-night dancing
A 66 year old law, huh? If this article has its facts straight, the anti-dancing crackdown has been going on for longer than I thought. Not 66 years, but four. I had this vague idea it started a year or two ago. I remember dancing well past midnight in Hamamatsu and in Tokyo, but I'd long since given it up when the police dropped the hammer in the wake of the Osaka stabbing. Well, 66 years or 4, it's time to let the people dance all night again. Even if I won't be joining them.
Bad back and knees.
My favorite line from the story is this one: "[P]roprietors were charged with the crime of making people dance." Making people dance. They must have brought some serious funk if such is the case.
A 66 year old law, huh? If this article has its facts straight, the anti-dancing crackdown has been going on for longer than I thought. Not 66 years, but four. I had this vague idea it started a year or two ago. I remember dancing well past midnight in Hamamatsu and in Tokyo, but I'd long since given it up when the police dropped the hammer in the wake of the Osaka stabbing. Well, 66 years or 4, it's time to let the people dance all night again. Even if I won't be joining them.
Bad back and knees.
My favorite line from the story is this one: "[P]roprietors were charged with the crime of making people dance." Making people dance. They must have brought some serious funk if such is the case.
First Halloween scare of the week: Colossal volcanic eruption could destroy Japan: study
Colossal volcanic eruption could destroy Japan: study
It's certainly true a large enough volcanic explosion would destroy Japan. A large enough meteorite striking us would as well. A nuclear war between the US and China or Russia would do the trick, too. Or an airborne illness with no possibility of a cure and a 100% mortality rate. If Crayon Shin-chan lit a powerful enough fart, he could incinerate all of Honshu. One day the sun will consume the inner planets, including the earth.
It's best to be prepared, but in the event of a disaster of this magnitude, you should just kiss your ass goodbye. In other words, pointing out the obvious-- a vast disaster we have no control over and for which no amount of preparation can save us kills everyone dead, dead, dead-- doesn't really help anyone do anything. Makes for interesting news copy, though.
It's certainly true a large enough volcanic explosion would destroy Japan. A large enough meteorite striking us would as well. A nuclear war between the US and China or Russia would do the trick, too. Or an airborne illness with no possibility of a cure and a 100% mortality rate. If Crayon Shin-chan lit a powerful enough fart, he could incinerate all of Honshu. One day the sun will consume the inner planets, including the earth.
It's best to be prepared, but in the event of a disaster of this magnitude, you should just kiss your ass goodbye. In other words, pointing out the obvious-- a vast disaster we have no control over and for which no amount of preparation can save us kills everyone dead, dead, dead-- doesn't really help anyone do anything. Makes for interesting news copy, though.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Two resignations this week, one justified, one kinda...: Justice minister undone by cheap paper fan
Justice minister undone by cheap paper fan
Well, that's too bad. I get the need for strong election laws governing the ways in which candidates can sway voters. For example, buying them booze and trucking a bunch of drunks to the polls all over town while letting them vote under a multitude of assumed names is probably considered wrong in some places. Or simply offering bucks for ballots. We tend to frown upon political parties who do such things to win elections.
On the other hand, it's perfectly okay for an auto, insurance, oil or defense company to buy candidates outright even if those companies are wholly owned by people or groups who aren't even citizens of the nation where the elected serve. There are any number of loopholes to make it seem that's not what's happening. These are essentially changing the definition to fit the needs of the people with the money and the people with the ability to get laws passed to do so for a share of that money. In some cases it's not necessary to buy the elected official as it is to do his or her work for her by writing the laws that person will sponsor in parliament or house or senate or diet. Politicians love when other people do their jobs for them, and this arrangement makes it easier for the people at the top to take a big dump on the people below with a minimum of effort.
However it works out, someone benefits and it's rarely you or me. In this case, some nice person attempted to provide fans in a country where summers are sweltering. All kinds of businesses provide fun and helpful fans around the train stations. If a movie studio does it to advertise the latest Pokémon extravaganza, people are happy. And slightly less sweaty. That way they're better able to cope with the heat, just like reality television starring bearded mutants helps Americans cope when the local rep proposes a law allowing oil companies to drill for crude in Grandma's brains. They just wave their colorful advertising fans around the way people back home are increasingly finding ways to talk around the derrick sprouting from Grandma's wig. Business as usual.
That's why I think this resignation is a bit much considering the crime. If she'd colluded with Sony and Mitsubishi to change a labor law so that 10-year-olds had to start working 80-hour work weeks with in exchange for their elementary school educations, that would be completely okay. Give away something useful like a fan and it's "So long, job!"
Well, that's too bad. I get the need for strong election laws governing the ways in which candidates can sway voters. For example, buying them booze and trucking a bunch of drunks to the polls all over town while letting them vote under a multitude of assumed names is probably considered wrong in some places. Or simply offering bucks for ballots. We tend to frown upon political parties who do such things to win elections.
On the other hand, it's perfectly okay for an auto, insurance, oil or defense company to buy candidates outright even if those companies are wholly owned by people or groups who aren't even citizens of the nation where the elected serve. There are any number of loopholes to make it seem that's not what's happening. These are essentially changing the definition to fit the needs of the people with the money and the people with the ability to get laws passed to do so for a share of that money. In some cases it's not necessary to buy the elected official as it is to do his or her work for her by writing the laws that person will sponsor in parliament or house or senate or diet. Politicians love when other people do their jobs for them, and this arrangement makes it easier for the people at the top to take a big dump on the people below with a minimum of effort.
However it works out, someone benefits and it's rarely you or me. In this case, some nice person attempted to provide fans in a country where summers are sweltering. All kinds of businesses provide fun and helpful fans around the train stations. If a movie studio does it to advertise the latest Pokémon extravaganza, people are happy. And slightly less sweaty. That way they're better able to cope with the heat, just like reality television starring bearded mutants helps Americans cope when the local rep proposes a law allowing oil companies to drill for crude in Grandma's brains. They just wave their colorful advertising fans around the way people back home are increasingly finding ways to talk around the derrick sprouting from Grandma's wig. Business as usual.
That's why I think this resignation is a bit much considering the crime. If she'd colluded with Sony and Mitsubishi to change a labor law so that 10-year-olds had to start working 80-hour work weeks with in exchange for their elementary school educations, that would be completely okay. Give away something useful like a fan and it's "So long, job!"
Friday, October 17, 2014
I hope I live long enough to ride this thing: Gov't approves JR Tokai plan to build maglev line
Gov't approves JR Tokai plan to build maglev line
Let's see. If this goes into service in 2027, I'll be... pretty old. Okay, not that old. 59. Not even retirement age. I'm not sure I'll still be living. Take nothing for granted. And if I am, I may not be living in Japan. Ideally, if so, my wife and I will still be married and bringing the kids back to the mother country that year and we'll be among the first to hop a maglev train in Shinagawa and zip to Nagoya in 40 minutes. Making the trip in an hour and forty minutes is fast enough for me. I'm not so impatient I need that hour back, and I enjoy my time on the shinkansen. But if the maglev train is as smooth then I imagine I'll imagine my shorter time riding it even more.
High-speed train service is certainly one thing Japan does well. Shinkansen service is 50 years old this year and there have only been two derailments. One was during an earthquake and the other a blizzard. No one died in either. The second year I lived in Japan, there was a horrible accident on a local train in Hyogo. 107 people died. I tend to take shinkansen safety for granted, but when I'm rocking on a local train I stay much more alert.
Let's see. If this goes into service in 2027, I'll be... pretty old. Okay, not that old. 59. Not even retirement age. I'm not sure I'll still be living. Take nothing for granted. And if I am, I may not be living in Japan. Ideally, if so, my wife and I will still be married and bringing the kids back to the mother country that year and we'll be among the first to hop a maglev train in Shinagawa and zip to Nagoya in 40 minutes. Making the trip in an hour and forty minutes is fast enough for me. I'm not so impatient I need that hour back, and I enjoy my time on the shinkansen. But if the maglev train is as smooth then I imagine I'll imagine my shorter time riding it even more.
High-speed train service is certainly one thing Japan does well. Shinkansen service is 50 years old this year and there have only been two derailments. One was during an earthquake and the other a blizzard. No one died in either. The second year I lived in Japan, there was a horrible accident on a local train in Hyogo. 107 people died. I tend to take shinkansen safety for granted, but when I'm rocking on a local train I stay much more alert.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
I had no idea kawaii was now an English word: Kimono-clad princesses offer apologies for roadside construction in Kyoto
Kimono-clad princesses offer apologies for roadside construction in Kyoto
I came by that info from this article. I'm fine with kawaii joining the vast numbers of words English has borrowed from other languages. Most of them are food words, but there are enough that aren't. And we use various foreign language phrases at times, too, because they have a certain je ne sais quoi. That sounds smarter than saying we use them because they have this thing and I don't know what to call it. It's probably charisma. Kawaii means cute, but used for a particular form of cuteness as exemplified by Hello Kitty and various manga and anime characters (to use two more borrowed words), it has charisma.
For example, your grandchild is cute. Your grandchild's Sailor Moon blanket is kawaii.
And yes, to make a general observation, there is a lot of emphasis on kawaii in Japan. Every prefecture, many cities and practically every company you can do business of some kind with has as a mascot some cutie-pie cartoon character. And some of these involve sending emissaries in fluffy costumes to do personal appearances. Even the grotesque and hilarious Funasshi, a parody of these "wild characters," is ultimately kawaii unto itself. Himself? Herself? Our local cute character is Ieyasu-kun, a kawaii-ified version of the guy who beat all comers to unify Japan and set up the Tokugawa Shogunate that then ruled the country as an all-powerful dictatorship for about 200 years.
It's fun to have your photo taken giving the peace sign and smiling broadly next to a fluffy, round-headed caricature of an iron-willed man responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in battle, plus who knows how many political murders in order to consolidate his rule. I feel the same way about Ieyasu-kun I do when I see the presidents race at a Washington Nationals game.
C'est la vie!
I came by that info from this article. I'm fine with kawaii joining the vast numbers of words English has borrowed from other languages. Most of them are food words, but there are enough that aren't. And we use various foreign language phrases at times, too, because they have a certain je ne sais quoi. That sounds smarter than saying we use them because they have this thing and I don't know what to call it. It's probably charisma. Kawaii means cute, but used for a particular form of cuteness as exemplified by Hello Kitty and various manga and anime characters (to use two more borrowed words), it has charisma.
For example, your grandchild is cute. Your grandchild's Sailor Moon blanket is kawaii.
And yes, to make a general observation, there is a lot of emphasis on kawaii in Japan. Every prefecture, many cities and practically every company you can do business of some kind with has as a mascot some cutie-pie cartoon character. And some of these involve sending emissaries in fluffy costumes to do personal appearances. Even the grotesque and hilarious Funasshi, a parody of these "wild characters," is ultimately kawaii unto itself. Himself? Herself? Our local cute character is Ieyasu-kun, a kawaii-ified version of the guy who beat all comers to unify Japan and set up the Tokugawa Shogunate that then ruled the country as an all-powerful dictatorship for about 200 years.
It's fun to have your photo taken giving the peace sign and smiling broadly next to a fluffy, round-headed caricature of an iron-willed man responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in battle, plus who knows how many political murders in order to consolidate his rule. I feel the same way about Ieyasu-kun I do when I see the presidents race at a Washington Nationals game.
C'est la vie!
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Welcome to Westworld: The androids are coming
The androids are coming
Or its less-successful sequel, Futureworld, starring Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner. Notice, however, no one has yet attempted to duplicate Yul Brynner. Instead, robot manufacturers seek to perfect a female appearance for their creations, and find themselves mired in the uncanny valley.
I think they should go for a more unisex, Star Wars look first. Exploit the natural human ability to find a face in things that aren't necessarily faced. Some big round C3P0 eyes and a small, happy-looking mouth would go a long way towards charming the public. Even R2D2, essentially a mobile trash bin with blinking lights and a series of beeps as a form of communication, was much cuter than the corpse-like appearance they've managed with this humanoid model. Seriously, it looks as though Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs hooked up with a former BattleBots champion to make a robot only Ed Gein could love.
Where's Stuart Margolin when you need him?
Or its less-successful sequel, Futureworld, starring Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner. Notice, however, no one has yet attempted to duplicate Yul Brynner. Instead, robot manufacturers seek to perfect a female appearance for their creations, and find themselves mired in the uncanny valley.
I think they should go for a more unisex, Star Wars look first. Exploit the natural human ability to find a face in things that aren't necessarily faced. Some big round C3P0 eyes and a small, happy-looking mouth would go a long way towards charming the public. Even R2D2, essentially a mobile trash bin with blinking lights and a series of beeps as a form of communication, was much cuter than the corpse-like appearance they've managed with this humanoid model. Seriously, it looks as though Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs hooked up with a former BattleBots champion to make a robot only Ed Gein could love.
Where's Stuart Margolin when you need him?
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Typhoon 18 has left the place a mess!
I just got to work after a short drive through a hurricane. That's a bit dramatic. The worst of the weather passed through earlier this morning while I was drawing a picture on my computer and by the time we left for work around 8am the day had resolved itself into just a drizzly mess. A runny nose of a morning. A little windy but nothing like the lashing we received before first light. Leaves down, flower pots scattered on the sidewalks, large puddles mirroring the gray skies.
And I'm partially deaf right now, by the way. My ears have shut themselves against the noisy world and my head feels like a slowly inflating balloon. It's as if I just came down from altitude in a jetliner or off a mountain in a car. Or walking. Damned if I know what the kind of transportation I used would have to do with it. There is pressure and I hear things muffled. What sounds penetrate come from unexpected directions and have me in a state of constant distraction. I'm not sure why. Could be an atmospheric effect from the storm or it could be just some residual stuffiness from a cold I had recently.
We won't know until tonight and we watch the television news what damage the storm brought. For now it's just an interesting way to begin our week.
And I'm partially deaf right now, by the way. My ears have shut themselves against the noisy world and my head feels like a slowly inflating balloon. It's as if I just came down from altitude in a jetliner or off a mountain in a car. Or walking. Damned if I know what the kind of transportation I used would have to do with it. There is pressure and I hear things muffled. What sounds penetrate come from unexpected directions and have me in a state of constant distraction. I'm not sure why. Could be an atmospheric effect from the storm or it could be just some residual stuffiness from a cold I had recently.
We won't know until tonight and we watch the television news what damage the storm brought. For now it's just an interesting way to begin our week.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Architectural history in tiny Tokyo capsules
Architectural history in tiny Tokyo capsules
I don't think I'd enjoy living in a place with a large round window with no shade right next to my bed. Just the light from our parking lot security lights is too much for me to sleep at night. In the heart of Tokyo you'd have all kinds of flashers and blinkers and an overflow of ambient light from the street all night long bathing your sleeping area. Other than that, the size wouldn't bother me, at least for a short stay. It would be like spending time on a space station with artificial gravity, or in a submarine. A sort of futuristic, Kubrick-ian existence, at least for a while.
Then it would probably feel more like a prison.
What am I babbling about? Nakagin Capsule Tower, one of those architectural/philosophical concepts brought to life many years ago and now in danger because it never really caught on or revolutionized urban living the way its designer intended. Still, it was an ingenious idea. And the few tenants remaining have put their capsules to some inventive use. I guess its appeal is to the kind of creative, odd-thinking mind that would find a smallish, room-sized pinhole camera something worthwhile. I find it worthwhile. So I'd love if someone could find a way to preserve this building. It probably won't happen.
Do you associate capsule hotels with Japan? I always have, at least in the back of my mind. Capsule hotels aren't up there with Mt. Fuji or even noise rock as far as characteristically Japanese phenomena go, but I vaguely remember news stories or segments on shows like Real People and That's Incredible! detailing capsule hotels as the kind of weird inventiveness common in booming, economic-powerhouse-yet-land-starved Japan of the 1970s and 80s. Eventually the bubble popped, but we were left with some kind of skewed views about Japan, many of which persist today.
Are there still capsule hotels? Heck, yeah.
I've never stayed in one myself, but a friend of mine spent a night in a place in Shinjuku and took me on a tour. It looked like a set from Star Wars. His sleep chamber was up a stainless steel ladder, set in a plastic or fiberglass wall. I was disappointed in the bamboo screen that passed for a door. I was hoping for some kind of vacuum-sealed hatch. The common bath was a steamy pit with ankle-deep water and a lot of guys in white towels trying to dry off in the damp atmosphere. I really needed to pee out some beer but decided I could hold it until I got back to my own, more comfortable business hotel room rather than wade in my sock feet to the toilets somewhere across the room.
Capsule hotels are probably suitable places for sleeping off a drunk or getting a few hours of sleep after missing the last train. I'd rather pay a little more and stay at a business hotel where the rooms are still small but seem palatial compared to what you get at a capsule hotel. You can stand up and the fiberglass is usually confined to the bathroom unit. Bathroom units in every business hotel I've stayed in have seemed modular, probably built elsewhere and then have their fixtures installed when they're plugged into the hotel construction. Maybe they're made by the same companies that produce the sleeping chambers for capsule hotels.
I don't think I'd enjoy living in a place with a large round window with no shade right next to my bed. Just the light from our parking lot security lights is too much for me to sleep at night. In the heart of Tokyo you'd have all kinds of flashers and blinkers and an overflow of ambient light from the street all night long bathing your sleeping area. Other than that, the size wouldn't bother me, at least for a short stay. It would be like spending time on a space station with artificial gravity, or in a submarine. A sort of futuristic, Kubrick-ian existence, at least for a while.
Then it would probably feel more like a prison.
What am I babbling about? Nakagin Capsule Tower, one of those architectural/philosophical concepts brought to life many years ago and now in danger because it never really caught on or revolutionized urban living the way its designer intended. Still, it was an ingenious idea. And the few tenants remaining have put their capsules to some inventive use. I guess its appeal is to the kind of creative, odd-thinking mind that would find a smallish, room-sized pinhole camera something worthwhile. I find it worthwhile. So I'd love if someone could find a way to preserve this building. It probably won't happen.
Do you associate capsule hotels with Japan? I always have, at least in the back of my mind. Capsule hotels aren't up there with Mt. Fuji or even noise rock as far as characteristically Japanese phenomena go, but I vaguely remember news stories or segments on shows like Real People and That's Incredible! detailing capsule hotels as the kind of weird inventiveness common in booming, economic-powerhouse-yet-land-starved Japan of the 1970s and 80s. Eventually the bubble popped, but we were left with some kind of skewed views about Japan, many of which persist today.
Are there still capsule hotels? Heck, yeah.
I've never stayed in one myself, but a friend of mine spent a night in a place in Shinjuku and took me on a tour. It looked like a set from Star Wars. His sleep chamber was up a stainless steel ladder, set in a plastic or fiberglass wall. I was disappointed in the bamboo screen that passed for a door. I was hoping for some kind of vacuum-sealed hatch. The common bath was a steamy pit with ankle-deep water and a lot of guys in white towels trying to dry off in the damp atmosphere. I really needed to pee out some beer but decided I could hold it until I got back to my own, more comfortable business hotel room rather than wade in my sock feet to the toilets somewhere across the room.
Capsule hotels are probably suitable places for sleeping off a drunk or getting a few hours of sleep after missing the last train. I'd rather pay a little more and stay at a business hotel where the rooms are still small but seem palatial compared to what you get at a capsule hotel. You can stand up and the fiberglass is usually confined to the bathroom unit. Bathroom units in every business hotel I've stayed in have seemed modular, probably built elsewhere and then have their fixtures installed when they're plugged into the hotel construction. Maybe they're made by the same companies that produce the sleeping chambers for capsule hotels.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Volcano death toll hits 43 as 7 more bodies found
Volcano death toll hits 43 as 7 more bodies found
Japan is a country with a lot of mountains. We can see them from our neighborhood whenever we go for a walk or a drive. When I lived on the Chiba prefecture coast I was mountainless for the first time since I came to Japan, but I've since grown accustomed to sheer faces dropping off into the ocean and clouds sweeping over jagged green horizon that looks to me like roughly-torn construction paper. As a flatlander by birth, this is interesting to me. Seeing green slopes rising, snow peaks in the distance in winter. Mt. Fuji looming above Shin-Fuji when we take trips to Tokyo. Some of these mountains-- like Fuji-- are volcanic. Japan is a trembling land, apt to slip and slide.
Since there are so many gorgeous mountains here within easy driving distance, people flock to them on weekends for hiking and camping. Japan is hot and sticky in summer, so the mountain air can provide relief from the damp heat and crockpot-like cities. We never boil. We simmer. In winter, the mountains are there for skiing and snowboarding. And in fall, they blaze with red and red-orange leaves, a great sunset-colored glow that radiates from Japan's bony spine.
They provide sport and beauty. And danger. A group of climbers froze to death on the slopes of Mt. Fuji, visible from my old apartment. Not the dead bodies, of course. But before they were recovered I could see the mountain itself, roughly thumb-sized, and appreciate that it contained corpses despite looking lovely and blameless by daylight. A famous comic book creator took a fatal spill from a cliff while photographing it a few years ago. Just this summer, an entire hillside came loose and buried houses and families in Hiroshima. Geologists have been predicting a major Fuji eruption ever since the big 3/11 quake. The pressure there is at the point where they say it's inevitable.
Years ago, at my grandfather's house in the mountains of North Carolina-- which look very similar to those in Japan, but are much more well-behaved-- I read a Reader's Digest story about volcanologists caught in an eruption while studying a small volcano. Where, I can't remember. But I recall very vividly one of the scientists telling of how hot rocks broke his bones and killed his friends. And then there are the poison gasses. I have no desire to experience this firsthand. I feel for those who so recently have.
You still have to go to the mountains, though. There's no staying away. I'm drawn to mountains and to the ocean. Living in Japan is living between both. The ocean is a wilderness where you can drown or be eaten, the mountains may choose to shrug you off at any time, or blow you way with thunderous force. I cannot stay away.
Japan is a country with a lot of mountains. We can see them from our neighborhood whenever we go for a walk or a drive. When I lived on the Chiba prefecture coast I was mountainless for the first time since I came to Japan, but I've since grown accustomed to sheer faces dropping off into the ocean and clouds sweeping over jagged green horizon that looks to me like roughly-torn construction paper. As a flatlander by birth, this is interesting to me. Seeing green slopes rising, snow peaks in the distance in winter. Mt. Fuji looming above Shin-Fuji when we take trips to Tokyo. Some of these mountains-- like Fuji-- are volcanic. Japan is a trembling land, apt to slip and slide.
Since there are so many gorgeous mountains here within easy driving distance, people flock to them on weekends for hiking and camping. Japan is hot and sticky in summer, so the mountain air can provide relief from the damp heat and crockpot-like cities. We never boil. We simmer. In winter, the mountains are there for skiing and snowboarding. And in fall, they blaze with red and red-orange leaves, a great sunset-colored glow that radiates from Japan's bony spine.
They provide sport and beauty. And danger. A group of climbers froze to death on the slopes of Mt. Fuji, visible from my old apartment. Not the dead bodies, of course. But before they were recovered I could see the mountain itself, roughly thumb-sized, and appreciate that it contained corpses despite looking lovely and blameless by daylight. A famous comic book creator took a fatal spill from a cliff while photographing it a few years ago. Just this summer, an entire hillside came loose and buried houses and families in Hiroshima. Geologists have been predicting a major Fuji eruption ever since the big 3/11 quake. The pressure there is at the point where they say it's inevitable.
Years ago, at my grandfather's house in the mountains of North Carolina-- which look very similar to those in Japan, but are much more well-behaved-- I read a Reader's Digest story about volcanologists caught in an eruption while studying a small volcano. Where, I can't remember. But I recall very vividly one of the scientists telling of how hot rocks broke his bones and killed his friends. And then there are the poison gasses. I have no desire to experience this firsthand. I feel for those who so recently have.
You still have to go to the mountains, though. There's no staying away. I'm drawn to mountains and to the ocean. Living in Japan is living between both. The ocean is a wilderness where you can drown or be eaten, the mountains may choose to shrug you off at any time, or blow you way with thunderous force. I cannot stay away.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
You might want to go to this: First ever exhibition dedicated to Oasis coming to Tokyo
First ever exhibition dedicated to Oasis coming to Tokyo
I'm not an Oasis fan, but you might be. Despite having split in 2009 (as far as I can tell), the band remains resiliently popular here in Japan. Their songs pop up in TV commercials and the like. I have students occasionally tell me Oasis is their favorite group. I mean students who are into rock. Most other students tell me they like vocaloids. Or One Direction.
Anyway, despite my Oasis skepticism, there's no denying they were huge in their time. If rock music can be said to be important, then the article makes a case for the importance of Oasis in its history. "Landmark albums" and "era-defining two night stand at Knebworth House." If you understand what that last phrase means, then you might be the audience for this exhibition.
None of this may be quite the stuff of the Ramones on their first UK tour, or the Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, but this is what we had in the 1990s. I'm interested to see they played Club Quattro in Shibuya way back in 1994. Shoot, I was in a band then, too. We played no place you ever heard of a couple of times and emptied it out with our beer-infused chaotic noise. But I've been to Club Quattro a couple of times and, like Oasis, had some fun there. Only in my case as a spectator. And sober.
If you're already an Oasis fan and you live in Japan, you need no such convincing to attend this exhibition. But I'm going to suggest you go and check it out. I'll be at the one for Puffy.
I'm not an Oasis fan, but you might be. Despite having split in 2009 (as far as I can tell), the band remains resiliently popular here in Japan. Their songs pop up in TV commercials and the like. I have students occasionally tell me Oasis is their favorite group. I mean students who are into rock. Most other students tell me they like vocaloids. Or One Direction.
Anyway, despite my Oasis skepticism, there's no denying they were huge in their time. If rock music can be said to be important, then the article makes a case for the importance of Oasis in its history. "Landmark albums" and "era-defining two night stand at Knebworth House." If you understand what that last phrase means, then you might be the audience for this exhibition.
None of this may be quite the stuff of the Ramones on their first UK tour, or the Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, but this is what we had in the 1990s. I'm interested to see they played Club Quattro in Shibuya way back in 1994. Shoot, I was in a band then, too. We played no place you ever heard of a couple of times and emptied it out with our beer-infused chaotic noise. But I've been to Club Quattro a couple of times and, like Oasis, had some fun there. Only in my case as a spectator. And sober.
If you're already an Oasis fan and you live in Japan, you need no such convincing to attend this exhibition. But I'm going to suggest you go and check it out. I'll be at the one for Puffy.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Johnnie Walker is real?: Man arrested for poisoning over 40 cats in Tokyo's Ota Ward
Man arrested for poisoning over 40 cats in Tokyo's Ota Ward
Well, he doesn't seem to have dressed up like the guy from the Johnnie Walker label, but this weirdo is right out of a Haruki Murakami novel. Specifically, Kafka on the Shore. Now I'm wondering if there's a man walking around here who can communicate with cats, or a boy living in a library. I also wonder about this real-life Johnnie Walker's motivation. Sick hobby?
Well, he doesn't seem to have dressed up like the guy from the Johnnie Walker label, but this weirdo is right out of a Haruki Murakami novel. Specifically, Kafka on the Shore. Now I'm wondering if there's a man walking around here who can communicate with cats, or a boy living in a library. I also wonder about this real-life Johnnie Walker's motivation. Sick hobby?
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The taste of depression: Black burgers
Black burgers
Just joking. They're actually quite cheerful! These Burger King black burgers are like the Hamlet of burgers, at least visually. I don't know if they're prone to seeing ghosts or indecisive in pursuing revenge. Or, if you like your cultural references more modern, they're the Darth Vader of burgers. At least in the photo attached to the article they're somewhat Sith-like in that there are two of them. Always two. One master and one apprentice.
Burger King existed in Japan for a while then gave up because they couldn't compete with McDonald's all-pervasive presence and grip on the Japanese fast food consumer's appetite. Makku has been slipping of late, but Burger King had already made a comeback. I stop by the outlet in Shibuya on occasion to eat a Whopper, which I find a superior burger to the Big Mac or even Quarter Pounder. But I haven't seen one of these black burgers. This is their third go-around and I'll be giving them a miss again this time.
Why? Well, there are no Burger King restaurants in this city. And I'm not going to Tokyo anytime soon, probably not until the black burgers have retired to whatever mysterious realm of the senses from which they originally sprang. A culinary dreamland, no doubt. Nightmare to some, fantasy to others.
I admit I'm curious about the taste, but I do have two other concerns that are preventing me from finding one or both of these burgers. One is the cheese looks like a partially-melted plastic square, much like the monstrosity I once created with one of those electric molding toys popular in the 1960s-80s before people decided it was a bad idea to give kids molten rubber goo to play with. The other is I'm afraid the squid ink will discolor my mouth and make me look like Uncle Fester's skinny Goth little brother.
Just joking. They're actually quite cheerful! These Burger King black burgers are like the Hamlet of burgers, at least visually. I don't know if they're prone to seeing ghosts or indecisive in pursuing revenge. Or, if you like your cultural references more modern, they're the Darth Vader of burgers. At least in the photo attached to the article they're somewhat Sith-like in that there are two of them. Always two. One master and one apprentice.
Burger King existed in Japan for a while then gave up because they couldn't compete with McDonald's all-pervasive presence and grip on the Japanese fast food consumer's appetite. Makku has been slipping of late, but Burger King had already made a comeback. I stop by the outlet in Shibuya on occasion to eat a Whopper, which I find a superior burger to the Big Mac or even Quarter Pounder. But I haven't seen one of these black burgers. This is their third go-around and I'll be giving them a miss again this time.
Why? Well, there are no Burger King restaurants in this city. And I'm not going to Tokyo anytime soon, probably not until the black burgers have retired to whatever mysterious realm of the senses from which they originally sprang. A culinary dreamland, no doubt. Nightmare to some, fantasy to others.
I admit I'm curious about the taste, but I do have two other concerns that are preventing me from finding one or both of these burgers. One is the cheese looks like a partially-melted plastic square, much like the monstrosity I once created with one of those electric molding toys popular in the 1960s-80s before people decided it was a bad idea to give kids molten rubber goo to play with. The other is I'm afraid the squid ink will discolor my mouth and make me look like Uncle Fester's skinny Goth little brother.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Gory Japanese war film shocks, thrills Venice film festival
Gory Japanese war film shocks, thrills Venice film festival
This will be the second film adaptation of Shohei Ooka's novel Fires on the Plain. The first came out in 1959. I read the novel a few years ago. It straddled a period when I moved from Japan back to the US, so I read it both here and there. WWII remains a popular film subject here. I've avoided all of these movies because, frankly, while I've read extensively about the fighting in Europe, I'm just not that interested in the Pacific theater unless it involves the air combat and aircraft carriers.
Also, it's something of a prickly subject. Like Ooka, my grandfather-in-law fought in the Philippines. He's way up in his 90s now and I've met him a couple of times. I have a feeling there are unresolved issues hanging over our heads. That may just be me. If his experiences were anything like Ooka's then he must have some complicated emotions about my being in his family. Or maybe he's over it as much as anyone could be and hardly gives me a thought. Actually, I'm pretty sure he rarely thinks about me. He's got his own world and interests.
Still, you can't avoid entirely that period in the 20th century. One of the first trips I took inside Japan was to Hiroshima where I saw the chains of origami cranes and took photos of the A-Bomb dome. The city I live in now was back then-- as it is now-- an industrial center. So it was a target. Bombed flat from the air, shelled from the sea. An older student I had at my first job showed me scars on his forearm he said came from burns suffered as a toddler during an air-raid. Another student cheerfully told me of being given candy by American soldiers in the war's immediate aftermath and how her mother told her not to eat it. She hid it in her dresser drawer and simply looked at it from time to time. One more, one of the most brilliant minds I've ever encountered, asked me what "Hubba hubba" means, as it had puzzled him since he heard our GIs saying it when he was a child. His older brother was a fighter pilot trainer during the war, but we never discussed whether or not he survived. One of my junior high-aged students once listed for me his favorite WWII fighter planes, as he was something of a vintage aviation buff.
"I like the Zero and the P-51 Mustang," he said. I think he added a couple of others, because I remember being very impressed at his ability to remember all the designations and names. After that he said, "But I do not like the B-29."
"I think I can guess why," I replied. "And I understand completely."
My mom remembers blackout curtains and watching Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral train pass through her hometown on its way from Georgia back to Washington, D.C. She also remembers anti-Japanese propaganda. And I grew up watching WWII-era Bugs Bunny cartoons with their casual racism and that one episode of Gilligan's Island with the goggle-glasses wearing Imperial Japanese holdout menacing the castaways in comedic fashion, the depiction of which I cringe at whenever I think about it.
You know, like now.
Not a one of my male relatives of the correct generation fought in the Pacific. My father's oldest brother serviced B-17s in the UK during the last months of the war, but spent most of his stint in the military during the post-war era. He wasn't a backwards-looking guy by nature, so we only talked about it one time because I asked. My mom's uncle ripped across Europe under Patton, but he only mentioned it once. My mom's stepfather, a man she still worships to this day, father to her half-brothers, went over the Channel in a glider on D-Day as an army doctor with the 82nd Airborne. My dad didn't go into the armed forces until the Korean War, which he spent in the USAF largely in the UK but also, strangely enough, back in Georgia, not far from his hometown. There's still a huge air base there. He was in a motor transport squadron so he drove trucks and taught driving.
All Europe guys.
I've never been to war. Never been in the military. I only read about it in books and watch it in movies. But I suppose I think about it way too often.
This will be the second film adaptation of Shohei Ooka's novel Fires on the Plain. The first came out in 1959. I read the novel a few years ago. It straddled a period when I moved from Japan back to the US, so I read it both here and there. WWII remains a popular film subject here. I've avoided all of these movies because, frankly, while I've read extensively about the fighting in Europe, I'm just not that interested in the Pacific theater unless it involves the air combat and aircraft carriers.
Also, it's something of a prickly subject. Like Ooka, my grandfather-in-law fought in the Philippines. He's way up in his 90s now and I've met him a couple of times. I have a feeling there are unresolved issues hanging over our heads. That may just be me. If his experiences were anything like Ooka's then he must have some complicated emotions about my being in his family. Or maybe he's over it as much as anyone could be and hardly gives me a thought. Actually, I'm pretty sure he rarely thinks about me. He's got his own world and interests.
Still, you can't avoid entirely that period in the 20th century. One of the first trips I took inside Japan was to Hiroshima where I saw the chains of origami cranes and took photos of the A-Bomb dome. The city I live in now was back then-- as it is now-- an industrial center. So it was a target. Bombed flat from the air, shelled from the sea. An older student I had at my first job showed me scars on his forearm he said came from burns suffered as a toddler during an air-raid. Another student cheerfully told me of being given candy by American soldiers in the war's immediate aftermath and how her mother told her not to eat it. She hid it in her dresser drawer and simply looked at it from time to time. One more, one of the most brilliant minds I've ever encountered, asked me what "Hubba hubba" means, as it had puzzled him since he heard our GIs saying it when he was a child. His older brother was a fighter pilot trainer during the war, but we never discussed whether or not he survived. One of my junior high-aged students once listed for me his favorite WWII fighter planes, as he was something of a vintage aviation buff.
"I like the Zero and the P-51 Mustang," he said. I think he added a couple of others, because I remember being very impressed at his ability to remember all the designations and names. After that he said, "But I do not like the B-29."
"I think I can guess why," I replied. "And I understand completely."
My mom remembers blackout curtains and watching Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral train pass through her hometown on its way from Georgia back to Washington, D.C. She also remembers anti-Japanese propaganda. And I grew up watching WWII-era Bugs Bunny cartoons with their casual racism and that one episode of Gilligan's Island with the goggle-glasses wearing Imperial Japanese holdout menacing the castaways in comedic fashion, the depiction of which I cringe at whenever I think about it.
You know, like now.
Not a one of my male relatives of the correct generation fought in the Pacific. My father's oldest brother serviced B-17s in the UK during the last months of the war, but spent most of his stint in the military during the post-war era. He wasn't a backwards-looking guy by nature, so we only talked about it one time because I asked. My mom's uncle ripped across Europe under Patton, but he only mentioned it once. My mom's stepfather, a man she still worships to this day, father to her half-brothers, went over the Channel in a glider on D-Day as an army doctor with the 82nd Airborne. My dad didn't go into the armed forces until the Korean War, which he spent in the USAF largely in the UK but also, strangely enough, back in Georgia, not far from his hometown. There's still a huge air base there. He was in a motor transport squadron so he drove trucks and taught driving.
All Europe guys.
I've never been to war. Never been in the military. I only read about it in books and watch it in movies. But I suppose I think about it way too often.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Islamic State claims responsibility for detaining Japanese man
Islamic State claims responsibility for detaining Japanese man
This is a tragedy in the making. It's already bad enough. When I first heard about this, my impression was this man really was a doctor or a journalist. One reason I had for thinking that was a truncated subject line in an email I received from the Japan Times. It ended with the word "embedded," which I associate with journalists covering the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Evan Wright comes to mind, especially since I just finished watching Generation Kill, the TV miniseries based on his book by the same title. Which I then read, followed soon after by Nathaniel Fick's One Bullet Away, an account of the same events from the perspective of the USMC platoon leader who appears in both.
Now it turns out this man embedded himself for reasons that seem a bit flaky to me. Posting videos of himself online, running around with rebel troops in Syria. Pretending to be something he isn't. According to a news story my wife and I watched last night, which included a number of quotes from someone likely to be the man's father, his intent was to start some kind of private mercenary security firm. Like Blackwater or one of those other now-infamous names. So he wanted to see some of the world's trouble spots to get a closer perspective of his chosen field.
This kind of stuff seems really fun and cool when you do it in a first-person shooter game, or you watch Arnold and Sly pretending to do it just outside some tropical resort in Hawaii or Costa Rica or a desert a couple of miles away from Los Angeles, but I'm not exactly sure how one goes about starting up a mercenary firm in the actual places where the fighting happens. I doubt you do it this way, though. My uneducated guess would be it's much more practical first to join a nation's military and learn and put into practice soldier skills in a real-world setting. If you survive, then just maybe you have what it takes to create and run this kind of company. I still wouldn't suggest it as a small business start-up when your CV suggests you're better off running a lemonade stand. A mom and pop security firm, minus the mom?
Others may feel the best way to learn is to do. Maybe they're right. My sum total of first hand military experience consists of a month or so of close-order drill with the elite warriors of the local Civil Air Patrol when I was in junior high. Nice bunch of guys. I learned to read a map and I got to fly in a single-engine airplane, from which I saw my house. But what do I know? I've only fought wars on my sofa or in my computer chair at home. So maybe you should just show up at a war and do your best until you can upgrade your status from amateur to pro. Both certainly die alike.
I only hope our guy here returns safely to Japan with enough experience to live his dream.
This is a tragedy in the making. It's already bad enough. When I first heard about this, my impression was this man really was a doctor or a journalist. One reason I had for thinking that was a truncated subject line in an email I received from the Japan Times. It ended with the word "embedded," which I associate with journalists covering the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Evan Wright comes to mind, especially since I just finished watching Generation Kill, the TV miniseries based on his book by the same title. Which I then read, followed soon after by Nathaniel Fick's One Bullet Away, an account of the same events from the perspective of the USMC platoon leader who appears in both.
Now it turns out this man embedded himself for reasons that seem a bit flaky to me. Posting videos of himself online, running around with rebel troops in Syria. Pretending to be something he isn't. According to a news story my wife and I watched last night, which included a number of quotes from someone likely to be the man's father, his intent was to start some kind of private mercenary security firm. Like Blackwater or one of those other now-infamous names. So he wanted to see some of the world's trouble spots to get a closer perspective of his chosen field.
This kind of stuff seems really fun and cool when you do it in a first-person shooter game, or you watch Arnold and Sly pretending to do it just outside some tropical resort in Hawaii or Costa Rica or a desert a couple of miles away from Los Angeles, but I'm not exactly sure how one goes about starting up a mercenary firm in the actual places where the fighting happens. I doubt you do it this way, though. My uneducated guess would be it's much more practical first to join a nation's military and learn and put into practice soldier skills in a real-world setting. If you survive, then just maybe you have what it takes to create and run this kind of company. I still wouldn't suggest it as a small business start-up when your CV suggests you're better off running a lemonade stand. A mom and pop security firm, minus the mom?
Others may feel the best way to learn is to do. Maybe they're right. My sum total of first hand military experience consists of a month or so of close-order drill with the elite warriors of the local Civil Air Patrol when I was in junior high. Nice bunch of guys. I learned to read a map and I got to fly in a single-engine airplane, from which I saw my house. But what do I know? I've only fought wars on my sofa or in my computer chair at home. So maybe you should just show up at a war and do your best until you can upgrade your status from amateur to pro. Both certainly die alike.
I only hope our guy here returns safely to Japan with enough experience to live his dream.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Priceless comment at the end of this story: No. of reported stalking, domestic abuse cases in first half of year highest ever
No. of reported stalking, domestic abuse cases in first half of year highest ever
I think this is because women are reporting these more and I think they number of cases is actually much higher. So what we're seeing isn't an increase in the amount of abuse that goes on-- any of that is too much-- but rather simply a sign that fewer Japanese women are willing to put up with this shit anymore. I'd love to see a 1-to-1 ratio of cases to cases reported. People will lose their minds when they see how widespread this is, and then we'll see society change for the better.
In my ideal world. Where the police here actually get off their asses and do something when women report abuse and stalkers. You know, other than call the person on his cellphone and ask him to come to the koban to talk about it, which gives him ample warning that he needs to go stab his object of desire or ownership to death.
My favorite part of this story is the comment at the bottom where someone insults all Japanese men by calling their social skills "abysmal," then opines the real problem is Japanese women are becoming less friendly and colder. "Reporting stalking is good," he tells us. "However, being stuck up and/or frigid is not." Then he goes on to further explain we really need to be looking at women withholding sex if we want to understand this problem fully. But despite telling us we should stop neglecting the role played by "female culpability" in stalking, he's not victim blaming. No, because he tells us he's not. But you're a male-hater if you think so, and that's why we have stalking, apparently.
I think we've found a new best friend for Richard Dawkins.
I think this is because women are reporting these more and I think they number of cases is actually much higher. So what we're seeing isn't an increase in the amount of abuse that goes on-- any of that is too much-- but rather simply a sign that fewer Japanese women are willing to put up with this shit anymore. I'd love to see a 1-to-1 ratio of cases to cases reported. People will lose their minds when they see how widespread this is, and then we'll see society change for the better.
In my ideal world. Where the police here actually get off their asses and do something when women report abuse and stalkers. You know, other than call the person on his cellphone and ask him to come to the koban to talk about it, which gives him ample warning that he needs to go stab his object of desire or ownership to death.
My favorite part of this story is the comment at the bottom where someone insults all Japanese men by calling their social skills "abysmal," then opines the real problem is Japanese women are becoming less friendly and colder. "Reporting stalking is good," he tells us. "However, being stuck up and/or frigid is not." Then he goes on to further explain we really need to be looking at women withholding sex if we want to understand this problem fully. But despite telling us we should stop neglecting the role played by "female culpability" in stalking, he's not victim blaming. No, because he tells us he's not. But you're a male-hater if you think so, and that's why we have stalking, apparently.
I think we've found a new best friend for Richard Dawkins.
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