-
Feather duster
While standing on the street in Minami Azabu, waiting for my DigitalEve mentoring group to arrive for a meeting last night, I fulfilled a small desire. I popped into a nearby household goods shop and scanned the aisles for cleaning supplies to find, in a box next to a bunch of mop heads and cotton…
-
Bomb threat
Yesterday morning a bomb threat claimed the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nomura Securities, and Tokyo Station would be blown up. They’re still standing today; apparently it was a hoax. But here’s an interesting point: 800 people were evacuated from the TSE while the police spent 30 minutes looking for bombs. Nomura’s office building and the train…
-
Scary shellfish ID
Yesterday’s scary shellfish is a geoduck, a giant burrowing clam. Pronounced gooey-duck, it digs three feet deep into sand and lives there for up to 150 years. Wow. The Washington State Department of Ecology has great information about geoducks, and if you’re interested in cooking one, here is a recipe. Thanks very much to Lisa…
-
Scary shellfish
The Santoku supermarket near our apartment caters to gourmets and the local French population. There are five different varieties of escargot (three frozen, two fresh), and a frozen meats section that has every hard-to-find meat we’ve ever craved: turkey, quail, duck, and even American bacon. There are lots of esoteric things, too. Like this 7,000…
-
Bono, I
I was tipped off yesterday by my friend that her husband’s nickname for me (to differentiate me from her other foreign friends) is Bono. My likeness to the rock star has been discussed before and I’m not entirely convinced. What do you think? I like Bono’s style so I’m not complaining. It could be much…
-
Stupid tourists
OK, these folks are just reinforcing the stereotype of clueless Japanese tourists. In a report from the BBC, we discover: “Two tourists engrossed in their guidebooks and heading for the birthplace of Jesus Christ unwittingly wandered into the centre of a war zone on Tuesday. “The Japanese couple were amazed to find that Bethlehem’s Church…
-
Octogenarian croquet
Octogenarians if they’re a day, these croquet fiends have a little course of three wickets, all numbered with faded flags, and they laugh and cheer one another as they make their shots. Tod passes them in the park every morning on his way to work. Today I snuck a photo to share.
-
Standing reading
Thank goodness for tachiyomi. Literally “standing reading” it what everyone does in bookstores here. It’s perfectly acceptable to stand at the shelves and read books and magazines. It’s a great way to kill time. I had some time to kill when Ben called to say he’d be an hour late meeting for lunch. He was…
-
Connectivity
Our February phone bill arrived (26,121 yen). I must stay offline more. Right after I do some research on ADSL providers. When we moved we had to switch our Internet connection over to the new apartment. Only it wasn’t as simple as that. We had to reapply for ADSL service which meant a 4-8 week…
-
Comparisons
Getting away from Tokyo gives me a chance to make comparisons when I return. For example,Tokyo has much better subways and trains. London’s Tube is small, dirty, and subject to lots of delays as old switching equipment fails regularly. The Tokyo subway system is efficient, clean and relatively inexpensive. But London’s trains aren’t as crowded…
Archives