Oh for a simpler way.

So today I went to get my license renewed, which I thought would be an easy process. On the card they sent me they said I had two options; go to the test center, or go to the ward police station. I decided to go to the police station because it is much closer and I thought would be a much simpler process. I should have know things were not going to go well when I arrived to find that from the first of April they had moved locations. The map to the new station was behind a fence and not very legible. Luckily there was a man nearby that I asked and got directions. One problem down. Got to the new place and went in and asked what I had to do. The lady said that I could apply today but I would have to take an hour lecture also, ok I knew I would have to do that. The only problem was that she said the next lectured would be June 11th. I was like, "What?", and asked wasn't there a different day that I could go on. Well she couldn't answer that question and had to ask another lady. That later eventually came over to another counter, not directly to me and proceeded to say that if I applied today the license wouldn't be done till May 26th. I asked if there was a lecture in May, but she said that since the license wouldn't be processed and back to them I couldn't take the lecture. She also told me they only offer it once a month. So I asked about June. Her answer to that was, well that date is not decided, it will probably be on July 15th but she couldn't say for sure, so I didn't even have the option to ask for that day. No the problem with both the days and the times is that for either one I would have to take off work to do it. Then she said I can go directly to the testing center and get it all done in one day. So now I have to go to the test center and get it done. Well at least she said they are open on Sunday. Still that doesn't make me to thrilled because since they are only open during business hours during the week and closed on Sat. I'm sure the lines will be horrendous.

All this to say, why can't they make the process easier? In this land where everyone is tied up with their work, why not open the test center on Saturdays or in the evenings. Same for the lecture at the police station. Given the amount of people that have to go through this process you think they would offer the lectures more than once a month and not just during the weekdays during the middle of the day. Wish someone would think these things through.

So any way this is what I have to look forward to, but actually this picture looks fairly uncrowded.

Divorce Ceremony?

As I was watching the news this morning I was surprised to hear that divorce ceremonies are becoming popular in Japan. So when I got to school and tried to find something on it in the the Japanese newspaper I didn't really find anything but I ran across an article from 2008 on CNN.

If just discussing divorce in public seemed taboo a few years ago, the growing trend of divorce celebrations is helping lessen the stigma surrounding the end of marriage.

"Yes, it's sad and it's painful, but it's not failure," says Christine Gallagher, the owner of Los Angeles event company The Divorce Party Planner and the author of a book by the same name. "It's part of life, and yet it's the only major event for which we have no ritual.

Full article here.
Yes it may be the only major event for which we have no ritual, but do we need one? One of the commentators on the news today said basically, if they can get along well enough to throw a party, is there need for a divorce. I think the major difference with the celebrations here was that they may involve both parties. They mentioned a part of the ceremony where they take imitation wedding rings and the couple destroys them with a hammer. I think it might be something that is actually helpful but the most disturbing fact from the article was this, "A celebration communicates that divorce is OK -- life-affirming, even.". I so don't agree with that statement.

Proof read?

Thanks to Sayaka for alerting me of McDonalds failure to do some checking before they print out their advertising.

Dissapointment in a California Burger

This is the advertised product.

And this is reality.

My motto at McDonalds has always been, "Never try the new stuff." Today with the 4th in this new series my thinking has been further reinforced. Dry, bland, the only thing that differentiated it from the New York Burger was the sauce, which you couldn't even taste. They are billing the sauce as a California wine sauce, but like I said you barely knew that anything was on it. I thought that they might throw on maybe some avocado, I mean it is popular, it wouldn't be hard to come by or anything. But I assume that it would be a bit of a job for them to cut up fresh avocado, so why not guacamole, then in place of the tomato salsa. Everyone knows this is the new condiment of choice. And if they really wanted to give it some zing, throw on some jalapenos. Anyway to the exec's at McDonalds in Japan, any new ideas run them by me first.

Shocking News in Japan

This has been in the news the last couple of days, and the details were rather shocking as I listened to it on the news this morning.

Nara couple held after son starves to death
The Yomiuri Shimbun

NARA--A husband and wife were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of starving their 5-year-old son to death.

Hiroshi Yoshida, 35, a company employee of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, and his wife, Mami, 26, a part-time worker, reportedly admitted the allegations to the Nara prefectural police. They also were quoted by the police as saying they had no affection for the boy.

The mother said she abused the boy because he looked like her husband, whom she did not get along with, the police said. Meanwhile, Yoshida was quoted by police as saying that he knew the boy was not being fed, but did not do anything about it.

According to the police, Tomoki Yoshida weighed only 6.2 kilograms, about one-third of the average weight of a 5-year-old child, and less than the average 1-year-old. He was 85 centimeters tall, which is the average height of a 2-year-old and 25 centimeters shorter than an average 5-year-old.
full story here

I know that this is terrible news and I wonder what could have been done. One of the things that stood out in this news was that this family of 4 were living in a one room apartment. For those of you who are not familiar with what that works out to a room measuring roughly 8'x11'. Now they probably had a small kitchen to go with that, but I'm sure it wasn't even half the size the main room. Not a very big space to do all of your living in. And I started to wonder why in Japan do people live in such conditions. I'm sure that cost was one big reason. Cost of housing is outrageous in Japan. I know that Japan is limited when it comes to space but I think there needs to be some serious reform in housing. I remember when I moved into Tokyo and was shocked when I had to pay the equivalent of 5 months of rent just to get into my apartment. Then add the first months rent and I was staring at about $8,000. Luckily I had the funds to do this, but if by chance you are just starting out or have a family to take care of, it probably is not that easy. There are public housing projects in Japan that are very nice, and you can get escape paying some of the start up fees by getting into one of these developments, but at the same time the new ones that I have seen have not been cheap at all. One of the reasons for this is that there is this thing called "Amakudari" where gov't officials retire and get put in charge of such projets and these projects pay out huge salaries to these officials. They are taken care of for life, but it drives the housing costs out of this world. I think it is about time for some change. Who know maybe if this family of 4 had had a decent living condition this tradegy possibly could have been avoided. I know there are som many more details, but for Japan one of the richest nations in the world this is pretty sad.

Just love The Tunnels

Festival Entrance.

Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri climax

I got better video that I did pictures, hopefully you can see how wild this whole event is.

Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri

On the spur of the moment I decided to go to the Saidaiji Naked Festival on Saturday. This year marked the 500th anniversary of this event. I arrived at 8:00 in the evening and I thought that would be plenty of time, but I wish I would have gone a little earlier. People were up on the platform of the shrine and just as I got into the grounds they announced that they were clearing the area except for the participants. Shortly after I arrived they started slowly heading to the platform waiting for the drop of the sacred sticks, "shingi".

It wasn't too long before the stage was full.

And they still kept coming!

And coming!

Just a bit crowded and pretty dangerous.

As you can see from the picture there were people on the outside and I think their main job was to do their best to make sure everyone stayed on the stage. There are very step steps all around the stage that are put up for just this event. As the crowd got larger there were numerous times when you would hear a rumble from the crowd and the stage and a group of the men would fall like a giant wave of bodies down the steps. I have some great video where you should be able to see it and I hope to get it up shortly.

If you are interested in the festival here is a little blurb that I found.

One of the three most eccentric festivals of Japan. Nine thousand men wearing only loincloths struggle fiercely with one another over a pair of lucky sacred sticks measuring 4 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length, thrown into the crowd by the priest from a window 4 m up. Anyone who luckily gets hold of the shingi and thrusts them upright in a wooden measuring box known as a masu which is heaped with rice is called the lucky man, and is blessed with a year of happiness. The other lucky items are bundles of willow strips, and although 100 of these are thrown into the crowd, it is not an easy task to catch them.

Read the rest of the story here.

Hadaka Maturi

With lack of anything better to do I decided to jump on a train and head to Okayama to see check out the Hadaka Matsuri. At least this year they have moved up the time when they drop the lucky charm (for lack of better words).

Olympic Fashion Faux Pax

Not surprised at all that something like this happened. Now I don't think this guy looks too bad, but his, not wearing his suit correctly, got him banned from attending the opening ceremony. Now given all the dress code rules that we have at school I understand this but at the same time wonder if it really matters. Well it must to some, it seems the actions were taken after people complained to the Japan Olympic Committee.

Shoichi Yamashita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

VANCOUVER--Japanese Olympic snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo was barred from attending the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics by the head of Japan's Olympic delegation after he flouted the dress code by wearing the Japanese Olympic uniform in a manner deemed inappropriate.

Kokubo, 21, who will compete in the halfpipe event, departed for Vancouver on Tuesday from Narita Airport with the Japanese delegation, but had his official team trousers hitched below his waist, shirt untucked and tie loosened.

Due to numerous complaints to the Japanese Olympic Committee and other entities, Kokubo voluntary refrained from attending Wednesday's ceremony for athletes entering the Olympic Village. At a press conference shortly after the ceremony, Kokubo said he was very sorry for his attire, but prolonged his syllables in a manner that was perceived to be flippant, which fueled even more protests.

I think this sort of reinforces the idea that I have always had about Tamasei and their rules. It seems that they have all these rules, but there really is no penalty for breaking them. I have always thought that the school has always been too soft on the kids. I say this in knowing that sometimes the consequences in doing something as small as not wearing you uniform right, can be rather stiff in Japanese society.

Jeanne Moos talks about "Pant's on the Ground"

Chocolate Soda

Just about when you thought you have seen it all you get another surprise. Stopped at the convenience store on the way home thinking I might pick up something to drink and this drink jumped out at me. What will they think of next? Well I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, I mean it was just a couple of weeks ago I saw that there was chocolate beer in the stores so why not. When I looked it up I saw someone had actually blogged about it and said that it tasted like a cross between cream soda and a totsie roll. Well I wasn't up for it today but maybe I will try one before Valentines day.

New York Burger

So McDonalds is running a promotional hamburger series. It started off with Texas and is moving its way through the 4 burgers pictured above. Yesterday New York debuted so I decided to go out and try it today for lunch. Here it is pictured below.

I have made it a point to not eat these creative products but I thought hey I should at least try, I mean they look good. Texas, too much bread, bbq sauce that tasted more like teriyaki sauce. A disappointment. The New York; bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. No it wouldn't have been bad if it wasn't for the horseradish mustard that was slathered on the bottom. Another disappointment. If it had been juicy it may have worked; add mayo, relish, ketchup, and mustard, and I would be back for more.

Funky Phone

So on the way home from the immigration office I changed trains at Oimachi and I realized there was a new electronics store where Marui used to be. I wanted to look for a digital picture frame and ran across this. Seeing as I also need to replace my phone I'm thinking this may just be the thing I need. Check it out at Sharp.

Train Mail

On my way to the immigration office yesterday I ran across this very unusual mail box inside of Shinagawa station.

Actually over the years Shinagawa station has been transformed into a really nice area. In the station building there is a nice Starbucks shere you can sit on a terrace overlooking the justle and bustle of the station and also enjoy free wifi.

iPad parody

This is too funny! And to think that it was done 5 years ago.

Spheres of Influence

Went to a wedding party last night and I was fascinated by the different circles of friends my friend had made. During the party representatives from each group of friends was asked to give a short speech. It was a very interesting mix of people and I was somewhat surprised at the number of friends that my friend had built around him. Actually I was impressed by how many people this guy really had made a lasting impression on. I was also struck by the diversity of his circles of influence. There were work friends, college friends, manga friends, baseball friends, chorus friends, drinking friends, and us his church friends. Lots of circles, lots of friends, and a network of people rivaling facebook.

Also just a few weeks my good friend Susan left on her final journey. Over and over the thing that was said about her was how many lives she touched. She had an amazing network of friends, from all around the world. From what I hear the funeral was a celebration of over 400 people in attendance, and spoke of the influence that she had on so many people.

So where am I going with this, well it started me thinking, "How big is my circle of friends, and how expansive are my spheres of influence?" Let's see, what is a good measure, my facebook friends perhaps? Well I don't think I have a great number of these, 266, but compared to the average which is 130, maybe I don't fair too bad. If I had a wedding party (this is just imaginary of course) how many people could I get to come. I probably would be pleasantly surprised by the numbers but I think most people would come more out of utter surprise. And what about a funeral, how many people would show up for that? As I get older I find that building friendships and relationships is very different from 30 years ago. But just because it is different from years ago, I still feel that developing friendships and nurturing relationships is one of the most important things I can be doing. As people reflected on my friend Susan's life, the overwhelming response was that she was a friend to almost any and all. She was interested in peoples lives remembered things about people, shared in their interests and was genuine with them.

I do have a good circle of friends but what am I doing to expand that? How many people are going to be influenced by mine? How broad and far reaching are my circles of influence going to be? What should I be doing to make more of a difference, or is what I'm doing enough? I think I have a lot of questions and maybe not a lot of answers, but I hope that I can be a genuine friend to as many people as God puts in my path. When I boil it all down I think that this should probably be one of our main goals. We are called to share God's love, what better way than to be a genuine friend.

iPad, It's Here! Well almost.

Been waiting to see if the rumors would come true and it was verified last night when I got to e-mails from Apple verifying the release of the iPad. An old from college Nick Gerlich had this to say about it on his blog.

The iPad is basically an iPhone on steroids. It is combination e-reader, netbook and iPod, all with the touchscreen usability we have all come to love (or loathe) as iPhone users. It will be available in 3 storage configurations, as well as with or without AT&T 3G wireless connectivity. With an entry level price of $499, it is decidedly a lot pricier than simple netbooks on the PC platform (starting at $300), but its coolness quotient is up in the stars.

Go ahead and read the rest of what he says at GNU/Medialab. He has a better way of putting it down in words than me.

Tai Yaki

On the way home from church today I made a stop in Shibuya. On the way back to the station I saw this interesting store selling taiyaki, which is a traditional Japanese bean paste filled pastry. Well this store has gone "international" you might say. Instead of the traditional bean paste they have substituted:

• Cheese Curry dog (India)
• German Potato
• Italian (have no idea of the contents but it looked pretty good)
• Sweet Potato (America not sure what the connection is)
• Caramel & Almond (France)
• Chocolate & Custard (Belgium)

Had I not just eaten and there hadn't been a huge line I would have loved to try one of them.

If your interested check out their web site, Tai Yaki.