Happy Birthday to Me! and other news.

Dear all my faithful readers,

It has been a pleasant, if not slightly lonely, birthday. I have deeply appreciated all the emails and Facebook wallposts that you have all sent me. It's my first birthday away from home and the second birthday without my family so it's all a bit unreal that I turned 23 today without a chocolate chip poundcake and candles. Heh Heh.

For my birthday gift to myself, I am spending a 3-day weekend in Tokyo visiting my host family, the Sasahiras, in Meguro. Monday is a National Holiday--Respect for the Aged Day--so there will not be any school. I plan to leave Friday directly after school and take the train to Meguro. I should arrive around 8:30pm. It's good timing for a vacation because this weekend, there is the last of the summer festivals in the Sasahiras' neighborhood on Saturday and the oldest daughter, Kanako, is having a BBQ on Sunday. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them when I get back.

The September sumo tournament also begins on Sunday amist scandel. One Russian sumo wrestler was caught with the possession of marijuana and was quickly fired and is likely to be deported. Two other Russian wrestlers tested positive for marijuana, although, of course, they have denied it and the test was done again by a different agency with the same result: positive. They also have been fired, but none of the wrestlers have yet been deported because they must stand trial before the sumo committee to see if the incidents are related.
AND, the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association just stepped down today... or last night... very recently.

AND AND, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fukuda, resigned last week after a year in office. The government here is very similar to that of Great Britain. There is an emporer, but it's mostly for show, he doesn't have any "real" power. And then there's the Prime Minister who presides over the Diet which is seperated into two houses which are currently at odds and which is the proposed reason for Fukuda's resignation. I'm not sure of all the details, but I've taken up reading the newspaper (in English) and thus I feel a little more like an adult when I thumb through the national news pages.
SO! Japan will soon have an election for a new prime minister, with currently 5 preliminary candidates, aiming for the tenuous job. Since the reign of popular, former Prime Minister Koizumi, Japan has seen 2 or 3 prime ministers come and go. Yikes.

It's an interesting time to be in Japan.