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It happened in...

June





Day 15

FRI 29 JUNE

When I came to work this morning there were only 3 babies in the nest, so two of these little fellas are already flying.


Where Mum and Dad are going to sit, your guess is as good as mine



Bouncy castles of the world

FRI 29 JUNE

Forgot I had taken this one. This is the bouncy castle at the celebrations back in Golden Week in May of the 400th Anniversary of Kumamoto castle. I've seen many inflateable castles, but none quite like this one.



Spot the late child

TUES 26 JUNE


Tich is playing catch-up, so has muscled his way into prime position



Day 10 in The Nest

SUN 24 JUNE


Into positions now everybody...



...and SING!



Watch the birdies, day 8

FRI 22 JUNE

So the baby swallows formerly known as "Terry & June" were joined by a third. Which meant coming up with a name of another famous trio that wasn't the three Stooges. But before the threesome was christened it became evident that there weren't only three in there. But determining just how many there were, that was a bit tricky. Could've been four, could've been more.


You see? Even Mum's not sure. It's just a rabble of beaks, bums 'n new feathers in there.


But once everyone's got themselves pointed in the right direction...


...you can see there are 5. So, I present "Dave, Dozy, Beaky, Mich and Tich".


This one's Beaky.



Back from Yamaguchi; pt 2

FRI 22 JUNE

Yamaguchi's a long drive away from Kumamoto, about 250km. And the city (they say city, it's a big town really) has a fair few ryokan with their own onsen. A ryokan didn't really fit into our weekend budget, but dotted around the town were public foot spas, and let me tell you, after a drive like that, there's nothing better. Even on a day that's nudging 30°, sticking your frazzled feet into a hot bath is spot on.

Next day, on a similar note, we opted for more paddling. On a slightly larger scale. Because you're not on holiday until you've been paddling in the sea, eh.


Back from Yamaguchi; pt 1

TUES 19 JUNE

Most people don't decide to go travelling once tsuyu - Japan's rainy season - has got underway. But we seem to make a habit of it. And we've just got back from a very peaceful few days away in beautiful Yamaguchi prefecture. And we didn't see a drop of rain until we were almost home.

One of the highlights, for me, was visiting Akiyoshi caves. The immense cave system, northwest of Yamaguchi city, is said to be the biggest in Japan, and it's great to visit in the summer, as they claim the temperature is a cool 17° all year round down there.
















This last is my favourite of the group - this stalactite and stalagmite were once joined, but a land slip apparently tore them apart, leaving what is now a 4cm gap - it'll be another 400 years before they meet again.

You can see a slideshow (more or less full size photos on black) of these photos at Flickr.


Muuuuuuuum!

WEDS 13 JUNE

Day 2 in the Little Brother nest. Terry's found his singing voice.


How many swallows make a summer?

WEDS 13 JUNE

While the human contingent in Japan have concerns over the birth rate, the barn swallows are having no problems at all.

The previous clutch of 3 (photoset also on flickr) left the nest about two weeks ago, and for a week, we saw nothing. Then about a week ago we noticed the mother had returned and was spending most of her time inside the nest. Yesterday I got a glimpse...


...and then another fuzzy little head head popped up!



Nature's fireworks

WEDS 13 JUNE

With sun-baked days and warmer evenings upon us, it's time to go hotaru-hunting. I'm talking fireflies, people.

Now's the ideal time to see them. If it's been a sunny day and the evening's warm and still, they'll start lighting up around dusk. Damp wooded areas are good places to go looking. We have a spring in a forest just up the road from us, which is always a reliable spot for catching the bugs' light show.

You'll have to picture the scene yourself, because although I'd like to back this up with photos, unless they're all around you in large numbers, photographs don't really turn out too well. We did however get one to stop and pose in front of the camera for a moment. Mrs C caught one, and he crawled round her hands for a few seconds before flying off.


Perspective is everything

WEDS 13 JUNE

A question that appears to occupy the minds of many Japanese a great deal is "How does the world see Japan?"

So what is Japan's position within the global political community? How much influence can a Japanese PM hope to exert internationally?

Depends who you ask.

Ask Mr Abe himself, and you'll get a picture of the Japanese Prime Minister as a globally influential statesman. Returning from the recent G8 summit -
"Giving himself a pat on the back, a beaming Abe told a press conference that he was "very satisfied" that discussions at the summit for a consensus on emissions reduction "were centered on my proposal" and that Japan's initiative was included in the summit declaration."
The press, in fact, say he went further than that...
"Abe's carefully scripted language, including the repeated use of "I," which is rare in Japanese, reflects the premier's eagerness to impress the Japanese public with his achievements at the summit in hopes of improving his ailing support ratings just a month ahead of a crucial House of Councillors election."
This sugary treat was of course cooked up for domestic consumption. Meanwhile one wonders whether the go-getting PM is having anywhere near the impact he's claiming.

Who are you again?In Germany, the Schweriner Volkszeitung and two other regional papers, in profiles of G8 country leaders, printed this picture of Mr Abe.

Yes. Quite.

The gentleman pictured is actually Norihiko Akagi, the newly installed Agriculture Minister (who replaced Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who recently committed suicide).

Don't worry, Mr Abe. Your country still loves you. Well, perhaps not 'love'. 'Recognise', at least.


!
KitKat does a bit of community service

WEDS 13 JUNE

Another Yubari Melon KitKat? Didn't we have one just 6 months ago? (And another one the year before that?)

So what's different about this one? Well apart from being tarted up, not much, physically. But the big news is that this edition marks KitKat's political debut.

I appreciate how odd that sounds, but bear with me. The northern town of Yubari, in Hokkaido, famous for its extremely expensive cantaloupe melons, is going bust. Years and years of financial mismanagement and misfortune are coming home to roost. As the good folk over at Stippy explain -
"Back in the Showa period, Yubari was a symbol of post-war Japan with a healthy population of over 100,000 people and a vibrant industry centered around the Mitsubishi coal mine. Do you want to ride a Melon? Yubari did! As I'm sure you'll have guessed already, the canary died about twenty years ago - along with the mine - and since then the population has dwindled to about a tenth of its peak. In order to revive the region's economy, the local mayor decided to build an extravagant amusement park centered around the theme of Yubari's famous cantaloupe melons. Say no more. The city could never repay the debt related to this and other extravagant projects and resorted to short-term high interest rate financing from the local banks. All of this became public last year and the city was officially declared bankrupt."
Now who knows what machinations are going on behind the scenes. Why would Nestlé, a massive global conglomerate, decide to bail out a tiny Japanese town that's apparently economically unviable and has dopes for administrators? Well, on the surface, they're appealing to the conservative Japanese sense of doing your bit to preserve an endangered cultural artefact. Yes, very altruistic.

But as Stippy points out, only ¥10 from each KitKat goes to Yubari. But this KitKat costs ¥150, which is ¥30 more than usual. Haha! It's a perfect example of the kind of financial shenanigans that got Yubari into this mess in the first place!

KitKat - has your first step into the mire of Japanese politics tainted you so?


Vote these idiots out of their misery

TUES 12 JUNE

Ruth Kelly is an example of all that is wrong with the current Labour government. And Liam Byrne is another fine one.

Kelly is apparently the "Communities Secretary", as well as being one of the voices of two recent government proposals, both of which are breathtaking in their crassness, and exasperatingly pointless. Liam Byrne is the "Immigration Minister" (I didn't even know we had one of those. I would've thought that immigration would be the Home Secretary's job, but hey, you can never have too many Ministers...).

First, Kelly and Byrne suggested that we have a "Britain Day" - a day on which we can reflect on and celebrate our "Britishness".

This shows just how out of touch with their people the government have become. It's presumably a reaction to what they see as the "continued fragmentation of British society". So Ms Kelly wants us to impress upon each other that we are all the same, we are all British. The government see the problem as being that people just don't feel British. This much is true. But this state of affairs has not just arisen passively. Countless people in Britain have made the conscious decision that they don't want to be British. Britain is becoming more divided, not by accident, but by choice. The fact is Britain is not a single nation - growing nationalist movements are demanding separation. Religion is also dividing society, the most vivid example of which is that young British-born men can conceive of killing compatriots in suicide bombings.

"Ms Kelly told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a Britain day would recognise the "local focus" of people's contribution to society in particular.

"It might be, for instance, that local areas come together, they decide for themselves about the contribution that they might make," she said."
Surely a local focus is precisely the opposite of what is required. How you can focus on your local community and the nation at the same time without going cross-eyed is anyone's guess. When people in Britain contribute to their community, do they necessarily feel a sense of British-ness? I doubt it very much.

The ministers also say that "UK communities need a stronger sense of what they have in common, and they say the proposed national day would celebrate British values". Well, OK. But who gets to decide what these hitherto unspecified "British values" are? And what if your values clash with mine?

It's all wishy-washy nonsense, of course. And typical of the weak-minded, gimmick-loving, politically-correct, meddling and interfering governing that has been the hallmark of the Blair decade.

But even more to the point, each country within the union has its own day already. And they all celebrate it (some can even get the day off work). Except in England, where St George's Day goes unmarked by our government, who fear upsetting anyone. (Anyone who's not English, that is. Upsetting the English is fine. But best not offend anyone else.) So while the Welsh can celebrate being Welsh, and the Scots can celebrate being Scottish, the English along with everyone else just get to 'celebrate being British'? Can't see that getting anything better than a frosty reception.

But the brainwaves don't end there. Along with that, there was this proposal -
"Migrants would have to "earn" British citizenship under a points-based system. It includes proposals that credit would be given to migrants doing voluntary work but lost for breaking the law."
I'm sorry, but what wet nonsense is this? Why should migrants have to do voluntary work, when most of the migrants we're talking about, the legit ones, already work long hours for low pay? Unlike other European countries, British citizens have no compulsory period of community (or military) service, so if most current British citizens have never done voluntary work themselves, why should prospective ones be pushed into it? And as for the notion of "losing points" for breaking the law (which makes me want to slap the face of whoever suggested it, very hard indeed), have the words "imprisonment" or "deportation" gone so profoundly out of fashion?

Another peach -
"One of the ministers' suggestions is for "good neighbour contracts" setting out rights and duties for all people new to the UK."
Why is it always gimmicks with this government? When you interfere in people's lives to such an extent, you erode any sense of personal responsibility, the need for common sense, and the reliance on the simple rule of law.

What Britain needs is a simple system that is efficiently enforced, which means an uncluttered system stripped of these ridiculous whistles and bells which do no more than keep too many civil servants in work in brand new ministries that you've never heard of.


The London Olympics: A very expensive mess already

WEDS 6 JUNE

It was designed by the Wolff Olins agency and cost £400,000. It's spikey, it's barely legible, and it's available in four sugary flavours, all with Ready-Brek glows.

And according to the poor buggers charged with facing the media -
"It symbolises the Olympic spirit and the ability of the Games to inspire people to take part - not just as spectators, but as volunteers, in the Cultural Olympiad and more."
Righto. And how does it do that exactly?

"It won't be to be everybody's taste immediately, but [...] it's not a logo, it's a brand that will take us forward for the next five years," said Sebastian Coe (or as he's known under his new 'brand', Lord Coe), who hits the nail on the head but then starts rambling.

There's already an online petition to have the thing ditched (32,000 names strong at time of writing).

"A spokesman" is said to have added, "The emblem is flexible and will evolve over the next five years." Nice use of the world 'evolve' there.


Double boob job on Miss Universe

SAT 2 JUNE

There was excitement among the tabloids this week as Miss Japan, Riyo Mori, 20, was crowned Miss Universe in the 2007 competition in Mexico.

But one paper, Sankei, got rather overexcited in its coverage and instead of printing a photo of Miss Japan, "printed a photo of Miss Korea".

With the mistake drawn to their attention, they ran an apology, with the photograph below, from Associated Press, which purports to be "Miss Korea on the left, Miss Japan on the right".


The only problem being that AP had also messed up, and while that certainly is Miss Japan on the right, that's Miss Thailand on the left.

Was anyone looking at their faces?





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