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06 Nov 09
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I've got to lose some weight While I don't quite look like this guy, I'm no Greek Adonis either.I could easily stand to lose 10kg.Why am I like this? Honestly, I love my DrPepper, McDonalds and Gusto drink bar. Too much fat, oil & sugar!The biggest culprit is McDonalds. I often... |
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05 Nov 09
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MaboTofu Katsudon And... I haven't written anything about Katsuya for a while, so here's something new.MaboTofu KatsuDon, Chilli Tofu on top of fried pork on top of rice.Usually the chilli is pretty week in Mabo Tofu, this stuff was the real deal. It was pretty spicy and I... |
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03 Nov 09
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Who do I blog for? Do I blog about Japan for myself? Not really, I mostly blog for 3 groups of people.1. People who have visited or want to visit Japan.2. My Japanese students who are interested in my opinions about Japan.3. Other Japan bloggers.Group one, the fans of... |
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30 Oct 09
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Cigarette Smoke Yesterday I went back to Gusto for lunch with my son. He wanted another toy from the Gatcha-Gatcha, I wanted another King Burger.Yum!When we got home at 12:40 there was time to wash our hands, brush our teeth, give the baby a kiss (from both of us) and go... |
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29 Oct 09
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Winter Is Coming I know it is only October, but I can feel the change all around me.Now I can't leave the apartment without a jacket, and I know the need to add mittens & a scarf is not far behind.Things get COLD here in Japan.I really hope that there is a lot of snow... |
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27 Oct 09
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Gusto King Burger In other Japanese Burger related news, Gusto Japan has released a new item on their menu, something I've never seen before.The Gusto King Burger.For ￥599 + tax you get a really nice burger with chips. There's a nice amount of salad, no tomato (yay) and ... |
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26 Oct 09
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Windows 7 Whopper This is no joke! To "celebrate" the release of Windows 7 in Japan, Burger King Japan has released the "Windows 7 Whopper". 7 layers of beef for ￥777 for the first 30 customers per day, after that you have to pay ￥1450 for the burger.There is part o... |
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23 Oct 09
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Dental Report As I said the other day, I went to the dentist yesterday.I go to a local clinic, it's only a 10 minute walk from my apartment. One of the main reasons why I love it is that the dentist is always on time. I've been there twice now and I've always been IN... |
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21 Oct 09
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2Chan Videos Here are a couple of videos I promised to show a friend.This one is about cities in TokyoThis one is about prefectures in JapanIt's all about plays on words and mis-pronunciation.Old but very funny. "Gun-Tama" is my favourite. |
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20 Oct 09
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Flossing I have a dentist appointment on Thursday and it's got me thinking about my teeth again.People who know me know that I will brush my teeth 3-4 times a day, I'm serious about using mouth wash and a tongue scraper. Nothing beats a tongue scraper for fresh... |
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19 Oct 09
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New Glasses And.... here are the replacement glasses.Very cute, lots for me to break. |
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12 Oct 09
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Totoro VS Anpanman As a kid who loved to read comic books, I always enjoyed reading about battles between my favourite superheros.Spiderman VS Superman.Judge Dredd VS Johnny AlphaetcBut recently in our kitchen we had another battle. Totoro VS Anpanman.Totoro won.While I was... |
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07 Oct 09
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A question about non-Japanese in Japan I received an e-mail from a new reader asking about Japan, so I thought I'd answer it here to benefit everyone.i read your blog about living in Japan, it must be awesome out there i want to go to japan myself one day. how does it compare to the western... |
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05 Oct 09
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At the Barbers This afternoon I was feeling rather ashamed of myself. I was getting a haircut at the barbers, the guy cutting my hair was really nice and always does a good job. He's the one that takes the time to explain to other barbers how I get my hair cut.Yet I... |
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02 Oct 09
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McDonalds Chicken Tatsuta Today it was cold and wet, so I couldn't take my eldest son out to a park to let him get some exercise, so I decided to take him for a train trip instead.Nothing exciting, he just doesn't get to ride on the train unless I take him. So I took him to the... |
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17 Sep 09
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New Baby Hey everyone. I'd just like to let you know that our second son was born today at 13:51. He was 3.4KG and 30CM.Both mum and bub will be back home on the 21st, so I have to look after the place until then. |
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26 Aug 09
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Fujiya Family Restaurant On Monday it was my son's 3rd birthday so for dinner we went to the local Fujiya restaurant.We went there as they have the best "birthday service" including a "cake" with candles to blow out and a family picture together with Peko-chan.The waitress got on... |
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18 Aug 09
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Yay, More Maggi Noodles You know what I forgot to buy while I was back in Australia? Maggi Noodles!But one of my students who enjoys going scuba diving all over Asia brought me back some.You can see a picture of the last set of noodles I was given. Thankyou MM! |
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14 Aug 09
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Ultraman Toys When I saw the toy cars that I wrote about yesterday, I also found these Ultraman Dolls Action Figures.1,2,3,4....29?Who on earth would collect all of these figures? What child's parents would buy every single one of these? I believe that these toys are... |
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13 Aug 09
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Toy Cars The other day I took my son up to the local department store's toy section, just for him to wander around and dream. He already has too many toys as it is, he's not getting anything else until his birthday.Look what I found.Here are the die cast metal toy... |
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12 Aug 09
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Yet Another Drunk Guy Here's one of my favourite things on Japanese Trains. Drunk people sleeping. You might remember the original Drunk Guy on a Train and Drunk Guys at the Bus Stop, so here's one more.This event is testimony to the safety of Japan. This guy is sleeping... |
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11 Aug 09
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Wow, two years with one phone I can't believe that I am still using my SO903i after two years!Usually I would upgrade my phone much more often so I could have the latest and greatest gadgets. I guess I am getting old as I always ask myself the question "what is the benefit of... |
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10 Aug 09
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Sydney Beggars Here is a blight on Sydney, the beggars. They claim to be homeless, but in truth the majority of them are just scam artists trying to score free money from tourists & the weak minded.In fact they are highly organised professionals prepared to take... |
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07 Aug 09
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Christmas & Halloween Stuff Already? This is some kind of joke? Someone has been mucking around and brought these products out early.Say it isn't so!Halloween & Christmas crap, for sale, in the middle of SUMMER!?!?!in JAPAN??????The people at CostCo Japan must be out of their minds.Yep,... |
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06 Aug 09
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Random Pictures of George Street Sydney While walking around Sydney, I just took a whole bunch of "tourist" pictures. I wish I had more free time during my trip to take more. Oh well.The Queen Victoria BuildingThe old ANZ bank.Where Gowings used to be.At least McDonalds is still there!A view of... |
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05 Aug 09
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Back to the Future, August 2008 Wow, my son is almost three. Has it really been a year since I took this photo of him playing with his Thomas Duplo train set? Unbelievable.I love finding drunk guys on the train and taking photos of them. This would never happen in Australia!Of all the... |
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03 Aug 09
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You Don't Get This in Japan Ok so I have been complaining about things that are terrible in Sydney, how about some things that are good.I have some friends that live near Hurstville, when I visited their home we went for a walk around the neighbourhood.Trees, grass & on street... |
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02 Aug 09
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Shopping in Sydney Here we are in Myer Sydney. I will always remember it as Grace Bros. Sigh.I miss the distinctive red & white bags with the waratah logo.Behind the counter of the toy section, staffed with unfriendly and indifferent employees is a Lego model of the... |
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01 Aug 09
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Back to the Future, July 2008 Sigh, was it really a year ago that I took my family to Okinawa?That was lovely, I wish I could go back!The chief of Nova was arrested and it only took the best part of 11 months to actually bring this maggot to trail. The collapse of Nova really hurt the... |
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01 Aug 09
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Back to the Future, June 2008 I had a lot of fun with Fireworks and am planning to blow up some more soon. Safety first boys and girls, don't want to lose an eye or a finger!I questioned the economics of teaching English in Japan and I am still sure that it isn't worth coming over for... |
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01 Aug 09
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Back to the Future, May 2008 For some strange reason May 2008 had a bicycle theme to it. There were bicycles everywhere, then bicycles late at night, this weird guy with flowers all over his bicycle!There were rumours that MP3 players would cost more, they don't.That I would study... |
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31 Jul 09
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Sydney Trains City Rail, or otherwise known as "shitty rail". This is one of the major factors of why I wouldn't want to live & work in Sydney.11PM at Sutherland, a modest sized city, and there are very few people at the train station. And most of them are drunk... |
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30 Jul 09
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City Lodge Sydney I chose my hotel from an internet search and decided on the City Lodge Sydney.My main criterion was location & price, the previous hotel I stayed at was $120 per night and more for Saturday night, last time it was a flat rate of $100. 20% inflation in... |
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28 Jul 09
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Green Tea Diet Coke Here's a strange one I found today, Green Tea Diet Coke.Bizzare! |
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27 Jul 09
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At Narita Airport Now for some pictures from Nartia Airport.Here we have the automated system that transports people to the outer gates. It's really neat as you can sit right in the front. I'm sure anyone who has been to Japan would have this as one of their earliest... |
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25 Jul 09
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Going to Narita On the Wednesday & Thursday before my flight both days were very sunny, so I took my son to the local pool. As I had only been using SPF 4 sunscreen on myself my shoulders were lovely and red, perfect to carry a heavy back pack with! Inside the... |
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24 Jul 09
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I'm Home I'm back from a week in Australia.It was good to see my friends.It was strange to see people swimming at the beach in the middle of winter.It was sad that my trip was so short.I'll write more in the next few days. |
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14 Jul 09
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New HP DV6 Notebook As some of you might be aware, I am going to Australia for a short holiday soon.On Thursday! W00T!Anyhow, I needed a new laptop for this trip as the keyboard & battery on my old Compaq are dead and the monitor seems to be dying. I've had it for over 5... |
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11 Jul 09
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SOUR '日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro)' Honestly, this isn't my kind of music but this is one of the most creative video clips that I have seen in a LOOONG time! |
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10 Jul 09
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Kappa Sushi For cheap sushi made fresh, you can't beat Kappa Sushi.Usually for lunchtimes on weekdays they have a special where all sushi is ￥94 per plate. Usually it is ￥105.Here the sushi goes past. Ready to tempt you into picking it up.And more sushi.. Below... |
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10 Jul 09
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Snacks & Drinks at Gusto Today after my son had his afternoon nap we went down to the local gusto for a quick afternoon tea.I brought along some colouring paper, pencils, picture dictionary and a novel for myself.He brought along his toy possum and his magnetic drawing board.Here... |
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09 Jul 09
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Find The Fun I was talking with some students the other day about little things I like to do for amusement. Like looking under vending machines for coins, taking photographs of drunk people on the train and generally not taking life seriously.Life is short, how much... |
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03 Jul 09
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LG DV392H Region Free Also today I decided to try out a new DVD player from CostCo. The LG DV392H for ￥6400.It's quite a thin DVD player, it has video and HDMI out.The silver in this picture is the previous DVD player for region 4 DVD's, this will be donated to the in-laws.... |
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03 Jul 09
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Souvenirs for Australia Today we went to CostCo and I picked up some GIANT bags of snacks to hand out to my friends in Australia.They will be different enough from regular Australian snacks as to be interesting, but not so different as to be strange. I didn't bother with the... |
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12 Jun 09
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Omiya Immigration Office All done! Today I transferred my visa over to my new passport and also spent ￥3000 on a re-entry permit.Also I took my son along, he thoroughly enjoyed the train trip and looking at all of the trains.If you want to get to the only immigration office ... |
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10 Jun 09
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Wow, Passport, Wow It just arrived!The guy came from Japan Post and delivered it just a few minutes ago.Under a week to get my new passport? Awesome!And each of the pages has really cool artwork on them, looking at them made me feel a little homesick. No problem though, I... |
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07 Jun 09
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Getting to the Australian Embassy Today I went to the Australian Embassy, while there is a handy map on the embassy website, it will help you a lot if you can see some of the land marks.Here's the Wendy's located next to the exit of Azabu Juban Station.And here is the police box that is... |
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29 May 09
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Stopping support for IVF treatments Recently I read a tear jerker article about how the Labor Government in Australia is reducing the subsidy for IVF treatments.Infertile couples paying a heavy price for LaborGood.Lets get some facts straightA woman's fertility is highest from 19-14 and... |
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28 May 09
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Time for a new passport Sigh, it's now time for me to get a new passport.I've filled in the application forms and got my passport photos today.Next I need to make an appointment with the Australian Consulate as well as get a "guarantor" to sign the photos.I'm expecting to pay... |
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22 May 09
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Ready Set SHOP! The other day I was walking past Sogo on my way to the station when I saw the crowds lined up ready to begin shopping. There were no special sales, it was just a regular Tuesday morning.Here we have everyone lined up at 09:59.How calm, how zen.The doors... |
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