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Osteophage Society Memberships Available Now!
A tribute to everyone who visited/called this weekend: The Undrinkable Cocktail Thanks to you all for leaving the airag at home… Last night I watched the fireworks and slept very, very well.
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Remembering Hiroshima
…has been postponed for the time being in lieu of: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Celebrations started early this year, and I have one last party to get to before the night is over. I’ve completely recovered from the heatstroke/food poisoning/mid-life crisis barfing thing the other day, so thanks to all those who wrote. Nam performed Thai dance at the Awaji Westin today, perhaps for the last time, and I took around 500 photos with my new DSLR, so I’ll be posting about that soon. Until then, Justin Yoshida I King of Awaji Island and Benefactor of Surrounding Territories
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PETA, Rejoice!
… for I will never eat sharkfin soup again. Yesterday I was in Himeji on a business trip. After our meetings, we went to the top of Himeji castle in the miserable heat and walked our clients a fair distance to their posh hotel. We then walked to the inconveniently located and much crappier hotel that we were staying at (a pox on our financial dept.), changed out of our dripping-with-perspiration dress shirts into casual ones, and immediately headed out for Chinese food back at the client’s hotel restaurant. I was on my third small glass of beer before the food came, and had just finished my bowl of sharkfin…
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NHK Fee Collectors
NHK is the national public broadcasting station in Japan. They send subscription fee collectors to seemingly every front door in the nation on a semi-regular basis, and in my experience, get turned away more often than not. 1.17 mil. households refuse to pay NHK subscription fees People usually try to get out of paying by saying that they either do not own a TV, or do not watch NHK. The latter isn’t an excuse at all; you’re supposed to pay anyway. I always used to use the former until a few years ago when the NHK guy pointed out my newly-purchased satellite dish and I had to explain it wasn’t…
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There is no love in your violence…
This sounds like a scene straight from Ishi the Killer: …Nagasawa then punched the victim in the face, saying he did not answer politely enough… …Nagasawa then allegedly followed the victim into his apartment and forced him to take off his contact lenses… “Are you wearing contact lenses now? Put them in my eyes,” Nagasawa told the 31-year-old victim…. After Nagasawa’s arrest Thursday in Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, police put on display what they confiscated from his home — 124 pairs of glasses and 30 pairs of contact lenses of a wide variety… …Police did not comment on his motive but Nagasawa reportedly said: “I felt good when I…
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On Inspiration and Foreign Language Study
Uninspiring story #1: The Japanese girl who really went to Los Angeles in pursuit of life ala Beverly Hills 90210. (seriously.) Uninspiring story #2: Her best friend, who followed two weeks later. Inspiring story #1: My former female coworker, who taught herself English by reading the newspapers used as stuffing in the pineapple boxes shipped from Hawaii to the fruit stand she worked at as a child. Inspiring story #2: Japanese (especially schoolkids) who can’t even return basic greetings in English, yet can instantly extend a middle finger and shout a healthy “FAKKU YOU!” like it’s second nature. On a related note, I’m one of those people who learn languages…
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Medical Tourism in Mosonmagyarovar
So it has finally come to this: The incidental tourist An American woman opts to pay $4,300 for a ten day vacation/medical trip to Hungary where she gets dental work done that would have cost an estimated $11,150 in the states with insurance. No word on whether she will play the next Jaws in the 007 series… Apparently it worked out well for her, though. Come to think of it, the hospitals and clinics I’ve been to in Thailand were cleaner than what I’m used to seeing in Japan or the US – and they were a hell of a lot cheaper to boot (another fact – completely irrelevant and…
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Asbestos
Check out this article in the Guardian: Japan’s asbestos time bomb This is a HUGE problem on my island. Before they built the longest, tallest, and most expensive suspension bridge in the world between Awaji Island and Kobe, the only way to cross was by ferry. Hundreds of ferry boats operated by several companies made the trip between the island and the mainland (mainly Kobe and Osaka) every day. Of course, the bridge eventually killed this industry, and predictably, left thousands of locals without jobs. My company employs several of those ex-ferry workers. In fact, the guy who sits right next to me is one of them, and he is…
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Matsuda Yusaku
I totally scored an out-of-print DVD box set of the entire Tantei Monogatari (Detective Story) series on Yahoo Auctions last night! This was a very famous TV series in Japan and is virtually unknown overseas; the same goes for the star of the show, Yusaku Matsuda (best known overseas as the character Sato in the movie Black Rain). He was the shit back in those days, and his popularity hasn’t waned a bit over the years. I take pride in being his greatest gaijin fan – only a real fan would consider a 300 dollar DVD box set a real bargain, figuring, you know, that it’s an investment.
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International Symbol of Marriage
Thanks to all you truly compassionate friends and readers who have sent me this over the past couple weeks – HAHA… But the joke’s on you, because in less than a year’s time I’ll be living in the steamy jungles of SE Asia, building my army of monkeys and surveying a nice spot for my teak plantation while my wife teaches all day at the university… I’ll think of you all fondly then.
