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The Russo-Japanese War
We have a photo book on this war inherited from my grandfather somewhere back home. I used to browse through it a lot when I was little without ever understanding…
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J’s East-West Theory of Fast Food
The disappointment of finding overcooked xx* noodles in a bowl of tasty broth is directly equal to that of an overcooked hamburger with full garnishes. *where xx = udon, ramen,…
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Sad but True
Probably the only famous Australian you can immediately conjure to mind has died. Sad, and sad. UPDATE: So did the sales genius behind Ginsu knives. UPDATE 2: For the next…
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WHERE’S THE BEEF?
HERE. Just in time for my last-minute feeding on all things quintessentially nihon. Here’s to the next million, and the next, and the next… I’ve been waiting, patiently, for three…
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Little Tokyo News
Check it out: The face of Little Tokyo is changing $820,000 for a 3-bed 2BR @ 1,226 square feet! That’s a stone’s throw from skid row, people! Then again, there…
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Passing the Torch
My time is almost up; the next wave of invaders is already here. I have seen them on the streets and I hear them on the trains. I leave the…
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A Prison Camp Memoir
Excerpts from another great memoir over on the JPRI site: “The radio went dead. All the servants had long disappeared–stealing everything they could carry. I locked all the doors and…
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Japanese “Lawsuit” Guitars
They are known as lawsuit guitars because they are of such good quality (often matching or even surpassing the original Fenders and Gibsons they replicate), that: Around 1981, though, Fender,…
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Hardcore
Did someone forgot to take their meds? In the essay titled “Killing Kittens” in the newspaper’s Aug. 18 evening edition, Bando, 48, wrote that she owns three pet cats and…
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Ryukyu Underground
I came across this fascinating article over at the website of the Japan Policy Research Institute: A Wild Start: Okinawa in the 1970s Excerpts: “Gate Two Street and BC Street…
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Sex Trafficking in Japan
An interesting article on the current state of affairs: The trafficking scourge “Yet to paint a picture of the victims of trafficking as poor, uneducated women duped into prostitution and…
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Biwako Hot Dog (??????????)
This is a foodblogging post I have put off for a year and a half. The photos were waiting patiently to be edited on my desktop for all that time,…
