World Is Round

Earthquake?

I sat in front of the computer starking blankly at the screen.  I was nursing my flu with Echinacea tea and fighting the urge to crawl back into bed where it was warm and the world didn't have to exist  Fragments of old dreams floated in and out of my subconscious, the barrier between the waking world and the unseen world still permeable.  The scary man dressed in shadows who gives chase in slow motion as you try to run away in spite of your leaden feet.  Or the one where you wake from bed in the middle of the night to the ground, the walls, the sky, the whole world rumbling around you...

Oh wait.

The Latest in Japanese English-Language Teaching?

I originally found this video here and had to repost it because it absolutely defies description.  Just watch.

Fish at Tsujiki Market - My First Experiment in Lomo

Learn more about getting Lomo effects using photoshop or read about Lomo from Wikipedia

Politeness: Do Immigration Officials Have It?

At JFK on the way back from Tokyo was the first time I had ever felt embarrassed to be an American.

As much as I think America should and could be much better than it is, at the end of the day, I love my country.  Still, I sometimes think we can be some of the most pig-headed and  ignorant people.  Sure, plenty of people or nations or cultures harbor ignorance in one way or another, but there's something particularly awful about sticking one's head in the sand when one happens to be the biggest, baddest, richest, and most heavily armed country on the planet.

So here's a journal entry I've been meaning to blog.  It deals with the arrogance and ignorance of one (or two) U.S. Customs & Immigration officials, one of whom, in my opinion, deserves to lose his job.

Tokyo Photos

Some smaller versions of some of my favorite Tokyo photos, just for fun. I think if you click on the photos, you can see larger versions of them.

For more Tokyo photos (or more photos of past travels and adventures), visit my Flickr photo album or my Typepad Japan album.

Our favorite photos are all from the Tsujiki fish market in Tokyo which was probably one of the busiest markets I've ever seen. Fishmongerers were rushing about in every direction, some on bikes or power trolleys, unloading fish, hacking and slashing tails, fins, heads, tentacles and very nearly running me over (stupid tourist loitering awkwardly and trying my best just to stay out of the way). This is the "middle man market" where large fish wholesalers who bought direct from the fishermen cut, clean, package and sell fish to restaurants and supermarkets. This market goes on nearly every day of the week (except perhaps Sunday), supplying the demand for a diet based on raw fish.

After the market, we opted for tempura udon over sashimi. Thomas thought it was too early in the morning for raw fish. I say, when in Rome...

Suicide in Japan

Of course, lurking under the cleanliness, politeness, efficiency and class harmony is Japanese people's propsensity to throw themselves in front of moving trains or light charcoal stoves in their cars and then seal themselves in with duct tape.

The subways offer a grim reminder of the problem and of the Japanese approach to finding a solution.  Problem: Businessmen keep throwing themselves in front of trains during rush hour and making everyone else late.  Solution:  Build floor-to-ceiling barricades along the subway platforms that only open after a train has come to a full stop at the station.

Tokyo: First Impressions

We arrived at Narita Airport after a 14 hour flight spent scrunched up like fetuses in coach class. I've never in my whole life been so grateful for my narcolepsy.

Coming from New York - dirty, gray, anarchist New York - Tokyo seemed (and I mean this in a good way) llike Disneyland on speed. It was a strange hybrid of Las Vegas, Times Square, Disney, and Beijing, but with a Swiss-German love for precision and order. The city was so sprawling, glitzy, sublimely overwhelming that it made New York look quaint by comparison.