Working at the car wash, baby...

I was never big on automated car washes in the States. I suppose I always had the room to take care of my car where I lived. Lacking space, most people have to make do with what we have and here in Japan, almost every gas station has one of these nifty sliding car washes. You drive into place and the whole machine oscillates around you. It kinda gives you motion sickness, because you feel like you're moving when you're not. Works well enough between hand-waxings.

Killer new lid from HJ

Heheh. This one's badass, and comfy too!

The Eagles: Live

Headed to Hakusan?

Hakusan National Park (area 183sq.mi/ 473sq.km) is home to Mount Hakusan (8,865ft/ 2,702m) is one of Japan's three sacred mountains. Of the five approach routes (Iwama, Chugu, Itoshiro, Hirase and Ichinose) the most popular, for climbers coming from Kanazawa, is the Ichinose route. Near here is the Murodo Hut, which is open during the summer. The route to the five peaks of Mount Hakusan (views of the Tatayama Range to the southeast and Mount Norikura) runs up through dense forests and rich Alpine vegetation. The highest of the five peaks is Gozenmine (8,865ft/ 2,702m), followed by Tsurugigamine (8,714ft/ 2,656m) and Onanji (8,682ft/ 2,646m); to the south are Bessan and Sannomine. On Gozenmine is the Inner Shrine (Okunoin) of the Shirayamahime Shrine (Kaga-Ichinomiya) at the foot of Mount Hakusan.
- planetware.com

I've hiked one of the three sacred peaks and I'd like to do the other two before I leave Japan this summer. So, the next on the list might very well be Hakusan!

Japanese Courts/Society = Xenophobia ?

I've gotten tired reading/hearing stories suggesting a much deep, darker underlining to the Japanese.

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling and denied Japanese nationality to nine children with Filipino mothers and Japanese fathers who are not married.

The Nationality Law says that a child born out of wedlock to a non-Japanese mother is only recognized as a citizen if the Japanese father admits paternity prior to the child's birth or marries the mother before the child turns 20. In the case of the nine kids, the fathers came forward after they were born but did not wed the mothers.

Presiding Judge Hidetoshi Somiya said the law is justified and does not interfere with the children's constitutional right to equality.

Somiya also said the court does not have the authority to grant the children citizenship.

"The decision to grant nationality is an inherent right of the state," he said. (continued)

This country is facing a crisis as is with its diminishing birthrates. It would seem prudent to begin embracing a new workforce to help provide revenue for their rapidly aging population. Who's going to pay their nationalized healthcare costs in 20-30 years? Let's go folks, robots can't do everything. And getting the "baby-making machines" fired up isn't going to help much either.

Assainate your Cold!

I have no idea what this character is doing on a display of over-the-counter drugs.

Russian Street Ninja

This kid is freakin' incredible!

Some funny video (R-Rating)

This one was forwarded to us from Sheryl.



And another Hyunjoo and I found just fishing around on the internet...

Some long due pix of Ryan

Hyunjoo's older sister, Hyunjung, and her husband Scott were very happy to announce the birth of their new son, Ryan, back in January. We can't wait to meet him this summer!

Away from home

Hyunjoo threw a "Stitch and Bitch" today. She and five of her girlfriends came over today to eat and drink a lot and gab away to their heart's content. Oh yeah, they also did a little knitting.

I "made room" for them by taking off with Casey, Vhon, and Curt after I returned from the gym. Us guys went for some lunch at Jo House, hit a bunch of balls at the batting cages, then went for a few frames of bowling.

We eventually had to break up the party, but not with out a couple casualties. I'll spare the details but after reviving Chieko from unconsciousness and bringing Curt back to drive his wife home, we finally settled down for the evening. Looks like they had a great time!

Well, I hope Sunday will be as entertaining as today was.

Busy servin'

This would usually be a post in my Tech blog, but it kinda covers a range of topics...
I've been working hard on my server to expand its offerings and I now have a moodle (online learning managment system), a web-based FTP server, and a brand new bulletin board forum system. It's been a bear to get everything installed at times, but everything seems to be working. At least in beta.

Been a while...

Hideeho,
What a day to pick up on my blog. We enjoyed a three-day weekend, partly spent in Niigata. But I sure hit the ground running this morning.
First, I had to return the school's van that we were borrowing for our skiing trip. That entailed gassing her up and getting her washed down. Then I was supposed to return it to the personnel office to have it inspected. No one was in the office at 8:20, so I booked over to the garage to return it safe and sound.
Then, I had classes all morning, but was interrupted because they needed the van keys back. Doreen was nice enough to ferry the paperwork and keys back to the personnel office for me while I finished my classes.
After that, I had my "Jitterbug" hands-on class with my C4 students and that was a non-stop roller coaster ride from 10:50 until 2:00 PM.
Then, I had to prostrate myself to the folks in the personnel office for being late with the van. I also visited Yoshiko to apologize to her to, since she stepped in earlier to help out as well.
It's 3:00PM and my first break of the day.
I can finally begin to plan for tomorrow. Whew.

Strange newness from Pizza Hut

Wasn't too bad, but I don't think we'll be ordering this one again. A little too greasy and not enough "pizza".

Batter up!

Casey and I had a great time at the batting cage. We'll definitely be headed back. It's a great way to blow off some steam, even in the cooling evenings.

You'll have to look real close!

This was forwarded to me from Katya. Please send her all your comments! I'm sure you'll have some.

First... TURN ON your speakers so you can hear the "narration"...
Then click on this link!
Find the differences... look real close (to your screen)!

Hyunjoo's Petition for an Immigrant Visa

We've made the decision to move to the States and we've begun the process for her immigrant visa and eventual lawful resident card (green card). We've started to fill out the I-130 and G-325A (for the both of us).

What are the steps?
What are the forms we'll need?
How long will this take?

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/family.htm
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/index.htm
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivgeneral.html
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivi130checkmail.html

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?act=idx

Jason's back!

I tried to teach my students about Friday the 13th. They didn't seem to understand "bad luck". I don't think I activated their schemata very well. They just shouted "Jason"! Great. Thanks Hollywood.

Perhaps I should have started off with something like the number "42" - which is bad luck here in Japan. The number four - "shi" is also the same pronuciation for the character that means death. Oh well.

I think they liked my props anyhow.

Knitting

Hyunjoo has been busy knitting over the past year. She's recently finished a lovely scarf that even has a way to keep itself around your neck with out having to tie knots. Stupid knots.

I'm patiently waiting/hoping for a new cap this winter! Wink wink, nudge nudge...

A day in the park

Hyunjoo and I went out to a local, hillside park that's being built near a famous Zen temple not far from us.

We like to go up there on breezy days to fly kites and check out the city scape of Kanazawa.

Trying to get my Japanese driver's license

click to view videoblog