What a week it’s been.
But before we go any further, this newsletter will be a bit long, so if you don’t care about my ramblings and are only here for the links to my blogs, let’s start with them so that you don’t waste your time (but really, you should read the rest, too).
Japan
Two “biggish” things related to my part of Japan these days. If you follow my writings and creations about Japan, you must not miss these two.
The second video of my day trip on the Seto Inland Sea onboard Inoue-san’s boat. This time, it’s all about the Great Seto Bridge, the world’s longest two-tiered bridge system. It connects Honshu and Shikoku and it’s quite impressive when you get to see it up close.
Finally, I have a full page devoted to Naoshima’s Benesse House Museum on my Setouchi Explorer site. The reason it took so long is pretty simple. Until recently, pictures were not allowed inside, and I didn’t think that a page only made of text was really adding anything to what’s already available. It’s also the reason why I don’t have much about the Chichu Art Museum either.
Swamp Media
Two instructive posts these days:
My friend, namesake and co-author David answers the question “How fast does bamboo grow?” with a very fun video he shot a little while ago when he was living in rural Japan.
And I tell you something I hope you always wanted to know, it’s how to recognize an alligator from a crocodile! Many people just assume that they’re almost the same thing and pretty much interchangeable. They’re not. You’ll be surprised to know that humans are more closely related to many monkeys and of course to apes than crocodiles and alligators are to each other.
The Rest
How my interest in a new Lego set made me discover a wonderful TV show that radiates positivity (something we all need more of these days) and that also proved quite educational to my kids.
I’m talking about Queer Eye.Just a picture of Carcassonne’s castle inner courtyard. (if you want to read more about the castle, I have a slightly older post for you)
The title and the subtitle. Well, they’re the text below.
As the title says, and as we all know, war at a scale unseen since 1945 is happening again in Europe.
It’s terrifying in many ways. And yet, I also want to see some hope through the darkness. This invasion of Ukraine doesn’t come as a surprise and I was really afraid that it could get much worse much faster. I’ll never thank Ukraine enough for resisting the Russian army the way it’s currently doing.
I’m not a geopolitics specialist, but I think that if Russian forces had managed to subjugate Ukraine in just a couple of days as Putin was probably hoping, we would be facing a much bigger problem. Emboldened by this victory, the dictator would definitely keep on going (Moldavia probably, the Baltic countries too, and who knows about Romania and Poland?) After Chechnya and Georgia, his goal is clear: recreated a grand Russian Empire of some sort.
Also, China would probably have joined in and gotten ready to invade Taiwan. I’ve been terrified of such an alliance for quite a while now (definitely since a fleet composed of both Russian and Chinese warships taunted Japan last October).
If both Russia and China had invaded Ukraine and Taiwan at roughly the same time what would have happened?
The rest of the world would have been divided about what to do, every country preferring to get involved in the conflict that concerned them the most and ignoring the other one. It would have been a mess. And by mess, I mean, World War Three. Maybe I have a too vivid imagination, but if I was Xi, I would have seriously contemplated it.
Luckily, Ukraine is resisting Russia at the moment. Who knows for how long, but the reaction of the rest of the world has been surprising and heartwarming. NATO and the EU are more united than ever. The US seems to mean business too (except for the treasonous conservatives, you know who I’m referring to). I won’t list everything that’s happening, I’m sure you know. Just two things. Even Switzerland is not neutral, probably for the first time in its history. Yes, you read this right. And China seems to be distancing itself from Russia too, and possibly rethinking its attitude towards Taiwan (I don’t think a single second they’ll stop claiming it belongs to them, but maybe an invasion is not on the agenda anymore, at least for now).
I’m not crying victory by any means, but I’m hopeful that this horrible situation, which might still get worse, may have an outcome that can be a positive one for the world. With a more united Europe among other things. And who knows? A Russia without Putin?
But nothing is said and done yet, far from it. And meanwhile, the Ukrainian people are getting bombed.
Let’s hope it doesn’t last. My hope is that the Russian people angered by what their dictator has dragged them into will depose Putin one way or the other.
I think that Putin’s days are numbered now. I’d be surprised if he was still in power or even alive in one year. The thing is that he may want to burn everything to the ground before going.
On the more personal side of things, you may have noticed that I’ve been pretty “serious” about Covid-19. I do not want to catch that thing and I’ll do all I can to not catch that thing.
Some acquaintances in the West look at me strangely at times, but honestly, I’m baffled by how casual and relaxed more and more people in the West have become about it. The Pandemic is not over. Why am I seeing more and more people without masks on videos and pictures coming from Europe and North America? From where I am, I just can’t understand. I know that I’m lucky to live in a relatively small city, in a country where the number of Covidiots is relatively small. Still, this Omicron thing is nasty and infection numbers have been high but stable for more than a month now at around 400 people a day in my prefecture (for a population of roughly one million). Less than in many places, but way too much to afford to be casual about it.
I think for the past two years, my wife and I as well as my coworkers have adjusted our lifestyles in ways that mostly prevents us from catching the virus. It involves some sacrifices (for example, my family hasn’t been to a restaurant in more than a month now when we usually go at least once a week if not more). I hear some people saying that “it’s not a life.” Yes, it is. It could be worse. The sacrifices we’re making are not that troublesome and they’re important. Here too, I can’t believe that so many people in the West refuse to adjust their lifestyles because of this pandemic. Here, it’s perceived as selfish or even childish.
So, yeah, I have an almost airtight strategy against Covid with one huge caveat. My kids. We’re educating them on the thing, and they get it. Or at least they get the theory. In practice, it’s much more difficult, especially for my six-year-old son. Of course, he has trouble wearing his mask properly (he still wears it better than many adults in my country, though). Of course when you explain social distancing to him, he gets it, but once he starts playing with his friends, it’s all forgotten. I can’t blame him.
But I also know that if the coronavirus enters our house, it’ll most likely be from him. His kindergarten has had two clusters already, one in September, one in January. Both times he wasn’t infected. However, because of the last cluster, the school had to close for two weeks, and they fell two weeks behind schedule for their end-of-school-year dance show rehearsal (school year ends in March in Japan). This means that when the school reopened, they had to rehearse more than ever. Not only it put a lot of stress on the kids (this kindergarten is considered to be one of the best in town, but it takes its dance and music shows way too seriously, I suspect the tiger moms behind that) but also, I’m sure that social distancing was completely forgotten during these rehearsals.
The dance show happened last Sunday. It went well. Although, it means that there was a hundred kids cramped together backstage for about two hours (for the past two years they changed the format of the event in order to avoid this, but this time barely, go figure). What’s the point in allowing one parent to attend the show if all the kids are all together, mostly maskless, in a small and not really ventilated area?
And on Tuesday, I felt a bit sick. Sore throat and coughing. Could be some allergies, could be something else. On Wednesday, you could add fever and sore muscles. Not cool. So I went to the doctor’s, one who gives PCR tests. Believe it or not, it was my first test since the beginning of the pandemic. They’re not available everywhere and you need symptoms or to be a close contact to get one here.
I’ll save you the suspense, the test came back negative. That was more than a huge relief as you can imagine. I still feel sick, and I’m returning to the doctor’s tonight to see what’s going on. Is the flu around? It’s true that I forgot to get a flu vaccine this year. Damn! I’m even a bit afraid of a false negative from the test.
However, this weekm I’ve felt like a Shrödinger Covid patient.
If you’ve already got Covid, you probably know the feeling. It’s definitely a weird one. Feeling sick, not sure if it’ll get better or not. Unsure about whether I should isolate myself from my family or not. I wore a mask at home waiting for the test’s result. It was a bit pointless, if I was positive the virus was probably all over the house already. If I had it, they would probably have it too. On the other hand, nobody had the slightest symptom of anything, except for me.
It was a weird and nerve-wracking situation indeed.
When will that thing be over? Why are people giving up in the West? Don’t they want it to be over too? I just don’t get it.