Wow. This is the first picture I’ve seen of my very pregnant sister. Um, Tama… did you just run a marathon or something? Why isn’t the rest of your body all big and bloated?
Photo credit: Dad (taken at Luther Burbank Park in Seattle)
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Roasting
Not a cloud in the sky. Current temperature—99 degrees. That’s 10 degrees hotter than it is in Tokyo, which is unusual. Time to head to the pool.
Perversely, there is a ban on the use of sunscreen products at swimming pools here. Part of the effort to keep the water pristine, I would imagine (clean water now—skin cancer later). It just means having to apply in advance.
Austin Powers Doesn’t Translate
I paid $15 Saturday night to see Austin Powers at a local cinema. And the only laughter came from our group of English-speakers.
Seeing a movie at a theater is pretty expensive in Japan, and the venue quality here in Nagano leaves something to be desired. The theater looked something like a high school auditorium, and I’ve seen bigger screens in home entertainment systems. On the bright side, I was able to buy a beer at the snack counter.
How well does this sort of humor translate into Japanese? It doesn’t, judging by the audience response. No wonder there are no comedy sections at the local video stores.
Beyonce Knowles should get some kind of award for Leading Character with Zero Character. You can dress her up, but…
Mountains and Hospitals
Had a day of mountain biking in Hakuba on Saturday with Ben and Peter that ended with Peter in the hospital.
Hakuba is a small village at the base of the Japanese Alps, where ski jumping events were held during the 1998 Winter Olympics. It’s about 45 minutes from Nagano by car. There is some spectacular mountain scenery—it’s easy to see why the area was nicknamed the Japanese Alps. At one ski area, you can pay to take gondolas up a mountain with bikes, then ride down the trails.
Late in the afternoon, Peter took a bad jump and landed on his head, leaving him in a state of shock. He had to be taken by ambulance to a hospital in a town about 20 miles away. He wasn’t coherent until about three hours after the accident. There were no broken bones and a CAT scan showed no serious damage. But he’s staying at the hospital overnight for observation.
Trying to deal with language barriers in medical emergencies isn’t much fun, but everyone was very patient and helpful.
Dam Issues
A special election is scheduled for Sept. 1 in Nagano Prefecture (Nagano city is the seat of the regional government). Voters will elect a governor, and the likely winner will be the man who resigned just last month. The election is drawing interest from all over Japan, and is seen as a harbinger of the battle between reformers and the entrenched political establishment in this country.
The picture here is of Yasuo Tanaka, the reform governor who resigned last month after a no-confidence vote by the prefectural assembly. One of the main points of conflict between the governor and the assembly was whether a new dam should be built near Nagano city. The dam seems to have been one of the many pork-barrel construction projects for which Japan is infamous, and Tanaka angered many entrenched interests by blocking construction of the dam.
Tanaka was a famous writer in Japan before entering politics, and is something of a maverick. He is expected to be re-elected next week, thus gaining more leverage against his opponents in the assembly.
As the campaign draws to a close, the candidates and their supporters rely on bullhorns to help get their messages out. I’m woken up each morning by political speeches which sound like they’re coming from a loudspeaker right outside my window. In the evenings, during the after-work rush, I often have to speak louder in my classes to be heard above the noise.
Update (Sept. 04) — Tanaka won the election by a large margin.
Strait vs. Gay
In Alaska, Republicans Steve Strait and Becky Gay are running neck-and-neck in the primary race for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives. With all precincts reporting, it’s 947 votes for Strait and 945 votes for Gay. Maybe absentee votes (all those sailors overseas) will tip the balance.
(Thanks for the story tip, Dad.)
Cooling Off
I’ve been getting exercise recently at a nice, 50-meter outdoor pool. It’s about a 15-minute bicycle ride from my apartment, and is rarely busy in the late mornings when I go. It’s usually a collection of young and old men. The old guys swim a couple laps, then get out to smoke a cigarette or two before jumping back in.
Nagano Weather
I’ve added a weather link on the side, with Yahoo Weather information for Nagano (sorry for the annoying pop-up ad). The latest weather info on Nagano seems to be at 4pm each day so it’s not updated very often. I’m still looking for a better source of local weather.
It continues to be hot and sunny every day. Whenever I look at the weather info on Yahoo, it seems cooler than it actually feels here. I arrive at work every day drenched in sweat.
Having to wear the dress shirt and tie doesn’t help matters. I stopped wearing a suit jacket a long time ago. Considering the summer weather, it’s strange to think we’ll have lots of snow during the winter.
Going Live
Right. It’s time to go ahead and turn this thing on. I’ve decided to switch this blog over to my mikegerhardt.com domain in order to keep the mikemedia.com domain more focused on business.
The Photos & Flicks section is still not complete, but I’ll be continuing to work on that this week.
One note on compatibility: this site is best viewed with modern browsers. I haven’t done extensive testing yet, so if you’re using older browsers you may come across some problems. If you see something funky and want to take the time to let me know about it, a note would be appreciated. Be sure to send info on what operating system and browser you are using.
Enjoy…
Where Do All Those Old Computers Go?
BBC has a photo essay on Chinese workshops that recycle old computer parts from the west. Long hours and low pay are involved, of course, but there is also the problem of toxins. We rarely think of our computers as anything other than high-tech wonders. But lead, cadmium, chromium and mercury are all poisonous metals commonly found in computers, and these toxic metals — and more — are causing health problems among those who handle them.
For more information: Report criticizes IT industry on hardware recycling