Having returned to Music City, USA jetlagged late Saturday night from Tokyo, what better thing to do than to go see some live music jetlegged Sunday night. Though not the headliner (why I don’t know), Rainer Maria played at Exit/In in an early “all ages show” (= only water and Red Bull served). Fellow RM [...]

Just a quick update for you Goyareaders who are waiting with anticipation for more word and images from the Land of Rising Son and Strange Chip Packaging. I’m boarding a subway to Ueno to catch the train to the airport within 45 minutes so I’m signing off now until my return to Music City, USA. [...]

Taitsu-kun II: Buchô Shift

Another bag from the Taitsu-kun Doritos series and this one is a real hoot. I laughed myself silly when I saw it. It says “The Boss Shift,” as in “Barry Bonds shift” in baseball when fielders shift radically out of position to areas of the field where the batter [...]

Aozora Sandaime, Tsukiji, Tokyo
This is where I took Mie Uchida, the ex-Japan Hall Coordinator at Vanderbilt University, for sushi last night in the Tsukiji fish market district. It was excellent excellent. And expensive expensive. But worth it worth it. My thanks to Alan Christy for the recommendation (see his far more extensive Japan photos [...]

Dear God,
I feel compelled to offer an apology on behalf of my fellow Americans — well, only the ones on the so-called religious right — for ceaselessly exploiting Your Name for political gain. If You recall, back in 1956 someone decided to put the words “under God” into the Amercian Pledge of Allegience. In my [...]

I had to take a break from the Japan posts to express my outrage at “President” Bush’s presumptious act of deciding what is best for science and ethics in vetoing an expansion of funding for stem cell research, RESEARCH THAT COULD LEAD TO CURES THAT CAN SAVE LIVES AND END SUFFERING:
Bush said the bill crossed [...]

Kachidoki Bridge, Tokyo

Is this pretty or what?

Cosplay (costume play) is what hardcore anime fans do to have fun. You dress up as an anime character and, if at an anime convention, enter a cosplay contest. Or, if you’re in Tokyo, you can congregate in Harajuku on Sundays and have photos taken of you. Or, like this “Maid,” you can be hired [...]