News From The Big Rice Bowl 2010/07/01

Here is a little Rice Bowl News for you to chew as I enjoy my lunch.

Happy Canada Day!!!

*****
Anything for a princess...

A weekly magazine claimed the Imperial Household Agency asked administrators at Princess Aiko's elementary school to supplement the school meals with ADD medication in order to calm down "unruly" boys who were scaring the little princess. The agency denied the story and demanded an apology and a correction.

*****

You're kidding, right?...

A man walked into a koban (local police box) in Itabashi with a kitchen knife and tried to make the officer on duty hand over his gun so he could rob a bank. The cop used his nightstick to knock the knife out of the perpetrator's hand and then arrested him.

*****

And here's one from my old stomping ground...

A 61-year-old man in Kanazawa o trial for using a stolen bank card to withdraw cash from an ATM was xonerated in a case of mistaken identity. ALthough the man bore a remarkable resemblance to the culprit, who was caught on a surveillance tape, he was freed after the police lab "determined that the defendant and the man on the tape were different based on the shape of their ears."

*****

Have a great week. I love you!

Cam

Monkey Business

Here is a little tidbit of local news that might tickle your monkey's fancy...

**********

"Japan world record-holder Masanobu Sato announced that he will not be defending his title at this year's World Masturbate-a-thon in San Francisco.

His current record for consecutive monkey-spanking is 9 hours, 33 minutes."

**********

Maybe GSK, Pfizer or one of the Big Pharmas could create some biopharmaceutical megahit drug to help men with premature ejaculation syndrome out of the DNA from Sato-san's semen...

One foreseeable problem with that, however, is that we might possibly see a dramatic increase in women visiting the ER for Grade 3 burns to their private parts...

Talk about going the distance!

Have you spanked your monkey today?

I love spanking --- I mean...

I love YOU!

Cam

The other two videos of our visit to experience His Holiness The Dalai Lama are now on my YouTube Channel if you are interested: Morning!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUa8OkiKRbY and Afternoon!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62fAZO4BLcg&feature=channel

Interpreting His Holiness The Dalai Lama's Interpreters

During a lunchbreak between the morning and afternoon sessions with His Holiness The Dalai Lama (Pacifico Yokohama, 2010/06/26), Jaime and Jessica talk about what it meant to them to hear His Holiness The Dalai Lama .... get interpreted.

The Dalai Lama is an excellent speaker. The only problem is the translators during his discussion on Buddhism and Happiness (not Happyness)... well, they sucked the sweat off a dead yak's balls.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Jaime, link to this video.

Heavenly Message / Hellaceous Translation

Ask Jaime and Jess... Oh My Buddha!

Seeing HHDL was awesome. He became a real person to me. (The Pope is not real, not yet. And neither is Christ cuz I haven't met him yet either). He smiled, waved, sneezed, blew his nose. Oh and he talked. In Tibetan. Because some of the simulcast translators dont speak English. He wanted to use English but they asked him not to. The translations were hell...

The Japanese was done by a Japanese translator and her Japanese was immaculate... for written Japanese. However it was so hard for Mayu (Japanese with excellent command of her native language) to understand that she actually went and rented a simulcast translator device so she could listen to the English!

But the problem is that the Japanese over the speaker system was so loud that it overpowered the halting, broken, sometimes absent English.I think the Taiwanese was the smoothest as they seemed to do simultaneous translation as HH spoke.

I figure that HH is accustomed to simultaneous translators because he talked and talked and talked (in Tibetan) and then the J-translator would talk for 15-20 minutes along with the drowned-out neo-English translator.

The music was pretty impressive for an hour and the Japanese monks did an amazing chant using about 10 taiko, or Japanese drums. It was very dynamic. The last performer was Sadao Watanabe!!!!! Now if you are a jazz fanatic you will likely know this name as he is a worled-renowned sax player (getting on in age I see). Very good!

The first two hours HH talked about buddhism and with the poor translations we couldnt understand anything other than suffering is suffering until you examine the suffering closely upon which you break down all the components of suffering and you cannot find anything that defines suffering... well watch one of my videos on this trip to get a better feel for what I'm trying to depict. You may understand better.

We went outside for lunch, then back in to the chanting, then the second half of the talk. HH had to use Tibetan again so Jaime and Jess left as it really was killer to understand.

Then there was a 40minute Q&A time. Some strange questions handled extremely diplomatically by HH. And one very fanatical woman with... crazy eyes (if you know what I mean) asking? yelling? her query into the mic so loud that nobody could understand what she was saying so they had trouble explaining it to HH.

The Dalai Lama eats meat!!! Yaaay! Good for him! He became total vegetarian for twp years and developed gall stones. At the orders of his tibetan and western doctors he started eatin meat and got better. He said some sects are strict vegetarian and some in the world eat meat. Neither is right or wrong, they simply are.

I liked that.

Anywhoo... it's over and Mayu and I had a beer and some meat before parting ways. Im at my office station writing thiss on my keitai while taking a coffee break. Its humid. Time to go home, get naked and go hang out on the balcony.

It was a great experience!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Oh yeah... the main message was violence breeds unhappiness within. Even if the purpose is good, using force will corrupt the purpose and badness and suffering will result. We all need to focus more in our daily lives on love, respect and compassion toward others in order to shift the energy of this world to a more positive, peaceful direction.

Kind of sounds an awful lot similar to my Globalized Love, don't you think? I do! I love, respect and appreciate you!

@ Jen: Have you downloaded many apps to your iPod Touch? Here is one I just found that is FREE and you might be interested in downloading. It's called, "The Scoop" and you can visit the NewYork Times review of it, and then follow the links: http://nytimes.com/thescoop/?yahoo Enjoy!

HH Dalai Lama & Yokohama Chinatown

Something just occurred to me...

We (outside China) know how the Chinese government is (mis) leading her citizens into believing how "bad" the Dalai Lama is...

We also know how the Chinese government controls the news about what is REALLY going on in the outside world, or in places like Tibet ("ethnic cleansing" by the Han Chinese Race)...

We also know how the government tends to set up rallies and protests wherever the Dalai Lama goes...

Now take all of the above, and combine it with the knowledge that Yokohama, where HH the Dalai Lama will be speaking tomorrow, June 26th has the largest China Town in Japan right in the vicinity where the venue will be...

And you have a recipe for something very interesting tomorrow outside the venue!

We are not allowed to take photos or video of HH, but I plan to make a before and after video to capture our thoughts for the world regarding this event, and what we "feel". I also wonder if I will be capturing anything else on film tomorrow...

Better charge my video camera batter! This could be an exciting, unexpected addendum to tomorrow's adventure.

I love you!

Cam

Wow... as I eat, I am just checking the World Cup scores, and I see that Japan trounced Denmark's with a 3:1 win! I guess everyone will be talking about the game at work today... funny thing is NOBODY knows anything about the Dalai Lama...

What's Wrong With This Picture?

This poster is in my train station. It has been designed to teach Japanese "proper" social manners. There are many varieties of "manner posters" in the trains and stations, all designed to lead the general populace toward a "kinder, gentler race". In many cases these kinds of reminders are necessary here because a large percent of people really don't consider others. They used to... but not any more. It's sad, really...

But...

There is something wrong about this poster and the image that was drawn to depict a happy, peaceful escalator life.

Can you guess what it is?

Try.

I love you!

Cam

Breakfast

I just thought I'd share my breakfast with you this morning.

Nobody can say I don't enjoy variety!

Can you list what's up for breakfast this morning?

I love you!

Cam

iPad. iS.

i just finished talking to the second iPad user i'Ve seen in two days. Of course i don't know either of them... but i know the iPad. So i just started talking to them and asking questions. And they both loved it! i'M looking forward to accostin more unknown iPad users for their opinions.

Workout done, dinner done... i'M heading home to brew my bedtime triple espresso and ponder how to get to Yokohama on Saturday by about 9am, to listen to the Dalai Lama!

Oops! i mean... to meet Jaime!

i love you!

cAm

Finally Meeting Jaime After 15 Months (Part II)

Sorry... this was too long to send through my keitai in one shot so I have to split it up....

The story continues...

Here is a summary of what "other" things will be happening at the same time (supplementary bonus):

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will give Public teaching and talk in Yokohama on 26th June 2010 [Saturday] at Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall. The teaching and the talk will have Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian translation. Detail of the teaching and talk is as follows.

Public Teaching
Topic : Virtue and Practice of Connectedness and Generating Kind Heart
Time: 10:00 ~ 12:00 hrs. [The hall will open at 08:00 hrs]

Prayer Recitation
by monks from Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan and Tibet [13:00 ~ 14:00 hrs]

Public Talk
Topic : Essence of Happiness and Healthy Co-existence
Time : 14:00 ~ 16:00 hrs

Brief content of the Teaching and the talk

Everywhere in the world humans are in trouble. Between wars, economic collapse, injustice and environmental problems, our problems sometimes seem as high as the mountains. Given all this, how should we live in our new century? What is the essence of happiness? His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of the importance of our environmental challenge, our struggling economy and the possibilities of science. His Holiness will suggest what is required of us to live happily in the future, with the world and with each other.

Venue
Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall, Yokohama
Address: 1-1-1 Minatomirai Nishiku, Yokohama
Access Map: http://www.pacifico.co.jp/english/facility/accessmap.html
Access guide phone : 045-221-2166
JR Yokohama line / Yokohama Subway : Sakuragicho Station. 12 minutes walk
Minatomirai LIne (Tokyutoyoko Line Direct) : Minatomirai Station 3 minutes walk

More Info: http://www.tibethouse.jp/dalai_lama/2010japan/yokohama_eng.html

Is that awesome or what?

I GET TO MEET JAIME!!!!

I also invited Mayu, and she is so excited to come (and see Jaime again) as well. I tried this morning to get everything arranged, but couldn't pull it off. So I asked Mayu if she could do it (I'm at work, she's at home), and she did. That is fabulous. Thank you, Mayu!!

I love you!
Cam

Finally Meeting Jaime after 15 Months (Part I)

I have some amazing news for you! This is awesome! I am soooo excited!!

I have wanted to meet Jaime for sooo long now (since I moved to Tokyo), but I simply have not been able to get her to come off-base and meet me. I have never given up, and keep trying, trying trying.

Well, I guess the Universe FINALLY gave me my wish because this Saturday I AM going to meet Jaime!!!

And what did it take for this to happen? How did it finally come about?

Well, it seems that The Universe hooked up with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and set up a speaking date for him in Yokohama so that Jaime and I could meet!

The Universe and His Holiness did it all for us!

(Actually we did it for ourselves, because this is how bad we wanted to meet).

I LOVE YOU UNIVERSE!

Here is how that day is going to go when I can finally see Jaime again after all these months (since Stefnee was last here... making it 15 months ago!!!)

Date: 2010/06/26 (Sat) <-- We set a date for our date!
Time: 10:00 <-- We set a specific time that we HAVE to be together, no excuses, no being late.
Location: Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall <-- We are going to meet in Yokohama
Seating: A Seat, E Block, #3 Gate (2nd Floor) Row 17, Seats 12 - 15 <-- I have special reserved seating to meet Jaime so we won't miss each other in the crowd!
Price: JPY 8,315 Total (JPY 8,000 + JPY 315 Net Service Surcharge) <-- Yes, it costs money to meet Jaime this time, but that's OK.

Go to Part II (I couldn't put this all on my keitai in one shot so had to split it up...)

I love you!

Cam

Wild Wild East

As Matt, aka Harmaceutical has pointed out many times during his tour of duty here in Tokyo, The Big Rice Bowl, you can see all manners of weird and wonderful dress among the locals. There are people wearing kimono... touristy stuff... cosplay and more.

Men in dresses... women in army boots... goth... punk (cute punk)... all pinky people... girls wandering around wearing giant animal jumpsuits, and Hello Kitty toilet slippers. I have seen superheros strutting their stuff... 6 foot tall hair, long hair, short hair, and more.

Of course you can see all the hot young women in micro mini skirts and see-through summer gauzy one-piece dresses dazzling everyone with the amount of skin they show these days, and in high heels and what they call "busa", or booty sandals which are really quite attractive, strutting their stuff... men in business suits... boys in jeans... and a ton (a ton!) of Converse running shoes everywhere you look!

It really is kind of nice to see such variety, even though some of it does seem a little bizzare, and know that those people are not going to be harrassed by others who don't think the same way they do.

The other day I was shopping in my supermarket and there was a ... guy (?), either a guy or an extremely masculine woman, sitting in a chair at the checkout area. The person had a cane so I imagine was waiting for whomever to finish the shopping. He had on some very interesting ... clothes that are rather hard to explain, but looked extremely feminine. The hair was male-short, but no big deal. He had on also, open-toed sandal high heels. Very feminine kind of stuff, and yet  not. I still wonder if he was male, or if she was female. Middle aged as well, probably in mid to late 50s.

I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that since Japan does not have a religious-based culture, the people here are not hung up with all of the "abberations" that seem to be such a "sore point" of many religions. You can find "Mr. Lady" here (or men dressing as women), sex changes abound (and show up on TV in talk shows), ... there is just soo much. 

Yesterday while I was perusing the shops of Shinjuku after getting my haircut, and after finding a deliciously attractive JPY 500,000 jacket/pants at Ermidgliano Zegna or however you write the guy's name, I bumped into two young women wearing kimonos. No big deal under ordinary circumstances... but in this case they had their faces all painted completely white, had braided a bunch of colourful wool into their hair (the kind of wool you use to knit a wool sweater) so had very long false pigtails and had glued jewels all over their faces as well, making their entire costume seem very unusual, and outlandish. I wanted to ask if I could take a picture of them, but I was shy.

So, I guess what I am getting at, is that anything goes here, and if you really want to try something new, this is the place to get it on without bumping into some fag-bashing, neo nazi, biblethumping, KKK, white trash punks following you down a back alley to straighten you out.

We generally place the Japanese as a conservative race of peoples; however if you ever have the chance to visit Tokyo, you will see that it really isn't so. Not at all. Aside from still wearing business suits in the middle of the killer steamy hot Japanese summers (the only country left over here that still does that!), pretty much anything goes.

Have a great day.

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Check out the link connected to the last exclamation point in this blog, if you have a minute or two.

Rode Hard & Thrown Away Wet

I'm just sitting by the dock of the river...
watching the skiiers roll on by...

It's another interesting rainy season day; there is no rain but the humidity is so high and the temps are up there that it feels like living in a jungle, or a swamp. The sky is overcast and it is supposd to rain but it's holding off.

I just finished chatting with one of the old guys sitting here fishing... just chatting about this and that.

The river is a lot lower than last week, about three feet or so lower. So I can see things I couldn't see in the water last weekend: like three discarded scooters and a bunch of other stuff including the old remains of a pier going out into the water.

I snoozed as best as one can snooze perched on a narrow, bumpy concrete ledge the perfect width to suntan on but not to roll over on. It's just kind of a nice way to spend the afternoon on the weekend, sitting here alone with my thoughts... relaxing and bleeding off the megalopolis stresses of constant sounds, stuff, and people. It builds and if you aren't aware of it, and don't find a healthy way to bleed it off ... strange things can happen. And lots of strange things do happen here in Tokyo.

Oh! One of the old river shrimp-catching guys left so I think I'll move over to the wider space....
Wow! I just realized that in the two and a half hours Ive been here the river has gotten noticeably shallower as it goes out into Tokyo Bat! That is a surprise to actually see the river go down!

Have a great weekend.

I love you!
Cam

Curried Cookies

Tonight here at the gym I was working on a machine... and an Indian fellow sat down at the machine next to me and started working out...

As he heated up the smell of curried sweat became unbearable and I ha do stop my exercises and mouth breathe for a while to keep myself from gagging.

Then he finished with that machine and moved away. I was thankful and started to work out again even though his residual curry spice odour was still very strong in the air.

Wouldn't you know it, he moved to the machine on the opposite side of me! His body odour surrounded me and got so terribly strong that I had to stop and walk away for a water break.

As I walked past on the far side of the gym his curried sweat stench pervaded the entire gym. I could see others wrinkling their nose and I thought to myself, "Geez I feel sorry for the employee who is helping him with a machine he doesn't know."

He finally left, but it took a while for the sour odour of spices to fade away from the gym... I hate to say it but I hope I do not bump into him again. Oh my goddess I'd hate to be on a packed morning rainy season train when the heat is 30C and the humidity up over 90% as it is for most of the next month...

I thought I might toss my cookies!

I love you!
Cam

P.S. And I was contemplating curry for dinner tonight.... NOT!

Up @ 5am today, groomed, cooked, cleaned, computed, packed, dressed and heading off to an early teleconference with an overseas client.

First World Country, Third World Freedom?

We won't be mentioning any of the animal rights stuff tonight.

Instead, I would like to direct you to this very interesting news article on Australia's proposed mandatory ban on internet sites. While the government is touting it as a plan that will PROTECT her citizens, apparently a LOT of citizens, and groups are none too happy with the thought of the state filtering information. I thought places like China and Iran do that...

Battle Rages Over Australia's Internet Filter: http://tinyurl.com/2epny5e

It never occurred to me a while back that the government might have been looking into Google's collecting of information in Australia in an attempt to shut them up... I mean, first world countries never do this kind of stuff, right? No, of course not....

However you slice it, this is bound to be a very interesting topic as it could quite likely set a global precedent for how our governments rule our freedom of information.

One of the interesting things about globalization is that everything eventually comes  to a state of equilibrium. For example, as China's economy increases and the people get wealthier, Japan slows down, and her people here get poorer. This is happening. I guess it may also happen with rights as well... One never can tell.

For what it's worth, enjoy the article. I just happened to click on this as I was munching my dinner.

I love you!

Cam

Out With Retro

I have been working out at the gym in retro style wear for a few years now: old shorts, t-shirts and converse. Sometimes I wear ripped jeans. But that's not always how I have worked out. In the past, the stuff I wore at the gym was usually really tight, really shiny, and really ... well... cool.

Well, I finally decided to put retro back in it's place; back in the past, and step back into the NOW world.

For those of you who train... any kind of training like running, tennis, swimming, surfing, whatever, and wear sport-specific clothing, you will know what I mean when I say that this style for my workouts is so much more comfortable in so many ways than t-shirts and baggy shorts. It's hard to explain, but those who know... know. If you run regularly and wear real running gear designed for running, you'll likely know what I mean. Do yoga in yoga wear? That will do it, too.

Of course there is nothing wrong with skiing in jeans, or playing tennis in army boots, but the stuff that's made for the sport, just... seems... to... 'fit'. Like hitting the 'sweet spot' if you know what I mean.

So on the weekend I bought myself a new top (Nike Dry Fit) that fits like a second skin, and a pair of really comfortable shorts. These shorts rock! And I don't even need to wear gotch in them, which means that the shape of my helmet doesn't "stand out". Nope. Smooth as a dolphin. Very nice...

Besides, I kinda like the way my body shows the curves in this stuff...

Have a great day.

I love you!

Cam

No Muffin Top

Do you suffer from the "muffin top" syndrome?

Well, this little item, designed and manufactured in America (California, of course), professes to minimize the appearance of love handles, with their anti-muffin top elastic.

Enjoy...

Note: I did not buy this. I did, however, buy some very hot workout gear...

I love you!

I've just finished editing my latest Serenity video: Serenity Rising 5: Shinjuku Gyoen. You can access it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRDj1PlY9Pg

I just uploaded a "quick & dirty" video to my YouTube Channel, sharing today's antics with you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jxIHnf6ecE

Recording the Passage of Time

I always find it amazing how the muscles "pump up" when you are in the process of working out. I guess it's the blood flow going to the area that is being worked... kind of like an erection, I would imagine.

I took these three photos tonight at the gym, just to record and add to my Mr. Narcissus collection on Flickr. Not too shabby... I like the shape of my arms and shoulder. And I also like the natural man-cleavage I have developed with my pec development. The nice thing is that I won't need a bra because these babies won't sag!

Have a great day!

I love you.

Cam

 

The Skin Off My Back

Yesterday I took some video that I hope to process soon (maybe this coming weekend?) I came home, did some laundry, cleaned up, vacuumed, then went out to the river for a few hours. It was nice. It feels ... nice to be a bit red and dehydrated this morning from the first sun.

Then last night I did a marathon of ironing all of those cheap half-sleeved shirts I bought on Rakuten. I may have mentioned it before, but they are 55% polyester, and 45% cotton. And they are made in China.

Well... I'll tell you... when I was ironing them, they smelled like heated plastic! Yep. As I am thinking that the material used to make the fabric is most likely that old-style polyester, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if I end up drenched in sweat in them from zero-breathability.

The smell was not particularly pleasant; it was rather ... chemical.... weird...

As I started this adventure out as an experiment, I'll give them a try, and continue the test. If I end up finding they are not suitable, I'll either throw them away or give them away to somebody and let them enjoy them.

Time to get ready for Kobuchizawa, so have a good day.

I love you!

Cam

P.S. I hope my skin doesn't fall off....

Fair Reporting

In science, one of the rules is that you are always supposed to divulge all of the bad, along with the good if you know it.

Here is some "bad" regarding Canada's Universal Healthcare System:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100531/hl_nm/us_health

Nobody said it could be free, unchanged, forever. Canadians have had a fantastic system for a very long time. And now that times are changing, and costs are skyrocketing, it makes perfect sense that the government would want to start thinking about some changes. What can you do when the elderly population (i.e. the "more sick, more often" population) increases? It is difficult to make more money through taxes when the overall tax base is going to be going down, due to a shift in demographics. It may very well be time to start thinking about altering the plan. But that doesn't mean it's a failure. Not at all. It just means that it's time for growth.

This is a similar problem occuring in Japan as well, so it is not unique. Soon the elderly will outstrip the young, and that means a dramatic decrease in revenue for the government, as the total tax pool decreases.

This is not a "Look at how 'socialized medicine fails'. I told you so" issue, either. Everything changes. It HAS to change. Nothing can remain the same forever. Nothing.

The best thing anybody can do is take care of yourself. Put your health, and your well-being at the top of the list, and like investing for your own retirement is essential for your future (because pension isn't going to cut it anymore), investing in your health is also very important.

Cam

The Shirt On My Back

Jen requested that I post one photo of me wearing one of the shirts. So here it is.

The size is L which fits my neck but is a bit wide for my lean physique. It may also be that I am used to the slim-cut shirts these days so this one "feels" big. Everyone at the office who listened to my story about the shirt price feels it looks fine. And if you want to know the truth, it stays in the pants better than my H&M shirts.

The material feels like a polyester/cotton blend, but I am certain it will soften up once washed a few times.

So do I think they are worth the purchase? Most definitely!

By the way, I zipped outside after lunch to enjoy the fresh breeze and the shade. It's nice to be out of the office. Very nice indeed, in spite of all the traffic which doesn't bother me in the least.

I love you!

Cam

Short-Sleeve Heaven

My 10 short-sleeved dress shirts that I bought on the internet for $50 (total) arrived today. They rock! You can't beat that for a sweet deal!

I love you!

Cam