tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124188722012-02-01T21:56:12.618+09:00kubanoreply@blogger.comBlogger666125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-37818262501335581742012-02-01T21:56:00.001+09:002012-02-01T21:56:12.631+09:002012-02-01T21:56:12.631+09:00

I got this cute krispy kreme set from one of my students.  She used to design things for Krispy Kreme Japan, so I told her of my undying love for the Hot and Now original glazed doughnut. When you put coffee in the mug, the "hot and now" neon signs comes on.  It's hypercolor or something.  How awesome is that?!  Totally awesome!

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-54701912816397482972012-01-31T18:34:00.002+09:002012-01-31T18:34:34.454+09:002012-01-31T18:34:34.454+09:00

A couple of girls enjoying a laugh over dinner.

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-51361353249436430622012-01-31T18:31:00.001+09:002012-01-31T18:31:39.230+09:002012-01-31T18:31:39.230+09:00

Is there anywhere in the world Starbucks hasn't conquered?  Japan loves their starbucks. Boy, do they love their Starbucks over here.  They call it "stahbah" for short.  I gotta admit that I often find myself dipping into one of the five kajillion starbucks to cool off from the crazy humidity in the Summer, and warm up from the bone-chilling cold in the Winter.  If it's one thing stahbah is good

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-17639991556788617682012-01-30T12:18:00.001+09:002012-01-30T12:18:17.505+09:002012-01-30T12:18:17.505+09:00

It's that time again. People are wearing masks and popping vitamin c tablets. The flu is attacking japan and it's citizens like 10000 Godzillas. My school is telling all the 7th graders not to come to school for the next three days. About 20  percent of them didn't come to school today because of the flu. Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.3

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-49388194004898675492012-01-29T12:04:00.000+09:002012-01-29T12:05:25.865+09:002012-01-29T12:05:25.865+09:00

Took a ride on the shinkansen (bullet train) yesterday, and took a mini video to show you how fast it goes.  I used to think that bullet train equals fast as  a bullet equals just under light speed (never was good at math/science), but I was wrong.  Don't get me wrong, it does go pretty fast, but not nearly as fast as a bullet.  That's gotta be some kind of false advertising or something. It's

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-68555904202026600082012-01-25T00:32:00.002+09:002012-01-25T00:32:23.906+09:002012-01-25T00:32:23.906+09:00

Got some new notebooks, a marker, and some masking tape from MUJI 無印良品 pens of all colors.  Actually they are all black ink.  People don't write in blue ink in Japan

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-69687658021652949492012-01-23T23:52:00.001+09:002012-01-23T23:52:51.633+09:002012-01-23T23:52:51.633+09:00

Started snowing a bit tonight; slowed down the trains a bit tonight; made sure I walked a bit more slowly tonight. go easy on my street looking down towards Shinjuku It doesn't often snow this much around Tokyo.  Won't stick though because I don't think it's cold enough.  Still nice to walk around in it.  Seems like on nights that it snows everything becomes a little quieter.  

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-31507129328452941792012-01-22T10:36:00.000+09:002012-01-22T10:36:17.774+09:002012-01-22T10:36:17.774+09:00

walked around western area of Shinjuku yesterday.  Been raining for the past three days or so.  It started out as snow on the first day, and just got all crappy from there on.  Wish I was back in Hawaii eating some shave ice and watching "Auction Wars" The Washington Hotel.  Kind of looks like a prison.  I don't know why they made the windows so small. The art college.  One of the

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-39558736942476494642012-01-19T23:49:00.001+09:002012-01-19T23:49:54.596+09:002012-01-19T23:49:54.596+09:00

Japanese tv is kind of messed up in the way that what they think is absolutely fine would be considered grounds for a lawsuit in the states.  I do think it's kind of funny, though. Flipping through the channels one day I come across a show that just had three girls sitting around a small table in a small room talking.  They were members of one of the huge JPOP groups here.  Recently they've been

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-36536389305332730212012-01-19T23:38:00.001+09:002012-01-19T23:38:45.475+09:002012-01-19T23:38:45.475+09:00

Who knew that you could eat aloe.  I always thought it was just used on burns and cuts, and it kind of stunk, so I never thought of eating it.  Goes nicely with kiwi, though. This is the average size of drinks in Japan.  I was kind of having some culture shock when I went back to Hawaii, and saw how big the drinks were.  Forgot what a regular drink size looks like.

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-80390769197702856492012-01-15T22:26:00.002+09:002012-01-15T22:26:22.155+09:002012-01-15T22:26:22.155+09:00

There is this helpful chart in Marui, which is one of the department stores here.  It tells you what sizes each of the stores on that floor sell.  So instead of going by particular style, you just look up on the chart, and hit all the stores in your size. I guess the chart is really made for people on the extreme heavy side, and the extreme light side because those of us in the middle can hit

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-86894588280663621852012-01-10T12:30:00.000+09:002012-01-10T12:30:15.003+09:002012-01-10T12:30:15.003+09:00

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-86517936124211559162011-12-21T13:47:00.001+09:002011-12-21T13:47:59.420+09:002011-12-21T13:47:59.420+09:00

saw this on TV yesterday．they did a story on artificial snaggleteeth．there's a dentist that can custom fit you with your very own snaggletooth they're trying to make their teeth jacked on purpose． Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-3737584458392750062011-12-20T21:09:00.001+09:002011-12-20T21:10:36.612+09:002011-12-20T21:10:36.612+09:00

Didn't think they had stuff like that, did you?  But, yes they do, and it's a chain restaurant, so there are lots of them. Met up with some friends after work on Sunday and went to Tokyo Opera City, which strangely enough is fairly close to where I live.  I've jogged passed it several times in the summer, and noticed their sign board out front because it has lots of restaurants advertised on it

kubanoreply@blogger.com0Japan, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Nishishinjuku, ２丁目８−１35.6894875 139.691706435.6381805 139.61342889999997 35.7407945 139.7699839tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-20214094486052107322011-12-18T23:09:00.003+09:002011-12-18T23:09:48.021+09:002011-12-18T23:09:48.021+09:00

GRiii Nakano Walking home one night, I come across this small bar near my house.  You can tell just by looking at it that the only people in there are people who have been going there for the past ten years, and they all know each other.  If I go in, all heads will turn and motion will stop for about five seconds while they size me up.  Maybe one day, I'll work up the courage to step in for a

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-37756380661019149012011-12-18T23:06:00.000+09:002011-12-18T23:06:22.254+09:002011-12-18T23:06:22.254+09:00

Seriously, I am always buying new earphones.  I had an awesome pair of AKG 450 headphones, but the wire was so flimsy that after five months or so, it got so worn down that it frayed and disconnected at the connector--twice.  The good thing about those headphones is that you can buy another wire, and just replace that as long as the jack is small enough, the crappy thing is that you have to buy

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-76786931591564883902011-12-17T10:22:00.000+09:002011-12-17T10:22:16.161+09:002011-12-17T10:22:16.161+09:00

If you're going to make an action movie, this looks exactly like how it should be done.  I hope it doesn't disappoint.

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-74972489043818381442011-12-16T18:34:00.001+09:002011-12-16T18:34:41.275+09:002011-12-16T18:34:41.275+09:00

Pigeons on the Kanda river.  I don't know why, but I love taking pictures off of bridges.

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-54144879796130663282011-12-14T23:05:00.000+09:002011-12-14T23:06:52.709+09:002011-12-14T23:06:52.709+09:00

griii x omotesando Man, this is a crappy shot.  They blocked off the bridge tonight I guess cause too many people were up there taking pictures of the illuminations.  They posted two guys at either side of the bridge to stop people from going up, and there were two guys at every crosswalk with megaphones telling everyone to keep walking across, and not to stop. Japan puts up lights every

kubanoreply@blogger.com0Japan, 〒107-0062 都道413号線35.665247 139.71231435.663643 139.709868 35.666851 139.71475999999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-37465678462663256822011-12-13T22:40:00.001+09:002011-12-13T22:40:06.407+09:002011-12-13T22:40:06.407+09:00

GRiii x Omiya I walk past this tree about two or three times a week on my way to work.  I've seen it change into fall colors about five times already.  Soon all the leaves will be gone, but come April, the tree will be full of pink blossoms.  It's a cherry blossom tree.  Can't wait.

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-60162866314510291862011-12-09T21:16:00.001+09:002011-12-09T21:16:14.440+09:002011-12-09T21:16:14.440+09:00

I'm standing next to these two guys in a bar. I know that they don't know each other well because of the way they are speaking. Japanese has several levels of politeness and each level has totally different words and it's more drawn out. Regular japanese: usotsukuna = you're kidding me. Polite japanese: sodesuka = you're kidding me. It's like they're on their first date or something.

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-76744147018666465892011-12-09T20:43:00.001+09:002011-12-09T20:43:00.321+09:002011-12-09T20:43:00.321+09:00

And it's all disney's fault. Because of Winnie the pooh 230 out of my 260 ninth graders spell honey as hunny. It's probably more amazing that 230 of them spell it as hunny. Disney has a pretty big influence on japan Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-61466261639458644882011-12-07T19:58:00.001+09:002011-12-07T20:05:46.129+09:002011-12-07T20:05:46.129+09:00

Kichijoji x GRiii Fugu or pufferfish.  Saw a news article about a woman who got fugu poisoning after eating the liver.  haha.  isn't that where all the poison is?  They never serve that part, but I guess at some restaurants it's on the secret menu. I tried it once when I was in Fukuoka.  It wasn't at a particularly good restaurant, so it might taste different from a better place, but I

kubanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-23012137141162474512011-12-07T19:34:00.001+09:002011-12-07T19:42:29.181+09:002011-12-07T19:42:29.181+09:00

I don't know if they have a word like this in Japanese, but today I witnessed my first all-class survey.  I was going into the first graders' class during third period, and the teacher asks if I can give her a couple minutes at the start.  I say, "sure" and she goes and gets a bunch of blank paper.  Then she pulls the electric pencil sharpener out and asks the whole class if anyone knows anything

kubanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12418872.post-39430425175220977012011-12-03T15:54:00.001+09:002011-12-03T15:57:35.694+09:002011-12-03T15:57:35.694+09:00

I bought a new used camera, so until I get tired of it and find something else to do with my spare time, I'll put pictures up that I randomly take.   it rained for the past three days straight, and just let up a bit an hour ago.  Just enough time for me to head down to the coffee shop to buy some Blue Mountain for my Vice Principal's Xmas present.  

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