I’m something of a life-long addict when it comes to digging holes at the beach. I’ve been digging holes since I was a kid alongside my Dad, fending off the sea, arming sea-shell soldiers along a sand-fort battlement, willing the walls to hold and the moat to stay fast.
These days however I forsake the battlements and soldiers and just go for the biggest, widest, and deepest kid-swallowing hole I can dig:
Big Bob is a Kanjiman- probably the friendliest Kanjiman out there. He has long shoelaces which he loves to tie, a sleek black bodysuit which he occasionally dyes, and is awfully prone to losing his keys.
Yes, he is a lovable fellow. And look at that smile!
Click for more to meet Kanjiman Bob!
Fun Captain Rob (from my Ultimate Frisbee team ‘Iku’) left Japan a few weeks back. For his last night in town we went to an izakaya (Japanese pub), then did nomihodai (all you can drink) karaoke for 3 hours, then hit a Roppongi club for the rest of the night. I of course had my camera with me.
Fun Captain Rob (in pink, what else?) and Natsu from ladies frisbee team MUD.
Coppertone have gone nuts recently in Shibuya station, plastering at least the Yamanote line north-bound platform with pictures of bikini-clad women (and little girls) with a dog biting their butts, like so:
When I first saw this I did a double-take, turned the other way, saw a similar ad where a little girl was getting her butt bit, and started to wonder if the whole thing wasn’t just a bit too weird for its own good.
I found the DINNING BAR in ultra-hip Shimo-Kitazawa a few weeks ago, and ever since have been scouring the net for what it could possibly be. My first thought was that it MUST be connected with the word ‘din’ as in “Lordy Mike’s making a din on that Double Bass!” or “Where’s that Godawful din coming from, is he on the Double Bass again?”
But I wasn’t sure if the noun ‘din’ could be made into a verbal noun (AKA- gerund) so I went to the font of all knowledge, my old friends Merriam-Webster:
His name is Koichi Sanders. He and the Colonel were divided at birth, despite not sharing a common mother nor being born in the same country or year. After that tragic separation, they never saw each other again, but for in the distant redness of Red land. They live in Red land, which is why the space behind them is always red. Their uniquely black and white faces cause them endless shame, as everywhere they go they are mistaken for each other. This is a big problem, since they do not even speak the same language!
Koichi Sanders considers the Colonel ‘the other’ Sanders, and vice versa.
The Toyo Bowl in Kanagawa was built some time in the 90’s and abandoned (haikyo) around 1999 when the mother company went bankrupt. It had 108 bowling lanes spread over 3 huge floors, a large pachinko hall, restaurants, gift shops, arcades, and a kid creche. It boasted ‘natural lighting’ and ‘beautiful blue carpets’ on all floors.
2 weeks ago my good friend Scott and his long-time girlfriend Makiko had a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, in a hotel up in Niigata. I say ‘had a ceremony’ rather than ‘got married’ because of course- as things are done here in Japan- you get married first in secret at a local ward office, just by signing some papers. Then, when its too late for the parents to protest, you notify them that they’ll need to pay for the ceremony.
Hay-ah! How do you like that, parents?
I went up with some friends on the Shinkansen to attend. I’m on the left in the picture below, alongside Scott and Makiko.
Click ‘Read more…’ below for the full video and details.
