MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2022

we touched this same spot with our hands, our feet, our gaze and our dreams

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Roxana Saberi: My Life and Captivity in Iran


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From Dynamo to Dinosaur


Sometimes Japan seems to be on the wrong continent. Everywhere else in Asia, from Shanghai to Mumbai to Jakarta, there is an aura of perpetual motion, a sense that tomorrow will be better than today. The region is on a frenetic 365-day-a-year hurtle into a brighter future. Japan once shared Asia's dynamism and mission. But not anymore. Today, Japan is an island of inertia in an Asia in constant flux. Japan's political leadership is paralyzed, its corporate elite befuddled, its people agonized about the future. While Asia lurches forward, Japan inches backward. Read more here…











Friday, July 16, 2010

New high-speed railway links central Tokyo and Narita in 36 minutes


Saturday 17th July, 07:10 AM JST
NARITA —
A new high-speed railway line, Narita Sky Access, was launched Saturday, linking central Tokyo with Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture in 36 minutes.
   
The operator, Keisei Electric Railway Co, has introduced a new model of the Skyliner train, which runs at 160 kilometers per hour, among the fastest on a conventional line in Japan, and cuts the minimum travel time between Nippori Station in Tokyo and Narita by 15 minutes to 36 minutes.
   
A ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new railway line was held at Nippori Station.
   
The new Skyliner, based on the design concept of fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto, features high dome ceilings, spacious seats and ample luggage space.
   
Keisei said first-day tickets were sold out on the day of their release on June 17 after being sought out by many railway enthusiasts.
 
Keisei will operate 54 services a day to and from Narita, with a one-way ticket costing 2,400 yen for an adult.

Kobe Beef - It's What's for Dinner

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

“Born 1930: The Unlost Generation”


An ode to the Hipster

Our search for the rebels of the generation led us to the hipster. The hipster is an enfant terrible turned inside out. In character with his time, he is trying to get back at the conformist by lying low . . . You can’t interview a hipster because his main goal is to keep out of society which, he thinks, is trying to make everyone over in its own image. He takes marijuana because it supplies him with experiences that can’t be shared with “squares.” He may affect a broad-brimmed hat or a zoot suit, but usually he prefers to skulk unmarked. The hipster may be a jazz musician; he is rarely an artist, almost never a writer. He may earn his living as a petty criminal, a hobo, a carnival roustabout or a free-lance moving man in Greenwich Village, but some hipsters have found a safe refuge in the upper income brackets as television comics or movie actors. (The late James Dean, for one, was a hipster hero.) . . . It is tempting to describe the hipster in psychiatric terms as infantile, but the style of his infantilism is a sign of the times. He does not try to enforce his will on others, Napoleon-fashion, but contents himself with a magical omnipotence never disproved because never tested. . . . As the only extreme non­conformist of his generation, he exercises a powerful if underground

appeal for conformists, through newspaper accounts of his delinquencies, his structureless jazz, and his emotive grunt words.

—“Born 1930: The Unlost Generation”
by Caroline Bird
Harper’s Bazaar, Feb. 1957

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Alleged church vandal arrestedAlleged church vandal arrested

Monday, July 5, 2010
OSAKA (Kyodo) A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of damaging Christian churches dozens of times by throwing fire extinguishers or stones at doors, windows and entranceways.
Yasumasa Ikeda, 29, unemployed, is being held on an initial charge of destruction of property for breaking a church door in the city of Osaka on April 27 by throwing a fire extinguisher at it.
According to the police, Ikeda admitted to the charge, saying he "wanted the priest there to listen to his prayers."
They said he stole the extinguisher from a nearby housing complex.
A total of 72 cases of property damage at churches, most belonging to Protestant denominations, have been reported since September 2008 in four prefectures, including 44 in Osaka, 22 in Hyogo and three each in Kyoto and Shiga.
The Osaka police said Ikeda admitted he was involved in all 72 cases and confessed to sending threatening mail to about 60 churches in Osaka alone.
They said they were still trying to establish a motive and noted it was possible that Ikeda, who had attended a Protestant church for several years, may have had a grudge against Christian churches in general.
A surveillance camera showed a man approaching the Osaka church on a minibike in April and throwing what looked like a fire extinguisher, and the police said they were eventually able to match Ikeda with the security footage.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

OBITUARY~Daniel Thompson Dale

November 16, 1919  -  June 29, 2010

 
 

Daniel Dale and his wife Joan were supported by many faithful churches and friends during their thirty four years of missionary service in Japan. The churches were: Calvary Baptist Church, South Bend, IN, First Baptist Church, Alexandria, IN, Grace Baptist Church, Ottawa, IL, Winnetka Bible Church, Winnetka, IL, Bethel Community Church, Washougal, WA, Bethany Church, Sierra Madre, CA, Trinity Evangelical Free Church, South Bend, IN, Adele Prince Bible Class-First Methodist Church, Fuquay-Varina, NC, and Westwood Evangelical Free Church, Westwood, MA.

Daniel, Dan, D.T. was a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. He adored his wife, his children, and his grandchildren. Dan loved people and the Lord and shared his joy of living and generosity of spirit wherever he was – in Japan, in churches, in colleges and universities, traveling, at the Y, at home. Dan was among many things, a pastor, a lover of the Lord, a preacher, a teacher, an artist, a storyteller, a cook, a jam maker, fluent in Japanese, a translator in Japan for Willem de Kooning, a small town Fuquay boy, a world traveler, an antique collector and dealer, a small businessman, an ardent supporter of the poor and downtrodden, an urban pioneer, a lover of anise and See’s candies, an introducer of books and music-Dave Brubeck, Victory Baptist Choir, Frederick Delius to family and friends, a reader, always curious and interested in the events of the world around him, and a man who encouraged his family and friends to live in, experience, and enjoy the world that God has created in all its diversity.

Surviving is his wife Joan of Raleigh, NC, son, David Timothy and wife Deborah and sons, Matthew and Andrew of Raleigh, NC. Son, Daniel Thomas and wife Smruti and son Nicholas of San Diego, CA. Son, John Andrew and wife Beverly and sons, Jordan, Julian, and Jamison of Chicago, IL. Son, Peter Nathanial and daughter Christiana of Tokyo, Japan and daughter, Joanna Stephanie and husband Januck Polikaitis and children: Rachel and Alex of Corona, CA. He is also survived by a brother, J.W. Dale and his wife Imogene of Adele, GA; sister in law Hazel Dale of Jacksonville, FL; many beloved nephews, nieces, cousins and friends in Japan and the U.S.A.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Kobe Bible Church, Kobe, Japan in C/O The Evangelical Alliance Mission, Box 969, Wheaton, IL. 60189-0969.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, July 18 at 2 p.m., at First Baptist Church, 101 South Wilmington Street in Raleigh, NC.

Arrangements by the Cremation Society of the Carolinas. Please share your memories, stories, and pictures of Daniel Dale on his memorial website.

This Guest Book will remain online until 7/31/2010

 
Published in The News & Observer on July 1, 2010

Increasing number of gangsters seeking welfare benefits


NAGOYA — The number of gangsters who applied for welfare benefits despite a ban on such payments jumped in fiscal 2009 to 41 in Aichi Prefecture, amid the economic stalemate making them short of funds, police data showed Thursday.
   
Following the ban imposed in 2006, the figure came to six in fiscal 2006, 14 in fiscal 2007 and 19 in fiscal 2008, but jumped in the fiscal year ended in March with most applicants hiding their backgrounds but some of them revealing that they want to leave gangs to get on welfare but cannot, they said.
   
Of the 41 applicants in the latest reporting year, nine have actually broken from gang groups with help from police and received benefits, according to the police.
   
Offering welfare to gang members has been banned since April 2006 under a welfare ministry notice, enabling local governments to refuse payments if they find applicants to be members through reference to police.