Where are my chopsticks?

Tom Waits and Cookie Monster

2012-01-13T19:01:00.000+09:00

Just hit 1 million viewers

2011-11-08T22:26:00.000+09:00

I can run real quick, yo.

"Kichigai" by Rebecca Culverhouse

2011-10-24T00:00:00.003+09:00

This short film was shot in Shibuya a couple of years ago. I play the drunker of the two male characters, Jay.

Recent Booze Article

2011-02-22T11:32:00.001+09:00

Just throwing out a link to my short article (bilingual: English/Japanese) about alcohol trends in the Tokyo metropolis for KOE magazine.

Japanese Avoid Studying Overseas? A Counter-Argument

2011-01-12T01:58:00.004+09:00

Japanese university students have been called a lot of things recently, not many of them very nice. The Mainichi surmises that today’s post-secondary crowd is not in possession of the same “spirit of independence” exhibited by students who went through the system a decade earlier. The Yomiuri calls them “inward-looking” and the Japan Times insinuates that they are just plain afraid.

Afraid of what?

Studying abroad, of course.

The drop in the number of university students heading overseas has been labeled a harbinger of a wide variety of educational, economic and social malaise. Apparently there were some 82,945 Japanese studying overseas at the tertiary level in 2004, but just 66,833 ventured abroad in 2008. We are constantly reminded that this is a cause for coordinated hand-wringing.

To be fair, that is a sizable drop, and schools in the US are particularly concerned. According to the Mainichi, 1997 witnessed 47,073 young Japanese taking classes at American junior colleges and universities. That tally has stumbled badly over the last decade, hitting 29,264 in 2008.

Incidentally, the drop in enrollment at American universities is not all that surprising given the competition that arose in the wake of September 11th, 2001. As America slammed the brakes on visa issuance, countries like Canada, the UK and Australia were there to pick up the slack by advertising cheaper tuition, secure study environments and less red tape.

But that is beside the point. What the Japanese media is most concerned about is highlighting any and every indication that the mother ship is sinking.

The reasons offered for the downturn in academic export numbers are many.

The most common culprit is the rather small and asinine timeframe currently set in stone by businesses for hiring prospective university graduates. Anyone who has read about this issue will recite that students would rather stay in Japan than risk missing that window of opportunity.

The Mainichi wondered openly if this wasn't the rebirth of self-imposed isolationism.

Others have posited that today’s generation is less adventurous because they grew up after Japan’s bubble economy got washed up on the rocks and are quite comfortable where they are, thank you very much.

Another frequent anthem is the assurance that these are uncertain economic times. Of all of the arguments put forth, this is probably the most logical.

Or it would be if the yen hadn’t appreciated so much against the dollar (and the euro…and the pound) since late 2007. But I digress.

The perceived lack of desire to study abroad is apparently just the tip of the gloomberg for Japan.

One argument is that Japan needs global-minded managers to steer its aging keel into calmer, and presumably globalized, waters. This was the assertion echoed by the dean of Madrid’s IE Business School when he was here on a recruiting visit (ahem) last October.

And almost everyone seems to obsess over the relatively robust numbers of students that neighbors China and South Korea send abroad. This is generally taken in the media as Exhibit B that Japan is on the wane.

And that may be true, economically at least. However, there are a couple of other explanations for this annual funeral dirge.

The Mainichi caught one of them, if but for just a brief moment. In an earlier linked-to article a former university president by the name of Takashi Masuda is quoted as saying, “The culprit is environment. Japanese universities try to fence in students so that they can fill their campuses to capacity, and instructors are loathe to let go of talented students.”

A quick look at the measures schools have taken to stave off bankruptcy over the last decade shows that this point of view is worthy of further consideration.

But another overlooked factor is possibly at play here.

Shortly after the study abroad numbers come out every year, the media publishes articles about how much the number of new “adults” (20 is the age of majority in Japan) has fallen since the year prior.

This year, for the first time as far as anyone can tell, 20-year-olds make up less than one percent of the national population. Obviously, this exacerbates the whole ‘graying society’ thing that Japan does so well.

According to numbers published yesterday by the Japan Times, the number of college-aged folks celebrating their Coming of Age Day yesterday was a full 30,000 individuals fewer than the year before.

And this is not just some freakish, one-off occurrence. A new low has been set annually for several years running.

30,000 college-aged students fewer than the year before. Yikes.

Now granted, not all of those people would have been enrolled in university, but it is worth noting that the percentage of high school graduates going on to university is reportedly on the rise as private schools have lowered entrance requirements in order to put butts in seats.

Even if the reality is that there was a drop of 10,000 university students from last year’s numbers, that’s still more than enough to cover the precipitous drop (roughly 8,000 students) in study abroad participants from 2007-08.

In other words, it is possible that the declining study abroad numbers are due, at least in part, to Japan’s well-publicized and continued birthrate stagnation.

This is reaching a bit, of course, because Japan's study abroad numbers from the past two years are still not fully available. In the meantime, however, we have at least two new angles to this story that likely deserve some media attention.

Not that they’ll get it.

Japan’s ship may indeed have a turbulent journey ahead of it, especially if the government keeps trashing ideas for increasing international exchange at the university level.

But at least its young passengers aren’t as lifeless or useless as the media would lead us to believe.

North-South Korean Border Bombing September 2010

2010-11-23T22:19:00.002+09:00

I recently traveled to the tranquil, river-delineated border between North and South Korea. More often than not, my travels take me in search of praiseworthy drink and amenable grub, and this journey was no different.

Very little is known about North Korea's next leader.

It was a beautiful, blue-skied, quiet, uneventful day on the thickly armored 38th parallel. Quite unlike today, the 23rd of November, 2010, when bombs rained on a South Korean island.

But let us not forget that just like the last time something like this happened, the unnecessary yet mostly comfortable stalemate between the increasingly distant Korean brethren will continue for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the Japanese media is freaking out, much to North Korea's delight. The South, on the other hand, is predictably beside itself with restraint. The Chinese are patiently awaiting a request for comment.

Once again, let us remember that, first and foremost, a war is not about to break out.

The North would never wish for such an outcome. They know that they would lose handily inside of two or three days (read O'Hanlon and Mochizuki, 2003 for more on this).

And the South won't retaliate with anything resembling real force because they know that downtown Seoul would crumble inside of 180 minutes if the North felt that the end was near.

In other words, your sons and daughters serving in the military on the Korean peninsula, Korean or non, are in very little danger--especially when compared (fairly or otherwise) with the other hot-zones of the world. [Our thoughts and hearts go out to the family of the South Korean soldier that was killed by the most recent North Korean provocation.]

The North Korean dictatorial family is in the midst of a leadership baton-pass, and an international scuffle or two helps to shore up the military credentials of the most recent successor from the Kim family.

Daedonggang Beer with
N. Korea in the background.

Jong-un Kim (should be translated as Jeong-eun in English, by the way) is currently being ushered through the ranks of the People's Party so that he is well-positioned if and when his father's health forces him to step aside.

During my recent visit to the border--calmer times which will soon return, then lapse, then return once again--I enjoyed a couple bottles of North Korean beer not even half of a mile from the country where it was produced. And to my surprise, and delight, the beer was definitely worth a second sip.

It was an odd feeling to drink a "Daedonggang" (also spelled Taedonggang) beer while being able to actually see a small, nearly inactive, village where the people had likely never even seen the beverage that I was enjoying. Not that they would be able to afford it if they had. Soju is reportedly far cheaper and domestically preferable anyway, no matter how appetizing the local beer is.

From my vantage point, the North Korean landscape was bizarrely naked. Very little of the lush vegetation waving to the south was present just across the thin river to the north, and the skeletal, gulag-esque buildings were nearly the only insinuations of life available to the southernly eye. All the better to spot people who are trying to escape, apparently. The lifeless shade of brown of the crops to the north contrasted unfavorably with their irrigated neighbors just across the river to the southwest.

It was perhaps a miracle that the beer I was enjoying was as good as it was. Maybe I just benefited from a good batch. At any rate, a blind tasting would likely find three out of four South Korean beer fans choosing it over the local swill.

Let's hope the fresh-blooded North Korean leadership understands that North Korea's future can be secured by a deescalation of tensions and the emergence of a North Korean economy that doesn't depend on or extort outside goodwill. While "Daedonggang" beer isn't going to win any rice lager awards, it may just be a hint of where the time-locked half of the Korean Peninsula could go.

Good Dentist in Tokyo

2010-11-14T12:12:00.001+09:00

When was the last time you
had your teeth checked?

Lots of people are scared half to death of going to the dentist. The language barrier, the alleged tendency to draw treatments out over several visits, old school techniques (metal fillings)--all of these help ramp up the panic quotient when a non-Japanese feels that it's time to have a cleaning or a crown replaced.

But many expats in Japan wait until it's too late and the throbbing pain has spread from the lower hinge of the jaw to the upper. Count me as one of those people. I needed a root canal and quick, and I'm happy to report that I guessed correctly the first time on my choice of surgeon.

Dr. Naoko Freeman runs a dental clinic near Nishieifuku station on the Inokashira line between Meidaimae and Kichijoji stations.

The bit about treatments being drawn out over several treatments appears to be true, at least when Japanese health insurance is involved. But worries about communication (English and Japanese) and prehistoric equipment do not come into play.

The clinic is clean, modern,
simple and comfortable.

Here's how my treatment went:

Visit number one was on short notice. I was x-rayed, had my molar hollowed out and temporarily sealed, and sent on my way within 40 minutes.

The second visit was to check to make sure that the infection was completely gone and to replace the temporary filling with a slightly more robust cap. On my way in less than 30 minutes.

My third visit to see Dr. Freeman was over in about 15 minutes. More x-rays were included in this visit to make sure that the bottom part of the filling wasn't going to cause any problems. An impression was taken so the good folks at the lab could fashion a filling for me.

The fourth visit was when the ceramic filling was put into place and I was given the all-clear to eat hard food on the right side of my mouth again. The ceramic filling, which looks quite natural I must say, was not covered by national health insurance and the fourth visit cost me about ￥30,000. I actually paid for it ahead of time (at the end of my third visit), so I didn't pay anything when I went in for the fourth time.

I also went back a fifth time to have a couple of far smaller problem areas treated, but this was not related to the tooth that brought me there in the first place. This took about 30 minutes and cost less than ￥2,500 with insurance. Some of the visits cost less than ￥1,500.

Overall, I was impressed with the speed and professionalism of the dental services provided by Dr. Freeman and her staff. Communication is not an issue as the secretary can handle emergency calls, appointments and administration quite easily in English. Dr. Freeman herself spent part of her dentistry training in Australia, and is quite fluent in the English language.

Dr. Freeman's clinic can handle all of the regular cleaning, crown and filling procedures as well as root canals and other more invasive treatments. Her clinic also administers teeth-whitening procedures.

My one quibble is with the drawn-out nature of the treatment for my primary dental issue. I'm pretty sure that it would have been completed in fewer than four visits in other parts of the world although I do appreciate Dr. Freeman's desire to make sure that no bacteria from the root-hugging cavity had managed to survive the initial stages of treatment.

And I can't complain too much about the price. I've heard that it's possible to get a lot more dental work done at a clinic if you don't use national health insurance, but you pay heftily for such efficiency. As mentioned earlier, my most recent treatment in which two small areas of concern were drilled and sealed cost less than ￥2,500. Personally, I'm reasonably content to take the slow approach to dental therapy if the cost is going to be so low. I have no idea what such a treatment would cost in the states, but I imagine it's several times what I paid.

For those with easy access to the Inokashira Line in western Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Meidaimae and Kichijoji stations are the major transfer stations in that area), Dr. Freeman's Nisheifuku clinic is recommended.

The clinic is the second door on the left after
reaching the second floor of the building.

Call 03-5378-2228 for an appointment.

Website here.

Tips: Nishieifuku is a local train stop. In other words, if you take a train from Kichijoji or transfer at Meidaimae, make sure that you catch a local (kakuekiteisha).

The map (scraped from the clinic's website) mentions a photo shop as a landmark (across the street from Lawson). However, that building has been demolished. Accurate as of November 2010.

Ray Pellegrini "Reach for the Stars Scholarship" Golf Tourney Fundraiser

2010-07-22T23:30:00.000+09:00

It's time for a Vermont reunion. We're headed back to the green mountains in the first half of August, and the fam has put together a golf tournament to help raise money for dad's scholarship.

If you're going to be in that part of the states, please come play a round with us (it's OK, I suck at golf, too). If you're really not into that sort of thing, then how about coming out for the BBQ that will accompany the sloppy golf?

All proceeds go to dad's scholarship which aims to send Vermont high school graduates to college (especially if they're the first in their family to go). So it's for a good cause, and there should be plenty of old faces there.

August 13th is the day, and my brother, Scott, is the point-man on this. Should be a good time! Please check the entry form for more details.

Map Mix-up on the Seibu-Shinjuku Line

2010-07-15T22:40:00.000+09:00

For whatever reason, one of the people who changes the ads in the cars on the Seibu-Shinjuku line goofed and put a station map up for the Seibu-Ikebukuro line instead.

I wonder how many old people freaked out, got off the train and had 20-30 minutes added to their commute.

And how many others simply stayed on the train, pleasantly surprised that the Seibu-Ikebukuro now magically extends to Takadanobaba station?

Shigeru Takada (finally) resigns as Tokyo manager

2010-05-27T00:39:00.000+09:00

I'm very happy to report that Takada will be spending more time with his wife from now on.

Former Tokyo manager, Shigeru Takada, formally ended his tenure after tonight's 3-2 home loss to the Tohoku Eagles. The farewell press conference was co-hosted by Tokyo's other prized knucklehead, team president Tadashi Suzuki (right).

Let us all remember that May 26th is a very special day. Let us never forget.

This picture captures the part of the press conference when he says that he doesn't want to be annoying or a hindrance to the team by not taking responsibility for the current state of affairs.

I think I speak for everyone when I say: Mr. Takada, you're more than two full seasons late.

Anyway, read the post over at Tokyo Swallows and feel free to join in the rejoicing.

Frum on Republican Party's Waterloo

2010-03-22T11:12:00.002+09:00

An interesting post by former Bush speech-writer, David Frum, on what the Republican party's posturing in the healthcare reform debate means heading forward.

A quick selection:

At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Read the rest here.

And while you're at it, read Karl Miller's dissection, culinary-style, of Krauthammer's thoughts on 'Obamacare'.

Business Names

2010-03-19T13:32:00.000+09:00

I walk by this shop all the time when I'm in the area, but it's usually at night when I'm on my way to a restaurant in the area. I finally walked by during the day when there was enough time to take a picture of this business's name. Translation: POS System Register.

This makes me chuckle every time I walk by. And what makes it even funnier is the rest of the stuff, old school cash registers and the like, displayed in the window. The various devices look like they were made in the 70s or 80s and haven't been touched since then.

So I guess the company's name is apt. Hopefully everyone knows what "POS" stands for. If not, click here.

USA Passport Renewal

2010-03-18T15:22:00.004+09:00

Updated! [3/26/10--see bottom of post]

Updated again! [4/6/10--see bottom of post]

The good news about passport renewals is that many people can do so through the mail. Get the right-sized photos (currently 2 inches by 2 inches for American passports), fill out the forms online, print everything up, and then head off to the post office.

But that's where it gets a little tricky.

I personally found that he information on the US Embassy of Japan's website was a little misleading and could be simplified in several ways. It seems rather obvious that whoever typed up the guide on this site has not tried to renew their passport through the mail in Japan before. Or at least not recently at any rate.

Here's what I learned about the process.

Even though the website linked to above states that an Expack 500 should be used, I was informed that you are not allowed to send passports using them. I don't know who's correct on this one, but the people at the post office are generally pretty knowledgeable about sending valuable items. Instead I was directed to stick a registered S.A.S.E. envelope inside of a larger registered envelope addressed to the US Embassy in Minato Ward, Tokyo. I assume that the US Embassy in Tokyo plays the middleman on this exchange, but I have yet to receive my new passport in the mail. I'll update this post when I have the new passport in my hands.

Another thing to pay close attention to is who the 'payee' for this transaction is. For those of us living in and around Tokyo, the US Embassy Tokyo is the payee. Their address, if I'm not mistaken, is:

Unit 9800 Box 114 APO AP 96303-0114 USA.

The above information is necessary when filling out the required paperwork for an international payment and declaration.

This is confusing because the payee appears to be residing in two countries at the same time. No explanation is given for this on the US Embassy of Japan website. The important thing, however, is that you don't actually send the parcel with your soon-to-expire passport to the payee's address as written above. Or at least that is how I was advised in an e-mail from someone at the embassy.

Instead, you must send your registered parcel to the following address:

American Embassy Passport Unit 1-10-5 Akasaka Minato-ku Tokyo 107-8420

I'm interested to see whether my passports (one new and one old) will be returned to me in the registered envelope I sent, or if the US Embassy will break the rules and use Expack 500.

Hopefully what I've written here will help someone else who is having a hard time deciphering the information on the US Embassy of Japan website. It would be really helpful if there was a step-by-step guide--one for military personnel and a completely separate one for civilians. And both of those guides should be completely separated from information guiding current American residents who also wish to renew their passports.

Unfortunately, in some cases, the information overlaps or is presented side-by-side. I guess the bottom line is that you need to read everything on that website carefully.

Additional notes for American citizens (civilians) residing in Japan:

an international postal money order is called a kokusai yubin kawase in Japanese.
there is a 2,000 yen fee for this service.
the passport renewal fee (US$75) ~~plus the optional quick service fee (US$60) works out to a little over 12,300 yen by today's exchange rate (91.39 yen to the dollar). That's just a bit under 15,000 yen all together.~~ [updated 3/26/10]
make sure that your photos are taken on a white background.
don't staple your photos to the application form even though it clearly says to do so.
write your name very lightly on the back of the photos so that you don't put grooves that show through on the picture side.

Update 3/26/10: My passport application was returned yesterday. The problem was that my postal money order was rejected on account of being for too much money. "Expedited" service is apparently not available for non-US addresses.

This is annoying, to say the least, because this fact is not mentioned anywhere on the embassy's website. Furthermore, you are allowed to select the expedited service option while filling out your documents online, and the $60 fee is tacked onto your bill.

More annoying still is the fact that I had to repay the 2,000 yen processing fee for having a second postal money order issued, this time in the amount of $75 dollars.

The US Embassy in Japan would do well to indicate this important point on its passport renewal instructions page.

Oh, and the two photos I sent were returned to me not in their small envelope, but rather paper-clipped to my application. That left a nice crease down the left side. I'm now predicting that my application gets returned to me next week due to this new problem (I opted to use the same photos again as it costs 700 yen to get new ones).

Update 4/6/10: I just received my new passport in the mail. That was fast--basically a week and a half from the second time I shipped my passport. All told, including the misstep in the first update to this post, the process took less than three weeks. That's still much faster than the four to six commonly cited on the embassy website.

And I can confirm that NOT using an Expack 500 will still get your documents back to you in one piece. Just make sure that you register the S.A.S.E. envelope that you tuck in the original package with your soon-to-expire passport. Also, make sure that you put enough postage on the return envelope to carry the weight of both your old and new passports.

Oh, and they returned one of my two passport photos. Not sure why they needed two in the first place...

Hot Music Videos

2010-03-07T20:21:00.004+09:00

I'm still on a pretty strong Grizzly Bear kick at the moment (click here for my last post about them). I just love it when bands (and their labels) make it easy for you to obsess over them by posting lots of freely viewable and embeddable videos online.

And Grizzly Bear is a good example of this. You can find their music videos and other random performances on video sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. By the way, after you watch the official Grizzly Bear video for their hit "Two Weeks", go ahead and watch this fan video as well. Ho. Lee. Crap.

On to my newest discovery, this time from a band called OK Go. They just released an absolutely ridiculous video for their song "This Too Shall Pass" that simply entertains, amazes, and brings you back to your high school science class days all at the same time.

Without further ado:

Most of the videos mentioned above are available in HD (high definition), so if you'd like to see better quality versions, they shouldn't be hard to find.

And a quick hint for any record label execs who happen across this blog for some strange reason: this type of thing makes me buy CDs, write about what I paid money for, and generally become passionate about your product. If I can't embed the videos that I like in my own site and share my interests with others, guess what? I'm not going to pay money for the stuff that you're flogging.

Cheap Red Wine

2010-03-02T01:10:00.002+09:00

Drinking wine from a box is something that a lot of people do. Myself included. I clearly recall the days (read: college) when many small get-togethers with friends involved at least one three liter box of the stuff. The wine wasn't phenomenal, but at that stage of my life I didn't really care. I believe my style of thinking was more along the lines of 'Three liters of wine for under fifteen dollars? OK, I'll take four, please.'

And that style of thinking is still with me to some extent, although I'm sure it resurfaces less frequently than my wallet would like.

One such instance was this past weekend when I picked up a 600 yen bottle of red wine housed in a plastic bottle. Apparently beverage behemoth, Suntory, has teamed up with a winery or two in France to produce a red and white Cocovin. They both come packaged in plastic.

Yes, plastic.

Big deal, right? Haven't we already gotten used to screw-top caps due to the cork shortage? Aren't we destined for packaging techniques that reduce shipping costs? Hell, some of the Beaujolais Nouveau sold this year in Japan hit the shelves in plastic. Not that the stuff was great wine or anything, but you get the picture. And I believe that was a pretty faithful rendition of what was going through my mind at the time.

Well...I guess I should have known better. As you probably guessed, the wine was a little bit...interesting. I'm now slightly suspicious that the wine shipped under the Cocovin brand has leftover Beaujolais Nouveau mixed in with it. It has that same kind of brash floral aroma that vaults out of the bottle as soon as it's ~~uncorked~~ unscrewed. And it's just as floral on the palate, but coming from me that's not a compliment. I started to get the feeling that I was sucking on a lilac bush. And the taste lingered for quite a while after I had gulped. Yikes.

White wines are the ones that have more acidity; it defines them, gives them a presence and a backbone that is expected and appreciated. However, the Cocovin red, for whatever reason, is light on tannins but heavy on acidity, especially in the finish. The result is a rather flowery-sour aftertaste.

That said, you get what you pay for, and I certainly did. For those who wish to head down this route, I would highly recommend putting the red in the fridge for at least an hour before opening. After the mercury drops, the aroma calms down and the aftertaste diminishes noticeably. At that temperature, you could argue that it's worth 600 yen.

Oh woe is us. Is this what we're in for? It seems fairly obvious that in order to sell people on the whole 'wine in a plastic bottle' thing, even if it's going to make our hooch cheaper, a lot of said wine better be pretty damned good. Otherwise we're not going to buy it. We'll be headed straight down the whole rosé path again (nobody would buy it until it was renamed blush, remember?). Anyway, message to Suntory: please try again.

But I digress. Come to think of it, two extra seconds of brain usage and I would have realized that I haven't bought wine in anything other than a glass bottle for a good 10 years. There's obviously a reason for that.

Lesson learned. I guess I actually care about what I drink now. The extra 300 yen per bottle is well worth it.

How to donate to the relief effort in Chile

2010-03-01T00:15:00.000+09:00

Typing from a part of the world that experiences earthquakes on a regular basis, I think I can say with confidence that Chile just got rocked by something that the world rarely sees. For those who reside in locales not prone to major shakes, let me assure you that even the small ones, threes or fours on the Richter scale, can be downright terrifying. Add to that crumbling bridges and tumbling buildings, and what you have is perhaps the most destructive 60 seconds that nature is capable of.

It's time to help out. The mess in Haiti isn't even close to being straightened out, but we can, indeed we must, donate to the relief efforts in both countries.

Mobile Giving is again making it easy for people in the United States to use their mobile phones to donate:

Text the word “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10
On behalf of the Habitat for Humanity
Text the word “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of World Vision
Text the word “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10
On behalf of the Salvation Army
Text the word “YOUTH” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of UNICEF

Online donations
It is also possible, and very easy, to donate online. Here is a short list of links if you want to use your credit/debit card to make a difference:

American Red Cross
Doctors Without Borders
Google Crisis Response
Oxfam (UK)
Unicef (Australia)

So let's get to it. The five links above are sometimes aimed at a specific country, but you can often navigate to the international site and then make your way to the page that is dedicated to your country of residence. And of course, if you know any other portals for making donations, please list them in the comments section below.

Things that I'm excited about right now

2010-02-21T20:52:00.004+09:00

Update [Mar. 25, 2010]

The kichigai promotional site is up and running and can be found here.
Another short film that I worked on last year, "Banki", is a nominee at the Tokyo Short Shorts Film Festival taking place later this spring!

________________________________

It's been a very enjoyable month thus far even if I haven't been lucky enough to win an Olympic medal. I've been busy meeting friends, both old and new, and working on a pretty large swath of projects that will hopefully make waves later in 2010.

Here are some of the big things that are making me smile:

Script. I'm currently working on the spec script for a film that we'll probably start filming in late March or April. I'm very stoked about this because we're exploring a new genre and looking to build on what we learned from the production of Little Tokyo (more info on that later).

Pre-production. Not exactly film-related, but in the prep-stages nonetheless, a couple of new web projects look like they may be getting off the ground soon. One is an information portal related to living in Japan and the other is a site about celebrity fashion. My role in both projects is mostly on the developer side which is probably hard for some of you to believe--especially regarding the fashion site.

Filming. Japan Booze Blind continues to grow within the Japan Eats network. The word 'network' is apt here as we've been experimenting with live tapings of the show, and the next one is scheduled for March 28th at 3pm (Tokyo time). Live tapings via Livestream are a blast because I can interact with the audience in (nearly) real-time. The show on the 28th will deal with my favorite spring pastime, hanami. This post over at Tokyo Terrace will give you a good idea of what we've been up to.

Post-production. A film that I worked on last fall, Kichigai (Japanese title: Wasted), is in post production now and will hopefully be screened at a film festival later in 2010. There's a website being developed to help promote the film, but I've been advised that it's not ready to go live, so I'll hold off on posting a link just yet.

Promotion. We'll be hearing back next month about whether or not Little Tokyo will be screened at the 2010 Short Shorts Film Festival. Please keep your fingers crossed for us. Another film that I had a leading role in, Banki, will also hopefully get screened. Fortunately (for me, anyway), Little Tokyo and Banki are not entered in the same category.

Of course, there's also the redesign of the Tokyo Swallows website to be excited about. That took quite a bit of hair-pulling and face-slapping (my own) to get under control, but I think that it was definitely worth it. There are still several things to get sorted out, but I think that we'll have a better feel for what we need to do once more content gets posted within the new framework of the site.

And as many of you know, I've jumped face-first into the world of social networking sites (SNS). Facebook, Mixi, Twitter, and Disqus to name a few. I've actually hooked this site up with Disqus, a service that aggregates the social aspects of several SNS platforms, so make sure to leave a comment at the end of this post and see how it all works. I'm very interested in seeing how it helps users keep track of the ongoing dialogue as it moves and changes across the web.

Anyway, one thing that I'm very grateful for is that I've been able to easily reconnect with a bunch of people that I didn't have any idea how to contact, and that includes both family and friends.

So those are some of the things that I've been thinking about, stressing over, and working on recently. Just need to stay motivated and keep working with the talented people around me. Hopefully I can keep up.

I'm just the translator, so I don't pull a commission on this

2010-02-04T15:29:00.005+09:00

A couple of close friends will be headed out this way in a couple of months, and of couse that thrust my mind into tour guide mode.

What are we going to do for fun? Where are we going to eat? Who are we going to hang out with? Day trips?

And then I remembered that a little language ability can go a long way for travelers in these here parts. Then I remembered that I translated a Japanese phrasebook for novices last year called, Konnichiwa, Nihongo! (basically: Hello, Japanese!).

It's mostly aimed at anyone who has just arrived and is planning to stay for a bit (ie. they have a work visa), so it's only available on the Japanese version of Amazon at this point. However, I'd venture to say that it would be very helpful for anyone staying in Japan for more than a couple of days.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone planning a trip to Japan.

*Embarrassing note: they must have run out of space because they forgot the last 'i' on my surname (you can see for yourself if you flip through the pages (virtually) at the Amazon link above).

Tokyo First Snow

2010-02-01T22:39:00.004+09:00

The snowflakes are so large you can nearly hear them hit the ground tonight.

It always makes me happy to this kind of thing--especially over here. I suppose I wouldn't be quite so pleased if I owned a car, but it'll all burn off in the morning anyway.

Makes me a little nostalgic for home, I must say. Time to throw the mock fireplace disc on the DVD player and crack open a couple Capri Suns.

Japan Booze Blind: Third type beer

2010-01-31T22:09:00.003+09:00

Japan Eats is steadily building up content, and the feedback that we're getting from friends and followers on Twitter and Facebook has been been fantastic!

There are now four JBB videos loaded on the site, and our food show, Tokyo Bites, should make its debut in February. We're definitely very excited about this--especially since the title of the site does not currently match up with the majority of the content that we've produced thus far.

If you have any suggestions for what we should do a future show on, whether it's Japan's interpretation of Korean soups such as sundubu or something as standard as sushi, please feel free to either comment on this site, over at Japan Eats, or on Twitter.

Or you can also e-mail me at pellegrini [at] japaneats [dot] tv.

And while you're at it, please drop by Japan Eats and watch the latest JBB episode which covers three beers produced by brewing-behemoth Kirin. My two guests on the show are Rachael White, food-blogger extraordinaire over at Tokyo Terrace, and Joe Nakamura, an actor that I met while filming last year's Hagetaka.

Mike Salinetti's tour

2010-01-05T14:49:00.003+09:00

My cousin, Mike, left for Iraq (via Kuwait) a little bit before Christmas, and he's posted a set of photos here.

Sounds like he's planning to upload more photos in the future, so check back again soon.

Product flying off the shelves

2010-01-03T13:09:00.011+09:00

Happy New Year!

Looks like someone is going to be getting a nice, belated Christmas gift.

Tenshodo, an upscale and storied jewelry shop in Ginza, was relieved of more than three million dollars worth of luxury watches during the New Year's break. Thieves drilled a hole in the concrete wall of the building, went down into the basement of the building, and absconded with some 200 timepieces.

Elsewhere, this time at the Shinjuku branch of Tiffany's, an English-speaking Asian man rushed out of the store with four engagement rings in his possession. He was not immediately apprehended.

It seems looks like some people have created their own version of "lucky bag" in the midst of the economic downturn. With nearly one-third of Japan's largest companies considering cutbacks in hiring, it is perhaps not very surprising that petty theft is on the rise.

Meanwhile, Joshua "Jake" Adelstein, a former crime beat reporter in Japan and author of the briskly selling Tokyo Vice, sat down for a very intriguing interview with the Japan Times in which he explained some of his views on what makes the underbelly of Japan (as well as the rest of the country, for that matter) tick. Japanese publishers reportedly won't go near the book at this point, so an English version is the only option for interested parties.

And concurrently, in Kobe, one of the subjects of Adelstein's book, the Yamaguchi-gumi of Japan's inimitable yakuza, went into overdrive in an attempt to appease the local population by handing out cash to children at the annual mochi-making (rice cake) event that takes place at the end of December.

Local police believe that more than 1,000 people attended the event last week during which some lucky children made off with as much as three hundred dollars.

'Tis the season!

Random Shop Welcome Sign

2009-12-28T20:55:00.003+09:00

The picture quality isn't great on this one, and my apologies for that, but I think you can still read the sign pretty easily. It's the welcome sign for a small store in Karuizawa.

This shop is on the road that leads from Karuizawa shinkansen (bullet train) station out to the Ginza area of this quiet Nagano prefecture mountain town.

I have no idea what the shop sells (it was closed for the winter)...I'll let you take your own guess.

The apostrophe leads me to believe that it could be the owner's (nick)name, but regardless of whence it originated I'm sure that several tourists before me have noticed it while walking by.

Robert Glasper at the Cotton Club

2009-12-21T15:00:00.005+09:00

Eight of us went to go see The Robert Glasper Experiment at the Cotton Club on Saturday night.

I first saw him perform at the same place back in April of this year, and it was great to hear several of the songs that I knew from his third album, In My Element, which was released in 2007. But that outing was a night with The Robert Glasper Trio, and this Saturday was a very different experience indeed.

Glasper's most recent album, Double-Booked (2009), is a solid and balanced slate of songs recorded by both The Trio and The Experiment. Saturday's performance involved songs by the latter with some intriguing covers thrown in for good measure (Radiohead, no less!).

Again, seeing and hearing the songs performed live adds several new layers of meaning to what I have been listening to for the past several months. And the band's playfulness and chemistry made for a very entertaining night that had my head rocking from the very moment that drummer Chris Dave started hitting things.

Also quite memorable for me was the liberal use of vocoder and keytar by saxophonist Casey Benjamin, and the connection between bassist Derrick Hodge and Chris Dave is truly a sight to behold. The grooves and riffs underpinning the Experiment's music makes this act an experience of both discovery and deja vu for any fan of jazz and hip hop.

Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks"

2009-11-29T14:12:00.003+09:00

An amazing song by an amazing band. Grizzly Bear have my undivided attention at the moment.

Japan Booze Blind on "Japan Eats"

2009-11-25T00:10:00.005+09:00

The Beaujolais Nouveau just hit shelves a week ago, and the reaction was pretty muted compared too years past. On the left is a photo from my local supermarket, Seiyu, where all the expensive wine was deserving of in terms of presentation was a big unused cooler with an island made from a red, felt-covered box.

There's a write-up on this phenomenon and how it pertains to Japan here, and since we're talking about alcohol anyway, let me take a moment to pimp a project that I'm working on right now.

"Japan Eats" is a new website that tries to introduce a wider audience to Japan's varied culinary and alcoholic delights. I host a show on the site called Japan Booze Blind in which blind tastings are used as an excuse for drinking alcohol early in the morning.

The site just officially went live today, so please stop by and check it out.

Work Safety Issues

2009-11-17T14:13:00.003+09:00

Saw this delivery guy doing a very delicate balancing act in order to work on some unknown problem with the light fixture at the back of the cargo bay.

Ever heard of a stepladder?

It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but he's got one of those hefty cargo straps rigged like a tightrope, and he used that in order to reach the problem area on the ceiling.

Didn't stick around long enough to see if he broke his neck on the dismount...

The t-shirts students wear

2009-11-14T14:53:00.004+09:00

This t-shirt appeared in one of my classes last semester. The wearer shall remain nameless, but I can confirm that he did indeed understand the subtext.

Ichihashi apprehended

2009-11-11T16:34:00.001+09:00

Believe it or not, Ichihashi was caught in Osaka after someone at a ferry station called in with information on his whereabouts.

Ichihashi worked for a construction company

2009-11-09T22:06:00.003+09:00

Tatsuya Ichihashi, the suspected killer of Lindsay Ann Hawker, spent much of the last year working for a construction company in Osaka prefecture where he had a room in the outfit's dorm.

He was apparently able to fly below the radar due to alterations to his appearance that may have included plastic surgery. He is said to have often worn hats and glasses to help mask his appearance.

The Japanese nightly news is currently doing a roundup of his recent whereabouts and possible connections.

Having failed miserably at figuring out how Ichihashi could survive on the lam for so long, hopefully the police use the recent lessons learned to reassess cold cases involving other dangerous individuals that they lost track of long ago.

Newly released photo of Ichihashi looks nothing like him

2009-11-07T22:53:00.003+09:00

Or that's what it sounded like when I read this in the Mainichi today:

According to investigators, the picture was taken prior to the cosmetic surgery. The man had a beard and mustache in the picture, but police intentionally erased the features in the released picture to avoid confusion.

So it would appear that the police have provided the public with a photo that won't really help the people who have seen him recently understand that they have actually glimpsed the fugitive himself, Tatsuya Ichihashi. Why? Because when they saw him he had a mustache and beard in addition to all of the cosmetic surgery that the media is currently talking about.

And it won't really help the rest of us either. If he's still sporting facial hair, then how does that doctored photo assist in his apprehension?

Or did the police hold off on releasing the photo long enough so that Ichihashi would have plenty of time to shave...?

Well, either way, I think it would be helpful if police released the original, untouched photo as well.

Hawker's killer had plastic surgery in Nagoya?

2009-11-04T21:11:00.004+09:00

The Mainichi reported that Lindsay Ann Hawker's accused murderer is suspected of having had plastic surgery at a clinic in Nagoya late last month.

Tatsuya Ichihashi has been on the run ever since he managed to elude a football team's worth of police officers that cornered him at the scene of the crime (his apartment) back in March 2007.

Police apparently headed to Nagoya soon after they received the news that someone resembling Ichihashi underwent a cosmetic procedure. There is no word yet on what type of appearance-altering procedure he had done.

Update (11/5/09; 11:30 AM):

The TV news is finally running with this story, and Ichihashi's face is once again all over the place. It is pretty remarkable, however, that he was able to waltz all over the country visiting different clinics and not sounding any alarms. The Japan Times carried this more detailed story today.

Update (11/6/09; 10:55 AM):

The Japan Times posted the before and after photo of Ichihashi (above right) that police obtained from a clinic in Nagoya. It appears as though the fugitive has been hard at work remolding his facial features.

Vermont Folks

2009-09-21T23:57:00.004+09:00

Big ole Vermont reunion in Tokyo at a Swallows home game versus their cross-town rivals, the Yomiuri Giants.

We (the Tokyo Swallows) got stomped.

But everyone had a good time anyway. Pizza and beer will do that.

Christmas 2008 in Karuizawa: Random Photo

2009-09-11T12:10:00.004+09:00

With Scott Lawson's bachelor party set to kick off tomorrow morning, I thought it might be the right time to remind him what he's getting into.

This is a photo taken from the evening gift exchange at our Christmas 2008 getaway to Karuizawa. Just came across it while deleting files from my camera's memory card.

I believe that the sparring set was a gift from Andy (he always gives the most creative/hilarious gifts), and Yuki went straight to work on Scott's jaw.

Definitely a match made in heaven! Wedding date: October 3rd, 2009.

FitWit Foundation

2009-09-08T13:07:00.006+09:00

Some college friends of mine in Atlanta are doing something that I greatly admire. They're trying to improve the community where they live by mentoring and providing healthy lifestyle choices to the youth in the city. They are doing so through a foundation that they created called The FitWit Foundation.

My friends Ben and Josh are spearheading the foundation's efforts, and I know that they also run a separate fitness and tutoring program called FitWit that I believe involves Josh's wife, Erin.

It sounds like things are going well for them in Atlanta, and the best part is that they're truly helping to make a difference.

If you're interested in donating to The FitWit Foundation (registered nonprofit) to help them with their mission to battle childhood obesity rates, please register at Network for Good so that you can do so right now online.

Alternatively, you could write to Ben (ben@fitwit.com) or Josh (josh@fitwit.com) and share your thoughts on what they're doing.

[photo stolen from FitWit's website]

Koenji Awaodori Festival 2009: Drums

2009-09-06T00:27:00.002+09:00

This is a video I shot with my digital camera at a festival that I went to last weekend in Koenji, Tokyo. This is the rhythm section of one of the dozens of troupes that dances down the street during the parade. Definitely one of my favorite summertime festivals in Tokyo.

RENT: Broadway Farewell World Tour

2009-08-18T08:46:00.004+09:00

We had the distinct pleasure of seeing RENT in it's final world tour as a Broadway musical. It's final stop happens to be Tokyo, and original cast members Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, and Gwen Stewart have joined the cast for this last hurrah.

The show was fantastic, as expected, and was blocked differently from the way that I remember it, but then again there's always so much happening on stage that every time I see the show I'm probably just seeing something that I missed before.

I was fortunate enough to see the original cast production of the show in New York City back in 1995 (?), and again in London in 1998.

And the biggest thrill of the evening for me, actually, was getting to meet Anthony Rapp briefly outside a restaurant (Delerium Cafe) in Akasaka about an hour after the show's conclusion.

Of course I made sure to get my program signed, and had about a 15-second chat before I decided to stop wasting his time.

Leicester City begin with a win

2009-08-10T00:55:00.004+09:00

My favorite football team (no they're not in the Premier League) is Leicester City, a team that made its way back into the English Championship this season.

As everyone on the team has been saying that they needed to do, the Foxes started the season with a come-from-behind win (2-1) over Swansea on the opening day of the 2009 campaign yesterday.

This is fantastic news for me (as well as all of their other fans, no doubt) because supporting Leicester was becoming a lot like rooting for the Tokyo Swallows.

You see, Leicester got relegated to League One for the first time in team history two years ago, and that's exactly what would have happened to my favorite baseball team several times over if such a system were in place (thankfully it's not).

But there back up on the doorstep of the Premier League, and a strong start to the season might mean an outside shot at the playoffs.

At the very worst, fortunately, a return to League One appears to be out of the question.

The Hitman

2009-07-27T11:56:00.006+09:00

I played a hitman in an episode of Hanchou which aired on Monday nights on TBS in Japan. It's finished its' run now, but it was a reasonably popular drama about a team of police officers and detectives that dealt with the various n'er-do-wells that haunt the crowded confines of Tokyo.

The headliner of the series was Kuranosuke Sasaki, and he played the lead detective of the team.
In episode number 12, Michael Shorter was my name, and shooting mafia-related types hanging out in Tokyo was my game. But in the end I was rather easily apprehended by the cops. The featured guest of this episode was kabuki actor Kamejiro Ichikawa who played the role of Andy Matsuo.

The episode took several days to shoot, of course, and the longest of those days was spent out at a complex of warehouses in Chiba where the episode's climax occurs and the bad guy gets nabbed.

One of the highlights of the day was the BBQ that the crew set up for dinner. They brought out a very good variety of beef and pork cuts and had three separate grills going at the same time.

It was just what the doctor ordered as I had spent the previous two hours on set with a gun pointed at my nose.

There's a quick preview of episode 12 viewable here. If you go to that page, you should see a small, round, red button on the left side of the screen. Clicking that will open a player that will show you the very short trailer for the show.

And yes, that's me in the beard.

Chuck Baser

2009-06-10T16:02:00.003+09:00

From the Burlington Free Press:

BASER, FREDERICK "CHUCK"

FREDERICK "CHUCK" BASER BRISTOL - Frederick "Chuck" Baser, 31, died suddenly of natural causes on Saturday, June 6, 2009, at his home in Bristol. He was born on Sept. 17, 1977, in Middlebury, the son of Frederick and Marian Baser. He graduated from Mt. Abraham High School and Colgate University where he sang with Colgate 13. Chuck was a member of Bristol Conservation Commission and was active in restoration of Sycamore Park. Chuck loved the outdoors and he enjoyed fishing, hunting, jack jumping, and boating. He was a skilled woodworker and nothing pleased him more than a beautiful piece of wood. Chuck touched many lives in small and profound ways. Chuck is survived by his parents; and his brothers, Nicholas Baser and his wife Janel of Phillips, Maine, Gregory Baser and his fiance Nicole of Salt Lake City, Utah; his niece and nephew, Adelaide and Silas Baser, who brought him much joy; grandparents Frederick and Nettie Baser and also Gertrude Burke; many aunts, uncles, cousins, and great friends who loved him and will miss him very much. He was predeceased by his maternal grandfather Gerald Burke and his aunt and uncle, Kathryn and Ned Henderickson. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 11, in St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Bristol. Interment will be in Mt. St. Joseph Cemetery in Bristol. Friends may call at Brown-McClay Funeral Home in Bristol on Wednesday, June 10, from 5 to 8 p.m. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Town of Bristol c/o Conservation Commission, P.O. Box 249, Bristol, VT 05443.

_____________________________

Chuck was a good friend from the theater crowd in Bristol, Vermont. I also have fond memories of watching him and Pete Buonincontro pump out adirondack chairs, benches and porch swings for their "Bristol Butt-rests" line several summers ago when we were all in Bristol at the same time.

Please feel free to post any stories you have about Chuck in the comments below.

You will be missed, Chuck. You will definitely be missed.

New Phone: Sony Ericsson S001

2009-05-06T14:06:00.005+09:00

Had a little bit of a mishap on Monday evening and gave my trusty cell phone a 40 minute dip in the washing machine. It came out looking all sparkly and shiny, but it didn't really feel like turning on.

And no, I hadn't backed up my address book.

So we headed over to the au shop in Tanashi on Tuesday afternoon to figure out what could be done. Apparently you can ship your phone off to the manufacturer, and they can often get the data off of a phone that has drowned. The service takes about a week and costs 10,500 yen (roughly US$100). But while we were chatting about what to do, and the guy I was talking to was explaining my options to me, my phone started to buzz as an e-mail came through.

It's alive!

Why the au guy hadn't bothered to check whether or not the data was retrievable is perhaps an issue for another time, but the good news is that he was able to get my entire address book out of it and onto my new phone.

And my new phone is the green one pictured above. It has an eight mega-pixel Sony Cyber-shot camera crammed inside it, and there seem to be a lot of bells and whistles that I still have no idea how to use.

The one thing that I don't like so much about it is the fact that the 'clear' button rests just slightly below the down button, so it's very easy for people with adult-sized hands to hit them both at the same time.

Other than that, I don't have any serious complaints as of yet. I never thought I'd buy a slide phone, but my options were a bit limited to be honest with you. I'm still a little bummed because I really liked my old phone. It had a scrollbar which made tearing through a long message or my address book very easy.

Oh well. That's life, I guess. I learned my lesson. I immediately backed up my address book, which was miraculously salvaged from my water-logged cell, when I returned home.

Ricky Roma Wins!

2009-04-28T23:33:00.005+09:00

I'm very happy to report that Ricky Roma (Justin Berti) won a very tight contest in the Mr. Latin category of the Harlequin modeling contest!

He has already commenced his duties as "Mr. Latin", and I know that he's already been to a couple of events to help promote the Harlequin brand.

I'd like to thank everyone who voted on his behalf, and I'm sure that Ricky will second the "thanks" if he ever happens upon this post.

A long, long night at Takadanobaba station

2009-04-19T13:41:00.004+09:00

This poor guy missed several trains, and I'd be willing to bet that he didn't make it home that night. I was on the evening's final train headed to Honkawagoe, and I nudged him as I walked by, but he was out cold. After this train there were only a few more left, and even money says that fellow passengers left him sitting right where he was.

Robert Glasper Trio

2009-04-12T01:11:00.007+09:00

If you don't listen to much jazz, you need to start doing so now. The Robert Glasper Trio is in Tokyo at the moment, and as you probably won't have a chance to see them perform at the Cotton Club this time around, you should make it a point to get your hands on In My Element.

Yong-nam and I went to watch the trio (Glasper on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, and Damion Reid on drums) tonight along with our good friends Dave and Hisae. It was a playful, euphoric experience that, without a doubt, won me over as a lifelong fan. I've just now downloaded Glasper's first album, Canvas, from iTunes and plan to pipe it through the living room system for the next several weeks to come.

Can't wait for the third album which Robert mentioned will drop in July 2009!

Check here for Glasper's MySpace page.

By the way, Robert Glasper was very gracious and signed autographs and took photos with anyone who asked. That definitely ain't normal.

I found the colonel!

2009-04-10T00:01:00.003+09:00

He's in Jingu Stadium near the center field entrance.

[If you don't know what I'm talking about, please listen to this podcast.]

JR Finally Bans Smoking on Tokyo Train Station Platforms

2009-04-02T09:54:00.004+09:00

As of yesterday, smoking was completely banned on the platforms of JR train stations in and around Tokyo, Japan.

Many will remember that up until two days ago, anyone could light up in open-air smoking sections on many JR station platforms. If you happened to be in the train car that stopped directly adjacent to the smoking section, and had a little help from the wind, it was not uncommon for the smoke to blow inside the train. It was just lovely.

But those days are finally gone, and another small step has been taken to divorce Japan from its "smoker's paradise" moniker.

Japan's largest tobacco company, JT, which is partially owned by the government's Finance Ministry, has enjoyed a snail-paced assault on its profit model over the years by anti-smoking regulators.

Some have argued that this latest move is not big enough and took way too long to materialize, but I'm actually quite content with these small victories. It seems to me that this will further load the debate in non-smokers' favor as smoking becomes increasingly demonized in Japan.

BBQ in the park under the cherry trees (hanami 2009)

2009-03-30T09:37:00.006+09:00

We had our annual bbq hanami party at Koganei Park yesterday afternoon. The weather was beautiful, if a bit chilly, and the flowers were just starting to bloom on the cherry trees. We were a bit early this year, so the trees still need about a week to reach full bloom. However, I prefer the park when it's not quite as crowded. There's more space to pass out drunk (a la the guy in the photo on the left).

We played some Bristol Horseshoes and cooked up several kilos of quality meat. Adam and Sachi brought Ryuma out for what I believe was his first hanami party. Our friends Hiroshi and Kazue brought a magnum of Moet which, I must admit, was a first for me sitting in the middle of the park!

There may be more parties to attend this coming weekend, but we will have to wait and see. If, however, yesterday was my only chance at hanami this spring, then I can live with that. Everyone had a good time yesterday.

New Movie: HAGETAKA

2009-03-21T15:17:00.006+09:00

We just finished shooting a feature film about "vulture" investment funds and hostile takeovers. The film is called "Hagetaka" (the vowels are basically the same as in Spanish, so say it like that and you'll have the pronunciation right...four syllables), and it was shot in Tokyo over the past two months. Keiji Ohtomo directs.

This is the film version of a TV drama that was popular a few years ago. Many of the actors from the drama, such as Nao Omori and Chiaki Kuriyama (of Kill Bill fame), are also in the movie.

I play the young, straight-laced righthand man of one of the main characters (played by Tetsuji Tamayama) who heads a Chinese government-backed investment fund that is attempting to buy out a famous Japanese auto company.

The other actors that were major players in the Chinese fund were played by Joe Nakamura and Asuka Higuchi. Asuka is shooting a TV show in Beijing at the moment, but I was able to hang out with Joe this past Thursday night when NHK and Toho threw a party to celebrate the completion of filming.

Hagetaka hits theaters in Japan on June 6th.

World Baseball Classic: Pool A Games (Tokyo)

2009-03-11T20:41:00.006+09:00

I spent Friday through Monday at "The Big Egg" (ie. the monstrosity that is Tokyo Dome) watching the WBC games between Japan, South Korea, ~~Taiwan~~ Chinese Taipei, and China. We had good seats off to the side of the foul pole in right field and enjoyed ourselves immensely even though I think we grew to dislike that stadium a little bit more with each passing game.

That place may have 40,000-plus seats, but it's not designed to hold that many people. The corridors where the vendors are situated are incredibly tight, and several of the bathrooms have nasty traffic-jam inducing pinch points near the entrance/exit (don't put the hand driers near the door!). Also, it feels like the stands are made of fiberglass or something. Whatever.

The paper cup pictured to the right is what you receive when you try to smuggle your own drinks into the game. The small print under the teary-eyed baseball player reads, "I'm sorry, but it isn't possible to take that pet bottle, can, bottle in the stadium".

Oh really?

They don't pour your beers out, they just empty them into these cups that are supposed to make you feel ashamed (?) of yourself for not agreeing to pay 800 yen (about US$8) for a draft beer with five inches of foam. That means that if you have a sixer in your bag, and the door guards find it when they rummage through your stuff (which they do to everyone), then you're going to be walking to your seat with a half dozen cups of beer in hand. Drink quickly!

Actually, the best way to go about smuggling beer into the Tokyo Dome, and you didn't hear this from me, is to put a couple beers at the bottom of a bag/backpack wrapped in an extra sweatshirt or something, and one or two in your coat pockets, and then carry one or two out in plain view. They'll usually nab the ones in plain view and then forget about checking for any more. Then you obligingly pour your two 'diversion beers' into paper cups.

It goes without saying that this is never really an issue at Jingu. They just pretend like they're searching your bag. At Tokyo Dome, however, they will dig around a bit, and if you didn't bury those cans, then they will be found.

I'm not sure whether they're worried about plastic/aluminum/glass drinking containers raining down on the field during the game or if they're trying to reduce the amount of garbage that is brought into the stadium every night. If they're worried about fans throwing things, then they'd be wise to stop selling baseballs at the concession stands. And if it's the latter that they're thinking about, well, congratulations, you just doubled the amount of garbage by forcing me to drink out of an extra non-recyclable container.

Anyways, back to the baseball. I didn't have a ticket for Thursday's Japan-China game, but I saw Korea kick the piss out of ~~Taiw~~ Chinese Taipei on Friday. On Saturday we witnessed the shock defeat of the Chinese Taipei team by the Chinese during the afternoon, and then returned that evening to watch Korea get whupped by team Japan (mercy rule). Sunday was the elimination game between Korea and China in which the former earned a berth in round two, and the latter, under former Orix Buffaloes manager, Terry Collins, was sent packing after another 7th-inning mercy rule game.

Monday night was the big rematch between Japan and Korea that didn't go well for the Koreans on Saturday night. This game, however, was totally different, and the stakes were quite high considering the fact that the loser will most likely have to square off against Cuba in the beginning of the next round.

There's a good discussion of this game over at the Tokyo Swallows website (English), but I'd just like to point out that I felt like "Samurai Japan" didn't do its homework before the game on Monday.

So much time was spent analyzing the mythical samurai-slaying slider of one Kwan-hyun Kim (whom they teed off on two nights before) that it appeared like the team Japan hitters were still looking for sliders when Monday night rolled around. Oops!

They didn't see many of them because it looked to me, judging by the speeds blipping up on the scoreboard, like the Korean pitchers were relying heavily on fastballs to both sides of the plate.

Long story, short: Korea won the rematch 1-0, and Matsuzaka will probably have to deal with the Cuban batters this coming weekend.

By the way, and I know that it's been said before, but Japan manager, Hara, is the weakest link on that team.

Mr. Harlequin Contest: Vote for Ricky Roma!

2009-03-03T02:10:00.003+09:00

A close friend of mine, Justin Berti (aka Ricky Roma), is competing in the Mr. Harlequin Contest.

You remember him, right? Remember "Glengarry Glen Ross" from last year (here, here, and here)? Ricky Roma?

Well Justin/Ricky is currently in second place in the "Mr. Latin" category, and making a good showing every week. He has a few more weeks to catch the leader, and if you're interested in helping a good friend of mine, please keep reading.

Go to this link and follow the voting instructions.

You need to register one of your e-mail addresses in order to vote, but don't worry, they won't spam you. They will, however, send you a confirmation e-mail (which you should delete, rather than open, lest you cancel your vote) and a couple of other messages informing you how the contest is going. The most important thing is that you go to the link listed above and vote! If you have a hard time accessing the link, cut and paste http://www.iammrlatin.wordpress.com into your browser.

You can also check out Justin's personal website for a closer look.

You can stay, but your parents have to go

2009-02-27T11:45:00.004+09:00

13-year-old Noriko Calderon, born in Japan to undocumented parents from the Philippines, was told that she is allowed to stay in Japan by the Justice Ministry.

The catch? Her mother and father, Sarah and Arlan, must return to the Philippines as they have violated the immigration law by either entering the country illegally or over-staying their visas.

Mrs. Calderon spent nearly a year in prison for immigration-related violations back in 2006 and 2007, so this case has been brewing for quite some time.

Mr. and Mrs. Calderon were ordered to report to immigration today, Friday February 27th, for deportation. The Justice Ministry has been very inflexible in this particular case despite the fact that there is a precedent of giving lenient treatment to individuals with extenuating circumstances.

A group of politicians from the ruling LDP have publicly requested that the Justice Ministry issue special residence permits to the family.

In 2007 when the Calderons were first sentenced with deportation, the Justice Ministry granted special permission to stay in Japan to 7,388 illegal residents. 20% of them had originally entered Japan illegally.

I can hear them clearing their throats (a day without my iPod)

2009-02-24T22:08:00.005+09:00

Left the apartment yesterday without my beloved iPod. It wasn't on purpose, it just happened. Before getting on the train I debated returning home to retrieve it, but I decided against it.

I decided that it might be a good experiment for me to attempt to make it one full working day without the aid of my mp3 player.

Boy was that a stupid idea.

The whole ride to work I got to listen to people sniffling and sneezing like there was a ragweed patch in the middle of the train.
In the shops I had to navigate the incessant "Welcome to our humble store!" and other sales-related, but automated, jingles that routinely assault shoppers' aural faculties here.
In Vie de France (a bakery/cafe) I was treated to a teenager barking into her phone at her obviously at-fault boyfriend. For 25 minutes.
On the return trip home, the business guy sitting next to me repeatedly cleared his throat as though he was intending to spit something large down a drain that I couldn't immediately perceive. However, the drain appeared to be in my general direction.

So let's just say that I learned my lesson. If I happen to leave the apartment without my music again, then I'll be scurrying back home before you can say, "Christopher is a lame-ass twerp". But even if you do say it out loud, which some of you will, it won't matter because I'll be listening to Murs.

Yo-yo Genius

2008-10-22T14:24:00.001+09:00

This kid is good.

Coin-operated

2008-09-21T21:44:00.003+09:00

On our way home from a bit of shopping, we happened upon this thing.

At first I thought it was a coin-operated rice dispenser or something sitting in the middle of a parking lot.

But on closer inspection we figured out that it is a coin-operated rice mill sitting in the middle of a parking lot.

See, when you buy rice at the supermarket, it's generally already polished so that you can just lightly rinse it and then throw it in the pot (or rice cooker if you have one).

But when you buy it from some other places, such as directly from the farm where it was produced, it's possible that the rice is still unpolished.

Hence the need (?) for this kiosk sitting in the middle of a residential area (without a rice farm for miles).

Interesting.

Not for Those with Dandruff

2008-09-20T23:41:00.004+09:00

Went to this today.

Kel and I were pretty much the only ones at the show not wearing a black t-shirt.

The show started off with Forbidden, followed by Voivod, and was headlined by Testament.

All three bands were amazing. And Testament is definitely worth watching again.

Your Caption Here

2008-09-19T16:11:00.002+09:00

On my way to a game this week I happened upon this scene in a convenience store.

Any ideas for a caption?

Baseball

2008-09-13T01:44:00.002+09:00

Haven't posted on this topic in a while, but Dave Watkins just did a very thorough analysis of what is going on with the Tokyo Swallows at this point in the season.

It's well worth a read if you're interested in the plight of an overlooked and under-appreciated sports team.

Shaky Face Photos

2008-09-11T14:22:00.007+09:00

I've been sitting on these photos for a while, and I have a couple minutes, so I thought I'd get them out there for others to enjoy.

These are from a night on the town back in August with a bunch of the good people from the greater Burlington area.

This was Matt's idea. The rules are simple. Relax the skin and muscles that hold your face in place, and when the camera is ready, shake your head back and forth very quickly like you just got out of the shower and you're trying to get the excess water out of your hair. Snap photo.

Shaky face!

Believe it or not, Matt and Travis's significant others (Kate and Devon, respectively) were present for this. Ryan's missus was smart and stayed home with their adorable daughter.

The above pic was not the best example of shaky face that we saw that night. It is, without a doubt, difficult to get three guys to contort their facial matter in the same hilarious way when the shutter clicks.

There's also the fact that shaking one's face fast enough to induce a slapping sound when your cheek hits your ear can hurt a little bit. A minor detail, really. Two or three minutes and half a pint are recommended between shakes.

Rest assured, this all makes a lot more sense when you've reached your third drinking establishment of the evening.

But the individual efforts were impressive. This one of Kate's brother, Ben, is an eye-opener.

And not to be outdone, Ryan got one wobbling for the crowd.

I've been telling people that this was taken just after I smacked him for a comment he made about the Chicago Bears, but alas that is not the case.

Ryan did this to himself.

Anyway, go ahead and give shaky face a try. It helps if you have a digital camera with relatively high specs, say six megs or more. The camera used for these shots is a 10 meg unit.

TV Commercials (except the ones I'm in) are Evil

2008-08-04T22:39:00.005+09:00

Back in the day, commercial advertising in the states was limited to either A-list celebs, or nobodies like me.

But recently things in the US have become more Japanese. A lot of the lines that were never crossed before, such as the stars of a TV drama leading an ad that airs in the middle of said drama, are miles behind us now.

I've never been a fan of TV commercials (although they sometimes help pay the bills), but Corey Levitan puts it more eloquently than I normally do:

Just as advertisers weaseled themselves onto pay cable and into DVDs, they've figured out how to prevent me from skipping over their irrelevant and annoying messages on television as well.
And it's you weasels who let them do it.

If you're a TV commercial hater, then give the rest of this a read.

Bobby Valentine and I

2008-07-27T01:24:00.006+09:00

Yeah, I don't want to brag, and yes I've touched on it here before, but I interviewed Bobby Valentine a couple weeks ago.

Here's a semi-quick write-up of the whole thing.

Pricey Watermelon

2008-07-26T15:36:00.004+09:00

This a picture of a Densuke watermelon at the Inageya supermarket near here.

I recently read that the first of these black watermelons was auctioned off for 650,000 yen (roughly $6,000) at the beginning of this season.

In that same article I read that supermarkets were selling them for between twenty and thirty thousand yen (200 to 300 dollars), but the ones in Hanakoganei are going for the bargain price of 5,800 yen (about $54).

About 10,000 of these melons were grown on the northern island of Hokkaido this year, so a very limited number are available at any one store.

It looks like a bowling ball...

Myojo Ippei-chan TV Commercial

2008-07-25T00:39:00.013+09:00

I haven't seen it yet, but my good friend sent me another photo of her television as soon as she saw this TV commercial hit the small screen. Here's one that she sent me last year.

This one is for Myojo's "Ippei-chan" cup ramen and it's apparently on air all the time.

I'm not wearing glasses in this one, so I'm having a harder time flying below the radar. I've resorted to telling my students at the university that I have a twin brother, named Scott, that is the one appearing on TV.

And some of them actually believe me when I tell them that.

Anyway, for a short version of this TV commercial, you can go to this website.

Quick synopsis: I play a non-Japanese, ramen-obsessed nerd that is desperately seeking something that is called "koku-uma". The business man that I try to get to help me doesn't know what I'm talking about, and a little word-play comedy ensues (he shows up with the wrong thing three times).

After some more searching, we happen upon a koku-uma ramen shop and everyone (especially me!) is happy.

T-shirt

2008-07-24T13:13:00.003+09:00

Stating the obvious.

Chiba Lotte Marines Beijing Olympics Press Conference

2008-07-19T13:47:00.003+09:00

This picture is from a press conference that we attended at Chiba Marine Stadium on Thursday. It was the day that the team announced who Hoshino, the national team's head coach, had chosen to represent Japan at the Beijing Olympics next month.

Seated at the table, from left to right are, Nishioka (ss), Satozaki (c) and Naruse (p). They were asked some boring questions by the lady from NHK, and then they did some posing in front of the hinomaru flag. Chiba will sorely miss those three in August, but every team is taking a hit during the olympics.

Dessert Pizza

2008-07-19T00:37:00.002+09:00

This photo isn't very clear, but it's a snapshot of a slice of pizza that I didn't eat the other day.

If you look closely, there's marshmallow and chocolate syrup on there.

I didn't go anywhere near it. Dave ate it.

This was one of the offerings on the lunch buffet at Shakey's in Takadanobaba.

J-League Game

2008-07-18T02:23:00.003+09:00

Stephen took me to the national stadium in Tokyo to see my first J-League game last night. It was actually quite good, to be honest with you.

He said that the crowd was a bit odd because the game wasn't being played at their home stadium (Ajinomoto Stadium), but I was impressed with how rambunctious they were.

Even though the defense was a bit shocking, the footy was mostly alright.

I would definitely be happy to go and see another game.

FC Tokyo and Gamba Osaka drew 1-1. FC Tokyo's goal came by way of Waseda University alum, Tokunaga, and was one of the best goals I've ever seen live.

Waseda (Tutorial) Summer Party 2008

2008-07-15T01:08:00.004+09:00

Kelly's band of teachers at Waseda University got absorbed by my band of teachers which means that she was able to cop an invite to the annual summer piss-up that is held at/near the end of the spring Tutorial English/Chinese semester.

This is a photo of her floating towards the after-party at the Cantina near Takadanobaba station.

That's Okuma Hall in the background.

New Shinjuku Burger King

2008-07-11T00:53:00.007+09:00

I don't normally get all excited about hamburgers, but I'm so tired of McDonald's and Lotteria that little things like this make me happy.

A new Burger King outlet recently opened near Seibu-Shinjuku station. That's two in Shinjuku (by my count--I'm probably wrong though), and this new outlet, despite marking the border between the train station and the seediest part of the ward (Kabuki-cho), is 100% non-smoking. Well, except for those two tables out front of course.

This place used to be a Lotteria--located only about a hundred meters from the south exit of Seibu-Shinjuku station (go down the stairs, cross over to McDonald's and turn left).

I haven't been in there yet, but I will venture inside soon.

McDonald's still gets my 100 yen every morning when I buy coffee though.

Erwin and Pellegrini (Tokyo Edition)

2008-07-05T21:57:00.002+09:00

Emily Erwin and I (Hye-young in the background) in Tokyo. Welcome to the sauna, Emmy!

Japanese Suicide Rate Remains Steady

2008-07-03T17:53:00.004+09:00

2007 was the 10th year in a row in which the number of people who committed suicide broke the 30,000 mark.

The National Police Agency reported 33,093 suicides last year.

Most reports cite unspecified social pressures driving people to take their own lives. Very little seems to be discussed in terms of what can be done to help relieve said pressures. For years, the economy has been blamed for these unfortunate deaths. However, now that the economy is relatively stable (compared to the late 90's), it's obvious that the economy doesn't deserve the bulk of the blame.

Akita prefecture has been training its health professionals to recognize the signs of depression (isn't that a course in med school anyway?) since 2001. However, that northern prefecture of Japan has consistently had one of the highest suicide rates in the country.

Last year Akita had the second highest rate (suicides per 100,000 population) at 37.2 while Yamanashi, a prefecture nestled between Mt. Fuji and Western Tokyo, had a suicide rate of 39.

While the extra awareness on the part of doctors and nurses doesn't seem to be doing much, maybe the best way to reach people suffering from depression is to actually grab them.

Emergency technicians in the southern city of Fukuoka managed to stop a 38-year-old woman from jumping off the 12th floor of an office building in Hata-ku.

Their plan of attack was simple. They talked calmly to her until she took her eyes off them and then they lunged and grabbed her by the belt. Daring and crazy up on that ledge? Yes. Effective? You bet.

Now let's just hope she gets the help she really needs lest she climb back out there and try the same thing again.

[photo courtesy of Mainichi Newspaper]

Vermonters in Tokyo

2008-06-30T20:38:00.003+09:00

My good, good friend from Bristol is coming to Tokyo for a month to study Japanese!

Emily Erwin (not the one from the Dixie Chicks) is going to be here for the month of July! She lives in Kanazawa where she teaches at a university, but she's on summer break now.

Last buddy from home that came to visit was Dan Eling (2004?).

Japanese Colonization of Korea Not a 'Fact'

2008-06-29T20:13:00.005+09:00

This one hasn't really been played up very much by the English media yet, but the head of the education board of Shimonoseki city in Yamaguchi Prefecture told the head of a Korean school that Japan's pre-WWII colonization of the Korean peninsula "contradicts a historical fact".

There isn't a whole lot in the way of context being bandied about yet, but it appears, at this early juncture at least, that the 44-year-old head of the city education board, Tsuyoshi Shimakura, is replaceable.

Click here for a Japanese article.

Whale Slaughter: Elementary School Field Trip

2008-06-29T01:37:00.003+09:00

Wada, Japan, one of the last legal bastions of whaling in this country, brings the youngsters out to watch the slaughter.

Japanese children as young as ten are watching whales being slaughtered to teach them the "cultural importance" of Japan's controversial commercial whaling industry.

The picture to the right is an AP photo snapped by David Guttenfelder of local schoolkids in Wada, Japan reaching out to touch the severed head of a Beard's Beaked whale.

Please read the rest of the article on your own.

Tokyo Pitcher Daniel Rios Steroid Scandal

2008-06-29T01:33:00.002+09:00

Daniel Rios, Tokyo's only off-season acquisition that involved a foreign player, was recently given his marching orders.

Apparently only horses can get away with using that steroid.

Royal Parks First Floor Gets Some Love

2008-06-28T00:59:00.005+09:00

The deceased AMPM shop space has been dormant for quite a while, but it looks like someone has decided to take the plunge.

I have a feeling that it's going to be yet another clinic as those have been popping up at a feverish pace in Hanakoganei lately.

It's definitely not large enough to be a gym, but oh well...

The deck space out front means that it's likely to be a service industry company that gambles on the location.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows Blog

2008-06-25T10:00:00.002+09:00

Our new blogging project, 燕軍： Tokyo Yakult Swallows, is doing quite well! There appears to be a large body of baseball fans, both in and outside Japan, that is interested in NPB, and the number of visitors to the site each day has continued to climb.

There's already a lot of content on the site (well, considering that it's only been up for a few weeks), so please pop on over and have a look.

Template Tweaking

2008-06-25T09:55:00.003+09:00

I just added a blogroll to the sidebar that is more dynamic than the last one. The site that updated most recently will appear on top. Kind of a cool idea.

There's also the option of including a snippet from the post pulled off the top of each site's feed, but I wasn't sure if that would balloon the thing out too much. Maybe I'll turn that thing on in the future.

I may also reorganize my "More Links" section. There are a lot of sites in there that update regularly that are mixed in with more businessy sites. Sites dealing with Asia in particular, which happen to be mostly blogs, probably deserve their own blogroll similar to the one at the top of the page.

Blue Hawaii by PEPSI

2008-06-15T16:58:00.003+09:00

The new Pepsi product, Blue Hawaii, caught my attention when I walked into a convenience store recently.

It's a bit too small to read, but the words under the giant "Blue Hawaii" on the bottle are "pineapple and lemon".

Reminds me of this.

New Blog

2008-06-06T19:37:00.004+09:00

Dave, Garrett and I have a new blogging project that is dedicated to the sap on our time, money and prospects for the future that is the Tokyo Swallows. The site, aptly named Tokyo Yakult Swallows, is up and running as of last night and will hopefully house some decent content within a week.

Much of my boring drivel about baseball will probably migrate over there. Or at least the marginally higher-quality stuff anyway. Some of the junk will likely show up here every once in a while.

"The Sleeping King" (眠り王) by The Exile Company TARA

2008-06-01T21:06:00.006+09:00

Bearing a slight resemblance to "The Neverending Story", playwright and director Hiroshi Harada's latest original work with The Exile Company TARA is the story of a young boy who finds himself moving back and forth between the pages of a book and the reality of his hospital bedroom. "The Sleeping King" (眠り王) displays Mr. Harada's delightful storytelling skills, and the current production includes several impressive acting talents (including Harada himself!) from Tokyo's independent theater circuit.

We saw the Saturday night performance of the show amidst a packed house at Woody Theater near Naka-Meguro station. The main theme of the play is facing one's fears as illustrated by the main character, a boy who is battling a life-threatening illness. The part of the young boy was played convincingly by actress Aiko Hashimoto (藍子　橋本). Also putting in a memorable performance was the villain of the play, Hiroshi Okazaki (瑶治　岡崎), with whom I acted in an educational video last year. A strong ensemble, as well as swift changes of scene and setting, help keep this show moving.

Black Stripe Theater's Production of Pinter's "The Homecoming"

2008-05-28T11:19:00.003+09:00

Black Stripe Theater has announced that it will stage Harold Pinter's classic play, The Homecoming, at Atelier Fontaine theater (near Azabu-juban station) July 4th-6th.

Check the BST website for news on the upcoming show.

TPR News

2008-05-24T00:23:00.001+09:00

It's been a while since we posted a TPR News over at Trans-Pacific Radio, but here's the latest one that was just published five minutes ago.

Office Manners

2008-04-29T12:33:00.002+09:00

I'm probably a little late with this, but this is my kind of humor.

Apologies if you've seen it before, but I'm sure you won't mind seeing it again.

Yokohama Baseball Stadium

2008-04-29T10:54:00.005+09:00

View from the left field bleachers of Yokohama stadium. This was from a game in early April that we lost (9-6) because Rios was pitching. Three weeks later, actually, he's still in a bit of a slump. He often flirts with the 100-pitch mark by the beginning of the sixth inning, and he seems to have lost that knack for getting guys out that propelled him to the top of the Korean Baseball Organization last season.

Here's hoping that he finds it.

But this post is not meant to be a swipe at Rios. Adjustments take time. He'll find his groove again. The negative tone of my typing, however, is going to endure. For I found that I'm no longer as crazy about Yokohama stadium as I used to be.

On the plus-side, it's a short walk from either Kannai station (JR Negishi/Keihin Tohoku line or Yokohama Subway line) or Nihon Odori station (Minato Mirai subway line). If you're sitting in the outfield, though, there won't be many more pluses.

Yokohama has no control over the weather, so no blame can be assigned for the bitterly frigid wind that was sweeping around the inside of the bowl-shaped stadium. But very little was done to make us feel at home.

Ah! Open seating. There's another plus! Yokohama resembles Jingu in that regard. You can get your ticket and then wander around until you find something that you like. But don't sit too close to the center field scoreboard as the public address speakers are pointed directly at the fans. It's a lot like being crammed in a tiny bar that just got new floor-to-ceiling speakers and the owner insists on taking advantage of their potential. Deafening. Accordingly, sitting in left-center (or right-center, I would imagine) only allows you the privilege of viewing the scoreboard above home plate. It's a great view if your interest in the game starts and ends with ball/strike count.

Another oversight at Yokohama stadium, at least in left field, is the food. I had long ago dismissed all hopes of getting something decent to eat at Jingu stadium (although, admittedly, the selection did improve this year), but somehow I had tricked myself into believing that Yokohama stadium has more or less a similar selection of fare available for ticket-holders. It doesn't. Yokohama stadium makes Jingu look like the food section at Costco.

Alright, it's time to stop pissing and moaning about the stadium. At least the home fans there are friendly, the seating in left field is unassigned for most games, and the stadium has retained its intimacy.

I'll just have to keep packing my own picnic and sit a little further from the center field scoreboard from now on I guess. Or that would be the sensible thing to do anyway--not that I'm particularly prone to doing the sensible thing.

Tokyo plays Yokohama away on May 6th through the 8th.

Not Work Safe, But Good

2008-04-24T14:11:00.003+09:00

I watched this clip over at The Marmot's Hole this morning.

Don't watch it at work, or if you have an intense aversion to the f-word, but director Uwe Boll has something to say, and you should listen.

Season Opener vs. Yomiuri at Meiji Jingu Stadium

2008-04-24T11:55:00.007+09:00

It was kind of a wet weekend, that Friday, Saturday and Sunday when the 2008 season began for the teams of NPB's central league. The Tokyo derby was hosted at Jingu stadium and we were there for all three games.

The rain was particularly bad for the Sunday game after Tokyo had already beat Yomiuri easily in the first two games of the series. I had publicly stated before the series that Yomiuri was the team to beat this season, but they sure didn't look like it during that first series. Tokyo won all three games: 6-2 (Fri); 6-3 (Sat); 10-2 (Sun) leading to a central league table that looked very different from last year's.

Luke and Sally were back in town that weekend, so they were able to make it to the game on Sunday when the clouds emptied. Stephen, Miyoko and Reina were there as well (Stephen and Miyoko only like to come to games when it's raining), and we were able to have a bit of fun once it became obvious that the game was out of reach and the mighty Giants had all but given up.

The Swallows pitching is still a little shaky, but the upshot is that there are a lot of young arms in the rotation, so that can only mean good things for the future. Additionally, it looks like we may finally have a reliable closer in the bullpen. Chang-yong Im (last name sometimes romanized as Lim) throws really hard (94-95 mph) for a sidearm pitcher, and he has been fantastic thus far. I'm guardedly optimistic about him at this point. It's still early, so we'll see what happens when opposing teams have seen him a few times.

New Translator Needed

2008-04-23T22:06:00.004+09:00

I don't know where he snapped this shot, but my good friend, Scott Lawson, sent this one to me.

The kanji on the right can be approximately translated as "don't use", but apparently that wasn't the nuance they were going for.

Baseball Season and a Revamped Jingu Stadium

2008-04-22T22:34:00.006+09:00

I can't believe that we're more than three weeks into April already and I haven't mentioned baseball yet. Well, I did, but not here.

I've been to seven games so far this season, which is kind of a weak tally for me. There have been a few rained out games so far, and I had planned to be at Jingu stadium for two of them, so mother nature is partly responsible for my slack attendance thus far.

Jingu stadium has been slightly revamped. There's new turf and new hi-tech scoreboards in both center-field and on top of the stands behind home plate. The turf looks gorgeous, but the scoreboards, which are the largest ones in use in Japan at this point, are still not being used to their full potential. The scorers sacrificed two columns of real estate on the left and right sides of the center-field scoreboard to advertising, so it is no longer possible to view the players' batting averages unless they're batting. That needs to change. Another problem with the scoreboards, or the people operating them really, is the fact that they still don't show replays of nice defensive plays. Much like during the former scoreboard's tenure, the only pieces of action worth replaying are home runs.

The corners of the outfield were moved out 10 meters at the foul poles as well. This means that it's now 101 meters to the left and right field poles which is about three feet further than the average professional ballpark in Japan. Straight-away center-field still sits 120 meters from home plate. Several rows of 1,900 yen seats were sacrificed for the expansion of the field, but the home team's pitching staff has breathed a collective sigh of relief that a few extra longballs will stay in the park this season.

As mentioned earlier, the new turf is beautiful, and it seems to absorb the momentum of the baseball a lot like natural grass does. The only thing that the players will have to be wary of is the fact that those artificial blades of grass are pretty slick when it rains. I've seen position players, and umpires, hit the deck on several occasions when making otherwise routine runs on the new surface.

Other than that, most stuff at the park are the same. The food's the same, the fans are the same, the team...is actually quite different, but I'll save that for another post.

Oh! One thing that is different is that there's a new t-shirt stand outside the stadium near where members of the fan club pick up their tickets. Grand Slam Sports Enterprises has begun producing a revolving line of unique t-shirts that are more in line with the thought patterns of the diehard Tokyo Swallows fan than what was previously available through the team's official catalog. I was fortunate enough to be able to chat with one of the main guys at Grand Slam before the game on Sunday, and he seems to have a lot of good ideas about promoting the team through a variety of well-designed and wearable t-shirts.

The t-shirt pictured here is a typical example of what they have to offer, and it cost me 2,500 yen. If it's not obvious, the "We are Tokyo" message is alluding to the fact that there are two teams located within the borders of the metropolis, but the claim to being Tokyo's team has been decided.

It sounds like Grand Slam is going to bring out some new designs every couple of weeks, so be sure to check back every so often and see if they have your favorite player's tee out there. It sounds like they will be offering a lot of limited edition t-shirts this season.

I'm hoping that they make an Iihara t-shirt soon because the team has been so slow to make shirts for some of their young stars (unless they're pitchers). Grand Slam Sports Enterprises is being billed as one of the official t-shirt outlets for the Tokyo Swallows fan club this year.

Fingerprinting and Photographing: Japanese Immigration

2008-04-17T12:40:00.005+09:00

Just for fun, I thought I'd throw this pic in here.

This is from our return leg to Japan (from Korea). As most people know, the new fingerprinting regime has long since been in place, and unlike other nations with similar systems in place for documenting foreign tourists, Japan likes to book all foreigners every time they enter/re-enter the country (even if they already pay taxes here).

Anyway, we were given this piece of paper after we were told to stand in the wrong line. It's intended to help them figure out how long people are standing in line. The immigration officials that are in charge or shepherding the hundreds of people coming off the planes every half hour stay on the move and try not to stand in one place for very long. It's mostly an act of self-defense as they know that everyone is angry and they are trying not to become a target for verbal abuse. One annoying side effect, at least in our case, is that they tend not to listen very well when they are walking around, so we wasted about 15 minutes in the mile-long line for tourists.

Apparently they have set up another line for people with re-entry permits (people who live and work/study in Japan) in their passports in order to expedite the process, but it was quite a challenge for us to figure out where that line was located. The immigration officials spent a lot of time escorting VIP's through gaps in the line to avoid fingerprinting/mug shot taking. Quick question: everyone knows that politicians are criminals, so shouldn't they be prime suspects for post-landing booking?

Well, we finally got ourselves in the correct line, and after a computer failure and the requisite reshuffling of the lines of people, we made it through immigration at about 2:21 pm. That's 31 minutes after we started standing in line according to the sheet of paper pictured above left. I have no idea how their system of checking waiting time works, but our case probably skewed some of their results. We undoubtedly spent less time in line than the tourists did (by my estimates they were waiting for 45-60 minutes), so if they use our 31 minute wait as evidence that the system is getting faster, then this post is evidence that they need to double-check their methods.

Endnote: when the computer was restarted after it crashed, it was just hilarious/ironic to see the Windows OS screen appear on the monitor as it rebooted.

Check this website, Re-entry Japan, for more information on this topic.

Weird English at the Stationery Store

2008-04-15T21:21:00.005+09:00

I make a point of visiting stationery stores when I go to Korea. It's a one stop shop for all of your study and souvenir needs.

It's also one of my favorite places to find wacky permutations of the English language, many of them worthy of admission at Engrish.com.

One such example is pictured to the right. This is a shopping/gift bag that was on sale at a shop in front of Busan National University.

Intending to spruce the text up with a little extra English, the designer of this bag unwisely opted for plagiarizing the first 22 words of an article in the JoongAng Daily English newspaper (which can be found here). The resulting creation is just plain weird.

On the plus side, at least this example is grammatically correct except for the fact that it's a sentence fragment.

Chicken and Beer

2008-04-13T15:36:00.003+09:00

One of the staples of the Korean culinary landscape, at least if one heads out to eat, is chicken. And beer. There are shops everywhere that sell the two together. It's a wonderful thing.

The accompanying shot is of a shop near my brother-in-law's new apartment. Chicken in abundance. The place is called "Boor", but it should be spelled "bueo" when romanized. I'm being a bit nitpicky, but I think it's obvious why the proprietor chose the spelling that she did.

How else would they be able to borrow the Hooters logo that is the central part of the storefront advertising? Incidentally, Seoul got it's first Hooters last year.

Intellectual property rights aside, this type of advertising plagues the nation of Korea. It's no wonder that nobody seems to give a hoot about architecture because the building's facade is going to be plastered with these vinyl encased beds of fluorescent lights anyway.

Apparently there are moves afoot up in Seoul to cut down on this type of advertising. One can only hope that it catches on nationwide.

Until then, I'll try to get my brother-in-law to pop by this place and check what type of outfits the waitresses wear.

Mitsui Outlet Park Iruma

2008-04-12T08:59:00.010+09:00

**Although it's no longer new, this post continues to draw a lot of interest. I have therefore updated it slightly to remove some of the information that is no longer relevant. Updated July 7th, 2011.

A new outlet shopping center, Mitsui Outlet Park Iruma (三井アウトレットパーク入間) opened in Saitama this week, and we paid the place a visit yesterday afternoon. It's big.

We found some good "opening" sales, but not every shop was providing shocking discounts.

I counted no less than 204 outlets in my facilities map. Important details that I discovered during my wanderings through the enormous two-floor mall: expensive coffee can be purchased at a few different places including the Tully's coffee shop on the second floor near the bus terminal exit, cheap coffee can be found near the register at the Family Mart convenience store on the first floor; in terms of sportswear, Puma had the coolest shoes and Nike the best prices; there's a food court on the second floor called "Forest Kitchen" if you're in search of slightly cheaper fare--bento (boxed lunches) and onigiri (rice balls) can, of course, be found in the Family Mart; kids with just a little too much energy can be brought to Club Yu Kids on the second floor next to Family Mart.

Transportation

The closest train station is Iruma-shi on the Seibu-Ikebukuro line. But then it's a 20 minute bus ride from the station to the outlets (map in Japanese).

Or at least it would be on a normal weekend. As you can see from the picture to the right, there were lines to get into some of the shops, and the place was packed even though it was a weekday. The free shuttle bus from Musashino-fujisawa station was supposed to take only 15-20 minutes, but it ended up being about a one-hour-trip because of the traffic (shuttle bus service will cease after Golden Week 2008). Mitsui Outlet Park is equipped with six separate parking areas, so they're prepared for the onslaught, but the poor roads surrounding the place aren't. The shuttle bus approaches the outlets from a right turn lane on route 16 that doesn't have a protected green light, so a vehicle is able to squeeze through oncoming traffic about once every two to four minutes. It's ridiculous.

I recommend paying for a bus ticket from Iruma-shi station instead. It should cost between 190 and 300 yen per person (there are several buses that head toward Mitsui Outlet Park including the number 30 and 31), and the buses won't get as bogged down in traffic because they don't try to turn into the poorly governed entrance. Actually, I can't swear that the number 30 doesn't turn into the parking lot as it's a new line set up specifically for the shops and we didn't take it. We did, however, take the 31 back from the shops, and that took 20 minutes on the nose. That bus goes to Iruma-shi station as well. It cost 190 yen per person. The bus stop is across the street from the outlets to the left of the Eneos gas station.

Mitsui Outlet Park and Costco

This is Mitsui's fourth, and largest, outlet mall in the Kanto region. They also have shops in western Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. While not the easiest to get to on busy days, the Iruma outlets carry the added bonus of sitting directly adjacent to a Costco wholesale market. For those who aren't familiar with the many wonders available at the giant wholesaler (membership required to shop there), you're missing out! Membership cards work at all 500+ Costco's worldwide, and the range of items sold there is shocking. Additionally, Costco's little dining area provides a cheap, albeit not very healthy, alternative to the pricier food in the restaurants in the outlet mall. Remember those huge slices of pizza and bottomless cups of cola? Yup, Costco in Japan is pretty much the same as back home. Membership for one person/family costs 4,200 yen (per year).

Anyway, the place is worth a visit, but I recommend waiting a week or two, or maybe until after Golden Week. There's something for everyone--from LEGO Clickbrick to Coach accessories, from Fred Perry to Bose, and from BCBGMAXAZRIA to Franc franc.

Changwon Starbucks has Smoking Lounge

2008-04-10T14:50:00.004+09:00

Changwon city, South Korea, is a rapidly growing city. It sits about 50 minutes west of Busan by bus, and it's one of the only properly planned cities in the country. Canberra, Australia, apparently, was used as a template for the city.

The population is still rather small, but it's attracting jobs and development like few other municipalities. What that happens, the chains come flocking.

This is a picture from the inside of the city's first Starbucks. It's massive. The one thing that I found to be different about this particular shop was the fact that it is the first Starbucks I've seen with my own eyes that has a smoking room in it. I have no idea why Starbucks felt compelled to do that as the Korean citizenry is quite amenable to the idea that smoking should be done outside.

Starbucks outlets in Japan, by all accounts a much more tobacco-friendly nation, have ashtray-equipped tables outside their outlets.

Busan Government Works to Improve Quality of Life by Giving Space Back to Citizens

2008-04-09T13:42:00.005+09:00

The city of Busan did a nice job of cleaning up the filthy canal/river that stagnated under the elevated train tracks on line number one. The water now smells like, well, water, and much of the area was reclaimed for public use.

In many areas there are basketball courts and other public recreational facilities that now sit on the flat land beside the water. Additionally, a many-many-kilometers long rubberized-track path was laid so that people could get some exercise.

This picture was taken near the entrance to Jangjeon-dong train station (장전동 역) which is along an elevated portion of line one. The bridge spanning the gap sports a rather large sign informing people of how much exercise they need to do to burn off a certain number of calories.

In other train-related news, most of line number three has been completed and is open for public use. Line three (the red line in this map) connects Suyeong station, which is not far from the beach, with Daejeo station, which is a short cab ride from Gimhae International Airport. I'm pretty sure that train service should soon extend all the way to the airport, and my eyes confirmed as much when I saw all the construction there a few weeks ago, but this map doesn't have any information on that. Instead, it seems to indicate that line three will become a one line transfer station as it forks and intersects line one at Dongnae station and continues on until it reaches Bansong.

The official Busan Urban Transit Authority website, however, says that line three will terminate at Anpyeong which is a little bit further out than the Bansong region of Busan. Their map also has line three ending at Daejeo, so it seems that an outside company or authority is responsible for the line that will attach Gimhae airport to the rest of the city.

Anyway, it was nice to have extra commuting options when we were there last. I'm sure that the transportation system will have evolved even more the next time we visit.

Update 1 [April 9, 2008]:
The connection between Gimhae airport and downtown Busan will not be connected to line three. It seems that it will be a completely elevated line stretching from Sasang station on line two in western Busan, which also happens to be a large inter-city bus terminal, to the growing suburb of Gimhae city west of Busan. The line will travel through Gimhae International Airport on its way through.

All of the trains will be unmanned and the line is scheduled for completion in 2010. Capacity is projected at a maximum of 300,000 passengers per day.

2005 APEC Summit Facilities in Busan, South Korea

2008-04-07T11:29:00.003+09:00

They went all out in the preparations for the 2005 APEC Summit which was held in Busan, South Korea.

This meeting hall is part of the complex that was set up on the waterfront at Haeundae beach. This is where the heads of state sat during the second (?) round of meetings during the summit. The building, the surrounding paths and gardens are absolutely gorgeous. The facilities are completely open to the public, and if I lived in Busan then I would probably go jogging there every day (all the walkways and roads are rubberized track).

I highly recommend it for anyone who is staying in Busan.
Step one: Busan aquarium.
Step two: hit Papa John's for lunch (see post below).
Step three: long leisurely walk along the beach in the direction of the Westin Chosun hotel.
Step four: 2005 APEC Summit village (entrance located on the other side of the hotel).

Papa John's in South Korea!

2008-04-06T12:55:00.004+09:00

Imagine my surprise and delight when we discovered a new Papa John's outlet in Haeundae when we were there a couple of weeks ago!

We quickly bundled ourselves up the stairs and sat down for some meat-covered pizza and a side of breadsticks.

Papa John's, my favorite pizza supplier when I was attending university in Ohio, is using former Korean national soccer team coach Guus Hiddink as the face of its movement into the Korean pizza market.

From what I can tell, South Korea has a far wider variety of sit-down pizza joints than Japan does. Most pizza places in Tokyo are delivery establishments led by big names such as Pizza Hut, Domino's and Pizza-La. Shakey's is the only major chain in Tokyo that I can think of that is primarily a pizza restaurant.

I think Papa John's could do well over here if they combine deliveries with a nice restaurant environment. Domino's just opened a shop near Hanakoganei train station that combines the two although I can't comment on how well or poorly the system is working for them.

Anyway, it was very nice to have a box of breadsticks again!

2008 Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) Season Preview

2008-04-06T12:13:00.004+09:00

Garrett and I recently finished our 2008 Season Preview for the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB) over at TPR.

It includes a 30 minute podcast and lots of prognostications about what might be expected this season.

Watering the Shrubs

2008-04-04T14:52:00.003+09:00

Nothing special, just thought this was funny.

I took this photo while walking down the street in Busan. Whoever was in charge of watering the shrubs out in front of the building didn't feel like it was worth the effort to go outside and hose them down the way a custodian in Japan probably would.

Not that there's anything wrong with that; I applaud the creativity.

Artsy South Korean Electrical Appliances

2008-04-03T11:38:00.005+09:00

This captured my interest while I was browsing in an electronics store.

This isn't a photo of a picture frame. Well, it is a picture frame, but it's also something else.

It's an air conditioner.

South Korean appliances are leaning towards the floral these days with lots of companies opting for similar designs--lots of red appliances too.

In addition to this picture frame air conditioner, they had others that looked like paintings. It's a nice way to disguise that ugly unit hanging on the wall--especially if you can change the display.

New Seibu Line Trains (30,000 Series)

2008-04-02T09:19:00.003+09:00

I risk being labeled a little bit of a nerd with this, but trains are how I get to and from everywhere around here, so I thought I'd share one of the new developments on the Seibu line where I live.

Seibu Railways (西武鉄道) will soon be introducing its 30,000 series of trains (pdf). I saw one pass through Kami-Shakujii station on a test run yesterday, and it looked comfy. It has double screens above the doors like the newer Yamanote and Chuo line trains, and the overall design looks much more modern.

The trains are probably also faster, but that won't become an issue unless more of the Seibu line is elevated. Hanakoganei station to Takadanobaba should still take 19 minutes.