It probably won’t make the local news, but I’m sure those of you who are Vegas regulars will hear about it.

Believe it or not, another Hono­lulu young lady scored a jackpot on the Wheel of Fortune machine at the California Hotel and Casino.

Her take? A cool $2.4 million.

It was about eight weeks ago when another young lady from Honolulu hit $1.8 million on the same machine.

Boy, they must be dancing on top of the slot machines at the Cal.

When I wrote about the previous million dollar plus winner at the Cal, I mentioned that General Manager David Lebby and his assistant, executive sec­retary, Sandy Gress, were probably also dancing around.

When I did write about the previous winner, I didn’t think David and Sandy would even hear about my comments because, hey, they don’t subscribe to the Rafu.

However, Sandy dropped me a note to thank me for my writing up the story. She said one of the customers of the Cal dropped off the Rafu.

I doubt if another Rafu subscriber will drop this column off.

As one who can’t even hit for 2.4 million pennies, I wonder what it feels like to walk out of the California Hotel and Casino with $2.4 million in my pocket.

On thing is for sure, if I took that much money in cash and walked out of the casino, the weight of the loot would probably make my pants fall off and with my luck, a cop would probably arrest me for indecent exposure.

I know, some readers will laugh at that last line and probably comment, “Indecent exposure? It would be more like horrific exposure.”

The ironic part about the story of the newest million dollar-plus winner at the Cal is that she is not a “regular.” She was in Vegas and staying at the Cal to celebrate the birthday of her grandmother.

As we all know, the California Ho­tel and Casino plays hosts to so many events like high school reunions, golden wedding anniversaries, birthday parties, etc. And most of them are groups from the Islands.

One of the mainland groups which utilizes the Cal is the Manzanar High School reunion. They held theirs about two months ago, if memory serves me correctly.

I know all of us who go to Vegas would like to win a few bucks but most of those I talk with about their regular trips to the Cal say they just enjoy the “getting away from it all” atmosphere found there.

There aren’t many places one can “get away from it all,” on a short three-day trip, the average length of stay for most Nisei.

I would guess that for Nisei senior citizens, “getting away from it all,” is going someplace where age isn’t a factor.

And we all know age doesn’t mat­ter when one is sitting in front of a slot machine.

===

Usually, when I get an e-mail which also contains a notation in the address that a copy also has been sent to the “Letter to the editor,” I try to wait a column or two to see if it is printed. If not, I will go ahead and place it in my column.

However, on some occasions, the e-mail seems more directed to me so I just go ahead and print it anyway.

The following is an example. It reads:

“I just wanted to tell you that I don’t agree with the criticism of you by T.K. Tajima’s letter to the editor in the 11/14 edition of the Rafu. First of all, I don’t believe that it was ‘great for us all’ when Obama was elected as our new president as stated in the letter. Your humor at the expense of Obama was all that kept me going during the dismal presidential campaign. If I didn’t have time to read your whole article, I would skim through to see if you had any jokes or tidbits on Obama. You were one of the few McCain supporters that would openly admit it and I loved it. I was beginning to wonder if the Rafu was just another liberal biased media outlet like the rest that lacks journalism integrity and if the editor is continuing to print material that is pro-Obama only?

“Perhaps the Rafu and T.K. Tajima forget that there were millions of us who voted for McCain and are not enamored with the admiration of their Messiah Obama. Sure, he is the president-elect, but I believe that respect has to be earned. I choose to remain anonymous because someone will most likely find my comments to be racist even though it has nothing to do with race.”

Thanks for your thoughts. You shall remain anonymous as requested.

===

Gee, I must have missed the boat when I was living in Heart Mountain Relocation Center.

After running a photo of me dancing at the senior prom in camp, I mentioned that I got a call saying that “You look cute.”

Now, old friend Roy Ono sent me a short e-mail in which he wrote: “Hey, George, I wouldn’t say you were cute, but you were a pretty good looking dude in your high school days.”

Thanks for the kind words, Roy.

If I were “cute” or a “pretty good looking dude,” how come I could never get a date during camp days.

Whenever they held a “couples only” dance (about every weekend), I was always looking through the window of the mess halls (where the dances were generally held) and gazing at the gals and guys dancing to Glenn Miller recorded tunes.

And, whenever there were “stag and stagette” dances, I was able to go inside the mess halls, but couldn’t find any gals who wanted to dance with me.

Of course, I’ll be the first to admit I was a lousy dancer. In fact, I took dance lessons at Santa Anita Assembly Cen­ter before we moved to the relocation center. But, I wasn’t a good student and never did get a grasp on dancing.

In fact, the teacher at the Assembly Center dance class told me, “You’d bet­ter just sit and watch.”

Oh well, I guess it was difficult teach­ing a horse how to dance.

===

I’ll get back on track now and scrap my thoughts on my dancing skills and my “cute” and “pretty good looking dude,” matter.

I’ll start with the issue of Asian American vs. Japanese American.

I bring this up again because I was kind of disappointed when the news about Don Wakamatsu becoming the first Japanese American to gain the title of Manager of a Major League baseball team when the Seattle Mariners hired him to fill the role for the 2009 season, made the media.

The stories about Wakamatsu identi­fied him as the “first Asian American” to be named as a Big League Manager.

I wish he was identified as the “first Japanese American,” instead of “first Asian American.”

It makes me so proud that Wakamat­su was accorded the honor of heading a Big League team.

Perhaps this is because those of us who are older and lived through the crisis of World War II and were the target of racism, gain a sense of pride when a Japanese American accomplishes something that we could never imagine would happen.

When I was discussing the Waka­matsu story with one of my sons, I began to realize this because he said, “What’s the big deal what they call him, Asian American or Japanese American?”

It made me realize that one has to live through something to really un­derstand.

I’m sure that the younger generation have experienced some racism in their lives but how many can say they were tossed out of a restaurant because the owner, “didn’t serve Japs.”

Or by walking on a street and having a group of white kids yell out, “Hey, there’s some Japs. Let’s go get a few.”

Maybe they should have been ex­posed to traveling in the Southern States of the U.S. in days of yore, where there toilets marked “Whites” and “Blacks” and having to decide which ones Japa­nese Americans should use.

Heck, even in our nation’s Capitol, at the train station in Washington, D.C., there were drinking fountains marked “Whites” and “Blacks.”

So, I am proud I’m a Japanese Ameri­can, not an Asian American.

===

Continuing on a slightly different Japanese American topic, with the Uni­versity of Utah team finishing their sea­son this past weekend with a victory to retain their undefeated seasons, it seems to be a certainty that they will be playing in a BCS post-season bowl game.

So what, some may ask?

Well, the so-what is that the kicker for the Utes is a Sansei named Lenny Sakoda, who will be the first “Japanese American” to play in a Bowl Champion­ship Series games.

The so-what angle is that Utah University is also the school that had the first Japanese American play on a NCAA basketball championship team many years ago.

Wat Misaka earned that title when he was a starter on the Utes’ title win­ning five.

In the final game of the current foot­ball season, Sakoda kicked two field goals and five point-after touchdown for a total of 11 points as the Utes beat Brigham Young University.

It’s not certain which bowl game Utah will play, but I’m sure looking forward to it.

I know place kickers didn’t get that much publicity but since they are in­volved in scoring after the team gets a touchdown, after Utah hits the end zone, Sakoda will appear on the TV screen. And, that’s enough to make me watch whatever bowl they are in.

Since we are mentioning Japanese Americans and college football, I’m sure most of you who are sports fans, read the great story in the Los Angeles Times about Jack Yoshihara, who played for Oregon State University.

The gist of the story was that al­though Yoshihara, a member of the team, couldn’t play in the Rose Bowl in 1942 because Japanese Americans weren’t permitted to travel more than 75 miles from their homes due to the wartime restriction.

The reason the Times ran the story, I would assume, is that Oregon State is heading to the 2009 Rose Bowl.

It’s a great story. If anyone missed it, it’s on the front page of the sports section in the Saturday edition of The Times.

The one piece of the story which kind of puzzled me was that Yoshihara, now 87, said he’s too old to drive to Pasadena if the Beavers play in the game, so he’ll have to watch it on TV.

Gosh, it seems to me that somebody might step forward and get him a plane ticket to fly to Pasadena so he can watch the game “live.”

===

When I ran a photo of the house I lived in when I was living in Tokyo, a reader who only wants to be identified as “Mike’ wrote me a few comments.

He wrote: “I lived in Tokyo and lived in a small apartment but the rent cost me an arm and a leg. How did you afford living in a house that looked like a little castle?”

Well, Mike, you’re right. It’s com­mon knowledge that rent is ridiculous in Tokyo. Especially for foreigners whose living needs are different from the Japanese.

Fortunately for me, when I signed a contract to work in Japan, Rikidozan who hired me, agreed to pay for my housing.

At the time we signed the agreement, I thought it curious that he made a spe­cific note that I would be responsible for the utility bill.

Little did I realize, until I got to Ja­pan, that gas and electricity cost almost as much as the rent.

Well, after I got there, it was too late to try to change my original contract regarding living expenses, so I had to make sure I used minimum electric­ity, which meant I couldn’t run my air conditioner all day long, even during the humid heat of Tokyo in summer and autumn. And, for heating the house in the winter, I brought a kerosene burner, a commonly-used heater by the Japanese in those days. But it produced a lot of smoke so I had to cut back on its use, too.

Well, I survived the three-year stay there so I guess I can laugh about it now that I look back.

As far as appearances go, the house certainly wasn’t a “castle.”

Many years later when I visited Tokyo and went back to the “old neighborhood,” I found the whole area has changed as did everywhere else in Tokyo.

One of the shop owners was still in business so I visited him, but he didn’t recognize me.

When I told him who I was, all he could say was, “Toshi totta neh.”

Hey, I’m 40 years older so what did he expect?

===

Just taking a ride on the freeways is enough to convince me that the drop in gasoline prices has more people jumping back in their cars.

This past Sunday I was invited to a party thrown by my long-time neighbor, Amy Deme’s son and daughter.

It was held at the Shady Canyon Country Club in Irvine. I realized that I developed a habit when gas prices got over the 4 bucks ceiling. That is, setting the odometer on my auto to see how far I drove to get from place to place.

From Gardena to the party in Irvine and back racked up 74 miles.

Since my car gets about 24 miles per gallon on highways, I concluded that the trip ran me about three gallons. Now at 4 bucks a gallon, that would total up to 12 bucks. At $2.26, what I paid before starting out and filling my tank, it comes to about half that.

Hey, let’s go to Vegas.

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the Shady Canyon Golf course, but the Club house is really something.

And I don’t know if their staff pre­pares the luncheons, but Amy’s brunch was great with chefs preparing omelets and hotcakes on order.

As usual, I stuffed myself, a bad habit of mine at buffets.

I thought it was great that Amy’s son and daughter showed their appreciation for their mother to put the luncheon together with about 60 guests in at­tendance.

Maybe if my sons read the Rafu, this piece might give them an idea.

===

I know Em (Kato) Yamada reads my column because she often calls me to comment on some stuff I may have written.

On my recent story about tipping, she added that the reason restaurants automatically put a 20 percent tip on the bill if there are more than six people in the group, is that large groups don’t leave even a 10 percent tip because they don’t calculate the total amount of the bill and just toss a fix amount for the servers which is often less than 10 percent of the bill.”

That’s probably true. Say the bill for six people comes to $100. The group will generally leave a “round figure” of 10 bucks.

In Japan, no matter what the size of the party, the tip is included on the bill so there is no need to figure out the percentage on tips.

Tips, as far as servers are concerned, are not a laughing matter.

The ex-waiting staff of the famed New York sushi restaurant, “Masa” has filed a lawsuit against the Manhattan eatery claiming they were cheated out of tips (automatically included on the bill, Japanese-style.)

Guess the amount they are asking for in the Manhattan Supreme Court?

Damages amount to more than one million dollars.

Masa adds 20 percent to the bill no matter the size of the dining group ala Japanese style.

Wow! A million dollars in tips.

Let me throw away my computer and go apply for a waiter’s job.

Serving sushi must be easier than serving a column twice a week.

===

And my laughers Today’s shouldn’t make my wife laugh.

•At a cocktail party, one woman said to another, “Aren’t you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?” Yes, I am. I married the wrong man.”

• You have two choices in life: You can stay single and be miserable or get married and wish you were dead.”

• A woman inserted an ad in the classified: Husband wanted. The next day, she received a hundred responses. They all said the same thing. “You can have mine.”

• Then there’s the woman who said, “I never knew what real happiness was until I got married and by then, it was too late.

• First guy says, “My wife’s an an­gel.” The second guy responds, “You’re lucky, mine’s still alive.”

That’s it for today.

_________________________________________

George Yoshinaga writes from Gardena and can be reached via e-mail at horsesmouth2000@hotmail.com. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.