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After three years in
After three years in Japan, I’m finally going to a sumo match. And we’re going in style. Our friends, the Andohs, have a box courtesy of Takashimaya, where Atsunori works. Elizabeth proimises us that we’ll be fed until we’re stuffed! “Come hungry and bring a backpack for the food to take home,” she advised. As…
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Yesterday just before dinner,
Yesterday just before dinner, Tod’s cell phone rang. “I got spammed on my phone,” he said, looking at the message and turning the phone towards me and our friend, Brendan. Tod’s NTT i-mode phone allows people to send e-mail and text messages (like a pager, remember those?), as well as voice mail and regular phone…
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For the last week
For the last week or so, I’ve been trying to hurry summer along. I’ve taken my warm-weather clothes out of storage; I’m walking more; meals have migrated outdoors. The weather (when the rain lets up) has been lovely, with warm days and cool nights. Thinking about it, this is the best of summer. In a…
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I waited until too
I waited until too late on Friday to try to courier the Postcard Competition flyers, so I went out to DesignFesta to deliver them in person. What fun! Terri, my contact there, was 90 minutes late, so I wandered around handing out flyers to women artists who were exhibiting postcards and prints–they seemed likely entrants…
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Each resident of my
Each resident of my fine city has only 3 square meters of park to call his own. In comparison, Parisians have 12 sqm; Los Angeles residents have 18 and New Yorkers have a full 29 thanks to Central Park. If you are a lucky resident of Australia’s capital, Canberra, you have 77 sq meters of…
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Today I will tackle
Today I will tackle a small new challenge. I need to send 500 DigitalEve Postcard Competition flyers to one of our members who is attending the DesignFesta tomorrow. She’s promised to hand tham out and talk up our group. The challenge is getting them to her by courier. I should be able to take my…
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Last week, Tod “graduated”
Last week, Tod “graduated” out of his work team’s shift schedule and is now allowed to work whatever hours he pleases. From here on in, he’ll be concentrating on Unix engineering instead of system administration and doing it later in the day. However, when delivering the happy news, nobody warned him that there would be…
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Yesterday a new bank
Yesterday a new bank opened in Tokyo. With bank mergers happening all the time, a new bank isn’t a surprise. But this bank is a little bit different; it’s owned by a retail company that runs Japan’s 7-11 convenience stores. The new bank, IYBank, has no branches, only ATMs. I can imagine the business planning…
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Japan’s new foreign minister,
Japan’s new foreign minister, Makiko Tanaka, is getting herself into trouble. She’s outspoken, fluent in English and not your average Japanese bureaucrat. She’s been called “feisty,” a “maverick” and she really is a breath of fresh air, even if she is offending people right and left by cancelling appointments with foreign dignitaries and making bold…
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The 13th Annual Bunkyo-ku
The 13th Annual Bunkyo-ku Aozora (Blue Sky) Garage Sale took up three streets and a schoolyard. At about 11, I dragged Tod from his slumber to see the market. He broke his fast with a serving of yakisoba (fried noodles). I went into the schoolyard and joined the little children playing with the creatures in…
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