April 26, 2004
In Case of Fire...
Handy display at the Tarumi parking area shows you how to operate a fire hose: "water comes out!" Backdraft for Dummies.
April 24, 2004
Sekuhara Panda
This was the luckiest finger puppet in the world. Alas, I fell asleep at the bar and somebody kidnapped him. Bastards.
@ Mickey D's next to new WINS and Namba Parks.
April 22, 2004
Heh. Scroll down to comments on For Monks Only
This was taken at Phuket Airport. These monk only-designated seats (3 in total) were next to the benches for people who take showers and don't beg for money at airports (I'm not being mean, monks really are smelly leeches!). I really wish I had taken the time to use my Coolpix for this photo, but it was hot and humid, and I was on vacation. What else can I say?
Halves
OK this is Japanese Translation humor, so it may not be of interest to 99.999% of the world, but I have 100Mbps FTTH so here we go:
Setting: Terminal for high-speed ferryboat (hydrofoil, to be exact) in Sumoto City, Awaji Island. (The ferry shuttles between my island and Kansai International Airport and the terminal is a 10 minute walk from my front door. 45 minute ride to KIX. Convenient as hell.)
Photo is of a button on a vending machine for buying a ferry ticket for children. The kanji characters are pronounced "kobito", literally, "small person". It's more commonly used for "dwarf" than it is for "child", which is the first reason I think this is funny. Can you imagine a ticket machine with a button for "midgets"?
Secondly, whatever Einstein decided on the kanji also decided to make a stab at the English labeling. Instead of "child", he decides on "HALVES"? Hmm...
Just in case you were wondering, the smaller kanji in the greps reads "katamichi", meaning "one-way". However, the "HALVES" probably does not refer to "half of a round-trip ticket", because on the button above this one it says "ADULTS" in the same location.
Romance that ass
Slogan:
Romance, the toilet paper for discriminating wipers.
Lead-in:
Do your "rhoids" scream at the sight of the sandpaper-like rolls stocked in public bathrooms?
Do you enjoy reading on your "throne" long after "making a deposit?"
Have you ever fantasized about alluring encounters with strangers -in the (water) closet?
If so, you may be in for a surprise... Introducing: ROMANCE Toilet Paper with Silky Smooth Aloe Vera treatment and Tiger Balm Infusion!
- Available soon at your local drugstore. -
April 18, 2004
Just thinking about the day after I took this makes me feel nauseus. A great memory.
Tramps Pt. 1
Many innocent brain cells sacrificed themselves for this picture. At Tramps, in Kyobashi.
April 15, 2004
Mimic-san
Taro always goes on and on about this movie we saw about moth-monsters killing people in abandoned subway tunnels; he used to run around saying "Mimic-san, mimic-san"whenever a moth would fly in the house... Hence the title of this post; the movie title was MIMIC here in Japan, but maybe went under a different name in the states (Country-specific movie titling is common in all countries. Well, maybe not in Luxembourg.). The title stemmed from the young autist who used spoons to create moth-like sounds to attract the monsters.
Obscurity of the day: The moths might have gone aggro if someone played track 8 from Soundgarden's SUPERUNKNOWN album. (Google it you lazy bastard!)
This photo was taken at a highway rest stop at night, when 2 moths of the type shown were attracted to the white glow of an Asahi Beverage Co. (non-alcoholic) vending machine.
Resting Ground
Well, I decided to post this pic in memory of my friend Tatsuya who died last year. The foremost gravestone in this photo is not his, but it is pretty and so I took this pic to commemorate the hill where he is buried. I posted this today not in conjunction with any fixed date or anniversary, rather, I just got to thinking about Tatsuya today as I made a left turn in the car he gave me, listening to an old song we both liked. Some people say it is not right for me to take pictures like this or to post them, because it is disrespectful. I fail to see the logic in this. I am simply remembering a friend. If pictures of headstones make you uncomfortable, that's your insecurity. We will all end up dead someday. Get used to it. (OK, maybe this post is a bit influenced by my curret rereading of Eiji Yoshikawa's MUSASHI)
