X-mas and the New Year Holiday (o-shogatsu) have become a major joint celebration in Japan, with western influences - such as carols in the supermarket - and shrine and temple visits: Added to that a lovely romantic twist, as young couples enjoy a chance to have a nice dinner and maybe more (much more) together. Sparkling wines and rice cakes? You bet. Anything goes. ‘Tis the season to be jolly.

For the New Years Holiday, you’ll find a lot of fun decorations, such as the one above. A mixture of styles that show a lot of originality! In Tokyo, people like to throw in a few wild cards too, but a Wacky Wobbler…?

Micky and Minnie wearing kimonos? Sure! Why not!

While some of my neighbours go for western-style decorations, I have opted for a o-shogatsu kazari (New Years Decoration) on my door.

Happy holidays!

God Jul & Gott Nytt År

Should we all be subjected to fingerprinting as we enter Japan? Well, if Aliens need to do it, why not also Japanese citizens. The “terror law” that Japan has imposed would not have stopped Japanese citizens belonging to Aum Shinrikyo from coming up with the Tokyo Subway gas attack 12 years ago. Fingerprinting would not have stopped the Japanese citizens joining the infamous Japanese Red Army from killing innocent victims in Israel and elsewhere in the 1970s. Japanese people didn’t take much responsibility for these autrocities; most people - and lawmakers - here probably have “forgotten”.

So what is behind all this nonsense?

I really do not know.

Join Amnesty International or its English-speaking branch in Tokyo.

(U.S. Visit, the system that Japan appears to have copied, currently holds a repository of over 50 million persons, primarily in the form of two-finger records…)

(Photo from The Mainichi: Protesters ‘flip the bird’ at Justice Ministry over forced fingerprinting)
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The focus this time is on arts and crafts: I like the peace mark designs. Also participating are farmers “for our smile world”. Radio Freedom, Organic Life & Smile World Cafe, Soft Energy Demo and Dish Re-Use System… And many others who care about the environment and our common future.

They say they need volunteers too. Hey, if you are good at translating Japanese to English, why not help them make a great website in English?

The calligraphy combines the kanji characters for yasai (vegetable) and do (road, code, way ) creating a new term, “the vegetable way” alluding to other familiar philosophical terms in Japanese, such as bushido (the warrior’s code) or judo. In Japanese the two kanjis are read saido.
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Now I’m really looking forward to Saturday!

Place: Shiba Park (by Tokyo Tower)
Time 11:00AM - 17:00PM
More details on the World Peace Now Website and at the Peace Day Tokyo Blog.

That boy was having a great time!
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Right now at 17:00 my room is a cosy 34 degrees, as the sun is setting, with the A/C on 26 and a couple of fans at full speed. The kitchen, where I do not have A/C is still above 37. That is HEAT.

I’m worried about global warming, this is just not NICE.

Incidentally, TEPCO, my electricity company, put a notice in my mailbox today. They are asking customers to save electricity as a result of the earthquake in Niigata prefecture in July. All seven nuclear reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station are shut down and that has created problems for TEPCO, who has had to secure power from other plants.

The leaflet explains that between 13:00 and 16:00, they are having trouble supplying the electricity needed, so please turn down the tempereture of your air conditioners, hang up curtains and blinds in front of windows, and turn off the TV if you are not watching.

I’m sure people can do more than that. Any good ideas, dear readers…?

(Photo from www.nippon.fr showing a fridge curtain, to save electricity when you open the door of the refrigerator on a hot day.

The lineup this summer included Cure, Beastie Boys and The Chemical Brothers. Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John deserves a special mention too! I like that the festival takes social and environmental issues seriously, with NGOs promoting povery campaigns, global warming awareness and “Save Shimokitazawa with Flower Company” (to stop the highway construction in Tokyo’s charming Shimokitazawa area).

PLUS it is 35 degrees at the My Dinh Stadium in Vietnam: very very hot.

0-1 (69 min) Australia’s Aloisi scores after a nice corner kick.
1-1 (72 min) Japan’s Takahara equalizes right away, great goals!

…and we have 1-1 in full time, and 30 minutes extention.
…and penalty shout-outs! Veteran keeper Kawaguchi saves the first one! And Neill misses Australia’s second one! 3-2 after Takahara misses his shot. Japan wins in the end, after Nagata scores 4-3.

The game tonight is great so far, both teams are eager and keen.

21 min: 0-1 Japan’s Naohira Takahara scored a beautiful first, a perfect heading goal!

26 min: 0-2 Nice pass from right field to Takahara, in perfect position, who scores again!

42 min: 0-3 Totally confusing situation when the UAE keeper trips Endo leads to penalty and Shinsuke Nakamura doesn’t miss.

66 min 1-3 Great goal after a long run from mid field - UAE had one man shown off which isn’t always a disadvantage.