Coming home from work late last night, we went for chinese food at the station. Afterwards, walking home, we witnessed a horrific motorcycle crash. The guy was coming up to the green light, but the road curves a bit, and I guess he leaned too much or something, cuz he went over. Not only that, but his bike hit a parked minivan, and he kind of bounced/rolled for about 15 feet. To our great surprise, he got up (he was wearing a helmet, if he hadn't been, I'm not sure he would have) and walked (limped) over to the owners of the minivan. Then he bowed to the owners of the van and tried to pick up the wreckage of his bike.

The people's revolution begins with the umbrella

It started to rain unexpectedly today, so I took one of the umbrellas left abandoned in the umbrella stand at work. It's a beauty, too--nice sturdy construction, with gold trim, and waterproof fabric that gives off a most delightful sheen--pink or gray or purple depending on how the light hits it.

Marie Claire makes good umbrellas.

(I say "I took the umbrella" and not "I stole", because surely the concept of theft presupposes a background of generally successful ownership--keeping in mind that ownership entails more than the ability to use an object that happens to exist in your hands at the moment. In Japan you could no more steal an unguarded umbrella than you could steal someone's air without forcefully pumping it from that person's lungs. The umbrellas here seem to belong to some sort of nation-wide commons--at some point in time, every umbrella in circulation was of course purchased by some charitable soul at some form of commercial outlet, but that monetary transaction marks the removal of the item from the realm of capitalist principles. Thereafter the umbrella passes from hand to hand, as needed or as not, circulating via the umbrella stands at convenience stores and beef/pork-bowl establishments, until it is lost to rust or ruinous typhoon winds.)

So green... So delicious!

Too bad matcha (green tea) flavor isn't popular in North America... I guess you could try T&T. Honestly, the best Kit Kat I've ever had.

More Geek News

Superfast Nasa jet pushes Mach 10...So cool!

The King of the Pirates

Interesting article with a guy who is called "The King of the Pirates" - he's a digital music collector, so far with over 900,000 songs (apparently more than ITunes!)

The Weekend...

...is too short. I managed to get to the gym yesterday AND today; pretty impressive considering my laziness on weekends. I found out they have a yoga class on Wednesday afternoons, so I might give that a try. Gyms in Japan are usually very expensive (upwards of about $120 CDN/month) but there's a community gym with limited hours nearby for about $2.50 CDN a go, so I'm lucky. The air quality is terrible lately so I really can't do much outside. Even though Tokyo's air quality is normally terrible, in the fall people can burn things - leaves and such - in their backyards, creating a terrible smell. Right now there is a haze that noticibly decreases visibility - the other side of the river is difficult to see at times!

In other news, I'm enjoying Quicksilver, another of Neil Stevenson's novels. Pretty good so far although a bit slow in places. Good plague descriptions though!

We also watched Bubba Ho-tep which was hillarious, although I found it a bit depressing in places (but in a good way).

Toby isn't feeling well right now. We're both having a bit of a hard time with allergies, probably due to the air outside being full of crap. Back to work tomorrow, but it's only a four day week for me (since a I worked a bunch of crazy weeks back in October).

One other thing: I forgot to mention that before we saw Bubba, we went to the Maple Leaf sports bar in Shibuya (Canadian). Now that's what I imagined the embassy would be more like. The staff were really friendly and the food was great (I had a cheeseburger - I don't think I've eaten that much meat in one sitting since I was back in Canada). Suprisingly, they served us only in English (even the Japanese staff). We went with our friend Joe, who is leaving to go back to the States. We've made so many good friends over the last year and they are all leaving at the same time! :(

Bizarre

150 year-old fire finally put out in China.

Our Visit to the Embassy and Other Stories...

We decided we needed to get the annual Remembrance Day poppies. We headed out a few days ago to the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo. The building is huge - it looks like either the alien spaceship in the movie Stargate, or some military compound/bunker complex. To get in, the first thing you must do is walk past a non-speaking guard guy and ride up this huge escalator. If you don't walk, it takes a few minutes. Once we got inside, we marvelled at the absolute emptiness of the place. A tv plays some tourism video, there are quite a few Inuit carvings, and a lone hockey effigy of Guy Lafleur. There was a secretary/receptionist who never said a word as we made a donation and picked up our poppies (it's self-serve). There was another guard in a little booth who also remained silent. Not one person said a word to us the entire time we were there. It was a little depressing and not very welcoming.

In other news, I'm happy to report Leonard Cohen finally has a new album (not a collection of old stuff as previously mentioned), Dear Heather. Seems ok so far - fits the sombre post-election mood. :D

How to abuse power and influence people

At a branch Welcome Party (for me and one other guy), one of my coworkers was self-outed as a former Young Republican, a current Republican, and a Bush supporter. Thereafter an argument ensued with a well-read colleague who proved to be full of anti-Bush arguments.

And wouldn't you know it? The pro-Busher is a young gal who hails from San Francisco and went to the University of Berkeley (still one of the most liberal places in America), while the anti-Busher is an even younger guy who is a devout, church-going (not so convenient in this country) Christian from Utah.

Bizarro World American politics.

This is the first Republican that I've met (and know of) in Japan. She is also (in a sense) my subordinate at work. Which puts me in a bit of a bind.

In general I think that there needs to be more civil discourse. Lame pun intended: I mean "civil" in the sense of "civilized" as well as "political". In Democracy In America, Tocqueville apparently marvelled at the way that two men from entirely different social circles could meet on the side of the road and have a civilized political conversation, and we could use a lot more of that today.

(I say "apparently", because, as Melanie Griffith's character was told in Born Yesterday, guys like me love to drop Tocqueville's name, but I've never even touched the book.)

So I really, desperately want to have a political discussion with her. I want to understand why she supports Bush, because at the moment I'm having a lot of difficulty getting my mind around such a thing. And, God willing, I would like to convince her to change her mind.

The way I see it, I either run the risk of ruining our professional relationship, or let her ruinous political beliefs pass by without remark. Which is the greater evil?

You can get fooled again.

Got up at 9am, on my day off, which is unheard of. Joined with a few others to watch the election coverage on cable.

Hoped so hard we made ourselves exhausted.

Laughed at poor old Larry King repeatedly asking, effectively, if he could go home yet.

Finally left in a bit of a funk. Resting now. Angry karaoke to follow.