This past weekend I went down to Tsukuba to visit Beth, and as usual, on the way back we took the Tsukuba Express back to Tokyo so I could catch my bus back to Fukushima.
Now for the few people who don’t know, Japan tends to pride itself–and with good reason–on having reliable, always-on-time trains. If [...]

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I’ve recently formulated a new goal for my stay here. I’m going to find out exactly where specific movies were shot in Japan then go there and take a photo at the same location used in the movie. In this way I can sort of let movies be my tour guide to the country, and [...]

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Ahh, the Sapporo Snow Festival. There were something like 400 snow and ice statues and sculptures. Some of these were relatively small, about six feet or so tall, and others were immensely huge. Many of the huge ones put that space to good use and built a snow stage out in front for many different [...]

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Despite what I’m sure many of you may think, Beth doesn’t enjoy being groped by strangers. I know, it once surprised me too, but I now completely understand.
Let’s rewind all the way back to yesterday, as Beth and I wandered around Akihabara, to begin this journey of understanding. Beth was looking for the new Kakitori-kun [...]

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Most anyone who’s into some sort of Japanese pop culture knows about the existence of Love Hotels. Are you in the mood for a quickie and need some accomodations? Indiscriminate lover? Have a whore? Curious at the, from an American’s perspective, novelty of having hotels blatantly dedicated to sex? If you gave a yes to [...]

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A month or two ago some guy on my Flickr contact list posted pictures of Matsushima, a famous bay in Japan made up of hundreds of tiny islands, on his Flickr account. I wanted to go eventually, it being one of the Three Views of Japan and all, but until one night during winter vacation [...]

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So two guys walk into a convenience store. One goes to the back to grab a bottle of Coke. The other one walks up to the counter and pays for three airline tickets. The first guy waits in line holding his 120 yen bottle of Coke while he patiently waits for the time it takes [...]

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Jason, Chris, and Jake finally returned back to the US, and after staying at Tsukuba with Beth for a few days, I’m finally back at home. Too much stuff happened over break to put in one entry, so I’m going to split everything up. Today I shall start with Nearly-Naked Harajuku Dancer Guy.
For one [...]

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The ride to school yesterday was far more eventful than any occurrence at school, and it all began in a crosswalk.
Every morning there are lots of people, mainly high schoolers and some older people, who walk or bike to their schools/jobs. Yesterday, like most any other day, I was a member of this crowd. We [...]

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This post was updated on December 8, 2007 to add some more photos.

Thanksgiving. It was one of the best meals I’ve had since coming to this country. I refused to let this holiday pass without celebrating it with busting my gut full of food, so I invited some other JETs and some of their Japanese [...]

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