I'm back from the darkside.

Hello, all. I'm sorry I've been out of touch. I went through a low period recently and felt so down that I had nothing good to say. The happy news is that I've come out the other end and things are shiny and hopeful once again. Needless to say, considering I was in such a funk, you haven't missed much.

We had an Obon party after work last night. This is a late-summer festival based around the idea that your ancestors come back to earth to visit a while. But really it's a chance for Japanese people to dress up in yukata (summer kimonos)



and take over public places in order to dance,


drink


and eat greasy food from stalls.

It's a lot of fun (even when it's part of enforced corporate socializing!!!). I took a video of some of the bon-odori (Obon festival dancing) to give y'all an idea of what you're missing out on. A very key point is featured at the end of the vid when you see the drunken salary-man with the sweat rag on his head come into the shot - it's not just about the well-rehearsed dancers in pretty costumes busting a move. It's about young and old, sober and not-so-sober, coordinated and klutzy giving it a go. (BTW, sorry about the poor picture quality - my camera takes video in some HD format that doesn't convert well to youtube. It looks beautiful on telly, though.)



Aside from that, the lull in my spirits coincided with a serious dip in my restaurant karma: I've had some bad meals. On a trip to Daikanyama, I was so excited to see this...


A wholly vegan raw food restaurant. I had only ever seen one raw restaurant (where nothing is heated over 48 degrees and where everything on the menu is supposed to be bursting with healthy enzymes that keep you fit as a fiddle) in Tokyo and the food there was absolutely delicious. Of course, it closed down! Admittedly, it was in a crap location. But this new one here could not have found a better spot. So I was really looking forward to making this my new haunt of choice. And then look at what they served me:


A plate full of rabbit food. I was so angry that they had lettuce feature so strongly. This feeds into all the negative stereotypes of vegan cuisine (plus the waiter was unhealthily skinny, and that's coming from me). I just felt it portrayed all the wrong images to convince a reluctant public of the benefits of this new concept. As if it wasn't bad enough that this UNCOOKED meal took almost thirty minutes to arrive and that they had the gaul to charge more than double what a usual lunch would cost in that area, the much-advertized 'organic' coffee ended up being powder from a jar. I doubt I'll be going back.

Veganism and vegetarianism basically don't exist in Japan, and it's super difficult to follow any sort of restricted eating plan. I don't know how often I turn a blind eye to the stock something is cooked in, or the dish where the meat has clearly just been picked out before being served to me. But worse is the false advertising. The amount of dishes over here that are called 'veggie' that are anything but. I went to a place the other day that was named the Vegetable Laboratory (it sounds slightly less stupid in Japanese). I sat down to order and found out that 80% of their menu was made up of meat, poultry or fish, that there was nothing vegan, and that the only actual vegetarian dish was a wholewheat sandwich with a few leaves of lettuce, some tomato, onion, half an olive and balsamic vinegar. I think I actually had a rage stroke when it was put down in front of me. But hey, at least I had some food on my plate, I guess. Count my blessings and all that. End of rant!

The only other random thing I wanted to mention was that fact that in Japan 'Minority Report' is now a reality. Remember that business with the kind of ether screen that the police dudes manipulated with their hands? Well lookie here at the front page of yesterday's paper:

This article also caught my eye because it was developed in a research centre in Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture. This is where we have one of our centres, too, and I used to have to go there all the time before I got the video-conferencing system introduced. Sometimes I do miss those easy, short business trips - especially the quiet time on the train with no phone or e-mail to bother you. Plus, running that teleconferencing project is repsonsible for at least fifty percent of the grey hairs now covering my head (see photo above) and we are still ironing out the kinks these many months later. But it's Saturday and I do now want to think about work, so I'll sign off. Thanks to any of you who made it this far down the bumper post.