Jewish Haiku of the Day by David Bader

After the warm rain,
the sweet scent of camellias.
Did you wipe your feet?

“You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realised how seldom they do.”

“You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realised how seldom they do.” Eleanoor Roosevelt

Jewish Haiku for Summer

The warm summer breeze
Touts the sweet scent of jasmine
Time for Claratin

A Jewish Haiku for the NBA Finals

7 foot Jews dunking
in the NBA finals
Then my alarm rings

By David Bader

Politics in America- Lou Weiss's Interesting Take

The ‘Deplorables’ Aren’t So Bad, Once You Get to Know Us http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-deplorables-arent-so-bad-once-you-get-to-know-us-1484353087

What Locals Do in Tokyo

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/asia/japan/local-guide-tokyo/

Why are there no garbage cans in Tokyo? ( . . . and 3 other questions I hear all the time about Life in Japan!)

In August 2001 I walked into a JR East Travel office for the first time with the simple goal of booking a holiday for myself.  My 93 minutes with Yamada-san, the diligent and patient travel agent, yielded a hard-won confirmation for a two night stay at a local ryokan.  As I left for the trip, it made absolute sense that only 4 million people dared to holiday in Japan that year.

Skip ahead to the present moment, and much has changed.  Today, well over 20 million people holiday in Japan, and per the data below, that number is set to more than double by the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Query: Why are so many people mad for Japan these days?

Answer: Japan enjoys the "Holy Trinity of Leisure Travel" in spades.

1. CULTURE: From the grace of a macha ceremony to the awesome power of two sweaty dudes duking it out in a sumo match to Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen, the Land of the Rising Sun abounds in a style and history all its own. 
2. FOOD: Fragrant shiso, fresh sushi, piping hot crab hot pot, soothing tonkotsu ramen.  I mean, c'mon.  Can other other cuisine possibly touch Japan?  Italian, maybe, but it means enduring the "amazingly gracious" service one gets while actually eating in Italy.
3. SHOPPING: In London if you throw down for a Burberry Westminster Heritage Trench the snot-nosed sales clerk will barely thank you.  In Tokyo, sure you pay 20% more, but isn't it nice to have the shoppe master follow you down the block bowing and thanking you for your patronage?

Of the 24 million people who visited Japan in 2016 I feel like about half are my Facebook contacts. (writ Messenger @ 23:07 "Adam, I'm arriving in Tokyo tomorrow for a few days with the family.  Do you still live there?  Want to meet up?!?!").  And most of my friends ask the same great questions about life here:

1. Why are the no garbage cans in Tokyo? Japan has more forested protected land than any other developed country.  74% of the country is lush, green and mountainous.  Japanese are pretty hard core about not wasting, and "polluting" the city with a place to temporarily lodge your waste until it finds a semi-permanent resting place in a landfill is not very green.

         Also, fun fact; in 1995 a wack death cult gassed a Tokyo subway station employing waste bins            to hide the toxins.  Ever since then, trash cans are out of vogue. Felt it was important to mention          that, too.

     2. What's up with all the alcohol-free beer? Morning, noon and night my friends and family                from Japan absolutely love beer.  Imagine Germany, but with smaller people who actually dress          really well, and that's Tokyo.  Most dinners, both casual and lavish, begin with a                     c            cheerful kampai and toriaizu biru ("let's start with a beer for now").  Sensible baby-boomers are          now cutting back on calories (see chart below on the Aging Challenge of Japan), and people                who drive prove out that safety and a cold one to wash down the grilled squid can go hand in              hand.

     3. Everyone here seems obsessed with kawaii.  Why? Kawaii is Japanese for "cute".  And the              deeper translation harps at something more like "cheerful radiance".  In a culture known for 70 

         hour work weeks and 90 minute-one-way-standing-up train commutes, one can understand the

         need to put a little cheer into your day (and some beer, too). 

         Moreover, who in the world DOESN'T love cute?

    4. Why are there no children in Japan? Actually I know if at least two children in Japan who               belong to me, and few more in my neighborhood.  Remember what I wrote about Baby                       Boomers?  Well, while people older than 65 run the bingo here, people on the young side are               scarce.  Just look at the latest 2050 projections for Japan.