Yes, this is based on a real life experience.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And here I was, thinking I had discovered something new. The following comes from The Japan Advisor, February 26th, 1913: “Frank Lloyd Wright Noted Architect Here.”

“The time of awakening must come sooner or later,” continued Mr. Wright, “And then the country will be face to face with the costly necessity of getting rid of all these modern architectural monstrosities and evolving a style more in consonance with Japanese traditions and really characteristic of the people. The ugliness of the new Japanese buildings in so-called foreign style is equaled only by their redundancy.

“It is not as though Japan had no art canons, no architecture of her own, and was therefore compelled to borrow from us. On the contrary, I deem the original Japanese culture to have been as perfect in its own way as that of the ancient Greeks, exemplifying as it did the finest and most fastidious taste in matters of detail. So I say there is no reason whatever why the Japanese style of architecture, as seen both in the temples and private dwellings, should not be adapted to the needs of modern Japan. The country possesses all the essentials to that end it has the models and it has the craftsmen. It is simply a question of substituting more lasting materials for those now used in the majority of Japanese style structures. Comfort could be considered as well art, for there is nothing fundamentally irreconcilable between the two.”

Everyone seems to be posting so much to their LJs these days. On Monday, I literally had to go back two pages of 20 entries each on my friends list to find the last post I had read on Friday!

The sakura in Tokyo are really overrated. In fact, I would hazard a guess to say that pretty much everywhere in Japan, the blossoms are dwarfed by giant columns and cubes of concrete, steel and glass. Japan’s economy has a need to be productive, and if the only bang it can get is by fueling itself with ridiculous construction projects, then it’ll do it. Kyoto itself barely has any traditional housing left . . . what all of you who have never been here imagine as a quiet city of small, antique homes and gorgeous mansions is really just another sprawling urban wasteland with a few boring blocks of uninteresting architecture. Any country that willingly tears down a Frank Lloyd Wright hotel that managed to survive the great 1923 Tokyo earthquake in the 1960s while his widow is giving a protest speech in front of it just to prove that they’re “modern” truly has some issues it needs to work through. Even though the hotel was built partially on unstable marshy ground, authorities chose to demolish the gorgeous building to proceed with the march on modernism. Cultural bankruptcy is extremely damaging, and I’ll probably keep talking about it the longer I stay in this country. Look at more pictures of the Imperial Hotel and revel in the few photos of it that still remain.

I’m looking for a banner that says “This LiveJournal/Website is Drama-Free(tm)” — anyone care to Photoshop one up for me? :)

…has felt so long, even though I got yesterday off.

Kudos to for taking Mercy and I out to celebrate her GED. Hurrah!

I was pretty hung over this morning, having not drunk enough water, so I had a Berocca (the only good thing the Australians ever did for me, excepting Steve Cook). These things are really good, the equivalent of a Japanese genki drink without the caffeine. And they come in fizzy tablet form, so all ya need is a glass of water.

But then (names withheld) I heard a giant row at the office, where someone who I thought just had his head in the sand really had his head shoved up his boss’ ass. Sometimes it’s important to rock the boat, to perform due diligence and discover that what you’re about to do might be bad for you and your company. He refuses to do so, and it’s at his own peril. I just hope it doesn’t bring the entire company down around me. The Japanese seem to be really good at hiding and forgetting about their mistakes. The problem with this, of course, is that they never learn from their own history. :( It took my grandmother a while to convince me of that one, and thank goodness she did!

Ah, spring.

So today I also feel like my finger pads are less sensitive for some reason. Like I’ve been handing lots of sharp objects or have big callouses on my fingertips, and I can’t feel as well. :( Nothing is going right today.

Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed! For no good reason this morning, I am incredibly pissy because:

• my hair is frizzy beyond compare
• I couldn’t figure out what to wear
• anything I tried on felt uncomfortable
• once I selected something it turned out to be nastily stained (nice white pants, nearly ruined, I wore them anyway)
• my stomach was upset
• everything my GF did just frustrated me
• everything I did just frustrated me

ARRRRRRRRRRGH!

SHE PASSED!

:) :) :)

A quote from my friend:

    <m0nki> guess some yakuza got pulled over in roppongi today >BD
    <m0nki> As is my usual custom, at about 3:45 I headed up to Starbucks or
            Tully's to grab a does of caffeine to keep the synapses firing for
            the remainder of the workday. On my way back, as I make a left
            turn onto Roppongi Dori in front of Almond (on foot), the light
            turns red and people start walking across Roppongi Dori.... and
            out this black Mercedes with tinted windows decides that red
            lights mean "speed up" and he zips through, slowing down a little
            for the pede
    <m0nki> They scatter, he zips through, and two police officers who just
            happened to be there jump out in front of him. He pulls to a stop,
            then revs his engine and lurches a little at them to try to scare
            them out of his way. One of the two jumps out of the way, but the
            other cop (the older one) grabs his baton from his holster, and
            slams the butt end down on the hood.... left a NASTY dent.
    <m0nki> At this, the punch permed gent jumped out of the car and started
            screaming at the officer. Those of you who know the neighbourhood
            may be chuckling at this point, realising exactly where all this
            was taking place - about 20 metres from the Aoyama police station.
    <m0nki> Sure enough, Mr. Yak gets that creepy feeling that someone is
            standing behind him, turns around and there's like 15 cops there.
            As I strolled back to the office, they were going over the car
            with a fine toothed comb - they'd removed the passenger seat, had
            the contents of the trunk on the sidewalk...

Well, my GF did great on her first day of testing on Friday (though she won’t have the essay score for a few weeks, when it’s graded by the folks in the US.) Today is Part 2 for her, and because of a stupid company-wide meeting, I can’t meet her beforehand to walk her to the building! :(

Good luck, luv! I know you’ll do just fine :)