Happy Thanksgiving

I wish everyone the best.

Although evil people should remove themselves from society if they can't stop being evil.

the awesomest sleeping cat photo ever

See Baobao here. The other photos are fantastic too.

people who cannot cook

really ought to know better than to hazard mixing random ingredients in the hope of making something appetizing. Unless it's tried-and-true combinations like chocolate and fruit, or yogurt and fruit, or something similar, it's doomed to failure.

Doomed.

Yet I persist, lately. I'm not sure why.

California Proposition 8

An impassioned column by Keith Olbermann.

Tracy Chapman

I'm listening to Mutya Buena covering Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." Great song. The cover is lovely, but I guess I've heard Chapman sing it too often; I crave her deeper voice on it.

How timely! Her new album comes out in mid November, and she's going on tour! Sadly not coming to Japan yet though. Poo. You can listen to her new single "Sing for You," available for download via mp3 at Amazon. I'm listening to it at the moment; it's lovely.

Beijing

Still here. Just really busy. The weather has cooled down nicely in Tokyo, although it has been rather rainy lately. I've noticed a sweet, nostalgic smell in the air the past few days. It reminds me of Taiwan for some reason. I wonder if it's a local plant.

Anyway, a picture from August: the parking lot of a shopping area/condo complex in a suburb of Beijing.

If you're visiting Kappabashi

Kappabashi is an area near Ueno that sells all manner of kitchen/restaurant related goods. A friend of mine found a charming noren (kind of a split curtain often hung up at restaurant entrances when they're open) there that I intend to track down someday.

This site lets you search for shops that sell specific items of interest (Japanese only):
http://www.kappabashi.or.jp/index.html

However, no tofu molds came up. Who knew it was so hard to find a mold for making tofu! (A request from a friend). I've only been able to find wooden ones, nothing like this one here. Tokyu Hands no longer carries the stainless steel model pictured in the post