Shake it like you mean it
For some time now I have been vaguely aware of a crazy trend called "Taiso" in Japan. It is only a trend in the way that jeans are a trend though: permanently fashionable in one form or another. It involves vague stretches, rolling your head around, jumping and flapping your arms. Exercise without breaking a sweat. There's a vague possibility your blood might start circulating, but that could be related to the increased heart beat from an embarrassment factor as opposed to the movement itself. So I start my new job and discover that every morning we have to do Morning Taiso. At 8:30 on the dot, 5 days a week, every employee in City Hall (all 8 stories worth) stands up and does the exact same movements in sync to music being blasted over the intercom. I thought this was odd the first few times, give or take a dozen. I have slowly started to adjust. Perhaps I am turning... into a government employee. Yesterday I was passing a construction zone and heard some odd music emanating from within. Curious, I cruised my bike past to get a closer look. At 8:15 on the dot all of the construction workers were doing the all too familiar head-rolling, arm-flapping, face-massaging, leg-shaking Taiso. Then as suddenly as it started it stopped and the men went back to their deconstruction-construction constructioning. Good to know that all the blood in Japan is flowing before the clock strikes 9. I would really be worried about the future of this country otherwise.