(And Now For) Something Completely Different
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From Now On
February, 2004

Go to Photosensibility.com/photoblog for photos and notes

Rules of the Road
June, 2003

"The Rules of the Road" is the English manual that the Japanese Traffic Bureau hands out to prospective drivers.  While I was reading this excerpt caught my attention:

"Parents or guardians should teach children, especially infants, to look in both directions before crossing and to beware of traffic while crossing."  (page one, revised copy)

They start teaching them how to be streetwise very young here.

Newsworthy in Japan
May, 2003

A friend emailed today and asked what kind of people become famous in Japan.  I wrote back and started to tell him about the people who are currently in the news.  I was laughing out loud by the time I finished writing (and I didn't mean to be humorous). Here's what I wrote:

"I can tell you that the two “household” names in Japan right now are Matsui and Ichiro (Japanese baseball players with the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners).  Every night, several times per evening actually, the news broadcast ends by recapping their games (showing every time at bat and every good play).  Of course, you hear about (Prime Minister) Koizumi every day, and if the royal family does anything it’s on the news.  And the teen “idols” (young celebrities) are well known by young people.

The only other BIG TIME newsmakers are Tama-chan (the seal that keeps showing up in various rivers, who was voted “News Story of the Year” last year), and the five abductees who were returned last year from North Korea.

Ah, and then there are the Pan-Wave people… They have been on the news every day for the past two weeks. They dress in white, paint their cars white, and paste white papers all over their car windows – and spread out white sheets on the trees – every where they go (they’ve been kicked out of several places recently). They are trying to protect themselves from sinister magnetic forces.

Recently, the Pan-Wave people have been plotting to save Tama-chan…I’m not kidding.

(Update: The week after I wrote this, the Pan-Wave people had predicted that the world would end on Thursday.  It didn't, and they pretty much lost the spotlight after that.  If the world had ended, they wouldn't be in the news either, so it's all for the best.)

Inspections
September, 2002

Writers have described the Japanese bureaucracy as "institutionalized corruption" in reference to the profitable collusion between government officials, big business and the media.  This Fall the Japanese learned that several nuclear power companies have been covering up cracks in their reactors for years.  In one case, cracks were literally filled in and painted over to hide them from inspectors.  Anyway, someone blew the whistle, and the government stepped in with a heavy hand.  A couple of weeks later, the government accidentally identified the name of the whistle blower to his company, and then the whole affair seemed to blow over.  As the scandal was breaking, I read this hilarious commentary posted in an online forum.  Anyone who watches the news in Japan should recognize both the humor and reality of this piece.  (This originally appeared without the author's name in Japan Today, but I will give credit if the author contacts me.)

Amish Cooking
August, 2002

Overall Japan doesn't boast a tremendous variety of non-Japanese cuisine, but if you have a taste for Amish cooking you're in luck!  As the sign says, you'll find this eatery in Kamakura, within walking distance of the really big Buddha (and no, I'm not implying that Buddha ate Amish food).

A Couple of Marketing Images
August, 2002

You can learn a lot about a culture by observing the way that products are marketed to consumers. Here are a couple of images that seemed funny and interesting enough to share here.  Click on the pictures to see the full size versions.

Shibuya Street Singer
June 5, 2002

This is, unfortunately, one of those things that you really need to appreciate live.  This singer performs regularly at Shibuya.  It's pure entertainment to watch the confused looks on the faces of people as they come up from the trains and try to figure out what he is doing.  To the tune of a dull, driving beat emanating from the radio at his feet, he "sings" in a voice that is absolutely devoid of passion. Just when you think he's not there at all, he hits a crescendo in the music. His fist raises, doesn't clasp all the way, and shakes weakly.  Then the moment fades and he drifts back into the background.  Or, in a rare moment, he strikes an Elvis pose.

He sells his CD's.  Tempting.

Hippo Love
April 30, 2002

The TV was playing a children's program this afternoon.  My eyes wandered to the set, and I saw it was a segment about hippopotamuses.  Hippos are funny all by themselves, so I thought I'd watch for a minute.  Just then I saw a young hippos lick another hippos right on the bottom.  I thought to myself, "Whoa, how did that get past the editors?"  "Honey," I said to my wife, "they're doing a program about hippopotamuses, and they just showed a young hippo licking its mother's bottom. Oh my gosh!  They just showed it again, and there are pink hearts on the screen!"

My wife came in.  A song came on that was straight out of the seventies, but I couldn't understand the words.   A cute, cartoon mommy hippo was on screen, and a cute baby hippo. The mommy hippo served the baby hippo a little plate that looked like a brown muffin, or was it a muffin?!  It looked even more like a little poo.  The baby hippo ate the brown stuff, then some grass, and then looked really happy.  After that, two disco singers with puffy hair came on the screen, along with the happy baby hippo, and little poo-poo platters started scrolling vertically.

"What are they singing?" I asked, as I turned up the volume.  Hitomi concentrated, smiled, and said, "They're singing that Mommy hippo would give anything for her baby.  Even her poo."  The song ended and as the credits rolled my wife added, "The name of the song is 'Ai no unch.'

That means, "The Poo of Love"

I'm 34 years old, and I never knew that little hippos ate their mother's poo.  Personally, I always thought that regurgitation pushed the boundaries of what I really needed to know.  So maybe it was better this way.

Su-ta-reh-chi-o-mahn!
April 30, 2002

I noticed an abundance of humor on television today.  In the morning, I turn on children's shows for our daughter.  I happened to notice a man wearing a green jump suit and a pointy hat walk out onto the screen.  At first, I thought it might by the Tic.  (If you don't know about the Tic, don't worry.)

It wasn't the Tic, but he was a super hero.  He was Su-ta-reh-chi-o-mahn!

That is, Stretch-o-man!  Stretch-o-man talked in a loud voice, put his arms behind his back, and then started stretching out his shoulders with loud exclamations and groaning noises.  That was the only stretch he did, at least for today.  The show followed him around to several schools, where he stood in front of the student body and stretched out his shoulders (with loud exclamations and groaning).  Each time, after Stretch-o-man stretched out, a bad guy came in, and Stretch-o-man beat him up.  Pretty interesting.