My arm hurts, but I had a fun day today.

This morning, I played real, indoor volleyball for the first time in 10+ years. (I'd occasionally played sand volleyball at Yahoo's corporate headquarters during my 8-year stint as a Yahoo, but that doesn't really count.)

Apparently, there's a little Mommy League for volleyball, of moms at various Kyoto preschools. I don't know many details except that I'm not allowed to actually play in the games (I lack appropriate Mommyness), but I can still practice with them. Anthony's preschool doesn't have a lot of volleyball moms, so they [...]
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What a pleasant surprise! The morally reprehensible ballot proposition (California's Proposition 82) that I feared was certain to pass was soundly defeated by a 39/61 ratio. Only two of California's 58 counties passed it (one by less than 350 votes).

As a bonus, the other proposition (a bond measure) was also defeated. I have a "guilty until proven innocent" attitude toward Statewide bond measures, as a state with one of the highest tax rates in the country has some very large means and should be able live within them. (Local bonds measures are a different story.)

Despite [...]
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Californians (and expatriates like me whose last US residence was in California) vote tomorrow on a number of things, including Proposition 82. Proposition 82 would create a special income-tax increase to pay for universal preschool throughout the state.

Even as much as the general citizen might like young children, few will want to fork over more in taxes specifically to pay for it.... especially those without children. That's why one might suspect this proposition to be doomed from the start, but no, it won't fail. I predict it will pass with the force of a mandate.

It [...]
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Anthony had his first field trip with his preschool class on Thursday, to the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens. Fumie had come down with a cold, so I got to chaperone. I took 420 photos. Here are three of them...

The Japan Times (English-language daily in Japan) has an article today about a plan to photograph and fingerprint foreigners entering Japan. It had been in the works for some time, and has been a topic of some debate, but now it's law.

Here are some excerpts:

Diet passes bill to take foreigners' prints, pics

By Masami Ito

A bill requiring fingerprinting and photographing of foreigners upon entry to Japan was passed Wednesday as a way to prevent terrorism.

An estimated 6 million to 7 million foreigners entering Japan every year will be obliged to have their fingerprints and [...]