カニは、一匹バケッツに入れられると、すぐに逃げようとして登り始めます。他方、10匹入れられると逃げません。カニが登ろうとすると、バッケツにいる他のカニが足をつかんで、引っ張るからです。

このようなわけで、カニが一匹でも逃げられないときは、すべて食べられてしまいます。

体重を減らす運動としたら、たしかに水泳は最高です。一番カロリの使う運動とは限らないけど、ジョギングやエアロビクスなどの服装はぶかぶかな運 動着でするけれど、水泳は水着を着なければいけません。

泳ぐ前に水着を着て、ロッカールームの鏡の前を通り掛かって、実勢の脂肪がはっきり見えます。それでもっとがんばろうと思うからです。

人通りが大変多いのに、もみ合うのは大変少なかったです。コンビニで長い列に並んでいる人は順番に待っていました。道に迷っていらいらしているような人々も丁寧に道を尋ねていました。

欧米であったら、きっと、その秩序と協力の水準にならないはずです。

実は、私は東京の正月休みが好きです。人が少ないので周りが静かです。そして車が少なくて、一週間だけで、大気汚染がなくなって、きれいな東京の冬の空気を楽しめます。

それも、新聞によると、今年は江ノ島水族館に電気ウナギの電気で光るクリスマスツリが立てられたということです。休みの日見に行こうと思っています。

日本では夏になると怪談話がよく語られますが、私にはそれらがあまり怖いとは思えません。実は、カッパは怖いというよりも、むしろ可愛いと思えるのです。それに、日本人は西洋のお化けのことや怪談話を聞いても怖がらないと言います。

子供のときから培われた、それぞれの「畏怖」に対するイメージは大人になってもそれぞれのバックグランドにより、違ってくるのでしょう。

The Catholics are up front with you. While you are alive, the Catholics endeavor to make you feel as guilty as possible. Not feeling guilty enough is actually considered a sin. They then leverage this guilt to extract the maximum financial return from you in the brief time they have. After you die, however, you are fully amortized, and the Earthly church is done with you. You are considered to be, no matter how long the odds, “with God”.

The Japanese Buddhists play the game in reverse. You can do what you want to in life without guilt. I’ve been out drinking (and more) with a number of priests here in Japan and believe me, they are pros. Aside from the isolated blessing of a building site here and the occasional festival there, the Buddhists don’t demand much in the way of contributions.

After you die, however, the extortion begins. The assumption seems to be that your loved one has screwed up and will be waiting for reincarnation for quite some time. If you want to avoid problems, the priests need to intervene on your behalf. You need to pay up or the dearly beloved will suffer for it.

First, the deceased needs to be given a new name, and “good” names cost millions of yen. The priesthood is not too specific about what happens if they decide to give the soul a “bad” name, but I’m assured it’s something horrible. Not that the priests want to give anyone a bad name, you understand, but a lack of sufficient cash upfront can affect their concentration and, hey, they obviously can’t be held responsible for what happens if the family is preventing them from concentrating.

The shakedown doesn’t stop there, of course. The family needs to come up with additional protection money on the 7, 49 and 100-day anniversaries of the funeral as well as the 1, 3, 5, 7 and 13-year anniversaries to ensure that the now wandering soul does not “have an unfortunate accident” while waiting for their next incarnation.

A few years ago I blogged about my shock over the popularity of the McGriddle in America (seriously people, its not food) but it has turned into a best seller here in Japan as well. They have also introduced the MegaMac here in Japan. It’s basically a Big Mac with a two extra patties, and they literally can’t keep it in stock.

Two years ago Krispy Kreme opened its first outlet here and the lines are still hundreds of people long. An unending flow of petite 45kg Japanese girls wait for an hour in the cold to get to the front of the line and and then scurry off with their box of dozen glazed donuts: each one ready to cite without a hint of irony the conventional wisdom about how healthy the Japanese diet is.

Most nauseating and vile of all, however, has to be Pizza Hut’s new special crust. (I think this is a Japan only thing, but I could be wrong.) The outside rim othe the pizza crust is actually made from detachable, rolls or cheese that have been battered and deep-fried, and it comes with maples syrup that you are supposed to pour over the crust before eating.

The Japanese are currently the longest-lived people on Earth. I wonder if the next generation will be able to claim the same title.

That’s gotta hurt.

Japanese Fooled in Poodle Scam

It seems that thousands of Japanese women have been sold “exotic poodles” only to discover that they were, in fact, sheep. (I mean the poodles. They literally were sheep. The women, on the other hand, only figuratively were sheep.)

The pet importers would have gotten away with it to, if not for those meddling kids! No, what tipped them off was when movie star Maiko Kawamaki appeared on a talk-show with her new poodle complaining that it would not bark or eat dog food.