BREAD AND CIRCUSES

I don't really know whether we're all doomed or not, currencywise, not to mention all the otherwises. As for me, I've gotten out of cash and into wines. Still, even though the signs look ominous on pretty much all fronts, international exchange is going on apace as North Korea exchanges missiles with the Japan Sea, while the US exports not only its currency problems but its obesity problems as well, which are already being felt here in Japan. Now I read that the Krispy Kreme people are going to open 50 donut shops here, which is just what the country needs. Perhaps they'll open one down in the village that will take wine in exchange...

As a donut gourmet of grand master rank who has suffered repeated bouts of long-term donut deficiency here in Japan (a condition that, left untreated, can lead to severe carbohallucinations), during my most recent full-spectrum donut sampling spree in the US I didn't rank Krispy Kreme very far up there in the donut pantheon, if the truth be told, though it's nirvana in comparison to the Japanese industrial standard donut, an interpretation of the general donut concept that comes in one variety and taste-texturewise evokes an air-flavored kind of sawdusty paperweight with a hole in the middle, that makes an interesting conversation starter when used as a golf tee.

So the news got me wondering whether or not the introduction of actual donuts on such a scale in this country, if successful (there have been attempts by other chains, but they quickly became what they were not), would have any more effect on the Jdonut than the brief introduction of Ben and Jerry's had had on full-spectrum vanilla. Then I read in one of the articles: “Krispy Kreme said it doesn't own any part of the Japanese franchise company,” and I thought: uh-oh; slightly salty, dryish Krispy Kremes filled with anko, here we come. Kind of makes me wonder about the long-term actuality of international exchange.

Then I read news like “Kobayashi broke his own record of 531/2 hot dogs, set at Nathan’s on Coney Island in 2004,” and I start wondering all over again.