Two quick things to add...


Congratulations to Brian and Setsuko after the birth of baby number two at 4am last night. Maisie Lillian Smith has entered the world hale and hearty by all accounts, good luck to all concerned.

Here’s a weird one that could, if I had any more examples, be filed under molly-codling-Japanese-state-that-refuses-to-allow-you-responsibility-for
-your-own-life (assuming I had a big enough tab on the file. If you have to have an operation in Japan, especially if you are a Japanese national, you need to get the signatures of three people for it to go ahead. So say you are in hospital for appendicitis, you sign the board, your spouse signs the board and then you need to get a relative as the third signatory. Does that seem weird to you? Seems mighty strange to me, I mean, what if your family has all gone rocker-off and joined a cult that says no to modern medical procedures? Be a bit fucked, I reckon...

To be honest with you...

it's getting pretty difficult to find the time to write long an involved posts about post modern Japan, what with having the young 'un here with us. There are a whole raft of things I want to mention today but, and here I suppose, is the nub, I just can't be arsed to sit here and tyoe for about an hour and a half, penning my thoughts etc, when I could be with Marcus, or probably more important, helping the Guru out.

Just in case you were wondering, by the way, he came out of hospital on Saturday, not exactly witha clean bill of health, but we have ideas about how to keep him healthy, how much and how often to feed him, that sort of thing. Goodto have them back home, obviously, but after haivng spent 2 weeks living by myself it was a shock to the sleep patterns and no mistake.

So anyway, I think we might evolve into a more often but shorter posts type blog, with photos added as well as a way of hiding the fact that I'm not writing as much. Or something.

Other things that I wanted to mention recently but have been too involved with other things to do so are:

1) in the annual survey of what elementary school kids want to be when they grow up (yes, this is an official government survey - what a great job that would be), top of the list for boys was pro-baseball player, closely followed by pro-association football player, nothing too surprising there. For girls, the runaway winner for the eight hundredth year (or however long the survey has been going) was not lawyer, or high powered business woman, or anything interesting at all - it was to be a shop assistant. Looks like women's lib has a looooong way to go here, then...

2) cool biz is here - Kool Kid Koizumi has a plan, and actually it is a pretty good one. To stop everyone using quite so much aircon in the summer, all the politico bigwigs and top business bods are to not wear ties, or hopefully jackets either, through to September. Considering the glut of +30 degree days last summer, this seems a winner to me and I am actively trying to get the company in on it as well. Although this all be an attempt to deflect attention away from the fact that the Kool Kid hasn't actually done anything of note for the last six months (except visit the graves of class a war criminals blah blah blah)

3) the lions are roaring in NZ - except for poor old Dallaglio. But better even than is the fact that I, along with some thousands of others and a few chums, will go to watch Ireland beat seven shades of shit out of Japan on the 19th June (ok, it's not better than the lions being in NZ, but it is still pretty good).

4) golf playing brother, sis in law and godson had their non-demoninational, agnostic naming rite yesterday, in lieu of a christening - went well, by all accounts, as grandfather #1 relayed to me yesterday, though not difficult with the winning equation of warm sunshine, bbq, old farts and red wine. Strangely didn't get a drunken phonecall at 4am telling me I was their 'besht mate', which was disappointing as for one I was up and cradling a noisy infant.

5) Friday this week is to be offical baby head wetting piss up. A bit late, perhaps, but no one seem to know when it should be done. Anyway done it will be, reports to follow.

And that is the lot for the moment. So probably a move away from the Monday evening big post fomula to the rapid reaction force like musings of an off the cuff sort of nature.

Or probably same time next week...

So about having babies...

This blog is in serious trouble of becoming just about Marcus, but hey, it’s my blog and I’ll post if I want to, and anyway, we’re still in Japan so it is sort of being about Japan so hopefully the JapanBloggers ring won’t kick me off for not being Japanese-y enough.

So the little chap came home after a week at the hospital. This is the standard time that all new mothers and babies get to stay in hospital as the authorities rightly feel that new mother might just be a little overwhelmed and/or shagged out so feel it best she gets a bit of rest. They do also take the babies away to sleep in a different room at night but do allow mothers to go and breast-feed – so why they just don’t let them sleep in the same room is, well, odd.

Both Marcus and the Guru made good progress after the birth, though getting him to eat was, for some reason, pretty hard work, seemed that he preferred sleeping. Oh well, that will soon pass, and it did so no worries there. Luckily the time he came home was the Golden Week holiday so I got to spend a whole week with him and the Guru after they came home. Before he was born I had had stern words with him that he was not to appear before May 7th as I very much wanted a holiday and a week of doing nothing, but in retrospect it was much better that he came early as I got to spend the time with him, help the Guru so she could get some sleep and learn all the stuff you need to learn in order not to inadvertently drop/maim/hurt in other stupid way your offspring.

Rule number one about having a baby in Japan is this: you are not allowed, on pain of death, to take your baby outside until it is one month old. No questions, no quibbles, no going out before he or she is a month old. Except of course going from the hospital to home (as you are not allowed to give birth at home – hmm, I guess that would be rule number one...ok, the above is rule number two. And, of course, that all pregnant women must wear pinafore dresses and ankle socks, no trousers thank you – that would probably be rule number one. OK, amongst the rules for being pregnant in Japan are such diverse elements as...Oh fuck it I’ll start again!).

No, the one-month thing is an odd one, as every Japanese person (with a baby that I have met) will absolutely not budge on this one. The Guru and I have our Doctor Sears book of which we will take everything as gospel in the bringing up of kids. Every word of it is the literal truth, except the paragraph that says it is ok to take your newborn out of the house after a week or so, this paragraph is obviously wrong, why, I don’t know, but it is. I think it stems from the tradition of visiting your local shrine one month after the baby is born to do the blessing thing. Back in the old days, when large numbers of kids didn’t make it through the first month or so, I can see why this would be a time for rejoicing and general ‘he’s made it this far so hopefully he’s going to be alright’, but in this day and age, with all the medical technology at one’s disposal, it all seems a little unnecessary to me – but who am I to argue with thousands of years of Japanese tradition? (Don’t answer that).

So our trip to the shrine was meant to be the weekend just gone, but unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way. Youngster’s one-month check up was on Tuesday so I, being dutiful, took the day off work and trooped along with the Guru to the hospital to do the necessaries. I had to be there as well, actually, as the Guru was to have her check up as well and someone needed to be on hand to hold the baby – we could have asked m-i-l if she would do it, but relations were a little strained after the 10 days she spent with us looking after the Guru and Marcus.

Anyway the eating problems mentioned earlier hadn’t abated and the youngster seemed to be bringing his milk back up with a touch more regularity, and volume, that seemed necessary. A few questions and a wee prod by the Doc and it was decided that he (Marcus) ought to be admitted for observation and the like. So, observation and tests done (including the unpleasant barium and x-ray one) and the upshot is that the bit between his throat and stomach isn’t quite working properly, meaning that liquids, like milk, have a tendency to flow back up if we’re not too careful. Not panic inducingly bad news, but not great. The good news is that he is still eating and taking milk in as his nappies are full of both kinds of deposits, but just not really enough. So now he and the Guru are onto a strict ‘not too much milk but little and often’ diet, which just means that he’s going to be hungry most of the time, well, until he moves onto solid food, which should have a greater degree on stay-downness, apparently.

Anyway they are still in hospital for more monitoring as this doctor ordered regime now seems to be making the young ‘un lose weight, not a good thing for a one month old, but hey, this is Japan and the Doc is always right, right?

Happy birthday...

...to this blog, which will be two years old tomorrow. Yaay. Cards, presents and donations gratefully received.

Apologies, things going on so no time to write a post this week.

Is time, however, to link to this. Once upon a while ago Josh over at Bondibooks tried to lose me my job by discovering Stick Cricket version 1; now he is trying to break up my marriage by finding the new and improved version 2...

Oh yes...

PS3 (thanks taffy san for the link)

a few more photos for you all, you lucky things...


Big yawn
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

What's going on
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

Baby, cake and Kanji 2
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

the birth, part 2

So back to the hospital for about 8pm and by now it seemed that the contractions proper had kicked off. They were coming at the rate of every 6-8 minutes and when they did, the Guru was doubled over in pain – ah this was a bit more like it – was essentially my reaction, no more pussy footing around but the real thing. I am sure that the Guru felt this way as well, but just didn’t tell me at the time.

From about 8 to 11 we were in the family room as there was more space and a window to look out of, but at 11 a nurse came around to tell us that the lights were going out and shop was being shut up for the night, so we could either move to the guest room (was almost exactly the same, only smaller) or wait next to the Guru’s bed (with her in it, obviously) in the pre labour windowless room; hmm, some choice. So, the Guru went to bed, I went to stay with her for a bit and mother in law went for a bit of kip in the family room. Cue more hand holding, a decent bit of rubbing, plenty of pain and no sleep for the Guru for the second night in a row. At midnight I went for a bit of a sleep and the m-i-l took over until 2am, whence I returned to my post – at this point, unable to stand it anymore, the Guru asked to be moved rooms as the woman from earlier was making so much noise in her agony, again one has to wonder why they share rooms.

Between 2 and about 330 not a lot changed, the contractions didn’t speed up appreciably, but nor did they slow down. The m-i-l took over at about 330 with instructions to wake me up about 5, which she signally failed to do and it wasn’t until about 7am that I awoke on the vinyl sofa in the family room – felt a bit bad about this, but I did ask to be woken up. Oh well.

By this stage the contractions were staying at their steady rate and the Guru was getting increasingly worried that she would have to have the baby induced as she wasn’t dilated enough to get the bugger out. These worries, along with various requests and a certain irritability carried on to about 10am, when she went to see the duty Doc. It wasn’t the Ichiro look-alike today, but the Loud One – this was a doc we had seen in the past and he had a tendency to emphasize the occasional word in a sentence by shouting it as loudly as he could. He also talked to you as if you were 12 yrs old, which wasn’t a great combination, but he good news for the Guru was that she was at 7cm by this stage, on course to deliver that day. This made her feel elated for about 10 seconds before she remembered the pain, lack of sleep and then had to walk back to her bed.

From here and for the rest of the morning and afternoon it was a bit like waiting in limbo. The midwives came and went, checking the Guru, checking the baby’s heartbeat, not checking the husband and generally saying, oh yes, we’ll take you through to the delivery room, but I think you’ve got another hour or two to wait. This happened at middy, 1pm, 3pm and 430 and each time I went to the toilet as I didn’t want to have to leave the delivery room mid push to visit the lavvie – the Guru picked up on this and thought I was abandoning her at various times. How untrue. All through this afternoon session was hard work – the guru wanted to get whole thing over with, whilst I wanted her pain to stop. It’s very difficult to watch a loved one in almost constant pain, even if it is exactly what they want to be doing, especially when there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. On the other hand at least the Guru wasn’t getting too angry with me, that was reserved for the m-i-l; after living with the guru for a good few years I have come to realise that she is an adult an that if she wants something she will ask for it. The m-i-l doesn’t realise this and so kept trying to do things for the Guru, like rubbing her back or massaging her calf muscles (she was getting pretty bad cramp – the Guru, not the m-i-l) without asking, about which the Guru got quite narked at times. Me, I just kept out of it and did what I was told, which is perhaps the best thing to do at times like these (i.e. dealing with one’s spouse).

So, at about 515, the call was made and we moved to the delivery room. Now at a point such as this I was expecting the contractions to be huge, roller coasters of pain, rampaging every thirty seconds, but no, the Guru maintained her stately and regal pace of about every 5 minutes. Into the delivery room and with yours truly in tow, which caused a little bit of surprise on the part of the midwives, but no problem, ready to go...

And nothing happened. We went in, the Guru go into the high, legs akimbo chair and then we waited. The first contraction/push happened about 10 minutes after going into the delivery room, then a break of about 6-7 minutes to the next one. After about half an hour you could see the midwives were getting a bit impatient as they kept popping in and then wandering off. It was most disconcerting as I was in there with the Guru, at her head end, not the business end, as it were, and various midwives and doctors came in and gave the Guru’s ‘business end’ the once over, muttered something like ‘good’ and then buggered off again, never really acknowledging there were people involved.

In answer to the question ‘how long does this usually last?’, one of the midwives said about 2 hours was normal and anything over three was getting dangerous. At 2 hours in there was still little sign that the little bugger wanted to come out, but into the last 30 minutes and things really started to hot up. Well, that should be that the guru really started to cramp up, as with every contraction she would be yelling more from the cramp in both calfs than from the birth (it seemed). In the end we had 4 midwives and a doctor in there, mostly holding/massaging the Guru’s legs – on her instructions, she was ordering everybody about, much to the nonplussedness of the Doc.

But even here the contractions were still only coming at about 5 minute intervals, not like any tv/film birth drama I have ever watched. It seemed that the Guru would give one almighty heave or two, everyone would be a flurry of activity, then the contraction would subside and the assembled would stand around looking at each other, whistling, popping out for a cigarette, saying things like ‘how about those Giants?’ until the next contraction came along, wherein everyone would leap into action once again. All very odd.

But get there we did. The final few pushes did come a little bit closer together but in the end the Guru did need a helping hand – so for the final one, one of the midwives actually climbed on top of the Guru and was pummelling her stomach, like giving cpr but a bit lower down. I had visions of the baby being forced out and shooting across the room with the midwives and doc lined up like a slip cordon...

But luckily nothing like that happened and at 8:05 he finally made his entrance into this world – and he looked just like a purple gremlin.

Due south


due south
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

as it says, due south from the balcony, i.e. standing in the 'patio' doors and looking straight out. Fuji is just off to the right, when you can see it (like the photo below) and this is the view we get everyday. the first bit of green after the houses stop is the flood bank, about the height of a 4 storey building with a path along the top which is just fine for cycling or running along. beyond this on the left is the golf course and the right is the local schools' footy pitch, then the river after them. the other side of the river is akabane with a similar large open space and golf course before flood bank set up, meaning that we get uninterrupted views all the way through tokyo. all in all, not a bad little vista...

Photos

Ok, have downloaded a photo doohickey but seem to have layout issues. Will try to sort out when I get the chance, hope you like the few that are here.

Sunset in May, Arakawa River on the left

sunset in May
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

Ghostly Mt Fuji in May, from our balcony

Ghostly Mt Fuji in May
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

Soon after he was born

Soon after he was born
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

Awake at last

Awake at last
Originally uploaded by tokyobogue.

I thought I ought to share, so here goes. New fangled photo sharing software thing that will probably make the computer crash.

Anyway, here's a test one of Marcus the day after he was born.

The birth, part. 1

So, onto the story of the birth and all that. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get everything down all in one go as now, not so strangely I suppose, time seems to be at something of a premium...

Anyway, as I mentioned when this all started, I was at work on Monday 25th April, as I should have been, whilst the Guru was at home in the final stages of preparation for the birth. The official due date was May 7th, as in yesterday, but for some reason Fuu chan, as he was known then, was in far too much of a hurry to get out and so decided, in his own way, to take things into his own hands. The Guru called me at about 10 that morning to say that she felt ‘odd’, but as she was 8 and half months pregnant, I suspect that she had been feeling odd for a good deal longer than that. Anyway, she said that should oddness maintain itself, she would seek advice from a doctor type personage. Very sensible.

Then at about midday or she calls to say, rather matter-of-factly, I thought, that her waters had broken and that she was having the baby. Don’t Panic!, as numerous bastions of British sitcoms, have shouted down the ages, advice which I did my best to heed, but it was difficult. Actually it was quite easy to deal with as the Guru said, “my waters have broken but not much else is happening, so take your time and get to the hospital when you can”. OK, mild panic, but I did stick around at work long enough to finish off all the absolute necessaries, such as making sure all the teachers got paid (I deemed this to be quite important), but everything else was shelved – to be fair the office closed on the 29th for a week or so, so it wasn’t like there was much to do.

Home I rushed, fast as the Tokyo metropolitan transit systems would get me, pausing only to buy a sandwich to munch as I changed clothes at home. Whilst there the Guru called again to say that, as before, not much was happening, but could I bring a few bits and pieces along with me. So, by about 4pm I got to the hospital to find the Guru and her mother sitting around twiddling their thumbs as, really, not much was happening.

And so it stayed. The mother-in-law disappeared at about 6 as she had only been out and about in Tokyo and wasn’t in a position to stay the night, and then the Guru, after chatting to a midwife, told yours truly to bugger off home for the night as little was likely to happen. Now at this stage I was all for kipping on the floor of the family room, rather than leave my poor, unprotected wife in the hands of evil maternity ward goons. But then reality reasserted itself and off I went with assurances on pain of death that should anything happen I would be called at home.

So by 9pm I was back home, wondering what it was all about. In the end I came to the conclusion that it’s probably for the best if we don’t know what it’s all about, but some hints would be nice.

Tuesday morning, 8 sharp I was back at the hospital. Visiting time on the ward is from midday but I think they make exceptions for spooked gaijin with a wild look in their eyes (or possibly they make exceptions for any father to be whose wife is expecting soon, I don’t know). So, Monday night no calls from the hospital telling me to get there toot sweet (or is it tout suite? Or a combination? Let’s say avec tout vitesse as it sound good), and the reason for this was that still nothing much was happening. Hmmm...

Through Monday night the guru had what she thought were contractions, but they were very faint. Even so, as she thought they were contractions, the Guru had been assiduously noting down when they started and how long they lasted. This she had done through most of the night and so was understandably a bit tired by this stage.

At 10am she went to see the duty Doc, a very young looking bloke who bore a more than passing resemblance to Japanese baseball star Ichiro Suzuki, but paler and less athletic looking. His news was that the Guru’s night of ‘contractions’ weren’t the real thing by a long chalk and although her waters had broken 24hrs ago, she was only about 2cm dilated, not nearly enough to get a baby through, so would we like to have some ‘assistance’ in inducing the baby out?

Hmmm, not really was the reply. What happens if we don’t? Well. The chance of an infection goes up (nothing to worry about as yet) and things take longer, but otherwise not too much. So we decided not to at this stage and, if nothing had happened by Wednesday morning, would rethink the position. So the Guru and I trooped off back to her pre-labour room. As mentioned before, the pre-labour rooms are a bit odd. Two very pregnant ladies share these, but with curtains down the middle, so if one is nearly there and in and later stages of intense agony, the other lady is going to know about it.

In the Guru's room the woman in the other bed was in a similar situation vis-à-vis the water breaking but not much else stakes – but she decided to take the Doc’s inducement and so by Tuesday afternoon we knew all about it and it did not sound good... (but did involve, by the sound of it, an awful lot of rubbing on the part of the husband. What he was rubbing, only he and his wife will ever know, but it was vigorous and went on for a long time, indeed such was the nylon/polyester nature of the hospital provided gowns for the ladies, I suspect that said husband ended up with some pretty severe blisters or burns after all that rubbing – this thought did not fill me with happiness as I pictured myself doing likewise, but with loins girded we entered Tuesday evening).

The afternoon passed listening to other pregant women's descent into agony whilst the Guru wondered if that twinge she felt was the real thing (not judging by the noise next door, we quickly came to realise). The mother in law had returned to the fray earlier so at about 6 yours truly thought it a good opportunity to nip back home for a quick shower and the bite to eat as it looked like being a long night. Back to the hospital at about 8pm to find that the contractions seem to have really started at last. They were now coming at about 8-10 minute intervals and lasting for about 30 seconds or so. This stage was meant to be the haiteeeeee, suteeeee breathing stage. I completely forgot this, as did the Guru, and I only remembered after rereading one of the posts about parenting classes on this blog, I knew there was a good reason for it.

Next: Tuesday night and Wednesday morning...

i have a baby son

i still can't quite get my head around this fact

this might well be because he is still with the Guru in hospital and so i get to see them for only about 8 hours a day, then i come home and live a 'real' life (except the Guru isn't here so i get to fart and burp and play loud music to my heart's content (and of those three 'guy' things to do, baby marcus gets congratulated when he does two of them whereas i find only admonishment - this hardly seems fair))

before marcus showed up i had never held a real baby. i had picked up the oddly weighted plastic one in the 'how to be a parent' classes I & II, but when the opportunity had presented itself to pick a real, living and breathing youngster, i had demurred, feeling, well, scared that i should hold, or more likely drop, a child. but when marcus was born and he was whisked out of the labour room with yours truly to be checked by Ms Weights & Measures (he, not i) he was then passed to me as the present parent - the Guru was still on the slab being stitched up, or whatever it is they do to women in japan after they have given birth. and to hold my son suddenly seemed the most natural and complete thing to do. he was where i was at, totally focused..... no, thinking about it that is not wholly true as is was worried about what was happening to the Guru as well, but pretty well focused.

for the last three days i have been to the hospital to visit the Guru and marcus. they are both in there for the mandatory 5 days that japanese mothers and babies get after the birth and visiting hours are about 12 to 8 or so, so i have found myself there for just about all of the time i could. i take my book to read but all i really want to do is be there with the Guru and hold and look at my son, just stare into his face, watching what's going on. i never thought, for the life of me, that babies were that interesting, and they are not, until you get one of your own.

i will write the story of the birth sometime soon, i reckon, but at the moment all i really want to do is sit down and have marcus in my arms. i am, therefore, turning into a soppy git, but somehow this doesn't seem to be too bad a thing.

He's here...

Marcus Bowdidge was born at 20:05 on Wednesday 27th April 2005 at Saiseikai Hospital, Kawaguchi.

He weighed in at 3,230 grams and was 51 cm tall (or long, or whatever it is).

All appendages were present and correct, as was a fine pair of lungs and a wildly beating heart.

Mother doing well after the first sleep in 58 hours; baby this morning seems to be taking after his father by drinking too much then throwing up; father just relieved, bewildered, confused and feeling useless.

More news, info and, if I work it out, photos, will be posted when I get the time.

Very quickly...

+++newsflash+++newsflash+++newsflash+++newsflash+++

The Guru called whilst I was at work this morning to say she felt something amiss. About an hour later, after talking to someone at the hospital, her waters broke (I don't feel that the person at the hospital was responsible, probably just one of those things). So off she went, then called me to say so, put me into a rush as there were things i had to finish (or no one would be paid - a tough call, but the Guru did say to take my time as nothing much seemed to be happening). Anyway I finished up, rushed home, changed, went to the hospital and, as she said, nothing much has happened since. Indeed I am now back home and therefore able to write this note.

So the waters have indeed been broken, but anything else to do with the birth, such as dilation of the whatnot or the baby being in the right place, hasn't actually taken place as yet. Hmm

"Get some sleep" the Doc said to the Guru, so she told me to go home and get some sleep myself as I looked tired (surely it is meant to be the other way round). So here I am, only a phone call and 5 mintes away from the hospital but not there.

More bulletins as event warrant.

+++newsflash+++newsflash+++newsflash+++newsflash+++

So what’s up, me old China?

I mean come on, ok, we all know about the school textbook issues and the unapologetic Japanese political types, but at the moment it all seems to have got just a little out of hand, don’t you think? I have a very strong feeling that there is something much more sinister and cloak and dagger about the whole thing, indeed the person on the Kawaguchi omnibus (well, the Guru) is as confused as anyone about the apparent sudden upsurge in anti-Japanese feeling, though in fairness it isn’t all that recent as certainly during last year’s Asian footy cup there was a definite backlash towards Japan. This might well have had something to do with Japan beating China in the final with some slightly dodgy goals (though to be fair China weren’t much cop and didn’t exactly deserve to win either). But now we seem to be hitting new heights, as well as more projectiles hitting the embassies and consulates in Shanghai and Beijing.

Among the theories put forward in the media are that:
a) The Chinese are getting uppity at the textbooks in Japanese schools that gloss over or ignore Japan’s somewhat ignoble past. This might hold water except for a few points such as: pretty much every country writes textbooks for its kids that try to portray that country in as good a light as possible (I feel sure that UK texts on the British Empire, if it is still taught, still bang on about how enlightened and forward thinking we all were, but of course); that the text the Chinese are getting uppity about is admittedly a far-right creation but it is only used in a very small minority of private schools; and that Japanese have been using these texts for years but this is the first instance of mass Chinese demonstrations. Odd that.

b) Yasukuni Shrine, and all that was dicussed in more detail here, once upon a time ago and, basically, the Japanese should apologise for what they did. But then again, this does seem to be a bit of pot shouting black as the Chinese aren’t exactly the most benign of people, now are they? Tibet, anyone?

c) It’s all economic – there are a bunch of rocks in the South China Sea, or maybe the Sea of Japan, under which there is, according to those in the know, bounteous supplies of natural gas. The Japanese, not satisfied with discovering gas whilst drilling for onsens next to the Arakawa River, claim these concrete postage stamps for their own, along with all the gas. The Chinese, on the other hand disagree and say it is all theirs. Children, children, just try and learn to share, will you?

d) Japanese militarism – the Chinese, with a standing army of a million souls (or was that the Vietnamese?) is getting worried that Japan wants to remilitarise. Right. Sorry, back to that talking pot again, I mean really, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone threw away their guns. Unlikely, I know, but for China to whip up nationalist fervour because the of what the Japanese might do militarily seems just a mite hypocritical, but hey, they won’t listen to me.

e) The security council issue – as we all know Japan wants a permanent seat on the UNSC, something that yours truly has mentioned before, somewhere, and I agree with China that Japan shouldn’t get it. But nor should China, with their record of uses and abuses. Whose great idea was that? Of course China is worried about its veto being diluted and it having less of an influence in Asia, again seems like a case of share and share alike, though this probably means I am being far too naïve and simplistic, but I find that helps in a lot of situations.

No, I reckon it is something a lot more interesting than all that. That is all just a smokescreen or diversion. I reckon that the waves of liberalisation that have been sweeping China for the last few years have got the old politburo (or whatever they call it these days) in a bit of a dilemma. They like it, but they aren’t sure they are fully in control, especially since, if memory serves, they recently had a jolly big committee session with all the bigwigs with a bit of power changing hands, back room deals, back scratching and the like. So, now the musical-chairs has finished and everyone has had a little time to take stock, some gestures are needed…

So whichever bod is now in charge has to make his mark (I realise that this isn’t very well informed on my part, apologies, I have impending fatherhood to worry about (good excuse that, very flexible and convenient)). An easy way to do this is to take some existing local angst, of which the anti-Japanese one has always been there, fan it a little – for example by getting the Shanghai police to guide the protesters to the Japanese consulate and then stand around and watch them doing slightly unpleasant things to shops signs (and very unpleasant things to two unfortunate Japanese tourists who happened by, probably seeking sanctuary at the consulate as they grew worried about the situation) – and then, when things have got to a reasonably feverish pitch, send in the tanks as Deng Xiaoping did in Tiananmen Square…

Result: Populace gets to blow off a little steam. Govt gets to show who’s the boss with a martial crackdown. Asia (and West) served notice that China won’t be told what to do by anyone. Army happy that they get to push people around again. Conservatives happy that they won’t take no shit from no one. Status quo returned and liberalisations can be (temporarily or permanently) withdrawn. Koizumi happy as he can carry on visiting Yasukuni because if the Chinese govt stopped the protests with force, well, that means they must have been illegal and therefore not representative of the real will of the people. Ditto the textbook writers.

Hmm

So,

Sorry about the lack of posting last week, new toy to play with, even took my mind off GT4 for a while, and then apathy took over, so there you go.

Problem seems to be that not much is happening at the moment. Now I know that this might seem to be a strange thing to say, seeing as baby bogue is now due in less than one month (official due date is Saturday 7th May, if I haven’t mentioned it before, so now actually less than 4 weeks, and as these things (babies) can fall out anywhere from 2 weeks before, it could only be a week until the bugger pops out...what me, panic?), but we’re kind of into that last bit of waiting stage. There is not a lot we can do, except buy more things for him, talk to him and pat him through the Guru’s distended abdomen, but that’s about it. Hmm...

So I suppose I should be going for “now you’re going to be a father, how does that make you feel?” routine, but as I have mentioned in a post somewhere before, deep introspective self reflection is not, and never really has been, a strong point of mine, too busy living in the here and now to worry existentially. Perhaps this is why I have always found philosophy just a little too much like nonsense, for the most part, who knows, but in an attempt to rectify this I have recently got hold of a copy of Albert Camus’ The Outsider, hopefully this will make me take that step towards self actualisation. Or maybe not.

So anyway, may as well make an attempt at ‘how do you feel?’ So still a little bit unconnected, if the truth be told. Part of this might be to do with the fact that I am a foreigner having a baby in Japan, seems there is a lot I could be getting involved in but aren’t because it is all in Japanese and therefore I’m not understanding it. This is a distinct possibility but it is hard to put your finger on it, just a vague sense, I suppose, but then again, this could easily be a feeling common with all fathers to be. The whole pregnancy care thing in Japan is, I must say, pretty darned impressive. The Guru is jolly close to birth and therefore is trotting waddling off the hospital every week for scans and proddings from the various doctors, midwives, health care professionals and probably cleaners who are involved with this sort of thing. In the UK, as far as I know, pregnant women get two scans in the whole 9 months (or 10 months, if you count it the Japanese way (no, I don’t get it either)), so to get 4 in the last month seems pretty good going to me. I hope these scans aren’t like x-rays... never thought about it before... surely they wouldn’t... Also, as mentioned before, the hospital is all jolly new, clean, spic-and-span as the old saying goes, and full of machines going ‘ping’, which leads me to think she will be in safe hands when the day finally comes, certainly safer than in any British hospital I’ve ever been into, I’m sorry to say – not that my experience of hospitals in the UK is that extensive, but I’ve been into enough for me to realise that I’d never want to end up in one for any length of time.

So am I worried? Well, again I don’t really think so as it seems to be something that is going to happen, inevitably, and I have no real concept of what the aftermath is going to be like, except for the supposition/fact that I’m probably not going to get much sleep to begin with. Also, and I know this is probably a crap thing to say, but work is pretty busy at the moment, and I’m trying to get the final assignment finished (final except for a year spent on the dissertation, that is), so I find myself quite busy at the moment and waiting for the term to end, which it will do about a week before the youngster is officially due, so my mind, perhaps being “typically male” and therefore unable to multitask, is compartmentalise the various parts into: work –> finish work –> week off –> baby born –> life never same again so watch out!

Of course I realise that the section entitled ‘week off’ will be nothing of the sort and I am sure things will be found to keep me busy, even if it will be the first time in two years I won’t have to open a text book on a day off. Anyway various colleagues have had babies in the recent past, one in mid February, so the Guru and I went to visit them a few weekends ago and their daughter, Sofia Hana, was a little bundle of joy but even though I am having a similar one of my own pretty soon, I was still most apprehensive about picking her up, mainly as, still, I have yet to hold a really baby, so am still a little unsure as to how it is done (along with, and this is the point, I think, just about everything else connected with newborns). I’ve tried the weirdly weighted plastic ones we did the bath training with, but they didn’t move, smell, dribble on me etc, so what a real one is like, I have no idea. I could have pick Sofia up, but couldn’t quite bring myself to, hopefully this worry will pass when ours arrives next month, indeed I am sure it will, but still, it worries me.

Like any parent-to-be I have thought, and think, about what I want to do with the baby after he has been born, but as the Guru pointed out to me, all the sorts of things I have mentioned to her are when the baby has grown to be a boy and we can go off and have adventures. She, it seems, has thoughts and ideas about what she wants to do in the weeks and months after the baby is born. For me I have absolutely no idea what this time will be like so can’t really envisage what I will be doing with the little mite in this time. Teaching him to ride a bike, no problem. Kicking rugby balls and footballs around, dates marked in my mental diary already. Googly out the back of the hand and clean through a firm forward defensive, oh yes indeed. Changing nappies and watching him crawl, no point of reference so can’t visualise myself being there or doing it except in a very hazy and abstract way of ‘I guess I’ll be doing that sort of stuff’. For learning curve read learning cliff face, I fear.

But looking forward to it all I most certainly am.

ah,

sorry, no post tonight, i have a new toy. in anticipation of the birth of the youngster (now only 1 month away...help) we have bought a digital video camera doohickey. this means lots of playing about and, hopeful, eventually, pictures on this blog.

you heard it here first...