Hey...

So hello there,
I trust respective weekends were pretty fun around the place. Before I get onto another description of a desperately lazy weekend, some observations...
The Japanese banking system is crazed.

"No surprise there!!" Say those eyeing the Japanese banks and their trillions of yen in bad loans which, despite a good 12 years of looking the other way (and occasionally whistling, checking their watch, tapping their feet etc) by the banking corporations don`t seem to have fixed themselves- disappointing that.
No, but as old Vincent Vega once so memorably put it...its the little things.

I have a bankcard. To get money out of my account. From a machine. Just last week there was an ad on TV from one of the larger banks around (not mine) giving themselves a huge pat on the back for introducing a service whereby their ATM`s are open 24 HOURS A DAY!!!!! WOW!!!! THE FUTURE!!!! HERE!!!TODAY!!!

Thats right. The ATMs over here close. Because even computer systems get crabby when they work overtime. Generally they close at about 9:00 at night and open again at a leisurely 8:00 or so in the morning, all refreshed and ready to face another day....as a computer. Even if you want money out of the machines, when they are open but outside of banking hours, there is an extra charge....nothing like a distinct lack of viable competition to really make these guys try hard...

In our wee village there is a choice of three banks. The largest is the 16 Bank - so called because we live in the 16th prefecture and it is a prefectural bank. The next largest is a bank that operates out of the 2nd biggest town in the prefecture - thats where it gets all its money from. And the third is a cooperative of the Japanese Agricultural sector - the less said about that, the better. There is no available access to a large, nation-wide bank around here. I could certainly have an account at one- but there are no ATMs or branches for larger banks anywhere outside the main centres. It is very odd. We are going to Kyoto next weekend. We will have to guesstimate how much money we will spend on the weekend and get that out before we go. Our (prefectural) bank doesn`t have outlets in Kyoto, which is 2 hours away.

Now I know I`m probably sounding a little disilliusioned, angry perhaps, but this isn`t the case. I simply find it very interesting to daily see examples of the contradiction of Japan being the largest high-tech exporting country in the world while still floundering around in a domestic sense.Having said that, it`s an increasingly exciting time to be in Japan at the moment, people are starting to scratch their heads and ask some questions, I look forward to the results of any reshuffling after the general election on the 9th of November- Koizumi is pretty much a shoe-in, but once he gets in I think he is going to have to come up with some, any, goods pretty quick to keep people happy.

Anyways, enough of that, we managed again to hit the Izakaya on Friday night, followed by a splendid Mexican feast on Saturday night with Kerryn and a bunch of folk in Gifu. Nic was most distraught when they ran out of Pina Colada ingredients, but managed to find comfort in the bounteous Margaritas available. A super night out to be sure. Sunday saw stews being made and frozen, squirrelled away for the winter months.And by a quirk of fate I have a three day week this week before we head to Kyoto for a long weekend.

Trust you are all spiffy,
lots of love,
berin

Well it`s simply been too long...

Not much to note really, a lazy weekend with very little energy expended. One interesting incident to note. The phone rang on Saturday. Not such a strange thing I guess, but on the other end of the phone was a bunch of chums from my year over here as an exchange student when I was 16. We haven`t talked for a decade or so (I know, I know), one of them was getting hitched and my erstwhile host brother was there with my cell-phone number on hand. The chap getting married didn`t tell me his name for some 7 months when I was over here, insisting that I call him "The Prince of Darkness"- this is the only English I ever heard him speak.
They all seem well and are looking forward to when Nic and I wander on down to say hello sometime after the nuptuals. I actually received 5 or 6 calls from them during the day, each one a little more slurred and raucous than the last. As I said, a fine weekend with little to report, apart from going to the Izakaya for the 5th Friday in a row. As you may have guessed, things are pretty quiet here in Godo-towne.
Toodle-Pip...
berin

Knives...

Long weekend in the Japan this past weekend, and it greeted Nic and I with another night down at the Izakaya a-sampling the delights of beer and sake. The next morning, after a couple of false starts we strutted down to the local festival to have our fill of fried goods, just to kick the day off right (see former post regarding festivals, fried goods and coronary disease). The festival here in Godo is suitably cheesy, Nic did make the fine observation that they could have done with one less whole-barbequed-squid stall (there were 3, in a total of about 15 food stalls- a little overkill-y, especially for the squid). Still, they seemed to be doing a roaring trade. Godo spares no expense and drags in all the Carnies (with their big, big hands) from around the countryside including the cheeseball-I-was-a-small-time-celebraty-in-the-70`s-and-I`m-STILL-working-it-and-my-toupee-has-been-with-me-since-those-heady-days type folk to MC it. There was also an enormous, bald-headed, handle-barred moustachioed (sp?), all-Japan arm-wrestling champion. He was taking on all comers. His leather pants were a little odd. He was damned lucky I had elsewhere to be.
And that elsewhere to be was the Seki festival (a real glut of festivals at the moment- everyone trying to have theirs be the last, big blast before the winter sets in). Seki is a medium sized industrial town about 40 minutes away that traditionally made the finest of samurai swords in all of Japan. Understandably, what, with the drop off in Samurai numbers over the past 200 odd years, they have had to branch off into other pursuits. Sticking with what they know, they now make the majority of.....razor blades made in Japan. Talk about a slide is prestige.
They also make cutlery and big, scary, big knives. There were thousands of people, and a few too many of them for my liking were just sort of holding enormous knives, with a 1000 yard stare in there eyes, all glossy like, grinning. These knives were nuts, hey, everyone likes a knife, sure, but these knives made Rambo look like a pussy. We left pretty quick. Still, it was a lover-ly day for a drive and we saw some pretty cool country on our way hither and yon.
Right, I`ve got some Kanji to study.
Goodbye all.
berin

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAC!!!

wOoP WOooP - Zac is 8. WoOpWoOOp - Zac is 8. wooOOOp WoOOooOp - Zac is 8.

kiss 7 goodbye big fella, 8 rules.

Hope you have a good day, I am still wrapping a little something, something over here, so check the mailbox in a week or so.

Mmmmmmmmm cake.

Colder...

Yep,
It`s a chillin` down in Godo-Towne. To put a positive spin on the approaching winter months, Nic and I strutted in to Gifu yesterday and sorted her out a right nice little snowboard. In the stark white. It`s perty. She managed to get herself some click-in bindings too, which just save you so much time at the top, they have to be worth it. So we are looking to the sky and she is itching to try out the new board. I`d wager a month or so before the season starts, so the neighbours are going to have to get used to Nic snowboarding down the stairwell for a wee bit, aaaaah well.

In other news...not much has happened. A surprisingly sifty weekend, kicked off by a grand night at the local Izakaya on Friday followed by an all too early wakeup Saturday morning to make the trip in to Nagoya for a look around. Did some solid strolling on what was a lovely blue-sky day. It takes just over an hour to get in to Nagoya, and you get a chance to see some of the crazed public works that has been theoretically "kickstarting" the Japanese economy for the last decade. MASSIVE overpasses, underpasses, throughpasses, roundpasses, essentially the entire way there is along a former 6 lane highway over which they are constructing a....6 lane highway. (earthquake anyone?). A good chance to see some enormous bundles of yen thrown around. They are planning to have it finished in a year or two, and then they are going to tackle the 6 lane highway under the elevated 6 lane highway. Whew!
Still, a grand day out.
Are planning some sort of a road trip next weekend, being a long weekend, but are still undecided.
Have some fun people,
berin

Oh yes - and an enormously belated "good luck, go get `em tiger" and not so belated "well done, have a drink and wait for the results" to our Dr. Jane. Top stuff.