Hello? Anybody see those hundreds of thousands of demonstrators?

A couple of days after the large peace demos in San Francisco, Washington and elsewhere, Bush raised the pressure on Iraq yet again, making a war seem all the more inevitable. It couldn't be clearer that the demonstrations that took place over the weekend completely failed to communicate anything to the war-hungry administration. You can't help but conclude that they simply want a war and that nothing can dissuade them at this point. But who knows, maybe this new poll, which today announced that Americans continue to be skeptical about a war in Iraq, will make some kind of difference. If they're not paying attention to opinion polls, what are they paying attention to?

To change the subject: Here are some fabulous photographs of Kamagasaki, Osaka in the 1950s -- a far cry from the glittering consumer jungle that we envision when we think of Japan. But even today,

Kamagasaki is the largest slum in Japan. Located in the south end of downtown Osaka, Kamagasaki is a one square kilometer "city within a city". It is home to some thirty thousand day labor workers, some three thousand homeless, and close to ninety yakuza offices. There are almost no social benefits for the people in Kamagasaki, and like the elderly workers that live here, the town is dying.

That's from another site hosting an exhibit of modern-day photos of the same neighborhood. )Links courtesy randomwalks.)