Reason 329 Why I Love Japan...

There are times when I feel sad to be 8000 miles away from home, my family and things that make sense.... When I feel blue, I try to focus on the things that make Japan such a special place for me... Hot-Japanese-Rocker-Chicks-In-Schoolgirl-Uniforms-Rocking-Out-In-The-Rain...

This truly is the Promised Land. God Bless Japan.

(This is Scandal - Shoujo S [少女S] BTW-- from the anime Bleach.)

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i am not my hair. i am me.

i am not my hair. i am me., originally uploaded by StarrWulfe.

8 years of dredlocks gone in 5 minutes. this is what is left. see that guy? he hasn‘t changed, just his hair. he still has the same thoughts, goals, aspirations, fears, habits, and love. i am not my hair.

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Nagoyans can‘t ride the subway properly...

One thing i've noticed in my 8 months being in Nagoya-- these people don't seem to know proper subway riding etiquitte...

1. When moving thru the turnstyles, have your fare out *before* you get to the faregate--and have it properly counted, accounted for, etc. I knocked some poor kid down one time because he just stood there looking or his ticket while i was running to the gate.

2. Make room on the platform, stairs, train, etc, for people coming the opposite way. Why do people here think they are the only ones needing to use the train? If you just got off your train, congradulations-- you made it... But i'm still trying to get where i'm going, so MOVE the hell outta the way!

3. When boarding the train, it's common knowledge that there usually are more people than just you trying to get on. So please get on the train and move toward the center of the car away from the damn door! How many times do i have to shove someone out the way jst to find that there's plenty of standee room, but there's 25 people blocking the door.

4. When its your turn to get off the train, make your way to the door in the time before arriving at your station. Meaning, dont try to push past me at your stop because you just noticed where we were! This also means that when i'm doing this, please let me get to the damn door--i wanna get off!

Sorry for the rant y'all, but a combination of all these made me 15 minutes late this a.m.-- why is it Tokyoites and Osakans get this but Nagoya folks seem clueless at times...

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Got off at the wrong station, but...

...when the wrong station has scenery like this, I don't mind so much. This is Unuma-Juku (鵜沼宿) in gifu prefecture just a 30 minute express train ride north of where i am in nagoya. It doesnt take long to get into the countryside in this part of japan...

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Cram school head grew pot on roof

Some guy who operates a juku here in Nagoya got high on his own supply... Are they hiring?!

NAGOYA--A cram school head was arrested after police discovered cannabis plants growing on the rooftop of his school in Kita-Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.

Kazuomi Fujiwara, 37, who taught English and social studies, admitted growing six cannabis plants inside a plastic wardrobe on the rooftop of the Nodajuku chain's Nishiharu school, police said.

Fujiwara was quoted by police as saying he chose the spot because it was sunny and hidden from view. The juku has about 130 students.

He began smoking pot in high school and had grown cannabis for his personal use at the school since last summer, police said.(IHT/Asahi: June 10,2009)

Read the full story from Asahi Shinbun here.

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"Blame It On The Economy - Barack Obama"

my dad sent this one in to me-- had to share it with y'all... I know it's meant to be funny and all, but damn, I wanna play this in my mp3 player on the way to work tomorrow and wile out to it.... Maybe get my boys to bump this in the clubs here in Nagoya...

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Mr S gets his super song on!

Because Mr. S had the coolest song when I was 4 years old. I'm surprised there isn't a Lil' Wayne/Manny Fresh remix of this somewhere.

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Apple unveils Snow Leopard and I'm so confused!

Uh oh... And I *am* in the market for a new laptop too... First the bombshell of the new cheap 13" macbook pro, then the new iPhone 3Gs drops, and now this. Do I see some apple pie in my future? I just put windows 7 on my current laptop and it runs better than it ever did with vista-- and its only 2 years old!! I should get at least 5 years out of a laptop, right? However just the sheer act of being able to get stuff done on a mac is really enticing me. As a videographer, I usually edit in Avid, but more and more shops also have Final Cut- and I am certified on that as well. Not to mention I personally edit in Adobe Premiere, Flash, Soundstage, etc and of course there's a mac version too... What should I do?

 

 

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Apple unveils Snow Leopard with all its guts and glory

via Boy Genius Report by Marc Flores on 6/8/09

Always mindful of its competition, Apple comes right out of the gate saying that Windows 7 is just Microsoft's tool to get them out of a hole — that it's nothing more than just a new version of Vista. Ouch. Pot shots aside, Snow Leopard is on today's menu and it doesn't look to disappoint. For starters, Exchange support can now be found in Mail, iCal and Address Book. The indispensable Finder is still the same, but with slight tweaks for speed and more seamless navigation. Expose is now built right into the dock to help keep you organized and all your windows can be viewed through that single icon on the dock making viewing and navigation a little simpler than before. Application installations are also 45% faster than before — not too shabby for those of us with little to no patience. Snow Leopard will also feature handwriting recognition for the trackpad, which is pretty intense. Hit the jump for more.

Safari 4 is getting a lot of attention is this new OS X build, and Apple claims it's now 7.8x faster than IE8. The major change comes along with 64-bit JavaScript performance which is 50 percent faster than before. It's also crash resistant! Apple says that crashes are caused mainly by plugins, but now if a plugin should crash, all your windows remain in tact; all you have to do is refresh the page and all is saved. One of the biggest updates to Safari is history search: If you click on the lower right corner, your entire history is shown as a cover flow of web pages instead of just a boring list. On the Quicktime front, along with a new logo it's getting an aesthetic upgrade along with a new technology called HTTP streaming.

So how much to upgrade from Leopard? $29 once it becomes available in September. Awesome. There will also a family pack available for $49.

 

 

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I wonder what was tr

I wonder what was troubling David Carradine so much where he had to off himself... Another one of my childhood heroes now fades into black... http://smub.it/wdf

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Sorry y'all...

Sorry about the mail coming from my blog y'all. My web software got stuck in a loop with my Twitter feed. I hopefully have fixed it. Let me know if there are any other issues here, and more to come from Japan!

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