I'm finding it difficult to find good news on the regular news sites that I frequent. I'd like to hear something good or new or interesting rather than the same old same old.

It's sad that we don't, in general, find good and uplifting information interesting.

I shall keep searching.

Until tomorrow....

My home country is currently in the middle of one of the worst heat waves in history. There are also a large number of bush fires raging at the moment. Summer is quite a dangerous time for us. More so than Winter. I hope all those affected can get themselves out of harms way and to safety.

The temperature at home is also really high. Over 40 degrees for most of the country. Now, Australia is over 23 times larger than japan and is more than 3000klms tall and about 5000 klms wide. That is a huge land mass. I think this is giving the Global Warming pundits something to really sink their teeth into.

Here in Tokushima, Winter seems to have become a little milder. It looked like it was going to get really bad there for a while but the weather over the last couple of days has been pretty good.

I thought I would share a picture of what Summer in Tokushima is like. I think this is quite nice.

Until Tomorrow ......

I read a story yesterday about the PM and the new cabinet singing the Japanese National Anthem before starting their new year of business.

In other parts of Asia, there were complaints about this. These same people complain about just about anything that the Japanese do now days. I do read a lot from outside and inside Japan and being here I can also see a lot of what is happening on the Japanese side.

The one term I really don't like is "All Japanese...." or sometimes it's phrased as "The Japanese...." when trying to group the Japanese people into a common area with a common concern.

In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Whilst most Japanese don't voice their opinions freely, it doesn't mean that they don't have one. Nor does it mean that their silence means concent.

The situation is more complicated than that. In order for so many people to live so close together with so little space, and still be orderly, then something has to be supressed. Otherwise chaos reigns. That's the situation here. Good, Bad or otherwise that's the way it is.

I don't see the Japanese having a sense of nationalism as being a bad thing. In Australia we sang the national anthem at school every morning. I'm sure they do the same things in America and other parts of the world. So why complain if the Japanese are singing theirs?

We all follow our countries sports teams. Even though I'm living here, if Australia play Japan, then I'll support Australia every time. It's just the way that it is.

The Japan of today is not the Japan of yesteryear. It's time some people really started to understand that. The constant complaints are really starting to fall on deaf ears.

I spent a little time today with my Inferno at the Offroad track. There is something about running the vehicle that just makes you smile. I love both onroad and offroad but the feeling you get at the end of the day is quite different. With onroad, you tend to be very tired. It does take a huge amount of concentration. However, with offroad you just seem to want to smile more. It's so much fun.

So, here is my offer. If you own an offroad vehicle, bring it down to ラジコン天国 on any Saturday and we'll run together. It's just so much fun.

Oh, and after running on a muddy track before and spending a huge number of hours cleaning, I tend only to run on dry days :)

Until next time....

After an ending of the year that I'd rather forget, I'm now back to full speed. To be honest, it does really feel good to be doing something again.

I've managed to finish something that I've been sweating about for some time. It's not a huge result, but it's a result all the same. I'm quite chuffed with myself. It's nice creating something handy and "cute" in a technical way.

Until tomorrow....