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December 22, 2004
Those Crazy Reporters
Just got back from the Ryukyu Shimpo office where I spoke to an editor (Hiromori Maedomari) about economic stuff, received a copy of his book and a few other useful pieces of prefectural- or newspaper-published material. His arguments mostly centered around practical matters -- he told me it's too late for the Free Trade Zone ("Now that the WTO is all over the place it'd be like subsidizing tuna bait for a fished-out lake") -- and we talked for a while about how deeply the bases are engrained in the economy and how removing them suddenly would be like "pulling your own spine out." With his metaphors it was like listening to a live editorial.
Also met, briefly, an executive vice president (Ken Miki), and they invited me to a party (Maedomari-san: "There will lots of Okinawan BIPPU [Japanese pronunciation of VIPs] there!") later on tonight. So now I'm trying to read this newspaper so I'll have something to talk about. Eesh.
Tomorrow I return to Kyoto after eight months away. I can't wait.
Posted by Ben at December 22, 2004 01:41 AM
Comments
Hey hey Ben,
I've been on a long and winding road trip between Santa Cruz and LA until now and haven't had access to the internet since I last emailed you. I just got your emails, and I'll respond in due time, but for now I want to point out one thing while I can still notice it: I'm on my girlfriend's dad's computer and their version of internet explorer doesn't display most of our site correctly (excluding Augusto's section). I think it still has issues with css and other pretty basic things simply meant for aesthetics. Since we're pretty much stuck with Moveable Type at this point, I was thinking: why not support Firefox and friends on our main page (just a simple link and a note on how it displays everything better)? This way, we improve our ability to distribute our content to a wider audience, and we support open-source. Alternately, I understand not wanting to get involved in tooting the respective horns of different companies, but we'll still have to deal with IE not being able to deal with our blogs.
That is all. Keep your eyes open, for JUSTICE!
N
PS: Would it be possible to connive you into acquiring another one of those shirts from that earlier post of yours? Those are the most awesomest things I've ever seen, times infinity.
PPS: Plus two.
Posted by: Nathaniel at December 22, 2004 01:19 PM
"Pulling out your own spine" reminds me of the old saw: "The operation was a success, unfortunately, the patient died." Apropos.
Great stuff, Ben. Have a great time in Kyoto.
Posted by: Fred at December 23, 2004 12:11 AM