Japan's new First Lady, Miyuki Hatoyama is a remarkable woman in many respects: she travels, she writes, she's an experimental cook. I like the cut of her jib but she said something a bit odd when she talked about her UFO experience. According to a slightly sensational account in The Huffington Post she claimed in a book last year that the aliens abducted her while she was asleep and then:While my body was still in bed, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus. It was a very beautiful place and it was really green.
Now, a few years ago I had my own, er, close encounter, with a triangular shaped UFO over Colorado so that part of the story I might buy. But no one's going to Venus. This from Wikipedia:
The pressure at the planet's surface is about 92 times that at Earth's surface—a pressure equivalent to that at a depth of nearly 1 kilometer under Earth's oceans. The density at the surface is 65 kg/m³ (6.5% that of water). The CO2-rich atmosphere, along with thick clouds of sulfur dioxide, generates the strongest greenhouse effect in the Solar System, creating surface temperatures of over 460 °C (860 °F). This makes Venus's surface hotter than Mercury's.
In the olden days before Russia began sending probes to Venus many people assumed that because the planet was covered with clouds naturally it was tropical, lush and green. There were many many science fiction novels about visits to this Venus and encounters with Venusians. But now we know better, there are no Venusians and never will be. So please, when the aliens come again Mrs Hatoyama, get them to take you to Europa, or Titan, or Mars or somewhere where life, at least, has a fighting chance. And bring a camera.
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BTW with remarkable prescience David Byrne wrote the theme music for this incident and this blog post twenty five years ago. (Sorry if its copyright restricted in your country, now you know how I feel everytime someone links to Hulu).
66 comments:
I am pretty sure the aliens just lied to her and told her it was Venus. Although since it was just her soul, maybe it could withstand the heat and pressure. I guess you and your wife are pretty lucky that you were passed by for that ride. Although come to think of it, one or the other of you might be prime minister of somewhere by now.
The David Byrne link was prohibited by copyright over here. I did watch two Japanese guys talking on their cell phones for awhile, though.
Venus is a pretty cool planet. It rotates in a direction opposite the rest of the planets. From wiki: "As a result of Venus's relatively long solar day, one Venus year is about 1.92 Venus days long."
Some scientists are saying Venus's upper atmosphere might harbor life too.
Forgot to say those are cool pics too.
To be fair to the woman, she did - as Seana points out - specify that it was her soul that went to Venus (her husband's soul, presumably, went to Mars). And the laws of physics don't as yet apply to the soul, as science hasn't encountered one so far. So it's possible, theoretically speaking.
I'm going to repost this and call it "Big In Japan. And Venus." Or "Talking Through Her Hatoyama." Or "Close Encounters of the Third Klind."
Sorry ...
Cheers, Dec
Seana
I've amended the post to point out that it might not play everywhere. It was David Byrne's And She Was, which has a great little video remarkably similar to Mrs Hatoyama's account.
Brian
Good linkage, but I'm not buying it. Like life on the Moon I just dont see it happening.
I think I read somewhere (Carl Sagan?) that there are radical plans to terraform Venus. Now that would be pretty cool.
Brian
Oh yeah the pics are from the Russian probe which lasted a few seconds on the surface before it was crushed by the pressure and then melted.
Dec
Well you do win the annual punning cup dont you?
There is no punning cup? There should be. You'd win. Talking through her Hatoyama is my favourite.
She has been transported to the alternate universe Venus in which this story is set, you narrow-minded gits.
Marco
Good linkage. Clarkesworld, wonder if the estate gets any royalties?
Very nice use of the vernacular too. Why arent you translating Irish novels into Italian again?
I for one am SO HAPPY to finally see a Japanese Prime Minister's wife make a mark on the world, however slanted and new age-y. They’ve been little more than window dressing up to now.
When I lived in Japan, I saw a female member of the Diet speak about a mistress who’d admitted to an affair with one of the ministers. The speaker just BLASTED the mistress, saying she’d ruined the poor minister’s life and lamented how she could have put the poor guy through such misery.
Oh, wah wah!
Holden
I agree. I think she's pretty cool actually and listen I'm not discounting the whole UFO thing after my own experience. Well, not TOTALLY discounting it.
I havent been to Japan but my better half went there and really loved the area up around Nikko. It was, she said, like someting from Basho.
Nikko is so cool – LOADED with temples.
I love Japan, except for the over-crowding. It's a country of almost 130 million people on landmass the size of California, and 75% of the land is uninhabitable due to mountains, volcanoes, etc.
And just when you start to get comfortable, thinking, “this place isn’t so very different,” you come across something you’ve never seen or heard of before, like a strip club for deaf people. And only then do you realize you're not in Kansas anymore.
Amen, Holden.
And it may just take a soul trip to Venus to be able to stand up to the Japanese Diet.
Although she probably could have just come to California for awhile.
The funny thing about UFOs is that "perfectly rational people", whoever they are, seem to have had experiences with them, whatever they are.
I don't actually believe that people get "beamed up", but I do believe they have some sort of UFO experience that the rest of us don't understand.
However, if you ever hear a scream from the heavens, and then a human being falling from same, it will probably be me being spat out as indigestable. And frankly, in those few brief moments of consciousness before I make impact, I won't blame them at all.
Nice to meet you.
I was going to paste the link without permission because I had very felt the interest for your blog.
Please link me with the blog if it is good.
URL:http://hiro-anniversary.blogspot.com/
E-Mail:h-mori@ibs-office.com
Uh huh.
Holden
I'd really like to go someday. I think I'd enjoy it. I did read Basho after Leah got back and I liked his stuff a great deal.
Hokkaido sounds like my sort of place.
Hiro
Cut and paste to your heart's content I dont care. The Huff Po broke this story not me. My only contribution is the description of Venus bit and the cool pic from the Russian probe.
Seana
Well I was a TOTAL skeptic, but I saw something...
Japan has the interesting "Festival of the Steel Phallus" in Kawasaki.
This conversation makes me want to dig up Basho again, which is a good thing.
Hokkaido has an amazing ice sculpture festival every year.
I never heard of the "Festival of the Steel Phallus," but kick myself for missing it.
Since I'm reading a book about the Undead (called Breathers, and set right here in Santa Cruz!), digging up Basho has a slightly disturbing ring to me. Although I suppose in Japan, people are ususally cremated. Not sure what that does to their zombie culture.
Wow, that could make a potentially great zombie story! Not only dead but cremated. How would you get a handle on that? A shot to the head wouldn't cut it.
I'm not sure how threatening an urnful of ashes would be, though.
Marco
I used to own a Kawasaki 125. Does that count?
Holden
When Basho visited Nikko it was already an old pilgrimage place which impresses me.
Seana
I'd send the zombies down the coast to Clint Eastwood's house, he'd need know how to deal with them.
We'll see. I'm only on Chapter Five. It's pretty good so far, though.
Oh, I forgot--this one is actually told from the point of view of the zombies.
Only in Santa Cruz.
I used to own a Kawasaki 125
Overcompensation?
I'm sure googling the festival's name you'll all find plenty of images - from icicles to giant wooden and bronze sculptures and everything in between.
Binged images for Festival of the Steel Phallus and the images are... invigorating. ;->
"Basho once wrote, a flute with no holes is not a flute. And a doughnut with no holes is a danish."
Holden, I'm thinking Bing may have a little bit of a marketing problem, because the way that read was a little ambiguous. I thought you were saying that you 'binged' on the images, i.e., went on a Festival of the Steel Phallus binge.
Or maybe that's what you were saying?
Seana, to be a good stockholder and citizen of the company that pays my mortgage, I use Bing instead of Google. In my post, I used "Bing" as a synonym for Google: I "binged images for Festival of the Steel Phallus" online, as opposed to "googled images for..."
This is not to say Bing doesn't have a marketing problem...
I did know what you meant, Holden. It's just to say that not all would.
And though it's not politic to say it on Blogger, I do hope Bing or someone will make some inroads in the search engine realm.
Does anyone here remember Altavista?
...No, I thought not. Though actually they still have an active search site.
Marco
have you seen a K125, its quite the reverse old boy, quite the reverse.
Holden, Seana
I just looked up Bing, its the new search engine from MS, right? Which means that Holden is really Bill Gates. I'm not wrong am I? Which makes me wonder why I'm not getting more hits. Obviously an Apple based conspiracy.
brian
you have to say it in the form of a haiku.
So is this the same Adrian McKinty from Carrickfergus who used to go on Rag hitches dressed as a leprechaun (yes I do have photos) and was noted for knowing all the words to Amercian Pie (long version) whilst under the influence?
Orla,
Hi!
Same me. You know I was attempting to go for the whole gravitas angle but now that's blown.
Who do I write the check to to keep those photographs from ever seeing the light of day?
Adrian,
I could certainly try, but I'm pretty sure I'd never be able to pull that line off as well as Chevy Chase did in Caddyshack.
I'm outed!
OK, I'm not actually Bill Gates, just one of his lowly serfs.
But I still make it my duty to recommend your books and blog far and wide at the Evil Empire, even if Mac continually attempts to thwart me.
Here I was, thinking 'what am I going to retire on, come the day?, and here I am, spoiled for choice.
First Holden "Bing" Gates in a sad attempt to remain incognito, and then our host, trying to renounce his Irish heritage. Oh, there's a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, I think.
Orla, whatever money he's willing to put up, I'll put up more. Because I'm pretty sure I could gather a whole consortium of investors.
And if you happened to have video of Mr. McKinty singing songs of his own composition--or even just cassettes--well, sky's the limit really.
But under the influence? Well, it may not be the same person after all.
Holden
Well I have to say that one of the big pluses about living in Oz is that I never have to see those annoying Mac versus PC ads again.
Orla
Dont listen to Seana, no one wants to see me dressed as a leprachaun hitch-hiking by the side of a French motorway with an 80's haircut - what could be interesting or ridiculous about that?
Well, those French lorry drivers may not have been crazy about the sight, no. But times change.
have you seen a K125, its quite the reverse old boy, quite the reverse
yeah, I realized after typing. You learned to play mind games early on then.
So is this the same Adrian McKinty from Carrickfergus who used to go on Rag hitches dressed as a leprechaun (yes I do have photos)
A leprechaun? If I had seen the scene in a film I would have complained about blackface and easy stereotyping.
Orla, I agree with Seana, you should really post the photos somewhere and send us the address. It's for the greater good of mankind.
Actually, I should ask--what in the world are Rag hitches?
Marco
Did you see what Seana just said about you? You shouldnt be agreeing with her, what about some solidarity mate? We Europeans have to stick together. Lets nip this photo thing in the bud, before the video emerges of you drunk under the influence of homebrew and singing songs about Juventus.
Seana
The idea is that everyone tries to hitch hike to a foreign city - Paris, Amsterdam, Rome(?) are the ones I went to (Paris 3 times cos it was so easy) and you got sponsored you for how far you got. I discovered that if you were costumed no one surprisingly thought you were insane and you always got lifts.
Adrian, pointing Marco to a thread where I said nothing specifically about him and you did is not going to help your cause.
True, don't be surprised if this blog ceases operating right about n
Did you see what Seana just said about you?
No, what did she say?
"...and singing songs about Juventus."
Kind like you singing songs about ManU?
As to those hitching trips, Europeans must be much more naive than I'd have thought.
Or maybe they just aren't afraid of leprechauns. Though I think I might be. Which is why we really, really need a visual.
Marco
Ouch, that hurts man, hurts.
Seana
Yeah no one thinks a leprachaun is going to murder them. Havent they seen any of those movies? I think Jennifer Aniston gets killed in one of them.
Aren't leprechauns supposed to be a bit untrustworthy in Irish lore anyway? I mean, you wouldn't exactly pick up a real one if you saw him on the road, would you?
Beer and evil nefarious plans remind me that I'm not making much progress with my bear friend.
He's still reluctant to try life's finer pleasures, like ... non-wheat beers.
Though he's somewhat GRAPHIC in saying all the things he DOESN'T WANT to do; methinks he doth protest too much. And everybody knows unless you're a Canadian no means maybe.
I should probably try with some Absinthe. While I do not much care for it myself, I noticed that when he tried the green stuff for the first time at the end of a meal he kind of didn't let go the bottle.
There's all the Oscar Wilde/Rimbaud decadent angle, and
anyway Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.
I must also remember to compliment him for his hip Brooklynite style and for his "yes my girlfriend brought me to Sardinia but I never left the shadow of the beach umbrella" non-tan.
Marco
Wasnt this the guy I suggested you drag to the Oktoberfest? And correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the Oktoberfest on right now or in a week or so?
Munich full of drunken Micks, Aussies and Bavarians can be a scary and intimidating place for a couple of fragile Italian boys, if you know what I'm saying.
You're right,it's still a good plan.
and it would make a great David Leavitt style novel esp if it all ended badly.
The novel could even be called "Nobody Went to Venus, Mrs. Hatoyama," especially if you were willing to change the characters a bit and set it in Japan, perhaps at the wonderful Festival of the Steel Phallus that we've all now heard so much of.
Also, Marco, good luck. I'm thinking you're probably too good for him, but never mind. Absinthe it is. Or beer. Or something.
I'm thinking you're probably too good for him
Then again who could possibly be good enough? ;)
So true.
And I suppose in relationships it almost has to be the case that one isn't good enough for the other. You may as well be the too good one.
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