"So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye..."

7 months... Saying goodbye to the apartment.

From 2010-01-04

From 2010-01-04

Enjoying the last sips of Fanta Grape - Japan style.

From 2010-01-04

Returning to my quiet, quiet apartment alone and the beginning of what can only be described as - at this point - an 8 day binge of junk food, denial, liquor and sadness. Boo.

From 2010-01-04

Day after New Year's shrine visit.

The big shrine in my town - Miyajidake.

From 2010-01-02

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The largest shimenawa - ceremonial rope - in Japan.

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Sandy wins a prize - huge manju!

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Really though, we went for the food.

[Wagyu beef on a stick.]

From 2010-01-02

Choco bananas and pineapples.

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Sandy's favorite.

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Hot dogs on a stick! Bonus points for the American flag.

From 2010-01-02

From 2010-01-02

Oshogatsu/New Year's Day in Japan.

Traditional Dining...

From 2010-01-01

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Heading to Odo Park/Shrine.

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Cute!

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Daijiro defeats the foreigners.

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Sandy on the phone to mom.

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The winner of 4 out of 5 games of Uno. Clearly, something had gone wrong in the universe.

From 2010-01-01

Rocking the HS attire.

From 2010-01-01

Cousins and Baachan.

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Heading over to Baachan's - Dec 30th/31st.

Kaiten sushi enroute.

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Chew, then swallow :)

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These were awesome.

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Enjoying a burger on the last day of Wendy's existence in Japan.

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Obscenely/gluttonly delicious.

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Mr Donuts!

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Downtown Tenjin.

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Dinnertime!

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Zenzai is delicious. [Till grandma serves it to you the 4th time in one day.]

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Snow on New Year's Eve.

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Japan's delicious/unique treats.

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Yumi's stylish pics.

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Midori as a cheerleader at her school's sportsday.

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I dig on the sukiyaki.

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From 2010-01-01

My favorite Japanese tradition - fights all night on broadcast TV all New Year's Eve.

From 2010-01-01

Watched - Documentaries.

New World Order: What Do You Believe? - less about conspiracy theories and more about the people who invest in them.


Rethink Afghanistan

Stossel - Stupid in America - [on education.]

Pt 1/4

Power of Nightmares - watched this before, but the parallel rise of neoconservatism and radical Islam is pretty fascinating. You can find the whole thing online at The Internet Archive and on YouTube.

[A fan made trailer.]

The War on Kids - probably the most depressing documentary I watched. This and Stossel's Stupid in America fairly effectively indicts the American educational system. Which I've been inclined to think is true since I read some of John Taylor Gatto's work years ago.

RIP: A Remix Manifesto - [this is the future] - about copyright and remix culture.

The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom? - by Adam Curtis, the same director of The Power of Nightmares [above.] Unlike the other though, I was unsatisfied by this. Interesting stuff - the game theory and psychiatry stuff in particular - but ultimately I didn't think it hung together. Lacked a cohesive, intelligible argument and made leaps on logic and assumptions that didn't seem accurate.

Witch Hunt - thoroughly depressing. About the Kern County child abuse cases in the 80s. Part and parcel of the daycare sex abuse scandal hysteria that I remember from my youth. 36 convictions, sentenced to hundreds of years... eventually 34 of 36 overturned. And the 2 remaining resulted in people dying in jail before they could be exonerated. Cops and prosecutors and the system are never to be trusted. Period.

American Swing - this was ridiculously entertaining/funny/fascinating. - "The Seventies were sexy and sleazy. At the epicenter of it all was Plato's Retreat, the controversial, first-ever swingers club. In New York's conservative Upper West Side, Plato's embraced adventurous couples who came to dance, to swim, and... to swap. It was the start of a revolution." - A real slice of American history. Totally worth watching/recommended.

Orwell Rolls in His Grave - thoroughly instructive primer on the media, politics and corporations.

Watched - TV.

The Thick Of It - Series 1,2,3 + the specials. Funny, cynical, profane and dark British political comedy series. Good stuff.

Dollhouse - ramping up to the series finale, the show is just on fire. Yet more evidence that had the network kept its hands off Whedon, the show would've rocked out of the gate.

Doctor Who - the end of the David Tennant/Russell Davies era. I've only watched since the relaunch with Eccleston in 2005, but the wrapup to this arc had some exquisite story telling and acting.

The League, Modern Family, Better Off Ted, Daily Show, Colbert Report, FlashForward, The Ultimate Fighter, Scrubs, Lie to Me, The Inbetweeners [Series 1&2], 30 Rock, Community, Parks and Recreation, Misfits, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, K-1 World GP, Castle, UFC 107 Countdown, The Mentalist, The Venture Bros, Friday Night Lights, UFC 107, NCIS, Pushing Daisies Season 2, The Office Season 5, Batman: The Brave and Bold, K-1 Dynamite, Jersey Shore

The kind of good humor you can only get from the BBC - "Outnumbered: I'm a Satanist."

Too funny - "The Good Word II: Missionary Rap."

These are hilarious.

An omniscient being sets the arbitrary rules of the game and then "forgives" you for breaking his "laws." How kind.
"You mean I don't have to go to trial because he murdered someone else for my dirty crime?"

Abraham is held up as a paragon of virtue and righteousness because he was willing to stab his own son to death because a voice in his head - "god" - told him to. Riiiiiiiiight.

You can find the strangest stuff on the 'net.

Kinda odd, but still very cool.

Very cool.

Phenomenal body control.

Tiki Jeep = Total Win.

NAIAS Preview: 2010 Jeep Wrangler Islander - autoevolution:

"Jeep is bringing classics back to the road, as the Islander name returns after 20 years. The car uses a special Surf Blue Pearl Coat...

The edition is based on the Wrangler Sport model, so it offers its passengers the opportunity to enjoy the open-air experience.

The vehicle is equipped with Moab 17-inch wheels and 32-inch tires. To further emphasize the edition’s theme, the hood features an Islander “Tiki Bob” decal, with actual latitude and longitude coordinates for a real location. Kind of a treasure map from Jeep...

The Islander’s interior features Mopar rubber floor mats and leather wrapped steering wheel with blue stitching. A special attention has been paid to the seats, which are Dark Gray with Surf Blue inserts, blue stitching and have an embroidered Islander “Tiki Bob” logo on the back..."

Holy. Jesus.

Rudy Giuliani: "We have always been at war with Eastasia" Boing Boing:

"We had no domestic attacks under Bush; we've had one under Obama," said the man who was mayor of New York City on September 11, 2001."

Yes. This.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Truthier than the original.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

And that explains FoxNews.

Rick Steves: Blog Gone Europe - Shirelles Fight Fear:

"Older people seem most vulnerable to the 24/7 news fear-mongering. A week ago, a loved one called me up. He was almost breathless, saying that 283 Americans were nearly blown up by a terrorist. I pointed out that, while the thwarted attack could have been tragic, on that same day, 20,000 children around the world actually died because of bad water and no immunizations.

With the failed attempt to blow up a plane last week, blankets on laps and trips to the toilet are now suspect on flights. Egged on by our hysterical media, we're fixated on a risk we can never completely rid ourselves of. But that's not news: The Department of Homeland Security has kept our airports at code orange ('high risk') for the last three years straight.

The irony is that those most obsessed with the risk of terrorism are the ones empowering the terrorists... whose purpose, after all, is to frighten us. The people who need to travel the most are the ones whose worldview is shaped not by actually going places, but by 24/7 news coverage. And those news stations are peddling fear for profit. If it bleeds, it leads...and a thwarted terrorist attack at Christmas, if properly stoked and prodded, can turn into several days of huge ratings."

Kind of true.

texts from last night:

"(817): The worst mistakes make the best memories. Write that down."