Ultraman - 11/06

A section of the Mitsui Greenland amusement park is called Ultraman Land where a 50-ft Ultraman looks down protectively at attendees.

The US has Superman; Japan has Ultraman. Superman is a lonely kind of guy. He fights all his battles by himself. Ultraman has a large family and adventures with his ultra brothers, ultra mom and ultra dad. Of course, there are commercial advantages to a big happy product family, but I digress.

Superman has super powers and he can perform all kinds of amazing feats. Ultraman does one thing. He fights monsters. He doesn't have any particular powers except that he is big. He is as tall as Tokyo Tower and weighs 40,000 tons. So, hand-to-hand wrestling is usually effective. Sometimes he has to finish the monsters off with his specium ray. But most of the time he calls on his brothers for help. Superman never asks for help.

The Japanese message is that you can rely on others and work as a team to get things accomplished.

He also commutes from the planet Ultra, so that probably helps the Tokyo commuters feel better.

Ultraman had his heyday in the late 60s (Dave remembers the show!). Superman has had a few comebacks since then. I'll be ready for the Ultra-revival in the states and will figure out how to be involved in marketing ultra-spinoff products.

Futons and students - 11/06

We lease everything for living - the house, the car, the linens, the coffee cups. The leasing company thinks our furniture should be western, which is fine, except the couch, dining room chairs and beds are horribly uncomfortable. Having learned our lesson from our previous stay, we requested futons this time. Very comfy. Only downside is that my back and knees crack during kid good-night kiss time.

We have futon closets, with a big shelf, where we're supposed to place our futon until evening after airing them on the balcony. Right.

I do hang the futons on the balcony, um, occasionally, on those gloriously sunny mornings. That's when I'll see the kids headed out to school. The only buses are for the private kindergartens and those are colorfully painted with Hello Kitty or the Totoro cat. Elementary students walk, junior high kids walk or ride bikes and depending on what high school the student has tested into, they'll bike or use public bus or train.

Bridget's school goes to 4:30, then an hour more for club activities -- and then the kids go to Juku (cram school). Cram schools are located near train stations, and are imperative in order to prepare for entrance examinations at all levels.

Sometimes I forget the futons, and well after dark, I'm just bringing them in. And I'll see the junior high kids walking home, in their school uniform. Long day.

At least the Ministry of Education eliminated Saturday school a few years ago. There's still Saturday juku though.