Lost In Translation

In The iPod: Stiff Little Fingers

A friend of mine gave me a copy of Inflambable Material by Stiff Little Fingers, and I've really been getting into it. Still, they're only my second favorite North Irish punk band. The distinction of being my favorite goes to The Undertones, who are more emo-like I suppose and less political-they have songs about cars, candy bars, and getting kicks.

Tokyo Targeted

From The Japan Today:

Madrid bombers say Japan on hit list with U.S., allies

Friday, March 19, 2004 at 05:00 JST
BRUSSELS A group linked to the al-Qaida network which claimed responsibility for last week's fatal bombings on Madrid trains said it was preparing similar attacks on other U.S. allies, including Japan, a French radio station reported Wednesday citing a London-based Arabic newspaper.

The group, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, sent a statement claiming it is also singling out Italy, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Pakistan for a terrorist operation similar in scale to the Madrid attack, the radio said quoting the Thursday edition of Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper which obtained the statement.

It said the brigade's "death squad" will strike at the appropriate place and appropriate time, adding, "Will it be Japan or America or Italy?"

In the Madrid bombings, 200 people died and some 1,500 others were injured in near-simultaneous explosions on packed rush-hour trains.

In the statement, the group said the defeat of the governing Popular Party came as a result of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the U.S.-led global operations against terrorism, including the Iraq war.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi commented on the latest news, saying, "We should not be swayed" by various reports because "the terrorists' motive is to confuse the people and cause much anxiety."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the authenticity of the claims is still unclear, but said in general, one could not yield to violence which destroys social order.

"The international community must come together and show their stance to fight terrorism," the top government spokesman said.

In November, the same group also warned of a terrorist attack in Tokyo should Japan deploy its Self-Defense Forces. Japan has since deployed its troops to help in reconstruction and humanitarian operations in Iraq.

The group has been claiming responsibility for large-scale terrorist attacks around the world though statements mainly e-mailed to Arabic newspapers. (Kyodo News)

I don't feel threatened for several reasons. First of all, Japan is isloated form other islamic coutnries unlike mainland Asia, and Europe. Bali, which is mostly Hindu, was an easy target, becasue the rest of Indonesia and Malaysia have large poulations of Islamic people, in which a ceritan percentage are going to be radical. This is also the case for Spain, which is very near Islamic Morocco. Furthermore, Japan's xenophobic immigration laws are stringent, which makes it exceedingly difficult for would-be terrorists to get into the country, which in this instance is a blessing. But the fact they take in tiny amounts of asylum seekers would be the downside of this policy. Furthermore, I feel that most security measures at the airport are quite efiecient and well-executed. It would be difficult toge the dangerous materials into the country. The biggest threat would be from home-grown radical groups like the Aum cult, who engineered the Sarin gas attacks in 1995.

Hermes In Ginza

This is the Hermes building in Ginza.

The Flowers Of Thailand

My serviceable business hotel in Bangkok, The Forum Park Hotel, had the staff put colorful fresh flowers in this basin near the elevator everyday.

Today is my birthday, my 35th, and the 7th that has passed since I came to Japan. I would have never thought that I'd still be here. But here I am still loving it as well. I hope that if I start hating it that I will have the good sense to get out.

Being a bit of a narcissist/meglomaniac, I will urge you to check out Jean Lee's latest blog entry with references to me and more photos from the night out at Ken's Chanto Dining and MUSE as well as the aftermath from last week.

Astro Turf Cow

In honor of St.Patrick's Day, I am posting a picture of this lovely astro turf cow that I saw outside the funky free Marunouchi Cafe near Yurakucho/Ginza.

Bangkok Transit

Here's some of the famous Bangkok traffic. The BTS, which is an elevated train service, helps aliviate the traffic, but it is limited at the moment. The new subway is slated to open later this year in April.

Thailand DVD Round Up

School Of Rock-this was on a lot of Best 10 Movies of 2003, and I'm not sure it deserves it, but it was an entertaining film. Jack Black was "ridonkulous." I guess you'd have to hear the commentary between Jack Black and Richard Linklater to appreciate that joke. I think that the collaboration between those key people was the key to the show, but the kids and Joan Cusak gave fine performances as well.

Duplex-sometimes I find Ben Stiller to be hit or miss (that being said, mostly hit for me), but I think he was right on in this movie. There were several times that I was laughing out loud in this one, which looks like my reaction was contrary to public opinion.

In The Cut-another interesting but flawed Jane Campion picture, much better than say, Holy Smoke, but flawed nonetheless. The actions of the Meg Ryan character were inexplicable at times, but I like the fact that it was filmed in New York and Mark Ruffalo was good as usual, and Meg Ryan was interesting in a non-typical role. Kevin Bacon played a freak as usual, it was nice to see him as a normal person in Mystic River.

Igby Goes Down-a Salinger-esque coming of age film that works, thanks to a cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, etc...Kieran Culkin is quite impressive as Igby. Great soundtrack as well.

American Splendor-very original and inventive movie that combines animation, documentary style interviews with live footage land dramatic reinterpretations of actual people's lives. Entertaining in the same vein as the excellent documentary film Crumb.

Ordinary Decent Criminal-criminally bad. Kevin Spacey and Linda Fiorentino trying to act in Irish brogue. A shitty screenplay that wasn't very coherent either. Apparently it went straight to video unbeknownst to me.

Serpico-a classic New York movie along with Sidney Lumet's other great film Dog Day Afternoon. This DVD contains lots of extras as well.

Snatch- the poor man's "Pulp Fiction." Great cinematography, great soundtrack. An episodic and violent story about criminals with lots of humor and inane banter.

Kagemusha-the cinematography as usual is impressive. It seems even more impressive due to the fact that I've been watching black and white versions of Kurosawa movies recently; there are some really splendid scenes in this movie. However, clocking in at just under three hours, it is a bit cumbersome. Furthermore, I couldn't help but imagine what it would have been like if Mifune had acted in Nakadai's role. I think it would have proved to be more entertaining with him.

Asian Youth Culture

This is a picture of some school girls watching a video screen playing a current music video at Siam Center in Bangkok. It's the Bangkok equivalent of Shibuya, where the young and trendy shop. The uniforms are quite modest in comparison to their mini-skirted Japanese counterparts.

This girl, who I saw in Ikebukuro about a week ago, is sporting what significant research (pay attention to the comments here in particular) has revealed to be called, the Yamaba look. At first I was mistaken in thinking that she was sporting the ganguro look, which basical means "dark face." Yamaba refers to "mountain whitches", and is different from gangaro in that they wear more make-up and have more extreme hair. These girls used to populate Shibuya, a few years ago, but seem to have disappeared. So this is a bit of a rarity these days, and I couldn't resist stealing a shot from afar.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Here's me, Hiroko, Nori and Evan at the parade, not pictured is Chieko. It has been a tradition to go to this event since I first came to Japan, but the last two years I have spent St. Patrick's Day and my birthday in Taipei and Beijing. It hasn't changed much, a short parade followed by a long drinking session.

I'm not sure what this has to do with St. Patrick's Day, but...

This is the stuff.

There has been a long association between cheerleaders and St. Patrick's Day.

Khoasan Road

You may recognize Khaosoan Road from The Beach movie with DiCaprio. It is where most of the backpackers stay when in Bangkok. I have to admit it is a convient place to stay, since it caters to that crowd (internet cafes, cheap lodging, laundry, book stores, shopping, etc...), however I didn't stay there this time around. They were tearing up the gutters (to put in new plumbing? bury wires?). It was a mess.