I posted this on my personal Facebook a few days ago and it still gets me angry. If you live in Tokyo you’ve probably heard that there have been recent campaigns and promotions to stop groping and other abuse on trains. Keep that in mind. Just now as I was entering the train stations guy … More Apathy and Tokyo Metro
A few times a year the school I work at has a special meeting. At that talk we go over all the students who are facing beyond-the-norm problems. Obviously I am not going to go into any great detail but I will say these problems run from academic troubles to emotional issues to recent divorces … More School Blues
In Shinjuku smoking isn’t allowed on the streets and smoking isn’t allowed at all in train station bathrooms. And yet both of these are commonly encountered during my commute. I have never heard of anyone being ticketed for smoking and have seen both police and security guards actively ignoring smokers. When the presence of illegal … More Japan’s Double Standard
To understate things, being a parent brings with it a decent amount of new experiences. Some of them are more emotional, like feeling both unconditional love at the same time as pretty extreme annoyance when your little guy is full of smiles and wants to play at 4:00am. Then there are things like Sports Day, … More Daycare Sports Day
Every two weeks I co-host a show about Japanese culture and life in Japan. This week we discuss the verdict of the vagina artist case we’ve been following, discuss the current marketing campaign of Domo-kun and then discuss whether or not Japan is as “wacky” as you might be led to believe. You can stream … More Living Japan Episode 54!
My boy turns one today. As I write this it is just after 3:30. He was delivered at 4pm, which means I have just about spent a full year with him. I guess longer, since even when he was still inside mommy he was very much a part of our lives. When Leo was first … More My One Year Old
The latest Living Japan Podcast is available for streaming now and should be available on iTunes shortly. It’s a fun episode where we talk about Golden Week, Cool Biz and hitchhiking in Japan. This last section is where I am pretty quiet. I’ve never really done hitchhiking. I’ve picked up a few people who have … More Living Japan Episode 53
Tonight was another ukulele night. It is the second time I’ve been able to play with this group. It is only about six players with a variety of skill levels (I’m close to the low end) and it is super fun. There really is something about singing and playing with others. It’s uniting. All we … More It only takes one. (Aka Smoking is Bad)
After a long holiday my friends and I were able to reunite in our studio for another Living Japan episode. The talk is sonewhat sprawling as we go from listener questions to an increase of “halfs” in Japan and end up on bureaucracy. Evetytime I am able to get in the studio with Edgar and … More Living Japan Ep. 51
The past few weeks have been full of graduations and Facebook postings of people off to start new jobs. Something about that just makes me feel a little down. Not for myself. I’m actual doing pretty well. I feel sorry for those starting jobs. Yes, I know. I’m a schmuck. But those fresh faces going … More Start of the Financial Year
Deadly Troubadour 