Author: Adamu

My Mexican Experience in Thailand – ¡muy malo!

PA200004 resize.JPG
As part of the week-long birthday festivities for Mrs. Adamu, on Friday we had the chance to visit Charley Brown’s Tex-Mex Cantina, one of the few places in Thailand that can claim to serve anything close to Mexican food. I ignored Cosmic Buddha’s reservations about the place and decided to go anyway. Some thoughts:

  • I’ll start with something positive: in terms of food, there was nothing Thai about it at all, so my taste buds could forget they were in Southeast Asia for an hour or so. But here’s the bottom line: I’ve had El Paso instant taco mixes in the US that were about on par with this. Seriously, it barely registered as restaurant-level Mexican food. I give the place credit for at least giving it the old college try, but I’d wonder whose white grandmother was making the stuff if I had it back home. No discernible flavor to the meat, and the end product felt very mashed together. My chicken burrito was smothered in cheese on the outside that made it soggy (unexpected bonus – the refried beans tasted just like the beans they serve at Popeye’s chicken!). On top of that, it ended up being one of the most expensive restaurants I’ve ever visited in Bangkok – the bill came to 800 baht (approx US$20) for two dishes offering middling portions and 3 Heinekens. Here’s what it the burrito looked like:

    • PA200001.JPG

  • The manager of the establishment, a young British-sounding man named Chris, made a go at being friendly and asked how our meal was. This practice of returning to a table after the meal is served and asking how things are going is standard for the US but is something I had never seen until I came here. Still, it was a little off-putting when he decided to put off bringing us our bill to down a shot with some other ex-pats, who made themselves enough of a part of our dining experience that they earn their own bullet point below:
  • Our experience was badly marred by its intended customer base: Western tourists and sexpats. Mrs. Adamu and I could barely carry on a conversation over a boisterous group of Aussies, and people filtered in and out from a nearby outdoor whites-only drinking establishment. Worse than that, however, had to be the pasty white men and their Thai hooker escorts sitting at the 3 tables around us. Nothing ruins a meal faster than seeing some 50-something ‘Nam vet pawing at his new plaything between bites of enchilada. Oh, and their fat bodies bounced around enough to rattle Mrs. Adamu’s seat since the booth chairs were connected. We kind of knew what to expect after we tried to eat there unsuccessfully on Monday (it’s closed on Mondays, a fact that didn’t make itself known on the online site we checked), since to get there one must wade through myriad cheap crap stores, decrepit beggars, and numerous prostitution venues. The area outside the Nana skytrain station is notorious as a red light district, so in that sense it’s our fault for going in the first place.

    • Recommendation: unless you have no problem with sex tourism and are sure that you’ll never ever visit a part of the world with good Mexican food again, stay away from Charley Brown’s.

    Don’t laugh, some day we’ll ALL be wearing one of these

    capt.tok10510160837.japan_toshiba_gadget_tok105.jpg

    In this photo released by Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. Monday, Oct. 16, 2006, a model wearing a full-faced prototype headgear demonstrates the new gadget that enables the wearer to get a 360-degree view on a 40 centimeters (15.8 inches) across dome-shaped screen at Toshiba Corporate Research and Development Center in Kawasaki, west of Tokyo, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006. The ominidirectional image, of which two-dimentional version is displayed on the flat panel screen, will be projected to the three-kilogram (6.6 pounds) helmet in accordance with the wearer’s head position upon being detected by infrared sensors. Toshiba plans to merchandize the gadget within 2 to 3 years. (AP Photo/Toshiba Corp., HO)

    (Thanks to CRAZY JAPAN)

    Colbert: “I want you to address my pachinko analogy”

    Recent exchange from the Colbert Report:

    Biologist/god critic Richard Dawkins: [Evolution] is a highly non-random process. The big thing that everyone misunderstands about Darwinism is they think it’s chance, they think it’s an accident, and it’s not an accident.

    Colbert: Well, it’s too complex for us to perceive, you know, it’s like, I know a pachinko machine isn’t an accident, either, there’s a reason why it bounces from nail to nail, but it looks random to me, right?

    Dawkins: Nothing in nature looks random.

    Colbert: I want you to address my pachinko analogy!

    Dawkins: I’ve never even heard of it, what is that?

    Colbert: You’ve never heard of pachinko? Oh, it’s like Japanese pinball. It’s great, they make pornographic versions of it over there.

    The Colbert character proves once again to be more complex than meets the eye. Just when you thought you knew his aggressively ignorant conservatism, off he goes and admits not only to an interest in other cultures but even a playful love of pornography!

    But anyway, I’d like to show you a little of what Colbert was talking about. Yes, pachinko is similar to pinball, but unlike in the US where pachinko continues a slow fade into near-extinction, the vertically played Japanese game remains Japan’s top gambling institution, beating out horse betting and lotto-type games (not necessarily in that order). The gambling business side of pachinko is only semi-legal and the parlor owners are well known for ties with North Korea. But if casino-type games are your cup of tea, then platforms such as 슬롯사이트 may be perfect for you.

    As for the machines themselves, my personal favorites are the ones featuring the chinful mug of the game’s biggest promoter, wrestling legend and former Diet member Antonio Inoki, who incidentally also has close ties with the North Korean elites:

    inoki pachinko.jpg

    Are there pornographic pachinko machines? The Cutie Honey series, featuring big-breasted anime women, may count:

    More famously, there are numerous machines featuring 80s anime sensation Urusei Yatsura:
    023_-1.jpg

    dai.jpg

    The game features the bikini-clad character Lum, and the outside of pachinko parlors are often plastered with her image. Similarly, you’ll also see some risque shots of Fujiko-san from Lupin III to advertise pachinko games based on the seminal anime series:

    If you want to call these games pornographic I wouldn’t object, but at worst they are the softcore stuff similar to what you’d find in American comic books. The difference, I think, is that Americans visiting Japan (like myself) would probably feel uneasy with the flagrant, in your face placement of these images in public outside pachinko parlors, especially placed in the context of plentiful pornography (bikini shots in kid’s comics, men reading newspapers featuring full nudity on the train) and casual misogyny found throughout Japan’s pop culture.

    Incidentally, there’s been a recent (2004-ish) release of a pachinko version of the epic anime title Neon Genesis Evangelion, for those who might like that sort of thing:

    eva pachinko.jpg

    We still miss you Koizumi!

    Koizumi post PM stump speech 200610160287.jpg
    Koizumi has made his first public speeches since leaving office in support of LDP bids for office in two simultaneous by-elections to be held this Sunday in Kanagawa and Osaka Prefectures. I’m not all that interested in the races, since they both seem to be swinging LDP, it’s great to see the man’s face again.

    Unfortunately, it looks next to impossible to get a full version of this speech. TV stations seem to only have carried parts of it, the online news sites don’t seem to be carrying it, Koizumi doesn’t have his own website, and the LDP’s site hasn’t uploaded it yet, if they plan to at all. Japan does have something like America’s C-Span, but it’s an extremely minor channel that very few Japanese people receive.

    And yes I checked YouTube as well, but it wasn’t there. Thankfully I found some sweet footage while I was looking:

  • A Koizumi anime outlining some highlights of his administration, such as his style in selecting cabinet members and bringing his own boxed lunch to the historical summit meeting with Kim Jong Il – even Abe looks interesting when animated!
  • A TV clip reporting on a magazine article in Shukan Post that Koizumi moved out of the PM’s official residence the next day after the LDP presidential election, stayed in a 520k yen per night hotel room, only to move into a meager 50k yen/night room immediately after stepping down as PM. He brought dozens of classical music CDs with him, said he’d take a year to “recharge” and is enjoying a “leisurely retirement.” Meanwhile, Yoshiro Mori, Koizumi’s predecessor, has increased his political wheeling and dealing and is rumored to have a great influence on Abe. Mori had pledged to step down as his party faction’s chairman when Koizumi left, but apparently since Abe will do whatever he says, leading the faction is just too “fun” to quit. Despite Abe’s pledge to go it alone when deciding on a cabinet, Mori leaked to the press that he had a sit-down with Abe to discuss his new administration. The rumors are
  • And last but not least, a great retrospective of what made Koizumi rock – the photo ops. Watch closely to see Koizumi in a Guardian Angels uniform, with beret!

    • Quick note on the NK Nuke Test

    Go read about the test elsewhere (“Fundamentally changes the landscape” is a good one as well as Washington Post’s just-the-facts coverage), but I just have one thing to say that I’m sure the news reports won’t focus on:

  • NK’s July 4 missile tests: rained on America’s Independence Day
  • Monday’s nuclear test: Screws up Columbus Day in the US and Sports Day in Japan.

    • Both were long weekends, both incidents required top US leaders to wake up in the middle of the night.

    Exploding an in-your-face nuclear bomb just isn’t enough for Kim Jong Il, he’s so evil he won’t even wait till the US has had its morning coffee! Well, I’m sure the government pays overtime for whatever non-exempt employees have to respond.

    Update: One country’s interrupted holiday is another’s celebrated holidays:

    UPDATE 7: Why today, you might ask? Well, Korean-language Money Today suggests that because today—Oct. 9—falls between two holidays in Korea: the anniversary of Kim Jong-il assuming the position of Korean Workers Party general secretary ( Oct. 8 ) and the anniversary of the founding of the Korean Workers Party ( Oct. 10 ).

    I know you’re busy, Mr. Abe, but…

    Update your website!!!!

    abe_top.jpg

    (As of the evening of Oct 2, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s website still indicated that he was still Chief Cabinet Secretary and was still trying to use some sort of DOS prompt to “./configure –with-passion=/home/abe/blood”. Blood?)

    Hopefully his people are just too busy gearing up to make Abe the first world leader to offer a regular podcast… or a mixi profile?

    LIVE BLOGGING of the Abe questioning

    Japan’s new PM Shinzo Abe is in the Diet today answering questions fomr Diet members on his policies. You can watch the proceedings now here (in Japanese). Abe just said to the effect:

    There was a question on the enshrinement of Class A War Criminals at Yasukuni Shrine. On the topic of Class A War Criminals, there are many opinions on each side so I don’t think it would be appropriate for the Japanese government to comment one way or the other on the matter.

    Pardon my ignorance, but doesn’t the Japanese government generally respect the results of the Tokyo tribunals? I’m interested to see what the press has to say (if anything) on Abe’s comment. More likely, they will comment on what he said next, which is that he still refuses to comment on whether he himself plans to visit the shrine.

    UPDATE: The video of the questioning is now available.

    Here’s what he said:

    There was a question on the responsibility as national leaders of the so-called “Class-A war criminals.” Regarding the responsibility for the last great war, there is a variety of opinions, so I feel that it may be inappropriate to make detailed, sweeping comments as a government [on this issue]. Whatever the case, our nation accepted the judgments of the Tokyo tribunals based on Article 11 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, so I believe that in state to state relationships, the Government of Japan is in no position to raise any objections regarding this judgment.

    His explanation is almost an exactly lifted from the foreign ministry’s explanation of the issue:

    The Government of Japan acknowledges that there are various arguments regarding this judgment. However, Japan has accepted the judgment of the IMTFE under Article 11 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Therefore, in state to state relationship, the Government of Japan believes that it is in no position to raise any objections regarding this judgment.

    Isn’t that cheating? I thought this was a man with strong opinions!

    One other interesting development during the questioning: Abe screwed up, if only a little bit. DPJ member Takaaki Matsumoto asked the PM whether Abe’s reference in his Friday inaugural policy speech to “research” what situations would allow for collective defense by Japan meant that the “quite detailed” constitutional interpretations by previous governments would be changed. In response, Abe repeated what he said last week: He will research into what kinds of circumstances would allow Japan to exercise collective defense, founded on previous constitutional interpretations and Diet debates, and “focusing on actual situations that could occur.” According to Abe, there is a need to look into this issue due to “increased expectations” of Japan so that the U.S. Japan alliance can “operate more efficiently.”

    However, minutes later, Abe came back and “supplemented” his response by saying that at this stage he was simply stating a “summary of his views” on the matter and that he intends to “duly consider” the matter of collective defense. This essentially backtracks his earlier, more concrete statement that he would research the issue.

    Matsumoto, an opposition lawmaker who has never held a cabinet post, then found himself in the unlikely position lecturing the youngest (and one of the least experienced) postwar prime minister on how to run his cabinet: “I think that there might be a need for you to reread your statements on the…collective defense issue at the cabinet and get them organized.”

    Not sure why Abe tried to delete his previous remarks, but perhaps he is trying to avoid making headlines about his efforts to rewrite the constitution ahead of his Oct. 8 summit meeting with the Chinese premier.