Month: January 2004

Seems like gangsters have found a new revenue stream. An increasingly organized underworld [targets] Japanese stars, [follows] them around with hidden cameras in the hope of grabbing compromising footage that could bring them a small fortune. The full article from the MAINICHI DAILY NEWS is here.

Shintaro Sato has some very cool pics on his site. I especially like this series. Link via Chad from Superfuture.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to get a stronger handle on Japanese. Yeah, it’s not the first time I wish for this, but it’s really something I need to confront head on, as I’m starting to get embarrassed (for the amount of time I’ve lived here, it’s not where it should be). So,…

I submitted my site to Blogwise a while back, and it’s now been listed. Of the 12 102 blogs that are listed, I’m only one out of 74 sites listed in the “Japan” category. Looks like a good directory, although I haven’t really had time to explore it yet.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we head out to Seibu to get some food from the depa-chika (the basement level of most big department stores hosts mostly pre-cooked food counters, like a giant market – Seibu in Ikebukuro has one of the best ones). As always, we start with cheese and a baguette, and…

Don Quijote stores are way fun. They’re pretty much open 24 hours (the one in Ikebukuro closes at 6 and opens at 10), and you can go there not wanting to buy anything, but just to browse the wacky selections of things on sale. Me and Yuko sometimes go there at 1-2am when we want…