Tomorrow night! June 5th. Free Beer! No kidding. I'll be at Flat in Futakotamagawa from 5:30 pm doing a live FM radio report (and having a drinking party like last week's bash at Taiho). Be there and when you walk in, say, "InterFM Yatsura" and get your first beer free (or drink of your choice!)
Finally! There's a new delicious Yakitori that just opened near my house. It opened on April 20th, 2012 so I went there last night to participate in the venue's fare and was quite pleased.
Flat - Look for the Akachochin (red lanterns!)
The shop's name is "Flat." It is a 5 minute walk from Futakotamagawa station on the Den-en-Toshi Line. (Two stops by express train - six by local train - from Shibuya). It is on the side of the station a few minutes walk from Takashimaya so it's a great place to go if the ladies want to go shopping too!
Room for about 12 to seat on the first floor and a standing bar for four people or so. On the second floor, there is a tatami room that seats ten.
Friendly staff and a spic and span cleanliness (always a must for the Gaijin Gourmet!)
The kitchen is kept spotless and anyone can easily view the food preparation. The standing bar is directly opposite the barbecue rack (to the left of this picture) so anyone can see how clean and spotless the facilities are.
It says, (ふらっと 炭火焼）"Flat Sumibiyaki" (sumibiyaki means "cooked over charcoal")
All the cooked chicken items I had were very delicious.
I don't like dethawed frozen meats and the menu at Flat had fresh chicken. Delicious. It is about ¥160 per piece, which is a tad bit pricy, but like I said, it is not frozen meats so the taste is superb... Good Yakitori never needs sauce and only salt. I don't even use salt so I can really taste good meat. This place has good quality chicken! Fresh!
The owner and head chef is Shimodai san. If you go there, tell him "Mike sent you!"
Flat
4-10-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
東京都世田谷区玉川４−１０−１
Tel: 03-6313-1445
(If you want to have a party of more than 4 or so, bettre call first, this place gets packed!)
Well, perhaps it isn't a problem with Facebook. Perhaps it's a problem with what is being advertised and how it is being presented. I mean, who wants to click on an Internet ad just to see some dumb commercial that you can see on TV? Not me. I hate TV!
Now, I don't date Shemales and have nothing against anyone who does...but I have never seen any advertising like this! I might click it just to go see WTF is this????
Well, I clicked it and it's for real. It is a dating service for men and women and people who might like Shemales.... Ultimately, I gather it is a dating service for people who are very open-minded and not judgmental about what other people do in their bedrooms - quite unlike the weirdoes and fascists who think it's their business what other people do.
Well, I don't care what other people do and I am happy to see a community of people who seem to feel the same.
My thinking about this? I have enough of my own problems to worry about without having to worry about someone else's problems (or what they do inside of their own homes!) -- Especially someone I don't even know.
I hope someone can become happy through a dating service or any of the other old-fashioned ways. Lord knows we could use all the happiness we can get in this world!
It's a Sunday Morning in Japan. Good morning. Three things to start off your day.
First off, do you smoke cigarettes? Have you ever smoked cigarettes? If you are one of the lucky who used to smoke and quit (like me) then this first one is for you.
Yes. That's hot and smoking Rita Hayworth!
Japan is a smokers paradise. Japan is definitely not a good place to try to quit smoking cigarettes. At the radio station I sometimes work at, there is a huge smokers room inside the building right by the front door so that when you walk in you are greeted by a huge waft of second-hand, stale cigarette smoke. Great!
I've mentioned before that I love Cool and Strange music. This song and video is for all you ex-smokers out there (congrats) and all you losers who have considered smoking but don't have the balls to do so. Watch this video and see what the rest of us are laughing at you behind your back about. This is hilarious. I don't know anyone who didn't howl with laughter on this song!:
VIKINGS - NICOTINE
Ha! Ha! Ha! Keep on smoking!
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The article I wrote on Lew Rockwell about my father's military burial was very warmly received. In two days, I've received about 150 emails. All but three of those were positive in their reaction. The most satisfying part of that is that almost all of the mail, I'd say well over 90%, was from former US military and combat vets.
I’m sorry. Dad, I love you and I am proud of you, but you didn’t go to war in Korea to protect our freedoms; you went to war over there to further US economic interests and the US empire. That you never figured that out in your lifetime is sad. But, I hope that you are in a better place and have had the chance to speak directly with a former US marine general by now.
It was satisfying to get so much praise. It is sad, though, that one guy really keep hammering at me. He said he was a combat vet and this was our discussion after the first mail where he claimed that US troops were protecting American freedoms in Korea. He wrote:
Just ask yourself how you would be faring in South Korea if the North Koreans would have won the war. Now all the South Koreans would be sharing in the "joy/gulag" that the enemies of mankind have foisted upon their people in the North.... Now, let's see, how did the US soldier protect our freedoms in Korea-apparantly (sic) the South Koreans aren't considered a part of mankind according to your vision of the world..
I answered back:
Where in the US constitution does it say that America's sons and daughter have to fight and die for Koreans? Did Americans fight for independence in the revolutionary war so that our flesh and blood could be spilled for foreigners?
You write; "Now, let's see, how did the US soldier protect our freedoms in Korea?" Yes. Let's answer that. I say that there were NO AMERICAN FREEDOMS PROTECTED IN KOREA.
Your comments are a mass contradiction.
You say, "apparantly (sic) the South Koreans aren't considered a part of mankind according to your vision of the world.." (I think we have a terminology problem here. I think there is a BIG difference between "mankind" and "American" in the dictionary.)
You criticize communism, yet you sound like one. Lenin once said, "All people, in all nations, are considered equal and are provided for equally, regardless of their contributions to the economy or to society."
My opinions follow in the footsteps of true Americans like George Washington who said, "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.... Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.
Or how about Thomas Paine? "Free trade with all and military alliances with no one."
After that, the man just resorted to ad hominem attacks as it is obvious his position is confused.
The sad thing is, though, I don't want to fight with him. That he can't logically argue his positions and resorts to name calling shows that he probably suspects that I am right; I think he knows that he was used by big Wall Street bankers in the Korean War (or any US war since 1812) and, if he admits it to himself, he realizes that so much of his youth was wasted.
I mention often that time cannot be wasted. It is the only non-renewable resource.
That being said, I don't want to hurt his feelings. Alas, I wish I could grow up to become a wiser person someday and be able to write better so that it doesn't hurt people's feelings... But that is a contradiction too!
Yesterday's blog about being timely might have hurt someone's feelings too... Yes, when I write about these things I am usually emotional about it. I'm trying to be that way. I want people to like my writing or hate it. No in-betweens and, therein lies the contradiction:
How to be a good writer? I can't remember who said it but it's true, "When you try to please everyone, you wind up pleasing no one!"
In my confused vision of things, I believe that if you want to become a popular writer then you need to make something bigger than just waves... You need to pull at heartstrings and create strong emotions; it's okay if those emotions make people dislike the writer.
Comes with the territory I suppose... But hurting people's feelings isn't my intent. If it were, I'd name names.
Rose in my garden
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Finally, something very strange came across my desk for you folks who are interested in the economy and, well, having a job! (And who isn't interested in that?) The SEC in the USA (you know, the guys who are supposed to regulate the Stock Market but instead watch porn on their computers?) seem to have tipped their hand that they are expecting a stock market crash soon.
Well, I do expect a stock market crash. I think this summer in Europe, Japan, the USA and China are going to be very rough!
Anyhow, the SEC has changed the rules on stopping Dow trading in the event of a sudden drop in price. Years ago, the automatic trading would stop if there were a 30% drop; then they changed it to 20%; then 10% and, on Friday, they changed it to 7%!!! By the way, history has shown that after they change the rules, the price crashes happened.
Did the SEC just tip off everyone that a massive stock price crash is imminent?
...the SEC may have blundered yesterday afternoon, when it proposed yet another revision to its market-wide halt rule. And once again, instead of making traders and investors more comfortable that the SEC is capable and in control, the questions have already come pouring in: is the SEC preparing for another massive market crash?
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved two proposals submitted by the national securities exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) that are designed to address extraordinary volatility in individual securities and the broader U.S. stock market.
...
The second initiative updates existing market-wide circuit breakers that when triggered, halt trading in all exchange-listed securities throughout the U.S. markets. The existing market-wide circuit breakers were adopted in October 1988 and have been triggered only once, in 1997. The changes lower the percentage-decline threshold for triggering a market-wide trading halt and shorten the amount of time that trading is halted. The exchanges and FINRA will implement these changes by February 4, 2013.
The key word is bolded and underlined: lower. Because as noted above, the upped market-close threshold is irrelevant: should the S&P trade down to 800 on Monday, western civilization will have far bigger problems to worry about than reversing a market crash. It is the tiniest quantized increment that is relevant. Which according to the SEC is now a "mere" 7% to enact a market holiday, either temporary or indefinite.
The market, as of today, has lost money for 2012 (not including the devaluation of the dollar's purchasing power). The Dow Jones Industrial average sits at about $12,110.
I think that, if in the next few weeks, we get hit with a plunge of 800 points in a few minutes, not only will they have to stop the trading, they better get out the life support.
Hot summer in 2012, folks.... And it's just getting started. Got gold?
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Yesterday I found a baby Japanese Maple tree growing in a crack in the curb. I have never seen a baby seedling Maple like this before (and had always wanted one!) It took me thirty minutes to rescue it and then I replanted it. I'm going to take care of it and make it into a beautiful bonsai if I can... Or, just grow it and have it as a house plant (trees are difficult inside of houses, but I already have two).
What a wonderful present! Thank you.
Sunday morning in Japan. The weekend in the USA. Have a great one friends!
Hug your kids - and your parents - and tell them that you love them... Give them an extra smile for me!
Answer: "Lombardi time became the principle that all successful people show up ten to fifteen minutes early. This shows that they have dedication to hard work and values."
Empty wallet due to poor work habits?
Like the title of this post says, "A meeting scheduled at one o'clock starts at one o'clock! Not at two minutes past one"... or even one second past one o'clock. This is not rocket science.
I can't believe though how incompetent people are about this.
I come from the mass media and television world. You remember when you'd see or hear the time tone on the TV or radio telling you that it is five o'clock? Guess what? That means exactly five o'clock. Not Five o-one. Not five seconds past five. Five o'clock exactly.
Funny that.
Being from the mass media and television world, you can guess that if my TV or radio show starts at six pm and I'm not there at six pm... Then I'm not only late, I'm out of a job. One second late for a live broadcast on TV or radio and you are gone. Fired. Kaput. Goodbye!
There's a million and one people who will eagerly replace you in a minute. That's the way it is.
Time is important. Time is money. Don't waste your time. Don't waste my time.
I am often frustrated to death with just how incompetent, useless and inconsiderate people are... That there are people who are doing poorly in their business because of their awful work habits and also their undependability (especially when it comes to time) doesn't surprise me at all. That there are so many of them does surprise me.
The very successful people I know are always on time (early, in fact) and they always do what they say they are going to do and they do it usually better than promised.
That's why they are successful.
The unsuccessful ones always have an excuse, never surprise with quality work and are always late. They are the ones who think "meeting at one o'clock" means it's okay to be five minutes late.
It's not okay.
I wrote about one person whose incredible incompetence can only lead someone who reads the article to shake their head in disbelief and agreement. Many have written to me and said; "Yes. I can see where that person's business isn't successful." Please refer to Earn a Bad Reputation Disrespecting Artists and Their Work.
But yesterday I met another person who wasted my time. He had asked me to help him with a project. I gave him thirty minutes. We arranged to meet at one o'clock at the train station.
As usual, I showed up using Lombardi Time.
Did he show up at one o'clock? No. He was late by five minutes and didn't even say, "Sorry!"
Think about that. This person wants my help yet they are so incompetent that they can't even be on time! I guess they don't really need my help that much!
I know that many people today are terrible at time management and are always late. Is there any surprise that the economy is so bad? Hasn't anyone considered that the probability of being late all the time equates with the number of poor people?
Will I put my reputation on the line to help this person who can't even be on time? No way.
I waited for them for five minutes... I should have left. When I heard the idea they wanted help with, I knew I was dealing with a rank amateur who had no idea what they were talking about.
Figured. Can't tell time or keep appointments better than a high school student, who should expect them to act and think like a professional?
May I make an announcement to the world?
If I ask you for a favor, if you are late, then I will wait for you for hours... That makes sense to me; I ask for the favor, then I must wait.
If you ask me for a favor, and you are my friend, then I will wait for you... (But I seriously doubt my friends wouldn't call me even if they were going to be a few minutes late.)
You know what they say about birds of a feather and all that!
If you ask me for a favor, and I don't know you well, then if you are even one second late for the engagement with me, without notifying me, you have lost the job. I will fire you as I would a TV announcer who missed his live TV show by one second. I won't be there when you show up.
That's the way it is.
Some people will read this and think, "Rogers is an jerk for being so picky about someone being even one minute late." If so, fine. I don't want to work with you at all. I'll stick to my small group of professionals who don't do that to each other. Why should I waste time with amateurs that do that?
At the bottom left, you see the mark of 190. That's the amount of radiation you get on a one-way flight from Tokyo to New York. Above that, you see the number 2400. That is the amount of radiation that a person gets annually from nature. At the top left is the number 10000. That is annual radiation amount a person who lives in Karapari City in Brazil gets. At the top right, you see 6900, that's the amount of radiation you get from a CT scan. Bottom right? That's 50, the amount a person receives from one X-ray. As you can see, there is absolutely no radiation risk in Tsukuba and Tsukuba is much closer to the accident site than is Tokyo. One gets a much bigger dose of radiation flying from Narita to New York. In fact, at 0.05 microSv per hour, you would have to be standing outside in the elements everyday for nearly 40 days straight to equal the amount of radiation you'd receive on just that single one-way flight from Tokyo to New York.
I've never considered killing my child. But, I did consider committing suicide - many times. In fact, when my third daughter was stricken with cancer at the age of one and one half years old, I prayed to god to kill me and heal her.
I would have traded my life for her health in a moment.
Alas, some prayers are not answered.
There are a very many parents with handicapped or extremely ill children. I think it might be natural that these parents want to kill themselves; I can't imagine that the thought of killing themselves never crosses their mind. Like I said, I've never considered killing my child, but killing myself if it could possibly make things better? Of course... In a flash.
Once again, in Japan, another parent of a handicapped darling child, innocent to the world, has killed their child and attempted suicide. The murder of the child was, unfortunately successful. The suicide attempt was a failure.
Police said Monday that a man was found bleeding from his abdomen and his daughter hanged in a public restroom in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture.
According to police, the 54-year-old man, who has been named as Ikuro Kenmochi, was seriously injured and his disabled daughter, 9-year-old Saki, was dead when they were discovered in the restroom in Oba Castle Park shortly after 11 a.m. Sunday, Fuji TV reported.
Police believe Kenmochi attempted to commit suicide by cutting open his abdomen after hanging his daughter. Investigators said that Kenmochi sent an email to his wife shortly before the incident in which he told her he was worried about their daughter’s future, Fuji reported.
As always, with this sort of thing, many people have their opinions. Unfortunately, as with most things, judging from the comments section of the original article, the average opinion is benighted, to say the least.
I am greatly saddened for the child and the family. I feel for their pain and suffering. Of course, I don't know exactly what they went through, but I know what it is like to have to face the guilt that I might be responsible for ruining someones life and the fear for that poor, innocent person's future. I know what raising a handicapped child involves.
The comment section of this article, though, is filled with the usual noise and foolish inexperience of people who would do much better to keep their ignorant comments to themselves.
The typical response was something like this:
"Poor child. Instead of caring about her, he was only thinking about himself."
Astounding. Yeah. For one, we don't know what went on with this child and the handicap. But we do know that the father and the child's mother cared for her for nearly ten years. We also do not know the condition of neither father and mother. As if those who would criticize the father would know about the guilt and suffering this man felt and the difficulty this child and the family went through over this last nearly decade.
Who can judge if this man hadn't gone insane or was at the end of his tether?
Though there was, though, one intelligent comment... I could tell by this comment that the person who wrote it has experienced first-hand something like the tragedy of a handicapped loved one. They wrote:
"Poor child. Instead of caring about her, he was only thinking about himself."?...
That's a pretty bold statement from somebody who (I assume) knew neither the man or the girl in question. There's a saying about walking a mile in someones shoes before criticising them....
Yes. Walk a mile in a man's shoes.
Wendy Rogers at 14... Now she's 18-years-old
We all need to consider this wise old statement (me too!) more before we criticize people.... Especially when it comes to pain and human suffering.
I hope that you and your loved ones never have to go through this. I pray that I don't have to again. To tell the truth, I don't know how I survived the first time...
At Narita Temple on 05/05/12
I'm glad I did. My daughter and I spent a wonderful day at Narita Temple a few weeks ago.
I have a new article on Lew Rockwell that was an extremely difficult article to write. It is about my father's military burial at sea and the glorification of the US military and American exceptionalism...
"In Japan, the old order before World War Two told people that they went to war in China and Asia to bring peace and to fight for the emperor. In the USA, the old – and current – order tell people that they go to war to be free and to protect American freedoms.
These things are all lies.
In this regards, the Japanese are decades ahead of the average American; they figured out long ago that the propaganda was a lie. The average American still buys this trash hook, line and sinker."
Here's some excellent letters from ex-military readers that I received:
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Appreciated your article. As an Army trumpeter who has performed Taps for over 1,000 funerals, I can agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments. While the service itself, when done properly, is very reverent and moving, I have seen the deaths of young men and women exploited by the government in shameless self-promotion time and time again. Ironically, I intend to state in my will that I do not want Taps, or any kind of military burial when it is my time to go, for the exact reasons you so eloquently stated...
James
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Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers,
Thank you for your recent posting on LewRockwell.com [Used by the State, Even in Death]. I am a veteran who served in both the Army and the Navy. It took me a long time to get passed the propaganda and revisionist history before I could see the world for what it is. I’m making up for lost time by reading Lew Rockwell everyday. I’m sure you’ll get some hate mail, but not from me.
Thanks,
Dave
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Mike,
As a multi-military brat, I have an idea of the pride with which your father
wore his uniform. I would not have wanted my USAF father or my Army aunt to have understood - in their old age - that they were put in harm's way in
WWII (and Viet-Nam) by a group of international bankers for profit and
control. The shock would have been too depressing. But I hope they know and
understand, now, somewhere. I hope hundreds of millions of soldiers from
all times and places (but especially the modern era) understand how badly
they have been used by their supposed 'leaders'.
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Mike,
I, too, came to this same conclusion many years ago... The hype and the yard of bull crap about the sacrifices necessary to protect us from communism had me fooled for a long time ... To see the broken bodies of the current warriors is sad... And the politicians make sure to stand beside these poor souls in their quest to gain reelection...
I support the efforts of the misguided military people... They in fact do a good job...but to what end..
I still do not believe or understand how the national guard became our fighting force in foreign countries...Did I miss the memo changing them from home guard in the states to what they are now?... Old guys with families dying or maimed in combat...
While the bureaucrats stand firm about this constant battle to protect us (we) citizens from harm from the invisible terrorists with our own form of terrorist called the TSA..
As the saying goes freedom isn't free. And we are losing it fast...How easy to fool the masses of sheeple...Wave the flag and play the national anthem...gets them every time...
P T Barnum had it right...a sucker born every minute...or was that a fool and his money will soon be parted ...either way we lose in the eyes of the rest of the world...we are tolerated not loved by them...and they want to come here to get on the gravy train not because its the last best place...
Charlie Schumer's bill will disallow leaving with your money... so we are trapped inside this monster...the politicos want your money and will legislate it into the coffers of the govment...if all is not lost where in hell is it hiding...
Sorry for the loss of your father and also sorry it was not a proper ceremony with respect to his service...
I believe political war (and most are) is wrong...except for the revolutionary war...and I now think that outcome (constitution) is slowly being stolen from us... With that in mind... Keep the faith
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You`re not at all insane when criticizing the abuse of even an individual`s death by the criminal state and its military. Plain abuse of every individual not belonging to the ruling elites by the state is the truth and you should never be ashamed or afraid of the truth even if it concerns matters of family and heart. The sacrifices of soldiers were never made for protecting the freedoms of their loved ones back home but always for the interests of the ruling elites. If you are a moral and honest person and use your brain the only choice you have in life is to detest the military and say so explicitly. It doesn`t matter at all if you will be criticized for your article by people without a functioning intellect. The only thing of importance is that you always remain sincere vis-a-vis yourself!
Best regards
Ferdinand
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My condolences twice. Once for your loss of your father and then for the thoughts that you must hold under the circumstances.
Having said that, this old Vietnam veteran jar head laughed out loud (really) at your last line.
