Maids, Military and bento boxes

The weekend is upon us and ll is calm in my neck of the woods. Kobe is fickle with regards to weather. It seems to be a city that can't make up it's mind. Will I be rainy? Sunny? Windy? Humid? How about all of these at the same time?

Apparently, the wonderful city of Osaka is exporting it's young and delectable "maids" abroad to drum up more business!

Osaka 'maid cafe' waitresses fly to Taiwan to attract tourists
OSAKA- group of seven ‘‘maid cafe’’ waitresses wearing miniskirts and aprons left Osaka for Taiwan on Friday in a bid to attract tourists to the largest business area in western Japan. ‘‘We’ll sing and dance our best to promote Japanese pop culture,’’ Manae Miura, 18, told a send-off event at Kansai International Airport as representative of the eight-woman delegation.

The ‘‘maids’’ are from cafes in Osaka’s Nippombashi district, home of Japanese pop culture in the city. The delegation will take part in a big event featuring animated films and comics as well as an exchange event at a maid cafe in Taiwan, where maid cafes have recently become popular, during their stay through Sunday. See original



Of course, if you are a regular follower if this blog, you'll know that I enjoy posting pictures of cool foods I encounter. Sometimes they are pics of food I eat, my wife prepares or my students will bring to school or on field trips. The Japanese bento box culture is certainly a cool one. No one will ever be able to accuse me of being a "Japanophile" and if they do, be careful...I may smack you in the back of the head. BUT, I have to admit, I am beginning to find interests in places I never thought I would. One of them being; the absolute coolness of some linch boxes!

here are 3 pics I took from a field trip I recently took with my school.







I am interested in the outdoors of course and have been following a story about 2 hikers who recently passed away while climbing Mt. Fuji. One of them was an American man.

2nd missing man found on Mt Fuji later confirmed dead
SHIZUOKA-The second climber missing on Mt Fuji, who was found Friday morning near the peak of Japan’s highest mountain, was later confirmed dead, local police said. The climber was identified by the Shizuoka prefectural police as Takeshi Nakamura, 27, one of two men who went missing after going to climb the 3,776-meter mountain Saturday along with other company colleagues.

The cause of his death was hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature, according to police. The other missing climber, Jerry Yu, a 30-year-old U.S. national from Tokyo, was found a day earlier but was also confirmed dead. see original



The other day I checked out a documentary that was recommended by the Japan-based video blogger, BetamaxDC. This one is an American PBS documentary about the Japanese Self Defense Forces. It was fascinating. It's amazing how people in the world know so little about Japan's military. Even most Japanese people know very little. I was surprised to hear that Japan has the 5th largest defense budget in the world.

The documentary is called "Japan's About Face".

It's about an hour long, but if you have any interest in Japan at all or military history, it's a must see!