it's not life that matters but the journey...

Its newstime again.  I thought I would send some of the interesting tidbits from Japanese news. 

another little girl was murdered again (the second in just a month): http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20051203p2a00m0na005000c.html

Princess Aiko (the daughter of the Crown Prince and Princess) turned four years old:  http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/photospecials/graph/051201princess/

And it looks like most people in Japan will be going to see Harry Potter rather than the "Memoirs of a Geisha."  Seems that ignorant Hollywood has pissed off Japanese people by putting a Chinese actress in the lead of this movie (the main character is supposed to be Japanese) and pissed of the Chinese by showing sexual relations between a Chinese woman (she's supposed to be Japanese) and a Japanese man.  Masahiko says its good because there aren't any Japanese actresses who can play a Geisha (and Zhi Zhiyang is perfect to play a Geisha) or who can speak English well enough.  Its probably true, sadly.  anyway, here's the story: http://www.miami.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/13300060.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_world

and here's a weird story:

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20051201p2a00m0na024000c.html

and lastly, better not be caught smiling in Japan:

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20051201p2g00m0dm018000c.html

Next, my "review" of the HP movie...