Author: Jean Snow

  • A Car Drives By

    I’m not much of a car guy — although I have come to realize in recent years that the racing game in indeed my favorite genre (along with RPGs) — but I did quite like the looks of what you see pictured above, which drove past me as I was having a coffee at the…

  • Beers in the Park, Hitachino Edition

    I’ve often described how I enjoy drinking beers while out and about — street beers, yo — and since the closure of the Minami-Ikebukuro Park a few years ago, my main outlet in the ‘Bukes has been Ikebukuro West Gate Park. It’s more of a gathering place than a park, but it’s fun in part…

  • No Burritos, No Life

    Let me say something about burritos. Having grown up in Eastern Canada, I did NOT have access to any quality Mexican food — or basically ANY Mexican food — and it was only after I left my hometown that it was introduced to a few restaurants (of the chain variety). Now I’m not trying to…

  • Kirimomi

    My good friend Ian Lynam recently created a typeface family called Kirimomi for Onitsuka Tiger, based on the company’s history, and available as free downloads. It appears that there have already been over 10,000 downloads of the fonts, and in celebration I’ve decided to change the logo on this site to what you see now,…

  • No PauseTalk in August

    I already announced it when the last PauseTalk came around, but just a reminder that next week there will be no edition, as I usually skip August — with so many people on holiday, it’s hard to get a good attendance. The next PauseTalk (Vol. 53) will be held on September 5.

  • 27 Hours

    This past weekend I spent more hours than I should really admit watching Fuji TV’s 27-hour comedy marathon (and even recorded the whole thing). It’s no secret that the only Japanese TV I watch is comedy, and this year’s event was hosted by Takeshi Okamura of the duo 99, who has been my favorite comedian…

  • Out With You, Analog

    There are only two more days here in Japan before analog broadcasting stops, and this morning they (and by they I mean someone sent over by our realtor) came over to replace the old antenna on our roof with a digital one. We’ve been watching digital TV for over two years now, and we did…

  • A Fresh Start

    It wasn’t enough that I’ve had to deal with the strongest sunburn I’ve had in 10-15 years — from hiking on Mount Tanigawa (2000m) this past Sunday — but last night’s attempt at installing Mac OS X Lion on my MacBook Pro ended up in my having to reformat my drive. It was damaged during…