OTC

In an post almost exactly a year ago, I mentioned some of the differences between convenience stores in America and the ones here in Japan.
(Click here to see that post.)

One of the differences I mentioned was that in America, over-the-counter medicines (OTC), such as aspirin and cough medicine, can be purchased at conveniences stores and even at gas stations.

But, in Japan, the selling of medicine is highly regulated and even OTC medicine can only be bought at drug stores (which aren’t open 24 hours a day like convenience stores).
This is because drug stores are staffed by licensed pharmacists and to even buy aspirin or cough medicine, you had to describe your symptoms to the pharmacist and he would suggest which medicine you should use…and explain the proper dosage.

Well, the Japanese government just relaxed the regulation of OTC medications, and beginning tomorrow convenience stores and supermarkets can sell OTC medications like aspirin and cough medicine, etc.

Post a blog from my cellphone?

Supposedly WordPress has a new function that I can post on my blog with my cell-phone…even with photos.

So I’m trying it…I typed this on my phone.

This is just a test.

Rain, rain, go away….

It was raining in Tokyo yesterday and today, and it’s forecast to rain tomorrow too.

Tokyo's weather forecast for 30 May - 5 June 2009.

I don’t like rainy weather…but it only really bothers me when I have plans that depend on good weather.
And I have such plans tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my youngest two daughters’ 運動会 (“Sports Day event“) at their 中学校 (Junior High School)…unless it rains.

If tomorrow is a rainy day, then my youngest two daughters’ 運動会 (“Sports Day event“) will be postponed to next Thursday and I won’t be able to attend. 😦

Japanese children have school 運動会 (“Sports Day events“) every year from kindergarten to high school.
In kindergarten, the events consist mainly of easy races, games and dances…as the kids get older, the events become more competitive.
It’s a fun day.

I hope the weather is nice tomorrow.

So, to wish for nice weather, I will “hang” a てるてる坊主 (“Teru-teru-bouzu“) on my site:

てるてる坊主

What should I call 「てるてる坊主」 (“Teru-teru-bouzu“) in English?
“Fair Weather Monk“? “Nice Weather Baldy“?
I guess a literal translation is strange. I’d call him “Fair Weather Charm” in English.

A real てるてる坊主 (“Fair Weather Charm“) is made of tissue or cotton and hung outside the home by Japanese people to hope for nice weather when an event is coming up that depends on nice weather.

And just like there’s a rhyme about rainy weather in English that goes: “Rain, rain, go away! Come again another day…“.
In Japan, children sing:

てるてる坊主、てる坊主、明日天気にしておくれ…

Which means: “Fair weather charm, fair weather charm, please make tomorrow’s weather nice!”

Music Promotion Videos

I mentioned some of my favorite rock ‘n roll albums on an earlier post (Click here to read it).

Here are some of my music videos to some great songs:

KISS “I Love It Loud”

Megadeth “Symphony Of Destruction”

Ozzy Osbourne “Gets Me Through”

Quiet Riot “Cum On Feel The Noize”

Metallica “Nothing Else Matters”

Jackyl “I Stand Alone”

The Japanese band Loudness “This Lonely Heart”

Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It”

Judas Priest “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”

AC/DC “Thunderstruck”

Lordi “Would You Love A Monsterman?”

Scorpions “Rock You Like A Hurricane”

Skid Row “Youth Gone Wild”

A Japanese band named RIZE “Name”

Def Leppard “Rock Of Ages”

Monkey Majik and 吉田兄弟 “Change”

Jackyl

News summary

A few items that were in the news recently:

• Takamiyama, the first foreign sumo wrestler in Japan (he was Hawaiian (he’s become a naturalized Japanese years ago, though)), will retire this June.He’s already retired from wrestling about 25 years ago, but he has his own sumo stable (a training ring and dormitory for a group of wrestlers) and he will turn 65 years old this June, so he’s planning to completely retire from sumo next month.
• 自由の女神像 (The Statue Of Liberty) in New York City had been off-limits to tourists since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks…but it has recently been reopened and now tourists can go all the way to the top again for the first time in nearly eight years.
• North Korea tested nuclear weapons on last Monday and Tuesday. As a result, the Peace Clock in 広島 (Hiroshima, Japan) that counts the number of days that there has been no nuclear testing in the world had to be reset back to “00001”.

• A police officer in France was arrested after he cut of the genitals of his cheating wife’s boyfriend with a box-cutter knife.
• A woman was caught shoplifting from a Wal-Mart store in America and in an attempt to escape, she threw her infant child at the store’s security guards. Almost killing the baby.

東京五

I discovered that I’m not the only “Tokyo Five“.

But I’m the only one that’s actually in Tokyo.

There seems to be an Australian pop band who call themselves “Tokyo Five“.
Not only are they not from Tokyo…but there’s only four members in the band!

Their MySpace page is here.

Then there’s also an American clothing company named “Tokyo Five“!

On the top of my blog here, I write my blog’s name in Japanese as 「トーキョー・ファイブ」 which says “Tokyo Five“. The clothing company writes their name in Japanese as 「東京五」, which are the kanji characters for Tokyo and five…but they are kinda odd together.

Maybe I should buy one of their shirts, and use it to advertise my blog. 😉

Their website is here.

As I wrote in my About Me page, I live in Tokyo with my wife and our three kids. So, we’re a family of five in Tokyo…that’s where the name of my blog, my YouTube page, and my main website came from…I wonder if that Australian band and that American clothing company got their name from my site!?

ラーメン・ガール

First of all, today is my mother’s birthday. So…Happy birthday, Mom.

Yesterday, I watched the movie 「ラーメン・ガール」 (“The Ramen Girl“).

Have you ever seen this movie?

It’s not bad. It’s much better than that other Tokyo-related but over-rated 「ロスト・イン・トランスレーション」 (“Lost In Translation“)!

A boring movie....

The movie “Lost In Translation” is about an American woman who follows her boyfriend to Tokyo when his work sends him here and he is too busy to spend time with her so meets another American who is working in Tokyo and just as lonely as she is.

If you haven’t seen it…don’t bother. It’s painfully boring.

The movie “The Ramen Girl“, though not great, is a much better movie than “Lost In Translation“.
Ironically, it has some similarities in the story.
An American woman follows her boyfriend to Tokyo when his work sends him here in this story, too. He decides she’s cramping his style and he moves to Osaka without her.
She becomes depressed and lonely and one night has a bowl of ラーメン (Ramen*) at a nearby Ramen shop that are all over Japan.
(* Real ramen. Not the instant type that is cheaply sold in supermarkets. It’s quite different.)

She falls in love with Ramen and decides she wants the Ramen chef to allow her to become his apprentice. Which is grudgingly agrees to…even though she can’t speak any Japanese and he can’t speak English.

It takes her awhile to understand that, in Japan, that a student is expected to take his role seriously and follow everything his teacher says…without question.
(Much the same lesson that “Daniel” learned in the movie 「ベスト・キッド」 (“The Karate Kid“).)

Karate Kid Japanese movie flyer

The movie 「ラーメン・ガール」 (“The Ramen Girl“) definitely wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen. But it was fun. It had parts that over-simplified or stereotyped Japan…but it also showed Tokyo better than alot of other overseas movies do. They even showed the Yokohama Ramen Museum briefly.

(You can also click here to read a review of this movie by “Manmanchi“).

裁判員制度

In the 1930’s, Japan had a 裁判員制度 (jury system) in the courts similar to America has.

But it wasn’t popular and was changed in the early 1940’s to a system where professional judges determine the verdict of defendants in criminal cases, and it stayed that way…until today.

Beginning today (21 May 2009), courts in Japan are using the 裁判員制度 (jury system) again.

It’s surprising that the government decided to adopt this system…since polls conducted since the bill for this was passed into law five years ago consistently have shown that the majority of Japanese are against the idea of having a 裁判員制度 (jury system).

But the law was passed…and went into effect today.

Slightly different from the jury system in America, the Japanese 裁判員制度 (jury system) will consist of a panel of six jurors and three judges who will decided verdicts in court cases and decide what sentences to give those found guilty.
In cases where the jurors rule one way but the judges rule the other…the judges ruling will stand.

++++++++

The 新型インフルエンザ (New Type Flu (Swine Flu)) has spread to Tokyo. 😦
Until Wednesday, all of the cases of this flu were in the 関西地方 (Kansai area) of Japan…but two teenage girls from the 関東地方 (Tokyo area) went on a school trip to America and came back with the flu.

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The World Health Organization determined that once again Japanese women have the highest life expectancy rate in the world.

Japanese women live to be an average of 86 years old.

Men from a country near Italy that I’ve never heard of called San Marino have the longest life expectancy rate for men. Their average life span is 81 years.

Parking

Parking for both cars and bicycles is at a premium in Japan’s big cities.

So automatic elevated parking garages are common here.

Here’s a video of an elevated car parking garage and one of an underground automated bicycle parking garage:

豚インフルエンザ

The 豚インフルエンザ (Swine ‘Flu) virus seems to be out of control! (Actually, the name of this flu has been changed recently in Japan. It’s now called 「新型インフルエンザ」 (New Type Flu)).

Some people are saying that the media is blowing it out of proportion and the reality isn’t as bad as their making it seem.
But I don’t know about that…it seems pretty bad. And, unlike the conventional インフルエンザ (flu), it seems that a high number of teenagers are catching this disease.

As parents of three teenagers, news like that naturally concerns my wife and I! Even more disturbing for us is the recent news that four Japanese teenagers from 大阪 (Osaka, Japan) returned from a trip to Canada and had the first confirmed cases of 新型インフルエンザ (New Type Flu) in Japan….and then the number of teenagers in 大阪 (Osaka, Japan) with the flu has been rising this past weekend!

Currently, there are about 80 confirmed cases of 新型インフルエンザ (New Type Flu), consisting of high school and college students and some of their family members and teachers in the Osaka area of Japan.
Thankfully, no one has died from this disease in Japan yet.

This is nowhere as high as the over 4000 cases in America (with four deaths) or the nearly 3000 cases in Mexico (with 66 deaths)…but it’s still disturbing, especially since all of the cases in Japan have been reported just this past weekend! Hopefully, it won’t continue to spread!

(update (21 May 2009): There are now two teenage girls in the Tokyo area who went to America recently and now have the 新型インフルエンザ (New Type Flu). So it has spread to Tokyo. 😦 ).