Update on the Japanese politics post.

So, today I talk with some people in Date, and the lying Japanese politician topic came up. I was surprised by some of the comments I heard. Namely, I heard a few people say that they felt sorry for the lying politician. Each person who felt sorry for him, felt that way for the same reason. They felt that the news reporters were too pressing on him. Basically, the whole thing about him lying went out the window because the reporters were too ambitious in getting a story. How ambitious were they? Well, you can check my last post. They basically checked up his statements each time until he backed himself into a corner.

Related topic. This morning I taught an English class and one of the students asked me, "Do American politicians lie too?" I wanted to laugh. I broke a smile and said, "Yes they do. But they're better liars."

Gotta love Japanese politics.

Just recently, a politician from Fukuoka got caught for lying. What was the lie? He said he graduated from UCLA. After he got called on it, he said that it was an honest mistake and in fact, he attended UCLA for a while but graduated from Cal State LA. Upon further investigation, it was found that he didn't graduate from CSULA either. He then, backpedaled and said that he graduated from Pepperdine which is in the LA area. Now, it looks like he didn't even graduate from there.

In an news interview, he was quoted as saying that he needs to investigate (possibly go to the Los Angeles area) to find the truth. My question... what does he need to investigate? Doesn't he know where he graduated from? I think everybody knows what school they graduated from. There's no need to "investigate."

Taiwan might have the fighting politicians, but Japan might have the best press interviews with their politicians.

Doot doot doot... News Flash. He had a press conference today for his constituents in Fukuoka. With tears in his eyes, he announced that he's resigning from his political party. However, he's not resigning his post as a member of the Diet. He also did not admit to any lying or wrong doing. How anti-climactic.

I think I'm officially homesick.

Had a weird dream. Dreamt that I started running from Shattuck and University in Berkeley. I was running towards El Cerrito along Shattuck. Along the way I ran into people I haven't seen in a long long time. I mean like junior high school and elementary school. I'd talk with them, but not for long because I kept on running. You know one of those "Hey, what's up?" ... all the while trying to figure out what the other person's name is conversations. At the end of the dream, I ended up at Solano and went into the Jamba Juice there.

I think the last part was induced by the fact that it was freezing cold in my apartment when I woke up. Crazy cold. Didn't keep me from making a homemade Jamba Juice though. Weird feeling. Feeling cold on the outside, and shaking from the inside because your insides are cold too from an iced fruit blended drink.

Nippon Ham Fighters.

I've been looking for a Nippon Ham Fighters baseball cap for quite a while now. I mean how cool is that? Doesn't everybody want a Nippon Ham Fighters hat? People'd be like, "Hey, what team is that for?" And in explanation I'd say, "Nippon Ham Fighters!"

Well, I still don't have one. Why? Because I want a fitted cap. And well, apparently, they don't sell fitted caps to the public. This isn't just for the Nippon Ham Fighters. It's for all the Japanese pro-baseball teams. Instead of the fitted caps, they all sell the adjustable back ones. Not so cool. It's not as bad as the fish net back caps but still.

Today, among other things, I played badminton.

It was fun. But at the end, it was weird. It wasn't exhausted. But my body couldn't take any more badminton. I think it was all the jerky motions. I mean, for about half the time I was standing still. And the other half, I was just running like a... like a... mmm squirrel. I dunno. Just real quick movements... nothing prolonged. So, I didn't feel like keeling over and just lying on the floor (like I do after playing basketball). Crazy Asian people. Liking games like badminton.

I remember going to Jet Li's house (thanks Charlie... Jet's Li's house!) and he had this area that was fenced off. Not like some little white picket fence. It was a full on fence like you'd see at a playground or a park or something. The inside of the fence was lined with something like a green tarp or something. Anyway, we go, and check it out. I thought it was a basketball court. "Cool, Jet Li plays ball!" We look between the tarp, and see a badminton court. Yeah, that's the mark of a super fob. How many MTV Cribs episodes have you seen where the famous guy had a private badminton court?

The radio.

Today, the radio made my day. I woke up this morning to snowy conditions and crazy winds. It was cold. The snow wasn't falling down. It wasn't falling sideways. It was just swirling around up, down, left, right... all over the place. The thing about windy snowy conditions is that the snow quickly turns into ice. On the sidewalk of the main street here, there were a few 1/2 inch thick patches of ice.

After walking outside a little, I decide that nature wins and I'm driving everywhere today. Wasn't too happy. Start the car, and the radio turns on. The song I hear? Hint: The first part of the title is "Maca" and the last part is "rena." Oh, I couldn't stop laughing. I forgot all about that song. This easily tops the time I heard "Mmm Bop" on the radio here.

What am I gonna hear next? Informer? Ice Ice Baby? Oh wait. I did hear that recently on the radio.

Yo let's get outta here. Word to your mother.

The Fuller app goes out today! Har har har. That's my pirate's laugh. Why I laugh my pirate's laugh when I mail a college app I do not know. But somehow, it seems appropriate.

I'm thinking about doing the whole BCS thing again real soon (something like Mexican League Winter Ball or the Road to the Final Four) because of one blog... Jeff's blog. As you can see, Jefferson's blog is not currently listed in the final stadings. At the moment, he's unranked. Reason? Cuz he just started.

I get good laughs from that blog. But it's because I know him. The content itself isn't all that entertaining. It's more the way he writes it... err lemme correct that. Is more the way he writes it. When I first found out that he started a blog, I was like, "Oh no, now the world will know how much of a fob he is."

Actually, Jeff's not all that fobby. Sometimes, I wonder if he's faking his fobbiness like how many MTV viewers wondered if Jessica Simpson is really that stupid (I'd have no idea cuz I haven't watched MTV in 3 years). There are some super fobs out there, (Ben knows quite a few at his work) but I don't think Jeff's one of em. Then again, how many fobs do you know who keep a blog in English?

Ochazuke.

When I was little and I got sick, my mom would feed me one of three things: Chicken noodle soup, ice cream, and ochazuke. Chicken noodle soup is the American tradition. Ice cream, I think, was to help get my fevers down. And ochazuke... well, ochazuke I don't really know... but that mess is good.

For all of you out there who have no idea what I'm talking about, ochazuke is basically like okayu (Japanese juk), but with seasoning and the water tastes like tea. For any Japanese American fob readers out there... holla!

Well, just today, I rediscovered ochazuke. I went to the supermarket and as I was browsing I saw the familiar packaging. The company that makes the stuff hasn't changed the packaging in at least 15 years. Got me a six pack.

Really easy to make. Get some leftover rice, pour a seasoning pack over it, and then pour hot water over it all. Well, I haven't had the stuff in like 10 years so I got all excited... so excited that instead of using leftover rice (because I had none), I made new rice! Then I went American style and supersized it to a donburi bowl... aww yeah. It was some good eatin'.

I'm back.

Came back from visiting family in the Tokyo area. As always, visiting the grandparents was relaxing. They just live at a slow pace. Wake up, walk the dog, eat breakfast, watch TV, eat lunch, watch TV, buy groceries, watch TV, eat dinner, watch TV, take a bath, watch TV, go to bed. Makes me wonder sometimes though. What would they do without the TV?

It's confirmed, I like the city. I like having to wait only 5 minutes if I miss a train. Out here, where I live, I have to wait about an hour if I miss a train. All I have to do is remember the toilet paper incident. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look around the blog... it's in there somewhere. I like getting a mocha with no whipped cream on any given morning.

Then again, I have to admit living out here has its clear advantages. Clean air. Being able to see the stars practically every night... and a lot of em at that. Real sidewalks. Little noise.

Wind chill factor is nooooo good. At night, the digital thermometer read -10C. I think that's about 14F. But it was a windy 14F. And that mess felt like 2F. And that's no arbitrary number. Thanks to AccuWeather.com, and its RealFeel, I can say with confidence that it felt like 2F. And I don't care if this is my 3rd winter, my 1st winter, or my 33rd winter... this California boy ain't too happy with the RealFeel anywhere near 0F.