Blaine has 2 months left as the Post's Tokyo bureau chief but he can't slack off! He's been in the Philippines for 9 days and was scheduled to return tonight, but has now been sent on to Thailand to cover the govt unrest there.
Alas, we were looking forward to his return tonight and to family activities during the upcoming "Golden Week" holiday in Japan. Come home soon, Blaine!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Blaine's latest...
... is another great story about the Philippines at election time.
This country generates so many sad stories: it exports its workers (including many women to Tokyo as domestic "helpers," whose children stay in the Philippines) and fails to make progress on social improvements and infrastructure. Here's the top:
In Philippines, pre-vote largess doesn't translate into post-vote progress
By Blaine Harden
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
MANILA -- It's election season in the Philippines, and the short-term forecast is for manna from heaven.
For voters who live in Baseco, a slum built on garbage beside Manila Bay, it's hard to keep track of all the incoming goodies. Roads have been paved. Playgrounds have been built. A maternity clinic is under construction. One candidate bankrolled a beauty contest. Another sent in doctors bearing free antibiotics. Demolition of squatters' huts has been halted. Free food is expected on May 10, election day.
"It is like a fiesta," said Ray Campanera, senior councilor in the local government here. "Life is a little bit happier."
Yet for the residents of Baseco, as for the poor who account for a third of the 92 million people in the Philippines, pre-election good times are almost always followed by post-election betrayal.
Politicians who win election in this former U.S. colony have one of the worst records in Southeast Asia for stiffing the poor, coddling the rich and indulging themselves, according to a mountain of data and a chorus of economists....
This country generates so many sad stories: it exports its workers (including many women to Tokyo as domestic "helpers," whose children stay in the Philippines) and fails to make progress on social improvements and infrastructure. Here's the top:
In Philippines, pre-vote largess doesn't translate into post-vote progress
By Blaine Harden
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
MANILA -- It's election season in the Philippines, and the short-term forecast is for manna from heaven.
For voters who live in Baseco, a slum built on garbage beside Manila Bay, it's hard to keep track of all the incoming goodies. Roads have been paved. Playgrounds have been built. A maternity clinic is under construction. One candidate bankrolled a beauty contest. Another sent in doctors bearing free antibiotics. Demolition of squatters' huts has been halted. Free food is expected on May 10, election day.
"It is like a fiesta," said Ray Campanera, senior councilor in the local government here. "Life is a little bit happier."
Yet for the residents of Baseco, as for the poor who account for a third of the 92 million people in the Philippines, pre-election good times are almost always followed by post-election betrayal.
Politicians who win election in this former U.S. colony have one of the worst records in Southeast Asia for stiffing the poor, coddling the rich and indulging themselves, according to a mountain of data and a chorus of economists....
Friday, April 23, 2010
Blaine's latest...
... is an excellent read from the Philippines about the corpse of Ferdinand Marcos!
Here's the top:
Late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos makes cameo in busy campaign season
By Blaine Harden
Thursday, April 22, 2010
BATAC, PHILIPPINES -- The waxy-looking corpse of Ferdinand Marcos, dead almost 21 years and chilling in a refrigerated glass coffin here in his home town, has joined the Philippine political circus.
In the chaotic run-up to national elections May 10, about 85,000 candidates are clamoring after 17,000 positions, from town council member to president. Political violence has claimed at least 80 lives, including 57 in one incident. And families that have long called the shots in the Philippines are angling for advantage.
That's why the body of the former president is putting in a publicity-grabbing campaign cameo, with the careful contrivance of his widow, Imelda. The former first lady -- who became infamous for her many fancy shoes and whose first name became a synonym for greed -- is 80 and is once again running for political office, along with her son, her daughter and a sizable gaggle of lesser Marcos kin...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Progress
A red-letter day in the Tokyo American Club swimming pool, as Arno bravely pushed off from the wall this afternoon and swam about 5 feet to me! A first, after months of swim lessons last year and 2 lessons this spring. Then he swam across the lap lane about 40 times. Very exciting!
Lucinda, meanwhile, says TAC's Mini-Mudsharks swim team is "likable" - much more likable, in fact, than expected because I signed her up without asking. She has 3 smooth, relatively efficient strokes so far (butterfly is TK) and likes swimming on the clock. L has so far not enjoyed games with hard-to-identify rules and strategy (like soccer), but she seems to enjoy the self-directed, self-control of swimming - and maybe running? We'll see what develops.
Lucinda types: "I LOVE SWIMMING ALOT!"
Lucinda, meanwhile, says TAC's Mini-Mudsharks swim team is "likable" - much more likable, in fact, than expected because I signed her up without asking. She has 3 smooth, relatively efficient strokes so far (butterfly is TK) and likes swimming on the clock. L has so far not enjoyed games with hard-to-identify rules and strategy (like soccer), but she seems to enjoy the self-directed, self-control of swimming - and maybe running? We'll see what develops.
Lucinda types: "I LOVE SWIMMING ALOT!"
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Wow!
Fashion disaster or triumph? A human sakura (cherry blossom) in Shinjuku Gyoen station, April 2010.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Spring flowers
I already wrote about sakura (cherry blossom) fashion. Now here are some snaps from our annual picnics (hanami) under the cherries.
Last weekend, the peak of the flower experience, we went to Shinjuku Gyoen, a huge, well-kept park near Shinjuku station, with many families from Arno's school, Willowbrook. Crowds lined up outside the gates to get in.
Blaine took this gorgeous shot that expresses the pure hanami experience of picnicking beneath the boughs.
Arno took charge of my camera and delivered this self-portrait...
... and a shot of his parents. I am drinking a can of hot green tea purchased from a vending machine.
Lucinda and Arno
The finale to this year's hanami was in Kinuta Koen (Kinuta Park) in Sendagaya-ku, Tokyo, at the Willowbrook spring picnic. Amazing trees!
An elegantly dressed older lady brought out to gaze at the blossoms.
And Arno's Take/Takenoko (Bamboo/Bamboo shoots) class this year.
Happy spring!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Our Pippi
Lucinda as Pippi Longstocking for Nishimachi Int'l School's annual Book Parade, held today.
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