Sunny spot

It's been too long since we had a Japanese pug with its chin down.

You might think she is sad because she has to wear a silly outfit, but the text says something about how it's been raining every day.

Maru, from my second favorite Japanese dog blog.

yes sir yes sir three chins down

Bamu and Kinako and friend.

Mt. Fuji morning glory

Grown in a pot like the Japanese do. I am ridiculously pleased with this.

All over the world

Japanese pug Bamu with chin down.

Tragedy

A dog is eating, and a pug, who is not getting any of it, is about to burst into tears.

This is Japanese pug Bamu - more here. Don't worry, there was a happy ending.

Cherry Blossom Festival

These two nice blond ladies came all the way from Okinawa to perform at the rather crummy DC Sakura Matsuri.

This turned out to be a little less interesting than it seemed at first glance. First because they are in Japan with the military, which is the least interesting way to end up there, at least to a Japanophile sort of person. And then because the group didn't exactly play taiko drums after all, but rather did dance routines with the drums to recorded music. I mean that they danced while actually holding and playing the drums. They had somehow even convinced their adolescent sons to do something that seemed like a combination of taiko drumming and Morris dance. Maybe it seemed manly enough because of the loud noise and hitting with sticks component, or maybe this says something about the strength of military families in strange places, I don't know.

And they wonder why music sales are down in this country

I just bought a CD from Japan. I now hold in my hands proof of something I have always believed: It is possible to sell CDs in wrapping that is easy to open.

I am a Luddite about all these links to YouTube that have taken over the whole Internet, but here is one of the songs on the CD.

People in glass houses

I have a friend, the author and journalist Beth Harpaz, whose name I shamelessly drop here in the hopes that people Googling her will find my blog and read it. She has spent the summer in Maine since she was a child. My mental image of Maine is that it's practically a third world country. (Sorry, Maine.) She sees it as some kind of paradise. I of course think that this is merely because she associates it with being on vacation and has it all tied up in her mind with romanticized memories of childhood. Anyway, she finds anything whatsoever connected to Maine fascinating. I always claim that she would find bird poop amazing as long as it was in Maine.

That is a kind of a long preface to the simple observation that apparently I am so fascinated by Japan that I will watch a entire fifteen minute TV show segment about how trash is separated and processed in Tokyo.

Do you think they'll do an episode on bird poop next? I can't wait!

Devil Bush in Japan

Devil Bush
Originally uploaded by pokoroto

Delegating the blogging: someone else's photo from Flickr.