Lafcadio Hearn on New Orleans

"Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been buried under taxes and frauds and maladministrations so that it has become a study for archaeologists...but it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio." As true now as 150 years ago. I shall be visiting New Orleans a few days from now and plan to explore Hearn's haunts, including the Hearn House at the edge of the French Quarter. By the by, Dear Reader: Ohio is home to one J. Divan Vance. No further elaboration required.

Local Boy Does Good: トヨタ自動車の新社長•CEO 近 健太

Toyota Motor Corporation has announced that 近 健太、currently CFO, will be promoted to new roles starting April 1. I remember Kon Kenta as a junior high school student at Kido Jr High, Niigata City. He was exceptional, naturally, perhaps the only graduate that year to be accepted into Niigata's premiere public HS 新潟高等学校。Moreover, I remember his single-kanji surname struck me as unusual at the time. Finally, he has aged quite well: I can still make out the teenager he was then. https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/caae5b25a30f281c19e2a19285242ec34e48d83c

Hello Kitty, Madison, WI

Rice Price, Tokyo

A 5kg bag of Niigata rice sells for approximately 1,000¥ more in Tokyo than Niigata itself. CalRose, which I had never seen in Niigata supermarkets, was a few hundred yen less than the cheapest Japanese blend. However, at a different shop I discovered Japanese rice that was cheaper still.

富士山 at Evening

From the hotel room, Haneda Airport.

More 穴守稲荷神社 Photos

穴守稲荷神社

Ana Mori Inari Shrine is located in Ota-ku, Tokyo, at the entrance to Haneda Airport. I recently spent a night at a nearby hotel and stumbled across the shrine, which those who have traveled to or from Haneda by rail may recall from Keikyu Airport Line station of the same name.

Haneda Peace Gate

Apropos

Japan Today are reporting this: Man breaks into Tokyo apartment, threatening foreign resident with knife - Japan Today https://share.google/gslGj3frvzsVjExfH Some commenters assume the assailant is Japanese. Because zenophobia. About 20 seconds of searching reveals the following: “外国籍”男がアパートに押し入り住人男性に頭突き　包丁手に英語と片言の日本語で「財布よこせ」　もみ合いになり逃走　東京・中野区 - ライブドアニュース https://share.google/RmlqwbEhzDSf3PHvL Update: Unsurprisingly, the comment (including the above Japanese) was removed by the moderators at JT. The original story, however, has not been emended. One suspects this comment is not long for the world: JT, do your readers a favor- and your job- by updating the story to include reporting identifying the attacker as a foreigner.

Plus la meme chose

Writing in the 1890s, Hearn observes "Of the nine or ten English papers published in the open ports, the majority expressed, day after day, one side of this dislike, in the language of ridicule or contempt..." The "open ports" are the five Japanese ports opened to foreign trade in the 1850s and home to foreign concessions, entire 'alien' communities enjoying complete extra-territoriality, a colonialist arrangement regarded by most Japanese of the day as a national embarrassment and insult. The foreign community rarely traveled beyond its narrow precincts, and in its interactions with Japanese was insufferably haughty and condescending. As for "the language of ridicule or cotempt", one may simply peruse the comments (and the occasional article) in Japan Today to discover how little has changed. * Just imagine: "nine or ten English papers", some publishing morning and evening editions daily for a decidedly small readership.

Snowy Day

Snow atop grave monuments, downtown Niigata.

Rice: Great Kids, Cool Project, Nice Price

Bought 4kgs of rice today from students of a Niigata City primary school who live in a farming district and had planted and harvested the rice themselves. Pretty cool.

A Different Kind of Lunch

Lunch Set

Grilled saba and karage lunch plates. Simple izakaya fare to warm body and soul.