Fingerprinting, Anagrams, etc...
Recently Japan started fingerprinting foreigners entering Japan, for which it received some bad press from the western media. I can't help but thinking that this is li'l bro Japan trying to imitate big bro U.S.
I was fingerprinted on my last trip to U.S. and though I don't understand the logic behind the Bush-created paranoia in that country, I didn't mind that process.
Why? Because, I had gone through that process in Japan long time ago. Japan used to fingerprint all legal aliens in the country, but stopped the practice a few years ago after much criticism. So, essentially they were just reinstating the process. The only thing that bothers me is their tying it to terrorism problems. The only terrorist attacks Japan ever had were the ones by the homegrown Aum cult guys. Can't think of any foreigners ever wanting to target Japan (N.Korea ...hmm!! Perhaps.) This terrorist mumbo-jumbo is getting out of hand even here in the boondocks of Kitami where I live now.

Imagine Kitami, in Hokkaido. It's a small city with very few foreigners. Still, when driving around, I see boards proclaiming, "special anti-terrorism measures underway" in remote areas (still part of the city, which I'll explain later). The only living beings around are cows, and maybe some deer and foxes. What is with these people? The only targets, I think, are the couple of guys working at the lone Indian restaurant in town and me, and, maybe the Egyptian in the college here. Most others are white Mormon or J's witness missionaries or Southeast Asian brides at the farming families, who probably don't fall under the Japanese definition of terrorist.
Well, it gives the policemen something to do. Like, for instance, putting up posters on country roads!!!

Kitami: Though I earlier described it as a small city, it is in fact the fourth largest city (according to the city's website) in Japan. Not in population, which is only about 130,000, but in size. And I think it's crazy. If you consider a city as a contiguous, densely populated area, then the definition of city in Japan is in violation of this fundamental concept. Because, in Kitami, you can drive out of this so-called thickly populated area, drive through mountains, forests and valleys for miles and miles and it's still technically Kitami city.

Friend calls you up on your mobile: "Where're you?"
You: "I'm in Kitami"
Friend: "Go out for a drink?"
You: "Sure"
Friend: "Ok, see you in 10 mnts."
You: "No. I'm 100 kms away right now. It's going to take me another hour or two to drive back to civilization!"

Some interesting statistics:
Kitami is 1427.56 sq km in area. Compare that to Trivandrum - my home town - which is 141.7 sq km, or 1/10th of Kitami, but with a population 7 times that of Kitami. In fact this place is almost 3/4th of the entire district of Trivandrum. Forget Trivandrum, it is almost 2/3rd of Tokyo, which has a population of 12 million.

This is something unique to Japan. Some years ago, there was a town which wanted to be part of Yokohama city, though it was geographically not close to Yokohama. How is that possible? Another of those "only in Japan" scenarios.

Well, we're getting ready to celebrate Christmas in our family like all authentic Japanese do (I'm the only non-Japanese here). It, as you all know, doesn't have anything to do with Christ or Christianity. It is just one big shopping festival with Santa as the main character. And, Santa, as G. Carlin once said, is Satan spelled inside out.
Wish you all a happy new year.