A nice view on religions...

Hello everyone,

I know we have been off line for quite some time now... the truth is, we have not much to write about these days. We have been very busy with work, studying and trying to remain sane while surviving yet another holidays season -hopefully the last- in Japan.

On the meantime before our New Year's best wishes post, let me show you a video I stumbled upon while reading some news feed the other day.

The guy makes a hilarious point about the nonsense of religions. As a non-religious christian myself (i.e. someone who tries to figure out what the old J said -before being executed as a religious fanatic terrorist- by myself as I live my life as it comes along and not following blindly what other people think I should live my life according to their own interpretations of what J really said), I happen to agree with most of what he says, besides, he makes it sound really funny.

Enough said, on with the video.

Jiro Yoshida in Kobe

Last Sunday we had the opportunity to go and see Jiro Yoshida playing in the same restaurant as last time. This time he played Christmas songs and we had a great, although kinda quiet, beautiful time.

Besides being a very talented guitarist, Jiro is super friendly and has a great sense of humor. He comes to say hello to our table after his performance and always has good jokes to crack.

He is playing in Japan all over the place but he will be in Okamoto in Kobe on the 27th. (Thursday) at the Born-Free pub. The entrance fee is 4000 Yen and it starts at 1930. I recommend everyone to go because he said it is going to be very lively.

We are not sure if we'll be going though... as much as we'd love to, this month has been quite hard on our budget and we are counting every penny left.

You can check the rest of his schedule in Jiro's website in case you might want to see him at other venues in Japan.

These are a couple of videos I shot at the restaurant with my phone last sunday. As always, quality is not the best and the light doesn't help either... who knows?, some of you might enjoy them anyway.

Have fun,

Gaston

'The Man from Earth'- again!!!!

I do love film. And I know what I like, so I will not change my mind about 'The Man From Earth'. I did not like the film. But, I also did not like 'Star Wars', ' Lord of the Rings', any of 007 and so on... It certainly does not mean those were bad films. But, we all have the right to an opinion, we all have different tastes. My fiance, my friend Cameron and some others loved 'The Man from Earth'.

On the other hand, I will not undermine anybody's work, because I do not know how much love and devotion somebody invests into making a film. So I will congratulate to the team who made 'The Man from Earth' because they are so proud of their work, and I hope they continue doing what they like, even if it meant some bad critique on the way.

Masa did it!

Masa at Croguay Republic

Our friend Masa did it as he had promised he would! Yatta!!!

Yoku dekimashita! Omedetou!!

We at the Republic are very proud of our friend whom we helped prepare for such an important event by providing him with the right amount of calories necessary to undertake such an effort! (as seen on the picture to the right)

As you can see by the official result above, it took him a bit over 6 hours to complete the full length of the track.

We are anxiously waiting for his return to hear his own account of the events and to know how he felt while pushing his body to its limits.

On the meantime, please check his blog where he posted how he trained for the race.

Thanks Masa for the good news! Otsukaresama deshita!!!

Gaston

Engaged

Dear Croguay sympathizers and others,

We are glad to inform you that we, the Croguayans, got engaged. It is true, it happened
on the 24th November, he was on his knees, I got the ring with a rock and I said 'yes'.

To tell the truth, he took advice from some of his friends, caught me off guard, in the morning, before the first coffee, when my brain's off duty, so I would agree on everything as long as it follows with a shot of caffeine and a nice slice of bread....

So I said 'yes' and than I cried. I just experienced the happiest moment in my life (I do admit I am just a girl and we love moments like this, when you see in his eyes how much you matter).

Yes, it was the happiest moment, I didn't expect it at all. Not to mention, it was before I could brush my teeth, or comb my hair, or look at least a bit attractive so he doesn't change his mind looking at me all swollen from sleep. Than I thought how little all these things matter, the most important thing was kneeling there in front of me, his voice trembling but his lines determined to get this one right....And it was right....This was the greatest birthday present....

....Hey, did I mention also that I got the ring, too... well....