Japan Dad

See you at WordPress...

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 03:51:00 +0000

Howdy.

If you want to stay in touch, see you at...

https://tokyogreenliving.wordpress.com/

Chow.

Elastic band wars

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 12:59:00 +0000

Hello there.

My son and I spent a good two hours simply shooting a rubber band back and forth at each other. He also built a huge, protective fort out of all of the sofa cushions and blankets, utilizing the side table, of course.

Since this post is about imagination, there are no pictures. Get it?

C

Interviews - Number 2

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 12:58:00 +0000

Here's number 2.

c

Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 12:54:00 +0000

So I'm starting to do these interviews. I hope you like them.
c

Hard drive crash? Which drive is the best/worst?

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 23:01:00 +0000

Hello musicians,

The good folks at Backblaze have put out another report with crash statistics on the different makers of hard drives that they use. See the chart below and take heed.

Remember, always, always back up your data. One external HD is not enough, and cheaper is not always better.

c

The Ukraine is in trouble

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 06:16:00 +0000

This video is very important, very powerful, and sums up the situation in the Ukraine on February 20, 2014.

The question is, where else will this occur?

NHK Chairman - their news, his opinion, and a do-over

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 01:18:00 +0000

From the NHK website this morning, January 28, 2014:

New NHK chief to step up intl. broadcasting

NHK's new president, Katsuto Momii, says he will maintain an impartial political stance while working hard to step up international broadcasting.

He said his duty is to abide by Japan's Broadcast Act. He said he will ensure that all NHK workers honor the law, which stipulates neutrality and fairness as principles of broadcasting.

Momii also said he wants to meet various challenges, including expanding international broadcasting services.

The 70-year-old president was speaking to reporters on Saturday. He is a former vice president of trading house Mitsui & Company and a former president of the IT service firm Nihon Unisys.

Jan. 25, 2014 - Updated 17:09 UTC

That is not the story. From every other news source about his gaffe:

New NHK boss ignites a firestorm

Momii's debut speech puts sex slave row back in spotlight

The new chairman of NHK expressed regret Monday for his earlier comments that seemed to defend the nation’s wartime use of sex slaves, calling his words “extremely inappropriate.”

Katsuto Momii’s comments at a press conference Saturday to mark the start of his three-year term at the helm of the public broadcaster have drawn fire from opposition parties and riled the South Korean media.

Asked about the thousands of young females, mostly Asian, forcibly recruited to provide sex for Imperial Japanese soldiers during the war and euphemistically called “comfort women,” Momii said such an institution existed in “every country” and that it is only considered wrong by “today’s morality.”

“Putting my chairman’s title aside, the issue becomes complicated because South Korea criticizes as if Japan was the only one that forcibly drafted women into the system,” the former vice president of trading house Mitsui & Co. said.

“And (South Korea) demands money, compensation. Why do they dredge up something . . . that had been already settled by a bilateral treaty? It’s wrong,” he said Saturday.

Momii, also former president of Nihon Unisys Ltd., told reporters Monday in Tokyo that while the remarks represented his personal opinion, “even as an individual opinion, it’s not something I should have said.”

“It was my first time (speaking) at such an occasion and I did not know the rules,” he said. Momii, rumored to have been the preferred choice of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the top NHK post, said he will continue to deal with the fallout from his comments and devote himself to the role of president.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, peppered with questions at Monday’s news conference about the remarks, defended them as his personal views. The government oversees NHK’s public service content and its chairman is picked by Diet-approved advisers.

“I understand Mr. Momii made the comment as his personal view,” Suga said, declining comment on the comfort women remarks.

Suga said Abe has voiced sympathy to the Asian females who suffered the pain of providing sex to the Japanese and that “there is nothing more to add to that.”

Criticism from the South Korean government and the media poured in Monday, with the Foreign Ministry in Seoul stating that it is deplorable that even the chairman of Japan’s public broadcaster, who is supposed to be fair and politically neutral, distorted history and presented wrong arguments.

The daily Seoul Shinmun said Abe was strongly behind the selection of Momii as NHK chairman. The Korea Times, in an editorial, criticized Momii’s remarks as absurd, undignified and lacking a recognition of history or a verification of the facts.

Momii faced a backlash in Japan as well, with opposition parties saying they would raise the matter in the Diet.

“His comments are inappropriate and biased,” said Akihiro Ohata, secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan. “He lacks awareness as the chairman. We are very concerned about the direction of NHK,” he said.

Hiroyoshi Sunakawa, an associate professor of media studies at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, called for Momii’s resignation, denouncing his remarks as “unforgivable,” given his position as head of the public broadcaster.

“Being a public broadcaster doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stick to the government stance,” the professor said, speculating that Momii’s apparent justification of the comfort women system and his eagerness to beef up NHK’s international programming were meant to cater to the hawkish Abe’s government.

After he realized that his remarks might, MIGHT have been offensive, this guy says, "Okay, okay, let's try this one more time," then walks out of the room, comes back, and does a second take.

Sigh, shake head, drink, report, repeat.

Norovirus with the four-year-old

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 00:43:00 +0000

Little guy has norovirus. I'm off work today.

This time, he went to bed two nights ago fine. But, at 5:30 in the morning, he woke up and started speaking, saying that he wanted to throw up. We basically ignored it, rolled over, and went back to bed.

Five minutes later he said he couldn't hold it in, and barfed. Luckily, we have him sleeping on a bed blanket, so the damage wasn't too bad. He barfed three more times, albeit very lightly with little fluid.

I went to work while my wife used her previously-scheduled day off to do important civic paperwork (bummer) to take him to the clinic. The one closest to our house is great - quick turnaround, friendly, and near a supermarket and drug store. We received two kinds of powdered medicine and suppositories to suppress his vomiting. Powder to be taken before meals for four days. We only used the suppositories the first day.

In case you're wondering, they are small waxy white bullets that slide in with the help of a Q-tip. He complained of pain initially, but after a few minutes he was fine. probably not painful, just uncomfortable. Only half of one for a boy his age.

Today is day two. He's sleeping on the heated floor with the TV on low, crows crowing outside in the distance. Sunshine, blue skies, nine degrees.

I have rice porridge and ninety-second noodles ready for lunch and dinner. He's drinking a little water and some OS-1 water which is kind of like toddler Gatorade for his electrolytes. He had one meatball and a couple of bites of convenience-store sandwich for dinner last night. Basically, he was pretty lethargic the whole day.

So far, no diarrhea - knock on wood.

According to the Health Canada website, the virus can be spread up to three days after recovery, and even longer. That means lots of hand washing. While I'm not a fan of the antibacterial family soap so popular in Japan, we have some. We've been also using a hand spritzer called P's Guard.

Stay healthy, everybody!

items for toddler norovirus care

Asinine Japanese politicians, Part 85

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 06:38:00 +0000

Readers,

His name is Yutaro Tanaka. He is not married. He does not have children. But he believes to be an expert on day care policy, prompting hundreds of angry emails from mothers living in his district of Suginami Ward in Tokyo.

He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. If I could, I would let the party know that this ill-informed, chauvinistic thinking is not in keeping pace with current economic realities (Tokyo has again been ranked the number one most expensive city in the world).

If he wants "woman power" but thinks they should stay at home, jobless, looking after the children, he needs to clearly state what this seemingly paradoxal stance actually looks like.

25,000 children were denied daycare due to lack of facilities in Japan last year.

More fuss has been spent figuring out were adult diapers were to be distributed.

Shame on Mr. Tanaka for speaking out foolishly before attempting to listen to the constituents he represents. Please stop annoying people, quit your government job, and do something else - just not baby-sitting.

And good luck courting an independent, smart girlfriend/wife who has any knowledge of your opinions regarding "modern" women.

Dad

T-Fal boiling

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:49:00 +0000

We found that the sound of a TFal kettle boiling is really soothing:

C

Japan's daycare nightmare

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:47:00 +0000

Parents,

Here's yet another article on the horrors of finding daycare in Tokyo. Similar to recent news about how poorly ranked American maternity leave time is globally (right up there with Papua New Guinea), competition for a slot in daycare in Tokyo can lead to extremely stressful quests. It is a vicious cycle, as fiscal priority goes to the elderly, thus leaving gaps in family care and less and less investment in future generations.

I don't want to push the point too much, but I have read somewhere else about how the entitlements that were set up for the baby boomers have now shifted with them to support them in old age at the expense of the current (and future) generations.

Dad

Little hurricane

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:58:00 +0000

It has not been easy lately. Gonna get back soon with some helpful book titles.

AK and Papa hot tub

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:56:00 +0000

AK and Bay

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:53:00 +0000

AK Chuck E Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:39:00 +0000

Sherbrooke Liquor

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:21:00 +0000

Check this amazing store:

AK in Edmonton Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:14:00 +0000

AK in Edmonton Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:10:00 +0000

AK in Edmonton Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:07:00 +0000

AK in Edmonton

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:01:00 +0000

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 11:32:00 +0000

AK and the blue blanket

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 12:17:00 +0000

Finally, a new video for yous.

Boxing!

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:36:00 +0000

Peek-a-boo

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:29:00 +0000

The little man playing peek-a-boo:

faces

noreply@blogger.com (c) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:14:00 +0000