"Let Them Eat Cake!" cried Marie Antoinette

Just about everyone I know who lived within a 200-mile radius of the Fukushima nuclear reactor on March 11 had either gained or lost several pounds (or kilograms, whatever those are) by the time we turned our calendars to April. We've dubbed it The Tsunami Ten and chalked it up to stress, the modern era's favorite scapegoat.  Some have embarked on ambitious diet-and-exercise programs and I, who came down on the positive side of  The Tsunami Ten equation, fully intend to do the same at some vague future point which right now looks to be as distant as Mount Fuji on a hazy summer day.

Bemusement is one of my favorite forms of procrastination.  Rationalization ranks right up there as well.  Right now I'm bemused that most of the more ambitious diet-and-exercise programs these days require electricity.  Electricity powers the treadmills in the gym and plays a role in tracking our progress.  Were it not for electricity, we could not share our progress - every inch of pavement pounded and every gram of weight dispensed - with every Tom, Dick, and Harriet in our coterie of facebook friends.

I'll start dieting and exercising when I can recall the old-fashioned methods that served me in the past.  Heaven forbid I tax the limited energy of my host country by relying on Google to refresh my aging memory.  Heaven forbidder I be forced to limit my bread intake in this land of Bountiful Bakeries.  Heaven forbiddest I be expected to cut open a grapefruit as that was always my mother's job so eating them makes me sad and nostalgic and morose and a lot of other synonyms that I'll not bother to Google for the reason stated above.

But fruit, fruit in any form, might be a good first step.  Maybe I'll jog across the peninsula to Ofuna and load up on some of the fruit tarts I recently spotted in the train station.    

      

Apple, Kiwi, and Honeydew Melon?

Mango, Black Sesame, and Something White - No Thanks

Berries, Berries, and More Berries - I'll Take a Dozen, Kudasai!

Mango, Kiwi, and More of that White Stuff