Free Hugging Gaijin
Posted by harvey in Society on 14. Mar, 2007 | 6 Comments
Remember my post on Free Hugs a while back? Jeff Josh over at Sushicam has spotted some Free Huggers in Tokyo, and taken time out to join them. He wrote about his experience, check it out, it’s interesting stuff! – Harvey [tags]free hugs, japan[/tags]
PAdict – PDA Tool for Japanese
Posted by harvey in Gadgets, Language on 13. Mar, 2007 | Comments Off
I can’t believe I just discovered this now. PAdict (Personal Assistant Dictionary) is an excellent tool for Japanese learners. It runs on Palm OS, so if you’re on a Clie or Palm Pilot Handheld, give it a shot. Of course this should also work on Palm Treo smartphones. It’s free… Has a giant dictionary… It [...]
Early Sakura 2007 in Ueno
Posted by harvey in Tokyo on 11. Mar, 2007 | 4 Comments
During the Tokyo run we ended up stopping by Ueno Park. Nice place! Surprisingly there were already a few Sakura trees in bloom. Officially, they’re expected to bloom around the week of the 19th I believe… There are pictures taken by a much better photographer, and by a much better camera available here on my [...]
Get your own Hiza Makura
Posted by harvey in Crazy Consumers on 09. Mar, 2007 | Comments Off
Remember the Hiza Makura, or “knee-pillow” that I mentioned way back when? If you really must have one of these overly expensive, overly strange Hiza Makura knee-pillows, you can actually order a knee-pillow from JList and have them delivered to you overseas. hizamakura Unfortuneately, the “China Version” doesn’t seem to be available at this time. [...]
Yushima Tenjin
Posted by harvey in Culture, Tokyo on 08. Mar, 2007 | 2 Comments
I happened to be in Tokyo today and passed by Yushima Tenjin, a shrine in Tokyo which is said to enshrine a god of learning. Since it’s March now, it’s test season for the kids (poor souls…) of Japan, so there were lots (read tons) of prayer blocks (called 絵馬 ema in Japanese) with the [...]
Japanese Disasters
Posted by harvey in Culture, Language on 07. Mar, 2007 | 7 Comments
There is a phrase in Japanese that Japan’s worst natural disasters are… 「地震、雷、 火事、おやじ」 (jishin, kaminari, kaji, oyaji) However, nowadays おやじ have lost their fearful influence… And actually… Are kinda weak. So some people say this phrase is no longer valid. Oyaji used to turn over the chabudai when they got angry… Now they just [...]
Pink Box – Inside Japan’s Sex Clubs
Posted by harvey in Books, Crazy Consumers, Society on 04. Mar, 2007 | 12 Comments
Banned in Japan, Joan Sinclair’s new photo book “Pink Box” looks deep into Japan’s commercial sex industry. The author went through what can only be described as “trials and tribulations” to literally get her foot in the door to gather the pictures and information necessary for this project. The Pink Box official website opens with [...]
Wasabi a Threat to Science
Posted by harvey in Food on 03. Mar, 2007 | 4 Comments
NASA has listed Wasabi as one of the major threats to the International Space Station. If you have ever eaten Wasabi a little bit too fast, you are familiar with the sense shocking destructive power of this innocent looking plant. As NASA explains, when combined with weightlessness, rouge wasabi particles could get into astronauts eyes [...]
