Far East Cynic

It has been a busy couple of days.

It is 5:30 am and I should be sleeping-but I cannot. I’ ve been on the bed dozing in and out but never getting truly to sleep. I’m not sure why since I have been in the room since 7:30 PM last evening.

Yesterday, was not the worst day of my life, but it ranks right  up there in the top 10. We had to go to my sisters apartment and clean out what we could-a mover will take care of the rest. That was hard-as I think it would be for anyone to have outsiders rooting through the random bits of paper and trying to keep things of value.

Today my older sister and I finished earlier than we thought we would with getting adminstrative arrangements done. We were both mentally drained-so we said to heck with it. Went to a shopping mall for some retail therapy. We also decided to go see a movie rather than simply sulk back to the room. As fate would have it, the choices were not so great-mostly action fills that neither of us wanted to see. So The Bucket List it was.  Would not have been my first choice and in hindsight given the circumstances maybe not the best of choices-but it was good nonetheless. The movie gives one lots to think about and besides- I like Morgan Freeman.

I’m going to try to go back to bed-just to doze. Good sleep is out for tonight me thinks.

Stay tuned.

Boy, I’m tired.

Got down here to Tampa after a rather bumpy ride on Southwest Airlines.  I have not flown on them for a long while. Today  I remembered why. Fortunately the flight was only about half full and it was direct. To go on one of the airlines I need miles on would have meant a stop in Charlotte or Atlanta. Not required or desired.

It made my older sister Lynn quite angry though, that I slept through most of the flight-only waking up for the sharpest of down drafts. Seems they all bothered her and she was just about a couple minutes away from reaching for the Prozac-or some reasonable facsimile thereof.  Later in the rental car she asked me how I dealt with it.

“Simple-I’ve seen worse. In a smaller airplane. The airplane is big, it has plenty of airspeed and if you noticed the pilot was changing altitude to try to get out of it.”

“How did you know he was changing altitude?”

“You did not feel the nose come up and feel the engines increase power?”

“No”.

Reason number 344 why I am glad I got to fly.

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Its raining here in Tampa. We finished up about 7 pm today-finally found a decent hotel-seems I forgot that the Yankees are down here for spring training. According to the desk clerk hotel room rates skyrocket here when that happens. Oops. Fortunately for me, he combined my government rate with a AAA discount from my sister into something that was acceptable. And it has free Internet in the room.

There is lightning and there are warnings of tornadoes. Accordingly, the cable TV is out save for the Hotel movie-vision and Univision. There is probably some sort of lesson in that particular development-in that I am in Florida-in the United States-and now I can only watch Pay per View or Spanish TV.

Which would you choose? I’m going with Will Smith.

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 I long ago decided there are certain professions that I just could not do. One is being a doctor or a dentist. Second is probably that of politician-ergo it is probably fortunate for me that I am lugging so much personal baggage that there are not enough Skycaps to see it all to the curb. The third is Funeral Parlor director. The person we spoke with was a real professional. Who artfully worked his way through the practical details of how to deal with the remains of what had once been a living person. With a great deal of tact and patience. While neither of us wanted to discuss any of it. All the while having the shadow of my father lurking over us-if we did not get those details right.

He’s been doing it for 30 years. How anyone does that-I do not really know.

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I am going to call a Catholic Church here to ask that my sister be remembered during a Mass this week.  With the logistics of arranging to get her home and for burial-it would make me feel better if she could have Christian service of remembrance within a short time of the event.

The funeral director knew how to get that done too.

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I gotta go to bed.  Good night and good luck tomorrow. At least we are not in Miami where the power went out last night.

Made it ok into North Carolina. Well I did anyway-sitting up waiting for my bag to be delivered to me. Thanks to the Chicago weather my direct flight to RDU from ORD was canceled. So……..

When a baggage clerk who takes your bags after clearing customs tellls you not to worry about it…be worried.

They put on an the begining of an international flight-going first to Washington Dulles-the connected to an RDU based flight. The clerk took symapthy on me and put me in Business so I could sleep some. Seoul to Narita, Narita to Chicago, Chicago to Dulles, Dulles to RDU. That’s a long day-even for me. I’m beat and sleeping in and out.

I want to thank everyone who left words of kindness and support. I am truly grateful and amazed that folks took time for my family. That is an amazing thing about the blogsphere-people who don’t know each other, do have a concern for their fellow readers. To all who left condolences and kindnesses, thank you very much.

Tomorrow it is off to Tampa. There to set things right with first the Medical Examiner, then the funeral home, then to pay all of the various bills and figure out what to do with the stuff in here apartment. Her rent will need to be paid up to and then a means of letting the landlord getting the place back soon will have to be done. The funeral we will figure out next week. It will probably have to be later in the spring-my parents have a family plot down in a small town on the North Carolina -Tennessee border. It is where my Dad grew up. Getting my Mom down there will take some planning I think.

One important lesson learned so far-besides the obvious one of talk to your family-even if you don’t always get along. It is to make sure you have a will and people know where it is and what to do with it when things go south.

More to follow. I will be in and out here.

Nothing to do but blog…………. 

Could not get out today-I’m confirmed on a flight tomorrow. Incheon-Chicago-Raleigh Durham. Next morning fly to Tampa, Florida with my sister. She suggested that we split a room down there to save money-I told her I’m pretty set in my ways and with this I’ll be a night owl. For her sanity and mine we will get two rooms. I told her I would pay-its worth it to me.

So I am sitting here with pretty much not much to do. Surf the net-watch TV-suitcase was never unpacked really. Called up my colleagues and asked them if they wanted to go to dinner-I need to do something.

To everyone who has given their good wishes-THANK YOU. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Lest you think its unappreciated-it is.

I think this is really hard for my parents. They have now outlived two of their children and that was never in their plan for all of us kids.  There were five of us-now there are 3. And, as I told SJS-at the rate the rest of us are going they may outlive us all………

In our family because of the age differences and circumstances, my parents have been the “anchor” so to speak. They are the single point of unification. We are not a close family. My oldest 3 sisters are/were close because they had shared childhood experiences. They were pretty much grown and in college when I was running around the neighborhood. Because of some unique circumstances and choices my sister Kim made-most of the rest of us have not seen her in many years. I have not seen her in person since 1991. It is a long story and it  is not really a good one. But I am indeed shocked by this turn of events. From what my other sister told me things were looking up for her. 

I feel useless right now. I have to wait till tomorrow to catch the bus-it really seems inappropriate to go out booming and the work was only supposed to start tomorrow. Now I have had to dump that on my co-workers-however their response has been amazing, as has the support of those above me. Even though I am leaving next month-they did not hesitate, they told me to get my ass on a plane.

So sitting and writing is kind of a good therapy. For those of reading-thank you for listening. I hope you all have a great weekend! 

It pours.

My next to youngest sister was found dead in her apartment yesterday. Accordingly, I will be returning to the United States to assist my family in all arrangements and help my older sister get some things resolved. Blogging may be light.

Damn.

Reporter- “What would you say if I told you…that Murrow was on the Soviet payroll in 32? Murrow’s been a Communist sympathizer since the  30′s.Member of the International Workers,sponsored educational trips to Moscow…  ..and on the Soviet payroll in  1932. It’s all there.”

 Joe Bersheba-”You wanna know why that’s not possible? Why you’ll lose this one? Because everyone in this country…  ..knows that Ed Murrow is a loyal American, he’s a patriot.”

That quote from the movie kind of sums up the recent fracas with the New York Times article about John McCain and and pretty blonde female lobbyist. Now the popular tack on the conservative is side is to attack the New York Times and there is a lot of inference in its article that could use some facts and or naked pictures of the lobbyist lady. However, I submit that this will be the thing that actually help McCain bring the right wing wackos into the fold. Embrace this and enjoy the moment!

First-they have not proven it. Second, McCain can weather it more so than Bill Clinton because of his public persona. People liked beating up on Bill about the blow job-because he had allied himself with so many really strange postions (e.g. gays in the military). I’ve always been suprised that the sympathy factor never played bigger. After all, can ANYONE picture Hillary coughing it up when required?

I did not think so. Bill was a man and had needs after all. 

And McCain has run a good campaign and won fair and square. So unless there are naked pictures there-this is old news.

The news that is-personal and professional.

Besides the fact I have to be in Korea for two weeks when I should be dealing with more important things like finding gainful employment and figuring out where I am going to live a few months from now-here or there-the news on TV gets just better and better.

Under the category of “It sucks to be them”-its not a good day to be a qualified OOD on the JDS Atago:

Suspicions mounted Thursday that the crew on watch aboard the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer that ran over a fishing boat at 4:07 a.m. Tuesday failed to spot the trawler, and the Japan Coast Guard meanwhile suggested the warship may have been at fault in the collision.

The trawler Seitoku Maru, which was chopped in two Tuesday by a destroyer, is set on a pier Thursday at the MSDF Yokosuka Base in Kanagawa Prefecture. KYODO PHOTO

The destroyer Atago, which is equipped with the advanced missile defense Aegis radar system, hit the fishing boat Seitoku Maru off the coast of Chiba Prefecture. The two fishermen aboard — Haruo Kichisei, 58, and his son, Tetsuhiro, 23 — are still missing.

The 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters determined, based on gray paint traces found on the recovered trawler wreckage, that the Atago hit the fishing boat on the port side. The trawler’s bow and stern sections are lying on a pier at the MSDF’s Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture.

This suggests the Atago bore responsibility to bear way and yield to the trawler. Maritime law requires vessels to yield right of way to boats approaching from the right.

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Meanwhile-at Marine Corps bases across Japan, the lock down continues:

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Marine officials Thursday shot down rumors that a base restriction for all military-sponsored Americans on the island would end Monday.

“The period of reflection will last for an indefinite period of time,” a press release issued by Marine Corps Bases Japan stated. “At this time, we cannot speculate on future changes to the order.”

The restriction was imposed Tuesday by Marine Lt. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer in his capacity as the Okinawa Area Coordinator, the highest-ranking U.S. officer on Okinawa. It affects all military personnel, dependents and Defense Department civilians on Okinawa and on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and Camp Fuji in mainland Japan.

Under the order they are restricted to their bases, except for travel to their off-base homes, place of duty or employment, worship, education, or medical or dental treatment. All other activity outside the bases, such as shopping or frequenting off-base restaurants and clubs, is prohibited.

Local restaurants were particularly hard-hit.

Meanwhile, Mark asks an interesting question:

…is it possible to have raped a juicy girl if you paid enough, and if so, are you entitled to a refund?

Initial media reports in the latest case said the woman was in Japan on a visa as an entertainer and that the soldier told investigators he paid her for sex at an Okinawa City hotel.

An employee of the hotel told Japanese reporters the soldier and woman checked into the hotel at 10 p.m. Feb. 17 and that he left at 9 a.m.

The rape allegation grew out of her visit to a local hospital for treatment for serious bleeding, according to media reports.

This by the way is not helpong the Okinawa situation at all.

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As for my news-the less said the better. Things are starting to happen-just in the wrong geographic and obligatory order. Which creates a huge age old dilemna: Do what you want to do-or what you kind of deep down know you need to do-even if you are going to hate yourself in a year for it?

Film at 11.

” . . . If we succeed in Iraq, which I believe we are, the rest of it takes care of itself,” said McCain.

“Most Americans are becoming more and more aware that the surge is succeeding “-John McCain

” The Surge worked.”-John McCain and Senator Lieberman

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET. Because in Iraq, things are looking up:

Thursday, February 21, 2008
5 US Troops Killed;
25 Dead, 70 Wounded in Violence;
Turkey Bombs Iraq

DPA estimates that civil war violence killed 25 in Iraq on Wednesday and wounded 70. The dead included 5 US troops.

On Tuesday evening, 3 US troops were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in northwestern Baghdad (a Sunni Arab area). Another was killed on Wednesday by an RPG attack in Mosul, which left 3 other US troops wounded. Later on Wednesday a fifth US soldier was killed within 24 hours; he appears to have been killed by a roadside bomb somewhere south of Baghdad, but the exact circumstances of his death were not announced.

Turkish jets struck at suspected bases of the Kurdish Workers Party terror organization in northern Iraq on Wednesday. The Turks are also considering a land invasion of northern Iraq in a bid to root out PKK terrorists that have been attacking Turks and retreating to Iraq where they benefit from an American security umbrella.

A suicide bomber detonated his payload in a market in Muqdadiyah, Diyala Province east of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 10 and wounding 15.

In Mosul, gunmen sprayed police at a checkpoint with machine gun fire, killing four and injuring another 4.

On Tuesday evening, 15 police were killed and 27 wounded when some of them were trying to defuse bombs in eastern Baghdad.

There is some question whether Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will renew the six-month freeze on the activities of his Mahdi Army paramilitary The Sadrists feel taken advantage of, in the sense that many of their commanders have been arrested by Iraqi police or by the Badr Corps. I suspect Muqtada fears that should he continue the freeze, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and its Badr Corps paramilitary will use it to freeze out the Sadrists in the south from political office in the Oct. 1 provincial elections.

So to review, 5 US troops were killed within 24 hours; there was a market bombing in Diyala and a drive by shooting in Mosul; Turkey bombarded Iraq; and now the Mahdi Army may get reactivated.

The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things:

Of flag officers and managers

Of cabbages and kings.

Of synonyms-like drunken lemurs. (“What’s a two word combination meaning ‘Air Force General….’ ?”).

So now I know why I’m leaving after this final expedition to la la land:

 Back to the land of the morning calm. And after that:

Shot down same.

The whips can go back in the closet now.

The ” Dear China-please take notice of this. Suck my………” cards can go in the mail now.

Now its:

It is the most important meal of the day! Especially when it comes with eggs and BACON!

Deciding to have bacon though can be a complicated undertaking though. See below. (H/T to Bothenook for the link!)

I think the Aegis and Furuno radars have been explained to death on NHK this evening. Here is why:

MINAMIBOSO, Chiba — A Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer collided with a fishing boat off the coast of Chiba early Tuesday, splitting the fishing boat in two and leaving a father and his son missing, officials said.

The 7,700-ton MSDF Atago destroyer collided with the Seitokumaru tuna trawler about 40 kilometers south-southwest of Nojimazaki Cape in Minamiboso shortly after 4 a.m. on Tuesday.

The hull of the 7.3-ton fishing boat was smashed in two, and two people on board the vessel, identified as 58-year-old Haruo Kichisei and his 23-year-old son Tetsuhiro, are missing.

News report here:

It started innocently enough.

A couple weeks back, we went out to a street sale. More correctly-yours truly was dragged from the warmth of his couch, TV, and coffee-to stop by the ATM and then serve as the financier for yet another of the S.O.’s  junk antique shopping expeditions.

Along the way we came along a ceramic art piece that bore a remarkable resemblance to our cat:

It does look like the little vermin!

This is a piece of art done by the artist Hajime Okamoto. The caption says, “Don’t go quickly-go slowly”. Don’t try to Google him in English-all you will get is references to a scientist, who is by all accounts, a lot more famous than this particular artist. I had to Google it in Japanese to find this about him:

Tough guy to find!

I’ll save you the trouble of taking 8 years of Japanese and being frustrated to all get out.  He was born in Osaka in 1942. 44 years later he first displayed his art in China at a Chinese university exhibition.  Between 91 and 93 he gained popularity in a series of Osaka based exhibitions and in 1995 he got his big break by being exhibited in a national Japan gallery after which his career took off. Okamoto’s signature thing is that he draws different drawings of six different cats, the most famous of which is Kabamaru (Kaba means hippo-maru means it is a male name). Kabamaru is always drawn as the largest cat in all of his multi-cat paintings. According to the bio above, Kabamaru made his debut in 1998. A book was published in 2003. With pictures.

Like this one:

He’s the big guy with the stripes!

The caption says in Japanese, dreams become one with your heart. He also has done some very interesting calendars, other paintings with just cats in them which he calls “Cat friends-cat family”. But the ones with the slogans, I think are the best.

Which was how the S.O. got me to go with her to the Keikyu Department store in Kamiooka yesterday. Being a credit card holder in good standing with probably every major department store in Tokyo means that she gets little invitations to when the stores have exhibitions in their in store galleries. They may or may not do this in the US, but the way it works over here is that they send free tickets to credit card holders (normal admission price is 800 yen). That gets you to come in the store and see the exhibition which just happens to be on the 8th floor requiring you to work your way through the entire store to get there. On the way in or out, it is hoped you will buy something.

So off we went. And I have to admit the exhibition was quite good. I do like his stuff. One painting, which I do not have a picture of cost 1500 dollars, but the caption on it was most appropriate for me. It said in Japanese, “Shiawase ni naritai kedo, ganbaritakunai!” (I want to be happy but I don’t want to work hard). Sounds better in Japanese. However as a job hunting strategy it seems to alienate potential employers. I’m still trying to figure out why…………….

1500 dollars is too much money especially when paychecks are going to shrink drastically for a couple of months.

However the S.O. was undeterred. We cast our eye on a framed one that was 200 dollars with a different slogan.

It is the one on the right!

The caption says the part of you that is laughing, will bring joy to everything else. 

We went back and forth on whether to buy it-with the S.O. offering it as a “birthday present”-which is not what I have in mind for my birthday present. My vision does not include cats-think Hong Kong Sevens tickets, Cathay Pacific seat, and me in Hong Kong for the Sevens-by myself, evenings on Jaffe Road in Wanchai-for the whole weekend.

Which is more expensive than the painting-but a lot more satisfying!

Anyway-anybody got any good ideas on where to hang it? Or how to protect it if we have to move in a couple of months?

Sigh……….

The Oedo international market at the Tokyo Kokusai Forum.

The S.O. and I went out all the days of this weekend riding somewhere on the train. On Saturday she went up to a shrine sale-while I went up to Yokohama. I walked around Landmark tower, through the shops, out around the Nihon Maru ( a tall ship that does not do much these days but sit in Lock #1 across from Yokohama’s Landmark tower). I also went to the Yokohama Maritime Museum. Those activites, however are for a subsequent post-so please stay tuned!

On Sunday’s , every 3 weeks or so, they have a huge antique market at the Tokyo International Forum, which is a large convention center across from Yurakicho Station-and easily accessible from Tokyo Station. Since decision time for me is rapidly approaching-and its driving me nuts-I wanted to get out and see things while I still may have the chance.

Make decisions about other situations, or about spending other people’s money? No problem-piece of cake. Approach a Y in the road for my own life? I hate it!

But I digress.

We got on the train and headed north to Tokyo. Come on aboard with us!

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Drinks the surge kool-aid……….

Some people like their truth straight up:

Let’s get something straight. The terms “victory” and “defeat” long ago lost any relevance to the situation in Iraq and the so-called war on terror.

Read the rest here!