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12.14.02
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I never thought that I'd be writing these
words: I ate my first raw chicken meat yesterday.
Actually, it was pretty good, very tender.
It came with a savory soy sauce-based dip.
I ate the chicken at an after-work going
away party for a couple of guys who left
my company last month. As far as these types
of parties go it was a good one, probably
because none of the upper management people
were there so everyone was more relaxed.
The party was at a yaki-niku restaurant.
These are really fun places to eat because
you grill your own meat on a brazier that
sits in the middle of the table. The raw
chicken was just an appetizer.
On of my ongoing jokes to my Japanese friends
is, ' why is Japanese food so expensive when
it's either served to you raw or else you
have to cook it yourself?'
Anyway, I got some pretty good pictures of
the event which I'll probably post on Monday.
Just for the record, I am not endorsing
raw
chicken consumption -- do not try this
at
home!
12.12.02
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A little while ago I wrote a post on racism
in Japan that was inspired by an article
that I read in the Japan Times. The article was about a new police white
paper which claims that crimes committed
by foreigners serve as a model for Japanese
criminals. The implication is that crimes
committed by foreigners are more violent
and dastardly than indigenous crimes, and
consequently foreign criminals are causing
the general level of crime to worsen.
Recently the Japan Times wrote an editorial addressing the same topic.
A local foreign activist also wrote an interesting
rebuttal.
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Here's a really interesting story about a Canadian
woman who is in Kabul right now teaching
IT courses to government and university officials.
It sounds like a great adventure, and the
best thing is that you can tag along with
her because she is blogging her trip. I'm checking it daily.
12.09.02
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We had the first snowfall of the year today.
I loved it, it reminded me of home -- I think
that it had something to do with seeing my
breath as I walked along through the slowly
falling flakes that reminded me of being
young and in Ontario.
It probably doesn't snow more than than three
or four times a year on average in central
Tokyo. Maybe it's a bit more, I could be
wrong.
Only a few centimeters fell today, what we
in Canada would call a 'flurry', but it caused
a ridiculous amount of havoc. Hundreds of
schools were closed; Dozens of train lines
were stopped or delayed; More than 500,000
commuters got to work late.
I take two trains to work in the morning.
The first one I'm only on for two stops,
and that usually takes about 5 minutes, but
today it took over twenty. I don't know why,
but the train just c...r...a...w...l...e...d
along. Sometimes it would just stop and sit
in the middle of nowhere.
When I got to work I noticed something that
I thought was a bit strange: People in Tokyo
use umbrellas when it snows. Is it just me
and my Canadian bias, or is this kind of
odd? I mean, c'mon, it's only snow. The way
these people were running around with their
umbrellas you'd think it was ash from Chernobyl.
I've traveled quite a bit, but always in
the tropics, so I'm not sure what other people
do in countries where it snows.
Do other people use umbrellas in the snow?
12.06.02
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A forest of garish tinsel and plastic
stars
has sprouted in Shibuya recently and
that
can only mean one thing: It's Christmas
time
in Tokyo.
The other day Karen reminded me of a funny
Japanese Christmas practice that she thought
you might find funny. For some reason, a
lot of people in Japan think that Kentucky
Fried Chicken (KFC) and strawberry shortcake
are Christmas foods. Apparently, KFC is booked
solid with special take-out orders for Christmas
day.
I don't know why this is, but it probably
has something to do with a long forgotten
KFC ad campaign way back when. I suppose
that both the KFC logo and strawberry shortcake
are red and white, which a lot of people,
because of Santa Claus, associate with Christmas.
The funny thing about that is that the commonly
known red-and-white Santa image is actually
from a 1930' Coca Cola ad, hence all of the
red and white.
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