Far East Cynic

The S.O. that is. In a sign she may have been in the United States too long,  the S.O.,  who could never cuss in English as little as 8 months ago, has now become fond of using the term  “F**king Mexicans” to describe the construction workers on the lot across the street. At this rate she will be a loyal Lou Dobbs viewer very soon,  I fear.

It all started when they were finishing the construction of the house next to ours so that the new neighbors could move in. She caught one of those same “f**king Mexicans” ( although they could be from Central America for all I know…). Using our outdoor water faucet, on the side of the house, to wash their hands.  She went ballistic. ( With good reason too IMHO-I don’t want strangers on my property-and besides, the construction workers can access all the water they need on the job site). I called the Contractor’s supervising manager and voiced my displeasure. They agreed and told me that they would directly address the issue that day with foreman. And they did-I saw him out there talking directly with them.

Hopefully this will be OBE as our neighbors are now moved in-but the first time she used the term in front of my father, well it sure got my attention.

Ay Carumba!

It pains me greatly (I’ve been OD’ing on John Adams DVD’s today) to give pause from my narrow commentary on the various and sundry musing’s on my life-to jump back into the fluid waters of political discussion. Ordinarily, I would have waited till the year was farther along, but when one reads cravenly incorrect diatribe, then like Mr. Adams, I must needs give comment. And context.

One of the things I truly despise about the idea that we somehow invaded Iraq for the purpose of “liberating” its 26 million Arab souls-is the exclusivity and selectiveness of that of liberation.  The jury is still out as to whether Iraq has been truly liberated by the way of invasion, or whether America’s occupation has simply served as a way station for that God forsaken nation on its voyage from one failed government to another to yet another. Being supremely confident as I am in the Iraqi people, I quite confident in their ability to yet again hose up any good deal given unto them.

However for arguments sake, lets just suppose that the underpinnings of this “liberation theology” -the idea that a superpower that believes itself to be unique among the nations, and somehow above the mistakes of other,  lesser powers- are sound.  That these beliefs somehow provide it with a God given duty to invade nations willy nilly to “free” them.

That then begs the question then, namely, ‘Why doesn’t every oppressed nation deserve such consideration?”. Why then, given a moral duty to liberate oppressed people-are we at the same time, indifferent places and nations-and  in certain cases, sometimes blatantly and sometimes obliquely, active participants in the oppression of other “less worthy” peoples through dictatorship?

Eh Jules? Maybe you could cut through your slobbering faith in George Bush as a misunderstood leader of history, and answer that one fundamental question. Except of course,  you can’t.

Because you are an idiot sir-and so are those who believe that the invasion of Iraq was somehow the dawning of a Messianic turn from tyranny inside the Middle East. The leader of Iraq may have changed but the dysfunction of the region as whole will continue long after George W. Bush’s name will have been dissected ad nausem by historians. The reason? Because the fundamental causes of that dysfunction remain: Islam and and an economy dependent on outsiders for its basic labor.

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And by the way its located in the Sea of JAPAN!

Don’t try telling that to this bunch of Texans. Wonder how many Texans drive by in their F-150 ’s and wonder , ” Is that somewhere down by Waco?”

Although, there is something more than a little ironic about it being located next to a Plaza Latina………

According to Turner-san, this sign is found in Dallas Texas.

Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu! Kore kara mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

(Congratulations on the new year! In this year too, please favor me!)

On the year of our Lord, 2008.

We put my father and sister on the plane yesterday and on the car ride back to work, I did a lot of thinking. About how much had changed for me and for my family this past year. I had stayed at the security checkpoint until they vanished from sight. No good reason for that, except I wanted to catch a glance at my father one more time and hope, that he understood how much I love him and just as importantly, am grateful for every thing that he did to help me in my life. I know it cost him a lot, emotionally as well as financially to raise us kids. And here he is looking at us-probably wondering the same thing I am-where did all the time go?

Then there is the year of 2008 in general-which I think can be fairly graded, by any objective standard that I know of as, “sucky”. And that is being generous.

Not so much for me mind you-I really have no room to complain and it would be a sin for me to do so. Even if I am grumpy about not traveling enough. And even moreso ,- in spite of the fact that we are not living in the location I know I want to be living in, and nor can I see Shopping Mall as my long term home-its still important to note that I have a roof over my head ( a pretty nice one, truth be told); a job that allows me to pay the bills and save money for the future; food in the pantry and beer in the fridge. So many people are living their existence on this earth without any, or none of, the above list. So chalk me up on the “fortunate” list. Happy to be here, thank you very much. Acutely aware of how the thin the line is though, that separates one from the “longing for Nihon, but otherwise reasonably content” column and the “desperately seeking gainful employment-anywhere” one. So I give thanks for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.

And it was 2008 that drove the economic point home for a lot of us. On average, that “war chest” I was saving up has dropped somewhere between 18-20%. Same is true for the retirement accounts. I count myself lucky though-I could have invested money with this guy. So again, I’ll be grateful and hope that the comeback occurs sooner than expected next year. Now if only I could have the ex’s share of the retirement fall by about 20 to 100%-then the economic downturn might actually be worth it.

Politically, I would submit the year has ended satisfying no one. Sure its great to be finally giving George W. Bush the heave ho from a job that IMHO he never should have held-but at the same time its clear Obama is going to have to walk a fine line and is probably going to end up pleasing no one. Plus the institution as a whole has prominently shown its ability to appeal only to the least common denominator among us. The McCain campaign showed so much promise early on-but through its thoughtless endorsement of Palin, a fraud who should be recognized as such-he tried gain the White House by lowering the bar on quality. I’m sick of hearing about Palin and how she is the “hope for the party” in 2012. I venture to guess that Tina Fey is sick of hearing about her as well. Let’s hope in 2009 she fades away to a well deserved oblivion. It will give her more time to spend with her new grandchild.

Overseas, the news could hardly be considered good-even in the places they tell us the news is good, like Iraq. In Israel the year is ending as it began, with the Israeli’s pounding the stuffing out of Arabs who cannot or will not police their own house. Afghanistan is failing-more troops are already identified to go there and it would seem that on top of being unable to close the books on one war, we will expand another.

I’ll go out on a limb and make a prediction right now-Obama will probably be a one term President. The burden of the war(s)-the cost of those coupled with the fundamental structural problems with the economy are going to make it hard for him to pull a rabbit out of his hat and turn the economy around. It will be stops and starts all the way till 2012. The multi-polar world is marching at us, and we will have saved the world perhaps-at the cost of dragging down our own house. Don’t get me wrong-the US will be a big player on the world stage, if for no other reason than our 5000 nuclear weapons. However the lesson has been learned and the world has realized that you don’t have to fight the war to win it. You only have to be proficient at selling things to it. That economic thing puts the US at a disadvantage because the US means what it says about improving opportunity for every one. Places like China and India have no such burdens. They are quite willing to write off 1/3 of their population to keep wages low over all.

Just building roads won’t solve the economic crisis-nor will putting money in the form of check in taxpayers pockets. Tax rebates or tax cuts will get more money into consumers’ hands quickly, but in today’s environment much of that boost will simply be saved, as people plug the holes in their finances left by the collapsing values of their houses and retirement portfolios, or just pay off debts. In the end, the country will have to face up to the fact that the world changed-and the US did not change along with it. Banking reform, change to the way the government and the people view transportation, and actual investment in technologies that bring business back to the US are hard and take time. If I were the king of the world, I’d be using defense, space, and a whole lot of other long term federal investments to get the economy back on its feet. It worked for Reagan-but don’t forget it took 2 years to take any traction. I’m not so sure the public has that level of patience given the high expectations on the man and office.

But it was always thus and will probably be so 20 years from now. In the meantime the end of the old year is upon us. And so repeats the age old question: Stay in or go out to a party? The S.O. is of the former mindset, she likes to bring in the new year quietly. I on the other hand love the party, the hats, the sloppy kisses at midnight and in the hours leading up to it. I suspect that once again she will get her way.

Doesn’t she always? One of these days Alice……………

Happy New Year!

At Shinegawa station in Tokyo:

“He walked off the platform like he saw an invisible step,” said Brice, of Rogersville, Tenn. “He hit the rails and it sounded like something was broken.”

Caballero checked for the next train, then jumped to the tracks and hoisted the man up by his armpits.

He thought about getting the man to the platform, but wasn’t sure if it was possible. He then thought about getting the unconscious man through an underneath passage and to the other end of the tracks.

Meanwhile, Brice had joined Caballero on the tracks.

“Jumping down to the track, I didn’t think about it,” Brice said. “When I saw my friend drop, it was an instant reaction to follow. Once I got down there I saw Caballero, and my first thought was, ‘Where’s the train at?’ “

The Shinagawa station is one of the busiest in Japan, so they knew it wouldn’t be long.

It took some big cojones to jump down there to save that guy. That time of night, a green train comes along every 6 minutes. The whole story is here.

And in the process scare the stuffing out of me and the S.O.-as well as my sister and my father.

Yesterday started well enough. We had decided that it might be a good idea to get out of the house. The S.O. wanted to get deals on Christmas decorations and I had suggested we go to see the NASA museum-anything but sit around the house all day. In hindsight we probably should have followed the latter course.

So off we set, six cylinders of Ford propulsion powering us around the string of malls that populate Shopping Mall USA.  Stopped at Home Depot and the S.O. joined the fray of picking up whatever Christmas decorations were still there and on 75% discount. My dad and I discussed the merits of various gas grills while she took forever to make up here mind. ( It is especially funny because if I have my way-we won’t be living anywhere we can hang the decorations next year!).

Finished we moved on to the NASA museum. Now it is an interesting place, if a but pricey if you ask me. We looked at the Saturn Five, both the model standing outside and the real one horizontally mounted in the big building.  From there we went over to the other building and to the Von Braun and other sections of the museum. I should have realized how much walking it was-but Dad was in good spirits and he said this was interesting.

After ab0ut 35 minutes of looking around, Dad said he was hungry. “Great” , I say, ” I am too, I’ll go get the car and we can go right away.” Not 10 seconds after I said that, then my Dad stumbled and looked like he was going to fall. My sister and I caught him and steered him over to a seat. I raced to find someone to get help. All I could find was a tour guide and I interrupted her tour , exclaiming “Can you help me-may father has passed out. We need medical assistance now!”  To her credit, she immediately dashed behind me and she called security on her walky talky phone thing.

My sister had my father sitting up and he was talking, but he did not look well.  They asked us if we wanted an ambulance. “You think?” Of course we want an ambulance-unbelievable. They did have a nurse on site-however to tell you the truth, I was not impressed with her approach to analyzing the problem. Neither was my sister-and she IS a trauma nurse. We knew the ambulance needed to be there ASAP. In about 10 minutes it showed up and the EMT’s were good. They got my Dad up, on the gurney and to the ambulance post haste. I raced to get to the car so I could follow.

30 minutes later found us at the hospital-in a waiting room thronged with people. Seriously it was standing room only. That was surprising to me-but then again perhaps I should not have been surprised. The hospital here is the medical center for the whole county. Dad having arrived by ambulance was given preferred customer status and gotten right to a bed / triage place. By now he was back in better spirits, his color was coming back,  and so was his temper. I took that as a good sign.

And so the rest of the day was spent in the waiting room shuffle. The doctors could find nothing wrong-save for a probable drop in his blood pressure and the fact that my father had probably over exerted himself. We took him back to the house about 9.  He wanted to eat, he said. The S.O. fed him whatever he wanted.

So today we are home. Dad slept fine last night he says and feels good today-but on consultation on all of us, we are going to watch DVD’s at home today.

Important lessons learned for me:

1) Have a plan in your own mind and be ready to know where you are going to go if you have to go to hospital.

2) Don’t always assume that a facility is ready to handle an emergency.

3) A person may be 88 and pretty healthy-but he is still 88. Don’t under estimate your father’s stubbornness at not saying what he needs.

Scary, although my father is still pretty upset that we made a fuss. I’ll take that as another good sign.

About getting screwed over by the ex-wife. However, from LA comes a case of a REALLY BITTER ex husband:

COVINA, Calif. (AP) - Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws’ Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least six people before killing himself hours later.

Three people were listed as missing after Bruce Pardo’s rampage - his ex-wife and her parents - and it was feared their remains were among the ashes of the home, which Pardo set ablaze using a bizarre homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid.

Pardo, 45, had no criminal record and no history of violence, according to police, but he was angry following last week’s settlement of his divorce after a marriage that lasted barely a year.

“It was not an amicable divorce,” police Lt. Pat Buchanan said.

What the hell was he thinking?

I’ve just finished wrapping the last little presents I could hide from the S.O. She already has the big one-a pearl and diamond ring that is sort of a Christmas / Anniversary of Being Together present. She knows about the earrings under the tree-she picked them out. I used to be able to surprise her. Now I just buy what she wants…………

Anyway……

This Christmas Eve, I thought long and hard about what to write about. And it occurred to me that in spite of all our good will, come the new year we will go back to our hatreds.  Peace on Earth is an illusion at times-nor have we as a people fostered it very well. Despite our own self delusion that we do.

However the desire is still there, and maybe that is the best we can hope for. Which brings me to a subject I have always wanted to explore-which typifies what I am talking about- The Christmas truce of World War One. From the War to End All Wars web site. The lesson is simple,  that in “our age of uncertainty, it comforting to believe, regardless of the real reasoning and motives, that soldiers and officers told to hate, loathe and kill, could still lower their guns and extend the hand of goodwill, peace, love and Christmas cheer“.

Merry Christmas!

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Ai Iijima, who was an AIDS activist and former television personality was found dead in her condo in Shibuya yesterday.

The body of the 36-year-old, who retired in March last year from a lucrative career as a television personality, was found lying in the lounge of her condominium in downtown Shibuya by a friend.

‘There were few signs of foul play. We will conduct a post mortem tomorrow to determine if the cause of her death was an illness, suicide or something of a criminal nature,’ a police spokesman said.

Ms Iijima, who was also known in the rest of Asia, gained popularity at home as a straight-talking character since her debut on television variety shows in the 1990s.

One of the things I have always marveled about, when it comes to the hymn Silent Night, is how many languages it has been translated into. In the spirit of Christmas Eve, here is a cure little anime of the song translated into Nihongo:

And of course the fact that Christmas Eve is coming tomorrow-also means that Santa Claus is coming. To bring presents to some real sweet hearts. Santa Babes:

Just for Mark-here are some of your Nihonjin friends wishing you a Merry Christmas.
( And no I cannot verify that the anime characters are over 18!):

Merry Christmas to all and to all an Omedetou Kurisumasu!

I miss Japan!

Was out at Barnes and Noble today, getting some gift cards for my son. (Never shop early when you can put it off to the last minute!). I came across the Christmas gift for me:

Yes , I am ashamed to admit it, but I am a secret fan of Mad Magazine. Have been since I was 9 and my mother would go ballistic if she found them in the house.

Silly? Yes.
Stupid jokes? Yes.
Funny as all get out? You dern’ed betcha.

Gotta buy it!

And here you thought I had high brow tastes when it came to literature…………………………..

And it finds the S.O. and I still together, on the wrong side of the planet, and wondering what the next year will hold for us. My father is coming here tomorrow for the Christmas holidays-so posting may be spotty. The last three years running the S.O. and I observed our ritual in a hotel in Tokyo. Not so close anymore-and the return route of flight is looking more circuitous than I thought it would be. However, ke sera and all that-it’s worth remembering how we got here in the first place (from two years ago I repeat this post):

Taking Stock.

It is 5 days till Christmas! Accordingly I hereby declare a ban on politics and the war for at least till after that. Beer and babes, however, will always be available. After all what goes better with Christmas than that?

Also, I’ll be out of touch for about 3 days. The S.O. and I are going away for a couple of days and celebrating an anniversary of sorts. Hotel, nice dinner, walking in the city, wine, and…….especially and………… (at least I hope so-if not I’m going to demand an 84,000 yen refund from Saikaya!). I’m not taking my laptop, so it will be the equivalent of going cold Turkey for a computer addict like me.

The S.O. and I have been together for over 4 years. Like all relationships we have had our ups and downs-to tell the truth I never expected to be here now, with her, when all this started. I still wonder each day whether next year will still find us together or not. Not for mean reasons, but more because of ambivalence on both our parts. Allow me to explain a little bit…………

When I met the S.O. I had been in Japan for just over a year. A year later we were living in the same place-with all of the attendant fal de rol. The year before we met had been a watershed for me in my life. Coming from the US and the hell that is a sexless marriage, it was astonishing to see that all turn around in just a few short weeks. That year I probably got laid more than I did the entire time I was married to the shrew. I had come to Tokyo and immediately knew that Asia was the place for me! Spike noted this some time ago and I blogged about it saying that I fully understood the sensation:

“As much of an outsider as I was, there was something there, I felt like I belonged there. I was an alien and at home at the same time. ”

It was awesome. I felt like I had gone to heaven. I’d been to Bangkok for a couple of manhood “reaffirmation” tours where I had literally gone nuts in Patpong and at the Eden Club. I’d traveled around Japan and the region to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei. I had a Chinese girl on the string in Kyushu ( a doctor no less!), a couple up here in Tokyo and a Thai girl who worked as a make-up artist at the Navy exchange. ( She is the subject of a whole other post…..lets just say that memories of sex with her will be in my “old man ” memories!). The hard part was keeping them from finding out about each other. I was gearing up for a trip to Jakarta to see what they had to offer me down there.

So why, I’ve asked myself over and over again, would I go and complicate my life with a serious relationship with obligations (financial and otherwise) when things were just hunky-dory without one. I’ve yet to give myself a good answer. I had been down this path before and I knew it led no where good. Unlike many people, I have no problem with living by myself.

When I met the S.O. I had no other aspirations except to make her another notch on my bed post. She was beautiful to look at ( she still is!) and interesting to talk to. Then again, all women are when you first meet them. Its new, they smell nice, you are captivated by the way her skirt drapes over her thighs-or fascinated with the way her blouse comes to a point that shows her cleavage. It’s as you get to know them that the challenge of staying engaged kicks in.

Yet, there was something about her, something that was just more than a little different from the Shibuya Girls I had met and bed. For one thing she was my age (more or less…), she’d worked for all of her adult life, she had a good job and she had her own car, apartment and goals. She knew how to talk about many things, because she was just a very smart and witty lady. Unlike her American sisters though, she was not pushy about that fact. So suffice it to say I was curious. When she gave me her e-mail and phone number, I did what you should never do, and immediately e-mailed her when I got home and called her the very next day asking for a date.

And so it began. I was still traveling, but at the same time calling her and asking her out-a lot. She was in the process of moving to a new apartment. I rented a van and helped her move. The whole time I was thinking in terms of a clock ticking within my head. Soon I would have to move on-or she would-especially when she learned that if she wanted to take this to its ultimate extreme, there was no way I was ever going to have any children again. For sure that would tear it. If not that, then fact that I was chained down with economic slavery from my divorce would do the trick.

Except it didn’t. And to this day I am not sure why. I think deep down inside of her she wants a child. If so, she needs to seek a new man-I’m not equipped physically or emotionally to do that. I’ve been very up front about that-its in my walk out the door criteria-but to date she seems to deal with it ok.

I’m always afraid that means that she is just settling for me- out of fear of growing old alone. I talked to her about that more than a couple of times. I am who I am -and with my life experience I’m not going to change. I’m a party boy and proud of it. I’ll be one as long as I live.

She said she was a party girl. She may have been, but she is most definitely not one now. I always tease her that she is guilty of false advertising. We are so very different in so many ways. We are alike in one way though-we are both selfish.

Which is perhaps why we seem to be comfortable together. I know I am comfortable -to date. We’ll see what the out years hold; I’m not going to plan that far ahead. After having jumped off the cliff once, walking away holds none of the terrifying fear it used to.

But not yet. Truth be told, I just could not bring myself to do that. To her-or to myself. I must be an idiot or a useless romantic. Does not mean that may be out there in the future one day-but for today its not. I still believe that I am the only one responsible for my happiness. The idea that out there somewhere, is one special woman who will do that for you is sheer nonsense. Living with her has not changed my thinking on that subject. I might think differently if I did not like women and sex so much. ( as in I like it a LOT!).

If she senses my qualified regard for her, it is counterbalanced by what I know is her qualified regard for me. The stuff of sonnets, our relationship is not. We do say, “I love you” to each other. It seems the right thing and more romantic than the more accurate statement of our relationship with each other: “You’ll do.”

Still, my worst day with the S.O. has been far better than my best day with the ex, so that must be progress of a sort. Plus, she has brought a lot of structure to a very disorganized life. She has got me focused on some goals besides a girl’s ankles up in the air, and gotten me focused on saving money. She’s actually taught me a lot on that score. We do, however, maintain complete and separate finances though. I will never ever, ever, share money with a woman again!

So pop the champagne! I’ve got the silly cards, and I know I’m going to get dragged into the shop to buy her the jewelry of her choice tomorrow. What the future holds-hell, I have no idea-but for today and the next few days we will savor the present. Come to think of it that’s just about all anybody can do.

“Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.” - Unknown”We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, and hour, an afternoon. But that doesn’t diminish its value. Because we are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives.”
- Unknown

Skippy-san

The Russians that is-across the North Atlantic in the dead of winter.

Came across this pretty cool video of how the transit might be like. Admiral Kusnetsov and a Slava CG taking water over the bow. Check out the Sovremmeny Destroyer taking 45 degree rolls.

Admiral Kuznetsov Aircraft Carrier and CVBG in a Heavy Storm - The best free videos are right here

You get bonus points if you can name the radar and the forward missiles on the Slava.

Obama must be doing something right when he is able to piss off both his supporters and the die hard extremists who believe him to be the Anti-christ and a Muslim.

By picking Rick Warren to give the invocation, Obama sends a message-a good one if you ask me-that says this nation has to work together despite its differences. Besides, since when did it become a political foul to ask someone to pray for you? I want all my readers to pray for me-every chance they get. I need the help.

The gay activists have it all wrong. Plus, like it or not, there are about were 52 million Americans who did not want Obama to be President. Obama knows that. I’d like to think too that he’s learned from Clinton’s mistake and will not allow him to be sidetracked by an issue that is of tertiary importance to most Americans. Sorry guys-its just the way it is. When the economic and foreign policy house is burning down around you-gay marriage is not issue number 1.

The response from evangelicals is what is more puzzling. Then again, maybe not. A significant subset of those folks actually believed that Sarah Palin was qualified to be President. Again, Obama ignores that at his peril -and say what you want, the man is not stupid.

So I think this is a great thing for both the President and for the country. Besides, I’ll probably be leaving for lunch about that time and miss the invocation anyway.

Like I said-much ado about nothing.