We’ve had a number of houseguests passing through, and it’s been interesting to see what they pick up about the country. One such thoughtful observation by a guest from Italy was that Japanese women have funny looking knees. And it’s totally true.

Obviously not all of them but a lot of them have knees that turn in when they walk although they’re inevitably also wearing really uncomfortable looking shoes with high heels. Some of these women have never learned that wearing stilettos is only sexy if you can manage to walk normally in them. They’ve also never learned that wearing spikey heels looks really ridiculous on a steep path in the mountains or at a park full of deer even if it is paved.

I know I can’t. That’s why I stick to Munros and Clarks.

Last Saturday night — or rather early morning — I got a call from my sister. She was calling from the Kate Spade sample sale, which I have been waiting for all year. She had taken my order earlier in the week, but she called me to find out if I wanted a red suede bag that she picked up and everyone was ready to pounce on the minute she put it down.

Of course I said yes. I also had her pick up a green purse I had originally asked her to find. I can’t wait to see them.

(PMK might give you a different story since he got woken up for nothing though he has a much happier wife)

I got up this morning to be told that Arafat died yesterday evening Japan time. Like any right thinking person, I thought I’d check the paper to see what the Nikkei (the financial paper of record in Japan) had to say about it since my television had some French Japanese woman, who writes plays and has nothing to do with the Middle East giving her opinion about the whole affair. Imagine my surprise when the Nikkei had just a few short graphs about it in relatively small print on the front page with a promise to tell more on PAGE 6! Arafat’s news was smaller than a story about the restructuring of Seibu Group.

Just as a point of reference — a couple days ago the earnings of a tiny but growing Internet retailer Rakuten got huge play on the front page of the Nikkei for the first time. The company just got approved to start a new baseball team a few weeks ago after lots of lobbying and publicity. Coincidence?

I think I met my first Japanese metrosexual. I had lunch last week with a source. He’s actually very nice, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his face because I’m 99 percent sure he had make-up on. I think this for a couple of reasons. 1) His face looked unnaturally even-toned. 2) It was a creamy tan color that also seemed a little bit unnatural. 3) you could see his stubble had a beige coloring.

Having said that, he actually did a pretty good job. Much better than I do with my own make-up.

There has been, if I’m not mistaken, 24 typhoons in Japan so far this year. This is a huge number, compared to typical years. I didn’t realize until recently how this impacts my life. Yes, typhoons bring rain and yes, I realized I’d have to endure soaking clothes and shoes. But no, I did not anticipate the rise in the price of vegetables. The typhoon has been destroying fields, making this harvest season a meager one.

A few weeks ago, there was a news program that said lettuce and daikon radish were costing $3-5 a piece.

Yesterday, I believed it. I just paid nearly 300 yen ($2.80 or so?) for a third of a radish.

My sister and I went to a store called Loft yesterday. It’s sort of a Crate and Barrel, Bath and Body Works, Brookstone and a cool stationary store all rolled into one. We entered the store to discover that they’ve started stocking for Christmas.

Christmases in the U.S. are already too commercialized for a lot of people’s taste, but people, who celebrate Christmas usually celebrate the religion too even if it’s a token gesture (e.g. once-a-year church visit…). There’s something that just doesn’t sit right about the Japanese, many of whom are quick to label legitimate Christian sects as cults, putting up Christmas trees and buying expensive ornaments. Not that it surprises me since many of these are the same people that are perfectly content to get married at a hotel chapel by a fake priest because they want a “Christian” wedding (I went to my cousin’s wedding years ago where my Christian grandmother and I were the only ones, who knew the hymn we were singing).

But to get back on topic — I wonder where they put the tree anyway since homes are so small.

(Loft also had a display of Halloween goods that included plastic cups with pumpkins on them. The price? $20 for four of these things that look like a dollar store couldn’t give them away.)