Hello again,

Just got a couple of flyers in my mailbox--booklets of ads for all sorts of local businesses. The cosmetic surgery ones are usually the best. This time, one body sculpting place has a big photo of beautiful toned people playing on the beach--WHITE people, in fact. Given that almost no one in Fukui (well under a tenth of a percent) is actually white to start with, I really wonder what kind of surgery they're proposing. I'm also always amazed how every business or institution in Japan has to have a "cute" cartoon mascot. Our junior high school textbooks have a revolting "cute" Pikachu clone guiding the kids through the lessons, the police in Fukui have friendly happy Tyranosaurs cavorting on their cars and armbands, the local dam construction project has a computer generated clump of dirt with a face (it looks like a talking turd), and the genital improvement people have what you see in the ads on this page: badv.html. Enjoy.

Peter