Ippoippo

Well, looks like it’s finally happened.
It’s been on the cards for a while… but they’ve finally gone under. Seems the founder and CEO has legged it as well!

Weekend

I’m bloody knackered!

It was a full weekend, over in London for Yuko’s cousins last weekend in the UK. Once again, I’ve come to the conclusion that London is just an overpriced, overrated place. If you want excellent big city fun, go to Tokyo or Osaka!
Still, the weekend was OK. We went up on the London Eye, which was my first time and probably only time. We timed it well, so we hit the top pretty much at sunset.
Afterwards, we headed off to Porters to get some grub. Not bad place, though not great. Best thing about it was the beer, by St. Peters. Never had it before, but the Stout was quite tasty.

On Sunday, we went to Buckingham Palace, managed to spot a bit of a parade, and had a photo-session/quick chat with some Chelsea War Pensioners. Then it was on towards Picadilly Circus. Up there, there are some Japanese food stores, so we stocked up on some stuff we can’t get in the Japanese food place in Cardiff. Blown our carbon-allowance there a bit more, but since the stuff has been sent here and somebody else would have brought it anyway… well that’s my way of justifying the extravagance.
We then made our way through Soho to get some food. That was interesting, as cousin looked rather weary and a little concerned when we walked past many places that catered to ‘those who bat for the otherside’ Guess as you get older, you tend to be more comfortable about such things and just ignore it all.
Lunch was had at The Rock and Sole Plaice Chippie. A big thumbs up to a Japanese friend of ours (someone who was in Bath College with Yuko, and now lives in London), who told us about the place. Best fish and chips I’ve had for ages (’Crispy/crunch chips, sit down to eat off plates’ type rather than ‘over-the-top greasy type’ takeaway).
It’s got a few mixed reviews on the web, with some complaining about poor service. I suspect that could well be the case on some days, as the ambience from the place seemed like it depended on which staff you got working that day would drastically alter your eating experience. Then again, I would have to agree with the rave reviews it’s got.

Said cousin went back to Japan today, so Yuko should be on her way home about now.

Next event now is Wales vs Japan in Cardiff for Rugby World Cup.

RWC

Talking of which… bloody hell
Wales lost … but at least we managed to stick 20 points on a Southern Hemisphere team, and and the odd moment of good play intermingled with not-so-good.
England meanwhile are playing like complete muppets. We may have an upset in my opinion, and there is the real risk of them losing to Samoa or Tonga resulting in them having to pre-qualify for the next World Cup. It’s deja vu… except last time that happened was with Wales in the 1991 World Cup.
Ireland, well, I’ve no idea what the hell is going on with them. Their were my personal 3rd placed team, behind France and NZ to win the event. Now, well, with France playing a bit erratically as well, I reckon we are in for a NZ vs (Aus or SA) final.

Nova

Hmm, look’s like the Nova chain of English Language schools is going down the plug-hole… Northern Rock style!

Gorden, tell them where to shove it!

Bloody cheek! Gordon, tell that bloody US General that we don’t want to get dragged into the next US conflict. We shouldn’t have been in the last one for &^$%s sake.

Ouch. That’s a nasty looking typhoon. Went through pretty much the same area where we used to live too.

Yuko’s cousin is coming out to the UK, though it turned out he wasn’t that affected. His flight was ‘only’ delayed by 90 minutes. Will find out later today if it was a bumpy take off.

Talking of Japan… this has to be one of the most stupid ‘Commentary’ articles I’ve read at Japan Today.

And finally… well, there is going to be a big media scrum now.
I must admit, when the whole affair started, I had a ‘bad feeling’ about the parents. However, it was just a bad feeling, and I would be daft to say they were innocent or guilty. Even now, we’d be stupid to jump to conclusions.
Now, if you live in the UK, you would have certainly been exposed to the media frenzy around this case, especially the printed media like the The Daily Express and The Daily Mail.
Those papers have been rather supportive to the McCanns. In fact too supportive. They ignored the obvious questions about why they left their children alone while they went out to party in the evening. These papers instead decided to be typically xenophobic/Little England and bitch off about the inept foreign police.

So, with this announcement, how long before they change their tune and quietly forget their previous stance on the subject. Going by previous evidence… not long.

At last, something decent on TV.
Heroes has finally arrived onto Digital Terrestrial TV in the UK (after some showings on Satellite and Cable) over at BBC2.

First two episodes were last night. It’s quite amusing because there is a Japanese character, with some bits being in Tokyo (well, maybe not all bits… there were some rather onset shots of what was meant to be a Tokyo back-alley).
So, I’m having fun trying to understand a lot of it… not doing to bad at times. Of course, the character Hiro can speak some English too (the actual actor is very good at English… ).

Yuko enjoyed the show in general, as well as the Japanese segments. She was quite quick to point out that Hiro’s work friend though didn’t seem very Japanese, as his accent was wrong, and he looked Korean. Turns out she was right… that chap is a South Korean.
Doesn’t bother me too much, as I can’t pick up his fake Japanese accent… though now it’s be pointed out, I can see he isn’t Japanese.

Anyway, we’re both looking forward to the next episodes.

YATTA!!!