Posted on 11/03/2004 9:07:37 AM PST by lefty-lie-spy
Tokyo expatriates watching and waiting
Posted: 1:11 a.m. From Atika Shubert, CNN Correspondent, in Tokyo, Japan
Republicans Abroad in Japan gathered at the Hobgoblin, a Tokyo watering hole, to watch the results displayed on flatscreen TVs. Some viewers came equipped with laptop computers to track the vote count in specific states. Democrats Abroad in Japan gathered at private homes to monitor the results.
Both organizations said they had record numbers of Americans in Japan registering to vote in the 2004 elections. The Tokyo American Club tuned their television sets to CNN's live election coverage, attracting a bipartisan crowd of members. As the counting dragged on, however, viewers grew increasingly anxious.
"It's a real nailbiter. I can't sit still to watch!" one expatriate said as she left the club.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
ping to American in Tokyo
Arr your votes are berong us!
Arr your votes are berong us!
Err. How can I post my pics. Do I HAVE to build the HTML and link it to my own website where ther pics are stored?
I find those who are members like it, and those who cannot for one reason or another be members (usually lack of money or corporate sponsors/endorsers for membership) then have 'sour grapes' and bash it, secretly wishing they could join because the Prime Rib and exercise clubs are out of this world!! It has it's place I suppose. The key is not to make it the center of one's universe in Japan.
Youll find these jokes, along with all the "Godzilla stuff", all get to be old hat for awhile, for many of us who have serious jobs/work in Tokyo or otherwise worked in Japan in the past in private business, military or government.
I showed up in time to meet a couple of the Republicans Abroad and sup a couple of pints with lefty-lie-spy, but had spent most of the afternoon watching the returns at home on FR.
Since I am now the manager of a bar-salon in Tokyo, I am hoping I can host the next Tokyo FReep meet. Anyone have any ideas,
good post!
how amusing
Of course it does. If I was doing business in Japan as an executive, it offers fantastic networking potential. It's also a beautiful building. The food I had there was OK but I was honestly just as happy with the Sizzler in Shinjuku. Stop shuddering. It's better than the "American" restaurant over by Takashima Times Square. :-)
I find those who are members like it, and those who cannot for one reason or another be members (usually lack of money or corporate sponsors/endorsers for membership) then have 'sour grapes' and bash it, secretly wishing they could join because the Prime Rib and exercise clubs are out of this world!! It has it's place I suppose.
I've been inside, more than once. They have an excellent Japanese print sale once a year there, too. It's not so much "sour grapes" (I did point out that my characterization was a bit uncharitable) as the slice of people I met there and my experience in Tokyo.
To make a long story short, some of the first epats I met in Japan were members. They lived in Minato-ku, shopped at National Azabu, and the wife basically said that she spent all day at the TAC. The reason why they said their company gave them a TAC membership was to help them cope with life in Japan -- in other words, to let them escape it. And that's pretty much how they used it. And they didn't seem to be the only ones.
I also know how easy it was for me to just be an American and hang out with expats without a TAC membership and, frankly, the easier it is to have a circle of expat friends, the less incentive someone has to actually engage Japan and things Japanese. I know. I did it without a TAC membership with the people I found myself. It seemed like a lot of TAC people did the same thing and that TAC made it very easy to do.
For someone who really doesn't like Japan or has trouble coping with it, I suppose that could be great and I suspect it really is a blessing for the people who relocated a reluctant family to Tokyo for business. I actually volunteered to go to Japan and my wife was willing to go, too, with a pretty good understanding of what we were getting into. But in some ways, I think we robbed ourselves of a better Japanese experience by creating our own little low-budget coccoon of expat friends and groups that let us limit our interaction with our Japanese neighbors. So what I think you are probably hearing from me, more than sour grapes, is regret over keeping Japan at an arms length while I was there and my concern over people that fall into that trap with the help of TAC.
The key is not to make it the center of one's universe in Japan.
Yes. But like I said, I got the impression that some people do let it be the center of their universe in Japan. That's what I think is bad. I'm not saying it's useless.
There are five in residence now. Edgar teamed up with Vicky to produce a litter of four babies. We have found homes for two of them, but still have two more to go. And yes, we are going to have Edgar clipped (finally).
On the bad side, however, Edgar and Helena have had a falling out that I can't for the life of me explain. Edgar acts like he hates her these days and attacks her whenever he thinks he can get away with it.
I have been grabbing him and putting him into the cat-carrier as a penalty box, time-out sort of move, but I am really at my wits end to understand it. They got along great for so long...
You gotta get those kitties fixed. They breed only slightly slower than rabbits. My friends got a kitten and it turned out she was pregnant when they got her.
On the bad side, however, Edgar and Helena have had a falling out that I can't for the life of me explain. Edgar acts like he hates her these days and attacks her whenever he thinks he can get away with it. I have been grabbing him and putting him into the cat-carrier as a penalty box, time-out sort of move, but I am really at my wits end to understand it. They got along great for so long...
If Edgar mated with Vicky, it could be that Edgar is trying to mate with Helena and she wants no part of it. Get Edgar fixed and see if that helps. It could simply be that he attacked her, enjoyed doing it, and she let him so he keeps doing it. Cats have a social pecking order, too, and if Edgar has decided that Helena is a "pariah" cat, he'll attack her. We've got a couple cat pairs that get into fights from tiem to time due to social hierarchy issues.
Cats aren't like dogs. They don't understand anyone else's perspective so they don't really understand when they are annoying another cat or you. They do what they want because they want to do it and don't do things because they don't want to do them. The key to training a cat is convincing it that it wants to do what you want it to do and it doesn't want to do what you don't want it to do. That's a lot harder than it sounds and once a cat gets into a rut, it can be very difficult to get the cat out of the rut because they develop behavioral patterns.
What I suggest is that you don't leave Edgar and Helena in the same room if you aren't home. He'll only attack her while you aren't around and that will encourage the behavior to continue. When you are home, get a water pistol or spray bottle. If Edgar goes after Helena, shoot him with a blast of water from a distance. Water sprays make a good behavioral modification tools and if you do it from far enough away, the cat won't assoicate the punishment with you but with the behavior, which is what you want. If you punish the cat, it will see you as a threat and won't necessarily associate the punishment with the behavior. Don't expect cats to understand cause and effect like humans or dogs (e.g., if you put a cats nose in pee, it won't learn that peeing there is wrong, it will learn that you will grab it and force its nose into pee and you may just remind it that that's a good place to pee).
Do some web searches on "cat training behavior" and you'll find web pages about how to train cats. I've been someone successful in traming the new cats I have not to pee where they aren't supposed to using advice that I found on the web.
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