In the News
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Thursday, August 14th, 2008Just a quick update on some of the events that have been happening around the big wide world lately (most will sound familiar unless you’ve buried yourself in a hole for the past week or so):
Georgia/Russia: As expected, “ceasefire” never really means ceasefire, and the saga continues. On the one hand I wonder what the [...]
Cabinet for Realizing Peace of Mind
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008After months of foot-tapping and nail-biting (wait, who are we kidding), Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda has finally reshuffled his cabinet — that’s the terms for giving under-performing/unpopular ministers the boot. Media has dubbed the move a “last ditch” effort on Fukuda’s part to improve his public approval ratings, but that is of course assuming [...]
Second Course
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Yesterday I wrote on the Takeshima/Dokdo dispute that’s currently driving a wedge between Japan and South Korea. If the US had any sense it would keep the mess at arms-length — but no. Perhaps in response to the ROK’s vehement objection to a decision by the US Board of Geographic Names to change [...]
Much Ado
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008Present-day international relations in NE Asia are inextricably conflated with ongoing history disputes. It really is quite a headache at times. Although China and Japan appear to have placed some of their differences behind them in favor of building friendly atmospherics and strengthening trade (which isn’t to say they’re on the same page [...]
Yaris 5 Door
Saturday, July 12th, 2008There are rumors afoot that the 2009 Yaris lineup in the US will include the 5-door hatchback that both Japan and Europe are currently enjoying. That’s probably enough to make any 3-door owner jealous… and now that it looks like Toyota is going to scale back its SUV lineup here in the States, I [...]
Japanese PR
Friday, July 11th, 2008The 2008 Toyako G8 Summit (hosted by Japan in Hokkaido) came and went without incident, but what else is to be expected of an archaic Cold War institution whose members reflect a late 20th century balance of power and whose non-binding statements don’t even hold the signatories accountable for the agreements reached? The Economist, [...]
Run, Run, Run
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008Things Younger Than McCain: Well, perhaps the site’s a little tongue-in-cheek (not that that’s a bad thing), but I think the whole thing says at least a few things about this year’s presidential race and American society at large. The most obvious is that our country has changed quite a lot over the past [...]
Suburbian Blues
Monday, May 5th, 2008Some people don’t seems to understand when I express my dislike for suburbs — the traffic, the strip malls, the sub-divisions, the never-ending traffic light systems — it’s frankly all a mess. And you don’t have to look far to find stories about the traffic congestion. I think that’s my biggest gripe about the [...]
On the Road
Sunday, May 4th, 2008According to a recent Washington Post article, SUV and truck sales across the US have plummeted year-on-year. With average gas prices at $3.603 nationwide and as high as $3.892 (CA) or $3.747 (NY) in some states, this is hardly a surprise. The same article notes that Toyota Motors’ car sales rose 12% this [...]
Economics
Friday, April 25th, 2008As this year’s Democrats’ Primary Race drags on and on, I have to admit that just be osmosis, I’ve become more familiar than I ever hoped to be about the candidates’ positions. And what annoys me the most is their fiscal/trade policies. Why can’t we have a pro-free-trade candidate who is believably committed [...]
Happy Tax Day
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008Smart people avoid waiting until the 11th hour to file their taxes (or perhaps they simply ask the IRS for an extension and procrastinate until October), but I witnessed a decent number of people today still working on their hard-copy forms. And as though we can’t get enough of a good thing, there was [...]
Torch Bouncers
Saturday, April 12th, 2008The plethora of news stories documenting the recent disruptions to the Olympic torch relay have illustrated the various ways that Western cities has chosen to deal with the arrival of the flame. After being accosted in London and Paris and diverted in San Francisco, the torch actually received a relatively peaceful welcome in Argentina.
However, [...]
I :: heart :: public radio
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… Or in terminology you’ll recognize if you, too, listen to WAMU, public radio is my source of random information. I especially enjoy hearing about random 21st century terminology (not necessarily for the terminology itself but rather for the concepts they describe). [...]
Boing Boing
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008I’ve come to conclude that very little of great interest happens in my life. Or rather, each day in my eyes seems more or less ordinary. Thus, when I sit down to update my forlornly neglected blog, my head goes completely blank, and all that I’m left with is a nagging feeling of [...]
Political Maneuvers
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008As a native Washingtonian, it’s easy for me to say, with an air of boredom and disdain, “I hate politics.” But it’s impossible to deny that I do have some interest in the topic… after all, for better or worse, politics does make the world go-round. Here’s a little round-up of some recent [...]
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