EDUCATION

Happy Oyster Day! This is the third year I’ve celebrated Oyster Day, and the first year I’ve made T-shirts for the event (thanks to a suggestion from a gung-ho bivalvaholic in the area). You can see year one posts here and here, and last year I began my series of Murakami translation posts on Oyster [...]

I’ve got another article on the Japan Times Bilingual Page. Longtime readers will recognize the topic, as well as the little girl who hates bugs, from the contest I ran back in April 2008. So, yes, いい is often used to say “no, thank you” and imply that something is not fine and not good, [...]

Sometimes I confuse the discomfort of studying with hunger – THIS IS FALSE.

Qwick! Emergency Rink Time! “Unresolved mystery from the mind of Murakami” This is my review of 1Q84 Book 3. It was tough to review this volume without providing some semblance of plot summary for the first two books, so avoid it if you are waiting for a spoiler-free English translation. Although, to be honest, one [...]

Since I’ve been home, I’ve spent a significant amount of time going through all my worldly possessions and – sometimes at the insistence of my mother, sometimes at my own insistence – throwing out what I don’t need or want anymore. I weeded out all the unnecessary books. Most of the stuffed animals can go. [...]

Yes, it’s that time again – Japan Pulse rinkage time. “KFC goes for finger-lickin’ health-conscious goodness” I did KFC for Christmas in Japan once, and it was thoroughly disappointing. The most disappointing part was that it wasn’t sold out. I heard from friends in Aizu that you had reserve it weeks in advance, and a [...]

I’m cursed for some reason. Whenever I try to watch the movie Paprika, I’m always interrupted. I’ve made it halfway through several times, but inevitably something comes up and I’m forced to pause it, promising to finish at a later time. Last night I only made it 15 minutes in before I realized I would [...]

I was hunting for Japanese podcasts recently and came across the Nippon Archives Man’yōshū podcast. I was surprised when I clicked on it – not only is it sponsored by JR (If you don’t love the JR, I’m convinced you are a miserable, unhappy person), it’s a video podcast that introduces poems from the Man’yōshū. [...]

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA ABV: 8% Grade: A- The final beer from my Japanese beer trade with Drew over at 365 Beers! Thanks for humoring me this far – this is it for foreign beer reviews. Poured the entire contents of this bomber into my usuhari über-pint glass. The aroma is a bit of hops [...]