Austin’s Japanese market, Asahi, has moved locations, and the store has been nicely “upgraded”. I don’t think it is bigger, but it is much better organized and very clean. The old location had a charm all of its own, though. Mariko said it reminded her of the store in inaka Japan when she was little. Anyways, the new store is very nice! We really like the couple who run the store. They are always friendly and helpful.

On the way to work this morning, I heard a story on NPR about summer hanabi (fireworks) shows in Japan. It was an excellent, albeit short, piece by J.R. Reid. His description was perfect, in that compared to American fireworks shows, the Japanese fireworks shows last a long time, from two to three hours.

He also said that the “greatest love song in Japanese pop music” was “Ano Natsu no Hanabi” by Dreams Come True (Dorikamu) and played a bunch of that song. I don’t know if that is truly the greatest love song in Japanese pop music, but I remember listening to that song a bunch in 95 or 96 before I moved to Japan. It was one of my favorite songs by Dreams Come True. It was funny hearing that song, and it brought back so many memories, since it was my favorite song for a time, and I haven’t heard it in almost ten years. After I moved to Japan, I didn’t really listen to them anymore. Maybe it was because there was just so many choices of Jpop to listen to, whereas in L.A., Dorikamu cd’s were easy to come by. I saw the disc in my collection a month ago, maybe I should put it in my cd player… Anyways, give the story a listen!

Finally there is some new information on the Konica-Minolta DSLR coming out. Their website is releasing tidbits about the camera features in installments, and right now, there is a short explanation about the Anti-shake feature, which looks really cool! Can’t wait til the camera is actually in stores!

This weekend I have been recovering from some kind of illness. Kind of a bad cold, with sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, etc. I have been taking sudafed, and it works great, but leaves me with two side-effects. The first is dry-mouth. That’s not that bad, as I have been drinking tons of water. The second is that I get this yucky taste in my mouth, and everything smells smoky. Not a nice bbq smoke, either. It’s more like a cigarette type of smoke. And not like you walked into a bar and smell a cigarette (I actually like that smell), but it’s more like you just smoked a cigarette, and have that taste in your mouth and want to brush your teeth. It’s both a taste and a smell. Kind of hard to describe, but let’s just say, it’s unpleasant. Anyways, I am much better and back at work.

Last night I had a dream that I was watching Barry Manilow being interviewed on a late-night talk-show. He said that he often has trouble switching to a low note while singing, so when he was singing at a concert in Hawaii, he would pause before the low note, then say, “Aloha” to the audience, then continue with the low note. He then said that throughout the rest of the concert, he would say something in Hawaiian before he had to hit another low note. He said that he didn’t know what the phrases meant, but the audience loved it, so it must have been ok. (The talk-show audience proceeded to laugh hysterically at this point)

Sometimes I am amazed at how the dreaming mind can make these things up.

My little Sentra just passed the 50,000 mile mark, and I have never had the brakes looked at. I know that’s terrible, but, well, that’s just how it is. Anyways, I must say that going to the brake repair place is an awful experience. It all worked out fine in the end, but the first place I visited to get my free estimate really put the guilt-trip on pretty heavy, and made me feel like I was going to kill myself, or someone else, if I got back in the car. This was a complete change of attitude from when I first walked into the place. The attendant was like my best buddy when I first met him, then after he inspected the brakes, he turned into a complete snake. (Read more for the happy ending)

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