Traditional American Garb

Some of America's most questionable products are marketed on Japanese TV. Magnet necklaces that cure all sorts of ailments, ab rollers, etc - all find a second life on Japanese TV and shopping shows here. Harmless though it may be, the Snuggie commercial is shown a lot here. Featuring American actors with Japanese voice-over, the commercial gives Japanese the impression that most Americans wear the Snuggie as daily dress - showing us as wearing them around the house, in the yard and even out in public. We look like a tribe of soft nerfballs or space travelers from the future. Just this weekend I saw a Japanese woman wearing a Snuggie in a downtown department store. Guess I better get one in case my nationality is ever questioned.

Why NPR Matters

Being overseas buffers me from some of the worst of the new style of politically biased news that has taken root in the USA - I'm thinking mostly about Fox News - the worst of the worst. There are other examples of news gone bad - on both the left and the right - but NPR is not among them. I've heard about the Juan Williams controversy over the past week but I hadn't been able to get a good read on the situation until I read this piece that my favorite journalist, James Fallows, wrote about it. It's well worth reading if you care about the state of our information infrastructure and our democracy.

Chinese Professor

This is an interesting video. I understand it is a parody of a commercial running on tv in America now. Interesting background at James Fallows blog.

Perhaps you know someone who is familiar with the Chinese economy?

More Japanese Protests against China

As reported here by VOA News, the Japanese and Chinese protested against each other on Saturday - primarilly over a territorial dispute over some islands between Okinawa and Taiwan. We happened upon the Japanese protest just outside of Hardy Barracks (a tiny US military base) not far from our home. I was interested to see that among all the Japanese flags and signs declaring that the Senkaku Islands are Japanese territory were a few Tibetan flags. In all of the anti-Japanese protests I've seen lately there were people handing out leaflets or holding signs protesting Chinese occupation of Tibet and East Turkestan (Xinjiang).

Living in a Forest

We moved from a smaller apartment to a larger one today. The view isn't quite as good but the place has more space. I don't think I've ever lived above a third floor in all the upteen jillion places I've lived before so it still seems strange to look out a window and see nothing but skyscrapers and office buildings out there. But I like it. In an odd way I feel like I'm in a forest.

Elvis Presley in the Park

The rain let up in the morning so I took the Ginza line to Akasaka-mitsuke and changed to the Maranouchi line and in just 15 minutes was in Shinjuku - the busiest transit point in the world. Several rail and subway lines come together here and it's easy to get lost above or below ground.

Shinjuku was having an art fest this Sunday so I caught a number of performances that were happening in the blocked off streets. In some cases the audience was more interesting than the performers. In front of Studio Alta there were the usual gaggle of paparazzi waiting for celebrities to come of of the TV studios at Studio Alta. Across the street a group of Okinawans were protesting the US bases on their island. They had some guy with an Obama mask on being "oppressive" (sigh). Next to them a couple of mimes were trying to get out of that box again.

Shakey's Pizza was too busy to get in so I took the subway to Harajuku and enjoyed a group of Japanese dancing to Elvis Presley in Yoyogi Park and watching other colorful characters. Then I walked to Shibuya and joined the hordes of young people streaming into the mini-city for eating, drinking, preening and shopping (them, not me). Next to Shibuya station I hopped on bus 51 for the 15-minute ride home.

Rainy Saturday in October

A Computer that also Cooks Rice

Got a new rice cooker today that rivals my iMac in computing power. It's been several years since I bought a rice cooker so I didn't realize how far along they have come recently. A few years ago "fuzzy" appliances were the rage but I opted for manual at the time. Now I've leap-frogged the fuzzy phase and gone straight into the age of "induction heating" or "IH" for short. IH allows you to cook "GABBA" brown rice that supposedly unlocks gamma butilosteoporosusbetelnutium amino acids in the rice. Sounds like I need to wear a lead apron while in the same room with it.

We checked out the selection of space age rice cookers in Akihabara a few weeks ago and got a feel for the new high tech machines. I was shocked by the prices though. "$500 for a rice cooker?!", I gasped. The last one I bought cost $10. But, as with most Japanese made electronics, I knew I could get the exact same Made-in-Japan item from the US for half the price. Japanese consumers get ripped off by their manufacturers. So I ordered from the US.

The thing came in the mail today and the spaceship-like titanium device looks ready to hover in mid air, help G-man with his calculus, and maybe even prepare rice.

Japanese Protest

The Japanese Right has reacted to Chinese protests over the recent arrest and release of a Chinese fishing boat captain. Last night while walking around Shibuya we came upon a large and loud rally against China. Politicians were giving rousing speeches from a sound truck while flag-waving protesters listened and applauded. Some of the protesters raised their fists in the air half-heartedly - not sure if they were going too far. Meanwhile tens of thousands of young Japanese streamed by on their way to a good time on an otherwise typical Saturday night.

Kamakura

30 miles outside of Tokyo - on the Pacific Ocean - lies Kamakura, the capital of Japan during the appropriately named Kamakura period. I've been there several times before but it must have been over 10 years since my last visit. So today I hopped the train south through Yokohama for the hour-long ride to Kamakura.

When I arrived the cloudy sky had brightened up a bit and the sun even shown through in spots. So I continued on from Kamakura station on the local two-car train to Hase where I got off and walked the kilometer to Daibutsu, the Great Buddha - or the Great Budda as one sign proclaimed. I spent three hours just watching the scene, the people and the huge bronze statue that has been in the open air since a tsunami tore away the temple that used to surround it 500 years ago.