West Peavine

Meetup.com

2012-02-07T03:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to a dinner at TGI Friday's in Yokohama to meet some friends we met through the Meetup.com website. This is a great way to meet people who are interested in the same things you are. It's a worldwide service and covers every imaginable topic. If you are in Tokyo for example you can get together with people interested in everything from photography, to vegetarian restaurants to world travel. Just about any hobby or interest you can have. Well almost - I haven't found one that specializes in airline barf bag collectors yet.

If one lives in a compound with other people from your workplace - like I do - this is a great way to branch out beyond the insular bubble. It's important to talk to people about something other than work - which invariably happens with friends from the office. At the dinner in Yokohama we met a Microsoft engineer from India, a military contractor from my home state, his wife from the Ukraine, a lady journalist from Tokyo, and a couple that own a shop in Yokohama. An interesting bunch of people. And the food was good!

Thoughts on New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T04:21:00.000-08:00

2011 was quite a year - our first full year in Japan - just in time for the big quake, tsunami and nuclear meltdowns. Our son went off to school on the other side of the globe - leaving quite a vacuum at home. We did have time to travel through the American West on our vacation but stayed pretty close to home the rest of the year. I got back into photography, a hobby that I started in high school but had let go during the transition from film to digital. Now I'm relearning it almost from scratch. Technology will do that to you.

The new year sneaked up on me - I was shocked this morning to realize that this is the last day of the year. I haven't had time to consider the coming year but with less than three hours left in 2011 I better get into the right mindset. What will 2012 bring? I hope it will be a good one and all of my loved ones will stay safe.

Remember the Neediest

2011-12-25T06:16:00.000-08:00

The masthead of the New York Times today says "Today is Christmas. Remember the Neediest". Even in a city such as Tokyo, surrounded by much wealth, there are many needy. It is easy to overlook them because the homeless in Tokyo do not beg. I've never seen a panhandler here. There are many homeless but you won't see them unless you go to the out-of-the-way to find the "soup lines". Ueno Park in NE Tokyo is a popular place for the homeless to gather and to sleep overnight. My wife goes there on Tuesdays and Fridays to help a church feed 700+. They are almost all old men who have lost their jobs or have mental problems. When I see them I can't imagine what it is like to sleep outside in this cold, damp weather. The only thing my wife asked for for Christmas was 1,000 plastic forks to give to the homeless of Ueno Park so I ordered the kind made from recycled vegetable starch from the US. They last a lot longer than the plastic kind and can be washed and reused many times. Next, I'd like to work on getting sleeping bags for as many of them as possible.

I've read that there has been a recent trend in the US of anonymous people paying off the lay-away items of strangers in stores like KMart and WalMart. That's a great idea - but they don't have law-away in Japan.

Jeopardy under a ginkgo tree

2011-12-03T06:40:00.000-08:00

I had my camera lens a few inches from a ginkgo leaf that was resting on a rock when I noticed a face approaching from the left. It was getting closer so I glanced away from my prey for a second to see what the looming face belonged to. It belonged to an old man who was asking me if I was Japanese. He was already short but his stooped posture made him even shorter. He was wearing a baggy sweat suit he was holding up with an outsized hand. He must have been 80-90 years old and he looked like he had been beaten for about 70 of those years. Where I'm from they'd say he looked as if he'd been ridden hard and put up wet.

"Do you know who our prime minister is?" he asked in English. I passed that test so he asked me if I knew the name of the ruling party in Japan. Passed that one too so he pressed on with harder and harder questions. When he failed to stump me he switched gears and told me to ask him if he knew who any US presidents were. "Do you know any US presidents?" I repeated dutifully. Then, bent over so far I couldn't see his face he proceeded to name every single US president, in order, starting from Washington and ending with Obama. Good grief I thought. I couldn't do that. Not one in a thousand Americans could do that. I asked him how he came to know that and why he spoke pretty good English. "Oh, it's nothin' the top of his head said to me as he shuffled away without looking back.

Amazing leap forward in toilet stall technology

2011-11-17T03:45:00.000-08:00

I came across a wonderful invention in the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo a couple of days ago. This is a significant advance in civilization - so I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it earlier. It's a sliding bathroom stall door that eliminates the need to stand on top of the toilet so you can open the stall door inwards without falling back onto the toilet or straddling it. Of course the new technology requires instructions. Note that the diagram includes instructions on both how to close the door AND on how to reverse the process and open it. I'm proud to say I had it figured out by step 2.

Now if they can just figure out a way to raise the toilet paper dispenser to a level that doesn't require you to stand on your head to unroll it.

Yo-Yo Ma in Yokosuka

2011-11-16T04:17:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I had the good fortune to go see Yo-Yo Ma perform at Yokosuka City's concert hall. I had first seen him perform at the Hollywood Bowl many years ago when I lived in LA and had just watched him perform as part of the Goat Rodeo Sessions band on the Colbert Report a few days ago. He always seems like such a nice guy - not at all full of himself. And so versatile! From classical to blue grass and beyond.

Watching him from 40 feet away in Yokosuka I could see the emotion in his face. He was working so hard I could imagine that after an hour of such intense effort he must be drained. Even sitting down playing his cello he was straining every muscle. And he was, as I expected, very gracious to all of the other unhighlighted musicians in the orchestra. He repeatedly called the audiences attention to their efforts, asking them to bow as he pointed them out. If you ever get a chance to see him in person - you won't regret it.

The Lives of Japanese Pets

2011-09-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that most dog and even cat owners in Tokyo make their pets wear pet clothing when they have them out in public. I'm so used to seeing dogs wearing shirts and booties that when I was back in the U.S. a couple of months ago I felt shocked every time I saw a dog running around sans clothing. It seemed a bit indecent.

The Japanese pamper if not annoy their pets with clothing, jewelry and even hats. But when I see them pushing their pets around in prams (buggies) it gets a little creepy. You look into the pram expecting to see a baby and what should appear but a little rat-faced toy poodle!

But yesterday I saw a pet that I had read was becoming popular in Japan - a giant tortoise. A man of about 60 was walking his giant tortoise in Edogawabashi Park. It's difficult I guess, to get a giant tortoise to wear clothes but the owner had done the best he could. He had bright red booties on the poor creature.

On the Tone and Structure of the Obama Jobs Speech - The Atlantic

2011-09-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

On the Tone and Structure of the Obama Jobs Speech - The Atlantic

The Far Far

2011-08-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

I’ve heard a number of acquaintances say how they look forward to having an “empty nest” when their children go off to college or get married. I can’t imagine what they are talking about. We recently went through the transition to college with our one and only child and it was not something I was looking forward to. Of course I’m happy that he is enjoying the excitement of freedom and independence and the once-in-a-lifetime college experience but – for us, the absence of the child is hard to get used to and it’s nothing we looked forward to.

It’s particularly difficult when the college is on the other side of the world and weekend visits are not possible. When I went off to college it was just 70 miles away and I came back to my parents’ home every weekend to work a weekend restaurant job in my hometown, do the laundry, and see family and friends. The weekdays were spent in my closet-sized college town rental focused on my classes and activism. It was a great situation – both my parents and I had freedom but we saw each other every weekend. There’s something to be said for what I call the “near far”.

The “far far” is something expats need to figure into their plans sometimes.

Dokanyama Suwa Shrine in Tokyo

2011-07-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Every year at the end of June, many shrines in Japan hold a purification rite called Nagoshi no Harae to allow people to atone for their sins in the first half of the year and pray for their health in the remainder of the year by walking through a chinowa wreath (made of a kind of rush called chigaya). At this shrine on Dokanyama Hill in northern Tokyo you can see a diagram to the left of the wreath that informs visitors how to walk in and out of the wreath in a figure 8 to maximize their purification.

Sunday Subway

2011-06-26T06:15:00.000-07:00

I love to ride Tokyo's subways. I take a Sunday ride on the subways just like families used to take Sunday drives in the country. I wish they had a circular subway line that I could just ride all afternoon, watching and listening to the people get on and off and go about their daily business. I like reading or listening to podcasts or music while I watch the line of interesting humans seated across from me.

Twenty years ago, when I first started coming to Tokyo, everyone on the subway read small paperbacks they could stuff in a pocket, all except the men. They read manga, or Japanese comic books, some of them almost pornographic. Today, most young Japanese sit staring at games or videos on mobile phones. A few middle-aged people are still reading books. Senior citizens sit staring into space or looking furtively at the younger people in bewilderment.

I take it all in.

2011-06-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

Rainy Season

2011-06-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yokohama

2011-06-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

As much time as I have spent in Tokyo over the years I had only been to Yokohama once, for a brief visit to an office in the Landmark Building, Japan’s tallest building. But this was a mistake. While Yokohama is a separate city from Tokyo it can be reached from my home in central Tokyo as quickly as I can reach some of Tokyo’s wards, such as Asakusa. I went there this past weekend and although it only took 25 minutes to get there by train, I was completely lost when I arrived. Yokohama Station on a Sunday afternoon is as busy as the busiest stations in Tokyo proper.

We walked along the promenade at Yamashita Park and enjoyed the sea breeze and a dragon boat race that was taking place in the harbor. We visited a festival in the park that had numerous food booths and musical performances. The lines for food were too long however so I settled on a Lawsons egg salad sandwich and potato chips a couple of blocks away. This Lawsons, unlike the ones in Tokyo, had enough space for customers to set at tables to eat their purchases.

We also took in Yokohama’s Chinatown which was conveniently located next to the Motomachi-Chukagai subway station and Yamashita Park. I don’t think I ever saw as many dumplings in all of China as I saw in this Chinatown. All sorts of dumplings were on offer in restaurant after restaurant throughout the several blocks of Chinatown. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any vegetarian dumplings but we didn’t have time to check out every shop. But I was pleased with what I saw in Chinatown and in Yokohama and can’t wait to get back.

On the way back to Tokyo we discovered that the subway, the Tokyu Toyoko Line (東急東横線) starts at Chinatown runs straight to Shibuya station in Tokyo which is a short bus ride away from our home. Very convenient.

Conversations in Kamakura

2011-05-31T00:06:00.000-07:00

It is rare, in Japan, to have a stranger approach you on the street and strike up a conversation. So rare in fact, that it hasn’t happened to me in the nine months since I moved to Tokyo. In contrast, this was not a rare occasion in China or in the U.S. Of course, I’m not even counting the two million times someone approached me on the street in Shanghai and asked me if I’d buy a “DVD, Rolex or Mont Blanc”. In Japan, no one just walks up to a stranger, much less a foreigner, and asks them anything. That is, until yesterday on my day trip to Kamakura. Then I hit the jackpot.

On the hour-long train ride from Ebisu station in Tokyo I was reading an article on my iPad when the 80-ish lady setting next to me pointed at it and said “ōkina denwadesune?”, or “that’s a big telephone isn’t it? As best I could I explained to her that it was an “ai pad-u” and showed her some of the functions. She was especially taken with the ability to stretch my fingers and make the words bigger. At Ofuna she told me the train was stopping because of a problem and I should follow her to another train that would take me to Kamakura. I followed her as she rocketed up and down stairways and to the right platform. As we waited for the train I noticed she was about 5 feet tall and the roots of her hair had a bright orange-red tint that matched her coat. At Kita-Kamakura I thanked her and got off to walk to the Engakuji Temple.

When I left Tokyo it was raining but as I entered the temple grounds the sun came out and the wind began tugging at the huge cedar and pine trees that towered over the temple buildings. This was by far the most beautiful and peaceful temple I’d been to in Japan. There were very few people and the complex was dominated by the old growth forest. I sat on a bench near the hulking wooden entrance gate and listened for a long while as the wind rushed through the high cedars and tossed around the giant paper lantern beneath the gate. I never get tired of the whisper of the wind through evergreens. It’s one of the three sweetest sounds on earth (baby laughter and rushing water being the others).

After a spiritual refill at Engakuji’s forest I took a trail up and over the mountains overlooking Kamakura. For most of the way I was all alone, losing the trail here and there, marveling at the twisted trees and the calming views out to the ocean. At the top of the mountain I came upon a Shinto shrine and a fork where the trail split into five routes. As I was pondering which way to go an old man with a pink poodle popped out from between trees and asked me where I was from. He said his daughter lived in Salem, Oregon but before I could ask him anything else his attention focused on two young ladies walking by and he bounded off toward them to ask them to pet his poodle.

I selected a trail and soon came across a young man setting by a trail sign rolling a cigarette. “That’s a nice camera you have,” he said in English. Another unsolicited but welcome conversation! He was about 28 years old, working part-time jobs trying to get by while he studied to become a nurse, “a safe career” in aging Japan he said. He had studied sociology at PSU in Oregon and had lived there for 8 years. He couldn’t find a job. Back in Japan for a few months he still couldn’t find a job but was enjoying being back in his hometown of Kamakura. “We need more nurses he said. We are hiring lots of Filipino nurses but are running out of them.” I wished him luck and set off downhill.

Scenes of Kita-Kamakura

2011-05-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

A Randomized Life or The Second Law of Thermodynamics

2011-05-19T01:05:00.000-07:00

I’m a naturally disorganized person that loves to be organized. I’ve spent much of my life thus far fighting entropy as it and the Second Law of Thermodynamics manifest themselves most personally. As the Law says, energy is a constant, inevitable and irreversible process of becoming increasingly randomized. All one has to do is lie on the couch and watch as everything around us, including our bodies, become increasingly randomized. The yard grows wild. Books fall off the shelves and mix together. Cords in boxes quietly tangle together. And our neurons die off. If we don’t get up and straighten things out, take a shower and delete old files from our computer we will become so randomized that we cease to exist as a recognizable lump with a name.

But I love a good fight, even if I know I will lose in the end. So organizing my offices and my virtual office are actually fun – especially if it involves gadgets and software. A trip to the Container Store is always a pleasure. Who doesn’t need boxes to put their boxes in? I also love organizing software. I’ve used Mindmanager mind mapping software for many years to organize my thoughts. I use “The Brain” to organize my virtual files. I use Scrivener to organize my writing. I recommend all of these great tools. But there’s one tool I need and that is some software that will clean out my computer files and my virtual office – magically getting rid of old files I no longer need. It takes hours to go through those old files on four different computers and drag those old files into the virtual trash bin.

Inadvertently I did discover just such a tool last week when my hard drive crashed at work and destroyed eight months of files. I thought they were backed up automatically but they weren’t. So suddenly I’m unburdened by all that accumulated information I spent hours accumulating and organizing into tidy folders. It was a crash course in digital entropy. Yet somehow I feel unburdened. Pleasantly randomized.

Piss Alley Found

2011-05-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

Japan's address location system is so difficult and illogical it can often take hours to actually find a place - especially if "the authorities" don't want you to find it. I've talked about the Japanese lack of a logical addressing system before, so I won't go through it again other than to point you to this explanation. After World War 2 MacArthur and the American occupiers gave Tokyo a real address system, with named streets and building numbers that were sequential and everything. After the Americans left the Japanese undid it all and went back to their non-system. Today, we suffer the consequences.

I thought there must be a key to the non-system that Japanese magically understood - otherwise, why would they continue to use it. But it doesn't work any better for them either - except they are better at reading the signs of course. But still, they almost always have to go to the area police box and ask the police where such-and-such a building is. And this is largely what police do in Japan. Instead of fighting crime 24-7 (there just isn't enough crime here) they spend most of their time showing people which way to go to find the place they are looking for.

It wasn't until I was talking to a Japanese friend living in the States that I realized the Japanese don't realize there is a better way. "I couldn't believe how easy it was to find my way around in the States," she told me. "All I have to know is the street name and the number of the house and I can drive directly to it!" Here's where I felt like saying, "well, duh!"

What brings this up? Today I organized my afternoon around finding a well-known but rarely seen place in Shinjuku called Golden Gai or sometimes just "Piss Alley". It's an area famous for tiny cheap eateries, especially yakitori stands that sell grilled chicken, meats and vegetables on sticks. I had heard of it for decades but never tried to find it. I looked it up on the Internet last night and found few directions and not many mentions. All the directions were nearly useless. "Exit Shinjuku station, go towards a railroad track and turn left" For those of you that have been to Shinjuku station you already know that this is the world's busiest subway and train station - with about a hundred exits (not kidding) and 11 railroad and subway lines going in and out. Needless to say it took me four hours to find the place and many miles of walking. It could have taken 15 minutes if I had an address or a map with the neighborhood listed on the map.

The tourist authorities don't want tourists finding this place either. It is definitely "down-market" and seedy. Thus, all the maps the city puts up at street corners to show the hopelessly lost roughly how far off track they are - none of those maps or signs have the name of this area on them. It's as if it doesn't exist. I would not be denied however. I have a knack for finding seedy so ultimately the secrets were uncovered. More about that later.

Mr. Inomata

2011-04-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

I had carried around his New Year's card for 15 years, meaning to call him next time I was in Japan. I thought about writing to him but I never got around to it. 22 years ago Mr. Inomata of Japan had come to Peavine to talk to me about a business idea he had and for several years we had stayed in touch and he hosted me to lunch on a couple of my trips to Japan, but the contact dropped off after the company I worked for was sold off. In his last correspondence he told me about an invention he had patented. It was called a home bread-making machine. But a few years after we stopped communicating I bumped into him on a street in Tokyo during a brief business trip to Japan. Do you know what the chances of that are? Especially because he was not living in this city of 15-million people. He too was on a business trip to the city. We promised to stay in touch and meet next time I was in Japan. We didn't.

When I moved to Tokyo a few months ago I brought the card with me and I kept thinking I'd go to his home city and look him up. I finally found a phone number for his small company on the Internet - I had been looking for several years. I called the number today. The lady that answered the phone told me Mr. Inomata had passed away three years ago. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that", I said. Too late again.

Politicians Behaving Badly

2011-04-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

"Things just aren't like they used to be" is a common theme of cafe chats and pundits alike, and always has been. But this story from my favorite journalist, James Fallows, is one worth pondering. When is the last time you heard of a powerful politician saying, "throw the book at me"?

Elections in Tokyo

2011-04-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

Tokyo has a governor instead of a mayor and there were elections this last weekend. I must admit that I was barely aware of the election except for the public billboards that were erected in each neighborhood with numbered spaces for the candidates to place their campaign posters. Each numbered space is the same size so each candidate got equal space. I'm not sure if they have to pay for the space but since the billboards were exactly the same throughout the city it seems to be regulated by the government. I didn't see any billboards or advertising on television. I only saw one of the usual campaign sound trucks that the politicians park at busy intersections and scream speeches over super-powered bullhorns. I understand that because of the recent disaster that most of the candidates thought it would be inappropriate to carry on in the regular way.

The winner of the Governorship was Shintaro Ishihara, the same guy that has held the office since 1999. He is, to say the least, a colorful character that has garnered a lot of international attention over the years for the often controversial things he sometimes says. He is a far-right politician known for his nationalism and anti-foreigner statements. I was rooting for the young guy with the pointy hair just because he has pointy hair.

Hooch 'n Hanami in Ueno

2011-04-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we braved the crowds at Tokyo’s Ueno Park to do the traditional “hanami” or cherry blossom-viewing. The wide walkway that leads from the park entrance to the zoo is lined with cherry trees and attracts a huge crowd during the week or two that the blossoms are at their height. Japanese arrive early with tarps and stake out ground under the trees for group hanami parties. It appears that drinking and eating are the primary pursuit but I guess they may look at a few blossoms when they collapse on their back red-faced and soused. Meanwhile thousands of other people walk slowly up and down the walkway admiring the riot of pinkish-white cherry blossoms overhead and glancing warily at the rowdy party people off to the sides.

It is quite an experience shuffling along in an enormous crowd under the trees. The throng of people are almost as eye-catching as the cherry trees. But the humans don’t look as happy as the flowers do. Almost all of the elderly wear frowns and only a few of the younger ones are actually wearing a pleasant look. Many are busier taking pictures with their phone cameras than they are just admiring the overhead beauty.

One pass-through was enough for us and off to a side exit we went. Past the train station and past Ameyoko we went to a favorite little Chinese restaurant called “Mr. Wang’s Kitchen” where we had good but expensive (in Tokyo there is no other kind) food cooked by Mr. Wang (of Zhejiang) himself and served by his friendly Japanese wife. Brazilian jazz in the background and only one other family in the tiny second-floor retreat. 4300 yen (about $50) and we headed home on the Hibiya line.

Sorry if this causes you any inconvenience

2011-04-04T05:47:00.000-07:00

Just today, in the span of a couple of hours, I received notices from three sources that my personal information had been stolen by hackers. My medical information and SSN was stolen from my employer and unknown amounts of personal information was stolen from an online travel portal and from a retailer. Sorry they all say, it was the fault of a rogue employee at a supplier we outsource your data to. We suggest you order copies of your credit reports (at your own expense) and monitor the situation they advise. "Sorry if this causes you any inconvenience."

Discover Shitamachi

2011-04-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

Using a book called "Discover Shitamachi" that I bought in 1985 I explored the Kanda portion of old Tokyo this weekend. Starting at Yushima on Saturday I made my way through the Yushima Shrine, the Kanda Shrine and the Confucius Temple to Ochanomizu. Today, I continued the journey by starting at the other end, Kanda and working my way back to Ochanomizu, which literally means "Tea Water". This area was part of the original city of Edo, which eventually came to be called Tokyo. Today, it is home to many universities, used book stores and music stores, as well as shrines.

I found that much of the walking tour described in my book is no longer there. The old wooden buildings described in this 1980s book are no longer standing, having been razed for skyscrapers that are still under construction near the Manseibashi (Thousand Year Bridge) between Kanda and Ochanomizu. Too late yet again.

The most interesting part of my journey this weekend was witnessing two Shinto weddings, one at Yushima Shrine and the other at Kanda Shrine. The sight of the brides wearing high white hoods to hide their horns of jealousy were striking. When one removed the hood to get into a van I saw that they do indeed wear wooden "horns" under the hood. I wish I could describe the Shinto music that accompanied the weddings - but it was quintessentially Japanese - I'll have to leave it at that and hope you get a chance to hear it for yourself.

Below the Surface in Tokyo

2011-03-30T04:42:00.000-07:00

On the surface Tokyo looks normal but below the surface things just aren't like they were before March 11th. The phones work, the subways are running and people are going to work. Children are back in school and staples are slowly returning to the shelves of grocery stores. But people don't feel the same.

Those who remain alive can't sleep well at night. They lie awake with the knowledge that in their sleep, suddenly and without any warning, they can be thrown across the room and crushed to death by an earthquake. It's like waiting for someone that has a gun pointed to their head to finally pull the trigger. Everyone comes to work bleary-eyed.

Many people in the city are sad, stressed out and some feel guilty - for living. Many had friends and relatives among the 25,000+ that probably died in the earthquake and tsunami in the north. Even those who did not, see the images on the news of grieving families burying their loved ones in mass graves or searching lists of the recovered on bulletin boards in shelters. No one really feels like doing business as usual under these circumstances. It just wouldn't be appropriate.

Businesspeople don't feel like having meetings or considering starting new business. Trade shows, festivals, all kinds of events that were planned for March and April have been canceled. People are in mourning. While intensely genuine, mourning, like so many other things in Japanese life, is prescribed. According to Buddhism, the mourning period expires on the 35th and 49th day after the death. According to Shinto, the mourning period expires on 30th and 50th days after death. The soul of the deceased stays in the real world until the 49th day of death. Attaining the 49th day of death, it can leave for eternity.

Even then, I doubt that things below the surface will return to normal for a long time.

Flyer for Demonstation in Tokyo on March 20th

2011-03-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Mask

2011-03-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

Can You Help?

2011-03-19T04:39:00.000-07:00

Young people from Fukushima (site of nuclear plant)
pleading with passersby in Tokyo today to help their hometown.
For those of you far away you can help the victims in Japan
by giving to the Red Cross fund for Japan at this site.

Traveling toothpaste

2011-03-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

One of the mysteries of the earthquake experience that has me scratching my head is how a tube of toothpaste got from my bathroom into my son's room. When I got home I found my toothpaste on the floor in his room. It had traveled from my bathroom, through my bedroom, across the hall and into his room, making a 90 degree turn in the process. I used the toothpaste in the morning, was the last to leave the apartment and the first to return. The physics of this are just perplexing.

Redecorated

2011-03-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

When I got home I found the 8th floor apartment in a mess. Everything had been rearranged. The dishes and glasses had fallen out of the kitchen shelves and broken in the floor, mixing with food and oil that had fallen from the shelving. Dresser drawers were overturned, lamps, TVs, books and shelves were in the floor. The force of the quake was evident everywhere.

Family members were far away from home when the quake hit and it took them 7+ hours to get home. My son spent 7 or 8 hours on a school bus. All of the main thoroughfares were packed with people hoofing it home - sometimes for many hours. The trains and subways were stopped and taxis were nearly impossible to catch. I was lucky because my apartment is only 10 minutes from my office. But everyone who survived is lucky because hundreds lost their lives. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones or can't find them. There is no pain greater than that.

Chasing earthquakes

2011-03-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

I was setting at my desk this afternoon when the room started bucking. There's been several tremors in Tokyo recently so I assumed it was just another one. But it kept getting worse and the excited chatter from my Japanese colleagues in the adjacent room died down and then turned to screams as plaster started falling and light fixtures crashed down. I opened my door and stood under the frame but everyone else was crawling under their desks. I looked down the hall to the exit stairwell and started to walk toward it but I couldn't walk. I was being tossed around too much.

Stuff was falling off of shelves. People were just looking at each other - apparently looking for an answer to what to do. After a while it stopped long enough for us to get to the exit and down six flights to the outside. Out in the parking lot we could see the building bending and swaying and someone yelled to get away from the building. Cars in the parking lot were swaying back and forth and alarms were going off. An old stone pillar toppled over on the lawn. Windows were breaking out of the building across the street.

They say it was the worst earthquake in Japan in 100 years. As I write this tonight my apartment is still swaying from an aftershock. Ok, that's all the earthquake experience I need for this lifetime.

2011-03-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

The Wright Imperial

2011-02-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

Twenty to twenty-five years ago when I used to come to Tokyo a lot on business I would occasionally stay at the Imperial Hotel across from Hibiya Park in the center of Tokyo. The Imperial is the grand old hotel of Tokyo having been founded in 1888. It is now in its third reincarnation and proof that looks don't always get better with each new birth. Not that today's Imperial is ugly - it's not. But how can one compare it to the absolutely gorgeous second reincarnation overseen by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1923?

The "Wright Imperial" , commissioned in 1916, was designed to symbolize Japan’s relation to the West. Wright designed the building as a hybrid of Japanese and Western architecture. The Wright version of the Imperial Hotel was demolished in 1968. The entrance lobby was saved and reconstructed at the Meiji Mura architecture museum in Nagoya. When I first saw the reconstructed version at the museum some 15 or so years ago I was stunned. I hadn't even known about the previous versions of the Imperial. When I compared the reconstructed lobby with the modern one I was familiar with I felt a deep sense of loss. How I wished I could have stayed in the Wright Imperial. The lobby of today's Imperial has been compared to a train station lobby, a dark one at that.

Today, I wandered back through the Imperial for old times sake and was glad to find an exhibition on the Wright Imperial, including a reconstructed column that gives a hint of the beauty of Wright's vision.

2011-02-24T05:22:00.000-08:00

2011-02-21T05:39:00.000-08:00

Casting Beans at Demons

2011-02-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

Japan has been rocked in recent months by revelations of illegal gambling and Yakuza ties in the sumo world. Things have gotten so bad that the sumo federation has canceled their spring tournament and gone into full apology mode. In Japan, full apology mode includes not only daily press conferences featuring weepy-eyed giants but bean throwing as well.

My search for the best vegetarian ramen

2011-02-06T04:05:00.000-08:00

Last year I watched a Japanese documentary on the history and making of ramen noodles and came away thinking how glad I was that I had never eaten anything but meatless ramen. Just watching them render down the pig parts in that video would have been enough to render me vegetarian. I won't even go into some of the other stuff they put in some of those bowls. Things that were never mentioned in my favorite ramen movie, Tampopo.

Fortunately, Nissin and a few other companies have been making some instant ramen versions without meat or seafood ingedients for years. The Nissin ramen called "Oriental" is the one without animal bits. I just take those, cut the salt in half and add a bunch of crunchy blanched veggies and voila! I have perfect veggie ramen in 15 minutes.

Ramen originated in China but has been a Japanese staple for centuries. It's so popular here that they even have a ramen museum. Tokyo is full of ramen shops but until recently I knew of none that served real vegetarian or vegan ramen. I finally found a shop that does however, and I paid it a visit last weekend. It was very good but to be honest, I like my home-made version better. When I'm in a real hurry I just throw in some frozen veggies as the water boils and by the time the ramen cooks it's all done. And I don't have to spend 30 minutes on the subway to get it.

Getting in the way of the Paparazzi

2011-02-05T04:53:00.000-08:00

Celebrity is such an odd phenomenon. Is it sheer popularity that drives us to call movie stars, musicians, and politicians celebrities? I think so. But that popularity, or notoriety in some cases, doesn't often cross cultural boundaries. Japan's most popular movie star can be in Neiman-Marcus in Dallas and no one, unless they are a Japanese tourist, will take note.

This was brought home to me last week when I was attending a dinner at Tokyo Big Sight. I was seated at a table with seven strangers - all foreigners except for one elderly Japanese artist. We had been assigned our seats by the event organizer - a jewelry association. The other guests at my table were all friendly and interesting people; businessmen, diplomats, and artists. There was a young Japanese lady that joined our table a few minutes late and everyone greeted her politely. We were just asking her what she did when a torrent of press photographers and young people descended on our table - all focused on the young lady. She started posing and bowing demurely as cameras were shoved past my face and motor drives whirred and flashes blinded us all. She started signing autographs.

Seems the young lady is a member of Japan's AKB48, the most popular pop group in the country. I guess it's like having Justin Bieber at your table and not knowing it.

Sensoji Temple - Tokyo

2011-01-22T05:56:00.001-08:00

Even in Japan you have your rule-breakers

2011-01-16T04:54:00.000-08:00

People in Tokyo are generally very well behaved, especially given that this is one of the most crowded large cities in the world. Still, there are those who break the rules. And sometimes the rules are just different from what you are used to.

Where I come from, cutting in front of someone, whether on the road or on the sidewalk is considered rude. Plenty of people break that rule but in my home city that will get you a good honking, exchanged words, and maybe even a bit of road rage. Since I don't have a car in Tokyo (it's not needed) my experience has been limited to learning the Way of the Pedestrian. One thing I've noticed is that there's a lot of cutting in front of other people. I'll be walking down the sidewalk in a straight line and someone will come from behind me and cut right across in front of me to enter a door. Sometimes they cut so close across my path that I'll stumble in trying to avoid running into them. This happens frequently - several times a day. Just yesterday I was walking on the Ginza when an elderly woman in a kimono nearly tripped me when she zipped around me and cut across my path so close that she stepped on my feet. No apology forthcoming. Really odd behavior for an otherwise very polite people.

Then you have the queue jumpers. Unlike in China there are actually queues here and 90% of people observe them. But even here you have those who act as though they have a license to break the rules. At subway platforms there are lines on the platform showing where people are to line up and the subway doors always stop exactly in the right spot. But sometimes people don't observe the rules and jump in front of those that have lined up so they can rush in and grab the rare open seat. I've never seen anyone object or call the jumpers out. Just yesterday the woman pictured here jumped the line at Tamene-sanno and sure enough she grabbed the only open seat. Unlike the other passengers however I told her she was behaving rudely. She also wasn't pleased that I took her picture. She's the one on the right. I hope she sees it on the Internet.

A New Year's visit to the Meiji Shrine

2010-12-31T23:41:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day is an important holiday in Japan. Unlike the Chinese, the Japanese new year is celebrated on January 1st rather than the lunar new year. Soon after the temple or shrine bells ring out the New Year most Japanese pay their first visit (hatsumode) to the temple (Buddhist) or shrine (Shinto) to pray for a good year. Many people do this right after midnight but most do it sometime during the first day. The crowds at the Meiji Shrine today were enormous.

As I approached the entrance to the park where the Meiji Shrine is I suddenly found myself enveloped in a flowing mass of people entering under a giant torii gate and moving like a river toward the shrine down wide walkways through a forest. As the river thickened with tens of thousands of people I took an off ramp through the forest and escaped the traffic jam. I'm not keen on huge crowds. I circled back and toured the many pop-up stands serving traditional new year food and crafts such as arrows with white feathers and Daruma dolls.

When I went to the Meiji Shrine at Harajuku today there were a lot of sign-wielding Christians, mostly foreigners, surrounding the shrine. Some of them had recorded messages blaring from bullhorns. The signs and the recordings urged people going to the shrine to turn to Christianity. Nothing unusual or wrong in the message but I thought it was not the right time or place. The Japanese were engaged in their religious practice. They weren't harming anyone else. How would these Christians feel if a bunch of foreigners, say Muslims or Hindus, surrounded their church on Christmas Eve and harangued them to switch religions as they entered their church? Can you imagine how that would go over?

The Japanese reaction was to just ignore the signs and the bullhorns and go on about their business. There weren't any shouts, mean looks or any visible negative reaction from the shrine-goers. There was a lot more restraint than what I think would have happened if the shoe was on the other foot.

Japan X-League Football Bowl

2010-12-20T05:56:00.001-08:00

Roppongi Hills in December

2010-12-14T05:26:00.000-08:00

Watching suburban life from a KFC

2010-12-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

I have this week off so I'll be doing some exploring around the city. Today I ventured out to the southern suburbs in search of one of the two or three Ikea stores in the region. Land prices in central Tokyo are just too expensive for the land-hogging Ikea stores. I took the Hibiya line to Naka-Meguro and then the train to Den-en-chofu, a wealthy suburb that was redone in British suburb style in the 1990s. Many of Japan's movie stars and rich live here. If I saw any in the train station I didn't know it.

At Den-en-chofu Ikea provides a free 20-minute shuttle bus to their Kohoku store. I missed one shuttle because my train line branched into two and I was on the wrong one. By the time I backtracked I had missed the shuttle and so waited an hour in an almost empty KFC overlooking the train station. There was a light rain and I was in a cozy second-floor window where I could watch people coming and going from the train station. This is the only station I've seen that was small enough for family members to drive to the station door and pick up their family members as they de-trained. This didn't seem like the jam-packed Tokyo I was used to. By train, this comfort was only 10-minutes from the edge of "downtown" Tokyo.

The Ikea was just like the one in Shanghai except it wasn't as crowded. The prices were about the same as in Shanghai. Most of the Swedish-designed furniture was made-in-China. I bought a lamp and headed back home in the rain.

Standing in the doorway of the Mitsukoshi on a December night

2010-12-12T05:23:00.000-08:00

Less than 2% of Japanese are Christians but this is one of the most Christmas-crazy places I've ever lived in. There are Christmas lights everywhere. Restaurants have Christmas specials, stores have Christmas sales, and corporations invest heavily in Christmas-themed advertising. Of course a big part of this hoopla is commercial in nature - just like it is in Europe and North America.

But it still raises my spirits when I see the lights and hear the same Christmas music I grew up with. A couple of nights ago I went to hear an orchestra play Christmas music at a concert hall at the Ginza. Afterward I walked down a street lined with shops twinkling with lights and stood and admired the large Christmas tree outside Mikimoto Pearls near the Ginza crossing. Before I got back on the Ginza line to head home I stood at the main entrance to the Mitsukoshi Department Store watching the fashionable Tokyoites go in and out and across the Sukiyabashi Crossing - one of the most famous intersections in the world. Warm air heavy with perfume was flowing out of Mitsukoshi and across my face. Across the street the Neo-Renaissance Wako Department Store was bathed in a purple glow from its light display. Wako's curved granite façade and clock tower has stood at this corner since 1932. On the opposite corner the the San-ai Building with its huge neon sign towers over the intersection. It's been the image of Ginza on postcards and travel books for decades now. On this cold December evening its neon illuminates the entire crossing and the thousands of shoppers busily going somewhere. I seem to be the only person standing still.

Autumn in Asakusa

2010-12-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

The Veggie Pizza Effect?

2010-12-02T05:20:00.000-08:00

This is going to sound self-serving but I can't help it. It's an interesting phenomenon that I've noticed and wondered if there was a name for it - like Murphy's Law or the Coriolis Effect etc. It happened again this week at a meeting I was at. We ordered pizza delivered for lunch. There were eight of us - me being the only vegetarian. Four pizzas were ordered - one of them a veggie pizza I requested - the rest meat. As soon as the pizzas arrived the meat eaters headed first for the veggie pizza and demolished it before I could get more than one piece. Then the meat lovers started on the meat pizzas and couldn't finish them. Of course I had paid one-eighth of the total bill - which was not cheap. But I got one slice for about $15. This isn't the first time I've noticed this. What's the deal?

So today I went to the all-you-can eat pizza buffet at Shakeys and made up for it.

Finding Old Tokyo by Accident

2010-11-29T04:53:00.000-08:00

Not much of Tokyo is very old. Between the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the U.S. firebombing of the city in World War 2 most old structures were destroyed. Most of the temples have been burned down and rebuilt so many times that it's hard to tell how old they are. That's the way things go for wooden structures. But on Sunday I finally made it to a section of Tokyo that really does look antiquated. In the Yanaka area between Nippori train station and Ueno Park there are many wooden buildings around 100 years old, many old temples and a huge urban graveyard for the shogun's family.

I went there in search of a market, the Yanaka Ginza, that I never did find but as so often happens, I found something I didn't expect. From the Nishi-Nippori subway station I climbed up to a narrow road about 20 meters over the station where I found a view out over a part of the city not dominated by skyscrapers. The narrow road travels down a ridge parallel to the railroad tracks leading to Nippori. Temples line the quiet road that is little traveled by cars. From the ridge there is a spot famous for being the last natural height in Tokyo from which Mt. Fuji can be viewed.

Once I got to Nippori I stumbled upon the huge Yanaka Cemetery through which pedestrians on narrow lanes travel on the way from one neighborhood to another. This is where many of the family members of the last shogun were buried. Many other famous Japanese and a few foreigners were buried here as well. Exiting the cemetery one comes across many old wooden houses and shops that have stood here for over a century. Some have been turned into museums. I could have wandered through here for a few more hours but it was starting to get dark and cold - the sun goes down now at 5 pm. After stopping at a weekend outdoor market at Ueno Park I caught the Hibiya subway line back for the 30-minute ride home. I hope to get back to Yanaka next weekend.

Christmas Lights Made Easy

2010-11-21T03:09:00.000-08:00

Got the Christmas lights on the balcony today. I never was one for putting up lights outside - too much house and yard. Without a big investment in money and time yard lights just draw attention to one's lack of effort and investment. Having no lights in the yard leaves open the possibility that it's a matter of principle. Or perhaps one is Jewish, or simply not home. A few measly lights just lets everyone know how cheap one is.

A balcony I can handle. $20 will get you an impressive, balcony-filling display. "Sorry, I would have spent hundreds on this display - just didn't have the space. You should see what we have inside!"

Besides, in the Big Tokyo we have a lot of what the Japanese call "borrowed scenery" - the buildings and lights in the distance. It's an extension of one's own yard, or balcony. Looking out from the living room our balcony lights merge with the many lights of the city - making for a truly awesome display.

American Icons on the Ginza

2010-11-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

The giant Apple Store is one of the few American icons on the Ginza these days but it dominates the north end of the commercial area and Abercrombie & Fitch dominate the south end. Some years ago when I was walking around with my Sony Walkman I didn't think there would ever be another big American consumer electronics brand again. But iPads, iPhones, and Macs have Sony and Toshiba on the run even in their home country. Microsoft's XBox is holding its own and once again, American gaming software from EA and others have roared back and now dominate. It doesn't mean we can be complacent but it does show that America can come back, can innovate, and doesn't give up.

Some countries are making the mistake of thinking America is a superpower on the way down. A lot of Americans think this. But they are wrong.

Christmas and Biking in Tokyo

2010-11-14T04:48:00.000-08:00

The Christmas decorations have started going up around Tokyo this week and I'm beginning to catch the spirit. The Ginza was decked out in lighted trees this afternoon and the Tokyo Midtown complex was surrounded in beautiful, high tech light displays. Near Ginza Crossing a music store had a Susan Boyle CD belting out Christmas songs and a large crowd had stopped shopping long enough to listen silently.

I tried bicycling around Roppongi and Hiroo today but even on a Sunday the sidewalks and lanes are often too narrow and crowded to make biking a pleasure. Bikes are not exactly welcomed in Tokyo - there are few bike racks and what few bike "lanes" there are, are on sidewalks. Very few bicyclists dare to use the car lanes. It's easier to just use the very good subway system.

I popped into a US military hotel in Hiroo today to visit the bookstore but the only books I could find were either romance novels or books by Fox News stars like Glenn Beck, O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, etc. Not exactly what I was looking for.

Traditional American Garb

2010-10-26T05:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-22T09:38:00.001-07:00

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?

2010-10-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

More Japanese Protests against China

2010-10-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

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).

2010-10-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Living in a Forest

2010-10-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

A Computer that also Cooks Rice

2010-10-05T03:20:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-10-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Japanese Protest

2010-10-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-10-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

2010-09-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

2010-09-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

Living in the Dark Red

2010-09-27T05:25:00.000-07:00

After four years in China I can't get over how clean and clear the air was in Peavine and now in Tokyo. Every once in awhile I come across an illustration of the difference in real numbers and it is astonishing! Take a look at this map that shows the dramatic differences.

Freshness Burger

2010-09-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

After walking around the Ginza (Golden Seat) this morning I was a bit hungry and was lucky enough to stumble upon a Freshness Burger place near Hibiya Station. I had heard they had veggie burgers and was glad to have a chance to verify it. They have three vegetarian choices; soy burger, tofu burger and mushroom burger. I prefer soy burgers so I tried it. It was a bit sweet but passable. A good choice when in the mood for fast food or an excuse to have french fries and a cola. There are Burger Kings in Japan but unlike in their US eateries they don't have veggie burgers on the menu here.

2010-09-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

2010-09-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

More on the Japanese Health care system

2010-09-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote an entry about my experience with the Japanese health care system. As you may remember, I was impressed, and sad, that the US does not yet have a universal system as good. A lot of progress was made this year in the U.S., over much opposition - an opposition that is actually threatening to undo that progress. For another expats experience with the Japanese model this article is worth reading. No system is perfect - but all things considered, Japanese citizens are much better off than we are in this regard. Let's learn from their experience.

2010-09-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

Gaining Perspective

2010-09-22T05:09:00.000-07:00

I brought my Internet radio with me so I can listen to my hometown news stations (mostly NPR) and keep up with things. It's kind of weird though to turn on the radio in Tokyo and hear about the Peavine mayor and the City Council feuding over this or that.

When they start talking about politics though I have to switch to the "new age" music station to calm down. The polarization of politics back home is doubly disappointing from afar and hearing about the extremism and the stupid nonsense the 24-hour news cycle generates feels like a needle under my fingernails. So I turn it off and I look out the window at the stars and the planets and remind myself of how insignificant the Rush Limbaughs of our world are. I imagine floating out beyond Jupiter (which I see from my window right now) and looking back at the tiny Earth. It helps put it all in perspective.

2010-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Fashion

2010-09-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

Most people in Tokyo really pay attention to fashion. It's not always my idea of fashion but they do have it. Tonight I went to a photo exhibition wearing a t-shirt and shorts and I felt out of place because all the Japanese were dressed very fashionably. Some of it was laughable; clown hats, super-pointy shoes (for men), crepe paper, etc. But at least they were artistic.

2010-09-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

A Day at the DMV

2010-09-15T03:08:00.000-07:00

Here’s a scary thought for you. I now have a Japanese drivers license but no idea of how to drive on the left side of the road as is required in Japan. I once rented a car in a left-hand drive country but that was a sparsely-populated Caribbean island – not a city of 13 million people.

The process took about four hours at the drivers license office in Tokyo. One starts out at a window for foreigners wanting to use their existing license to get a Japanese license. From there it is a process of going from numbered window to numbered window, taking a number and waiting to be called. Then off to another window on one of three floors. Clueless as to what is going on behind those windows one is left to wait, and wait. Fortunately, all the young people that have come to take their drivers test are a constant source of interest for the peoplewatcher. The fashions can be quite extraordinary. More on that in another post.

For new drivers getting their license at 18 they are required to take weeks of lessons that can easily cost over US$2000. What’s it cost in Peavine to get a license? Maybe $30 if one takes the free training at high school. But it didn’t prepare me for the streets of Tokyo.

Getting in Touch with my Inner Curmudgeon

2010-09-14T04:11:00.000-07:00

I've had a few nice things to say about Tokyo in recent posts so least I lose touch with my curmudgeonly side let me point out a couple of things I think the Japanese need to rethink. One of those is the address system - which is not at all efficient. Rather than use street names and a sequential numbering system they use a - well, I'll let Wikipedia explain it here. It's about as easy to use as it is to explain. There are, every few years, foreigners found wandering the back streets of Japanese cities that aren't even aware that WWII is over.

It's not just foreigners that find this system difficult. There are district maps posted on neighborhood sidewalks that show people where shops and homes are located. Here's one from the Omote-sando area. Notice the little house where Steve Madden lives. You may have to click on the photo to be able to see it.

My own built-in GPS superpower is still challenged by this "system" and I'm averaging about 50% success rate on finding some of the small shops and eateries I've searched for. Unlike most world cities the tiny back streets in Tokyo are packed with retail shops. What would be a tiny back alley in New York is considered a street here. My mind keeps telling me these little passages are sidewalks so when taxis suddenly pass me with inches to spare I am always startled.

The other strange inefficiency I've noticed is the lack of a common understanding of which side of the sidewalk to walk on. Whereas in the States the norm is walking on the right side of the sidewalk - just like our traffic does - Japan is everything goes. If Peavine had sidewalks I'm sure we'd walk on the side God intended us to - the right.

But in Japan, despite their penchant for organization, there is no norm. People walk on either side or all sides. On crowded sidewalks this is completely inefficient. But one thing I will say, the Japanese don't bump into each other like people do in Korea and China. They must have built-in collision avoidance systems.

2010-09-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

A Japanese Hospital Experience

2010-09-08T05:13:00.000-07:00

I had a first-hand demonstration today of what a government-run "socialistic" healthcare system is like. I went to a hospital in Tokyo for a checkup and spent several hours witnessing the "horrors" of Japan's healthcare system. There were lines one or two people deep, waiting periods of several minutes for tests, hallways that hadn't been cleaned in an hour or so, and a small co-pay at the end of the patient's visit - and no follow-on bills. How could these poor souls live with such a system? Why was there a look of contentment on everyone's face? Why was the staff so cheery and polite?

Ok, ok - I have to admit it was all very impressive. The doctors were very good and spent up to 30 minutes explaining everything to me and answering all my questions without rushing out the door for their next patient. Once, when an unexpected test was needed, the doctor scheduled it immediately. "You're lucky you are in Japan," he said. "If we were in New York (where he had trained) it would take a week to schedule this test." A sophisticated communications system tied everything together and each doctor immediately knew what the previous doctor had done for me. I was guided from area to area by terminals that I would stick a card into and it would tell me where to go to next. It was all so easy - even in a foreign language!

Of course since I don't have Japanese national insurance I had to pay for my services but I was treated no different from the Japanese citizens, all of whom were getting nearly free or low cost healthcare because of their nationalized system. They pay an annual fee based upon their income but my Japanese friend said it costs him a couple of hundred dollars a year.

Witnessing this I felt sad that America doesn't have a healthcare system like this. How absurd it is that our recent debate over healthcare in the US was (and is) marked by so much misinformation. How crazy it must look to the Japanese, the Europeans and even the South Koreans who have had government-operated healthcare insurance for years - even decades.

It might be a good idea for us to look at what actually works before we start pulling out all the scare tactics next time.

Eat More Greens

2010-09-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had lunch in Azabu-Juban (a subway stop away) at a great vegetarian / vegan cafe called "Eat More Greens". Both the food and the atmosphere (and price) were perfect. Gman had curry and rice and I had taco rice. Both meals came with cold Ceylon tea and an innovative sweet bean dessert - all for less than $10 per person. Not bad for Tokyo.

Going Organic in China

2010-09-01T04:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my. I'm glad I'm no longer eating in China. Tainted milk, fake eggs - I thought I'd seen or heard of everything. But this article tells that it can get worse.

10 minutes for 1,000 yen

2010-08-29T05:06:00.001-07:00

I got my hair cut in Tokyo yesterday - and it was entertaining. Not far from our home there's a barbershop called QB (short for Quick Barber). On the window it advertises itself (in Japanese) as the 10 minute haircut for 1,000 yen place. The place is no larger than the average American bedroom but it had four "stations" and a waiting area. You walk in, put a 1,000 yen note (about $11) into a vending machine that spits out a number. You sit on the padded bench (waiting area) until one of the barbers calls your number (in my case about 2 minutes) and then you sit in a comfortable chair while the extremely polite and efficient barber cuts your hair for 10 minutes.

Each station is a self-contained unit with lights, a closet for your bags, a chair, disinfecting unit, barber tools, and a vacuum hose. After your haircut a floor-level vacuum system sucks all the hair off the floor as the barber vacuums up your head and clothes - leaving no hair to irritate your neck the rest of the day.

QB is a franchise that started in Japan and has expanded to Hong Kong and Singapore thus far. It's not something a high maintenance hair-involved man would want to go to but for someone like me - Great idea.

Know-nothing-ism

2010-08-29T04:57:00.000-07:00

Know-nothing-ism is an interesting and dangerous trend in the U.S. these days and this article is as good an explanation of the phenomenon as I've seen to date. Taking pride in ignorance is not limited to just one side of the political spectrum by any means but these days the far right is home to the worst of it.

Diogenes Finds His Man

2010-08-26T03:39:00.000-07:00

I had read of such things happening in Japan but I wondered if it were true. Today, I have proof that good people still exist.

Gman and I were on the way to Roppongi Hills this morning so he could join a group taking a train out to his school (an hour away). At Roppongi Crossing I handed him a 5,000 yen note (about $70) and he took off toward the Spider where he was to meet others. I started for my appointment near Tokyo Tower but something told me I needed to check on Gman - something bad had happened. When I caught up to him he told me he had lost the money and was retracing his steps. We looked but couldn't find the bill. There were so many people on the sidewalk I felt sure someone had picked it up. No way were we going to find it. I gave him a replacement and he rushed off to catch his group.

As I walked back to Roppongi Crossing I noticed the Azabu Police Station and a policewoman at the door. On a hunch I asked her if anyone had turned in a 5000 yen note. We went upstairs and she checked the computer. Yes, someone had just turned it in at a police box (koban) a couple hundred feet away. I couldn't believe it. Someone had picked up $70 and instead of pocketing it, had turned it in to the police! a policeman went to retrieve the bill while I filled out a little paperwork. They handed it over to me and gave me the contact information for the man that had turned it in. They explained that it was customary to contact the person and offer them a reward of 5-20% of the money turned in.

I had to ask myself how many people in my home country would have turned in money found on the street. Or in any country other than Japan? For one thing I think the police would have told the honest man (a Mr. Nakano) to keep the money and go away. Too much paperwork! Only 2% of Japanese are "religious" according to surveys but despite (or because of?) this they must be the most individually honest people in the world. Surveys say 80% of my countrymen are "religious" but has that made us all as honest as Mr. Nakano? Would this happen in New York? Yes, many of my countrymen are honest - but what are the chances? And would the police have helped? Would they have even had a system for realtime tracking of lost items?

When I told people at work about this they told me this was not uncommon but that things were changing in Japan. Still, I'm very impressed. I'm going to get the bill framed as a reminder of a standard we should live up to.

PS: I'm still trying to reach Mr. Nakano.

New Venue

2010-08-21T02:42:00.000-07:00

G-man and I arrived in Tokyo on Thursday evening only to find that one of his bags was still enjoying the relative cool of Minneapolis. The van ride into downtown Tokyo was unusually quick - just about an hour. I hadn't slept in over 24 hours but I still couldn't get to sleep. I did the laundry at 3 am.

Our apartment is in Roppongi - in the middle of downtown Tokyo. Our 7th floor apartment has a nice view of the cityscape punctuated by Tokyo's tallest building at the Roppongi Hills shopping complex. The weather is muggy but the sky is clean and blue. My first impression this time is that Tokyo is clean and orderly - very different from Shanghai in that regard.

This is going to be interesting.

Why Business is Bad

2010-07-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

On the cable news and in the newspapers we read that business is suffering and many Americans are unemployed. I believe it - but if you went by how businesses are actually doing business day by day you'd have to wonder if things are that bad. Let me give you an example. I've been trying to get my driveway repaired for over a month now. There are only two listings in my city's phone book for driveway repair companies. If you call one they'll tell you that don't have time to help you. "We've got all the business we can handle," they tell me. The other company repeatedly promises to call back but never does. If I was looking to go into business right now I know what I would do.

Everywhere I look small businesses are extending poor service to potential customers. Contractors that hand out cards with email addresses and phone numbers that don't work. Small shops that don't post their hours and are closed on the weekend when you have time to shop. Shops that take a month longer than promised to repair your lawnmower and tell the customer not to call - they'll call you when they get around to fixing your mower. Are these the same people that complain about the economy and it's effect on their business?

Is it just me or do you ever get the feeling you could run most businesses better than their current owners do?

Facebook may be useful afterall

2010-07-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

Experienced some serendipity today. I don't use Facebook that often but I did check it on Sunday. One of the notices on my wall from an old high school friend mentioned that her father had lost his dog and was sick about it. By happenstance a big dog that could barely walk had showed up in our front yard the day before and we had been feeding it and keeping it cool. I asked my old high school friend (which I hadn't seen since high school) what area her father had lost the dog in. For all I knew he lived in Maine. She replied with an address that was exactly the street I live on. Well, it turns out that we had her father's dog and they were happily reunited.

Beside Route 66

2010-07-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Just now recovering from a three-day trip to Albuquerque we made last week. But wow, the chili rellenos swimming in green chili sauce was worth it! I like the Southwestern cuisine so much better than the cheese-laden variety of Tex-Mex - although I do like Tex-Mex a lot. Nothing beats the green chili sauce though. And it's healthier too.

Sante Fe was far too crowded for the 4th of July holiday. The old town plaza was packed for a pancake festival and old car show. The museums were overpriced. New Mexico is the only place I've been to outside of China where museums and attractions have a two-price policy. A cheaper price for residents and a much higher price for out-of-state visitors. Seems like an odd way to attract tourists and a bit of a slap in the face.

So we took a pleasant drive through the National Forest lands around Los Alamos - the home of nuclear research. It was great to get out into nature and smell the evergreen trees. Thank goodness for National Forests and National Parks. Thank you Teddy Roosevelt. Thank you John Muir.

When I was younger my family took several trips out West on Route 66. The trip on Route 40 is much faster now but a lot is lost rushing by like we did on this trip. Still, the sight of Tucumcari Mesa, Clines Corners, the Big Texan in Amarillo bring back a lot of good memories. I hope I can someday make a more leisurely trip on what remains of the old Route 66.

Who are these people?

2010-06-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've been going through old boxes of family photos for several months now in an effort to archive and digitize them. This has turned out to be a much larger project than I anticipated. Just like I started cleaning out the "barn" in the backyard today. I was going to work for about an hour and that turned into seven hours and two showers.

The frustrating part of going through the really old photos is that I don't know who most of the people are. It seems that my family rarely wrote on the back of the photo to tell others who the subjects were.

During my early years of photography I favored slides and have hundreds of slides that need to be digitized before the slides fade out. Scanning slides takes a lot of time and gigabytes. But I'm getting there. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go through life and not keep a record, or photos, of anything. But I can't risk that. What if I became famous? What if I accidentally got elected to be a US Senator (Alvin Greene-like) and they wanted to write a biography? Why, I'd have to make the whole thing up and the media would surely catch me in a misremembering - maybe about serving in Vietnam (I didn't) - and then I'd feel pretty foolish.

Well, back to scanning.

Tallgrass Prairie Nature Preserve

2010-06-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

2010-05-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

Went back to my origins today. the Peavine Strawberry Festival, in it's 63rd year. It's changed a bit over the years, but not as much as the people who watch it. I saw thousands of people, none of whom I recognized. Most of the people I grew up with have moved out of Peavine. Either that or they stay locked in their homes on festival day.

We arrived just in time to see the politicians and the horses at the end of the parade. It was just a few years into the festival parades that they figured out that the horses should bring up the rear of the parade. Horses aren't ashamed of leaving evidence of their passing and the floats rolling over the horse poop would release a mighty odor. For obvious reasons the politicians and politician-wannabes riding in their convertibles were placed as near the end, just before the horses, as was possible. Some have argued that they should follow the horses. Why should the horses, which have done no one any harm, be forced to follow the politicians? I suggest the bankers and TV preachers be back there too.

A Threat to Our Species

2010-05-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

The article here is alarming. I've run into a number of these creatures on the expressway but now they've gone too far! This is one situation where profiling is needed.

Redbud Valley Last Weekend

2010-05-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Doppelgänger in Houston

2010-04-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

My credit card company contacted me to ask if I had been making a number of purchases in Houston in the last few days - a bottle of water for $1.50, a microwave for $80, a bunch of groceries at a store named El Mercado etc. Well, I hadn't. I've been too busy lately to drive to Houston for groceries and water.

They canceled my card and are sending me a replacement. In the meantime I have been notifying several online accounts that automatically charge to my old credit card to change accounts. It's quite a hassle. To thank me for alerting them Virgin Mobile cut off my account and told me I needed to fax them copies of my social security card, ID and proof of residence. I told them they were lacking wisdom.

There sure is a lot of credit card fraud these days. I sure would like to wring the neck of a thirsty someone in Houston that has a penchant for chorizo.

15 years ago today

2010-04-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

I know exactly where I was 15 years ago today. I was four miles north of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I was talking with a colleague when an enormous shock wave rocked the building. We looked at each other in surprise. Our eyes were wide. "What was that?! we asked to no one in particular. We were next to the Interstate so my first thought was that a semi-trailer had run into a solid object at full speed. It wasn't long before we found out that it was a terrorist bombing that killed 168 people that terrible moment.

Later, we found out that the miserable being that perpetrated the crime drove right by our windows on his way out of the city to try to escape. I'm glad he was at least caught and brought to justice.

Bagels, blooms and black and white

2010-04-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

It's a rainy spring day in Peavine. The azaleas are still in bloom. The cherry and pear trees just finished. The lawn, er weeds, are going strong. I had time to stop by the bagel shop this afternoon for an Everything and some vocabulary review. Too bad they close at 2 pm.

My CanoScan 8800 arrived on Friday so I've spent much of the weekend scanning old slide photos into my digital archive of the past. I've also been scanning old family photos from the 1920s on. Here's a reminder to all - just because you know who is in the photo doesn't mean your descendants will. Write the subjects names and the date on the back of your photos. I have a large collection of family photos of people I don't know.

2010-03-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

We are back in Greater Peavine after our short trip to Kentucky - but not without some excitement. While it was 70 degrees and sunny in Kentucky we hit a wall of snow around Springfield last night and traffic on the Interstate slowed to 40 mph as we crept past numerous cars and trucks that had slid off the highway and crashed into guardrails or other cars.

As we entered Greater Peavine the snow continued but the toll road was now without snowplows or police. The highway shoulder was buried in snow and in places the snow had covered all but one lane. It was hard to tell if the highway was just wet or frozen. Semi-trailer trucks were constantly on my tail as I slowed to 40 mph on the one open lane. Nonetheless the car suddenly spun out of control and whipped from one side of the highway to the other as I tried to keep the front wheels pointed straight ahead and fought the urge to hit the brakes. We came to rest sideways on the snow-packed shoulder with the front of the car across one lane of the two-lane highway. I had narrowly avoided hitting the concrete wall in the middle of the toll road or going off the steep slope on the other side of the highway. But now I had the car stuck in deep snow and sticking out onto the highway - with several semi-trucks headed our way.

As I flashed my lights to warn the oncoming drivers I tried in vain to get the car to move but it seemed hopeless. The trucks and several cars passed by in the one open lane (no one stopped to help) and after a couple of minutes of rocking back and forth the car broke free of the snow and we got back on the highway. It was an interesting way to end the mini-vacation.

2010-03-21T13:09:00.000-07:00