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Why it sucks to live at the beginning of a century
I remember in my early youth the excitement I felt at the close of the 20th Century; home PC's were inundating the market, everyone I knew had a "modem" and 56K connection to the internet, there were the first real chic mobile phones, games consoles and applications were getting easier and easier to use; The borders for creativity,entertainment & communication via digital means seemed without border.
It seemed weekly a new technology was emerging to make the future brighter.
Cue 2010 and I don't see any of the hover cars I was promised in the 70's as a kid, there's no food pills, nor am I vacationing on the moon. Then I realised looking back on history (because damned if we forget it, tho we seem destined on repeating it), living in the beginning of a new century sucks because....
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
December 31, 2009 11:59 AM
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共同謀議 - conspiracy
 I was walking in Harajuku with a friend the other day when an old bearded gaijin guy came up to me and said "BEWARE the INTERNET it will BETRAY YOU", certainly got my attention more than the usual Goth Lolitas and Rockabillies and handed me this flyer....THE END IS NIGH ! 666 NEW WORLD ORDER ARMAGEDDON ! Turns out he was a missionary for The Family a fundamentalist cult from way back in the 60's still active today. The flyers artwork (very nostalgic British comic style) and contents were what you would expect from a bearded old guy in a park saying "The internet will betray you"....pretty far out there.... Though I must confess I like the occasional NWO nutter and Armageddonists conspiracy spreader or general " Kooks" as described by Donna Kossy. Just because the ideas seem insane, extreme, out there or just crackpot, the very fact they exist means there must be some minute, sliver of tiny Truth to it; albeit a barking mad one, still "ideas" all the same.... BUT
Sasqwach neither condones nor advocates walking up to strangers and saying "Beware the internet it will betray you"...
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
September 9, 2009 5:24 PM
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The frustration of being misunderstood
Doing IT for the 5 of the 6 years I've been in Japan;
I can speak pretty well. Enough to work in an office, but my reading is
slow and painful.
I'm
intermediate at the moment; I can say and write some pretty complex stuff :
"that mail
distribution has failed to deliver, recipients are returning mails, I will
investigate !"
Though sometimes in regular conversation I forget common words
like "dinosaur" or "hammer" or
"shoelace" so have to resort to things like "ummm the rope you use to tie
shoes" or "the big lizards from long ago" making me sound a bit odd...
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
April 3, 2009 7:47 PM
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Capcom VS SNK
 Recently with bringing my old Dreamcast out of the closet (not that it was it was gay or anything) I've taken a real thirst for old 2D beat em ups like Street Fighter. When I was a frequent user of the Dreamcast I hardly touched these types of games as I thought at the time: " Ugh ! My God,they're in 2D!"This was more my mistake than anything and a common mistake that we all make is "new is good". |
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
March 22, 2009 10:01 PM
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節分 - Evil Outside !
February
3rd marks "Setsubun" in Japan - A pre Spring "Halloween" type affair
without silly outfits,well kids wear masks and hurls peanuts, soy beans
and other pulses screaming "Oni ha Soto, Fuku ha Uchi" - Devils outside
! Good luck inside !
The significance ?
Various
reasons abound,. The birth of spring, the celebration of an old monk
driving out demons by hurling pulses at them, sometimes the beans are
heated, splitting them to encourage the growth of spring as one
co-worker mentioned.
Regardless,
its a time for supermarkets to stock up on pulse based products
accompanied by paper masks for the kids to celebrate a tradition no one
really understands anymore including bewildered gaijin like myself
seeing kids running around with red devil masks chucking peanuts
screaming like they've escaped drowning.
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
February 2, 2007 3:26 PM
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竹の森 - Bamboo Forest
 At weekends if I'm not catching up on much needed sleep from an exhausting week, I do my best to get out into a bit of nature, be it as little as a local park. Mostly any park worth its Japanese salt (or that should be soil) has a small bamboo forest, though the thing that always confuses me is they always seem to be 立入禁止 - ENTRY PROHIBITED ! If you go outwith city limits you'll find bamboo forests but they are
usual dense thickets (almost impossible to enter) with a sign saying
危ない！マ虫 ! - Danger ! Poisonous Vipers ! which would make you not want to enter. Today near Matsudo there was one park that allowed entry to its bamboo
forest and I think I know why your not allowed into them.... |
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
May 14, 2006 6:09 PM
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高潔な会社？
 This is a story I saw on TV a few weeks ago, it was disputed as an urban legend, though it turned out to be actually true.....
There was a salesman at a traditional Japanese company, Japanese man.
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
October 9, 2005 4:12 PM
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Excellent Tree (松)
 Pine trees grow just about everywhere. My own native country is covered with them, but your commoner garden pointy christmas tree type. I dont know what makes the pine trees grow in Japan the way they do, but I find them fascinating. Whether they are preened to grow this way or grow naturally or due to wind change, they certainly are beautiful to look at. Even trees I've seen out in remote hills and mountains seem to have the "preened" look. I must stress I'm no "tree hugger" by any means, but if I pass a 松 (matsu) I'm a sucker to stop and take it in for a bit. The kanji for pine tree is 松 made of two character radicals:
木 - tree
公 - public, official Therefore:松 - public offical tree !?  The traditional Japanese Pine is frequently used for bonsai trees,
equally just as beautiful, but I'm a bit of a philistine when it comes
to bonsai thinking more on terms of; "Well its very nice, but don't you have any in a bigger size ?"So when I do come across a "jumbo", out comes the camera. In Japan upon dying your ashes are usually interned in a grave but I think I'll have to have mine planted beneath a 松 and be evergreen. |
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
August 3, 2005 3:01 PM
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Ushiku Daibutsu - 牛久大仏
 Was visiting a friend in Ibariki area to go for dinner this weekend and as they lived in Ushiku its near the (world?) famous statue of Buddha, slap bang in the middle of the countryside. Standing at 120 metres high its monolithic, especially given that the surrounding area is so flat and lacking in any form of hills or mountains; you can see the statue from miles around. Not just impressed with the size I was quite amazed to find you can actually go inside the statue! It has a visitors area and elevators that can take you to viewing points up the statue; the feet, the chest and the head. In the centre of the statue is a huge circular room where you can pay a rather large price (about １００万円) to have your ashes interred. Well actually I'm not 100% sure if it's your actual ashes, though you could pay for a "place" or "plot" there in the central chamber with walls adorned with thousands of tiny gold little Buddha's and a name plate beneath one. More info here : http://www.ushikukankou.com/ushikudaibutsu.htm |
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Posted by
sasqwach
at
June 8, 2004 6:23 PM
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