Japan's Right Wing

Last Saturday, Hiroshima city was visited by the Japan Nationalist Party. They are a far right wing group that wants to see the return of the Shogun era among other things. One Japanese person described them as the lamentable taint and dishonor to Japan.

I was leaving the Hiroshima International Center when I saw this massive group of police blocking Peace Boulevard.



I'm sorry I don't have a better shot showing the half dozen paddy wagons they had parked behind the line of cops blocking the street.

Hiroshima is kind of a magnet for this sort of stuff, since you know, we blew it to smithereens over sixty years ago, marking the end of the Emperor as a god and all that.

So basically they come in black buses with big loud speakers on them and drive up and down the main road shouting nationalistic slogans and songs



As they drove by the road block they slow way, way down and start shouting Bonzai to the Emperor. this makes the police nervous. They follow along ready to throw down these extra barricades incase the Nationalist decide to make a break for it.



I could definitely tell that the Japanese on the street were very uneasy about the little black bus parade going on. This guy's dog ran up and try to hide on his head.

Notice the cop eyeing him suspiously or is it enviously? For the record I pretty sure the bicyclist with the dog hat was not part of the Japan Nationalist Party.

SIgn of Spring

Last week the first plum blossoms began to bloom in Hiroshima city. Also last week, we had a pretty good snow, from which I got this picture.

Yuki Matsuri

Since Gail beats me at posting things on time and steals all my pictures. Here is a link to Gail's blog entry about our recent trip to the Sapporo Snow Festival.

The only thing I have to add is the crazy Kit Kat flavors they were selling at the airport.

Here is some corn flavored Kit Kats


Baked potato


Finally red bean.

I would have to say one of the highlights of the trip for me was the Mexican restaurant they had right in the station.



It was awesome. They don't have proper Mexican food here in Hiroshima so when you get a golden opportunity like this, you jump on it.

I guess Sapporo is not only famous for crab (which we did eat) but also for ramen. For the record, it seems like every other town here is famous for their own "style" of ramen. I put style in quotation marks because, no matter were we go, ramen still tastes the same to us. Perhaps we just have the uneducated palate of barbaric foreigners but we just don't taste the difference. So needless to say, we didn't try the ramen.

Not trying the ramen and eating Mexican food instead seems to flummox my Japanese co-workers. "How can you go to Sapporo and NOT eat the ramen. Are you nuts?" Then this is followed up with "Is Sapporo famous for Mexican food?"

Japanese Weirdness

Yesterday, Gail and I were at Starbucks downtown. Gail spotted a little girl waiting in line with her mother. In Japan, trendy mothers dress their two year old little girls like miniature adults. So you see little kids dressed up in a t-shirt, mini-skirt, and knee-high boots. It is always a bit shocking for my midwestern sensibilities. So, Gail nudges me to look, "I'm always surprised to see the little girls in tiny mini-skirts."
I looked over and said, "Well I think it is a bit more shocking that the girl has a naked woman on the back of her shirt." To which Gail gasps and says "I didn't even notice the shirt." We see so many inappropriate shirts here that it just doesn't register anymore.

Snow

It has only snowed once this season so far and it melted off by midday. Here are some pictures I took last year when I decided to walk to school on a snowy day.

Porn

Today I was fortunate enough to eat lunch at a locale Chinese restaurant for a change. When I was sitting at my table I could see right over the shoulder of the old man in front of me to the newspaper he was reading. And what to my wander eye should appear? But breast spread across the page, far and near.

Yeah, so the old guys is looking at porn in the middle of the day in a moderately busy restaurant. This isn't some dive place in a back alley. This is a family place on a main street.

I had read stories about Japanese men reading pornografic comics on trains and subways but until recently I had never seen anything to substantiate these stories. Well I guess I have the proof now!

Concrete Japan

In Japan, concrete is everywhere. In the city of Hiroshima there isn't a single stream or river that hasn't had the banks concreted up. They pour concrete down mountainsides and through nature. I think when people think of Japan they only imagine blazing cities that are clean and a bit glamorous. I took these pictures where people live and these are the scenes I see everyday.