Sorry...

I've been slack. Since being unable to post photos I've not been too motivated to update my poor, little blog...even though it's not his fault. Sorry blog.

I've got a couple of good pics lined up...if I ever get the chance, I'll put 'em straight on. Actually, another part of my laziness is that there isn't much to report. Business as usual and same old same old.

Happy to say the weather's getting finer. Lovely blue skies, for the most part, and a bit of a breeze from time to time. Nice. May/June is one of the better times of year. However, soon to come is the rainy season, closely followed by terribly humid 30+ degree days and regularly cloudy skies (a period usually referred to as summer). Not so nice.

In brief...Japan and China still cross with each other. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi picked up her bat and ball and went home the other day, cancelling an afternoon meeting with Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi who pouted and probably reflected on it. She said she had urgent Bird-Flu type matters to attend to, but then the Chinese Foreign Ministry 'fessed up and admitted it was pissed with Koizumi's insistance on visiting Yasukuni Shrine and Japan's portrayal of its occupation of China in the history books..

Japan took offence to the impromtu cancellation. One Japanese newspaper editorial sagely advised "A person who behaves rudely to another, for whatever reason, should apologise". Fair enough. However, on the issue of Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine (which enshrines Class-A war criminals) it states "A memorial service for fallen soldiers in any country is to be held in accordance with that nation's culture and tradition". That's sweet, but I say exorcise the shrine of it's troublesome tenants and be done with it. I'd pay homage to Japan's war dead as soon as I would any other country's...but I wouldn't put flowers on Adolf Hitler's grave and I certainly wouldn't describe him as one of Germany's 'fallen soldiers'. As an extension of that sentiment, I won't be going to Yasukuni Shrine to pay my respects anytime soon, much as I'd like to.

Post script...to be fair, the quote cited from the paper was followed by the statement "Admittedly, there are arguments among Japanese for and against prime ministerial visits to the shrine". At least acknowledgement was paid to the contentiousness of the issue.

On Hanami...

With the passing of April came and went the cherry blosom so adored by the Japanese. Singles, couples, families and photographers made time, as they do every year, to stroll through a park or meander along a river-side canopied by the soft pink glow of the heady sakura. It's great stuff. One day in early April the gnarled, dark-brown barked trees that line so many streets and roads are completely baren, then suddenly they're lousy with fresh little green tips. The next moment they're swooning with a blosom that, from a distance, isn't dissimiliar to candy floss atop a bent stick. An edible specialty of the season is sakura mochi; a sticky pink pounded rice envelope or ball, like digestible chewing gum, filled with sweet red beans and wrapped in the green leaf of the sakura tree. This short-lived season, best described as nature showing off, is truely something to behold and a day amongst it is well spent with beer, food and people you love. It's name is Hanami. It means 'flower gazing' and I'm looking forward to its return next year.

Hmmm, wakanai...

Unfortunately I'm unable to post pictures on It's me! It's me! right at the moment. Don't know what the problem is but I'm trying to get it sorted...I reckon blogs without pictures are pretty boring so hopefully it's only temporary.
Had the pleasure of eating fugu without dying yesterday. Not sashimi, but in nabe (a Japanese style stew). Oishi katta desu yo! (It was delicious).

The battle of the sexes is lost...

Men. Want to realise your ultimate fantasy of riding on a crowded train carriage, packed with women only? Then the Saikyo line may be for you (but you'll have your yarbles sliced off if they catch ya)!
Yes, groping on trains is alive and well (sick perhaps?) in our fair town. College kids, salary men, government officials, politicians alike have all been collared for variations of this popular 'sport'. Some instances involve a squeeze of the ass while others apparently go as far as digital penetration. Whichever way you look at it, signs (such as the one posted above) point to the fact that it isn't going over at all well with the ladies. Thanks to the prevalence of these sick f***ers certain train lines have deemed it necessary to run (you've probably guessed) women only carriages.
The word for groper or sexual molester in Japanese is 'chikan'. Public transport is so ridiculously over-crowded in the a.m and p.m rush hours, that it's a snip to cop a feel of some poor soul pressed up against you. Sometimes these opportunistic pricks are caught, but more often than not the victim is too timid to cry out, thus allowing the perp to carry on his merry way. For the perverted cowards out there tempted but too gutless to try it yourselves, don't fret. There's plenty of porn available depicting this exact crime. My guess is this quaint little hobby isn't going away any time soon, women only carriages or no.

Under wraps...

In the two years and ten months that I've lived in this building, the white car in the bottom left corner has never moved from this spot. From time-to-time, however, I see people sitting in it. When they're there, I lock my doors and windows, for they are the people of the car and their ways are foreign to me.

Milk, cream or creap...

If I'm craving a cuppa and there's not so much as a drop of milk in the place, I don't worry. Tucked away in the dry-store is something none of us coffee or tea lovers should do without. Creap. Creamy powder.
On the subject of coffee, I'd like to state for the record that it's really hard to get a good coffee in Tokyo, and what we do get, we pay a truck load for. Starbucks is everywhere, pumping out dirty dish-water and calling it Latte by the mega litre. Their coffee is so weak it couldn't drip through a paper bag. I've bent my girlfriend's ear on this matter numerous times, and if she's still going there, she doesn't admit it! Each to their own I says, but where's the appreciation for a deep, rich espresso in this town?

Me...

An explanation...

It's me! It's me! was a scam launched some time last year, or perhaps much earlier, by certain shady individuals throughout Japan. Remarkably simple, it relied purely on the mark's gullibility and unquestioning faith in the doctrine of keeping out of trouble. The perp, having obtained the mark's phone number, would call said mark and shriek It's me! It's me! into the handset. (The profile of said mark didn't often deviate from that of an elderly, easily frightened man or woman). The next step was to assume the identity of the mark's adult offspring and recount some tall tale of misfortune that had just befallen them, adding that only a vast sum of cash deposited into a certain bank account would see them free of it. The results of not complying would be dire (ie: usually death or jail), the faux adult offspring would ominously warn.
Amazingly, or not, this faceless harrassment netted a lot of money, enough to see Japan's police launch a serious crackdown and public education campaign. This rubbish was screwing billions of yen out of vulnerable old people, simply by counting on the victim's embarassment and fear to keep them quiet.

And so, I've named my very own blog after it. I've lived in Tokyo for nearly three years now and felt there was a very poingnant point about the 'Japanese way' exhibited in this scam. I haven't figured out what that is yet, but that's part of why I'm here. Hopefully, further observations along the trail will help me make sense of this dark, disturbing place. It's a happy!