give your meat

bradzilla

bradzilla
Originally uploaded by renfield.

After dinner we headed to Ginza to check out the bright lights, Godzilla statue, and cool bars underneath the train tracks. We stopped by Andy's place for a final bevvie and some munchies.

veggie indian

veggie indian
Originally uploaded by renfield.

Met Grand Poobah of Enlightenment and Genuine Sentient Brad and his posse of minions doing his bidding (well OK his wife Yuka and his psuedo-minion Bret) at Nataraj in Ogikubo for some killer veggie Indian food.

kanda matsuri!

P1000755.JPG
Originally uploaded by renfield.

Twas time for the yearly festival. Down in Nihonbashi in the area around Honbu Dojo, the festival is THE event of the year. There are several mikoshi that get carried around the various neighborhoods for three days straight. Our local route goes right past Honbu. This year we had over 20 people from the dojo helping to carry the mikoshi, and even Tonchan got into the mood, though I think the crowds kind of freaked her out a bit.

sleepy x2

Thursday evening was big night out. Friday turned out to as well. Didn't leave work until well after 8, and got to Honbu just as the monthly Friday meeting was ending. Had a quick chat with some of the guys, and then Gosoke wanted dinner so we headed down to the local grubbery and I didn't end up getting into bed until 1am again. Slept well into the morning today though, so methinks I'm all caught up on sleep.
Tonchan, however, doesn't seem to recognize me as she hasn't really seen me in a couple days, so she's just giving me the glassy eyeball stare.

habeas corpus 2

As has been pointed out in the comments, America is not the only country without habeas corpus. My current country of residence, Japan, is a fine example of this, as written in this NYTimes article (free registration required) about how it's common practice for the police to imprison suspects for weeks on end and torture them until they give confessions, even when they are innocent.
However, I resubmit my point: it is not the current lack of habeas corpus in the US that I bemoan. It is the fact that habeas corpus has been effectively repealed through a combination of a deceitful, power-hungry government, a failure of the inherent checks and balances, and a sheep-like populace too busy reading bibles and watching American Idol to care.
Japan, on the other hand, never had a history of habeas corpus, so it was not taken away in a tragic bait-and-switch of political fear mongering and power grabbing.
I came to Japan 14 years ago knowing full well that I could be put in jail indefinitely for no reason. Hell, I was finger-printed like a criminal that day I arrived, and I am required by law to carry my Alien Resident Registration Card at all times. Failure to do so and produce such ID to the relevant authorities is cause enough for imprisonment and deportation. But I knew this coming here. I had no expectations of anything better.
Yet compare the current state of citizens' rights in the US now to 1994. You can be arrested for recording your precious American Idol so that you can watch it later at your convenience. You are breaking the law if you critique a news story in the context of journalism. You can be deemed an "enemy combatant" and held in a secret prison indefinitely, with no rights.
The consistent erosion of US citizens' rights through the Patriot Act, the DMCA, a co-opted Supreme Court, the "War on Terror" (whatever the hell that means) and an impotent Congress is a said situation indeed. And I have little hope that the next generation of politicians can or will do anything about it.

big night out

Celebrating an excellent outcome to a potential mess at work, so we got a couple of private rooms at the swanky Citabria. I left before the second bar and got home at 1:30...

habeas corpus

Say all you want about the "war on terrorism" (sorry, at which point did Congress actually declare war? And against whom? But I digress), the fundamental issue is that habeas corpus in the USA no longer exists. It it now totally and completely LEGAL for the US government to arrest you, declare you a military combatant, put you in a military prison, not charge you with any crimes, and deny you access to: legal counsel, the evidence against you, a judge or jury. Oh yes and you can be held indefinitely. That means forever.
So, this is the great bastion of freedom and democracy?

gorilla biscuits

Random walk down memory lane: I spent many a weekend evening checking out punk and hardcore shows at The Anthrax in Norwalk, CT. I am pretty sure I'm in the audience at this GB show, probably in the back as in '88 I was a mere sophomore and not stupid enough to risk death near the front in the pit.
When my daughter grows up and listens to whatever crap music she'll be into 15 years from now, I'll show her this and tell her to get over it, because her dad was straight up old school no foolin' sk8trBoi straight-edge hardcore back in the day.

too...much...meat...

too...much...meat...
Originally uploaded by renfield.

Kairi and Daisuke brought their parents over for some good old fashioned meat eating. Of course on the last day of a beautiful and sunny Golden Week, it rains. But fear not! We still fired up the BBQ and cooked far too much dead flesh. Sadly, the toilet's vent exhaust was right above the BBQ grill out on the deck, so the toilet is now infused with the pleasant odor of cooked meat.
Daisuke napped and then decided that a fun game is to press all the buttons on the stereo and DVD player. Kairi ran around, played various card games with ever-changing rules (ensuring that she was always just winning), fell over the couch a few times, and drew with my colored pencils. Mom and Dad and P took turns eating, holding Tonchan, and watching me run around with the other kids.

books and bread

After the TV arrived, we loaded the Tonchabeast into her chariot and bussed down to Ebisu. Sold some books and picked up my copy of Japanamerica at Good Day Books, then walked down to Arietta for some quality healthy bread and walked home. We detoured through Hiroo and grabbed a baked sweet potato, then stopped by National Azabu for some much needed supplies (salsa, corn chips) before heading home to enjoy the new TV.

37" LCD

37" LCD
Originally uploaded by renfield.

akiba

Did the day in Akiba with Mr. Kobayashi and The Todd. Mission was to get a new television. Figured I'd go for a nice plasma, but given that 37" was more than enough, settled on a lovely Toshiba LCD that does 1080. We had all-you-can-eat shabu shabu upstairs and did some other wandering in the lovely weather.
The Todd headed home to play the GTA3 I gave him (it had an irrelevantly small crack on it so I couldn't sell the disc) and apparently ended up playing all night.
I headed back to Conan's house of video games to check out more Riot Act and other silliness before heading home for dinner.

midtown

Today, along with everyone else in Tokyo on Golden Week holiday, we checked out Midtown.
Not being built by Mori, it was everything that Roppongi Hills isn't; the layout is simple, office buildings and residence surrounding a central multi-floor mall of shops and restaurants, with a nice park in the back. The courtyard, approaches, and halls are all wide and straight, and even as crowded as it was, getting around was quite simple. Obviously the architects did not intend to purposely confuse the wanderer, forcing them to navigate a labyrinth like Roppongi Hills.
We checked out sweet array of Nissan Skylines, from the first to the latest:

wandered around the garden, and looked at the sweet "real furniture" at the expansive Muji. I am grooving on the shelving unit; it has living room potential...

Since it was too crowded to eat, we walked to (the totally dead and empty) Roppongi Hills and got some munchies, sitting in the shade by the pond, then walked home.
When we got home, we realized we left the digital camera in Midtown!
I took a taxi back to Midtown and asked at the information counter in the main building, right by where we were sitting. The woman I asked knew immediately what I was talking about as she was the one who received the camera when some good semaritan brought it in. Soon I had my camera back in had -- only in Japan can one leave a digital camera sitting outside on a bench and come back to pick it up 5 hours later!

@ midtown

@ midtown
Originally uploaded by renfield.

gyoza time

Yuika and Kento and their parents came by for some mad gyoza eating. As always, we made way too many and ate way too much. At some point, Kento decided to attack Tonchan, wrestling style, but her ninja skills were formidable and she beat him back. Yuika suffered some collateral damage via the occasional boot to the head, but in general they all got along.

As Yuika executes a leg hold, Kento begins his attack...

...with a flying kick!

Kento goes for the pin while she's down...

...but Tonchan counters with a left...

...and a one-two combo whilst kneeing Yuika who goes for the double-team!

With Yuika KO'd, BattleTonchan finishes Kento with a left hook to the jaw!

Ultimately, the fight is declared a draw, and all settle down for some milk and a nap.

omotesando debut!

P wanted to get her haircut, since she hadn't cut it in over a year. It was a bright and beautiful morning so we loaded the Tonchabeast into her Mighty Chariot and bussed down to Shibuya, then walked up to Omotesando. Whilst P got her locks trimmed and styled, Ton and I checked out all the cool and happenin' trendiness that is Aoyama.
Afterwards we walked up to Crayon House for lunch at the organic cafe and the skies opened up with a squal o' fury. Rain dumped by the bucket so we checked out the books and stuff and then had some dessert. By then it had cleared up so we walked up through Omotesando and, being close to dinner time, stopped by Kua'aina for some Hawaiian burgers.

friday night

How come everything happens Friday, post-lunch, before a three-day weekend? Mad scramble to recruit and hire, fight fires, amend errors, avoid crises. Craziness. Love it!
Finally got out of the office about 9pm and hit Lucky's with Mr. ILS, where we enjoyed quality fried chicken, stir-fried garlic greens, and organic apple juice from the Nagano farm.

I have also now gotten in the habit of waking up a 6am every day, no matter what. Part of it is what my insomniac buddy told me. He said one strategy is to always wake up at the same time every day, and do not go to bed until you simply cannot stay awake. This will somehow force you to naturally get tired in time to sleep enough and wake up at the same time every day. I don't have insomnia (in fact, if I do zazen before bed, I am asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow) however I certainly do get enough sleep by sleeping early and rising early. Besides which Tonchan is already asleep by the time I get home, so I really only have time to hang out with her in the morning before I go to work.

oops

This morning Tonchan woke up a bit hungry and crying. I promptly woke up, rolled over...and fell out of the bed. Our bed used to be in the corner, so I had two walls to keep me in place, and I just loved seeing how far into the corner I could jam myself by constantly turning over and over, knowing the wall would keep me in the bed. Now our bed is in the middle of the room, with only the head of the bed against the wall. Luckily we have carpeted floors, so I did minimal damage. Hell of a way to wake up though. Hiroko was up, in the middle of the bedroom, with a crying baby to one side and me on the floor to the other. Sorry!