I like George, the affable Greek owner of the Front Page Bar, the watering hole whose tender embrace we sought when fabulous Willow shuttered i’s thick mahogany doors two years ago. Spirit of the season, I had to go to the UPS Store just up the block a week or so ago. Things for the […]

Editor’s Note: One of the basic tenets of American policy after the formation of the japanese armed forces in 1954 was that US would provide the external military capabilties of the the Alliance, while the Japanese would maintain a defensive posture. The North Koreans have changed that equation significantly. The landscape of East Asia is […]

This week’s poem: Department of Motor Vehicles Never underestimate The ability of bureaucrats To dither and obfuscate { https://carllafong.blogspot.jp } Copyright Carl LaFong www.vicsocotra.com

(Charlie Brown Tree with magnificent decoration) The ‘net has been alive this morning. I put up the artificial tree this year in an attempt to get with the holiday spirit. Put some lights on the bushes outside to go with the cheesy shiny wreath on the outside door. It is nice in the evening, and […]

(“Ground Zero,” a print by artist Don Kloetzke). It is seventy-six years and a world away now, the great surprise. I used to think about it a lot when we were young sailors in the Great Patriotic War against the Commies. In that year we were assigned to the staff of the Theater Anti-submarine Warfare […]

(World’s worst Christmas Tree is up. I got it for a buck at the Methodist Church yard sale a few years ago. Even Charlie Brown would have a hard time loving it, but it suits my mood.) Yeah, I know. The first sentence literally writes itself: how could things get any stranger than last week? […]

(Image copyright Frank Langben) It was a special weekend down in the Country- and I hate to think it may be the nicest left in the year. The sky was a delightful cloudless blue; temperatures were temperate enough to go jacket-less, and there was the prospect that the Super Moon would present itself out over […]

– – – – – = This week’s poem: School Of Hard Knocks A fact of life, That’s hard but true: Tough times don’t last, But tough people do. Enduring, they see things Through to their end, And deal with whatever The future may send. Too busy to stop, To tired to fear, The tough […]

(Senator Sam Irvine) I am not reeling this morning- actually had a pleasant evening with some decent sleep afterward. Rose early, read and scanned email and fell asleep again. Some parts of the old-age thing are OK, if you don’t spontaneously fall asleep driving to some recently-developed place out near Dulles International Airport. I actually […]

COMMENT: So, should Japan’s Constitution be revised in order to remove the “legal doubt” about whether the Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF) should exist? I mean, is it such a big deal — either pro or con? In recent years, JSDF has become well-accepted and respected by most Japanese people due to its continued superb […]