That's good - I was just heading off for a solitary supper in one of the 'family restaurants' round here when I spotted a cosy reggae ramen shop, run by a cheerful chap called Kaz, who spent 2 years in the Florida keys as a sushi chef. So there I was having a massive bowl of Chinese noodles, cooked by a Japanese, listening to music from the Caribbean. He also stuck on some acoustic Japanese reggae by a friend of his. As I left he managed to blend his cultures by bowing deeply while smiling broadly and calling out 'Think positive! Enjoy Japan! See you man!'. I'll make that a regular port of call from now on.
While we're on the subject of cross-culturalism, why is it that the Bay City Rollers, Audrey Hepburn and Anne of Green Gables are so popular in Japan?
The Sweet, Mud, Showaddywaddy? Nope - but the Bay City Rollers are mimicked every night in some karaoke bar over here.
Julie Christie? Raquel Welch? Never heard of them, but Audrey Hepburn is regularly cited as 'my hero(ine)' by my 18 year olds, and appears all over the place.
(James Curtis Hepburn, btw, invented a Roman alphabetic writing system for Japanese - coincidence?)
Anne of Green Gables is likewise some kind of superstar here - Japanese housewives throng, or aspire to, the Anne of Green Gables theme-house on Prince Edward Island. Is it because she is cute, but answers back?
