Last week went to the Laos Festival in Yoyogi park and followed that with a trip to Wendy’s.  At the Laos Festival I had some good food and a Beerlao (see http://www.beerlao.la/ ).  At the Wendy’s I had a bacon deluxe burger with a salad and ice tea.  I think the burger is thicker than the American Wendy’s patties.  In Japan Wendy’s seems to be positioning themselves as sort of a higher-end burger restaurant, as evidenced by their Japan Premium sandwiches (see http://wendys.co.jp/wendys/view/s.php?a=115).  Could you imagine foie gras on the menu at a Wendy’s in the States?

Tokyo Skytree.  It’s really friggin tall.  And it just opened.  If you haven’t already gotten a reservation, you can’t ascend it until July.  Hopefully I’ll get to go sometime.

佐倉市で雨が降った View high resolution

佐倉市で雨が降った

One of the textbooks we use (from 2002) has a chapter about Sammy Sosa, how he came from poverty to become a hero to his country. View high resolution

One of the textbooks we use (from 2002) has a chapter about Sammy Sosa, how he came from poverty to become a hero to his country.

I went to Miraikan, the science & technology museum in Odaiba, Tokyo, last Wednesday.  Takes a beautiful elevated train ride to get there.  The museum has a variety of cool exhibits.  Pictures are of a really sweet giant floating globe made of LEDs, creepy robots, and an ASIMO demonstration.
The giant Gundam lives outside of a mall in Odaiba. 

SonarSound Tokyo last night.

So I haven’t updated this blog in a while cause I find I generally like editing things, and tumblr’s format is more conductive to on-the-spot thoughts. Anyhow I’ll try to post more often. There’s a shit-ton of pictures I’ve yet to post on here or Facebook sitting in my computer. Since iPhoto became unusable for simple photo editing I’ve been backed up. Long story short, my position in Kure was cut, and after weeks of uncertainty my company was able to transfer me to Chiba-ken. I’m living pretty close to Tokyo; took me 47 minutes on the train to get to Ueno today. It’s cherry blossom season, so the park was packed with people picnicking and walking around snapping pictures. Now it’s 11pm, and I’m heading home; didn’t feel like staying out all night after walking around all day. View high resolution

So I haven’t updated this blog in a while cause I find I generally like editing things, and tumblr’s format is more conductive to on-the-spot thoughts. Anyhow I’ll try to post more often. There’s a shit-ton of pictures I’ve yet to post on here or Facebook sitting in my computer. Since iPhoto became unusable for simple photo editing I’ve been backed up.
Long story short, my position in Kure was cut, and after weeks of uncertainty my company was able to transfer me to Chiba-ken. I’m living pretty close to Tokyo; took me 47 minutes on the train to get to Ueno today. It’s cherry blossom season, so the park was packed with people picnicking and walking around snapping pictures.
Now it’s 11pm, and I’m heading home; didn’t feel like staying out all night after walking around all day.

Yesterday as I was heading out from the lunch restaurant attached to the supermarket, an old lady complimented me on my skillful use of chopsticks. I actually don’t hold them ‘correctly’, which a friend sometimes gives me crap about. But I think this proves that my unorthodox technique is successful (or that the lady was simply surprised a foreigner could eat with them at all).

Simply enjoyed this GIF.  Snoopy is popular here, though some of my students were surprised when I explained to them that Snoopy’s friend is actually named Woodstock, not Yellow Bird.

Simply enjoyed this GIF.  Snoopy is popular here, though some of my students were surprised when I explained to them that Snoopy’s friend is actually named Woodstock, not Yellow Bird.

(Source: nickthejam)

(Reblogged from nickthejam)
New banner at my bus stop in Kure advertising the Tiger Taiga Drama set in Ondo. Tiger Taiga Dramas are TV historical drama programs serialized over the course of year. This year’s drama is about the historical figure Kiyomori, who created the canal between Ondo and Kure (supposedly by magic). I’m curious to see if there will be increased tourism thanks to the TV show. Edit: I thought this program was called Tiger Drama since that’s what it sounded like when everyone told me about it, but it’s actually called Taiga Drama which basically means ‘long thread.’http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga_drama View high resolution

New banner at my bus stop in Kure advertising the Tiger Taiga Drama set in Ondo. Tiger Taiga Dramas are TV historical drama programs serialized over the course of year. This year’s drama is about the historical figure Kiyomori, who created the canal between Ondo and Kure (supposedly by magic). I’m curious to see if there will be increased tourism thanks to the TV show.

Edit: I thought this program was called Tiger Drama since that’s what it sounded like when everyone told me about it, but it’s actually called Taiga Drama which basically means ‘long thread.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga_drama