Especially for regular reader, Patricia!

In honor of regular "here we go" reader, Patricia, I post this video. It's not the one she mentioned today at dinner, but hopefully a close second. Enjoy!



p.s. Patricia, here's the enka song I was mentioning (when my friend and I sing it, we do it a lot more Peggy Lee style):

Happy Birthday, 2008!!

Sorry for the MIA-ness of late. My family was here in Tokyo for Christmas and, though my parents left a few days ago, my sister is still here 'til tomorrow, so it's been busy, busy, busy. Anyway, I just want to wish everyone a happy and fulfilling 2008. Here's to a year (and hopefully a lifetime) of good times with good people and good food.

Speaking of food, here's a picture of my first attempt at making ozoni (made vegetarian, of course), the traditional New Year's Day food here in Japan. It turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Bon appetit!

あけましておめでとうございます！

It's that jingle bell time again

From Japan to You, Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas in Japan is turning out to be more merry than you might expect, though I think that having my family here with me is probably at least partially to thank for that (the hot apple wine and apple pancakes at the German Christmas market in Roppongi Hills didn't hurt either - yum!!).

Have a Merry, Happy, Great, Wonderful Christmas! :)

That's what Dean said.

Tonight was pretty awesome. I went to the Democrats Abroad Japan Howard Dean event featuring (Can you guess?) Howard Dean, DNC Chairman and spirit booster extraordinaire! His speech was inspiring and helped redeem the Democratic party for me - not that I'd strayed, but it's nice to be appreciated and told that what we're all saying out here is being heard and acknowledged.

He made lots of good points:

1. The Dems panel of candidates looks a lot closer to how it should in 2007 (e.g. a couple white guys, a woman, a half-black-half-white guy, a half-latino-half-white guy, etc.).
2. For the Under 30 crowd, the stuff the Republicans are talking about just doesn't matter/make sense.
   
   [Tangent:
   Part of what makes Obama so appealing to me (and what made me yell out to my mom in the next room when I saw/heard the guy on "Oprah" that this would be my guy) is that he is fresh, less-tainted, less-jaded. He's been around DC long enough to know the ropes, but not be entrenched in them. I keep saying it, but it bears repeating. There's something Kennedy-esque about Obama that makes me smile and have faith and hope and believe that the States isn't actually going to hell in a handbasket - or, at least, that there's actually someone out there who might manage to grab the basket and bring it back before it gets too far. Tangent over.]
   
   
3. Gay marriage is a Republican issue - they're the ones who keep bringing it up!! The core value that's important for Dems - equal justice and treatment under the law for all Americans... for better or for worse. ;)

He said more and I know I'm forgetting things that I clapped at and were impressed by at the time. But, suffice it to say, the whole experience was great and exactly what I needed to get me less cynical about our prospects and more positive (again!) about the candidates we've got out there. No question, any of our guys would be a vast improvement on the disappointment and heartache and, well, crap that's in the White House now.

Dean came out here to ask for money and to remind us to register and vote (and to get our friends to do likewise - hint! hint!), but also to earn his meal with his spiel. And he totally did his job and it totally worked. Yeah, I know it's politics - yeah, that's his job, etc. But he did it well and he got me going and I'm excited for the next event and the next milestone in this next year leading up to November.

Here's the thing, I'm tired of living abroad and feeling like I've somehow let the whole rest of the world down by being from the country that let this guy keep this job for the last 7 years. I mean, personally, I didn't vote for the guy, so at least that's some weight off my shoulders. But, jeez, he's just awful and he's screwing it up for literally everyone else - every last person on this Earth is affected by the decisions made and actions taken by the President of the United States. That's a responsibility that we shouldn't take lightly but one that I think far too many people overlook, understandably, considering most Americans never live abroad and many never travel abroad. But, from my overseas mouth/fingers to your (possibly homeland) ears/eyes: it sucks out here, from this side of the news, seeing what the rest of the world sees, hearing what the rest of the world says, and feeling what the US's actions do to us all - American and non-American alike.

If you're living abroad and need/want to register for an absentee ballot go to www.VoteFromAbroad.org.

If you're back in those United States and need/want to register, go to www.RockTheVote.org.

FYI, Democrats Abroad is holding a Global Primary on February 5th. If you're a registered DA member (not just in Japan, but globally) by Jan. 31, you can choose to participate in the Global Primary instead of your home state's primary. You can get more info on how to join in on the Global Primary on the Democrats Abroad website.

Let's make this happen!! White House 2008!!

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Karaoke tricks, that is. Below are clips of my two latest musical obsessions. The first is now a standard at karaoke. The second tops my list of "home karaoke" (a.k.a. singing in the shower). Enjoy!


小指の思い出　("koyubi no omoide")


Tous les garçons et les filles

Saturday afternoon

So, last Saturday I was sitting on the patio out in front of the Starbucks in Harajuku. I was alone, waiting for the rest of my study group.

This guy comes walking down the street, dressed all normally in dark jeans and dark coat, smoking a cigarette, walking his pet - you know, just a regular Saturday afternoon activity.

His pet was on a leash. The leash was attached to a collar - a regular old dog collar.

The collar... was attached... to a monkey.

The man was walking his pet monkey down the street. The monkey was walking on all fours. The monkey had very long arms and legs and a long tail. The monkey was skinny and did not have a lot of hair. The monkey and I made eye contact. Then the monkey was gone.

This is a true story.



And, by the way, in case you didn't register it, I saw a f*%&ing monkey walking down the street on a leash the other day.