Freaky.

I'm getting a little freaked out. In the last week I have met an astonishing number of people who have actually been reading the daily updates rather than just looking at the photos. Of course they are all people I know, but still... What's more, they actually seem to be interested in what I am writing. To top it all off, I find a messageView entire message from the president of the bastishnet fan-club today from someone I don't know who says she is interested. Unfortunatly I recieved another message from this person asking me to remove it from the site, butI will still leave this excerpt...updated May 27 2002

...your life. Sounds pathetic...

The pressure is really on now. If other people are really looking at this site, I better find some interesting topics and take a remedial spelling/grammar course. I thought I was only making this site for my mom to read so she would stop trying to Yahoo Chat with me while I am at work. (it never fails that just as the president is standing next to my desk, a message from mom or Tomoe pops up my screen. He thinks I spend my entire day chatting)

I never made it home after work last night. I went to Kumiko's house for her birthday party, where everyone (13 people if I remember correctly) ate and drank while Kumiko slaved in the kitchen to prepare a great meal for all of us. Happy Birthday... and hurry up with that soy sauce! Click here for More Photos & CommentaryA link to photos from Kumiko's birthday party, and a little commentary about the evening.

I have a little good news regarding the terrorist threat to US landmarks. There were three French people there last night, and they didn't seem to be offended so much that terrorists may have singled out their gift to the US, the Statue of Liberty. Apparently they only gave it to us because the "big gomi" sticker would have been way to expensive.

Speaking of which, I almost got rid of my broken old washing machine this week to some unsuspecting new arrival in Japan. Unfortunately it is still sitting in the middle of my kitchen because I am too cheap to throw it away. I should get rid of it quick before Brian, a friend from when I lived in Kyushyu, and 4(?) of his friends come to stay for a couple nights. The "big gomi" sticker is something we have to pay 30 bucks or so for to stick on any large trash we want to throw away. TV's, furniture, refrigerator, washing machine etc... all cost money to get rid of here. It doesn't seem to discourage anyone from buying the latest model of whatever and trashing the old one each year though.

Yes, it's WorldCup fever time... Brian and his friends are coming all the way from Wisconsin to see the games here. Some of the Europeans I know are excited to be getting a free one month trial of Cable-TV that just happens to coincide with the World Cup. But while they, real soccer fans, are watching it in their cramped apartment, on a tiny little TV screen, I, who don't know the first thing about soccer, will be watching (at least one of) the games live. A client of ours and also just so happens to have some extra tickets.

I remember when WorldCup fever hit a few years ago while I was in Kyushyu. That was perhaps the most boring two weeks of the year. Alot of the people I hung out with there were European also... then there were the American freaks (like Brian) who liked soccer too. People were going to bed at 7pm every night so they could get up at 4am to watch the match.

If anyone needs some advice on climbing Fuji, Nobu-san tells us the "king way of Mt Fuji climbing".

A night on 23 was pleasant. I drank Martini too much. The photograph of Mt Fuji climbing was seen. Why does Mt Fuji get crowded when it goes into the season? A general mountaineer. The sightseer of the tour. There is it in the excursion of the U.S. Army stationed additionally in Japan, and the Japanese Self-Defense Force to say, too. It is the sightseer of the tour that the probability of that it succeeds in climbing to the summit is the highest. It is two of the light air and the hot sunlight to make climbing to the summit to the high mountain difficult. The schedule of the sightseer of the tour seems to be the next.

1. Leave Shinjuku by bus before noon.
2. In 5 of Mt Fuji, at about 3 p.m., arrival. Then, it begins to walk.
3. It arrives at the cottage of the 8 or around the 8.5 at about 7 p.m. Take a nap after you finish a meal.
4. Leave a cottage at 1 a.m.
5. A sunrise 30 minutes ago, of a mountain due at the summit.

This is the king way of Mt Fuji climbing. Because it walks at night which it is cool in, sweat matches it very much, too, and it can climb it.

Hopefully this is the lsat update to today's post... Another interesting interview on Fresh Air.

Producers/writers/directors Justine Shapiro and B.Z. Goldberg. Their new documentary film Promises takes a look at the Palestinian-Isreali conflict thru the eyes of seven children living in or near Jerusalem. It was filmed between 1997 and the summer of 2000. SHAPIRO grew up in Berkeley, California and hosts and co-writes the award-winning travel series, Lonely Planet. Goldberg was born in Boston and grew up outside of Jerusalem and has been a television journalist. Promises was broadcast on PBS last December as part of the P.O.V. series.

They tell about how the children they were interviewing, both palestinian and Isreali alike, had such hatred for the other, but during the making of the film and through some interesting incidents, such as a delayed flight where the children were forced to spend the night together in the airport lounge, the children's views were changed. Even so, when they are in their own community, they really have to keep their mouths shut about it.