adekun's japan blog » blog http://www.adekun.com Enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of first-time parenthood. Progress on the organic vegetable garden and other ramblings of a gaijin in Japan's least populous prefecture. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:32:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Bloody hot http://www.adekun.com/blog/bloody-hot http://www.adekun.com/blog/bloody-hot#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:32:06 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=850

Finally some rain. A typhoon passing up the west and over has brought a change to the weather. For months it has been hot and dry. The summer has been blood heat; daytime temperatures reverberating between 35°C and 37°C each day. It brings hope of an end to the accompanying humidity. Someone told me the spotted 39 degrees on a nearby road gantry. That’s twice a typical summer temperature back home. :eek:

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/bloody-hot/feed 0 Switcheroo Shogun http://www.adekun.com/blog/switcheroo-shogun http://www.adekun.com/blog/switcheroo-shogun#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:07:11 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=848

It was with some disbelief to see Ichirō Ozawa gracing the television a couple of weeks ago. No stranger to scandal(s), when Hatoyama recently resigned taking him down too, people expected him out of the picture. Ozawa stood down as party leader just prior to last year’s general election amid inappropriate funding claims and for being deeply unpopular with the public. He now stands to contest the party leadership, in short, to secure the PM spot. More than two-thirds of the (perhaps flabbergasted) public polled favour the incumbent.
Dubbed the Shadow Shogun, Ozawa wields great power and has a lot of followers. Something many of the recent leaders have lacked. Regardless of how unsavoury he might be, he could be Japan’s best hope to stem the country’s ballooning debt and currency value.
He looks certain to provide more “witticisms” such as I don’t like British people. During the same seminar he branded Americans as simple minded and monocellular, only to pay tribute to their commitment to democracy.

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/switcheroo-shogun/feed 0 Freezer full of sweet corn http://www.adekun.com/blog/freezer-full-of-sweetcorn http://www.adekun.com/blog/freezer-full-of-sweetcorn#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:51:34 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=842 Frozen sweet corn

Sweet corn in the freezer

From upon my perch, I espied a good many crows circling the sweet corn. Perhaps unbeknown to them, worms burrowing away have already started to dine. Bustling in on the love triangle, beetles also threaten. I decided to grab the lot. Without shucking the ears, a few dozen were crammed into the freezer within twenty minutes.
I do wonder the best way of storing food; how to deal with those short-term gluts. How this frozen sweet corn will compare to that just picked?

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/freezer-full-of-sweetcorn/feed 3 Desperately seeking sunblock http://www.adekun.com/blog/desperately-seeking-sunblock http://www.adekun.com/blog/desperately-seeking-sunblock#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:57:25 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=838

It might not be the case in the larger cities, but here it is impossible to find affordable sunscreen/sunblock. There seems to be only a few other alternatives: imported Hawaiian Tropic (SPF 0) at ￥1600 a bottle, or bottles (SPF 50) the size of a dental floss dispenser, about half the price. Probably need one bottle of the latter for the front and another for the back. Luckily, I’m the first to burn; about ninety minutes of early morning sun. Red shoulders are a sign to get the kids away. We did get a 100ml bottle with the consistency of milk, doubt it any good after a swim, at least something. The internet offers more choices, but again not cheap. Bringing some sun lotion would be a good idea for any fairer skinned would be traveller. :oops:

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/desperately-seeking-sunblock/feed 5 Quadrupled charges http://www.adekun.com/blog/quadrupled-charges http://www.adekun.com/blog/quadrupled-charges#comments Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:06:00 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=835

The children started nursery earlier in the year. As the charges are income based, we had a letter from the city office beforehand. It was a bit of a surprise months later, to get another letter to say the fees have been increased c. 400% and will be applied retrospectively.
After all the monthly expenses, there isn’t really much money left over to buy food. This oversight really eats into that. At the same time the government wants to stop the child benefit they just introduced and double sales tax (food not excluded).
The OH’s income barely covered the childcare before. Now it is the same rate as private daycare.
Bravo!

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/quadrupled-charges/feed 3 Sounding out the dying voters http://www.adekun.com/blog/sounding-out-the-dying-voters http://www.adekun.com/blog/sounding-out-the-dying-voters#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:31:22 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=828

Three years ago I posted about the self-seeking election campaigning that pervades all: Waking babies everywhere. I had hoped the politicians would have changed tack to become all the more civil. True to form, there hasn’t been any change during the recent wave. Moreover, they have supplemented their nuisance with impromptu audience free addresses.
Speaker trucks now stop outside people’s homes whilst the troupe disembarks. The candidate or speaker is usually accompanied by white gloved wavers and an old guy holding a flag. The manner of the latter is particularly comical, as the posture is as if he had just landed on the moon or conquered the unconquerable. Since the roads are barely a car’s width, the loudspeakers are just, at best, a couple of metres away from people sitting inside watching Frank Sinclair score own goals*. The oration lasts a long five minutes and throughout the old guy looks very serious.
Tuesday afternoons I have a good vantage of the back of the hospital. There’s a no through road that leads to a car park and up a mountain. B*gger me if they’re not driving up down, broadcasting their names into the hospital. I’m sure for the conservative candidates it’s a gold mine, but that has got to be the pinnacle of haughtiness.

* Vindication following Japan’s two own goals against England.

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/sounding-out-the-dying-voters/feed 0 Hatoyama is history http://www.adekun.com/blog/hatoyama-is-history http://www.adekun.com/blog/hatoyama-is-history#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:55:56 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=825 The forth consecutive ‘heredity’ Prime Minister has announced he will resign. Although the electorate could be described has fickle, the complete switch in approval is not without reason. In the eight months since Hatoyama took the helm, there has been money scandals, dithering, garish shirts, the reneged pledge to remove the Futenma US base, and the loss of a coalition partner.

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/hatoyama-is-history/feed 3 Robots not people http://www.adekun.com/blog/robots-not-people http://www.adekun.com/blog/robots-not-people#comments Fri, 28 May 2010 13:13:11 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=824 There was an interesting report on the BBC website, documenting both the rise of the medical robot and the lack of nurses in Japan. Despite the shortage, the immigrant workers face a difficult test to remain beyond three years. The fail rate is 98%.
Japan may pick robots over immigrants is a good question to ask. Almost everybody I put it to ranked robot care/treatment over that of a foreigner’s.

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/robots-not-people/feed 0 Corrosive chutney http://www.adekun.com/blog/corrosive-chutney http://www.adekun.com/blog/corrosive-chutney#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 01:11:41 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=819

The extra mature green tomato chutney I was saving has eaten through its lid. Instead of sitting alongside some cheddar it is now sitting amongst the compost. Next time I should have to go belt and braces with a layer of cellophane or wax disc between it and the lid. Maybe a plastic lid would be better than plastic coated? :(

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/corrosive-chutney/feed 0 eijūken http://www.adekun.com/blog/eijuuken http://www.adekun.com/blog/eijuuken#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 22:41:58 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=817 eijuuken

This week I got a postcard (it had POSTCARD printed on the back) from the immigration office. My application for permanent residency (永住権 eijūken) has been turned around just two months. When I applied I was told is usually takes a year, four months being quick. Although there wasn’t any impediments or language proficiency tests, I didn’t leave the office feeling overly optimistic.
The immigration officer also asked why I wanted PR when I just had my visa extended three years. He then went on about how Chinese and Filipinos only wanting it so they can get divorced and how he didn’t know about British men.
I still have to get permission to leave the country; really a re-entry permit before I leave. However, the duration of this permit with PR is (upto?) three years. If you don’t return while it’s valid then you lose your status.

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/eijuuken/feed 4 Raw liver http://www.adekun.com/blog/raw-liver http://www.adekun.com/blog/raw-liver#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 08:28:03 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=810
Raw liver

Raw liver with a little ginger

To rejuvenate the father-in-law we went to an expensive yaki-niku joint. He was recovering from pneumonia and was less than genki. In the past, I had already wrestled the raw chicken offering off the MIL, destined for my post labour wife. The raw liver still came as a surprise. Vitamin A laced with antibiotics. I almost wondered if it was to be used as a poultice. It was hardly Dances with Wolves; cold and unsurprisingly horrid.

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]]> http://www.adekun.com/blog/raw-liver/feed 0 Madame Pompadour http://www.adekun.com/blog/madame-ompadour http://www.adekun.com/blog/madame-ompadour#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:34:37 +0000 adekun http://www.adekun.com/?p=805
Maya

Maya

Maya’s hair is growing fast. Clothed in her flurry jerkin with her hair up, reminds me of the Cyclops from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (especially when brandishing her dinner spoon like a club). When her little hair band is removed the plume settles as an untamed quiff.
She’s had her fringe trimmed a little. I wonder if any more will be the end to it’s silky texture. Maybe it can be left a couple more months without further styling.
Although I’m looking forward to putting it into bunches, it also makes me realise just how much and how quickly she has changed.

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