Happy Thanksgiving

This is not really a Thanksgiving post, but I will say that I'm thankful to live in a country where the net sum of our national heroes are not just celebrated in the U.S., but in other countries as well - as this statue of Commodore Perry located in the Japanese port city of Hakodote demontrates.

I had a great time in Japan, but the trip was far too short and I did not want to return. Hokkaido was pretty cold at times, but the weather wasn't too bad. Sapporo is a tiny town (about 1.5 million) compared to the mega city that is Tokyo. It's also pretty new, which means it had a easy to navigate grid structure to the roads. Highlights? The fish and crabs were plentiful and tasty as was the beer and sake. My tongue is not so acute as to notice the difference between fish in Hokkaido and fish in the Kanto area - but Tomoe's was and she was the one that marked the trip as an eating tour. Hokkaido is also known for dairy products and chocolate and lamb. Not things you normally associate with Japan. The milk was exceedingly delicious and I made sure to have some every morning with our lunch buffet. Through the miracle of Japanese cuisine, I stuffed myself repeatedly and still lost weight.

Sapporo has a lot of western influences in the architecture. I wish I'd taken more photos of some of the government buildings and Christian churches. Regardless, there were several picturesque landmarks such as this TV tower.

But you can't go to Sapporo without visiting the fish markets. Oddly, a place like the fish market below has no fish smell and a floor almost clean enough to lick - only in Japan.

Within that market were little sushi stalls.

Check out the generous serving of salmon!

I didn't get any pictures of the breweries there, but here's a diagram of the sake making process found at the Sake Musuem (which was not really a museum so much as a store).

Hokodate is a much smaller town towards the southern tip of Hokkaido - but well worth a visit because of a lot of little museums, convenient street cars and historic buildings (again, with a western influence) like this government building

Not the best of pictures, but you get the idea. There's also the Goryaku, a large western style fort built at the time of the Meiji revolution (1860s) - which we did not have time to visit. Photo from this site.

We took a tour of the harbor and I was pleased to see signs of Japanese military vessels like this destroyer.

And this Coast Guard vessel, which, according to the guide on the ship, routinely plays cat and mouse with N. Korean vessels in the area. This is actually the larger of two vessels which lends helicopter support to the smaller one (not shown).

The rest of the trip was spent in Tokyo & unfortunately I didn't get very many sightseeing pictures from there. But I did get plenty of photos of Tomoe's two nephews - who where not the least bit afraid of the ugly pink-skinned monster.

I`ve been in Japan for the past few days

and have had little inclination to navigate a Japanese keyboard to post - until now. My jet lag has me up early in the morning waiting for Toe to get up. We`re currently in Hokkaido and trying to decide which brewery to tour. I favor the Sapporo brewery where you can cap the tour off with a variety of fresh Sapporo beers and all the Genghis Kahn style barbecue mutton you can stuff down your pie hole. Toe wants to go to the Kirin brewery, which offers a sushi buffet. Sushi has been the main part of every meal here thus far. Perhaps we`ll make it to a ramen place, but I doubt it will be today.

Massey stories

Will Baghdad become the next Branson?

Stephen Hayes has a good piece on Phase II of the intelligence investigation

With a density reminiscent of Dan Rather, Kristoff more or less makes a correction

“First, he denies that he stated that the Vice President's office, not the
CIA, sent Ambassador Wilson to Niger, only that Cheney wanted an investigation
by somebody. But Kristof admits: 'In fairness, though, it is true that Cheney
apparently didn't know that Wilson had been dispatched. If I'd known that I
would have said so.'

"Then he turns to the matter of his column reporting that Wilson had
actually seen (forged) documents on the uranium deal, when he didn't. Kristof
explains: 'Wilson has said that he misspoke when he made references to the
documents to me and to two other journalists.'

“'But it does seem to be true that Wilson claims to have debunked the Niger
deal more firmly than some people remember him debunking it.'”

Translation – Wilson debunked nothing. Close enough, though, for the NYTimes.

Ramadan celebrations spread beyond Paris, beyond Ramadan

Instapundit has a pretty good roundup on riot posts. Drudge has a report that the riots appear to have been planned, according to the French Interior Minister. Hmm. LGF remembers a call to action from an Algerian Islamist organization back in September. (Now why would "French youths" care about an infitada?) Mr. Johnson also relays a report about a disabled woman lit on fire. Thus far, French authorities do not believe Eminem is involved.

A good day for the Alaskan carribou

they're one step closer to getting some relief from ANWR mesquitos.

Ramadan festivities continue in Paris

Gateway Pundit has a good roundup. Plus, Roger Simon posted a fascinating letter.

They've got a good shot at the pennant this year...

Worse than Katrina coverage....

Heh.

That was quick...

Bush's new pick has conservatives purring like kittens.

Humorous exchange between Howard Dean & Chris Matthews

Does this qualify as standing up for what you believe in?

Here’s a perfect example of the difference between Japan and China.

Whereas Japanese school boards may choose textbooks that gloss over WWII (their loss), there is nothing stopping the publication of a book strongly criticizing Japanese leaders or Japanese conduct in China. I’ve never seen a Chinese textbook, but I’d imagine that they tend to completely misrepresent the 20th century – by the command of Beijing. What’s more, no criticism of its leadership is tolerated in the publication industry at all. As the latest example, Mao: The Unknown Story has been banned in China (mentioned at the bottom of the article).

Reading the article, you can almost piece together the missing verses from the song “Imagine”

Imagine no food
No tableware or pots and pans
Nothing to masticate or digest
Except the tree bark and grass
Or the flesh of your neighbor….

Okay, I’m no songwriter, but you get the idea.

Kerry still hasn't found his voice on the war

Tim Blair noticed a Kerry-ism in an email the senator sent out to his supporters about his then upcoming “major Iraq” speech:

Later today, I will deliver a major speech on the war in Iraq.

It asks a hard and essential question: how do we bring our troops
home within a reasonable and responsible timeframe, while achieving what needs
to be achieved in Iraq?

One thing is certain. It isn’t by continuing to pursue the Bush
administration’s “stay for as long as it takes” rhetoric.

Blair: Pretentious blowhard. If “achieving what needs to be achieved in Iraq” is key, how does one avoid the requirement to “stay for as long as it takes”?

Indeed. And his speech? (excerpts here) Well, he likes to talk about asking the hard questions, but never seems to get around to the hard questions. When he finally drones his way to the "plan" portion of his argument - he provides absolutely nothing useful. He thinks there should be a political solution between the Sunnis and Shia - yet, he refuses to acknowlege that that's what all the constitution business is about. He thinks we need to build up Iraqi security, but refuses to acknowlege that that's what the U.S. has been doing. In short, any good ideas that he has are already in motion. And the meat of his plan? for Bush to provide a ....plan:

"The Administration must immediately give Congress and the American people a
detailed plan for the transfer of military and police responsibilities on a
sector by sector basis to Iraqis so the majority of our combat forces can be
withdrawn. No more shell games, no more false reports of progress, but specific
and measurable goals."

Not only is that not a plan, but it's just a bad idea. Bush's timelines are right on - transfer authority here, elect a temporary government here, develop a constitution here, etc. Those timelines are good to make known. They keep the wheel turning. That's the plan that Kerry is too blind to see. His timelines are geared towards withdrawal. Personally, I'd like to see no mention of pulling troops out - even when it is happening. If we cut our troop levels in half, best not to even acknowlege that we did it until years later. Hold those cards close to the vest. As Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down - that's as specific as you should get.

Ugh! Miers withdraws.

I was in the pro-Miers camp and thought she should at least get her hearings. The split among conservatives was, for the most part, a healthy thing, though I fail to see how her withdrawal benefits anybody, especially Bush. You’d think his record on judicial appointees would have earned some trust. Oh, well. Throughout the debate, I thought Hugh Hewitt was exceptional in his defense of Miers. He took on pretty much everyone (including what seemed like the entire NRO staff) and bested them one by one. Too bad he wasn’t on the winning side. Apparently, the anti-Miers portion of the base will not be happy unless Bush breaks out the pole and feeds the Democrats an uber conservative nominee like a Chinese man feeds a duck. I’m prepared to support that, too. I only hope the jelly-kneed Senate is.

Tough negotiations between two grown-up nations results in win-win solution

Straddling the fence

"Clinton said she doesn't support a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq nor
does she support leaving our troops there for an open-ended period."

Sounds like a Democrat.

French treachery?

Here's a month old story about the forged Niger documents claiming that they were apparently deliberately manufactured at the behest of the French government to derail the arguments for the war.

"Italian diplomats have claimed that, by disseminating bogus documents
stating that Iraq was trying to buy low-grade "yellowcake" uranium from
Niger, France was trying to "set up" Britain and America in the hope that
when the mistake was revealed it would undermine the case for war, which it
wanted to prevent."

And yet the pith of the 16 words remains firm.