Top Ten Missed Stories

Good reading for you (and me). Not too soon, here's one of certain-to-be millions of end-of-2006-best-of-something lists. This one details some interesting stories that could've been easily missed because of other stories like this.

100 posts!

Yesterday's post was number one hundred. Kind of a milestone given the deaths of the previous blogs. It's taken just over a year to get to this point. Hopefully I'll have a lot more to write about over the next few weeks.

Can't wait to get out of here. It's starting to get fribbin' freezing. Turns out it might be a 15 degree Christmas Day in Himeji. It'll be warmer in Adelaide though. Yay!

Get the Coopers on ice and warm up the pies.

I was almost never born.

What the ...

They work hard...

and they play hard.

Been a litany of parties and nights out for the end of the year extravaganza that engulfs Japan every year. Had our company Christmas do last Sunday at Murphy's in Akashi. A very good night out was had by all. Our school had our own little Bou Nen Kai (end of year party) last night which was also very good. Unfortunately I had to work early on Mondays so couldn't *really* make a night of it, but hey....

Things are going well heading towards my trip home. Cataloging the events as they unfold on the travel blog (see right!)

Two sleeps to go!

The madness...

A very good article describing the utter stupidity of the Australian Government's Hitlerian decision to force all international passengers to carry all liquids in 100ml bottles inside clear plastic bags. They really get things done in Oz - only 8 months after the 'threat' was uncovered they are going to put into place rules that other countries are trying to find ways to undo. Yay - go Australia.

I think I'll follow the advice of one of the commentators and take an empty plastic bottle through the security checks and fill it up from the bubbler in the departure lounge. $5 for a bottle of water? Allow me to react in the politest way I can muster right now; Screw You. I think I know what's prompted this interesting change in legislature and erosion of basic human freedoms.

Also a couple of good articles about the use and abuse of English.

First, a story about 'Globish', which sounds like a plug for a book, but has some interesting thoughts about language and the way things might go in a truly globalised world.

Also this year's nominations for the annual 'Foot In Mouth' prize.
To summarize... ahem...
"I love England, especially the food. There's nothing I like more than a lovely bowl of pasta." - Noami Campbell.
"The first attribute of the art object is that it creates a discontinuity between itself and the unsynthesised manifold." - Germaine Greer.
"the proof of the pudding is at the end of the day" and "I'll cross that chestnut when I come to it" - Geoff Boycott.
and finally, a quote from my favourite person in the whole wide world,
"One has a strong hand when there's more people playing your same cards" - George W. Bush.

Quote of the Day

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused everyone. I want to get better quickly and return to work,"

- Mitsutaka Uchikoshi

This is after slipping in a mountain stream while hiking, breaking his pelvis and surviving 24 days on nothing but water and half a bottle of barbecue sauce! Ah Japan, you've done it again!

Ostu people at November 2006

From L-R: myself, Pavla, Yuko, Rachel, Paul, Masako and Eri

Taken at 'Alberta' in Himeji - nice place for a feed and water if you're in town.

Oooops

Well, it's been a while, eh!

The PC died in a nicely spectacular way. Windows did an automatic update, and then froze on the restart - not booting at all. Safe Mode worked but that was it. Trying to revert to an older version did nothing at all. SO, I copied files over to the external drive (I knew there was a good reason to buy a 300GB drive!), which took a couple of days since I was trying to do this around work as well as other odd jobs that needed doing.

I conveniently forgot to copy over my internet bookmarks - so there went 3 years of surfing down the drain. Ah well....

Thankfully my laptops were working. I needed both of them running at one point since one also decided to misfire on startup. I also had to reinstall Avast on both of them since it had been so long since I'd used them! After perusing some websites and getting some advice from good friends in the know, it was time to reinstall Windows. It took a few hours to get things sorted out but it reinstalled successfully on the first try.

Then the Internet wouldn't work.

I called the ISP and tried to explain in Japanese what was going on and if they could help. After doing that for 10 minutes the girl suddenly started speaking English to me!!! This was in the morning, mind you, and I certainly wasn't functioning at my best! Not happy - but at least I know I could function in Japanese enough to get through that situation about 90% of the way without my wife around to do the translating. I must be making progress.

Turns out it was my fault anyway - the network card drivers weren't the right ones and I had to update them, along with with the graphics and sound card drivers. Once I'd done that things were fine, the Internet was rocking and I was downloading the software I needed again like a fury.

Now everything is fine again.



In other news, my trip back home is drawing closer and closer. 16 days to go! Thailand is pretty much organised now. All I need is to pack and buy my tickets for the airport bus. My travel blog will chronicle the epic journey or catalogue the disaster as it unfolds.


One of our teachers, Rachel, has gone to Yamaguchi prefecture with her boyfriend and we've received another teacher in trade. She's a Canadian, fresh out of university and a whole lot of fun, as my hangover from yesterday will testify!

So that makes my school look like this;
Myself, Paul (New Zealand), Pavla (Canada) and Caitlin (Canada).
Yep, in a flash we've gone from being Southern Hemispheric dominant to being outnumbered by Canadians! That's not such a bad thing if I want to have a good time, but not such a good thing if I want to save money and stay healthy, if recent nights out have been any guide!
Our Japanese staff are Yuko (manager), Masako and Eri (part-timer) - all amazing in their jobs and so very helpful to all of us.

I might be moving on early next year. It'll be six months in Otsu come February and that's what I first said I'd do to our area manager when I volunteered to come down. Looks like Pav will take over the reigns there, which will be a good experience for her - and a more approriate position considering her experience in other jobs before Nova. No thoughts or news on where yet, but I suspect it'll be back to Himeji. That could be fun if Keiko decides to study English again, since that'll be where she'll want to go as well! My wife as a student!? Not likely!!


The weather? FREEZING! I can't wait to get out of here. It's such a shame that K can't come along as well, but she's not going to get another holiday at this time of year for quite a while I suspect. Besides, I have no other 'siblings' getting married this time around.

So, what would happen if...

...the USA government decided to ban Internet gambling? Turns out you could get Window Vista for cheap!

This article explains it in detail, but basically, the USA has been brought to task by ANTIGUA for not playing fair by the WTO. The USA has basically ignored the WTO ruling that banning internationally-based Internet gambling companies while allowing US based companies to operate is a violation of WTO rules. Antigua now has the legal right to retaliate and one of the options open to it is to ignore all US copyright and patents. Hello cheap software, Hollywood DVDs, equipment, you name it!

USA suddenly complying with WTO when the multi-nationals find out in 5... 4... 3...

Ah yes. The Pink Blog. Long may it reign in our hearts... until next year!

Zippadee doo-dah

It is truly a wonderful day outside - hardly a cloud and it's been perfect for riding around.

I stumbled across a huge ceramics fair in the park near Himeji Castle. There were stall showcasing various handcrafted pottery from all over Japan. I didn't buy anything but it was a nice little stroll around the stalls and seeing the people enjoying the sunshine.

The funny thing was just outside the main area where they had a stall up giving cash rebates for anything bought at the fair. The amount refunded was determined by weight: 100 yen per kilogram bought! Never seen that before, so naturally I had to take a picture! Enjoy!

It's been my first post for a while as work's been pretty hectic and I've needed to do a bit of overtime to cover one of our teachers who had to go home suddenly.

Another one of our teachers is leaving - transferring to another school in Fukushima Prefecture (which is REALLY the countryside of Japan!) but we're getting a new one as well. That is happening at the beginning of December. Our Japanese manager has also been transferred so one of our staff has been promoted to manager in her place. She's very nervous, naturally, but I'm sure she'll do well. Starting at a smaller school like ours would be better anyway and she knows all of us as well as the students, so that's a foot in the door for her.

My Thailand trip is slowly coming together. I've just finished booking the accomodation over the Net. I used sawasdee.com which has been a very easy site to use - if you're ever needing accomodation in Thailand. Looking forward to going back home to Adelaide too. That leg of the trip is also coming together nicely. Looking forward to catching up with a lot of old friends.

My mum's in Marrakech in Morocco at the moment, so I'm a little jealous, but at the same time hoping everything's going well. I got a funny e-mail from her today. My mum is an excellent typist - she used to be a receptionist after all! The keyboard she had to use had an Arabic layout, so the results weren't quite so lucid!

and I quote:
"am using qn arabic keyboqrd

Weather is warm and sunny people on tour very pleqsqnt
and guides excellent: we qre seeing so ,uch and
loving it:"

Must've been pressed for time eh.... Love ya Mum!

It's also time to switch the site back to its basic blue after going pink for October. I'll post a screenshot for memory's sake, but I might do the same thing next year. Don't forget, you can make a difference to help others, even if it's in a small way. If we all did a small thing to help (not just for breast cancer research, but for so many other things), just imagine what we could achieve. Click here for a start.

Interesting and interestinger

A couple of pieces for your perusal.

1. Project Censored's list of top ten stories buried or simply ignored by the mainstream media for the past year. Get educated.

2. An interesting piece on what might happen to the Earth if humans disappeared - instantly. The conclusion is "that the Earth will forget us remarkably quickly". Read on.

Quote of the Day

This time from a good article looking at what could could happen if/when the U.S. starts a war with Iran.

From the article: "As a people we are enormously forgetful," Dr. [William R.] Polk, one of the country's leading scholars on the Middle East, told an Oct. 13 gathering of the Foreign Policy Association in New York. "We should have learned from history that foreign powers can't win guerrilla wars. The British learned this from our ancestors in the American Revolution and re-learned it in Ireland. Napoleon learned it in Spain. The Germans learned it in Yugoslavia. We should have learned it in Vietnam and the Russians learned it in Afghanistan and are learning it all over again in Chechnya and we are learning it, of course, in Iraq. Guerrilla wars are almost unwinnable. As a people we are also very vain. Our way of life is the only way. We should have learned that the rich and powerful can't always succeed against the poor and less powerful."

If you think a war isn't going to happen, why is "The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, .... making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran"?

The article says 3 weeks to war - minimum.

Follow up on Burma

Aung San Suu Kyi has just passed 4,000 days under house arrest.

As far as I'm aware, Australia is still providing military training to the junta who are still in control of the country.

As far as I'm aware, the junta are also still seeking nuclear technology from North Korea.

Today's moron

Courtesy of Time Asia, today's idiot is Michael John Koklich, 49, a U.S. citizen who was arrested and deported for having sex with children in Cambodia.
From the magazine: "He defended himself to reporters by saying that he only had sex with the children for "a very short period." "

Short phrase for you, Michael, go die in a fire.

Read the rest of the article though. It's a good summary about what Cambodia is trying to do to fix its image as a child-sex destination. Now what we need to do is start putting pressure on other countries that are destinations for child-sex tourists, such as the Dominican Republic, Bosnia and Guatemala.

A hero is buried.

"Tell your kids about Peter Norman"

More reactions to the NK test.

What to do?

Hope that good sense will prevail? (The 'Nobody Is That Stupid' notion)

Use U.N. sanctions and resolutions? (The 'Sternly-Worded Letter' approach)

Start an arms race? (The 'Here We Go Again' scenario)

Ask China to start leading sanctions against N Korea? (The 'Big Father Spanking Little Son' idea)

Don't forget who gave the North Koreans the technology to produce the plutonium needed to build the bombs in the first place. (The 'No Surprises There' revelation)

Failing everything, you canget together with your right-wing buddies and go and protest outside a pro-NK Korean resident's association, who most certainly have nothing to do with the test, and can't stop what's happening over there anyway. (The 'Blind Nationalistic and Racist Knee-Jerk Response' situation - thankyou Japan.)

As Bette Davis said in 'All About Eve', "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"

Today's moron

And I quote, "It will be better for the Security Council of the United Nations to congratulate the DPRK scientists and researchers instead of doing such notorious, useless and rigorous resolutions or whatever,"

Come on down Pak Gil Yon, North Korea's U.N. ambassador.

More American and Japanese reactions to the test are pouring forth.

No action yet but just wait... "The United States ambassador to the world body [the U.N.], John Bolton, said that Washington sought action under Chapter Seven of the UN charter, setting in motion a process that could lead to sanctions and eventually the use of force."

Living here, I haven't had the chance to talk to many people about what's been happening, but if the press reaction is anything to go by, a lot of people are worried that this could get out of control. Prime Minister Abe's response has been stern but not inflammatory. He's having to tread a very precarious path very early on in his tenure as P.M. - hopefully he'll do a good job.

But what to do exactly? I don't know. Part of me thinks that N. Korea should be shut out or bombed. Part of me feels that China and Russia need to do more to get N. Korea back to the negotiating table. Part of me feel feels that an arms race is inevitable since the nuclear genie is out of the bottle in this part of the world.

I know there are some politicians here who are calling for the Japanese SDF to develop nuclear weapons as a deterent. Now, if the only country who has been bombed by nuclear weapons is calling to go nuclear itself (and it still has a pacifist constitution at the moment) you know things are very serious indeed. There's no question about Japan's ability to go nuclear quickly. It has many nuclear power stations, has very close military and economic ties with the U.S., and is paranoid about North Korean influence and the dangers it poses to peace in this region. All make for a recipe for , if not disaster, then certainly very 'interesting' times ahead.

Aah.. crap.

Really, really, really stupid.

Today's dose of common sense

Thank God there are still intelligent Americans out there. Pray for all of us since none of them are in government.

Found it!

Yep, you always wondered if there was really someone who did it - and now I've found the guy who gets paid to do exactly that!

All hail Keith Jackson - the man who watches paint dry! (great action pic too!)

Not all smiles and sunshine...

Some fun and games in the morning papers today.

First comes the rather astonishing revelation that the Australian Government is providing military aid to Burma. This is the same Burma which has been a military dictatorship for the past 16 years, denying its people the leadership and freedom they voted for in 1990.

The aid is in the form of training for Burmese government officials to assist in counter-terrorism activities. Exactly what constitutes 'counter terrorism' for a military junta these days? This is the same leadership that is currently trading in opium as well as trying to acquire weaponry from North Korea - not to mention the human rights abuses against the people of Burma.

Absolutely bloody disgraceful.

While we're on the subject of North Korea, it seems like they're itching to set off a nuclear weapon as soon as they can getone to work. That is causing quite a ruckus over here in Japan - the only country to have been attacked by nuclear weapons in war. It could lead to all sorts of repercussions - from immediate sanctions to another arms race to the delightful prospect of nuclear fallout blowing over here if the test goes awry.

Wonderful...

Lastly, a piece on the Australian Government's new system of immigration tests and criteria for citizenship. It really hurts me to see that the Australia I knew and loved is now becoming known worldwide as a largely right-wing, conservative and (at times) rascist country. It has always been there simmering underneath to some extent (White Australia policy, Stolen Generation, the Chinese in the goldfields, Vietnamese boat people, etc.) but the kind of policy is just going to backfire on the country and its people in the end.

A real shame.

Going Pink For October

Yep - the site is pink! PINK!

Why, you ask? Well, as it turns out, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S.

Why would I be interested in that? Well, I have a grandmother and aunt who died as a result of breast cancer, so I think I have two very good reasons to support it.

What can you do? You can also turn your website pink - if you like. This site is collating all the websites who are doing it for this month. You can click for free here and the money raised provides free mamograms for those who can't afford them themselves. (You could click for free on the other sites there as well and help out some other causes.) You can read more about breast cancer here and raise your awareness.

Great idea. I just hope I can get past the un-manliness of having a pink page! Ah, what am I thinking? It's all for a good cause. :-)

Websites As Graphs

Found another interesting site today. This one takes webpages and displays them in a graphical form. As you can see, this site looks a bit like a fragile blossom. (well... I think so anyway!)



Included below is an internet monster site, www.fark.com for comparison. As you can see, the bigger the site, the more spectacular the graph. Bigger sites also take a lot longer for the software to work - Fark took about 10 minutes to finish!

The stunningly explosive and gorgeous fark.com at 1 October 2006 as seen through Websites As Graphs

My Beer Personality

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Is that so? I'd much rather drink a Coopers Pale Ale... showing off my beer snobbery in one fell swoop right there!! (and giving me another chance to post a picture of what drinking Coopers can do for your mood - thanks to Karl and Steve - Steve missed out on the Coopers!)

I am a map fetishist. Give me a map, or more, and I will pour myself and my imagination over it for hours. Found a good one here. It covers the history of the Middle East in 90 seconds. Just who has occupied it over the last 5000 years? This is an excellent bit of animation to give some explanation.

Subversive Documentaries

Been a little while. Been busy with work and play.

Got myself a new bass and amp as well as some effects to play around with. Gotta love music shops having sales and eBay! I can get that fat Sonic Youth crunchy sound as well as the Peter Hook/New Order sound done *just* right! Happy days.

Found this good article written by John Pilger. If you're not familiar with his work, he is one of the few good investigative reporters in the world. His documentaries are made independent of the mainstream media, and so they don't often get played on the TV. Funny that. Hasn't stopped him though - which is a good thing for the rest of us. This article comes with some recommended viewing.

Open your mind, people!

Japan's Train Culture

If there is a feature of life in Japan that appears in more TV dramas than mobile phones, it's got to be the train. Last year we had the TV adaptation of "Densha Otoku" (lit. 'train geek' - but usually translated as 'train man'), from a novelisation of a blog about a nerd's seduction of a beautiful, and seemingly unattainble woman.

Most of us NOVA types need to take a train every day to get to and from work - along with about half the population, it seems. Today's article comes courtesy of The Age, taking in many aspects of the local train culture and obsessions of those fascinated with it.

One thing they barely touched on in the article is the subject of Eki-ben or Eki-soba. Eki-ben stands for 'eki-bentou'; the lunch boxes you can buy on the station platforms. Some stations are famous for their inclusion of local delicacies, and thus have become destinations in their own right. Same goes for eki-soba; soba being the type of noodles on offer, although other varieties such as udon-noodles are also often on offer.

Himeji Station is famous for its eki-soba. The shops have recently been upgraded with the opening of the new platforms, with the decor playing on the tradition and nostalgia of the original eki-soba shops of the past. Thankfully the standards of cleanliness are more modern.

It's been a while since I had a bowl of eki-soba - I don't catch the train to work any more - but I can assure you, it's a cheap and tasty snack or light meal for the person on the go.



Image courtesy of wikipedia

So, you wanna know about Japan?

Allow me to link you to a site which specialises in finding great clips from Japanese TV.

It's called .... wait for it, wait for it..... TV in Japan!

Uninspiring name, but there's certainly truth in advertising here. There's also quite a lot of advertising; on the site and in the content too.

If you are contemplating a move to Japan, then I truly recommend this site to start acclimatising to the kind of telly you're likely to watch (endure?) before you get your satellite TV hooked up!

As for anyone who has ever lived in Japan, it will surely bring back memories!

Enjoy.

Today's stupid (and scary) quote of the day

Courtesy of The Independent comes a pretty terrifying story about some unusual injuries discovered among the corpses of Lebanese killed during the recent attacks on Lebanon. The evidence seems to point towards the Israeli military using non-conventional weapons that burn flesh to the bone and shatter internal organs without leaving any outside traces.

Buried within the piece though is this revelationary quote: "The Israel Defence Forces said yesterday all its "weapons and ammunition are legal under international law and conform with international standards"." Comforting thought....

It's a shame that the actions of the government can't also be legal under international law and conform with international standrads, but that's what we're coming to expect from semi-fascistic states these days.

Sad, but true.

Save the world? You gotta try....

To counter the pessimism of the past few posts, I thought I'd better do something positive - or at least a way that we could do something positve.

It's simple really.

Buy and install Compact Flourescent Lamps (CFLs) in your home. This article explains in very readable detail just how they could help you save money, but also save wastage of natural resources which would then lessen our impact on the environment.

From the article:
"Compact fluorescents emit the same light as classic incandescents but use 75% or 80% less electricity. What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads."

Interesting.

You can also read about CFLs on wikipedia.

While I'm not sure we could save the world so easily - at least we could delay the end... slightly.


picture used courtesy of wikipedia

Scary stuff (aka "First they came for my t-shirt")

In an age where you can be arrested in an airport for breathing the wrong way comes this latest stupidity.

A man was nearly arrested for wearing a t-shirt with Arabic script on it. Read the whole 'sad but true' tale here.

So what's next, eh? It may get to the point where we have to provide a complete transcript of everyone we know, have met, will likely meet, where we've lived, worked, travelled, slept, ate, drunk, and so on along with a DNA sample, blood sample and hair sample. Maybe that's the idea. Maybe it's already happening.

Basically I think it goes like this. If you're travelling in the USA, don't think and don't wear anything with any kind of design on it. Whoopie - it's Chairman Mao's vision all over again!

Groovy tunes for all....

I have to tell you about this guy, Chenard Walcker. He's a French artist, but don't let that put you off! He's a sound artist more than anything, although he does all his own artwork too. The music is a complete mashup (but he was doing it before 'mashup' became a concept) of jazz, funk, ethnic sounds and grooves, as well as anything else that happens to sound good.

Guess what? It sounds good!

The best thing is that all his CDs are available for free download under the Creative Commons licence. Basically you can download all you like - just don't sell it!

It's all over (pt. 2)

Web comic cum prophecy? Scary stuff from "Shooting War". There's something familiar about how this one is playing out. I'll be waiting to see how the writers involve the Asian sphere in their doomsday scenario.

If they aren't planning to do that... well... they should. Things could detonate as easily here as they could anywhere else right now.

It's all over (pt. 1)

We have until 2016. That's when the Greenland Ice Sheet slips into the sea and it rises seven (that's 7) metres. An authority no less than the U.S. Navy Survey believes this to be the case.

Read about it.

What does that mean for us that will be still alive? The article mentions five points:

1) "Most coastal cities would become uninhabitable for many...."
2) "Enormous areas of the most productive agricultural land would be underwater..."
3) "The eastern US and Europe may become hotter or colder or more storm-ridden...."
4) "Removing the weight of the ice cover ... will have an impact on ... quake and ... on volcanic activity..."
5) "... people, in their millions, will be on the move for survival....."

Sounds like fun. And people wonder why my wife and I don't have any children.

This book will change your life.

I'm officially giving up beef-pattie based hamburgers from all fast food shops and restaurants.

Many reasons, but I feel for the sake of my health, as well as my sanity, the choice must, and has been made.

The main reason is because I finally read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I must tell you that if you haven't read this book, you should. It could change your life - like mine. I won't bother to to give away what's in the book, since you should get it for yourself. Besides, there's too much in there to put up here without basically retelling the whole thing.

Now I've made this decision, what's the rest of the world doing? Well, the the U.S.A. is the home of fast food, as well as the focus or Schlosser's book, you'd think that it may have made some impact over there; Americans would be eating less fast food and more healthy varieties of nourishment, right?

WRONG.

May I present the BK Quad Stacker. It's from Burger King (Hungry Jacks in Australia) and is a monster 1000 calorie leviathan of a burger. Four patties, four slices of cheese, eight slices of bacon, creamy sauce (made from goodness knows what) and NO vegetables at all.

Of course, being America, there are bigger and errmmmm... "better" versions available.

As for me, if I do end up eating fast food, I'll be sticking to chicken burgers... perhaps. Or the rice burgers at Mosburger.


the picture of the quadburger is from mcchicken at flickr

It's funny coz it's true....

Courtesy of 'The Joy of Tech'

The Aussies Win!

Hey Yo,
Happy Belated Canada Day and Independence Day to you Canadians and Americans out there.

Well, the World Cup is basically over. I never thought I'd be cheering on the French, but as long as the Italians don't win, I'll be happy!

The Aussies have already won the only World Cup that really, truly matters though - the BEER World Cup. Yup, they had one based on the same groups as in the soccer World Cup, and the Aussies won! Naturally, it was with Cooper's Sparkling Ale - our finest ale, and my favourite tipple, naturally!

In other stuff from around the traps, a couple of interesting articles from Znet. One's about the fascist philosophers and idealists that have inspired Bush and his followers, the other's about Australia's growing role in the South-East Asian region as an agent for America's Imperial program. Scary stuff. Food for thought.

Something a little lighter is some ideas for travelling in the off season to some of the world's nicest spots. Sydney's on the list - dunno why!! As for me, the white beaches of Saint Tropez are calling! I'll see you there!

My friend, Matt, may be off to a Yo La Tengo gig as part of the American leg of his world tour. You can check out page here, but he also has a page here and here, depending on what he can access. I'll be accessing his butt with my foot for seeing Yo La Tengo AND Sonic Youth in the same month. Lucky sod!

Anyway, time for bed - looks like Wimbledon will be rained out tonight - dang....

GOALSKIE AUSTRALIA!!

Aah, I gotta tell ya, it was REALLY difficult to punch the air while watching the end of the Australia/Croatia game without making a sound! I couldn't sleep and since the dawn's early light was coming through the window, I had to get up and try to follow the game on the FIFA site. Minute after agonising minute waiting for the text to update then (quiet) elation as we equalised again. Then I just had to sneak in and turn on the telly to watch the final few minutes without waking the wife. Gotta love that Harry Kewell scored the decider - his comeback after injury is turning into an Aussie sporting fairy-tale.

Now we have to face Italy. (wipes sweaty brow) Yoiks!

Matt's Visit Continueth!

We're over halfway through the Japan leg of Matt's Tour and been taking in all sorts of interesting sights, sounds, tastes and whatever else we've been managing to get up to.

I've put up a page of pix I've taken here, but you can also have a look at Matt's page on the link to the right.

I'll post a longer series of stories and what-have-you later, but this should give an idea of what we've been doing!

CBS doesn't know the difference between Japan and China

Only adding to the evidence / myth that Americans don't know much about the world that exists beyond their borders comes this piece from CBS News' website. The flag has since been corrected, but the woeful Photoshopping of the image (shadow pointing wrong way, and it isn't the Moon; it's one of Saturn's) remain.

Another reason to drink coffee #2

Not only can coffee perform a host of useful tasks in keeping your body healthy, it looks like it can also prevent cirrhosis of the liver too! Maybe I could subtitle this post another reason to drink beer as well!


Matt arrived safe and sound, as did his cargo of Penfold's which has been duly drunk already! Delish! Tomorrow we're off to Hiroshima to check out the sights, sounds, tastes and so on. Gonna rain though, but nevermind.

Stay tuned for more!

Long time.....

Sorry about the break. It's been quite a few weeks.

Been dealing with two deaths in families; one here and one back home. Also been sick since the end of April. Work's also been really busy when I haven't been taking time off. Blogging's been one of the last things on my mind.

At least the Socceroos gave me a good reason to break my blogging drought.

I caught the game in Akashi last night at Murphy's Irish Bar. Mostly a Japanese crowd including a fellow teacher who was decked out in the blue strip. Was touch and go until the end which was just fantastic - a dream start to the World Cup for us. Me and another Aussie fellow named Nathan jumping up and down in front of the big screen after the game must've been quite a sight!

I'll give a big credit to the fans in the bar though - they were gracious in defeat. One poor fellow next to me whose favourite phrase whenever something exciting happened (about once every two minutes!) was, "My stomach hurts," bought me a beer after the game, so I bought him one back.

Bring on the Brazilians and the Croates!

Stuart (from England) and I practice our celebrating before arriving at Murphy's

I don't know what's more amazing; we scored three goals in ten minutes,
or this hot babe actually wants to have her picture taken with me!

Nathan gets a drubbing from his friend after the game.

Long time.....

Sorry about the break. It's been quite a few weeks.

Been dealing with two deaths in families; one here and one back home. Also been sick since the end of April. Work's also been really busy when I haven't been taking time off. Blogging's been one of the last things on my mind.

At least the Socceroos gave me a good reason to break my blogging drought.

I caught the game in Akashi last night at Murphy's Irish Bar. Mostly a Japanese crowd including a fellow teacher who was decked out in the blue strip. Was touch and go until the end which was just fantastic - a dream start to the World Cup for us. Me and another Aussie fellow named Nathan jumping up and down in front of the big screen after the game must've been quite a sight!

I'll give a big credit to the fans in the bar though - they were gracious in defeat. One poor fellow next to me whose favourite phrase whenever something exciting happened (about once every two minutes!) was, "My stomach hurts," bought me a beer after the game, so I bought him one back.

Bring on the Brazilians and the Croates!

Visitors!

... Actually just one. My best mate, Matt, will be tramping over the hills and dales of Japan as part of his World Domination Tour 2006. I'll be one of his able Assistants of Mayhem. Heh heh heh!

The madness shall ensue here.

Water, water ... anywhere?

Today's scary reading is brought to you by the U.N.

The Global International Waters Assessment report was released recently. Ironically it was released in Dubai, which has got to be one of the driest places on Earth.

Anyway, it makes for some reading that will keep you up at night. GNN has an excellent article summarizing the issues brought up by the report.

And if you like pictures, the International Water Management Institute has one that will keep you thinking for a while.

Sweet dreams.

Feeling like...

...crap today.

At last, I have a day off but my throat feels like it's lined with razor blades. Almost ran out of voice last night at work, but managed to scrape (pun) through without it cutting (pun) out!

At least my awful sense of humour hasn't left me.

The weather's crap outside too. Nature feels the same way I do today. Good day to stay inside...

So, I'm drinking as much Vitamin C as I can, I'm on the Net and cruising the morning papers.

I often tell students to read the papers and use the Net - especially the higher level ones. Goodness knows, they may also improve their world view. Some of the ones who I know DO read the internet in English are some of the most balanced, wise and interesting Japanese I've come across in my time in Japan.... actually, people who read more than the TV page and Sports Section the world over are generally more interesting, in my opinion.

So, I thought it was time to give you a rundown of the daily ritual. Sometimes it's twice-daily since I usually do another round when I get home after work.

1. Slashdot. It's called 'News for Nerds' but it's usually the first with the lastest in development in new technology. I usually skip the bits on Open Source software and the high tech stuff and go for the consumerables and the cultural articles.

2. The Drudge Report. One of the better news blogs, and certainly one of the longest-running and (in)famous. Matt Drudge may be right-wing, but he's fast. If something's going down, this is site is usually the first to report it.

3. The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age / The Australian. I do the big three of Australian newspapers. I also visit The Advertiser but not on a daily basis. The SMH and Age are basically the same paper but with a little difference according the to city they're designed for. The Australian is there for balance, although the editor leans more to the right for my liking. These ones I tend to crawl through, reading anything that catched my eye. It's the only way to keep up with what's happening at home. The 'Tiser is great because it contains news that no one else will find interesting unless you live in or come from Adelaide!

4. Fark. This one gets my vote as the *best* news blog in the universe. I get my weird, funny and interesting news from here. I also get a lot of my desktop wallpapers from the Photoshop forums and Farktography sections. An awesome page.

5. Crisscross. The old Japan Today webpage that was bought out recently. This one's good for combining news about Japan from a variety of news sources although it can be a bit too brief for my liking. I need some interesting meat on my newsey bones.

6. Mainichi Daily News. 'mainichi' means 'daily' in Japanese so it's the Daily Daily News. That kind of makes sense in a Japanese kind of way! This one is good for balancing crisscross as well as having an excellent 'weird Japan news' section.

7. The Register. Another tech page. Balancing Slashdot, this one is based in the UK. Home of the BOFH, this site was shown to me by one of my former housemates who works in networking. The BOFH has got to be one of the funniest online humour sites, even if you're not up with all the tech-lingo, you've got to enjoy the way they undermine corporate life.

8. Guerrilla News Network. One of my doses of left-leaning news. This site collates a lot of articles from journalists and bloggers. Often interesting and thought-provoking. I really like their weekly 'Good News Roundup'. I wish other newspapaers would do the same thing.

9. ZNet. Also on the left side of the political spectrum, this one contains writings from many well-respected writers, journalists and others on a variety of topics. I have especially appreciated the coverage of what's been happening in the US and Iraq since 2001 as well as the translations of articles about Japan that have appeared in the press here but I haven't been able to read.

10. Rajah. I have to include my favourite WWE page here. YES, it is mindlessly violent entertainment. YES, it is horribly right-wing, jingoistic, patriotic and sexist drivel. But hey, everyone needs a vice - and this one's MINE! Get over it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen usually gets me through breakfast and getting ready for work, or sees me through post-work dinner and ready for bed!

Time to get more Vitamin C!

Signs of the Apocalypse #12

Jason Gillespie scores 201 not out.

In doing so, he went past Mark Waugh's [153], Michael Clarke's [151], Steve Waugh's [200] and David Boon's [200] highest Test scores. He also became the first Aussie nightwatchman to score a century for 30 years.

I'm almost as astonished as Dizzy is!!

more dust

Yup, it's still dusty outside. Not as bad as it still is in China. The news today said that China is creating rain to try to wash the streets as well as clean the air. The dust cloud reached Tokyo on Tuesday.

Looking outside this morning, there is definitely still a yellow-ish tinge to the air. Thankfully the wind hasn't been as strong as it was last Saturday.

Today is day 11 of 13 at work. REALLY looking forward to Friday!

Dust, dust and more dust

On Saturday night I finished work and stepping out into the evening air proved to be quite an interesting experience. The day had started bright, clear and windy... really windy. During the afternoon I noticed the smell of dust coming through the office. I thought the place just needed a vacuum. By the evening the atmosphere was quite foggy, but more like a dirty, greyish yellowish fog. Looking up, the sky was clear and moonlit, but the view of the castle from the station was almost completely obscured by the fog.

Yep, it was a dust-storm, blown across from China by the strong winds of the morning. It was certainly the worst I had ever seen it in the five years I've been in Japan. The smell got in everywhere and while it was annoying, it wasn't unpleasant. I feel sorry for all the severe allergy sufferers though; this time of year id the worst for pollen in Japan and so the dust must make it truly a horrible expereince.

Here are a couple of links to pictures from 2001 and an ABC discussion from 2004 which shed some light on the situation. One frightening aspect is the level of heavy metals and pollutants that are blown across as well as the topsoil.

The last couple of days have been rainy though, so that should settle things down, for now anyway.

There is movement at the station - literally. Himeji Station has been being rebuilt/renovated/extended as long as I've been here and FINALLY it seems like something is happening.

Over this weekend they're lifting out the bridges to the west of the station and finishing the new overhead rail lines that will make the crossings near the station history and improve the traffic conditions.

I stopped by for a look-see after dinner at Everest last night (see the Himeji Restaurants page for more) and took some pics, then again while shopping today. They have the biggest mobile crane in Japan to do the job. Apparently it's 250 metres tall at its full height. As they say in the West, "That's a mighty big crane you got there," and as they say in Australia, "No shit, Sherlock!"

Still a long way to go until the station is complete, but this is a big step towards the end of the line. (pun intended)

Random playlist

I love Winamp - such a neat little program. I also really like my 300GB external hardrive sitting on the floor. At the moment I have 70 hours of tunes loaded up. 1017 songs to be exact!

Here's a sample of what I'm listening to - courtesy of the 'random' function....

From Samarkand To Bukhara - Bonus Track (untitled) - traditional music from Uzbekistan
Gary Numan - Cars - classic 70s techno-rock
Propellerheads - Take California - beats for the masses
Sonic Youth - No Queen Blues - from a live show
Ry Cooder - Brothers - from the 'Paris, Texas' soundtrack: one of my favourite movies
Big Country - In A Big Country - rockin' Scots tear up the 80s
Aqueduct - Frantic (Roman Polanski Version) - found while random searching on the Net
Go Home Productions - Daft Britney - mashup of that girl with Daft Punk - surprisingly good
Jaya Semara - Balinese Gamelan Music
Hall & Oates - Kiss On My List - the best cheese is 80s cheese
The Sundays - Joy - live performance from the French radio program in 1992. I miss this band
Kenji Kawai - Ghost Hack - from the 'Ghost In The Shell' soundtrack. Awesome movie
Kenji Kawai - Access - from the same soundtrack - so much for 'random'!
Revenge - Kiss The Chrome - Peter Hook from New Order's solo project - great bass, silly songs
Dizzy Gillespie - Theme from the cool world - When I read Chandler, this is the music I dream of...
Mazzy Star - Flowers In December - beautiful music - wide open sounds
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Gemini Spacecraft - defies decription; a classic!
Sonic Youth - Junkie's Promise - from the classic 'Washing Machine' album - gritty grind
Zbigniew Preisner - Beginning of the Story - from the 'Aberdeen' soundtrack - delightful Celtic inspired piano piece
Sonic Animation - Didley Squat - late 90s Aussie dance anthem
Sonic Youth - Bull In The Heather - get the feeling I like Sonic Youth?!
Parker and Lily - The Low Lows - spacy mid-West hotel at dusk music
Grace Jones - Love Is The Drug - Miss Jones' take on the Roxy Music classic - frantic
Go Home Productions - The Whale and the Walrus - lavish mashup of the Beatles hit
Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better - HOWAAARD! This song rocks.
Tori Amos - Angie - Tori does her acoustic piano thing to the Rolling Stones ditty - like this one
Go Home Productions - Safesurfing for No One - another Beatles mashup - 'random' failing again
Barry Manilow - I Write The Songs - heh heh heh! "I've been alive forever..." Prophetic!
Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night - never really understood why myself....
Severed Heads - Someone Who Doesn't Need Their Organs Anymore - Aussie electronica; from 'The Illustrated Family Doctor' movie
Cliff Richard - Devil Woman - "Honestly, you'd think 'Devil Woman' had never been written!"
Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy - Aaaah the smiles keep coming
Jane's Addiction - Stop - Air guitar!
James Taylor - Fire and Rain - another classic tune
Machine Go Boom - This Song's A Secret - any song with the refrain "I know you'll be dancing on my coffin lid" deserves a listen or three.
10CC - I'm Not In Love - going through the 70s catalogue a bit here!
Go Home Productions - Message Of Love - this time Grandmaster Flash and XTC get mixed up - this works really well!
Parker and Lily - Swim To Me - spooky space-race sounds in this one
Wilco - War On War - a great American band
The Smiths - Paint A Vulgar Picture - Morrissey croons, Marr strums; twas such a good music partnership...
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust - ooh yeah!
St. Etienne - Mr. Donut - Lounge infused pop. I actually went to Mr. Donuts today, so there you go!
New Order - State Of The Nation - not one of their best singles, but some good moments.
Little General - Beauty Fades (Dumb Is Forever) - great title! Little known Melbourne group
Midnight Oil - Short Memory - this song is over 20 years old and still relevant.
Yo La Tengo - Wasn't Born To Follow - Hoboken's finest light it up
Roxy Music - Avalon - a classic! (I wonder how many times I need to use this word today)
Slowdive - Sweet Child O'Mine - one of the mildest covers of a wild song you'll ever hear.
Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon - Plastic Jesus - heh heh heh! This has to be heard to be believed!
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Bladerunner - starts like the Dead Kennedys, ends like a train wreck
They Might Be Giants - Someone Keeps Moving My Chair - no idea what this song is about
Boys Don't Cry - I Wanna Be A Cowboy - 80s one-hit-wonder..... thankfully!
Tom Tom Club - Genius Of Love (live) - from the Stop Making Sense CD - funky
Yo La Tengo - Last Days Of Disco - Cool sounds from New Jersey
Chenard Walcker - Monome Valentine - French audio artist mashes up funk, jazz and others

...and I'm spent! Time for dinner.

More will be added to the drive.... more musical randomness shall ensue!

NOVA bashing

I guess it comes with the territory. I do work for the largest English Teaching company in Japan and so it's inevitable that it will come in for some criticism. This ranges from the balanced to the stark-raving lunatic. Today's Sydney Morning Herald didn't help the 'balanced' proportion of the criticism. This article painted the whole english teaching industry in Japan, particularly NOVA, in quite a harsh light. It got me steamed in particular that the article appeared in the 'World' section of their webpage, not in the 'Opinion' one, which may have been better suited to what it appeared to be trying to say.

It certainly stirred the pot online, with quite a few forums catching on. This one in particular caught my eye as it featured postings from one of the subjects interviewed for the article. She commented that her situation had been explained rather briefly but the gist had been put across. I wrote to her and said that the article had made her out to be quite petty in some ways, which her comments had explained far more thoroughly and in a more informative way. She replied and so I've reached a deeper understanding of the issues that were going on in her situation. A lot of sympathy, but at the same time I'd have a lot of sympathy for anyone in any job who might have been treated in the same way.

I don't have much sympathy for the fellow who sued NOVA after being sacked for deliberately flouting the terms of his contract - by dating a female student. In his position ( a senior teacher with more than a year of experience) he would've known exactly what would've happened. Anyway, if you have to date students, or hang out with them for that matter, you can always do what the Catholics do and go by their 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not be caught.

I'd like to put forward these articles and websites for your consideration.

Level Up, Yes or No?

Grassroots Design - this part of the site is devoted to his experiences in Japan and with NOVA

Markcity - a fellow Blogger wrote an article about his time with NOVA

The Unbiased Truth About Nova - tries hard to be balanced.

I'll try to step off my soapbox now.

Peace

Well, it looks like one of the symbols of Japan is getting a facelift. The Shinkansen (bullet train) is getting a new model - and what a beauty it is! One of the more recent ones looked like a running shoe, but this one looks more whale-shaped to me. Perhaps there's something in the Japanese unconsciousness about this!

Anyway, this train will be able to move at a whopping 360 km/h! Pretty soon we'll be breaking the sound barrier at ground level....

Yoiks!

Looks like the hot look for male fashion in Japan this year is going to be the girdle!

From the article: "Men are getting so much more fashion conscious these days that they're starting to pay attention to the lines of their body and their silhouette, just like women,"

It only goes to support my theory that the home of the Metrosexual is Japan. Seriously, guys spend just as long preening themselves as women here. You see them in packs down the main street or hanging out by the station. Baseball caps all on the same odd angle, pants barely hanging onto the hips (one of these days I'm going to dack one of these guys, I swear!), the same goofy spiky coloured hair, the same blank sneer - all emmaculately coiffured.

The salary-man is not immune either. All that working at the desk for 10+ hours a day and consuming vast amounts of calories (convenience store food for lunch and beer with fried snacks after work then going to bed after midnight) makes for an ever expanding waistline.

But for this happens means it's another triumph of mass marketing. The championing of the quick fix and the admission of defeat - that Japan has joined the ranks fo the western countries as far as diet and the expansion of the waistline is concerned. The traditional Japanese diet is fast becoming a thing of the past. You see young folk in the fast food restaurants all the time - feeding their expanding bodies. Type II Diabetes is on the rise here, as are the numbers of large-size clothing stores. The rise in number of curvy girls and men sporting frames that would've betrayed a past in sumo walking the city streets is plain to see.

The fact that these girdles are selling out means that the idea of diet and exercise haven't caught on at all. A quick fix and all is better. I'm sure that squeezing in the internal organs can't be good for the long term health either.

At least a new street sport can be added to 'toupee spotting' and 'mullet hunting'!

Real Bronzed Aussie

I don't want to take anything away from the Aussies either.

It was great to watch Alisa Camplin pick up the bronze last night.

Her story is amazing. Coming back after her knee gave out, she went through an incredible rehabilition regime to come back and nail her two jumps to clinch the medal.

And she's a real Aussie too - not like the Canadian import we got to win our gold medal for us.

Onya Alisa!

The results are in!

And at last, Japan has a medal in the Winter Olympics. Shizuka Arakawa won the Gold Medal for her performance in the Women's Figure Skating. Good for her - she's worked hard for it.

Now she has to survive the media onslaught that will invade her life for the next.... goodness knows how long!

She's already hinted that she's going to retire. That'll probably save her a lot of pressure to repeat the performance - but also it'll be good to finish on top.

おめでとうございます！

Power up

Interesting news from South Africa. It looks like researchers over there have made a solar cell that can convert 100% of the sun's energy into electricity for home use.


Allow me to say a loud "Hooray!" for these people and when can I get mine?

Today's moron

Is brought to you by the U.S.A.


A woman and her daughter survive a horrific car crash which severed the woman's arm. They later found her arm - still clutching her cell phone.

She got what she deserved - thank goodness her daughter's OK.

Stop using mobile phones while driving. If one of you knocks me down, I'll kick your ass - if I'm not dead.

People are insane

This story is so insane, I can't just quote one piece of it - so here's the whole dang thing.

They already have their own designer clothes, health insurance and therapists and now more and more American pets are enjoying their own birthday parties as well .

A surprising number of pet owners host birthday parties - complete with party hats, cake and guests for their dogs, cats and birds, a survey by California-based Veterinary Pet Insurance says.

The firm reported that 58 per cent of its policy holders who responded say they hosted birthday bashes for their pets.

Veterinary Pet Insurance, which marks the occasion by sending each insured pet a birthday card every year and a coupon for free food, says other surveys have calculated that about six million American dog and cat households celebrate birthdays.

Three Dog Bakery, a specialty store in upscale Newport Beach in California gets about 20 requests a week for pet birthday cakes, owner Sandy Deem says.

- Reuters

Interesting idea....

I love coffee. Actually, I LOVE coffee! Living in Japan is actually a good way to taste really great coffee. You can buy almost anything conveniently, and there are maybe 10 decent coffee shops within a 2 km radius in any decent-sized city.

So I gravitate naturally to articles about it.

Today's find comes courtesy of FARK - a daily read - and is about how to take a Caffeine Nap. You heard it right.

From the article: "You drink a cup of coffee and immediately take a 15 minute nap. Researchers found coffee helps clear your system of adenosine, a chemical which makes you sleepy. So in testing, the combination of a cup of coffee with an immediate nap chaser provided the most alertness for the longest period of time. The recommendation was to nap only 15 minutes, no more or less and you must sleep immediately after the coffee."

Look out for more Starbucks operating along highways and interstates.

Scary pic and a good article from The Huffington Post. Read the inscription carefully - it says "2001 - ", not "2001 - 2009" which is what's mandated under the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Are we stuck with George Bush forever?

Why is Britney, Ashley, etc. so popular?

Short answer? It's the radio's fault - and yours.

Sign of the Times

From this week's Time magazine, an interesting story about one of the people arrested at the State of the Union speech this past week - and it isn't who you think it is.

From the article: "The man ... was a personal guest of Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings. He is a prominent businessman from Broward County, Florida who works with the Department of Defense-and has a security clearance." He also happens to be an American of Indian descent - and happened to trigger the FBI's list of secret suspects that interestingly includes anyone suspiciously 'foreign looking'.

The man was taken away from the auditorium after the speech was over (during which he hadn't anything vaguely suspicious at all) and was questioned by police and secret service staff for over an hour before being released.

He has been apologised to, but said afterwards that this incident was, "maybe just the price of being brown in America".

So, I guess that means that people are now resigned to having their civil liberties violated as a matter of course in the U.S.A. Goodbye, Land of the Free. Hello, something altogether darker and more dangerous.

Well.... today started out nice and warm. I was actually wondering why I was wearing a coat as I was walking to the bus stop.
By the time I grabbed something to eat at 5pm it was feeling quite nippy outside.
At 9:30 it was snowing. Not reeeeaaaally snowing..... more like God's dandruff actually, but the white flakes were definitely falling from the sky at quite a pace.

Anyway, this is what I WISHED it looked like today..... shame I live in the wrong part of Japan in some ways!

Today's feel good story

I felt something warm stir in the old, cold heart when I read this story.

It's good to do something completely unselfish and not seeking reward or recognition once in a while. I heartily cheer this fellow for doing what he's done.

I think there's a quote that goes something like "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty". Applies well to this situation.

You go, girl.

Stories like this just make me smile and feel all warm inside.

Today's 'make you think' website

Welcome to today. The war in Iraq goes on... and on - just in case you forgot.

This website keeps an account of the casualties - just in case your media source is not telling you what's going on.

Moral of the story - keep searching, keep reading, keep weighing against what the mainstream media keep telling you.

Keep thinking - and keep smiling (it really makes the bastards worried!)

Today's useless innovation

A mouse that counts how many left and right clicks you... errmmm... click. Whoop-dee-doo!

Got 20 minutes?

The title of this article says it all, "Why Is Tom Cruise Such A Dick?"

Probably one of the best written criticisms of Mr. Cruise I've come across and why 2005 will be eventually seen as the turning point in his career - and the only way for him now is down.

This gets my vote for Picture of the Day - no other comment needed - from Antony Loewenstein's blog. 

TNT for dinner

Ah. I get to have dinner alone. The poor wife is feeling poorly so she said to fix dinner myself tonight. Since she was feeling bad, and I didn't want to, so I figured something hot and spicy might keep the bugs out of my system - or at least kill any that had got in. I had a packet of Green Curry Paste and there was chicken in the fridge, so yeah, heck, why not?

I didn't have the other ingredients suggested on the back (where can you get sweet basil and kaffirlime leaves around here anyway!?) so I substituted by usuing the leftover sun-dried tomato from last night as well as onion and garlic. I figured the sweetness of the tomato and onion might go some way to neutralising the fire of the chilli.

Boy, was I wrong! After my tastebuds had performed a quantum shift to a parallel universe and I downed some milk, I was able to finish off the curry, but it took me a good 30 minutes to recover afterwards! It was delicious, but I felt like I'd gone for a run! I'm out of practice with proper spicy food, methinks.

The thing is, the recipe on the back of the packet said to add extra chilli!

Not good.


Anyway, I also polished off the bottle of wine I opened last night - a very nice Penfold's Muscat (Vintage 1997) that I hadn't got around to opening previously. It was OK last night, but after a day in the fridge the flavours had developed nicely. It was quite sweet and fruity, but with a hint of acidity that really made it quite a tasty drop. I might have to pick up another the next time I'm back home.

Enough food. Back to the cynicism.

Aaaawwwww.... isn't that cute!? (and a bit scary)

Today's cute story, brought to you by Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo. A Japanese rat snake and its lunch, a hamster named "Gohan" (Japanese for 'meal') are now best friends and hang out together in the same cage.

Good piece

... on one of the guys who makes the plastic food you always see in the windows of restaurants in Japan.

I always wanted to buy some for souvenirs, but now I know how much they cost.... I think I'll be going back to the 100 yen shops!!

Just another normal day in Japan

A high flying executive arrested for manipulating the stockmarket.

TV network busted over staging news stories.

Drunk teacher caught molesting a woman on a train (bonus points for being three common events in the one story; a) drunk worker, b) teacher, c) molesting a woman on the train).

Government worker trying to film up the skirt of a high school girl (two in one bonus)

Just another day....




Too tired. Worked through my break to cover a sick teacher. Also had my Kakogawa business class this morning as well as my manic kids class this afternoon.

I've had a beer. The day is done.

Today's stupid criminal

Yay Japan!

Another idiot who should've attemtped thought before embarking on a (short) life of crime!

His crime? Spreading nails on a driving course!

Why? Because he failed his test three times!

How old is this man? 33!

How did they catch him? He mailed a letter to the driving course, saying he was going to spread nails on the course, and they got his prints from the letter!!

Yay Moron! Go rot in a cell for a few years. Maybe the culture growing in the corner will find its way into your empty cranium, ferment and mutate into something resembling a brain!

Are you ready to rock?!

My mate Matt sent this awesome video.

Rock and roll!

Welcome to the Infant Nation

One thing you'll notice once you've been in Japan for a while is just how extraordinarily infantile, juvenile and immature things are - especially the people and the way they are treated.

This may become one of the 'themes' of this website, I fear.

It's amazing how much people are mollicoddled in their daily lives in Japan. For example, when you want to get on a train, there's a voice on the PA telling you that there is a train coming into the station, to watch out for the said train, to stand behind the yellow line, not to push once the doors are open, and so on. Once you've reached your destination there's another voice, this time from the conductor, who tells you not once but at least twice which station it is you're coming to, to not leave anything behind, like bags, umbrellas, shopping, children, and so on. It is really something.

I won't even start on the culture, like the horrid pop music, the style of humour seen on TV, as well as the way women are treated ("Wow, she's got big breasts! Hee hee!" "Yes, I do. It's my 'charm point'. Do you want me to bend over while wearing this bikini?" "Oh yes please! Hee hee hee hee!" - Sheesh....), but I guess it has something to do with today's link and story.

The childishness extends to crime. Criminals in Japan are often quite pathetic with the reasons they commit crimes, as well as the execution. They often lash out like children - striking blindly and often with horrific violence, only realising afterwards what damage they have done. It's also amazing how many of them confess straight away. (But when you understand the techniques used by the police to extract confessions, maybe that doesn't seem like such a bad idea....) Today's story is an excellent example.

The first sentence says it all, really. "A 27-year-old unemployed man has been arrested for setting fire to a futon in his home after getting angry with his mother for refusing to buy him dolls"

Dolls? 27 year-old man? This is what this nation is coming to, boys and girls.

He did do the right thing though, after his house burned down, he went straight to the police and turned himself in. Good boy, now go to prison for the rest of your life, you loony!

The next example may well be posted... tomorrow?

Stay tuned.

Not that it matters...

Run for the hills. Run for your life.

It's all over. Forget about the future. The world is doomed. Don't have children. Just try to survive, because that's all there is left.

Today's message of hope and optimism is brought to you by James Lovelock.

We'll be moving to Hokkaido soon!!

Waiting for number three

Things often happen in threes - often called The Law Of Threes.

Today's is an interesting one. In consecutive articles in The Australian, two women have been elected to become their countries' leaders. In Liberia, and Chile.

Waiting for the third, unless you count Germany!

You might also want to check out this site, which is a summary of the history of female leaders of countries throughout modern political history. I make the current count 12 if you include, Germany, Liberia and Chile.

Fun for everyone

Here's a good list of conspiracy theories - something I find alternatively fascinating, amusing and scary....

"Intelligent Design"

The controversy rages.

It's something I'm interested, given my background and upbringing.

For those who don't know, I was raised scientific, but spent most of my teen years and twenties in the church. I managed to emerge from that with a strong moral sense, but still a firm supporter of evolution.

The whole idea of a scientific theory based on 'self-evident truth', as the proponents of 'intelligent design' put forward, to me is a load of bunkum, bullshit and beligerent disregard for rational thought. How can you test and measure something which is 'self-evident'? It would be funny if it wasn't true.

I thought this recent article was a good summary of the battle on one of the front lines, Kentucky. Please read, and then read more.

You may also want to check out the wonderful parody of the controversy - The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I believe this is what started the whole 'W' = double craze. This spunky little duo are part of the Hello Project - basically a production line of all girl pop groups in Japan. These two are (apparent) singers and dancers whose music is saccharine beyond belief. It's more like a parody of pop music to me... but don't underestimate their impact on the language!

Pizza Little Party slid this into my letterbox today. Double Cheese on your pizza, anyone? Bueller? 

And Lotteria are getting in on the act. This is for a double pattie teriyaki burger. The thickness of the patties is just like a regular single pattie from any other decent burger shop. Mosburger still kicks Lotteria's butt! 

Recent developments in Japlish

Welcome to Japanese 101. English is well known for its ability to cannibalize other laguages, including Japanese, to create new words. Take 'tycoon' for example. In English it means a maverick entreprenuer - a person who has taken risks in business and made a fortune, quickly. It comes from the Japanese 'taikun' - meaning a general in the military.

Well, this brings us to today's post, which is brought to you by the letter 'W'.

It seems everywhere you go in Japan recently you see posters, advertisements and other things with the letter 'W' prominently displayed. It Japlish, it means 'double' - often with the katakana　ダブルユー (pron. daburuyuu) or ダブル (pron. daburu) included somewhere in the text. I've seen it used to mean 'double chance' (Wチャンス), for example.

I believe the first instance of this use of language was with the Hello Project group of this very name . Of course, science has shown us that if you want to change any culture quickly, all you have to do is make something popular to teenage girls. The same is true of language. These girls are (apparently) very popular with young girls (and men who can't get dates, but we won't go into that right now) so their songs, styles and use of language have often quickly moved into the mainstream. This group appeared about half-way through last year (at least in my observations of Japanese TV) so it hasn't taken long for this use of 'W' to pop up in many places. I've included a couple of examples above, but there would be many more.

Well, my Mum and brother made some impact on their visit to Japan last year. They were part of the 7,450,000 souls who visited over the 2005 year.

It's a big improvement on the past, but still al ong way short of the 10 million per year the Japanese government are aiming for. The socks are being pulled up - just not quite there yet!

Today's good news

Van Halen (hopefully) will be reunited!

Japan and traffic safety

Well, it looks as though Japan has had one of its best years on record for traffic safety, witht he national road death toll below 7000 for the first time in nearly fifty years! I am a little surprised, but glad to hear the news.

Why surprised? Despite the fact that there are (apparently) laws, no matter where you go in Japan there are people flagrantly breaking them. Not wearing seat belts is my pet hate. Sometimes it seems like nearly 1 in 3 drivers - and a lot of passengers too - aren't wearing any kind of protection while in their cars. I can't tell you how many times I've watched reports about fatal crashes on the news and there's been a tell-tale hole in the front windscreen.

Not only are drivers and passengers not wearing belts, but the kids too - especially children - are in the backseats, or on their parents' laps while not wearing anything to stop them from dying. That really gets my goat. It's a form of child abuse, in my opinion.

I have a friend who was nearly knocked off his motorbike by some moron woman driving her 4WD while talking on her mobile phone and looking the wrong way. I suspect most of us who ride bikes have simialr stories to tell. I'm glad to say (while frantically touching anything made of wood) that I haven't yet.

I'm planning to go for a ride later, so wish me luck!