allergies
Posted by harvey in About on 14. May, 2007 | 3 Comments
My nose is stuffed. My eyes are teary. In the morning I sneeze. Seems I have pollen allergies. I have never had them before. This is my first year. My allergy “debut” if you will. You’ve probably seen pictures of people in Japan wearing white masks which cover their nose and mouth. These mainly serve [...]
Gloomy Bear Skateboard
Posted by harvey in Crazy Consumers on 13. May, 2007 | 4 Comments
Gloomy Bear is one of my favorite image characters from Japan. He is a cute pink robot bear with long claws, who can often be seen mauling his owner. Check the official Gloomy Bear website to see what I mean. In Japan there are many more Gloomy Products, everything from cell phone straps, to giant [...]
Help Harvey: Drivers License Expired
Posted by harvey in About on 12. May, 2007 | 15 Comments
Hey guys, my US drivers license expired some time ago, but I need to go back to the US in June, and actually need to drive… What can be done in this case? My drivers license was from Iowa, and I’ll be going to Georgia actually. Anyone have any ideas? I need to be able [...]
Pro-Constitution Revision Rappers and Protectionist Kansai Obaasan
Posted by harvey in Culture, Society on 10. May, 2007 | 5 Comments
A TV special recently featured some Japanese Rappers who hope that the constitution will be revised to allow Japan to support an army, and some comedian (漫才) old women (obaasan) who want to preserve the constitution as-is. The Obaasan The obaasan (my translation is “grandmotherly woman, with respect”) are against revising the constitution so that [...]
Constitution Haiku
Posted by harvey in Language, Society on 10. May, 2007 | 2 Comments
Article 23 of the Japanese Constitution says… 「学問の自由はこれを保障する」 Which translates to (technically, is translated from, as the constitution of Japan was initially written in English) “Academic freedom is guaranteed.” Technically, the Japanese could have been written 「学問の自由は保障する」and saved a few characters without changing the meaning at all. So why has the 「これを」been included? Is it [...]
Dogs and Demons
Posted by harvey in Books on 07. May, 2007 | 18 Comments
I’m a little late to the party, but I just recently read Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr. This book is intense. It answers a ton of questions I have always wondered about Japan such as, “What are those giant jack shaped concrete objects on the beaches?”, “Why does every single mountain seem to have [...]
Japanese Practical Jokes
Posted by harvey in Humor, Media on 07. May, 2007 | Comments Off
Hey ya’ll, this is rich. Click the link. Laugh. YouTube Video. 100 people. Instant crowd gags. Scene 1: “Tsunami!!!!” Scene 2: “Tsunami!!!!” Scene 3: “It’s him!” Scene 4: 「胴上げ偏」 Scene 5: “Look out!” I’m a little unsure if in scene 1 they are also yelling “Tsunami”, but I think so! In scene 4 they don’t [...]
Japanese Emoticons Part 3
Posted by harvey in Culture on 05. May, 2007 | 6 Comments
Time for some more Japanese emoticons (“kaomoji”) 「顔文字」！ Check out the other sets in case you missed them. Japanese Emoticons Part 1 Japanese Emoticons Part 2 (￣口￣) (￣○￣;) (￣□￣;)!! (☆o☆) (+_+) (*_*) (@_@) (＞＜;) (→o←)ゞ (((゜д゜;))) (#｀ε´#) (￣＾￣) (-_-#) (-_-メ (｀ε´) (-”-;) (｀へ´) )｀ε´( ＼(゜□゜)／ o(_ _*)o m(_ _)m m(u_u)m m(．．)m (T_T) (〒_〒) (|||_|||) (>_<) [...]
