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  03.12.2001
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Yes, okay, the St. Patrick's day parade was
a blow-out. Myself and about ten family and
friends marched in it -- Japanese style copy
of an American festival celebrating Irish
ancestry....hmm, surreal to say the least.
Surprisingly, a few thousand people showed
up. There were families with kids, dance
school students, Irish bands, high school
majorettes, young drunken foreign people
(i.e., my friends), and the whole gamut of
Europhile Japanese that usually turn our
at these type of events. I was told later
that the Prime Minister of Ireland lead the
parade -- but I never noticed him at the
time.
The most interesting thing, to me at least,
was the way the Japanese people mixed their
traditional matsuri (festival) type parade, where each neighborhood
parades their local temple's shrine boisterously
around on the shoulders of young men dressed
in housecoat style garb, with elements of
so called "Irish" culture. The
classic example of this is one of the pictures
above where the young Japanese men are carrying
a giant inflated Guinness beer on their shoulders.
 03.10.2001
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You might not believe it, but most of my
social time here in Tokyo is spent in Irish
pubs -- what can I say, I like fatty food
and thick beer. Above are a few shots from
last night at the recently opened Hobgoblin
in Asakusa.
Tomorrow we're going to march in the St.
Patrick's day parade down Omotesando Street
in Harajuku. WhooHoo, expect some good pics!
 03.09.2001
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Last night's sandwich party was a roaring
success -- thanks to the Austrian beef salami,
I might add. I had a bit too much cheap wine
and started to shoot my mouth off, but hey,
what else is new.
In attendance were Mark, Trudy, and their
baby Jo, Nicole, Amanda, my wife Karen and
I. Quite a cosy little group if I must
say. Without a doubt the baby stole the show,
maybe that's why I started showing off after
the second glass of wine. You know, needed
some attention or something.
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I always find reading other people's weblogs
a bit tedious a times because I don't know
any of the people whom they are referring
too. Kind of like starting a novel
in the middle. It's a tricky problem because
the blog author doesn't have time, nor enough
reader attention, to characterize each person
that they might happen to mention in any
given blog entry.
To overcome this conceptual obstacle I've
decided to create a kind of 'cast and characters'
sheet for all the most significant people
in my life. Then, whenever I mention
someone's name in my blog entry, I can link
the name to the character sheet, and when
the reader clicks the name, up pops a little
window with a picture and short bio of the
person in question. Great idea...I think.
Probably a lot of work though, so lets
hope that I can pull it off.
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Thanks to Jenn, aka 'Jenn-Rock, the coolest girl in Toronto'
for the plug on oneofthose.com.
 03.08.2001
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We're having a dinner party tonight, and
me being the exceptional host that I am decided
to have a sandwich party -- you know, let
everyone make their own sandwiches. This
is not as slack as it seems, we don't get
many good sandwiches here in Japan.
So, this morning before work, on a quest
for salami, pickles and crusty bread, I went
to probably the most expensive supermarket
in Tokyo -- National in Hiroo. National caters
to the rich foreigner community, it's the
only place in downtown Tokyo, that I can
think of, with a parking lot. On top of that,
they have parking lot attendants who graciously
plant your Mercedes or BMW into a freshly
swept, yellow-lined spot.
There, in the midst of all the fat expat
wives buying Doritos with embassy money,
Pilipino nannies pushing blonde toddlers
in gigantic strollers, and long-nosed northern
Europeans squeezing the latest variety of
Austrian cheddar cheese, I found what I had
been seeking -- sandwich meat.
The morale of the story?
1)Never take ordinary food for granted.
2)Friends are worth the hassle.
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