I have been asked to be a contributor to a new Japan Blogzine called 7:10 to Tokyo.   Billy West, the founder of 7:10 to Tokyo describes the publication like this:
“7:10 to Tokyo is an online magazine or blogazine, if you will. It’s contributors are bloggers who either live in Japan or have a strong […]

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Today I awoke to another rainy and windy day in Tokyo.  I think that Mother Nature is toying with us right now as we have been seeing flashes of gorgeous spring weather followed by some pretty awful wind and rain and I don’t like it!
On Sunday, the weather was just beautiful so I decided to […]

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Where I live in Chiba there are two very contrasting places where you can view the Sakura Blossoms.
Below is a very industrial looking park where all of the trees are aligned in perfect rows.  While the trees are still pretty the atmosphere is rather sterile.  I call this one Sakura and Cement.

About a mile or […]

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A little while ago Brad asked Did Japan Change YOU?  This got me to thinking.  My initial reaction on Japansoc was to say that “I think that I’ve become more patient and more understanding of the fact that there is not one right way to do things”. I elaborated a bit further but that response […]

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In Japan it’s spring break right now and the parks are full of kids playing and families having picnics under the Hanami (Cherry Blossom) trees that are just starting to bloom.
Today I had to run some errands so I hopped on my bike for the ride to the Mihama Ward Office (city hall) to pick […]

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In the Japanese blogosphere there is a discussion that comes up fairly often about discrimination against foreigners in Japan.  Today I ran across an article on CNN about English Only Signs at a cheese steak store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The sign in question reads “This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH.’” and the city’s […]

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Japan is supposed to be the land of the rising sun but the other day this was the view of the sun setting from our apartment in Chiba. We are looking towards Tokyo and I believe that the body of water in the photo is the Tokyo Bay. We have had this […]

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It’s well known that space is at a premium in Japan but the innovations that arise from such dilemmas always surprise me.  Below is a series of photos showing a Japanese version of a three car garage in action.  This is not uncommon and the elevator is operated at a station off to the […]

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I think that Japan must be operated via remote control - I’m not kidding! On my coffee table there are no less than five remotes and most of the buttons are in Kanji! The living room is not the only place that there are remotes - each bedroom has two remotes. […]

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Japan is much as a remember it from our last stay and I am pleased to report that my limited Japanese skills don’t seem to have suffered that much from a ten year absence.  However, my ability to read Katakana (Japanese symbols for foreign words) is pretty much gone.  I can still recognize it when […]

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