RANT 'N' RAVE
Game over
Since I moved here four years ago, I've
been able to roll with the punches. Pushy old women, idiots driving through neighborhoods
at 80kph while children play nearby, lack of spatial awareness. Cigarette smoke blown
directly into my face, key money, ridiculous panel shows on television. Talent-less tarento
on those panel shows. Discrimination. Taxi drivers. Old women running five meters with
their bikes and then swerving and nearly crashing into everything and anything as they try
to get on it. Four or more police officers sitting in a koban doing nothing while drunks
drive all over the place. Cars parked in the middle of traffic lanes. The cost of fruit.
Being charged to make a local phone call. Hello Kitty and young girls walking around
looking like Oompa Loompas. Criminals getting more protection from the public than the
victim. The list goes on.
But one thing has finally broken the camel's back. As Popeye used to say every weekday
afternoon just before gulping down a can of spinach, "I can't stands no more."
I was watching a baseball game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Chicago Cubs a few weeks
ago, and actually enjoying it. Just before nine o'clock, a little message came across the
television advising all viewers that the game was about to be cut, and normal programming
would resume. What? In the middle of a game? Who came up with such an asinine
idea? You don't stop something in the middle and move on to something new, do you?
This evening I was enjoying a great game that was in extra innings between the BayStars
and Giants, and wham! it was cut! This has got to stop. Imagine a television
station cutting off the World Cup or a regular-season soccer game, for that matter, in
England. All hell would break loose!
So I would like to know how the geniuses behind the scenes came up with such an idiotic
system. If there is anyone out there who has the answer, please let me know. It may be
trivial, but this cuts the cake.
Next thing you know, the National Olympic Swimming team will leave out its best swimmer,
Suzu Chiba, for the Sydney Olympics. I can't stands no more.
Many thanks to reader Jay Schwartzmiller for this Rant. |
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