Where’s your mask now?
August 29, 2009
150,000 patients estimated to have contracted flu this week
TOKYO — About 150,000 people are estimated to have become infected with influenza in the week ended Sunday, considered mostly the new strain of flu, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said in a preliminary report Friday. [full article]
According to this Japan Today article, there are an estimated 150,000 cases of swine flu in Japan now. On the train, on the streets, basically everywhere I go, not a single face mask is to be seen.
Back a few months ago, when the number of flu cases hit around 800, face masks were sold out, I was made to wear a mask while teaching, and The Woman was even yelled at by some old man on the subway for not wearing a mask. Had I been there he would have had to yell at me, for decking him for yelling at my wife.
I blame the retarded media in Japan. They have shown time and time again that they blow everything out of proportion. While the 150,000 cases of flu is going on, the retarded media is covering the stupid antics of some washed-up celebrity who did some drugs and following every single move about this story. I’m not even going to name this no-talent druggie to not add to the problem.
I wish the general population would wake up and think for themselves instead of taking the news on TV at full face value. I’m guessing that this is not localized to Japan neither.
I have to go. The news says that complaining too much causes rashes.
Harvest Hill
August 26, 2009
We had a pleasant day out with good friends last Sunday at a quaint little place called Harvest Hill, located in Sakai City, Osaka. I think it’s what’s called a “farm park”, or a farm-themed theme park. It’s quite a big park with a lot of greenery, a lot more than what I can usually see in the city so it was quite a welcome change.
There are a lot of things to do in the park like experience different farm activities like milking cows, making your own sausages, leatherworking, and even glassblowing. There were many county fair-style booths with games too but unfortunately they were so old and crappy that it really wasn’t any fun. We had a nice little yakiniku bbq and then walked around the park. There were a few farm animals but they were in pretty sad shape.
Compared to any real farm, or to a real theme park, this place would be pretty sad but it was definitely nice to leave the city and walk around trees and grass for a change.
Night at the Museum 2
August 23, 2009
Hank Azaria is a genius. He deserves a Nobel Prize for the work he does. It was because of Hank Azaria that we liked Night at the Museum 2 so much. I thought it was much funnier and well-developed than the first. It’s good to see 90% of the cast of The Office in the movie too!
The Brute
August 16, 2009
Recently I encountered yet another person who thought they knew it all about martial arts. He’s one of my students from a corporate class that just ended and they all took me out for dinner that night. While drunk, he started talking about how he is (was?) able to do something like 200 pushups. I told him that that was fantastic! He then told me he did some sort of Japanese kenpo system. To be honest I have no idea what style it was because 1. I had never heard of it and 2. he was slurring from the alcohol he had imbibed.
Well anyway, he then told me that he could beat me in a fight. He knows that my “hobby” is kung fu. He has never seen my kung fu before nor have I really talked about it beyond the extent of “I’m going to my kung fu class this weekend.” I thought it was rather rude that he would hold such an opinion without even seeing what I do, or more importantly, what I can do.
I wasn’t angry because this was not the first time I’ve heard comments like this and also because there’s no point being angry at a guy who’s generally very nice but unfortunately drunk at the moment. I asked him calmly, why he thought he could beat me. He said because he’s stronger than me (because he can do 200 pushups). I actually agreed with him – he is stronger than me. I can’t do 200 pushups. I told him, if we were ever to fight using pushups, he would definitely win.
I then started explaining that in my style, I wouldn’t fight brute strength with more brute strength because, for the reason I had just explained, I would lose. I’m not a very strong person. He still insisted that he would beat me.
One lesson Steve has imparted on me is that sometimes some people take better to a physical lesson rather than a verbal lesson. Obviously I wasn’t going to start beating him up or anything but a simple demonstration would suffice.
I asked him to grab my arm with both hands and push. I deliberately pushed back and let him “win”. I didn’t use my full muscular power because he was drunk and he couldn’t use his full power but I resisted just enough to let him push me backwards. I then reassured him that “Wow you are strong. You are definitely stronger than me.”
Then I told him, “OK this time, push me again but I’m not going to use strength to defeat you.” He obediently grabbed onto my arm again and started pushing. As soon as I felt the “break point” of resistance, I just took a sidestep and watched as he stumbled forward – it’s hard to push against something when it’s no longer there. My point of this was to show that there is more than one way to fight a fight – brute strength being one of them, and using the opponent’s strength against him being another. I didn’t make any judgements on either one because that wasn’t the point.
He got back up and said, “I could still beat you”.
Indeed.
Squirrel Portrait, Banff
August 15, 2009
Squirrel Portrait, Banff, picture from National Geographic’s Photo of the Day. How awesomely cute.
Another quake
August 11, 2009
Following the pretty strong quake that hit the Tokyo area, there was another shaker this morning in Shizuoka. At 5:07am, a 6.6 on the Richter, or a 6-Weak on the Japanese system, struck off the coast of Shizuoka. In Osaka, it registered a 3 on the Japanese system. We were sleeping of course but I’m a very light sleeper and I woke up almost immediately. The building swayed for I guess 20 seconds or so.
Turning on the TV, information began flooding in. Japan has in place a very fast network of earthquake information. Almost simultaneously, the quake’s point of origin and magnitude are popped up on screen, followed by breaking news reports, and then in a couple of minutes, followed by tsunami warnings. Finally, video clips from the various news stations come in showing how the quake looked in their offices – usually they just show some lights or signs swaying.
Anyway, there might be reports of injuries coming in later.
Now that I’m awake, I doubt I will be able to sleep again. I hate quakes.
