Now I’m On The Record US-VISIT Style

Posted by in Society, Travel on 13. Feb, 2008 | 4 Comments

Every foreigner in Japan has heard of Japan’s new United States inspired (or, better put… driven) US-VISIT style fingerprint and photograph system to inventory foreigners as they enter the country. The program is sometimes referred to as Japan’s version of the US-VISIT program and started in November last year. I hear that similar program will [...]

Woman in the Dunes by Abe Kobo

Posted by in Books, Media on 11. Feb, 2008 | 3 Comments

I’m currently reading Woman in the Dunes by Abe Kobo in Japanese “with” a friend over the internet. We kind of pace ourselves and discuss via email every few chapters or so. I have found that reading with other people is a good way to keep the momentum going, and also a great way to [...]

TheJapanShop.com Random Sale

Posted by in Books, Gadgets, Language on 09. Feb, 2008 | 7 Comments

Hey everyone, just a heads up. TheJapanShop.com is having another random sale good until February 20th. So if you are looking to buy that Kanji-geek-special-interest friend something useful for Valentines Day, now’s the time to shop. You can use the TheJapanShop coupon code “cp108″ and get 5% off of pretty much anything except the MP3 [...]

American Coffee is Weak Coffee

Posted by in Humor, Language on 06. Feb, 2008 | 8 Comments

Adding insult to injury. The translation of アメリカンコーヒー (Japanese for “american coffee”) on this menu has been aptly translated by the cafe staff as “weak coffee”. Cute. – Harvey

Namba HIPS

Posted by in Osaka on 03. Feb, 2008 | 7 Comments

I decided to pay a visit to the amazing Osaka monolith that I uncovered from the depths of Osaka a while back. It’s name… NamBa HIPS. Okay, so it’s huge, really obvious, and right in the heart of Namba… Anyway… It’s basically a new building with a mini-game center and not-so-mini pachinko and slot entertainment [...]

  • Photos on flickr