Japan in Fast Forward

My family (parents and 2 sisters) visited me me here in Fukuoka last week. Having only 6 days to stay, they had to see everything fast and furiously. Immediately from the airport, we headed straight to every shopper's dream wholesale store: Costco Hisayama. Buying up boxes of microwave popcorn and dozens of Disney children's books in bulk was apparently in their list. We made a quick stopover at Fukuoka Tower to see the city at night. The elevator girl kept chatting them up apparently to naught. A quick night's sleep then off to Huis Ten Bosch we went.The train ride (Midori express) arrived on the dot. The tulips were in full bloom and we bought cheese equivalent to the weight of a small child. We also went around downtown Sasebo to look for american fast food because they had a craving for it.
Off to Nagasaki the next morning, we had to take the Seaside express, aptly named beacause it took it's own sweet time curving aroung the seaside. I must admit that the view was pretty scenic but being squished with half the population of Nagasaki inside the train was not my idea of scenic. A quick trip to the Atomic Bomb museum was both enlightening and made us remember the horrors of the nuclear weapons. My parents waxed melancholic of their experiences during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. On a happier note, Nagasaki Chinatown offered champon, sara-udon and fried rice. Food is always is a welcome treat. Also shopping at the Gap...
Kyoto is the next stop for us. After a 2 hour and 55 minute Shinkansen ride (Hikari-Railstar), we arrived at JR Shin-Osaka Station, then transferred to another train for a 15 minute ride to JR Kyoto Station. Getting the one day bus ticket made us regret it the moment we stepped on, and half the geriatric population of Kyoto boarded and got off during the 30 minutes or so we had to endure to see the Kinkakujin Shrine. I made a mental note: Do not take the bus in Kyoto ever again.
To be continued....

Holy Week!

Holy Week 2006. Today being Holy Wednesday would mean people still scrambling their way out of Metro Manila in a mad dash to a) nearest beach to cool down in this feverish weather b) a province where one lays claim to have relatives or a semblance of family c) out of the country to leave all worries behind (until the credit card bill comes and all the worries come back rushing in).
Having been here in a foreign country for some time, Holy week is just an ordinary working week for me. No flagellants in the street, no caterwauling old women "singing the pasyon" nor processions that last forever.Their idea of holy week here (for Japanese catholics, that is) starts off with the blessing of palms and lots of prayers. I think it's more contemplative for us to be working during these holy days and learn to appreciate the small blessings sent our way as we await our Lord's resurrection on Easter Sunday. And in much agreeable temperatures if you please...

These "effin" websites are "perf"

At the start of the day, the moment I turn on my laptop I usually spend a couple of minutes browsing through the usual pages I visit in the internet: inq7.net,philstar.com and e-online.com. Recently, I have been fascinated by the increase in the number of sites specializing in gossip/paparazzi. They have been getting quite popular lately with George Clooney tangling with the people of Gawker/Stalker that posts celebrity sightings. I think everyone has heard of Paris Hilton but Perez Hilton? He has his own blogsite personally dedicated in trashing both celebrities and wannabee celebs complete with revealing photos. Another site I find interesting is Lainey’s Entertainment update. She is one bitchy chick (Asian to boot) who hates Jennifer Aniston but adores Gwyneth Paltrow. She absolutely abhors Tom Cruise but keeps Joaquin Phoenix as her top Freebie 5. Dlisted( sex,drugs and gossip) has subtitles like Pumkin to marry her lesbian lover or that Katie Holmes tummy is 50% goose down pillow meaning fake meaning she and Tom are having the baby via a Scientology surrogate. This site also describes “Basic Instinct 2” as a flop because no one wants to see Sharon Stone’s crumbling 77 year old p**sy!!! Well, the most popular is of course Ted Casablancas’ “The Awful Truth”. It’s kinda hard to understand because of all the “ayem” (AM) or InWhySee (NYC) or effin (figure this out) but he’s really the authority among theses wanna-be columnists. If you wanna check them out here are the links: http://www.perezhilton.com/ , http://www.laineygossip.com/ArticleList.aspx ,
http://www.dlisted.blogspot.com/, and http://yahoo.eonline.com/Gossip/Awful/index.html .