Skip to main content

ON TO SAKATA

 It is Friday in Japan, so this must still be Thursday in the USA.  I've bypassed anything linked to Covid for weeks because it is not newsworthy enough these days.  However, thought I'd touch on it today.  First, though, a few other topics:

  • It is becoming clear what new Speaker Mike Johnson and his Republican House will be doing, for they are now cherry-picking topics to support their priorities, while insisting that the budget be balanced with cuts to the IRS now, and social programs later, to pay for necessary expenditures.  Both the White House and the Senate scoff at this tactic.  Read the details.
  • Covid cases in the last 7 days/million population.
    • #1  Niue  1233
    • #2  Lithuania  945
    • #3  New Zealand  479
    • #15  USA  134
  • Covid cases during the past week.
    • World  149,570
    • #1  USA  44,734
    • #2  Brazil  31,593
    • #3  Russia  25,983
    • However, many countries just don't report anymore.

Japan is one of those countries where Covid has disappeared from the media.  The Japan Times has a list of relevant articles, and the most recdent one was on October 27, entitled, Tokyo promotes awareness of children's Covid-19 aftereffects.  However, in most indoor venues, more than half are still wearing masks.

So what remains relevant about Covid today.? Well, you can still get infected, and if you do, Pfizer is now charging $1400/series.  However, your medical plan should cover it.

About our cruise, we took a cab from our ship to the Aomori Prefecture's iconic building, a pyramidal tourist center.

The tourist center had a nice Japanese restaurant at the top, from where you can see our ship.
I had a beef dish with cold beer and hot sake.
A truly wonderful meal, except that we would have eaten something maybe better for free on the ship,  We then decided to walk back to the Diamond Princess.  Huge mistake because one was in a wheel chair and other can't see well.  There were half a dozen series of stairs, and one portion under repair which was treacherous.  First photo of fall colors.
We got back to ship and met for early evening cocktails,  Tried a blended gin martini, which was best consumed with a spoon.  However, unlike a margarita, the ice seem to have totally neutralized the taste of the gin.
Next to The Savoy for dinner,
I worked around an Osso Bucco.
Forgot what this dessert was called.
Next, karaoke singing,
The closed up the disco to end the evening.
Got up to 13,891 steps today, my highest ever in one day.

-

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo.  We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings  We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo.  So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines.  We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station.  This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site.   It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance.  This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of  ten of those already waiting to enter.  However...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...