Cooking

So a lot of the lessons in the current school textbooks involve food and cooking. So behold a conversation I had with one of my (few) male regular students: Sensei: Do Japanese men cook much at home? Student: Not so much. Women cook at home Sensei: So are there many women chefs in restaurants? Student: No, because men are better at lifting heavy pots and can make many things. Also women can only make a couple of dishes. They're not able to make many things, like men can. Sensei: I see.. At the weekend the was a huge Yakuza meeting at the local Yakuza house down the street. Not that I've asked if they're Yakuza or seen any missing fingers mind. But its pretty conspicuous in a nice quite neighbourhood like this one - security cameras, and steel gates outside the house. That, and the rows of huge Lexus' (Lexi?) with blacked out windows and curtains, with drivers in black suits waiting for their masters to finish. I've haven't got the balls yet to go up to one of them and ask for a picture but I'm tryin... Finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11 at the weekend. There was a huge queue in all the Osaka Popeye Internet Cafe's (they must do so much business at weekends); was expecting it to be overblown and promoting some big conspiracy involving bush and co. but actually I thought it was quite restrained in that it just made him look like an idiot. And I just have to moan about MediaLab Europe closing back in Dublin. This was supposed to be an MIT created state of the art research institution that would bring a whole load of top and research and prestige to Ireland and be the centre of a software campus thingy. Of course the government were warned plenty that it would drain money away from the universities and/or require a lot of government funding to keep it going. And now its feckin' closing. Nice one Bertie and co...