Rantings about sponge cake

I had an early birthday cake - which I shared with Kaori and Karl who are both having birthdays around now. That cakeshop (The Fruitcake Factory, which I was first taken to by the elegant, shopaholic Naho and informed that the man should always pay for dinner - an opinion shared by most Japanese women) makes yummmmmm cakes covered with fresh fruit - blackberries cherries grapes redcurrants - so much fruity goodness!! Yuki has good taste and didn't get me sponge cake - one thing I don't quite get is the popularity of sponge cake in Japan. It's all over the cafes, the department stores, and it has taken over Christmas. Why? It's like eating sweet mattress stuffing (hence the name). And much less satisfying. According to Yuki, it's seen as the quintessential ordinary, standard cake, and that's why it's so common. Thankfully, it always comes stuffed with sliced strawberries and cream. This reminds me that there is indeed salvation for the sponge in the form of - the trifle. Trifle is a whole nother story. Trifle is to sponge cake what __________ is to ____________ . Please fill in the blanks (can you tell I've just been making the mid-term tests for the students?)

Fantastic Plastic Machine & the Supportive Parents

Beautiful sounds from Our Favourite DJ, the one and only Fantastic Plastic Machine, last night at a new club called Freud in the heart of Susukino. He opened with a remix house track of 'Sunshine of Your Love' by Cream, and ended with his usual crowd pleaser of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', we love it!! I left at the end of his set, at the very reasonable hour of 3.45, needing fresh air and some food...so lucky to be able to get onigiri and miso soup almost anywhere in Japan even in the middle of the night. I can't wait until they ban smoking in bars/clubs here though, all the smoke wears you out, I think it's because you can't get enough oxygen to keep the energy up for dancing. Or maybe they need to work on their ventilation system at Freud.
It was already light when we got back because there is no daylight savings in Japan. When we got out of the taxi outside my apartment building, we found the same line of tired-looking parents camped out against the fence of the primary school across the road, that had been there when we had left to go into town. They had been sitting there all night, because today was the school sports day. I guess they were camping out to show that they were supporting their kid, or to bag the best spots to sit. When we got up again this morning it was pouring down with rain, the sports day had been cancelled, and the parents had disappeared. It was pretty amazing. When I was at school, we were lucky if our parents showed up at all!