Monthly Archives: February 2004
Chinese Meat Market
The “butcher/deli” section in a market in Shanghai. Shopping for ingredients in Shanghai is an adventure of sights and smells. We wandered in a large, grey, hulking building and found each section of the two floors packed with a huge variety of food in its virgin state (more or less). Nothing is nicely packaged here, … Continue reading
A Good Beach Day, A Good Day To Be At Work
Nam is chasing the sea gulls next to Huntington Beach Pier, on a fabulous afternoon in January. Justin is sitting on the pale sand smoking a cig, and I am taking pictures. This was exactly what we wanted to do on our Winter vacation. Today the weather is excellent. The sky is a clear blue- … Continue reading
Putz Master
This is a close up of a concrete pump in Shanghai, in front of a new gargantuan shopping mall under construction along the Bund. I had never seen a Putzmeister until then, and so I assumed that Putzmeister was a Chinese company that made cheaper versions of Caterpillar equipment. “Putzmeister is considered world-wide as the … Continue reading
Nastiness
Today I was eating lunch at the new Hoikuen with the Yuri-gumi (Hoikuen is divided by age groups from oldest to youngest: sakura-gumi, yuri-gumi, and ume-gumi) across from a 4 year old boy, while the 4 year old boy in back of me was chewing on my sweatshirt refusing to stop or to admit that … Continue reading
It’s Gonna Be A Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day
The rim of the largest caldera in the world, overlooking Aso-machi. If you look closely, you can see steam rising from Aso-san. Sulphuric fumes released from the top of Aso kill a couple of people each year, mostly the old or sick. Recently Aso mountain has been acting a bit “sassy”, and so sometimes you … Continue reading
The Soccermom Gang
A train of minivans, hailing from Fukuoka-ken, visits Ikeyama Suigen in Ubuyama-mura. Who was it that decided to form minivan club, and who are the people who chose to join? Of all the clubs you could choose to be in, why would you want to be in “minivan-club”. I have seen some pretty cool car … Continue reading
Subliminal Subjugation
Take a careful look at this picture. I snapped this one in Okinawa but there are countless others just like it, all over Japan. Focus on it like a rorschach inkblot for a couple of secs. Now, what do you see? What I see is a member of the Post WWII Occupational Forces, under the … Continue reading
The Presidental Erection
Is how it would sound if you said “The Presidental Election” with a katakana accent. This post, however, is not gonna be about Engrish(at least, not very much), but will explore possible avenues for bringing your little General to attention. Japanese have many foods you can eat and drinks that you can imbibe that are … Continue reading
Virus Update
I don’t feel any better about the avian flu situation in Kyushu after reading this. Yesterday I was told that poultry farmers in Ubuyama are not allowed to sell eggs or any other chicken products until further notice. This morning, the officials inspected our chicken and came up with nothing, but Kokonoe is not very … Continue reading
Sick Irony
This year’s SARS is Avian Flu. Last year, many JETs were unable to travel to Southeast Asia, and even Australia because everyone’s Board Of Education was scared to death. I was barely able to slip out (turned off my cell phone because Joe warned me that his BOE had forced him and Jason to cancel … Continue reading