Nick has provided us with 8 Fabbertastic facts about himself and has passed the baton on to me.  It’s the blog version of a chain letter (which I hate, by the way, and often temp the fates by breaking the chain) but I didn’t want to drop the ball even though there was not the […]

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Picture a  little Japanese girl in a pretty flowered dress, not more that 3 years old, bowing to her sibling’s school bus as it departs for the day.  That is the sweet scene that my husband and I encountered as as we walked down our street one morning this week and I can’t get it […]

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Words of Ikuo Hirayama, 81 year old survivor of the Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima:
“I believe that art can overcome hardships. I believe that flowers can blossom from anguish and inhumanity.”

Referring to the peace flame, pictured above, that will remain lit until the world no longer has nuclear weapons, Hirayama said:
"I saw the color of the […]

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This weekend I took advantage of some of my own advice and went to Rikugi-en Park and took in the Edo Ningyo. Edo Ningyo is a traditional Japanese marionette puppet show and the puppeteer was amazing! The emotions and lifelike movements he elicited from his stringed muses only enhanced the stories that […]

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Not a big surprise here….a minor got his hands on the new TASPO card that allows you to buy cigarettes from vending machines in Japan in exchange for a photo and some personal details.  The surprising part is who the minor got the TASPO card from -  he got it from his mother and […]

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Does anyone you know lack common sense? Do you think that they are aware of the fact? My guess is probably not.
If you are true friend of one of these lost souls the best gift that you could give them would be a new class that is being developed in Japan. For […]

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On May 18th I directed my readers at The Tokyo Traveler to an article in the Washington Post titled This Mob is Big in Japan by Jake Adelstien. In the article Adelstien describes his days as a crime writer for the Yomiuri Shimbun and how, because of “a story that change his life”, he […]

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How often do you catch a cat napping in a tree?  It’s an atypical sight that caught me by surprise.

This laid back cat was eying me as I snapped his picture but he didn’t move a muscle.  He was relaxing and catching some rays in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park on Monday afternoon.
Photo Credit:  Personal Collection

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Sharon Stone is, by most accounts, an intelligent woman. But her comments regarding the recent earthquake in China make her seem like a blond headed bimbo. Here’s what she said:
”I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else,” Stone […]

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What would you think if you were asked the following questions during a job interview? I warn you they’re not your typical questions:

“How many public mailboxes are there in Japan?” (Replace the reference to Japan with your home country or state.)
“How many drops of water does Lake Biwa contain?” (Again, replace the […]

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