Peace & pieces

Returning home to the high winds and heavy rain of Typhoon Krovanh made me instantly want to return to the blissful warm afternoons of late summer in Tokushima. A lot of trains were delayed but luckily ours was not one of them and we arrived home safely and in time for dinner.
Welcome to post '88' of the year 2009 - Last year '88' was the total number of blogs for the whole year.

I don't really blog about politics but I see that everyone appears to be amazed that the LDP move from being the ruling party into being the opposition party after fifty four years of being on top. I am not so amazed! After a close succession of three different Prime ministers amidst some seemingly glaring errors of policy, the voting electorate lost confidence and thought that a new direction seemed preferable to the he current political wheels that seemed to be stuck in the mud of the past and mired in already proven failed policies.

The present Prime Minister Taro Aso, has accepted full responsibility for his 'errors in judgment' and has resigned as leader of the LDP. We have already been made well aware of the DJP's sweeteners such as child benefits and the abolishment of highway tolls but I'd like to see exactly where they are going to raise the money for all of this.

Someone recently asked me why we Japanese people always make the 'peace sign' as soon as a camera is produced and we find ourselves in the frame. To be honest with you it's not something we are consciously aware of doing, it's just a second nature, an acquired behavior that is practiced for so long that it seems innate. This question is usually posed by foreigners who tend to stand like shop mannequins when they suddenly find themselves in a camera lens.

The comment box is open for anyone who wants to tell me any gesture or pose that you guys present to the "happy snapper"! I actually didn't know why I did it. It was just something I have done since childhood, emulating everyone around me, so I looked online and found the following statement on Wiki:

Japan and the V sign in Photographs

One account of the V sign's use in portrait photographs claims that during the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, figure skater Janet Lynn stumbled into Japanese pop culture when she fell during a free-skate period—but continued to smile even as she sat on the ice. Though she placed only third in the actual competition, her cheerful diligence and indefatigability resonated with many Japanese viewers, making her an overnight celebrity in Japan. Afterwards, Lynn (a peace activist) was repeatedly seen flashing the V sign in the Japanese media. Though the V sign was known of in Japan prior to Lynn's use of it there (from the post-WWII Allied occupation of Japan), she is credited by some Japanese for having popularized its use in amateur photographs.According to another theory, the V sign was popularized by the actor and singer Jun Inoue, who showed it in a Konica photo camera commercial in 1972.

It's not just us that make such a gesture. It's copied in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. I've seen Karl Marx make this gesture as well as children in Iran and Western Celebrities so it's not restricted to any particular group or nation.

Monitoring traffic coming to my site I have been 'swamped' by someone in the South Jakarta area of West Java and also someone from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who have been meticulously scrutinizing most of the previous posts that I've made in my blog on several occasions and spending a great length of time on each visit.
I must thank them for all of the interest they've shown - it's nice to have a fan club!

A map showing the locations of my recent visitors

Dad is coming on Saturday and so we've been busy preparing the guest apartment for him. I can't go to meet him at the airport because Riko and I will be meeting up with my dear friend Yoshi in a work related project. My Brother Hiro is nominated as Chauffeur.