Lost In Translation

Osaka Mizushobai

Like every city in Japan, Osaka has lots of pubs, snack bars, and cabarets. I like the convenience store parody of Mini-Stop below.

 

Osaka Favorites

Takoyaki is an Osaka institution. baby octopus baked in batter with beer-very tasty. We also had the famous local Okonomiyaki, a kind of savory pancake -like concoction (see below). I was on this conference with my friend and Meiji colleague Robert.

Osaka 2009: Namba/Shinsaibashi

I attended another conference in Osaka Sunday. These pictures are from the Namba/Shinsaiashi area.

Saipan Airport Sign

Didn't know this was a problem.

Banzai Cliff

Banzai Cliff was another place Japanese soldiers jumped to their deaths rather than risk capture.

Suicide Cliff

Saipan had some brutal fighting and several soldiers leapt to their death rather than risk capture and apparent torture according to propaganda.

Some memorials. 

The Final Outpost

Japanese tank at the final outpost WWII memorial.

Anti-aircraft gun.

More Of Saipan

The Aquarius Tower Hotel beach on a sunny day.

Palm trees, this IS a tropical island.

Happy Hour on the beach at Oleani's.

A view of the grotto from Coffee Care on Capitol Hill.

Saipan

The beach outside my hotel in Saipan. It's warm and humid, but there were several squalls throughout the day.

Radical Rick Steves?

Rick Steves is an American travel guru from the Seattle area and I used his book when I first traveled to Europe in 1992. Here's a surprising interview from Salon:

In short, Steves wants Americans to get over themselves. He wants us to please shed our geographic ego. "Everybody should travel before they vote," he has written. We should be represented by politicians who want America to act as a good global neighbor.

Steves' agenda is epitomized in his recent TV special on Iran. At the request of a friend in the United Nations to help "build understanding between Iran and the U.S.," Steves has produced a loving portrait of the demonized country. Characteristic Steves-on-the-street interviews open closed minds to the sophistication of Iranian citizens and their lack of antipathy toward Americans. In one scene, a man in a car pokes his head out the window and says to Steves, "Your heart is very kind." Steves is incredibly proud of his Iran film and is offering the DVD for $5 to any community group that wants to discuss it.

I recently caught up with Steves while he was killing time in the Tulsa, Okla., airport, where he had just given a talk about Iran, and was heading home to Washington state. In conversation, he was as ebullient as ever, fearlessly spelling out his views on globalization and terrorism, the scourges of tourism and the importance of decriminalizing marijuana.