Lift Up Your Hearts!

There's nothing like a little foreign travel to open your eyes, and while we were in Japan my eyes discovered xylitol, which appeared to be a popular sweetener. Normally I wouldn't have given it two seconds worth of attention, as I loathe artificial sweeteners. I make an exception for chewing gum, but otherwise strive to avoid all versions of Saccharine, NutraSweet, Splenda, etc. and get really annoyed when they're included in a product without their presence being announced in big, obvious letters.

But xylitol was something popular in Japan and not here, so I did a little investigating. What I've found makes me astonished that it's not widely available, and very popular, in this country. I'm still looking for the down side, so maybe someone who reads this can fill me in. Here's what I've learned so far: (More)

I like to check out Google News every morning, and I'm especially interested in their Health section. Today there were two headlines that caught my attention, and each turned out to be totally misleading.

Flying does not cause blood clots, say experts

Do you feel safer now, as you prepare for your long flight? Do you think you can relax, forget about periodically wiggling your toes, stretching your feet, and disturbing your seatmates so you can get up and walk around? Not so fast! What the article says is that low cabin pressure and reduced oxygen do not increase the risk of blood clots. The damage is done by reduced circulation caused by long periods of inactivity, whether on plane, train, bus, or car. Although the article does not address this issue, I'm guessing sitting at a desk all day isn't a good situation, either.

Considering the relative leg room offered by the other modes of transportation, it's not surprising that the problem appears more often among those who fly. To give the casual reader the impression that he's safe from bloodclots on a long flight is misleading and dangerous.

Nonsmoking Men, Women Face Same Lung Cancer Death Risk

Same as whom? The point of the article is that among nonsmokers, women face no greater risk of lung cancer than men. But the impression I received from the headline itself was that nonsmokers face the same lung cancer risk as smokers, a truly startling (and untrue) finding.

Thomas Edison said that genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. Anders Ericsson, a psychology professor at Florida State University, would agree. His studies of what makes someone really good at something are discussed in the May 7, 2006 New York Times column, A Star Is Made, by Freakonomics authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt. (The New York Times requires registration before you can read their content, but it's free and worth the effort.) (More)

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow, New York, 2005)

Economist Steven D. Levitt enjoys standing a problem on its head to see what might shake out of its pockets; Freakonomics is an exhibit of his garnered treasures. Levitt takes on anything that piques his interest: from how to detect teachers who cheat on their students' exams to how legalized abortion affected crime rates, from what really broke up the Ku Klux Klan to the financial workings of inner city gangs, from why a swimming pool is more dangerous than a gun to parenting skills and naming trends. (More)

When I was in high school, a semester course in economics was required for graduation. I managed to convince the school to accept an advanced physics course instead, so I can't claim to know much economics. Yet being married to a guy who majored in that field in college helps, and in any case the following scenario not only makes no economic sense, it makes no sense at all. (More)

Any extravagance around the time of a birthday counts as part of the celebration, and thus comes without guilt. Thus when Porter wanted to attend the Mad Cow Theatre Company's It Was a Very Good Year, part of the Orlando Cabaret Festival, and even suggested we get the special dinner package, who was I to complain? (More)

Well, it turned out to be not so much of an adventure after all, which was a good thing. But you would have thought it was something major, the way I prepared for it. (More)

I hear it's officially TV-Turnoff Week. Those who know me know I'm more likely to respond negatively to social pressure like that. Still, I'm not about to turn on the television just to be different.

But if TV is a regular part of your life, do yourself a huge favor and turn it off. Start with a week, but don't stop there. What would you give for an extra four hours in your day? More than 20 more hours in your week? Even if you are one of the very rare folks who watches only half an hour a day, think about what you could do in that time. With just half an hour each day you could learn to play a musical instrument, learn a foreign language, read many books, keep in touch with far away friends and family, create your own weblog, spend time in serious, concentrated prayer, get some much-needed sleep, learn to juggle, create a garden, get in shape...and accomplish at least one if not many of those things you say you'd love to do, "but I don't have time." Go for it! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

Here are some more interesting links:

The TV-Turnoff Network

Excerpts from Marie Winn's The Plug-In Drug

Ruben Bolling's fabulous comic, Flowers for Trinitron.

The Longest Day. Our last day in Japan, the first day of our return home, the 37-hour day in which we landed at Newark before we took off from Narita. (It would have been a 38-hour day had not the switch from Standard to Daylight time occurred in our absence.)

Fuji-san came out to say sayonara, gracing us with one of the most beautiful views of our stay. Naito sensei and Yuko picked us up at 8 a.m., drove us to the bus station, and insisted on staying till the bus left at 8:40 so we would not have to say goodbye to Janet any sooner than absolutely necessary. (More)

We relaxed a bit this morning, spending our time packing, reading, and practicing kanji, depending on who we were. :) Our lunch was a fitting ending to our visit: Naito sensei, Shimizu sensei, and Yuko had prepared a feast at Naito sensei's house. This also gave us a chance to meet Naito sensei's husband, daughter, and dog. (We have not seen many pets in Japan.) Janet enjoyed helping Naito sensei make sushi. Not to take away anything from the effort that went into the preparation, which is an art, but the Japanese have one great advantage over us when it comes to making sushi: one can buy beautiful pieces of fish, cut to appropriate sizes, at the grocery store! In addition to the fabulous sushi, we had delicious rolled-up sandwiches—one variety of which was strawberries and whipped cream!—salad, tea, and possibly some other delight I forgot to write down. For dessert we had lovely, individual confections that came from a bakery we had passed yesterday on our walk to the Takeda Shrine. We had looked in the bakery window briefly, but if we'd known what was awaiting us inside, we would have lingered. (More)

There was no view of Fuji today, which goes along with the weather change from yesterday's cold to much warmer today. We walked to Ryuo eki, and on our way stopped at Big Boy for lunch. Yes, that's Big Boy, as in the U. S. chain, but with a definite Japanese flavor. We had to try "hamburg," which is popular in modern Japan, a large ground beef patty with onions and other flavorings, somewhat like an individual meatloaf but tasting like no other meatloaf in my experience. I've never been a fan of corn chowder, but the corn soup from the soup bar here was fantastic.

We took the train one stop to Kofu. Our objective was the HIPPO Family Club meeting, but we went early so we could enjoy some more time at Kofu Castle. We were able to see parts of the castle that had been closed on our previous visit, and the sakura trees were in still more glorious blossom. While we were there, Janet and one of the other HIPPO Club members recognized each other. (I'm always amazed at her memory for faces; she'd only met him once.) (More)

Mt. Fuji was beautiful again this morning, definitely worth getting up for. I took time today to begin packing, since Saturday and Sunday will be busy. I also made another blog post, and Janet worked on her kanji Narnia book, while Porter read something he found in the bookshelf, left by Janet's predecessor. In the afternoon, we rode to the D2 store (sort of a cross between a K-Mart and a Home Depot) where we bought a few items to take home.

The day was so lovely we took another bike ride to Dragon Park, and today we were rewarded with the only local view of Mt. Fuji better than that from Janet's balcony. We arrived at the same time as a group of young children whose leader was not at all shy about approaching foreigners. He and Janet communicated reasonably well, in a combination of English and Japanese, but I believe he was disappointed that we couldn't say much about the part of American culture he knew: television shows and the NBA. We saw the same kids later, as we walked by the playground, and they inveigled Janet into joining them on the slide. (More)

This was a much more relaxed day. Both Janet and I have personalities that require time for rejuvenation at home, and she is discovering how stressful it is to be the one responsible for planning an event. She's been a fabulous tour guide; everything has gone so well and been so much fun! But I know that when anything looks smooth and easy, that only means a tremendous amount of planning and effort have gone into it. Emotionally, Porter could keep up the schedule nearly indefinitely, but his foot was giving him trouble on the walk into Kofu (Achilles' tendon problem acquired/exacerbated by working on our roof), so the rest was good for all of us.

I was up early again, however, inspired by the hope of seeing Fuji-san again. Indeed, she was there, though her top was shrouded, and the clouds had covered her completely by the time Porter arose, so it was worth the effort. I took advantage of the extra time to make my first blog post from Japan. It still amazes me to be on the other side of the world and yet read e-mail, talk on the telephone, and post to the Internet just as easily as at home. (More)

I was the only one up for a long time this morning, and was rewarded by a fabulous view of Mt. Fuji as I drank my tea in the warm room. The weather has turned colder, thus clearer. There is just something awesome about seeing that magnificent mountain towering about all the other mountains that are so impressive when Fuji is hidden!

I don't know how long the others might have slept had not Heather and Jonathan called. The walls are sound-porous, and while one might be able to go back to sleep after being awakened by a ringing telephone, it's not so easy to pass up the chance to speak with loved ones! Jonathan was under the weather, but very articulate in his conversation. When he announced that he wanted to "go visit Aunt Janet tonight," Heather explained that he couldn't because Aunt Janet is still in Japan, and besides, he was sick. Immediately he proclaimed, "I'm feeling better!" Only much later did it occur to me why he thought he might be able to visit. After all, Aunt Janet has been in Japan for months. Even when Jonathan and Heather visited us in September, he made a point of telling us, on the way from the airport, that he was visiting Grandma and Dad-o but couldn’t see Aunt Janet because she was in "'Pan." But this time he spoke with all of us on the phone and knew we were together; perhaps he assumed that Aunt Janet had returned home. Not that he could have come to Florida for the evening, anyway…. (More)

Today was a walking day, which we began by heading in the direction of Kofu. Our first stop was the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art. This gem is one reason we chose to narrow the focus of our visit to Japan to "Janet's World." I doubt it would be included in any package tour of Japan, but it is a lovely collection of artwork, ancient and modern, Japanese and Western, including a significant number of paintings by Millet. Most of the descriptions were in Japanese, but that didn't prevent our greatly enjoying the pictures. A museum docent tried hard to explain the pictures to Janet, who was clearly the only one of us with whom she had a chance of success. Janet's ability to communicate in Japanese is amazing, and even though it does not extend to the more technical terms related to art, she still managed to convey some of the meaning to us.

Remembering our pleasant experience of yesterday, we purchased more "soft cream" to enjoy while wandering the museum grounds. It was nowhere near the quality of the KEEP ice cream, but nonetheless my blueberry cone was delicious. Our admission ticket was also good for admission to the nearby Prefectural Museum of Literature, which we enjoyed but passed through much more quickly than we had the art museum. (More)