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The Nihon Hidankyo – short and Japanese for The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations – has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize after having been nominated several times before.

The organization founded on August 10, 1956 is run entirely by hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Their main objective is the prevention of nuclear war and the elimination of nuclear weapons, and they are active world wide. Today, there are roughly 106,000 hibakusha still alive, from 650,000 originally recognized by the Japanese government.

Have a look around their website – the Message to the World written at the inaugural meeting is especially powerful.

And if you ever make it to Hiroshima, visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, not just the first section that talks about the bombing and history in a very detached way (the clock measuring the time since the last nuclear test notwithstanding), but also the second section depicting the impact and suffering of the victims in graphic detail. If you come out of this part without being touched to your core, you’re probably a psychopath.

Last Sunday were Austrian national elections. Democracy prevailed and the current, quite unpopular government was voted out of office.

Sadly, people instead voted the right-wing FPOE to the top of the list with almost 29% of the votes. So far, that doesn’t mean they were voted into the government, but it will definitely be most difficult to get a new government. I’m not expecting anything anytime soon.

I sent in my absentee vote almost three weeks ago, and I really hope it did arrive in time (you never know…). The ballot paper I received cracked me up, have a look at the last position:

“Keine” means “none”, with the full party name translating to “none of those” (other parties.) That’s hilarious, and at the same time: why can’t we not really vote for “none of those” and just leave the seats won like that empty in the parliament?

I know that many people don’t vote or vote right-wing just to piss off the mostly center-left establishment. In my not so humble opinion: there are plenty of other parties to vote for if you’d really like to teach lessons. Hell, this time, we even had a “Beer Party” (not making this up, the candidate was actually quite interesting) on the ballot.

So, maybe this would be a valid option for those who’d rather not be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Just have a “empty” vote that would lead to empty seats and let the chips fall where they may.

Of course, the question is whether in the end the result would look the same after all, just with scaled down percentages. Then again, I always wonder what kind of work our parliamentarians are doing, really…

Maybe it’s worth a try. I mean, with all the online polls everywhere it would be easy to have such a system and see how many people are really supporting a party’s line versus how many see it as the best worst option.

Today is the autumn equinox, which is a national holiday in Japan. Because it’s Sunday today, the actual day off will be tomorrow, but you get the idea.

While the moon has always featured prominently in Japanese art, and not just the Harvest Moon in September, the equinox as such is a bit more difficult to depict. But, thankfully, science and technology as applied by NASA come to the rescue.

… for something completely different.

I just watched this video, it’s hilarious. And so true. Looking around my own home, well… I guess I’m still “one of the boys”. (Except for the color thing.)

Time to grow up.

I’m back from taking time off (line) and while I’d like to say “Happy New Year”, the year of the dragon didn’t start very auspiciously in Japan, as you surely know.

There was the Noto Earthquake on January 1 at 16:10. Yes, I’m okay; no, Kyoto is 400 km far away (roughly); and yes: we could feel the earthquake in Kyoto as well. The tremors arrived a few minutes after the original earthquake with a magnitude of 4 (7.6 at the epicenter). My old house shook quite a bit, and it didn’t stop as quickly as usual – even 10 seconds can feel longer than you think!

When I realized that this was a big earthquake – somewhere at least – I stood in a door frame as per the recommendation for older buildings. In newer ones you should protect your head by hiding under a table. Pumpkin came to me on my first call and there we stood, waiting…

After the shaking had ended, I went downstairs to watch the news, Pumpkin always on my lap. For the next six hours or, one message only was repeated over and over again: “A tsunami is imminent – evacuate immediately.” The announcer pleaded urgently and in a surprisingly fearful tone; and the first major tsunami warning predicting waves of over 5 meters was issued since Tohoku 2011.

In the end, it didn’t appear to get quite that bad, but the images from the affected region are heartbreaking, regardless. By now, there are reports of 206 fatalities, 665 injuries, and the damage goes into the billions of yen. Certainly this wasn’t the fresh start into the year the people from Ishikawa prefecture were hoping for.

January 2 ramped up the shock value with a plane crash at Haneda airport in the evening. Upon landing, a JAL airbus collided with a plane from the coastguard, which was deployed to bring relief to Ishikawa, no less, and both planes turned into a fireball. Five of the coast guard died, but all the airbus passengers and crew escaped the fire, which burned for six hours.

Finally, on January 3, a shopping mall in Kitakyushu burned to the ground, marking the end of the New Year holidays. I then, stopped watching the news. The last year was depressing enough, I don’t need to continue in that lane. Let’s focus on the positive for the remaining 356 days of 2024!

Happy New Year of the Dragon!
I wish you a very happy, healthy, and successful 2024!

Well, last year didn’t turn out that great for me… but maybe the vigorous dragon can uplift me this year?

Merry Christmas everyone!
I wish you wonderful and peaceful holidays with your loved ones!

The blog is still alive, which means that the upgrade was successful. As you can see, there are small changes in the layout, but overall, I didn’t do anything drastic, oldie that I am.

I have also realized that I’m no gourmet, and while I love eating Japanese, cooking is less my thing, so the page with Japanese recipes is gone. Instead, I have added a page about my writing endeavours. The books page has been streamlined a little, and the page about myself (which seems a bit redundant since that’s what the whole blog is about) has received a 10-years-after update as well.

Feel free to look around, normal programming will resume on Wednesday.

10 years ago today, I moved out of my apartment in Germany and made my way to a friend’s place where I could stay overnight, half way to Frankfurt airport.

10 years ago, minus 2 days that I mostly spent travelling, I arrived in my first home in Japan.

The 10 years since have changed me quite a bit – or maybe, it was Japan itself?

I have learned new skills, and have tried and seen things I had never known the existence of before.

I have changed my outlook on life and have become calmer than ever, not so much worried about the future anymore, or what people might think of me.

I have lost my last family member (still have some relatives left), made new friends and lost touch with old ones.

I have made a new home for myself in a country and among people that I still find strange at times.

What will the next 10 years bring?

Just in case you worried about a certain lack of post yesterday: This time, I’m sick. It’s just a cold, and I’m already feeling a little better today, but I’ll be off to bed again soon. Nothing quicker to cure a cold than a cat snuggled up against your back…