Rising Japanese nationalism

Once again, the issue of nationalism in Japan is being discussed. There have been two articles just this week. One, in the New York Times, was written by a Japanese writer (Ugly Images of Asian Rivals Become Best Sellers in Japan - New York Times) and is the more shocking and sickening of the two, while the other is a more academic piece in the Guardian from a writer currently based at Ritsumeikan University (As China rises, so does Japanese nationalism).
The first of these seems extreme. In many countries, such blatantly racist literature would be unacceptable. So is it an expression of free speech that such things are published in Japan? No, that is definitely not the case. Japanese are minutely sensitive to racism or even suggested racism aimed at themselves -- actually, quite rightly -- but equally, as the author points out, the superiority complex that Japanese have over other Asians is deeply rooted in history and widely institutionalised. The students I teach would simply be unable to comprehend what is wrong with such books. This in itself demonstrates the depth of the problem.
Yet, one could wonder why in the recently released 'Memoirs of a Geisha' film, most of the leading roles were given not to Japanese, but to Chinese. I've no real idea why this was, but with Sony in charge, could it have been to avoid insulting Japanese sensitivity? The willingness of Japanese companies to rip off almost any idea they can find overseas is well known and continues to this day (Toshiba's answer to the Dyson Cyclone Vacuum Cleaner is, naturally, one based on 'typhoon' technology: Typhoon Robo). But even the suggestion of a slur the other way round is seen by politicians and public alike as an attack. Japan has absolutely no sense of humour when it comes to their own image or what is 'real Japan'. Pearl Harbor went to extremes to protect Japanese sensitivity, and in Rising Sun, never the best rendition of a reasonable Michael Crichton book, the whole ending was changed in order to portray the nice Japanese in the 'correct' light.
The second article is clearly based on speculation and re-introduces the often heard conspiracy theory. Who knows how much truth there is in it. The writer is eminently plausible, however, and his argument as to why visits to Yasukuni remain such an important, and rather childish political gambit seem totally intuitive. Yasukuni includes many of Japan's war criminals on roll of 2,466,000 people; it even begins its English home pages with the message "The truth about Japanese history is restored". The idea that such people are included simply for completeness is dismissed by Yasukuni's own Q&A section:

There were also 1,068 "Martyrs of Showa" who were cruelly and unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal of the Allied forces (United States, England, the Netherlands, China and others). These martyrs are also the Kami of Yasukuni Jinja.

(Incidentally, what is 'sham-like'?) It is a magnet to politicians. Such lame excuses as 'when I visit a shrine, it's personal and I'm not going as the Prime Minister' are easier to understand from a political strategy point of view. I, at least, can well believe it.
But is there really a secret Japanese elite dedicated to the dominance of the mythical Japanese "race" over less desirable Asians? This is perhaps going a bit too far down the Illuminati road. What is certainly true, however, is that senior Japanese leaders are appalled at the prospect of Japan bowing to another Asian power. Problem is, it's too late. Japan needs China. Worryingly for Japan, China has absolutely no need, and very little incentive, to reciprocate.

Tags: Japan; Japanese politics; nationalism; racism

The problem with students

I am about to give up. After five weeks of teaching my new zemi, I'm lost as to what to do. Japanese students, at least at UMDS, are incredibly unmotivated. It is perhaps unfair to generalize, but it is equally easy to do so. It was once the generally accepted knowledge that entering a Japanese university was difficult, thanks to the horrendously anal entrance exams, but that graduating was easy. Today, however, at all but the very top schools entering has become almost as easy as getting out. Our Finance department has such a small enrollment rate that anyone taking the entrance exam (which costs ¥35,000 per go!) automatically passes.
It shows. Students do not seem to know why they are studying and what the advantages of studying may be.
I have five students in my zemi this year. Two of them entered on the second recruitment round and one on the third. I'd never met them before the first class (to which only three of them turned up!) and since then they have managed to avoid most of the things I've asked them to do. Today, after a third appeal for suggestions as to what they might find interesting and useful, again which was met with nothing but silence, we did goal setting. They have no goals. This isn't totally unusual or unexpected for second years, but they were also reluctant to think of any. Then, asking them to write out 30 goals (about 2 pages of notes) in the next five days, I was met with complaints about making them study too hard.
With only 5 students in the class it seems curlish to not just bulldoze various activities onto them, but they're basically uninterested. What will happen I've no idea. Of the five only one student show's any interest in actually learning, and, in other ways, he's probably the most immature of the lot, but at least he's keen. If the rest don't want to study, they need to understand that it is not a problem in the least because, as students, whether they study or not is up to them.

Trying out Flock

This is just a little post to see what happens with Flock. There's been a lot (A LOT!) of criticism - or, more accurately, skepticism - surrounding Flock, but so far (after about 1-2 minutes of use) it looks rather good. Connecting to my Blogger account was easy-peasy, and getting settings from Safari took seconds (although, I haven't yet found my bookmarks and it certainly didn't copy across my vitally important Bookmark Bar).

So, so far, so good. Definitely worth a try, and if it gets me writing more on my blog, so much the better, eh?

Vera Drake

We went to see Vera Drake on Saturday. I was under the false impression that it finished last week and so we got up early to see it. As it happens it's still on this week. There's little interest in Japan it seems, very few people were at the small, art-house place in Harborland where it's playing. But I can guarantee that everyone who saw it loved it.
It is one of the best movies I've seen for a very long time. The direction and, without exception, everyone of the acting performances were superb. Coupled with the atmosphere of working class London in the early 1950s, the film is superb. Best of all, perhaps, is the lack of any Hollywood pretension. It's unlikely that a US director would make a movie about abortion without condemning it out of hand, but of course Vera Drake makes us sympathetic to not only the poor girls who choose this unpleasant and even dangerous operation, but also with the kind hearted abortionist who sets out to help the girls for no payment and no other reason other than she knows no one else will.
There is one case of a rich girl who undergoes the 'official' method (whereby, after assessment by a psychologist, she is given a legitimate abortion) in order to create a striking contrast between those with money and those without. The other contrasts are also striking: men vs. women, young vs. old, and so on. The photography, the direction, the atmosphere, the acting, and the story are all brilliant.
In Japan, where abortion is absolutely no issue whatsoever given the cash, and where so many girls undergo this harrowing procedure, the content of the movie may seem just too basic. But it tells a compelling and true to life story. Unless you're extremely anti-abortion (and so probably male and American) this is a movie you should see.

Apparently...

Apparently, some 90% of blogs are never updated. Well this one came close.

At last we're back in Japan and, on the whole, enjoying it. I have a major tendency to worry, and with the continuing necessity to sort out our future, now is a good time to practice this tendency to an extreme degree. Being back at UMDS has turned out to be a lot more fun than it used to be. Admittedly, I only have a light teaching load, but as of this moment, it is going well and is almost enjoyable. The addition of Cash Mod to the phpBB is proving a huge success. Cash Mod means that kiddies (Japanese English for 'students') get points allocated for everything they write online. With more than 210 signed up for the class, it's hard to moderate this. I did request some teaching assistance, but, as it's not a computer class, I was turned down. Apparently, only computer classes are so terribly difficult to teach, they require assistance. This is ironic seeing as our largest computer classes are no more than 40 people.

The Zemi too is fine, although extremely boring. Only 5 people signed up this year as I didn't actively recruit (recruiting being a tad difficult from Spain). Of these, 3 turned up for the first class and resolutely proved too shy to actually speak to me for the 60 minutes I was there. The other two appeared the following week protesting ignorance (easy to believe!), but with only 5 it's difficult to be too strict. They all have blogs that are now accessible through the main university page (Zemi Page), but generally don't know what to do with them.

The main worry, however, is Rikkyo. Having been offered the job there in their brand new 'International Business Faculty', it turns out that I've accepted it even though I have gone no further than exchange a few email questions; the salary is lower; the work load is higher; the conditions even more claustrophobic with meetings until 11pm every month; and so on. Basically, a normal university and very, very far away from 'international'. Naturally, I expect a contract to be produced, and I expect some flexibility as to my pension scheme. Japanese pensions schemes are, like many things, totally fair and treat everyone equally, thus, by definition, discriminating against anyone who is unable to fit the Japanese model: i.e. almost all foreigners. Basically, to draw on a Japanese pension, you have to work in the country for some 25 years (I've heard 20, and someone once said to me it was 12, but that's the lowest bid I've had!) Anyone who doesn't, gets zilch. Nothing. Nada. Technically, a Japanese person who worked 24 years in Japan and was then struck down with some illness and unable to complete the final year would also get precisely that: sweet FA. So, naturally, I'm very reluctant to pay any more than the absolute minimum because, basically, this simply means I am paying what amounts to an extra tax.

The whole issue, however, is compounded by the way universities operate here. Even more so than in the West, everything in a university is handled by a large rule manual drawn up over time by the faculty themselves, usually during incredibly drawn out and unfocused meetings. A typical academic contract would simply be a piece of paper stating, "I promise to obey the rules" and submitting yourself to whatever rule changes may occur. This is fraught with danger and nicely open to arm twisting and other nastiness. Catbert, the evil human resources manager, would have a field day with this.

None the less, I'm off to talk to them next week. They simply cannot grasp the idea that I may not be able to stay in Japan for reasons of family, and that's the other sticking point. If we can agree on getting a contract, which includes agreement on my pension, and on the need to be international, then we have a deal. Otherwise, I think I'll be unemployed from April next year. Frankly, in the face of such parochial thinking, it doesn't really bother me that much.

Japan's university bureacracy

If there's one thing I've learned while working at a Japanese university, it is that no one believes the following truism:

Elias Schwartz:

"Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well. Think about it."

The number of times a year we are required to do things simply because we always have done them, or where all faculty must participate in some mindless meeting simply because everyone else must participate.... Oh well. Life is easy when nothing constructive actually happens.

Tags: Japan;/Education

Ready to return

We're just about ready to return to Japan. W's study is almost over and I've been kicking my heels for far too long. Only one more job application to complete and then we're all done for the year on that score too.
I feel totally ambivalent about returning. I don't really miss Japan at all, although it is nice to speak Japanese a lot more than I am now. It will be nice to have our own apartment, but, of course, the thousands of rules and regulations relating to renting a place in Japan, along with the huge cost, mean that this six week stay in our flat in Oxford feels more like home than the Kobe apartment ever did and I've been there almost eight years now! That's the problem: Japan is as friendly as anywhere, but it never feels like home, even after 20 years of living there. It is a country designed from the ground up for work; not for living and not for lifestyle. There is only one lifestyle in Japan and that's work. Your friends are related to work, and you talk about work. There's work stress even when you're out in the town at weekends -- you can see it in people's faces. It's very sad and it is a clear measure of how much we should seriously consider not being there for much longer. It is not a healthy atmosphere at all.
But it's also easy. We'll be there until at least April, and maybe for a year more. We'll see. But, although I've said it time and time again, we have to set a deadline to leave. Even the Rikkyo offer seems silly now that I've been in Europe for a while. The job itself would present more opportunities than in Kobe, but why would I move for less money, and even have to pay my own, very considerable, moving expenses to get there? Because it's Japan, and in Japan work and the company takes precedence over everything so we pay the company to allow us to work there.

Tags: Japan;/Work

Minimalist design

Just came across this: RAD.E8 DESIGN . Very nice sort of minimalist design. Must consider this I suppose.

War of the Worlds – review

I was in two minds about War of the Worlds (t). Spielberg is the Michael Crichton (t ) of movies: a must see, but you're sure you'll be disappointed by the ending. Nothing new there. Tom Cruise is one of the factors which make a movie 'wait for the DVD', and a re-make of a re-make, of a classic novel also doesn't inspire. But it's summer and there's not a lot else on. So we went.
And it was surprisingly good. Very good in fact (although we'll get to the ending in a minute). Cruise, bless his totally barmy self, was even good. Of course, a clean cut, half pint sized guy is completely unconvincing as both a dock worker or even a delinquent father with one grown up and one small kid, but once we got over that bit, he was good. The crying scene where he has to sing for his daughter almost, very nearly, looked like acting. I was genuinely impressed.
No matter what else, however, this is the movie that will always be remembered as the one where TC gets sucked up into an alien's anal sphincter. Superb stuff. And on his, er, rapid re-emergence from said hole, the fact that he's completely clean and un-slimed is only a minor disappointment overall –this is Hollywood after all.
The story clips along. Lots of gratuitous violence. Very, very funny scenes of US troopers (National Guard?) bravely giving their lives so that innocent civilians can live (again, this is Hollywood) and not one clear scene of friendly fire (Hollywood). Tim Robbins does an excellent job of an insane vigilante, but does give the impression of 'why am I in this movie' at times. And the special effects are really, really special.
Like Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds will age very, very quickly. This is one to see at the cinema, but it is probably not one we'll want on our DVD shelf. It's just too predictable, far too Hollywood, and a bit too sweet for a scary movie. (Unless of course the director's cut comes with a properly slimed Cruise in the anal scene.) The two actors who play the kids are pretty good. I thought, Justin Chatwin, the older one, who seems to be about 27 but, based on Cruise as his dad, is probably supposed to be 13, did an excellent job. His sister, an actress with the 'give-me-a-break' name of Dakota Fanning was also good, although a typical Hollywood child star: awesome adult like acting one minute, complete childish screaming the next. (Be warned: this kid can really scream! Take earplugs.)
The one major problem with the movie is the ending. It is completely and utterly crap. Don't you hate movies that make a good job of keeping to logic and reality (even fantasy reality) only to suspend it at the end. Total rubbish, and completely puke inducing. Spielberg has his reputation to think of. He should have killed off Richard Attenborough in the first Jurassic Park, but didn't, and his attempt to generate 'relief' by the ridiculous survival of, not only one of the main actors, but also of the whole of Boston, won't impress anyone living outside of Massachusetts.
Still, on the whole, if War of the Worlds is still on in your area, it's worth a look, even for the anal scene.
Tags:

The Island – Review

I'd read poor reviews of The Island, especially about the weak ending, but compared to War of the Worlds, The Island has nothing at all to worry about on that score. As I wrote in my WotW review, the movie, despite many pleasant surprises, has one of the weakest endings for a long, long time, and far too Hollywood. The Island's ending isn't its best part, but it's not that bad! And everything else makes up for it. The Island is fast paced, has loads and loads of action, and shows one extreme version of a very possible future (albeit with Hollywood style glossing over the actual science). Nice stuff.
Ewan is not too bad in this. He's rough enough to do the action hero stuff, but still looks a bit weedy for the real tough guy scenes. In this case it's not at all bad. A certain rebellious streak is necessary for the character and it works well. Sean Bean is equally good as the intellectual bad guy, but, despite his role in Patriot Games, he still comes across as a bit too nice to be the true nasty man type. Scarlett Johansson has also come a long way since The Horse Whisperer. She can walk again for a start, and breasts are only slightly completely obvious at all times –implants? Socialite Life reported that she went topless in the movie. Not true! She keeps her togs on even in the love scene with Ewan (although they're both virgins at the time so probably didn't think to disrobe anyway). In the odd scene, she even looks attractive. But acting wise, there's a long, long way to go. She has one, and only one, facial expression and it's the same as the Magnum Look from Zoolander: a kind of gormless pout. Happy? Gormless pout. In love? Gormless pout. Terrified to the point of heart seisure? Gormless pout. But, perhaps the true test of an actress of this quality: Sprinting at full tilt for 30 miles under blazing sun: constant gormless pout. So maybe she needs to work on this. I don't think she'll be taking on any roles requiring emotions too soon.
Also, why was it that Scarlett's left cheek was so obviously (and rather amateurishly) airbrushed over in a number of scenes? OK, in the X-Box scene (btw, this movie has more ad placements than an F1 car), she's supposed to have flawless skin as a hologramme, but it is so obvious in the scene at Steve Buscemi's character's house and in several others. The only conclusion is she had an almighty yellow zit on that cheek I guess. Pity we can't do this in real life, eh?
Tags: Movies; The Island; Scarlett Johansson; Ewan McGregor; Sean Bean

Japan's take on Christmas

Boing Boing came across this picture of Japanese take on Christmas Boing Boing: Hilarious Passion of the Christ poster in Japan. It's actually more interesting than simply one that doesn't follow the teaching of the Bible. Japanese, generally, have never, ever heard of Easter. It is not even on their radar unless they're one of the 1 million or so Christians in the population. But the poster does show the very Japanese view of Christmas. See how all the people in the left hand picture are men, slaving away to bring home the Christmas fare? See how the man behind Christ-san is carrying the Christmas Cake box? Christmas cake in Japan is nothing like what we get in the UK (I don't know about the US). Christmas cake at home is rich fruit cake that, by popular consent, is best kept for 1-2 years to mature before eating. Christmas cake in Japan is the exact opposite -- a soft, MSG ladden sponge, plastered with artifial cream and strawberries, and which will go off within 1-2 days at most so must be eaten immediately. The Japanese Christmas cake is such a consumption fad that salesmen travel the country trying to sell them in bulk. And the cake's short life span means that women over about 29 who aren't married are commonly referred to as 'Christmas Cakes' because they're past their sell-by dates.
Why should Japan 'understand' or even know about what the Bible says? No reason at all.

We caused Darfur

I sit in front of the TV watching BBC World's 'A World Uncovered: Never Again' and I'm as shocked as ever. It describes in detail and very credible witnesses how the world simply ignored the problems in Darfur, Sudan.
The list of excuses are flabbergasting. The UN tried to act, but the US refused to help, saying that the African Union should do it. While Africa should certainly police itself, the US, along with everyone else in power in the West, knew it didn't have the resources or the know-how. The African Union was simply an excuse to allow the US to ignore the problem. The programme interview one of only a handful of Western observers, an American sounding captain, describes how they had four vehicles and one helicopter to cover an area the size of France. The militia, which worked in hundreds and had heavily armed, meant there was nothing the observers could do. The observer describes how the Sudanese military, be they army or 'rebels' used helicopter gunships equipped with fletchettes which are designed purely to kill people -- in this case, defenseless peasants and refugees.
The same captain describes how he arrived just before the Sudanese attacked a village of 20,000, was introduced to the people and was applauded by all because they thought his presence meant they were saved 'by the Americans'. But he was one man, and could only watch as the village was burnt to the ground.
Just before the election last year, Bush was forced to use the word 'genocide', and despite Powell's pushing, the US government's rhetoric didn't mean any new action at all. (The programme doesn't make the claim directly, but the suggestion is that Powell's visit to Sudan and his initial use of the word 'genocide' was not inline with what the rest of the Bush administration wanted to say, but there again, Powell was always far too honest for his own political good.) A no-fly zone to keep out the helicopter gun ships designed purely to kill peasants was rejected. And, according to the BBC programme, the Chinese, which takes oil from the area, refused to even consider any form or embargo because it would hurt their economy. The Chinese foreign minister said, "Business is business" -- and the deaths of these African foreigners is clearly "less important".
The report, made and presented by Fergal Keane, would probably be condemned by the usual political motivations. The pictures of the police beating refugees and forcing movement from one camp to another, the camps being bulldozed. The UN aid workers and AU observers were there, filmed it, and could do nothing.
Once again it shows just what morons the politicians and businessmen of the West -- and other powerful nations -- truly are. I don't believe in the anti-globalization movement, but when we ignore genocide, how can it be supported? Even Keane fudges it at the end:

It's not that the world didn't care about Darfur, it's that it didn't care enough.

But Kofi Annan puts him right as he replied:

It shows we've learned nothing from Rwanda.

Technorati Tags: Darfur; Africa; Genocide; shame

Japan wheels out its Emporer for unpleasant duties

I'm just not sure exactly how to take this: Japan's emperor mourns WWII dead also reported by Reuters. It's obviously a good thing. The Japanese Emporer should be applauded for making these trips and for saying the things he did expressing remorse for the War. Afterall, it costs him very little.
The problem is that this latest event is so clearly and unashamedly a PR stunt, so I'm not sure whether to feel disgusted, or simply to feel sorry for poor Akihito and his Missus. They're so obviously being wheeled out by their governmental masters, like tame poodles, and it's quite sad.
Not to detract from the actual act in anyway -- Japan has done this far too little and openly avoided it whenever possible. Today, however, Japan has some of the most comical and stupidest politicians around (and in today's world, that's an amazing achievement that must bring a glow to Japanese hearts I'm sure), and the trouble they've stirred up and actually fostered in relations with both South Korea and China, mean that some pretty desparate measures were called for. If it had been Koizumi making this trip, and if the South Korean memorial had been on the schedule from the start, it would have been no more clearly a PR stunt than it is. Insincerity is a survival trait in Japan (it's actually called 'tatemae'), but it doesn't wash well with other cultures.
Koizumi has actually made more muted apologies for Japan's past than any other prime minister to date. But at the same time, as prime minister, he makes frequent visits to the Yasukuni shrine in Kudanshita. This is pretty much the same as a German Chancellor visiting a Church where Hitler and his cronies were buried to pray, doing it several times a year, and then saying the world's Jewish peoples shouldn't be unhappy about it. (The Holocaust was clearly more important, being planned as it was, but the way Japanese killed for sport during the War is also pretty unforgivable and difficult to understand.)
In the end if boils down to Japan being Japan, and sod the rest of the world -- who are not Japanese anyway, so that's OK -- while at the same time serving their own interests in regards to China and Korea. On reflection, I've come to agree with those who say that China's complaints about Japanese textbooks where a bit rich when considering how the Chinese themselves control their own propoganda, but that doesn't make either right. Japan is set for a major fall as both China and Korea actually catch up and overtake Japan. At that point, wheeling out a delightfully quaint, but otherwise purely ceremonial Emperor to make excuses for its politicians will hardly be enough.

JR driver thinks -- big mistake!

It amused me that Asahi reported a train driver in Nara who overshot the station "because he was thinking and was late applying the breaks". (In Japanese). He overshot the station by 250 metres, and correcting the error delayed the following two trains, inconveniencing about 100 passengers. (Those more familiar with Japan might be saying, "What? Only 100? Phish!", but the two reasons for this were that it was in deepest Nara and happened at 18 minutes past midnight on a work day -- so there were less than the usual number of workers commuting at the time.)
Now clearly, the Japanese should be indirectly translated as "wasn't concentrating", but it's very amusing that he made the mistake because he was "thinking" (direct translation). Anyone who's stood in the forward carriage of a JR West train and watched the automaton actions of their train drivers will understand this all too well. They are not, categorically not, supposed to think. Next time I'm in Japan I'll count the hand movements, but at each station, light and otherwise, drivers are supposed to point at their timetables, point at their dials, point at their equipment, and so on. Total concentration is required. The individual timetables are clipped to an eye-level clipboard next to the driver listing the arrival and departure times to the minute for each station along the route. Drivers are required to stick to these times at all costs -- clearly far too high a cost.
Perhaps if JR, and a number of other companies I could think of (anyone say, "Daiei"?) might do a lot better if employees where actually given some leeway to do dangerously risky things such as thinking.

US isn't losing in Iraq, honest! No, really!

According to the BBC (Rumsfeld: US not losing Iraq war):

"Donald Rumsfeld has said the US is not losing the Iraq war and it would be a mistake to set a timetable for American troops to leave the country."

Thus, today, Rumsfeld confirmed what we all know: the US has lost the war in Iraq. That's another lost war. Oh dear.
To be serious, however, I'll be glad to get back to Japan to get away from the bombing. Japanese TV doesn't report bombings in Iraq, unless of course a Japanese national is involved, so it is easy to hide one's head in the sand there. Here, on the other hand, not only do we get the TV pictures on the BBC, but we also get the statistics. Never a day goes by without another couple of dozen killings. I just do not understand how such mayhem can be said to be 'better than under the last regime'. This one is worse! Yesterday, a BBC correspondent, who must be less biased than a US politician or a military spokesman, told how, although $500 billion (or so) has been spent on Iraq, there is no constant water supply and very little electricity in Baghdad -- which means no air conditioning in 50 degree heat. Wonderful! Of course, the reason is the constant guerilla attacks by the Iraq resistence forces (i.e. terrorists), but that can be little comfort to the people who have to put up with it. On the same day, the CIA, a now wholly Bush regime controlled institution from what we can understand, has come out to say that the situation is actually breeding terrorists. Well, guys, surprise, sur-bloody-prise!
OK, so maybe the so-called war (it was actually a bit too one sided to be a war, right?) may not have been 'lost', but one thing's for sure: nothing has been won. I terrible, sad situation.

MJ cleared of charges, ripped off by US court system

If the BBC and other reporting of the MJ case was even marginally accurate, then clearly the jury delivered the correct verdict. But it's amazing that there should be comments like this one: Michael Jackson cleared of abuse:

"Mr Jackson's former wife Debbie Rowe, who defended the star in court, said she was 'overjoyed that the justice system really works'."

Once again, what passes for 'justice' in the US is rich man wins, poor man loses. If the evidence related in the press was all the prosecution had, why was it brought to court? Because he's rich and famous must be the only possible answer. The defence lawyers, who will be the only ones to hugely profit from this whole farce, really had to do very little to show that the 'evidence' was little more than hearsay and innuendo. The verdict may well have been justice, but it was not, definitely not, any kind of 'justice system' working as it should.

Tottenham not in Europe

Tottenham miss out on Uefa place
Made a note in my blog on reading this. Simply says, "Bugger!" -

The inexperience of youth

Why are you worshipping the ground I blog on? wrote:

"1) Ford Perfect: IS NOT BLACK. He is a man with orange hair. Black people don't have orange hair. And he doesn't blink often. I HAD ENOUGH. WHAT'S WITH THIS RACIAL HARMONY BULLSHIT?? DOUGLAS ADAMS MADE FORD PERFECT WHITE, AND SO HE SHOULD BE! Why must always put one black man into show?? I am infinitely annoyed."

Of all the things to be annoyed (although 'disappointed' is far more accurate) at in HG2TG this is not one of them. Personally, I would say that Ford Prefect could actually act in Douglas Adam's original story whereas in the movie, he so patently cannot. In the original he also had a fairly interesting and slightly sarcastic personality, whereas, again, the key to the movie portrayal is 'being cool'. This is less of an update rather than pampering to less educated and larger audiences on continents across certain oceans.
Oh, btw, that's 'Prefect', not Perfect as all HG2TG fans should really know, y'know.

EU continues with constitution scam

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | EU struggles to save constitution Well, yes, it's wonderful that the Dutch have voted against the disgusting attempt by European pseudo politicians to force in a constitution which would give us an unelected president and outlaw political criticism of European leaders. If the constitution were approved, Europe would have moved towards a system similar to any other one party state where politicians are elected by each other with only lipservice paid to the true electorate.
But, let's be honest here, of course anyone who believes in freedom should not support such a terrible treaty, the fact that it has been written (by a French crook no less) in the first place shows that the EU doesn't care what the electorate think. They're going on to confirm this by insisting that, although the Dutch and French say no, although the "rules" say all countries must ratify the constitution, the EU is saying, "Well the UK should go ahead and ratify it anyway" -- in other words, "it doesn't matter what the result, this constitution will be brought in". A very naive BBC reporter pointed out that why should Britain have a referendum about a document which will then be changed AFTER we've voted on it. Well, of course they're going to change it. That's the whole point. The whole voting thing is a sham.

BBC NEWS: Japan vetoes suits in summer heat
Once you live in Japan, you get used to a series of government messages advising how o live your life. Not, however, what we're used to in the West. No messages against drinking (lots of big beer companies in Japan), wreckless driving (lots of big car companies in Japan), sexual harassment (only men have positions of power in Japan), or even looking after children (again, not something men do), and certainly nothing at all about smoking (Japan Tobacco is still a virtual monopoly and is now developing anti-cancer treatment -- not that smoking and cancer is linked of course). But what we do get is how to sit on trains, to get to work early, to learn English, and lots of other vital things for the Japanese economy and society. We also get lots of advertising saying air conditioners should never go below 26 degrees C (BBC spun it to say "25", but that's not what they say on the TV ads).
On the TV, you then get the hilarious shots of Koizumi striding out of the government in very unstylish and mismatched hippy clothes, surrounded by at least six secret service officers in full formal dress, followed by similar shots of his cabinet team also in full dress suits. Not so cool at all. But Jonathon Head notes:

However many office workers say they would feel even more uncomfortable without the formality and anonymity of suits.

This, of course, is the biggest problem. I never wear a tie unless I'm being very well paid indeed. But Japan's move, although typically anal and smacking of typically authoritarian control that the Japanese love so much, their hearts are firmly in the right place. Has there been any clearer move by a government anywhere to convince ordinary citizens to reduce energy consumption. The American Empire might be insisting it has the right to burn as many fossil fuels as it likes and there is no environmental problem (Curious G says so, to it must be true), but the rest of the world faces the problem. Before my children are grown, we'll be at war over oil and possibly even water, so Japan's move is really very welcome - although, as usual, rather funny.

Liverpool are bloody embarrassing!

I'm sitting here watching the European Cup Final. It's half-time, and although I've no particular love for Liverpool, they are British and they are totally embarrassing. It's already 3-0 to Milan and I've gone from half heatedly supporting Liverpool to hoping they get stuffed 5-0 or more. It's disgusting. The performance is lack lustre, half-hearted and very unprofessional. Luis Garcia and Xavier Alonso both are so bad they look like they're playing for the Italians, Traore is so out classed it's sad, and Baros, despite the make-up, looks like a 10-year-old beginner up against Stam. Ridiculous! Of course, we're all delighted that Liverpool knocked Chelsea out in the semi-final, but Mourinho must be watching this and laughing his heart out. On this form, even Southampton could beat Liverpool. Totally dreadful. They should be required to pay back the airfares and ticket cost for every one of their fans.

Update

Well, well, well. Thanks to Gerrard alone Liverpool scored three times in five minutes and we're now in extra time. Ironically, Alonso scored the penalty, but only on a second attempt (and I strongly suspect he was trying to put it over the bar even then). Benitz eventually replaced Baros with Cisse, but Luis Garcia continues to be a serious thorn in Liverpool's side. He can't touch the ball without giving it to the Italians.

Update 2

All over and the best team in Europe didn't win -- in fact the best teams in Europe weren't even in the final -- Liverpool won. Mostly thanks to Dudek (man of the match in my view) who did everything including pelvis thrusts to put off the Milan penalty takers. Very, very, very lucky! So, as Liverpool is only the fifth best team in the UK, clearly there's four teams in the UK better than anythign else in Europe! On the whole, a crap final.

Revenge of the Sith lives up to expectations

The New Yorker: The Critics: The Current Cinema: "The general opinion of %u201CRevenge of the Sith%u201D seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, "The Phantom Menace" and"Attack of the Clones." True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion."

So, the latest Star Wars movie lives up to all expectations. Now, if he had any sense or ethics left, Mr. Lucas should be paying me to go and see it. Nothing extravagant. I'll accept the price of seeing Episode I and Episode II as reimbursement and, as long as I can take my Palm into the theatre, I'm totally happy to go and see Episode III. By the way, this is an excellent review. Anyone looking to see the latest Lucas disaster should certainly read it first.

M USA: Manchester United gets bought

Malcolm Glazer, an ageing US tycoon, has acquired a stake in the UK's most internationally famous football club that basically gives him ownership (Glazer Man Utd stake exceeds 75%). As a result, there is little to stop the man removing the remaining shares from public sale. He is, in effect, the outright controller of Manchester United. Despite what fans and some others might think, this guy (who's apparently almost 80 years old) can't be so stupid as not think running Man U will be anything like an American sports team -- surely, not?
It is a terrible thing to happen. Glazer could still prove everyone wrong by pouring money into the club for player signings, but that seems so far away from the US professional sports model that it is unlikely. Equally, one wonders if Glazer has even heard of British football fans. Manchester United is not the team I support, but even I recognise its importance in the game, and it has always been a club I'm more than happy to watch play. It is now, due to the greed of its own directors in listing the company in the first place, in danger of out and out extinction. Although fans plan to 'encourage' Glazer that he has a bad deal, that is a strategy that could just as easily backfire.
Of course, the best way to do this would be to boycott next week's FA Cup Final outright -- but what fan would do that?
It remains to be seen just how Glazer will use his new toy (and that is, I'm afraid what he has bought). Personally, I hope he sits quietly on his investment, and eventually moves on to other pastures, leaving Man U in no worse a state than it is now. Football without Manchester United is just not worth contemplation.

Sphere with Arabic & Animals

Sphere with Arabic & Animals

Oxford is full of museums. It is sad how much you can live in a place and not see it. We have the good fortune to live in a lot of places, but apart from Kobe (where, ironically, there isn't all that much to see anyway, and what is there is less than impressive on an international scale), we only get to see the basics.
Partly by chance, we've had a bit more time recently, so we went to the Ashmolean Museum and the Oxford Science Museum on consecutive days. Both are free. Both are superb, although the Science museum is tiny and the Ashmolean itself is only medium sized as museums go. The Ashmolean is amazing. There is so much to see and it's all excellently referenced and explained. The artwork is great, but the best bits are the historical (I suppose 'archeological' would be more accurate for most) things. There is a lot of really, really cool stuff there. We plan to go back before we leave.

A bit yellow today

BCN_Pollution

Barcelona is an excellent place to live, but it's not quite a lovely as it's often painted. The two big problems are dogs (if you see what I mean) and pollution. I like the way that there are almost no parking laws whatsoever, but that also means there are more than a few cars in the city.
On a day like today, when its actually getting quite warm, the haze is enhanced by this yellow muck above the city. Not so nice at all.

UK election drags on and on

I remember so well when I left the UK in 1991 the relief at not having to listen to radio shows featuring politicians. Politicians, by default, are the only people on earth that out perform bankers, people who work in other forms of finance, and insurance people, as the slime of the earth -- and they do it easily. I've been back less than 24 hours and just turning on The Today Show, which, otherwise is one of the best radio news programmes in the world, submits me to 'interviews' with politicians.
Naturally, with an election coming up, the lack of interview content has actually increased. Yet more slime-balls telling yet more lies and refusing, in the rudest possible terms, to give any question a straight answer. In a true democracy, politicians and bureaucrats would by law (and more drastic medical procedures where necessary) be restricted to saying only "Yes" or "No". After-all, they don't need to say anything else and submitting anyone to their general, offensive drivel otherwise should be a criminal offence with the gravest consequences. Equally, the Yes/No answers they give should also be scrutinised for the slightest inaccuracy and suitably painful and irreversible punishments meted out accordingly for untruthful answers.
It would be slightly more acceptable if politicians actually said anything of any substance, but too many, regardless of party, spend their time and waste everybody else's by simply stating their biased views of opposing party's policies or personnel. Right wing politicians, who have absolutely no scruples at all, and no interest whatsoever in anything except their own well being, are particularly adept at criticising without adding anything at all of substance. It's a complete joke. And they expect people to vote for these prostitutes? "Vote for me! My body, soul, and what little integrity I have, is for sale" -- but of course, the fact that normal people won't hear or see a jot from these same people until the next prostitution exercise.
Even more amusing is the totally expected news that people are offering their votes for sale on eBay. This makes the whole idea of democracy a laughing stock and is, apparently, illegal, but hardly surprising. With the amount of money spent on such political campaigning, especially in the American Empire but increasingly elsewhere as well, denying the ability to sell one's vote is largely hypocritical. Our votes are already being bought -- the party with the highest campaigning budget usually wins (although not always because, quite clearly, high advertising budgets can be balanced out by excess slime, hypocrisy, and other unacceptable animal behaviour which usually overflows after a few years).
But perhaps most important of all, a so-called news headline which talks of a political party's view or PR announcement is not, by default, a true piece of news. It's like announcing 2+2=4. I think all such headlines should be preceded by 'BO': Bleedin' Obvious, because they're clearly not going to be saying anything else. Today the so-called Liberal Democrats (I say so-called, because these names are simply a form of branding, the content is identical in every case) announced their so-called manifesto. I was doubly amused last year when Japanese politicians, for the first time in history, also issued their first manifestos. It is farcical to even suggest that, as an elected politician, a Japanese person should actually do anything apart from fall asleep in a nice room in Tokyo, rake off extra tax funds by employing non-existent assistants, and generally make any kind of international relations a news issue, (oh, and of course give tacit support to the glorious efforts of the Japanese military in the 1930s and 1940s, but that's so BO that it's hardly worth saying; the Chinese, while actually just wanting to keep Japan off the security council, actually have a good point about Japan's indifference to the genocide they inflicted in the War). Japanese politicians, were, therefore, far less slimey than their Western counterparts. At least they didn't make false promises. Some even admit they only get elected for the money, and the Japanese people are quite happy to elect actors, singers and comedians, such as the current Japanese Prime Minister. We even had politicians openly scoffing at the fact that their own party's manifesto actually meant anything other than a chance to make some money on their shares in DNP (Dai-Nippon Printing).
Clearly Douglas Adams was correct in saying, "Anyone capable of getting themselves elected, should under no account be allowed to do so", and that politicians should merely be the PR front that deflects attention away from the real power of government decision making. The American Empire has managed this with their last two presidents, and Japan has done this for more than 40 years.

Korea [Day 2]

Big work day today. Naturally, I slept for all of about 2 hours, but up for breakfast at 7am and ready for the off by 9. The hotel's breakfast lived up to the rest of the standard I'd seen so far: pretty poor. Very basic stuff including own brand cereals, some very, very insipid coffee (no milk) and nothing but scrambled eggs and processed french-fries for the hot food.
Interestingly, nobody seemed to understand what was happening for the first session of the day. It turned out to be a totally separate event run by KIET, something like a Chamber of Commerce. It was packed, literally standing room only. Interesting data about internationalization and about China in particular. Also some nice comments from the Korean Ministry saying that Carrefour is the only company that won't talk to them! Carrefour clearly has a major personality problem and deserves no sympathy whatsoever. The confirmation of these kinds of rumours no matter where I go makes it clear that Carrefour is not looking like a truly capable company for the long run. The appointment of the failed Marks & Spencer man as their new head is equally inspiring of very little confidence.
Korean French food for lunch--skipped the meat, naturally--and then on to the main event of the day. If it wasn't for a handful of students turning up, the session would have been attended by exactly 9 people, so I bit of a disaster to be blunt. The most interesting thing for me was upsetting the one Japanese member of the audience by saying Japan was "modernizing". He took exception to the term, but even greater exception when I suggested 'Westernizing' was more accurate (which of course it is!). He then made his own presentation in which he contrasted Ito-Yokado with "global retailers" as if IY & Aeon aren't global because they're Japanese. Yeah, right pal. It is an interesting comparison with Korea, which welcomes (at least on the surface) the open entry of overseas retailers into its market. Japan still thinks it can beat the world single handedly and is looking to put one over on everyone it deals with. "Japanese distribution is different!" he screams, and I totally concur, but that's missing the point. Yes, store operations and consumer expectations may be different, but the way to make money in retailing is the same in any advanced nation. Of course, once this is pointed out, Aeon and the other 'modern' Japanese retailers are immediately called "exceptions".
Anyway, the afternoon passed, and although a couple more people dropped out, the evening came with a long, slow, multi-course dinner at 'Korea House', a standard tourist destination restaurant used by international and local tourists. Again, meat thoroughly avoided along with any form of alcohol. This was followed by a pretty impressive show of dance & drums and things. Again, the amazing thing from my point of view was the contrast with similar Japanese events. The Korean show was fast and exciting, and the dancers actually smiled! In Japan, the couple of times I've been to similar things, it's been 'strictly traditional' and absolutely no smiling at all. Very boring in fact.

In Korea [Day 1]

Arrived in South Korea at about 11am this morning. Not a bad flight, but a bit crowded and the guy sitting next to me was fidget-y and had lots of arms. Watched three movies though, "Shall we Dance", "Bridget Jones the Edge of Reason", and "Cellular". Cellular is a truly 'B' movie, but on that scale, Edge of Reason is hardly an 'F'. Totally awful and Rene Z. just embarrasses the rest of the cast. Useless, but I'll write more on the other blog.
Easy bus into the City Air Terminal in about an hour and a short taxi ride down to the hotel. The first thing that hits you on the bus is the total lack of colour. Everything is grey and beige, with the dormant trees and grass brown from the dry winter here. But the hills are also all sculptured and rounded, and even the little hills of gravel used at building sites are covered with non-descript netting. On the way I think I saw three graveyards, but I might be wrong. They were stepped hills, with little mounds of gravel on them and with small head markers on them. Maybe they were something else, and it is certainly an unpleasant place to rest, right next to the motorway.
Koreans are great. Very friendly, lots of English and welcome to use it. Young people are often carrying large textbooks and seem happy and studious. At the motorway toll-gate, whereas Japan only uses men to collect money, Korea only uses women. The status of women here is clearly very low, although Korean women can be much more aggressive and openly intelligent than Japanese (who are taught from an early age to hide and cover their intelligence), but they're not treated very well. On the other than, you see lots of very romantic looking couples being affectionate to each other, something you still rarely see in Japan.
After checking in and sleeping for a couple of hours, I met RH and had a 'Breakfast Tea Latte'. For the order, the server asked RH his name to which he replied, "David Beckham". The server didn't even bat an eyelid and entered it on the receipt, so RH now has his own David Beckham receipt. After chatting for an hour or so, he went off to meet others and I headed back. The garlic on the train was a bit strong and the guy throwing up in the corner of the crowded carriage didn't help -- but luckily the smell only just began to reach me by the time I got off. Not nice, but there is a tradition of over drinking here.
Right to bed. My presentation is ready, we'll see how we go tomorrow.

Just a little test

How does this work out I wonder??

Not the best of anniversaries

The two shot
Originally uploaded by R&W.

Last weekend was our fifth wedding anniversary, which is the 'wooden' one. W came all the way to Spain to celebrate. Naturally, we spent all day working, but went out for a special meal in the evening. I was a bit worried because this is a lot simpler than our usual anniversary and W tends to like something special. In hindsight, we should probably have gone away somewhere even for a day, and now, of course, I wish we did.
Anyway, in the end, we set out at the standard 9pm to a restaurant that MC had kindly booked for us at our request, getting over the language barrier in one fell swoop. We arrived at an unassuming entrance with the restaurants name in wrought iron letters just 2-inches high above the door. If you didn't know that was the restaurant, you'd never find it. The name is El Roca en Friexa, and came recommended.
At first it didn't disappoint. The waiters and waiter-esses were ingratiating, the prices were high, and the decor highly, highly pretentious. Arriving a few minutes late at about 9.20pm, we were only the second people in there, Spain being Spain. Not knowing or understanding the menu, and not being bothered to ask the English speaking waiter-ess (rather than waitress as she was dressed in a man's suit), we chose the short course. This standard nibbles, two starters (or one starter and one tapas if you prefer), a fish course, a meat course, a dessert, and chocolates and nibbles to go with the coffee. All was good, but highly, experimental. The fish course was very rich and buttery, but the meat course, a circular tower of grated veal in a very, very rich wine sauce, was a little difficult to get down. W took one bite and decided it was too much, even suggesting the meat was bitter and may be even off. I wolfed mine down as I'm prone to do. The dessert was rosemary flavoured ice cream--rather strange if you're used to having rosemary on your meat. This was served with a glass of cocoa on dry ice. That was the best part of the meal because the cocoa bubbles and spits until it covers the plate, and then they take it away.
Around 11pm we finished an got our taxi home. The bill was high, but no worries as it was our anniversary. At the same time, unless you really want to pay for the decor and posh service, I wouldn't price the food anywhere near what we were charged. We saw other tables send their orders back as well, undoubtedly because the cooking was just too experimental. It's unthinkable that we'll go back, but even if we did, we wouldn't sit in the same place as it was right near the door and totally freezing.

Anyway, all well and good. A big meal. Off to bed.

3am comes around and I do not feel well.

As I hate throwing up on principle, I resist for an hour or so, but eventually have to give in. 4am, I've had a new, detailed, close-up look at our meat course. Very clever of W not to touch hers. I now wish I hadn't. I managed to sleep for a while before the next bout of vomiting, but basically Sunday, usually our second day of anniversary as our marriage took two days, was spent throwing up, sleeping, and feeling utterly horrible. W was wonderfully supportive and looked after me very well. It wasn't until about 5pm next afternoon that I could even keep down water.
So, all in all, not the best of anniversaries at all. I felt ill after the last time we went to the 7 Portes paella restaurant as well, so you need to be careful in Spain. I may have a weak stomach, but, as Mike Harding said, you have to try to chuck it as far as possible. What really gets me though is how much I paid for the honour of spending a whole day bent over a loo. That is one restaurant we will never ever go back to. Too experimental by far!

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) was one of the first movies I saw when I went to university and I watched it with W for only the second time last night. It's aged just a bit, with the story-line not seeing as strong as it was the first time around, but it was still a good story. Merryl Streep is excellent in it, and ably backed up by Jeremy Irons.

It is the story of a man (Irons) who, while visiting his fiancee in Dorset, meets and falls instantly in love with a woman (Streep) who, so everyone in the town believes, had an illicit affair with a visiting Frenchman. I wonder if, even in movies, they would keep the veiled insults against Frenchmen in there nowadays. In any case, he feels compelled to help her escape her poverty and seemingly fatal shame. The film is a film within a film, with the main plot is mixed very cleverly with the story of a present day adulterous affair between Irons and Streep as they play the parts of the two characters from centuries past. All this is set mostly with Lyme Regis as its background along with the surround cliffs, all of which is well shot and very atmospheric.

I didn't remember the manipulative side of Streep's character from the first time I saw it, but this time it seemed a lot clearer. Did she love him, or was she just using him to escape from her poverty? His own naivety is equally obvious, particularly in his first engagement to the (amazingly) named Ernestina. I still don't know which it was. The main story ends one way, the present day story, another, with subtle little twists of the two stories coming together right at the end so that you're not supposed to know when they're acting being actors and when they're not. Very nice.

This is still a film to watch. Well worth the effort all round.

Japan turns to beer alternatives (BBC)

According to the BBC, Japan is increasing turning to beer alternatives. By this, they mean drinks that taste like beer even though they aren't beer. I remember my geography teacher at school saying, "Beer tastes horrible, but men like it because we're all basically masochists!" He was probably overstating the point, but too often in Britain this seems to be the case. So why do Japanese like the taste of beer so much?

Well, Japanese beer doesn't actually taste that bad. It's always cold, very, very fizzy, and often quite sharp. You get used to it quickly. Yes, compared to beer in other countries, you're often (usually) short-changed because the head is so large that the glass can be up to half empty. (Japan's oh-so-keen consumer groups haven't got around to weights-and-measures yet.) But, at least for a glass or two it tastes pretty good, and, as with everything in Japan, the quality is consistent and you know what you're getting. The only downside is the MSG. A regularly beer drinker from Europe is not going to get drunk quickly on Japanese beer, especially as Japanese only ever drink while they're eating, but 3-4 glasses in, and you get this very distinct, and rather unpleasant after taste. That's the MSG kicking in. MSG was invented by the Japanese and I remember the mother of my very first homestay family telling me, "You must put Ajinomoto in everything" (Ajinomoto being pure chemical MSG of course).

So perhaps making drinks that taste like beer isn't so strange after all. Japan's modern foods are now highly synthetic anyway and no one cares. Taste can be controlled, so the important thing is variety. Doesn't matter whether it's good for you, all that matters is that it's different.

A lot done in a little time

At last, we seem to have completed the planning for W's major project assignment. She has to produce both a dissertation and some kind of electronic media artefact to go with it. Ironically, the dissertation will probably be the easy (but boring) bit, while getting an idea that is both easy enough to complete and interesting enough to hold W's interest is much, much harder.

In the end, everything will be about icons. Personally, I think this is the obvious, but no less good, choice. By studying how to design icons, W should benefit for when she gets back to icon design full-time. She has all the design sense, but being aware of the issues in actual design processes should help her see yet more ideas.

Not that thrashing out the idea was easy. She wants my approval, but isn't happy with my rather basic and totally ill-informed ideas. In the end, the final plan is 95% W's idea and 5% my planning. Now all she has to do it put together the flow charts so that she can explain the idea and convince her tutors. No problem, just got to get on with it.