Batzirra? Carbzirra?

Today's post comes to you via The Canadian Press.

It seems that unbeknownst to me, there was a Batman craze over "here" in Japan in the sixties, and the comics drawn were quite bizarre and disturbing (much in harmony with Batman's character). So for the true Batman afficionado, I give you, "Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan"! And if there are any Batman-addicts out there who purchase this manga, please DO let me know what you really think of it.

I also hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve.

I love you!

Cam

P.S. If anyone is interested, I have been conducting yet another very interesting "carbohydrate experiment" while I have been here. I have not changed my diet; I continue to eat meat, eggs, cheese, vegetables. I haven't eaten the cookies, the cakes, the crackers, the chocolates because they just don't interest me.

I go for a 30 minute walk in the -30C weather every day, therefore my exercise level really has not decreased either so that cannot be used as an excuse.

The one thing I have been consuming that I just don't ingest at home is beer. In the 11 days I have been here, I have consumed approximately 10 cans of beer.

I weigh 7.5 pounds MORE than when I came here!

This pretty much proves beyond the shadow of a doubt with real life results how even a tiny little big carbohydrate such as "one beer a day" can put on almost a half pound of useless bodyfat within the blink of an eye.

Would you like to cut your weight effortlessly and feel good while doing it? Don't waste time by starvation diets such as reducing your quantity of food... don't try to exercise your face off... don't go on any weird "hot pepper watermelon" diets.

Simply cut your carbohydrates back. The more you cut, the more you will lose, and the more energy, vigor and good mood you will have.

This is simple science, and it simply cannot be refuted by anyone, anywhere who understands how the body utilizes ALL carbohydrates (sugars). To the biochemical processes of our bodies, a carbohydrate is a carbohydrate is a carbohydrate. It simply cannot function as anything else.

It really IS THAT SIMPLE.

The Christmas Catalyst

It all started back in September or October of this year...

I was thinking that this year for my Dad's 71st birthday I would surprise him by showing up at their door on the eve of his birthday. I spent a fair deal of time searching the Japanese internet for good flights that would offer me some sort of flexibility at economic prices (very hard to do these days). In the end, I opted to get my ticket via Osaka - Detroit - Minneapolis - Winnipeg (NWA) through Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the travel agent my mom and dad have been using for years here in Winnipeg. (photo: street decorations)

I purchased and paid for my non-refundable discount ticket in October... and then the financial sector of the USA tanked, the American and Canadian dollars fell, and the yen rose... Of course had I waited the exchange would have made my flight much cheaper. But had I known this, I would either be in prison due to making millions of dollars on insider information re. the stock market... or I would ... or I would nothing!

I only told a very small group of friends I was doing this. I didn't even tell my brother Bruce who can absolutely keep not one single secret in the world from anyone... however it was Bruce I needed to come and get me at the airport. I had planned for this in advance, of course and told Bruce that I needed him in front of his computer Friday night (Dec 19th) so that I could show him some of the stuff that I was sending to my parents for Christmas, and explain some stuff to him. He was there, waiting for me.  (photo: looking down our street... twice the width of Japanese streets)

Vonage (public payphone) in Minneapolis rejected my mastercard... rejected my visa... rejected my american express... and then it was time to board. So...I ended up taking a taxi to the head of the street, paying the cabbie the $35 for the 30 minute drive, and pulled my suitcases up the street at -28C (before windchill adjustments) to the house and rang the doorbell. I didn't want them to accidentally walk past the living room window and see a cab pull up with me getting out as it would ruin the surprise so I did it this way.

When I rang the doorbell, my mom was just about to come upstairs and go to bed. I looked downstairs through the thick plate glass window and smiled. She looked upstairs through the thick plate glass window and was dumbstruck. I guess her brain wouldn't register ME standing there because I was supposed to be in Japan! Well, she suddenly came up the stairs, flung open the door and hugged me as I stepped in. Then the "fight or flight" reflex took hold and she had to run off for a pee!  (photo: me walking to Tim Hortons @ -37C... thought I had lost my eyelashes)

Dad came up with a big smile as I handed him his personally delivered birthday bottle of Suntory Old whiskey. He wanted to shake my hand, but I would have nothing to do with that nonsense, so summarily gave him a great big hug.

It isn't nearly as cold here as I had hoped it would be; I want the -40C + windchill bringing it down to the low -80s of my youth, but I guess with global weirding, that is no longer to be...

We just opened the Christmas presents and will have dinner at our friends across our back yard tonight. Tomorrow will be Boxing Day open house and all of my parents' friends will be coming by. I enjoyed this exactly two years ago as well (and then I went down to Fargo to meet with Robin, Adrian and Steph, and subsequently got stuck there an extra night in a snowstorm, if you recall!)

All of this traveling and visiting people in 2008... this is my third trip this year (thus I got a glorious upgrade to first class on the 1.5hr flight from Minneapolis to Winnipeg!!) and I have really had a great time meeting a lot of people.  (photo: SuperValu in the neighbourhood... madhouse this time of year)

I have been to Tim Horton's coffee several times to enjoy the coffee and listen to the weird Winnipeg Accents and hear all the Canucks using the word "eh". I have visited Sears and the mall to buy a bunch of towels (we can't get good towels in Japan that last for 20 years like our towels from Canada have). I went to SupeValu to stock up on anti-perspirant (can't get in Japan) and allergy meds (too weak in Japan). I did all this walking back and forth from the house, enjoying the bite of the wind on my face as it tried to crack my exposed skin...and wished for colder weather yet.

This past Sunday I visited my old best friends and their families for brunch. Then we went back to his place and enjoyed a hot tub party in the night at -38C. You can see the video on YouTube, entitled, "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDZZvFXYiEY". (photo: Sherry, Brad, Cam @ brunch)

On this trip, I am "stepping into my fear" to meet my high school friends and stop feeling indifferent to them due to the extreme bullying I got during those school years (hardwired into the brain... this time I choose to see things differently). There is an informal gathering of anyone from our graduating year who wants to pop into a (forget) place about 7pm on the 29th. And I intend to just pop in unannounced! Other than that, it is time with family, and time with anyone else who might like to meet with me (I haven't had a chance to contact them all yet but will).

(In case you are wondering where Mayu might be.. she has stuff to do in Tokyo at year end so I'm on my own on this trip. I'm hoping that we don't get too much snow while I'm away over the new year and that is the reason why I worked on the special snow protection before I left.)  (photo: blowup penguin street decoration)

The economic situation around the world is really difficult for us all. As strange as it may seem, the collapse of the American Empire has dramatically affected my business in the tiny village in which we have lived for the past 15years. So much, so, that I really don't know if we will even be in Kamishii for the full year next year. It seems that perhaps it is time to leave our Shangri-la and move on... And who knows where the future will lead, right?

 

I have asked my parents if they might like to come for a visit next May or June when the weather is nice. I know we will be there until June for sure as I have a little bit of contract work that keeps me tied to Fukui. As long as I have work in Fukui we will stay in this home as it is beautiful for the small amount of rent we pay. Sure we could leave it for a tiny apartment somewhere, but the space would be dramatically reduced, and the rent would dramatically increase, so why bother, right? I will see what they say as 2009 rolls in...  (photo: my ancestral home, front view)

So with that.. I would like to once again (as I always do), open my home (while we have it) and my heart to anyone and everyone who might like to experience Japan not from a "tourist in a hotel life" perspctive, but from a relaxed, country living view. We could move in and out with ease, wining, dining, laundering (clothing not money), laughing, walking, talking, driving, RELAXING and most of all moving about through time as if we are LIVING and BEING in the NOW moment with no hotel-life restrictions.

I welcome any one of you who might think you would like to visit my beautiful Shangri-la. Feel free to write me privately and let me know you are interested. I would be more than happy to adjust my schedule for you, help plan stuff, and offer you suggestions on the best times to come. I am, and have always been serious. Just as Paula took me up on my suggestion over 2.5 years ago, I hope that in 2009 at least one person out there in our community will say, "Yes, I think I seriously would like to come and see your wonderland, Cam."   (photo: essential gear to get to, and enjoy Tim Hortons Coffee every day)

Consider this post a "catalyst", something that gets you started on a new adventure in 2009. I plan to have MANY new adventures in 2009 with many new challenges work-wise and life wise. I hope to grow, and expand physically, mentally, educationally and especially spiritually as I challenge myself to new heights, never-before experienced. That is what life is all about, right? As Mayu so aptly put it recently, it's time we "stopped just sucking air". And I agree. Ever onward, ever upward!!

And on that note, I wish you a most wonderful and Merry Christmas for 2008, I hope your Boxing Days are full of joy, and that on January 1st, 2009 you are not praying to the porcelain gods!  (photo: crossing the playground to get to Tim Hortons)

I love you as I always have and always will: UNCONDITIONALLY.

Cam

P.S. If you wish to see more photos, please visit the slideshow on my flckr that is located in my "Christmas 2008 in Winnipeg, Canada" Set.

Hogwarts Uses Canada Post!

Well, this will be attempt #3.... I will have to roll back and delete this Internet Explorer Ver. 8 Beta I am testing as a HUGE blog I just wrote got all scrunched up into one line when I tried to add a photo... and it was gone! Poof! Just like Harry Potter might make a cockroach disappear. And then gone again... POOF POOF!!! (now I need to add photos...)

This has been a very busy two weeks; We've been winterizing, and getting ready for the new year. Last week Mayu and I took a mid-week driving trip to Tokyo for some family business (no worries, no condolences needed, thanks). This week we have been busy winterizing the house in a different way than usual.

When we get heavy snowfalls, the snow from the roof of the house can break things if it breaks off. Three winters ago, the sunroom roof exploded when a big chunk fell off the peak of the roof onto it. Also, as there are barely any overhangs, when the snow hits the deck, it is often perilously close to the sliding glass doors. And if it falls or bounces the wrong way, we could be looking at major damage.

It hasn't snowed much at all since that huge snow of three years ago, so we could be getting some big snow this year. It often happens that our snow patterns follow North America by about two weeks. So if you look at heavy snowfalls in the midwest, two weeks later we often have ours. And I don't want to be out there changing my tires, or cleaning glass out of our living room just because a big chunk decided to fall the wrong way.

I took these leantos you can see here, and affixed them to the deck, and to each other. But because we also get winds here, due to the angle, they can easily blow off. And if they are affixed only to the deck, that means they will go vertical, then fall the other way, damaging the deck as they crash against Dickhead's concrete wall and explode, quite possibly bouncing into our glass doors, and exploding them, too. That wouldn't be nice.

So, I took our bazillion kg deck chairs that even Mayu can't lift and bound the leantos to the three chairs, and now I cannot budge them. SO... I think we are good. The added benefit is that during the day the sun reflects off of them and Dickhead's Dad cannot come peering in like he often tries to do. I like these so much that I may even keep them up until the end of March!

Today I went into town to pick up my video camera that needed some repairs. On the way in I saw a store I hadn't noticed before and took a stop for a look-see. They had a lot of really great furniture, knicknacks, pottery, beds, wall hangings, drapes, fabric, and a ton of other stuff. I really enjoyed visiting.

The thing that caught my eye, though, was THIS plastic post box!

I was attracted strongly to it, however the $400 price tag is too rich for my blood. And really, the inside box is only good for letters, not for boxes, or any care packages that people may send this way.

But I loved it! And the first thing I thought became the title for this blog: Hogwarts Uses Canada Post!

Have a great end of the week, and I hope you don't freeze your asses off in the winter!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Multiply is acting funny tonight...

Snot Quite What I Expected

Last week I finally decided to try and auction this Karcher Steam Cleaner on Yahoo Auction. We had originally paid about JPY 35,000 ($350) for it at the home center many years ago.

In the old house, using kerosene heat, the entire area would get a thin film of oily greasy dust that was never easy to clean off, and clung to everything. Add to that the mud walls, and you have the perfect conditions for greasy living.

I can't remember exactly when we purchased it, but it may have been a few years before we finally moved out of the old house into this one. We used it for one final steam cleaning of all of the floors, etc. cleaned it up, boxed it up, and never used it again.

We decided to let the auction begin at JPY 8,000. One week later we had amassed 631 people who had accessed it, 59 who put it on their watchlist, and finally sold it for JPY 21,500 (about $215)!  We sold it on the auction! Yaaay us!

Today we needed to take it to Lawson's Convenience Store to send it off using the Yahoo YuPack Postal network tie-up (very cool system). I wanted to wrap the box up so decided to use a few of the kimono paper wrapping bags that all of my most recent batch of kimono came in. I went upstairs to the spare room where all of the bags are sitting, grabbed two, and taped them nicely to the outside of the box.

My nose felt a bit runny from the musty smell of all the kimono, but I had kind of expected that. What I didn't expect, however, was that for the next 30 minutes a green, bubbly, frothy liquid kept dripping, and sloshing out of my left nostril! Every time I blew the tissue (*salivation has begun here...*) turned this bizarre yellow-green, and then all of a sudden it would pour ot of my nose!

Thirty minutes later I was finally able to stop the flow, but Mayu had to take the package to my car, and we drove with the windows open to Lawson's in order to get rid of it! And now, just from that 30 minutes of foamy green flow, my nose feels like it is burned as if I had been blowing it for days!

I need to back up a bit here and give you some history now....

***** SHIFT! Back to July *****

In July I got the shingles. I'm still struggling with scars on my face, and a tickling itchy sensation that runs through the nerves on my face, but I guess I can get used to that. However, as the information on shingles says, it can take often over six months to completely heal, and energy is often down, while the immune system is also often compromised for long periods of time.

I have seemingly had one cold after the next from August on. It got especially bad in September, October and November with my sinuses completely clogged, tons of coughing, phlegm and such. I assumed it was due to a compromised immune system. Then in November I started getting severe sinus pressure over the left eye in that sinus cavity, in and around that eye as well. It was so bad that several times I had to sleep because I couldn't do anything. I KNEW it was a sinusitis of sorts as I used to get it regularly as a child because I suffer from a deviated septum in the left nostril which is often the one that gets plugged and has caused me the most trouble through my life.

I wanted to go to the doctor and get antibiotics but that was just at the point where Mayu and I had our "human docking" medical tests and I didn't want to interfere with the testing. As soon as that was done, I went and got five days of antibiotics. It didn't seem to help and I was really wondering what was going on because the pressure in the sinus cavity and my eyeball was intense (left one only, nothing in the right cavity) every day, about the same time of the day (between 2-4pm).

One day while I was doing my ab exercises I noticed the huge amount of dust under the piano, and I thought, "Aha! That must be it!" So we spent a good half day pulling, pushing, rocking and rolling the piano just enough to clean out the dust. It didn't help.

Nearly every day about 3pm I would start to get the pressure headache over my left eye and wondered why. Normally I am here from morning until night, and then shut down about dinner time, and come and go after that. One night I was here reading until 2am and I found that about 1am I started to get the exact same pressure headache! So I knew it had something to do with this room...

To make a long story shorter, eventually it dawned on me that the piles of vintage, MUSTY kimono in the closet next to my computer were causing me to have an allergic reaction! So I took them all upstairs to the spare room, put them away in clear boxes, cleaned out the drawers in my closet, and all of the congestion, all of the headaches, all of the watering eyes, and phlegm, and coughing and general malaise of the past three months disappeared!

And life was good...

**** SHIFT! Back to this morning *****

Well, after having that green frothy, foamy, bubbly, pouring liquid attack coming out of my left nostril and soaking the front of my sweater... I decided to ask Mayu to throw away all those papers!

I soo wanted to use them in a recycled way and let them become my wrapping papers for ages to come. But after that attack... to hell with recycling!

Now it's time to see if I can start another auction to sell off one of our two industrial kerosene heaters that get the rooms so roaringly hot that we have never been able to use them in this house at all! These babies rock!

You may be wondering why we have two... well, one year in February, the coldest month of the year, our old beloved one kind of went on the fritz. And we had no heat exactly when we needed it. We could not live in our house with no heat in the coldest time of the year, for three weeks while they overhauled the components.

But that's life, I guess... Now we have two, and both of them sit in storage so it's time to try and sell them off!

I love you!

Cam

Globalized Love Rules! or Mitch Got the Futon

Hey Gang! Mitch got the futon and made a video. So without any long explanations from me, please watch Mitch, over in Nova Scotia (Canada), enjoy our futon!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. It's a fantastic video. Mayu and I were laughing the entire 10 minutes! Those crazy Canadians!

 

Terror in Mumbai

Last night, Rob (Dunnster) and I had a little chat about what we thought really happened over in Mumbai during the past few days. We both agreed that it couldn't have been some desert bootcamp trained uneducated zealots that alQaeda uses because the operation was too professional. Of course, these were just our thoughts and musings, from two dumb guys with too much free (night) time on our hands.

Then I wrote to my good friend Shivdeep who lives in Chandigarh, India (up north). And we had a good discussion. I wanted to make sure that he, his family, friends, customers were OK. They were. And that is good. Here is the convo. You may be interested in reading the link at the end, as it comes from a different news source than most of us in the west ever read. It is nice to get news from different angles; it helps to see the bigger picture without so many cloudy obfuscation getting in the way. (Did I use that word, properly?)

It seems that the general thought is that the commando attack squad (we like to call them terrorists) acted very much like a specially-trained group of soldiers that were put in place by the American government when Russia was invading Afghanistan. Interesting... Nicaragua, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan..... all forces initially trained to be specialists, by the American government, and then set free... interesting.....

I love you!

Cam

***********************

Shiv,

 

How are you doing? Did the terror over the past few days in Mumbai shock you? It shocked me.... Are you and your family and friends OK? I hope so.

 

You know... those 10 guys were WAAAY too professional to be some Afghan Desert Terror camp trainees... The stuff they seem to have pulled off with the professionalism they did it leads me to believe that it was some SOG special operations group ... or a group of mercenaries... They were just too efficient to be your ordinary terrorist.

 

Tell me what you know that isn't coming out on Propaganda World News...

 

What does the Indian government and other special interest groups really think happened?

 

Cam

 

***********************

 

Hello Cam

 

Indeed they were not the regular bomb and run sort of people that we have seen in the past. What they did was quite intense, aggressive and professional. I guess I had trouble sleeping and still do because I have had this sudden realisation that if a person enters a place with an automatic rifle there is not much you can do about it.

 

Strangely I was thinking about you and how you always wanted to stay at a Taj hotel when you came to India. Overall the government here is saying that these people came from Pakistan (which is likely according to me) through the coastal route and basically they were trained commando style, to be more specific marine commando style. The Government is also saying that they had enough ammo to kill 5000.

 

It is a massive security breakdown when it comes to India. I hope the government now gets less lax, till now they had been butchering ordinary people on the streets but this time their targets were the high and the mighty. The westerners and the people who apparently matter. There is a lot of anger among the people here now and I just hope that it does not result in some further problems.

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/terrorists-trained-by-special-forces--pounced-killed/79435-3.html

 

This link echoes your earlier thoughts quite uncannily.

 

Everyone I know is fine. There is nothing to worry about for me personally. I do some business in Mumbai and all my clients and their families seems to be fine as well. Do let me know of your news and how things are progressing for you.

 

Regards,

Shivdeep

A Sucker Born Every Minute

I thought I would slip one of these little chocolate sucker guys into every kimono sale I get on Etsy. Just as a little extra thank you! (while quantities last)... Doing my duty to get people high and shaky on cheap chocolate and too much sugar....

These guys are the main characters in the kids' cartoon series, "Anpan Man".

I love you!

Cam

Otohime: An eco-friendly human waste disposal personal assistant

Toto has the washlet. Toto has the portable washlet. Toto also has the Otohime, an amazing eco-friendly, privacy-minded human waste disposal assistance machine!

Want to Sell / Auction this Eddie Bauer Hunting/Fishing Vest

I would like to sell or auction this vest off to anyone interested.

I purchased this vest through the mail order many years ago and have not worn it very much at all. It is a Mens Large Tall vest with 18 pockets in total. Made of 100% cotton with inner mesh for breathability, a zipper on the front and cinch ties on the sides, this vest would be perfect for hunters, fishermen, and especially photographers (I think).

I tried to sell this on Yahoo Auction but someone complained that I didn't give enough information and the system asked me to remove it. So now I am offering it here.

Will anyone offer me $5.00 plus shipping for this?

The total weight is about 1.1kg and I can send as a small package to most places in the world for $25 (unregistered), or via EMS to N.A. for $30 (trackable, one week).

Paypal charges 7% + for me, so $5.00 would cover the paypal charges and leave me with enough to buy a can of tea after going to the post office.

Anybody interested? If you would like to place a bid, as I have also put this on Flickr for people over there, please visit Flickr and bid over there.  Thanks for looking.

Cam

The Theory of Natural Selection & Laundraic Evolution

 

 

"Natural selection acts only by taking slight, successive variations. She can never take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure, though slow steps." - Charles Darwin

 

 

When autumn and winter comes along, the temperature outside drops. Here in Japan, that corresponds to an equivalent drop in temperature IN the house. Fortunately, although not pleasant to sleep in near freezing bedrooms, and pee in icebox restrooms (and you wonder why we have electrically heated seats and warm running washlet water for rinsing?), my body has adjusted to it, so that I can survive.

After a brief 20 years, my body has adapted to this climate, showing once again how Darwinian Biology and his Theory of Evolution and Natural Selectioin may not  be all that we have been taught in school biology classes, and may not be the whole explanation for the processes of life as we are just beginning to understand it (on the evolutionary clock).

It never ceases to amaze me the constant evolution of the Japanese electronics. Look at the Wii system, for example! It is a masterpiece of advanced technological gaming! Everything from cell phones, to fuel efficient automobiles, to mp3 players, through digital cameras and digital video cameras to HDTV. It is a marvel to live in this country.

Except for one teeny little factor.... why the hell could the Japanese not have put some thought into advancing the technology of housing? I mean why do even relatively new houses have to be so freaking cold everywhere except the room in which you are heating? What is the purpose even of insulated walls, when 10 minutes after turning the heat off, the room is already cooling down, and by morning, the inside temperature, is about the same as the outside temperature?

When I talk to Japanese people about this, they always come back with, "oh, it is so humid here that if there was not air movement there would be too much moisture buildup in the walls", and "we don't have any natural resources so central heating is far too expensive, unlike in N.A. where oil is almost free".

OK, fine. I can accept the reasons that are stated above, but absolutely NOT the logic because Japan has always been freakishly hot and humid in the summer, and freakishly cold and humid in the winter so much so that the Japanese even invented electric carpets and low tables that you drape thick duvets over, and heat underneath electrically with a radiator attached to the underside of the table! And if this has been going on forever... then surely, with such ability to create the electronic technology they can today, they SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE to SOLVE the humidity, and expensive resource problem decades ago! This is not a new phenomenon.

There is one thing, though, that I have not yet mentioned, and it is called "gaman" (我慢). This is a buddhism term that refers to patience, endurance, perseverance, self-control under duress in order to grow and expand spiritually. This spirit is very much in the Japanese culture. It is why the traditional bushido "ways" (judo, kendo, karate-do, etc.) usually go out at the beginning of the new year into the snow, or the freezing rivers, and oceans, and practice their training exercises under extremely harsh conditions. It is why I was told not to drink any water during my kendo training in the middle of the blazing heat of summer when everyone was pouring sweat, getting dehydrated by the minute, and becoming faint during keiko, or practice. It was, and still is important for "bushido", or the way of the warrior, and warrior spirit.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have translated well into modern-day living because Japanese living accommodations suck! And I can say this because I have lived here for a good 20 years and seen old homes to new ones. And in summer they are boiling hot, while in winter they are freezing cold, regardless of the age. The only thing that differs is the amount of wind that whips through the walls...

And because it is too expensive to heat the entire house when we are not using but a portion of it (kind of smart, actually... why waste energy on parts of the house that people don't use often, right?) the room we use for laundry gets very cold in winter. And it stays cold. Therefore, the laundry can take up to a week or more to dry, which means....

... in order to have dry non-mouldy laundry we have to live with it on a daily basis from about November, to the end of March when it finally warms up in the house enough to dry the laundry in other parts of the house.

Even Keiko the "incredibly disappearing cat" has a battle with the laundry!! (he can't see us when he comes to be fed, so has taken to scratching the glass to get our attention).

It never ceases to amaze me what a weird, complex and contradictory society this really is. But the good thing about that is you never get bored! You never know what to expect next over here in Japan.

If something doesn't change, I fear that before long we will be "selected out" of the living quarters, naturally!

Have a wonderful day!

I love you!

Cam

Cooking with Cam: Guerrilla Egg Breakfasts

Yesterday when I was ootnaboot I picked up a frypan that is specifically made for cooking Japanese-style omelettes. And this morning, when I was about to try it out, I thought to myself, "Hmmm... I bet the rest of the world has never seen a frypan shaped like this." So I decided to make this video for you!

I love you!

Cam

Cooking with Cam: Candlelight Dinner for Me

Well, it is time for another cooking "lesson" with chef Cam, resplete with candles and all! How to have a delicious dinner... with leftovers! Mayu is away tonight enjoying an onsen, and huge crabs with those big long alien legs, with two coworkers in the company she was employed for 18 years. They are thanking her for all of her hard work and... they miss her. So, I am alone!

I love you!

Cam

 

Mayu's Got Crabs!

Yesterday, as I explained in one of my recent videos, Mayu went off to meet two of her former coworkers for dinner, and an overnight stay at an onsen restaurant in Miyama. It was a brief 30 minute drive to Miracle-Tei which is on the other side of the mountains that you see in so many of my photos, behind my house.

She met her friends about 5:00 in the afternoon. They talked, had baths, had late dinner, she gave them massages, they had baths, talked again, she gave more massages, they ate, they ate, and they ate. She said she got three hours of sleep.

The meal consisted of a large variety of traditional foods, including tempura, sashimi, some other various dishes, sukiyaki, soba (buckwheat noodles), mashed rice dango (dumpling), grilled fish, kani (crab) rice, frozen kani "pickles", dessert, and more. Then the chef brought out that crab you see at the beginning of my story. Mayu thought it was for all of them, but the other women told her that it was JUST FOR HER! So after many mouthfuls of crab after crab after crab, she was absolutely stuffed!

But look at the size of what she ate!!! (the photo above doesn't tell the entire picture.) The blue tag indicates that it came from Ishikawa. If it was Echizen-gani, it would have had a yellow tag. (Note on pronunciation: crab, by itself is pronounced, "kani" with a "k" sound, but when it goes with another word like Echizen, the k sound softens and becomes a "g", thus kani --> Echizen-gani.)

Apparently the seas are not "giving" their bounty nearly as freely as they used to. The kani that come from the seas off of Fukui (known as Echizen in the Edo period) are called Echizen gani. They are very well-known across the lands, and command a very high price. One this size at a restaurant usually costs over $100.00 for the crab alone!

Well, apparently the chef at the Miracle-tei restaurant could not get the Echizen-gani, but he was able to get one from the prefecture next door to us, Ishikawa. They are the same crabs, but when they come from NOT off of the Echizen coast, they are less expensive. It's kind of like getting Kobe beef. If it is kobe beef it is very expensive here, but if you get it from across the waters where they grow it, it is less expensive as it does not have that name.

After jumping into the early morning onsen bath and soaking at 7:00 in the morning, Mayu got ready for work, and headed out to a full day (including the evening volunteer work at the hospital hospice where she massages and talks with terminally ill cancer patients).

So, Mayu lucked out and apparently the chef was able to serve an even larger kani than originally planned for the price that Mayu's coworkers had booked for her!

Holy Kani, Batman, that's a whole lotta crab!

I love you!

Cam

Affirmations from my Desktop

This affirmation helps to remind the mind that we are strong, relaxed, centered and loved. It helps us to take things one day at a time, one NOW moment at a time, even when we are facing turbulence, turmoil, conflict, or disruption in our lives.

It reminds us to breathe..........

The scenery is an early November Autumn day at Eiheiji Temple in Fukui Prefecture (30 minutes from my home). It was too early for the leaves to turn their beautiful colours of autumn, but we could still discover bits and bytes of subtle beauty as we walked peacefully, and mindfully through the temple grounds.

I love you.

When I create my affirmations, I like to place them in a local setting that I am familiar with, one that I like to view regularly as my background image on my computer.

This allows me to take a break, minimize my work, sit back, relax, breathe, and focus on the beauty of my mantras, or affirmations.

To repeat affirmations regularly is the best way that you can re-wire your neural network when there are things in your life that you would like to see differently. It also allows you to be mindful of those around you, even in times of potential stress, or upheaval.

Try it, it works!

I love you!

Ootnaboot on Labour Thanksgiving Day Holiday

Labour Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday here in Japan. It takes place annually on November 23rd. The law establishing the holiday cites it as an occasion for commemorating labour and production and giving one another thanks. Events are held throughout Japan, one such being the Nagano Labor Festival. The event encourages thinking about the environment, peace and human rights.

Labor Thanksgiving Day is the modern name for an ancient rice harvest festival known as Niiname-sai, believed to have been held as long ago as November of 678. Traditionally, it celebrated the year's hard work; during the Niiname-sai ceremony, the Emperor would dedicate the year's harvest to kami (spirits), and taste the rice for the first time.

The modern holiday was established after World War II in 1948 as a day to mark some of the changes of the postwar constitution of Japan, including fundamental human rights and the expansion of workers rights. Currently Niiname-sai is held privately by the Imperial Family while Labor Thanksgiving Day has become a national holiday. (taken from Wikipedia)

It's weird... for an entire week plus now every day about 3pm I start to get a headache in my sinus cavity above the left eye. It gets pretty intense. I used to get a lot of sinusitis due to my deviated septum that we never bothered to correct when I was young (my brother did his). I can't figure out what it is...

The other day when I was on the floor doing some abdominal workout, I saw the huge amount of dust under the piano. As you likely know, Pianos are notorious for being nearly impossible to move. And as this one is very low to the ground we have not been able to vacuum under it. When I saw what was under there I went on a dust mammoth cleaning rampage and coerced Mayu into helping me while I lifted, pulled, pushed and dragged the piano so that we could pull out the carpet tiles and clean off the half inch of accumulation. I thought I had the problem solved, but I got another headache.

I usually sit here most of the day at work, but last night I was also sitting here until about 1am because I wanted to finish a book I was reading. I started to get that exact same headache again... the first time to get one so late. I thought then that perhaps it was the mildew odour of the old kimono that I put in the drawers here in the office a few months ago when I got them. That would coincide with my two plus months of congestion. When I went to bed, the doors were all open so the fresh cold air came into the bedroom, and I really cleared up quickly.

This morning I took all the kimono upstairs and boxed them away in the spare room. I then took all the drawers upstairs as well and will let them air out naturally for a few weeks. I disinfected the inside of the chest, and have left the doors to the cupboard where the drawers are, open. For most of the morning, and early noon I felt clearer than I have in a long time.

After pulling out all of the kimono and taking them upstairs to put them in the spare room so that I am not sitting here all day breathing potential mildew, I decided to go out for some fresh air and to clear my head.

I went out to Katsuyama to the home center to get some cat food. I LOVE going to home centers (and kitchenware stores - Robin will attest to that). I could spend hours in them! I just like to go and wander the aisles, looking at everything from plumbing, to toilets, to tires, to pvc piping to plants, to pet supplies, to furniture... and let my mind try to come up with ideas. I treat myself by exercising my mind at these kinds of places because I never know what I might find that I didn't know existed!

I also got a tube of toothpaste, a little ring of ... can't explain it well in English... things that keeps the drain from getting all slimy when water and food particles after washing dishes go into the aluminum cage that sits in the drain (we empty at each meal, but still...).

In addition to that, I picked up a special (but cheap) omelette-making frypan as well. It was a good visit to the home center. I did go looking for plastic tanuki, but they just don't seem to exist! I keep checking on the auction sites, and the internet, but ... nothing! It is almost like my plastic garden tanuki should not exist because nobody knows what I am talking about, when I tell them that I want it in plastic!

When I had spent enough time at the home center (Komeri... the logo is a giant red chicken or rooster, so I like to call it "Chicken Home Center") I went across the "highway" (Japanese highways are not anything like North American Highways... you will see when you visit me)... to the supermarket and did the shopping in that ice box. Why they make supermarkets so icy cold here, I really don't understand! When you are here for a visit, I will surely take you to some supermarkets so that you can experience the bizarre phenomenon of icebox grocery shopping! I did my regular purchasing of vegetables, meats, dairies, and even got an Asahi "Ginger + Beer" to see what it tastes like. Maybe tonight...

When all that was done, I headed over to Curry House Coco Ichiban and had a very good hamburger salad (hot hamburger in cold salad - pretty tasty!), with a side of curry roux (sauce) that had melted cheese and spinach in it. I skipped rice that always comes with curry here. I also had a pork cutlet and an onsen tamago. In total it was a very reasonable JPY 1300 for lunch. Not bad at all, considering I eat for two. When you come to visit me, I would like to take you to this restaurant to experience a curry meal. I think you will like it.

Does anybody need a frozen squid?

I love you!

Cam

And you think...

... that I'm overexaggerating when I tell you how truly fucked up Japanese society has become...

Mamma mia...

This country needs a LOT more Unconditional Globalized Love, let me tell you!

I love you!
And unconditionally, to boot!

Cam

P.S. Maybe the cumulative pressure on the anus due to the jet washing unit of the ubiquitous Toto washlets has caused some altered reality in the psyche of Japanese, making them angry all the time... angry that their asses are always "getting kicked" (by Toto)... Maybe they are finally lashing back. Could this be a manifestation of a new kind of anger we might term "toto rage"?

Meet the Yaki Imo Man

Today the yaki-imo man passed through my neighbourhood, with a gaggle of little girls dancing, running, and munching on their stone-cooked sweet potatoes.

This is a very common tradition in autumn/winter Japan...

Listen to the almost forlorn song they sing... and you can feel what it must have been like for the yaki-imo man as he tried to feed his family after the war, on a meagre sustenance of stone-cooked sweet potato.

They are quite tasty and great to hold in your cold little hands on a cold winter day.

I love you!

Cam

 

The NOT Family Album

This morning he kept bugging and bugging me, crying "kyaaaam, kyaaaaam, kyaaaam" until finally I fed him. Three damn times!

Pretty self-explanatory, one would think...

Where White Rules

The second ad they showed on that TV program, an alternative ad for Sony Cameras and Handycams was this one, where they let loose something like 450,000 tons of pure white foam in the city of New York. Again, no CG SFX (Computer Graffic Special Effects) were used. This was real foam!

Imagine losing yourself in the clouds for those brief moments in time... It must feel like this...

 

 

There are a lot more amazing commercials like this that Sony has done... the music that goes with them soothes my soul. I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. I love you! Cam

Where Colour Matters

Last night while Mayu and I were sitting in our hospital room at Saiseikai hospital after our day's battery of tests for the "ningen dock" or "human docking" were complete, there was a program on TV that Mayu was watching which showed some amazing commercials that did not use any CG SFX (Computer Graffic Special Effects). One of them was the Sony Bravia commercial entitled "Colour".

Imagine 250,000 coloured superballs being shot out of three cannons and let to bounce their way to life down the streets of San Francisco....

In the high tech world, colour really DOES matter!

I hope you enjoy this brief video. We certainly did.

 

I love you!

Quote from Mayu: "For your future life with Keiko, Cam"

 

 

Drawn by Matthew Inman.

Old Habits Die Hard

I have spent a lot of time this year reading about, meditating on, and writing about how our brains are hardwired through habits, through our ego, and through the culture and society in which we live. Believing that carbohydrates are good for you in spite of all the science to the contrary is one. Going on cholesterol-lowering drugs is another because there is so much science that shows how harmful lowering cholesterol is, and that doing so has absolutely no benefit to decreasing heart disease. "Spinning" over troubled times and having "imaginary conversations" in my head ... well, that's normal!

But seriously, we do so many of the things we do without realizing that either we don't need to be doing them, that they do us more harm than good, or that our egos try to convince us that we are going to do them come hell or high water!

We humans are lucky in a sense that we don't HAVE to be bound by our hard-wired neural network. If we become aware enough (through various methods) that what we are thinking, or believing is not appropriate, not beneficial, or downright wrong, we have the ability to CHANGE THE WAY WE SEE THINGS. This is a key point for overall well-being I have come to understand this year. In fact, it is crucial for success in most everything.

Other animals are not quite so lucky, however; they don't have the ability to make changes to their neural network. This is why, several decades ago, it was documented watching wolves swimming to an island in the St. Lawrence River that had a lot of indigenous deer on it. When the wolves got tired, they would turn around and go back. The only thing is, if they made it past the halfway point and they got tired, they would turn around and swim back. It is all that they could do because that is what their efforts programmed into them: get tired, go back. Little could they realize that if they went a bit further on, they would be on the island. If they have the energy to swim back past half way, then they would have had the energy to go on and make it to the island, for feasting. But they could not.

Keiko gave me a great example of that this morning. He has developed the nasty habit of standing up and putting his claws in our patio screen door. It makes a very nice echo in the house. I have thrown things at him, and yelled at him. Nothing works. Stefnee recommended spraying him, but that only works when the glass door is open. And in the early mornings, it is not open because it is too cool to do so.

Keiko sits there staring in the clear glass side where he watches us and meows until we go and feed him. If we ignore him for some time, he does a circle, meows a bit more, then sits in the middle of the other window (the one without the screen because he can see in). If we ignore him further, he circles, then stands on his hind legs up as tall as he can and puts his claws in the screen!

Well, I certainly do not like him doing that, but he has decided it is the fastest way to get his food.

This morning, he did that TWICE. The first time, he did it while I was just coming downstairs from waking up. I gave him his food. He wanted more, so came back and hung around again. Then when I was cooking my own breakfast he did it again! I couldn't throw anything at him or yell at him because the door was closed and he wouldn't have heard me or been bothered by it.

So... I opened up the door, petted him (I love petting the pussy), cood at him sweetly, and then took the screen door off, and put it away for winter. I have never needed to do this before, but I'm thinking that if we go to Tokyo over New Years, and come back to a screen door ripped to shreds, I will be none too pleased.

Well, as I was sitting there eating and pleasantly ignoring him, yet watching him go about his begging routine, I became quite amused. He sat at the clear window as he always does for a while, meowing... then he circled and sat again... then...

Keiko circled once more, went over to the other half of the sliding glass doors where the screen sits, stood up on his hind legs and ...

made the funniest face as his claws pressed against hard glass, and there was no screen!

God, that was funny!

Old habits die hard, so don't be surprised or disgruntled if you want to change some of your thoughts, or habits, but find yourself slipping back into the same old routines. It IS HARD! Just keep at it, and pretty soon, before you realize it, you will have re-programmed your neural network and chosen to see things differently. If I can do it, then you can too!

(It's just too bad Keiko can't, eh? heeee heee heeee)

Have a great day, I love you!

Cam