-
Foreigners who live in
Foreigners who live in Tokyo are rarely lukewarm about it. They either love it or hate it. It’s a beautiful place or an ugly place. It’s wonderful or terrible. This is the view from my balcony. I overlook the entrance to another building’s garage (on the left) and collection of low rooves and wires. In…
-
Well, we’re officially househunting
Well, we’re officially househunting again. The current house is just too big, too cold and most importantly, too expensive. The rent here is equal to about 7 months of mortgage payments on our house in Pittsburgh. In our Bunkyo neightborhood, one Pittsburgh mortgage payment rents a 9×12 foot room with a galley kitchen and a…
-
What’s up with Japan’s
What’s up with Japan’s soft punishments for crimes against young women? This week there have been two remarkable examples. In the first case, a man abducted a 9 year old girl and held her prisoner in a room of his home for more than nine years. It was reported in the courtroom that girl was…
-
Oops, they did it
Oops, they did it again. Snow Brand’s in the news for some rather unethical actions. About 18 months ago, their milk products company failed to follow safety procedures (or even basic common sense) and recycled old milk into the new milk supply. Yuck! 10,000 people contracted food poisoning. This time, their meat group tried to…
-
It’s that time again
It’s that time again and a feeling of dread is building. Our Japanese teacher announced the school’s upcoming (mandatory) speech contest. This year’s contest theme is “Nihongo ga jouzu ni natara…” which means “When I become skilled in Japanese…” I think my opening sentence is going to have to be “When I become skilled in…
-
Kani Ryouri is Japanese
Kani Ryouri is Japanese for “crab cuisine.” There’s a fantastic kani ryouri restaurant in Azabu Juban, about 20 minutes away. I’m sure it has a real name, but we call it the crab restaurant. Their crab set lunch (1,200 yen) is a delight. It’s hard to decide what’s most delicious: crab sashimi served with tiny…
-
I woke up extra
I woke up extra early this morning. I wasn’t sure why. But as it turns out, I stirred at about the same time that our ADSL provider was cutting off our connection. They do this every few months to all their normal customers. Now we have a new IP address for the next couple of…
-
602,089 students took their
602,089 students took their university entrance examinations yesterday. This is the moment they’ve been working towards throughout their school years. They’ve studied, memorized and crammed their minds full of facts for these examinations. Some of the hopefuls will make it into their college of choice and face a pretty easy road through university. It’s generally…
-
Paying utility bills in
Paying utility bills in Japan is interesting. You take your bill, and the necessary cash, to the post office or to the convenience store and pay there. You can’t mail a check since there are no checks in the Japanese banking system. At the convenience store, the clerk scans the bar code on the bill…
-
Traditional workman’s clothing is
Traditional workman’s clothing is distinctive and very functional. Pants balloon at the knees then fall tight and straight to meet leather-bottomed split-toed socks called tabi A vest with pockets tops the outfit. What’s really nifty is that these traditional uniforms are still in widespread use. You can buy them online at Tokyo Uniform along with…
Archives