Yotsuya Revisited

Written in 2007:
Hello everyone and sorry about the delay. The way that this blog works is that I will do something and then write about it then find some pictures and then post it on my blogspot. Now, my blogging host offers how to add web links to your blog entry so I plan on doing that for as many entries as I can while I have the time.

Anyway, I've been doing alot of interesting things the past two weeks (March 19th to April 6th). The day after tomorrow is the beginning of my last term as a JET teacher in Japan. The term will end on July 20th and my wife and I plan on making our way back to the US to settle down and start the next chapter of our lives shortly thereafter.

On March 19th, I met with my wife near her office in Tokyo for lunch. We dined at a Middle Eastern restaurant known as "Pita" managed by one person who acts as a cashier, cook, waiter and busboy. With Japan as expensive as it is, that is about the only way to go to keep afloat. The food was excellent and the big portions were appreciated. Afterwards, I did some reading and research at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan near the famous Yurakucho Station in the Ginza district of Tokyo. As long as I didn't make any trouble I could sit there and read the wealth of English publications that otherwise is for members only. After reading my fill, I returned back to Saitama to get ready for my main school's "Enkai" (dinner party/banquet). Prior to all of this I was telling my mother and she commented, "I like banquets since the food is usually good and it's a free meal!" I corrected her on the "Free" part of that since if you go, you usually pay it isn't anything to sneeze at. On this night's event, I ended up paying 7000 yen to dine and drink at a Italian restaurant and then spent another 1500 yen at the "Ni Ji Kai" (literally means the second time or second party) which would have been more but the quote from the first setting was a bit less that what we paid. From my experiences that usually is the case and the ni ji kai is often already paid for. So, if I don't go to these events, it is because I can't justify paying that kind of money or know that the following day is a day that I need to be fully alert not hungover ("Futsukayoi"- literally meaning the second day still drunk). I try to go at least once even if it is against my will since in most cases I am the lonely representative of foreigners, native English teachers, etc. and hope that my presence after I am gone is still felt by those I encounter in a postive and meaningful way. The banquets are alot of fun and interesting since I'm the only American and have a crowd of people who have been interesting in me for a long time but due to the office culture at school and just being plain busy, my colleagues have yet to get to know me. It helps if a team teaching person (Japanese Teacher of English) is nearby to keep me away from my electronic dictionary so that I can communicate better.)

From March 28-30, I was a volunteer teacher for a local high school that is a current participant in the new "Super English" program. To learn more about this program, please google the phrase. Anyway, this school has two teachers such as myself that are permananately assigned to the school and work with about six JTEs and basically team teach together the 1st year students (16-year-olds and the equivalant to 10th graders in the US). On this trip, we traveled from Urawa to Fukushima's British Hills resort. Fukushima is part of Japan's northern region, Tohoku (the most northern part of Japan's main island, Honshu). I went to this region for the first time in November 2006 when we traveled to Sendai (search this blog to read about it).

Upon my return to Saitama, my wife and I spent time with my father-in-law and his family on a day trip to Hakone of Kanagawa-ken. We rented a car and drove from central Tokyo (my father-in-law has an apartment there). Hakone is best visited by traveling by the famous "Romance Car" from Shinjuku Station on the Odakyu Line. The way provided us a chance to experience Tokyo's traffic (not so bad since it was on a weekend) but we also got to see Fujiya Hotel which was the place that John Lennon and other distiguished people stayed at while traveling in Japan. I have been told that it is the first western-hotel in Japan. For lunch we had soba (buckwheat noodles) and tempura (deep-fried seafood and vegetables) which are famous in this area. My wife and I noticed that famous tourist places in Japan over do it with soba and tempura restaurants since these Japanese dishes are friendly with pure gaijins such as my parents and the like. We had an interesting experience at a Japanese restuarant with my family back in 2005 at Kamakura.

After lunch we rode the ferry across the lake and then drove up to a viewing area for Mt. Fuji. After driving up to the place, we had to settle for the black eggs since it was too cloudy to see Mt. Fuji.

In general, Hakone is famous for Kamaboko (fish cakes packed like a hotdog is packed back home), kuro tamago (black boiled eggs that get their color due to being boiled in geysers in the ground), onsens (hot springs that the Japanese use for bathing) the Romance train line, Lake Ashinoko and viewing Mt. Fuji from Owakudani (the place that serves the black boiled eggs).

April 2nd was our 2-year wedding anniversary and we celebrated by having lunch near her office. Since it was a work day, that was all we could do.

Other than going to the Saitama Modern Arts museum near Kita Urawa Station, having dinner with my wife and friends near Ueno Station. One very nice thing was having dinner with my teacher friend and her family. Afterwards we had a Ni Ji Kai of our own by singing Kareoke. I still need to get better at singing some Japanese songs.

Today's picture was taken on March 31st at Tokyo's Yotsuya Station in Central Tokyo. Please note the cherry blossom's in full bloom.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Back from Japan

Back from Japan

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

What Motivated the Kamikazes?

By G. Miki Hayden
Naval History Volume 19, Number 2, April 2005

I'm sorting through old e-mails and came across the following which I hope you find interesting:

The Japanese were not about to let the Allies get closer to their shores than Okinawa. Their resistance strategy included using kamikaze pilots destined to die for Japan. And their motivations were not really so far from those of U.S. troops.

In May 1945, as the Germans formally surrendered to the Allies in Europe and Americans were celebrating wildly in the streets at home, one of the largest battles of the entire war was in full, bloody swing. On Okinawa, about halfway between Iwo Jima and Tokyo and held by the Japanese since the 1870s, a 1,300-ship combined British-American invasion force had landed 60,000 men on L-Day (Love Day), 1 April 1945. Instead of invading Japan proper, expected as the next logical move after taking Iwo as a forward air base, the decision was to subdue Okinawa. The Japanese were adroit strategists and perhaps had learned something from the intensive Allied shelling at Normandy. This stand in the Ryukyu Islands was Japan's most essential defensive action of the war—an attempt to keep the Allied fighters away from the homeland. As on Iwo, few rounds were fired by the defenders, and those were from a distance. The Marines who landed on the coast felt both as if they had outlived their life expectancies by far and that they were arriving on a territory so starkly alien it might as well be the surface of the moon.

The invasion of Okinawa under the command of Army Lieutenant General Simon Buckner was to be the final amphibious operation of the war and the one resulting in the greatest number of casualties. As many as 3,000 lives were lost in a single day during the 82-day conflict, and when the battle was over, 49,000 Americans had been wounded or killed, a minimum of 100,000 Japanese fighters were dead, uncounted numbers were wounded, and many were roasted alive by flamethrowers and forgotten in the caves up in the hills.

The last-hope stratagem that had been initiated by Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi on Iwo was duplicated here by General Mitsuru Ushijima. Elaborate positions had been dug out in the cliffs and an unusually large defending force awaited the invaders. But that was not the only trump card the Japanese were holding as the Westerners approached so threateningly close their home islands. Suicide pilots—kamikazes—had been used before by the Japanese imperial forces, but never in such great numbers, and never flying their missions directly from Japan. Hundreds of loyal young imperial flyers lost their lives in missions that brought down 26 Allied ships off Okinawa, with 160 damaged. The kamikaze dive-bombers were not enough to deflate the 1,300-ship armada, but their harrying of the seaside flotilla was a significant psychological and tactical accomplishment. The hundreds of Japanese pilots who surrendered their lives to sink the invaders confounded the Western sailors and soldiers, altered their concept of what to expect from air attacks, and made a material impact that impeded the Allied advance.

For years after World War II, surviving American military who served in the Pacific and later observers repeatedly have expressed astonishment at the concept of the kamikaze bombers, considering it an extreme anomaly of human behavior. They never pause to compare such heroic behavior with that of the young Marines and soldiers who waded ashore. We Americans feel our hearts beat a little bit faster when we think of the indomitable fighting force landing on Okinawa in the final phase of the Pacific engagement. For some reason, we cannot equate this in any form with the sacrifice the volunteer Japanese pilots made to destroy their opponents. It seems a gulf too great for us to leap.

Yet the lips of the old Japanese kamikaze tremble as he recounts waiting to be ordered on the attack—and as he pictures his war-year comrades flying off to their deaths. This same feeling is displayed by Marine and Army U.S. war vets who tell their tales of this conflict and relive their emotions. In other words, there is little difference in what the warriors of each side underwent. There are only differences in our perceptions. Children growing up in the United States were taught to accept the subtle and explicit truism that the Asian peoples held life cheaply—not only the lives of others, but also those of their own. This was an odd idea, fed perhaps by the extreme measures of honor and devotion displayed by the kamikaze pilots. Yet although behaviors differ within cultures, basic human emotions remain very much the same, no matter the group.

Iwo Jima was the first Allied stop on territory held by Japan prior to the war. Although it was not one of the main groups of Japanese islands, Iwo, annexed by Japan in 1887, was only 660 miles from the Nipponese homeland. Okinawa, a prewar military training ground, was one stride closer. Once U.S. forces controlled the bases there, Japan—defended by farmers armed with pitchforks (with which authorities drilled them) or not—was doomed. Almost from the minute Allied forces jumped onto the beaches at Okinawa, they were able to secure the two vital air bases and staging areas that commanded the island. The whole of the game was almost won, the Western commanders imagined. But this was a battle in which gains were later to be measured in yards, and territory won was rarely held.

The moral position of the Japanese fighting men was the same as that of every U.S. serviceman who stepped onto shore. Each was dedicated without reservation to his country's welfare and stated position in the context of the war. At the same time, each feared for his life and desired to be spared. No doubt there were some among the Japanese who clung to belief in the glory of an afterlife in the Pure Land. But most of such thoughts, any clever physician of the soul would recognize, were on the surface of the personality, overlaying the primal desire of the living organism to survive. No one came to that fight entirely ready and willing to die for his beloved country—neither American nor Japanese.

Yet Japanese soldiers would strap dynamite to their bodies to destroy a bridge built overnight by Marine engineers, killing themselves in the process of delaying intruders. Behind the acts of uniformed men of both nations were social pressure, fear of shame, the concept of an afterworld, the teachings of their fathers and schools, a desire to protect mothers, wives, and children, and an absolute determination not to let down their comrades-in-arms.

As bad as things were thus far in the conflict, soon conditions on the island grew far worse. The rains blew in from the direction of the East China Sea and turned the real estate the soldiers battled over into an unstable quagmire dotted with the mutilated dying and neatly stacked cords of the already dead. The Japanese fired all manner of artillery, mortars, and machine guns from positions on somewhat higher ground—the hills the Americans called Sugar Loaf, Half Moon, and Horseshoe and from Shuri Castle. Here, underground, veterans of Manchuria and Japanese Marines rested in the dank and dark of extensive man-made tunnels. They stank of their own perspiration and worse, breathed the foulness of air shared by thousands, and contemplated their deaths. The thoughts that flitted through their minds were the same as those occurring to our Marines—visions of wives and home, parents and children—none of whom tens of thousands of these young men would ever see again.

Across from Sugar Loaf, U.S. troops squatted wetly in the muddy trenches, half-crazed by the death and destruction they already had encountered during this campaign. And they were tired—dreadfully, unbelievably exhausted—so pushed to the edge they could not bring themselves to eat.

The Japanese plan for defeating the Allies was mad, born of a resolution never to surrender and a powerful denial in the face of their true position. By signing up 4,000 kamikaze recruits, they planned to sink the ships that were the lifeline of the U.S. warriors, then surround and kill them to the last man. Yet there were too many variables in the equation and, in the end, despite the strength of the Japanese fortifications and their courageous spirit, turning the tide was impossible. Including some 77,000 civilians, about 207,000 men and women lost their lives on Okinawa during a battle that raged for nearly three months.

Today, both Iwo Jima and Okinawa again are part of Japan. As Americans visit the memorial to the sinking of the Arizona (BB-39) at Pearl Harbor, so do Japanese visit the sites on Okinawa to honor their war dead.

Ms. Hayden is the author Pacific Empire (Bedford, Indiana: JoNa Books, 1998), nine intertwined short mystery/crime stories in which the Japanese do not lose World War II.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

"Barking up the wrong tree"

Back in May of last year, I was working at one of my schools and the sole English teacher was telling me of a recent discovery to her. It was Barking up the wrong tree. (Ken tou chigai.) It was around that time that I started to make a note of how I wanted to maintain, or at least try, some of the healthy lifestyle changes that I did for three years in Japan.

Car Pooling- As the billboard read when I was living in Los Angeles, "Life sucks without a car." No, it just sucks in general in Los Angeles. Anyway, being about to do without a car as we did in Japan was not going to be feasible back in the US. For the first six months back in the US, my wife and I car pooled with my parents helping out when we were in a pinch. Eventually, we will get a second car and I'd like to get a hybrid since there is no end in sight with every week being a record breaking price for gas.

No Cable TV- Prior to moving to Japan, we would enjoy TV courtesy of the rabbit ears which means I had half a dozen channels in English and about as many in Spanish and that was it. In Japan, we had to break down and get Yahoo TV which allowed us to get some American programming through the Internet viewed on our TV. Now, with work and life outside the home, cable TV is a luxury that I can finally afford but don't need and only have the basic 24 channels. I was looking at NHK's package for the US and it looked interesting.

Biking- As the old saying goes, "Give the customer a choice." That was my take on owning and maintaining a bike while living in Japan. If I needed to get to work and the weather was nice, I could bike. This was helpful when I was running late. Since we were not going to get a car, I was able to get a bike for around $80 which I gave to my sister-in-law when we moved back to the US. Unfortunately, biking in the US is more trouble than it is worth since there are few bike paths for commuters to travel for practical uses such as getting to the store or work. Not too long ago, a jogger was killed by a passing motorist. This is an alternative to beating the gas prices continuously spiking every week.

Workout 3-5 times a week-   Back in the summer of 2005, I had six weeks of not eating starchy school lunches and could take full control of my diet. I spent most of that time living like a hermit eating like a health nut and finally figured out a workout routine that was consistent with my goal of losing weight. I jogged for 25 minutes at a slow pace while listing to a old MP3 player and then finished up by using the stationary bike for 20 minutes. In between I gradually worked up to 100 sit-ups. I did this for basically 5-6 days a week while maintaining a strict diet for the first time in my life. The results were successful but it is not realistic to be so strict on a diet and workout routine as I was in 2005. The reason why is in 2005, I was on hiatus from work and if I did not have the goal of loosing weight, I would have been bored to tears. Now, I'm working a full week unlike anything that went on while I was in Japan. Upon my return from Japan and living out of a suitcase for several weeks while we stayed at different people's houses, the workout and diet went out the window but is slowing making its way back. I currently workout 3-4 times a week. My only concern now is that I've became accustomed to the abbreviated workouts and am not getting enough intensity.

Japanese language training- For the better part of three years, I studied Japanese in a structured environment at a local Japanese university. It was a wonderful experience on many levels. Although I wore my wedding ring and had been around the Japanese culture enough to know when somebody was kissing up or just wanting to kiss, it felt good to have women 10 years younger than me find me a stud muffin. The studying aspect will resume on some sort of routine and hopefully in a structured environment.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Getting paid to play a game

Tom Selleck, better known for his character on the 1980s TV show, Magnum PI went on to star in a baseball movie, Mr. Baseball. This movie is of an aging American player spending the twilight years of his career in Japan. Halfway through the movie, he manages to establish a relationship with his Japanese manager, Ken Takakura. Selleck shows up at Takakura's house unannounced with a bottle of whiskey and a cigar and informs Takakura that he just learned a Japanese custom of the subordinate being able to tell the boss what is on his mind and none of it will be held against him. Selleck goes on to tell his Japanese manager that instead of coercing the players into doing well, he should loosen up and take some risks. He finishes by stating, "Baseball is a game and games are suppose to be fun. We are getting paid to play a game."

Last week, on my lunch break, I was listening to the radio in the car and was flipping the channels between Rush "Limbo" and Jim Rome. After getting fed up of listening to how Obama's pastor has a big mouth on Rush's show, I actually picked up something on the Romes's show that was more than some out of work college grads playing around with a karaoke machine and rapping to a Prince song. Rome mentioned that the Red Sox were threatening to boycott the season opener in Japan against the Athletics. Their reason? The coaches and players were making $40K for the game but the staff and administration that were slated to make the trip were not.

While it is comforting that the players and coaches are looking out for someone besides themselves, I simply can not relate to how pathetic and greedy professional sports have become in the United States. The biggest culprit is pro baseball. With the home run slugger and pitching ace of our generation being questioned for using steroids to the 1994 season when the only championship was played in Japan. Their is nothing more contradicting that seeing some fat and disgusting baseball player (David Wells, Goose Gossage and Irabu) who consider themselves athletes. Then when those who have some pride in their appearance realize, "Hey, I'm a ball player." decides to get in shape, they cheat with steroids.

Anyway, it would be one thing if the coaches and players were making $40K a year. I'll admit, the trip to Japan is nothing more than a spectacle and the organizations (Red Sox and A's) are the cute little dogs and ponies making it happen. But these guys are filthy rich. Are they talented and gifted? Sure they are. They signed up for this and are making plenty of money. If those who were not receiving any stipend from this event felt that they were unjustly being left out, then the coaches and players should have passed a collection plate around like they did in the Russell Crowe movie, Cinderella Man. But, this isn't the Great Depression and they aren't some struggling boxer in the 1920s.

Evidently, they managed to sort this thing out and the game is on. But, you will never find me driving down to Atlanta to watch a game of overpaid bums who do not live in the same world as I do. For all of you that are suffering from insomnia, watch a few innings of baseball. You'll be out like a light.

Are you like me and feeling the crunch at the gas pump? These guys are the ones that actually like the gas prices so that when they drive their un-green SUVs, there will be less people on the roads.

Imported American slugger, Randy Bass, found fame in Japan in the 1980s. He challenged the Japanese season homerun record (55). He's with 1/2 of the show "Utaban" Ishibashi. If you are familar with the Major League trilogy, Ishibashi was in parts 2 and 3.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

JNTO Blog Update- March 25, 2008

A "Best of" for my blog, Divine Wind is being featured on the Japan National Tourist Organization blog. Please click on the link below to see what is being offered.

http://www.japantravelinfo.com/blog/?s=daniel+j.+stone

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

My two cents on politicians

In May 2007, it seems that I was getting worn out with Japan's style of political elections. Unlike in the US, these local Japanese politician would ride around in their area in a van with a bull horn attached to the top. They would say things like how the voter should vote for them instead of their opponent. If you were on the 9th floor of your apartment, this type of noise pollution became a nuisance since the loud noise travels and you could be picking up static from across town. I remember once I was on the street walking to the local city hall office to get my alien registration card extended till my contract was completed and one female political hopeful was riding around waving to everyone. Everybody else was carrying on as business as usual. I decided to wave back and did so which got a chuckle out of the woman.

Anyway, for nearly two months, I would commute to and from Warabi Station. It seems like every time I commuted, I saw the same guy greeting everyone and shaking hands. I got so sick of seeing this political hopeful and deliberately ignored him when he spoke in my direction in broken English one morning. I was getting so fed up with all of the political hype.

Then in June my mother-in-law was at our place visiting and she heard that a big minister from the federal level was going to be in Warabi to help the current mayor get re-elected. This dog and pony show consisted of the big wig, two mayors of neighboring cities and the governor of Saitama. Secret service types were noted standing watch on the top of nearby buildings. The following day was the election and the people decided. They went with Mr. Handshake instead of Mr. Hype. The guy who was out hustling votes one handshake at a time the months prior to the election beat the former mayor by 309 votes. Once I learned this, I felt bad for snubbing him on the street that one morning. I later learned that he worked full-time and before and after work he worked the crowds near Warabi Station.

Prior to this election, I remember seeing some senior citizen types hustling up some signature for a petition. I noticed the katakana on the sign on their desk which read "Elevator". Having been commuting out of that station for 2+ years, I was disappointed that their was no elevator. All those trips that my wife had to make the first year to the US when her US residency was not finalized. It would have came in handy when she was toting her suitcase to have a elevator instead of dragging her suitcase down two flights of stairs. In the late part of 2006, an elderly woman fainted while riding the escalator and collapsed onto my mother-in-law. Had it not been for my wife's quick actions to press the emergency stop button, my mother-in-law would have been banged up worse as the escalator met the top floor. I was not with my wife and mother-in-law when this happened. My mother-in-law was in bad shape for 10 minutes and she finally came to only to stagger down the flights of steps as the ambulance waited to take them to the hospital.

Apparently, the city of Warabi and Japan Rail feel that the other should put in an elevator at the station. Maybe Mr. Handshake can make things happen.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Japanese Street Fashion

Japanese Street Fashion- Courtesy of Youtube.com

Here's a site that you may find interesting. http://www.japanesestreets.com/




The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Traded to Japan

Traded to Japan- Courtesy of youtube.com

Major League pitcher is traded to Japan for the hot dog eating champion. This could never happen, not because of the hot dog champion but trades are only done within the MLB system. If Major League player goes to Japan, it's because the Japanese team wanted them but would not send a Japanese player in their place.

Many people do not know this, but in the 1964, the first Japanese player played in the Major Leagues. Masanori Murakami pitched in nine games for the San Francisco Giants.

Source- "The Samurai Way of Baseball", by Robert Whiting




The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Great Journeys of Japan and Asia- Ambiance of Aichi

I am still dabbling as a freelance writer with emphasis on "free" as I have yet to get paid for my work. I'm still happy to answer the call when asked. Nevertheless, here's the latest installment of my travels to Central Japan for the World Expo in 2005. Enjoy!! Ambiance of Aichi

Please enjoy this "How to" video courtesy of Mizkan of Aichi.



The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Japanese Food in America

Yesterday, we made a last-minute trip to the state's largest city and capital, Columbia for a check on Japanese food in the area. Since Tanpopo (Dandelion in English), the one Japanese grocery store in our city, is slow to non-existant these days with not much to offer other than the basics. The store is next to the sushi bar, Sushi Masa who runs the sushi bar and his wife runs Tanpopo. Ten years ago, Greenville was the home to Hitachi and Fuji Film in nearby Greenwood but nowadays they still exist but are nothing more than a glorified American branch office that has their home office elsewhere. I'll go into that more later.

Anyway, the trip to Columbia was a waste since there were no Japanese markets there. This was surprising since Columbia is bigger than Greenville but a true reading on the international business scene in my home state.

Today, my wife made it over to Tanpopo after work and came home with $40 of Japanese goods. One of the items was Lotte's "Koala's March" Chocolate Creme Filled Cookies. This was bought on purpose by my wife who later told me the story of how as a 4th grader in elementary school her class was asked to sample this product and provide feedback to Lotte. The small cookie has the image of a koala. Back in 1983, Lotte has several images and asked my wife and her classmates which one they found to be cuter. There were also different kinds of chocolate filling and they were asked to provide feedback on this.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Japanese Cuisine

Japanese Cuisine
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-07-10-tokyo-cuisine_N.htm


The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

"Mottainai"

In English, this Japanese word means "not letting things that have value go to waste." With gas prices nearly double the price of a year ago, the US dollar at 107 yen (last year the Japanese yen was around 125 and the Japanese economy is not all that hot to start with), coupled by jobs evaporating thanks to companies who would rather give jobs to China and India allowing them to have the income to own a car which is driving up the gas prices. On America's Independence Day we should reflect on why we are in this position and how we can correct the problem.

For starters, we must conserve gas. This means no more trips to the beach and lake dragging a boat or camper or making useless trips out of town. Are there any incentives to carpool with your fellow co-workers? Some employers provide pay increases for those employees who can prove that they are a bachelors degree holder, why isn't their a pay increase for those employees who can prove that they are carpooling?

I've said this once before when I stood by my convictions when a former co-worker broke their contract to pursue other opportunities, but us Americans love to have our cake and eat it too. It is not your God given right to be a home owner or a parent if you simply can not afford it they walk away from your responsibilities why you get in over your head. Such indulgent and selfish behavior is the reason the US Dollar is a distant shadow of its former self.

Here's a link that I received from an alumni letter from the university that I graduated from, Cal State Dominguez Hills. I'll be the first to admit that I'm miles away from doing most of what this article calls for but I'm doing all I can which is more than most who have the resources to have more. I can only imagine the hard luck life they are living having walked a mile in their shoes.

In closing, let's not let things go to waste. While, its OK to have our cake, lets not continue to make the same mistakes.

Make this Independence Day a day of being independent from selfishness and indulgence.

Today's clip comes from Youtube and while it's a parody, it not too far from the truth.

Written on Independence Day 2008

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10

Watermelon Card

While watching the Olympics in China, I was reminded of how mobile Asians are. In the US, I think of the elderly woman who still brings her checkbook to the grocery store and spending five minutes writing the check out, filling out the ledger, then balancing their account while the world screeches to a halt.

In various countries in Asia, they have debit cards which are in no relation to their financial institution and are used at train stations and other stores near train stations.

The Watermelon suica card is used as a train pass and in the later part of my stay in Japan was also used for purchases at the nearby convenience stores. Since 2004, a user of suica loads money onto their card via a machine at any train station and when entering the stalls at the station the lead to the platform, they swipe their card and then do the same when they arrive at their final destination. If I'm on the way to the station or just leaving the station and I want to buy a drink or snack at one of the vending machines or stores in the station, I can use the card for that as well.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10