Thanksgiving in Japan

Sorry for the misleading title. There is no Thanksgiving in Japan. Well, not at least, at most folks homes. We have turkey around this time at my house every year, though.

I just received an email from my dear uncle who lives in North Carolina, USA. As older folks do, he told me of his ills and he also wished for us to have a good Thanksgiving.

Thanks uncle. I hope you and aunt have a healthy and happy holiday season.

Like I said, there is no Thanksgiving in Japan but we have a turkey. We had ours yesterday. We have it every year on 11/23 which is some sort of Japanese holiday. Japan has a lot of holidays. American people think they take it easy, and they do, but Japan has holidays all the time. 

Most foreigners, like me, know that the day is a holiday, but we have no idea what the holiday is. Japan has holidays for old people, working people, children, the emperor's birthday, first day of winter, perhaps summer and besides newspaper holidays, we have a holiday for newspapers (or at least, that's what I thought it was!) 春分　is Shunbun (Vernal equinox).　秋分is Shuubun  (Autumnal equinox). 新聞 is Shinbun (newspaper) so when I first heard "Shunbun no hi" (first day of spring) I thought people were saying "Shinbun no hi" (newspaper day).  Get it? Shunbun, Shuubun and Shinbun. They all sound the same! "Newspaper day? What a bizarre holiday!" I thought (Don't think I'm so stupid, many foreigners thing the same thing! Or is it just that all my friends are as dumb as I am?)

The problem with Japanese holidays is that everyone goes on vacation at the same time too. So, during holiday season, the best place to be is home. Hopefully one's home isn't so crowded (though, sometimes, two people can be a crowd!)

Japan doesn't have a Thanksgiving because the Japanese didn't wipe out a bunch of Indians and then try to cover their tracks by making a Holiday that looks like white man and the Indians were good old buddies. They weren't. In Japan there were no Indians but the Japanese also had their little expeditions in Okinawa several hundred years ago and in Ezo (now Hokkaido) a few hundred years ago... So if the Japanese did have a Thanksgiving, I suppose, instead of a turkey, they roast a fish or something. 

Also, space is a premium in Japanese homes so no one has a big oven like they do in the USA. We have an oven though. A 14 pound turkey is really about as big a turkey as our oven can take. So that's what I roast for the family every year.

I wrote back to my uncle and told him that I roast a turkey every year. I also mentioned that I do this because I want my children to recognize that there are some good things from America and nice traditions that I'd like them to know about. Christmas is celebrated all around the world.

Thanksgiving is, just about, the only tradition from America that I do want them to know about.

Thanksgiving is nice because there are no presents. You don't feel like you have to buy any presents for people you don't really like (so you wind up buying some junk or cologne at the last minute). Or some other occasions when you have to get together with people you don't like either.

Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Japan. But we get together and enjoy good food with family and friends...

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

May the holiday season see you and yours healthy and prosperous.

-Mike

PS: We always eat and drink too much on 11/23 in Japan... Well, exactly speaking we eat too much on that day. I drink too much everyday!

The Greatest Men's Anime in History! Sakigake!! Otokojuku! Japan's Most Sexist, Racist, Nationalist Anime Ever!

Sakigake!! Otokojuku! Must be the world's most nationalist traditionalist pro-Japanese male anime ever made! And it is hilariously funny! 


Sakigake loosley translates into "first line of attack" (or "Charge!"). Otokojuku is "Men's school". So, these guys are the first line of attack at a men's high school. Get it? No? Oh, you will...

Sakigake!! Otokojuku! Main characters

Wikipedia writes:

Sakigake!! Otokojuku (lit. Charge! Men's Private School) by Akira Miyashita is a comedy martial arts manga that was originally serialized at the Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1985 to 1991. It is staged in a private boy's school that teaches ōendan to troubled teenagers. The students are trained to "revive the Spirit of Japan" and mainly engage in fighting or killing courses. The nature of the manga is usually considered by the readers as a comical, or even parodic view of Japanese nationalism.

I've posted about this hilarious cartoon and other anti-American anime before in Hilarious Collection of 12 Most Anti-American Anime. The makers of this cartoon take a comedic look at hating foreigners and definitely have humorously decided the correct place of women. I'm sure they long for the good old days when men were men and women were women. The days when women walked two steps behind their man (well, actually I know lots of Japanese women who still do this). Sakigake!! Otokojuku! also disrespects foreigners. The makers long for the good old days when foreigners (read: uncultured savages) were foreigners and not living in Japan! 


Hee! Hee! Who doesn't?


Here is a snippet of my favorite Sakigake!! Otokojuku! of all time. It is the most anti-American cartoon I've ever seen. This stuff is hilarious as the sterotypes just crack me up. See if you enjoy it too!

God! Isn't that fantastic? Can you imagine something like that on TV in the USA? The PC crowd would NEVER allow it! Sekigake!! Otokojuku! "How to Deal With Foreigners". In the above episode, the protagonist, Momotaro kicks the butt of an American. After mopping the floor with the guy, the Japanese girl "falls in love" with him. She says, "He's so strong!" and runs up to him and asks if he'll start dating her. He replies,

"Yesterday, dating a foreigner. Today, dating a Japanese. I hate stupid girls who change their minds all the time!" As the boys are walking away they say, "Otokojuku doesn't need women!" 

大爆笑！(LOL!) 


See, I told you that this cartoon was wonderful! 

Sakigake!! Otokojuku! Is a very famous cartoon that ran on Fuji TV for only 34 episodes in 1988. I think it was cancelled because many people failed to see the irony, cynicism and humor and thought that the makers of this cartoon were completely serious.

Trust me, I was here in 1988 and there were a heck of a lot of people with no sense of humor... I mean, just how racist and sexist could a cartoon on national TV be? (As opposed to sexually explicit manga and all sorts of other underground publications that still exist?) 

This next snippet is from an episode where the boys go to a "fashionable" club to kick the butt of the regular American guy who was usually the main antagonist mocking Japanese men and taking advantage of "naive" Japanese women. The boys are getting ready to gang up on him and beat him up, but first, they have to confuse the dumb foreigner by bedazzling him with his command of the English language. The episode itself is funny, but the best part is the English subtitles! Enjoy!

In Sakigake!! Otokojuku! women are definitely looked down upon (as well as the main characters sometimes being made fun of because of being stupid). Women in this anime, as in the minds of the makers of it, most certainly have their place in Japanese society.

The note on this next Youtube video is hilarious:

Fans all know women should never appear in this, the manliest series ever. EVER. This movie takes it one step further and proves that the manliest of men can be fooled by plastic dummies with hooters, eighties hairstyles and swimsuits. Post cockblock, the Otokojuku delinquents must take on WHALES AND AN ARMED HELICOPTER for their mistake. Poor guys. A little Engrish pops up again, and Toramaru kills a whale with his own lethal fart technique. Must be seen to be believed

Sakigake! Otokojuku! Women are Always Traps!

Oh, how the makers of this anime must long for the good old days of Japan! (Or, at least, when they were getting paid to make this great cartoon!)


Oh, how I long for the good old days when Japan had cartoons like this!


You can see many other results on Youtube here.

In Japan? Give the Gift that Shows You Have Taste and Style: 7-11 wine!

In Japan, as with most civilized countries, I think it is customary when visiting someone's house or accepting and invite for dinner, that you bring along a gift that shows you care. A gift that displays that special savoir fare of the distinctive class of gentleman (or gentlewoman) that you are. That is why, especially in Japan, when visiting or intruding on friends, one must never arrive without a present in hand.

Chateau de Marshall - The Marshall Family Summer Escape Palace

This weekend my family and I were invited to one of my ultra-rich friend's homes out on the beach overlooking a beautiful ocean view. The house is fabulous and the view breath-taking.


We awoke at 3:45 in the morning to begin the 3 + hour drive down to Shimoda from Tokyo to visit my friend's holiday retreat palace.


Shimoda is a famous ocean and beach resort town and is well known for being the city that Commodore Perry and the famous Black Ships visited in 1853 when forcing Japan's doors open to the world.  It is a special place rich in tradition and history.


Since we woke up so early to drive down to Shimoda, I was pretty drowsy and not thinking straight as I had worked until 11:30 the night before and only gotten in about 3 hours of sleep. I would soon come to regret that.


Nevertheless, without a care in the world, we all hopped in the car and began the long trek to our last dream vacation of the summer of 2011.

Along the way, we stopped at many convenience stores to visit the rest rooms and relieve ourselves... At one of the final stops, a 7-11 just on the outskirts of Shimoda, I realized that I had made a gross fox pass (or is it foie gras?)... I had committed a gross error equal to the level of participating an orgy of evil: I had forgotten to buy a classy present to bring to our hosts.


Quickly I scanned the 7-11 shelves for the best wine they had! Wow! Oh, thank heaven for 7-11 (いい気分〜ん）I was in luck. They had the good quality stuff!

Note the 7-11 label. The sign of distinction!

It was tough to choose from the fine selection of fine wines they had available. The Yosemite Road looked quite appealing and, at only ¥598 yen a bottle (about $7.81 USD) for quality Cabernet Sauvignon, who could go wrong?

But my friends are worth a bit more than that to me! So I splurged and bought the 7-11 Bourdeaux (Bor-dorks for you American readers) at ¥798 a bottle (about $10.28 USD). It is a fine wine and tasteful vintage... And, not only that, the wine comes in an easy to open screw top bottle. No messy corks to deal with. Isn't that "special" convenient? 

After all, my friends are worth that much to me! 

Thank God for 7-11 for saving my a*s for forgetting to buy a present for my friends. I mean, after all, if I am going to visit my millionaire friend's summer vacation home and be a guest, I'd better bring a killer bottle of wine with me! 

Upon paying for the wine, my wife appeared from the restroom and asked me what I was doing. I showed her the wine. 

She gasped, "You're not going to give that cheap wine to your friends are you?"

I hid the bottle behind my back... "Er, of course not, honey... I , er, was thinking that we needed to buy a present... "

"I already took care of that!" She replied. 

Like the good Japanese wife she is, yesterday she went to the ritzy department store and bought a bunch of very expensive sweets for our hosts.

When she gave the cookies to the hosts, they seemed really happy to receive them.

Of course they did. These people are refined and have good taste. 

I wouldn't be seen in public with them drinking that dredge that 7-11 calls wine..... Yuck! (I'll just drink it by myself at home - after all it's probably a heck of a lot better than the ¥218 a bottle one cup Takara Shochu rot-gut that I usually drink !)

Ah! The good life... Every once in a while, it's nice to see how folks live on "the other side".

Thanks to Roger and Miki Marshall     

Dolphin Hunters and People Who Hunt Them!

As if Japan doesn't have enough problems as it is! Now we actually have the police preparing to protect the dolphin hunters from possible attacks from lunatics! 

GEORGE CARLIN - SAVE THE PLANET

"Over 90% of all species that have ever lived on this planet are gone.

Extinct... We didn't kill them all..."

Remember a while back when that Kiwi lunatic attacked the Japanese fishermen? Yeah, well the Japanese police are now preparing for just another such incident and is getting ready to make sure that it doesn't happen.


It's the same people who also claim AGW is destroying the world along with whale and dolphin hunting (those dolphins are not an endangered species, by the way). And by killing those dolphins those fishermen are all somehow ruining the environment. 


We now have the parade of idiots growing as the Japanese government is sending out the SWAT teams to protect the fishermen from psychotic left wing fruitcakes. 

Thanks to Tokyo Reporter for comic!

I've already written what I think about this nonsense in Japan Bans the Cove and Other Atrocities.

But really? Police protection for dolphin hunters!?


Is this for real?

The Associated Press reports that the Japan police hold security drill for dolphin hunt:

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police and coast guard officers have held a security drill to practice protecting a village from protesters during its annual dolphin hunt.

A Wakayama prefectural police official says Wednesday's drill was aimed at guarding the southwestern town of Taiji from protesters before hunting season starts in September. About 100 law enforcement officers gathered in the bay where the Oscar-winning film "The Cove" was filmed.

The officers practiced responding to a ship carrying several activists intruding the bay and damaging afishnet. The official said the drill ended safely without incident.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Japan allows about 20,000 dolphins to be caught each year. Most Japanese have never eaten dolphin meat but the government defends the hunts as tradition.


As if Japan doesn't already have enough trouble as it is. Now we have to worry about, dare I say? Pro-dolphin terrorists? This is ridiculous...


The pro side to the hunting argument says that Whale and dolphin hunting in Japan go back centuries. The anti-side says that whale hunting is depleting the species. Well, you don't hear Japanese complaining about westerners hunting, say, deer (which are rapidly disappearing from the United States)... Maybe it's because not enough Japanese have seen Bambi. 


The dolphin hunting? Well, those aren't an endangered species at all but, I guess some people think they are cute so they don't want them killed. You can be sure that many westerners have seen Flipper on TV! Or the crowd against dolphin hunting (in their twisted logic) say that the dolphins shouldn't be killed and eaten as the meat is pumped full of mercury and so it is poisonous to eat. If so, then that's great, isn't it? Then let these people kill the dolphins, eat the meat and then they die. Problem solved!


My thinking? If dolphin hunting is so important and so profitable, let the dolphin hunters pay for their own protection. Why does the average tax payer have to pay for this? As for the lunatics who would attack these fishermen, they should be arrested and put in prison as any criminal would be who commits a felony.


But the police actually having drills to protect the fishermen in case of an attack? What utter insanity from start to finish. This world is quickly going nuts.