The poster above is from Ibaraki, a prefecture near Tokyo where they apparently have such an issue with invading "foreigners" that they feel the need to place posters on the walls to tell everybody that they should be on the look out for them a la the not so hot uniformed officers in the picture who could be of any nationality, if we're honest!
If it wasn't for the vaguely racist intentions of this, it'd be funny. But, it isn't. Why is it that during my almost four years in Tokyo I saw nothing on this scale in the poster area? To be honest, I'm all for rooting out the illegals who make life Hell for all the honest people who make an honest living, contributing to society as anybody in their own country would, but this is ridiculous! Sad thing is that the average just off the plane foreigner in Japan who can't read Japanese without the aid of a friend is unlikely even to realise that they are being violated in public by posters like this.
Personally speaking, I've never had any such problems with racism in Japan, in fact the most racist people of all are the foreigners themselves to my mind, but I realise that with posters like this things aren't going to get better soon. Thank God Tokyo is used to it's foreign population to a degree - not comfortable, but used to them -whilst rural areas have less in general so tend to make a bigger fuss of their presence than in really necessary. I'm not forgiving them or even excusing them, if people put up anti Japanese posters in London there'd be an outcry, so why the authorities of Ibaraki consider it appropriate to place blatantly discriminate literature on their walls and stations is both beyond me and offensive.
Although I do think that there people of a suspicious nature in Japan - even I have my suspicion alarm on with some foreigners, but that's common sense rather than the pure unabated racism that many local authorities seek to promote so openly - I do think there are better ways of doing it than the present system. If people actually did something about it, rather than merely tolerate it things might change sooner rather than later. Easier said than done, of course, but every seed needs to be planted to grow. And removing the weeds is even more vital along the way!
If there's one thing to do on a rainy Sunday morning, it's watch cartoons.
As an adult, I am proud to admit that I do occasionally watch cartoons. Usually, it's with my son, who is at the perfect age to enjoy the simple pleasures and bright shades of the average cartoon show. He also finds it quite educational, does my little Monsieur. On a Sunday morning, I usually dig out the SpongeBob box set and have a Spongeathon until lunchtime rears it's ravenous head once and for all. See, secretly all adults can admit to having a small like of cartoons, and those who rigorously deny all affection for animation are like alcoholics in the midst of a serious addiction. They are also denying a big part of their childhood!
There can't have been many of us who didn't watch TV when we were younger, and the first show we probably watched was an animated kids TV show. I remember vaguely the first time I watched TV, when I was four, - Yes, four years old! - and it was a kids show from what I recall. The TrapDoor, maybe. Ah, The TrapDoor! Even now I watch that show. It's so unthinkably dirty in it's humor that such a kids show would never get past the censors these days without some very serious cuts to the even back then highly obvious bonking jokes. Of course, my toddler likes it too! The least I can do as a parent is to pass on my childhood to him. In fact, every parent should do the exact same thing.
There are so many kids who think that Teletubbies is the epitome of televisual entertainment, when are so many great TV shows from the past that would be just as effective today. When I find an older kids show on the shelves in my local DVD purveyor I smile to myself. Being a quarter into ones natural life, everything is suddenly looking different than usual. Those memories I used to consider worthless now have attained an extra significance due to my new mindset. Of course, there are many who never grow up, and applause to them for being able to do that in a world where youth is snatched from our children at an early age and never given back until our dying days when it's an unfitting as a bad hairstyle.
I do think, to some degree, having a child does reconnect you to your inner child, and my enjoyment of kids shows is maybe connected to that. The sheer fact is, that there are some brilliant kids shows out there that really should be discovered by more people! If this were Japan, were grown ups are entitled to watch their anime by virtue of the fact that being childish is openly encouraged by some corners of society. And, if you've ever been to Akihabara, you'll see millions of such people walking around. Not all of them are your typical geek style people either!
To end this , I'll leave you with some videos to consider. Will you reconnect with your inner screaming baby? Or will I see you in Akihabara with the other millions of people?
As with most things, it stared with a thought. The now cliched light bulb flashed above my noggin and suddenly I was illuminated. So, I logged into my Blogger account, clicked on the the button marked 'Create a Blog', and attempted to get the following URL:
godisablogger.blogspot.com/
You're probably thinking that I've lost my mind, aren't you? I wouldn't blame you, to be honest. Such URL's are generally the property of heretics with natural skull caps and toe nails as yellow as the sun. But, worry ye not faithful readers. For, if it is the case that I am insane, my sanity has long been in question. I am in no doubt that I am not *normal* in a normal sense. See, there are somethings that man, or indeed, a person, has to do in order to make life a more enjoyable experience. And, just as some people crave to have in their possession that special bag or license plate, I wanted that URL desperately. Readers, i actually craved to possess a URL. Think about that fact for a second. Isn't it cool?!
Why, you ask yourself, would I want such a URL so desperately, ravenously even. the answer, my friends, is not because it's blowing in the blogosphere, but because it's a cool name for a blog. And, in the blog world, a name matters a lot. Just like a designer name, or even a brand. And, call me mad, but god is a blogger is bound to be an attention grabber. And,whilst I'll unfortunately never know how much of grabber it is, as it wasn't available, I can still bask in it's glory. because. there is definite coolness about that name. You could argue that it was a little big headed of me to actually consider wanting it that much in the first place. To that opinion I say this: Maybe it is but does that make it bad? We all want something, after all. Be it money, sex, power or even a URL.
But just because we get it doesn't make us totally happy. Unfortunately, I didn't.
I was recently asked by a colleague who, between Gordon Ramsey and Marco Pierre White, I would have sexual relations with. I bet you weren't expecting that were you?
Well, shall we say that were I that way inclined, i.e. not straight, (Although no-one is a hundred percent straight if you've seen some of the things I've seen!), and both Marco and Gordon were also by extreme coincidence gay, I'd have to say that the person on the end of my punishment stick would be Gordon Ramsey. Why? Well, how can I put this? Shall we say that whilst Marco-Pierre does look like the type who could go through an entire brothel without stopping for a rest, (He could certainly afford it!), I think the fact he looks as if the word "shower" and "get the fuck in" have never been uttered towards him in his how ever many years of existence. Maybe he has the rough and ready look for televisual purposes, but based on this I'd much prefer that "fucking" Gordon Ramsey. Having set foot into one of his restaurants, (literally a foot, then I decided to go someplace else instead, but for good reasons...), I can definitely feel the love he's trying to pass on. Marco Pierre's love love lovin' may be a little more obvious, but the way he leers over Page Three stars may just get me a little mad.
Plus, since people seem to talk about food in pornographic terms these days, I'm gonna do it too! Seriously, there does seem to be a fine line between restaurant reviewing and verbal porn. Marco Pierre Whites maniacal stares and kitchen cloth bandanna style tie back seem totally harking back to the days when porn was about ugly men doing beautiful girls. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who thinks that the lovely Marco resembles a (retired) porn star who's turned to cooking to give the love. Although saying that a table won't get their food because he doesn't like them is a bit like the traditional headache at bed time that women (and men) apparently fake. Thank god he said that, because him on top of me, or besides me vertically either, come to think of it, is not something that's on my Christmas wish list! (I'll have a meal though, if he wants to serve me!)
Bear in mind here, that I am actually a male, and am straight. The person who asked me was a girl. (She said she's do Marco, by the way! Blindfold at the ready...) To be honest, gay or straight, chefs, especially of the celebrity kind, are not the best to my mind anyway. (Apart from Gordon Ramsey...) Now I ask you, dear readers, given the chance and the correct sexual alignment, who would you invite to your sleeping domain?
It's still my beautiful partner, by the way. Although Gordon was good for this post only...wink wink!
Readers, do you look forward to your post? I absolutely look forward to my mail hitting the door mat everyday and, despite the obligatory bills and junk mail I do still enjoy the surprise aspect of wondering who, or what, has decided to contact me today.
However, I have to draw a big fat line at receiving the trash that came through my letterbox yesterday. The person who decided that it would be a good idea to slip the racist rantings of the British National Party into my post box deserves to be sent to live in North Korea for a while and really experience racism for what it is. Personally speaking, I hate racist fuckers like the BNP. The sad thing is that there are people across the country who actually think that by voting for the BNP they'll actually get something. It's all very well to go around spouting bullshit like "British Jobs for British People" but you have to look further than a pamphlet designed to soften the image of a party of proven thugs. Firstly, by voting BNP you are throwing away any freedom, admittedly not much these days, that you enjoy. Why? If they can exclude the so called "foreigners" from the pleasures of normal life, they can exclude anyone. Think about how Nazi Germany came about, and you'll see that voting BNP is a seriously bad idea.
And as for the pamphlet itself, it frankly made me sick to touch it. If it weren't for the fact it had journalistic interest, I'd have torn it up and tossed it in the nearest bin to rot. The pictures of so called "ordinary people" who give the reasons they're going to vote BNP are embarrassing to say the least, and the models they used -for I hope that's all they are- should be ashamed of themselves for even allowing their faces to be seen on such trash! I don't disagree that there are a multitude of issues that need sorting out but , again, the BNP are not the answer to any of them. And as for the pledge that all MEP's of the BNP will give ten percent of their salaries away to help local communities celebrate St Georges Day, why? Wouldn't it be better to give ten percent of their salaries to more worthy causes than an event that has almost bearing on our culture in these modern times? Personally speaking, I'd rather suck a cyanide lozenge than celebrate such a blatantlyexclusionist event.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against standing up for your heritage or celebrating your culture. I just think there are better ways of doing it than voting for the British National Party, waving odd out dated flags around and sitting around being house proud. Being British in the modern sense is about non-exclusionist behaviour and openess to others. We all have open minds, refrain from espousing uneducated racist opinions that only cause others to think us stupid and bigoted and ultimately take people as we find them. So, why should we not vote BNP? Because We've Earned the Right! That, by the way is the campaign catchphrase of this bunch of no hopers, and it's highly ironic that it should be so easily used against them.
Remember, BNP equals racist idiot thugs with no grasp of culture or tact.
Readers, are you angry? Personally, I think we should all be angry. Extremely angry!
So door smashingly angry that our fists bleed in unison after the deed is done! I'm not just talking about being angry for fun, or smashing things up so we can get compromised by a sexy pig, erm, policeman. (G2o riot squad excluded, of course) I'm talking about the shockingly offensive waste of paper that was inside my newspaper today. The newspaper was the Sunday Times, and the offending item was the porn like Rich List, which was mildly fascinating last year, but just an offensive kiss off to the jobless and debt ridden this year. To be honest, I don't need shit like this in my house. I've already banned The Sun, News Of the World, and most of the tabloid papers, I don't want to ban The Times. For sheer value for money, entertainment and dubious politics, The Times is worth it's place on my lounge table. But The Rich List is just plain insulting to my mind. If I was a single parent, working all the hours that this so called God sends, (I'm not religious,you might have guessed!), just to pay the bills and have somewhere to live, I'd doubtless be even more offended. This elitist tradition is nothing more than printed masturbation for the sake of glorifying the rich. And, I have no problem with people being rich, the majority of people on the list have worked hard to get where they are and should rightfully enjoy their wealth, in their place I'd do the exact same thing, if I'm being honest. The only part of it that annoys me is that there are people out there who will take this completely the wrong way.
Until a few years ago, when I knew no better, I used to look forward to The Sunday Times Rich List like it was the hottest sex ever had by anyone. It was genuinely thrilling to read the figures and find out who was the richest person, the fucker! Now, it just passes over my head. I am still vaguely interested, and the thrill is indeed a very voyeuristic one, but I don't enjoy it. In fact, I felt sick to the stomach when I looked at the front page once I'd got home. If I'd wanted porn, I'd have gone to Abby Winters. Right now, this is the equivalent to having sex with a horse. Maybe next year The Sunday Times will think better than to insult the many millions with no money to speak of with this crass publication.
Of course, it may provide some comfort to many to many to know that most of these millionaires lost a lot of money. It may also motivate them to get back on their feet and aim for their own entry in a few years time. If it does, great! I'm all for self motivation, but in this year of toning things down, they should at least have not plastered it all over the front page for all to sign over.
