Tuna Lickers Return to Tokyo Auction

The BBC has reported that tourists will once again be allowed into Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market. Local officials imposed a month-long ban because of numerous incidents of tourists fondling, licking, and even riding the giant tuna that supply Tokyo's restaurants. Auctioneers apparantly found the tourists' antics distracting, and diners in the famously clean nation probably didn't like the idea of their sushi being sexually harassed. Workers also complained about too many camera flashes going off and trouble keeping the stall temperatures cool enough with so many visitors coming and going.

But tourism is a powerful economic force. The fish market is the largest of its kind in the world and draws thousands of visitors a year, who show up as early as five in the morning to watch the loud and competitive auctions. The market moves almost 3,000 tons of fish a day, including the giant tuna that are the most popular attraction. The spokesman for the market says that visitors will once again be allowed in, but they will have to follow the proper sanitary codes.

In other words, please don't lick the fish.

Learning the Flags on Embassy Row

I was a single dad for the past nine days because Almudena was off in Oxford and Bonn for work. She brought me back a nice bottle of German mead, so all is forgiven. One of the nice things about taking care of Julián solo is I get to take him to school. It's right next to where Almudena works so usually that's her job.

Julián loves the bus. He already has several "bus friends", some of the drivers know his name, and he likes to read the numbers of the passing buses. Must be his mother's mathematical mind. His school is along embassy row, so I've been teaching him the flags. There's no better way to show off than to have your three year-old shout out, "Look, the flag of Colombia!!!"

What strikes me is how much the embassies symbolize their countries. The French embassy is a marble palace. The Japanese have a clean, modern office building. The American embassy is a fortress.

And the embassy of Canada, my own country? A little office in an upper floor of a nondescript building tucked away on a side street. Ah well.

Monkey Waiters in Japan

I totally need to go to Japan. BBC reported that a restaurant there has two monkeys bringing the diners hot towels and bottles of booze in exchange for soya bean tips. You can see the film here. Good thing this isn't happening in the U.S., because they'd start whining about immigrant primates taking American jobs.

If I go to Japan I'll have to be careful where I stay. CNN reported that a recent survey by the Japanese government found that about a quarter of Japanese hotels didn't have any foreign guests last year, and don't want them. They claim they don't have the facilities or the language capability to deal with foreign guests. C'mon folks, you live in a global economy and you're in the hotel industry. Hire some recent graduates with language skills.