'Zero G and I feel fine'

The last few days have been a bit quieter as we wind down to returning home tomorrow, although we did have an excursion to a quite excellent park where most of the rides are operated by pedal power. I tried to get Scarlett to pull her weight and write something, but she insisted that what makes the most sense is to contribute her first entry once she's back home. In the spirit of this blog, however, here are some final inane observations on Japan and the Japanese:

1. There's a great deal of reverence here for the emperor and the royal family. The Chrysanthemum dynasty makes the slightly tenuous claim to several millenia of unbroken descent, which would make them the longest ruling family in the world, and nobody here seems inclined to disagree. The emperor lost all real power after Hirohito's antics in the Second World War alarmed even the most ardent monarchists, but his son, Akihito, retains the support of virtually all Japanese, even if he is purely a figurehead. It's quite interesting that Japan and the United Kingdom, two countries united in postcolonial guilt, also share a deep popular respect for their monarchs. There's probably an essay topic in that somewhere.

2. It's hard to say whether the number one sport here is football or baseball. I think the latter probably just about edges it, since the Japanese are quite good at it. The back pages of the newspapers (which of course are the other way round here...think about it) are littered with pictures of footballing stars, but they tend to be the same ones as we would see at home, your Beckhams, your Ronaldos, your Gerrards, whereas the country's baseball idols are all homegrown. The slightly greater preference for baseball at the moment may have something to do with the fact that the Baseball World Championship is currently taking place, with Japan, the reigning champions, going great guns, into the semi-finals. What do you mean you haven't noticed?

3. The english language is taking over the world. We've seen tourists from various parts of the globe here, and they all rely not on their own languages, or on japanese, to get by, but on english. If two people with no common language meet each other, they communicate in english. I'm sure you already knew that, but being here has really underlined it for me. The French can forget about it - english is the universal language.

Well, that's about it. There are probably others but I can't think of any now. It's time to go home. See you in America.

- Adam