Monday, January 14, 2008

Dodgy Africans

Went to a birthday party in Roppongi, Tokyo, last night - M had arranged a dinner in a sake restaurant, a nomihodai (drink as much as you like), and a good time was had by all. Regrettably I managed to throw a glass of very decent sake over a lovely Japanese lady, with whom I was trying to have a conversation in French at the time - she quite understandably soon thought wiser of this endeavour.

Despite having been in Japan for over a year, I still haven't explored much of Tokyo - but I've heard the area of Roppongi mentioned a fair bit. According to the xenophobic racist mayor of Tokyo, Roppongi is full of dodgy Africans trying to either sell drugs or coax naive gaijin (foreigners) into strip clubs every ten metres or so. Well he's wrong - given my experience last night it's more like every 5 metres.

You want a girl?

No - no thank you very much.

You don't like Japanese girls?

Not at all - we are both happily married.

Yeah - but you like a change - white titties, brown titties, ... green titties...
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Friday, January 11, 2008

Moving on

I have now moved physically to a new house in Hayama (near Kamakura) - it's a new house that an Australian friend has bought, and I have the hachi-jo tatami room downstairs (8 tatami mat-size), complete with tokonoma (alcove for a small shrine) with a knobbly bit of wood, oshiire (big cupboard for futon with sliding doors), fusuma (sliding doors), shouji window (latticed paper), and mud walls (don't know the name). From the garden we have a view of Sagami Bay, the island of Enoshima, and on a clear day the sun sets behind Fuji-san, the Hakone mountains and the Izu hills. Down at the harbour is La Chaya bar, right on the water, where there is live jazz every Saturday night. At the other end of the beach is Morito Jinja (a shrine on the end of a small peninsula), next to which my Japanese friend has a lovely house. He also keeps a yacht at Enoshima, which we go out on every now and then - probably more now that I have become his neighbour. These two friends have already introduced me to many more of theirs - so things are looking good.

Tonight I'm going to the pub to meet a couple of colleagues; tomorrow I'm meeting a friend in Yokohama; Sunday there's a birthday party in a sake restaurant in Roppongi, Tokyo; and on Monday (seijin no hi - 'Coming of Age Day') I'm going to see Swan Lake by the Leningrad State Ballet. And on Wednesday I will attend my first council meeting of the oldest learned society in Japan, as a new councillor. Sugoi! (amazing).

Photo of the hatsunohide (first sunrise) of 2007 of the rocks off the end of Morito Jinja, Hayama, from the 'Endeavour'.
Courtesy of MS
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Friday, January 4, 2008

Packing up

I'm packing up today...









... and moving on tomorrow.




Insha'allah.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKlaV-9Vzsk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSzNPwILYA&feature=related

The Ship Song


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0-cncMpt8&feature=related
Nick Cave – Into my arms


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4keNw7Q0Aw
Are you the one I've been waiting for?














http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KZqfN9eh8w
Love letter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvkZwWXhYIw
The Weeping Song


'The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.'

William Hazlitt
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Letter from Michael Moore















Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

"It's the War," Says Iowa to Hillary -- And a "Happy Blue Year" To All!

...from Michael Moore



Friends,
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There was no doubt about it. The message from Iowa tonight was simple, but deafening:

If you're a candidate for President, and you voted for the war, you lose. And if you voted and voted and voted for the war -- and never once showed any remorse -- you really lose.









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In short, if you had something to do with keeping us in this war for four-plus years, you are not allowed to be the next president of the United States.

Over 70% of Iowan Democrats voted for candidates who either never voted for the invasion of Iraq (Obama, Richardson, Kucinich) or who have since admitted their mistake (Edwards, Biden, Dodd). I can't tell you how bad I feel for Senator Clinton tonight. I don't believe she was ever really for this war. But she did -- and continued to do -- what she thought was the politically expedient thing to eventually get elected. And she was wrong. And tonight she must go to sleep wondering what would have happened if she had voted her conscience instead of her calculator.

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John Edwards was supposed to have come in third. He had been written off. He was outspent by the other front-runners six to one. But somewhere along the road he threw off the old politico hack jacket and turned into a real person, a fighter for the poor, for the uninsured, for peace.
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And for that, he came in a surprise second, ending up with just one less delegate than the man who was against the war from the beginning. But, as Joshua Holland of AlterNet pointed out earlier today, Edwards is still the only front-runner who will pull out all the troops and do it as quickly as possible. His speech tonight was brilliant and moving.
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What an amazing night, not just for Barack Obama, but for America. I know that Senator Obama is so much more than simply the color of his skin, but all of us must acknowledge -- and celebrate -- the fact that one of the whitest states in the U.S. just voted for a black man to be our next president.
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Thank you, Iowa, for this historic moment. Thank you for at least letting us believe that we are better than what we often seem to be. And to have so many young people come out and vote -- and vote for Obama -- this is a proud moment.
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It all began with the record youth turnout in 2004 -- the ONLY age group that Kerry won -- and they came back out tonight en force. Good on every single one of you!
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As the only top candidate who was anti-war before the war began, Barack Obama became the vessel through which the people of this Midwestern state were able to say loud and clear: "Bring 'Em Home!"
Most pundits won't read the election this way because, well, most pundits merrily led us down the path to war. For them to call this vote tonight a repudiation of the war -- and of Senator Clinton's four years' worth of votes for it -- might require the pundit class to remind their viewers and readers that they share some culpability in starting this war. And, like Hillary, damn few of them have offered us an apology.
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With all due respect to Senator Obama's victory, the most important news out of the caucus this evening was the whopping, room-busting turnout of Democrats. 239,000 people showed up to vote Democratic tonight (93% more than in '04, which was a record year), while only 115,000 showed up to vote Republican. And this is a red state! The Republican caucuses looked anemic. The looks on their faces were glum, tired. As the camera followed some of them into their caucus sites, they held their heads down or turned away, sorta like criminals on a perp walk. They know their days of power are over. They know their guy blew it. Their only hope was to vote for a man who has a direct line to heaven. Huckabee is their Hail Mary pass. But don't rule him out. He's got a sense of humor, he's downhome, and he said that if elected, he'd put me on a boat to Cuba. Hey, a free Caribbean vacation!
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Bottom line: People have had it. Iowa will go blue (Happy Blue Year, Hawkeyes!). Whomever your candidate is on the Dem side, this was a good night. Get some sleep. The Republicans won't go down without a fight. Look what happened when Kerry tried to play nice. So Barack, you can talk all you want about "let's put the partisanship aside, let's all get along," but the other side has no intention of being anything but the bullies they are. Get your game face on now. And, if you can, tell me why you are now the second largest recipient of health industry payola after Hillary. You now take more money from the people committed to stopping universal health care than any of the Republican candidates.
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Despite what your answer may be, I was proud to sit in my living room tonight and see you and your family up on that stage. We became a bit better tonight, and on that I will close by saying, sweet dreams -- and on to that other totally white state of New Hampshire!

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Yours,
Michael Moore
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George and his mother

Man looking across from Oshima to Toshima.

George and his mother perform Scarborough Fair:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hWDyvMJsTfw
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Cruising and musing

We started on Wednesday morning at Atami, from where we got the ferry across to the island of Oshima - the first big island of the Seven Islands of Izu, which head off south, away from Tokyo.





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Oshima is an active volcano, that last erupted 20 years ago. There are 3 small towns on the island, and a total population of 10,000 or so.














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The landscape is somewhat lunar, and reminded me a bit of the desert in Libya, where one comes across piles of 40 million year old fossils. On Oshima much of the land we walked across is only 20 years old - but it takes you back to the beginning of time.
























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.At the top is a crater, which reminds one of the force available to mother nature should she wish to use it - to blow the top of a mountain straight up into the air.




From the top, we got a great view of the other six islands of Izu running off to the south, with Toshima to the right - our destination in the morning.



























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.We were up at 5.30 and greeted the rising sun halfway between Oshima and Toshima.





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Toshima has only 300 inhabitants, but several tens of thousands of camellia trees - grown, we think, for the nuts.
Looking back to Oshima from Toshima, through the camellia trees.




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.From Toshima we caught the ferry back to Shimoda on the mainland - the extreme south of Izu peninsula - where Townshend Harris landed 150 years ago, and Admiral Perry in his black ships.

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.We walked round to the bay nearest the house that M would like to buy.
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.Fishing net near Shimoda.
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.The Green Manalishi
The Ship Song
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Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Man of the World

Dustin Hoffman was on the radio the other day, trying to explain his art. He said that we are all actors - everyday people ask us 'How are you?' and we say 'Fine thanks - and you?', when inside we might be falling apart at the seams. He says this is why we all relate to film so easily.

Photo: Peter Green
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