expiring

Omedetou!

2012-01-27T00:05:00.000+09:00

Chibi found a foster home!

King found a foster home!

Photo by Anri Harada Fabrot

Cleo found a forever home!

Photo by Susan Roberts

Kangaroo was adopted!

Photo by Annabelle Ratcliffe

Melanie and Diggory and Hinata went to foster!

Paul was adopted!

Photo by Sylvia Hatsutani

This is the best part. Finding places that these guys can make new friends and live their lives in peace and comfort.

We still have so many more that need a meal, a roof, and a cuddle!

Kenny and Choco

Jenny Jenny

Aki

We're having a benefit buffet meal this Sunday in Tokyo, at News Café in Jiyugaoka. Come on out if you can, eat, drink, donate, volunteer, foster, adopt!

Thanks this week go to Shannon, who sent me a donation. She takes cool photographs. Thank you Shannon!

adopt or foster

2011-12-05T00:48:00.001+09:00

Here's a video that Susan made about some of the animals that we've been working for all these months. Theae are the ones that we got from owners or found in the street and are feeding and walking cleaning up after every day.

Chiro, shown along with my horribly horse fly bitten legs, has been with us for six months. Her owners are still not in a position to take her back. Though she's aggressive to other dogs, she's really sweet to humans. She's really smart and lovely, loves a belly rub or a snack. She's really fast, and relishes her walks.

Thanks this week go to Kim, who sent me a donation, and Julia, who came up to volunteer last week.

Doggy Style

2011-11-26T18:16:00.001+09:00

It's getting cold, people.

I am not one who approves of dogs in clothes, usually. I used to think it was unbearably twee and coddling and the dogs always seemed embarrassed. I once saw a poodle in Kamakura wearing mini Chuck Taylors.

Jenny Jenny

But people, it is COLD. And we had all these donated dog clothes. And the dogs are sleeping outside. Granted, in an insulated kennel, with dog houses, and blankets, but still. An extra layer can't hurt, right?

Sam and Choco, looking especially handsome

So from this week it's been dog fashion time.

Don't they look handsome? I think Chibi looks like a retiree going on a cruise. Fitting, since she's kind of geriatric at 9 years old, doesn't really want to leave her room to go on walks. But from now she's LIVING IT UP.

Chibi, on her way to the Bahamas.

King ate the first shirt I put on him. I guess he didn't like it. But this one looks stylish on him too.

King will eat your shirt.

I think Kenny looks like an English professor in his sweater.

Where did I put my pipe?

Chiro's shirt was donated by some people in Thailand. It says "Gambatte Japan, from the people of Thailand".

Thanks this week go to people who sent clothes, including "the people of Thailand" and Leonora&Ian, and Jackie, who sent me a donation. Thank you so much!

They call him King

2011-11-21T00:13:00.001+09:00

King, looking more like a scruffy pirate.

This is King, a short time after he came to Lohas. He had been on his own for four months, his owners evacuated, with almost no human contact. A neighbor finally called us. When I went to pick him up, he barked fiercely. He was skinny with patches of fur missing and red, irritated skin.

After coming to Inawashiro, he quickly warmed up to us. He ate ravenously, and would bark steadily if left alone. He craved human companionship, and was known for his tendency to stand up on hind legs with front legs extended forward like arms, begging for attention.

We treated him for fleas and ticks, got him vaccinated, and neutered, and soon his hair started growing back in, his coat thickening, and his ribs receding under a layer of proper nutrition.

A few months later.

Here he is in September. King is really an alpha guy. He walks proudly, head and tail in the air, dragging his handler if you let him. He's a big baby when it comes to vaccines but a tough guy when it comes to foxes and other dogs challenging his authority. When he took his surgery vacation weekend at my house, he luxuriated at being indoors and being the sole canine focus of attention. I think he would thrive in foster care.

I'd like to dedicate King's story to Rosanna, who sent me a donation. Thank you very much.

satooya news

2011-11-12T23:46:00.001+09:00

Hey y'all.

Stellaluna in the pantry, by my mom.

I'm still in Fukushima, surrounded by fur babies.


fur babies, by Anna Vieste

These are some puppies we recently picked up, at about four weeks old. It's really dangerous to pick them up because everyone who does wants to take one home. They are delicious.

yummy puppy diego, by anna vieste

And, AND, the chickens got adopted! All eighty of them! They went to a little natural (pesticide free, they grow a lot of their own crops) bakery down in Okayama called Hototogisu. I love that name. It means cuckoo.

The chickens are now being put to work as free range layers at a little bakery down south.

They've had the eggs tested (again) and they have been deemed fit for consumption. All that trucking in of food and water over the months seems to have been a good thing.

Speaking of adoption, my dad came out to volunteer three times, and he couldn't resist taking home a couple of the kitties. Stellaluna, pictured in the pantry above, was so named because of her huge ears in proportion to her head, making her look like a bat. She was the runt of the litter, a spunky, tiny little thing who we didn't think would make it, but who climbed up the bars of the cage and cried in such a big voice we imagined her saying STELLLLLA! like Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Along with Stella came her sister, who my mom named Chibitora.

Chibitora is super cuddly.

Long ago, we had a pair of sister cats, one a tuxedo, and one a brown tabby called Tiger. Tigger ran away within the first year or so, but Tuxy stayed with us her whole life. These two new little girls resemble Tux and Tig so closely that my mom named Chibi in Tiger's honor and muses about reincarnation (生まれ変わり, umarekawari). Chibi is a snugglebug.

There are still so many cats out in the zone, and some dogs too. Today I got a call from someone who wants us to pick up five koi, about a meter long apiece. That's fifteen feet of carp, people! Anybody got space in their pond?

The animals in this post are dedicated to Dharma and Carrie, who sent me a donation and hosted me for dinner in October, and JB, who kicked my ass into posting again. Thanks dolls.

summer reading

2011-08-07T09:42:00.001+09:00

Some extra reading:

Alex, our long-term volunteer and vet tech extraordinaire, kept a blog of her time here with JEARS. She kept much better track of day-to-day goings on than I have. Here's an excerpt from her website:

After the first pick up, Sega san led us to another location in Yamakiya that looked like a storage shed for agricultural tools. A dog was chained up, Kuro. He was extremely nervous and the owner or one of the people somehow related to the owner warned that he would bite. I meandered up to him bowed down with a slip lead and lots of treats and he eventually took treats from me and I got the slip lead around his neck. We then had to bring the whole chain with us because he was still acting out in fear aggression. After much maneuvering, we got him loaded into a crate and into the car. Since he has been at Club Lohas, though, he has become one of the friendliest dogs and he is especially attached to me and I to him.

Kuro, Shiro na no ni.

Alex is now traveling in Vietnam and we miss her sorely. Come back, Alex!

Inawashiro. Photo by Annabel Ratcliffe

Annabel took some fabulous pictures while she was in Inawashiro, really showcasing the gorgeous surroundings. Fukushima is stunning, and it's such a shame that some of these beautiful places have become poisonous for their inhabitants.

Penny. Photo by Annabel Ratcliffe.

Kangaroo. Photo by Annabel Ratcliffe.


Canal near Club Lohas. Photo by Annabel Ratcliffe.

The fabulous Sylvia wrote up her experience of returning two dachshunds, Romeo and Juliet, to their owners in Iwate. It turns out the dogs are heroes! I was in Fukushima when they came down from up north, then they went to Heart Tokushima for awhile, then came back to us in Fukushima again for awhile before going back home. Stories and photos by Sylvia Hatsutani.

命の恩人～The dogs that saved lives

by Sylvia New Hatsutani on Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 11:10pm

Mommy's home!

I had the wonderful opportunity to drive two wonderful Dachshunds, Romeo and Juliet, to Rikuzentakata, Iwate and return them to their rightful owners. Since the Mega earthquake and tsunami about 4 months ago, they have been in the care of JEARS until their owners could settle enough to take them back. Now that the owners are in a temporary pre-fab home, Romeo and Juliet got to go home. Upon arriving, amidst the happy reunion, the owners explained that these two had saved their lives.
今週、岩手県陸前高田市に2匹のかわいいダックスフンドを元の飼い主に送り届けるというとても素敵な経験をさせてもらいました。ロミオとジュリエットは約 4ヶ月前の大地震と津波からJEARSのシェルターでケアされてきました。仮設住宅にやっと入り落ち着いた飼い主の元に帰り、幸せな再会の中、'この子達は命の恩人なのよ'と話してくれました。

With JEARS founding partner and JEARS Fukushima organizer, Susan Roberts

Living near the sea in Rikuzentakata, after the earthquake hit, the owners stayed inside their home. Romeo and Juliet would not stop barking and whining, and acted very nervous. Thinking that the dogs sensed danger, the owners decided to load them up into the car and drove to the nearby evacuation site, which saved their lives from the tsunami. Since dogs were not allowed inside, the owners left them in the car which was parked some distance from the evacuation building. Unfortunately, the car was swept away by the tsunami with Romeo and Juliet inside. The owners searched for the car and found them 3 days later, not a single drop of water had entered the car and both dogs were safe. They found a package of bread that was left in the car and survived off of the bread.
Had the dogs not warned them, they said they would have stayed in the house and would have been swept away. Rikuzentakata was hit with tsunamis reaching 5 stories.
This is truly a wonderful, touching story that filled my heart. I am glad that I got to meet this family.
海に近い陸前高田にいる飼い主は地震の後家にのこっていました。所がロミオとジュリエットは落ち着かず、吠え続けていたため、危険を察知してる物と思って犬たちを連れて車で近くの避難場所に移動したそうです。犬は建物に入れないので、少し離れた駐車場に2匹を車においていたそうです。所が、ロミオとジュリエットを乗せたまま車は津波に流されてしまいました。飼い主たちが車を探し出したのは3日後。水が一滴も入らず2匹は車の中においたままのパンを食べて無事でした。もし2匹が騒がなければ家に残り、津波に流されるところでした。陸前高田は5階ほどの高さの津波に教わたそうです。
とても感動的で素敵なお話で、この家族に会えたのは光栄です。

They were so happy to see their family.

Rolling around in happiness.

Chicken Wednesdays

2011-08-02T14:52:00.001+09:00

It's Wednesday again. Time to feed the chickens.

We've been feeding these 80 chickens in Namie-machi, in Fukushima, for a few months now. The owner has long evacuated, and when we first found them they were dehydrated and hungry, a few of them dead. Since then, we've been going back twice a week, on Wednesdays and weekends, to replenish their food and water supply. They've grown healthy and robust and have started laying a ton of eggs. They have a relatively large coop - I'd say at least 15X30 feet - with lots of space to peck and roost.

I've learned a couple of things about chickens that I didn't know before. First, how to hold one, taught to me by Sister Michael Marie, one of our volunteers. "Control the feet, control the bird," she says. You thread your middle three fingers between the feet, holding on tightly, and the bird will soon be calm and let you stroke its feathers.

Another: chickens are really friendly. After the first time we went, they would run to the door as we pulled up, strutting around our ankles and crowding the entrance, in anticipation of food and water. I haven't been pecked, and they let me pet them, coming close if I crouch down.

I was afraid that a roosting hen would peck me if I messed with her while she was laying, but they don't seem to mind at all if I gently pull the eggs out from under them. Did you know that chickens eat their own eggs? We pull the eggs out and put them among the feed and they peck them open and eat them up, getting protein and calcium. They even eat the shells.

Right now, one of our volunteers has sent an egg to a lab to be tested for radiation. So far, the iodine levels have been normal. We're waiting on the results for cesium. These chickens have been living almost unattended for four months in the 30km. zone of Fukushima. I'd like to dedicate these chickens to Andy, who sent me a donation, and Anastasia, who donated a microwave and mini fridge to us. Thanks guys!

The owner, whom we finally contacted, has said that he's willing to let the chickens go to adoption. Anyone want some chickens?

dogs that bound

2011-07-11T13:28:00.001+09:00

This is Reo, who was surrendered to us on the side of the road as we were chasing a stray dog. We were between scheduled pickups when we saw a dog in the road in Namie-machi, Fukushima. (Namie is part in part out of the exclusion/20 km. zone, but mostly in the evacuation zone, where it's not totally illegal to be but where they strongly advise everyone to GTFO.) We stopped the car to try and look at the dog in the road, but he ducked and dashed and messed around a bit before bolting into the woods. Meantime, we had stopped a couple of cars because we were all over the road, and one of us had gone over to the nearest house to inquire about the dog. The owner of the house didn't know the Shiba stray, but when she heard about what we were doing, she asked us to take her dog, Reo.

The one that got away. Photo by David Irek.

While we were filling out the papers, one of the people in one of the cars we had stopped got out, and when she found out what was happening, she also brought a dog out of the car that she wanted us to take care of. Suddenly, we had two extra dogs we weren't planning on, Reo and Samu.


Doing Reo's paperwork in the road. Photo by David Irek.

Reo is only a year old, and spends 50% of her time airborne. She doesn't walk, she leaps. She doesn't put her paws on your legs, she jumps up to your head. She cannot be constrained by gravity.

Getting Samu into the car. Photo by David Irek.

Later it turned out that Samu was a mom, so the team went back out to look for her puppies. Miraculously, they were found. More on that story here. The puppies, who we called Charlotte and Wilbur (name that book) and Clarence and Sophie, grew rapidly and it soon became clear they were going to be bigger than their mom. They have all recently been placed in their forever homes. (Thanks Nina, Caroline, and Miki!)

Here's a shot of Clarence, looking plump. Photo courtesy Sarah C.

I'd like to dedicate Reo, Samu, and the puppies to Janis, who sent me a donation, and my brother, who is looking after my Timothy while I'm up north.

森の猫

2011-07-09T14:22:00.000+09:00

I call these my forest kittens.

While picking up a dog by owner request that had been left behind in Kawamata, Fukushima, the cops approached Kimberly Mitchell, Ariel Acosta, and me. I pulled out my ID because they ask for our IDs every fifteen minutes when we're in the evacuation zone. (Last week I was stopped and ID checked five times in a couple of hours.) The police waved my ID off and instead asked for our help - they wanted us to look at some cats they were worried about, 300 meters up the road. I said we couldn't take any more, but we would do a food drop and check on them. When we arrived, though, we found two tiny kittens running up to us as we approached, and another one lying dead in a box at the edge of the forest. Flies were buzzing around. We put out food and looked at the one in the box, who, the police said, had been alive two hours before. It moved - barely. Not dead after all. We made a spot decision to take them all, scooping them up and running to the vet, an hour away.

The sick one didn't make it, and passed away in Kim's hands on the way there, Kim pouring love into her all the way.

Once at the vet, he examined them and found maggot eggs and sores around the anuses, and worked to clean them off. He put them in an incubator. They survived the night and became even more chipper the next day as we visited. After a few more days at the clinic, they were declared healthy enough to go to their new foster home with Sylvia, with a stop at my house on the way. Little survivors!

I'd like to dedicate these kittens to the lovely Saboten Girl, who gave me a donation, and my aunt Asako, who sent us cages and many cartons of pet food. Thank you darlings.

'boarders and bunnies

2011-06-14T14:25:00.009+09:00

dear friends,

I know I'm way behind on updates; the days have flown past, with little time to sleep or eat, let alone write. The only reason I have a minute now is because the car has broken down and I am on the train back to Fukushima.

Last time I left you with the promise of Olympic snowboarders and other shenanigans.


JEARS crew and volunteers.

Over Golden Week, we had a rash of volunteers who came up to work with us for the week. One of these was the snowboarder Kazu Kokubo, a sweet young guy with an Olympics under his belt and a couple of other trophies, like the recent Burton US Open. Here we are in Minami Soma, just outside the 20 km. exclusion zone blockade. Left to right, it's Isabella Gallaon-Aoki, JEARS founder and founder of Animal Friends Niigata, David Wybenga, JEARS founder and Japan Cat Net founder, Susan Mercer, JEARS founder and Heart Tokushima founder, me, Tales Mello, an engineering student from Osaka, Nori Watanabe, Kazu's cameraman, Carl Harris, Kazu's friend and agent for this trip, and Kazu Kokubo.

Kazu has written a great blog for this trip at Snowboarder magazine (that's my geiger counter he's got down his pants).


animal friends

After visiting Animal Friends on Wednesday, we set out early on Thursday morning for Soma City, just north of the exclusion zone.


The town of Soma is mostly shut.

In front of Soma City Hall.

There we visited some evacuation centers and distributed pet food, and had a run-in with an angry drunk evacuee who berated us for not bringing enough dog food for everyone. When we proffered him some kibble, he admitted that he did not have a dog.

Outside an evacuation center in Soma.

Goats in Soma.

We also visited a small festival where there were some lonely farm animals hanging around, looking forlorn but with their people nearby. On the way back from the festival, we passed a cage holding some rabbits with a sign saying "free". When Isabella stopped to talk to the owners, she found they could not take care of all of them, so in short order we had a rabbit in tow.

From Soma, we made our way to the Minami Soma area. Minami Soma sits at the north edge of the 20 km. exclusion zone, with part of the town inside and part of the town outside the zone. En route, we traveled along the coast, through the debris field.

Photo from Kazu's blog.

I was driving a van with some of the founders and some volunteers inside, and someone asked - do you ever find animals here? We all replied - not anymore. It's been a month and a half since the quake, there aren't any more animals to be pulled from the rubble.

Just as we finished saying it, someone yelled, and we all spotted the dog emerging from the vast and barren wasteland, tail wagging. Our small caravan quickly pulled over and we rushed to don gloves, masks, grab slip leads, and find dog treats.

This guy was so friendly and eager to see people that it was a snap to get him in the van and secured with a bowl of food to snack on. I nicknamed him Barney since he came from the rubble.

I'd like to dedicate the rescue of Bun and Barney to Emma aka Emu, who was so kind to send me a donation, and JB, who worked hard to spread the word by blogging our activities and sent our video out to several places, including getting the video on Cute Overload - a major accomplishment! Thanks ladies for your help and support, love ya.

Love,

-selena-

Help cats and teach English!

2011-05-18T22:19:00.000+09:00

Substitute for a good cause!

Japan Cat Network is looking for someone to come to Hikone (near Kyoto), to cover some evening English classes so that we can continue to work in Tohoku. Right now there are classes that need to be covered for tomorrow night (Thursday). We are not looking for a volunteer - we can pay 4,000 yen per 60 minutes plus some transportation. If you might be able or interested please write back right away, We need someone for tomorrow, and need to set it up now, or leave Tohoku in the morning. There are also classes on Monday and Friday nights - with the possibility to crash here overnight if need be.

If you are able to volunteer at the shelter as well, we would love you forever.

Drop me a comment or shoot me an email if you can help!

kits and pups

2011-05-14T21:59:00.001+09:00

I have taken on a role as an (unpaid, of course!! ha) coordinator, so I'm trying to manage volunteers as well as drive, translate, and of course pick up and transport animals. Every day is a blur!

This is Mr. Saito and Ginny with one of the six kittens and five adult cats that we picked up in Aizu. He was really sad to see them go and shed a few tears as we left.

I was able to visit with Cocoa, the dog from Iwate, at the shelter the other day. I took her out for a walk and though she barks at most everyone else, she seemed happy to see me and gave me a kiss and didn't yell at me. I'd like to dedicate Cocoa's rescue to Lily, who not only gave me a donation and bought me coffee, but offered to spread the word about fostering in Niigata and has been in touch about other ways to volunteer.

Here are a few more shots of dogs we got on the last day we were in the 20 km. zone. They are all receiving food, shelter, and medical care now, and though some were quite sick going in, they all have a better chance now at survival and happy homes in the future.

I'd like to dedicate these dogs to my dad, who sent us a couple of good geiger counters, enabling us to monitor the situation, be safer, and scan the animals and ourselves after coming out of the exclusion zone.

During Golden Week, many volunteers and animals flowed through our network, stopping for a spell at the Sendai or Fukushima bases, transporting animals to Animal Friends Niigata, and from there on to Japan Cat Net and Heart Tokushima.

This dog, Jam, had severe separation anxiety. He was ok if he was basically in your lap, but if you walked away, he cried piteously until someone came back. Judy, a bitchin' translator with a fabulous potty mouth, slept in the genkan with him, then took him back to some of his people (friends of the owners, who had evacuated to a no-pets-allowed spot in Tokyo) in Hirono. One happy ending.

Next up: Olympic snowboarder rubs elbows with goats, drunks, dogs, and debris.

radioactive dogs

2011-05-08T21:09:00.002+09:00

dear friends,

We returned from Iwate late Thursday night with Cocoa. We were able to pass her to Isabella, the founder of Animal Friends Niigata, along with some other dogs that had come in with other teams. We went to bed, exhausted from the many hours of driving and the chaos that we had seen.

My rest didn't last long, however. No sooner had I gotten into bed then Susan and Miho came in, stressed and frantic. They had just arrived from the exclusion zone with a van full of sick and starving animals. They had learned that the <20 zone was to be closed at midnight, and had scrambled to take out as many animals as possible before the deadline.

Ginny with Skinny

We went down to the parking lot in the middle of the night to minister to the frightened animals. We fed, watered, and walked them, cleaned their cages, and put anything that had been exposed to radiation in bags to be disposed of as toxic material. These are the animals that you can see in the video. I walked a few of the dogs, including the skinny brown dog whose ribs were highly visible in the video. He was wheezing the whole time, walking unsteadily.

In the morning, the dogs (and one cat, who ate six packets of food at one go) were transferred to AFN, where they were washed and put through a decontamination and quarantine procedure. The cat, Stuart the vet said, had probably a 15% chance of survival, as it had an upper respiratory infection, fleas, and was malnourished.

This tiny, sweet, and sick kitty stayed the night in the hotel bathroom before we could get her to the shelter.

The skinny brown dog, it seems, is in bad shape. When he was washed in his decon procedure, he collapsed. He is currently in intensive care at the vet. The cat however, has perked up quite a bit. She is on medication and has a healthy appetite.

On Friday morning, as we were walking and ministering to the dogs, I had the chance to meet the lovely Lily of the blog Café Yamashita. We have been reading each others' websites for awhile now, and when she saw I was in Niigata she reached out to me. She is just as friendly and generous as she comes across on her blog. Lily, flanked by her little boy Sora, jumped right in with offers of help, support, whatever we needed. Thank you so much, Lily!

And an update on the kittens from Aizu: Five out of six made it - the runt didn't survive. The rest are doing fairly well, though they have some kind of bacterial infection that gives them diarrhea, and kittens are highly susceptible to dehydration. Happily, one of the adult cats has already been rehomed. I'd like to dedicate those cats to my mom, who gave me a donation for gas money. Thanks mom! Cats are being sheltered, cared for, and put in good homes thanks to you.

see what's happening

2011-04-30T00:33:00.000+09:00

Here's a video with some of my fellow volunteers in the exclusion zone on the last day before it was sealed. If this speaks to you, please repost it and spread the word as much as possible. Animals are dying every day and need to be gotten out of there.

Animals left alone in the 20 kilometer exclusion zone in Japan need your help now.
We are asking people to send a comment to this government link:　https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html
Please remind the government that the pets in the 20 kilometer zone are loved and wanted. They should not stay there to starve, nor should they be removed to go to animal control facilities. Rescue groups are being asked to help rescue pets for guardians that cannot get back to the area to retrieve their pets themselves. Please let animal rescue groups back into the zone now, to be part of the process of getting animals to safety.
You might also write your nearest Japanese embassy with the above request.

One day in Fukushima - by Axel

2011-04-28T00:41:00.001+09:00

Here's a great blog post by one of my fellow volunteers, about going into the exclusion zone in Fukushima on the last day before it was sealed. Animals are now trapped inside and people are not being allowed to go in for them.

http://axellieber.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-day-in-fukushima.html

Iwate and tsunami dog Cocoa

2011-04-24T02:23:00.001+09:00

Hi friends,

Thursday was a very long day. Late Wednesday night, I received a mission to go up to Iwate prefecture, about an eight hour drive. We were to leave at 7 a.m. After getting the pertinent details and loading supplies, Ginny and I sent off on the long windy drive through snow-capped mountains, to the northern coast of Honshu. The north is not very densely populated, so traffic was minimal and we made good time. We drove past Sendai city and saw little damage, and found our way to the city of Otsuchi-cho, where we were to pick up.

The devastation was sudden and immediate. One moment we were driving through normal looking neighborhoods, the next through mountains of unrecognizable rubble, stretching into the distance. Even a month and a half on, the piles are enormous and look like they did when the tsunami first happened. Japan Self Defense Force members and other uniformed officers crawled over the wreckage like ants, combing through it and making transfers of debris, bits of sand in a gigantic Texas anthill. Perhaps eventually we'll see progress and it will be cleaned up, but for now it seems like they are just shifting dirt from one point to another with no measurable progress.

We wound our way through the town and up a hill, where a few completely intact houses sat looking down over their former neighbors. Here we met our contact, though we couldn't locate her at first because the people milling around the house didn't seem to know her name or the address we were seeking. Finally it turned out that we were indeed at the right place and that Ms. I was inside. She brought out a little dog, her ten year old daughter trailing behind. The dog, a brown mix that betrayed some Pomeranian blood when she began yapping at us, seemed healthy and lively when we met her, her fur a little matted. Her name was Cocoa.

Upon closer inspection, Cocoa showed a raw red egg-sized lesion on her lower belly, between her back legs. Ms. I told us that they were separated during the tsunami, at which time Cocoa was hurt. After it was over, they managed to find each other again. They have been living at the neighbor's house, but have been unable to take Cocoa to a vet as they have no car. They don't know where they'll end up, but have asked us to take care of Cocoa until they can find a place to live. It was an emotional goodbye, with some tears; Cocoa is ten years old and I imagine she's been a part of their family for awhile. She needs medical care though, and at the shelter she'll receive food, warmth, kindness, and medical treatment. I assured Ms. I that Cocoa would be gone just a little while, and as we pulled away, she said "Itterasshai" - "go and come back", or "see you when you get back".

We dropped off some dog food at a house with a hungry-looking dog chained outside on the edge of town, then began the long drive back to Niigata.

xox,
-selena-

fukushima prefecture and kitties

2011-04-21T01:30:00.003+09:00

dear friends,

I'm about to hit the sack for an early day tomorrow. Today, I drove to the town of Aizu Wakamatsu in Fukushima prefecture, where we had gotten a call about some semi-socialized cats that were on their way to animal control. The six kitties were easy to trap, but the adults were more difficult and took a lot of time, tricks, some humane traps, some cardboard, some bribes, and innovation - but luckily no scratches. Ginny and I managed to round up 11 cats in all (out of about 13) and brought them back to the shelter. The staff there is really great, dealing with an enormous intake of animals with grace and cheer. Here's one of the vets working at Animal Friends.

I've met some other really interesting people - Stuart is another vet, visiting from England. Today he's in the exclusion zone picking up animals and doing public feeds for the wandering packs. Sister Michael, a nun, comes from an order that tries to alleviate suffering, and her specialty is animals. She's a pro. Miho, a Kanagawa person, is excellently fluent in Japanese and English and has an acerbic wit to boot. She slept on the floor of our hotel room last night (three of us shared a business hotel room), snuggled up in her tiny backpacking zero-degree sleeping bag that she got for when she was traveling in India. There are tons more great people here.

I have not yet been to the nuclear exclusion zone, and may not go there this week. This is probably the biggest problem area, as I mentioned in my previous email, and the team really wants to get out as many animals as possible, as a lot of them are wasting away, some of them shut in houses with nobody home for weeks or even since the earthquake, and farm animals tethered and penned. The team is armed with a dosimeter, highly protective masks, gloves, and wear long sleeves and scarves to make sure their bodies are fully covered. There are also decontamination centers where you can be scanned when coming out, and everyone is logging their exposure in order to minimize exposure to any one person, and to know when it might be a good time to quit going in.

Tomorrow, I'm heading out with Ginny again, this time to Iwate prefecture, to answer a call about someone who's evacuating to a shelter and can't take their pet. It's a long drive - maybe eight or nine hours - and we'll probably be sleeping in the car on the way back. Road trip? No hotels operating up there, or not many, and no money anyway. Wish us luck!

Love to you all.
xoxo,
-selena-

animals, my friends

2011-04-20T23:27:00.000+09:00

Hey there - I've started volunteering with JEARS up in Tohoku, helping to rescue animals in this area. I wrote this update to send to a few friends and thought I'd post it here too.

Hey everyone -
I thought I'd dash off a quick email tonight. I arrived in Niigata today (upper West Coast of Japan, across from Fukushima). Niigata is where one of the shelters of JEARS is based, Animal Friends. I connected with the group in the city and took a group out to the shelter to tour it and meet some of the rescued animals, and also to drop off a cat that had been picked up in the exclusion zone of Fukushima the day before.

There are more than 200 animals being held in the shelter; they say there are 10,000 animals wandering Fukushima alone, including dogs, cats, other pets, and livestock that have been abandoned. It's a momentous task and not one this group can do alone.

Tomorrow we head to the tsunami zone and to the Fukushima area. I'm driving a group and doing some translation. Everyone I've met so far is really great and they had a bunch of vegetarian curry pouches donated by an Indian food company, so I'm even fed! Excellent.

I'll update more when I can - early start tomorrow and looks like a full day. Love you all.
xoxo
-selena-

more destinations for your cranes!

2011-04-19T08:42:00.000+09:00

The paper cranes for Japan project, donating $2 for each crane received up to 100,000, is over... but I just saw an update that they received 500,000 cranes!! So they've decided to double their initial gift (going to Architecture for Humanity) of $200,000 to $400,000. Wow! Good job everyone.

The crane folding fun doesn't stop. My mom told me about this initiative by the kids clothing company Osh Kosh B'Gosh, to donate an item of clothing for each crane folded to tsunami kids, up to 50,000. That's a lot of overalls! I wore Osh Kosh overalls as a kid, did you? I remember their stuff being sturdy and good for play clothes.

You can send in your cranes or upload pictures of them until April 25th. More good stuff with just a flick of the origami...

lunchtime

2011-04-15T19:34:00.000+09:00

There are a wealth of old bento boxes in my house. Not just plastic containers, but retro aluminum ones with slide-on chopsticks holder, an oval one with a painting of flowers, a lacquer one in a square shape with a handle that a friend called "samurai's bento".

All this stuff, I want to get some USE out of it! I picked up this beautiful book called 菜菜ランチ, a vegan Japanese lunch cookbook that features so many beautiful bento and home lunch ideas.

I made the carrot dry curry, one of the first recipes in the book, and it was so quick, healthy, and delicious that I posted about it over at Green Zebras. Yay vegan Japanese cooking!

kids and pink clouds

2011-04-12T15:33:00.003+09:00

Well, the earthquakes have picked up again in the last few days. We've had quite a few strong shakers, waking me up at night and prompting me to turn on the news. Yesterday's 7.1 killed four more people. It feels like the gods are picking off people a few more at a time.

And today, the nuclear accident was raised to a level 7, the same as Chernobyl, and the highest level on the scale. It doesn't look like the radiation output is nearly as bad as Chernobyl at this time, but it's worrying that it's now on the same level as the disaster that left, according to a Belorussian acquaintance, 30% of Belarus uninhabitable.

Also, Governor Ishihara was reelected and wants to shut down pachinko parlors to save energy.

Yet we keep plodding along. We have to work and live and there is so much still to do. The cherry blossoms are just rounding the corner past full bloom. Last Saturday at Yoyogi, we folded some cranes for the Architecture for Humanity donation. They've reached their goal of 100,000 cranes for a $200,000 donation, but will still accept cranes postmarked by Apr. 15 for a massive art project they're making with the birds.

Last week I dropped off some "comfort backpacks for kids" that the Girl and Boy Scouts were collecting, filled with school supplies and snacks and flashlights and other kid-friendly things. I really wanted to give to their effort since I was a Girl Scout for so many years and it gave me so much. I didn't share the effort, though, since the project just had a local drop location and no address. But now Jen B has shown me a similar project, putting together boxes for kids in Ishinomaki. It's a great project - check it out! Contact Nicole for the address or ask me.

where we're at

2011-04-01T19:16:00.001+09:00

not the supermarket - Akihabara station last week

Today at my supermarket, the escalator was working - it wasn't on yesterday. But they were out of water. Things are slowly but surely grinding along, but everything's still just a bit off kilter.

This week I've been putting together packages for Rescue Japan (rice and blankets), Socks for Japan, and Paper Cranes for Japan, which is based in Seattle and is giving $2 for each crane received, up to 100,000, for a total of $200,000. As of yesterday, the number was still only around 12,000, so you still have time to get yours in.

And finally, I volunteered at Second Harvest last week with my mom and wrote an article about what they're doing at CNNGo.

things are not normal

2011-03-23T02:04:00.002+09:00

Despite that Japan may be already fading from the headlines, despite some reports that I've read that say things are nearly back to normal here, they are not.

Earthquakes are still shaking us every few hours at least. Today I was on the train when another quake struck. Everyone's phone disaster alarms started beeping at once, and at the same time the train ground to a halt between stations for an emergency stop.

Trains are running, but at a reduced rate. My line is going at 50%. Trains are late, and more packed than usual. It takes twice as long to get anywhere. This is a city where hardly anyone drives, and there's still a run on gas. Yesterday I saw queues stretching for blocks at the stations that were open. At least half seem to still be closed.

The city is dark, eerily so. Power saving and rolling blackouts are still in effect, and lights and signage have been dimmed. I went to city hall today, and used the restroom, in the dark. Went to Shinjuku tonight and we thronged with the crowds in Kabukicho in muffled half light.

About half of my friends have left, either to further flung parts of Japan or to other countries. Those of us remaining are varying degrees of nervous, watching the reports roll out and trying to sort through the information and misinformation.

I was talking to my aunt and mom and cousin today, and they're guardedly worried about the radiation. We talked about alternative power, sun and wind and water. Lots of people in Japan already use solar panels, and there are some wind turbines here too. But we could do so much more. We have the technology here, and perhaps now we have the impetus to be a model for alternative energy, to lead the way in making the alternative the mainstream. Thinking about this possibility for the future, about the hopeful implications for the rest of the world, is a small bright spot in all this darkness.

Meanwhile, displaced people up north still lack basics. Many still don't have electricity, or even kerosene to heat the frigid evacuation centers. They don't have enough food or water. Search and rescue efforts continue.

In addition to the package I sent to Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support last week, I've also sent boxes to Second Harvest Japan, where I've volunteered before, and Peace Boat. As well as accepting material donations (domestically) and monetary donations (from anywhere), 2HJ is using volunteers in Tokyo, and Peace Boat is organizing volunteers both in Tokyo and to go to Tohoku. If you can, please find a way to help.

how you can help

2011-03-14T23:15:00.001+09:00

Edit, 4/16:
I've updated the link to Sarajean's page, as she's made a more organized and comprehensive website. The current news reports are saying they still lack food, medicine, diapers, formula for kids, socks, underwear, gas, and more up north, with almost half a million people displaced.

We are mostly fine here in Tokyo, but the horrifying pictures and reports keep pouring in from the north. At present, the confirmed death toll is over 1800, with an additional 15,000 people missing and 450,000 people displaced from their homes.

The Japanese Red Cross is already on the ground working, and it seems to me to make sense to give to a group that is local and already has a system in place. Here's a link where you can donate to them.

There has been a coalition formed between three animal rescue groups (Animal Friend Niigata, Japan Cat Net, and Heart Tokushima) to care for abandoned, lost, and displaced pets, until their owners or new homes can be found. I've been in touch with Japan Cat Net before about volunteering, and they do good work. They have a page on facebook, here.

Finally, I have been taking classes about NGOs in Japan, and my professor, Sarajean Rossitto, is very connected to the NGO scene and knows a lot about who does what. She's set up a useful page about volunteering and donating, with lots of different suggestions about how you can help. Please check it out here.

veggie japan hacks #3: yakisoba

2011-03-08T17:24:00.001+09:00

Lourdes, who wrote the Little Vegan Monsters cookbook with my friend Amp, started a vegan cooking blog. It's new, but already chock-full of tantalizing recipes. Amp's gluten intolerant and their son has a host of allergies, so you'll find a lot of delicious and creative recipes from a handful of contributors including my dear friend Birch, whose recipes are signed bbbbb.

I was messing around trying to make vegetarian yakisoba (bottled yakisoba sauce has animal extract in it) and after a failure, came up with a recipe that pleases. It's my first post over at Green Zebras, but I hope to put up more recipes as I figure out how to vegify some of the things I want to eat.

Edit: Awhile ago Jen shared her secret for low-calorie frozen creamy goodness that is a frozen pureed banana. She also fed it to me, lucky girl I am. I passed the tip on to Birch, who wrote a version of it on the blog! He gives me props for it but it came from JB!

acorns

2011-03-04T22:07:00.000+09:00

click through for picture source

The crazy people linked in this article collected wild acorns, shelled them, extracted the tannins, ground them into flour, and made bread and pancakes from them. I love it. I love this quote:

"Another way to leach out tannins from acorns is to put them in a mesh sack and leave them in a running stream for a week or so."

Reading this, I wanna go all Walden and just do botanical drawings and make fucking acorn muffins all day.

the cold bitter north

2011-03-01T23:17:00.024+09:00

I heard it's snowing again in Sapporo, and though I started to write something about spring sidling in, here we are under another bout of sleet and other shittiness.

We went to our sister city a few weeks ago in time for the beginning of the festival, and spent some quality time dallying in kissaten, and bonding with snow, ice, crampons, hokkairo, hot beverages, and, most importantly, parfaits.

Penguin was, sadly, closed, so we had to hit up another spot recommended by my friend Prince. We traipsed around in flurries for a good long while, enlisting the help of a friendly koban policeman, and passed it twice before finally finding this spot, unassuming in the middle of a quiet block. Look for the pie-cake block letters on pressed aluminum, as the shop's name, People Peape, doesn't stand out. Cozy, grotty, indie, spectacular.

We went to Otaru on Sarah's recommendation, and while it was a pretty place, I think the best part may have been the algae boner photo op.

Though the music box emporium, recommended by Ben, was pretty magical. I love that this entire place is dedicated to increasingly esoteric analog technology. It reminded me of one of my favorite places, the Museé Mecanique in San Francisco.

We also stumbled on this cool café with Sarah, Sophia, and Nomu while freezing our booties off in downtown Sapps: The Cinema Café. It's underground (B1F!), with woody booths and lots of movie posters and trailers projected onto the wall. I don't know if they ever show full length movies, but it was a chill hangout.

Sapporo, you do not disappoint. Though your weather is frigid, your people are hip and friendly and I really enjoy visiting. I hear Hokkaido is beautiful in the summer and I promise to visit in warmer weather, someday.

on identification

2011-02-22T15:26:00.001+09:00

Last week I went to renew my driver's license. The process is a big hassle, but it got me thinking about forms of ID that I use.

Lots of people in Japan don't drive at all, are what is called a "paper driver". They're scared to get on the road, don't own cars, yet have the "gold" license, the reward for a longstanding excellent driving record. But people use their driver's licenses as ID cards.

Often when I travel domestically, hotels ask me for my passport. Not only do they request it, they want to photocopy it too. This pisses me off, because Japanese citizens aren't asked for a passport when they go to a hotel, and are often not asked for any identification at all. And I make a point of NOT carrying my passport unless I am traveling overseas – I don't need another excuse to lose it. In fact, domestic flights don't require any kind of ID at all – when I went to Sapporo a few weeks ago, I showed zero ID when checking in, going through security, and boarding the plane. So I leave it safely locked up at home.

I do tote my gaijin card, though, because it's required by law (even though a cop supposedly needs a legitimate reason to ask me to see it). But more often then not, when asked to produce a piece of identification, I whip out my DL.

I find that I get a different reaction using my DL than using my alien card. Using the alien card, people speak English to me, want to make copies, request my passport, and generally act befuddled. Using my DL, people tend to speak Japanese and take it in stride. I get fewer awkward interactions and fewer invasive requests. I chalk this up to a few things:
a. people are more used to dealing with driver's licenses, they know what to do with them
b. people see a DL and figure I'm not a tourist
c. without the big flashing GAIJIN sign (my face aside), people feel more able to treat me normally
d. people probably figure that if I'm able to drive, I can understand how to fill out a GD hotel check in form

Any other guesses? What's your experience? I definitely prefer using my DL as ID, it makes me pissed off quite a bit less.

you'll put your eye out

2011-02-16T01:40:00.000+09:00

Last weekend I went to Sapporo with Beth. She's on the ball and posted about it already, over here. And we met up with Sarah and met some of the characters on her website, including The Boyfriend and Sophia. And I want to get back to that, and I will, but let me ask you:

Have any of you tried the double eyelid glue? Wherein you put glue on your eyes? It sounds horrifying, but it can't be that much worse than fake eyelash glue, right? Which is uncomfortable and not something I like to do unless I'm getting up ridiculous, but I still have both of my orbs. Just wondering how this works. It's only 100 yen, and it's almost sold out! I hope someone can tell me if this is a successful and worthwhile product.

tanuki boner

2011-02-11T23:37:00.001+09:00

This is my contribution to Sarah's collection of cute construction barrier stands. I've also seen the frogs and rabbits... but I think I win because mine has a boner.

I have a lot of stuff to show you and lots of time so I have no excuse. I'll... get around to it. How about this snow, huh?

to the snow

2011-02-04T17:20:00.000+09:00

I'm headed north again this weekend. I wrote a preview to the snow festival over at CNNGo.

Pure Café

2011-02-01T23:43:00.001+09:00

Thought I posted about this place before, but blogger's search function sux and so does my track record with tagging things correctly.

Pure Café in Omotesando is a super healthy and yummy vegan place in the Aveda building, where I would spend all my fancy money if I had it.

This is pumpkin soup, salad, and a roasted vegetable and tempeh sandwich, in the lunch set.

blobs

2011-01-28T17:02:00.002+09:00

Somehow I got randomly selected to be a panelist for the Bloggies. I've been following, loosely, these blob awards for a few years, because I usually find a few that I like in the mix. And this year I got to help select the finalists! So here are a few that stood out that I liked from the semi-finalists.

From the Best LGBT category:
Effing Dykes
This girl is hella funny, but also smart. And also lately I'm in the habit of shortening my curses, not sure why. I've been saying "Em Effer!" I think this started when I was too much of a prude to talk about the act some people like to do in bed so I said "Tee Effing". Gross.

I don't remember which category, maybe Best Topical?
Urban Homestead
This site has lots of tips and advice to do more with less. Kind of like a more practical, less hipster Readymade mag.

Um, Lifetime Achievement category maybe?
The Bloggess
I haven't read this one a bunch, but the thing she did with organizing people who were too broke to celebrate Xmas to help each other was wicked cool. Oh, I first read about that on Pacing the Panic Room which I thought I'd shout out to because Ryan plays cool music and last night I dreamed Cole cut my hair. Also, The Bloggess has a terrible potty mouth and I fucking love a potty mouth.

That's all for now.

La Longevite

2011-01-25T13:38:00.002+09:00

A few months ago I received this book as a gift:

Tokyo Vegetarian Restaurant Guide And a few nights ago I went to a new place, for me, called La Longevite.

(click through photo to go to source)

We sat here, and got the macrobiotic course menu.

The restaurant is French-ish, though I'd call it French fusion. The chef was lovely, the service great, and the decor was cozy and fulfilled my boudoir quota for the month.

It's not an entirely vegetarian place, but they do focus on healthy food and organics and have a good selection of veggie food. One of my dishes is pictured on the cover of the book - "vegetable mosaic".

Located in Shirokanedai, it's best to call ahead to be sure they're open. There were only two staffpeople the night we went - the chef and a server. Oh! And I almost forgot to mention the steady stream of '80s and '90s hits the chef was playing! Whitney Houston, Paula Abdul, and other roller-rink favorites.

Tel: 03-3449-3231

3-3-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo

bats in my belfry

2011-01-20T19:08:00.000+09:00

Does anyone remember the Dick Tracy soundtrack, which was all sung by Madonna? I had it when I was a kid and there's a song called "Going Bananas" where she's singing in an accented Carmen Miranda-type accent.
I was just at the supermarket and the guy bagging his groceries next to me had this HUGE bunch of bananas. There must have been about twenty bananas in that bunch. I was super SUPER tempted to ask him if he was a monkey, or had a monkey at home. It was on the tip of my tongue, I was looking at him and smiling, but he was this really wan timid tired looking early-thirties salarymandude and he probably would have had me arrested.
I also have some bananas to use up and I made these really kick ass banana flapjacks yesterday. So easy, so delicious. The recipe is from Vegan Vittles.

3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder

1/3 cup mashed banana (about one small)
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry, then mix wet, then combine. Fry in a non-stick or lightly oiled pan on medium high until golden on both sides. The batter's thicker than traditional pancake batter, but they turned out great. The recipe says it makes 2-4 servings, but I think it's closer to two. I made about three six inch pancakes, could have made four slightly smaller ones.

Well that makes me mad.

2011-01-19T18:09:00.001+09:00

You're tempted, right? I know I am. All these fancy phones that do everything except make you breakfast. Oh wait, you already have one? Yeah, ok. I'm not so quick about buying new gadgets. Half the time I see people around me buying them, getting sick of them, and moving on before they've even gotten their money's worth out of the often quite dear doodads.

(pancakes and photo by my friend Angela)

Anyhoo, I've been eyeing the 'droids because my phone is about six years old and holds a battery charge like poo. (I inquired about getting a new battery from the provider - they give them to you free if the battery goes in the first year or two. It was already too long.) And also because my phone is so relatively ancient that it's going to be phased out in a year and the company is offering me some kind of discount-because-you-don't-have-a-choice on a new model (sound familiar?).

I'm certainly long winded! Getting to the point already... my brother got a 'droid and switched to docomo, because his phone bills were astronomical and they had better all-you-can-use deals along with a new member signup discount. I went with him to cancel his au phone, because it was on my family plan and under my name umbrella. He's had the phone for two years eight months... well long enough to have fulfilled the two year contract commitment. Or so I thought.

Nope, it turns out that they automatically sign you up for a new contract every two years. So every two years, you have one month to cancel your contract. If you don't cancel it within that month (difficult to find in my phone bill, squished in the fine print and only discernible after some light math), it's renewed... and you have to pay a ¥9975 cancellation fee.

That seems pretty rude to me! I don't understand how they get away with this stuff. The culture of "you pay me to renew your contract so that you can continue to give me money" that we have here in Japan seems usurious, to put it gently.

We've recently had some legislation in the States to keep companies like the credit card giants from doing just this kind of thing. We're still far from keeping companies from exploiting people who don't pay laser-eyed attention to every line item on their bills. Can anyone tell me about consumer advocacy movements in Japan? The mobile phone companies, real estate agencies, key-money-grubbing landlords, and clubs with astronomical entrance fees that give you little in return could sure use a spanking.

What I mean to say, in the most roundabout way possible, is watch your renewal times on your phone bill if you're thinking of switching companies.

jiichan baachan

2011-01-14T17:14:00.000+09:00

I've been doing a lot of bitching lately about nosey aunties and uncles, so let me mention some of the non-aggravating encounters I've had lately.

It makes me unreasonably happy when people (usually oldsters) ask me directions. I feel so NORMAL. An old guy with a hearing aid today stopped me in the street and asked me where a certain dentist was, and I was able to help him find it. Yes, I do live in this neighborhood! Yes, I do know where things are!

Yesterday at the supermarket, an old lady (Let me clarify old: they have wrinkles, and sweater vests, and are probably 70 at least. What Gaijinwife would call vestlings.) in front of me in line let me, nay, insisted that I get in front of her in line, since I was buying only one thing and she had a cartful. I declined but she wouldn't hear of it and practically pushed me to go first, the old sweetie, smiling at me the whole time.

And one more this week, a takkyubin guy (not the same one as previously mentioned) came to the door to bring me an Amazon delivery (thanks mom! I won't open it 'til my birthday), and spent the entire time in conversation with my cat. Just chatting with and doting on Timothy. It was super adorable. He spent more time talking to the cat than me.

Oh, hello, sir! How are you? You want to go outside? Well, maybe you shouldn't, because it's so cold, you know? What's that? You'll just stay here? You're a handsome one. {To me: Please stamp here. I say, Timothy! Come in now!} Oh, wow! He's so distinguished! (How do you translate えらいえらい　when an old man is talking to a cat?) What a good boy.

This was so cute, and reminded me of my grandpa, who couldn't walk anywhere without grinning and nodding at people's dogs, stray cats, and small children.

The Battle of Takkyubin

2011-01-11T13:27:00.001+09:00

Brrrr! It's cold up in this piece! Blast these barely-insulated un-centrally-heated Japanese houses. I'm having trouble getting out of bed.

Speaking of which, the takkyubin man came to the door this morning. I suppose I didn't hear his first few knocks, being burrowed deep into the covers, because suddenly someone's in the genkan and SHOUTING, "GOOD MORNING! DELIVERY! WATERFALLRIVER-SAN, DELIVERY!"

Well! He had woken me up, and it wasn't a scheduled delivery, and I was in my underwear. I wasn't about to go scrambling around, bleary eyed, to try to get down there and face an INTRUDER in my house.

It may be the neighborhood, but a lot of these people DON'T KNOCK. They just barge right in. This has happened on several occasions. Maybe I'm not home, maybe I'm in the shower or some other compromising position, maybe I JUST DON'T FEEL LIKE ANSWERING THE DOOR.

Oops. This post is getting a bit shouty. Sorry about that.

Anyway, he left with a great deal of muttering and cursing. Right back atcha, dude.

If I am home and available, I will answer the door, even though it's frequently someone trying to sell me a newspaper that I don't want to (and can barely) read, or the milkman trying to get me to sign up for a weekly delivery (this still exists?!?)(he also repeatedly asked me if my parents were home, fuck off), or some Jehovah's witnesses who exclaim about my gaijin-ness before going into their sales pitch. And if I have scheduled a delivery, I will certainly answer the door. Other that than, bugger off!

if I won the lottery

2011-01-03T23:17:00.003+09:00

I've been driving a lot in the last few days, as you do when you try to fit Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver into a single weekend. In the late night/early morning darkness the powerball sign blinking at me sent me into the kind of reverie that you can afford when there's a long stretch of highway in front of you and not much good on the radio.

If I won the lottery (the powerball was advertising $35 million), I'd hire an accountant. Nothing fancy, just someone who could tell me the rules about taxes and stuff. For instance, they say stuff in movies about the ability to make a one-time tax free gift of up to XX amount to someone. Is that true? Etc.

I'd pay off all my debt: student loans, back taxes, unpaid parking tickets. I'd figure out the best way to pay off my family's debt, whether just by paying it all or through the aforementioned (utterly made up?) tax free gift thing.

There's a thing when you win the lottery about either getting a lump sum at once, but accepting a reduced amount, or getting a certain amount per month or year for a number of years. I'd take the long road.

I'd take my whole family on a vacation. Either to Ireland, because my grandpa did a lot of genealogy research and I'd like to follow up on it and think my dad would too. And we've talked about going. Or to Argentina and Dominican Republic, because my mom partially grew up there and I want her to show me her childhood spots.

I'd donate a lot of money to causes that I care about, especially ones that I've been involved with in some way. I'd have the accountant help me give it in a way that would put me in a lower tax bracket too.

There's not very much I'd like to buy. Maybe upgrade this computer since it randomly blacks out a lot. Or just get it fixed.

For work, I think I'd probably do mostly what I'm doing now. Maybe I'd reduce my hours a bit so I could volunteer at doing some of the stuff I enjoy more. And I think I would study for a degree if I didn't have to worry about making an income.

Of course, in order to win the lottery, you have to play the lottery. I buy a ticket every year or two at most. Maybe I should buy one... does anyone play Takarakuji?

What would you do if you won?

foreigners like you

2010-12-28T05:34:00.002+09:00

Sorry for the silence! I've been hanging out on the couch, going to brunch, taking walks among the pine trees, listening to the geese everywhere, and chilling with the beagles.

My uncle just posted this picture of my grandpa with my mom and her siblings, I love it. It was taken in Buenos Aires when they were stationed there.

niaow niaow

2010-12-16T10:30:00.003+09:00

Here's another offering over at CNNGo - this time about cat cafés, which I wrote about here. Thank to Jen and Beth and N for going with me for "research"!

And my flickr friend Takashi, a sometimes cat café-goer and cat photographer, gave me a quote but it came too late for me to be able to include it. He says about cat cafés:

"Why do I go to the nekocafe is...
Everycat has his own interests and personality.
I look forward to seeing them grow.Sometimes take a shot of them.
The place that is easy to make a chat with other customers and clerk.
They have in common-cat lovers.
I do not drink and smoking but I think they(cats) are attractive hostess."

ice is nice

2010-12-14T23:12:00.000+09:00

I've certainly mentioned ice skating before. But this time it's a round-up of Tokyo rinks for this season over at CNNGo.

veggie japan hacks #2: curry (カレ)

2010-12-08T02:01:00.000+09:00

Seijo Ishii makes a brand of vegetarian curry roux for Japanese style curry (it says on their site as well as in the store that it's suitable for vegetarians). It's one of the only ones I've found in Japan that does this - all the other ones have meat in them.

The packet looks like this.

S&B also makes one in a cool red tin that seems to be safe. It expressly states that it doesn't use beef, and I can't find anything in the ingredient list that says that it uses any meat.

It's the curry mix, not the curry powder.

I'd love to figure out how to make kare from scratch. Does anyone have a good recipe? I can do Indian masalas a bit but sometimes you just want Japanese-style curry.

the rest of the summer

2010-12-01T03:13:00.001+09:00

In September I had a houseful of visitors from Germany staying with me for three weeks. We were lucky to get an extension on summer while it was already getting frigid over on their continent, and we spent most of the time in tshirts and shorts, fighting off mosquitoes.

We puri-kura'd and got creepy alien eyeballs.

We went to Minato Mirai and rode the rides.

We went to Kamakura and the Daibutsu and the beach and found some truly heinous sea life that Anne happily picked up and prodded. She's a rock. I shuddered.

Lena had her first go at an ocean. And everyone knows, the best way to be in the ocean is in your birthday suit. Here's a tip: if you want people to stare and exclaim EVEN MORE than they usually do, unleash a naked blonde baby on them. I swear we turned hundreds, if not thousands, of heads in unapologetic fascination with this little one. She fell in the fountain in Yokohama, okay? That's why this sprite was tearing around Sakuragicho in her nethers.

And we went to Kodomonokuni, twice, which is majorly fun for kids and pretty cool for adults too. It's totally okay to go swimming in the fountain there, and nobody will even stare at you.

But you might want to bring some extra butt padding if you brave the 110 meter long roller slide. Just saying. I'll spare you more details about the road rash on my backside.

She didn't seem to mind, though.

2010-11-26T01:31:00.001+09:00

Happy Thanksgiving you guys.

this is really cramping my style

2010-11-25T21:08:00.002+09:00

I went to the post office to mail a big package, a birthday present to my mom... only to find that, as of November 17th, we are no longer allowed to ship packages heavier than 453 grams (16 oz.) to the U.S. Wha?

The clerk couldn't tell me how long this would continue, but I suspect that it's connected to the recently rigidified airport regulations, what with their full body scans and strip searches. That place is moving more and more into a police state. I really really hope that it's temporary and we aren't just getting mired further and further into the muck.

The ability to write - a root of democracy

I love love love sending parcels and packages and the post office is a regular stop. I guess I'll have to bust out my digital scale and learn the art of small post... but this is a serious bummer.

What speaks like post? Emails are nice, but there's nothing like getting a letter or a parcel. These stamps are just a few from my grandma's extensive and scattered collection. It seems like she kept every letter or postcard she ever received. I'm like that too.

*ヒョウ柄

2010-11-24T20:50:00.001+09:00

Learned some new vocabulary that really enriches my life: hyou-gara.

Leopard print. How did I go this long without knowing how to say this?

pretty boys selling mascara

2010-11-18T12:48:00.001+09:00

Surely you've noticed this. There are a whole lotta mascara ads out there... featuring pretty femme boys NOT noticeably wearing mascara. Proof:

and

and let's not forget

and last but not least, (*edit) Jun Matsumoto:

What do you think is the reasoning behind this advertising?

If you wear lots of mascara, you will date a boy like this?

Embrace your inner tranny?

These boys are prettier than you without makeup?

Help.

sweet world

2010-11-13T20:05:00.000+09:00

I interviewed Osamu Watanabe, creator of fake cream and strawberry kawaii art, over at CNNGo.

inaccessible

2010-11-09T14:53:00.001+09:00

What the hell is the point of escalators that only go halfway up... and make you walk the rest of the way? How is it possible that so many stations lack elevators? In a city that depends so heavily on public transportation, this is a nightmare for people who lack mobility.

flea market tomorrow!

2010-11-06T21:57:00.000+09:00

OK, I guess it's a little late for a blog announcement, but Beth and I are doing the flea market in Meiji Park tomorrow, November 7th. It goes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and there are supposed to be like 500 vendors. The weather's supposed to be sunny and warm (for November!) so we might not even need mittens. Come on down and give us a holler, and take away some of our junk!

Meiji Park, 7 min walk from Sendagaya station or Kokuritsu Kyogijo station

I am a genius!

2010-11-06T14:53:00.001+09:00

Today I took my coffee to work in an empty coke zero can. Yes!!!

Who's gonna drive you home?

2010-11-05T09:42:00.004+09:00

I dreamed about driving last night. Driving around faceless beige industrial areas in a retro car, like an Oldsmobile or a Dart. Ended up in a freight elevator and got stuck on a platform between levels with no way out. Trying to rig up metal grating as a ramp between levels, trying to use some bogus shifting sand properties that in my dream made perfect scientific sense, even though there was no sand in sight. My dad was there, helping.

When I was a kid, my dad always did the driving. He was impatient, it was about speed and finding close to the front parking, and maybe not even getting out of the car while you ran whatever errand, just let you out and circle and wait and I'll be here, go buy the groceries. My mom could drive, was perfectly capable of driving, but when we were all in the car, he had to take the wheel. Control issues. I learned a lot of my driving habits from him, like shouting at other cars and pedestrians (usually to myself and other inhabitants of the car, NOT usually loud enough to get in a fight or get shot or even a mean look). "Where'd you learn to drive!??" "Well, THAT was an expert move, idiot." "What a fucking douche." These are all just a normal part of my driving experience, I don't even notice I'm doing it. Sometimes people get in the car with me and get weirded out by this, but it just goes with putting the key in the ignition.

Nowadays, it's a little different. He still drives, most of the time, but now we find a parking space at the back of the lot, on purpose, and take a stroll, and stretch our legs. He still has a tendency to want to be dropped off at the loading area of the airport, not have us park and see him off if he's going somewhere alone, but he always parks and takes me as far as security when I go, has some coffee or breakfast if there's time before boarding.

He still sometimes buys cars with no prior warning. I remember one time he pulled up to pick me up from girl scouts in a totally unrecognizable car, probably an Olds or a Chevy, a family wagon, brown. There was wood paneling. I didn't know it was him, he hadn't had the car that morning. As an eight year old, I didn't get to have a say in the big decisions, but I might have gotten an inkling that a major purchase was going to go down. Finally he waved me down, as I was standing there straining to see our white Toyota, and packed me into the new car.

He still drives, most of the time. I've been driving for more than half my life now (especially if you include that time I went joyriding with my friends after stuffing some sleeping bags with pillows in a lame attempt to look like we were still having a slumber party in the living room), and if we're all in the car, most of the time he takes the wheel. But sometimes, occasionally, once in awhile, he lets me drive.

It's the OG

2010-11-03T23:50:00.000+09:00

Found another cute organic veggie café in Nishi-Ogikubo.

This place reminds me of one of those sweet Japanese lifestyle magazines like Hanako, or browsing at Muji. All earth tones cream and brown and cute little details.

Holon.

Scorpion Death Rock!

2010-11-02T17:39:00.001+09:00

I went to see my friends' band play at Machida SDR.

SDR, incidentally, stands for Scorpion Death Rock. Wicked. I wasn't previously aware of this genre.

Can someone please teach me to take low light band photos with a point and shoot? I hate flash, but if I elongate the exposure, of course everything gets blurry. Thanx.

(p.s. They're playing tomorrow night at Shibuya's Club Kinoto, right near Nagi Shokudo and Sakuragaoka Café. I forsee a delicious night.)

yesterday

2010-10-27T20:26:00.001+09:00

with B at Lion
(apologies for my crappy photoshop skillz. i don't get how you can scan something on the same machine, on the same setting, within one minute of the other, and get two different shades like this. pros?)

It just doesn't stop.

2010-10-23T00:07:00.000+09:00

More stuff I did in Oregon

2010-10-21T00:09:00.001+09:00

It was really hot one day, and we went to the soapbox derby race on Mt. Tabor. We gorged ourselves silly on vegan pastries from Sweetpea Bakery and sat around in hats amidst scratchy weeds.

We bowled at a benefit for the food pantry where Kelly works, and won all kinds of stupid keychains and slices of pizza.

I played lots of scrabble in bars and parks and living rooms. Represent! I miss scrabble.

ew

2010-10-18T22:19:00.001+09:00

The guy standing next to me on the Denento-shitty line （thanks to Saki for coining that name) just picked his nose and ate a gooey booger. Twice.

2010-10-16T14:28:00.001+09:00

I bank at Mitsubishi, and every time I go into an MUFJ （which, be honest, doesn't it just beg you to call it muthafug?), their jingle is playing. And part of it sounds like the hook for the cartoon Rescue Rangers. So every time I go to the ATM, I'm humming, "Ch-ch-ch-chip and Dale! Rescue rangers! Ch-ch-ch-chip and Dale! When there's danger!"
All day.

Breitenbush

2010-10-08T14:00:00.001+09:00

When I went to Oregon this summer, I went down to Breitenbush, east of Salem.

Even though I lived in Oregon for a lotta years, I had never been to Breitenbush, which is a hippie hot springs resort in the forest.

This year I was lucky that a good friend was working there, and was able to get us in on a guest pass for a nominal fee.

It's breathtaking in the way that Oregon can't help being, all crunchy and zen-y and chill. Wildlife everywhere, excuse the blurry photo. Didn't have time to change my camera setting before they disappeared into the woods.

Hot springs culture there is very different from Japan. It's a bit more unproduced, and it's nekkid mixed bathing, with no showers beforehand. I didn't feel like baring it all for the bearded men, so I wore a suit, which is also ok.

Did I mention the all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet? Heavenly.

Oregon is so magical!

sunshine city

2010-10-04T14:44:00.001+09:00

I went to Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, um, a couple of months ago. The object was to go to the aquarium and the planetarium.

I don't usually go to aquariums or zoos, but I broke my rule for Beth. Beth, why are you always making me break the rules?

Well anyway, the fishes were beautiful but things like this are why I don't like to go. I hate hate exotic animals in small cages.

By the way, please don't visit the free Nogeyama Zoo in Yokohama. Giraffes in tiny enclosures, the most depressing thing ever.

But then we got to my favorite part, the planetarium. I love planetariums! Even though I couldn't get all the explanations (my black hole and supernova vocabulary is sadly deficient), they still put on a really good show! They don't allow pictures inside, so you get something from their website.

I also went to the Hayabusa film at the planetarium in Sagamihara, but it was boring. I fell asleep. I love learning about constellations and hearing about ancient philosophers and seeing what different cultures see in the sky, but watching a film about a failed sample collecting spacecraft hovering around a big lifeless rock was not quite what I was hoping for. I'd like to go back and see a different show though.

Oh yeah, and the Sunshine City planetarium is funded by Konica-Minolta, while I think the Sagamihara City planetarium has links to JAXA, seeing as the JAXA campus is right next door, and they launched Hayabusa.

This is also a good indoor activity now that the rain and chill has set in and I want to take a bath with a hot apple cider. If I go outside, I think I'll be going star watching.

2010-10-01T10:30:00.001+09:00

wish me luck

Immigration is a pain in the ass...

2010-10-01T10:29:00.001+09:00

but the Shinyurigaoka branch office is sooo much more chill than Shinagawa. There are only about 30 people in here and it's a 2 minute walk from the station, and about an hour less commute. �

Asahi

2010-09-28T01:38:00.000+09:00

It's rasta soba.

You heard me.

Asahi is a tiny soba-ya in Higashi Kitazawa with one employee (the owner) and handmade soba, zensai, and gluten cutlets.

It also happens to be vegan, because the owner is cooking in Ital style. As in, the food associated with the Jamaican Rastafari religion.

Whatever the reason, the food is gorgeous and succulent and earnest. I could do with another plate of this right about now.

Oh man, hungry.

confession time

2010-09-27T10:48:00.001+09:00

I'm a nighttime laundry hanger. The shame of the neighborhood. Sometimes I forget about it and don't come home and leave it out for a couple of days. Right now it's probably soaking wet. My neighbors think I'm a degenerate.

Sakuragaoka Café

2010-09-24T00:21:00.000+09:00

Here's a laid-back lounge in Shibuya’s backyard.

I like this spot for a coffee and a some quality time with my laptop.

Peep the Nihon-ga.

Just a few minutes away from the hugger mugger of Hachiko Crossing, you'd swear Sakuragaoka Café was in a different world, or at least a different station. This spacious, mellow lounge filled with soft lighting and low-slung couches that invite you to linger longer doesn't feel like Shibuya. More like Seattle.

Rum and cherry coke, caramel latte, or a coconut curry. The staff will loan you a LAN cable.

Open until the wee hours. Shall we have a drink in Udagawacho?

All you people in my way,

2010-09-23T20:31:00.001+09:00

walking while talking on your mobile,
walking while reading,
standing in the middle of the sidewalk playing your DS,
mounting stairs at a maddeningly slow pace while texting, during rush hour,
practicing your golf swing with your umbrella on a busy train platform,

I have a near-uncontrollable impulse to body check you or trip you with my umbrella. My resistance thus far has been valiant but might not last. Be warned.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

2010-09-20T13:28:00.001+09:00

Questions for today:

Why are all these people wearing sunglasses at night?
Black eye?
Corey Hart devotees?
Didn't feel like doing their eye make-up?
Stoned?

and

Why can't SMAP sing?

Thank you for your time.

geezer gawk

2010-09-13T23:55:00.001+09:00

Ice cream eating, beverage sippin', and kicking it on the curb: it's an excellent season for people watching.

Of course, sitting out amidst the stream of vain and fashionable humanity makes you a target for the more brave and brazen to strike up a conversation. And unfortunately, it's usually the people I least want to talk to that approach.

Last night PJ and I were observing the parade. 'Fabulous hair!" "Is that a dress or a shirt?" "It's adorable when drunk boys hold hands!"

A guy rocked up to us wearing sweatpants and a mesh vest, a green-accented can of beer in his pocket. He pointed to PJ and exclaimed, "Malaysia!"

PJ's not Malaysian.

He was about 50 or 60, wiry, tan. He nattered at us for a bit and I bemusedly fielded his questions. He stopped to shake my hand every sixty seconds. Yoroshiku, ne!

After ascertaining our nationalities and length of stay in Japan (prerequisite information for any conversation with a foreigner, I think it's written in the law), he started insisting that PJ certainly looked like "Michael's" daughter. In fact, was she not actually related to him??

We told him that she was not.

He persisted. But everyone says that, right? Can you moonwalk? He did a little demonstration.

No, in fact, it was the first time she'd heard about this likeness.

Ah, he said knowingly, I've got a good eye.

He then segued into cadging a free English lesson off me.

"This is a pen!"dayo! I learned it in school! これはぺんですよ、ね。

Then,
"very good", what does it mean?
and,
"come on baby", って、何の意味？

We finally escaped him after ten or so minutes. It was okay for the first few minutes, but then he started repeating himself and the MJ references got tiresome.

Is it too much to ask that some interesting, non-drunk and crazy people would stop and chat once in awhile? As amusing as a geezer moonwalk is.

99 li along the sea

2010-09-02T02:44:00.001+09:00

It's the first day of fall, or something. And after August is finished, the beaches get all deserted. Hardly anyone goes swimming. The season is over.

I ask you: does it FEEL like summer is over? I know *I* just bought another box of popsicles.

I think not. Let me tell you a secret: you can still swim for a few more weeks! Maybe even into October! And the water is still warm and there's all that lovely elbow room.

I think 99 Li Beach, or 九十九里浜, in Chiba, is the nicest beach I've been to in mainland Japan. It's long (99 li is equal to 66 km.) and broad and white and there are waves and there's plenty of space to stretch out in.

And if you're in the neighborhood, I really recommend stopping by the Brownsfield Organic Farm.

They have a beautiful macrobiotic café on weekends, and lodging in treehouses.

It's about a 2-3 hour drive from Tokyo, so I think it's definitely an overnighter. Please go. And bring me.

Although if you're going to Zushi or Shimoda anytime soon, I wouldn't sneeze at the chance to go to either of those beaches.

Quick, before summer really IS over.

Komeda Coffee

2010-08-24T17:30:00.000+09:00

I like this funny chain of coffee shops called Komeda Coffee. It's like an old-fashioned kissaten.

They have "Vienna coffee", which in kissa-speak means coffee with whipped cream on it. They have old fashioned booths and every drink before 11 a.m. comes with toast and an egg.

The shop is originally from Nagoya.

I can't resist this kitschy diner/coffee shop/kissaten hybrid throwback. It gives me a little whiff of road trips and truck stops.

veggie japan hacks #1: hummus

2010-08-21T12:53:00.001+09:00

Living here, I don't have access to some of those ready-made vegetarian products that I'm so spoiled by back home. There are no faux deli slices, tofurkeys, or other processed veggie standins. (Even things that are veg and easier to find in Japan, like natto, sometimes have hidden fish stock in them.) I've resigned myself to that, and it's probably better in the long run, because it's forced me to cook from scratch things I used to be able to pick up for a song at the supermarket.

One staple food that is ubiquitous on the west coast of old Rice Country is hummus, almost impossible to find here on the island. Most of the ingredients of this simple dip are relatively easy to suss out (I've found garbanzo beans at Seijo Ishii, Kaldi Coffee, and Don Quixote), but one thing, tahini, is a bit more difficult, unless you drag yourself over to Shamiam in Ekoda, western Tokyo.

There are a couple of ways I've gotten around this. One is to just pulverize sesame seeds in a food processor, maybe with some added sesame or olive oil to get it smooth. I haven't managed to get it as smooth as tahini, but it works.

Something that works much better is Japan's answer to tahini, nerigoma. It's just sesame paste, sold in little jars, usually near the other sesame products. The only ingredient is sesame seeds, and it comes in white or black.

I used black the last time I made hummus, because it was what I had on hand. The result looked like wet concrete, but the taste was the same, and really easy.

tonight

2010-08-15T17:50:00.000+09:00

At a vegan bar in Portland:
"Hey, you remind me of that girl from the Addams Family!"

thumbs up

2010-08-13T07:56:00.000+09:00

I went to see my friends Bruce Hughes and Scrappy Jud Newcomb last month at Thumbs Up in Yokohama.

The club specializes in rootsy, bluesy, folky music.

They have a lot of Americana and Mexican decor.

There is an actual veggie burger on the menu. Excitement!

I could see how this might be disconcerting.

2010-08-11T21:40:00.001+09:00

Honolulu airport has no shops outside the secure area, nowhere to break a twenty. I need to break a twenty because I know that buses in the U.S. don't make change, and though the fare's $2.50, if 20's all you have, $20 is what you pay. I find there is a lone starfucks at in this terminal. I have a longstanding boycott of the place because, well, they have enough money and they don't need mine. But it's suck it up and break my twenty or give the whole thing to Honolulu's Transit Authority.

The cookies were good.

As I'm getting on the bus with my handful of change, a pair of German backpackers "sell" a ticket (actually a bus transfer, but the driver lets them get away with it) to the girl in front of me because, they say, they paid $10 and didn't get change. Mm-hm. I sit down and the guy behind me leans forward and asks if I'm local. I smile that I'm not.

Next, a young guy with no shirt gets on and sits next to me. He's blond, mildly buff, heavily tattooed, but he still carries a whiff of eau-de-dork, like he's trying to emulate Marky Mark circa the Funky Bunch.

He glances over at me a few times then plugs into his portable music device and starts softly rapping to himself.

A tall tree of a man gets on. He's carrying a tent, a rolling suitcase, and a K-mart bag. He reeks to high heaven of b.o. He sits next to me on the other side. At the next stop, a woman wants to get on. She has a walker, and the bus is a kneeling bus. The driver tells her she'll have to fold it up once she gets on, and she boards. Once on, she refuses to fold it, snapping that she can't. The driver stops the bus and after a short argument, rearranges all the passengers, flips up a bench seat, and straps down her walker. Tree has been made to move across the aisle, but leaves his baggage next to the walker. The driver tells him he has to hang on to it so it doesn't fly all over the bus, and Tree mutters that he'll keep an eye on it, but then Ms. Walker grabs the stuff and holds it steady, making aren't-we-beleaguered eye contact with Tree. She makes the sign of the cross at him and he reciprocates the gesture.

Ticket buying girl has started conversing with a strapping family of regular tourists, who help her find her bearings. As we approach Waikiki, I spot a post office and push the button for my stop. Marky Mark gets off at the same stop as me and goes rapping into the distance. He has put on his shirt.

Welcome to America.

yakatabune

2010-07-31T01:51:00.003+09:00

I went on a pleasure boat, 屋形船, in Yokohama Bay.

These are the long low drinking boats you see cruising around the harbor, hung with lanterns and issuing raucous singing and laughter.

We watched the fireworks and ate food and drank beer and tea. They even had karaoke, but we were busy.

All photos by Hadi, one of my boat-mates.

This is a fun and interesting way to have dinner and watch fireworks. The boat companies usually only take reservations for large parties, but some of them do book smaller groups.

bankart

2010-07-30T01:02:00.000+09:00

My friends Andy and Christa are in Yokohama this summer doing an art residency at BankART 1929, near Bashamichi station.

(photo from Christa's blog)

Two warehouse floors on the water are busting with artists of every stripe, doing various things from making plastic bottle sculptures to video installations to drawings to performance art.

The opening for their work is tomorrow/tonight, Friday July 30th, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Admission is 500 yen. The work will be available for viewing until August 5th. Go check out contemporary art in a cool location and a great space!

Try 80*80, a local food restaurant (80% of their food comes from within 80 kilometers of the café), or La Tenda Rossa, a little Italian joint with great pizza, both within a few blocks of the studio.

hi

2010-07-28T23:46:00.001+09:00

I loathe loathe mosquitoes, but I love mosquito coils/katori senko. Obsessed much? Maybe a little.

And Jen B set her first TNR project in motion.

I had the pleasure of meeting the little rascal and I must say he certainly is a yowly one. Although, I'm not sure about the moniker Nits-kun; I feel that he looks more like a Lionel. Thoughts?

Poor baby. We learned through Japan Cat Network that Yokohama does a partial reimbursement for spaying or neutering of strays. Upon some extra research, it looks like my city, Machida, does the same. Arkbark is also a great animal rescue non-profit, and though both organizations operate out of Kansai, they have small Tokyo branches. They are good sources for information about the dismal plight of strays and would-be pets in Japan (the information about how those tiny plastic box pet stores operate is shocking and sad) and are also great at giving advice for doing your own Trap Neuter Return project in your neighborhood.

If you can spare it and are so inclined, either group would benefit greatly from your donation of time, money, or goods. Or you could try giving Jen a hand - I've seen at least a dozen ferals in her immediate neighborhood.

Stay tuned: next up, hummus that looks like wet concrete!

ryan

2010-07-15T01:14:00.001+09:00

When I was fifteen, I wrote a lot of letters. Fifteen was the year I found punk rock and indie music. And zines. Maybe even more than music, I credit zines for politicizing me, teaching me, and drawing me into a community of really fucking cool and intelligent people that showed me that there were alternate ways of thinking. That the bullying, cocaine-snorting, Banana Republic wearing status quo that I saw all around me wasn't the only way of being. That sounds emo now but it's everything when you're fifteen.

I had been exposed to cool music a year or two before: grunge, Radiohead, Fugazi (thanks Scoot!). But fifteen was when I really started to get into the underground, go to tiny all ages shows, post on internet BBSes, and develop pen pal relationships with folks all around the country and the world that were writing and drawing and making art.

I can't remember now exactly how I found Ryan, whether it was through Pepito's zine or a sojourn to Green Noise Records in Eugene or through some other sinuous and complicated connection. But I found You Think You're a Failure Fanzine and I fell in love. The spare, simple stories, the pen comics, the stark backdrop of Cleveland with cigarettes and wool knit caps and warehouse spaces. I wrote to Ryan and we became pen friends, trading back and forth letters and zines and cassette mix tapes. I always thrilled to receive one of his letters, the page thick with his neat boxy handwriting and harboring some secrets or wisdom. Not that he was ever didactic; just that he was truthful and sensitive and a little older. We poured out our souls on the page and trusted our stamps would deliver them intact.

I didn't love him in the puppy love way, and I didn't have a crush on him. But I respected the hell out of him and cherished his friendship.

A few years after we started writing, I found myself in Cleveland during a long and stinky cross country trip on a forged Greyhound bus pass. I looked Ryan up and he took me in, letting me crash on his couch. I felt a little apprehensive at first, not because I was afraid of him but just that we had never met in person and I wasn't sure what to say. But he immediately swept that away, confiding in me and talking to me like we were old friends. Which we were, in those letters. We had been making confessions forever. We ate perogies in a diner and I met his roommates and we walked that concrete and rusty wire fence town, his writing come to life just as I had seen it in my imagination.

We continued writing after that, sporadic letters and packages, eventually a few emails, and lately Facebook. He moved to South Carolina and married his girl and had a son. Ryan was always lovely and sweet, but often morose. After making this family, there was new light around his words. He wrote about how they made him look at his life differently.

Ryan continued to make art, and his most recent and well known project was the I Want Your Skull zine series, collecting artwork from a range of artists and publishing volumes and posters.

Ryan died in a car accident this past weekend. His son was in the car but survived. Ryan August was 34 and left us far too early. Ryan helped make me who I am today and I have only love and gratitude for him.

tux

2010-07-14T20:52:00.000+09:00

Tuxy luxy.

Tux and Tim, BFFs.

helpful

hard working

always together

17 years おつかれさまでした。

Thanks for all the snuggles over the years baby.

Love you.

2010-07-14T13:35:00.001+09:00

this week sucks

高尾山

2010-07-06T14:05:00.003+09:00

Beth and I hiked up a mountain.

Well, we hiked on a mountain. When we got there though, there were these adorable chair lifts that could take you half way up. Like a ski lift, except with brightly colored canopies, like a dilapidated amusement park. It was a tea party in the sky.

This photo from here.

After getting up top, we ate ice cream, looked at monkeys, and hung out with people trying to shout at aliens from the top of the mountain. Ice cream and aliens; that seems pretty par for the course with Beth.

Alien communication viewpoint

Takao is known for tengu, it seems. At Takao station, there's this huge tengu head sitting on the arrival platform. This one has the trademark penis nose.

It turns out, though, that tengu didn't always have phalli (phalluses?) on their faces. Penis nose is a more modern tengu. Originally, tengu were more like flying dog-birds, and evidence of this can be seen at the temple on the top of Mt. Takao.

I love these fierce bird-men. It makes me want to read more J-mythology. Of course, Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan is a great place to start, as well as translations of the Kojiki. Any other great mythology resources to recommend, either in translation or simple enough for a mediocre Japanese reader to be able to get through?

Do You Like Impressionism?

2010-07-05T16:16:00.000+09:00

Another museum: this one is owned by the Bridgestone Corporation. Nothing like tires and the ex-prime minister's mama providing art exposure!

The show that's running now has a big mish-mash of impressionists. I'll admit to knowing diddly squat about art; they do have some water lilies in the mix. Manet, Monet, Renoir, van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne.

Rousseau was my favorite.

Bridgestone Museum
The collection runs through July 25th, but they seem to have a pretty large private collection and do shows something like this pretty often. It's a good place to check out Western and Western-inspired art.

retirement

2010-06-30T23:22:00.000+09:00

The motor on my ancient blue-bladed Mitsubishi fan is busted and I'm so bummed.

We took it apart and twiddled the gears and cleaned out some gunk but it just hums and won't whir.

Stop looking at me like that.

I'm sorry, okay?

Rest in peace, old friend.

more stuff from my cupboards

2010-06-28T23:51:00.001+09:00

Because you're soooo interested.

I found this stuff under the sink and I'm not sure where it's from. There's a chance I bought it in Malaysia or something, I just can't remember. Or it could have been there since kingdom came. Wait. Strike that. Reverse it.

Turmeric skin cream. Supposed to also guard against sun damage. This should be useful now that the sun has come out.

Dhoop. This is a kind of incense and it smells really good but I can't figure out how to keep it burning. It's thicker than the usual stick incense and it's not mounted on wood. It's stickier and pastier than cone incense, and it doesn't stay lit when I try to get it going. Does anyone know how to use this and am I being sacrilegious by doing so? What if I put it in the altar?

Zarqa henna! I want to put this in my hair. Maybe. I've never dyed my hair except in high school when I had a brief flirtation with Manic Panic midnight blue. PJ says I will look cheesy. Have you ever done this? Advice!

Queen Sheba

2010-06-28T22:59:00.000+09:00

Well, I was meaning to tell you about Ethiopian food in Nakameguro but then I wrote about it elsewhere and it went up today.

Get 'em before they go

2010-06-25T13:44:00.000+09:00

It's firefly season you guys, but only for a couple more weeks. They are impossible to take pictures of, so here's one from the interweb.

This year, I went to Chinzanso, a really pretty hotel with beautiful grounds that's famous for hotaru, and last night to Shikinomori Koen (四季の森公園) near Nakayama station in Yokohama. Right now is Heike firefly season. Heike fireflies are smaller than Genji fireflies, I guess because the Genji clan won.

hanging out

2010-06-24T23:55:00.003+09:00

One of my blurbs went up yesterday.

Kama eatin'

2010-06-23T21:03:00.000+09:00

I was in lovely Kamakura again a few weeks ago. I ate lunch at Tom Tam again and visited some new shrines (it seems you can never run out).

And then we wandered into Arkadas Turkish restaurant, on Komachi-dori. I think you should drop in! Gorgeous meze: hummus, tomato-based dip, eggplant, yogurt sauce, fresh bread, and beautiful strong coffee.

(screenshot from their site)

Do it. You won't regret it.

bandwagonesque

2010-06-22T23:12:00.001+09:00

I too took pictures of the strange beefcake that started gracing cigarette machines a few weeks ago. I see him every day on my way to the station.

Ok ok but then first Tokyo Moe and then Sarah and then Beth posted about it. Actually Beth and I talked about how she should post about it or send it to Tokyo Moe for him to post it but he beat us to it. Less talking, more action, people.

Then today we were in Ueno and saw a new version of the ad and I just had to throw my hat in the ring.

Come hither.

I really wanted to ask this guy what he thought of the ads, since he was smoking right next to the poster, but he steadfastly ignored me.

This reminds me of those old Doublemint Gum ad commercials. Except: triple your pleasure. Triple your fun.

Although I'm pretty sure I saw this guy in a biker bar in the SoMa district of San Francisco, I don't think Winston is actually trying to target Japan's gay demographic. I think they're trying to equate smoking with healthfulness, in some desperate twisted way. Smoking = virility! Smoking = muscles! Finally, the cigarette that will give you bodybuilder buff has landed in Japan.

brrrrrunch!

2010-06-18T10:06:00.004+09:00

Do you miss brunch? I miss brunch. I miss it so that whenever I go back to the States, I eat brunch like a madwoman. I insist that everyone meet me for brunch and eat vegan cornmeal pancakes and hash browns and soysages and tofu scramble and drink potsful of coffee. I might also sneak some donuts in there. Dough naughts.

And one of these days I'm totally going to have another brunch party and everyone can come over and I'll make muffins and we'll listen to Desmond Dekker.

But anyway until then, you can go to Suji's. They have big-ass stacks of pancakes with all kinds of toppings and bottomless coffee and omelets and home fries and outdoor seating. It's in Roppongi and okay that's kind of a hike in the morning for me but actually they're open for brunch from 10-4 on weekends and I can make it by two or three probably. Then you can go to a museum or something.

2010-06-17T11:38:00.002+09:00

Augh, totally crying over Sarah's latest post.

and then I'll shut up

2010-06-16T17:04:00.000+09:00

I never finished talking about my Okinawa trip and I just want to say a few more things to recommend the place.

I only visited the main island, but even without going all deserted-beach resort (it was too cold for swimming anyway), it is still such an interesting place and quite different from mainland Japan culturally.

There was an old man playing the sanshin on Kokusai street, and there are stray cats all over Naha.

And other wildlife too.

Shuri Castle doesn't let you forget how close Okinawa is to Taiwan, and how this used to be the Ryukyu Kingdom. The culture really is an intersection between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Austronesian.

It's really pretty, especially the grounds near the Ben-ten.

And we went to Chatan Beach, a bit north of Naha. This is how it felt.

meow baby

2010-06-12T02:43:00.001+09:00

When you think of Shimokitazawa, you think of hipsters, right?

Hipsters and music clubs and funky shops and vintage clothing. And cat cafés.

Oh, you don't? My bad. Well, Jen suggested that we check one out, so one sunny day, we did. JB's sister came out too, and Beth joined us. Oh yeah, and she already wrote about it. Look at us, bunch of lazy ass bloggers.

The Cateriam is open from 10 to 9, closed Mondays.

It's 1,000 yen for an hour and a drink; they also provide toys and cat munchies to help you interact with the kitties. There are about ten cats in residence, and some of them even have their own mixi pages.

baagaa

2010-06-08T23:51:00.001+09:00

I've mentioned in passing my affection for Freshness Burger before.

Lately they've had even more of my attention because they released yet another veggie burger (the third one on their menu): the beans burger.

And it's really good. Made from three kinds of beans and oatmeal, topped with tomato, onion, and mango chutney. It's a whopping dose of protein, very filling.

And nicely washed down with one of their refreshing drinks. I know this is basically an Italian soda - lime syrup and seltzer, but they put half a freaking lime in there! Try it.

At Henoko

2010-06-06T14:03:00.000+09:00

I was born in San Antonio, Texas, and when I was little I used to swim in the Gulf of Mexico. I have good memories of many days jumping waves, eating PB&Js, getting sand in my shorts, and taking home a bottle of salt water every time to put on cuts and scrapes because we thought the salt water was good for healing ills. It was beautiful there.

We are such bad stewards of the planet.

A few days ago a dead dolphin washed up on the coast of Louisiana. It's now being tested to see if its death is related to the spill. What do you think?

I was in Okinawa during the 県民大会, the huge anti-base rally that attracted more than 90,000 people in Yomitan village. I was astounded by the number of normal, everyday seeming residents that came out for this issue. There were gaggles of seniors, so many people in their sixties, seventies, and beyond. There seemed to be more oldsters than young people, and certainly more average-looking people than activists. Yet. They all showed up to register that they don't want this new base on their island. They are fighting for their quality of life, a life that has been disrupted by noise pollution, violence, hamburgers, and helicopters crashing into the university (prompting some professors, students, and other locals to form a protest group called No Fly Zone). An oft-cited poll from a few years ago in the Okinawa Times puts the percentage of residents against the bases at 85% opposed.

Okinawa is the poorest prefecture in the country, and the last prefecture (formerly the Ryukyu Kingdom) to join the nation. Its total landmass is less than 1% of Japan, yet this area has half of the U.S. military population, and the bases take up almost 20% of the prefecture. Does that sound like a lot? It comes into clear relief when you drive around the island and are constantly confronted with barbed wire and beige, areas that, though your family may have lived here for many generations, you are not allowed to enter. It's a stark contrast, all that razor wire and heavy machinery, when set against the backdrop of blue skies, sand, palm trees, and hibiscus flowers.

Some Okinawans don't identify as Japanese, but only as Okinawans. It struck me, looking at the protest signs, that most of them were demanding both the US and the mainland to get OUT.

Now a prime minister has lost his job over his inability to resolve this situation. He campaigned on getting the base out of there and then backtracked on that promise, enraging people who have done their damnedest to mobilize a tiny island community. The people that I met said they would NEVER allow new base construction. They will not back down easily.

The activists at Henoko have been sitting in for a very long time. They have been keeping watch on the shore and have also done sit ins at sea, in boats. They are not going to stop any time soon. The existing artillery depot and proposed site for the new base is on top of a coral reef and also serves as the northern boundary for a dugong habitat. Dugongs are classified as vulnerable to extinction.

At the border of Camp Schwab, at Henoko.

I recognize that it's naive to say that we can just instantly do away with all military and go straight for diplomacy. I come from a military family and I know that many of the people in the military are intent on protecting and serving. And I know that North Korea is just a skip and a jump away and have done lots of crazy, scary shit, including sinking a South Korean boat only just recently.

Former base site, now being used to grow sugar cane.

But these people are making an argument for their quality of life, for the environment, for animals, for peace, and for anti-colonialism. I think it's best we listen. I am not at all confident but I hope that the new PM can bring about a solution that respects people, place, and potential threats.

I want to go hug a tree.

arty farty

2010-05-27T13:40:00.000+09:00

It was Redhead's birthday a few weeks ago, so we checked out the Mori Art Museum before heading off to dinner at the Hills. We saw the Roppongi Crossing: Can There Be Art? exhibit. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the pieces were pretty good, I thought; not bad for a group show. They allow photographs, and the one above is a skate ramp and mural by some graf kids. I guess a friend of mine, a skate-rat kid, knows one of them: SASU.

This ∞∞∞∞∞ piece is made out of circuit board thingies.

This was my favorite section, a series of embroidered photographs by the artist Satoru Aoyama. The artist hand embroidered these photo recreations with metallic thread. The attention to detail and dedication this requires boggles my mind. The description gave a nod to William Morris and his commitment to handcrafts, and this is just the kind of OCD personality-driven art that I can appreciate.

The exhibit runs until the beginning of July and is worth a look, I think. By the way, did you hear about the art theft in Paris? Some jokers sawed a padlock and broke a window and made off with Picasso, Matisse, and more. If that's all it takes to steal master works, I'm in the wrong line of work.

A visit to Mori Tower wouldn't be complete without the obligatory picture of the Tokyo skyline. This was the first time I was able to visit the roof. Tokyo was cold and blue that day.

ladies who lunch

2010-05-26T00:25:00.000+09:00

Went to this organic restaurant the other day in Center Kita, in northern Yokohama. Confusingly, it's called Restaurant and Café Coa, located in the Natural and Harmonic Plant's store (don't get me started on superfluous apostrophes, I might spit). They have a nice vegetarian set lunch as well as meat and fish stuff, and it's all connected to a natural food grocery store. It's in the Northport Mall. Thanks JB.

wanna join my band?

2010-05-21T11:52:00.001+09:00

We're totally hip on the in-the-know circuit. Well, we've never toured, and we've only ever played one show, in a cardboard box under a bridge in the middle of a potato field. It was attended by a couple of gossiping dormice.

We haven't actually released any albums, and we don't really have any songs - well, we don't play them out loud, anyway. We just think about them and emanate their essences.