What’s wrong with this picture?
This morning, on my hour commute to work, requiring the modes of walking, train and bus; I noticed that the crowd and narrow street to the train station, the trains bound for Tokyo and Yokohama and the bus were considerably light. With Christmas and New Year’s around the corner, many Japanese start “dogging the watch” (Navy term for operating on a skeletal crew on an off-peak time). The other day on this commute, I noticed a lady on a bike talking on her cell phone with two children riding (one in the front and one in the back). What’s wrong with this picture?
At lunch today, I had a “Twister Set" at KFC at the local shopping mall. ”(Not the game from Milton Bradley but it would have been interesting to play a game with some of the KFC employees before lunch!) It had been a while since I’ve been there and noticed that they have installed a new smoking area enclosed like a smoking room on a train station platform. At first I thought this was great but then noticed that it was bigger than the non-smoking section. In the smoking room there were 28 seats for smoking patrons and only 18 seats for non-smoking patrons? What’s wrong with this picture?
One of my Japanese Teacher of English colleague has been interested in joining me on my next visit to Costco Wholesale in Chiba-ken but due to his hectic coaching schedule year-round, it has been hard for him to find a Sunday to join me. On December 25th he is coaching his school in a six-team basketball tournament. What’s wrong with this picture?
From time to time, I’ll listen to the radio in Japan and due to my dwelling being on the 9th floor of a “danchi” (Housing Urban Development building), I can only get one AM channel in English which is the American military’s Far East Network, aka "The Eagle" 810 which is broadcasted from the US Air Force`s Yokota Base located in West Tokyo. In the warmer seasons, I can pick up bilingual FM channels from Tokyo by opening my sliding door to the balcony. Two years ago, I had deep appreciation for the FEN broadcasts since I could get a taste of back home with commentary from Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh among music ranging from the latest top 40 from home, Country/Western and could call in off base on a Tuesday and make a request for Van Halen during their "Two for Tuesday" request hour. Lucky armed forces personnel such as "Help Me! Ronda" would spend their days working as DJ’s and in between the music and broadcasts, would provide information such as the rate exchange at the base, movie schedule on base and local news and interviews with military personnel serving in the Far East. However, over the course of the past 2+ years, I’ve noticed myself getting frustrated with this broadcast and have found myself listening to the radio about once a week instead of everyday before work.
Why is it that this broadcast provides the weather in Fahrenheit? I can not think of any nation outside of North America that recognizes the tempature like this. As a Navy Vet who listened to this broadcast back in the day in the shuttle going from the ship on the back side Yokosuka Navy Base to the main gate and having fond memories of listening to FEN, I must admit that it is pretty arrogant for “guest” in a foreign land to blatantly disregard the local custom of recognizing the tempature in Celsius. Granted, I sometimes will say to myself, “Man is it cold! It must be about 40.” Of course, this is 30 plus years of being an American that keeps me grounded which is to be expected. I wouldn’t dare tell someone that the tempature is 40 because they’d think I was joking since to a non-American, 40 is over 100 degrees (F).
Another thing that irritates me about my fellow countrymen on the various military bases throughout Japan (of course not referring to the junior enlisted folks that are carrying the flag that I once held) is this recent commercial about how to get an Armed Forces Network decoder box if you reside off base and want to watch the same programs provided on base. Here’s an idea…You are living in Japan! I’ll admit that Japanese TV requires a strong handle on the Japanese language and a deep appreciation for Japanese humor and the way that they go about doing things, but there are such services such as Yahoo TV, NHK BS, SkyPerfect and other satellite and broadband services to name a few. Living off base in subsidized housing funded by the Japanese government (at least the housing on base is) in more than spacious quarters, how do you think your Japanese hosts feel about you and your sorry excuses to get with the program? It is like the foreigners that I dealt with in the People’s Republic of California who refuse to learn English, expect me to do such things like celebrate New Year's in February and recognize some other nation's Independence day in May and the nonsense at any Department of Motor Vehicles and the 12 different languages on any given form.
Are you like me and see something wrong with this picture?
Miltary spouses, brass and government leaches, you are living in Japan. Get right or get gone!
I wonder if the men and women who have no choice but to live on the ship can get some decent programming in their berthing? We were lucky to have a TV that worked.
This morning, on my hour commute to work, requiring the modes of walking, train and bus; I noticed that the crowd and narrow street to the train station, the trains bound for Tokyo and Yokohama and the bus were considerably light. With Christmas and New Year’s around the corner, many Japanese start “dogging the watch” (Navy term for operating on a skeletal crew on an off-peak time). The other day on this commute, I noticed a lady on a bike talking on her cell phone with two children riding (one in the front and one in the back). What’s wrong with this picture?
At lunch today, I had a “Twister Set" at KFC at the local shopping mall. ”(Not the game from Milton Bradley but it would have been interesting to play a game with some of the KFC employees before lunch!) It had been a while since I’ve been there and noticed that they have installed a new smoking area enclosed like a smoking room on a train station platform. At first I thought this was great but then noticed that it was bigger than the non-smoking section. In the smoking room there were 28 seats for smoking patrons and only 18 seats for non-smoking patrons? What’s wrong with this picture?
One of my Japanese Teacher of English colleague has been interested in joining me on my next visit to Costco Wholesale in Chiba-ken but due to his hectic coaching schedule year-round, it has been hard for him to find a Sunday to join me. On December 25th he is coaching his school in a six-team basketball tournament. What’s wrong with this picture?
From time to time, I’ll listen to the radio in Japan and due to my dwelling being on the 9th floor of a “danchi” (Housing Urban Development building), I can only get one AM channel in English which is the American military’s Far East Network, aka "The Eagle" 810 which is broadcasted from the US Air Force`s Yokota Base located in West Tokyo. In the warmer seasons, I can pick up bilingual FM channels from Tokyo by opening my sliding door to the balcony. Two years ago, I had deep appreciation for the FEN broadcasts since I could get a taste of back home with commentary from Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh among music ranging from the latest top 40 from home, Country/Western and could call in off base on a Tuesday and make a request for Van Halen during their "Two for Tuesday" request hour. Lucky armed forces personnel such as "Help Me! Ronda" would spend their days working as DJ’s and in between the music and broadcasts, would provide information such as the rate exchange at the base, movie schedule on base and local news and interviews with military personnel serving in the Far East. However, over the course of the past 2+ years, I’ve noticed myself getting frustrated with this broadcast and have found myself listening to the radio about once a week instead of everyday before work.
Why is it that this broadcast provides the weather in Fahrenheit? I can not think of any nation outside of North America that recognizes the tempature like this. As a Navy Vet who listened to this broadcast back in the day in the shuttle going from the ship on the back side Yokosuka Navy Base to the main gate and having fond memories of listening to FEN, I must admit that it is pretty arrogant for “guest” in a foreign land to blatantly disregard the local custom of recognizing the tempature in Celsius. Granted, I sometimes will say to myself, “Man is it cold! It must be about 40.” Of course, this is 30 plus years of being an American that keeps me grounded which is to be expected. I wouldn’t dare tell someone that the tempature is 40 because they’d think I was joking since to a non-American, 40 is over 100 degrees (F).
Another thing that irritates me about my fellow countrymen on the various military bases throughout Japan (of course not referring to the junior enlisted folks that are carrying the flag that I once held) is this recent commercial about how to get an Armed Forces Network decoder box if you reside off base and want to watch the same programs provided on base. Here’s an idea…You are living in Japan! I’ll admit that Japanese TV requires a strong handle on the Japanese language and a deep appreciation for Japanese humor and the way that they go about doing things, but there are such services such as Yahoo TV, NHK BS, SkyPerfect and other satellite and broadband services to name a few. Living off base in subsidized housing funded by the Japanese government (at least the housing on base is) in more than spacious quarters, how do you think your Japanese hosts feel about you and your sorry excuses to get with the program? It is like the foreigners that I dealt with in the People’s Republic of California who refuse to learn English, expect me to do such things like celebrate New Year's in February and recognize some other nation's Independence day in May and the nonsense at any Department of Motor Vehicles and the 12 different languages on any given form.
Are you like me and see something wrong with this picture?
Miltary spouses, brass and government leaches, you are living in Japan. Get right or get gone!
I wonder if the men and women who have no choice but to live on the ship can get some decent programming in their berthing? We were lucky to have a TV that worked.
Today's picture was taken in Shinjuku's 1-chome. With a name like "Hotel Nuts" I imagine they were busy on Christmas Eve. What's wrong with this picture?
The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10
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