WED 14 JUL 99

More Adventures in the Big Udon

Go to get ticket for tomorrow evening. Take JR Loop Line to Tennoji station. Cab to Shitennoji Temple—driver is probably ticked off due to shortness of ride after waiting a long time in line. So he drops us off at side gate, a couple of blocks from the main gate which is open. Walk past bundled piles of trash—eventually realizing that they were possessions of the homeless. Why weren’t they concerned about anyone stealing their stuff—or tossing it in the trash? In the temple grounds are even more piles.

The compound is dominated by a substantial four-tiered pagoda. The inner compound in which it resides is closed. Only the starlight passes across the threshold.

I was expecting a main road lined with shops leading up to the main entrance of the temple. The road is there, but it is lined with medical facilities, apartments and Mercedes. Looking up at the lit windows of one building, all that can be seen are ceilings patchworked with fluorescent fixtures, and chrome-plated contraptions decorated with dripping IV sacks. On the other side of the street is a Goodwill establishment whose second floor is chock-a-block full of pipes, hoses and ducts. This must have been the original inspiration for Terry Gilliam’s Central Services in “Brazil”.

Eat at the Ristorante Betsujin at the Cantina (06 6772 9485, www.nipposhoji.co.jp/betsujin/).

4-14 Hidein-Cho, Tennoji-ku. One block east of Tanimachi-Suji Avenue along Tamatsukuri-Suji Avenue. Then head north for a couple of blocks and look for entrance on the east.

I have white wine, Su-Fei has juice.

Boiled vegetables—two split snow peas, one quartered floweret of cauliflower, one quartered floweret of broccoli, one one-inch section of baby carrot, split in sixths lengthwise, two or three shavings of an onion—well, you get the picture.

Tomato salad with mint—two quartered cherry tomatoes.

Pasta Arrabiata—pasta al dente, olive oil, crushed red pepper, one broken chili pod, crushed tomato, maybe garlic.

Moroccon props, Tunisian architecture, New Mexican art images, American Jazz and Italian food.

(I must make mention of the architecture and use of lighting and natural light (skylights, atrium) and of the arches.) Had a meaningful discussion of architecture—I discoursed and Su-Fei fidgeted.

Also have cards for Lee Cap, Chinese Dim Sum (06 6771-2961) 1-1/2 blocks east of Tanimachi-Suji Avenue, on the north side of Tamatsukuri-Suji Avenue.

My favorite (and only) morning paper, The Mainichi News, carries this to further prove that some among the Japanese do strike out:

Oratory Results

The Kwansei Gakuin Universityand Kinki University joint team of Takashi Itazaki and Takashi Emi won the 20^th DLFI (Debate League for the Inexperienced) Debate Contest in 1999, which was held on Saturday and Sunday at Osaka Prefecture University.

Masahiko Takeuchi of Kitakyushu University was named as the best debater.

The event was sponsored by the Debate League for the Inexperienced and supported by the Mainichi Daily News and the Mainichi Weekly.

Irish gunmen raid train for cigarettes

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) – Like bandits of old, masked gun-men hijacked a goods train in a quiet siding Monday and made off with their booty.

But these robbers wielded a thoroughly modern weapon – a large crane, which they used to remove a large container of cigarettes worth 800,000 pounds (1.2 million dollars).

The cargo train was on its way to Dublin with a variety of goods when the gunman used the crane to block its path at the disused rail station in Dunleer, 56 kilometers north of Dublin.

Police said up to eight men were involved in the heist. The group had stolen the crane from its operator earlier in the day.

One of the men held the train driver and guard at gunpoint while his accomplices removed the container of cigarettes and put it in a truck.