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Kizu Sky
I like the details and colors of this photo more on the screen of my keitai, a fact which has exactly zero value to you, dear reader.
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The Road to Kizu
Kizu is an area between Nara and Kyoto where Taro showed us the best junk/secondhand/recycle shops we have ever seen. Didn’t take any pictures inside because I was having too much fun looking at stuff.
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Brimful of Asha
I once drank a pinchful of vibhuti, sacred ash, dissolved in a cup of water at the insistence of a crazy white guy I met in Japan who was a follower of Sai Baba. He told me great things about Sai Baba and how he conjured this ash from nothingness. Now, I am fascinated with India and always have been – it’s high on my “to experience” list – but this one point regarding the ash always gnawed at me. I mean, really, why ash? Why not something useful like powdered milk to feed the hungry masses or graphite powder for lubricating squeaky rickshaw axels? The guy didn’t offer an…
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Sai Baba
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Product Diversification
Scoop of the Year: The mattresses at the Mitsui Garden Hotel in Nara are made by Toyota. True futon otakus know the Toyota I speak of is not the same company that makes the 376mpg Prius.
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Free Blog Comparison Link (Japanese)
Found this link for a site that compares free Japanese-language blogging services: Muryo Blog Hikaku (Free Blog Comparison) My moblog on yapeus is still getting a lot of traffic and links from other Japanese sites, as is the old version of this blog. I never archived the contents of the old blog here like I wanted to and I’ve been thinking of moving some of the posts I liked here one by one… we’ll see. I often find myself wanting to do stuff I never actually get around to doing.
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Adam Yoshida Arrested!
I am so shocked: Adam Yoshida Arrested On Multiple Charges Hey, I was just joking when I told him to stop smoking crack…
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Japanese Troops in Iraq
“We, the Japanese people, acting through our duly elected representatives in the National Diet, determined that we shall secure for ourselves and our posterity the fruits of peaceful cooperation with all nations and the blessings of liberty throughout this land, and resolved that never again shall we be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government, do proclaim that sovereign power resides with the people and do firmly establish this Constitution. Government is a sacred trust of the people, the authority for which is derived from the people, the powers of which are exercised by the representatives of the people, and the benefits of which are enjoyed…
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Shoutout to Korea Blogs
A friend has asked me to point out some good Korea-related blogs in English. Cosmic Buddha is a fairly avid reader of Korea blogs. My interest stems from KAL stopovers and short visits, including one 2-day stop on the way back from the states this year. I started my exploration into the Korean Blogosphere sometime last year with the Marmot’s Hole and Incestuous Amplifications, following their exodus from Blogger to Blog City (and in the Marmot’s case the final move to TypePad), and eventually started branching out to others: Seeing Eye Blog (Writer for the JoongAng Daily who “lives in and savors Seoul’s sleazy foreigner ghetto of Itaewon.”) Goldbrick in…
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Shopping Advice
I wrote about the art of bargaining (never say “haggle”, it sounds like a scavenging sea bird with Barbara Streisand’s face) in Japan in this post last year, and I’ll be drawing from the same vein here, the shop smart vein. I really enjoy chasing down good deals on the net when there’s something I need. The majority of my online purchases are computer parts, books, music CDs, and movie DVDs. The latter 3 are often bought on Amazon, the inception of which has saved many a gaijin from the ridiculous cost of English language books in the few Japanese bookstores that actually have an English language section. For those…
