About Japan

Above, Pearl in the lobby of the Westin Miyako just before leaving Kyoto, followed by her at one of the Takayama floats kept under cover because of the rain..We are now at the midpoint of our Japan adventure and roots search, so an irreverent and irrelevant summary seems appropriate:

1. I still have not seen a fly, ant, cockroach or blood-sucking mosquito, although Pearl did say she saw a giant fly at the Miyazaki Zoo.

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2. One problem with the Japan Rail Pass is that the Nozomi (fastest, most convenient and frequent) Shinkansen cannot be used. Only the Hikari and Kodama (slowest) are available. On a trip from Fukuoka to Kyoto, for example, while the Nozomi is a quick and seamless ride, on the Hikari, you need to change trains in Shin-Osaka for a 14 minute ride to Kyoto. This is a royal pain with luggage. We have, though, easily caught continuing trains with only 3 and 4 minute periods from arrival to next departure because the tracks tend to be logically placed for easy connection. There are no restrictions for trains headed north of Tokyo (to Niigata or Sapporo).

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3. Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, further sealed his doom, for, in addition to a fund-raising scandal, he expressed opposition to President Barack Obama's policy in the Middle East. Obama is very popular in Japan.

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4. Apparently, the 150 billion stimulus package is spurring a minor comeback for Prime Minister Taro Aso. The program will provide cash benefits to householders: 120/person, except 200/person if under 19 or over 65. Twenty eight percent said they plan to live it up by using the money to dine out and drink real beer. There are some strange and cheaper beers in Japan, but, I can't tell the difference anyway, so I usually purchase the cheapest. Scrapping of an old car and purchase of an environmentally friendly one will gain a subsidy of 2500.

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5. Which leads to an excellent article by Takamitsu Sawa in "THE JAPAN TIMES" on "Beyond the gasoline era." While I have generally deprecated the plug-in electric vehicle, he brings up a few good points:

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.....a. The electricity for an electric car driven in Japan would cost you one-tenth that of an internal combustion engine gasoline ("which costs about 3.75/gallon") vehicle. Further, the EV would produce about one-fourth the carbon dioxide.

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.....b. However, you would never recover the extra cost of paying more for the EV, unless there is a generous tax break. That 2,500 might be a difference maker.

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.....c. Electricity for Japan, though, appears to be headed towards more nuclear fission, as there seems to be no developmental activity to capture renewable energy from the ocean, their greatest potential. With leading shipyards to produce grazing plantships for OTEC electricity and biofuels from marine biomass plantations, and an Exclusive Economic Zone ten times larger than already overcrowded lands, I'm mystified about government priorities regarding future energy.

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6. There is a shortage of honey bees in 21 of 47 prefectures (states). Negotiations have been initiated to import bees from Argentina.

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7. At the end of 2008, there were 1710 inmates serving life sentences, a postwar high. Twenty were executed in the 2007-2008 period. Chapter 1 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity provides a solution to crime: Three Strikes and You're DEAD!

Well, the great weather we have experienced has been replaced by a light, but nearly constant, drizzle, to continue through tomorrow. Thus, the Takamatsu Spring Festival for today has been cancelled. Up to 100,000 visitors have attended this celebration in the past, but today, aside from a varied food and souvenir booths, and lot wet people, nothing. Back to Tokyo tomorrow.

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World markets all rose, except for Japan, Canada and the U.S., where the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 138 to 7920. Gold fell 4/toz to 890. Oil remains under 50/barrel (see left). Well, the Somalian pirates hijacked two more ships and a third was attacked. Thus far, it is U.S. 1 and S.P. 0, as the one American ship they took over was rescued. I guess this a safer world than during the Cold War when we are merely threatened by rag-tag terrorists and pirates, North Korea's glorious leader and a nearless powerless Iranian president. Yet, the Doomsday Clock, which was reset to 17 minutes in 1991 and 9 minutes in 1998, is today at 5 minutes to midnight, meaning the world is in greater danger from nuclear warfare since the end of the Cold War. The Union of Concerned Scientists must know something I don't.

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