Ai//Nippon

Goodbye

2009-09-12T04:45:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone. I have some bad news....

I've decided to stop blogging on Ai//Nippon. I may start again or I may not. I just don't have the time and patience to sit down and write anymore. I will miss it but maybe one day I'll start back again.

I'll still be around the net learning about Japan so if you have any cool links, news, etc. about Japan, leave them in the comments below. I might post them in the side bar. :)

Goodbye for now and thanks for reading.

-Sayuri

A Delayed SLS For You

2009-08-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

Heyyyy. Did you notice there was no SL the last couple of Saturdays? Yeah...I was busy planning great things for this blog and moving from one place to another! Here is a delayed SLS I wrote a few weeks ago.

Here's a cool one- superstitions.
My memory must be going. Have I posted this? It's pretty rad.
Planning on going to a Japanese bath house? You should read this.
No more cash?
I've heard of Hachiko and I'm curious about this movie.
For those interested in history, read about Hattori Hanzo. I've been playing Samurai Warriors 2 and have been hearing his name a lot from the game. :D
Wow, is this for real?
10 Beautiful Tokyo Time Lapses. What more is there to say?

Wellll that's it for this Saturday. Tune it tomorrow for a new post.

Sweet Link Saturday- July 4th, 2009

2009-07-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hello all. I just want to say a quick thank you for reading this little blog. I really love Japan and all of it's quirkiness and enjoy being able to learn and share the things I find about it. I encourage you to leave a comment so I can get to know my few loyal readers more. :)

Also, I'm thinking of attempting to write a post every day for a month. It's part of NaBloPoMo and it seems really fun. So tell me, would it be Japan overload of Japan amazingness? Take the poll by scrolling down (if your reading via rss or email, click here).

Now here's your links.

This is a cool new blog I found with amazing pictures.
I'm ready to go to Kyoto.
Check out Tokyo Panoramas.
Asian Aisle is a pretty cool site if you like pictures of food.
Have I posted this before? I don't think so... (via)
I heard this drama is really good. Something to check out if you're bored and looking for something new to watch.
Whoa this is a neat umbrella.
And last but not least, I just finished watching the last season of Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl). It's a super cool anime if you're once again, looking for something new to watch. :)

Picture from here.

Unfortunately, that's all for this week. Send me your interesting links!

Sweet Link Saturday- June 27, 2009

2009-06-27T00:00:00.003-04:00

Let's see if this really posts on Saturday (unlike last week). :D

Oh and hey, I just noticed my favicon isn't working. Grrrr...off to fix it but first, here's your links.

Find out which Japanese cities made the World's Most Expensive Cities 2009 list here.
Men-only train cars are wanted in response to women only train cars to prevent groping...read about it here.
Tim Maughan Books has done it again- another great article. 10 Anime Series you should see before you die. My absolute favorite anime is Ghost in the Shell so I have one series down!

Picture from here.

Read about how to live cheap, or as cheap as possible while in Japan.
This post has some cute pictures.
Hiroki Ando needs a heart transplant but can't receive one in his home country, Japan. Thankfully, due to donations he can get one in the US. I wish him the best. You can see his mother's website here but it's only in Japanese so use Google translator if you only speak English.
Wow, these pictures are beautiful.
Have you earned a badge?
When did Japan stop being the future? Ehhh...that's news to me. But I don't care because Japan is still frigging awesome! :D
Budgeting Your Time in Japan from the Nihon Sun. Useful to all you travelers out there. And if you happen to be visiting Tokyo, read these Travel tips for visiting Tokyo from Muza-chan.
Interesting...
Moi Dix Mois are the official guests of honor for Anime Expo 2009 in Los Angeles. If you can make it out to LA, that's definetly worth going to.
I'm excited to see how the live action Blood: The Last Vampire will turn out. The animated movie and anime series based on the movie was great. Well here's an early look at the movie. (via)
These are great pictures of Nara from The Soul of Japan. I found this blog from a commenter and subscribed right away!
This is an interesting write up about E-money in Japan with some videos too.

Well, that's a ton of links. Better get to reading them! :)

-Sayuri

(Late) Sweet Link Saturday- June 20, 2009

2009-06-21T16:00:00.000-04:00

Well, oops. I usually write Sweet Links during the weekday and schedule it to be posted on Saturday. Looks like Blogger's scheduler broke or something because it never showed up. Well anyways, here we go with Sweet Link ~~Saturday~~ Sunday.

Have you learned the Japanese color names? I haven't so I should really go study...
Check out these 14 really cool vending machines.

Picture from here.

Wow, it's raining tadpoles!
This is a neat video of Tokyo.
Giant Jellyfish swarms off the coast of Japan.
This is a nice write up about Kyoto and the pictures are just sweet!

Looks like that's it for this week, come back next Saturday to find all the Japanese goodness!

-Sayuri

Sweet Link Saturday- June 13, 2009

2009-06-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hello all, I've found some really great links this week. Hope you enjoy them!

Picture from here.

Do you have a dog? If so, would use this canine cleaner?
Battle underwear?!
Read about how farming is changing in Japan.
This is really neat. Bento art!

Picture from here (via).

Free food if you wash dishes! Sounds good to me.
A monkey cut out power to about 7,000 homes according to Tohoku Electric Power Co.
Lanterns in Japan.
From the ever interesting J-List side blog: family graves, benefits for learning Japanese, gaijin in Japan, and Queen Himiko.
Japan's widest railroad crossing was removed.
Japan's birthrate is up for the third straight year.
How cute.

Picture from here. (via)

Take a look at Google's logo celebrating Yokohama's 150th anniversary. (via) More info here.
Read about traditional Japanese inns, or ryokan here.
Tokyo Times always has insightful photos from around Japan.
Neat.

Well that's all I have for now, what's interested you this week?

-Sayuri

Sweet Link Saturday- June 6, 2009

2009-06-06T00:00:00.004-04:00

Picture from here.

Yokohama celebrates it's 150th anniversary.
Read a list of firsts in Yokohama.
And one more Yokohama link, these are amazing.
Would you fit in in Japan?
Firefly viewing season is beginning in Japan. Head on over to muza-chan.net to see more information and videos.
Wow, bug sushi?
Brush up on a little history by reading about Oda Nobunaga. I once wrote a report on him for a global studies class. The teacher had said to write about your favorite historical figure so I picked someone random that the teacher wouldn't know of. :D
If you're an anime fan, you may want to read this interview with voice actor Vic Mignogna. He has voiced Edward Elric in Full Metal Alchemist and more. (via the Anime Blog)

What have you found interesting this week?

-Sayuri

Sweet Link Saturday- May 30, 2009

2009-05-30T00:00:00.005-04:00

Take a look at Japan's "scariest toilet paper".
I really want to visit this hotel, which was built in 717! It has been ran by the same family for all these years.
I just found asianfoodgrocer.com and am definitely going to be ordering something soon. There are not many Asian food stores around here and the only one I currently know of doesn't have as big of a selection as this. The following taken from their site:

Asian Food Grocer is your best resource for quality Asian food, tasty Asian food recipes, and flavorful Japanese seasonings. From our large selection you can order difficult-to-find organic ingredients, as well as traditional Japanese food like Shirataki noodles, Pocky, miso paste and miso soup. At Asian Food Grocer, you can even find Asian supplies like chopsticks, teapots, and origami paper. We are constantly updating our products, so check back often!

Asian Food Grocer also has a blog with fun posts like 7 Japanese Snacks That Taste Better Than They Sound and Pocky Rant. And they also have a recipe collection. I'm hooked!
Similar to Asian Food Grocer, there is myEthnicWorld.com where you can shop by countries like Japan. They also have recipes.

-Sayuri

Japanese Wedding Dolls

2009-05-25T13:25:00.002-04:00

With all the bad buzz Craigslist has been getting lately, I wanted to share an awesome find I got through the site.

These are Japanese wedding dolls and the post said they were to bring good luck and fortune to a marriage. I know nothing else about this particular pair but I bought them for $20 and I love them. You really never know what you can find in unexpected places.

I researched Japanese wedding dolls online but could not really find any information about them. If you know anything, feel free to let me know! Also, I found an Ebay auction for the girl doll for $15 plus $10 shipping. I got both of the dolls for only $20. I'm super happy with this find.

On another note, my boyfriend and I found an InuYasha clock on Ebay. I don't remember the exact price but isn't is amazing?

To see all photos & some closeups, click here.

-Sayuri

Sweet Link Saturday- May 23, 2009

2009-05-23T00:00:00.001-04:00

Can you improve by living in Japan?
Love this 100 Views of Edo

On a side note, it seems my blog was labeled as spam by the blogger robots a couple of days ago. Ehh? I don't collect any information and definitely don't spam. I don't know what's up with that.

-Sayuri