It’s amazing what you can find on the internet.  I used to watch a television show in Japan 40+ years ago, and about all I could remember is that there was a boy who rode around on the head of a dinosaur.  After about an hour of searching on Google, I discovered it was 怪獣王子 (Kaiju Ouji).  You have to love the old Japanese monster movies and tv shows!

First post from my ipad. I also used it to sign up for Twitter. I resisted signing up for a long time, but it may help my written communication in Japanese. I’ve also used it for Skype, which I hope to use to stay in touch when I go to Japan in the future.

Some years ago, I was with some friends in Tokyo during the hottest time of summer.  All of us except Doug had our ties loosened, sleeves rolled up and our jackets off.  I asked him “aren’t you hot?”  He replied by opening his suit jacket - his shirt was completely soaked and sticking to his body.  He buttoned up his jacket and said “it is better to look good than to feel good.”  We all laughed, and while we didn’t agree, we had to admit that Doug did look better than we did.

When I lived in a Fujitsu dormitory near Tokyo, they had a dining hall that served very inexpensive breakfast and dinner.  After trying it a few times, I decided I was better off eating my meals elsewhere.   I spoke to someone that stayed there two years later, and I had to laugh when he said that the dining hall had closed due to lack of business.  Imagine that - they couldn’t make a go of it even with a captive audience.  I do feel badly for the women who worked there though.  They were all older and as nice as they could be.  They just weren’t very good chefs.

When my Mother’s cousin was living in a cold water flat in Tokyo, he would sometimes take me to the local sentou.  It was a typical sentou, with an area for washing, and two tubs for soaking after you are clean.  I would get into the extremely hot tub (as opposed to the unbearably hot tub), and turn on the cold water, which of course caused everyone to look at me like I was crazy.  Fortunately for them, I got used to the heat quickly, turned off the cold water, and sweated right along with them.

My paternal Grandmother used a wood cooking stove well into the 1980’s, and only gave it up because my Uncle was tired of cutting the fire wood small enough to fit into the stove’s firebox.  When people hear about the wood cooking stove, they think she must have been a great cook, but the truth is that she wasn’t.  Everything was always under seasoned and over cooked.  She did make a plain yellow cake that was pretty good, but we never got the recipe for it because she never measured anything.  She has been gone nearly 20 years now - what I wouldn’t give to have just one more of her bland, over cooked dishes…

All of my friends, except one, likes my currently long hair.  Despite knowing that I am letting it grow out on purpose, this particular friend has twice offered to cut it for me.  Both times my answer was the same: I will let you cut my hair, and then I will cut yours, but both times she declined.  If you want to cut an unwilling party’s hair to suit your sensibilities or sense of style, then you should be prepared to return the favor.  That’s only fair.  Besides, I think she would look cool with a nice, spiky Mohawk.

I took Mom out for dinner the day after Valentine’s day in order to avoid the inevitable mobs.  We do that a lot.  If a special occasion falls on a day that we know restaurants will be busy, we’ll go a day or two before or after and enjoy a much more relaxed atmosphere.  However, if you want to do that too, make sure it’s okay with your friend/relative/significant other beforehand.  You might get into trouble if you don’t…

I love the ads that HECO is running in the hope that they will make us feel less angry about paying the highest, most rapidly rising electricity rates in the country.  I especially liked their brilliant observations that not using your air conditioner or getting rid of a second refrigerator will reduce your electricity bill.  Gee, maybe if I sold both of my cars I could reduce the amount I spend on gas.  Interesting to note that they don’t talk about the fact that they are going to have to raise rates even more to compensate for the revenues lost as more people install their own photovoltaic systems.  Maybe that’s the real reason they are touting alternate energy sources.

Like many Japanese Mothers, my Mom was absolutely mental when it came to my education, even when I was working towards my MBA at UH.  One morning she called very early, and seemed surprised when I answered the phone.  Then she started to scold me for not being in class.  I cut her off and said “Mom, I’m not in class because it’s 6:00 am.  And it’s a Saturday!  Call me back later.”  She intended to leave a message for me, but forgot about the time difference from the east coast, as well as the day of the week.  It never happened again though.